KING HENRY III
(1207-1272)
Today is the 801st birthday of King Henry III (of England).
Henry III has had an extremely bad press over the years; thanks to the Elizabethans who saw his as too 'roman' catholic in his faithfulness to the Pope in temporal matters, and embellished upon with relish by the likes of Bishop Stubbs and other Victorian historians who with liberal use of biased whitewash, chose to place the villainous, dictatorial Simon de Montfort upon a pedestal as the so called founder of parliament, at the expense of Henry.
Until this year Henry III was the third longest reigning King in English History but our present Queen had just beaten him into fourth place
So who was he?
Well I should start and say that Henry III was no saint although he tried to be.
He was born in 1207, became King in 1216 and died in 1272. His father was the infamous King John and his mother was Isabella of Angouleme. His wife was Eleanor of Provence and he was the father of King Edward I.
He did have a temper and believed in his undisputed sacred rights as King, often putting himself at odds with the nobility who had had a taste of power after defeating his father (and during Henry's own minority) and wanted to keep it.
He didn't get on well with the Church hierarchy when it came to what he saw as their infringement upon his secular power, and when he was opposed he could lash out (for example as in the case of St Richard of Chichester).
In his attempts to destabilise the ever-encroaching power of the nobility he chose outside men who owed allegiance to him alone and placed them in positions of power. Sometimes this worked and sometimes he made mistakes. . .
He is accused of placing foreigners in to positions of power but that is incorrect. Every man who was placed in a position of power came from Henry's realm.
Henry was no soldier and his military exploits were few and rarely successful but he was brave and not afraid to fight when pushed as could be seen at the Battle of Lewes when all but deserted he fought on regardless.
He was often in debt and had absolutely no idea about money management.
On the other hand . . .
He was a faithful husband and a good father. An approachable man to all his subjects. His concern for material wellbeing of the poor was such that his almsgiving became legendary.
He hated the idea of hunting for sport. Hunting for food was a different matter (of course) and he repealed many of the unjust laws that forbade common people to the right hunt deer and boar.
When at home he was often surrounded by his pet dogs. He was sent an elephant as a pet by King (St) Louis of France and kept it at the Tower of London so that anyone who wanted to could go and see it.
He invited the fledgling Franciscan and Dominican Orders to England and employed a Dominican priest to be his father confessor.
An architectural designer of note, artistic, a gourmet, an aesthete, to him we owe the glory of Westminster Abbey. He introduced such home comforts as soft furnishing and tapestries to his homes that swiftly influenced others.
His piety was genuine and his love of God was fulsome. He never deviated from the Church's teachings in spiritual matters and was a true son of Holy Mother Church. The story is once told of St Louis (King of France and his brother-in-law) getting somewhat annoyed that Henry heard Mass so often, by announcing that he preferred listening to a good sermon. Henry, who often abased himself by kissing the hand of the priest at Holy Mass, replied that he would rather be with his friend often than hear someone speak of him. . . or words to that effect.
I could go on talking of this man who I like such a lot - I wish I had known him . . .
Please remember King Henry III in your prayers this day.
NB: There is an article on Henry III at wikipedia but it contains (in my opinion) selective sources, spurious details, some clearly incorrect information and I disagree with a lot of the content!
NB: I got these two photos from the internet but I forget from which sites. . .
