The 1259 Pipe Roll
The 1259 pipe roll is certainly a vast and unwieldy manuscript roll, taking 23 rotulets and over 200,000 words to set out the accounts of 24 counties or pairs of counties.
Henry III and the Communication of Power
This lecture considers how Henry used art to justify monarchy at the dawn of what is commonly termed the parliamentary state.
Simon de Montfort and King Henry III: The First Revolution in English History, 1258–1265
The reign of Henry III (1216–1272) was pivotal in English political history. It saw the entrenchment of Magna Carta, the growth of parliament and the widening of political society, as well as England’s first revolution (1258–1265), led by Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester.
Marie de Coucy, Queen of Scots
Susan Abernethy brings us the story of Alexander II of Scotland’s French Queen, Marie de Coucy.
Exhibit: Magna Carta Through the Ages at the Society of Antiquaries of London
If you’re passing through London and want something to do that is very quick, free, and historical, check out this great little Magna Carta exhibit at Burlington House hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Magna Carta Conference Offers New Insights Into The 800-year-old Document
Magna Carta just celebrated its 800th birthday this past Monday. In honour of this incredible milestone, King’s College London, and the Magna Carta Project, hosted a 3 day conference dedicated to this historic document.
Henry III and Magna Carta 1225
Now at the end of 1215 you would have thought this charter was a failure, without a future. Why is that?
KZOO 2015: Session #42 – Magna Carta in Context
This coming week I’ll be featuring summaries on some of my favourites sessions and papers from #KZOO2015. I kicked off my first session on Thursday with the Magna Carta.
CONFERENCES: Arnold Fitz Thedmar: an Early London chronicler
Another fascinating paper given at the Institute for Historical Research in central London. For those of you interested in chronicles, urban history and London, this paper was definitely for you. Ian Stone discussed his dissertation about thirteenth century London through the eyes of wealthy Alderman, Arnold Fitz Thedmar.
The Great Parliament of 1265: Medieval origins of modern democracy
On the eve of the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta – the charter recognised as laying the foundations of England’s modern democracy – new research by a medieval historian from the University of Lincoln, reminds us that 2015 also marks 750 years since the earliest forerunner of a modern parliament was held.
Mapping the Medieval Countryside
My summary of a Institute of Historical Research session on the digitization of records in Late Medieval England.
Like Father Like Son? Henry III’s Tomb at Westminster Abbey as a Case Study in Late Thirteenth-Century English Kingship
Who was this king, and who made this grand monument to him? An inscription around the edge of the upper tomb chest identifies its occupant as Henry III, the English king who died in 1272 after a reign of fifty-six years.
Power relations in the royal forests of England patronage : privilege and legitimacy in the reigns of Henry III and Edward I
The England of the Plantagenets (1189–1377) which honed the royal forest system was a typically medieval land. Its ultimate foundations lay upon the long established notion of the three estates: those who fought, those who prayed, and those who worked.
What to See in Westminster Abbey
A review and tour of Westminster Abbey
The Montfortian bishops and the justification of conciliar government in 1264
In 1266, five English bishops were suspended from office for supporting Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, in rebellion against King Henry III.
A Captive King: Henry III between the battles of Lewes and Evesham, 1264-5
For a period of fifteen months, between the crushing defeat of the royal army at Lewes on 14 May 1264, and Montfort’s brutal murder at Evesham on 4 August 1265, Henry III lost control of his seal, his household and his kingdom as he was forced to accept the appointment of new officials at the centre and periphery of government.
Matthew Paris and the Royal Christmas: Ritualised Communication in Text and Practice
In the Chronica majora, and its abbreviations, Paris opened each year with a description of how and where the king held Christmas.
Henry Ill’s Plans for a German Marriage (1225) and their Context
In this paper I would like to investigate how these and other factors influenced the two major marriage projects pursued by Henry III in 1225: the king himself was to marry a daughter of the duke of Austria, and his sister Isabella the son and heir of Emperor Frederick I, Henry (VII).
Matthew Paris and Henry III’s elephant
Matthew Paris’s drawings of Henry III’s elephant are well-known, and popular accounts of the Tower of London often mention the elephant’s brief residence there.
English government bought “many millions” of crossbow bolts during the 13th century, historian finds
A new study about the medieval military industry shows that the English Royal government was making and purchasing as much as hundreds of thousands of crossbow bolts each year, revealing how important this weapon was to the medieval armies of England.
The First of Century of Magna Carta: Three Crises
The First of Century of Magna Carta: Three Crises Ralph Turner (Florida State University, Department of History – Emeritus) Paper given at Presbyterian…
Chaucer’s Arthuriana
The majority of medieval scholars, including Roger Sherman Loomis, argue that the popularity of the Arthurian legend in England was therefore on the wane in the latter half of the fourteenth century; as a result, the major writers of the period, such as John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer, refrained from penning anything beyond the occasional reference to King Arthur and his court.
Innocent III and England
This paper begins with the dispute between England and the papacy over an election to the see of Canterbury. The beginning of the quarrel, seemed simple enough: King John’s refusal to accept Stephen Langton as archibishop of Canterbury.
“Engineers of the Angevin Empire (1154-1242)”
This paper was also featured in SESSION III: The Medieval Experience of Siege at the Haskins conference. It explained the importance and contributions of Angevin engineers during the twelfth century.
A Historiography of Chastity in the Marriage of Edith of Wessex and Edward the Confessor
While records of Edith’s life and her marriage to Edward are poor, the historiography of those who narrated her life after her death is rich. In some ways, the historiography of her life was directly related to that of her husband’s.