Henry III of England

gigatos | February 18, 2022

Summary

Henry III. († November 16, 1272 at the Palace of Westminster) was an English king, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine. His 56-year reign from October 28, 1216 to November 16, 1272 as King of England is the fourth longest reign of an English king after George III, Victoria, and Elizabeth II. His reign can be divided into four temporal sections. The first section is the 16 years when he was still a minor or when his advisors ruled. From 1232 to 1234 followed troubled years in which the king began to rule himself, but was strongly influenced by his courtiers and nobles. In the third period, from 1234 to 1258, the king ruled independently. He finally recognized the Magna Carta as binding law, which limited his financial possibilities. This was one of the reasons why he was unable to regain the lost French possessions of his ancestors in the conflict with France. Henry”s financial problems, compounded by intermittent rivalries within the royal family and by Henry”s unsuccessful foreign policy, led to a crisis in his reign in the 1250s. From 1258, therefore, there was a serious conflict with a noble opposition, which led to the Second War of the Barons. As a result of the domestic crisis, Henry finally renounced the lost possessions in France in 1259 in the Treaty of Paris, but thereby secured the possession of Gascony. After the king was defeated by the rebellious barons in the civil war, the political initiative increasingly passed to his eldest son Edward, who was able to decisively defeat the rebels in 1265 and restore kingship. Henry, however, did not succeed in finally ending the conflict with the rebels until 1267. The consequences of the civil war burdened his reign until his death. Henry had asserted English suzerainty over the Welsh princes in 1247, but it was subsequently shaken off again by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Weakened by the civil war, Henry had to recognize Llywelyn as prince of Wales in 1267. Although he is therefore not counted among the successful and strong English rulers, he succeeded in consolidating the position of his family after the disastrous reign of his father John Ohneland. In addition, Henry is considered one of the greatest European patrons of the arts of the 13th century. Starting in 1245, he had Westminster Abbey rebuilt in the Gothic style.

Henry was descended from the Plantagenet dynasty. He was the eldest of the five children of King John Ohneland and his second wife Isabella of Angoulême. He was named after his grandfather King Henry II, and because of his birthplace he was also called Henry of Winchester. Little is known about his childhood. He seldom saw his father, who constantly moved around his kingdom without a fixed seat of government, but he had a close relationship with his mother. He later granted his nurse Ellen, wife of William Dun, a generous pension in Havering. In 1209 his father had his vassals swear in Henry as heir to the throne, and in 1212 his father entrusted the education of his eldest son to Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, who was a native of France. Des Roches certainly encouraged Henry”s devotion to his ancestors and to his family, especially to Richard I and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and even as a nine-year-old Henry is said to have spoken with unusual seriousness and dignity. In addition, the bishop encouraged Henry”s sense of art and his devotion to the Anglo-Saxon saints. Even as an adult, Henry could enumerate the order of the saintly English kings. The young prince”s military training, which was not particularly successful, was provided by Philip d”Aubigny, a Brittany-born retainer of Peter des Roches. In contrast, Henry was considered a good horseman, which he probably owed to his bodyguard Ralph of St Samson.

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Ending the war of the barons

The First War of the Barons from 1215 to 1217, which followed his father”s non-recognition of the Magna Carta, was a formative event for the young prince. His father died suddenly on October 19, 1216, in the midst of the war with the rebellious barons and with France. Nine months later, in July 1217, his mother, Queen Isabella abandoned her children and returned to her native southern France, where she took over the rule of the county of Angoulême, her father”s land. In the spring of 1220 she married, in her second marriage, the French Count Hugh X of Lusignan of La Marche. Henry did not see her again until 1230.

After the death of his father, Henry, just nine years old, had become king of England. His succession to the throne was not assured, however, because his father”s rule was disputed by the rebellious barons. The rebels had offered the English crown to the French prince Louis. Henry”s father, however, had had the support of the pope, represented by the papal legate Guala Bicchieri, as well as much of the high clergy, so that immediately after John”s death his supporters had the young Henry crowned king. Henry traveled for this purpose from Devizes Castle to Gloucester, where William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who had been one of his father”s closest confidants, knighted him on October 27. A hasty and scarcely prepared coronation took place at Gloucester Abbey the next day. Since the crown jewels had been lost or pawned by his father, Henry was crowned by the bishops of Winchester, Worcester, and Exeter with a makeshift browband. After the coronation, Henry immediately paid homage to Legate Guala, since his father had offered the realm to the pope as a fief. Four days later he vowed to take the cross. The young king was ruled by a self-appointed Regency Council led by William Marshal, who was over 70 years old, and who recognized a slightly amended version of Magna Carta on November 12. This and the death of King John removed the reason for many barons to rebel, so they submitted to the young king. The remaining rebels and the forces of the French Prince Louis were defeated by Marshal at the Battle of Lincoln, and after Hubert de Burgh, justiciar appointed by John Ohneland, destroyed a French supply fleet at the Battle of Sandwich on August 24, 1217, the war was decided. In September, Prince Louis was forced to renounce his claims to the English throne in the Peace of Lambeth and return to France. The defeated rebels were treated with leniency by Marshal. A further amended version of Magna Carta was again recognized at a great council meeting at Westminster in October and November 1217, in addition to which a new Charter of the Forest was recognized, which more closely regulated the rights of possession of the royal forests. King Alexander II of Scotland and the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth also made peace with England, the Welshman being allowed to keep most of the conquests he had made in Wales since 1211.

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Henry”s early reign

Legate Guala continued to discreetly support the regent William Marshal, through whose generally high regard and diplomatic skill the government slowly regained its authority. In November 1218, by general consensus, Ralph de Neville was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal. However, until the king came of age, confirmations of possession and gifts could not be definitively confirmed. When the aged William Marshal fell ill, on April 9, 1219, he entrusted the protection of the young king to the new legate Pandulf and admonished Henry not to follow his father”s bad example. The next day, Bishop des Roches, acting as educator, attempted to gain guardianship of the young king during a council meeting in Reading and boldly attacked Henry”s head. In doing so, however, he was rebuffed by the other councillors. William Marshal died a month later. Bitter quarrels now broke out within the Council of Regency, especially between des Roches, who came from France, and Hubert de Burgh, a justiciar from Norfolk, both of whom had been close followers of King John.

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Power struggle in the Regency Council, wars in Wales and revolts

A grand council meeting in Oxford in April 1220 confirmed a three-member regency council consisting of Pandulf the legate as first counselor and leader of the kingdom, Hubert de Burgh the justiciar, and Peter des Roches as educator. However, Pandulf effectively allowed the Justiciar de Burgh to run the government. Despite the continued strains on the royal coffers, the now twelve-year-old king was recrowned in a solemn ceremony by Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey, the ancestral coronation site, on May 17, 1220. Numerous imperial insignia had been newly made for this purpose. Over the next few years, partly by bribery and partly by force, the rule of the government of the empire was restored, which had been destroyed by the war of the barons. In July 1221 Pandulf resigned his office, and in the autumn of that year des Roche”s task as educator was declared complete. He had little influence from then on, so de Burgh became sole ruler and expanded his position over the next three years. The Justiciar continued to treat young Henry like a child and is said to have even threatened to slap him once. At a council meeting in June 1222, much of the royal landholdings that had fallen into the hands of various barons during the civil war were recovered, nearly doubling the royal revenues. After Christmas 1222, de Burgh promised at Oxford that the king would recognize the charters at a council meeting at Westminster in January 1223. Over the next few months, war broke out in south Wales, in which William Marshal, the son of the late regent, who was allied with de Burgh, was able to conquer large parts of southwest Wales against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, threatening the latter”s dominance in Wales. De Burgh brought the king to Wales, sacked Builth Castle, besieged by the Welsh, on September 23, 1223, and founded Montgomery Castle. There, on October 7, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth submitted, restoring peace to the Welsh Marches. By the end of 1223, de Burgh was able to completely oust his adversary des Roches from the court. Archbishop Langton agreed with de Burgh at Westminster on December 10, 1223, that the king could formally use his own seal, and thereafter de Burgh forced the Roch”s remaining supporters to surrender the royal fiefs and castles they held.

Despite the broad recognition of the minor king, some barons resisted the surrender of the castles and estates they had acquired during the civil war. While the rebellion of William de Forz was quickly put down in early 1221, the rebellion of Falkes de Bréauté, a former confidant of King John, was put down only after fierce fighting. Bedford Castle, held by Falkes” brother William, was captured only after an eight-week siege on August 15, 1224. The young king was present during the conquest and, probably influenced by de Burgh, ordered the execution by hanging of the castle”s entire garrison of over 80 men.

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Domination Hubert de Burgh

After the 1214 armistice with France expired in March 1224, the French king Louis VIII, who as Prince Louis had claimed the English throne during the First War of the Barons, attacked the English king”s possessions in southwestern France in May 1224 and conquered Poitou and La Rochelle by August 1224, after which French troops occupied large parts of Gascony. De Burgh planned to recapture the lost territories, but initially lacked the financial means to do so. In February 1225, he exploited rumors of an impending French invasion by levying the fifteenth, a tax equal to the 15th part of movable property. The barons initially refused to agree to this tax at a large council meeting, until the young king reaffirmed the Magna Carta in February 1225. The tax raised the enormous sum of £40,000, proving that the government had regained its authority after the barons” war. Henry later publicly invoked Magna Carta on several occasions and exhorted his barons to apply it to their vassals as well. Magna Carta thus acquired the force of law in the long term and became the guideline for royal rule. The knights and the lower nobility in particular invoked the Magna Carta, which subsequently led to an upgrading of the royal jurisdiction and thus of the royal authority, but also to the formation of a professional judiciary. In 1255, the king ordered sheriffs to apply Magna Carta in all courts and to punish non-compliance. At the same time, royal officials and judges exploited inconsistencies and ambiguities in Magna Carta to circumvent it. Nevertheless, at Henry”s death it was clear that the written law also applied to the king.

In March 1225, Richard, the king”s younger brother, and William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, set out with an army for Bordeaux, from where they quickly retook large parts of Gascony. La Rochelle and Poitou, however, remained in the hands of the French king. After the death of King Louis VIII in November 1226, his son and successor Louis IX was still underage. Henry now renewed his claims to Normandy and Anjou. He sent envoys there, to Brittany and Poitou, in order to draw the nobility there to his side and to win back the territories. He was already allied with Peter Mauclerc, the Duke of Brittany, and he was able to enlist the support of Hugh X of Lusignan, his mother”s second husband. In the spring of 1227, however, the latter submitted to the new French king, and Henry”s plans had failed.

On January 8, 1227, Henry declared himself of age at a council meeting in Oxford. The king”s possessions were also reviewed, which led to extensive forest property once again falling back to the king or being reforested. This was followed by a revolt under his brother Richard, who in the meantime had been elevated to Earl of Cornwall. He was supported by seven other earls and threatened his brother with civil war, but could be satisfied with the transfer of further possessions. Governmental power, on the other hand, initially remained entirely with Hubert de Burgh, who was appointed Earl of Kent and, on April 27, 1228, Justiciar for life. However, the king increasingly surrounded himself with his own household, which eventually included almost 70 knights. He now increasingly intervened in government himself, which at times led to conflicts with the Justiciar. Nevertheless, he was still far from being able to completely detach himself from de Burgh, who was father-like to him.

