Henry II: New Interpretations

Front Cover
Christopher Harper-Bill, Nicholas Vincent
Boydell Press, 2007 - Biography & Autobiography - 403 pages
Survey of the reign of Henry II, offering a range of new evaluations and interpretations.

Henry II is the most imposing figure among the medieval kings of England. His fiefs and domains extended from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and his court was frequented by the greatest thinkers and men of letters of his time, besides ambassadors from all over Europe. Yet his is a reign of paradoxes: best known for his dramatic conflicts with his own wife and sons and with Thomas Becket, it was also a crucial period in the evolution of legal and governmental institutions. Here experts in the field provide significant reevaluations of its most important aspects. Topics include Henry's accession and his relations with the papacy, the French king, other rulers in the British Islesand the Norman baronage; the development of the common law and the coinage; the court and its literary milieu; the use of Arthurian legend for political purposes; and the career of the Young King Henry, while the introduction examines the historiography of the reign.

CONTRIBUTORS: MARTIN ALLEN, MARTIN AURELL, NICK BARRATT, PAUL BRAND, SEAN DUFFY, ANNE DUGGAN, JEAN DUBABIN, JOHN GILLINGHAM, EDMUND KING, DANIEL POWER, IAN SHORT, MATTHEW STRICKLAND

CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL and NICHOLAS VINCENT are Professors of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia.

 

Contents

The Accession of Henry II
19
Doing Homage to the King of France
63
Henry Duke of the Normans 1149501189
85
and Englands Insular Neighbours
129
Henry II the English Church and the Papacy 115476
154
The Upbringing of Henry 184 ळू
176
and the Creation of the English Common Law
215
Finance and the Economy in the Reign of Henry II
242
and the English Coinage
257
The Court of Henry II
278
Literary Culture at the Court of Henry II
335
and Arthurian Legend
362
Index
395
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About the author (2007)

Christopher Harper-Bill is Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia. Nicholas Vincent is Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia and a Fellow of the British Academy

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