Henry III bust (15cm)

Henry III Bust - 15cm tall in PLA.

Henry III of England ruled from 1216 to 1272 CE. The son of the unpopular King John of England (r. 1199-1216 CE), Henry was immediately faced with the ongoing Barons' War which had been fuelled by discontent over John's rule and his failure to honour the Magna Carta charter of liberties. Henry and his regent Sir William Marshal defeated the rebel barons in battle at Lincoln in 1217 CE, but his reign was beset thereafter with problems. Traditionally viewed as a weak and often ineffectual king, Henry, like his father before him, wasted money on military campaigns without any results, and these necessitated such high taxes that the barons rebelled for a second time. The rebel leader Simon de Montfort (l. c. 1208-1265 CE) captured Henry and made himself the most powerful man in the kingdom in 1264 CE. Fortunately for Henry, his son Edward raised an army and defeated de Montfort at Evesham in 1265 CE. Henry was restored but spent much of his later years away from politics and improving the country's architectural monuments such as Westminster Abbey and Lincoln Cathedral. Following Henry's death from natural causes in 1272 CE, Prince Edward, who had in some respects been his father's regent, became Edward I of England (r. 1272-1307 CE).