HENRY II

born Nov. 10, 1489 died June 11, 1568 byname Henry the Younger, German Heinrich Der Jngere dukeof Brunswick-Wolfenbttel, one of the leading Roman Catholic princes attempting to stem the Reformation in Germany. Always a loyal supporter of the Habsburg emperors, Henry tried to restore Roman Catholicism in his realm but was defeated by John Frederick I the Magnanimous of Saxony and Philip the Magnanimous, landgrave of Hesse, and finally driven from his duchy. Reestablished after the emperor Charles V's victory over the Protestant Schmalkaldic League in 1547, Henry continued his earlier efforts but with little success. He defeated the Protestant Albert II Alcibiades of Kulmbach-Bayreuth at the Battle of Sievershausen (1553) but lost his two oldest Roman Catholic sons. The later years of Henry's reign were marred by the conflict with his Lutheran heir Julius, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel, to whom he eventually became reconciled, showing a certain degree of tolerance to the new religion. born May 6, 973, Albach?, Bavaria died July 13, 1024, Pfalz Grona, near Gttingen, Saxony ; canonized 1146; feast day July 13 also called Saint Henry, German Sankt Heinrich duke of Bavaria (as Henry IV, 995-1005), German king (from 1002), and Holy Roman emperor (1014-24), last of the Saxon dynasty of emperors. He was canonized by Pope Eugenius III, more than 100 years after his death, in response to church-inspired legends. He was, in fact, far from saintly, but there is some truth in the legends concerning his religious character. Together with Henry III, he was the great architect of cooperation between church and state, following a policy inaugurated by Charlemagne and promoted by Otto I the Great (Holy Roman emperor, 962-973). His canonization is sometimes justified on the grounds that he was a great representative of the medieval German priestly kings. Henry II became king of Germany in 1002 and Holy Roman emperor in 1014. His father, Henry II the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria, having been in rebellion against two preceding German kings, was forced to spend long years in exile from Bavaria. The younger Henry found refuge with Bishop Abraham of Freising and was later educated at the Cathedral School of Hildesheim. As he was exposed thus to strong church influence in his youth, religion influenced him strongly. Contemporaries observed an ironic trait in his character and were also impressed by his ability to intersperse his speeches with biblical quotations. Though devoted to church ritual and personal prayer, he was a tenacious and realistic politician, not adverse to alliances with heathen powers. Usually in poor health, he yet performed for 22 years the office of the itinerant king, riding on horseback through his dominions to judge and compose feuds, pursue rebels, and extend the power of the crown. After the death of King Otto III in January 1002, Henry, aware of strong opposition to his succession, captured the royal insignia that were in the keeping of the dead king's companions. At Otto's funeral the majority of the princes declared against Henry, and only in June, with the assistance of Archbishop Willigis of Mainz, did Henry secure both election and coronation. It took another year before his recognition was final. Henry first turned his attention to the east and made war against the Polish king Boleslaw I the Brave. After a successful campaign, he marched into northern Italy to subdue Arduin of Ivrea, who had styled himself king of Italy. His sudden interference led to bitter fighting and atrocities, and although Henry was crowned king in Pavia on May 15, 1004, he returned home, without defeating Arduin, to pursue his campaigns against Boleslaw. In 1003 Henry had made a pact with the Liutitian tribe against the Christian Boleslaw, and he allowed the Liutitians to resist German missionaries east of the Elbe River. Henry was more interested in consolidating his own political power than in spreading Christianity. Supported by his tribal allies, he waged several campaigns against Poland, until in 1018, at Bautzen, he made a lasting compromise peace with the Poles. Sensitive to tradition and anxious to be crowned emperor, Henry decided in late 1013 on another expedition to Italy. He marched straight to Rome, where he was crowned Holy Roman emperor by Pope Benedict VIII, on Feb. 14, 1014. By May he was back in Germany, seeking to fulfill his duties to Italy by charging German officials with the administration of the country. Henry even convened an Italian imperial court at Strassburg (now Strasbourg) in 1019. In 1020 Pope Benedict visited him in Germany and begged him to put in another appearance in Italy to fight the Greeks in the south and protect the papacy against the Lombard princes. Henry reluctantly responded the following year, fighting both Greeks and Lombards successfully; but he withdrew at the first