Great Seal ofKing Henry III of England (reigned 1216 – 1272).King John diedwhen Henry III was

Great Seal ofKing Henry III of England (reigned 1216 – 1272).King John diedwhen Henry III was only nine years old, leaving the country in chaos. Rebel barons held much of the east of England, Louis Capet (thecrown prince of France) held London and Winchester, and the Scotswere mounting an invasion in the north.  It was a troubled time tobecome king, but his military leaders dealt with the barons and theFrench, and Henry was not punished for his father’s actions.  MagnaCarta was reissued, although without the clauses allowing the baronsto rebel against the king if he failed to observe it.Henry was moreinterested in religion than war, and made it his life’s work torebuild Westminster Abbey, the second-most expensive building inmedieval England.  He declared himself of age when he was nineteen,and proceeded to spend so heavily that he nearly became bankrupt. This tendency became worse when he married Eleanor of Provence, as hewas exceedingly generous to her, her relatives, and his ownhalf-siblings.  All of these people were “foreigners” and theEnglish became angry at his actions.England invadedFrance in 1230 in an attempt to recover the territory lost by KingJohn, but it was a failure, and a waste of a lot of money.  Henry andthe Pope came up with a scheme to conquer Sicily, but that came tonothing, either.By 1258, Henrywas in so much debt that he called Parliament.  This was a term firstused in 1536 to mean a meeting of the Great Council, a feudalgathering of the most powerful barons and churchmen.  Henry demandedmoney to pay the costs of the Sicily scheme, because he owed a largepayment to the Pope.  The barons did not agree with this.Under Simon deMontfort, they forced Henry to agree to the Provisions of Oxford. This meant he had to submit to a council of 24 members (half chosenby him, and half chosen by the barons) who would themselves choosetwo men to run the country.  This agreement was written down inEnglish, as well as Latin and French.But with thesupport of the Pope, Henry soon managed to overthrow the agreement,leading to civil war.  The barons defeated the king at the Battle ofLewes in 1264, capturing him and his eldest son, Edward.  De Montfortthen called a Parliament that included knights of the shire, andrepresentatives of the towns that were friendly to him.Edward escapedby means of a horse race with his captors, rallied the royal forces,promised to uphold Magna Carta, and marched on de Montfort.  TheBattle of Evesham was fought with de Montfort’s troops not at fullstrength, and they lost.  Henry was rescued, and de Montfort wasexecuted and his body mutilated.The rest of therebellion was subdued, and Henry finished his reign in peace.  Hedied in 1272 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. -- source link

More pics about