Simon de Montfort

English political leader

• Born: c. 1208
• Birthplace: Montfort, Île-de-France, France
• Died: August 4, 1265
• Place of death: Evesham, Worcestershire, England

Simon de Montfort was a passionate, adventurous, and self-confident medieval nobleman who emerged as the leader of a group of English barons intent on curbing abuses of power by King Henry III. He dramatically changed the relationship between king and Parliament in ways critical to the development of that institution as a force to limit and monitor the royal prerogative.

Early Life

No surviving document records the birth date or place of Simon de Montfort (MAHNT-furt), but historians believe that he was born around 1208. He was the fourth son in a family of four sons and three daughters. His father, Simon IV de Montfort, was an ambitious Norman nobleman who became famous for answering Pope Innocent III’s call for a crusade against the Albigensian-Waldensian heretics in southern France. Simon V was born sometime during that long, bitter, and infamous campaign. Simon’s mother, Alice, was the daughter of the powerful noble Bouchard V, Sire de Montmorenci. She was a vigorous and pious woman who accompanied her husband on the crusade to help and encourage him. Simon IV had inherited the earldom of Leicester through his mother, who was the sister of the childless Robert IV de Beaumont, fourth earl of Leicester. Simon IV, however, had been too preoccupied with the crusade to take possession of the earldom. Then, in 1207, King John of England confiscated all the English holdings of those Norman lords loyal to King Philip II of France because Philip had declared several of John’s northern French provinces forfeit during a dispute.

Nothing is known directly of Simon’s youth, but from his later life it is obvious that he was well educated and well trained for war. He was fluent in Latin, French, and English, and he was a friend of the leading educated Englishmen of his day. He clearly also possessed courage, intelligence, and great tactical ability, or he could not have risen from a landless fourth son of a French noble family to the most powerful aristocrat in England and leader of the Barons’ Cause. Although no portrait or likeness of him has survived, he was reported to have been tall, handsome, and possessed of a commanding presence and a magnetic personality.

On the death of his father, Simon’s eldest brother, Amaury VI, inherited the family lands and titles, but there was a conflict of interest between his French inheritance and claims to the earldom of Leicester. Rather than leave the English claim dormant, he signed it over to Simon, who went to England in 1230 to ask the new king, Henry III, to restore the earldom. Henry III was sufficiently impressed to award him a modest annual income from the royal treasury until the restoration could be arranged, which took two years. With that ancient and respected title came other honors and privileges, including the office of steward of England and adviser to the king as a member of the royal court. Besides merely ceremonial functions, the position of steward included responsibility for the just administration of English law, including the removal of evil counselors from the king’s service and preparation for their trial before the next Parliament. The new earl of Leicester took these responsibilities more seriously than was the custom, and he later made them part of the basis of his actions in the Barons’ Cause.

At court, Simon met the king’s sister Eleanor. She was a widow and a postulant for holy orders, but she had not yet taken the nun’s veil when she and Simon met, and they fell in love. Henry III and Leicester were on good terms at this point, and the king permitted them to be married, on January 7, 1238. Simon and Eleanor had six children Henry, Simon VI, Guy, Richard, Amaury, and Eleanor and were both strong and imperious personalities. While they are reported to have quarreled from time to time, there were also many indications that they were thoroughly devoted to each other.

Life’s Work

Not much is known of Simon in the years after he acquired his earldom. There is occasional mention of him performing his ceremonial duties as steward and other assignments for Henry III. As someone who was frequently at court, however, Simon must have been aware of the English lords’ growing disaffection for Henry III. There were three major complaints: The king did not consult with his English nobles on the governing of England or offer them offices in the central government, but surrounded himself with nobles from his holdings in France as advisers and state officials; the king spent lavishly on his court, family, friends, and grandiose foreign policy and was constantly squeezing his English vassals for more money; the king was arbitrary, willful, and capricious, and his paranoia toward the English lords on numerous occasions erupted into violent verbal assaults that were undignified for him and humiliating to the nobles. Some, including Simon, also complained that he was too deferential to the pope in Rome. In 1234, 1236, 1237, and 1244, there were major troubles over one or more of these problems. Twice, Parliament forced Henry III to dismiss his French counselors, but he would bring them back as soon as Parliament disbanded. Once Henry III took refuge in the Tower of London.

In August of 1239, Henry directed one of his verbal outbursts at Simon, who was so enraged that he left for France and then went on to Palestine to join the remnants of the Sixth Crusade . Other than fighting with the forces that obtained the release of his older brother Amaury VI, Simon was not involved in any notable military exploits. He returned to France in early 1242 to find Henry III there summoning his knights and nobles and planning to retake the French provinces lost to the king of France by his father, King John. Simon agreed to join the king’s forces in return for a grant of money. The English were beaten back that summer, however, and by spring, 1243, Henry III had spent so much money while in winter quarters in Bordeaux that he was forced to accept the offer of King Louis IX of France to sign a five-year truce, which later was renewed or extended until 1259.

