Only an infant when he became King Henry III, England was ruled ably by
William Marshal and later by Hubert de Burgh - both had been faithfull to
Henry's father, King John but had not become tainted by that King's
crimes.
On comming of age, the pious King Henry came under the influence of an
ambitious bishop who surrounded the young monarch with foreign favourites. His marriage
to Eleanor of Savoy only exacerbated the situation by bringing several of her kinsmen
into the circle influencing the King and causing opposition to the foreigners. This
opposition was led by Simon de Montfort, the earl of Leicester (who, ironically,
was a foreigner himself).
For a time it seemed that Leicester might win out and he called a
Great Council, successor to the Witangamoot of the
Saxons
which for the first time included elected burgesses from some of the towns as well as
the barons and clergy. Some of the magnates abandoned Leicester's cause to join the
king and Leicester was slain at the battle of Evesham by the royal forces commanded
by the King's son Edward, later Edward I.
Henry's father, King John, died on October 19th, 1216. With the country split by war with Louis, the son of Philip II of France, with John holding western and south western England and a barrier of castles from Scarborough to Oxford and Windsor.
Louis and the rebel barons held London, the southeast, East Anglia and the north.
As a vassal of the Papacy, King John commended Prince Henry to papal protection and Henry did homage to the papal legate, Guala, at Gloucester. Henry III was crowned at Gloucester on October 28th, 1216, with Isabella's circlet by Peter de Roches, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury being away at Rome at the time and a council of regency was formed.
On Henry III's accession to the throne, a council of regency was formed.
William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and a loyal servant of King John, became secular regent. Peter de Roches, bishop of Winchester, became Henry's tutor.
Also represented on the council were the civil servants led by the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, King John's mercenaries under their Norman captain, Falkes de Breaute, the prelates and royalist barons.
William the Marshal (1216-1219)
William the Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was regent from 1216 until his death in 1219.
The Magna Carta was confirmed at Bristol in 1216, the year of Henry's coronation. The acceptance of the Magna Carta by the Papal Legate and William the Marshal gave it a permamnence which it had lacked after it's original issue due to it's repudiation by Pope Innocent III. Because it was a time of national danger, the clauses deciding the constitution of the Great Council and giving the Council control over taxation were omitted.
Louis and the French expelled from England in 1217 and a Charter of the Forests was issued at Bristol. The charter deforested many of the forests which had been made recently and cancelled many of the harsh forest regulations which had been made by Henry II.
William the Marshal died in 1219.
The Marshal's Regency
William the Marshal established the Magna Carta as a permanent part of the British constitution and expelled the French from England. This was only possible with the strong support of Gualo the Papal Legate, the loyal barons and Fawkes de Breaute.
The Papacy gained great influence in England through it's support but the harsh treatment of the supporters of Louis by Gualo the Papal Legate arroused hostility to it.
The large grants with which the support of the loyal barons and Fawkes de Breaute was rewarded made them dangerously powerful.
HUBERT DE BURGH (1219-)
Hubert de Burgh became regent on William the Marshal's death in 1219. His main policy was to restore the administration of England to Englishmen. He strongly opposed the extension of the influence of the Papacy in England.
Pandulf, the Papal Legate who replaced Gualo was recalled to Rome and the Pope promised that no Papal Legate would be sent to England during the lifetime of Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Hubert de Burgh's supporter. Despite this, Gregory IX began giving English livings to foreigners.
In 1223, he compelled William of Aumale and the Earl of Chester to give up royal castles and thus weakened the old barons.
In 1224, despite the support which he had given to William the Marshal, Fawkes de Breaute's castle at Bedford was captured and Fawkes was driven out of England.
In 1227, Peter de Roches and his Poitevin friends were banished.
An expedition into Wales against Llewellyn ap Griffith failed in 1228.
On the death of Stephen Langton in 1228, the Pope demanded a tithe of movable property.
Hubert disapproved of Henry III's desire to recover the Angevin lands of France desiring to keep England at peace and avoid the expenses of war.
In 1230, Henry III, in alliance with Pierre Mauclerc of Brittany who had rebelled against Blanche of Castile (Regent of France for her son, Louis IX) led an unsuccessful expedition to Brittany and Poitou.
Like it's predecessor, a second expedition into Wales against Llewellyn ap Griffith failed in 1231.
