The price of peace

Henry III’s expedition to Gascony in 1253-4 ended in a series of treaties. He prolonged the truce with the French and arranged peace talks with the d’Albret family, the counts of Comminges and Armagnac and finally the rebel-in-chief, Gaston Moncada of Béarn. Gaston would raise his head again, but the d’Albret remained fiercely staunch Plantagenet loyalists until Edward II drove them into the the arms of Philip le Bel. 

Bordeaux

The war was concluded by a treaty with King Alfonso of Castile. Henry’s heir, Prince Edward, was to marry Alfonso’s half-sister Eleanor, and Alfonso would also have the honour of knighting the prince. Alfonso also wanted a generous dower for his sister - without providing anything himself - and for Edward to be endowed with lands woth £10,000 a year.

Edward and Eleanor

This was a hefty price for peace, but worth it to neutralise the threat of future invasions. Bonifacio Calvo, the Genoese poet who had encouraged Alfonso to conquer Gascony, was not impressed. He had earlier sung the praises of his master as a warrior-king. Now he accused Alfonso of being a bit of a weed:

“But too much he seems asleep, which displeases me; for I see his followers discourage and less courageous there - for if now the affair is new and does not comfort his men, there may come from it such misfortune and such loss to him that he will do well if he restores it within ten years.”

Like so many chroniclers and poets, Bonifacio wanted blood; provided it was someone else’s, of course. Once the war was over, Henry set about settling the communes in Gascony and pardoning those who had rebelled against him. The tricky part was reconciling the Solers, one of the wealthiest families in the faction-ridden city of Bordeaux. They had joined Alfonso during the war, and were not permitted to return to Bordeaux until August.

The king then had to reconcile the family with the Colombines, their main rivals inside the city. To achieve this Henry had to pay compensation to the Colombines for the murder of the mayor, William Gondemer, shot dead by a supporter of the Solers. Henry banished the assassin for life, and for good measure banished for five years a man who had been present when the crossbow bolt was discharged.