General Notes

He was of stature but mean, yet of a well compacted body, and very strong; one of his eyelids hangling down, and almost coverin the black of his eye....  Sir Richard Baker  A Chronicle of the Kings of England.

Auburn hair



Henry III 1216-1272 Son of John, came to the throne at age 9 and lived under a series of regents until 1227. Most notable for his long reign, he was not very capable and the kindom pretty much went to pot, until his son, Prince Edward, took things over in the old man's dotage. The first true parliaments begin to meet during this period.

was born in Winchester, Hampshire, England October 01, 1207. Henry died November 16, 1272 in Westminster, Middlesex, England, at age 65. His body was interred November 20, 1272 in Westminster Abbe, Westminster, Middlesex, Eng.

He married Eleonore, Countess of Provence Queen of England January 14, 1236 in Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England.

The Plantagenets
Henry III
Henry III (reigned 1216-1272), John's son, was only nine when he became King. By 1227, when he assumed power from his regent, order had been restored, based on his acceptance of Magna Carta. However, the King's failed campaigns in France (1230 and 1242), his choice of friends and advisers, together with the cost of his scheme to make one of his younger sons King of Sicily and help the Pope against the Holy Roman Emperor, led to further disputes with the barons and united opposition in Church and State. Although Henry was extravagant and his tax demands were resented, the King's accounts show a list of many charitable donations and payments for building works (including the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey which began in 1245).
The Provisions of Oxford (1258) and the Provisions of Westminster (1259) were attempts by the nobles to define common law in the spirit of Magna Carta, control appointments and set up an aristocratic council. Henry tried to defeat them by obtaining papal absolution from his oaths, and enlisting King Louis XI's help. Henry renounced the Provisions in 1262 and war broke out. The barons, under their leader, Simon de Montfort, were initially successful and even captured Henry. However, Henry escaped, joined forces with the lords of the Marches (on the Welsh border), and Henry finally defeated and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Royal authority was restored by the Statute of Marlborough (1267), in which the King also promised to uphold Magna Carta and some of the Provisions of Westminster.
 
 

Edward I in Parliament from the Wriothesley Manuscript. King Alexander of Scotland is seated on the left and Prince Llywelyn of Wales on the right. The manuscript dates from the 1520s and this illustration portrays a Tudor concept of a medieval Parliament.
© Royal Collection