Henry, Count of Montescaglioso

Henry ( 1135 – 1175), born Rodrigo according to Hugo Falcandus, was an alleged son of the Navarrese king García Ramírez and his wife, Margaret of L'Aigle, and brother of the Sicilian queen dowager Margaret, who made him Count of Montescaglioso and then Prince of Taranto (1168).

Arrival in Sicily (1166) The main primary source for Henry's life is the Sicilian court chronicler known as Hugo Falcandus. He is an extremely unfriendly source to Henry. He reports the rumour that Henry was never acknowledged as a son by the Navarrese king and was considered a bastard, the product of one of the queen's affairs. This is contradicted by the actions of his sister, who always treated him as a full brother of royal blood. Henry's birth name, also, is evidence of legitimacy, for he was probably named after King García's illustrious grandfather, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid. Falcandus sums up Henry's appearance (short and swarthy) and character thus: This Henry was low in stature, had a thin beard and a disagreeably dark complexion. He was rash and maladroit in conversation, a man interested only by dice and gambling, and he had no other desire than to have a playmate and money to lose. Upon his arrival in Sicily Margaret made him change his name from Rodrigo (Latin Rodericus), which sounded strange to the local nobility, to the more palatable Henry (Latin Henricus).

Henry arrived in the kingdom of Sicily between May and September 1166. His sister had been, since the death of her husband, William I of Sicily, regent in the name of her young son, William II. In May or a short time after, perhaps before his arrival, he was married to an illegitimate daughter of Roger II and thus his sister's sister-in-law. On this occasion he was invested with Montescaglioso on the mainland, probably to keep him out of court politics. He was also given the fiefs of Noto, Sclafani and Caltanissetta on the island, territories which had been governed by Geoffrey, the previous Count of Montescaglioso, before his imprisonment for taking part in the rebellion of 1155–56.

Stephen and Henry appear to have been the leaders, willingly or unwillingly, of two opposed court factions seeking to dominate the regency. Henry only appears in two more documents, one of 1170, the other, his last appearance, of July 1173. He was dead by September 1177, when his widow is cited in a dating clause as regent in the Principate for her son, Henry's heir, William IV. She continued in the regency for almost two decades. Another charter of 1179 also mentions her husband. The first recorded instance of William ruling in his own right dates to April 1195.