Simon V de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_de_Montfort,_6th_Earl_of_Leicester

Montfort was a younger son of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, a French nobleman and crusader, and Alix de Montmorency. His paternal grandmother was Amicia de Beaumont, the senior co-heiress to the Earldom of Leicester and a large estate owned by her brother Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester, in England.

As a boy, Montfort accompanied his parents during his father's campaigns against the Cathars. He was with his mother at the Siege of Toulouse in 1218, where his father died after being struck on the head by a stone pitched by a mangonel. As a young man, Montfort probably took part in the Albigensian Crusades of the early 1220s.

Simon arrived in England in 1229, with some education but no knowledge of English, and received a sympathetic hearing from King Henry, who was well-disposed towards foreigners speaking French, then the language of the English court. Montfort successfully petitioned for the English inheritance, which he received the next year, although he did not take full possession for several years, and did not win formal recognition as Earl of Leicester until February 1239.

Simon tried to get Joan, Countess of Flanders to marry him. The idea of an alliance between the rich County of Flanders and a close associate of Henry III of England did not sit well with the French crown.

In January 1238, Montfort married Eleanor of England, daughter of King John and Isabella of Angoulême and sister of King Henry III. While this marriage took place with the King's approval, the act itself was performed secretly and without consulting the great barons, as a marriage of such importance warranted. Eleanor had previously been married to William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and she swore a vow of perpetual chastity upon his death.

Eleanor broke this vow by marrying Montfort. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Rich, condemned the marriage for this reason. The English nobles protested the marriage of the King's sister to a foreigner of modest rank. Most notably, the King's and Eleanor's brother Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, rose up in revolt when he learned of the marriage. King Henry eventually bought off Richard with 6,000 marks and peace was restored.

Relations between King Henry and Montfort were cordial at first. Henry lent him his support when Montfort embarked for Rome in March 1238 to seek papal approval for his marriage. When Simon and Eleanor's first son was born in November 1238 (despite rumors, more than nine months after the wedding), he was baptized Henry in honor of his royal uncle.

There was a falling out between the brothers-in-law. Simon owed a great sum of money to Thomas II of Savoy, uncle of Queen Eleanor, and named King Henry as security for his repayment. The King evidently had not approved this, and was enraged when he discovered that Montfort had used his name. On 9 August 1239, Henry is reported to have confronted Montfort, called him an excommunicant and threatened to imprison him in the Tower of London. "You seduced my sister", King Henry said, "and when I discovered this, I gave her to you, against my will, to avoid scandal." Simon and Eleanor fled to France to escape Henry's wrath.

Having announced his intention to go on crusade two years before, Simon raised funds and traveled to the Holy Land during the Barons' Crusade, but does not seem to have faced combat there.

Like his father, Simon was a soldier as well as a capable administrator. He retired to France in 1252. The nobles of France offered him the Regency of the kingdom, vacated by the death of Queen Blanche of Castile. The earl preferred to make his peace with Henry III, which he did in 1253. Their reconciliation was a hollow one. In the Parliament of 1254, Simon led the opposition in resisting a royal demand for a subsidy. Montfort left the country.

He returned to England in 1263, at the invitation of the barons who were now convinced of the King's hostility to all reform and raised a rebellion. Montfort agreed to allow Louis IX of France to arbitrate their dispute. Simon was prevented from presenting his case to Louis directly on account of a broken leg.

Civil war broke out almost immediately, with the royalists again able to confine the reformist army in London. In early May 1264, Simon marched out to give battle to the King and scored a spectacular triumph at the Battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264, capturing the King, Lord Edward, and Richard of Cornwall, Henry's brother and the titular King of Germany. Montfort used his victory to set up a government based on the provisions first established at Oxford in 1258. Henry retained the title and authority of King, but all decisions and approval now rested with his council, led by Montfort and subject to consultation with parliament.

Resentful of Simon's fame and growing power, the Welsh Marcher Lords who were friends and allies of Prince Edward, along with Gilbert de Clare, the Earl of Gloucester joined forces and attacked Montfort at Evesham.

