1219 William Marshall regent of 11 years old Henry III. King John had lost most French lands. Marshall dying.
Next 150 years – parliament born and English national identity established. New English empire.
Plantagenet ancestral homelands lost. Choice between England and France.
Henry III pious. 1245 building improvements to Westminster Abbey in French style dedicated to Edward the Confessor (only English king to be canonised). Dynastic ambition – Abbey as site of future coronations and burials. Expensive.
Pope invited Henry to buy Sicily – 3 times his annual income. Defaulting on a payment meant excommunication.
Backfired = pitted the royal family against the English barons.
Henry III filled the court with relatives from parts of France – hostile barons and national feeling.
April 1258 barons confronted the king and demanded the removal of French relatives.
Reforming legislation = committee of 24 ‘provisions of Oxford’, shared power with barons. Limitations of royal power – parliament.
King lost touch with people.
Continue reading “My Notes from Episode 2 of ‘The Plantagenets’ Shown on BBC 24.03.2014” →