Hubert de Burgh took no action in 1232 against Robert Thweng who seized the money collected from the people by the Papal agents and gave it to the poor.
Hubert de Burgh tried to restore the system of Henry II although the development of the constitution was inconsistent with absolute monarchy. This also made the office of justiciar (Hubert was the last of the great justiciars) less important than it had been in the past.
Hubert de Burgh was brought down by the barons and the Church in 1232.
Though proud of his English ancestry, Henry III seldom trusted men of English blood and had little sympathy with English ways.
The English barons strongly objected to Henry III's foreign favourites because of the English money, lands, wardships and marriages which were given to foreigners. Also, taking the advice of foreigners, Henry III diminished the importance of the Great Council.
The Poitevin followers of Peter des Roches lost power and were expelled with their master in 1234.
Henry III married Eleanor of Provence in 1236 and this lead to an influx of her Provencal relatives;
Her uncle, William of Valence became the Bishop of Winchester.
Peter of Savoy, also her uncle, became Earl of Richmond.
Another of her uncles became Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Richard of Cornwall married Henry III's sister-in-law, Sanchia of Prevence, and joined the Court party.
The Lusignans, children of Henry III's mother by her second husband, Hugh X of Lusignan, Count de la Marche, who had been ruined by the French victories in 1242, also came to England;
William of Valence, Henry's half-brother, became Earl of Pembroke.
Aymer of Valence, also the King's half-brother, became Bishop of Winchester.
Alice of Valence, the King's half-sister, married the Earl of Surrey.
There was a growing feeling of opposition to Louis (now excommunicated by the Pope) and he was deserted by many of the English barons, such as Willaim of Salisbury, who had previously supported him.
In 1217, the French were routed at Lincoln Fair by William the Marshal. Hubert de Burgh defeated the French fleet off Dover (he got to the windward of the French and threw quicklime in their faces), and peace was made with Louis by the Treaty of Lambeth.
Much money was wasted by the extrvagance of Henry III and great grants were made to foreigners. The Papacy also extracted large sums from England to support the Papal schemes against the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Henry III's military campaigns in Wales, Poitou and Gascony also involved heavy expenses.
Pope Alexander IV insisted on the discharge of Henry's undertaking to cover the costs of the expedition to get the Sicilian crown for his son Edmund.
In 1257 the distress caused by bad government was aggravated by bad crops resulting in a famine, followed by a severe winter.
The strong opposition of the English barons was caused by the increase in the influence of the Papacy, Henry III's attempt at personal government, his favouring of foreigners, and the financial position.
The opposition of the barons was partly constitutional, but also motivated in large part by self interest - they wanted far greater influence in the government of the country.
The Marcher barons failed to support Prince Edward, who had recieved the earldom of Chester, against Llewellyn ap Griffith, fearing that the growth of Edward's power would lead to a diminuation of their own.
They were supported by Grossetete, Bishop of Lincoln, and in 1254 Simon de Montfort became the leader of the opposition, despite being himself a foreigner.
In 1244 the barons demanded the appointment of a justiciar, chancellor and treasurer - the end of Henry III's personal government.
In 1244 and 1255 the barons repeated their request of 1244. In 1257 they compelled reform by refusing Henry's demand for money.
The Division of the Barons
The settlement achieved by the Provisions of Oxford left the English barons divided into two parties.
Some, led by the Earl of Gloucester, were satisfied with the expulsion of the foreigners, and were not anxious for reform. They had little sympathy for the lesser feudal tannants and even less for the towns.
Others, led by Simon de Montfort, wanted reform of the government and the recognition of popular rights. Representatives of the knights approached Edward and, in consequence, by the provisions of Westminster, he carried out reforms and provided for the proper control of the sheriffs and for redress of abuses of the Forest Laws.
The provisions of Oxford resulted from the Mad Parliament which met there in June of 1258 and led to a limited monarchy with the King's authority being exercised by a body of magnates.
A Council of Fifteen was appointed to advise the King.
A Council of Twevle was to meet the Council of Fifteen three times every year.
A Council of Twenty-four was to make grants to the King.
The original twenty-four were to organise the King's household and the church.
The aliens were to be expelled and royal castles were to be surrendered.
Although the great magnates alone had power, there was no display of the distruptive tendency which had previously posed a great danger from the Norman barons.
