Description

The long reign of Henry III (1216-1272) was one of the most significant in English history. It saw the implantation of Magna Carta into political life, the development of parliament and the rise of English national feeling. Reforms in 1258 reduced the king to a cipher and led to a civil war which culminated in the rule of Simon de Montfort: revolutionary events which had no parallel until the 1640s. This study contains important pieces on the dating and making of Magna Carta 1215; on justice and jurisdiction under John and Henry III; on Matthew Paris and Henry III's speech at the exchequer in 1256; and on the burial of Henry III and the image of kinship. The volume also discusses the whole nature of Henry III"s personal rule, the immediate causes of the revolution of 1258, the rise of Simon de Montfort, the explosive development of English national feeling, the social and economic position of the gentry, the role of peasants in politics, and Henry III's relations with both the Tower of London and the Cosmati work at Westminster abbey.