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A.D. 1152. Henry, the son of Maud, lands in England.

The castle of Tenby captured by the Welsh.

A.D. 1153. Eustace, the son of Stephen, dies, Aug. 18; in consequence a treaty is made, Nov. 7, which provides for the succession of Henry to the throne on the death of Stephen. Fealty is accordingly sworn to him as the future king. He remained some time in England, and the Saxon Chronicler remarks, “ All men loved him, for he did good justice, and made peace.”

Eystein, king of Norway, ravages the coast of England, and destroys Scarborough.

A.D. 1154. Henry returns to Normandy after Easter.

Stephen dies, Oct. 25, and is buried at Feversham TM. Henry is summoned from Normandy; he lands in England Dec. 6.

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At the suppression of the monastery in the time of Henry VIII. the tomb was destroyed, the leaden coffin stolen, and the king's bones thrown into the sea.

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HIS celebrated line of kings sprang from the marriage of the empress Matilda with Geoffrey,

the son of Fulk, earl of Anjou, who also had the office of seneschal of France, and event

ually became king of Jerusalem. The name is evidently derived from planta genista, the broom

plant, a sprig of which, it seems, was usually worn by Geoffrey in his cap, or other head-gear; but whether it is to be taken as an indication of his love for field sports, or was assumed as a token of humility or badge of penance, is doubtful; the latter, however, being the most probable.

Planta genista.

The Plantagenet kings were fourteen in number, and their rule extended over a period of 331 years (A.D. 1154-1485). Some of our ablest monarchs are found among them; but they were almost incessantly engaged in fierce struggles with either their subjects or their kindred, in many cases with such disastrous results to themselves, that Henry III. and Richard II. passed the greater part of their lives under tutelage or stricter restraint; Henry II. and John sank broken-hearted (the latter perhaps poisoned) under their difficulties; Richard I. and Richard III. fell in the field, and Edward II., Richard II., Henry VI., and Edward V., met with violent death in other forms. Yet, to the great body of their subjects, the results of these dire convulsions were eminently beneficial; they first weakened, then shook to its centre, the feudal system, and admitted the municipal bodies and the commons of the land to a share in the government, which was so enlarged under succeeding kings, as at length to render it impossible that England should ever again be ruled merely by the sword.

The great foreign events of the Plantagenet era were, the annexation of Wales and the partial conquest of Ireland; the loss of the English continental possessions, and the long series of attacks upon Scotland and France, which, happily for all parties, were ultimately unsuccessful. The kings of France formed counter projects for the conquest of England, but they were indifferently seconded by their nobles, who had no wish to lose the asylum which our island frequently afforded them from any violent exertion of the royal power, and therefore their efforts were altogether abortive.

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HENRY, the eldest son of Maud, daughter of Henry I., and Geoffrey, earl of Anjou, was born at Mans, in Maine, in March, 1133. He was brought to England in his 10th year, and passed several years of his boyhood under the care of his uncle Robert, earl of Gloucester, from whom he imbibed a greater degree of literary culture than was then usual among princes. In 1151 he contracted a politic, but unhappy and discreditable marriage with Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII. of France, with whom he obtained possession of Aquitaine1, and shortly after succeeding, by compact, to the

iShe was the daughter of William V. of Aquitaine, and married Louis of France, by whom she had two daughters, and accompanied him to Palestine (see p. 235), but was divorced soon after his return to Europe on the plea of consanguinity. Her marriage with Henry was also unhappy, and in the course of it she suffered several years' imprisonment. She had a great share in the conduct of affairs during the reign of her son Richard, strenuously exerted herself to procure his liberation, and then reconciled him to his brother John. The latter years of her life were chiefly passed abroad, and dying June 26, 1202, at the castle of Mirabel, in Anjou, she was buried at Fontevraud.

throne of England, he became one of the most powerful princes of his time. His first step towards remedying the disorders of his kingdom was forcing the most turbulent of his nobles to respect his authority, and to give up many of their strongest castles. He also dispossessed the Scots from the northern districts of England, made several strenuous but vain efforts to subjugate the Welsh, and formally annexed Ireland to his dominions. But the early years of his reign were disturbed by contentions with the Church, and the latter by the rebellions of his sons, who, encouraged by their mother, leagued themselves with the kings of France and Scotland against him, and at last caused his death from grief and vexation.

Henry died at Chinon, in Touraine, on the 6th of July, 1189, and was buried at Fontevraud, in Anjou. His marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine brought him five sons and three daughters.

1. William, born 1152, had fealty sworn to him in 1156, but died shortly after, and was buried at Reading.

2. Henry, born at London, Feb. 28, 1155, was in his childhood affianced to Margaret, the daughter of Louis VII. of France, and married to her in 1173. He was crowned king by his father's command in 1170, but leagued with his brothers against him; in the midst of the contest he died, with strong marks of contrition, June 11, 1183. His widow married Biela, king of Hungary, and died a pilgrim at Acre, in 1198.

3. RICHARD became king.

4. Geoffrey, born Sept. 23, 1158, married Constance,

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