The Evidence

Britain – The Reign of Henry II, 1154-89

In this course, Dr Hugh Doherty (University of East Anglia) explores the reign of Henry II, 1154-89. We being by considering the nature of evidence for Henry's reign, focusing in particular on the later accounts of his reign, but also the various administration documents – royal charters, pipe rolls, etc. – that give us an insight into what his reign was like. After that, we think about the period of civil war that immediately preceded Henry's reign and how this impacted the early years of his rule, before turning in the third module to outline the extent of Henry's lands at the beginning of his reign. Each of the following four modules focuses on a different period in Henry's reign: in the fourth module, we explore the early years of his reign from 1154-70; after that, we look at the crisis surrounding Thomas Becket, which culminated in the murder of the Archbishop in his own Cathedral in late December 1170; in the sixth module, we consider the second great crisis of Henry's reign – the Great Rebellion of 1173-74; and in the seventh and final module, we think about the final fifteen years of Henry's reign between 1774-89, focusing in particular on his celebrated reforms to the English legal system, his struggles to keep his fractious kingdom (and family) together, and his death on campaign on 6 July 1189.

The Evidence

In this module, we think about the evidence for the reign of Henry II, focusing in particular on the historical accounts written in the later part of his reign, his royal charters (of which there are more than 3,000) and the financial accounts contained in the pipe rolls.