Read Online The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain by Derek Wilson - Free Book Online

Matthew Paris, who knew him well, referred often to his ‘simplicity’, by which he meant a childlike enthusiasm and exuberance. Henry was impulsive and readily gave his trust and affection. Yet he could also fall prey to suspicion and insecurity. He was an aesthete who spared no expense to surround himself with beautiful things. He was inquisitive and loved to marvel at unusual objects – such as the exotic animals he collected in his menagerie – and he adored elaborate ritual, especially that connected with religious devotion. He tried to impress his subjects with lavish and expensive displays of kingliness, but his fine judgement in matters artistic did not extend to people. He made favourites of unworthy men and ignored the advice of those who deserved his trust. He had the fiery, quick temper of his Angevin forebears but lacked their military ardour. He had been brought up to expect deference rather than to earn it and, largely for this reason, he was unable to establish close and constructive working relationswith the leading men of the realm. Henry’s reign was littered with the ruins of grand projects, which he began but failed to bring to fulfilment. There is no doubt that he had the good of his subjects at heart, but he ended up taxing them beyond endurance, losing the respect of his barons and provoking another period of civil war. Ironically, it was Henry’s shortcomings and his long reign that permitted the further limitation of royal power and the development of constitutional change.
    King Philip of France died in 1223 and was succeeded by his son as Louis VIII. Henry immediately demanded that Louis, as promised, should restore his French lands to him, but Louis refused, and an expedition sent from England failed to regain possession of Normandy and other territories. Louis died in 1226, leaving the crown to his 12-year-old son, Louis IX, and Henry tried to achieve by intrigue what he had not achieved by force. He took advantage of France’s internal discord and sought an alliance with nobles rebelling against the crown, but this too came to nothing. In the meantime, in January 1227, Henry declared himself to be of age and assumed full kingly authority.
    Henry III was an extremely devout king. He customarily heard mass several times a day, and the schedule of government business was often upset by his stopping to attend worship. In this way royal journeys sometimes took hours or even days longer than was necessary. Henry’s piety was shown in the large number of church buildings that he directly sponsored or encouraged to be constructed, and his reign coincided with the establishment in England of the Gothic style of church architecture.
    The Gothic style is conventionally divided into three phases: Early English ( c .1180–1275), Decorated ( c .1275–1380) and Perpendicular. The earlier Gothic churches and cathedrals were similar in design to those being built in northern continental Europe, but gradually there evolved a uniquely English style of architecture.
    The fundamental difference between Early English Gothic and the Norman (or Romanesque) style that preceded it was the pointed arch (lancet). Hitherto the roofs and upper structures of churches had been borne on round arches, which conveyed the weight to massive pillars and thick walls. Lancets were discovered to be both more elegant and stronger. The pillars could be replaced by slender columns, which became decorative features in themselves – shafts of polished stone arranged in clusters around a central column of relatively small circumference. The overall impression was one of greater height, with soaring arches pointing heavenwards. The outer walls could also be used for decoration as well as support.
    By using flying buttresses – external half-arches braced against the walls to provide extra strength – the builders were able to devote more wall space to windows. Narrow lancet windows pierced the walls, carrying stained glass, which