‘The brother in-law who became the unbrotherly outlaw!’

Well, that would come later, but to begin with everything was sweetness and light. Oh! Oh!  For a happy family life! Well, that involves men, women and children! King Henry was devoted to his wife and children and could not bear to be separated from them for any significant length. They were the royal family and they represented a theatre because the eyes of all subjects were constantly upon them.

The royal family.

A contemporary poster advertising the production, ‘The royals at home.’!

Henry doted on his children and showered exotic gifts upon them. The elephant which was a present from the king of France, was housed in the zoo in the Tower of London. It became a particular favourite of the princes and princesses.

As regards women, Henry’s leading lady was the woman he married, the formidable  Eleanor of Provence in 1236. The queen was a faithful wife who had her husband’s best interests at heart at all times. As Henry had no illegitimate children,  Eleanor as Queen was clearly centre stage throughout his reign. Competition regarding the king’s affections, disallowed, period.

‘I am the Queen, so available whores please take note,  that my husband, the king is a mistress free zone!

Try your luck, sweetheart and into a foul dungeon you will be assigned until you are nothing but dry skin and bone!’

Thank God for Eleanor! The threat from the feminine quarter was averted, but what about the men? Of course boys will be boys whatever the circumstances. Well, Henry got the call and things proceeded from there.

‘Well, your majesty, you have a lovely sister!

There is a certain noble Frenchman and sire, he simply cannot resist her!’

Henry himself was to be upstaged in a most dramatic fashion by some one who did become part of the royal family. He was a man who features as no other did during the reign of Henry III. If you were to look at Henry’s long reign as a movie, ‘Henry III’, this character would undoubtedly get second billing. His name was Simon de (Monty) Montfort, a French man of noble birth, who would become Earl of Leicester.

Simon de (Monty) Montfort

He began his role as brother-law to the king when he married his sister, Eleanor. The marriage was bitterly opposed by Henry’s younger brother, Richard of Cornwall but he and Monty were eventually reconciled, albeit temporarily.

Eleanor of England, spouse to Simon de Montfort.

Monty became best supporting actor to Henry but later, relegated or perhaps depending on your point of view, promoted to most unsupportive thespian to the crown.

‘Oh simple Simon, I, the king considered you a most gallant knight!

Indeed at my court I was glad to allow you a good piece of the limelight!

By my holy anointed hand I have made you, sweet Simon the Earl of Leicester, a position that many surely sought!

However with you, my dear brother-law, the most bitter conflicts of my reign would be fought!’

Monty’s views on how to rule a kingdom differed sharply with Henry’s. The king’s brother-law favoured a curtailing of royal power and a greater voice for the common people, an idea which was not calculated to rest easily with any medieval monarch. This had the unfortunate effect of creating a rather tense atmosphere during family gatherings at the royal palaces, Christmas dinner was invariably a disaster.

‘Monty’s proposals on promoting people power!

Merely had the effect of making the king glower!’

Such a radical egalitarian suggestion!

Caused a severe case of royal indigestion!’

The plum pudding may have been warm, but the mood in the Great Hall at Yuletide most certainly was not.

Another cause of discord was the fact that Henry allowed a rather large entourage of foreign favourites to reside in England. They were known as the Poitevens, a motley crew who had little interest in anything more than their own personal advancement. These people were appointed to influential positions and proceeded to make themselves thoroughly unpopular with the English. A further bone of contention was Henry’s habit of lavish expenditure, and this extravagance came to be greatly resented by the barons. In 1255, with papal encouragement, Henry embarked on a military operation to make his second son, Edmund, king of Sicily. The venture ended in an expensive, ignominious failure which served to lower the king’s stock with the barons even further. Monty in particular was incensed at Henry’s action, and he believed that it was now time to constrain royal power.

By 1258, the situation had become intolerable, and the barons, with Monty playing a leading role forced Henry to comply with an arrangement known as the Provisions of Oxford. Henry had no choice but to agree, the royal exchequer was empty and was badly in need of a grant of funds which only the barons  could provide. The Provisions of Oxford reformed the government by giving the barons more influence in the ruling of the realm, much to the chagrin of the king. The foreign favourites, the Poitevins, beloved of Henry, but roundly detested by everyone else, were to be sent packing back to France. It is thought that Queen Eleanor was quietly complicit in the banishment of the Poitevins.

‘You haughty foreign intruders, at the king’s court did you joyfully prance!

With your proud words of flattery, you led the king a merry dance.

Now without any further ado you are to be packed off to France!’

Nonetheless, Henry was somewhat aggrieved at having his royal wings clipped, and the fact that one of the leading protagonists was his brother-in-law, Monty, added insult to injury. The scene was set for armed conflict between the more radically inclined barons led by Monty, and the forces of the crown.

In March 1219, Henry’s regent, the redoubtable and resolute peerless knight, Sir William Marshall breathed his last. The eleven year old king must have felt the loss acutely.

‘Loyal to the end to the Plantagenet family most royal!

Until he left the confines of this mortal coil!

Sir William Marshall, in King Henry’s service, did relentlessly toil!’

The effigy of Sir William Marshall on his tomb in Temple Church London.

