Great update.
We see now the biggest difference so far between the two versions.
It's sad not to see Henry III's death at Amesbury in 1236 (if I remember correctly) and Henry Otto failed restoration and would be accession to emperorship which gave the Plantagenet storyline a somewhat Shakespearan tone. But this way is also intriguing.
The Fitzwalter are quite less visible here.
I just wonder what Henry and his brother are up to now they have lost England. Crusading to regain either god's or the Pope's favors?
Yeah, Henry didn't die at Amesbury ITTL but I have something different planned. I felt that, given his very recent attempt at the throne (1224-1230) and the fact that he currently has very little left to take the throne with by himself, it's unlikely he'll be returning quite so quickly. As for the Pope, I doubt that Henry is going to be really securing his support quite yet. As it stands, Gregory is effectively too preoccupied with Frederick to really contest anyone's right to rule England if they actually hold the country itself. As it stands, it is Louis who has England. The problem for Henry is that he is currently taking refuge with another great rival of Louis' and a man who undoubtedly has little interest in a stronger French Kingdom, Frederick II, Pope Gregory's enemy. In turn, it seems highly unlikely that Gregory would have any interest in supporting Henry's claim to the throne of England while he already has a viable rival to Frederick who holds both thrones. Unless Henry could prove that he would be better for Gregory were he to hold the throne, unlikely since Louis has already reached a deal with the Pope and, as we'll see, is already involved on Gregory's side of the dispute, I wouldn't bet on Gregory supporting Henry any time soon.
Rather, I think Henry knows that and his best bet is to appeal to Frederick. In effect, what we're going to see here is an extension of the very dispute that the HRE and the Popes have been in for centuries over who actually holds the power in Christendom and this will meld with and incorporate the concurrent dispute over England. So as it stands in 1240, Gregory has little interest in seeing Henry back on the throne because Henry seems likely to support Frederick, if just as a counterbalance to Louis' power on the continent, to try and distract Louis from retaking England yet again while Frederick has little interest in seeing Louis remain on the throne because Louis is both a rival for power in Christendom and is supporting Gregory in the Investiture Conflict. The next two updates are really going to focus on Italy (with the Guelph-Ghibelline Conflict) and on Henry but to basically explain what Henry is doing: He's making firm ties with Frederick in the hope of getting soldiers to return to England.
As it stands, nobody in England really wants more warfare because it has been devastated enough by 1230 and Henry doesn't really have that much support left so Frederick is his best bet at getting enough support for an actual return, especially since neither Scotland, Ireland nor England is a safe bet to lead a campaign from so he'd be starting almost from scratch here. The delay of the 1230s is mostly while he gathers what support he has and due to Frederick's preoccupation with the crisis in Italy and possibly some hope held by Frederick that he and Louis might still avoid more conflict and rivalry as good relations would generally free Frederick up to focus on Italy. This is especially true because in 1230, Henry won't seem like a particularly great bet given his failures both in 1219 and in 1230. But if Henry gets Frederick to begin supporting him at the turn of the 1240s, well then he may be on track to take advantage of the growing disputes and discontent amongst the nobility as well as the ascension of Louis IX, which seems set to be tumultuous in England...
As for Fitzwalter, it was just the way it ended up being written this time around. Given Montfort's prominent position in English politics and the fact that he's a foreigner it seemed obvious that he would be on one side of the conflict but I felt that Erard would be a pretty obvious other side given his growing power in France as well as England.