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, and the rest of his properly to be impartially divided amongst the poor ; and after duly performing all these duties, he rendered up his spirit to the Lord. His body was buried with all honour at Westminster.”
Henry’s reign was so long and consequential that he’s the only beneficiary of two volumes in the Yale Monarch series. Before that, there were the two volumes of King Henry III and the Lord Edward, whose author Maurice Powicke writes that Henry “left his kingdom greater than it was when, a fair-faced child, he rode from Devizes to be crowned at Gloucester. England was more united, more prosperous, more richly endowed, more beautiful in 1272 than it was in 1216.”
For a reassessment of Henry and his reign, with special regard to his struggle with Simon de Montfort, see my talk at the Battle of Evesham festival in August of this year.