Henry lll: Reform, Rebellion, Civil War, Settlement (1258–1272)
David Carpenter
(Yale, £30)
HENRY III died in his palace at Westminster on November 16, 1272. Four days later, he was buried in the next-door Benedictine abbey, gloriously rebuilt under his patronage and consecrated as recently as 1269. Henry’s body, dressed in coronation robes, was initially laid to rest in the ancient tomb of St Edward the Confessor, situated before the high altar and the sanctuary’s magnificent Cosmati pavement, where Charles III was crowned on May 6 this year.
This volume completes a truly magisterial account of the longest reign of the Middle Ages
As David Carpenter tells us, Henry had doubtless instructed that he was to be buried in the robes, as he had never forgotten the significance of the great ceremony at the start of his reign. Unlike our new King, for Henry, the unique status conferred by the coronation set him apart from—and
