ENRICO III, king of ENGLAND. - B. at Winchester on 1 Oct. 1207, d. on 16 Nov. 1272. As early as 1216, upon the death of his father, Giovanni Senza Terra, he came under a regency, under the guardianship of the count of Pembroke and the bishop of Winchester. From the outset E. supported papal policy in the violent political-ecclesiastical struggles of the thirteenth century.
His disorderly and partisan administration made him hated and led, in 1231, to the intervention of Archbishop Edmondo Rich of Canterbury. At E.'s request, the papal legate Ottone di S. Niccolò issued decrees of reform at the Synods of London (1237 to 1239) and Oxford (1241). Bishops and nobles wrested from the king new liberties and a more careful observance of the Magna Chorta. Hostility with the barons, despotism, and weakness made him increasingly unpopular toward the end of his reign.