Henry The Young King

Henry The Young King (born February 28, 1155, London—died June 11, 1183, Martel, Quercy, France) was the second son of King Henry II of England by Eleanor of Aquitaine; he was regarded, after the death of his elder brother, William, in 1156, as his father’s successor in England, Normandy, and Anjou.

In 1158 Henry, only three years of age, was betrothed to Margaret, daughter of Louis VII of France and his second wife, on condition that Margaret’s dowry would be the Vexin, the border region between Normandy (then held by England) and France. Henry II took advantage of Pope Alexander III’s political difficulties to secure the Pope’s permission for the children to be married in 1160. On June 14, 1170, the young Henry was crowned king (theoretically to rule in association with his father) at Westminster by Archbishop Roger of York. York’s officiation, usurping a prerogative of the archbishop of Canterbury, exacerbated the dispute between the latter, namely, Thomas Becket, and Henry II, which ended with Becket’s murder six months later. Crowned again on Aug. 27, 1172 (this time with Margaret), the Young King received no share of his father’s power. (He was nevertheless called by contemporaries and by certain later chroniclers King Henry III.)

With his mother and his brothers Richard (the future Richard I) and Geoffrey, he nearly overthrew Henry II in 1173. Forgiven for this revolt, he intrigued further against his father with Louis VII. In 1182–83 he waged war against Richard over Poitou, and he was preparing to fight Richard again when he died in France of dysentery.

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The Young King was so popular that the people of Le Mans and Rouen almost went to war for the custody of his body, and in his mother’s hereditary lands he was immortalized in the “Lament for the Young King” by the troubadour Bertran de Born.