Henry III of Castile

Henry III of Castile, called “the Suffering” (Burgos, October 4, 1379-Toledo, December 25, 1406), son of Juan I and of Eleanor of Aragon, was King of Castile between 1390 and 1406. His son, Juan II, succeeded him at his death.

Early Years

Birth and education

He was the eldest son of the recently crowned King of Castile Juan I and his wife, the Infanta Leonor of Aragon, and older brother of Fernando, who would be King of Aragon. On his paternal side were his grandparents Enrique II of Castile and Juana Manuel de Villena and on his maternal side Pedro the Ceremonious, King of Aragon, and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Sicily.

His upbringing was entrusted to Inés Lasso de la Vega, wife of Juan Niño; In his childhood he was educated by the Bishop of Tuy Diego de Anaya Maldonado, who would later be Archbishop of Seville, and by Álvaro de Isorna, who would be Archbishop of Santiago; His tutor was Juan Hurtado de Mendoza and his confessor was the Dominican Alonso de Cusanza, who would later become Bishop of Salamanca and León.

Marriage

Shortly after his birth, he was betrothed to the heiress to the Portuguese throne Beatriz de Portugal under a peace treaty signed by Castile and Portugal during a truce in the Fernandina wars. However, this marriage did not become effective, because when his father became a widower in 1382, it was he and not Enrique who married Beatriz.

On September 17, 1388, under the Treaty of Bayonne, he married his cousin Catalina de Lancaster, daughter of Juan de Gante, Duke of Lancaster, and Constanza de Castilla, in the Cathedral of San Antolín in Palencia, therefore descendant of Pedro I the Cruel; This made it possible to solve the dynastic conflict after the death of Pedro the Cruel, consolidate the House of Trastámara and establish peace between England and Castile.

Prince of Asturias

Simultaneously with his wedding, with the approval of the courts of Briviesca, he received the title of Prince of Asturias, being the first to bear this title, since previously the eldest sons of the Castilian kings had been called infants mayores. In 1390 his father considered the possibility of abdicating in his favor to obtain recognition from the Portuguese, but was dissuaded from doing so by his Royal Council, given the damage that previous similar decisions had caused in the kingdom.; However, in October of that same year, King Juan died in Alcalá as a result of a fall from his horse, and Enrique was proclaimed king.

He assumed effective power on August 2, 1393, at the age of 13, after a tumultuous period of change in the regency.

Reign

Henry III pacified the nobility and restored royal power, relying on the petty nobility and thus displacing their more powerful relatives (such as Alfonso Enríquez and Leonor de Trastámara). He repealed privileges granted by his predecessors to the Cortes of Castilla, such as the alcabala and the right to attend the Royal Council, promoted the figure of corregidores in the cities, and reorganized the economy of the kingdom. He lessened the persecutions against the Jews, issuing several edicts against violence, which had been particularly serious in 1391.

During his reign, the Castilian fleet won several victories against the English. In 1400 he sent a war fleet that destroyed the pirate base of Tetouan in North Africa. In 1402 he began the colonization of the Canary Islands, sending the French explorer Jean de Béthencourt. He stopped a Portuguese invasion, started in 1396 with an attack on Badajoz, finally establishing a truce with the agreement signed with Juan I of Portugal on August 15, 1402.

He supported the pontifical claims of Benedict XIII and resumed the campaign against the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, achieving an important victory in the battle of Los Collejares, fought in 1406, although he could not complete it because he was killed. He also sent two embassies to Tamerlán, the first being headed by Hernán Sánchez de Palazuelos and the second by Ruy González de Clavijo. The story of the trip is recorded in a book about the second embassy, the Embassy to Tamorlán.

With his health affected, in his last years he had delegated part of the effective power to his brother Fernando de Antequera, who would be regent during the minority of the son of Enrique III, Juan II of Castilla.

Enrique III of Castile died in the city of Toledo on December 25, 1406, when he was preparing a campaign against the kingdom of Granada.