In August 1228, new fighting broke out in Wales when Llywelyn ab Iorwerth besieged Montgomery Castle. To relieve the castle, de Burgh levied a shield fee of two marks per Knight”s fee, and with a small contingent of the feudal army, de Burgh and Henry marched into Wales. Facing the English army, the Welsh retreated, allowing the English to sack Montgomery Castle. Afterwards, de Burgh burned the nearby Cistercian abbey of Ceri, which had served as a base for the Welsh. In place of the monastery, he began building a castle, but the inadequately supplied English were ambushed at the construction site by the Welsh, who destroyed the castle under construction and captured the Marcher, Lord William de Braose. The king made no further advances and after three months was forced to make an ignominious peace with the Welsh prince. Braose remained in the power of the Welsh and had to negotiate a peace with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth himself.

At Christmas 1228, news again reached Henry from French nobles encouraging him to reclaim his family”s possessions in France. Hubert de Burgh was initially able to prevent him from starting a new war with France, but against de Burgh”s resistance, Henry finally set out on a campaign into France on April 30, 1230. From Brittany, he advanced into Anjou and on to Gascony without any significant fighting. Facing the superior army of the French king, he finally had to retreat back to Brittany. In October, he returned to England without having achieved any successes.

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The fall of Hubert de Burgh

Because de Burgh used his office to enrich himself and his family, his standing with the barons had declined sharply, compounded by his unsuccessful policies in Wales and failures in France. After his return from the unsuccessful French campaign, Henry began to seal his own letters to the royal chancellor, Ralph Neville, thus bypassing de Burgh. Nevertheless, de Burgh initially continued to hold his supremacy. The king spent Christmas 1230 with de Burgh at Lambeth, and the king bestowed on him rich gifts such as the administration of the lands of the late Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and the guardianship of his minor son Richard. On April 15, 1231, Henry”s brother-in-law William Marshal died. The king greatly regretted the latter”s early death, and power struggles again broke out at court, while Llywelyn ab Iorwerth took advantage of the death of Marshal, who was wealthy in Wales, and launched new attacks. De Burgh persuaded the king to deny William”s younger brother Richard his inheritance, saying he was a fief of the French king because of his holdings in Normandy. Richard Marshal then threatened the king with rebellion, supported by Henry”s brother Richard of Cornwall. Henry moved an army to Hereford in the fall, but accomplished little except rebuilding Painscastle. In August he recognized Marshal as his brother”s heir and Earl of Pembroke. Then de Burgh”s bitter opponent Peter des Roches returned as a glorious hero from his crusade to the Holy Land. Along with his followers, he was welcomed by the king and gradually regained influence over the king. In late October 1231, at a council meeting in Westminster, the king was persuaded by Richard Marshal and the Duke of Brittany to change his plans to marry Marjorie, the youngest sister of the Scottish king. Instead, he was to marry Yolande, the daughter of the Duke of Brittany, so that he would have better opportunities to campaign again in France. For the first time since 1224, the king spent Christmas not with Hubert de Burgh, but with Peter des Roches in Winchester.

In January 1232, de Burgh”s final fall began when des Roches was appointed Baron of the Exchequer and promised financial reforms. These yielded little, but raised high expectations among the heavily indebted king. The failed costly French campaign had exposed his strained finances, plus the cost of campaigns into Wales and ongoing aid to his allies in France. Thanks to de Burgh”s recovery of governmental power, the king”s annual income had risen from only £8,000 in 1218 to £24,000 in 1230, but this was, even ignoring inflation, only two-thirds of the income King John could command at the beginning of the 13th century. Because of the concessions the king had to make during the civil war and in the Magna Carta, the king”s possibilities depended largely on getting more money granted during the great councils. Even his remaining revenues were not fully available to him, since corrupt bailiffs and sheriffs passed on their earnings to the chancellor of the exchequer only incompletely; in addition, royal landholdings were sometimes granted only in return for small rents. Attempts to redress these grievances occupied the king during the 1230s and 1240s. However, only intermittent improvements were achieved by the mid-1240s. Reductions in royal grants, due to financial reforms, led to political tensions. Only a long period of peace could restore the royal finances. This financial limitation of his options displeased the king, who was thus only able to implement his political goals incompletely. In addition, his strained financial situation meant a constant weakness in his reign.

On March 7, 1232, de Burgh”s opponents rejected a new tax during a council meeting in Winchester. The king”s weakened government then had to begin negotiations with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, the prince of Gwynedd. In May, de Burgh and the king set out for the Welsh Marches, arriving at Worcester on May 19, where they witnessed the reburial of King John”s body in a magnificent new tomb in the cathedral. On May 23 they had an inconclusive meeting with Prince Llywelyn at Shrewsbury. During their return, des Roches” kinsman Peter de Rivallis was given the office of Treasurer of the King”s Household by Henry for life, illustrating Henry”s disruption. He made a pilgrimage to Bromholm in Norfolk, where he was entertained by de Burgh on July 2. On that occasion, the king confirmed de Burgh and his followers in office for life. During the month, however, the king turned decisively against de Burgh. Des Roches accused him of plotting sedition against Italian clergy installed by the pope in England. The king ordered the arrest of some of de Burgh”s followers, after which a heated argument broke out between the king and de Burgh at Woodstock, and the king dismissed him as justiciar on July 29.

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The punishment Hubert de Burgh

Henry appointed Stephen of Seagrave as the new Justiciar, but in the Regency Council the leading figure became Peter des Roches, who became another father figure for the king. The latter”s reign meant two years of political tension. First, des Roches shared his power with Richard Marshal and the Stewards of the Household. De Burgh lost not only his offices but also his estates and fled to church asylum. Probably at the king”s request, he was to answer to the other magnates in London in November, as required by Article 39 of Magna Carta. The king probably hoped for the leniency of the barons, but they imposed further heavy sentences on de Burgh by a large majority. He was imprisoned in Devizes for an indefinite period, and his property was confiscated, but he was allowed to keep his title and his goods inherited from his father. In September 1232, a council meeting in Lambeth approved a new tax, the only one granted without conditions during Henry”s reign. However, due to the poor harvest, it raised only £16,500.

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The tyranny of Roch”

Des Roches quickly took control of the government. Although he originally wanted to reform finances, he ruled tyrannically, persecuting his opponents and enriching his supporters with offices and royal castles. Some of his followers, like himself, were from France, and he generously favored French allies. Nevertheless, he made no effort to intervene in France, but enriched himself above all. In January 1233, Pope Gregory IX allowed the king to reclaim crown rights that had been granted. Henry took advantage of this to revoke de Burgh”s donations to more than 50 followers. He awarded the recovered estates to followers of des Roches. This favoritism provoked growing opposition to des Roches” rule.

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The Rebellion of Richard Marshal

First des Roches fell out with Richard Marshal, who criticized the disadvantage of his followers compared to des Roches” followers. In February 1233, he retreated to Wales and Ireland, and in August he began an open rebellion. This began a bitter civil war that lasted six months, but was limited spatially primarily to the Welsh Marches. Although he fought as an Englishman against the foreign minions, he won only the sympathy of the chroniclers and not the support of the other magnates, so he was never again supported by more than 60 knights. The king used foreign mercenaries against him and was able to capture Hay, Ewyas, and Usk Castle between August 28 and September 8. Despite these advances, the king then offered negotiations and called a council meeting at Westminster for October 2. The meeting was delayed for a week as de Burgh again fled to a church asylum. Negotiations eventually broke down, and egged on by his relatives, Marshal continued the struggle. He allied himself with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, while his retainer Richard Siward freed de Burgh from Devizes by a daring raid. On November 12, the king unwillingly set out again for the Welsh Marches. At Grosmont Castle he suffered a humiliating defeat when his supplies fell into rebel hands, and during the winter fighting rested. The continuation of the struggle was prevented only by Marshal”s sudden retreat to Ireland, while Prince Llywelyn offered negotiations.

The situation was undecided, and the king lacked the money to successfully complete the campaign. During the council meeting at Westminster on February 2, 1234, Edmund Rich, the newly elected Archbishop of Canterbury, supported by several other bishops, accused the government and demanded des Roches” removal from court. As the barons” displeasure with des Roches” regime grew, the king promised to follow the bishops” advice but initially fled on a pilgrimage to eastern England, during which he fell seriously ill. On March 8, a council meeting in Northampton authorized the bishops to negotiate with Prince Llywelyn. The recovered king attended the installation of Edmund Rich as the new archbishop at Canterbury on April 2. At this, des Roches, as Bishop of Winchester, sat next to him, but the other bishops demonstratively sat on the opposite side of the choir loft. On May 9, Archbishop Edmund threatened the king with excommunication if the government was not changed. In response, the king ordered the Roches to retire to his bishopric, while Peter de Rivallis and other relatives of the Roches were stripped of their offices. Concessions were made to the rebels, while the des Roches” illegal land grants were reversed. Richard Marshal, however, had been mortally wounded in battle in Ireland, which Henry deeply mourned. After the fall of the Roches, he now took over the reign himself.

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1234-1242: Marriage and achievement of stable rule

Henry”s own reign began successfully and he established a largely stable rule during the next 15 years. With des Roches, Stephen of Seagrave also lost his post as Justiciar, which Henry did not subsequently fill again. He relied on retainers who had not been involved in the previous power struggles, most notably John Mansel, Robert Passelewe, Henry of Wingham, Bertram de Criol, William de Cantilupe, John of Lexinton, Paulinus Piper, and Robert Waleran. These men and their families formed a close community. Although they were favorites of the king, they did not attain the position that the ministers had held during the king”s minority. A new generation of magnates also became involved in a peaceful co-determination in parliament. Through the influence of Archbishop Edmund Rich, the king also made his peace with Peter des Roches and Hubert de Burgh, who were pardoned before their deaths in 1238 and 1243, respectively. Their supporters had been reinstated to their positions by 1236. Since the king could not afford another war, a two-year truce was concluded with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in June 1234 by Archbishop Edmund, which was later extended until the latter”s death in 1240. For the protection of Gascony, another truce was concluded with King Theobald of Navarre in January 1235. After the alliance between Henry and the Duke of Brittany broke down in November 1234, a four-year truce was agreed with the French King Louis IX in August 1235.

