Married Eleanor (1223 - 1291), daughter of Raymond Berenger, count of Provence on 14th January 1236. The couple had many children. Henry was followed as king by his son Edward, who ruled as Edward I.

Henry III is often regarded as a weak king, but his reign did see a lot of building and the restoration of churches, castles and other religious houses in the Gothic form of architecture.  Pointed arches, lancet windows, and flying buttresses are typical of this style and good examples can be seen at the Houses of Parliament and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. 

Many of the country's great historic castles date in their existing form from this period including Westminster Abbey and parts of Windsor Castle. The majority of English cathedrals were remodelled and Salisbury cathedral was built. 

During Henry's long reign Franciscan and Dominican friars set up establishments in England which encouraged university teaching in Oxford and Cambridge. Progress was made in art and literature.

Toward the end of Henry's reign he got on better with the barons and encouraged a council of peers, which his son Edward I would build upon.

Henry angered the barons in much the same way that his father John had. Although he came to the throne in very difficult circumstances, the country was very stable by 1227.  Henry's actions returned it to civil war. 

After his marriage to Eleanor, the King filled his court and other important positions with people from abroad, such as Italy or France, rather than the English nobles. The barons felt that they weren't being included. Worse still, taxation was extremely high because of the need to fund Henry's battle campaigns.

Many of these were unsuccessful. In 1259, Henry signed the Treaty of Paris with Louis IX of France in which he gave up Normandy, Maine and Anjou. There was a futher unsuccessful campaign in Sicily, where Henry tried to put forward his younger son Edmund as King. The barons' patience finally wore out and they demanded concessions from the King in addition to the 1215 Magna Carta. After a gathering at Oxford, the King was forced to sign the Provisions of Oxford in 1258, in which he recognised the barons' rights to select one half of the King' Council. Two years later, Henry overturned the Provisions, and civil war broke out. 

The Barons were led by Simon de Montfort and captured Henry and his son (the future Edward I), forcing Henry to call a parliament in which he agreed to the barons' demands.  However, Edward escaped and led an army himself, defeating de Montfort and his supporters. Henry then overturned all the acts he had previously granted and continued to rule as he previously had done. 

It is worth remembering that Simon de Montfort did not enjoy full support from the barons. Indeed, many of the barons sided with the King and de Montfort was forced to appeal to the knights of the shires and burgesses.

Henry III actually had two coronations.  At the beginning of his reign, due to the difficult position of the country on his accession, he had been forced into a makeshift ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral in October 1216. There, instead of the crown jewels, he was crowned with his mother's bracelet.  Later, in May 1220, Henry was crowned again, this time in Westminster Abbey. Even then, he was only 12 years old!

One of the most famous characters in British history dates from the period, Simon de Montfort. He has often been called the father of the English parliament. This was because, in 1265, he is supposed to have held the first 'Parliament' by attempting to call together all the barons to discuss matters relating to the Kings actions in overturning the Provisions of Oxford and effectively rejecting Magna Carta. 

Not only that however, by inviting the knights and representatives of the shires and the burgesses in the hope of getting further support, he was also appealing to the commoners and a more national base. This, some argue, was the first time that such a wide-ranging national representation had been witnessed. In 1265, Simon de Montfort was killed at the battle of Evesham by Prince Edward, Henry III's son.