The aliens were expelled; the Savoyards left voluntarily; the Poitevins were driven out by force.
The settlement led to the division of the barons.
Henry III, through a combination of religious character, gratitude to the Pope for for helping him get the throne, and weakness, continually yielded to the Church allowing the Papacy a great deal of power within the country.
The increase in the power of the Papacy was vainly opposed by Hubert de Burgh (regent and justiciar), Richard of Cornwall, and Grossetete, Bishop of Lincoln.
England was heavily taxed to support the Papal schemes against the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Richard of Cornwall described England as "...Like a vineyard with a broken hedge. All steal the grapes".
Cardinal Otto, the Papal Legate from 1237 to 1241, roused further opposition to the Papacy despite his excellent character. Unlike Pandulf, Otto refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Canterbury and claimed jurisdiction over Scotland as well. The Great riot at Oxford resulted from Otto's demands for money.
In 1240, Pope Gregory IX seeking to win over their friends to his cause, demanded that three hundred Roman clerks should be presented to English livings.
England was heavily taxed to support the Papal schemes against the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
In 1229, one-tenth was demanded by Pope Gregory IX on all clerical property. The tax was collected by Master Stephen but opposed by Robert Twenge.[??? Robert Thweng]
In 1240, Gregory IX demanded 20 per cent of clerical goods. In 1244, the new Pope, Innocent IV, took up his predecessor's quarrel with Frederick II and sent Master Robert [???] to extract more money from England.
Henry III recognised Llewellyn ap Griffith as Price of Wales by the Treaty of Shrewsbury, 1267.
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (he had married Henry III's sister, Eleanor, widow of William the Marshall II), was appointed Governor of Gascony.
Henry failed to give de Montfort sufficient support to protect Gascony from foreign foes. Despite this, de Montfort controlled the turbulent Gascon barons.
Although successful, the governor's administration was harsh and caused a great deal of discontent. Unjustly treated by Henry III, Simon de Montfort resigned the governorship of Gascony in 1252.
In accepting the kingdom of Naples and Sicily for his younger son, Edmund, Henry III made a disasterous bargian with Pope Innocent IV.
His Savoyard advisers are usually blamed for the scheme which had been contemptuously rejected in 1252/3 by Richard of Cornwall. Henry undertook to finance the expedition to wrest Sicily from the Hohenstaufen family and he recieved Pope Innocent IV's permission to tithe all church revenues in his lands.
The clergy accepted the Pope's orders reluctantly and extracted Henry's confirmation of the charters in 1253. Innocent IV's invasion of Naples in 1254 collapsed leaving Henry with a debt of five times his normal revenue. This led to further quarrels with the clergy and increasing pressure from Rome to pay the debt, culminating in Pope Alexander IV's threat to excommunicate Henry III if his undertaking to Innocent IV was not fulfilled.
Joan of Tolouse (daughter of Raymond [???]) married Alfonse, the brother of Louis IX. Louis IX invested Alfonse with Poitou.
Fearing the loss of their feudal independance, the Poitevin lords rebelled. They were led by Hugh de Lusignan, Henry III's stepfather.
Henry went to war in their support and was defeated at Taillebourg and Saintes in 1242. In the following year, Henry III gave up his claim to Poitou.
While Henry III married his sister, Isabella, to the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, in the hope that he could use Frederick to counterbalance French power, Henry allowed the Pope to draw money from England to use against Frederick and allowed Cardinal Otto, the Papal Legate, to excommunicate Frederick II in England.
In 1255, Henry III accepted the crown of Sicily from the Pope for his son Edward (Edward I), agreeing to discharge the heavy expenses involved. Sicily was part of the dominions of Frederick II.