In May 1235, Henry”s sister Isabella married Emperor Frederick II, for which the king had to raise a dowry of £20,000, but gained an ally against the French king. Earlier in the year, Henry had planned a marriage to Joan of Dammartin, heiress of the French county of Ponthieu, but the French king was able to convince the pope to forbid the marriage because of too close a relationship. Henry then turned to Raymond Berengar, the Count of Provence, and asked for the hand of his eleven-year-old daughter Eleonore. Eleonore was not a rich marriage, and Henry already had to fear that he would receive no dowry at all. The agreed dowry of 10,000 marks was never paid in full. On the other hand, the marriage brought excellent connections. Eleonore”s older sister Margaret had recently married Louis IX of France, while her mother”s family, the Counts of Savoy, controlled the western Alpine passes and were therefore courted by both in the power struggles between the Pope and the Emperor. Henry gained influence over the papal curia through the marriage and significantly improved his relationship with the French king, who was now his brother-in-law.

On January 14, 1236, the betrothal took place in Canterbury, and on January 20, Eleanor and Henry were married by Archbishop Edmund in Westminster Abbey. Their magnificent coronation set a new standard for this ceremony. The clever and beautiful Eleanor quickly won Henry”s love. Her influence enabled him to break further away from the influence of his old ministers and advisors, and she herself had a mediating and conciliatory influence on his politics. Her uncle William of Savoy, bishop-elect of Valence, had accompanied her to England, and early in April Henry formed a council of twelve members at Windsor, over which William presided. Henry was now trying to reorganize his finances, so William sought to increase the income from the royal estates. He appointed local nobles instead of courtiers as sheriffs of the counties, which actually allowed him to increase the king”s income by ten percent. Unlike Peter des Roches, William of Savoy also did not favor courtiers, but maintained relations with all factions. He supported the jurist and administrative reformer William Raleigh and maintained peaceful relations with Scotland and France.

Henry”s brother Richard of Cornwall did not come to terms with his brother”s marriage and the threat of losing his succession to the throne. During the next two years, he remained away from court and took the cross in June 1236. He found no support for his stance, however, and during a great council at Westminster in January 1237 he was outplayed by William of Savoy and by William Raleigh. On this occasion the king reaffirmed Magna Carta, for which he was granted a tax on the 30th part of movable property. Raising about £22,500, it remained the last major tax granted to the king by parliaments for the next 30 years. William of Savoy was so sure of his position that he left the country from February to April 1237. In June 1237, the new papal legate Oddone di Tonengo arrived in England and succeeded in publicly reconciling Hubert de Burgh and Peter des Roches. In September, in the Treaty of York, the Scottish king Alexander II relinquished his old claims to the counties in northern England in exchange for other territories that brought him £200 in annual revenue. William of Savoy”s brother Thomas married Joan, Countess of Flanders, thus enlarging Henry”s circle of allies.

The confirmation of charters in 1237 was the culmination of an important legal development. In 1234 the common bench had been strengthened vis-à-vis the court of justice, and in 1236 the Statute of Merton was enacted, which regulated the rights of widows, access to the commons, and the payment of debts of deceased persons. However, the initiative for this process did not come from the king, but from his ministers and from the judges. After these laws, apart from a Jewish law in 1253, there were hardly any new laws until 1258. Unlike his father John Ohneland, Henry hardly interfered in court proceedings and rarely intervened in favor of his minions. Nevertheless, there were numerous complaints against the royal justice system, which was said to have become too complex, unavailable or too expensive. Wealthy litigants were favored because poorer litigants could not afford the cost of a trial. Therefore, in the 1240s and 1250s, efforts were made to reinstate the office of justiciar in order to better supervise the judiciary.

William of Savoy was again away from England when Simon de Montfort, an aspiring courtier, began an affair with Eleanor, a widowed sister of the king. Henry wanted to cover up the affair and planned a secret marriage for January 7, 1238, in his private chapel at the Palace of Westminster. When Richard of Cornwall learned of this, he began a rebellion, supported by Eleanor”s brother-in-law Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Winchester. They blamed Montfort and other courtiers and condemned the marriage because the magnates had not consulted about this marriage, as was actually customary for marriages of members of the high nobility. This argumentation found numerous supporters. On February 23, 1238, at Stratford-le-Bow, east of London, the rebels came armed to face the king, who retreated to the Tower of London by March 2. William of Savoy finally succeeded in defusing the crisis. Richard of Cornwall received 16,000 marks in support of his crusade, which was about half the revenue of the last tax, and thereafter remained loyal to the king. The reconciled brothers Henry and Richard visited their dying sister Joan, Queen of Scots, at Havering-atte-Bower on March 4, 1238.

In May 1238, William of Savoy left for Italy in support of Emperor Frederick II, where he died the following year. In June 1238 Henry was still trying to have him elected as successor to Peter des Roches as Bishop of Winchester, but since he had not consulted his council, the election failed. The monks had first favored William Raleigh. After the king”s intervention, they finally chose the Lord Chancellor Ralph de Neville. The enraged king appealed to the pope and removed de Neville from office on August 28. Henry finally relented quickly and reinstated de Neville as Lord Chancellor, who then held the office until his death in 1244. Shortly thereafter, on the night of September 9, 1238, the king narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on him at Woodstock Palace by a deranged official allied with William de Marisco and the pirates of Lundy.

In November, Henry attended the baptism of Eleanor and Simon de Montfort”s son Henry at Kenilworth. Montfort was thus back in the king”s favor and was elevated to Earl of Leicester by Henry in February 1239. In April 1239, William Raleigh resigned as chief justice when he became bishop of Norwich, whereupon royal estates and properties were taxed less harshly over the next few years. The royal finances were largely restored and remained so for the next few years. The king drew his income from feudal levies on his vassals, from the tax of the tallage, and from court fees. In addition, he received revenues from vacant bishoprics, especially the bishopric of Winchester, which was vacant from 1240 to 1244, but also from Canterbury and London. The royal officials often enforced their claims to the utmost, especially in forest rights. In addition, the king taxed the Jews extremely heavily, especially in the 1240s.

On June 17, 1239, a son was finally born to him in Westminster, and three days later he was baptized by the papal legate Oddone in Westminster Abbey. He was named, contrary to Angevin tradition, after Edward the Confessor, the king”s favorite saint; his godparents were Richard of Cornwall and Simon de Montfort. The birth of an heir to the throne consolidated Eleonore”s influence over the king. The king, on the other hand, fell out with Simon de Montfort at Eleonore”s blessing, who then went into exile with his wife. They reconciled in April 1240, but de Montfort”s influence on the king and their relationship was no longer as before. In 1240 the king benefited from the death of Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, after which there was an inheritance dispute between his sons in Gwynedd. The king supported Dafydd, who was a nephew of his, against his half-brother Gruffydd. In a theatrical ceremony, he knighted Dafydd at Gloucester on May 15, 1240, after which Dafydd paid homage to him. On June 10, he and legates at Dover bade farewell to Richard of Cornwall, who was leaving on his crusade. The queen brought Henry to a reconciliation with Simon de Montfort before the latter also left for the crusade. On September 29, 1240, Margaret, the king”s second child, was born, probably named after Eleonore”s sister, the Queen of France.

The king spent Christmas 1240 at Westminster with Legate Oddone before the latter left England in January 1241. After the legate”s departure, Eleonore”s family of Savoy and Provence gained further influence. Another uncle of hers, Peter of Savoy, came to England and was solemnly knighted at Westminster Abbey on January 5, 1241. He soon achieved a dominant position in the royal council, where he advocated further moderate policies. In April 1241, the king elevated him to Earl of Richmond. In February 1241, another of the queen”s uncles, Boniface, had been elected the new archbishop of Canterbury. On January 7, 1242, Richard of Cornwall returned from his crusade and was welcomed at Dover by Henry and Eleanor. On January 28, he solemnly entered London, which had been decorated in his honor. Courtiers feared new tensions between Henry and Richard in light of the foreigners” favors, but Peter of Savoy quickly won Richard”s favor.

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The Saintonge War from 1242 to 1243

Despite the failure of 1230, Henry continued to hope to regain the territories in France lost by his father. In August 1241, he had been able to crush a rebellion by Dafydd ap Llywelyn in Wales in a bloodless campaign lasting only 14 days, aided by renegade Welsh princes and by unusually good weather. Prince Dafydd had to agree to a peace, for which he held his brother Gruffydd and his son Owain hostage. When the French King Louis IX appointed his brother Alfonso Count of Poitou in 1241, Henry immediately planned a counterattack in the face of this provocation. However, the campaign of 1242, the so-called Saintonge War, was hastily launched and ended in failure. At the Battle of Taillebourg, Henry narrowly escaped capture by superior French forces. He had to retreat to Bordeaux and renew the truce with France for five years on April 5, 1243. His French allies, including Hugh X of Lusignan, his mother”s second husband, had to submit to the French king again. In a letter to Emperor Frederick II in early 1243, Henry blamed his defeat on the disloyalty of the Poitevins, but it was more likely his inadequate preparation, his meager war chest, his own lack of leadership, and his inactivity that caused his allies to lose confidence in him. Without additional taxation, which had to be approved by Parliament, he had income at the time of only about £40,000 a year. This was too small compared to the equivalent of £70,000 that the French king had at his disposal to wage a successful campaign against him.

Henry remained in southwestern France even after the defeat of Taillebourg and the conclusion of the armistice, since his wife had become the mother of a daughter in Bordeaux on June 25, 1242, whom they named Beatrix after Henry”s mother-in-law. The latter, Beatrix of Savoy, visited them in May 1243, and in August 1243 Henry gave his wife a rich morning gift. He had become even more dependent on Eleanor, who favored her compatriots from Provence and Savoy. Henry again came into conflict with his brother Richard of Cornwell. Henry had probably handed over the administration of Gascony to Richard in gratitude for Richard saving him from capture at Taillebourg. On the advice of his wife, who wanted to leave Gascony to her eldest son, he revoked this decision a few weeks later. As a result, Richard of Cornwall returned to England early in September 1242.

Given the few battles, the cost of the failed campaign had remained relatively low. In total, he King had spent about £80,000 on the war, for which he had to take on about £15,000 in debt. Nevertheless, he continued to stubbornly hold on to his claims to Normandy and Poitou. On October 9, 1243, he reached Portsmouth, England.

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The consequences of the failed campaign

The king consolidated his tarnished image with elaborate ceremonies. Four days after his return from Poitou, he entered Westminster in a solemn procession on October 13. On October 18, his mother-in-law Beatrix of Savoy and her daughter Sancha arrived at Westminster. On November 23, the magnificent wedding of Sancha and Richard of Cornwall took place in Westminster Abbey. To celebrate the occasion, the king presented the abbey with a gold-woven banner in which his coat of arms and those of the Counts of Provence were interwoven. Henry presented his brother with valuable gifts for the wedding and promised him estates by which he should have £500 annual income. With the queen mindful of her son Edward”s claims in Gascony, Richard”s interests turned to Ireland. Beatrix of Savoy finally succeeded in reconciling Henry with Simon de Montfort and his wife. The king granted them 500 marks annually, plus he gave Kenilworth Castle to Montfort. Beatrix of Savoy remained in England until early 1244. The king gave her a mighty eagle adorned with precious stones and ordered that all the churches between London and Dover be illuminated in her honor on her return.

