by An Ard Rí and Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2012

House of Angevin

The House of Plantagenet was founded by Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou via his marriage to  Matilda (or Maud), the daughter of King Henry I of England. The English crown passed to their son Henry II under the Treaty of Winchester, bringing an end to 19 years of a civil war called The Anarchy fought between Matilda and her cousin King Stephen over the possession of the English crown.  Generally, Henry II and his sons are called the Angevins, from the noble family that originated in Anjou, France.

• Henry II (Henry Curtmantle) – reigned 1154-1189
• Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) – reigned 1189-1199
• John (John Lackland) – reigned 1199-1216

• Unofficial Royalty: House of Angevin Index

Burial articles for all the British royal houses can be found at Unofficial Royalty: British Royal Burial Sites

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Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud

Members of the House of Angevin were early benefactors of the Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud (or Fontevrault) which was located near Chinon in Henry II’s Duchy of Anjou. The first permanent structures of the Abbey were built between 1110 and 1119. The Abbey was the burial site of King Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their son King Richard I of England, their daughter Joan, Queen of Sicily, Countess of Toulouse, their grandson Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, and Isabella of Angoulême, wife of Henry and Eleanor’s son King John.

The Abbey was pillaged and looted by the Huguenots in 1562.  During the French Revolution, the abbey was again ransacked and the remains of the Angevins buried there were lost. There are stories that the royal remains were thrown into a nearby river and also that the monks reburied them in a secret location. The effigies of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I and King John’s wife Isabella of Angoulême were dumped in the abbey crypt where they were discovered in 1816. King Louis-Philippe of France had the effigies sent to Versailles but they were returned to Fontevraud in 1849.  Napoleon III offered the effigies to Queen Victoria but there were French legal objections.  The effigies were installed in the south transept of the Abbey but were moved in the 1990s to their approximate original locations.

• Wikipedia: Fontevraud Abbey
• Official Website: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Fontevraud (in English)

An excellent resource: The Royal Tombs of Great Britain by Aidan Dobson, published in 2004

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All portraits and photos are from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.

Henry II, King of England (reigned 25 October 1154 – 6 July 1189)

• Unofficial Royalty: King Henry II of England

King Henry II of England was born on March 5, 1133, in Le Mans, the capital of the County of Maine, now in France. He was the eldest of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine and Empress Matilda (sometimes called Maud or Maude).  19-year-old Henry married 30-year-old Eleanor eight weeks later, on May 18, 1152, in Bordeaux in Eleanor’s Duchy of Aquitaine. Henry and Eleanor had eight children and were the grandparents of many sovereigns and queens consorts.

Henry II of England died at Château de Chinon in Chinon, France on July 6, 1189, at the age of 56.  Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York was at his father’s deathbed and it moved Henry to observe that his illegitimate son had proved more loyal than his legitimate sons: “Baseborn indeed have my other children shown themselves. This alone is my true son.”  Henry II was buried at the Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud in the Duchy of Anjou, now in France.

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of England

• Unofficial Royalty: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of England

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, Queen of France (the first wife of King Louis VII of France, marriage annulled after 15 years) and Queen of England (wife of King Henry II of England) survived her first husband, her second husband, and eight of her ten children. Through some historical detective work, historians have deduced that Eleanor was most likely born in 1122 in either Poitiers, Bordeaux, or Nieul-sur-l’Autis, all cities in her father’s lands, all now in France. 

Eleanor died at Fontevraud Abbey on April 1, 1204, at the age of 82.  She was the longest-lived British Queen Consort until the death of Queen Mary, wife of King George V, 749 years later. Currently, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was the longest-lived British Queen Consort. Eleanor was buried at the Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud in the Duchy of Anjou, now in France.

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Henry the Young King, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine

• Unofficial Royalty: Henry the Young King

The eldest surviving son of Henry II, Henry the Young King was born at Bermondsey Abbey in London on February 28, 1155. When Henry was 15, his father decided to adopt the French practice of ensuring the succession by declaring his heir the junior king.  Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 14, 1170

Henry the Young King died at the age of 28 on June 11, 1183, in Martel, France from dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries.  Henry was so popular that the people of Le Mans and Rouen almost went to war for the custody of his body.  He had requested to be buried in Rouen Cathedral but as his body traveled through Le Mans, the bishop ordered his body to be buried at the cathedral there.  The Dean of Rouen Cathedral had to resort to legal means to bury Henry according to his wishes.

