| Notes |
- Henry III was born in 1207 and succeeded his father John on the throne ofEngland in 1216. It was a ravaged inheritance, the scene of civil war andanarchy, and much of the east and south eastern England was under thecontrol of the French Dauphin Louis. But Henry had two greatprotectors---his liege lord the Pope, and the aged William Marshal.
The Marshal, by a combination of military skill and diplomatic ability,saw off the Dauphin by September, 1217, but less than two years later hewas dead, and a triumvirate ruled in his place: the papal legal Pandulf;the Poitevin Bishop of Winchester Peter des Roches; and the JusticiarHubert de Burgh. The legate departed in 1221; two years later Henrybecame of age and, rejecting Peter, chose Hubert to be his chiefcounsellor.
Trouble soon came, as Hubert attempted to re-asert royal authority.Barons, who had kept their castles undistrubed and exercised their powerswithout supervison, were now called to account to the haughty justiciar,and the party of Peter des Roches did not fail to underline theannoyances involved. The years 1223-4 were taken up with quellingrebellions.
Meanwhile the situation abroad was even more disturbing: the French kingPhilip Augustus was eating up English lands in Gascony, and Henry'smother Isabella made a bad situation worse by her marriage with CountHugh of Lusignan. It was only in 1230 that a badly prepared English forceset out for France and, after much squabbling, all it was able to do wasmake a demonstration march through Gascony.
Hubert had already had one dismal failure in Wales in 1228, and hisarrogant attempts to build up a personal base in the Marches provoked aWelsh raid in 1231 which did more harm to his good name. Hubert wasthrust out of power, to be replaced by Peter des Roches' Poitevins. Butby 1234 they had upset the baronage of England, who had never takenkindly to foreigners other than the Normans, and Richard Marshal combinedwith Edmund of Abington, Archbishop of Canterbury, to force the King toreplace them.
Henry now began his period of personal rule, and the world was to seewhat sort of king he would make. He was a simple, direct man, trustful onfirst impression, but bearing a life-long grudge when people let himdown. At times lavish and life-loving, he could show another side of hisnature, that wicked Angevin temper and streak of vindictive cruelty. Hehad a very refined taste, and enjoyed building and restoration work morethan anything else. Surrounded by barons who had been proved in thehardest schools of war, the King had the spirit of an interior decorator;the nation could have born the expense of his artistic tastes, could haveforgiven the eccentricity of it all, but Henry showed time and again thathe was timorous as well as artistic. He feared thunderstorms, and battlewas beyond him.
The Crown had some 60 castles in England, and these were in a bad stateafter the troubles of John's reign and the minority. Henry travelledabout tirelessly rebuilding them and making them more comfortable,spending at least ten per cent of his income on building works. Hepersonally instructed his architects in great detail, and could not waitfor them to finish---it must be ready for his return 'even if a thousandworkmen are required every day' and the job must be 'properly done,beautiful and fine.' In addition he built or restored twenty royalhouses, decorating them sumptiously. The painted chamber at Westminsterwas 80 ft. long, 26 ft. wide, and 31 ft. high. The walls were allwainscotted (at Winchester even the pantry and cellar were wainscotted)and painted with pictures and proverbs. The subjects of the picturesvaried according to the royal moods---in May 1250 the Queen borrowed abook about the crusades, and a year later the walls at Clarendon showedRichard the Lionheart duelling with Saladin. Wherever there were nopictures, there was the King's favourite decor---green curtains spangledwith gold stars. The floors were tiled, the windows glazed (and barredafter 1238 when an attempted assassination scared Henry out of hiswits---he even had the vent of the royal privy into the Thames barredover) and fireplaces provided the ultimate in luxury. Special roomssprouted everywhere, including the room where the royal head was washed.