Nevertheless, the failed campaign so depressed the king that he avoided major confrontations over the next few years. His wife, her relatives, and his ministers such as John Mansel continued to gain influence over him. Despite the failure in southwestern France, there was no revolt in England, such as that experienced by John Ohneland after his defeat in 1214. Most of the English magnates supported Henry despite his defeat. The king deliberately maintained good relations with his barons. He entertained them generously and gave them lavish gifts, in addition to collecting from them only indulgently the dues due to the crown. Although his judges occasionally reviewed the privileges of the barons, Henry made no effort to restrict these rights, but occasionally even extended them. He demonstrated his unity with his nobility through his buildings such as Westminster Abbey and Dublin Castle, involving delegations of the nobility. Criticism of his rule came only from merchants, the lesser nobility, and the lower clergy who were not involved in government. From time to time, the king attended to their complaints, but as long as the high nobility was on his side, the king controlled the situation.

On the northern border of the empire, there were tensions with Scotland, whose king Alexander II had married the French noblewoman Marie de Coucy after the death of Henry”s sister Joan in 1239. As a result, he tried to sever his close ties with England. Fearing a Scottish-French alliance, Henry raised an army composed mainly of foreign mercenaries to campaign in Scotland in the summer of 1244. However, the English barons opposed a war with Scotland, and eventually Henry was persuaded that the Scottish king was not planning an alliance with France. In the Treaty of Newcastle, sealed on August 14, 1244, peace with Scotland was renewed. On August 15, 1244, Alexander II agreed that his three-year-old son and heir Alexander should marry Margaret, also Henry”s three-year-old daughter.

The conflict with Scotland had again strained the king”s finances. The king”s attempts to raise funds provoked opposition, and in November 1244 he faced criticism from magnates and the clergy in the refectory of Westminster Abbey during Parliament. The king himself asked Parliament for a larger appropriation of money, unwisely citing as the reason his debts from the campaign in Poitou. Parliament then elected a twelve-member committee, composed mainly of courtiers, to draft a response to this request. Finally, similar to 1237, they demanded a mild concession for their agreement to a new taxation. On their advice, the king was again to appoint a Lord Chancellor and a Justiciar to conduct the day-to-day affairs of the king. Henry, not wishing to be coerced, refused, and further negotiations with Parliament were also unsuccessful. The king then tried in vain to impose only a tax on the clergy. In the end, he was saved by the enormous proceeds of taxing the Jews, which brought him over 40,000 marks by 1249. When Parliament reconvened in London in February 1245, the king was able to reach a compromise with the nobility. He had gained further sympathy with the birth of his second son, Edmund, who was named after the East English saint Edmund. Parliament eventually granted the king money for the marriage of his eldest daughter Margaret to the heir to the Scottish throne, while the king reaffirmed Magna Carta. To this end, a tax was granted, albeit at a low rate, which was nevertheless sufficient to pay the king”s debts. Henry himself rejected an attempt by the Pope to tax the English clergy.

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War in Wales and influence in Italy

Beginning in the summer of 1244, an alliance of Welsh princes under Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn again revolted against English suzerainty and launched attacks on English possessions. In March 1245 the king made another pilgrimage to St Albans and Bromholm, but the continuing war in Wales finally forced Henry to muster his feudal army for a campaign in Wales in June 1245. He arrived at Chester on August 13, but did not set out with his troops until a week later and did not reach the River Conwy until late August. There he encamped for two months. During this time he renewed Deganwy Castle, while dwindling rations and Welsh raids demoralized his army. The soldiers responded to their fear with brutal attacks, so by the end of October the king had retreated back to Cheshire without accomplishing much. The sudden death of Prince Dafydd in the spring of 1246 enabled Henry to win the war after all.

In January 1246, at the suggestion of his brother-in-law Count Amadeus of Savoy, Henry accepted his homage for the most important of his castles and Alpine crossings, in return for which he paid him a one-time payment of 1000 marks and an annual pension of 200 marks. Henry thus hoped to gain influence over the succession in Provence, since his father-in-law Count Raimund Berengar had no surviving sons. Fearing excommunication by the pope, who had already excommunicated Emperor Frederick II shortly before, Henry agreed to the pope”s taxation of the English clergy despite the displeasure of Parliament. Pope Innocent IV had approached the French king for this purpose, who wanted to occupy Provence, since his younger brother Charles of Anjou was also married to a daughter of the Count of Provence.

The king spent Christmas 1246 in Winchester with Bishop William Raleigh, who was now back in his favor. In April 1247, Parliament at Oxford passed a coinage reform that included Ireland and Wales and improved royal finances. The king entrusted his brother Richard of Cornwall with the implementation of this task. To do this, he was able to conclude the war in Wales victoriously. The Welsh princes, weakened by internal strife and by a trade embargo with England, gradually submitted to him. In the Treaty of Woodstock, concluded on April 30, 1247, with the heirs of Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Henry was able to crush the previous supremacy of Gwynedd in Wales and was himself recognized as overlord of the Welsh princes. For this purpose, Cheshire in the northeast of the Welsh Marches fell to the Crown.

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The Lusignans in England

His greatest success that year was with his family. In May he married Edmund de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, and Richard, eldest son of Richard de Burgh of Connaught, both royal wards, to two of Queen Eleanor”s relatives. Shortly thereafter, he received four of his half-brothers and a half-sister, children of his mother”s second marriage, who had died the previous year, at Westminster. He had invited them, and three of them remained in England: Aymer de Lusignan studied at Oxford and was elected Bishop of Winchester in 1250; William de Valence married Joan de Munchensi, an heiress of the Marshal family, and thus obtained Pembroke and extensive possessions in the Welsh Marches; and his half-sister Alice married John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, who was also still a minor and a ward of the king. This connection with the Lusignan family strengthened Henry”s position in Gascony. The Lusignans were followed to England by about 100 other followers from Poitou, who were called Poitevins after their origin. Not all of them stayed in England permanently, but they competed with the up to 200 Savoyards and the other factions at court for influence over the king and the young heir to the throne, Edward.

On October 13, 1247, the feast day of Edward the Confessor, Henry transferred in solemn procession a blood relic of Jesus Christ, which he had received from the princes of Outremer, from St Paul”s Cathedral to Westminster Abbey, with all the ecclesiastical and secular magnates present. He gave the relic to the Abbey, and the Bishops of Norwich and Lincoln, in their sermon, stated that this relic was superior to the French King”s relic of the Cross. After this ceremony, in Westminster Hall, the King gave knighthoods to numerous young men, including William de Valence and other Poitevins.

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Continuation of the conflict with France and tight finances

Despite the defeat in the Saintonge War, Henry continued to hold on to his claim to the French possessions lost by his father, but his policy toward France was wavering. On the one hand, he wished to participate in the crusade of the French king, so he began to accumulate a hoard of gold to finance the crusade. He obtained permission from the Pope to allow a contingent led by Guy de Lusignan to participate in the crusade, but Louis IX objected. On the other hand, Henry planned to take advantage of Louis” absence to reconquer his claimed territories in France. In February 1248, his attempt to get a new tax approved by Parliament failed. Instead, many merchants and clergy complained about the high tax burden, and again demanded that the holders of the three highest state offices be elected. Henry adjourned Parliament, but the complaints and demands were raised again at the Westminster parliaments in July and in January and April of the next year.

The king”s advisors hoped a smaller campaign into Gascony would displace the demands in Parliament. In May 1248, after a pilgrimage to Walsingham and Bromholm, the king managed to persuade Simon de Montfort to postpone his planned crusade and instead take up the post of lieutenant of Gascony, which was threatened by Alfonso of Poitiers and King Theobald of Navarre. The queen supported Montfort”s appointment, and in August he set out for southern France with a small army. For this campaign, the king”s available funds were insufficient, so parts of the Jewish tax were used, as well as further loans from Richard of Cornwall. Even a part of the royal silver had to be sold. Montfort had considerable success with his force, but for the further financing of his army, the king tried to obtain loans from the most important abbots of England in December, for this purpose he urged his sheriffs and the royal bailiffs to obtain as much revenue as possible. This financial pressure made the king unpopular with the population in the long run.

From this point on, compliance with Magna Carta became increasingly difficult for the king. The king”s refusal to place a greater burden on his magnates placed a burden on the merchants and the lower nobility. The king had forest laws strictly enforced, and sheriffs, who were often not from the region in which they held office, sought to impose new fees or increase the old ones. Numerous merchants complained that they had to deliver goods to the royal household and its government without being paid for them. Sheriffs collected in some cases three to four times the amount of what was still common in the 1230s. There were wide regional variations. In some counties, officials were much more lenient than in neighboring regions, while Alan de la Zouche, for example, collected more than twice as much in fees as his predecessors in northeast Wales, which had only recently been conquered. In addition, corruption among officials was widespread. The king himself sold hundreds of exemptions from taxes and burdens during this period, which meant that the burdens were also distributed very unevenly socially. However, the king ignored the discontent and tensions and undauntedly held on to his private beliefs. On the advice of the queen and Peter of Savoy, he transferred Gascony to the heir to the throne, Edward, in September 1249, and two months later he was so sure of his position in southwestern France that he pardoned the rebel Gaston de Béarn.

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Crusade plans and crisis in Gascony

Louis IX”s defeat at al-Mansura in February 1250 spurred Henry, spurred by his apparent success in Gascony, to take the cross in a great public ceremony presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster on March 6. According to his plans, the Queen, who supported this plan, and most of the courtiers were to accompany him. Following the example of Louis IX, he reduced spending on his court and more closely monitored the income from his real estate. The pope granted the king a crusading tithe on the income of the English clergy for three years, and the king began again to accumulate a treasury to finance the crusade. He forbade his barons, even his half-brother William de Valence, to undertake a crusade on their own initiative. Even his court artists had to take up the crusade theme, Antioch Chambers were established in his palaces at Winchester, Clarendon and Westminster. After confirming the foundation of Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire by his brother Richard of Cornwall in November 1251, the king spent Christmas in York, where he renewed his alliance with Scotland as further preparation for the crusade. The new Scottish king, Alexander III, was married to Henry”s eldest daughter, Margaret, in a magnificent ceremony. Henry knighted Alexander, who paid him homage for his English possessions in accordance with the Treaty of 1237.

In York, news reached the king of a revolt against Montfort”s strict rule in Gascony. Henry forbade Montfort, who was present in York, to return to southwestern France, and it was only thanks to the queen, who championed the interests of her eldest son in southwestern France, that an open quarrel was prevented. However, when Henry sent envoys to investigate Montfort”s rule in Gascony, complaints hailed from there. On the advice of Peter of Savoy, he rescinded the transfer of Gascony to his son on April 28, 1252, to calm opposition in Gascony, while Montfort faced accusations from leading Gascon nobles in Parliament from May to June. Henry sided with the Gascon nobles, resulting in some sharp exchanges between him and Montfort. Montfort accused Henry of undermining his authority, and only through the support of the queen, Richard of Cornwall, and other powerful magnates did he escape condemnation. Nevertheless, he refused to resign his office as lieutenant of Gascony. To avoid another rebellion, Henry announced on June 13, 1252, that he would travel to Gascony himself before February 1253. Initially, he intended to leave for France as early as October, but by that time he had not completed his arrangements for his absence in England. Montfort, on the other hand, had already returned to Gascony, whereupon new unrest broke out there. Henry was forced to dismiss him in October and eventually buy him out of his contract by paying him a large sum.

