Henry II (The English Monarchs Series)

This is currently the standard biography of Henry II and as such is a weighty volume, 630 pages of text plus indices etc.Being that Henry lived in the twelfth century the biographer has to work hard to gain assessments as to whose veracity he can be convinced, and the labour required is very evident here, especially in the chapters on Henry's work regarding the development of law, where countless examples of his practice are explored in detail.The book is structured in an unusual way, the first part summarising his history and political achievements, and then, in turn, are considered the developments in law and government of England, the relationship with the Church and of course Becket, and finally his relationship with his sons.It is a fault in this book that almost nothing is said about his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. In fact he says, 'To judge from the Chroniclers, the most striking fact about Eleanor is her utter insignificance in Henry II's reign.' Between page 121, which is where Warren briefly discusses her alienation from Henry, and her involvement in his feud with his sons, her name is hardly mentioned until briefly again in the closing pages.However the behaviour of Richard in the closing years of Henry's reign is hardly comprehensible without imagining major involvement from Eleanor, and to ignore her is unfortunate. But written records are no doubt scanty, and to do Warren justice he does indicate in the briefest of ways where her influence may have been felt.Henry's achievements were of course fantastic, and Warren clearly delineates his extraordinary energy, intelligence, practicality, genius for administration, his complete lack of interest in the trappings of glory, and also his temper.Like most people these days he while acknowledging Henry's contribution to the schism with Becket tends to come down firmly on Henry's side. He sees Becket's persistence as unwarranted and foolish. Of course we live in a secular age but Becket was no fool and gave everything he had, which was a lot, in the service of the Church, just as he had in his previous capacity as Henry's Chancellor to the king. In so doing they played out the two of them the balancing act between spiritual and temporal authority which was the theme of Christendom for many centuries from the time of St Augustine onwards.For me personally the most fascinating part of the book is the closing chapters where the relationship between Henry and his sons is gone into: the charming and cynical Henry the Younger, the devious but effective Geoffrey, the courageous Richard and John, whose character I feel is explored less than the others.Richard is not very fashionable these days, again its a secular age, and his subsequent involvement in the Crusade is not very pc. Warren while acknowledging his courage, also describes him as naive in not understanding the complex political games his father was playing. Henry refused to confirm that Richard would succeed him and Warren thinks Richard should have realised that this was all a game to keep him honest, and not taken it so hard. But Richard was the only one of Henry's sons that Henry could actually rely on to do a good job of looking after the territories assigned to him, and it wasn't until the closing weeks of Henry's life that he turned against him for more than the odd stormy afternoon.Henry was arguably the greatest of English monarchs, and this book does him no disservice.

I have to admit, Henry Plantagenet, King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine, Duke (by Marriage) of Aquitaine and Lord of Ireland is a personal favorite of mine as one of the great kings of England. His tale is extraordinary, as by marriage and inheritance he became the most powerful monarch in Western Europe, as (in theory) he was master of the British isles, having received the homage of the King of Scotland, most of the Welsh Princes as well as the kings of Ireland. Added to this was his control over most of Western France, which he inherited, gained by marriage, or pressed by force of arms.Henry II should never have been king of England though, in fact he should never have been born. During the reign of his grandfather, henry I, Henry's son and heir died in the disaster of the White ship, when numerous barons lost their heir's when the ship tried to set sail from Normandy to England in the teeth of a storm. The death of Henry I's heir, caused a drastic change, as Henry's daughter, the Empress Matilda (she had married the Emperor of Germany) was recalled to England, a marriage was formed with Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and then henry I had his barons recognize her as his heir, not once, but three times. Civil war broke out though upon henry's death as other family members pressed the claim of Stephen of Blois to the throne (a cousin) and for the next 15 years a long protracted civil war was waged. Henry II eventually won out upon his majority, and he would spend the better part of his reign establishing and strengthen royal control, to maintain the dignity and power of the throne 'as it was during the time of his grandfather', while dealing with rebellious barons, The French and eventually his own sons whose desires for lands and power grew faster then Henry was willing to sate them. Henry's life ended ind efeat as his son Richard, allied with the French King Philip defeated him in battle and he died shortly there after.W L Warren rights a fantastic biography of the Henry II. While acknowledging that no private letters of henry exist so we will never truly know the man, what we can gleam from his actions gives us an exciting tale indeed, masterfully brought to life by the author. The book is divided into 4 sections, Politics and warfare up to 1182,starting with the disaster of the white ship and then looking at the struggles of Matilda to start with, then the bulk of Henry's reign, then looking at his relations first primarily with France and then with the other parts of Britain. We then look at how the vast possessions of Henry's realm were governed, the great reforms he brought in to government and law (Henry II is widely regarded for establishing the basis of English Common Law) . The third section looks at Henry's relationship with the Church and then finally we look at the last section of Henry's reign, including the second revolt of his sons and the final one involving his Son Richard and Philip of France. The book may be old (Over 20 years now) it is still the definitive guide to this, one of the greatest Kings of England..

