successfully the enormous spread of territory on both sides of the English Channel known as the Angevin Empire. While keeping everyone around him in the dark, he himself knew exactly what he was about; he was simply too paranoid to tell anyone else.
During the long chevauchée with Eleanor that lasted well into the autumn of 1152, he showed that England was never far from his mind by taking a close interest in the large number of ships and men employed in fishing along the Gascon littoral, who could be useful in crossing the Channel. However, before facing the risks of that invasion he wanted to teach Eleanor’s vassals the same lesson he had given to Louis’ coalition, and so lessen the likelihood of a rebellion in the south-west during his absence the following year. On the journey north, in Limoges for his coronation as duke of Aquitaine, the opportunity he wanted presented itself.
The Limousin capital was composed of the lower town, including the abbey of St Martial and the viscount’s palace, and the upper town or citadel with the cathedral and the bishop’s palace. After being welcomed by the populace and in great pomp by the abbot and his monks, the new duke of Aquitaine demanded by feudal right provisions for all his retinue. The abbot refused on the grounds that his obligations were to provide food and lodgings while the duke was inside the walls, whereas Henry was encamped outside the town with his followers. 8 The dispute had more to do with the numbers involved than where they were actually billeted, but fights broke out in the streets of the town between the citizens and Henry’s soldiery, some of whom were wounded.
The outraged duke gave orders for the recently built walls of the town to be razed to the ground so that it was impossible to be inside them or outside. The new bridge over the River Vienne was likewise torn down. 9 His depredations were only stopped by encouraging news from Matilda’s supporters in England that caused him to hurry north. On 8 January 1153, he defied the winter storms by setting sail from Barfleur with a small fleet of twenty-six vessels, 10 leaving Eleanor pregnant in France.
The following day he landed an army of around 3,000 men in the country where he had spent part of his childhood acting as figurehead to Matilda’s supporters in the civil war with Stephen of Blois and being groomed to wear the crown of England. Despite widespread dissatisfaction with the raping and looting of Stephen’s Flemishmercenaries, Henry’s position as the most powerful man in France was not enough to bring the Anglo-Norman nobility as a whole over to his side. With the same tenacity his mother had shown, he settled down to a long campaign, considering that he had little to fear from a rebellion in his French domains with her in control of Normandy and Eleanor acting as regent for his other domains.
The two women kept their distance. Regarding Normandy as hers, Matilda was not prepared to quietly step aside as Adelaide de Maurienne had done when Eleanor arrived on the Ile de la Cité. A pious autocrat, she accepted the political necessity for her son’s marriage, but had no welcome for a daughter-in-law fresh from another man’s bed and within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. Nor was Eleanor inclined to curry favour from so hostile a mother-in-law.
Leaving her uncle Raoul de Faye to govern Aquitaine, she moved into Henry’s territory by setting up in his capital city of Angers the first of her own courts where comfort and pleasure meant not just good food and wine but all the other civilised pleasures of the day. In Rouen, all was sobriety and pious learning at the empress’ court; in Angers, men played the gallant or were sent away until such time as they learned to. However valiant they might be in the field, Eleanor required them to speak eloquently, dress well and have their hair properly cut when in her presence.
Western Europe was still groaning under the heavy taxes to
During the long chevauchée with Eleanor that lasted well into the autumn of 1152, he showed that England was never far from his mind by taking a close interest in the large number of ships and men employed in fishing along the Gascon littoral, who could be useful in crossing the Channel. However, before facing the risks of that invasion he wanted to teach Eleanor’s vassals the same lesson he had given to Louis’ coalition, and so lessen the likelihood of a rebellion in the south-west during his absence the following year. On the journey north, in Limoges for his coronation as duke of Aquitaine, the opportunity he wanted presented itself.
The Limousin capital was composed of the lower town, including the abbey of St Martial and the viscount’s palace, and the upper town or citadel with the cathedral and the bishop’s palace. After being welcomed by the populace and in great pomp by the abbot and his monks, the new duke of Aquitaine demanded by feudal right provisions for all his retinue. The abbot refused on the grounds that his obligations were to provide food and lodgings while the duke was inside the walls, whereas Henry was encamped outside the town with his followers. 8 The dispute had more to do with the numbers involved than where they were actually billeted, but fights broke out in the streets of the town between the citizens and Henry’s soldiery, some of whom were wounded.
The outraged duke gave orders for the recently built walls of the town to be razed to the ground so that it was impossible to be inside them or outside. The new bridge over the River Vienne was likewise torn down. 9 His depredations were only stopped by encouraging news from Matilda’s supporters in England that caused him to hurry north. On 8 January 1153, he defied the winter storms by setting sail from Barfleur with a small fleet of twenty-six vessels, 10 leaving Eleanor pregnant in France.
The following day he landed an army of around 3,000 men in the country where he had spent part of his childhood acting as figurehead to Matilda’s supporters in the civil war with Stephen of Blois and being groomed to wear the crown of England. Despite widespread dissatisfaction with the raping and looting of Stephen’s Flemishmercenaries, Henry’s position as the most powerful man in France was not enough to bring the Anglo-Norman nobility as a whole over to his side. With the same tenacity his mother had shown, he settled down to a long campaign, considering that he had little to fear from a rebellion in his French domains with her in control of Normandy and Eleanor acting as regent for his other domains.
The two women kept their distance. Regarding Normandy as hers, Matilda was not prepared to quietly step aside as Adelaide de Maurienne had done when Eleanor arrived on the Ile de la Cité. A pious autocrat, she accepted the political necessity for her son’s marriage, but had no welcome for a daughter-in-law fresh from another man’s bed and within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. Nor was Eleanor inclined to curry favour from so hostile a mother-in-law.
Leaving her uncle Raoul de Faye to govern Aquitaine, she moved into Henry’s territory by setting up in his capital city of Angers the first of her own courts where comfort and pleasure meant not just good food and wine but all the other civilised pleasures of the day. In Rouen, all was sobriety and pious learning at the empress’ court; in Angers, men played the gallant or were sent away until such time as they learned to. However valiant they might be in the field, Eleanor required them to speak eloquently, dress well and have their hair properly cut when in her presence.
Western Europe was still groaning under the heavy taxes to
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