Unfortunately, the Gascon rebellion escalated further when Gaston de Béarn, despite his recent pardon, encouraged Alfonso X of Castile to resume his old claims to Gascony. Henry had neglected to ask Parliament for a tax in October, so he needed a reprieve. The clergy, led by Bishop Robert Grosseteste, resisted the papal crusade tithe because they believed it was calculated according to incorrect figures, and the laity refused to be taxed unless the clergy were also taxed. To finance the expedition, therefore, Henry also used his £20,000 savings, which were actually intended for the crusade. In addition, there was confusion about the goals of the king”s trip to France. Henry secretly hoped for an easy success in regaining the Angevin possessions while France was weakened by the capture of Louis IX. In June 1252, Henry wrote a rude letter to Louis IX at Acre, offering to leave for his crusade sooner than 1256 if Louis returned the lands of the Angevin Empire to him.

Now, however, Henry ran into serious political problems in England. Frustrated by developments in Gascony, he quarreled publicly for the first time since 1236 with his wife, who sympathized with Montfort. Their differences continued to trouble them throughout the year. After his half-brother Gottfried de Lusignan intervened in Gascony in February and negotiated a truce, Henry relied on the military might of his half-brothers. The Lusignans” political influence grew, but their arrogance made them unpopular. On November 3, 1252, Gottfried even undertook a raid on the palaces of Eleanor”s uncle Archbishop Boniface of Canterbury, relying on the military support of the English king. This turned tensions into a serious crisis, reminiscent of the crisis 20 years earlier. The royal court was splitting into separate camps, and four earls were on the verge of becoming involved in armed conflict. Under these circumstances, Henry and Eleanore settled their dispute and, through the mediation of the bishops, were able to pacify the separate camps in January 1253. In the spring, Eleanore became pregnant, probably for the first time in eight years. The well-attended parliament in May was open to the king”s problems, and the threat to Gascony from Alfonso of Castile strengthened the king”s position. The king immediately tried to get a new tax approved, but the parliament, in accordance with the provisions of the Magna Carta, only granted him support for the knighthood of the heir to the throne. In the presence of the king, Magna Carta was confirmed at Westminster Hall on May 3, 1253. The funds granted, however, fell far short of covering the cost of an expedition to Gascony, which was only made possible by exploiting all available resources, including revenue from Ireland, taxation of the Jews, and making large profits from the king”s land holdings. The king nevertheless continued to have a crusade in mind and imposed further restrictions on the Jews in January. The clergy granted the king a church tithe for three years in May, with the proviso that the magnates supervised its use.

On July 1, 1253, the king made his only surviving will. He gave his wife the regency of the kingdom and the guardianship of the children until the heir to the throne came of age; in addition, she was to continue his crusade. He gave her an enlarged wittum. During her husband”s absence, she was now official regent, assisted by Richard of Cornwall and a council. Henry probably hoped to pacify Gascony quickly. In May, he negotiated a marriage between the heir to the throne and Alfonso”s half-sister Eleanor. His departure was delayed by adverse winds and poor preparation; he did not leave Portsmouth until August 6, 1253, reaching Bordeaux around August 24. He regretted having to leave his pregnant wife behind, and as late as July had asked Alexander III of Scotland to send his wife Margaret back to England during his absence so that she could keep her mother company.

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Henry”s expedition in Gascony

Henry”s expedition to Gascony was unpopular in England. His army included about 300 knights, a large number of whom belonged to the royal household. His call to his vassals to join the army had been poorly answered, and many of the magnates had arrived late. There were numerous quarrels and even desertions in the army. In Gascony, the Lusignans reinforced Henry”s army with about 100 knights. The king”s strategy was cautious, and fortunately possible enemies such as the kings of France and Castile did not attack. Bordeaux and Bayonne behaved loyally, and the Dordogne valley was quickly secured. Only in the Garonne valley was there serious resistance, which could only be broken after a year – with a break in the winter. Bergerac was conquered in early July 1254, then La Réole in August. After that, Henry was able to retreat to Bordeaux. In order to gain allies, Henry behaved conciliatory towards the rebels. If they surrendered, they were pardoned and could keep their possessions. Henry granted pensions and concessions to his vassals. He appointed Stephen Bauzan as a new seneschal. In February 1254, Henry even offered to mediate in the dispute between Simon de Montfort and Gaston de Béarn, but Gaston refused. Alfonso of Poitiers received compensation of £3000, and the king also made generous donations to the Lusignans. Therefore, it was not surprising when Henry ran out of money at Christmas 1253. He had to borrow money from Bordeaux before the queen could send him new funds from England.

Crucial to securing Gascony was a peace with Alfonso of Castile. In February 1254, John Maunsel and Peter D”Aigueblanche, the Bishop of Hereford, a native of Savoy, continued to negotiate a marriage between the heir to the throne, Edward, and Alfonso”s half-sister Eleanore. That same month, Henry gave his son a massive appanage consisting of Gascony, Ireland, Chester with parts of Wales, and the Channel Islands, which brought him annual income of over £6000. In late March, rumors of a planned Castilian attack reached Henry, whereupon he asked for help from England. Queen Eleanor had summoned a parliament in February for April 26, including two deputies from each county and representatives of the parish clergy. However, a proposed tax did not need to be approved when Montfort arrived with news that King Alfonso of Castile had proposed peace on March 31. In return for the marriage alliance and for Henry”s help in a crusade to North Africa, he renounced his claims to Gascony. On June 11, Queen Eleanor, having recovered from the birth of her daughter Katherine on November 25, 1253, arrived in Bordeaux, accompanied by her sons Edward and Edmund and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Prince Edward traveled to Burgos with a fairly modest entourage. To Henry”s disappointment, as he had wanted a solemn ceremony for his son in England, he was knighted there by King Alfonso. On November 1, Edward married the Castilian princess at the Abbey of Las Huelgas. Three weeks later, the heir to the throne returned with his wife to Gascony, where he remained as governor until next summer.

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The Sicilian adventure

When Henry waited for the conquest of La Réole in 1254, he was already thinking on a larger scale. Pope Innocent IV had declared the Kingdom of Sicily confiscated after the death of Emperor Frederick II, but for all practical purposes it was ruled by the emperor”s sons. On February 12, 1254, after Richard of Cornwall and Charles of Anjou withdrew their claims to Sicily, Henry sent envoys to Pope Innocent IV to claim the throne for his younger son Edmund. The pope was willing to make Edmund king of Sicily, but in return he demanded that the conquest be carried out by the English. Influenced by his Savoy relatives, the king accepted this offer, and in May 1254 he received the pope”s confirmation. In March, Henry had still planned that the consecration of Westminster Abbey would take place in October 1255 before he left for his crusade to the Holy Land. Now he hoped to lead a crusade to Sicily instead.

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Approach to Louis of France

After pacifying Gascony from Bordeaux from August to October, the king returned to England. He received permission from King Louis IX to cross France, partly to avoid the long sea voyage, but mainly to make friends with the French king and thus secure Gascony. Accompanied by his wife, his son Edmund, Archbishop Boniface, William de Valence and others, he crossed Poitou and Anjou in November. On November 15 he reached Fontevrault, where he ordered the transfer of his mother”s tomb to the abbey. He then made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Edmund Rich at Pontigny. At Chartres he admired the cathedral and finally met King Louis of France. In early December, he made a week-long state visit to Paris, where he stayed first at the Temple and then at the royal palace on the Île de la Cité. In Paris, the king eagerly visited all the churches, especially the Sainte-Chapelle. Parisians admired him for his generosity in providing food to the poor at the Temple, for his sumptuous state banquet with King Louis and the King of Navarre, and for his gifts to the French nobility. The visit strengthened the relationship between Henry and Louis, which had been established through their marriages. In addition to the two queens, Margaret and Eleanor, their mother Beatrix of Savoy was also present, as well as her daughter Beatrix, and the fourth sister Sancha of Cornwall traveled from England to complete the family. Thomas of Savoy was also in Paris. He was scheduled to command Henry”s expeditionary army to Sicily. King Louis agreed to this Sicilian plan. Henry hoped to spend Christmas in England, but bad weather prevented the crossing and he had to stay in Boulogne. He was then able to cross on December 27, 1254, and by January 5, the feast of St. Edward, he was back in Westminster. A few months later Louis sent him an elephant as an impressive gift, the first elephant seen in England was kept in the Tower.

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Growing opposition in England

Henry had not only spent his treasure earmarked for the crusade in Gascony, but returned to England even further in debt. His finances had fallen into disarray. Whereas in the 1240s, due to more effective administration, he could dispose of £40,000 annually, by the mid-1250s his annual income had dropped to only £20,000. The reversion of large fiefs and large wardships had become rare. The Jews, on whom he had imposed heavy taxes for years, had become impoverished, so Henry handed over taxing rights to Richard of Cornwall in 1255. The demand for liberties and city rights also declined. Nevertheless, Henry indulgently provided for many relatives, and he had financial obligations to the heir to the throne, Lord Edward, the Savoys, the Lusignans, and Simon de Montfort, so there was also tension within the royal family. Beyond his relatives, he could give almost no more favors, so that his court was again divided into several factions. The successes of the Lusignan annex, which Henry believed had helped him in Gascony, drove the queen and the Savoy to action. From them was pursued the Sicilian adventure and the rapprochement with the French king.

Despite the tight financial situation, the king made no savings; he lacked the will to have taxes approved by Parliament. Instead, he lived for himself, increased financial pressure on his residences, which encouraged corruption among his officials, and resorted to occasional revenues such as the tallage, a land tax that yielded £2000 in London in February 1255, for example. To this end, he borrowed money from his family; in February 1255, for example, Richard of Cornwall lent him £5000 for the expenses of his court. Despite this strained situation, he did not change his policy and continued to pursue the Sicilian adventure. This increased his dependence on his family and his leading courtiers, toward whom he became increasingly lenient. In doing so, he overlooked their increasing high-handedness and allowed them greater and greater liberties, while at the same time limiting his ability to address complaints about their abuses and misconduct.