The breach between Simon and Henry III seemed healed. Over the next five years, Simon received numerous land and money grants from Henry III and undertook several important missions for him. In 1244, Simon was involved with a party of English nobles in one of their periodic confrontations with the king over his French counselors and seemingly endless need for more money. Even with the king’s capitulation, Simon managed to remain on good terms with both the king and Parliament. In 1248, Henry III asked Simon to restore order to Gascony, one of the king’s remaining French provinces, which was torn by factionalism and civil strife. Simon agreed but stipulated that Henry III give him absolute control of the province and its revenues for seven years, supply him with fifty knights at Henry III’s expense, and protect Gascony from neighboring kingdoms for the duration. After Simon energetically put down several rebellions and exacted stern penalties, a number of Gascon nobles complained to Henry III in 1251 and brought charges of brutality against Simon in an attempt to rid themselves of him. Henry III, in one of his fickle turns against Simon, conducted a five-week trial of Simon’s administration of the province. Although angered and humiliated by the king’s actions, Simon defended himself well and was unanimously acquitted of all charges.

Capriciously, Henry III then pardoned all rebels and gave their lands back, which undermined all that Simon had accomplished. Henry III then went to Gascony himself, only to be met with the largest force yet raised by the Gascon rebels, forcing him to bring over his own army and use the same tactics as Simon had used in order to pacify the province. After that incident, King Henry III seems to have recovered from his unreasonable fear of Simon and once again trusted the earl with various assignments.

The amity between Henry III and Simon, however, did not last. In 1253, the pope entangled Henry III in Rome’s century-old quarrel with the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire and southern Italy by offering the crown of the kingdom of Sicily to Edmund, Henry III’s second son. In order to accept, however, Edmund needed to assume the Papacy’s huge debt, incurred in its military efforts to seize the kingdom from the Hohenstaufens, and to mount an expensive major military operation to defeat Manfred, who was the able bastard son of the late emperor and regent in Sicily for the new emperor, Conrad IV. At about the same time, Henry III arranged the election of his brother, Richard of Cornwall, to Holy Roman Emperor, another expensive policy. By 1258, Henry III’s Sicilian policy had become a ruinous and expensive trap. His English lords were unwilling to continue contributing soldiers and money, and the pope threatened excommunication if Henry III reneged. In desperation, the king agreed to the nobles’ plan of establishing a council of twenty-four, twelve chosen by Henry III and twelve by the nobles, to meet in Oxford and consider how to reorder the government so that it served the best interests of the whole community of the realm. The phrase “the whole community of the realm” had been adopted by Simon and the other barons as a definition of what constituted the legitimate use of royal authority. Simon was an active participant in the party of nobles that made these demands and one of the twelve whom they chose to meet at Oxford. The result of their work was known as the Provisions of Oxford, 1258.

The Provisions of Oxford required a minimum of three formal meetings of Parliament per year, gave the great lords the authority to appoint the principal officers of state, and established a Council of Fifteen to conduct the king’s business on a regular daily basis. In theory, the king was left nearly powerless, but in fact he was indispensable because all decisions were in his name and required his agreement or signature. (This loophole was a great weakness of the Barons’ Cause and eventually was exploited by Henry III.) The king was allowed to conclude the negotiations for a treaty with Louis IX concerning a number of matters outstanding between them, especially the surrender of any claim to those French provinces lost by his father, King John, and England’s undisputed title to Gascony and other holdings in southern France. Henry III left England for Paris immediately after agreeing to the Provisions of Oxford, and he remained there until April of 1260, assisted from time to time by Simon.

While Henry III was in France, the English barons removed from office and exiled from court the king’, and even the queen’, French friends and relatives. Henry III failed to call the required meetings of Parliament and council, a maneuver he seems to have thought would both weaken the position of the nobles opposing him and rally supporters. Simon and the others responded by calling Parliament on their own, the most revolutionary move the barons ever made. What Henry III found most offensive, however, was the subversion of his eldest son and heir, Prince Edward, to the Barons’ Cause by Simon. Henry III never forgave Simon, and it caused the final break between them.

When Henry III finally returned from France, the barons found him determined to resist their reforms. The Sicilian venture was over, and Louis IX had given Henry III a generous financial settlement that temporarily freed him from financial dependence on the barons. He brought a number of French nobles with him as advisers, thus outraging the English barons. Henry III refused to see Prince Edward until he ended his alliance with the barons, which weakened their position. He also made charges against Simon. By April of 1261, Henry III had convinced Pope Alexander IV to release him from his vows to uphold the Provisions of Oxford and all the resultant statutes and ordinances. In February, 1262, the new pope, Urban IV , confirmed Henry III’s release from all oaths, and Simon, disgusted with the dissension and lack of resolve within the nobles’ ranks, went into exile in France. King Henry III followed early in 1262 to attempt to put Simon on trial for treason. Realizing that the king had learned nothing and that they could now only submit or rebel, the remaining barons reorganized while Henry III was in France, called on Simon to return to lead them, and took up arms in the spring of 1263.

