HENRY III. 1216-72.
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WARS The war with the Barons supporting Louis of France continued. At the Fair of Lincoln, 1217, the Earl of Pembroke won a decisive victory over the party of the French and the Barons. Hubert de Burgh defeated their fleet near Sandwich in the same year.
In 1264 De Montfort and De Clare defeated Henry, his brother Richard, and his son Edward at Lewes, establishing the temporary supremacy of the baronial party. In 1265 Edward, the Mortimers, and the De Clares defeated De Montfort and the Welsh at Evesham, killing De Montfort, and restoring the royal power. The reduction of Kenilworth and Winchelsea, 1266, of Ely, 1267, and the defeat of the Earl of Derby by Edmund, the king's son at Chesterfield in 1266, concluded the war.
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Archbishop - Stephen Langton d. 1228; Richard le Grand, 1229 - 1231; Edmund Rich, 1234 - 1240; Boniface of Savoy, uncle to the queen, 1245 - 1270.
Justiciars. - Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent 1216 - 1232; Stephen Segrave,
1232 - 1234; Hugh Bigod, 1258 - 1260; Hugh le Despencer, 1260, of the patty of the Barons; Philip Bassett 1261,
of the party of the king. Hugh le Despenter seems to have been re-appointed as Justiciar after Lewes, but in 1265
De Montfort was Justiciar himself. He was perhaps the last to bear the style of Justiciarius Angliae. In 1268 Robert
de Bruce was appointed Capitalis Justiciarius ad placaita coram rege tenenda, or, as we should say, Chief Justice
of the King's Bench. The great ministerial position of the Justiciar here formally ends.
Chancellors - Richard De Marisco, Bishop of Durham, 1216 -1226; Ralph
Neville 1226 - 1244; Walter de Merton, Bishop of Rochester, 1261; Nicholas de Ely, afterwards Bishop of Winchester
and Worcester ; 1263 ; Thomas of Cantilupe, afterwards Bishop of Hereford, 1265, of the party of the barons; Walter
Giffard, Bishop of Bath and Wells, afterwards Archbishop of York, 1265; Godfrey Giffard, afterwards Bishop of Worcester,
1267; Richard Middleton, 1269 - 1272. In the middle period of Henry's reign he ruled without the usual ministerial
machinery.
In 1258 the Barons at Oxford imposed upon the king a complicated series of ministerial councils for the management
of the different branches of public business but the arrangements were not permanent, and were probably unworkable.
In 1264, after the battle of Lewes, the baronage nominated three Elector; who were on their part to nominate nine
ministers, who were to advise the king and his son for some years of his reign. The three Electors were Simon de
Montfort. Earl of Leicester, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and Stephen Berkstesd, Bishop of Chichester.
Successors to the Electors were to be appointed by the king prelates and barons in Parliament; vacancies among
the ministers were to be filled up by the Electors. The scheme never had time to work, but is interesting as anticipating
in some respects modern ministerial government The three Electors answer practically to the modern Premier, the
nine ministers to the rest of the Cabinet
ACTS AND DOCUMENTS
In 1216 the Charter was re-issued with alterations,
especially the claim. forbidding the levying of scutage or aid without consent except the three accustomed feudal
aids, was omitted. This form of the Charter is printed in Stubbs, Select Charters. The Charter was again re-issued
with alterations in 1217, and this edition is printed also in Stuble, Select Charters. The original idea of the
Charter, a treaty between king and people, is lost sight of, owing to the adherence of many of the original supporters
of the Charter to Louis of France and the Charter in these issues is an act of grace on the part of those governing
in the king's name, resting on an agreement with Louis of France if on any, not on any pact with the church and
barons. This especially appears in the third re-issue in 1225, which is declared by the king to be spontanea et
bona voluntate nostra in return for the grant of a fifteenth for the war in Gaseony. In 1217 a treaty was concluded
for the evacuation of the country by Louis of France, including clauses for the maintenance of the provisions of
the Charter and for the future restitution of the lost French provinces.
In 1243 the truce with France, entered upon after the disasters at Taillebourg and Saintes in the preceding year,
was confirmed.
In 1258 the Provisions of Oxford, for the reform of the government and for the establishment
of ministerial committees with that end, were made.
In 1264 the award of St. Louis in the contest between the king and the barons was made. It provided for the annulling
of the Provisions of Oxford, but for the keeping of the charters. It was fond impossible to enforce it.
In 1264 the Mise of Lewes was made after the defeat of the king. The text is not preserved,
but an agreement for a reform of the constitution made in Parliament is printed, as Forma regiminis domini regis
et regni .
In 1266 the award of Kenilworth was made, to settle the terms of peace and to provide for the future government..
In 1267 Statutes were passed at Marlborough with the same object
Throughout the reign instances occur of the summons of the knights of the shire to Parliament. The writs are, some of them, printed in Stubbs, Select Charters, as also the writs issued under the government of De Montfort to the cities and boroughs to send representatives to Parliament in 1265.