• Wikipedia: Rouen Cathedral

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Richard I, King of England (reigned 6 July 1189 – 6 April 1199)

• Unofficial Royalty: King Richard I of England

King Richard I of England was born on September 8, 1157, at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, England, the third son and the fourth of eight children of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior.  On May 12, 1191, Richard married Berengaria of Navarre at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus on the way to the Crusades. Berengaria and Richard’s marriage was childless.

In the evening of March 25, 1199, during a siege of  Château de Châlus-Chabrol in Châlus in the present-day Limousin region in western France, Richard I, the second surviving son of Henry II, was walking the perimeter of the castle observing the trenches that were being dug. Not wearing his chainmail, Richard was hit by an arrow from a crossbow shot by a soldier on the castle battlements. Richard unsuccessfully tried to pull out the arrow and a doctor did a less than adequate job of treating the injury which became infected with gangrene. Knowing he was dying, Richard forgave the man who shot the arrow and asked him to be set free. Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, arrived before Richard’s death. He died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, at the age of 41. After Richard’s death, the forgiven crossbowman was flayed alive and hanged by one of Richard’s mercenary captains, Mercadier.

Richard’s heart was buried at Rouen Cathedral in Normandy, his entrails in the chapel at Châlus where he died, and the rest of his body was buried at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou. Richard’s heart monument survived both the Huguenots and the French Revolution and his entrails remain in Châlus.

• Wikipedia: Rouen Cathedral

Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England

• Unofficial Royalty: Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of England

Berengaria was born around 1163 in Pamplona, the capital of Navarre, the daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile.  On May 12, 1191, Berengaria married King Richard I of England at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus on the way to the Crusades.  Berengaria and Richar’s sister Joan accompanied Richard throughout the Crusade. Berengaria and Richard’s marriage was childless.

Berengaria of Navarre survived Richard by 21 years.  In 1228, Berengaria founded the Cistercian Abbey of L’Epau near Le Mans, now in France, and retired there after its completion. She died at the Abbey of L’Epau on December 23, 1230, and was first buried at the abbey in the chapter house.  After a fire in 1362, her tomb was moved to the abbey church but her remains stayed in the chapter house.  In 1672, Berengaria’s tomb was moved to the quire of the abbey church.  The abbey became a barn and the tomb was dismantled.  It was given to St. Julien’s Cathedral in Le Mans, France, and remained there until 1984, when the restoration of the Abbey of L’Epau was completed. In 1988, the tomb was placed back in the chapter house, its original resting place.

• Wikipedia: Abbey L’Epau

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John, King of England (reigned 6 April 1199 – 19 October 1216)

• Unofficial Royalty: King John of England

Born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, England on December 24, 1167, John was the fourth surviving son and the youngest of the eight children of Henry II.  John is known for losing the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philippe II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empire.  The baronial revolt at the end of John’s reign led to the sealing of the Magna Carta, a document sometimes considered an early step in the evolution of the constitution of the United Kingdom. John married Isabella, Duchess of Angoulême in her own right and they had five children.

In the midst of the First Barons’ War, John was traveling through East Anglia in England and became ill with dysentery.  He managed to ride to Swineshead Abbey where he spent the night. The next day, John was taken by a litter to Newark Castle where he died on October 18, 1216, at the age of 49. At his request, King John was buried in Worcester Cathedral as close to the shrine of St. Wulfstan as possible. A new tomb was made in 1232, during the reign of his son and heir King Henry III.

• Wikipedia: Worcester Cathedral

Isabella, Countess of Angoulême, Queen of England

• Unofficial Royalty: Isabella, Countess of Angoulême, Queen of England

Isabella, Duchess of Angoulême in her own right was born around 1188, probably in the County of Angoulême, today in southwest France. She was the only child of Aymer III, Count of Angoulême and Alice of Courtenay, a granddaughter of King Louis VI of France. Isabella married King John were married on August 24, 1200, and then Isabella was crowned Queen of England on October 8, 1200, at Westminster Abbey. The couple had five children.  After John’s death in 1216, Isabella married Hugh de Lusignan, 10th Count of La Marche and had nine children.

Isabella of Angoulême died on May 31, 1246, at Fontevraud Abbey and was initially buried in the common graveyard there at her request. In 1254, her son King Henry III visited Fontevraud and personally supervised the reburial of his mother’s remains in the abbey church next to the tombs of his grandparents King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

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