As start with our first Plantagenet king, Henry III, I found that there was not much going on with his political life, primarily because he was crowned as a nine-year-old and effectively had people around him (the barons, his wife, his relatives) controlling his life most of the time.
However, we did find the first nine minutes of the following documentary to be a very useful summary of the events surrounding the circumstances of his life:
Even though Henry III did not achieve much in terms of political life (hence not very exciting by medieval standard in Tiger's eyes), his crowning glory came in terms of building the most politically-important religious building in England, Wetsminster Abbey:
It is unusual for us to find the life of a monarch to be uninteresting, but we honestly did not find Henry III's to be memorable. This is especially so since Tiger has a special interest in warfare, and Henry III is not known for his warrior skills. His son, however, is much more of a warrior king and thus captures Tiger's imagination more readily.
I read Our Island Story with my daughter about four years ago. It was an excellent read, but I think we went through it too fast. I remember a lot of general information, but think the book will need revisiting at a later date. I like they way you look up additional information to correspond with each chapter. I think that helps the memory tremendously.
ReplyDeleteWe like Our Island Story too. And we're also about to return to England in our history studies, so thank you for the reminder to dig out our copy!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Henry III built Westminster Abbey - thank you for educating me on that!
Our Island Story is probably the most accessible book for the children on the chronology of the English monarchy. It can be a fast read, but as I like to learn more about each monarch and the events about their lives, I tend to find other supporting resources to go with the chapters.
ReplyDeleteJulie - Don't worry about going through the book too quickly. I think going as slowly as we do is probably more relevant to those of us who are living in England. I don't expect we will go into the same extent of details if and when we study the American presidents. :-)
Awww, poor John. Now I'm curious if I could find a copy over here in the states, it sounds like a good book to have around.
ReplyDeleteHello! Good to have you back! I love all the resources you've got picked out (it'll save me lots of work when we cover the kings and queens in greater detail!!)
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