Burial

Tomb of Henry III in the chapel of the New Kings of the Cathedral of Toledo.

After his death, the body of Enrique III of Castile was transferred to the city of Toledo, where he was buried in the Chapel of the New Kings of the Toledo Cathedral, where his mortal remains rest today. The tomb of Enrique III is placed on the choir stalls, on the Gospel side, and is an attached tomb in Plateresque style. The tomb box is adorned with the coats of arms of Castilla y León, and in the lower part of the interior of the burial space there are three panels decorated with trophies, and on the three panels two children appear holding the cartouche containing the monarch's epitaph:

"Would I love the death and justice of the mother of the child of the mother of the child?"

The recumbent statue of Henry III, made of polychrome alabaster, is placed on the tomb. Enrique III appears dressed in the Franciscan habit, although with his hands he holds his sword, with his belt, which runs parallel to the Franciscan cordon. The monarch's head, encircled by the royal crown, rests on three rich cushions, and the king's feet appear barefoot. At the ends of the recumbent statue are four kneeling angels.

Marriage and offspring

Enrique III of Castilla married in 1388 in Palencia with Catalina de Lancáster, daughter of Juan de Gante, Duke of Lancaster, and Constanza de Castilla. The religious ceremony took place in the Cathedral of Palencia. As a result of their marriage, three children were born:

• María de Castilla (1401-1458). He married Alfonso V of Aragon and was buried in the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Valencia.
• Catherine of Castile (1403-1439). He married Enrique de Trastamara, son of King Fernando I of Aragon and Queen Leonor of Alburquerque. He was buried in the monastery of Poblet.
• Juan II de Castilla (1405-1454). King of Castile at the death of his father. He was buried in the Miraflores Cartuja.

Succession

Predecessor: Title of new creation	Prince of Asturias 1388-1390	Successor: María de Castilla
Predecessor: Juan I	King of Castile 1390-1406	Successor: John II

Ancestors

Bibliography and sources

• Arco and Garay, Ricardo del (1954). Sepulchers of the Royal House of Castile. Madrid: Instituto Jerónimo Zurita. Senior Scientific Research Council. OCLC 11366237.
• Elorza, Juan C; Cowboy, Lourdes; Castle, Bethlehem; Black, Marta (1990). Junta de Castilla y León. Council of Culture and Social Welfare, ed. The Royal Pantheon of the Burgos Strikes. The Burials of the Kings of Leon and of Castile (2nd edition). Valladolid: Editorial Evergráficas S.A. ISBN 84-241-9999-5.
• González Dávila, Gil: History of the life and facts of King Don Henrique third of Castile (1638)
• López de Ayala, Pedro: Chronicles of the Kings of Castile Don Pedro, Don Enrique II, Don Juan I, Don Enrique III. 2 v. Editorial Órbigo, S.L. ISBN 84-96966-50-X
• Mitre Fernández, Emilio (2001). A death for a king: Henry III of Castile (Christmas of 1406). Valladolid: Ambito Ediciones S.A. p. 160. ISBN 84-8183-091-7.
• Mitre Fernández, Emilio: The Jews of Castile in time of Henry III: the pogrom of 1391. University of Valladolid. Publications and Editorial Exchange 1994 ISBN 84-7762-449-6
• Mitre Fernández, Emilio: Extension of the regime of corrections in the reign of Enrique III of Castile. University of Valladolid. Publications and Editorial Exchange Secretariat 1969 ISBN 84-600-0218-7
• Montojo Jiménez, Carlos: Castilian diplomacy under Enrique III: special study of the Embassy of Ruy González de Clavijo to the court of Tamerlán. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Publications Center 2004 ISBN 84-95265-38-9
• Suárez Bilbao, Fernando: Henry III. Provincial Council of Palencia 1994 ISBN 84-8173-013-0
• See Handicrafts, Francisco de Assisi: Itinerary of Enrique III. Editum: Editions of the University of Murcia 2003 ISBN 84-8371-400-0