Henry II “Curtmantle” Plantagenet (1133 – 1189) 1st Plantagenet King of England, Lord of Ireland

Post author By Steven Wood Collins
Post date November 17, 2021
214 Comments on Henry II “Curtmantle” Plantagenet (1133 – 1189) 1st Plantagenet King of England, Lord of Ireland

Armorial of the Royal House of Plantagenet

“… the very first of [the Plantagenet] name and race, and the very greatest King that England ever knew, but withal the most unfortunate … his death being imputed to those only to whom himself had given life, his ungracious sons…” Sir Winston Churchill (1620-1688)

The coronation of Angevin empire magnate Henry d’Anjou (later Henry II Plantagenet) in 1154 as King of England marked the beginning of the Plantagenet monarchal dynasty that would rule England for the next 331 years. During The Anarchy (1135 – 1153) era of English history, his mother Empress Matilda (1102 – 1167), granddaughter of William The Conqueror (1028 – 1087) 1st Norman King of England , prevailed over her cousin Stephen IV de Blois, King of England (1096 – 1154) in her bid to wrest control of the monarchy from him so her son could be crowned King of England.

As a couple, Henry and Eleanor of Aquitaine shook the firmament of European royalty to such an extent that they, as most historians would agree, changed the course of history.

During his reign as King of England, he regained and solidified his control of the French domains (Angevin) he inherited from his grandfather. He also subjugated large parts of Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and Ireland to his rulership.

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“Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” HRH Henry II “Curtmantle” Plantagenet

Those rash words, spoken in frustration with longstanding Thomas à Becket‘s opposition to Henry’s agenda to gain control of the church, were mistaken as a royal command by four zealous young knights in his presence at the time. Reginald fitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton seized the moment and immediately set out for Canterbury to affect the demise of Henry’s erstwhile friend.

By papal decree, Canterbury Cathedral, where Becket met a grisly death at the hands of the four knights, became a place of pilgrimage after Pope Alexander III canonized him on 21 February 1173. After petitioning the pope for forgiveness, Henry II walked barefoot to Canterbury to pray at the spot of the assassination. Monks lashed him with whips while he prayed for forgiveness.

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Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 – 1400) wrote The Canterbury Tales in vernacular Middle English, unquestionably one of the first poetic/prose literary works composed in the nascent language, and, more importantly, in a satirical vein.

Although he politely reneged on his initial offer to provide military assistance to King Dermot to regain his Leinster regency, he later sanctioned the successful Norman invasion of Ireland (1169 – 1171) led by Richard “Strongbow” de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (1130 – 1176) Justiciar of Ireland. Fearing losing all of Ireland to the Normans, however, he invaded the country in 1171, thereby establishing himself as Lord of Ireland in what waas to become a somewhat loosely-controlled English regency over large swathes of Irish countryside for the next 800 years. The Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921 ended British rule in most of Ireland. The Irish Free State was created as a self-governing Dominion on 6 December 1922.

King Henry is ranked #490 in Hart’s Most Influential People in History – Top 500 List (125).

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

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