Henry III KG

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

 (4 October 1379 – 25 December 1406), sometimes known as Henry the Sufferer or Henry the Infirm , was the son of John I

John I of Castile

John I was the king of Crown of Castile, was the son of Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile, daughter of Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena, head of a younger branch of the royal house of Castile...

 and Eleanor of Aragon, and succeeded him as King of the Castilian Crown

Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

 in 1390.

Henry was born in Burgos

Burgos

Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...

, the capital of Castile. Before becoming king, he was known by the title Prince of Asturias

Prince of Asturias

Prince of Asturias is the historical title given to the heir to the Spanish throne. It was also the title under the earlier Kingdom of Castile. The current Prince of Asturias is Felipe, son of King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofía...

, designating him as the heir apparent

Heir apparent

An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....

. After succeeding to the throne at 11, Henry took power at 14. 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. During his reign, the Castilian fleet won several victories against the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

; Henry sent a naval fleet in 1400 that destroyed Tétouan

Tétouan

Tetouan is a city in northern Morocco. The Berber name means literally "the eyes" and figuratively "the water springs". Tetouan is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea. It lies a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier...

 in North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

, a pirate base. In 1402, Henry began the colonization of the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, sending French explorer Jean de Béthencourt

Jean de Béthencourt

Jean de Béthencourt was a French explorer who, in 1402, led an expedition to the Canary Islands, landing first on the north side of Lanzarote...

. He deflected a Portuguese invasion with an attack on Badajoz

Badajoz

Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257....

, finally signing a peace treaty with Juan I of Portugal in 1402. He restarted the conflict against the kingdom of Granada

Emirate of Granada

The Emirate of Granada , also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada , was an emirate established in 1238 following the defeat of Muhammad an-Nasir of the Almohad dynasty by an alliance of Christian kingdoms at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212...

, winning a victory at Collejares, near Úbeda

Úbeda

Úbeda is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with some 35,600 inhabitants. Both this city and the neighboring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the early 16th century resulting in the construction of a series of Renaissance style palaces...

 in 1406.

He also sent Payo Gómez de Sotomayor and Hernán Sánchez de Palazuelos, and later Ruy González de Clavijo, as ambassadors to Timur

Timurid relations with Europe

Timurid relations with Europe developed in the early 15th century, as the Mongol ruler Timur and European monarchs attempted to operate a rapprochement against the expansionist Ottoman Empire....

.

In 1388, Henry married Catherine of Lancaster

Catherine of Lancaster

-Coat of arms:The following are Armorials of the House of Lancaster under her father, John of Gaunt.-References:* Anthony Goodman: "Katherine of Lancaster" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 30 , p. 890-891....

 (1372–1418), the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...

, and Gaunt's second wife, Constance of Castile

Constance of Castile (1354-1394)

Constance of Castile was claimant of the Castilian throne after the death of her father Peter the Cruel, her mother being María de Padilla, whom Peter had secretly married but was then forced to repudiate, only to keep her as a mistress...

, who was the elder daughter of King Peter of Castile. This ended a dynastic conflict and solidified the House of Trastamara. Henry and Catherine's son became John II of Castile

John II of Castile

John II was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454.He was the son of Henry III of Castile and his wife Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster by Constance of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile.-Regency:He succeeded his father on 25 December 1406, at the age of...

, who succeeded Henry when he died in Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

, Catherine acting as Regent of Castile because John II was then underage.

Ancestry