Henry III of England (1 October 1207-16 November 1272) was the King of England from 28 October 1216 to 16 November 1272, succeeding John and preceding Edward I. Henry came to the throne amid the Barons' Wars, and he found his power hamstrung by his father's acceptance of the Magna Carta. His reign was marked by costly failures to regain the French lands lost during his father's reign, the increased persecution and segregation of the Jews, and a second round of wars against England's powerful barons under Simon V de Montfort.
Biography[]
Henry in 1230
Henry Plantagenet was born to King John I of England and Isabella of Angouleme. After his father refused to abide by the Magna Carta in 1215, the First Barons' War broke out, and when his father died in 1216, the nine year-old king took control of the government forces. He won the Battle of Lincoln and the Battle of Sandwich in 1217, and later made peace with the rebellious barons.
Independent reign[]
Henry in 1239
Henry III became an independent ruler in 1224 at the age of 17, and in 1230 he planned an invasion of France to expand England's lands. It resulted in a fiasco, and in 1232 he had to crush a rebellion by Richard Marshal, the son of Henry's trusted vassal William Marshal. Following the revolt, he brushed aside senior ministers and took full control of the government. He extorted Jews and eventually banished them from England, and he invaded France again in 1242, resulting in the disastrous Battle of Taillebourg. Henry also tried to intervene in Europe: he tried and failed to place his son Edmund Crouchback on the throne of Sicily and also failed to make his brother Richard of Cornwall King of the Romans in 1256. Henry later planned a crusade, but rebellions in Gascony halted him.
In 1258, Henry III faced rebellions in Wales and Ireland against his rule, causing him to make peace with France in 1259. He used the exterminations of populations of captured cities and the execution of prisoners to invoke fear into the hearts of his enemies, and when Simon V de Montfort rebelled with the Baron's Alliance in 1261, Henry brutally crushed the uprising. He was captured in the 1264 Battle of Lewes, but after his son Prince Edward won the Battle of Evesham a year later, he freed his father. To repair England, Henry had to harass Jews even further, and exacted harsh measures. He died in 1272, and was succeeded by Prince Edward.