Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/21

Henry III [see under ] put an end to the power of the foreign adventurers brought into the kingdom by John (Constitutional History, ii. 36).

Matters were still going badly in Ireland, for Hugh de Lacy, who had helped Llewelyn in his last war, was gaining great power, and it was rumoured that a Norwegian invasion was probable (Royal Letters, i. 219). The rest of the year was taken up with preparations for an expedition to France. Henry kept Christmas 1224 at Westminster, and there asked an aid for the war. Hitherto the taxation had chiefly been by way of scutage, and levies of this kind had been made for the siege of Biham in 1221, for the Welsh war of 1223, and for the siege of Bedford (Constitutional History, ii. 36). On this occasion the justiciar asked for a fifteenth of all moveables both from clergy and laity. In return the king confirmed the charters, stating that he did so ‘of his own motion and goodwill,’ a somewhat dangerous precedent (ib. p. 37). Having knighted his brother Richard in February 1225, and created him Earl of Cornwall and Count of Poitou, he sent him and William, earl of Salisbury, in March with an army to Gascony, where Bordeaux still remained faithful to him. The earls soon reduced the whole of Gascony to submission (Fœdera, i. 177;, iv. 100). Towards the end of 1225 a papal envoy named Otho visited England, and tried to persuade Henry to pardon Falkes de Breauté, but was unsuccessful. He also told the king that he had come to demand that a prebend should be assigned to the pope in every cathedral church, and a like provision from every bishopric, from every abbacy, and from every monastery. Henry replied that the matter must be laid before the great men. After spending Christmas at Winchester he removed to Marlborough, and there fell dangerously ill. He sent to the council of prelates held at Westminster on 13 Jan. 1226, bidding them not to grant the envoy's demands, which were finally set aside with an excuse. On his recovery Henry was eager to invade France. As, however, Louis was at war with the Count of Toulouse and the Albigensian heretics, Pope Honorius wrote to him on 27 April forbidding him to make an alliance, which he was then negotiating with Count Raymond, or to go to war with the French king (Recueil des Historiens, xix. 772). He laid the letter before the magnates, and they decided that the expedition should be postponed. On 8 Nov. 1226 Louis VIII died, and on the accession of his son Louis IX, who was a minor, many lords of the great fiefs began to conspire against the regent, Queen Blanche. Henry took advantage of this, and sent embassies to the nobles of Normandy, Anjou, Brittany, and Poitou, urging his claims. With the Duke of Brittany, Peter of Dreux, he was already in alliance, and in December he satisfied the demands of the Count de la Marche, and made a treaty with the viscount of Thouars (Fœdera, i. 183). On 8 Jan. 1227 he held a council at Oxford, where, by the advice of Hubert de Burgh, he declared that he was of full age, and dismissed Peter des Roches and his other governors. Taking an unfair advantage of the ordinance of the council of 1218 relating to grants in perpetuity, he declared that all charters granted during his minority needed confirmation; and he also threatened to quash the forest charter. A large sum was paid for the renewal of charters, a heavy tallage was laid upon the towns, and the clergy were forced to pay the fifteenth which had been demanded at Christmas 1224. During the minority of Henry the permanent council of the king's advisers, consisting of the great officers of state, with certain bishops and lords, appears as a body distinct from the king's court, and from the common council of the kingdom. It was ‘continual,’ and from it descend the later privy council and the still later cabinet. There is reason to believe that in some cases the great officers of state were, during the minority, appointed in the common council, which must to some extent have brought in the idea of a responsible ministry (Const. Hist. ii. 40, 41).

With a view to securing allies in the event of a war with France, Henry entered into several negotiations for his own marriage, sending ambassadors to treat for Iolenta, daughter of Peter, duke of Brittany, for Margaret, daughter of Leopold VI, duke of Austria, and for a daughter of Premysl, king of Bohemia (Fœdera, i. 176, 180, 185; Royal Letters, i. 252, 295; Ann. Wigorn. p. 240). He also treated for alliances with the Emperor Frederick II, with Lewis, duke of Bavaria, and with the princes of the empire. The ambassadors whom he had sent to the French lords, however, returned in April, and announced that the Duke of Brittany, the Count of La Marche, and other malcontent lords had, on 16 March, made peace with Louis, and that their embassy had therefore failed; the truce was renewed with France in July until the following midsummer. In the same month the king had a violent quarrel with his brother, Richard of Cornwall, about the earl's right to a manor. Henry thought of seizing his person, but Richard, warned of his intention, fled from the court, and at