Henry of Almain

Henry of Almain (Anglo-Norman French: Henri d'Almayne) (2 November 1235 – 13 March 1271) was the son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and his first wife Isabel Marshal.[2][3] His surname is derived from a vowel shift in pronunciation of d'Allemagne (of Germany), so called by the elites of England because of his father's status as the elected German King of the Romans (King of Almayne).[4][5]

Henry of Almain
Born2 November 1235
Hailes Abbey,[1] Gloucestershire
Died13 March 1271(1271-03-13) (aged 35)
Chiesa di San Silvestro, Viterbo, Italy
Burial
Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire
SpouseConstance of Béarn
HousePlantagenet
FatherRichard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
MotherIsabel Marshal

Henry was knighted by his father the day after Richard was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen, the usual coronation place for German kings. Richard's coronation took place on 17 May 1257.[6]

As a nephew of both Henry III and Simon de Montfort, he wavered between the two at the beginning of the Barons' War, but finally took the royalist side and was among the hostages taken by Montfort after the Battle of Lewes (1264), was held at Wallingford Castle and later released.[7][8]

In 1268 he took the cross with his cousin Edward, who, however, sent him back from Sicily to pacify the unruly province of Gascony. Henry took the land route with Philip III of France and Charles I of Sicily.

While attending mass at the Chiesa di San Silvestro (also called the Chiesa del Gesù) in Viterbo on 13 March 1271, he was murdered by his cousins Guy and Simon de Montfort the Younger, sons of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, in revenge for the beheading of their father and older brother at the Battle of Evesham.[9] The deed is mentioned by Dante Alighieri, who took it upon himself to place Guy de Montfort in the seventh circle of hell in his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, which was written at least 40 years after Henry's death.

Henry was buried at Hailes Abbey.

Marriage

Henry was married to Constance of Béarn (d. 1299), eldest of four daughters of Gaston VII of Montcada, Viscount of Béarn, on 5 May 1269 at Windsor Castle. No children came of this union. And thus his half brother, Edmund, became the heir apparent of their father.

Notes
  1. "Haughley Castle – its origins, significance and history: a talk given by Edward Martin (Archaeological Officer for Suffolk County Council) Dec 5th 2011". Haughley History Forum. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  2. Tyerman, Christopher (1988). England and the Crusades, 1095-1588. University of Chicago Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780226820125.
  3. Prestwich, Michael (1988). Edward I. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780520062665.
  4. "Richard Earl of Cornwall - Crusader and King of Almayne". Twickenham Museum.
  5. The archaic term Almayne, (Almain etc.) was derived from Anglo-Norman Allemaine, Almaine, itself derived from Alemaigne, the Old French word for Germany.
  6. "Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall". The Peerage.
  7. Goldsmith, Oliver (1800). The history of England, from the earliest times to the death of George II. London: G.G. & J. Robinson. p. 284.
  8. Treharne, Reginald Francis; Sanders, Ivor John (1973). Documents of the baronial movement of reform and rebellion, 1258-1267. Oxford University Press. p. 47.
  9. Maddicott, J. R. (1994). Simon de Montfort. Cambridge University Press. p. 370. ISBN 9780521374934.

References
  • Goldsmith, Oliver, The history of England, from the earliest times to the death of George II, London, 1800.
  • Maddicott, J. R., Simon de Montfort, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Prestwich, Michael, Edward I, Methuen London Ltd, 1988.
  • Treharne, Reginald Francis, and Ivor John Sanders, Documents of the baronial movement of reform and rebellion, 1258-1267, Oxford University Press, 1973.
  • Tyerman, Christopher, England and the Crusades, 1095-1588, University of Chicago Press, 1988.

See WH Blaauws The Barons' War (ed. 1871); Ch. Bmont1 Simon de Montfort (1884)

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