William FitzEmpress: Henry’s youngest brother; he remains staunchly loyal.
Fulk of Anjou: Henry’s paternal grandfather; leaves Anjou to marry Queen Melisende of Jerusalem. Through this second marriage, becomes king of the Latin Kingdom.
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Henry’s wife, previously married to Louis VII of France; duchess of Aquitaine, the largest and wealthiest province in France, in her own right. She is about eleven years older than Henry.
William of Poitiers: Henry and Eleanor’s eldest son, who dies aged three.
Henri the Young King: Henry and Eleanor’s second son; charming, frivolous, the family ‘golden boy’. Crowned alongside his father in 1170, but given no authority.
Richard: Henry and Eleanor’s third son, destined to rule in Aquitaine.
Geoffrey: Henry and Eleanor’s fourth son; duke of Brittany.
John: Henry and Eleanor’s fifth son and last child, later known as ‘Lackland’; Henry’s favourite legitimate son.
Matilda of Saxony: Henry and Eleanor’s eldest daughter; married to Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. Her beauty inspires the troubadour poet Bertran de Born to write scandalous verse about her.
Young Eleanor: Henry and Eleanor’s second daughter; married to Alfonso VIII of Castile.
Joanna: Henry and Eleanor’s youngest daughter; married to King William ‘the good’ of Sicily. Later, she is touted as a possible bride for Saladin’s younger brother.
Robert, earl of Gloucester: Eldest illegitimate son of Henry I, one of the greatest magnates in England, and Henry’s uncle. Robert fought for Henry’s rights to rule alongside his half-sister, Matilda.
Reginald, earl of Cornwall: Another illegitimate son of Henry I. Unwavering in his support for his nephew.
Geoffrey Plantagenet: Henry’s eldest illegitimate son; probably his favourite and best-liked child.
Matilda, prioress of Barking Abbey: Henry’s illegitimate daughter, born before his marriage to Eleanor.
William Longsword, earl of Salisbury: Another of Henry’s illegitimate children, born in the 1160s.
Morgan, provost of Beverly, and bishop-elect of Durham: Possibly Henry’s youngest illegitimate child, born in the mid-1170s.
Baldwin, ‘the leper king’: Henry’s first cousin, king of Jerusalem. He rules a kingdom riven with byzantine factionalism.
Marie: Eleanor’s eldest daughter by Louis, married to the count of Champagne.
Alix: Eleanor’s second daughter by Louis. She is married to the count of Blois.
Margaret of France: Louis’ eldest daughter by his second wife, Constance of Castile. Margaret is married to Henri, Henry and Eleanor’s eldest surviving son.
Alice of France: Margaret’s sister; betrothed to Henry’s son, Richard. Possibly Henry’s mistress.
Friends
Adelard of Bath: One of Henry’s four teachers, he brought knowledge of Arabic mathematics to England.
William of Conches: Another of Henry’s teachers, and one of Europe’s most celebrated scholars.
William Marshal: ‘The greatest knight in the world’, who served Henry and his family for over fifty years.
Rosamund Clifford: Henry’s favourite mistress, ‘the love of his life’.
Richard de Lucy: Henry’s co-justiciar and one of his great magnates.
Robert, earl of Leicester: Henry’s other co-justiciar; an enormously powerful nobleman.
Ranulf de Glanville: Justiciar in the latter part of Henry’s reign; possible author of On the Laws and Customs of England, which details the reforms under Henry’s reign that would become the foundations of English Common Law.
Richard FitzNigel: Henry’s treasurer and author of the influential Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer.
Brian Fitz Count: Illegitimate son of the duke of Normandy, and one of Matilda’s closest allies. They were possibly lovers.
Foes
King Stephen: Matilda’s first cousin and mortal enemy. He stole the throne from her.
Matilda of Boulogne: Stephen’s queen, a warrior for his cause.
Eustace: Stephen’s eldest son and heir, who tries to murder Henry.
William: Stephen’s second son; plots to murder Henry, although in secret.
Louis VII of France: Eleanor’s first husband and Henry’s overlord for his lands in France.
Bernard of Clairvaux: King Louis’ closest advisor. Loathes Henry and his Angevin family, believing them to be descended from the Devil.
Thomas Becket: Henry’s chancellor, and then archbishop of Canterbury.
Philip of France: A machiavellian boy-king, and Henry’s nemesis.
Fairweathers
Philip, count of Flanders: Henry’s first cousin, oscillates between fighting Henry and being his ally.
Bishop Henry of Blois: Henry’s cousin, the bishop of Winchester; notorious for changing sides during the civil war, Henry never quite trusts him.
Count Raymond V of Toulouse: Henry’s slippery adversary in the south, he vacillates in pledging his allegiance to Louis, and to Henry. Nevertheless, it is Raymond who warns Henry of impending disaster.
William the Lion: King of Scotland, and Henry’s cousin.
Frederick Barbarossa (Red Beard): The Holy Roman Emperor. Barbarossa’s life mirrors Henry’s in many ways.
Pope Alexander III: Pope during the Becket crisis, but living in France, Alexander is torn between his host Louis, and Henry, who has pledged to support him against an antipope.
Hugh Bigod: One of Henry’s most powerful lords, Hugh virtually controls East Anglia.
Chroniclers
Orderic Vitalis: An Anglo-Norman historian, Benedictine monk and author of the Ecclesiastical History.
Robert of Torigni: The librarian of Bec monastery in Normandy, abbot of Mont Saint-Michel. Henry’s friend and the godfather of young Eleanor.
Roger of Howden: Court clerk, diplomat and itinerant justice, who spent many years in Henry’s company.
William of Newburgh: Historian and Augustinian canon; one of the most balanced writers of Henry’s reign.
Jordan Fantosme: Court clerk, historian, and author of an epic Anglo-Norman poem, chronicling Henry’s war in the 1170s.
William FitzStephen: One of the biographers of Thomas Becket.
Walter Map: Court clerk and author of Courtiers’ Trifles.
Gerald of Wales: A luminous and fanciful writer, who hated Henry in part because he believed he deserved a bishopric, which Henry failed to grant him.
Gervase of Canterbury: Historian, and monk of Canterbury Cathedral.
Ralph Diceto: Dean of St Paul’s, and historian.
Henry of Huntingdon: Historian and author of the Historia Anglorum.
John of Salisbury: One of the greatest writers of his age;