On this day, 8 December 1154
Henry II arrived in England to claim his crown.
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On this day, 8 December 1154, Henry II arrived in England to claim his crown.
Henry II, with Waltham Abbey. Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, Chronica majora, Part III (Royal MS 14 C VII, f. 9r)
Henry I died on 1 December 1135. He had done the most he could to ensure that his daughter, Matilda, would be accepted as the next monarch. However, enter his cousin, Stephen of Blois, son of William the Conqueror's sister Adela.
Years earlier, when his father died on Crusade, Stephen was soon sent to live at Henry I’s court. Henry and Stephen had a good relationship; Stephen was successful during Henry I’s campaigns in France and was subsequently knighted.
When the White Ship tragically sank, killing the heir to the English throne, Henry I made it abundantly clear to everybody that he wished his remaining legitimate child, Matilda, to rule after his death. Stephen of Blois was among those that swore to uphold her claim.
Many of the nobles who had sworn (multiple) oaths to Henry I that they would support his daughter defected almost immediately upon Henry I’s death to Stephen, on account of his being a male. England at this point had never had a female ruler; this was a time in which the monarch was leader of the country and leader of the army, two things a woman could not be.
On Henry I’s death on 1 December 1135, Stephen of Blois hurried to fill in the resulting power vacuum. He was swifter than his heavily pregnant cousin Matilda; he bolted to London, being met “with acclamation.” A council of nobles formed to choose the next ruler; they unanimously chose Stephen. Many of the nobles who had sworn (multiple) oaths to Henry I that they would support his daughter defected almost immediately to Stephen, on account of his being a male. England at this point had never had a female ruler; this was a time in which the monarch was leader of the country and leader of the army, two things a woman could not be.The chronicler Henry of Huntingdon had the following sentiments:
“Roger, the great Bishop of Salisbury, who had been the second to take the oath, and had urged everyone else to do so, brought the royal crown to Stephen, as well as the strength of his support… In short, all those who had sworn the oath – whether bishops, earls or magnates – gave their approval to Stephen and paid homage to him. It was a bad sign that all England was subjected to him so speedily, without hindrance or difficulty, as ‘in the twinkling of an eye’.
Civil war occurred in both England and the English lands in France for the whole of Stephen’s reign, with Matilda and her allies first fighting for her own rights to the throne, then, as of 1149, for her son’s. Stephen himself was an ineffective ruler due to his own indecisiveness; the nobility, ever able to sense a way to the top echelons of the hierarchy, exploited his weak leadership for their own gains. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was a time of terrible social upheaval:
‘In the days of this King there was nothing but strife, evil and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose against him.’
The civil war went on for years, with Matilda and Stephen both experiencing times that they thought they won the war. A turning point was in 1147, when Bishop Robert of Gloucester - Matilda’s half-brother and chief supporter - died, and with it Matilda’s military campaign. She fled to Normandy and passed the claim to the English crown to her 14-year-old son, Henry Plantagenet.
Henry and his mother Empress Matilda, from a 12th century manuscript.
As a teenager, Henry FitzEmpress had a couple of failed invasions of England and was knighted by his uncle, King David of Scotland. King Stephen was embroiled in a dispute with the Church, which Matilda had been lobbying for years for support for her son. Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury refused the now normal coronation of the king’s son as an under-king, supporting instead the claim of Henry Plantagenet. Henry’s parents then ceded the duchy of Normandy to their son, much to the disdain of the king of France. When Geoffrey of Anjou died in September 1151, Henry was now Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, and Count of Maine. Upon his marriage in May 1152, he also became Duke of Aquitaine.
In 1153, Henry FitzEmpress laid a successful campaign in England against King Stephen. Many of his mother’s allies still held strong in the west of the country, and King Stephen did not have many friends at this point.
Eventually, Henry and Stephen found their armies at a standoff near Wallingford, on opposite sides of the Thames. It seems everyone was tired of this years-long civil war; the Churchmen on either side brokered a truce, and negotiations began. Soon enough, Stephen’s eldest son Eustace died. A couple of months later, Stephen and Henry agreed to the Treaty of Winchester on 6 November 1153. Stephen was to continue ruling as King of England until his death; however, he was to appoint Henry as his heir.
King Stephen was to enjoy his rule of England for only another year. He died on 25 October 1154. Things were such that Henry was in no rush to come to England to secure the throne for himself. The nobles and the church leaders had already ensured this. Therefore, at his leisure, Henry II arrived in England on this day, 8 December 1154, for the first time after becoming King of England. He was crowned on 19 December of that year.
Henry II with his offspring. Genealogical roll of the kings of England (British Library, Royal 14 B VI)
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Sources for this article:
https://historymedieval.com/king-henry-ii-first-plantagenet-king-of-england/
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/King-Stephen-Anarchy/
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/guide-the-anarchy-what-civil-war-stephen-matilda/
https://www.medievalware.com/blog/king-stephen-empress-matilda/
https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2023/12/22/the-coronation-of-king-stephen/
https://www.timeref.com/people/hpr68_timeline.htm
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-II-king-of-England
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/winchester-treaty
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England