Henry the Young King, 1155-1183 / Matthew Strickland.

Print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

A forgotten king? -- Born in the purple: early childhood and infant marriage, 1155-1160 -- Rex puer: coronation plans and associative kingship, 1161-1163 -- Training for kingship, 1163-1169 -- Novus rex: the coronation, 1170 -- The regent and the martyr, 1170-1172 -- "A king without a kingdom": the seeds of war, 1172-1173 -- "The cubs of the roaring lion shall awaken": the outbreak of war, 1173 -- Invasion: the onslaught renewed, 1174 -- A fragile peace, 1175-1177 -- Apogee: king of the tournament, 1177-1182 -- Keeping the balance of power: France, 1178-1182 -- The brothers' war, 1183 -- Vir sanctus: death, commemoration and legacy.

This first modern study of Henry the Young King, eldest son of Henry II but the least known Plantagenet monarch, explores the brief but eventful life of the only English ruler after the Norman Conquest to be created co-ruler in his father's lifetime. Crowned at fifteen to secure an undisputed succession, Henry played a central role in the politics of Henry II's great empire and was hailed as the embodiment of chivalry. Consistently denied direct rule, the Young King was provoked first into heading a major rebellion against his father, then to waging a bitter war against his brother Richard for control of Aquitaine, dying before reaching the age of thirty having never assumed actual power. This history provides a richly coloured portrait of an all-but-forgotten royal figure tutored by Thomas Becket, trained in arms by the great knight William Marshal, and incited to rebellion by his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, while using his career to explore the nature of kingship, succession, dynastic politics, and rebellion in twelfth-century England and France.

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