Why did Henry II take an army to Ireland in 1171?

Norman lords led by Strongbow had already carved out land there for an exiled Irish king, and Henry crossed to stop them building a rival kingdom beyond his control.

What followed from that expedition?

Anglo-Norman lords settled, built castles and took over large estates, Irish kings submitted to Henry as overlord, and English claims to rule Ireland date from it.

Why did French become the language of the ruling class in England?

The Norman and Angevin kings and the barons they granted land to spoke it, so French was the language of the court, the law and landholding for generations.

AQA GCSE History 8145

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Migration, Empires and the People in Britain, c790 to the Present Day

A Norman Kingdom and ‘Angevin’ Empire

3 things to know
Paper 2 section A

Overview

What 1066 changed between England and France, Henry II's lands and how he gained them, his expedition to Ireland, French as the ruling language, John's losses, Bouvines, and how the nobility became English.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What did the conquest of 1066 change about the ties between England and France?

Key term

What lands made up the empire ruled by Henry II?

Numbers

How did Henry II come to hold so much of France?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What did the conquest of 1066 change about the ties between England and France?
Model answer
The king of England was now also duke of Normandy, holding land in France as a vassal of the French king, which set the two crowns quarrelling for centuries.
2
What lands made up the empire ruled by Henry II?
Model answer
England and a great block of western France — Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Brittany’s overlordship and Aquitaine — stretching from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees.
3
How did Henry II come to hold so much of France?
Model answer
He inherited Normandy from his mother and Anjou from his father, gained Aquitaine by marrying Eleanor in 1152, and took the English throne in 1154.
4
Why did Henry II take an army to Ireland in 1171?
Model answer
Norman lords led by Strongbow had already carved out land there for an exiled Irish king, and Henry crossed to stop them building a rival kingdom beyond his control.
5
What followed from that expedition?
Model answer
Anglo-Norman lords settled, built castles and took over large estates, Irish kings submitted to Henry as overlord, and English claims to rule Ireland date from it.
6
Why did French become the language of the ruling class in England?
Model answer
The Norman and Angevin kings and the barons they granted land to spoke it, so French was the language of the court, the law and landholding for generations.

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