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Chapter 2: The King in Exile (1219-1223)
King Philip II of France and Henry III or Louis I of England
Chapter 3: The King in Exile (1219-1223)
Henry and Verraccio's first priority, upon arrival in Ireland late October 1219, was consolidation, in order to secure their position in both Ireland and England before any moves could be made in an attempt to retake the mainland. Henry's flight had left the Plantagenet supporters defeated and scattered, many having fled North and others still in their estates back home only to be driven out by Louis in the campaigns of 1220-1222. Henry's entourage upon arrival in Ireland mostly consisted of himself, Verraccio, William Marshall, 2nd Earl of Pembroke after his father's death and Ranulf de Blondeville, Earl of Chester. As we know, many of these very same titles would end up being handed out by Louis to his supporters in the next few years leading to a situation in which these titles would frequently change hands during Plantagenet resurgences and Capetian reconquests. Henry's arrival was first greeted by Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin and Geoffrey de Marisco, Chief Justiciar of Ireland both of whom were supporters of the king. Having set up a court in exile in Dublin, the Plantagenet supporters quickly set about canvassing for support for King Henry, not just in Ireland but in England and even on the continent. Just as Louis invited Stephen Langton to return to England in December 1219, Verraccio would write to Pope Honorius III in an attempt to convince him to reaffirm the excommunication of the rebel barons and of Prince Louis that Innocent III had instituted. Attempts to achieve recognition of Henry III as rightful king by Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire fell flat as, while the Emperor did not specifically show his support for Prince Louis, the recent War of Champagnian Succession in 1218 had seen Frederick II and Philip II fighting on the same side. More importantly, it seems, Frederick was unwilling to risk antagonising either King Philip or the, seemingly, victorious Prince Louis while he made preparations to fulfil his promise to go on crusade. Whatever the reasons, however, Frederick would neither show his distinct support for Henry or for Louis at this stage.
In England, the Plantagenets saw much greater success, especially as Louis' campaigns continued to disinherit various noble lords especially in the North and, while those who were more radically in favour of Louis' rule such as Saer de Quincy and Robert Fitzwalter, would not shift from their position at this point, more ground could be made in regards to those who had sworn allegiance in the wake of Louis' victory or were still relatively neutral. The House de Redvers, for example, would not explicitly turn against Louis but tried to retain some neutrality by not entirely closing themselves off to supporting Henry. As the years went on and Louis' successes turned Northwards, many others soon swore allegiance towards the Plantagenets such as the House de Warenne in 1219 when Saer de Quincy was made the Earl of Surrey. The House de Beaumont was another of those quick to switch sides after fleeing England in 1221 following the elevation of Bohun to the Earldom of Chester and, especially, after the elevation of Henry de Beaumont's nephew, the infant William Maudit to be the 5th Earl of Warwick. William Longespee (the 3rd Earl of Salisbury), already a supporter of the Plantagenets, left England either in 1219 or 1220 and joined Henry in Ireland. 1221 saw many of those of the House Marshal leaving England following Louis' appointment of Gilbert de Clare as the Earl of Pembroke, a title formerly held by the House Marshal but now returned to the House de Clare. This would prove an especially controversial choice by Louis as many of the Marshals, including the eldest son of the famous William Marshal for a time, had actually supported Louis' claim to the throne despite their famous namesakes' support for Henry. By disinheriting the Marshals, Louis had ended any attempt at reconciliation with those elements supporting Henry and had driven the entire family to oppose his claim to the throne. The House d'Aubigny remained torn between Louis and Henry but, despite the allegiances of Philip, the majority stayed in England either with Ralph d'Aubigny or William d'Aubigny, Earl of Lincoln. Another William d'Aubigny had sided with Louis throughout the Baronial Revolt despite being a favourite of King John and was the Earl of Arundel.
