HENRY FITZEMPRESS

 

Henry Fitzempress aka Henry II was the son of Empress Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou aka Geoffrey le Bel aka Geoffrey Plantagent. Geoffrey was the son and heir of Count Fulk V of Anjou (King of Jerusalem) and Eremburga de La Flèche, Countess of Maine, he was the second husband of Empress Matilda who was the daughter of King Henry I of England and granddaughter of William the Conqueror.  He was Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine and the Duke of Normandy and the father of King Henry II of England (and subsequent sons Geoffrey and William). He was married to Mathilda in Cathédrale Saint-Julien where his son Henry would later be baptized and where Geoffrey himself would be interred. Henry I married his daughter, widowed Empress Matilda, to Geoffrey to cement relations with Anjou, garnering continental support. The age mismatched couple was notoriously unhappy and Geoffrey unfaithful. Geoffrey died in 1151 never to see his son Henry ascend to the throne.

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Reading ideas for this post:

W.L. Warren, Henry II, (University of California Press Berkley 1973) 

Jeffery Anderson. The Angevin Dynasties of Europe 900-1500, (Crowood Press Ltd Wiltshire 2019)

 

See below image of Matilda's resting spot and the funerary plaquie of Geoffrey Plantagent now in the museum of Le Mans. (see link below in Link List)