| 1216.Oct.19 | | Death of King John (1199-), succeeded by his son as Henry III | | BAAAGEEU | | 1216.Oct.19+ | | Confirmation of the Magna Carta (1215) at Bristol by the regent, William the Marshal | | BAAAGEHM BAAAGEDZ | | 1216.Oct.28 | | Henry III crowned at Gloucester | | BAAAGBFS | | 1217 | | The view of frankpledge ordered only to be taken once a year at Michealmas | | BAAAGCQA BAAAGBLG | | 1217 | | Dauphin Louis and the French expelled from England | | | | 1217 | | Charter of the Forests was issued at Bristol deforesting recently created forests and repealing the harsh laws of Henry II | | BAAAGDGC | | 1217 | | Cinque Ports fleet under Hubert de Burgh defeats French fleet off Dover by sailing upwind of them and thowing quicklime in their faces | | BAAAGEHN BAAAGBYL | | 1217 | | Peace made with the dauphin Louis by the Treaty of Lambeth | | | | 1217.May | | Robert Fitzwalter captured at the battle of Lincoln where the French were routed by William the Marshal | | BAAAGEHL BAAAGEHM | | 1219.Feb | | Health of William the Marshal fails | | BAAAGEHM | | 1219.Mar | | William the Marshal entrusts the regency during the minority of Henry III to the papal legate, rejecting the claim of Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester henry's guardian, during a meeting at Caversham | | BAAAGEHM BAAAGEIE | | 1219.May.14 | | Death of William Marshal (1146-) at Caversham, near Reading. Hubert de Burgh becomes regent of England | | BAAAGEHM BAAAGEHN | | 1223 | | William of Aumale and the Earl of Chester compelled to give up royal castles, weakening the old barons | | | | 1224 | | Capture of the Bedford castle of Fawkes de Breaute who is driven out of England | | | | 1225 | | Launceston (Cornwall) recieves its first charter | | BAAAGEAF BAAAGBHZ | | 1225 | | Unsuccessful expedition into Wales against Llewellyn ap Griffith | | | | 1227 | | Richard, brother of Henry III, becomes Earl of Cornwall | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBFS BAAAGBHZ | | 1227 | | Peter de Roches and his Poitevin friends were banished from England | | | | 1228 | | Pope demands a tithe of movable property | | | | 1229 | | One-tenth was demanded by Pope Gregory IX on all clerical property
The tax was collected by Stephen but opposed by Robert Thegne | | | | 1230 | | Unsuccessful expedition to Brittany and Poitou by Henry III and Pierre Mauclerc of Brittany | | | | 1231 | | Failure of the 2nd expedition into Wales against Llewellyn ap Griffith | | | | 1232 | | Robert Thweng seizes the money collected by the Papal agents and gives it to the poor
Hubert de Burgh took no action against Thweng | | BAAAGCBT BAAAGBWS BAAAGEHN | | 1232 | | Hubert de Burgh brought down by the barons and the Church | | BAAAGEHN | | 1236 | | Henry III marries Eleanor of Provence
The marriage leads to an influx of her Provencal relatives | | | | 1240 | | Seeking to win over their friends to his cause, Pope Gregory IX demands that 300 Roman clerks should be presented to English livings | | | | 1244 | | The barons demanded the appointment of a justiciar, chancellor and treasurer to end the personal government of Henry III | | | | 1250 | | Henry III takes up the Cross | | | | 1254 | | Simon de Montfort becomes leader of the opposition despite being a foreigner himself | | | | 1254 | | Henry III accepts the kingdom of Naples and Sicily for his son, Edmund | | | | 1256 | | Henry III asserted that the inhabitants of Chester, not the king, should pay for the repair of a bridge - citing the Domesday Book as a precedent
The Domesday Book has also been consulted during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II | | BAAAGBQE | | 1257 | | Distress caused by bad government aggravated by bad crops resulting in famine, followed by a severe winter | | | | 1257 | | Barons force reforms on Henry III by refusing his demand for money | | | | 1258 | | The Provisions of Oxford issued by the Parliament which met there
The barons led by Simon de Monfort force reforms on Henry III. This is the first legal document produced in English since the Norman Conquest | | 00000000 BAAAGBXJ BAAAGBUO | | 1258.Jun | | Meeting of the Mad Parliament | | | | 1259.Dec.04 | | Treaty of Paris comes into force: Henry III renounced his claims to Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou (titles of Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou dropped from the royal style) | | BAAAGBKX paris | | 1270 | | Great storm hits the South Coast destroying the ancient Cinque Port of Old Winchelsea in Sussex | | BAAAGCRN BAAAGBYL | | 1272.Nov.16 | | Death of Henry III at Westminster - Edward I (Longshanks)
crowned king of England (-1307) | | BAAAGBWV BAAAGEFR |
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WILTSHIRE
MARLBOROUGH CASTLE
The king was married in the castle chapel and summoned his last parliament here in 1267 when the Statute of Marlborough was passed.
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