On 4 August 1265 Montfort led his army in a desperate uphill charge against superior forces. His son Henry was killed. A twelve-man squad of Prince Edward's men stalked the battlefield independent of Edward's main army, their sole aim being to find the earl and cut him down. Montfort was hemmed in, and Roger Mortimer killed him by stabbing him in the neck with a lance. His body was mutilated in an unparalleled frenzy by the royalists. News reached the mayor and sheriffs of London that "the head of the earl of Leicester ... was severed from his body, and his testicles cut off and hung on either side of his nose" His hands and feet were also cut off and sent to diverse places to enemies of his as a great mark of dishonor to the deceased.

Such remains as could be found were buried under the altar of Evesham Abbey by the canons. It was visited as holy ground by many commoners until King Henry caught wind of it. He declared that Montfort deserved no spot on holy ground and had his remains reburied under an insignificant tree.

In the years that followed his death, Simon de Montfort's grave was frequently visited by pilgrims. Today, Montfort is mostly remembered as one of the fathers of representative government.

Simon de Montfort and Eleanor of Leicester had seven children, many of whom were notable in their own right:

Henry de Montfort (November 1238-1265)

Simon the Younger de Montfort (April 1240-1271)

Amaury de Montfort, Canon of York (1242/1243-1300)

Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244-1288). Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of Edward IV of England, was one of Guy's descendants through his daughter, Anastasia de Montfort, Countess of Nola.

Joanna de Montfort (born and died in Bordeaux between 1248 and 1251).

Richard de Montfort (d.1266). Date of death is not certain.

Eleanor de Montfort (1252-1282). She married Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, honouring an agreement that had been made between Earl Simon and Llywelyn. Eleanor, Lady of Wales, died on 19 June 1282 at the royal Welsh home at Abergwyngregyn, on the north coast of Gwynedd, giving birth to a daughter, Gwenllian of Wales. After Llywelyn's death on 11 December 1282, Gwenllian was captured by King Edward I and spent the rest of her life in a convent.

Simon de Montfort shared various levels of blood lines and "by-marriage" connections with both English and French royal lineages. For instance, his ancestor Simon I de Montfort was father of Bertrade de Montfort who herself was a paternal great-grandmother of King Henry II. He was also descended from William the Conqueror through one of the numerous progeny of Henry I.



Buried:
Grave location, marker and statue:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=92166456

Simon married Eleanor of England. Eleanor (daughter of John I Plantagenet, King of England and Isabel d'Angoulême, Countess of Angoulême) was born 1215, Gloucester, Gloucershire, England; died 13 Apr 1275, Montargis, Loiret, Centre, France; was buried , Montargis Abbey, Loiret, Centre, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Montfort,_Count_of_Nola

The son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England, daughter of King John of England and Isabele de Angoulême, he participated in the Battle of Evesham against the royalist forces of his uncle, King Henry III of England, and his cousin, Prince Edward. Both his father and elder brother were traumatically killed during the disastrous battle, Guy de Montfort was extremely wounded and captured.

He was held at Windsor Castle until spring 1266, when he bribed his captors and escaped to France to rejoin his exiled family. Guy and his brother, Simon the younger, wandered across Europe for several years, eventually making their way to Italy.

Guy took service with Charles of Anjou, serving as his Vicar-General in Tuscany. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Tagliacozzo and was given Nola and the title of Count by Charles of Anjou.

Guy murdered his cousin Henry of Almain while he clutched the altar at the church of San Silvestro in Viterbo, begging for mercy. "You had no mercy for my father and brothers," was Guy's reply. This murder was carried out in the presence of the Cardinals (who were conducting a papal Election), of King Philip III of France, and of King Charles of Sicily. For this crime the Montfort brothers were excommunicated, and Dante banished Guy to the river of boiling blood in the seventh circle of his Inferno (Canto XII).

Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi and Cardinal Giovanni Orsini were still in Rome and had been ordered to find a secure place of imprisonment in the territories of the Church for Guy de Montfort. Guy was stripped of his titles and took service with Charles of Anjou again, but was captured off the coast of Sicily in 1287 by the Aragonese at the Battle of the Counts. He died in a Sicilian prison.

