Henry III, 1216 - 1272; Part 3

1. The Earl of Pembroke died in 1219, and the business of being regent in fact, though not in name, passed to Hubert de Burgh. Hubert governed well: his chief task was to crush the few remaining adherents of John's party. Falkes de Breaute may fairly stand as a type of them, a refugee from Normandy whom John had used to captain his mercenaries, and had rewarded with estates, castles, and sheriffdoms. His chief stronghold was Bedford Castle, where his brother had the impudence to seize and imprison one of the king's justices. Hubert attacked the castle, forced the first two lines of walls, and undermined the keep, so that part of the wall fell. Eighty of the defenders were hanged, and Falkes himself driven into exile. Such sharp justice terrified smaller offenders into submission.
   
   Unfortunately, when Henry came of age, in 1227, he showed no gratitude to de Burgh. The death of the great Archbishop Stephen Langton, in 1228, robbed the Justiciar of a good friend; and in 1232 Henry dismissed him, and forfeited his estates. Hubert was the last great Justiciar.
2. There followed a long period of bad government. The king was poor, since Richard had sold, and John had given away, many royal estates, and it was no longer easy to raise money by scutages and aids; but though poor he was far from sparing. His chief minister, Peter des Roches, a Poitevin, pushed his relations and foreign friends into every office and sheriffdom that fell vacant; when Peter fell into disgrace there came a fresh incursion of foreigners with Henry's wife, Eleanor of Provence. One uncle became an archbishop, a second a bishop, a third an earl. They naturally gave all they could to their own countrymen. Provencals proved every whit as greedy as Poitevins, and the whole country grew exasperated at Henry and the foreigners who filled the court. Then to make matters worse Henry engaged in an inglorious war with France, and lost a couple of battles at Taillebourg and Saintes, narrowly escaping capture. Undeterred by this failure he meddled in the quarrel between the Papacy and the descendants of Frederick II. He weakly accepted the offer of the throne of Naples and Sicily for his younger son, Edmund, and as a result had cast on him the task of paying for the war which the Pope was waging. Edmund never got the throne, and a more purposeless waste of money could hardly be imagined.
   
   Irritated by the foreigners, provoked by the incompetent and extravagant king, the barons demanded that proper officials should be chosen and the charters kept. Henry gave plenty of promises, but never kept them. So, till a leader could be found on the baronial side, nothing could be done. With the appearance of Simon de Montfort, however, we pass to the third and important period of the reign.
3. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was the son of the de Montfort who had led the Crusade against the Albigenses in the south of France. He had married Henry's sister, Eleanor, but was disliked at Court, and had spent most of his life abroad. His chief work had been as Seneschal of Gascony to try to keep the Gascon nobles in order. He set about this resolutely, and so unpopular did his firmness make him, that the Gascons complained. Henry would not support him, and Simon resigned. In 1257 he came to England. Nine years were destined to see him rise to a position above the king, then even more suddenly fall in complete ruin; and yet leave a name that ranks among the greatest in English constitutional history.
   
   Being himself a foreigner, and related by marriage to Henry III, it seems at first sight strange that he should come to lead the national baronial party against the Court and the foreigners. But the fact is, that, though he was brother-in-law to the king, the king and his family looked down on him; and it was hatred to the queen's Provencal relations that drove him into the national ranks. His own nature, serious, masterful, and pious, soon secured him the foremost place.

Chronology

• 55 B.C.-A.D. 410
• 1135-1154
• 1216-1272
• 1327-1399