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to the eight children he had with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
    He was born in 1133 at Le Mans in France, the son of Geoffrey, the Count of Anjou, and Empress Matilda. When his father died in 1151, he succeeded him as Count of Anjou, with dominion over the French regions of Touraine, Anjou, Maine and Normandy. In 1152 he pulled off a spectacular marriage to the sublime Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had just divorced the King of France, Louis VII, which brought Poitou and Gascony under his control. King Louis was horrified by the loss of such rich provinces to a rival and declared war. He was easily defeated by Henry, who then turned his attention to England. In 1153 he boldly crossed the Channel. War was averted by the fortuitous death of King Stephen’s heir and it was agreed that Henry would succeed. He was crowned in 1154 and moved quickly to consolidate and expand his new kingdom. He re-established control over Northumbria, garrisoned Edinburgh, invaded Wales, got the Pope’s permission to invade Ireland and gained control of Brittany.
    He oversaw his vast empire by ceaseless travel. He built on the Anglo-Saxon local government system to maintain central control while he was away, while at the same time reducing the independence of the mighty barons. He made them demolish unauthorized castles and ended the hereditary appointment of law officers. He continued with the reforms of Henry I, further developing the English common law system, including the establishment of trial by jury, and ending the age-old systems of trial by combat or ordeal.
    But these substantial achievements were diminished by the events of his later years. His first major setback occurred when Thomas Becket, a friend who Henry had elevated to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury, stubbornly took the Pope’s side in disputes concerning the power of the Church. In 1170 a furious Henry demanded, ‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?’ This was interpreted as a command, and Becket was brutally assassinated by four knights on the steps of Canterbury Cathedral. In penance, Henry walked barefoot to the site of the murder while being scourged by the clergy. Becket was later canonized.
    Even more distressing was the behaviour of three of his four sons, Henry, Richard and Geoffrey. They demanded independent domains and eventually, egged on by their mother Eleanor, who by this time was estranged from her promiscuous husband, they rebelled in 1173. Henry defeated them and Eleanor was imprisoned.
    Henry and Geoffrey died, leaving Richard and Henry II’s youngest and favourite son John in line to inherit the empire. But not satisfied with this, Richard sought the support of the new King of France, Philip II. By this time Henry was suffering from ill-health and he was forced to make peace. He died just a few days later, a broken man, having heard that his beloved John had also been part of the conspiracy against him.

    R ICHARD I
    Reigned 1189–1199
    Richard the Lionheart was the epitome of the warrior king. He was tall and handsome, a great general and a cultured product of the age of chivalry. Although he has a reputation as a great king, he spent only a few months of his reign in England and spoke very little English.
    He was born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford in 1157, the second son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to reach adulthood. He spent his early years in his mother’s duchy, and inherited it in 1172. Richard first rebelled against his father at the age of sixteen and a decade of strife broke out between them. After the death of Richard’s older brother Henry, the heir to the throne of England, Richard defeated his father, who died soon after.
    Richard immediately went to England to prepare for his coronation and raise money for the Third Crusade, with the aim of taking back the Holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslim leader Saladin and the Saracens. He left his grandmother Matilda in charge in Normandy, and his mother Eleanor in