What is Your Favourite Monarch from History
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maybe you love Henry V111 who had 6 wives and changed the religion of the country to get his divorce or do you prefer someone like Elizabeth 1 who had the heart and stomach of a man (according to herself) who is your favourite?
Henry II. His wife was a formidable woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine and she was 9 years older than Henry when they married and had previously been married to Louis VII of France with whom she had 2 daughters. She had 8 children with Henry II, 5 boys, 3 girls.
Henry was the son of Matilda who was the daughter of Henry I but when he died the nobles would not accept Matilda because she was a woman. From the time of young Henry's birth she groomed him for the crown of England and eventually after 20 years of war and anarchy, King Stephen died and he became King at only 21.
In later life Eleanor and her sons rebelled against him and she was imprisoned (loosely) for 16 years although he forgave his sons which was a big mistake.
Their first 3 sons had died by the time Henry died so his 4th son Richard (the Lionheart) became King but was always away in the crusades where he was wounded by an arrow, contracted gangrene and died after 10 years of being King. The nasty Stephen (the youngest brother) then became King.
Eleanor outlived all but 2 of her 10 children and died in her 80s.
well you certainly know your history which is good to see. however Richard the lionheart was succeeded by John rather than Stephen. (I guess that was just a typo) John is famous for signing the Magna Carta (largely against his will) and also for losing the crown jewels in the wash.
Yes sorry that was a mistake, John of the famous magna carta, and I had already said Stephen had died lol. No excuse as I am actually reading a book with John as one of the main characters. I have never read a book that has depicted him as anything other than a nasty tyrant.
Barbara Erskine writes great books where a character in the present has a connection with someone from the past. Lady of Hay figures John in the story and tells what I believe is a true happening of him throwing a noble lady and her son into an oubliette (dungeon) and they starve to death.
PS I do wonder if one day some of that treasure may be found but I guess it has sunk way down and will never be retrieved. He died shortly after that with pretty strong evidence that he may have been poisoned, or maybe food poisoning.
John had a bad reputation but not sure how much of it is true as there is not so much written about him. he was the first monarch to be divorced even though popular belief has this as Henry V111.
Yes, that is the bit I am currently reading as the second wife was only 12 when they married. We tend to think of this as dreadful but even in medieval times the church did not allow for marriages like that to be consummated until the girls were old enough. It was merely to form alliances between powerful families.
One famous exception was Margaret Beaufort who gave birth to Henry VII when she was only 13. Amazing she survived but she never had another child.
I guess that treasure will never be found but wouldn't it be cool if it was, probably under hundreds of years of motorway now
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