In Tuscany, he married an Italian noblewoman, Margherita Aldobrandesca, the Lady of Sovana, heiress of a branch of the Aldobrandeschi family, whose lands stretched from the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea to the borders of Acquapendente. With her he had two daughters: Anastasia, who married Romano Orsini, and Tomasina, who married Pietro di Vico.

Among his direct descendants through his daughter, Anastasia are late 15th century Kings of Naples, England's Queen-Consort Elizabeth Woodville, 16th century rulers of Poland, Dukes of Ferrera, and Dukes of Guise.

Guy married Margherita Aldobrandeschi, Countess of Sovana and Pitigliano. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_de_Montfort

She was eldest daughter of Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, himself the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and was an Italian noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. She held the title suo jure Countess of Nola after her father's death in 1291. She also held the titles of Dame de Chailly and Dame de Longjumeau in her own right.

Her father fled England in 1266 after escaping from prison where they had been held following the Battle of Evesham in 1265, where his father and eldest brother, Henry were slain, and he had been captured. Guy eventually arrived in Italy and entered the service of Charles of Anjou who made him Count of Nola and Vicar-general of Tuscany. On 10 August 1270, he married Margherita Aldobrandeschi at Viterbo. Less than a year later, in March 1271, he murdered his cousin Henry of Almain inside San Silvestro church, an act which led to his being excommunicated and stripped of his titles.

He once again took up service with Charles of Anjou and was later captured off the coast of Sicily in 1287 by the Aragonese after the Battle of the Counts. He died in a Sicilian prison in 1291.

Upon his death, Anastasia became the Countess of Nola in her own right. In an effort to retain her lands, Anastasia's mother Margherita Aldobrandeschi married four more times after Guy's death. Her four additional husbands were: Orsello Orsini, Loffredo Caetani, her cousin Guido Aldobrandeschi di Santa Fiora, and Nello de' Pannocchieschi.

Anastasia married Romano Orsini (1268-1327), Senator of Rome and son of Gentile II Orsini, Senator of Rome and Claricia de Ruffo. The marriage had been arranged by Cardinal Napoleon Orsini, who was her mother's guardian. Anastasia, being Margherita's eldest daughter and heiress, eventually brought the rich Aldobrandeschi and Sovana inheritances into the Orsini family.

Together Romano and Anastasia had at least three children:

Roberto Orsini, Count of Nola (1295- 15 January 1345), married Sueva del Balzo, the daughter of Hugues del Balzo, Count of Soleto and Seneschal of Naples, and Jacopa della Marra. Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of Edward IV of England was a descendant of Roberto and Sueva.

Guido Orsini, Count of Pitigliano (died after 1348), married Agostina della Gherardesca, by whom he had children.

Giovanna Orsini, married in 1334 Nicolo Caetani by whom she had children.

Anastasia died on an unknown date, which occurred sometime before her eldest son, Roberto's death on 15 January 1345 as he had succeeded her as Count of Nola. Her husband Romano died in 1327.

Anastasia married Romano (Romanello) Orsini, Royal Vicar of Rome, Count of Soana. Romano (son of Gentile II Orsini, Great Justicer of the Kingdom of Naples and Clarice/Clarissa Ruffo) was born 1268, Italy; died 1327, Italy. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orsini_family

The Orsini family is an Italian noble family; it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome.

Romano (1268-1327), called Romanello, was Royal Vicar of Rome in 1326, and inherited the countship of Soana through his marriage with Anastasia de Montfort, Countess of Nola.

Roberto (1295-1345), married Sibilla del Balzo, daughter of the Great Senechal of the Kingdom of Naples. Among his sons, Giacomo (died 13 August 1379; Dean of Salisbury, Archdeacon of Leicester and Archdeacon of Durham) was created cardinal by Gregory XI in 1371, while Nicola (August 27, 1331-February 14, 1399) obtained the counties of Ariano and Celano. The latter was also Senator of Rome and enlarged the family territories in Lazio and Tuscany.

Roberto married Sibilla del Balzo, de Baux. (daughter of Hugh de Baux, Great Senechal of the Kingdom of Naples) [Group Sheet]