opportunity. Henry's main interest and success were concentrated on the consolidation of a peaceful royal regime in Germany. He spent much time and energy in elaborating the so-called Ottonian system of government. Inaugurated by Otto I, this system was based upon the principle that the lands and the authority of the bishops ought to be at the disposal of the king. Henry made generous grants to the bishops and, by adding to their territorial holdings, helped to establish them as secular rulers as well as ecclesiastical princes. He freely availed himself of the royal right to appoint faithful followers to these bishoprics. He insisted on episcopal celibacy-to make sure that on the death of a bishop the see would not fall into the hands of the bishop's children. In this way, he managed to create a stable body of supporters who made him more and more independent of rebellious nobles and ambitious members of his own family. His greatest achievement was the foundation of the new bishopric of Bamberg. The upper region of the Main River was poorly populated, and Henry set aside large tracts of personal property to establish the new bishopric, much against the wishes of the bishop of Wrzburg in the middle Main region. He obtained the consent of other bishops at a synod in Frankfurt in late 1007. The new bishop was consecrated on Henry's birthday in 1012. In 1020 Bamberg was visited by the pope, and it quickly developed into a splendid cathedral town where contemporary scholastic culture and art, as well as piety, found the support of Henry and his queen, Cunegunda. During the last years of his reign Henry planned, in concert with Pope Benedict VIII, an ecclesiastical reform council at Pavia to seal the system of ecclesiastico-political order he had perfected in Germany. But he died suddenly in July 1024, before this could be done. Peter Munz born April 1503, Sangesa, Navarre died May 29, 1555, Hagetmau, Fr. king of Navarre from 1516 who for the rest of his life attempted by force and negotiation to regain territories of his kingdom that had been lost by his parents, Catherine de Foix and Jean d'Albret, in 1514. In February 1516, when his mother died, Henry fell heir to the House of Albret claim; and in 1521, supported by French forces, he invaded Navarre but suffered crushing defeat. Henry fought with Francis I of France (1525) in Italy, was captured with him, but escaped. Two years later he married Francis' sister Margaret of Angoulme; their daughter Jeanne became the mother of the future Henry IV of France. Emperor Charles V (who was also Charles I of Spain) in 1530 voluntarily ceded Henry the small section of Navarre north of the Pyrenees, but negotiations for the remainder failed. Henry was, however, accorded rulership of the southwestern French region of Guyenne by Francis. also called (until 1369) Enrique, Conde (count) De Trastmara, byname Henry Of Trastmara, or Henry The Fratricide, or The Bastard, Spanish Enrique De Trastmara, or Enrique El Fratricida, or El Bastardo, or El De Las Mercedes ("He of the Largesse") born 1333 died May 29, 1379, Burgos, Castile king of Castile from 1369, founder of the house of Trastmara, which lasted until 1504. The illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile, Henry rebelled against his younger half brother, Peter I (Peter the Cruel), invaded Castile with French aid in 1366, and was crowned king at Burgos. Peter sought English aid, and Henry was routed by Edward the Black Prince at Najera (April 3, 1367). He obtained more French aid and captured Peter, whom he murdered on March 23, 1369. The legitimist claim was upheld in Galicia, in Portugal, which he invaded; and he also had to defend himself against England's John of Gaunt, who had married Peter's daughter. He crushed opposition and rewarded his adherents. He introduced from France the hereditary titles of duke and marquess, with entailed estates, creating the class of grandees from his relatives and supporters; he thereby gained the title of El de las Mercedes. born March 31, 1519, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France died July 10, 1559, Paris also called (until 1547) Duke (duc) D'orlans king of France from 1547 to 1559, a competent administrator who was also a vigorous suppressor of Protestants within his kingdom. The second son of Francis I and Claude of France, Henry was sent with his brother Francis, the dauphin, as a hostage to Spain in 1526 and did not return to France until 1530, after the conclusion of the Peace of Cambrai. When the dauphin died in 1536, Henry became heir to the throne. Strong differences between Henry and his father were accentuated by the rivalry between Henry's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, and the king's, Anne, Duchess d'tampes, as well as by Henry's continuing support of the constable Anne de Montmorency, who had lost favour with the crown. Henry's reputation has suffered by contrast with his