rey succeeded in beating them one
after another, razed the keep of Thouars and occupied Mirebeau. Another
rising was crushed in 1134 by the destruction of Cand and the taking of
L'Ile Bouchard. In 1136, while the count was in Normandy, Robert of
Sable put himself at the head of the movement, to which Geoffrey
responded by destroying Briollay and occupying La Suze, and Robert of
Sable himself was forced to beg humbly for pardon through the
intercession of the bishop of Angers. In 1139 Geoffrey took Mirebeau,
and in 1142 Champtoceaux, but in 1145 a new revolt broke out, this time
under the leadership of Elias, the count's own brother, who, again with
the assistance of Robert of Sable, laid claim to the countship of Maine.
Geoffrey took Elias prisoner, forced Robert of Sable to beat a retreat,
and reduced the other barons to reason. In 1147 he destroyed Doue and
Blaison. Finally in 1150 he was checked by the revolt of Giraud, lord of
Montreuil-Bellay: for a year he besieged the place till it had to
surrender: he then took Giraud prisoner and only released him on the
mediation of the king of France.

Thus, on the death of Geoffrey the Handsome (7th of September 1151), his
son Henry found himself heir to a great empire, strong and consolidated,
to which his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine (May 1152) further added
Aquitaine.

At length on the death of King Stephen, Henry was recognised as king of
England (19th of December 1154). But then his brother Geoffrey, who had
received as appanage the three fortresses of Chinon, Loudun and
Mirebeau, tried to seize upon Anjou, on the pretext that, by the will of
their father, Geoffrey the Handsome, all the paternal inheritance ought
to descend to him, if Henry succeeded in obtaining possession of the
maternal inheritance. On hearing of this, Henry, although he had sworn
to observe this will, had himself released from his oath by the pope,
and hurriedly marched against his brother, from whom in the beginning of
1156 he succeeded in taking Chinon and Mirebeau; and in July he forced
Geoffrey to give up even his three fortresses in return for an annual
pension. Henceforward Henry succeeded in keeping the countship of Anjou
all his life; for though he granted it in 1168 to his son Henry "of the
Short Mantle," when the latter became old enough to govern it, he
absolutely refused to allow him to enjoy his power. After Henry II.'s
death in 1189 the countship, together with the rest of his d