Marriage ,
Margaret,
Edmund,
Beatrice and
Katherine, 1300–1308 Henry investigated a range of potential marriage partners in his youth, but they all proved unsuitable for reasons of European and domestic politics. In 1236 he finally married
Eleanor of Provence, the daughter of
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, and
Beatrice of Savoy. Eleanor was twelve years old, well-mannered, cultured and articulate, but the primary reason for the marriage was political, as Henry stood to create a valuable set of alliances with the rulers of the south and south-east of France. Over the coming years, Eleanor emerged as a hard-headed, firm politician. Historians Margaret Howell and David Carpenter describe her as being "more combative" and "far tougher and more determined" than her husband. The marriage contract was confirmed in 1235 and Eleanor travelled to England to meet Henry for the first time. The pair were married at
Canterbury Cathedral in January 1236, and Eleanor was crowned queen at Westminster shortly afterwards in a lavish ceremony planned by Henry. There was a substantial age gap between the couple – Henry was 28, Eleanor only 12 – but historian Margaret Howell observes that the King "was generous and warm-hearted and prepared to lavish care and affection on his wife". Henry gave Eleanor extensive gifts and paid personal attention to establishing and equipping her household. He also brought her fully into his religious life, including involving her in his devotion to Edward the Confessor. Despite initial concerns that the Queen might be barren, Henry and Eleanor had five children together. In 1239 Eleanor gave birth to their first child,
Edward, named after the Confessor. Their first daughter,
Margaret, named after
Eleanor's sister, followed in 1240, her birth also accompanied by celebrations and donations to the poor. The third child,
Beatrice, was named after Eleanor's mother, and born in 1242 during a
campaign in Poitou. The couple's fourth child,
Edmund, arrived in 1245 and was named after
the 9th century saint. Concerned about Eleanor's health, Henry donated large amounts of money to the Church throughout the pregnancy. A third daughter,
Katherine, was born in 1253 but soon fell ill, possibly the result of a
degenerative disorder such as
Rett syndrome, and was unable to speak. She died in 1257 and Henry was distraught. After Eleanor's marriage, many of her Savoyard relatives joined her in England. At least 170 Savoyards arrived in England after 1236, coming from
Savoy,
Burgundy and
Flanders, including Eleanor's uncles
Boniface of Savoy (later Archbishop of Canterbury) and
William, Bishop of Valence, Henry's chief adviser for a short period. Henry arranged marriages for many of them into the English nobility, a practice that initially caused friction with the English barons, who resisted landed estates passing into the hands of foreigners. The Savoyards were careful not to exacerbate the situation and became increasingly integrated into English baronial society, forming an important power base for Eleanor in England.
Poitou and the Lusignans ('Regina') and Henry ('Rex') returning to England from
Poitou in 1243, by Matthew Paris In 1241 the barons in Poitou, including Henry's step-father Hugh de Lusignan, rebelled against the rule of Louis of France. The rebels had counted on aid from Henry, but he lacked domestic support and was slow to mobilise an army, not arriving in France until the next summer. His campaign was hesitant and was further undermined by Hugh switching sides and returning to support Louis. The Poitou rebellion collapsed and Henry entered into a fresh five-year truce. His campaign had been a disastrous failure and had cost over £80,000. In the aftermath of the revolt, French power extended throughout Poitou, threatening the interests of the Lusignan family. More Poitevins followed, until around 100 had settled in England, around two-thirds of them being granted substantial incomes worth £66 or more by Henry. Henry encouraged some to help him on the continent; others acted as mercenaries and diplomatic agents or fought on Henry's behalf in European campaigns. Many were given estates along the contested Welsh Marches, or in Ireland, where they protected the frontiers. For Henry, the community was an important symbol of his hopes to one day reconquer Poitou and the rest of his French lands, and many of the Lusignans became close friends with his son Edward. The presence of Henry's extended family in England proved controversial. The term "Poitevins" became loosely applied to this grouping, although many came from Anjou and other parts of France, and by the 1250s there was a fierce rivalry between the relatively well established Savoyards and the newly arrived Poitevins. The Lusignans began to break the law with impunity, pursuing personal grievances against other barons and the Savoyards, and Henry took little or no action to restrain them. By 1258, the general dislike of the Poitevins had turned into hatred, with Simon de Montfort one of their strongest critics.
Scotland, Wales and Ireland Henry's position in Wales was strengthened during the first two decades of his personal rule. Following the death of
Llywelyn the Great in 1240, Henry's power in Wales expanded. Three military campaigns were carried out in the 1240s, new castles were constructed, and the royal lands in the
County of Chester were expanded, increasing Henry's dominance over the Welsh princes.
Dafydd, Llywelyn's son, resisted the incursions but died in 1246, and Henry confirmed the Treaty of Woodstock the following year with
Owain and
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn the Great's grandsons, under which they ceded land to the King but retained the heart of their princedom in
Gwynedd. In
South Wales Henry gradually extended his authority across the region, but the campaigns were not pursued with vigour and the King did little to stop the Marcher territories along the border becoming increasingly independent of the Crown. In 1256, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd rebelled against Henry and widespread violence spread across Wales. Henry promised a swift military response but did not carry through on his threats.
