The king’s privations

1258 – 1259 At this point all eyes turned to Rome and Paris. The pope had threatened to excommunicate Henry […]

The new faith

1258 Henry’s years of misrule were seemingly at an end. The provisions adopted at Oxford were akin to an unwritten […]

All in the family

1254 Modern historians tend to side with Henry in this affair, suggesting he had every reason to believe Alfonso was […]

Eleanor’s parliament

1254 Before leaving, Henry appointed his wife Eleanor to rule in his stead with Richard serving as her adviser. Their […]

The third Eleanor

1254 It had been Henry’s intention to come to Gascony and show that it could be ruled with peace and […]

The king’s wrath

1239 True to character, Henry’s break with Simon was abrupt and unseemly. He waited for the occasion of the queen’s […]

Another royal wedding

1238 It was into this atmosphere of ill-will and hostility that Simon strode on another cold January day two years […]

The first Eleanor

1231 The youngest of John’s children, Eleanor (1215 – 1275) had all the beauty of her mother Isabella of Angoulême. […]

Courtly intrigue

1231 The Leicester holdings, it turned out, generated little income to cover the debts Simon had incurred to recover them. […]