I thought I'd enjoy the story of Henry II's reign, but struggle with the section on common law reform, but Warren's prose is so lucid that I raced through the whole thing, enjoying it thoroughly, and gaining a helpful appreciation of the challenges of achieving justice in practice, and Henry's remarkable success in doing so.You're going to need a large bookshelf to keep this tome though - Yale has printed it textbook sized, but they couldn't be bothered to redo the typesetting, so there's a massive gap at the bottom of every page. Warren had a series of updates for the last edition, but since they weren't doing the typesetting they just pasted these as extra pages at the back saying "In chapter X I should have said ...". The 10 page introduction by Judith Green critiques Warren's text, but since it's at the start and you haven't read the text yet this makes zero sense! Read as an afterword it's much more helpful.Warren is perhaps a bit too sympathetic to Henry - eliding the breakdown of his marriage on the reasonable basis of lack of evidence, but as Green points out this is awkward when the last third of his reign is dominated by the fallout, and one sidedly blaming Becket for their quarrel (a point he shows some awareness of in the postscript) - but this remains a deep, gripping and broad biography. No mean feat!

Well written

King Henry II is one of the most fascinating rulers of the Middle Ages. A man of deep passion and great ability he ruled not only England for over thirty years but he was also the master of half of France. Henry's lordship over half of France was a situation that did not please the two French kings that Henry had to deal with in the course of his reign: King Louis VII and his son Philip II.The book begins with the disaster of the White Ship that killed Prince William, King Henry I's son and heir. The premature death of the King's son sent all of England into chaos as King Henry's surviving daughter, Empress Matilda, and her usurper, King Stephan, battled for the throne. Henry sees action at a very young age, yet, he never allows himself to be governed by it. Henry was a king who also appreciated diplomacy, he could both fight and talk.The book is divided into several sections. The first of these deals with Henry's political career. A career that includes his unusual rise to the throne, his political marriage, his struggles with the church and the King of France, and the rebellion of his sons. The author uses the rest of the sections to take a closure look at the various aspects of King Henry's reign.Henry II is most remembered amongst political scientists and the legal profession for establishing a system of courts under what would be called the Common Law. King Henry was able to achieve this by pretending to be carrying on the old classical traditions of Anglo-Saxon England despite the fact he was doing something completely different. Warren was also described to the reader that this evolving judiciary was very fluid and times very confusing because of the personality of the King himself."Clearly the curia regis existed wherever a delegate of King Henry acted in his name. It also, of course, existed wherever King Henry himself happened to be. This could be anywhere for the king and his household were continually on the move. In the thirty-four years of his reign Henry II spent Christmas at twenty-four different places. He crossed the English Channel at least twenty-eight times and the Irish Sea twice." (p.302)Although King Henry II considered it his personal duty to do justice by his subjects, they were still his subjects and the government was his personal entity. Warren is quick to point out that this should not diminish the achievement of this King and his reign, for King Henry did try to do right by his subjects and his reign left a positive legacy."Royal power under Henry II could be discriminatory, violent, arbitrary, wilful, and selfish--for monarchy was still personal, and it was Janus-faced. Nonetheless, its weakness should not be allowed to obscure its virtues; and in the long run its customary impartiality, its respect for legal principle, its equation of right and law, and its sense of justice, were more important in moulding the traditions of English government than its lapses into tyranny." (p.395)One of Warren's theories