Henry III 337became more elaborate and professional, with better doc-
umentation, yet always under Henry’s control. The royal
court remained the center of government, but finance
and justice became the domains of experts. Judges were
sent out on circuits from the royal court with regularity,
thus ensuring uniformity and promoting central control.
The Assizes of Clarendon in 1166 and of Northampton in
1176 set new rules for the charging of criminals by sworn
freemen, who now had to cooperate with royal sheriffs
and the itinerant justices.
See alsoGERALD OFWALES.
Further reading:W. L. Warren, Henry II(Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1973); Emilie Amt, The
Accession of Henry II in England: Royal Government
Restored, 1149–1159 (Woodbridge, England: Boydell
Press, 1993).
Henry III(1207–1272)king of England
The eldest son of King JOHNand Isabel of Angouléme (d.
1246), Henry III was born on October 1, 1207. At the
death of his father, he ascended the throne on October
19, 1216, and was crowned at Gloucester. Ten days later
WILLIAM THEMARSHAL, earl of Pembroke, was appointed
regent. On Pembroke’s death in 1219, Hubert de Burgh
(d. 1243), who served as chief justiciar, became the most
powerful man in government. In the first years of the
regency, ENGLANDwas under papal influence as a result
of the problems of John’s reign when it was made a papal
fief. Efforts were made early in the reign during the
regency to maintain peace through negotiating with
the future Louis VIII of FRANCEin 1217, confirming the
MAGNACARTAin 1223, and making peace with WALESin
1218.
HENRY AS KINGIn 1223 Pope Honorius III (r. 1216–27) had allowed
Henry to be declared competent and of age for certain
limited purposes. In January 1227 Henry declared him-
self fully competent and commenced an attempt to retake
the French possessions that had been lost. In 1228, for
baronial support, he agreed to restore forest liberties. By
1230 he was invading Poitou and Gascony to obtain rev-
enue for himself, and he reaffirmed some fiscal liberties
of the church to gain its support. By 1232, hoping to act
as his own minister, Henry dismissed Hubert de Burgh
and alienated the English barons by replacing English
officers with Poitevin cronies but was forced to get rid of
them in 1234. In 1235 to gain foreign support he married
his sister, Isabel (1214–41), to the emperor FREDERICKII.
On January 20 of the following year he married Eleanor
of Provence (d. 1291). This marriage, which resulted in
two sons and three daughters who survived infancy, drew
many of his wife’s relatives to England in official capaci-
ties. The barons again saw the government passing into
the control of foreigners. By 1239 Henry’s behavior was
such that even his brother-in-law, SIMON DEMONTFORT
the Younger, and his brother Richard, earl of Cornwall
(1209–72), joined the opposition. Henry made minor
concessions but continued to fill state and church offices
with foreigners. Baronial opposition to the misgovern-
ment of the king thus continued to grow. In 1242 the
barons refused to finance or participate in a French war,
and two years later both barons and the church protested,
but these efforts failed through lack of leadership when
Henry detached his brother Richard from the opposition
through an opportunistic marriage with Sanchia, the
daughter of the count of Provence.THE SHORT-LIVED BARONIAL REVOLT
In 1252 Henry alienated Simon de Montfort, who had
been governor of Gascony. A crisis developed when
Henry agreed to help finance the papal struggle with
MANFREDin return for the grant of the Crown of SICILYto
his son, Prince Edmund of Lancaster (1245–96). This
“Sicilian Venture” came to nothing. The barons were now
ready for a confrontation. With Montfort as their leader,
in 1258 the barons met at the “Mad” Parliament and
drew up the Provisions of Oxford, which gave the barons
executive power and the right to nominate half of a gov-
erning council as well as establishing a committee of 24
to promote further reforms and oversee Henry.
The barons soon quarreled among themselves as
Montfort aimed at a more popular government, as the
earl of Gloucester became the leader of another faction of
more autocratic barons. As a result, in 1261 Henry was
able to regain power and obtained a papal bull absolving
him from the promises and terms of the Provisions of
Oxford. In 1264 the conflict with the barons was referred
to LOUISIX of France for arbitration, and by the Mise of
Amiens a decision favorable to the king was made.
Although the decision was upheld by Pope Urban IV (r.
1261–64), the barons refused to accept the award, and
civil conflict developed. After capturing Leicester and
other areas, the baronial forces marched south for provi-
sions. At the Battle of LEWESon May 14, 1264, Montfort
defeated the king and captured his son the future
(EDWARDI) and his brother Richard, and forced a calling
of Parliament.
Since Montfort’s position was now becoming too
powerful, some of the barons deserted to the side of the
king, whose forces, led by his son Edward who had
escaped, defeated and killed Montfort at the Battle of Eve-
sham in 1265. With the death of the opposition leader,
Henry revoked all his recent acts, confiscated the lands of
the rebels, and in the Dictum of Kenilworth in 1266
brought peace for the rest of his reign. By now power had
passed to his eldest son, Edward, and the last years of the
reign saw the passage of minor reforms at the 1267 Par-
liament of Marlborough.
One of Henry’s greatest achievements was the com-
pletion of WESTMINSTERABBEYin 1269. On November