A real bond must have developed between the baron, a man in his seventies, and the child king . Marshall once said that he would carry the boy on his shoulders if they were deserted by allies and had to beg for their bread. No one who knew the man doubted these words. With his father dead and his mother, Isabella’s, decision to take up permanent residence in France, Marshall was the only parent Henry had had in his first two and a half years of kingship.

‘Rest in peace dearest uncle Willie!

Your thoughts and actions were always noble, never silly!

I shall never forget  you, riding high on your mighty steed and me trailing behind on my delightful little filly!’

However heavily felt the loss, the business of the governance of the kingdom had to continue uninterrupted. Unfortunately Henry’s entire reign experienced continuous disruption. Of course Henry’s kingship required adult supervision, and the administration was put into the hands of three men: Peter des Roches, Hubert de Burgh and the papal legate, Pandulf Verrachio. These ‘three wise men’ were collectively known as the ‘triumvirate’. As shrewd old Sir William predicted on his death bed, the triumvirate would soon find it difficult to agree on what should be done. One thing that everyone agreed upon was the necessity of a second coronation ceremony. The circumstances of the first coronation at Gloucester were considered profoundly unsatisfactory. The fact that the King of England was crowned with a simple gold circlet because a crown could not be found with which to place on his head, rankled with one and all. This was a national scandal that could not, and indeed must not endure. A swift remedy was required and it was found.

‘The ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral was a coronation at the back door!

Such a demeaning event shamed the entire kingdom to its very core!’

The second coronation of Henry, Westminster Abbey 1220.

On May 17th, 1220, Henry was crowned for a second time, this time the ceremony would take place at Westminster Abbey conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. No expense was spared for the lavish banquet which followed, because, of course the whole nation had to be made aware that a most grievous error had now been corrected. How could they treat this prince so badly who was  descended from every king since William the Conqueror.

‘You thought that by allowing a humiliating coronation, you could deny me my inheritance, then everything to your fetid, foul ends would follow!

So happiness would be bestowed on you, oh yes you, and unto me only the most unspeakable sorrow!

But you did not realise that there were those who acknowledged that what has passed since 1066 was right and just and will inevitably lead towards a better tomorrow!’

Henry certainly did not hesitate to punish people when he thought it necessary. The young king was acutely aware of his dignity as monarch and expected the utmost respect at all times. When Fawkes de Breaute, a former ally who had hosted Henry for Christmas 1217 displeased him, the king ordered Bedford castle which was in the possession of de Breaute’s loyalists to surrender. However the garrison had the temerity to refuse and Henry took this  affront to his regal dignity very personally.

‘You common foot soldiers, you don’t give me, the king, total respect?

Then from my royal person, no mercy can you expect!

You traitors might answer, ah what the heck!

But I swear that I will stretch each and every lousy neck!’

Henry successfully besieged the castle and hanged the captured soldiers.

A rather unsavoury aspect of Henry’s reign was his treatment of the Jewish people. Such tyranny was not new in England or indeed elsewhere in Christendom where many decried the Jewish people as ‘Christ killers.’ The senior clergy were steeped in prejudice against those of the Jewish faith. Compared with some others, particularly the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, Henry was probably more  liberal in his attitude towards the Jewish people. Henry’s wife, the strong willed Eleanor of Provence was an enthusiastic anti-Semite.

Eleanor of Provence. Queen consort of England.

Nonetheless, the king, with his perennial problem of funds, taxed the Jewish community, mercilessly. In 1233 a law was passed that stated that only those Jews who could prove their value to the Crown could reside in England. Those deemed as being of little use to royal authority or more accurately the exchequer, were required to leave the country.

‘Crucifixion! Crucifixion!

The scene is set for some nasty racial/religious friction!’

However in 1255, there occurred one ghastly and bizarre incident which did not reflect at all well on King Henry. An eight year old boy, Hugh went missing in Lincoln and his body was later discovered in a well. It was reported that Hugh had last been seen alive, playing with some Jewish boys. Another factor was the presence of a large number of Jewish visitors in the city attending the wedding of two members of very wealthy Jewish families. Between traditional loathing, enduring suspicion and plain rotten jealousy, the scene was set for a very nasty case of anti-Semitic violence.

‘The Jewish revellers ventured to Lincoln to attend a sumptuous wedding feast!

There they encountered conduct that rendered the perpetrators lower than any beast!’

A rumour spread that Hugh had been abducted by the Jewish community and crucified. A Jewish man called Copen confessed to one of Henry’s inner circle, John of Lexington that he and other Jews had crucified Hugh. The confession was almost certainly extracted through torture and Copen was promised clemency in return for his ‘honesty’ in taking responsibility for the murder. However, the king had met with Hugh’s mother and was horrified when the woman, distraught with grief told him that her son had been crucified.

‘Moved by the mother’s tears, Henry promised the lady that he would act!

Unfortunately the horrible rumour of crucifixion had no basis in fact!’

Full of pity for the boy’s mother and furious at such a despicable crime, Henry travelled to Lincoln to investigate the matter himself.

‘Never take decisions in a state of high emotion!

