ENGLISH KING HENRY III
Compilation by D.
A. Sharpe
English King Henry III was born October 1, 1207 at Winchester Castle. He
reigned 1216-1272. He was King John's
son, and was only nine when he became King.
By 1227, when he assumed power from his regent, order had been restored,
based on his acceptance of Magna
Carta. (The Magna Carta also became comparable to the
Mayflower Compact.) However, the King's failed campaigns in France (1230
and1242), his choice of friends and advisers, together with the cost of his
scheme to make one of his younger sons King of Sicily and help the Pope against
the Holy Roman Emperor, led to further disputes with the barons and united
opposition in Church and State. Although
Henry was extravagant, and his tax demands were resented, the King's accounts
show a list of many charitable donations and payments for building works
(including the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey which began in 1245).
Henry is my 11th cousin, 22 times
removed on my Mother's side of the family. Additionally,
he is the 12th great grandfather of Edward Southworth, the first husband of Alice Carpenter, my seven times
great grandmother, who became the wife of Gov. William Bradford, each
for a second marriage, after each had been widowed.
The Provisions of Oxford (1258) and the Provisions of Westminster (1259) were attempts by the nobles to define common
law in the spirit of Magna Carta, control appointments and set up an
aristocratic council. Henry
tried to defeat them by obtaining papal absolution from his oaths, and
enlisting King Louis XI's
help. Henry renounced the
Provisions in 1262, and war broke out. The
barons, under their leader, Simon de Montfort, were initially successful and even captured Henry.
However, Henry escaped, joined forces with the
lords of the Marches (on the Welsh border), and Henry finally defeated and
killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.
Royal authority was restored by the Statute of Marlborough (1267), in which the King also promised to uphold
Magna Carta and some of the Provisions of Westminster.
(Source: http://www.royal.gov.uk/history/index.htm)
Henry III, the first monarch to be
crowned in his minority, inherited the throne at age nine. His reign began
immersed in the rebellion created by his father, King John. London and most of the southeast were
in the hands of the French Dauphin Louis and the northern regions were under the control of rebellious barons -
only the midlands and southwest were loyal to the boy king. The barons,
however, rallied under Henry's first regent, William the Marshall, and expelled the French Dauphin in 1217. William sealed the Charter of the Forest at St. PaulŐs Cathedral in London for King Henry III
on November 6, 1217. William the Marshall governed until his death in 1219;
Hugh de Burgh,
the last of the justiciars to rule with the power of a king, governed until
Henry came to the throne in earnest at age twenty-five.
A variety of factors coalesced in
Henry's reign to plant the first seeds of English nationalism. Throughout his minority, the barons
held firm to the ideal of written restrictions on royal authority and reissued
Magna Carta several times. The
nobility wished to bind the king to same feudal laws under which they were
held. The emerging class of free
men also demanded the same protection from the king's excessive control.
Barons, nobility, and free men began viewing England as a community rather than
a mere aggregation of independent manors, villages, and outlying
principalities. In addition to their strictions outlined in Magna Carta, the
barons asked to be consulted in matters of state and called together as a Great
Council. Viewing themselves as the natural counselors of the king, they sought
control over the machinery of government, particularly in the appointment of
chief government positions. The
Exchequer and the Chancery were separated from the rest of the government, to
decrease the king's chances of ruling irresponsibly.
Nationalism, such as it was at this
early stage, manifested in the form of opposition to Henry's actions. He infuriated the barons by granting
favors and appointments to foreigners rather than the English nobility. Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester and Henry's prime educator, introduced several Frenchmen from
Poitou into the government; many Italians entered into
English society through Henry's close ties to the papacy. His reign coincided with an expansion
of papal power. Then the Church
became, in effect, a massive European monarchy, and the Church became as
creative as it was excessive in extorting money from England. England was expected to assume a
large portion of financing the myriad officials employed throughout Christendom
as well as providing employment and parishes for Italians living abroad. Henry's acquiescence to the demands of Rome
initiated a backlash of protest from his subjects: laymen were denied opportunity to be
nominated for vacant ecclesiastical offices and clergymen lost any chance of
advancement.
Matters came to a head in 1258. Henry levied extortionate taxes to
pay for debts incurred through war with Wales, failed campaigns in France, and
an extensive program of ecclesiastical building. Inept diplomacy and military defeat
led Henry to sell his hereditary claims to all the Angevin possessions in France,
except Gascony. When
he assumed the considerable debts of the papacy in its fruitless war with
Sicily, his barons demanded sweeping reforms and the king was in no position to
offer resistance. Henry was
forced to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, a document placing the barons in
virtual control of the realm. A council of fifteen men, comprised of both the
king's supporters and detractors, effected a situation whereby Henry could
nothing, without the council's knowledge and consent. The magnates handled every level of
government with great unity initially, but gradually succumbed to petty
bickering; the Provisions of Oxford remained in force for only years. Henry
reasserted his authority and denied the Provisions, resulting in the outbreak
of civil war in 1264. Edward I,
Henry's eldest son, led the king's forces with the opposition commanded by
Simon de Montfort, Henry's brother-in-law. At the Battle of Lewes, in Sussex,
de Montfort defeated Edward and captured both king and son - and found himself
in control of the government.
Simon de Montfort held absolute power after subduing Henry, but was a champion of
reform. The nobility supported
him, because of his royalties and belief in the Provisions of Oxford. De Montfort, with two close
associates, selected a council of nine (whose function was similar
to the earlier council of fifteen), and ruled in the king's name. De Montfort recognized the need to
gain the backing of smaller landowners and prosperous townsfolk: in 1264, he
summoned knights from each shire in addition to the normal high churchmen and
nobility to a nearly pre-Parliament, and in 1265 invited burgesses from
selected towns. Although Parliament as an institution was yet to be formalized,
the latter session was a precursor to both the elements of Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of
Commons.
Later in 1265, de Montfort lost the
support of one of the most powerful barons, the Earl of Gloucester, and Edward also managed to escape. The two gathered an army and
defeated de Montfort at the Battle of Evasham. Worcestershire de Montfort was slain and Henry was released; Henry resumed
control of the throne but, for the remainder of his reign, Edward exercised the
real power of the throne in his father's stead. The old king, after a long reign of
fifty-six years, died in 1272. Although
a failure as a politician and soldier, his reign was significant for defining
the English monarchical position until the end of the fifteenth century: kingship limited by law.
Source: http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon29.html
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