Henry,
the eldest son of Matilda, the daughter
of Henry I, and Geoffrey Plantagent, Count
of Anjou, was born in Le Mans in 1133.
Although
he married twice, Henry only had two legitimate children, William
and Matilda. (He had at least another twenty outside marriage.) When
his son William drowned in 1120, Henry decided to ask his barons to
accept his daughter as the country's next ruler. The barons were not
happy about this but after much discussion they accepted Henry's request.
When Henry I died in 1135,
some of the barons did not keep their promise to support Matilda.
The Normans
had never had a woman leader.
Norman law stated that all property and rights should be handed over
to men. To the Normans this meant that her husband Geoffrey of Anjou
would become their next ruler.
The people of Anjou (Angevins)
were considered to be barbarians by the Normans. Most Normans were
unwilling to accept an Angevin ruler and instead decided to help Stephen,
the son of one of William the Conqueror's daughters, to become king.
For the next eighteen
years there was civil war between the supporters of Matilda
and Stephen.
As neither side was strong enough to achieve an outright victory,
the result was a long conflict that created a great deal of hardship
for the people of England.
Matilda and Geoffrey of
Anjou had three sons. At the age of fourteen Henry, the eldest son,
arrived in England from Anjou with his own army to help his mother
in her fight against Stephen. Henry also fought in France, and with
his father managed to capture Normandy from Stephen. Later, when Geoffrey
died. Henry