father's brilliance, and his melancholy made his character unsympathetic. Although he continued many of his father's policies, he dismissed many of his father's ministers and raised Montmorency and the house of Guise to favour. Upon his accession, Henry undertook administrative reforms. The functions of the different sections of the king's council became more specialized; the commissaries sent into the provinces "to exercise the king's orders" were the forerunners of the intendants; and intermediary tribunals were established between the local justices and the parlements (high courts). In foreign affairs Henry continued his father's warfare against the Holy Roman emperor Charles V. He signed the Treaty of Chambord in 1552 with the German Protestant princes, promising them troops and subsidies; in return, they agreed to France's taking the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Though Henry made a truce with Charles in 1556, war was soon resumed when a French expedition was sent into Italy under Franois, Duke de Guise (1557). The Spanish in the Netherlands, however, besieged the town of Saint-Quentin in Picardy, and Montmorency was defeated in an attempt to relieve it. After Guise had somewhat improved the situation by taking Calais, Gunes, and Thionville, the financial difficulties of both France and Spain and Henry's desire to fight Protestantism in France led to the Peace of Cateau-Cambrsis (1559). A bigoted Roman Catholic, Henry was rigorous in the repression of Protestantism, which was approaching the zenith of its power in France. In 1547 he created the Chambre Ardente in the Parlement of Paris for trying heretics. His Edict of couen (1559) laid the ground for systematic persecution of the Protestants. The Peace of Cateau-Cambrsis was to be cemented by the marriages of Henry's daughter Elizabeth and his sister Margaret to Philip II of Spain and to Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, respectively. In a tournament during the festivities, Henry was hit in the head by a lance of Gabriel, Count de Montgomery, captain of the Scottish guard, and died 10 days later. He left four sons by his marriage to Catherine de Mdicis: the future kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III and Franois, Duke d'Alenon and later Duke d'Anjou. In addition to Elizabeth, he had other daughters by Catherine-Margaret, who married Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV), and Claude, who married Charles III the Great, Duke of Lorraine. One of his natural children was Diane de France, who was legitimatized. born 1133, Le Mans, Maine died July 6, 1189, near Tours Henry II, (left), disputing with Thomas Becket (centre), miniature from a 14th-century manuscript; 1/4 byname Henry Of Anjou, Henry Plantagenet, Henry Fitzempress, or Henry Curtmantle (Short Mantle) duke of Normandy (from 1150), count of Anjou (from 1151), duke of Aquitaine (from 1152), and king of England (from 1154), who greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and strengthened the royal administration in England. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and with members of his family (his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and such sons as Richard the Lion-Heart and John Lackland) ultimately brought about his defeat. Additional reading G. Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany, 2nd rev. ed. (1947), ch. 3; and R. Holtzmann, Geschichte der schsischen Kaiserzeit, 900-1024, 3rd ed. (1955), pp. 383-487, present Henry II according to accepted modern scholarly opinion. W.v.d. Steinen, Kaiser Heinrich der Zweite der Heilige (1924), is romantic but unusually sensitive to later medieval opinion. T. Shieffer, "Heinrich II und Konrad II," Deutsches Archiv, 8:384-437 (1951), supplies the necessary critical revision of modern research. Additional reading W.L. Warren's Henry II (1973) is the one full biography (with bibliography). The best short accounts are still those of Kate Norgate in the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 26 (1891) and Doris M. Stenton in the Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 5, ch. 17 (1929), both with full bibliographies. The classical essay by William Stubbs, his introduction to the Gesta Henrici ("Rolls Series," 1867), was reprinted by A.H. Hassall in his collection of Historical Introductions to the Rolls Series, pp. 89-172 (1902). Many contemporary sources are translated in D.C. Douglas and G.W. Greenaway (eds.), English Historical Documents II (1952), including the whole of the Dialogue of the Exchequer (Dialogus de Scaccario), of which the best edition, with translation, is that by Charles Johnson (1950). For Henry's judicial reforms, the best account is still that in F. Pollock and F.W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I, 2nd ed. (1898). See also D.M. Stenton, English Justice Between the Norman Conquest and the Great Charter, 1066-1215 (1965).