to how positive the government structure left by King Henry II was viewed, was in the rebellion against King Henry's son King John that led to the Magna Carta. King Henry was a king who knew that kingship came with responsibilities, and the Magna Carta was made to remind King John of what his father should have taught him."Magna Carta was to condemn the defects of royal government by the high standards which that government had itself inculcated; and it was Henry II who taught his subjects the remedy against the abuse of power--the rule of law. This was his greatest paradox." (p. 396)One of the issues that I completely agree with Warren on is the King Henry/Thomas Becket rivalry. Despite Hollywood claims to the contrary, Thomas Becket was the jerk and King Henry was the just ruler. King Henry II, the ruler of the kingdom, wanted to be able to enforce laws on all of his subjects, including members of the clergy. So if a member of the clergy--which according to Warren consists on one sixth of the kingdom--commits a crime he has to be held accountable. However, Becket did not feel the same way. Becket wanted the clergy to be above the King's law yet have clergy be able to hold the secular royal officials to the church is law."That relations rapidly deteriorated was initially not Henry's fault but Becket's." (p.453)Becket was so drunk on his own power it is hard at times to take him seriously. Warren points to issues and arguments where Becket even tends to make up or exaggerate facts in order to support his case! He is hardly the person I would want as a leader for he was so bull headed he could not be asked in good faith to negotiate to a reasonable compromise. King Henry II should be recognized as a hero who saved England from a total theocracy. If Becket had his way the King of England would be an agent of the Archbishop of Canterbury, instead of the other way around. Unfortunately King Henry ranting in anger would make some overly anxious knights go on to slay the Archbishop and make him a martyr. Although Becket's personal reputation was strengthened by death his cause justly died.I also found Warren's theory that King Philip II of France is in some ways Henry's true successor to be interesting. King Philip mimicked Henry's court and, like Henry, did his best to give good government to his subjects. Henry's lessons were appreciated by his enemy in ways his sons could never pick up on.I highly recommend this book. W.L. Warren does a great job explaining the life and times of one of England's most famous and enlightened rulers, King Henry II.

I love books about Henry II, my ultra-favorite royal, because of his character, well resumed on the first page of W.L. Warren's fine HENRY II, in a quote from Homer: `Tell me Muse, of the man of many wiles'. That was indeed Henry II, a man of many, many wiles. The book opens with a great shipwreck, and then goes on to relate the marriage of Henry I's only heir, a daughter, who marries, at age 25, a young stud, age 14, full of enough spunk (in both senses) to beget the great Henry II. Henry went on to marry my ultra-favorite second royal, Eleanor of Aquitaine (where I live), and beget, à son tour (I'm French), 5 boys, mass murders and multi-rapists all, who in times of need crawled back to daddy with crocodile tears, begging for forgiveness and the kiss of peace that Henry, besotted by the little bastards, never hesitated to give. He forgave Eleanor's infidelities and revolts too, until she was beyond childbearing age, after which he had her locked away. (She recognized a handsome dude when she saw one (as do I), sleeping with her first husband's brother, said to be exquisite, while on a crusade at Antioch, and knowing, biblically, Henry II's own father, called le Bel in French for his beauty.) Father and sons were Plantagenets, French Southerners who knew how to hunt, drink, party and take whichever pubescent/prepubescent girl or boy that caught their fancy. So, honestly, what reader could take time out from Warren's 700-page tome except for an occasional coffee and a bite to eat? I don't have the pretention of having written anything as enthralling, but my own books can be found on Amazon under Michael Hone.

This book is a gem; I'm so glad to have been able to get it!

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