28 February 1155: Henry, the Future Young King Is Born

…a son, Henry, was born in London to King Henry of England and Queen Eleanor on 28 February [1155] and was baptized by Richard, bishop of London. 

Ralph of Diceto, Images of History

Henry, the future Young King, was the second son of Henry II, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, and Eleanor, Queen of England and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, and their first child to be born in the purple. At the time of his birth Eleanor was thirty-one and already a mother of three, two daughters by her first husband, Louis VII of France, and a son, William (b.1153) by her second husband. And whereas William’s was a special triumph of her own – she proved her first husband wrong and showed she was perfectly able to produce a male heir –  her second son must have been seen as an additional confirmation that she and Henry had the Almighty on their side...

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Big thank you to Susan Abernethy for having me and Henry on her excellent website. I was happy to write a few words about him on the day he celebrated his birthday. Additionally, I have decided to check if his popularity grew a little bit over the past few years (since the publication of the excellent biography by Prof. Matthew Strickland) or if he still is in a dire need of support. To determine this I invited a few friends to the blog to raise the question. I asked them to think about how they would complete the following sentence:

When you hear "Henry the Young King", the first thing that comes to mind is...

Pierre Laurent, citizen of Rouen, Normandy

I know that he was buried in our cathedral. His tomb effigy is still there. And that he was a brother of Richard the Lionheart, whose tomb is also there. But that's it. I don't think I can say more. Sorry. 

Julie Graham, citizen of Canterbury, England

Henry the Young King... Always overshadowed by his famous (slash infamous) brothers, Richard and John. 

Oliver Cook, citizen of Mansfield, England

Henry the Young King? The first thing that comes to mind is a young man who assisted in defining the age of chivalry and tournaments.

Susan Abernethy historian

When I hear "Henry the Young King", the first thing that comes to mind is a frustrated and rebellious young man. Of course, he was not the only son of Henry II to rebel but the tragedy seems to be the high expectations for him once he was crowned. It also occurs to me that he had a sad end, dying of dysentery while on campaign at such a young age. He seems to have had so much potential. 

Richard Willis, historian

I regret that he’s not as well-known as his brothers. He was a better man than John and would have made a good king on his own. I find it difficult to believe that someone raised in part by William Marshal would’ve turned out otherwise. He had his issues, but so did everyone else in that family. (My aunt was not amused when I mentioned the Angevin’s supposed demonic lineage, we’re somehow descended from Henry II and Eleanor.) 

But like many of his age, Henry died much too young. We got a glimpse of him, but it may have been as antithetical to who he would have been than another young Henry immortalized by the Bard of Avon – Henry V was supposedly a wild child as well, and he turned out fairly well…and still died young, he wasn’t more than a decade older than the Young King when he passed, I believe. I’ve always taken solace in the fact that even now still, someone remembers him the way you do. 

If I had to, I’d put it that he probably would’ve been on par with what his younger brother would have done, though he and Richard were very different in temperament, they both had enough of their father in them to get the job done well.

Thank you for all your thought-provoking comments. They are going to be of great help in chosing the topics of my future posts. 

Last, but not least, I would like to thank the editor-in-chief of Medievalists.net for recommending one of my previous articles about Henry to the readers, as a reminder of today's anniversary. You can read it here.

Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcik