Henry III
Henry III of Castile on a stained glass window in Alcazar of Segovia, Spain
King of Castile and León
Reign	9 October 1390 – 25 December 1406
Predecessor	John I
Successor	John II
Consort	Catherine of Lancaster
Issue
Maria, Queen of Aragon Infanta Catherine, Duchess of Villena John II of Castile
House	House of Trastámara
Father	John I of Castile
Mother	Eleanor of Aragon
Born	(1379-08-04)4 August 1379 Burgos
Died	25 December 1406(1406-12-25) (aged 27) Toledo
Burial	Cathedral of Toledo
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Henry III KG (4 October 1379 – 25 December 1406), sometimes known as Henry the Sufferer or Henry the Sick (Spanish: Enrique el Doliente, Galician: Henrique o Doente), was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon, and succeeded him as King of the Castilian Crown in 1390.

Early years[edit]

Birth and education[edit]

Henry was born in Burgos, the capital of Castile. He was the first-born child of the recently crowned king John I of Castile and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. His younger brother Ferdinand grew up to become king of Aragon. His paternal grandparents were Henry II of Castile and Juana Manuel. On his mother's side, his grandparents were Peter IV of Aragon and his wife the queen Eleanor of Sicily.

His upbringing was entrusted to Inés Lasso de la Vega, the wife of John Niño. As a child he was educated by Diego de Anaya Maldonado, Bishop of Tui-Vigo, who later became Archbishop of Seville. His tutor was Juan Hurtado de Mendoza el Limpio and his confessor was the Dominican Alonso de Cusanza, who later became Bishop of Salamanca and León.

Marriage[edit]

Shortly after his birth, he was promised to be married to Beatrice of Portugal, the heir to the Portuguese throne. This was part of a peace treaty between Castile and Portugal, who had signed a truce after the Ferdinand Wars. But this marriage did not happen. Instead, Beatrice married his father, who would instigate a war of succession with John of Aviz.

In 1388, as part of the Treaty of Bayonne, he married Catherine of Lancaster in Palencia Cathedral. She was the daughter of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and Constance of Castile, a descendent of Peter the Cruel. This solved the dynastic conflict that had raged since the death of Peter the Cruel, secured the House of Trastámara, and established peace between England and Castile.

Prince of Asturias[edit]

At the time of his wedding, he received the title Prince of Asturias with the approval of the court of Briviesca. This title designated him as the heir apparent. He was the first person to hold this title, with earlier heirs to the throne being known as infantes mayores.

In 1390, his father considered abdicating in his favour to gain the recognition of the Portuguese, but he was dissuaded from this plan by his Royal Council. They were against it because of the damage caused to the kingdom by earlier similar decisions. However in October of the same year King John died in Alcalá de Henares by falling off his horse, and Henry was proclaimed king.

He assumed power on 2 August 1393, at the age of 13, during a tumultuous period of changes in the regency.

Reign[edit]

Despite his nickname, he engaged in a vigorous foreign policy and maneuvers during the first few years of the 15th century. He was able to pacify the nobility and restore royal power.

He was supported by the aristocracy and displaced their most powerful relatives (such as Alfonso Enríquez and his aunt Eleanor of Castile). He repealed privileges granted by his predecessors at the Court of Castile, such as the alcabala (a heavy sales tax) and the right to attend the Royal Council. He increased the number of city magistrates^[1] and cleaned up the kingdom's economy. He reduced persecution of the Jews and passed various bills against the violence, which had become particularly bad by 1391.^[2]

During his reign, the Castilian fleet won several victories against the English; Henry sent a naval fleet in 1400 that destroyed Tétouan in North Africa, a pirate base. In 1402, Henry began the colonization of the Canary Islands, sending French explorer Jean de Béthencourt. He deflected a Portuguese invasion with an attack on Badajoz in 1396, finally signing a peace treaty with Juan I of Portugal on the 15th August 1402.

He supported the papal pretension of Antipope Benedict XIII. He restarted the conflict against the kingdom of Granada, winning a victory at the Battle of Collejares, near Úbeda, which freed the town in 1406. However his untimely death in the same year prevented him from completing this campaign.

He also sent Payo Gómez de Sotomayor and Hernán Sánchez de Palazuelos, and later, on May 21, 1403, Ruy González de Clavijo, as ambassadors to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.^[3] The latter recounted his travels in a book, Embajada a Tamorlán.

Due to his poor health, he delegated part of his power to his brother Ferdinand I of Aragon in the later part of his reign, who became regent while Henry's son John II of Castile was too young to rule.

Henry died in the city of Toledo on 25 December 1406, while preparing a campaign against the Emirate of Granada.^[4]

Tomb[edit]

The tomb of Henry III of Castile. Chapel of the New Monarchs of Toledo.

After his death, Henry's body was taken to the city of Toledo, which he was interred in a tomb in the Chapel of the New Monarchs of the Cathedral of Toledo, and his remains are still there today.^[5] The tomb is located above the choir stalls on the Gospel side and is in the Plateresque style. The box part is decorated with the shields of Castile and León, and the lower interior has three panels decorated with trophies. Above the three panels two cherubs hold a plaque on which is engraved the Monarch's epitaph:^[6]

"AQUI IACE EL MUI TEMIDO Y JUSTICIERO REI DON ENRIQUE DE DULCE MEMORIA QUE DIOS DE SANTO PARAISO HIJO DEL CATHOLICO REI DON JUAN NIETO DEL NOBLE CAVALLERO DON ENRIQUE EN 16 AÑOS QUE REINO FUE CASTILLA TEMIDA Y HONRRADA NACIO EN BURGOS DIA DE SAN FRANCISCO Y MURIO DIA DE NABIDAD EN TOLEDO IENDO A LA GUERRA DE LOS MOROS CON LOS NOBLES DEL REINO FINO AÑO DEL SEÑOR DE 1407."

Which translates to:

Here lies the late feared and just king Henry, in the sweet memory of the Holy God of Paradise, son of the Catholic King John I and grandson of Henry. The noble 16 year old knight, who ruled over Castile justly and honourably, was born on the day of St Francis and died on Christmas Day in Toledo, during the war between the Moors and the kingdom's nobles, which finished in 1407.

There is a recumbent statue of Henry III over the tomb, made in polychrome alabaster. Henry appears clothed in a Franciscan habit, although his hands are holding his sword in his girdle, which runs parallel to the Cordón de San Francisco. The king's head in his royal crown rests on three rich cushions, and his feet are bare. Four kneeling angels are at the corners of the statue.

Marriage and issue[edit]

In 1388, Henry married Catherine of Lancaster (1372–1418), the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and Gaunt's second wife, Constance of Castile, who was the elder daughter of King Peter of Castile. This ended a dynastic conflict and solidified the House of Trastamara. Their marriage ceremony took place in Palencia Cathedral and they had three children:

• Maria of Castile (1401–1458). She married Alfonso V of Aragon and became Queen of Aragon. She is buried in the Royal Monastery of Trinidad de Valencia.
• Catherine of Castile (1403–1439). She married Infante Henry, Duke of Villena, the son of King Ferdinand I of Aragon and Queen Eleanor of Alburquerque. She is buried in Poblet Monastery.
• John II of Castile (1405–1454). He succeeded Henry as King of Castile when he died in Toledo, with Catherine acting as Regent of Castile because John II was underage at that time.

Ancestry[edit]

References[edit]

• González Dávila, Gil: Historia de la vida y hechos del rey don Henrique tercero de Castilla (The life and times of King Henry III of Castile) (1638)
• López de Ayala, Pedro: Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla Don Pedro, Don Enrique II, Don Juan I, Don Enrique III. 2 v. Editorial Órbigo, S.L. ISBN 84-96966-50-X
• Suárez Bilbao, Fernando: Enrique III. Diputación Provincial de Palencia 1994 ISBN 84-8173-013-0
• Veas Arteseros, Francisco de Asís: Itinerario de Enrique III. Editum: Ediciones de la Universidad de Murcia 2003 ISBN 84-8371-400-0

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Henry III of Castile

v t e Princes of Asturias Henry (1388–1390) Maria (1402–1405) Juan (1405–1406) Catherine (1423–1424) Eleanor (1424–1425) Henry (1425–1454) Joanna (1462–1464) Alfonso (1464–1468) Isabel (1468–1470) Isabel (1470–1478) Juan (1478–1497) Isabel (1497–1498) Michael (1498–1500) Joanna (1502–1504) Carlos (1504–1516) Felipe (1527–1556) Carlos (1556–1568) Fernando (1571–1578) Diego (1578–1582) Felipe (1582–1598) Felipe (1605–1621) Balthasar Carlos (1629–1646) Felipe Prospero (1657–1661) Carlos (1661–1665) José Fernando (1698–1699) Luis (1709–1724) Fernando (1724–1746) Carlos (1759–1788) Fernando (1788–1808) Isabel (1830–1833) Isabel (1851–1857) Alfonso (1857–1868) Emanuele Filiberto (1871–1873) Isabel (1875–1880) Mercedes (1880–1904) Alfonso (1907–1931) Felipe (1977–present)

v t e Monarchs of Castile House of Jiménez Ferdinand I Sancho II Alfonso VI Urraca House of Burgundy Alfonso VII Sancho III Alfonso VIII Henry I Berengaria Ferdinand III Alfonso X Sancho IV Ferdinand IV Alfonso XI Peter House of Trastámara Henry II John I Henry III John II Henry IV Isabella I & Ferdinand V Joanna & Philip I House of Habsburg Philip I & Joanna Charles I Philip II Philip III Philip IV Charles II

v t e Monarchs of León Beni Alfons Alfonso III García I Ordoño II Fruela II Alfonso IV Ramiro II Ordoño III Sancho I Ordoño IV Sancho I Ramiro III Bermudo II Alfonso V Bermudo III House of Jiménez Ferdinand I Sancho II Alfonso VI Urraca House of Burgundy Alfonso VII Ferdinand II Alfonso IX Ferdinand III Alfonso X Sancho IV Ferdinand IV Alfonso XI Peter House of Trastámara Henry II John I Henry III John II Henry IV Isabella I & Ferdinand V Joanna & Philip I House of Habsburg Charles I

We're sorry, but there's no news about "Henry III of Castile" right now.