Henry II Plantagenet counts among his illustrious ancestors William the Conqueror and Fulk Nerra.
Born in Le Mans in 1133, he led an itinerant life, following his parents, between England and France. In 1152, he married Eleanor, just divorced from King Louis VII of France and ten years his senior. She brought him Aquitaine as a dowry. In 1154, he received England by maternal inheritance and became king under the name of Henry II.
Chinon was at the centre of his continental possessions, whose empire extended from the south of Scotland to the Pyrenees. He chose to store the Royal Treasure there and stayed there frequently. He held his last Christmas court there in 1172, surrounded by his wife and sons, who were already arguing over his territorial heritage. Abandoned by his children whom he did not associate with his power, sick and fleeing Philip Augustus, he died at the Fortress of Chinon in 1189.
