Coronation of Henry the Young King 1170

On June the 14th Henry the eldest son of Henry II of England was crowned and annointed King by the archbishop of York, Roger de Pont L'Évêque.1 Crowning the son of a reigning King before the King's death was a practice followed by the French Capetian dynasty. King Stephen had previously proposed that his eldest son Eustace be made King during Stephen's lifetime, but the proposal was opposed by the vatican.2 The papacy also opposed this coronation and to forstall any papal objections reaching England, under the direction of Eleanor of Aquitaine3, all the ports were closed to ecclesiastics.4. Eleanor and the constable of Normandy detaining the bishop of Worcester until after the ceremony had taken place.5

The archbishop of York performed the ceremony as the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, was in self imposed exile in France.6 Later in 1170 when Becket returned to England, and on the 25th of December, from the pulpit of Canterbury Cathedral, he excomunicated all the bishops that had taken part in the coronation.7

• 1. Asbridge, T. The Greatest Knight. (Simon & Schuster 2015). .
• 2. Poole, A. L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta. The Oxford History of England (Clarendon Press 1985). .
• 3. Turner, R. V. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France, Queen of England. (Yale University Press 2011). .
• 4. Asbridge, T. The Greatest Knight. (Simon & Schuster 2015). .
• 5. Turner, R. V. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France, Queen of England. (Yale University Press 2011). .
• 6. Poole, A. L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta. The Oxford History of England (Clarendon Press 1985). .
• 7. Poole, A. L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta. The Oxford History of England (Clarendon Press 1985). .