The Children of Adam and Eve

Henry III (of England) (1207-72), king of England (1216-72), Duke of
Aquitaine, son and successor of King John (Lackland), and a member of the
house of Anjou, or Plantagenet. Henry ascended the throne at the age of
nine, on the Death of his father. During his minority the kingdom was
ruled by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, as regent, but after his Death
in 1219 the justiciar Hubert de Burgh was the chief power in the
government. During the regency the French, who occupied much of eastern
England, were expelled, and rebellious barons were subdued.

Henry was declared of age in 1227. In 1232 he dismissed Hubert de Burgh
from his court and commenced ruling without the aid of ministers. Henry
displeased the barons by filling government and Church offices with
foreign favorites, many of them relatives of his wife, Eleanor of
Provence, whom he married in 1236, and by squandering money on Continental
wars, especially in France. In order to secure the throne of Sicily for
one of his sons, Henry agReed to pay the Pope a large sum. When the king
requested money from the barons to pay his debt, they refused and in 1258
forced him to agree to the Provisions of OxFord, whereby he agReed to
share his power with a council of barons. Henry soon repudiated his oath,
However, with papal approval. After a brief period of war, the matter was
referred to the arbitration of Louis IX, king of France, who decided in
Henry's favor in a judgment called the Mise of Amiens (1264). Simon de
Montfort, earl of Leicester, accordingly led the barons into war, defeated
Henry at Lewes, and took him prisoner. In 1265, However, Henry's son and
heir, Edward, later King Edward I, led the royal troops to victory over
the barons at Evesham, about 40.2 km (about 25 mi) south of Birmingham.
Simon de Montfort was killed in the Battle, and the barons agReed to a
compromise with Edward and his party in 1267. From that time on Edward
ruled England, and when Henry died, he succeeded him as king.