Marriage Alliances

It was expected that kings and other nobles would try to gain alliances (and therefore security) by marrying their sons and daughters to important people in other realms, and King Henry II of England was no exception. He had gained Aquitaine and Poitou on the continent by marriage to Eleanor, and was already Duke of Normandy.

Not all marriage plans come to fruition, however, for one reason or another.

His first plan was to marry his eldest legitimate son, Henry the Young King, to Marguerite the daughter of Louis VII of France. Ideally, their offspring would rule both France and England. They were married in 1172, when Henry was only 17 and Marguerite 14 (it had been negotiated when he was only five). Young Henry died in 1183 from dysentery while rebelling against his father. His one child, a son named William, did not survive. The attempt to bring several territories together failed.

Another son, Richard "Lionhearted," was betrothed to another daughter of Louis, Alys, in 1169. But the rumor became that Alys, being fostered in the care of Henry II, became his mistress. As the sister of the new king of France, Philip II, Richard was reluctant to renounce the betrothal. When Henry died in 1189 and Richard was crowned, he broke off the intended marriage in 1190 while speaking with Philip on the Third Crusade. A year later Richard married Berengaria of Navarre.

Alys was offered by Philip to Prince John, but Eleanor stopped it. Alys went on to marry William IV Talvas, Count of Ponthieu, in 1195; she was 35, he was 16.

Another son, Geoffrey, was married to Constance of Brittany, daughter of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany, in order to quell problems of rebellion there.

While Henry II was figuring out how his kingdom would be divided among his sons, he had nothing left for the youngest son, John. Jahn's nickname of "Lackland" reflects this. Looking far afield for some way to use his youngest, he made an arrangement to marry John to Alice, the daughter of Humbert III of Savoy. John was promised to inherit from hi father-in-law Savoy, Piedmont, Maurienne, and other possessions in northern Italy. Alice of Maurienne traveled to England to become a ward of Henry II, but she died before the wedding could take place. John later married twice, both women named Isabella; "local" women whose fathers were important and wanted their grandchildren to rule England.

Political marriages don't always work out as planned.

I've used Henry the Young King mostly as a footnote, but he was much written about while he lived, and accomplished more than being crowned prematurely and dying while rebelling unsuccessfully against his father. I want to dive into his life and motives a little more...next time.

Eleanor Later

In the later years of their marriage, Eleanor of Aquitaine spent long stretches of time apart from King Henry II. From 1168 until 1173, for instance, she held court in Poitiers. She wasn't idle: she had responsibilities to Poitou and Aquitaine—territories that came to her from her father—and Henry was apparently content to have her stay there and manage them as his regent in the area. Moreover, the weather and lifestyle of the continent might have suited her more than life in England.

Her grandfather, William the Troubadour, had added to the Palace of Poitiers, where she lived, and Eleanor would also add to the original Merovingian structure, with a dining hall so vast that it was called the Salle des Pas Perdus, the "hall of lost footsteps," because the sound of footsteps got lost in the 50 by 17 meter expanse (see illustration).

Henry traveled to meet King Louis VII in January 1169. The purpose was to create alliances by betrothing his son Richard to Louis' daughter Alys. Henry's son Henry was already betrothed to Louis' daughter Marguerite. There is no evidence that Henry visited Eleanor while on the continent. They were together for Christmas 1170 near Bayeaux, and again in 1172 at Chinon.

The couple were together for a week in February 1173 at Montferrand for the betrothal of Prince John to Alice of Maurienne. At this time, the young Henry, who had already been crowned in order to establish the succession, became openly rebellious against his father. Henry II took him to Chinon, but the morning after they arrived found young Henry gone. He had fled to Paris and Louis VII, who supported him as the new king of England.

This started a revolt of his sons (but not John, who was only seven and by his father's side) against Henry II. Later writers found reason to blame Eleanor. William of Newburgh wrote that young Henry went to his mother, where his brothers Richard and Geoffrey were staying, to convince them to join him in overthrowing their father. Newburgh claims Henry had help from Eleanor to convince the two. Roger of Hoveden is more explicit, stating Eleanor deliberately sent the other sons to join their brother.

Whatever the case, it seemed Eleanor did put the resources of Aquitaine behind the rebellion. Going to join her sons in Paris in April, Eleanor was captured by Henry II's men and confined in Rouen. In 1174, Henry II took Eleanor and other nobles back to England to prepare for invasion from France. Eleanor was confined to an unknown location.

Henry senior beat the rebellion, and the sons had freedom afterward, but Eleanor was never allowed to be totally free. Her wealth and reputation were too risky to be allowed to interfere in royal policy. He tried having the marriage annulled on the grounds of consanguinity—which is how she became free to marry him in the first place—but a papal legate advised against it. He then tried to convince Eleanor to become a nun, but she requested the Archbishop of Rouen to persuade Henry to stop. Henry turned again to the pope, but was denied. The only recourse was to keep her under "house arrest" while he lived.

Her life after Henry's death was long and eventful, but would take months to discuss in 300-word snippets, so we will say that she died on the night of 31 March 1204 at the age of 80 and entombed between Henry II and Richard I.

History knows that Prince John was a pretty ineffective king, and of his role in Magna Carta and the trouble with Barons, but what happened to that marriage plan with Alice of Maurienne, and what or where was Maurienne, and was it a good match? I'll go into that tomorrow.