Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as
Henry Curtmantle ,
Henry FitzEmpress or
Henry Plantagenet, ruled as
Count of Anjou,
Count of Maine,
Duke of Normandy,
Duke of Aquitaine,
Count of Nantes,
King of England (1154–89) and
Lord of Ireland; at various times, he also controlled
Wales,
Scotland and
Brittany. Henry was the son of
Geoffrey of Anjou and
Matilda, daughter of
Henry I of England. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother's
efforts to claim the throne of England, then occupied by
Stephen of Blois, and was made Duke of Normandy at 17. He inherited
Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married
Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to
Louis VII of France had recently been
annulled. Stephen agreed to a
peace treaty after Henry's military expedition to England in 1153: Henry inherited the kingdom on Stephen's death a year later.