However, it was in the North that Henry found maybe the majority of his support. While many of the lords inhabiting border regions such as Northumberland had started paying homage to the Scottish king due to the instability of England at the time, there was still a significant support base available to Henry. This was especially important as Louis was never able to push much further North than Lincoln during the four years of Henry's exile and was compelled by the death of his father to return to France in 1223. The two secular leaders most important to mention here were the High Sheriffs of Northumberland and Lancashire, Philip of Oldcoates (although there were others at the time) and Jordan Fitzroger respectively. In the absence of any major Earldoms as existed in the South, the role of High Sheriff was one that proved crucial to extending and imposing the king's authority and law in the North of England (although the title existed elsewhere). We'll go into detail later on what this role entailed at the time but, for now, what is important is their role in that they effectively helped carry out the laws of the king and as a result were a major conduit through which the king could exercise his authority across the country and a major part of his influence in the North. That said, the support of John de Lacy, who held significant estates in Lancashire was far from secure at the time as he had been involved in the events leading up to the Magna Carta and one of those barons who had initially rebelled against King John in 1215. This was worsened when John married Margaret de Quincy, daughter of Saer de Quincy in 1221 bringing him closer to the very lords who were, at the time, supporting Prince Louis.
Further support, however, could be found amongst the clergy, most famously Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester who had actually crowned Henry in 1216. Roches was very much a pro-Plantagenet bishop, having served as Chief Justiciar from 1213 and as Sheriff of Hampshire, even if only nominally, after 1216. Roches had been a prominent commander and support of Henry during the Baronial War and had fought, most notably, at Lincoln with distinction and so left England probably in 1219 either with Henry's entourage or shortly after Henry's flight from England. He would remain recognised by both Henry and Pope Honorius as the de jure Bishop of Winchester right through Henry's exile and would return in this capacity following the Plantagenet resurgence of 1223. Pandulf Verraccio, the Papal Legate, and Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, the former Papal Legate who had presided over Henry's coronation, were both staunch supporters of the Plantagenets and, though Bicchieri was not in England at the time, both formed important conduits of Papal legitimacy for Henry III and a link between Henry and the church. That said, the church was far from entirely supportive of Henry's position and, when in 1219 the cathedral chapter of Hereford sought permission for the chapter to hold an election, they actually went to the court of Louis rather than that of Henry as the Earl of Hereford began to swing towards supporting the rebellious barons. This act, in turn, provided some sense of religious legitimacy to Louis and resulted in the election of Hugh Foliot as the Bishop of Hereford in 129, only being consecrated in the same month as Henry's flight from England. Robert Grosseteste, the future Bishop of Lincoln and a very influential scholarly and religious figure in the early 13th Century had been educated because of his connections to William de Vere, a former Bishop of Hereford (until his death in 1198) and the brother of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who had supported the barons up until the fall of Castle Hedingham in March 1216 but defected to Louis after his arrival later that year. Vere, in turn, defected to Henry upon his ascension in 1217 despite Louis returning Castle Hedingham to him. However, with the defeat of Henry in 1219, Vere turned his allegiance back to Prince Louis in return for having the rest of his lands that had been seized handed back to him. In the North, Henry found huge support from Walter de Gray, the Archbishop of York who had often been a diplomatic envoy for the young king and now acted as one of the main routes of correspondence between the king and England. Situated in York, Gray fell beyond Louis' control as of 1219. This was of vital importance as the Archbishop of York, along with the Bishop of Durham and the Sheriff of Northumberland were of huge importance to imposing control of the North, especially since one king had little authority there and the other was in exile. Indeed, Richard Marsh (the Bishop of Durham) and Philip of Oldcoates were both pro-Plantagenet at the time. However, this was partly undermined by a long-running dispute between the Bishops of Durham and the High Sheriffs of Northumberland over who actually had jurisdiction of the area. The Bishops held that King Ecgfrith of Northumberland had granted a significant portion of land to St Cuthbert in 684 when he was elected to become the Bishop of Lindisfarne. However, since the time of the Norman Conquest, the area had been typically under the jurisdiction the Sheriffs of Northumberland leading to a conflict between both parties as to whether or not the county should belong to the church or to the sheriff. The third and final important clerical figure in Northern England at the time was Hugh of Beaulieu, the unpopular, greedy and vain Bishop of Cumbria. Between these three men as well as the respective High Sheriffs of Northumberland and Lancashire, Henry still held a significant amount of authority in Northern England during his stay in Ireland.
