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Henry III of Castile

king of Castille (1379-1407)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ312104 ↗
Source-derived summary

Henry III of Castile (4 October 1379 – 25 December 1406), called the Suffering due to his ill health (Spanish: Enrique el Doliente, Galician: Henrique o Doente), was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon. He succeeded his father as King of Castile in 1390.

Birth and education

Henry was born in Burgos, the capital of Castile, the first-born child of the recently crowned king John I of Castile and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. His younger brother Ferdinand grew up to become king of Aragon.

His upbringing was entrusted to Inés Lasso de la Vega, the wife of John Niño. As a child he was educated by Diego de Anaya Maldonado, Bishop of Tui-Vigo, who later became Archbishop of Seville. His tutor was Juan Hurtado de Mendoza el Limpio and his confessor was the Dominican Alonso de Cusanza, who later became Bishop of Salamanca and León.

Prince of Asturias

At the time of his wedding, he received the title Prince of Asturias with the approval of the court of Briviesca. This title designated him as the heir apparent. He was the first person to hold this title, with earlier heirs to the throne being known as infantes mayores.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Henry III of Castile” as king of Castille (1379-1407). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Henry, Castile and king.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1379, 1406, 1390—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1379-10-04. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Henry, Castile and king providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Henry III of Castile”, the useful work is to connect “king of Castille (1379-1407)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q312104. VIAF identifies the subject as 289885214. The Library of Congress control number is n96020325. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1379, 1406 and 1390.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Henry III of Castile”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Henry III of Castile primary sources, Henry III of Castile archive and Henry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Henry III of Castile”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Henry III of Castile” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.