Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. In 1170, he became titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and of Maine. Henry the Young King was the only English king since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father's reign, but he was frustrated by his father's refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power. He died aged 28, six years before his father, during the course of a campaign in Limousin against his father and his brother Richard.
Henry was born 28 February 1155 to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. His mother's children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France were Marie and Alix. He had one elder brother, William, who died at age three. His younger siblings included Matilda, Richard, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan and John.
In June 1170, the 15-year-old Henry was crowned king during his father's lifetime, a traditional practice of the French Capetian dynasty which held formal overlordship of Henry II's continental domains. King Stephen had previously attempted to have his son Eustace crowned as early as 1143 but was unable to secure papal support prior to Eustace's death.
He was known in his own lifetime as "Henry the Young King" to distinguish him from his father. As he was not a reigning king, he is not counted in the numerical succession of kings of England. According to one of Thomas Becket's correspondents, Henry was knighted by his father before the coronation, but William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, asserts in History of William Marshal that Henry was knighted by Marshall during the Revolt of 1173–1174.
Henry did not appear to have been very 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: "The Young Henry was the only member of the family who was popular in his own day ... also the only one who gave no evidence of political sagacity, military skill, or even ordinary intelligence..." Warren elaborates "He was gracious, benign, affable, courteous, the soul of liberality and generosity. Unfortunately, he was also shallow, vain, careless, empty-headed, incompetent, improvident, and irresponsible."
The Young King's contemporary reputation, however, was positive. Likely this was due to the enthusiastic tournament culture of his time. In the History of William Marshal (the biography of the knight assigned to him as a tutor in 1170 and his tournament team leader until 1182) he is described as a constant competitor at tournaments across northern and central France between 1175 and 1182. With his cousins Counts Philip I of Flanders and Baldwin V of Hainaut, he was a key patron of the sport. He brought 200 knights to the tournament of Lagny-sur-Marne in November 1179, paying each 20 shillings per day.
Though he lacked political weight, his patronage brought him celebrity status throughout western Europe. The baron and troubadour Bertran de Born knew him, stating:
[He was] the best king who ever took up a shield, the most daring and best of all tourneyers. From the time when Roland was alive, and even before, never was seen a knight so skilled, so warlike, whose fame resounded so around the world – even if Roland did come back, or if the world were searched as far as the River Nile and the setting sun.
There was a perception amongst his contemporaries, and the next generation, that his death in 1183 marked a decline both in the tournament and knightly endeavour. His chaplain Gervase of Tilbury remarked on his passing: "Assuredly, as he was a solace to the world while he lived, so it was a blow to all chivalry when he died in the very glow of youth."
The traditional view of Young Henry propagated into the modern era by Warren has, however, been challenged in recent years. Matthew Strickland has argued in his compendium of the Young King's life and career that he was, in fact, an able and likeable individual who merely grew frustrated at his father's refusal to grant him any domains or responsibilities of his own.
Henry played an important part in the politics of his father's reign. On 2 November 1160 he was betrothed to Margaret of France, daughter of Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile, when he was five years of age and she was at least two. The marriage was an attempt to finally settle the struggle between the counts of Anjou and the French kings over possession of the frontier district of the Norman Vexin, which Louis VII had acquired from Henry's grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, in around 1144. By the terms of the settlement, Margaret would bring the castles of Vexin to her husband when she wed. However, the marriage was pushed through by Henry II when Young Henry and Margaret were small children so that he could seize the castles. A bitter border war followed between the kings.
Henry II had toyed with the idea of having Young Henry crowned king as early as 1162 and even procured a papal bull from Pope Alexander III ordering the Archbishop Roger of York to crown Young Henry whenever required. Thomas Becket, newly ordained as Archbishop of Canterbury, had been ordered to prepare for the coronation of Young Henry, and the pipe rolls for 1162 record the allocation of funds for the commissioning of a golden circlet. This was not to be, however; Barlow suggests that the southern prelates dissuaded Henry II from using the papal bull as the Archbishopric of Canterbury was occupied. This greatly upset Roger of York, who wrote to Rome asking for confirmation of his right to crown kings; while ultimately unsuccessful, Roger's delays derailed Henry's plans.
Young Henry was finally crowned on Saturday 14 June 1170 on the feast of St Basil at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of most of the Anglo-Norman nobility and the overwhelming majority of the non-vacant English bishoprics. Strickland notes that the exiled Becket had few supporters left in the upper ranks of the English church after six years of dispute with Henry II.
It was almost certainly a calculated insult to Louis VII that Margaret of France was not crowned alongside her husband in 1170. Twelfth-century chronicler Robert of Torigny argues she simply arrived from Normandy too late to participate, but other sources reveal she was deliberately delayed at Caen. Warren believes that this was an ultimately fruitful attempt to prevent Louis VII from dissuading Becket from accepting his latest overtures. Whatever the case, Louis was so enraged by this that he launched an immediate attack on the Norman border, forcing Henry to return to the duchy personally to oversee its defences. Mediation by Count Theobald of Blois, however, led to a meeting between the two monarchs at Vendôme, and following subsequent meetings at La Ferté and Fréteval, Henry was able to placate Louis.
Young Henry and Margaret were formally married on 27 August 1172 at Winchester Cathedral, when Henry, aged 17, was crowned King of England a second time, this time together with Margaret, by Rotrou, the Archbishop of Rouen.
Young Henry fell out with his father in 1173. Contemporary chroniclers allege that this was owing to the young man's frustration that his father had given him no realm to rule, and his feeling starved of funds. The rebellion seems, however, to have drawn strength from much deeper discontent with his father's rule, and a formidable party of Anglo-Norman, Norman, Angevin, Poitevin and Breton magnates joined him. The revolt of 1173–1174 came close to toppling the king; he was narrowly saved by the loyalty of a party of nobles with holdings on the English side of the Channel and by the defeat and capture of William I, the King of Scotland. Young Henry sought a reconciliation after the capture of his mother Eleanor and the failure of the rebellion. His funds were much increased by the terms of the settlement, and he apparently devoted most of the next seven years to the amusement of the tournament.