D. He was the son of Matilda and of Geoffrey Plantagenet, and grandson of Henry I. B. at Mans, 1133. M. Eleanor of Poitou. Dd. at Chinon, July 6, 1189. R. 34½ years (1154 to 1189).
1157. Henry invaded Wales: his army surprised and nearly cut off.
1162. Thomas a Becket appointed archbishop of Canterbury. Differences soon arose between him and the king.
1164. Constitutions of Clarendon drawn up. Becket fled to France.
The constitutions were sixteen in number. The most important were,—that clergymen charged with crimes should be tried in the civil courts;—that all causes not strictly ecclesiastical should be tried in the same courts;—that no clergyman of high rank should leave the country without the king’s consent;—that no appeals should be made to Rome without his consent;—that no tenant-in-chief, or officer of his household, should be excommunicated without his consent;—that the king should enjoy the revenues of vacant sees;—and that no prelate should be elected without his assent.
1165. Henry invaded Wales a second time, and defeated the Welsh on the banks of the Cieroc, in Denbighshire.
1169. Richard Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, and other knights, aided Dermot in his attempt to recover the kingdom of Leinster, from which he had been driven.
1170. Henry and Becket were reconciled. Becket returned to England, and was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral (Dec. 29).
1171. Henry invaded Ireland, and was acknowledged lord of the country.
In the second year of his reign (1155) he had obtained a bull from Pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman who ever sat on the papal throne), authorizing him to subject the people of that country, but hitherto other affairs had prevented him from undertaking the enterprise.