The first biography of one of the wealthiest and most influential bishops of medieval Europe.

'Henry III is generally classed among the weakest and most incompetent of England's medieval kings. Darren Baker tells a different story.'- Michael Clanchy, author of England and Its Rulers, 1066–1307 'A personal and detailed narrative...bring[s] alive the glamour and personalities of thirteenth-century England.'- Huw Ridgeway, author of 'Henry III', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 'Enterprising, original and engaging.' - David Carpenter, author of The Reign of King Henry III Henry III (1207–72) reigned for 56 years, the longest-serving English monarch until the modern era. Although knighted by William Marshal, he was no warrior king like his uncle Richard the Lionheart. He preferred to feed the poor to making war and would rather spend time with his wife and children than dally with mistresses and lord over roundtables. He sought to replace the dull projection of power imported by his Norman predecessors with a more humane and open-hearted monarchy. But his ambition led him to embark on bold foreign policy initiatives to win back the lands and prestige lost by his father King John. This set him at odds with his increasingly insular barons and clergy, now emboldened by the protections of Magna Carta. In one of the great political duels of history, Henry struggled to retain the power and authority of the crown against radical reformers like Simon de Montfort. He emerged victorious, but at a cost both to the kingdom and his reputation among historians. Yet his long rule also saw extraordinary advancements in politics and the arts, from the rise of the parliamentary state and universities to the great cathedrals of the land, including Henry's own enduring achievement, Westminster Abbey.

The extraordinary life story of an ambitious, thirteenth-century adventurer.

An exploration of how power and political society were imagined, represented and reflected on in medieval English art

An examination of the complex network of relationships and identity between England, Scotland and France in the thirteenth century.

The Plantagenets reigned over England longer than any other family—from Henry II to Richard III. Four kings were murdered, two came close to being deposed, and the last—and most notorious, Richard III— was killed in a battle by rebels. Shakespeare wrote plays about six of them, further entrenching them in the national myth.Based on major contemporary sources and recent research, acclaimed historian Desmond Seward provides the first readable overview of the whole extraordinary dynasty, in one volume.

"England of the Plantagenet kings was a turbulent place. In politics it saw Simon de Montfort's challenge to the crown in Henry III's reign and it witnessed the deposition of Edward II. By contrast, and as relief, it also experienced the highly successful rules of Edward I and his grandson, Edward III. Political institutions were transformed with the development of parliament, and war, the stimulus for some of that change, was never far away. Wales was conquered and the Scottish Wars of Independence started in Edward I's reign, while Crecy and Poitiers were English triumphs under Edward III." "Beyond politics, the structure of English society was developing, from the great magnates at the top to the peasantry at the bottom. Economic changes were also significant, from the expansionary period of the thirteenth century to years of difficulty in the fourteenth, culminating in the greatest demographic disaster of historical times, the Black Death." "Embracing politics and government, kingship, the structure of society, France, Scotland, and Wales, as well as areas such as the environment, the management of the land, crime and punishment, Michael Prestwich's survey casts the Plantagenet past in a new and revealing light."--BOOK JACKET.