Henry III and his reign

The Roundtable this month takes up the third and final part of the two most prominent groups of foreigners at Henry’s court, the Savoyards and Lusignans. It’s 1265. Simon de Montfort is dead, his anti-alien platform […]

February 1263 was a hard month for Henry III. The winter was so cold the Thames froze from bank to bank. His chamber at Westminster Palace burned to the ground. But his major worry remained Simon de Montfort. The stubborn earl of Leicester had rejected an attempt by Louis IX of France to end their quarrel and instead […]

Today is the day that wasn’t supposed to be. Between 1245 and 1269, Henry III laboured to rebuild Westminster Abbey with a shrine to Edward the Confessor as the centrepiece. His hope was for Edward […]

Eleanor, the youngest daughter of King John, died on this day of 13 April in 1275. As a Plantagenet, then a Marshal, finally a Montfort, she bore the names of three of the most distinguished families in English history. She was first married to William Marshal II […]

On this day of the 2nd of April in 1272, Richard of Cornwall was at Berkhamsted when he ‘exchanged the fleeting glories of the world for the heavenly kingdom’. Those glories included a vast fortune and three beautiful wives, the last of whom was forty years younger. His travels saw him […]

The next session of the Henry III Roundtable will take place on Thursday, 25th April 2024 at 4 PM (GMT). The link to join the meeting will appear on these pages shortly. It will be the third and final discussion on the Savoyards and Lusignans, namely a look at […]

The March 2024 Henry III Roundtable continued their informative discussion on the two most prominent groups of foreigners at Henry’s court during the long years of his personal rule. It’s 1258, the beginning of the reform period, and the Savoyards, the so-called Queen’s Men, have engineered the ouster of their younger rivals the Lusignans (King’s Men) […]

Henry of Almain was born on November 2, 1235, the only surviving child of Richard of Cornwall and Isabel Marshal, making both King John and William Marshal his grandfathers. Named after his uncle Henry III, he was raised at Windsor following the death of his mother in childbirth in 1240. He was in Aachen in 1257 when his father was crowned King of Germany. Richard then knighted Henry at the same ceremony, thus making him Henry “of Almain” to indicate […]

A bottle of Gascon wine from the south of France. Henry III was quite fond of wine from Gascony, another reason why he was so determined to hang onto the duchy against the encroachment of the French. Very fine wine, only fitting that it be enjoyed in a glass that recalls Henry’s era. That’s Merlin lurking in the background.

Henry III had an incredible 24 siblings, of which 10 were his father’s illegitimate offspring and 9 were the children of his mother’s second marriage. Of the 5 children begot by his parents together, the two oldest were boys, Henry and Richard, followed by three girls: Joan, Isabella, and Eleanor. Henry was exceptionally close to his sisters and today is a good day to remember them […]

In February of 1261, Henry III and Eleanor of Provence became grandparents for the first time. Their eldest daughter Margaret gave birth to a daughter, also named Margaret, who would later become the queen of Norway and mother of another Margaret, the ill-fated Maid of Norway […]

The first known elephant in England arrived in 1255. It was made a gift to Henry III by Louis IX of France, who himself had received it from his former captor, the Sultan of Egypt. Chronicler Matthew Paris drew a picture of it, noting that it was 10 years old and 10 feet tall. It was housed at the Tower of London […]

The Cosmati pavement at the high altar of Westminster Abbey, one of the wonders of the medieval world. In these intricate shapes and swirls, Henry III sought to represent the creation of the universe as it emerges from a nebula-like center disc. He also devised a formula, based on the life expectancy of living creatures, both real and imagined, to determine the age […]

When Henry III invested Simon de Montfort with the title Earl of Leicester in 1239, the two men were standing on the dais (platform) next to the west wall of Winchester Hall, where the round table crafted during the reign of Henry’s son Edward hangs today […]

Richard of Cornwall, younger brother of Henry III and the only Englishman to wear the crown of Germany, was born on this day of the 5th of January in 1209 in Devizes. Richard and Henry were the only contemporary brother kings in English history, yet both have been squeezed out of their rightful place […]

Henry III was born in Winchester in 1207. Henry was very much attached to Winchester and often held his colourful Christmas courts there. He built the Great Hall that still stands there, and yet the city remains indifferent to his memory […]

Volume 2 of David Carpenter’s biography of Henry III for the Yale English Monarchs Series is out, and so is […]

The BBC has naturally weighed in on the controversy of the Spare memoir about to come out. Their correspondent writes that there are “historical templates” for the rivalry between royal siblings. “Think of Bad King John versus Good King Richard” in a “power struggle between brothers”. Completely laughable […]

The sons of King John, Henry III and Richard of Cornwall, were close to their sister Empress Isabella, who died […]

Next Wednesday, the 16th of November, marks 750 years since Henry III died at his palace in Westminster. The legacy […]