A medieval king… as you’ve never seen him before
King Henry III of England, the son of King John, was a monarch in a new age. He was the first to confront the restrictions of Magna Carta, the power of parliament and a rising tide of English national feeling. He also began his reign bereft of Normandy and Anjou: the first held by his predecessors since 1066; the second since 1154.
If Henry’s situation was different to that of his ancestors, so was his reaction. The depth of his piety, centring on his devotion to Saint Edward the Confessor, set him apart from all his predecessors. Fortunately, thanks to the richness of the source material, we know more about his daily conduct than that of any other medieval monarch.
Henry was nine in 1216 when he came to the throne; 65 on his death in 1272. That’s a reign of 56 years. In some ways, he was the ideal king for the Magna Carta age. He was warmhearted and accessible. His rule was totally unlike that of his hard-driving, spiky father. John’s conduct had provoked a barons’ rebellion in 1215 and the concession of Magna Carta. Henry’s brought years of peace, a blessing for which he was widely praised.
Building on the peace
Henry’s peace provided the framework for an explosion in the money supply and a new commercial network of markets and fairs. It facilitated the preaching of the friars, the pastoral work of bishops and the building of cathedrals. The whole of Salisbury Cathedral (other than the spire) is a work of Henry’s reign,
