Back to History and Evolution
Archives.
History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 89, Henry III:
December 6, 2004:
Henry III (1207 - 1272) came to power when he was only nine years old following the death of his father, John Lackland. Of course, Henry did not really rule England in his youth. Rule was in the hands of William Marshal, the earl of Pembroke who acted for the King. Marshal did quite well for England. He managed to conclude a truce with the rebels, recover some of the king's properties, and restore order to the kingdom. He also reaffirmed the Magna Carta, in 1216. With the loss of the European possessions king John's attention had turned inward and England became a more distinct entity. A sense of community emerged such as had not been evident for a couple of centuries.
Recall that the Magna Carta had been reluctantly signed by John at Runnymede. Though this was not really a successful document, it was a beginning toward a parliamentary notion of government. The idea that the realm should be governed by representatives from the community was emerging. In fact, when John died and Henry III ascended the throne the true rule was effected by a council of regency headed by Marshal. This council was really a council of Barons. Thus, a precedent was established. In 1225, the Magna Carta was reaffirmed again.
Now, Henry was not going to stand by forever. In 1227 he declared that he was of age and began to assert himself. Things did not go particularly well for him. He began mucking around in European affairs. He married Eleanor of Provence whose father was the Count of Savoy. The hope was to increase his influence on the continent, What he really got was a bunch of Eleanor's relatives migrating to England. Meanwhile other foreigners, friends of Henry's half brother, moved in from Lusitania. Is this beginning to sound like a redneck wedding or what?
Nonetheless, Henry made forays into France in 1230 an again in 1242 with no success to report. He also made deals trying to get his son Edmund to the throne of Sicily. No luck there either. The whole deal got too expensive. He tried taxing the kingdom, but he had no luck at all with his subjects. Parliament was beginning to assert itself. The guys who sat on this body were called magnates. They were a mix of churchmen and so called laymen who were really noblemen.
In all of this mucking around, Henry was also dealing with rebellions of barons and relatives. Even the son of his old regent, William Marshal turned against him. This was Richard Marshal and he was offed in Ireland. For sure, Henry got blamed for his death. Henry's own brother, Richard, earl of Cornwall also turned on him while his best advisors were abandoning him. Parliament also got a bit uppity. In 1244 they tried to stack the council with cronies who would be called conservators of liberties. Sure! Their real task was to oversee royal finances. It did not go over with Henry who managed to quash the idea.
While all of this royal crap was going down, there was also activity in the countryside. Under the local stewards of the magnates and knights, the countryside was developing an identity separate from the crown. This was, in a way, democracy aborning. The king was dependant on the knights for local control, but the knights had their own prerogative which included the welfare of the local communities. They did not at all like to have the king's men meddling in the local business.
These locals were no fools. They had political moxie of their own. The were aware of the Magna Carta and its implications for their local rights and privileges. They showed a resentment of the tax burdens and the intrusions of Henry and the royal court into their lives. Henry's situation got really difficult in 1258. Things were going badly in Wales and foreign costs were rising. When Henry summoned parliament and asked to be bailed out parliament got upset and demanded reform. The upshot of this was Henry signed onto the appointment of a committee to formulate reforms.
What came out of this was a plan to reorganize or perhaps just organize the government called The Provisions of Oxford. Among other provisions, there was to be a council of 15 to supervise royal government. This council was to meet three times a year with 12 barons as representative of the community. there was to be an office of justiciar who along with a chancellor and treasurer would report to the council. The justiciar was also empowered to hear complaints against the king's officials. There were also to be local sheriffs who would serve for one year terms. And, the unkindest cut of all, the household of the king and queen were to be reformed. This agreement was supposed to be binding for 12 years.
In 1259 another group, the Community of Bachelors, also filed some grievances. These guys were representatives of some of the lower vassals and knights. They wanted the magnates and the king to keep promises they had made in the past. This set of grievances was also published as the Provisions of Westminster. This created certain legal provisions favorable to the knights.
The Provisions of Oxford did not last for 12 years at all. In 1261 the pope released Henry from his commitment. Henry promptly fired a whole gang of officials who had been ordering him around. After some finagling and attempts at compromise the inevitable civil war finally came off in 1264. The arch rival of Henry, Simon de Montfort whipped Henry at Lewes, capturing him and his son Edward.
Simon tried to set up a new government, but he was a bit heavy handed and ended up acting with dictatorial power. That did not last. Although he tried to get consent to make his government legitimate, he had alienated some powerful people. In 1265, Edward, with some help, escaped and lead a loyalist consortium against Simon. Simon was defeated and killed along with most of his men at Evesham in 1265. So much for the revolution. Henry was rescued in the same battle, but he was a ruined man. He allowed Edward to take control though he remained titular king.
As to Simon, he was a bum ruler, but his ideas were not that bad. He was an outspoken advocate of limited monarchy. He favored rule through elected councillors and officials. He also favored parliaments of knights, burgesses and nobles. These are all things that continued to manifest in man's psyche, taking root in England and finally blossomed in America's revolution.
After all of that, Edward and Henry spent some time coming
to terms with the rebels. This resulted in an accord in 1266 called
the Statute of Marlborough. In that many of the reforms of The
Provisions of Westminster were reestablished. By 1270 things were
settled down again and the country got on with the business of
normal life. Such goings on just to end up back where we started!
Henry died in 1272 while his son Edward was off, where else but
on a crusade. All in all, Henry did well for England if reluctantly.
The idea of community representation in parliament was firmly
established.
Back to History and Evolution
Archives.
|
|
|
|