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Example research essay topic: Henry The Ii King Of England Western Civilization - 1,309 words

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To demonstrate my capabilities of exploring history on Henry II King of England and present a descriptive essay on these events for an improvement on my grade score average. IV. Henry II King of England King Henry II was born on March 5 th, 1133 at Le Mans to Empress Matilda and her second husband Geoffry of Anjou. He ruled from 1155 to 1189. Henry the II already ruled Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine when he succeeded in 1154 to the throne as heir to King Stephen.

He was married in 1151 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, divorced wife of Louis VII of France, from whom he took the title of Duke of Aquitaine. Their children included William, Matilda, Eleanor, Henry, Richard, Geoffry, John, and Joan. Henry II died at Chinon in 1189 and was buried in the Abbey of Fontrevault. Henry the II was the first of the Plantagenet line of kings. He was the grandson of Henry the I and his father Geoffry of Anjou was also known as Geoffry Plantagenet from the sprig of broom (planta genista) he used as a badge. King Henry the II and his immediate successors are known as the Angevin Kings, but the House came to be known by the family name of Plantagenet.

The Angevins were notorious for their energy, their turbulence, and their terrible rages. They were said to be descended from the witch Me lusine, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaulx said of them "From the Devil they came and to the devil they will return. " (1) Henry II had all that temper: when a particular enemy of his was praised in his presence he fell into such a rage that he threw himself screaming out of bed and tore his mattress into pieces with his teeth. And he had all that energy, and " fits of black bile" which were unwise to provoke. Henry was a fine-looking man, not tall but of strong muscular built with, like all the Angevins, sandy hair and rather prominent gray eyes which grew bloodshot when his temper was up. Tough a hardened athlete, he was also a man of great culture. This was another family trait.

Henry II was orderly in business, careless in appearance, sparing in diet, never resting or giving his servants rest, chatty, inquisitive, endowed with a singular charm of address and strength of memory, obstinate in love or hatred, a fair scholar, a great hunter, his general air that of a rough, passionate, and busy man. Henry's personal character told directly on the character of his reign. It was said that the King never sat down except at table, and that when he had to be still as in church he would scribble or scratch or whittle. And yet this man had a passion for the smallest acts of justice, and would stay for hours in the courts listening patiently to every man.

Walter Map wrote, "Whoever has a good case is anxious to have it tried before a King but whoever had a bad one will not come to him unless he is dragged. " (2) Wherever he went crowds would press around him, begging him to hear their grievances, jostling to touch him or simply to look at him. he could afford to be easy, for his dignity was in himself, not in his position. The monks of Winchester once begged him to protect them from their tyrannical bishop, who had deprived them of three courses at dinner. hearing that this atrocious act still left the holy men ten courses, Henry replied robustly, "In my court three courses is enough. Perish your Bishop if he doesn't cut you down to the same. " And, riding one day with his magnificent Chancellor Beckett, Henry saw a half-naked beggar, and asked if it would not be Christian charity to cover the man's shoulders with a cloak.

When Beckett piously agreed, Henry snatched Beckett's own furs from his shoulders and tossed them to the beggar. At the bottom of Henry's character there was always a stubborn human decency, as if he were not a remarkable man, but an ordinarily decent, generous, fair-minded man raised to a higher power. As a private citizen he would have been intolerable; as the King of a disorganized and demoralized country he was in his element. In 1151 at the age of nineteen Henry had married Eleanor of Aquitaine, ten years his senior, a great heiress in her own right and one of the most beautiful and impossible women in Europe. She had first been to Louis VII of France, a monkish disposition for whom she was altogether too much. She bore him one daughter, but there were many tales of infidelity, and she became inseparable companion of her uncle, Raymond of Antioch.

Desperate, Louis tried to divorce her on the usual grounds that they were too closely related, although his advisers pointed out that her possessions in France were as great as his own. Louis appealed to the Pope, whose response it was to personally confirm their marriage. The result of this was a second daughter, but soon afterward Eleanor, too, was in favor of a divorce; it seems that she had now met Henry. In 1151 she got her divorce, and eight weeks later married Henry at Pointers. Louis lost half his kingdom by the divorce, but said of Eleanor, "The poorest gentleman of my kingdom would not desire her for a wife. " (3) Henry was made of stronger stuff than Louis. Eleanor's dowry helped him become the most powerful European ruler since Charlemagne, and she was to bear him eight children; but still he was to remember Louis's words on occasion.

His reign began peacefully enough. He had ruled as heir-apparent for the last months of the unhappy Stephen's life, and there was no one to dispute his succession. He was crowned at Westminster at Christmas, 1155, when he was twenty-one years old. Henry of Huntington tells us that the coronation was marked by universal rejoicing, and that was to prove prophetic. Henry was to bring to a stricken and exhausted country peace, security, law, and prosperity. He had to restore law and order, subjugate his unruly barons, resolve the quarrel with the Church, and maintain his other enormous domains, and he set about it all with only one aim "Above everything in the world that is desirable, " wrote Peter of Blois, "he labors for peace.

All that he thinks, all that he says, all that he does, is directed to this one end: that his people may have peace. " (4) Henry's misfortune is that he has been remembered by posterity chiefly for the murder of Beckett. Thomas Beckett was typical of the "new men" Henry had introduced into his government, a Londoner of prosperous middle-class family, church-educated, who by the age of thirty-six had risen to be Archdeacon of Canterbury and an experienced lawyer and negotiator. His abilities were so plain that on Henry's accession the Archbishop of Canterbury recommended him as Chancellor. Of all men in the kingdom, the Chancellor was the closest to the King; he was his confidential secretary and keeper of his Great Seal, and without his knowledge no matter of consequence could be transacted. Beckett gave Henry his total loyalty. He raised his taxes, fought in his wars, negotiated the marriage of his eldest son to the daughter of the King of France, and was the effective instrument of all his policies.

He was also his closest friend, sharing his unresting life, his passionate energy, and his boyish humor. Fritz Stephen writes, " I do not think that two men have ever been more one mind or closer in friendship than these two. " (5) The one thing they did not share was Beckett's extravagance. Beckett lived in magnificent style, and lov...


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