1207 - Henry III, king of England (1216-72)


Famous Birthdays on this Day in History


Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries know him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready. England prospered during his time in power and his greatest monument is Westminster, which he made the seat of his government and where he expanded the abbey as a holy place to Edward the Confessor.

He assumed the crown under the regency of the popular William Marshal, but the England he inherited had undergone several drastic changes in the reign of his father. He spent much of his reign combating the barons over Magna Carta and the royal rights, and was eventually forced to call the first "parliament" in 1264. He was also ineffective on the Continent, where he endeavoured to re-establish English control over Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine.

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