Henry III

David Carpenter introduces a major new resource for the understanding of 13th-century history.

Nicholas Vincent reviews the career of the king whose long reign was overshadowed by the rivalries of his nobles, and who is primarily remembered for his piety and his building activity.

Phillip Drennon Thomas on how Henry III's elephant started the ball rolling for one of London's earliest visitor attractions. 

'Woe unto the land whose king is a child'; but despite a foreign claimant and rebellious barons, a nine-year-old monarch was steered successfully to adulthood in twelfth-century England by loyal guardians. David Carpenter tells how it was done and its impact on future constitutional developments in the Middle Ages.

Robin Studd shows how Henry III's acceptance after 1259 of vassal status for England's one remaining continental territory of Gascony gave enormous scope for interference by the French crown.