Indeed, Ireland is the third major region that Henry's entourage began canvassing for support during his four-year regency. Support here generally came from the Anglo-Irish lords, primarily Henry de Loundres and Geoffrey de Marisco who were two of the most important men in Ireland at the time. Men such as Theobald le Botiller, 2nd Chief Butler of Ireland as well as Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath and Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster all gave their support to Henry throughout 1219-1220. These were the same Lacys who, under John de Lacy, held significant estates in the North of England (specifically Lancashire) and, like John, Walter de Lacy had a loyalty that the Plantagenets didn't entirely trust as Walter had actually rebelled against King John in 1215 (before the Magna Carta) due to a dispute with the Chief Justiciar of Ireland at the time. Moreover, he had been married to William de Braose's daughter which, like John, gave him links to a noble family that supported Prince Louis. The House de Braose was an especially dangerous factor, with links to Llywelyn the Great in Wales as well as reasonable grounds to at least claim very significant estates across both England and Ireland following the rise and fall of William de Braose under King John. Moreover, they had links to a number of different families and supported Prince Louis which secured his position in Wales further. This was a danger no less present in Ireland than it was in England through Margaret de Braose, Lady of Trim and the wife of Walter de Lacy. This meant a significant chunk of land in central Ireland was a potentially shaky allegiance for Henry. That said, he did manage to get their support, at least nominally, between 1219 and 1221. County Wexford was mostly brought to Henry's side by 1221 but certain areas took longer, until 1223 in some cases. In comparison, the Irish lords were a different story. The King of Connacht, Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair had already fought against the Norman lords in the past and was far from friendly towards the English especially since certain areas such as Breifne were under Norman control at the time while the Irish lords in Ulster were far from happy either although generally too preoccupied fighting amongst themselves to do much about it. Needless to say, this meant that Henry didn't exactly have a secure position in Ireland by 1223 and neither did he have a massive amount of support to return to in England. Yet, with Louis leaving England due to the illness and eventual death of his father that year, an opportunity finally presented itself in which Henry, now reunited with most of his supporters from before his flight to Ireland and with a relatively stable launching point in Ireland for his return to England as well as an available landing point (Lancashire or Cumbria), could finally try to return to England and reclaim his inheritance. News of the death of Philip Augustus in July 1223 reached Ireland quickly and the Plantagenets sprung into action readying ships for a return to England at the first possible opportunity and calling whatever support they could from across Ireland and England. Letters were sent ahead in advance, instructing Plantagenet supporters to ready their forces to meet with the returning king and his army in preparation to retake the country. Now 16, Henry had reached his majority and was ready to become the king of England in his own right, planning to return in spectacular fashion and forces were gathered in from all across the Lordship of Ireland including both Anglo-Irish soldiers are well as soldiers from subject Irish lords. Walter de Lacy and Theobald le Botiller were both to accompany Henry on his campaign (the former possibly to keep an eye on him) along with those supporters who had come from England such as Ranulf de Blondeville, William Longespee, William Marshall, Pandulf Verraccio, Peter des Roches and others.
The returning Plantagenet army wouldn't leave Ireland until October 1223 with the plan being to land in England before winter set in, which might give Louis the chance to return to England and move to intercept the landing and then winter in Lancashire before marching South-East towards Lincoln and then down Ermine Street to London. Upon landing in Lancashire, Henry's army was soon united with the forces that had been building in the North commanded by Walter and Gilbert Marshal (who hadn't joined Henry in Ireland alongside others of the House Marshal but had remained in the North, probably staying in York with Walter de Gray). The forces were reunited and letters distributed across the country urging the 'rebellious barons' (an important distinction for the Plantagenets who refused to accept the supporters of Louis as anything other than simply rebelling in favour of a pretender) to surrender to the king. As an inducement, Henry swore a solemn oath to uphold the Magna Carta and only to remove nobles from positions they had 'usurped'. While some who were still wavering such as the House de Redvers in the South were more likely to accept this and once again turn their allegiance to Henry, many of those had been rewarded by Louis for their services in the Baronial War were far from enthusiastic about the promises Henry had made because he had effectively promised to take away the lands they had just been given. On one hand, the letter may have simply been a method to try and build more support in England prior to actually pushing south. But it is possible that the term 'usurp' intended to be quite a loosely used term in this case through which Henry may well have intended to justify removing a number of hostile nobles (in a similar manner to what Louis had done). The Earl of Cornwall, for example, would likely have ended up having his lands taken by the king and redistributed to his own supporters while Earl of Hereford may have kept his main Earldom but would have undoubtedly lost Pembroke which would have been returned to the House Marshal. It's also possible that by issuing this letter, Henry was maybe angling for a situation in which he could use the refusal to surrender as a justification to completely disinherit the earls who had refused and thus effectively purge the nobility of his enemies. Whatever the case, the letter didn't go down well for the most part and Henry found himself with little choice but to settle down for winter and prepare his campaign for the following spring.