inchoate partner in sovereignty, under the name of King of the Romans, became later on a part of the ordinary machinery of the empire. It is possible that Henry II. had this object solely and simply in view; but another theory is conceivable. [Sidenote: Henry’s political object in this. ] Henry well knew by what very discordant nationalities his states were peopled; and he entertained the idea of dividing his dominions among his sons at his death. To Richard, the second son, as his mother’s heir, Aquitaine and Poictou were already given; for Geoffrey he had obtained the succession to the duchy of Brittany, and he was thinking of Ireland to be conquered for a kingdom for John. Henry, the eldest son, would of course have his father’s inheritance, England, Normandy, and Anjou. Such a division the king actually made, when in the autumn of 1170 he believed himself to be at the point of death; and he brought up his sons among the people they were to rule, Henry among the Normans, Richard among the Poictevins. It would be still a question whether the elder brother should govern the family estates, as had been the case in the early Karolingian empire, his brethren owning his feudal superiority; or whether each should possess his provinces in sovereignty; subject only to the already existing feudal claims. However, when Henry began, as early as 1160, to broach the subject of his son’s coronation he was only twenty-seven years old, and probably thought more of securing the allegiance and attachment of the English for the child, than of the chances which might follow his own death; and later on we find him anxious to abridge the tedious parts of the royal duties to sharing them with the heir, although he never could part with one iota of the substance of power. Hence, then, the coronation of Henry the younger in 1170, the anger of Lewis VII. because his daughter was not also crowned, and the quarrel among the bishops which caused Becket’s death. [Sidenote: Henry applies to the Pope on Becket’s death. ] [Sidenote: Expedition to Ireland, 1171. ]