HENRY III., OF WINCHESTER. A.D. 1216--1272.
King John left two little sons, Henry and Richard, nine and seven
years old, and all the English barons felt that they would rather
have Henry as their king than the French Louis, whom they had only
called in because John was such a wretch. So when little Henry had
been crowned at Gloucester, with his mother's bracelet, swearing to
rule according to Magna Carta, and good Hubert de Burgh undertook to
govern for him, one baron after another came back to him. Louis was
beaten in a battle at Lincoln; and when his wife sent him more troops,
Hubert de Burgh got ships together and sunk many vessels, and drove
the others back in the Straits of Dover; so that Louis was forced to
go home and leave England in peace.
Henry must have been too young to understand about Magna Carta when
he swore to it, but it was the trouble of all his long reign to get
him to observe it. It was not that he was wicked like his father--
for he was very religious and kind-hearted--but he was too good-
natured, and never could say No to anybody. Bad advisers got about
him when he grew up, and persuaded him to let them take good Hubert
de Burgh and imprison him. He had taken refuge in a church, but they
dragged him out and took him to a blacksmith to have chains put on his
feet; the smith however said he would never forge chains for the man
who had saved his country from the French. De Burgh was afterwards
set free, and died in peace and honor.
Henry was a builder of beautiful churches. Westminster Abbey, as it
is now, was one. And he was so charitable to the poor that, when he
had his children weighed, he gave their weight in gold and silver in
alms. But he gave to everyone who asked, and so always wanted money;
and sometimes his men could get nothing for the king and queen to eat,
but by going and taking sheep and poultry from the poor farmers around;
so that things were nearly as bad as under William Rufus--because the
king was foolishly good-natured. The Pope was always sending for
money, too; and the king tried to raise it in ways that, according to
Magna Carta, he had sworn not to do. His foreign friends told him
that if he minded Magna Carta he would be a poor creature--not like
a king who might do all he pleased; and whenever he listened to them
he broke the laws of Magna Carta. Then, when his barons complained
and frightened him, he swore again to keep them; so that nobody could
trust him, and his weakness was almost as bad for the kingdom as John's
wickedness. When they could bear it no longer, the barons all met him
at the council which was called the Parliament, from a French word
meaning talk. This time they came in armor, bringing all their
fighting men, and declared that he had broken his word so often that
they should appoint some of their own number to watch him, and hinder
his doing anything against the laws he had sworn to observe, or from
getting money from the people without their consent. He was very
angry; but he was in their power, and had to submit to swear that
so it should be; and Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who had
married his sister, was appointed among the lords who were to keep
watch over him. Henry could not bear this; he felt himself to be
less than ever a king, and tried to break loose. He had never cared
for his promises; but his brave son Edward, who was now grown up,
cared a great deal: and they put the question to Louis, King of France,
whether the king was bound by the oath he had made to be under
Montfort and his council. This Louis was son to the one who had been
driven back by Hubert de Burgh. He was one of the best men and kings
that ever lived, and he tried to judge rightly; but he scarcely thought
how much provocation Henry had given, when he said that subjects had
no right to frighten their king, and so that Henry and Edward were
not obliged to keep the oath.
Thereupon they got an army together, and so did Simon de Montfort and
the barons; and they met at a place called Lewes, in Sussex. Edward
got the advantage at first, and galloped away, driving his enemies
before him; but when he turned round and came back, he found that
Simon de Montfort had beaten the rest of the army, and made his father
and uncle Richard prisoners. Indeed, the barons threatened to cut off
Richard's head if Edward went on fighting with them; and to save his
uncle's life, he too, gave himself up to them.
Simon de Montfort now governed all the kingdom. He still called Henry
king, but did not let him do anything, and watched him closely that
he might not get away; and Edward was kept a prisoner--first in one
castle, then in another. Simon was a good and high-minded man
himself, who only wanted to do what was best for everyone; but he had
a family of proud and overbearing sons, who treated all who came in
their way so ill, that most of the barons quarreled with them. One
of these barons sent Edward a beautiful horse; and one day when he
was riding out from Hereford Castle with his keepers, he proposed to
them to ride races, while he was to look on and decide which was the
swiftest. Thus they all tired out their horses, and as soon as he
saw that they could hardly get them along, Edward spurred his own
fresh horse, and galloped off to meet the friends who were waiting
for him. All who were discontented with the Montforts joined him,
and he soon had a large army. He marched against Montfort, and met
him at Evesham. The poor old king was in Montfort's army, and in
the battle was thrown down, and would have been killed if he had not
called out--"Save me, save me, I am Henry of Winchester." His son
heard the call, and, rushing to his side, carried him to a place of
safety. His army was much the strongest, and Montfort had known from
the first that there was no hope for him. "God have mercy on our
souls, for our bodies are Sir Edward's," he had said; and he died
bravely on the field of battle.
Edward brought his father back to reign in all honor, but he took the
whole management of the kingdom, and soon set things in order again--
taking care that Magna Carta should be properly observed. When
everything was peaceful at home, he set out upon a Crusade with the
good King of France, and while he was gone his father died, after a
reign of fifty-six years. There only three English Kings who reigned
more than fifty years, and these are easy to remember, as each was the
third of his name--Henry III., Edward III., and George III. In the
reign of Henry III. the custom of having Parliaments was established,
and the king was prevented from getting money from the people unless
the Parliament granted it. The Parliament has, ever since, been made
up of great lords, who are born to it: and, besides them, of men
chosen by the people in the counties and towns, to speak and decide
for them. The clergy have a meeting of their own called Convocation;
and these three--Clergy, Lords, and Commons--are called the Three
Estates of the Realm.