Henry the Young King Blog

Wonderful news for all those who would like to learn more about Henry the Young King's great-great-nephew Edward II from a long-awaited biography by Ms Kathryn Warner that has been oficially released on 28 October 2014: Ms Warner is going on a blog tour this week to promote her book. You can meet her at the following blogs:
28 October: A general introduction to Edward II, his reign and his ancestry at Christy K. Robinson's Rooting for Ancestors blog.

29 October: A post about Edward II and his children at Medievalists.net.

30 October: Edward and the Despensers at Susan Higginbotham's blog.

31 October: An interview with Gareth Russell on his blog.

1 November: Edward II and Piers Gaveston at Anerje's Piers blog.
2 November: Edward II and his household at Annette's Impressions in Ink.


3 November: Edward II and his rustic pursuits at Becky's The Medieval World.

4 November: An interview and book giveaway with Olga at Nerdalicious.

5 November: Edward II and his 12th century an…

I am happy to announce that recently Henry the Young King has found one more safe haven. He is going to share it with his namesakes, other Henrys, coming from different parts of Europe. Bearing in mind his proverbial charm he should make friends easily (of course if not tourneying, he is going to spend most of his time here - as he always does). You are going to find him here, on Henryków Blog. "Henryków" means "belonging to Henrys". As it happens, it is also the name of a small town, where one of the oldest Cistercian houses in western Poland had been founded by Duke Henryk Pobożny [Henry the Pious] in 1222, with the first abbot also named Henryk. It was in Henryków where the invaluable collection of documents was kept with the very first sentence in Polish recorded (as we know the books were written in Latin then). The collection is known as Księga Henrykowska [the Book of Henryków] and can be seen in the Archidiocesan Museum of Wrocław today.
Duke of Wrocław, Hen…

Today marks the 841st anniversary of the Battle of Fornham, as some historians say, the most decesive battle in Henry II's reign and as I say, the most humiliating defeat in Herny the Young King's Great Revolt. It was fought in England, near Bury St Edmunds, on 17 October 1173, the same year the well known Jocelin of Brakelond entered the monastery. Take a look at my last year's post about the battle and the events surrounding it here. Note that most unusually there was a woman actively involved, fully armed, fighting alongside the men (the latter must have been genuinely shocked at her brazen behaviour ;-)). You can read about this D&D (daring and determined) lady here.

Both Ms Sharon Kay Penman and Ms Elizabeth Chadwick have given a vivid description of the battle in their novels, Devil's Brood and The Time of Singing respectively.

Additionally, we have a cause for celebration. Today's post is our 100th Henry the Young King post. Hurrah! Grasping the opportunit…

Before I focus on the depictions of Henry the Young King that have survived to our days, I would like to express my gratitude to Ms Elizabeth Chadwick for inspiring me to write this post. As it happens, a few days ago I came across her blog post, in which she recommended a new Eleanor of Aquitaine book, Inventing Eleanor by Michael R. Evans. Read Ms Chadwick's post here. To my utter delight, in his work Mr Evans mentions my favourite authors of historical fiction, both Ms Elizabeth Chadwick and Ms Sharon Kay Penman! I am so very happy to see their names in a book on Henry's mother, whom both ladies brought vividly to life. Fully deserved. We all can learn history from their brilliant novels.

Now back to our Henry. I have already discussed how he looked like inone of my previous posts. His contemporaries seemed unanimous when describing his physical appearance.
"He was tall in stature, and distinguished in appearance... Fair among children of men” from Otia Imperialia by Ger…

Just a note to say that yesterday saw the anniversary of the Great Revolt of 1173-74 definitely brought to an end. On 30 September 1174, Henry the Young King, accompanied by his father-in-law Louis VII of France and his younger brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, was meeting his father the victorious Henry II at Mountlouis, between Tours and Amboise. The meeting probably began on the 29th - in the medieval calendar Michaelmas was one of the traditional days for peacemaking. Henry the Young King and his younger brothers had no other choice but to accept their father’s terms. The young Henry received two castles in Normandy and £ 15,000 in Angevin currency per annum, but he was to allow his youngest brother John to have Nottingham, Marlborough, and estates in Normandy and Anjou to the value of £ 2,000 annually, plus five castles. Richard received two castles and half the revenues of Poitou, and Geoffrey received half the inheritance of his future wife, Constance, the heiress to Brittany. A …