• General Notes

  ALIA: Henry III, King of ENGLAND (bet. 1216-1272)
  
  Note:
  Henry III was born in 1207 and succeeded his father John on the throne of England in 1216. It was a ravaged inheritance, the scene of civil war and anarchy, and much of the east and south eastern England was under the control of the French Dauphin Louis. But Henry had two great protectors---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 he was dead, and a triumvirate ruled in his place: the papal legal Pandulf; the Poitevin Bishop of Winchester Peter des Roches; and the Justiciar Hubert de Burgh. The legate departed in 1221; two years later Henry became of age and, rejecting Peter, chose Hubert to be his chief counsellor.
  Trouble soon came, as Hubert attempted to re-asert royal authority. Barons, who had kept their castles undistrubed and exercised their powers without supervison, were now called to account to the haughty justiciar, and the party of Peter des Roches did not fail to underline the annoyances involved. The years 1223-4 were taken up with quelling rebellions.
  Meanwhile the situation abroad was even more disturbing: the French king Philip Augustus was eating up English lands in Gascony, and Henry's mother Isabella made a bad situation worse by her marriage with Count Hugh of Lusignan. It was only in 1230 that a badly prepared English force set out for France and, after much squabbling, all it was able to do was make a demonstration march through Gascony.
  Hubert had already had one dismal failure in Wales in 1228, and his arrogant attempts to build up a personal base in the Marches provoked a Welsh raid in 1231 which did more harm to his good name. Hubert was thrust out of power, to be replaced by Peter des Roches' Poitevins. But by 1234 they had upset the baronage of England, who had never taken kindly to foreigners other than the Normans, and Richard Marshal combined with Edmund of Abington, Archbishop of Canterbury, to force the King to replace them.
  Henry now began his period of personal rule, and the world was to see what sort of king he would make. He was a simple, direct man, trustful on first impression, but bearing a life-long grudge when people let him down. At times lavish and life-loving, he could show another side of his nature, that wicked Angevin temper and streak of vindictive cruelty. He had a very refined taste, and enjoyed building and restoration work more than anything else. Surrounded by barons who had been proved in the hardest schools of war, the King had the spirit of an interior decorator; the nation could have born the expense of his artistic tastes, could have forgiven the eccentricity of it all, but Henry showed time and again that he was timorous as well as artistic. He feared thunderstorms, and battle was beyond him.
  The Crown had some 60 castles in England, and these were in a bad state after the troubles of John's reign and the minority. Henry travelled about tirelessly rebuilding them and making them more comfortable, spending at least ten per cent of his income on building works. He personally instructed his architects in great detail, and could not wait for them to finish---it must be ready for his return 'even if a thousand workmen are required every day' and the job must be 'properly done, beautiful and fine.' In addition he built or restored twenty royal houses, decorating them sumptiously. The painted chamber at Westminster was 80 ft. long, 26 ft. wide, and 31 ft. high. The walls were all wainscotted (at Winchester even the pantry and cellar were wainscotted) and painted with pictures and proverbs. The subjects of the pictures varied according to the royal moods---in May 1250 the Queen borrowed a book about the crusades, and a year later the walls at Clarendon showed Richard the Lionheart duelling with Saladin. Wherever there were no pictures, there was the King'

Details of (King) Henry III's family with Eleanor BERENGAR de PROVENCE