In April 1255, a large parliament representing prelates, magnates, and perhaps other deputies refused aid for the king”s debt service. In return, Henry denied the parliament responsibility for the three great offices of state. His trump card was the crusade to Sicily, which he hoped the clergy and magnates would not oppose. He bought the pledged Sicilian crown jewels from Emperor Frederick II from his small savings, which he had accumulated again for the crusade. In June 1255, he negotiated an extension of the truce with Louis of France. Pope Innocent”s successor, Alexander IV, desperately sought help in the struggle against the Hohenstaufen. He also committed himself to Edmund as king, but he demanded over 135,000 marks from the king as compensation for his previous expenditures in the fight for Sicily. In exchange, he allowed the transfer of Henry”s crusading vows to a crusade in Sicily. In October 1255, the agreement with Pope Alexander, which Henry and his council had already decided on, became known in Parliament. Henry”s announcement that he would pay the pope 135,000 marks by Michaelmas 1256 under threat of excommunication, and his vision of leading an army overland through France to Sicily, met with icy silence in Parliament. Nevertheless, no effective opposition to these plans formed, and Edmund was installed as king of Sicily by Bishop Giacomo Boncambi of Bologna. In addition to his planned Sicilian expedition, Henry considered supporting Alfonso of Castile in his planned campaign to North Africa. In April 1256, he ordered all landowners who had more than £15 in annual revenue to perform military service or pay shield money. This further increased the discontent of the landed gentry, and the king”s plans were also criticized in Parliament, which met in late April. The magnates doubted Henry”s suitability as a military leader and tried to dissuade him from the project. Despite the misgivings of his barons, Henry remained optimistic and planned to have his brother Richard of Cornwall elected Roman-German king. After months of negotiations, Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden of Cologne traveled to Westminster at Christmas 1256 and offered Richard the candidacy. Encouraged by his brother and the Lusignans, Richard accepted the offer.

Within a few months, Henry”s plans collapsed. The Welshman Llywelyn ap Gruffydd had gained sole dominance of Gwynedd at the Battle of Bryn Derwin in June 1255. In November 1256 he began a widespread revolt in Wales and in a few weeks overran Lord Edward”s four cantrefs in northeast Wales and other territories of the Marcher lords, causing Henry”s suzerainty in Wales to collapse. In the meantime, Richard”s electoral ambitions suffered a setback when Alfonso of Castile also claimed the Roman-German crown, plus he again threatened Gascony. Louis IX of France was also concerned about a possible Anglo-German alliance, and Henry tried to dissuade him from an alliance with Alfonso of Castile through negotiations. To this end, Henry”s crusading hopes faltered when his ally Thomas of Savoy was defeated and captured in Italy. In January 1257, an assembly of Cistercian abbots refused to give the king the support he demanded, while in March Richard of Cornwall”s election as Roman-German king caused consternation in Parliament. The magnates were critical of his involvement in Germany, appreciating his moderating influence in the Council of State; moreover, they knew that his wealth kept the king solvent. In February 1257, Henry had still planned to accompany his brother to Germany for the coronation. When Henry and the Bishop of Messina theatrically presented Edmund to Parliament in Apulian costume and again demanded a tax for the crusade, an uproar ensued. Magnates and prelates compiled a list of reasons why they considered the project impracticable, in addition to which they accused the king of not having sufficiently asked them for their advice. The clergy granted the king £52,000 with the proviso that it be used to pay the king”s debts to the pope. At the same time, however, they intensified their opposition to Henry”s plans. In the face of this opposition, Henry began to give in and asked the pope for an extension of time to meet his conditions.

Richard of Cornwall was crowned Roman-German king in Aachen on May 17, 1257. As early as April 10, Henry was desperately trying to keep his household solvent. The treasurer was unable to make any more payments, even on the king”s personal orders. In addition, on May 3, the king had to cope with the death of his three-year-old daughter Katherina, who was ill. The queen was sick with grief, and the king also suffered from a long fever. The little princess received a magnificent funeral in Westminster Abbey.

There were further disappointments in Wales. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd turned against Gower and Glamorgan after his successes in northeast Wales. An English army under Stephen Bauzan suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Cymerau in June 1257, after which the Welsh revolt spread further. Henry attempted to meet the threat with a two-pronged counterattack. While Richard de Clare made progress against the Welsh in south Wales, the campaign led by the king himself from Chester against north Wales failed. As early as September 4, at the first signs of winter, Henry abandoned the campaign, leaving all of North Wales in the hands of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. The latter began to call himself Prince of Wales, and under his leadership almost all the Welsh princes formed an alliance against England in early 1258. In addition to money for the conquest of Sicily, the king now needed money for a better prepared campaign against Wales, which he planned for May 1258. In Scotland, the Scottish nobles overthrew the guardian government of Alan Durward, which had been established two years earlier, and formed an alliance with the Welsh. Londoners complained about the overvalued and impractical gold currency that Henry had introduced in August 1257, while Archbishop Boniface disregarded a royal ban and for the first time called an assembly of prelates and lower clergy to protest the exactions of royal and papal taxes. Hopes for an agreement with the French king on the return of possessions in France yielded nothing. The deterioration of relations with France now again favored the faction of Lusignans in the royal court, who fought for the king”s favor against the group from Savoy as well as with powerful magnates such as Simon de Montfort, Richard de Clare, Roger Bigod, and Humphrey de Bohun. After the departure of Richard of Cornwall for Germany, the king found it difficult to maintain a balance between the camps. Since Henry needed the loans of the Lusignans, they were the main beneficiaries of his policy. The setback in Wales increased the king”s financial dependence on them. Rivalry between the courtier factions increased to the point of hatred, and the strict administrators of the Lusignan estates were also hated by the landed gentry and the populace. The heir to the throne, Lord Edward, who had hitherto sided with the Savoyards, now tried to become more politically independent. He exposed the king and queen”s senior advisors for their inability to meet the threat in Wales and allied himself with the Lusignans. Out of divergent interests, partly to reform their rule and partly to secure their position, a small but influential group of magnates and courtiers, including Roger Bigod, Simon de Montfort, and Richard de Clare, formed an alliance against the Lusignans in April 1258.

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Crisis from 1258

Faced with defeats in Wales, a failed harvest that led to famine in much of England, and straitened finances because of his debts to the pope, Henry summoned a parliament to Westminster for April 1258. His hopes for financial relief were dashed, however; instead, on April 28, a group of armed magnates led by Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk stormed into the palace and demanded reform of the reign. Given the widespread support this noble opposition found at his court, the king quickly relented and agreed to appoint a 24-member committee to draft reform proposals. Asked to fill half of this committee, the king chose mainly the Lusignans and their supporters, yet he was so isolated that he could not get twelve men together. In June, Parliament reconvened at Oxford to consider the committee”s proposals. This Parliament passed the so-called Provisions of Oxford, which placed large portions of governmental power in the hands of a new 15-member royal council. The king”s power disintegrated when the magnates again elected a justiciar in Hugh Bigod, while Henry”s half-brothers, the Lusignans, were forced to leave England in July.

This new council curtailed the king”s powers, but unlike the rebellion against Henry”s father John in 1215, there was initially no civil war. At first, the king remained isolated and accompanied the new Justiciar until October 1258. During Parliament in October 1258, Henry assented to all actions of the Council of State and took an oath to uphold the Provisions of Oxford. Thereafter, Justiciar Bigod acted independently while the king took refuge in his faith. He continued to be treated honorably, his building projects continued, and he was allowed to continue living in his palaces. On September 30, he attended the consecration of the new Salisbury Cathedral. In November and December, still mourning the death of his daughter Katherine, he visited St Albans, Bury St Edmunds, and Waltham Abbey. The new Council of State, of which Henry”s brother-in-law Simon de Montfort became leader, quickly consolidated its power to prevent a Lusignan return and dominated the thrice-yearly parliaments over the next few years. A new ordinance enumerated misdeeds by royal sheriffs and promised improvements; this was published not only in Latin but also, for the first time, in English and French, making it effective propaganda for the new government. The Provisions of Westminster, issued in the fall of 1259, supplemented the Provisions of Oxford.

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Peace with France

For most of 1259, Henry remained passive, even when tensions arose within the new government. His attempt to confirm a new papal nuncio in August to demand the reinstatement of his half-brother Aymer de Valence as bishop failed because of the resistance of his council. It was not until November that the king attempted to regain some freedom of action when he traveled to France with the queen, Peter of Savoy, the Earl of Hertford, and several other councilors to conclude the peace treaty with the French king. Justiciar Bigod and the other councilors stayed behind to protect the realm. On November 26, the king reached Paris, where he was warmly welcomed by Louis IX and the queen. On December 4, the Peace of Paris was proclaimed, in which Henry formally renounced all the lost territories of the Angevin Empire, in exchange for which he received Gascony as a fief with territorial concessions and the promise of the French king to finance, probably for a crusade, 500 knights for two years.

After spending Christmas in Paris, Henry stayed in France for another three months. He spent January mainly praying in Saint-Denis. The sudden death of Louis, heir to the French throne, greatly shook him. He served as a pallbearer at the funeral in Royaumont on January 14, 1260. The French king and his wife returned the gesture on January 22 with their presence at the wedding of Henry”s daughter Beatrix to John, heir to Brittany in St. Denis. Shortly thereafter, news reached Henry from England that Llywelyn ap Gruffydd had broken the truce and was besieging Builth Castle in Wales. However, instead of returning to England immediately, he traveled to Saint-Omer on the Channel coast and stayed there for another three months. In letters to the Justiciar, he justified his continued stay with further diplomatic negotiations. In March he fell ill with marsh fever, and during Holy Week the French king visited him. He probably did not intentionally delay his return to avoid summoning Parliament, but was delayed by illness and by conflicts between opposing camps at his court. While Richard de Clare was in England trying to shore up the king”s rule, Simon de Montfort, supported by Lord Edward, who rejected the Treaty of Paris, was preparing a rebellion. Eventually, the king and Eleanor, protected by a 100-man mercenary escort financed by a loan from the French king, returned to England. They landed at Dover on April 23 and reached London on April 30. Montfort”s rebellion largely collapsed.

In view of his strained finances, Henry had to reconcile himself superficially with Montfort, despite his success. Some of Montfort”s supporters lost their posts in the royal court, but the king did not discard the Provisions of Oxford. Richard de Clare concluded a truce with the Welsh prince, which Henry considered so disgraceful that he refused to recognize it until March 1261. In October 1260 Montfort and Lord Edward were still working together in Parliament. They successfully prevented Montfort from being impeached, but at the same time the Provisions of Oxford were reworded and amended. Under the changes, the Council of State could no longer appoint new sheriffs, and the barons regained the right to punish their officeholders. Henry knighted his son-in-law John of Brittany, but he joined Edward, heir to the throne, and the two young men, along with two of Montfort”s sons, traveled to France, where they participated in tournaments. A newly elected council remained in office until the end of the year, undermining the position of Peter of Savoy. Henry”s only consolation in the face of his powerlessness was a visit at the end of October from his daughter Margerete, who was pregnant and visiting her father with her husband Alexander III of Scotland. In December 1260, Henry had to learn that his half-brother Aymer de Valence had died in exile in Paris.

