HENRY III, king of England: b. Win chester, I Oct. 1207; d. Westminster, 16 Nov. 1272. He was the son of John, whom he suc ceeded in 1216. As Henry approached to man hood he displayed a character wholly unfit for his station. One of his first false steps was to discard his most faithful and able Minister, Hu bert de Burgh. In 1236 Henry married Eleanor of Provence, which increased the dislike which his subjects already felt toward him; for she brought a train of foreigners to the court and encouraged her husband in extravagant courses which forced him to all kinds of oppressive ex actions to raise money. He received frequent grants of money from Parliament, but always on condition of confirming the Great Charter, which had been extorted from King John. Henry at length raised the national discontent to such a pitch that the nobles rose in rebellion under Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leicester, the husband of the king's sister; and in 1258 obliged the king to sign a body of resolutions which threw all the legislative and executive power into the hands of an aristocracy of 24 barons, assisted by a lower house consisting of four knights chosen from each county. By the aid of his son Edward, Henry was gradually re stored to authority; on which Leicester, call ing, in Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, involved the kingdom in a civil war. The power of the barons was by this means partially re stored; but both parties agreed to abide by the award of Louis IX, king of France. This being
favorable to the king, Leicester and the barons refused to submit to it, and a battle was fought near Lewes, in which Henry was taken prisoner and the person of Prince Edward also ulti mately secured. A convention provided for the future settlement of the kin om ; but in the meantime Leicester ruled wit out control. To him, however, was owing the first example of a genuine House of Commons in England ; for in a Parliament summoned by him in 1265, depu ties from boroughs were sent, as well as knights of shires. Prince Edward at length escaped and, assembling an army, defeated Leicester's son. The decisive battle of Evesham (1265) quickly followed, in which Leicester himself was slain. Replaced upon the throne Henry re mained as futile as ever. He died in the 64th year of his age and the 56th of his reign, the longest in English history, except those of George III and Victoria. He was succeeded by his son, Edward I. Consult Davis, 'England Under Normans and Angevins' ; Norgate, 'The Minority of Henry III' ; Stubbs, 'Constitutional History of England' ; Tout's 'History of Eng land, 1216-1397' and 'Lives of Simon de Mont fort.'