Historical and Commemorative Medals
Collection of Benjamin Weiss
HENRY II DASSIER, Jean:
England, 1731, Bronze, 41 mm Henry II (1133-1189) (Henry de Anjou; Henry Plantagenet)
was Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, Duke of Aquitaine and King of England
from 1154 to 1189. Henry II greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and
strengthened the royal administration in England. His wife, Eleanor of
Aquitaine, and his sons, Richard the Lion-Heart and John Lackland,
ultimately brought about his defeat. He quarreled with Thomas Becket,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and was responsible for his murder, an act which
outraged most of Europe. In 1174 Henry did public penance at Canterbury to
atone for Becket’s death. (Thompson)
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