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Regaining the rule of the king

The king spent Christmas 1260 in Windsor. After that he tried again to fight against the restriction of power by the Provisions. After an attempt at conciliation with his opponents failed in the spring of 1261, he received confirmation from Pope Alexander IV in May that his oaths to the Provisions had been revoked, enabling him to revoke them publicly on June 12. He then appointed Philip Basset as the new Justiciar, who, as a retainer of Richard of Cornwall, was a willing official and did not act independently of the king. He appointed Walter of Merton as the new Lord Chancellor. In the ensuing power struggle with the royal council, the king largely prevailed by November of that year. Montfort went into exile in France. In the spring of 1262, the king consolidated his regained power. The Provisions had met with little approval abroad. The new pope, Urban VI, confirmed the repeal of the Provisions, and the French and Scottish kings also supported Henry. By the end of May 1262, the king had regained the ability to appoint sheriffs himself, and he declared the spread of the Provisions punishable by law. The king owed his victory mainly to the advice of Queen Eleanor, Peter of Savoy, and Richard of Cornwall, plus his old ministers John Mansel and Robert Waleran. After the heir to the throne returned from France in the spring of 1262 and his mother reconciled him with his father in late May 1262, the magnates lacked a leader. The majority of the barons were tired of political instability and supported regaining the power Henry had possessed after 1234. In April 1262, Henry was even able to bring William de Valence and the remaining Lusignans back to England. The king”s victory seemed so complete that Richard of Cornwall traveled back to Germany in June.

In the next two years, however, the king made several serious errors of judgment. At times he even wanted to revive the Sicilian adventure, but it was declared over by Pope Urban IV in July 1263. At Henry”s court there were further disputes over his favor, which further divided the court. In early 1262, the queen disgraced Roger of Leybourne and other knights of the heir to the throne, causing future trouble. In July 1262, Richard de Clare died, and the king denied his son Gilbert the inheritance while he was still nominally a minor. By giving parts of the inheritance to his half-brother William de Valence to administer, he drove Gilbert de Clare to rebellion in 1263.

Above all, the king failed to reconcile with Montfort. On July 14, 1262, he sailed to France with the Queen of Dover to finally destroy Montfort, who was also a vassal of the French king, by decision of the French queen. Confident of victory, he listed every minor point of conflict with Montfort, but the negotiations that began in Paris in August were fruitless. The French king”s attempts at mediation failed completely, but he refused to condemn Montfort. In September, an epidemic swept through the French court in Paris, claiming the lives of some 60 of the king”s companions. Henry also fell ill and struggled for his life. On October 8, he reported to the justiciar in England that the negotiations had failed. The still weakened king made a pilgrimage to Rheims in November, although a new uprising threatened in Wales and Montfort had already returned to England in October. Henry did not travel back to England until December 20. He spent Christmas in Canterbury and arrived in Westminster in early January 1263. There he remained ill for another three months in his palace, which had been partially destroyed by fire in January. In January, of his own free will, he promulgated a new version of the Provisions of Westminster. At the same time he urged Louis IX to make an attempt to reconcile him and Montfort, but this failed. On March 22, he ordered loyalty to be sworn to his son Edward as his heir. The monks of Tewkesbury took this as news of the king”s death, which led to disorder and rumors.

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Power struggle with Montfort and Mise of Amiens

In May 1263 Montfort put himself at the head of a revolt started by Leybourne and other former knights from Lord Edward”s household. They demanded the king”s renewed recognition of the Provisions and resisted the influence of foreigners on the king, for which they were again supported by numerous barons. Henry was outmaneuvered by the rebels. Locked up in the Tower of London, he had to accept the rebels” demands on July 16. He then retreated with Queen Eleanor to the Palace of Westminster while the rebels resumed government. The new government, however, did not meet with the approval of all the barons. Montfort now allowed Henry to address the French king personally.

On September 23, Henry, Elenore, and two of their sons traveled to Boulogne, accompanied by Montfort and his supporters. They wanted to obtain a decision from King Louis IX and return immediately. Surprisingly, the latter initially agreed to the agreements reached in July and favored compensation for those who had been plundered. Eleanor and Prince Edmund, contrary to their promises, remained in France thereafter, while Henry and Edward returned to Westminster for the October Parliament. While the king demanded the appointment of his own candidates for office, Montfort”s supporters leveled accusations against each other, and their government broke apart. The heir to the throne then took the initiative, now assembling a strong royalist party. The king became increasingly dependent on the advice and actions of his son, while he became more uncompromising toward Montfort. Without regard for his mother”s feelings, Edward reconciled himself to Leybourne and the other knights who had been expelled from his household 18 months earlier, and on October 16 he occupied Windsor Castle, where the king followed him. As a result, many supporters abandoned Montfort, who was thus forced to conclude a truce negotiated with Richard of Cornwall on November 1: the king would recognize the Provisions if the French king again agreed to them. In the meantime, Henry moved to Oxford and dismissed the Treasurer and Lord Chancellor appointed by Montfort. He was also able to regain Winchester Castle in early December, and in addition he tried to gain Dover Castle. To this end, Pope Urban IV, presumably at the instigation of Queen Eleanor, appointed Gui Foucois as a new papal legate and charged him with restoring the king”s authority.

On December 28, the king traveled to France, where he met the envoys of the barons before Louis IX at Amiens on January 23, 1264. In his arbitration award, the Mise of Amiens, the French king this time firmly rejected the Provisions and awarded Henry the right to appoint his ministers according to his will. Supported by his wife and the pope, Henry had seemingly won a clear victory over Montfort.

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The Second War of the Barons

No sooner had Louis IX”s decision become known than Montfort gave the signal for rebellion. The king returned to England on February 14, opening the second civil war during his reign. He remained characteristically passive until the end of Lent in early April. After initial successes by the king”s supporters, the Battle of Lewes occurred on May 14. Within hours, Montfort defeated the king”s numerically superior army. The following day, King Gilbert de Clare, who had fled to the monastery of Lewes, surrendered and accepted Montfort”s rule, while his son Edward was held hostage.

Thus the rule passed completely to Montfort, the king was completely eliminated. Officially, a nine-member Council of State ruled, but this and the dignitaries of the court state were appointed by Montfort. The king was left with dignity and a certain comfort, but humiliatingly he had to approve Montfort”s actions and took refuge in his religiosity. Queen Eleanor, who had remained in France, secured for him the rule of Gascony. Montfort, however, failed to gain general recognition for his rule. His convening of De Montfort”s Parliament in early 1265, with its new representation of knights and burghers, showed that he could rely on only a handful of magnates. Over the next few months, he lost more supporters. He fell out with Gilbert de Clare, who moved to opposition and facilitated Lord Edward”s escape in late May. To put down the rebellion, Montfort moved to the Welsh Marches, where he was surrounded by supporters of the king and Lord Edward. On August 4, the Battle of Evesham took place, in which Montfort fell. Henry, who was in his retinue, got caught in the middle of the battle and was wounded by his own supporters, who did not recognize him, before he was recognized and saved by Roger of Leybourne.

It is unlikely that Henry ordered the killing of Montfort”s surviving companions or the desecration of Montfort”s body after the battle. According to some accounts, on the contrary, he ordered an honorable burial of Montfort. While he himself was concerned about the welfare of the widows and orphans of Montfort”s slain followers, he could not restrain his son Edward and his followers, who demanded revenge even after the victory of Evesham. As a result, the war of the barons, which was basically decided, was continued for another two years. The decision of the Winchester Parliament in September to dispossess the rebels drove them into guerrilla warfare, which Lord Edward ruthlessly put down over the next two years. The king was pleased that his son had taken on this task and led the numerous campaigns. He himself returned to London in early October 1265 and celebrated the Solemnity of Edward the Confessor at Westminster on October 13, wearing the royal crown as a sign of his victory. Then, at the end of October, Henry was able to welcome his wife Eleanor to Canterbury, who came to England with her compatriot Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi, the new papal legate. Henry appointed his son Edmund Earl of Leicester, Montfort”s forfeited title, and appointed him Steward of England, in addition he transferred to him all Montfort”s possessions. He allowed Montfort”s widow, his sister Eleanor, to vacate Dover Castle and retire as a nun to a convent in France.

The suppression of the remaining rebels progressed slowly. In late June 1266, the king himself took charge of the siege of Kenilworth Castle, the last rebel stronghold. In late August, the king instructed a committee of magnates and bishops to draft a peace plan. On October 31, 1266, he announced the result, known as the Dictum of Kenilworth. It was an unprecedented declaration of royal authority, but allowed the rebels to buy back their estates after they submitted under specified conditions. After the surrender of Kenilworth in late 1266, the king sought to subdue the remaining rebels in eastern England in February 1267. His financial resources were now so depleted that he even had to pawn the jewels of St Edmund”s shrine in Westminster Abbey. In April, however, Gilbert de Clare took sides with the remaining rebels. Together with them he occupied London. To avoid a new civil war, a compromise was reached in June in which Henry made further concessions to the rebels. On July 1, the remaining rebels submitted. To this end, through the mediation of Cardinal Ottobono, the king concluded the Treaty of Montgomery with Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd on September 29, granting Llywelyn the title of Prince of Wales, which he had claimed since 1258, while the Welshman in return recognized Henry as his overlord. This compromise proved the king”s war weariness. The Statute of Marlborough, passed on November 18 by a parliament that may have included Commons, confirmed the Cartas, the Dictum of Kenilworth, and a modified version of the Provisions of Westminster, ending the civil war in conciliation.

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The end of domination

Henry”s last years were overshadowed by family tensions, illnesses and bereavements. The civil war brought no drastic changes in the distribution of land ownership, but it left a great deal of discontent, exacerbated by the indebtedness of many knights and barons. The royal officials remained unpopular, and peace in the country was threatened by outlaws and by feuds among the barons. The king continued to have little income, and a taxation of the clergy granted by the pope in 1266 was just enough to pay the king”s debts.

In June 1268, Lord Edward announced his intention to participate in the new crusade of King Louis IX. His son”s crusade plan forced the king to ask Parliament for a new tax in the fall of 1268. Parliament was reluctant, however, and only after long negotiations was a twentieth, a tax on the 20th part of movable property, granted on April 27, 1270. The clergy continued to resist the imposition of the tax for several months later, and the City of London had to be granted by the king in return all the liberties it had before the barons” war. Henry gave Edward the oversight of London, seven royal castles, and eight counties in early 1269 to increase his son”s revenues. The king”s finances were further strained by the marriages of his second son, Edmund Crouchback, to Aveline de Forz, and of his nephew, Henry of Almain, to Constance de Béarn, both of which took place in the spring of 1269. By the end of 1269, on the other hand, he was more fortunate. In August, Richard of Cornwall returned with his new bride, Beatrix of Falkenburg. Two months later, on October 13, Henry was able to realize his greatest dream when the body of Edward the Confessor was transferred to his new shrine in Westminster Abbey. The church was still unfinished, but Henry feared that further delays would prevent him from experiencing this triumph.