Ireland was important to Henry, both as a source of royal revenue – an average of £1,150 was sent from Ireland to the Crown each year during the middle of his reign – and as a source of estates that could be granted to his supporters. The major landowners looked eastwards towards Henry's court for political leadership, and many also possessed estates in Wales and England. The 1240s saw major upheavals in land ownership due to deaths among the barons, enabling Henry to redistribute Irish lands to his supporters. In the 1250s the King gave out numerous grants of land along the frontier in Ireland to his supporters, creating a buffer zone against the
native Irish. The local
Irish kings began to suffer increased harassment as English power increased across the region. These lands were in many cases unprofitable for the barons to hold and English power reached its zenith under Henry for the medieval period. In 1254, Henry granted Ireland to his son, Edward, on condition that it would never be separated from the Crown. Henry assumed that he had the right to interfere in Scottish affairs and brought up the issue of his authority with the Scottish kings at key moments, but he lacked the inclination or the resources to do much more. Alexander had occupied parts of northern England during the First Barons' War but had been excommunicated and forced to retreat. Alexander married Henry's sister Joan in 1221, and after he and Henry signed the
Treaty of York in 1237, Henry had a secure northern frontier. Henry knighted
Alexander III before the young king married Henry's daughter Margaret in 1251 and, despite Alexander's refusal to give homage to Henry for Scotland, the two enjoyed a good relationship. Henry had Alexander and Margaret rescued from
Edinburgh Castle when they were imprisoned there by a rebellious Scottish baron in 1255 and took additional measures to manage Alexander's government during the rest of his minority years.
European strategy , given to him by
Louis IX of France, by Matthew Paris Henry had no further opportunities to reconquer his possessions in France after the collapse of his military campaign at the
Battle of Taillebourg. Henry instead adopted what historian
Michael Clanchy has described as a "European strategy", attempting to regain his lands in France through diplomacy rather than force, building alliances with other states prepared to put military pressure on the French King. In particular, Henry cultivated
Frederick II, hoping he would turn against Louis or allow his nobility to join Henry's campaigns. In the process, Henry's attention became increasingly focused on European politics and events rather than domestic affairs. Crusading was a popular cause in the 13th century, and in 1248 Louis joined the ill-fated
Seventh Crusade, having first made a fresh truce with England and received assurances from the Pope that he would protect his lands against any attack by Henry. Henry might have joined this crusade himself, but the rivalry between the two kings made this impossible and, after Louis's defeat at the
Battle of Al Mansurah in 1250, Henry instead announced that he would be undertaking his own crusade to the Levant. He began to make arrangements for passage with friendly rulers around the Levant, imposing efficiency savings on the royal household and arranging for ships and transport: he appeared almost over-eager to take part. Henry's plans reflected his strong religious beliefs, but they also stood to give him additional international credibility when arguing for the return of his possessions in France. Henry's crusade never departed, as he was forced to deal with problems in Gascony, where the harsh policies of his lieutenant, Simon de Montfort, had provoked a violent uprising in 1252, which was supported by King
Alfonso X of neighbouring Castile. The English court was split over the problem: Simon and Eleanor argued that the Gascons were to blame for the crisis, while Henry, backed by the Lusignans, blamed Simon's misjudgement. Alfonso signed a treaty of alliance in 1254, and Gascony was given to Henry's son Edward, who married Alfonso's half-sister
Eleanor, delivering a long-lasting peace with Castile. On the way back from Gascony, Henry met with Louis for the first time in an arrangement brokered by their wives, and the two kings became close friends. The Gascon campaign cost more than £200,000 and used up all the money intended for Henry's crusade, leaving him heavily in debt and reliant on loans from his brother Richard and the Lusignans.
The Sicilian business depicting
Louis IX kneeling before
Pope Innocent IV, recognisable by his three-tiered
papal tiara Henry did not give up on his hopes for a crusade, but became increasingly absorbed in a bid to acquire the wealthy
Kingdom of Sicily for his son Edmund. Sicily had been controlled by Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire, for many years a rival of Pope Innocent IV. On Frederick's death in 1250, Innocent started to look for a new ruler, one more amenable to the papacy. Henry saw Sicily as both a valuable prize for his son and as an excellent base for his crusading plans in the east. With minimal consultation within his court, Henry came to an agreement with the pope in 1254 that Edmund should be the next king. Innocent urged Henry to send Edmund with an army to reclaim Sicily from Frederick's son
Manfred, offering to contribute to the expenses of the campaign. Innocent was succeeded by
Pope Alexander IV, who was facing increasing military pressure from the Empire. He could no longer afford to pay Henry's expenses, instead demanding that Henry compensate the papacy for the £90,000 spent on the war so far. Alexander grew increasingly unhappy about Henry's procrastinations and in 1258 sent an envoy to England, threatening to excommunicate Henry if he did not first pay his debts to the papacy and then send the promised army to Sicily. Parliament again refused to assist the King in raising this money. Instead Henry turned to extorting money from the senior clergy, who were forced to sign blank charters, promising to pay effectively unlimited sums of money in support of the King's efforts, raising around £40,000. The English Church felt the money was wasted, vanishing into the long-running war in Italy. Meanwhile, Henry attempted to influence the outcomes of the elections in the Holy Roman Empire, which would appoint a new
King of the Romans. When the more prominent German candidates failed to gain traction, Henry began to back his brother Richard's candidature, giving donations to his potential supporters in the Empire. Richard was elected in 1256 with expectations of possibly being crowned the Holy Roman Emperor, but continued to play a major role in English politics. His election faced a mixed response in England; Richard was believed to provide moderate, sensible counsel and his presence was missed by the English barons, but he also faced criticism, probably incorrectly, for funding his German campaign at England's expense. Although Henry now had increased support in the Empire for a potential alliance against Louis of France, the two kings were now moving towards potentially settling their disputes peacefully; for Henry, a peace treaty could allow him to focus on Sicily and his crusade. == Later reign (1258–1272) ==