When King John died in 1216, he left a wife and 5 children, his heir nine-year-old Henry, his brother Richard, and three girls, Eleanor, Isabelle and Joan. The country was in turmoil and the youngsters grew up in a difficult political situation. Their mother, Isabelle of Angouleme, left the country and married Hugh de Lusignan, the son of the man to whom she had been betrothed King John had broken that betrothal and married her himself when she was just 12 years old. Isabelle and her new husband went on to have numerous children of their own, including their youngest son, William de Valence, the protagonist of A MARRIAGE OF LIONS. Others of their offspring also feature in the novel – Guy, Geoffrey, and Aymer, and their sister Aliz (also spelled Alais, Alice, Alys, depending where you read.)
Henry took up the reins of government as he came to maturity but he was not a confident political player and did not particularly enjoy the cut and thrust of life at court. What he did love was beautiful things and the trappings of kingship. There was nothing he enjoyed more than organising a feast, giving gifts and having gifts given to him. Today he would have been a brilliant event planner, architect and high-end interior designer. He was passionate about display and ornate tastefulness. The best of everything and writ large but never vulgar. The greater part of Westminster Abbey is his creation. Henry had a driving need for friends and family around him and loved to be generous to them. He adored his queen from Provence and many of her relatives were given financial privileges and key positions at court. Politics was something on the side that had to be done, but not his especial forte. He was constantly running out of money and having to find more and his barons and the people soon grew tired of bankrolling his extravagances.
Henry’s family had once held vast swathes of what is now modern-day France and his father had lost most of it. Henry made various attempts to regain these territories, and pacify rebellions in the areas he still held – mainly Gascony – but with modest success and many setbacks. Henry’s brother-in-law Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester was saddled with the task of sorting the difficult matter of Gascony.
Simon had come to court as a young man having inherited the Earldom of Leicester by the back door. He was ambitious, always looking for a way up the ladder and had caused a scandal by marrying Henry’s sister Eleanor in secret. The marriage took place with Henry’s collusion, but no one else was made aware until after the event, including close relatives. Eleanor, who had taken a vow of chastity following her first marriage to William Marshal Junior, Second Earl of Pembroke, had broken that vow in order to marry Simon. There are scandalous hints that they had already embarked on a sexual relationship before their marriage. Henry may have softened to the marriage because he was a romantic, or because he was persuaded it make good political sense at the time, but it was all highly irregular and it ended up leaving a bad taste in his mouth. So much so that relations between him and Simon soured over the next 20 years until they were at complete loggerheads, leading to a war between the crown and the barons, of which Simon was the main instigator.
In the late 1240’s Henry’s mother died and Henry invited his half siblings to come to England to help bolster his faction at court. Also they were family and Henry seems to have genuinely and affectionately taken them to his bosom. Family meant a great deal to Henry III. He organised rich positions and marriages for his siblings. William de Valence, the youngest, and the protagonist of A MARRIAGE OF LIONS became Henry’s favourite and he married him to Joanna de Munchensey who, in her late teens, had recently become a great heiress. Henry also topped up William’s account by gifts of land, of castles, of wardships and of rich clothes and trappings. He gave him a marriage gift of engraved silver plate for his table. He knighted him in a magnificent ceremony at the palace of Westminster. In Henry’s eyes, William could do no wrong.
Henry’s generosity and favoritism caused anger and resentment among the English barons. The King was short of money and yet he was splurging his funds on hangers on and foreigners and allowing good English men to go short (this is said numerous times in so many words by (biased) chronicler Matthew Paris). Henry was giving English heirs and heiresses to these people, thereby disparaging the youths, the women and their families. Anger and resentment festered until it erupted and Simon de Montfort threatened to cut off William de Valence’s head, having set upon him physically at court. Simon’s political strength and influence was such that Henry was forced to yield and William had to flee overseas with others of his family who had been singled out by de Montfort’s party. Henry’s queen, Eleanor of Provence, was also at this stage involved in the proceedings as she too resented the influence on Henry of his grasping (as she saw it) half-siblings. Joanna was later to join her husband in exile, following a fraught and penniless time at court.
The situation eased for a short while and William and Joanna were allowed to return home, but the baronial conflict worsened. There was a pitched battle at Lewes where King Henry was captured by de Montfort, becoming a puppet king under de Montfort’s rule. Henry’s eldest son, Edward, who had also been captured during the battle of Lewes was kept under close house arrest.. William de Valence, John de Warrene and others managed to escape to France and set about raising a new army. A plan was concocted to spring Edward from prison. Edward was everything that his father was not – a fine general, an astute handler of men and a manipulator of situations. Historian Marc Morris calls him ‘A great and terrible king.’ At this stage he was still only a youngster, but already powerful and decisive.
Edward managed to escape from his jailors during a horse race while exercising. Once free, he regrouped his army and took the fight to de Montfort, whose faction was bleeding support at a rapid rate. During another decisive battle, this time at Evesham, Simon de Montfort was brought down and cut to pieces and his body parts sent throughout the country as proof of his demise.
Following Evesham, the country slowly settled down. There were still going to be power struggles between the King and his barons, but Edward handled them ruthlessly. Beyond the scope of the novel, William and Joanna de Valence continued with their lives. Joanne would have another two children, bearing 7 in her lifetime and outliving 5 of them, but she and William had 11 grandchildren when she died in 1306, aged about 76. She had been a widow for 10 years by then, but not a recluse, having spent her time administering her estates, engaging with her family, and keeping an eye on court doings from a distance. She was known as a formidable lady, and even Edward was wary of her.
