| |
|
|
|
|
 1208 - 1265 (57 years)
-
| Name |
Simon V de Montfort |
| Suffix |
6th Earl of Leicester |
| Born |
1208 |
England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
04 Aug 1265 |
Evesham, Worcestershire, England |
| Buried |
Evesham Abbey, Worcestershire, England |
|
|
| 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.
|
| Person ID |
I35255 |
Master File |
| Last Modified |
26 Jun 2016 |
| Family |
Eleanor of England, b. 1215, Gloucester, Gloucershire, England , d. 13 Apr 1275, Montargis, Loiret, Centre, France (Age 60 years) |
| Children |
|
| Last Modified |
26 Jun 2016 |
| Family ID |
F14556 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
|
|
|
Appalachian Aristocracy © 2010-2020 Cheryl T. Duke ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 