General Notes

REFN: 5785AN
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) is one of the least-known Br
itish monarchs, considering the great length of his reign. He was also t
he first child monarch in English royal history (post-Conquest—1066).
He was born in 1207 at Winchester Castle, the son of King John of Engla
nd and Isabella of Angoulême. According to Nicholas Trevet, Henry was a th
ickset man of medium height, with a narrow forehead and a drooping left ey
elid (inherited by his son, Edward I).
Following John’s death in 1216, Henry, aged nine, was hastily crowned in G
loucester, as the barons who had been supporting the invasion of Prince Lo
uis of France in order to ensure John's deposition quickly saw the young p
rince as a safer option. Henry's regents immediately declared their intent
ion to rule by Magna Carta which they did during Henry’s minority. Magna C
arta was reissued in 1217 as a sign of goodwill to the barons. The count
ry was ruled by regents until 1227.
When Henry reached maturity, however, he was keen to restore royal authori
ty, looking towards the autocratic model of the French monarchy. Henry mar
ried Eleanor of Provence and he promoted many of his French relatives to p
ower and wealth. For instance, one Poitevin, Peter des Riveaux, held the o
ffices of treasurer of the household, keeper of the king's wardrobe, keep
er of the privy seal, and the sheriffdoms of twenty-one English counties s
imultaneously. Henry's tendency to govern for long periods with no public
ly appointed ministers who could be held accountable for their actions a
nd decisions did not make matters any easier. Many English barons ca
me to see his method of governing as foreign.
Henry himself, on the other hand, was much taken with the cult of the Angl
o-Saxon saint king Edward the Confessor who had been canonized in 1161. To
ld that St Edward dressed austerely, Henry took to doing the same and wear
ing only the simplest of robes. He had a mural of the saint painted in h
is bedchamber for inspiration before and after sleep, and, of course, he n
amed his eldest son after him. Henry designated Westminster, where St Edwa
rd had founded the abbey, as the fixed seat of power in England and Westmi
nster Hall duly became the greatest ceremonial space of the kingdom, whe
re the council of nobles also met. Henry appointed French architects fr
om Rheims for the renovation of Westminster Abbey in Gothic style, and wo
rk began at great expense in 1245. The centrepiece of Henry's renovated We
stminster Abbey was to be a shrine to the confessor king, Edward.
Henry was extremely pious, and his journeys were often delayed by his insi
stance on hearing Mass several times a day. He took so long to arri
ve on a visit to the French court that his brother-in-law, King Lou
is IX of France, banned priests from Henry's route. On one occasion, as re
lated by Roger of Wendover, when King Henry met with papal prelates, he sa
id, "If [the prelates] knew how much I, in my reverence of God, am afra
id of them and how unwilling I am to offend them, they would tramp
le on me as on an old and worn-out shoe."
Henry's advancement of foreign favorites, notably his wife's Savoyard uncl
es and his own Lusignan half-siblings, was unpopular among his subjects a
nd barons. He was also extravagant and avaricious; when his first child, P
rince Edward was born, Henry demanded the Londoners bring him rich gif
ts to celebrate, and even sent back gifts that did not please him. Matth
ew Paris reports that some said, "God gave us this child, but the king sel
ls him to us."
Henry's reign came to be marked by civil strife, as the English barons l
ed by De Montfort demanded more say in the running of the kingdom. French-
born Simon De Montfort had originally been one of the foreign upstar
ts so loathed by many as Henry's foreign councillors; after he married Hen
ry’s sister Eleanor without consulting Henry, a feud developed between t
he two.