The authorities for the life of Henry the Lion are those dealing with the reign of the emperor Frederick I., and the early years of his son King Henry VI. The chief modern works are H. Prutz, Heinrich der Löwe (Leipzig, 1865); M. Philippson, Geschichte Heinrichs des Löwen (Leipzig, 1867); and L. Weiland, Das sächsische Herzogthum unter Lothar und Heinrich dem Löwen (Greifswald, 1866).
[1] The see was transferred to Schwerin by Henry in 1167.
[2] Transferred to Lübeck in 1163.
HENRY, Prince of Battenberg (1858-1896), was the third son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and his morganatic wife, the beautiful Countess Julia von Hauke, to whom was granted in 1858 the title of princess of Battenberg, which her children inherited. He was born at Milan on the 5th of October 1858, was educated with a special view to military service, and in due time became a lieutenant in the first regiment of Rhenish hussars. By their relationship to the grand dukes of Hesse the princes of Battenberg were brought into close contact with the English court, and Prince Henry paid several visits to England, where he soon became popular both in public and in private circles. It therefore created but little surprise when, towards the close of 1884, it was announced that Queen Victoria had sanctioned his engagement to the Princess Beatrice. The wedding took place at Whippingham on the 23rd of July 1885, and after the honeymoon the prince and princess settled down to a quiet home life with the queen, being seldom absent from the court, and accompanying her majesty in her annual visits to the continent. Three sons and a daughter were the issue of the marriage. On the 31st of July 1885 a bill to naturalize Prince Henry was passed by the House of Lords, and he received the title of royal highness. He was made a Knight of the Garter and a member of the Privy Council, and also appointed a colonel in the army, and afterwards captain-general and governor of the Isle of Wight and governor of Carisbrooke Castle. He adapted himself very readily to English country life, for he was an excellent shot and an enthusiastic yachtsman. Coming of a martial race, the prince would gladly have embraced an active military career, and when the Ashanti expedition was organized in November 1895 he volunteered to join it. But when the expedition reached Prahsu, about 30 m. from Kumasi, he was struck down by fever, and being promptly conveyed back to the coast, was placed on board H.M.S. “Blonde.” On the 17th of January he seemed to recover slightly, but a relapse occurred on the 19th, and he died on the evening of the 20th off the coast of Sierra Leone.
HENRY FITZ HENRY (1155-1183), second son of Henry II., king of England, by Eleanor of Aquitaine, became heir to the throne on the death of his brother William (1156), and at the age of five was married to Marguerite, the infant daughter of Louis VII. In 1170 he was crowned at Westminster by Roger of York. The protests of Becket against this usurpation of the rights of Canterbury were the ultimate cause of the primate’s murder. The young king soon quarrelled with his father, who allowed him no power and a wholly inadequate revenue, and headed the great baronial revolt of 1173. He was assisted by his father-in-law, to whose court he had repaired; but, failing to shake the old king’s power either in Normandy or England, made peace in 1174. Despite the generous terms which he received, he continued to intrigue with Louis VII., and was in consequence jealously watched by his father. In 1182 he and his younger brother Geoffrey took up arms, on the side of the Poitevin rebels, against Richard Cœur de Lion; apparently from resentment at the favour which Henry II. had shown to Richard in giving him the government of Poitou while they were virtually landless. Henry II. took the field in aid of Richard; but the young king and Geoffrey had no scruples about withstanding their father, and continued to aid the Aquitanian rising until the young king fell ill of a fever which proved fatal to him (June 11, 1183). His death was bitterly regretted by his father and by all who had known him. Though of a fickle and treacherous nature, he had all the personal fascination of his family, and is extolled by his contemporaries as a mirror of chivalry. His train was full of knights who served him without pay for the honour of being associated with his exploits in the tilting-lists and in war.
The original authorities for Henry’s life are Robert de Torigni, Chronica; Giraldus Cambrensis, De instructione principum, Guillaume le Maréchal (ed. P. Meyer, Paris, 1891, &c.); Benedict, Gesta Henrici, William of Newburgh. See also Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings (1887); Sir James Ramsay, Angevin Empire (1903); and C. E. Hodgson, Jung Heinrich, König von England (Jena, 1906).