The Minority of Henry the Third

Transcriber’s Note


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Variant spelling, inconsistent hyphenation and inconsistent spelling
of people’s names are retained, however a few palpable printing errors
have been corrected. Opening brackets within brackets have been left
unclosed. Other changes are listed at the end of the book.




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  |     _By the same Author_       |
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  |        JOHN LACKLAND           |
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THE MINORITY OF HENRY THE THIRD




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  MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

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  THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.

  TORONTO




  THE MINORITY
  OF
  HENRY THE THIRD

  BY
  KATE NORGATE

  MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
  ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON

  1912




  _COPYRIGHT_


  RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED,
  BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E.,
  AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.




 I was set to work at the history of Henry III’s early years by a
 letter from Thomas Andrew Archer which only reached me after his
 death. To his memory I dedicate this book.

 _4 January, 1912._




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I
                                                          PAGE
  THE WAR WITH LOUIS, 1216–1217                              1


  CHAPTER II
  THE REGENCY OF WILLIAM THE MARSHAL, 1217–1219             61


  CHAPTER III
  THE LEGATION OF PANDULF, 1219–1221                       108


  CHAPTER IV
  TUTORS AND GOVERNORS, 1221–1223                          173


  CHAPTER V
  THE YOUNG KING, 1223–1227                                208


  NOTES
  I--The Truces of 1216–1217                               269
  II--The Blocked Gate at Lincoln                          273
  III--Falkes de Bréauté at Lincoln                        275
  IV--The End of the Battle of Lincoln                     276
  V--The Treaty of Kingston                                278
  VI--The Tenure of Crown Offices during the Minority      280
  VII--The Papal Letters of 1223                           286
  VIII--The Royal Castles in 1223–1224                     290
  IX--Falkes and the “thirty pairs of letters”             292
  X--Bedford Castle                                        293
  XI--The Hanging of the Bedford Garrison                  296

  INDEX                                                    301




  _Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris._




THE MINORITY OF HENRY III




CHAPTER I

THE WAR WITH LOUIS

1216–1217

Iniit ergo omnis multitudo pactum in domo Dei cum rege, dixitque ad eos
Joiada: Ecce, filius regis regnabit.


[Sidenote: 1216]

On the 19th of October, 1216, King John lay dead in Newark castle.
Nearly half of his realm, including the capital, was in the hands of a
foreign invader who was supported by a numerous and powerful section
of the English baronage as well as by the citizens of London; and the
sole surviving male representatives of the royal house of England were
two boys, the elder of whom was but nine years old. The King had been
cut off suddenly, at a moment when not one of his English counsellors
was at his side; and the small body of troops which he had brought with
him from the west consisted almost entirely of foreign mercenaries.
It might well have been expected that these men would, as soon as the
“landless king” was dead, transfer their services to his rival. But
John had possessed that mysterious gift which seems to have been common
to the whole Angevin house, the gift of inspiring a personal attachment
out of all proportion to the merits of its object. These men, seemingly
without any leader to direct their action, took upon themselves and
faithfully and successfully fulfilled the duty of carrying into effect
John’s last wishes, so far as lay in their power, by conveying his
corpse across England from Newark to Worcester, and calling on the
loyal barons to meet them there for the double purpose of burying the
dead King and concerting offensive and defensive measures to secure the
rights of his heir.[1]

John’s last act had been to commend his eldest son to the care of the
Earl of Pembroke, William the Marshal.