Henry II of England
Henry II ruled an empire from Scotland to the Pyrenees, reformed English law, and had his archbishop murdered. Born at Le Mans in 1133, the son of the Empress Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou, he inherited Anjou and Normandy, married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 weeks after her annulment from Louis VII, and thereby held more of France than the French king. He invaded England, forced Stephen to name him heir, and succeeded in 1154 at twenty-one. He destroyed the unlicensed castles built during the anarchy and restored royal authority quickly. His lasting achievement is the common law. He extended the use of itinerant justices covering circuits, made royal writs available for land disputes so that litigants preferred royal courts to baronial ones, and used sworn juries of local men to give verdicts — replacing trial by battle and ordeal. The Assize of Clarendon in 1166 established procedures for presenting suspects. English and later American law descend from this. His attempt to extend the same principle to clerics accused of crime produced the quarrel with Thomas Becket, whom he had made chancellor and then archbishop expecting compliance. After six years of exile and a patched reconciliation, four knights killed Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in December 1170. Henry did public penance in 1174. He invaded Ireland in 1171, beginning eight centuries of English involvement. His sons rebelled repeatedly, with Eleanor's support; he imprisoned her for sixteen years. He died at Chinon in 1189 after Richard and Philip Augustus defeated him, learning that his favourite son John had joined them.
- Lived: 1133 CE – 1189 CE
- Nationality: English
- Roles: king, head_of_state
