King of the North Wind: The Life of Henry II in Five Acts
Henry II conquered the largest empire of any English medieval king. Yet it is the people around him we remember: his wife Eleanor, whom he seduced from the French king; his son Richard the Lionheart; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Who was this great, yet tragic king? For fans of Dan Jones, George RR Martin and Bernard Cornwell.The only thing that could have stopped Henry was himself.Henry II had all the gifts of the gods. He was charismatic, clever, learned, empathetic, a brilliant tactician, with great physical strength and an astonishing self-belief. Henry was the creator of the Plantagenet dynasty of kings, who ruled through eight generations in command of vast lands in Britain and Europe. Virtually unbeaten in battle, and engaged in a ceaseless round of conquest and diplomacy, Henry forged an empire that matched Charlemagne’s.It was not just on the battlefield that Henry excelled; he presided over a blossoming of culture and learning termed ‘the twelfth century Renaissance’, pursued the tenets of reason over religious faith, and did more to advance the cause of justice and enforce the rule of law than any other English monarch before or since. Contemporaries lauded his greatness and described him as their ‘Alexander of the West’.And yet it is the people around him who are remembered: his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he seduced away from the French king; his sons Richard the Lionheart and John; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Henry – so famed during his lifetime – has slipped into the shadows of history. King of the North Wind offers a fresh evaluation of this great yet tragic ruler.Written as a historical tragedy, it tells how this most talented of kings came into conflict with those closest to him, to become the most haunted.
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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018
Copyright © Claudia Gold 2018
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Source ISBN: 9780007554782
Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780007554799
Version: 2018-06-25
For Phil, Asher and Jake
CONTENTS
Henry FitzEmpress: King Henry II of England, eldest son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda of England.
Family
Henry I: Henry’s maternal grandfather; king of England and duke of Normandy.
Matilda: Henry’s mother; the widowed empress of Germany, married by her father to her second husband, Geoffrey count of Anjou.
Geoffrey of Anjou: Henry’s father; husband of the much older Matilda. From the age of fourteen, Count of Anjou, a principality in northern France.
Geoffrey FitzEmpress: Henry’s younger brother, who rebels against Henry as soon as he is able.
William FitzEmpress: Henry’s youngest brother; he remains staunchly loyal.
Fulk of Anjou: Henry’s paternal grandfather; leaves Anjou to marry Queen Melisende of Jerusalem. Through this second marriage, becomes king of the Latin Kingdom.
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Henry’s wife, previously married to Louis VII of France; duchess of Aquitaine, the largest and wealthiest province in France, in her own right. She is about eleven years older than Henry.
William of Poitiers: Henry and Eleanor’s eldest son, who dies aged three.
Henri the Young King: Henry and Eleanor’s second son; charming, frivolous, the family ‘golden boy’. Crowned alongside his father in 1170, but given no authority.
Richard: Henry and Eleanor’s third son, destined to rule in Aquitaine.
Geoffrey: Henry and Eleanor’s fourth son; duke of Brittany.
John: Henry and Eleanor’s fifth son and last child, later known as ‘Lackland’; Henry’s favourite legitimate son.
Matilda of Saxony: Henry and Eleanor’s eldest daughter; married to Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. Her beauty inspires the troubadour poet Bertran de Born to write scandalous verse about her.
Young Eleanor: Henry and Eleanor’s second daughter; married to Alfonso VIII of Castile.
Joanna: Henry and Eleanor’s youngest daughter; married to King William ‘the good’ of Sicily. Later, she is touted as a possible bride for Saladin’s younger brother.
Robert, earl of Gloucester: Eldest illegitimate son of Henry I, one of the greatest magnates in England, and Henry’s uncle. Robert fought for Henry’s rights to rule alongside his half-sister, Matilda.
Reginald, earl of Cornwall: Another illegitimate son of Henry I. Unwavering in his support for his nephew.
Geoffrey Plantagenet: Henry’s eldest illegitimate son; probably his favourite and best-liked child.
Matilda, prioress of Barking Abbey: Henry’s illegitimate daughter, born before his marriage to Eleanor.
William Longsword, earl of Salisbury: Another of Henry’s illegitimate children, born in the 1160s.
Morgan, provost of Beverly, and bishop-elect of Durham: Possibly Henry’s youngest illegitimate child, born in the mid-1170s.
Baldwin, ‘the leper king’: Henry’s first cousin, king of Jerusalem. He rules a kingdom riven with byzantine factionalism.
Marie: Eleanor’s eldest daughter by Louis, married to the count of Champagne.
Alix: Eleanor’s second daughter by Louis. She is married to the count of Blois.
Margaret of France: Louis’ eldest daughter by his second wife, Constance of Castile. Margaret is married to Henri, Henry and Eleanor’s eldest surviving son.
Alice of France: Margaret’s sister; betrothed to Henry’s son, Richard. Possibly Henry’s mistress.
Friends
Adelard of Bath: One of Henry’s four teachers, he brought knowledge of Arabic mathematics to England.
William of Conches: Another of Henry’s teachers, and one of Europe’s most celebrated scholars.
William Marshal: ‘The greatest knight in the world’, who served Henry and his family for over fifty years.
Rosamund Clifford: Henry’s favourite mistress, ‘the love of his life’.
