Gold Claudia - King of the north wind: the life of Henry II in five acts

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com

This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018

Copyright Claudia Gold 2018

Maps and family trees by Martin Brown

Cover design by Jack Smyth

Claudia Gold asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007554782

Ebook Edition July 2018 ISBN: 9780007554799

Version: 2018-06-25

For Phil, Asher and Jake

Henry FitzEmpress: King Henry II of England, eldest son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda of England.

Family

Henry I: Henrys maternal grandfather; king of England and duke of Normandy.

Matilda: Henrys mother; the widowed empress of Germany, married by her father to her second husband, Geoffrey count of Anjou.

Geoffrey of Anjou: Henrys father; husband of the much older Matilda. From the age of fourteen, Count of Anjou, a principality in northern France.

Geoffrey FitzEmpress: Henrys younger brother, who rebels against Henry as soon as he is able.

William FitzEmpress: Henrys youngest brother; he remains staunchly loyal.

Fulk of Anjou: Henrys paternal grandfather; leaves Anjou to marry Queen Melisende of Jerusalem. Through this second marriage, becomes king of the Latin Kingdom.

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Henrys 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 Eleanors eldest son, who dies aged three.

Henri the Young King: Henry and Eleanors second son; charming, frivolous, the family golden boy. Crowned alongside his father in 1170, but given no authority.

Richard: Henry and Eleanors third son, destined to rule in Aquitaine.

Geoffrey: Henry and Eleanors fourth son; duke of Brittany.

John: Henry and Eleanors fifth son and last child, later known as Lackland; Henrys favourite legitimate son.

Matilda of Saxony: Henry and Eleanors 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 Eleanors second daughter; married to Alfonso VIII of Castile.

Joanna: Henry and Eleanors youngest daughter; married to King William the good of Sicily. Later, she is touted as a possible bride for Saladins younger brother.

Robert, earl of Gloucester: Eldest illegitimate son of Henry I, one of the greatest magnates in England, and Henrys uncle. Robert fought for Henrys 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: Henrys eldest illegitimate son; probably his favourite and best-liked child.

Matilda, prioress of Barking Abbey: Henrys illegitimate daughter, born before his marriage to Eleanor.

William Longsword, earl of Salisbury: Another of Henrys illegitimate children, born in the 1160s.

Morgan, provost of Beverly, and bishop-elect of Durham: Possibly Henrys youngest illegitimate child, born in the mid-1170s.

Baldwin, the leper king: Henrys first cousin, king of Jerusalem. He rules a kingdom riven with byzantine factionalism.

Marie: Eleanors eldest daughter by Louis, married to the count of Champagne.

Alix: Eleanors 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 Eleanors eldest surviving son.

Alice of France: Margarets sister; betrothed to Henrys son, Richard. Possibly Henrys mistress.

Friends

Adelard of Bath: One of Henrys four teachers, he brought knowledge of Arabic mathematics to England.

William of Conches: Another of Henrys teachers, and one of Europes most celebrated scholars.

William Marshal: The greatest knight in the world, who served Henry and his family for over fifty years.

Rosamund Clifford: Henrys favourite mistress, the love of his life.

Richard de Lucy: Henrys co-justiciar and one of his great magnates.

Robert, earl of Leicester: Henrys other co-justiciar; an enormously powerful nobleman.

Ranulf de Glanville: Justiciar in the latter part of Henrys reign; possible author of On the Laws and Customs of England, which details the reforms under Henrys reign that would become the foundations of English Common Law.

Richard FitzNigel: Henrys treasurer and author of the influential Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer.

Brian Fitz Count: Illegitimate son of the duke of Normandy, and one of Matildas closest allies. They were possibly lovers.

Foes

King Stephen: Matildas first cousin and mortal enemy. He stole the throne from her.

Matilda of Boulogne: Stephens queen, a warrior for his cause.

Eustace: Stephens eldest son and heir, who tries to murder Henry.

William: Stephens second son; plots to murder Henry, although in secret.