The outcome is almost certainly to cause an almighty commotion!’

And indeed a tremendous commotion did occur. When Henry heard of Copen’s confession, he became incandescent with rage and ordered the immediate execution of the unfortunate Jewish man. Many other Jews were arrested and eventually nineteen of them were hanged. The property of the executed men was forfeit to the crown which would of course help to alleviate Henry’s chronic financial circumstances.

An appalling vista of events? The church decided to proclaim the dead boy, Hugh, a saint and a shrine was built at Lincoln cathedral to commemorate his memory. The cathedral was already an  place of pilgrimage, so the new shrine was yet another attraction to prospective pilgrims and this had the pleasing effect of increasing church revenue.

The shrine of St Hugh at Lincoln Cathedral.

‘We now have another shrine to a saint named Hugh!

Here as we kneel in a cathedral pew!

We will pray, and of course leave a money offering to you!’

The King is dead, long live the king!

In death, John managed to achieve that which he could not do in life; he thwarted the will of King Philip ‘Deesgusting’ Augustus. He left as his heir, his son, the nine year old prince Henry. Taken under the wing of that great knight, William Marshall, young Henry was crowned king in Gloucester Cathedral on October 28th 1216. The coronation ceremony took place at Gloucester, because Westminster Abbey was in the hands of the Dauphin. In fact there was no crown to place on the king’s head as it had been lost, possibly in the sands of the Wash. Instead a simple gold circlet was used for the ceremony.

At Henry’s coronation, his head was not adorned with a regal crown!

Yet this did not cause the young king to frown!

He strode to the Cathedral altar, attired in a very fine gown!

Few monarchs have had such an inauspicious start to their reign, and many thought that Henry would soon be removed from the throne. This would later produce its own irony, as Henry would go on to be the longest-serving monarch until Queen Victoria, six hundred years later. Circumstances began to change in Henry’s favour. Many of the nobles who were in revolt against John were not going to make the son pay for the sins of his father. The evil old dog was gone, why continue the hostilities. A number of them decided to shift their allegiance away from the Dauphin Louis, to Henry.

The new king’s ascent to the throne changed the whole very messy picture. Also standing with Henry was the reassuring figure of the 70 year old William Marshall whose reputation as a baronial leader was unmatched in England at that time. The year 1217, saw Marshall secure two vital victories against the king’s enemies. Firstly, at Lincoln in May, and then the old baron foiled a French seaborne assault led by the notorious Eustace the Monk off the coast near Sandwich in August. This engagement was notable for its deployment of an early form of chemical warfare. The English fired pots of lime on to Eustace’s ship, blinding and choking the crew, completely debilitating them. It was a sweet moment for the English as Eustace was a much hated figure and they were bent on revenge.

‘Now it was time to use a weapon containing a concoction of lime!

The English decided that Eustace must pay for his many crimes!’

Eustace was captured and offered a fortune in ransom in return for his life, but the English decided that in this instance, they would forego the loot. The unfortunate monk was summarily executed aboard his own flagship.

‘The pirate monk, Eustace is caught, what a catch!

He sailed into our kingdom intent on English riches to snatch!

He offers a fortune to save his skin, but no, all he gets, is courtesy of an axe!

A well deserved quick, bloody dispatch!

Under the circumstances, Louis had little choice but to sue for peace. This would have been unthinkable less than a year ago when he was sure that the English crown was within his grasp. However fortunes alter, and after peace talks in September 1217, Louis accepted the princely sum of £7,000 to retire to France.

William Marshall now began to restore order to the much disturbed kingdom, ravaged by civil war. In this endeavour, he would labour tirelessly until his death in 1219. It is due to the action of this great knight that England, for better or worse, was bestowed with the longest reign of the medieval period.

So what kind of person would reign for so long? Well, all are agreed that he was nothing like his father, King John. Henry possessed a humility and piety which was totally lacking in his tyrannical predecessor. He loved to attend mass and was known to be moved to tears by the words uttered by the priest when giving the sermon. Henry was generous in his alms giving to the poor, and was happy to carry out the custom of washing the feet of the destitute.

Although he would have been schooled in the knightly arts of combat, the allure of the saddle held little attraction for Henry. The new king would never become a warrior prince like his ancestors and indeed his descendants, his was a more peaceable disposition. The masculine pursuits of the chase which engaged earlier and later monarchs appeared to leave Henry a little cold. The times spent out riding through the rural expanses, hunting wildlife and joyfully bringing their carcasses as trophies back to the royal residence were few.

Henry was to be something of an ‘indoor‘ monarch. When not in church he spent a great deal of time preparing new designs for his castles and palaces. Indeed, his domestic conduct contrasted with that of both his father, John and grandfather, Henry II in other respects. He did not inherit their insatiable lust, and an endless succession of mistresses were not a feature of his bedchamber. All of his life he was devoted to his wife, Eleanor of Provence and their five children. Indeed he became upset if he was separated from them for any length of time at all.

Which leader from the past would Henry adopt as his role model? Julius Caesar, Charlemagne or perhaps his ancestor, William the Conqueror? No he chose Saint Edward the Confessor, the last Saxon king of England as his patron saint.