What best explains the problems Henry III faced in England after 1258?

However, Henry’s changes in sheriffs and localities were mainly caused by his financial situation, with many criticising Henry’s level of spending. He loved opulence, shown by his building project at Westminster Abbey for Edward the Confessor, and bought ‘exquisite fabrics and cloths of gold..rings, brooches, cups and belts’, easily illustrating his love to share and display his wealth, but shows he spent money on furthering his pride, not the country’s efforts. King Henry did raise 2 gold treasures, showing he ‘was not incapable of making adroit financial decisions’, as said by Wilde, but I would disagree with this to a point as his financial decisions with expeditions and projects only brought debt and a want for more money. For Barons, Henry’s expedition to Poitou between May 1242 and September 1243 started to increase a volume of complaints about his spending, in terms of using ‘grants that would not benefit the kingdom’. On the expedition, he left with an ‘impressive’ £35,000 to regain John’s lost Angevin territory, amassed from a period of financial reform, and yet returned to England with debts of £15,000, which was half of the Crown’s annual cash income. Just like John, he tried to reclaim land with expeditions that yielded only negatives, but cost too much showing he hadn’t learned from what John did, instead trying to show off power but failing. The Crown at this point was by no means impoverished, but Henry still petitioned his barons and prelates on a new tax for movables as he became infatuated to raise money for these campaigns, backing up they would not benefit the kingdom. Added to this, The Charter made it harder for Henry to fund his policies without magnate consent, but the magnates did not want to give him money through his petitions for tax, so he was forced to get money through other methods, such as the localities, exploitation of justice, and the levying of scutage. Henry’s royal penury towards the Jews quickly shows his harshness and desire to collect more money as he increased oppressive taxes towards his Jewish subjects, forcing many moneylenders to recall loans from barons, knights and religious houses. The barons argued that they faced financial hardship, as would the country due to this levying of scutage while the country was suffering from a disastrous harvest that had left people starving in 1256. This financial crisis was made worse by a currency crisis and inflation caused by the drain of money to Italy for the Sicilian adventure. Over the past twenty-four years the king had squandered revenues, alienated swathes of the royal demesne and burdened his subjects with an increasing number of taxes and tallages. He was also slow in paying debts. As a consequence, the country was under increasing pressure and the government, in the view of many summoned to parliament was unable to cope, leading to barons and others uniting up against him to gain control of this situation.

Then again, it were his overseas policies in Poitou, Gascony and Sicily which caused a lot of this economic stress, abuse of finance and a rise in tension between certain barons such as Montfort and Henry. The failure of the Sicilian scheme which aimed to oust the present incumbent King of Sicily so he would be able to contain French power, and the resultant threats from the Papacy of excommunication and an Interdict, unless the Papacy was paid for the cost of the enterprise so far, were evidence for many that Henry was foolish and reckless. However, it is unlikely that the Sicilian affair would have provoked the Barons in 1258 as the security of the realm was never in danger. However, Henry’s overseas policies had made the regime unpopular. The King had been unable to regain the lost lands in France, largely because he lacked the financial resources to raise a sufficient force to mount a campaign and dare not call parliament to ask for funds as they would have used it as an opportunity to criticize him. As a result, he had turned his attention to acquiring an empire elsewhere, hence the Sicilian adventure. It was the demand from the Pope for £90,000 to cover the cost of the scheme so far the forced Henry to summon parliament as he had no other way of meeting those costs, which led to both the Petition of Barons and Provisions of Oxford partly because Henry had decided towards the Sicilian Business without their involvement, with only his foreign acquaintances consulting him about it. The summoning of the assembly provided an opportunity for grievances about a range of issues to be aired and the king’s power to be challenged, leading to his problems of reform during and after 1258. As said earlier, his expedition to Poitou from 1242-1243 was quite prominent to his problems after 1258, as it was ‘ill-considered’ and opened up clear lines of division between his magnates as they did not care about reclaiming the territory of the Old Angevin Territory, Henry being too optimistic to think it would work, and it was only really done for his pride. At a time of having a low income of £40,000, he was foolish to spend even more money on an expedition that was not worth it. Division between Henry and other high ranking officials also popped up due to his deteriorating expedition in Gascony which drained resources that weren’t technically his own. English rule in Gascony was always fragile, and Henry appointed his brother in law Simon de Montfort as the lieutenant to establish order, which he did but with strong-arm tactics which led many disaffected Gascons to complain to the King. This led to the relationship between Montfort and Henry to break down, and because of this Montfort was against him. His ‘silver tongue, military prowess and diplomatic connections’ helped keep the baronial plan of reform afloat. Montfort’s commitment to the programme of reform was deep and he disagreed with a lotof what Henry did, later leading the reform movement against him, causing his problems of rebellion after 1258.

Although his foreign policy, control of finance and his control of localities were big factors for his problems after 1258, the main cause for his problems was the uprising of the barons, which was mainly due to the foreigners he relied on more than the Barons. In my opinion, Henry’s ‘alien’ friends and the reaction of the barons to them best explains Henry’s problems after 1258, as it were the magnates who provided the leadership for the challenge to Henry’s power, leading to the periods of reform, and their major concern was the role of foreigners in the country, and in government. They particularly resented the power of Lusignans who, since their arrival in England after 1247, had come to dominate court and offices, acting as castellans and sheriffs. They often had regular access to the King and it was believed by many magnates that their exalted view of kingship had an impact on what Henry did, and what he believed. As a result of their arrival, and the presence of the Savoyards, most patronage was given to them which caused disquiet and added to the unpopularity of the government and helped to bring together those opposed to the government. The Lusignans were particularly unpopular because of their harsh methods of ruling and willingness to use violence, whilst protected by the King from the process of law. They also dominated the marriage market, which meant the magnates found it harder to secure good marriages for their children and that foreigners were being intruded into the ranks of the baronage. Henry’s close relations with the Lusignans and even the Savoyards set the image in the Barons’ minds that they could not trust this man as their King, as he alienated the Barons by authorising high powered positions for the Savoyards and Lusignans, giving them some of the most strategic castles in England. Henry was too generous and kind to them, doing very little when the Lusignans took the tension betwwen them and the Savoyards into his own hands, leading the Barons to despise this second influx of foreigners and thus they needed his royal household to be reformed, or the foreigners would have even more power over Henry. There is little doubt that these developments were crucial as a reason for opposition because the coup of 1258 aimed to remove Henry’s Lusignan advisors, and so caused the period of reform and rebellion after 1258.

In conclusion, although he abused the country’s finances with expansion of scutage and abuse of tax, his foreign policy deteriorated causing a decrease in allies and an increase in enemies, and his developments in the localities caused resistance from people like the gentry and the clergy and annoyed the Barons to a point, it were Henry’s ‘alien’ advisors and allies such as the Lusignans who best explain his problems after 1258, as Henry’s close relations with the Lusignans and even the Savoyards set the image in their minds that they could not trust this man as their King, as he alienated the Barons by authorising high powered positions for the Savoyards and Lusignans, giving them some of the most strategic castles in England. Therefore I believe that the ‘aliens’ and Henry’s foreigner relations best explain his problems after 1258, as his problems of reform and rebellion all started because of the Barons meeting at 1258, which was ultimately caused by Henry’s alien relations being better than his baronial relations.