The Treaty of Montlouis-sur-Loire
Fontevraud Abbey
On 30 September 1174, Montlouis-sur-Loire* witnessed an important rapprochement between members of the most dysfunctional of all dysfunctional royal families.
Henry II, the French king of England, was there to meet his appalling sons who had waged war on him. The TV series Succession, said to be inspired by Rupert Murdoch’s dynasty, pales into insignificance compared with Henry’s evil brood.
Why Montlouis sur Loire, a hop skip and a jump from Amboise, was chosen to bury the hatchet is not known but at that time it was a very busy port on the Loire.
Henry, during his lifetime, to secure his succession, crowned his young son and heir Henry, not once, but twice. Bad move. The teenager started behaving as if he were already Henry III.
Unknown to Henry II, in Paris, Louis VII, king of France, commissioned a Royal Seal for young Henry to sign Charters with important Lords in France and England who wanted him to usurp his father’s throne. He signed Château Amboise over to his father’s enemy, the Count of Blois.
In 1173, Henry, eighteen, his brothers Richard, sixteen and Geoffrey, fifteen, urged on by their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, along with Louis and several European states waged war on Henry II.
Why did Henry hate his father? Although he was a crowned king, the duke of Normandy and count of Anjou he was treated by Henry as an idiot.
Why did Louis hate Henry? The heir to England’s throne stole his adored wife Eleanor of Aquitaine from under his nose. She married Henry when her divorce was granted. He was eighteen, she was thirty. With her went her vast fortune and lands.
When Henry found out that Louis was using his son for his own ends he took young Henry to his Fortress in Chinon. During the night, following a well thought out plan by Louis, young Henry saddled his horse and headed back to Paris. Relays of fresh horses were waiting for him along the way. Eleanor, who was in Poitiers with his brothers Richard and Geoffrey, sent them to join him. She then encouraged her people to support them.
Why did Eleanor hate her husband? He was planning to get rid of her. Henry flaunted his public love affair with Rosamond Clifford to provoke her into seeking a divorce.
When Eleanor left Poitiers heading for Paris, she was arrested and taken to the king in Rouen. In July 1174, Henry took her to England where she was imprisoned for sixteen years.
Why did Richard hate his father? He was a Mummy’s boy who adored Eleanor. The feeling was mutual.
The combined forces aligned against him were no match for Henry. He was rich, rich enough to hire highly efficient professional mercenaries.
Still peace was the cheaper option hence Montlouis sur Loire.
The Treaty demanded young Henry give his brother John some of his castles and revenues from England. In return he was granted two châteaux in Normandy and a large sum of money. Geoffrey was authorized to collect revenues from Britain. Richard was given half the revenues from Poitou.
Henry’s favourite, John, came out best. As he had not participated in the betrayal (he was only eight) he was granted three castles in Anjou, two in Normandy, the castle and the county of Nottingham in England and a generous annuity.
What they did not have was power.
Ten years later, in 1183, the now not so young Henry, joined by troops sent by his brother Geoffrey, tried to ambush his father at Limoges. Henry II besieged the town, forcing his son to flee. After wandering through Aquitaine, young Henry died of dysentery.
In 1189, Richard, with Philip, the king of France, led a third and final rebellion against his father. Henry gathered his forces at Le Mans.
Known as Le Cité Plantagenet, Le Mans is where Henry II was born and hoped to die. But for his ghastly son, he would have. This was Henry’s city, a city he loved, a city his son Richard, the so called Lion Heart, took with his ailing, ageing, father inside it.
When Richard stormed Le Mans, Henry ordered the suburbs be burnt to impede his advance but the wind turned and set the city on fire. A humiliated Henry was forced to accept his son’s terms. Persuaded to give the kiss of peace, instead Henry hissed in his ear ‘God grant that I die not until I have avenged myself on thee’. A broken man, he was taken from Le Mans to die at Chinon.
Richard died, not as a lion hearted hero in battle, but of greed. Hearing that a treasure trove of Roman gold had been found in a castle near Limoges he hared over to grab it. Walking around the perimeter minus chain mail he saw something which made him laugh. A man was standing on the walls with a crossbow in one hand using a frying pan as a shield in the other. Pure Monty Python. When he aimed at Richard and missed, the king, still laughing, applauded him. At that very moment, another archer struck the king in the shoulder.
The wound became gangrenous. Richard sent for his mother and died in her arms.
Henry II and Eleanor, Fontevraud Abbey.
United in death as never in Life, Henry II and Eleanor lie side by side in Fontevraud Abbey.
*Source La Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).
Post by Pamela (BA History of Art). Photography by Mark.
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