HENRY THE SECOND; CALLED

PLANTAGENET.

1154-1189.

HENRY II. was the first of the English kings called Plantagenet. His father, Geoffrey, used to wear a bunch of flowering broom (in Latin, planta genista) in his helmet instead of a plume, and thus acquired the surname which his son liked and adopted. On his accession to the English throne, Henry was one of the most powerful princes in Europe; besides possessing England and Normandy, he was heir to his father's dominions in Anjou; and when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, he received other important provinces in France. Henry commenced his reign by several very popular acts. He sent away the foreign troops that had been brought into the country by

Maude and Stephen, and ordered some of the strong castles of the nobles to be pulled down. He next tried to keep within proper bounds the Popish clergy, but this he found to be a most difficult task.

The Pope at this time was very powerful. He made kings and princes do for him the humblest services. For instance, when Henry II. and the King of France met the Pope at the gate of a castle in France, the two monarchs dismounted, and, holding the reins of the bridle, assisted him to alight.

The English clergy refused to submit themselves to the control of the ordinary laws, and Henry undertook to compel them. With this object he made his friend, Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. About the parents of this celebrated man a strange story is told. His father, Gilbert, had been engaged in the first wars

in the Holy Land, and had been taken prisoner by a Turkish lord; but, aided by the dark-haired daughter of his captor, he had contrived to escape. The Eastern lady determined to follow the knight; and although she only knew two words of English-Gilbert and London-by constantly repeating them, she at length reached London and found Gilbert. They were married, and Thomas à Becket was their child.

The King thought that à Becket would be sure to assist him in checking the powers of the clergy. But Henry soon found out his mistake. The new Archbishop upheld the clergy in all their acts, and the result was, that the King and the Archbishop were always quarrelling. One day the

King, much vexed at the conduct of the Archbishop, said in a moment of passion, “Have I no one who can give me ease of this one priest?" It was thought that he