Henry III and his reign

On this first day of October in 1207, Henry III was born in Winchester, a city that inexplicably wants nothing to do with him. Chronicler Matthew Paris drew this picture of Henry swaddled in his cradle. His nursemaid was a woman by the name of Helen Dun. Such was Henry’s fondness for her that he made sure she was comfortably taken care of in her old age. It was from her and other servants of the royal household that Henry learned the English of his day. An example of it comes from his order to the sheriffs in 1258 validating the reform program of his council. Normally such orders were issued in Latin, but such was the prominence of the occasion that it became the first state paper issued in English following the Norman Conquest two centuries earlier. Here’s the opening with the conjectured pronunciation of this “Middle English” and modern translation:
Henr’ þurg godeſ fultume king on Engleneloande. Lhoauerd on Yrloand’. Duk on Norm’ on Aquitain’ and eorl on Anᵹow Send igretinge to alle hiſe holde ilærde and ileawede on Huntendon’ſchir’ þæt witen ge wel alle þæt we willen and vnnen þæt…

Today is August 4th, the anniversary of the battle of Evesham. The most detailed account of it can be found in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, which also includes anecdotes about Simon de Montfort like his…

Henry always put special meaning in being designated “the Third.” The number three symbolizes the Holy Trinity, the Resurrection, and the Three Kings, whose arrival with gifts for baby Jesus is commemorated today, the 6th of January.

Henry III died on this day, November 16, in 1272. Reports a chronicler: “The king confessed his sins with humility, beating his breast with grief, remitted ill-will to aII, and promised an amended state of life. He was then absolved by a prelate, after which he devoutly received the body of Christ, and being anointed with the extreme unction of the Church, he offered up prayers to the Lord, as a suppliant for his grace. He ordered his debts to be paid…

Today the 1st of October marks the birth of Henry III in 1207. Born in Winchester, he had just turned nine when his father King John died amidst a baronial revolt. As the first king of England to rule in the age of Magna Carta and Parliament, Henry’s attempts to maintain a cosmopolitan court with strong links to the continent met with…

The relief showing a very unheroic Henry III at the battle of Evesham is based on the account of the chronicler of Melrose Abbey, who worshipped Simon de Montfort. The chroniclers at Waverley and Dunstable, however, neither of whom was friendly to the king, say Henry fled to the royalist side at the start of the battle. He was probably raining blows down on…

Talking at the recent Battle of Evesham Festival 760, I mentioned my biographies of Simon de Montfort had been preceded by ‘eight or nine’. Looks like eight, though the number of books dedicated to the history he made is infinitely more.

“It was twenty years ago today (true) that I first came to Evesham” is how I opened my talk at the Battle of Evesham festival yesterday. Those in attendance seemed receptive to my long evolving opinion that the real hero of these years is King Henry III. You can read about it…

The monumental reforms of 1258 come under the scrutiny of the Roundtable. They were revolutionary, but were they part of an actual revolution as commonly touted today or are the historians who take that view looking back from the war and chaos launched by a certain disgruntled individual?

Edward I is one of the most controversial figures in English history. His escape from Simon de Montfort and an assassin’s blade are among the legendary exploits that have endeared him to millions, much as his conquest of Wales, subjugation of Scotland, and expulsion of the Jews have not. Whether hero or villain, “masterful” is often used to describe him…

After a hiatus since the end of the summer of 2024, the Roundtable is back, taking up the most controversial policy of Henry’s long reign, the Sicilian Business! Go to the Roundtable page here to watch or listen to it.

The Henry III Roundtable has wrapped up their three-part discussion on Simon de Montfort. In part 2, historians Darren Baker, John Marshall, Michael Ray and Huw Ridgeway picked up Simon’s career from his disastrous governorship of Gascony through the beginning of the reform period in 1258 up until his return to England five years later to make war on Henry III. In part 3 […]

   It was 760 years ago on this day, 28 June 1264, that England became a constitutional monarchy for the first time. Six weeks earlier Simon de Monfort led his popular army to victory against his lordship the king Henry III at the battle of Lewes. With the great seal now firmly in his hands, de Montfort summoned a parliament that convened at St. Paul’s in London.
   He presented a plan to the assembly that called for three electors to choose a council of nine to govern the realm. He was the only elector that mattered and the nine below him […]

On 1 January 1259, Simon de Montfort dictated his will. He was in France at the time, where he had gone in an attempt to undermine and embarrass his lord king Henry III. It went back twenty years to 1239, when Henry banished him from court after learning that […]

On 12 April 1258, Simon de Montfort joined six other barons in a sworn confederation against the Lusignans, the four younger half-brothers of Henry III. A drawing of the original document shows the arms of five of the confederates.
   At the far left are those of Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk. He had no personal disputes with the Lusignans and fought at neither Lewes nor Evesham, but did support Simon’s regime. He died in 1270.
   The next arms show Simon’s famed fork-tailed lion. He was married […]

In this episode of the Henry III Roundtable, historians Darren Baker, John Marshall and Michael Ray follow up their discussion on foreign favorites at Henry’s court with […]

Today the 14th of May marks the 805th anniversary of the death of William Marshal. He died on this day in 1219, still regent for the young Henry III, whom he knighted […]

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 crushed and defeated. The Savoyards continue their contributions to the realm […]

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 […]