PlantagenetHenry III, King of England
1 Oct 1207Winchester, Hampshire, Eng
16 Nov 1272Westminster Palace, London, Eng
1254?
Eleanor of Castile
1240?
29 Nov 1290?
Fernando III, King of Castile y Leon
de DammartinJoan
PlantagenetMargaret
UNKNOWN?
UNKNOWN?
PlantagenetBeatrice
UNKNOWN?
UNKNOWN?
PlantagenetKatherine
UNKNOWN?
UNKNOWN?
Henry III - gilt-bronze tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey; the effigy was commissioned from William Torel in 1291.
© Dean and Chapter of Westminster
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Henry III, King John's son, was only nine when he became King. By 1227, when he assumed power from his regent, order had been restored, based on his acceptance of Magna Carta. However, the King's failed campaigns in France (1230 and 1242), his choice of friends and advisers, together with the cost of his scheme to make one of his younger sons King of Sicily and help the Pope against the Holy Roman Emperor, led to further disputes with the barons and united opposition in Church and State. Although Henry was extravagant and his tax demands were resented, the King's accounts show a list of many charitable donations and payments for building works (including the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey which began in 1245).
The Provisions of Oxford (1258) and the Provisions of Westminster (1259) were attempts by the nobles to define common law in the spirit of Magna Carta, control appointments and set up an aristocratic council. Henry tried to defeat them by obtaining papal absolution from his oaths, and enlisting King Louis XI's help. Henry renounced the Provisions in 1262 and war broke out. The barons, under their leader, Simon de Montfort, were initially successful and even captured Henry. However, Henry escaped, joined forces with the lords of the Marches (on the Welsh border), and Henry finally defeated and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Royal authority was restored by the Statute of Marlborough (1267), in which the King also promised to uphold Magna Carta and some of the Provisions of Westminster.
Henry III of Anjou, who ruled for 56 years, grew into a pious, gentle man, a patron of the religious arts, shrewd
rather than subtle, imbued with concern for the image of the monarchy, but, even as an adult, unable to transmute that
concern into the effective political action which was essential to successful medieval kingship. Like his father, he found
it hard to gain or keep the trust of his barons, and, also like his father, became involved in bitter conflict with them.
His problems were compounded by the English failure to recapture the lost Plantagenet dominions, despite immense
financial outlay." {-"The Plantagenet Chronicles," Elizabeth Hallam (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986, p. 323.)} His story
is well told in the popular historical novel by Thomas B. Costain, "The Magnificent Century" (Doubleday & Co., 1951).
The Plantagenet period was dominated by three major conflicts at home and abroad. Edward I attempted to create a British empire dominated by England, conquering Wales and pronouncing his eldest son Prince of Wales, and then attacking Scotland. Scotland was to remain elusive and retain its independence until late in the reign of the Stuart kings. In the reign of Edward III the Hundred Years War began, a struggle between England and France. At the end of the Plantagenet period, the reign of Richard II saw the beginning of the long period of civil feuding known as the War of the Roses. For the next century, the crown would be disputed by two conflicting family strands, the Lancastrians and the Yorkists.
The period also saw the development of new social institutions and a distinctive English culture. Parliament emerged and grew. The judicial reforms begun in the reign of Henry II were continued and completed by Edward I. Culture began to flourish. Three Plantagenet kings were patrons of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry. During the early part of the period, the architectural style of the Normans gave way to the Gothic, in which style Salisbury Cathedral was built. Westminster Abbey was rebuilt and the majority of English cathedrals remodelled. Franciscan and Dominican orders began to be established in England, while the universities of Oxford and Cambridge had their origins in this period.
Amidst the order of learning and art, however, were disturbing new phenomena. The outbreak of Bubonic plague or the 'Black Death' served to undermine military campaigns and cause huge social turbulence, killing half the country's population. The price rises and labour shortage which resulted led to social unrest, culminating in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.