On August 4, 1270, Lord Edward took leave of his father at Westminster and set out on crusade. To safeguard Edward”s interests, a committee of five was appointed, led by Richard of Cornwall and including Philip Basset, Roger Mortimer, Robert de Walerand, and Archbishop Walter Giffard of York. This committee was also to advise the king. From this point on, it is difficult to assess how much influence Henry still had on the government. Perhaps he was already seriously ill, for on March 7, 1271, due to illness, he transferred the protection of the realm to his brother Richard of Cornwall, and the Crown Council asked the heir to the throne to return home. By April 1271, however, Henry had recovered and vowed to embark on a crusade himself. His advisors, however, allowed the royal revenues to flow directly to the treasury, so that the king no longer had direct access to them. The king remained in Westminster almost constantly from then on; he did not even attend the funeral of Henry of Almain in Hailes Abbey on May 21, nor did he attend the funeral of his grandson John, the eldest son of the heir to the throne Edward, in Westminster Abbey on August 8, 1271. He was dealt a further blow of fate when Richard of Cornwall suffered a severe stroke on December 12, 1271, as a result of which he died on April 2, 1272.

Henry spent Christmas 1271 ill in Winchester, only returning to Westminster after Epiphany. In May 1272, he apologized to the new French king, Philip III, that he could not pay homage to him for his French possessions because of his illness. He then planned to travel to France in August, but postponed the trip after the cathedral was burned during a riot in Norwich. In September, the Parliament met in Norwich, during which Henry severely punished the rebels. After a pilgrimage to Walsingham and Ely, he returned to Westminster in early October. In early November he fell seriously ill and died at Westminster on November 16, probably in the presence of his wife, after 56 years and 20 days of rule.

On November 20, 1272, he was buried in a magnificent funeral in Westminster Abbey in the old coffin of Edward the Confessor. According to his last will, his heart was to be buried in Fontevrault in France, the old burial place of his family. However, it was not given to the nuns of the monastery until December 1291, after the death of Queen Eleanor. His son and successor Edward commissioned a new magnificent tomb for his father, decorated with cosmati, into which the body was transferred in May 1290 in a nightly simple ceremony. The tomb was not finally completed until 1291.

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Exterior

There is no contemporary description of the king”s appearance. His tomb was opened in November 1871, of which, however, no detailed report has been preserved. Judging by the length of his grave, he was of small to medium height, like his father, and thus considerably smaller than his son Edward. He was in good health until middle age, but in his later years he fell ill frequently.

The contemporary chroniclers described Henry as a simple, uncomplicated and at the same time often naive man. He was strictly religious and generally peace-loving, although Dante and the Franciscan Salimbene described him as unworldly. His demeanor was open and affable, while he could easily be moved to tears. He was chivalrous and considerate towards his enemies, including their children and wives, and was also generous towards state prisoners such as his cousin Eleanor of Brittany and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd. His relatively infrequent outbursts of anger were usually brief and quickly appeased. Politically, he was easily influenced by his ministers and advisors. Many of his advisors were capable civil servants, but he was even more influenced by his family. He stubbornly adhered to some goals, such as his planned crusade, without considering the consequences. Although he had numerous castles built, he was not a military man and hated campaigns. He also showed little interest in tournaments and hunting. His love of peace led him to avoid conflicts and to try to satisfy his relatives and courtiers with gifts and offices.

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Marriage and descendants

As a youth, Heinrich was considered chaste; there were even rumors of an alleged impotence. Only relatively late, at the age of 29, he married. However, he was happily married to his wife Eleanor of Provence, and it was not until the 1250s and 1260s that he had frequent disagreements with her. At least until 1263, his wife had great influence over him. Unlike his father and grandfather, he was faithful to her out of religious conviction; as one of the few English kings, Henry probably had no illegitimate children. To his children he was a caring father. His eldest son Edward broke away from him early on and acted politically independently from 1263 at the latest. He was lenient towards his relatives, especially his brother Richard and his half-siblings. However, it was his family that contributed to the crisis beginning in 1258, when Henry lost control of his government.

He had nine children with his wife, but the last five died in infancy:

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The religiosity of the king

Unlike his father, Henry was religious and devout by conviction. He was influenced by monks, especially by his confessors who belonged to the Dominican Order. He took as his model, above all, the 11th-century Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor, who was considered wise and holy and who also ascended the throne as a youth. Henry attended mass daily, and as in his private life, he valued pomp and splendor in the religious sphere as well. The two feast days of Edward the Confessor in January and October of each year were celebrated extensively and expensively, becoming important events where barons and other dignitaries gathered. Gullible, Henry assumed that his religiosity brought him success, to which he was influenced by sermons. He was generous to the poor; in the 1240s he is said to have fed 500 poor people in one day. He supported the construction of numerous churches, monasteries and hospices, as well as for vestments and books for his clergy. Together with his wife he was interested in ecclesiastical reforms. For the Franciscans and Dominicans, Henry was the most generous patron in England to date. The Dominican settlement at Canterbury, the Carmelite settlement at Oxford, and the Franciscan houses at Reading, York, Shrewsbury, and Norwich were built almost entirely at his expense. He did not endow other monasteries, however; only over Netley Abbey, endowed by his tutor Peter des Roches, did he assume patronage. His largest building was the new Westminster Abbey, which he had built at his own expense from 1245 as a royal burial place instead of Fontevrault in France. He spent almost £50,000 on the construction. He made pilgrimages, especially in times of crisis, frequently to Bromholm, Walsingham and St Albans.

Despite this personal piety of the king, the royal policy inevitably led to clashes with parts of the church. There were numerous occasions for disagreements with the clergy. The clergy expected the king to protect them from taxation by the pope, which the latter demanded from 1226. Henry could not do without the Pope”s support and finally agreed to taxation in 1246. According to the first article of Magna Carta, the church was free, but the king needed the bishoprics to provide loyal servants, and given his strained financial situation, he needed the revenues from vacant bishoprics and taxes from the clergy. Consequently, in enforcing these royal rights, he came into conflict with the clergy, and Henry, unlike his predecessors, was much more reluctant to impose his will. Since during his reign church reformers such as Bishop Robert Grosseteste of Lincoln wanted more independence and higher standards for the church, further tensions arose. This earned the king many enemies beginning in the 1240s, when his lawyers asserted royal rights over ecclesiastical liberties. Henry had the support of the popes, but among the English monks he had many opponents, as shown by the hostile picture of him given by the chronicler Matthew Paris. During the Second War of the Barons in the 1260s, much of the clergy supported the king”s opponents under Simon de Montfort, and some were themselves among the king”s most implacable and vocal opponents.

Miracles were said to have occurred at Henry”s temporary tomb in the first years after his death. These reports were supported by Henry”s widow Eleanor and by some bishops. His son Edward, on the other hand, remained skeptical; he saw his father as a pious man, but not as a saint, and suppressed the veneration of Henry. The cult of alleged miracles at the tomb died down at the end of the 1280s.

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The king as a patron of the arts

Henry is considered one of the greatest European patrons of the arts of the 13th century because of the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey and his other buildings, and the most generous royal patron in England until Charles I in the 17th century. On the one hand, his fanatical piety drove him to build Westminster Abbey; on the other hand, the church epitomized Henry”s idea of the majesty of the king. Henry took Louis IX and Emperor Frederick II as models; he wanted to surpass these powerful rulers at least in art. Westminster Abbey was built in the French Gothic style as a deliberate response to the royal Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. In the construction of Westminster Abbey, the king himself attended to matters of detail and demonstrated artistic expertise in the rich decoration of the church. In addition to a magnificent new shrine to Edward the Confessor at Westminster, Henry also commissioned new shrines for the saints” tombs at Canterbury and Walsingham.

In addition to churches, he also expanded several royal palaces, most notably the Palace of Westminster. Unlike his father and ancestors, he did not move around the country, but made Westminster his headquarters. He spent about half of his reign there instead of traveling. The Palace of Westminster was a place of solemn ceremony, but also of pageantry through the magnificent murals depicting Edward the Confessor and other saints, and the stained glass windows and carpets that decorated the chambers. Henry also lavishly expanded other palaces, including the Tower of London, Winchester, Rochester and Gloucester Castle. Personally, he loved luxury and comfort, which he considered a symbol of the king”s status. He collected jewels, jewelry and precious clothes, which he wore personally, but also used as gifts. Unlike his son, he was a patron of scholars and artists, although he himself was certainly not highly educated.

Unlike most other English rulers, no contemporary chronicle of Henry III”s reign was written. Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris are his most reliable chroniclers; other chronicles written after 1260 are often heavily biased. As early as the 16th and 17th centuries, William Prynne and William Dugdale examined his reign, but it was mainly the liberal-nationalist historians of the 19th century who influenced the historiography of Henry for a long time. For them, his reign was of interest primarily because of the emergence of Parliament. William Hunt, who wrote Henry”s entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, William Stubbs, and James Ramsay took the medieval chronicles as sources and thus adopted the nationalist view of the king”s opponents. In the process, the king”s person was treated as secondary to his notorious father and his successful, warlike son. Henry”s sense of ostentation was assumed to represent his view of absolutist kingship. It was not until the publication of numerous medieval documents beginning in 1900 that the view of Henry”s time changed, but historians such as T. F. Tout continued to judge him negatively as a weak ruler. The most weighty biography of Henry to date was written by Maurice Powicke in 1947; it dominated the view of Henry III and the 13th century in England for thirty years. David Carpenter wrote a book on the king”s minority in 1990 and a collection of essays on the king”s reign in 1996, and R. C. Stacey wrote an examination of the king”s finances in 1987, but a new biography has been lacking. These books, along with biographies by Michael Prestwich on Edward I (1988), by John Maddicott on Simon de Montfort (1994), by Nicholas Vincent on Peter des Roches (1996), and by Margaret Howell on Eleanor of Provence (1998), changed the view of Henry”s reign.

According to this view, the transition from the Angevin Empire to the Kingdom of England took place under Henry, and under him the transformation from feudal to nation-state began, so that the political identity of England emerged. Gascony, on the other hand, as a remnant of the Angevin Empire, became a tributary. In this regard, contemporary research pays attention not only to the importance of politics in Henry”s time, but also to the person of the king, who, despite his weakness, was a diplomatic and artistic monarch. The view that the crisis from 1258 onward was caused by Henry”s autocratic rule and by his favoring of foreign minions is now considered outdated, since it was based on the propaganda of the king”s opponents, among whom were the authoritative chroniclers of the time. Henry himself, it is true, had a strong conception of his supremacy, which was reinforced in the 1240s, and did not want to have his right to choose his own advisors banned. Nevertheless, in practice he adhered to constraints represented not least by the Magna Carta, and he did not attempt to dominate parliament by coercion. Henry”s pomp as king was not a sign of autocratic rule; rather, it was his way of binding his magnates to him. With his relative poverty, his government remained weak, and his inconsistency with his barons eventually contributed to the crisis that began in 1258.

Sources

1. Heinrich III. (England)
2. Henry III of England