The Regime of Peter Des Roches 1232–1234

This chapter evaluates the regime of Peter des Roches. As Henry III journeyed back from Painscastle to Windsor and Westminster, he was about to enter the most traumatic political period of his life, barring the later years of reform, rebellion, and civil war. Henry would be pulled one way and another by the struggle for power between Hubert de Burgh and Peter des Roches. With de Burgh gone, he would be driven by Bishop Peter into a series of lawless acts and an unsuccessful war against Richard Marshal. In the end, he would be reined in by a great council and forced to admit his faults. The principles of Magna Carta would be vindicated and the difficulty of returning to anything like the rule of King John exposed.