King of England (1154–89). He succeeded King Stephen, who by the Treaty of Winchester (1153) had recognized Henry as his heir. As the son of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, Henry also inherited Normandy, Maine, Touraine, Brittany, and Anjou (this last title making him the first Angevin king of England). His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine (1152), the repudiated wife of Louis VII of France, brought Henry even greater estates in France so that his lands stretched from northern England down to the Pyrenees. These territorial gains were reinforced by the homage of Malcolm III of Scotland (1157) and by his recognition as overlord of Ireland (1171).

Henry’s immediate task on becoming king was to end the anarchy of Stephen’s reign. He dealt firmly with barons who had built castles without permission, and undertook the confirmation of scutage (1157), an overhaul of military obligations in a review of feudal assessments (1166), and the introduction of a law that his subjects should equip themselves for military service (1181). He initiated a number of important legal reforms in the Assizes of Clarendon (1166) and of Northampton (1176), and in his reign the land-law was developed to meet the needs of a more complex society. His reign, however, also saw rebellions led by his sons (1171–74) and the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas à Becket (1170), a crime of which Henry was later absolved by Pope Alexander III (1172).