Customer Reviews

REIGN OF HENRY III

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This book deserves far better reviews than it has been given. Its biggest problem is the price. At a lower price this would make an excellent addition to a library about the English medieval kings. The book cannot be criticized for not being a smooth-flowing biography. It was not intended to be a story. Nor does the book deserve a bad rap for use of medieval terminology. Any serious study of medieval kings is going to use the appropriate language. Carpenter's book is a very good anthology on Henry III.

The book is composed of 21 papers, all by the author. Many of them are counterarguments to other historians. I would rate a third to half of the papers as excellent - insightful and critical for understanding 13th century England. Among the best are:

"Justice and Jurisdiction under King John and King Henry III" Carpenter argues here that the legal apparatus set up by Henry II and Magna Carta was still corrupted by political intrigues when applied to the barons under Henry III. He gives numerous examples. His case is well put that justice for the more lowly citizens was actually much smoother than for the magnates. This is an interesting twist on what many think happened after Magna Carta.

"The Fall of Hubert de Burgh" De Burgh was one of the people most responsible for safeguarding Henry when he was a child king and for guiding his policies in the early years. Yet his help gets buried in the mutual hatred and vicious disagreements with Peter des Roches. De Burgh ends up in prison a broken man and des Roches runs the country like an autocrat from 1232-34. Des Roches is then himself "deposed" for his abuses. This is a thoroughly human drama of good work and good faith in a weak king undermined by a lust for power.

"What Happened in 1258?" Henry's misadventures and lack of leadership reached a peak in 1258 when Simon de Montfort and other barons took power from him. Carpenter gives us an excellent analysis of what happened.

"Simon de Montfort: The First Leader of a Political Movement in English History" Here is a detailed account, a mini-biography, of the man who was mainly responsible for enforcing the statutes and provisions which basically stripped the king of his power in the early 1260's. Well worth reading and an example of an analysis that would not be in a typical biography of Henry III.

"English Peasants in Politics, 1258-1267" This is the first detailed information I have read about the role of the truly common folk in English politics. What is fascinatiing is how the principles of Magna Carta and a greater sense of "community" filtered down to the simplest of free citizens and to many of the lowest class, the villeins. This paper would be worth the price of the book, if only the price were in the range of a typical book on a medieval king.

"The Beginnings of Parliament" I live in the U.S. and I have read little that sheds more light on the beginnings of representative government in the Anglo-American tradition than this paper. Beginning with John, Carpenter traces the calling of baronial parliaments up through the pivotal events of 1258 and beyond. The influence of Magna Carta and Henry's taxation policies led eventually to including elected representatives from the shires and boroughs in the "parliament." Carpenter does a great job of tracing the early development of the type of government most of us take for granted.

Other interesting chapters include "The Gold Treasure of King Henry III," "King Henry III and the Tower of London," and "St Thomas Cantilupe: His Political Career." It is a rich anthology about a king who was not a tyrant but who tended to live in a world of saintly cults, especially Edward the Confessor, and a fantasy world of recovering the lost Angevin lands. It seems clear that Henry was not very bright but it might be a stretch to call him "simple," as Simon de Monfort once implied. He had some moments of clear leadership but overall a very limited understanding of people and their motives combined with a lack of decisiveness. His greatest strength, as several of the papers point out, was his passion for artistic beauty and grandeur that was tied to his religious fervor. In many ways an anthology fits Henry better than a biography since it is the people surrounding him who supplied the driving force behind English history in the 13th century. This book allows us to learn about them.

First of all it should be stated that this is in no way a chronological or narrative history of the reign of Henry III, but rather a series of essays which appeared in different places, in different publications covering certain aspects of the reign. Not even the print is consistent, the articles appearing in different fonts, etc.

For the layman or casual reader this book is a definite no-no. The writing is scholarly in the extreme, sometimes dry as dust and many times difficult to fathom. One had better already have a good grounding in feudal law and custom as well as Latin legal terms if they really wish to get anything out of this publication.

Let's hope that a good modern author such as Ian Mortimer will take on Henry III and provide us with a good, meaty,scholarly and also compelling study of this most fascinating reign. Henry needs and deserves a good and COMPLETE portait. For readers looking for good material on the reign I highly recommend Margaret Howell's "Eleanor of Provence", the biography of Henry's queen consort.

Two stars for somewhat misleading title and really prohibitive cost.

I would buy this book in a flash were it not so ridiculously expensive !!!