The nation divided for a civil war. Many of the important nobles, most of the lesser nobility, and large numbers from the lower classes supported Simon and the rebellious barons. In six weeks, Simon defeated and imprisoned the leaders of the opposition in a series of minor engagements. Yet at a meeting of Parliament in September of 1263 to reinstate the Provisions of Oxford, the barons’ party broke up in factionalism caused by the distribution of royal favors. With both sides roughly equal in strength and the barons weakened by dissension, Simon agreed to Henry III’s suggestion to submit the matter to arbitration by Louis IX. The French king was renowned for his justice, but he could not be expected to rule against the royal cause. In his decision, the Mise of Amiens, given January 24, 1264, Louis IX voided the Provisions of Oxford and all the other achievements of the barons. Once again, the barons could either fight or submit.

Simon, who had fallen from his horse and fractured his leg, had remained in England during the arbitration sessions in France. When word of the Mise of Amiens reached him, he rallied the forces of the Barons’ Cause by announcing that he would go down fighting. Nobles and commoners flocked to him in support, and at the Battle of Lewes, on May 7, 1264, Simon won a resounding victory over the main Royalist force, taking Henry III, Prince Edward, and Richard of Cornwall prisoner. For the next fifteen months, Simon was the de facto ruler of England. In the Mise of Lewes, Henry III agreed to swear to uphold the Magna Carta, the Charter of the Forest, and the Provisions of Oxford. He also agreed to cut his expenses and live on the income from his own domains, to provide full amnesty for Simon and the other leaders of the Barons’ Cause, and to give Prince Edward as hostage until a final and full agreement could be reached.

After taking control of all important strongholds and seeing to the needs of local government, Simon called a meeting of Parliament for January, 1265. The elections for this parliament were so unique that it has been called the Great Parliament. Each county or shire was to elect two knights, and each town or borough was to elect two burghers. Knights had been included twice previously, but only to vote money for the king. In 1265, they were asked for advice on the reorganization of the government. The burghers had never been invited before. Simon was attempting to broaden the base of the Barons’ Cause and give substance to the idea that the central government should concern itself with the interests and needs of the whole community of the realm, not only the great lords and prelates. In doing so through an assembly of elected representatives, Simon set a major precedent for the evolution of the modern Parliament.

To rule temporarily, Simon established a triumvirate of the bishop of Chichester, the earl of Gloucester, and himself to govern England in the king’s name. There was also a baronial council that would meet periodically and, less frequently, meetings of Parliament for major decisions. The flaw in the system was the lack of any means to resolve disagreements that divided the leadership. Simon thought that he could produce consensus through the force of his own dynamic leadership, but to be certain, he placed his sons and wife in charge of key strongholds and military units.

To convert the victory at Lewes into a permanent settlement that all sides could accept, Simon established a council of arbitrators, with two members selected by the French king, two by the triumvirate, and the papal legate of England as a tiebreaker. The only real achievement of this group was to neutralize the French and buy time. The papal legate was hostile to the barons because they had ended the payments to the pope for the Sicilian campaign and supported the English prelates and clergy who desired greater freedom from Rome. Other hostile factions included Henry III’s queen, Eleanor of Provence, who remained in France to raise money and troops to free him, sneaking knights across the Channel to England when she could. These forces were to join those English knights and great lords who, while they may not have liked Henry III, could not accept the affront to the royal dignity that the reforms of Simon and his followers were instituting.

