Henry III

Henry III., son of King John and Isabella of Angouleme, was born in 1207, and succeeded to the throne in 1216. William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, up to 1219, and afterwards Archbishop Langton and Hubert de Burgh strengthened the hands of Henry during his minority. The Great Charter was renewed, the alien Papal legates (legati a latere) were withdrawn from the realm, and the foreign mercenaries were dismissed. In 1232 the Regency closed, and for two years the king was in the hands of Peter des Roches, the Poitevin Bishop of Winchester. Even after his dismissal foreign influence was predominant, and in 1236 gained fresh ground when Henry married Eleanor of Provence. The extent to which this grew led to the formation of a baronial opposition, the clergy also joining in the movement on account of the Papal exactions. It was not, however, till 1252 that a great leader appeared in the person of Simon de Montfort (q.v.), himself a foreigner, who had married the king's sister and acquired the earldom of Leicester. In 1258 things came to a head in the Mad Parliament, which entrusted the real government to a committee of barons. Before long the latter broke up into sections and in 1261 the king regained power. In 1263 the Barons' War broke out, and De Montfort having been victorious at Lewes summoned an assembly in 1265 in which burgesses as well as knights of the shire were invited to sit. Prince Edward, Henry's son, soon, however, escaped, and was joined by the part of the baronage who were jealous of De Montfort; and at Evesham the latter was defeated and slain. During the rest of the reign the influence of Prince Edward, who was a constitutionalist, but unwilling to submit to baronial dictation, was supreme. Henry III. died in 1272, after a reign of fifty-six years. During this long period the first conception of a Parliament, or non-feudal assembly, first appeared, the Friars established themselves in England, and the University of Oxford became an influence in national life. [Montfort, Hubert de Burgh, Grossetete, etc.]