The Minority of Henry III

by David Arscott Carpenter

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Medieval, History, Plantagenet

490 pages, Hardcover

Published August 10, 1990

About the author

David Arscott Carpenter is an English historian, currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He has written widely on the reign of Henry III.

David Carpenter is Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London and an expert in thirteenth-century England. He has published extensively on politics and society in the reigns of King John and Henry III as well as on the context, issue and reception of Magna Carta. His book The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 is widely read by scholars, students and the general public. Professor Carpenter has been tracing versions of Magna Carta 1215 for the Magna Carta Project and is currently preparing a book on the Charter for Penguin.

Reviews

[Julie Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed, nearly month by month examination of 1216-1227. If you are a student of English medieval history you will get a lot out of this, but I was more looking for overarching themes of the minority period as compared to every single thing that happened. The most important thing I learned is how unstable the kingdom was after the Baron's War - Carpenter frequently compares the minority to similar problems during the Anarchy: the wrenching of power from the king to the barons who asserted regional control instead of the King; built or controlled unsanctioned castles; refused to pay the King their rents and hinted at continuing civil war if their power was restrained. Until this book I did not fully realize what danger the monarchy was in during this period.

What I found most interesting was that the greatest threats to the young king’s reign was not only the rebellion of the now powerful magnates, but a severe shortage of money. (Again, see Magnates ignoring the king.) The regents during the minority (First William Marshal and then the Triumvirate) lacked the funds necessary to maintain armies, reward loyalty, and assert authority. So this financial instability limited the government’s options forcing it to rely heavily on negotiation with the insubordinate magnates rather than brute force (Like Henry II!!) Specifically, lack of control over the magnates = not receiving rents on the lands = lack of funds = unable to offer significant patronage, (despite the expectations from the loyalist barons that they would be rewarded!)

So very well researched but a bit in the weeds for me.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sometimes dry, often interesting and informative account of the consequences of the Magna Carta, how its Charters settled in during the regency of Henry III, the establishment of a centralized and limited monarchy. There’s a lot of fighting over castles while the regency struggles to reclaim them in the king’s name from the nobles whom acquired them, even as details are related of the loss of Poitou and other hereditary lands held on the Angevin continent, even while laws are put into practice which check each other’s power. As these changes occur, the English nobility establish more of an identity as the English nobility rather than Norman or Angevin. This book made me very curious to read more about the key players during this time period; Hubert de Burgh, Hugh de Lusignan, Bishop Peter, and Falkes. (Hugh appears to have been quite the popular name during this time period.) I would have liked to have seen their personalities fleshed out a little bit more in this book, but the focus was more on the actions, problems, and dangers during the regency. Location was more of a key point than character. I learned a lot while reading this, for quite a bit of information was contained about the time and changes which were shaping England as a nation. If this subject matter interests you, you’ll want to give this a look.