6 May 2010
King Henry the Young of Plantagenet (1170–1183)
Coronation June 1170
Senior king Henry II
Consort Margaret of France
William of England (died young)
House House
6 May 2010
King Henry the Young of Plantagenet (1170–1183)
Coronation June 1170
Senior king Henry II
Consort Margaret of France
William of England (died young)
House House of Plantagenet
Father Henry II of England
Mother Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine
Born 28 February 1155(1155-02-28)
Died 11 June 1183 (aged 28)
Castle of Martel, Lot (department)
Henry, known as the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the second of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was junior King of England; Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine.
Little is known of the young prince Henry before the events associated with his marriage and coronation. His mother’s children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France were Marie de Champagne and Alix de Blois. He had one older brother, William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156), and his younger siblings included Matilda, Duchess of Saxony; Richard I of England; Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany; Eleanor, Queen of Castile; Joan, Queen of Sicily; and John I of England.
In June 1170, the fifteen-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father’s lifetime, a practice originally practiced by the French Capetian dynasty and adopted by the English kings, Stephen and Henry II. A Latin poem by a court official written to commemorate the coronation hints at the charisma of this young prince. There he is described as a charming youth of striking beauty, tall but well proportioned, broad-shouldered with a long and elegant neck, pale and freckled skin, bright and wide blue eyes, with a thick mop of the reddish-gold hair characteristic of his dynasty.
He was known in his own lifetime as “Henry the Young King” to distinguish him from his father. Because he predeceased his father, he is not counted in the numerical succession of kings of England. Nonetheless, he was an anointed king and his royal status was not disputed. There is a question about his knighting. According to one of Becket’s correspondents, Henry was knighted by his father before the coronation, but the biographer of William Marshal asserts that the king was knighted by William in the course of the rebellion of 1173.
Tournament hero and celebrity
Henry did not seem that interested in the day-to-day business of government, which distinguished him from his father and younger brothers. His father, however, is reputed to have failed to delegate authority to his son, retaining power in England. The majority opinion amongst historians is that of W. L. Warren (1973): “The Young Henry was the only one of his family who was popular in his own day. It was true that he was also the only one who gave no evidence of political sagacity, military skill, or even ordinary intelligence…”, and elaborated in a later book, “He was gracious, benign, affable, courteous, the soul of liberality and generosity. Unfortunately he was also shallow, vain, careless, high-hoped, incompetent, improvident, and irresponsible.”
The Young King’s contemporary reputation, however, was by no means so negative. This had much to do with his place in the enthusiastic tournament culture of his own day. We can see this from his appearances in the History of William Marshal, the biography of the knight assigned to him as a tutor in 1170, and who became his tournament team leader until 1182. The History depicts him as constantly moving from one tournament to another across northern and central France between 1175 and 1182. With his first cousins, Philip, Count of Flanders, and Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, Flanders and Namur, he was one of the key patrons of the sport. He is said to have spent over £200 a day on the great retinue of knights he brought to the tournament of Lagny-sur-Marne in November 1179.
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