If his private comfort bulked large in Henry's mind, his public displayof piety came a close second: these were neatly combined in the royalbedroom where a window was fitted to look into the chapel. His greatestproject was the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey, on which he spent nearly£50,000---the equivalent of £4,000,000 today. He had been so thrilledwith St. Louis' Sainte Chapelle that he had wanted to put it on a cartand roll it back to England. That was impossible, so he had to build hisown. He finished it in 1269, and proudly put up the inscription 'As therose is the flower of all flowers, so this is the house of houses.'
For a while Henry had reason for pride: he married Eleanor, daughter ofthe Count of Savoy, and sister of the Queen of France, the finest matchin Europe; his sister Isabella was married to the Emperor Frederick II,and his son Edward to Eleanor of Castille. He persuaded the Germans toelect his brother, Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans.
On the other hand, his foreign policy was leading him into dangers. In1242 he foolishly allowed himself to be led into supporting his mother'sambitions in Poitou, and the enmity with France was to continueneedlessly until the settlement of 1259. Louis IX had no desire to be hisenemy---in 1254 all England was amazed at the French King's generous giftof an elephant, which the historian Matthew Paris went to draw in theTower of London.
In 1246 Henry's mother died (to almost universal relief) and hegenerously invited his four Lusignan half-brothers to live out theirorphanage under his roof. He gave them large incomes, but they took more,milking the land as hard as they could in the last moments beforebankruptcy. The English hated them for their avarice, price, andforeign-ness.
In ecclesiastical affairs Henry's hands were hopelessly tied---the Popehad always been his chief prop, and the King could not afford to lose hisaid. There was a strong movement for reform, but the papacy's desparateneed for money to prosecute its war against the Hohenstauffen made reforma secondary consideration, and indeed frequently blocked it. But Henrymay justly be criticised for his foolishness in accepting the papal offerof the crown of Sicily for his son Edmund in 1250. The payment was tomeet the astonomical debts of the Pope, and Richard of Cornwall hadalready wisely turned down this bad bargain, commenting that he had beenoffered the moon, if he could reach it.
Henry's need for money dominated most of his domestic policy. During theperiod of his personal government he obtained what he needed by gettinglegalists and professional civil servants to manipulate the complex chaosof the feudal government he had inherited. Government became a secret andcentralised affair, excluding the barons, great and small. There are manycomparisons here with the tyranny of Chales I.
In 1258 came the explosion: Parliament refused a grant unless Henryshould exile his grasping half-brothers, and allow a commission ofenquiry. A committee was set up to control the appointment of Crownofficials, examine and reform local government, and supervise the affairsof the realm in general.
This was a revolt, but it had many obscure roots. One cannot assess howdeeply felt were the demands for just and equal government voiced bySimon de Montfort, but certainly there were other elements in thebaronial party which were reactionary rather than revolutionary, wantingto return to baronial government for its own sake. On this issue thereformers spilt, Gloucester leading the conservatives, and de Montfortthe radicals. Henry saw his chance, and deftly using the ever valuablesupport of the Pope, shook off the Committee's control.
Now came war, and the stunning defeat of the royal party at Lewes in1264. From this point onwards Henry was very much a broken man, thoughprone to bouts of vicious anger. The initiative was passed to his son,the Lord Edward, who defeated de Montfort at Evesham, where Henry wasrescued, scratched and shouting 'Do not hurt me.'
Henry longed for revenge, and disinherited the rebels, who fled tohideouts in the fens to continue the war. The papal legate Ottobonopersuaded the King to go so far, in the Dictum of Kenilworth of 1266, asto allow the rebels to buy back their estates. Still not satisfied, thedisinherited, under Gloucester's leadership, took London, and Richard ofCornwall negotiated an easier peace. In 1267 the Statute of Marlboroughembodied much of what de Montfort had fought for, and the long years oftrouble were over.
Henry had at least survived, and his last years were happy in that hefininshed building his patron saint's Abbey of Westminster. The wheel offortune that decorated so many of his palaces' walls had come round, andall the rage and terror were done with. Henry died in 1272. [Source:Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York,1995]
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1207 - 1272 (65 years)
[2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] 
