Henry iii was the longest reigning king of medieval England (1216–72), witnessing two major political upheavals that bookended his rule. The First Barons' War, in which the nobility of England sought to install a rival candidate for the throne after King John's rejection of Magna Carta, was won with the aid of his regent, William Marshal (1147/8–1219). The political and economic impact of the crisis was significant and much of his rule was focused upon restoring consensus between king and nobles. Later, in the 1250s and 1260s, Henry would again face baronial discontent, led by Simon de Montfort (1208–65). Montfort and his confederates wrested power from Henry's grasp and sought to impose a programme of reform on the kingdom. Whilst Montfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham (1265), Henry never fully regained his power, and the reins of government were increasingly held by his heir, the eventual king, Edward i (1239–1307).

Against the personalities of King John, William Marshal, Simon de Montfort and Edward i, Henry has often been perceived as cutting a rather diminutive figure. As such, a comprehensive biography of Henry has, until now, been lacking. Instead, his contemporaries, who offer more controversial or exciting subjects, have received multiple biographical works. David Carpenter's The rise to power and personal rule is the first of two volumes, and provides the first effort to remedy this lacuna in the scholarship of thirteenth-century England. The second volume will cover the last years of Henry's reign (1258–72) in which Simon de Montfort took the reins of power. Splitting his work into two volumes allows Carpenter to study Henry on his own terms, granting the space to construct a comprehensive narrative of Henry's reign for the first time in modern scholarship.

The book offers a judicious and reasoned study of Henry iii. It is a study rooted in the source material of the reign, a corpus with which Carpenter, a leading scholar of Henry iii since the 1980s, is more than familiar. Moreover, the book stands on the shoulders of his already sizeable contribution to the scholarship of thirteenth-century England and Henry himself. Rather than presenting a new interpretation, the book draws together the image of Henry that Carpenter has presented throughout his career into a magisterial, cohesive whole. Indeed, at the heart of the work are two thematic chapters on which Carpenter has published before and which capture the essence of his presentation of Henry: ‘The piety of Henry iii’ (pp. 273–348) and ‘The court of Henry iii’ (pp. 349–413). In these chapters, Carpenter presents the king as a rex pacificus, dedicated to appeasing his barons, upholding Magna Carta and forging a lasting domestic peace. Perhaps the most evocative image of Henry's kingship offered is that of the Solomonic imagery surrounding his throne in Westminster's great hall and around his bed. The references to Solomon were, Carpenter states, supposed to imbue Henry's rule with the air of divinely inspired wisdom and good judgement, which the Old Testament king evoked (pp. 365–71). Carpenter utilises the records from the king's wardrobe accounts and liberate rolls to demonstrate Henry's mastery of the panoplies of kingship. His palaces, homes and acts of piety all worked together to present an image of an English aristocracy working in consensus with a wise, just and godly king. These characteristics are rightly judged by Carpenter alongside Henry's faults, and the weaknesses in his rule that led to the Second Barons' War. Behind the veneer of wise and consensual rulership conjured by the images of Solomon, lay a king who was capable of severe lapses in judgement. From the outset, Carpenter demonstrates how Henry was guided by men who, whether through flattery, kinship or political manoeuvring, sought to use their influence for their own gain.

This work constructs a narrative in which Henry is portrayed as one of the great ‘architect’ kings of history, not only in terms of his magnificent projects at Westminster, but in terms of the magnificence of kingship. Yet, it also depicts him as a naïve and, at times, impulsive ruler who lacked the ruthlessness and the personal aura needed to maintain his grasp on the turbulent and rapidly evolving kingdom that England was throughout the thirteenth century. Perhaps the greatest value of this book is that it does not present a ‘last word’ on Henry, as other royal biographies have sought to do. Rather, Carpenter has created a valuable resource for those who wish to advance the scholarship of the period, illuminating new avenues in the study of kingship and thirteenth-century England, through his enduring passion for the topic and considerable expertise. It stands as the most significant modern addition to scholarship on Henry iii and to the broader corpus of royal biographies, which will surely inspire others to explore his reign.