Although Henry was charitable and cultured, he lacked the ability to rule effectively. In diplomatic and military affairs he proved to be arrogant yet cowardly, ambitious yet impractical. The breach between the King and his barons (who had quarrelled with his father) began as early as 1237, when they expressed outrage at the influence exercised over the government by Henry’s Savoyard relatives. The marriage arranged by Henry in 1238 between his sister, Eleanor, and his brilliant young French favourite, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, increased foreign influence and further aroused the nobility’s hostility. In 1242 Henry’s Lusignan half brothers involved him in a costly and disastrous military venture in France. The barons then began to demand a voice in selecting Henry’s counsellors, but the King repeatedly rejected their proposal. Finally, in 1254 Henry made a serious mistake. He concluded an agreement with Pope Innocent IV, offering to finance Papal wars in Sicily if the Pope would grant his infant son, Edmund, the Sicilian crown. Four years later Pope Alexander IV threatened to excommunicate Henry for failing to meet this financial obligation. Henry appealed to the barons for funds, but they agreed to cooperate only if he would accept far-reaching reforms. These measures, the Provisions of Oxford, provided for the creation of a 15-member privy council, selected (indirectly) by the barons, to advise the King and oversee the entire administration. The barons, however, soon quarrelled among themselves and Henry seized the opportunity to renounce the Provisions in 1261. In April 1264 de Montfort, who had emerged as Henry’s major baronial opponent, raised a rebellion; the following month he defeated and captured the King and his eldest son, Edward, at the Battle of Lewes, Sussex on 14th May 1264. De Montfort ruled England in Henry’s name until he was defeated and killed by Edward at the Battle of Evesham, Worcestershire, in August 1265. Henry, weak and senile, then allowed Edward to take charge of the government until Edward ascended the Throne in his own right on Henry's death in 1272.
Henry's life work was the reconstruction of Westminster Abbey in the new Gothic style of architechture. The tile showing Henry's Coat of Arms, which he inherited from his father, is taken from the floor of the Chapter House of the Abbey. Henry had a magnificent funeral and his body was temporarily buried in the old grave of Edward the Confessor, whom Henry venerated, in the Abbey. Nineteen years later he was placed in the splendid tomb put up by his son Edward I to the north of the Shrine of St Edward, although his heart was delivered to the Abbey at Fontevrault in France as Henry had wished. Although Henry's tomb shows no heraldry as such, the metal plate on which the King lies, the pillows beneath his head and his shoes are decorated with the lions of England.
Eleanor of Provence
Although she was completely devoted to her husband and staunchly defended him against the rebel Simon de Montfort, she was very much hated by Londoners. She had brought many relatives with her to England in her retinue. They were known as "the Savoyards" and were given influential positions in government. On one occasion, Eleanor's barge was attacked by angry Londoners who pelted her. The fact that she brought no dowry with her did not help her reputation.
Eleanor was renowned for her learning, cleverness, and skill at writing poetry. She was also known for her beauty and as a leader of fashion, importing clothes from France.
Eleanor and Henry had five children together. They possibly had four other sons who died in childhood as did Katherine, but their existence is in doubt as there is no contemporary record of them.
- Edward I (1239–1307) - See his Blog.
- Margaret (1240–1275) married King Alexander III of Scotland, by whom she had issue.
- Beatrice (1242–1275), married John II, Duke of Brittany, by whom she had issue.
- Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296) - See below.
- Katherine (25 November 1253 – 3 May 1257)
Whilst the Coat of Arms of her father may be shown dimidiating with King Henry's, this may be apocryphal as impalements of this nature were not yet in use and Eleanor's Seals as Queen only show Henry's Arms.
There is, however, a theory that England owes its Badge of the Rose to Eleanor as it is believed that the rose plant was brought to Provence by returning Crusaders and introduced to England by the Queen. Before the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor Dynasty, many of Eleanor's descendants used the Rose as a Badge, including the golden Rose of Provence used by her son King Edward I. The County of Hampshire is believed to have adopted the Rose as an emblem due to its association with Henry and Eleanor's family. Henry had been born at Winchester.
Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster
Edmund Crouchback (16th January 1245 – 5th June 1296), Earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, was the second surviving son of Henry and Eleanor. In his childhood he had a claim on the Kingdom of Sicily; however, the cost of the scheme was unpopular and he never ruled there. He was granted all the lands of Simon de Montfort, slain at the Battle of Evesham, in 1265, and from 1267 he was given the title Earl of Leicester. In that year he also began to rule Lancashire, but he did not take the title Earl of Lancaster until 1276. Between 1276 and 1284 he governed the counties of Champagne and Brie with his second wife, Blanche of Artois, in the name of her daughter Joan, and was described in the English patent rolls as Earl of Lancaster and Champagne. |
Unfortunately, to add to any confusion, Edmund's elaborate tomb shows various Shields with various Labels - plain or fleury, four or five-pointed.
Edmund and Blanche's elder son, Thomas, succeeded as Earl in 1296 and carried his father's Arms. He died childless.
Thomas's younger brother, Henry, is heraldically more interesting. He was summoned to Parliament on 6th February 1298/99 by writ directed to Henrico de Lancastre nepoti Regis ("Henry of Lancaster, nephew of the king", Edward I), by which he is held to have become Baron Lancaster. He carried the Arms of England with a Baston azure for difference.
After a period of longstanding opposition to King Edward II and his advisors, including joining two open rebellions, Henry's elder brother Thomas had been convicted of treason, executed and had his lands and titles forfeited in 1322. Henry had not participate in his brother's rebellions but he later petitioned for his brother's lands and titles. On 29th March 1324 Henry was invested as Earl of Leicester. He dropped the Baston and took up the Label of France. It was Henry's younger granddaughter, also Blanche, who married John of Gaunt from whom the Lancastrian Kings of England are descended and who took on the Label of France as well.