ARTHUR III
King of England and Ireland
1565-1567
Born: February 23, 1523 in London, England
Reign Began: April 9, 1565 (age 42)
Died: October 17, 1567 in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tunis, Spanish North Africa (age 44)
Royal House: House of Tudor
Parents:
Arthur II of England
Isabella of Portugal
Spouse:
Christina of Denmark (1540-1567, his death)
Children:
by Christina of Denmark
Isabella (b. 1542)
only child to survive to adulthood
Arthur (b. 1546)
died in infancy
and others who died in infancy
Illegitimate
Emma (b. 1556)
by Audrey Donaldson
Religion: Roman Catholicism
Arthur III would reign for just thirty months which at the time was the shortest of any crowned monarch since the Norman Conquest (Edward V had a much shorter reign than him but was never crowned). At age 42, he also broke another record being the oldest king at his ascension to the throne, following the Norman conquest.
Arthur's early life was a mirror image of that of his father. Like Arthur II, he was born in the midst of the reign of his grandfather to teenage parents and was both the eldest son and child of the Prince of Wales and raised for the throne from birth. Arthur like his father was also raised primarily by his grandmother, Catherine of Aragon who taught him to be a devoted Catholic.
Also, like his father and his grandfather, the future Arthur III was betrothed to a foreign princess in early childhood. This woman was Christina of Denmark, the younger daughter of the King Christian II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Arthur II's good friend and longtime ally whom he helped create the Catholic Nordic Union of the three nations during the Great Northern War. Christina's mother was Isabella, the sister of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a cousin of Arthur II. Following in the footsteps the previous two Arthurs, Arthur then the Prince of Wales married Christina in 1540 when they were both still teenagers.
During her marriage to Arthur, Christina became pregnant many times but all of her children except for two did not live for more than a couple of days. One of these two children was named Arthur after his father and upon his christening was granted the title "Duke of Lancaster," traditionally given to the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. For his entire life, Arthur was the second in line to the English throne after his father, many people at court affectionately referring to the infant as "Arthur IV." However, little Prince Arthur tragically died after living for only eight months sending his parents into heartbreak.
The Duke of Gloucester's death in infancy caused the elder Prince Arthur's then four-year-old daughter Princess Isabella of Wales, to become second in line to the English throne after her father. Isabella was the future Arthur III's only legitimate child to survive to adulthood. Arthur also had at least one surviving illegitimate daughter, Emma FitzArthur, who was born much later to his mistress Audrey Donaldson whom not much is known besides her name. Isabella who was named for both of her grandmothers was a beautiful and charming princess and the apple of her father's eye. Due to his constant mistreatment of her and affairs with his many mistresses, Arthur became estranged from his wife Christina so Isabella was the only woman he really had in his life so to speak.
Arthur, was very protective of his young daughter and was initially reluctant to marry her off. When Isabella reached her majority, Arthur was approached by the Lord Privy Council for not betrothing her to anyone. The Prince of Wales was then in his mid-thirties, and his father, the elderly King Arthur II on the last leg of his life, and eventually relented to the council's orders as Isabella was his only heir and he wanted her to have many children so
his descendants would rule England, despite the fact that there were many other living members of the Tudor Dynasty. He then promptly had his daughter betrothed to Dom John of Portugal, in part to strengthen the Anglo-Portuguese alliance. John who was 24 at the time of his marriage to the 19-year-old Isabella was the younger brother of King Manuel II and the second surviving son of the late King John III.
Isabella became pregnant shortly after her marriage to John to the delight of her father. However, tragedy would shortly strike. Isabella gave birth prematurely to a baby girl who was named Maria Christina and died in childbirth just a few hours later at the age of twenty. Her infant daughter was very sickly and although doctors attempted to cure her, she died herself after living for only a week. In an unexpected twist of fate, King Manuel along with his wife and three children would be killed in a tragic fire just two years later allowing his brother, Isabella's widower John to ascend to the throne of Portugal as John IV.
Arthur was extremely saddened by the loss of his daughter and newborn granddaughter. According to accounts of the Prince of Wales, he drank heavily and took up gambling in order to cope with his grief. He was also reported to be suicidal at times and was allegedly saved by his fool in an attempt to hang himself with his sheets.
Arthur finally became king when his father died in 1565. His two-and-a-half years on the throne were unremarkable, as only significant domestic events that happened during his reign was the passage by parliament of a significant land tax increase and the subsequent peasant's revolt of 1566 which was quickly put down by nobles commissioned by the King.
In 1563 when Arthur II was still on the English throne, the aging Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V declared war on the Ottoman Empire after Turkish Barbary Pirates operating from Algiers had ransacked the north African city of Sfax which at the point was a Spanish territory. Charles then deployed many thousands of troops to protect Sfax and Tunis, the two largest Spanish cities in Africa, and then launched a campaign to the west to capture other North African lands from the Ottomans. Charles was aided by almost every other European ruler, especially the Tudor brothers Arthur II of England and Henry III of France, who saw the reconquest of Ottoman north African lands for Christendom as a "crusade," though one was not formally declared by the Pope. The First Ottoman-Spanish War eventually ended in a Spanish victory in 1564 with Spain successfully reconquering Algiers and surrounding lands.
However just two years later in 1566, the Ottomans aided by their Barbary Pirates launched a surprise attack on Algiers and retook the city from the Spanish. This enraged Charles and the Second Ottoman-Spanish war began . Arthur III surprised his court and subjects alike by volunteering to personally assist the Emperor by going to North Africa to fight himself instead of just sending troops like his father did before him. Arthur was himself an accomplished soldier having helped his father install his uncle on the French throne so was in many ways suitable for the job. However, based on a letter Arthur wrote to one of his mistresses before embarking on the journey, he planned never to return and in other words intended to embark on a suicide mission.
Arthur personally led a battalion of thousands of Spanish, Imperial, English, French and Portuguese soldiers along with the Emperor to reclaim Algiers. The mission was a success and on October 13, 1567, the Ottomans were defeated and the city fell to the Spanish another time.
However, Arthur became sick with consumption during this successful campaign in North Africa. He died on the voyage back to England four days after the Siege of Tunis ending his two-and-a-half year reign.
In contrast with his father, Arthur III was viewed generally negatively by historians, as depressed suicidal drunkard. However, quite a few people believe his reign though very short and uneventful was effective as he maintained order in the country with his quick response to the peasant's revolt and played a large part in the European victory at Algiers. Almost almost all historians seem to agree that his brief reign was a transitional period between the Arturian Era (defined by the reigns of Arthur I and II though Arthur III's reign is sometimes included) and the Stephanic Period, named for his brother and successor, that would follow.
Fun Facts:
- Arthur III was the first English king to set foot in the Americas as he made a voyage to the Spanish colony of Cuba in 1555 when he was still Prince of Wales.
- Arthur was known to have numbered his mistresses referring to them as such in his letters, possibly in an affectionate way. He addressed his famous letter where he stated the voyage to Africa to be a suicide mission as "Madam XXIII," which historians have interpreted to mean that she was likely his twenty-third mistress (or twenty-second if his estranged wife was included in the count).