Synopses & Reviews
Although Henry III ruled England for fifty-six years, surprisingly little is known about him. The first profile of Henry III in forty years, this book presents a radically new interpretation of his reign to 1245, revealing how the crippling effects of the king's long minority and the failure of his administrators' attempts to surmount these difficulties set the stage for the 1258 baronial revolt. Integrating political, diplomatic, economic, and social history, the book offers fresh insight into the world of medieval royal policy and finance.
Review
"Stacey's mastery of administrative records enables him to replace Maurice Powicke's venerable but too Whiggish version of Henry III's reign in the years before the baronial rebellion. Stacey's construction of a coherent account based on incomplete financial records and terse royal letters is admirable. Although historians have long been rewriting the history of the Normans and early Angevin kings, basing their work on nonnarrative sources, Stacey must be hailed as a pioneer in applying this method to Henry III."--American Historical Review
"The first in-depth study of the 1230s and 1240s....Stacey has for the first time opened up a relatively obscure era in English history, and with it, questions about the whole course of politics in the thirteenth century. It is a notable achievement."--Albion
Table of Contents
List of Tables List of Abbreviations 1. The Inheritance of the Minority, 1216-1236 2. The Management of the Shire and Manorial Farms 3. Conciliar Personnel and Policy 4. The King, the Council, and the Jews, 1239-1242 5. Diplomacy, War, and Finance: The Campaign for Poitou 6. Receipts and Expenditure, 1240-1245 7. Crown Finance and the Grievances of the Realm Bibliography; Index