Simon de Montfort's combination of charisma, determination and fearlessness made him one of the greatest men of his age. This biography follows his life from his upbringing in France until his death at the hands of the future Edward I. The pivotal year was 1264, when Montfort captured Henry III in battle, established a constitutional monarchy and revolutionized the representation of Parliament, the future Commons. Montfort recognized and cultivated a new awakening in national identity and political awareness not seen since before the Norman Conquest two centuries earlier. Henry's reign of 56...

Eleanor of Provence was born in the province of her name in 1223. She has come to England at the age of twelve to marry the king, Henry III. He's sixteen years older, but was a boy when he ascended the throne. He's a kind, sensitive sort whose only personal attachments to women so far have been to his three sisters. The youngest of them is called Eleanor too. She was only nine when, for political reasons, her first marriage took place, but she's already a chaste twenty-year old widow when the new queen arrives in 1236. In a short time, this Eleanor will marry the rising star of her...

Henry III (1207-72) reigned for 56 years, the longest-serving English monarch until the modern era. Admired for his building projects like Westminster Abbey, he is nevertheless dismissed by scholars as weak and inept, at least compared to his father King John and son Edward I. This biography changes that perception and shows that he was in fact a more than capable ruler. Crowned as a boy, scarred by civil war, he strove to be the good king implored of him by William Marshal, but his increasingly insular barons and clergy, emboldened by Magna Carta, constantly thwarted his plans to make...