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CHAPTER 6
A Q UEEN ’ S W ORK : R EGENT FOR A BSENTEE K ING , 1155–1168
AN
HENRY Plantagenet, lord of Anjou and Normandy as well as duke in Eleanor’s duchy of Aquitaine, would spend even less time in England than had his AngloNorman predecessors: not even thirteen years of his thirty-five-year reign. During his first decade as king he visited his island realm only four times, usually staying between a year and a year and a half, and his absences from England lasted up to four years.1 Obviously the new king needed a trusted and capable representative to govern England while he was away dashing about dealing with the rebellions of nobles and Capetian conspiracies in France. He would turn to his wife Eleanor as his helpmate, reviving the Anglo-Norman practice of naming the queen as regent during the king’s absences. Eleanor’s presence in the English kingdom was all the more vital after years of weak rule under Stephen of Blois. A strong and trusted hand controlling England in Henry II’s absence was essential in his first decade as king when the administrative machinery of Henry I’s reign, weakened during the civil war of the 1140s during the reign of Stephen of Blois, was not yet restored. Henry could turn with confidence to Eleanor to represent legitimate royal authority in England. He saw in her another strong woman similar to his mother, Empress Matilda, who had shown herself able and willing to take the reins of power. Despite Eleanor’s responsibilities as regent, she would not remain continuously in England; in most years, she would cross the Channel at least once if only to attend Henry’s Christmas court, for it was more often held in his French possessions than in England. A royal presence in the person of Eleanor as regent was essential to give legitimacy to Henry’s deputies carrying out his work of reclaiming royal resources, restoring central authority, and curbing the magnates’ power while he was outside his kingdom. Working closely with trusted royal officials, she