did not live togetherafter 1138. Henry was associated early with his mother’s claims. Between the Westminster rout and the defeat at Winchester, when she was attempting to consolidate support among the barons, she offered lands not only in England but also Normandy in exchange for their loyalty, and a charter of 1141 to Aubrey de Vere begins: ‘Henry, son of the daughter of King Henry, rightful heir of England and Normandy …’ Henry was seven when his mother sailed for England to make good her rights, and in 1142 he was brought over to join her, his presence a meaningful instrument in her campaign in that it demonstrated that should she achieve the crown, the succession was assured. When his father obtained the dukedom of Normandy in 1144, Henry returned to the duchy, where he remained until 1147. In March of that year, on his own initiative, the fourteen-year-old gathered a small party of knights and set off for England to fight for his mother, but his gallant gesture ended in embarrassment as he was forced to appeal unsuccessfully to both the Empress and Robert of Gloucester for funds. In the end, it was his uncle Stephen who, instead of imprisoning him, kindly bailed him out and he went back to Normandy in disgrace.
The Empress, her husband and three sons met at Rouen in 1148 to decide the next step in the Angevin strategy. If Henry wanted to make good his own claim after the Empress’s return to Normandy, he would have to deal with the problem of the rival heir, Stephen’s son Eustace. Eustace’s parents had begun to lobby for their son’s rights to be recognised. In 1147, when he was twenty-one, Stephen knighted him, and with Matilda’s consent he was given possession of the honour and county of Boulogne. Eustace himself was insecure about his title to the kingdom, which may have been a consequence of his mother’s request to the Empress at Westminster in 1140 that he should be granted at least Stephen’s Continental holdings, implying that his inheritance was less than assured. In any event, when Henry arrived in England in spring 1149, Eustace took it as a personal challenge. One commentator, John of Hexham, noted that their personal rivalry was so intense that they seemed to be fighting a duel for the kingdom.
Henry FitzEmpress held his first English court at Devizes, which was still pro-Angevin, on 13 April. Presumably to Eustace’s dismay, the Stephenite Gesta described Henry as the ‘true heir’. The Gesta author was reflecting the mood of the country, which was increasingly inclined to the view that the Angevins would prevail. From Devizes, Henry moved to the court of his great-uncle, David of Scotland, at Carlisle, where, in the presence of a number of significant magnates, he was knighted. This may have been intended as a symbolic gesture, rather than as a declaration ofwar, but during Henry’s return journey from Carlisle, Stephen ordered Eustace to garrison Oxford, and the two young men fought a campaign of skirmishes in the south-west. Eustace attempted to capture Devizes, and almost succeeded in taking Henry prisoner at Dursley, but Henry eluded him and managed to escape to Normandy in January 1150.
In response to the confrontation between Henry and Eustace, Stephen and Matilda took steps to have Eustace crowned in his father’s lifetime, a custom which was unfamiliar in the England of that period, but which had precedents among the Anglo-Saxon kings and also in the Capet dynasty in France. Indeed, it was a policy that Henry II was to enact with his own son. It required the consent of Theobald, the archbishop of Canterbury, with whom the royal couple had until recently enjoyed good relations. Stephen had appointed Theobald to the see in 1138, in preference to his own brother Bishop Henry, and in 1147 Theobald had personally selected the Queen’s confessor, prior Ralph of Holy Trinity Aldgate. In 1149, though, Theobald refused to consent to Eustace’s coronation. His direction came from
The Empress, her husband and three sons met at Rouen in 1148 to decide the next step in the Angevin strategy. If Henry wanted to make good his own claim after the Empress’s return to Normandy, he would have to deal with the problem of the rival heir, Stephen’s son Eustace. Eustace’s parents had begun to lobby for their son’s rights to be recognised. In 1147, when he was twenty-one, Stephen knighted him, and with Matilda’s consent he was given possession of the honour and county of Boulogne. Eustace himself was insecure about his title to the kingdom, which may have been a consequence of his mother’s request to the Empress at Westminster in 1140 that he should be granted at least Stephen’s Continental holdings, implying that his inheritance was less than assured. In any event, when Henry arrived in England in spring 1149, Eustace took it as a personal challenge. One commentator, John of Hexham, noted that their personal rivalry was so intense that they seemed to be fighting a duel for the kingdom.
Henry FitzEmpress held his first English court at Devizes, which was still pro-Angevin, on 13 April. Presumably to Eustace’s dismay, the Stephenite Gesta described Henry as the ‘true heir’. The Gesta author was reflecting the mood of the country, which was increasingly inclined to the view that the Angevins would prevail. From Devizes, Henry moved to the court of his great-uncle, David of Scotland, at Carlisle, where, in the presence of a number of significant magnates, he was knighted. This may have been intended as a symbolic gesture, rather than as a declaration ofwar, but during Henry’s return journey from Carlisle, Stephen ordered Eustace to garrison Oxford, and the two young men fought a campaign of skirmishes in the south-west. Eustace attempted to capture Devizes, and almost succeeded in taking Henry prisoner at Dursley, but Henry eluded him and managed to escape to Normandy in January 1150.
In response to the confrontation between Henry and Eustace, Stephen and Matilda took steps to have Eustace crowned in his father’s lifetime, a custom which was unfamiliar in the England of that period, but which had precedents among the Anglo-Saxon kings and also in the Capet dynasty in France. Indeed, it was a policy that Henry II was to enact with his own son. It required the consent of Theobald, the archbishop of Canterbury, with whom the royal couple had until recently enjoyed good relations. Stephen had appointed Theobald to the see in 1138, in preference to his own brother Bishop Henry, and in 1147 Theobald had personally selected the Queen’s confessor, prior Ralph of Holy Trinity Aldgate. In 1149, though, Theobald refused to consent to Eustace’s coronation. His direction came from
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