The Devil's Brood: Part VI-The Fall of the King

The Devil's Brood examines the Angevin Dynasty, otherwise known as the Plantagenets, which ruled over England and the greater part of France until John lost most of the family lands in Europe. Henry II was the first Angevin king of England, and Part VI examines the Fall of the King, when Henry's constant scheming drove Richard to ally with King Philip of France against his father.

Image Credit: King Henry II and his chlidren (left to right: William, Henry the young King, Richard Lionheart, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleonor, Joan, John Lackland)
By Anonymus - http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=49987, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14711475

 

Cast of Characters:

Henry II-King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou

Eleanor of Aquitaine-Duchess of Aquitaine and Henry's wife

Henry the Younger-the heir of Henry II, King of England

Richard-Henry's oldest living son, duke of Aquitaine

Geoffrey-Henry's second-oldest living son, duke of Brittany

John-Henry's third-oldest living son

Constance-duchess of Brittany and Geoffrey's wife

Philip II-king of France, Henry's nominal overlord for Normandy, Aquitaine and Anjou

Adela-dowager Queen of France, mother of Philip

Henry I-Count of Champagne, Adela's brother, vassal and rival to Philip

Theobald V-Count of Blois, Adela's brother, vassal and rival to Philip, would-be suitor/kidnapper of Eleanor of Aquitaine

Stephen I-Count of Sancerre, Adela's brother, vassal and rival to Philip

Alys-daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile

Philip I-Count of Flanders

 

Sources:

The Plantagenets: the Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England-Dan Jones

The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones-Thomas Asbridge

Tales from the Long Twelfth Century: The Rise and Fall of the Angevin Empire-Richard Huscroft

Henry II-W.L. Warren

Henry Plantagenet-Richard Barber

The Restless Kings: Henry II, His Sons and the War for the Plantagenet Crown-Nick Barratt

Lionheart & Lackland: King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest-Frank McLynn

King John and the Road to Magna Carta-Stephen Church

Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings-Amy Kelly

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life-Alison Weir

The Angevin Empire-John Gillingham

Angevin England 1154-1258-Richard Mortimer

The Plantagenet Empire: 1154-1224, Martin Aurell, translated from the French by David Crouch

Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire 1158-1203-J.A. Everard

The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages-John W. Baldwin

Flanders and the Anglo-Norman World 1066-1216-Eljas Oksanen

Medieval Flanders-David Nicholas