William, who had continued as a close confidante and advisor to Henry III and then Edward, died in 1196 while on battle campaign abroad, aged circa 68 and was brought home for burial. He and Joanna had been married for 48 years, and he referred to her as his ‘dearest friend and companion.’ His tomb can be visited in Westminster Abbey, and his helmeted head rests on a marvelous Limoges pillow. Although vilified by the barons opposing him, especially his rival Simon de Montfort, William was steadfast and loyal to those he loved and his tomb effigy says of him “Valiant, he prevailed, victorious by virtue and valour; and, peaceful, gave pleasure with his vigour of mind and of character; generous, capable, steadfast; eagerly prosecuting wars, competent and modest, faithful, striving for distinction.” My personal research has tended to corroborate this, although he needed to go through a rather reckless young manhood to get there.
This is by necessity, a gallop through the history of the period, but I hope I’ve covered the salient points that form the backdrop to the novel. The novel itself has a detailed author’s note. I’ve copied and pasted a list of my research works below, for further reading.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Ambler, Sophie Thérèse The Song of Simon de Montfort: England’s First Revolutionary and the Death of Chivalry (Picador 2019) ISBN 978 1 5098 3757 1
Armstrong, Abigail, Sophie, The Daughters of Henry III (Canterbury Christchurch University) Thesis submitted for Doctor of Philosophy 2018
Baker, Darren, Henry III: The Great King England Never Knew it Had (The History Press 2017) ISBN 9780750 968140
Bémont, Charles, Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester (Oxford University Press 1930)
Binski, Paul, The Painted Chamber at Westminster (The Society of Antiquaries 1986) ISBN 0 500 990441
Binski, Paul, Westminster Abbey and the Plantagents: Kingship and the Representation of Power 1200-1400. (Yale University Press 1995 ISBN 9783000598098
Brooks, Richard, Lewes and Evesham 1264-65 Simon de Montfort and the Baron’s War (Osprey 2015) ISBN 9781472 811509
Carpenter, David, The Battles of Lewes and Evesham 1264/65 (Mercia Publications 1987) ISBN 0 948087 95 1
Carpenter, David, Henry III 1207-1258 (Yale University Press 2020) ISBN 978 0 300 23835 8
Carpenter, D.A. The Reign of Henry III (The Hambledon Press 1996) ISBN 1 85285 137 6
Church, Stephen, Henry III, A Simple and God-Fearing King (Allen Lane 2017) ISBN 978 0 141 97799 7
Cockerill, Sara, Eleanor of Castile, the Shadow Queen (Amberley 2014) ISBN 9781445650517
Davis, Paul,R, Three Chevrons Red: The Clares: A Marcher Dynasty in Wales, England and Ireland (Logaston Press 2013) ISBN 978 1 906663 80 3
Harding, Alan, England in the thirteenth Century (Cambridge University Press 1993) ISBN 9780521302746
Howell, Margaret, Eleanor of Provence: Queenship in Thirteenth Century England (Blackwell 2001) ISBN 9780631 227397
Jobson, Adrian, The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Baron’s War) Bloomsbury 2012) ISBN 978 1 84725 226 5
Maddicott, J.R., Simon de Montfort (Cambridge University Press 1994) ISBN 052137636X
Mertes, Kate The English Noble Household 1250-1600 (Blackwell 1988) ISBN 9780631 153191
Mitchell, Linda, Joan de Valence: The life and Influence of a Thirteenth Century Noblewoman (Palgrave Macmillan 2016 ISBN 978 0 230 39200 7
Morris, Marc The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century (Boydell 2005) ISBN 9781843 831648
Powicke, F.M,, King Henry III and the Lord Edward: The Community of the Realm in the Thirteenth Century. (Oxford University Press 1966
Prestwich, Michael Edward I (Methuen 1988) ISBN 9780413 281500
Prestwich, Michael, English Politics in the Thirteenth Century (Macmillan 1990) ISBN 9780333414330
Remfry, Paul Martin Goodrich Castle and the families of Godric Mapson, Monmouth, Clare, Marshall, Montchesney, Valence, Despenser and Talbot (Castle Studies Research and Publishing 2015) ISBN 9781899376926
Ridgeway, Huw, William de Valence and his Familiares 1247-71 (Historical Research Vol LXV No 158 1992)
Rothwell, Harry, Editor English Historical Documents 1189-1327 (Eyre and Spottiswood 1975) ISBN 0 413 233006
Shoesmith, Ron, Goodrich Castle, its History and Buildings (Logaston Press 2014) ISBN 9781906 663834
Steane, John, Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy (Routledge 1993) ISBN 9780415 197885
Vincent, Nicholas, The Holy Blood, King Henry III and the Westminster Blood Relic (Cambridge University Press 2001) ISBN 9780521 026604
Wilkinson, Louise, Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England (Continuum 2012) ISBN 9781847251947
Woolgar, C.M., The Great Household in Late Medieval England (Yale University Press 1999) ISBN 9780300 076875
Online sources.
Abigail Armstrong
Matthew Paris Chronica Majora.
https://archive.org/details/matthewparissen01parigoog/page/n9/mode/2up
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – for snapshot studies of all the main players.
https://www.oxforddnb.com/