Hello everyone and welcome back to the History of England episode 64, the personal rule

of Henry III, Part I. Our story has brought us to 1234 and the personal rule of Henry III.

Up to now, Henry's been working with or even dominated by powerful experienced men like

Peter de Roche and Hubert de Bœur, men who were to a degree a product of the old Angevin regime.

Okay, so Henry had clearly booed in 1232 to 4 when he'd allowed himself to make a rash decision

over Peter de Roche, but he'd cooked, carved and eaten the humble pie, listened to his

counsellors and the archbishop of Canterbury and tried to put things right. Now that he'd dispensed

with the old regime, he could prove his metal during a period of personal rule.

This is the second phase then of Henry's long reign, the period of personal rule that takes us

from 1234 to 1258. Henry gets a very poor press from history, but he would never really made it to

the big league of villains because there are many good aspects of these years, and because you

can't help but feel that Henry's barons are no more dressed in long white robes, white feathery

wings and halos, than Henry was. Henry's personal rule will be ended by what we might describe as the

first radical political movement in English history, the first sign of genuine social radicalism,

led by the most and I mean the most, unlike the leader of social radicalism.

For lovers of constitutional history, Henry's reign is fundamental in the development of Parliament.

So now that we've got a king who seems genuinely in control at the ground old age 27,

what kind of a bloke is Henry? What becomes clear quite early on is that Henry is a very different

beast to his father. Physically he was portrayed as medium height, probably similar to his father's

five foot six. He had a strong build and a drooping eyelid that hid part of his people.

The experience of his youth and the uncertainty of his regency and civil war appears to have

marked him. He never felt secure and spent most of his reign trying to keep the peace at home.

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