In the spring of 1265, Leicester and Gilbert de Clare, the earl of Gloucester, quarreled, principally over the favored treatment of Simon’s sons and the manner in which they had been abusing their positions in order to enrich themselves. Gloucester’s fiefs lay close to Simon’s and the Welsh border. Simon had made an alliance with Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the dominant Welsh prince. After his quarrel with Simon, Gloucester allied with the marcher lords, whose territories made up the Welsh border and whose special responsibility to England’s king was to contain the Welsh and expand the march territory into Wales whenever possible. Gloucester induced the marcher lords to invade Simon’s earldom in retaliation for his alliance with Llewelyn. To save his lands, Simon and two of his sons took to the field. Meanwhile, the French knights whom Henry III’s queen had been assembling slipped into England by way of South Wales and maneuvered around behind Simon. With Gloucester’s connivance, Prince Edward escaped from Simon and rallied the royal forces to trap Simon, cutting him off from reinforcements. Two of Leicester’s other sons, Simon V and Amaury, who were in charge of a military force near London, bungled the operation to relieve Simon. They lingered along the way to gather booty and then were captured. Simon nearly succeeded in breaking through the encircling Royalist forces by himself, but on August 3, 1265, at Evesham, he was surrounded. When he learned of his sons’ capture, he chose to fight and die there rather than return to London to finish his life as a prisoner in the Tower of London or be executed. The Battle of Evesham took place the next morning and was quickly over after Simon’s Welsh allies deserted him. Simon’s son Henry died with him, but Guy was only wounded. When Simon fell, his body was horribly mutilated and dismembered. This outrageous violation of the code of chivalry undoubtedly contributed significantly to making a martyr of Simon. The legend of Simon as the champion of freedom and the lesser classes of Englishmen, which soon traveled the length and breadth of England, made him more dangerous to the royal cause than he ever was alive. Some two hundred miracles were claimed to have occurred at his tomb in the years immediately after his death, and many poems and folk ballads were composed in his honor.

Significance

Simon de Montfort lived and made major contributions in a crucial era in English constitutional history. A central problem of medieval political theory was how to translate into workable political institutions the principle that the king was limited in authority by the law of the land. Magna Carta had stated the principle in 1215, but it took the English centuries to institutionalize it.

In the reign of Henry III, third in a line of inept kings, the English nobility was transformed from a cooperative and supportive feudal class into one that was increasingly nationalistic, alienated from the royal court, critical, and distrustful of the king’s power. Simon was the single most important architect of that transformation. He emerged first as a major participant in and then as the guiding intelligence and leader of the dissident movement. In the Provisions of Oxford, he helped give form to the idea that the king must govern for the benefit of the whole community of the realm. When the king reneged on the Provisions of Oxford, Simon rallied the barons, won the Battle of Lewes, instituted reforms in the legal system, called a new-style parliament, and governed England. Simon established the critical precedent that the whole community of the realm was best served by a broad-based parliament that included representatives from the lesser nobility and burghers and that did more than merely approve new taxes. After the Battle of Evesham, neither Henry III nor his successor, Edward I, could undo Simon’s accomplishments.

Simon’s legend as a champion of liberty survived in English folklore and in the new adversarial relationship between Parliament and king. Simon is justly remembered by a statue before the entrance of the House of Commons as one of the remarkable Englishmen who were responsible for the development of Parliament.

Bibliography

Bémont, Charles. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, 1208-1265. Translated by E. F. Jacob. 1930. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1974. A thorough and scholarly biography (the original French was published in 1884) that is still a useful resource.

Hollister, Charles Warren. The Making of England, 55 B.C. to 1399. 4th ed. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1983. The first volume of a four-volume general history of England. Provides an excellent, well-researched survey of English history for the general reader. Includes a brief discussion of Simon and the Barons’ Cause.

Jacob, E. F. Studies in the Period of Baronial Reform and Rebellion, 1258-1267. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1925. Dated but still an in-depth, well-researched study of the Barons’ Cause.

Joliffe, John Edward Austin. The Constitutional History of Medieval England: From the English Settlement to 1485. 4th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1961. A very thorough and scholarly treatment that covers the contributions of Simon and the development of Parliament, written clearly enough for the general reader. Combines narrative with a brilliant interpretive style.

Labarge, Margaret Wade. Simon de Montfort. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1962. An excellent, well-researched biography of Simon, including the background to the life and times of the earl.

Milson, S. F. C. The Legal Framework of English Feudalism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1976. A thorough examination of the legal aspects of the feudal system for those wishing an in-depth account. Mentions Simon and the Barons’ Cause only in passing.

Myers, A. R. Parliaments and Estates in Europe to 1789. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975. For the general reader, covering the evolution of legislatures as a phenomenon of Western civilization, from their feudal origins to the start of the French Revolution.

Powicke, Frederick Maurice. King Henry III and the Lord Edward: The Community of the Realm in the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1947. Concentrates on the reigns of Henry III and Edward I and the development of the concept of the community of the realm as an idea to limit royal prerogative.

Treharne, Reginald F. The Baronial Plan of Reform, 1258-1263. 1932. Reprint. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1971. Traces in depth the history of the Barons’ War, emphasizing its political and constitutional aspects.

Treharne, Reginald F. Simon de Montfort and Baronial Reform: Thirteenth-Century Essays. Edited by E. B. Fryde. London: Hambleton Press, 1968. The principal concentration of these essays is on the period 1258-1264, Henry’s crisis years.

Valente, Claire. The Theory and Practice of Revolt in Medieval England. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2003. Addresses in its opening chapter the study of revolts and also discusses theories of resistance, the Magna Carta, and the concept of the community of the realm.

Weiler, Björn K. U., ed. England and Europe in the Reign of Henry III (1216-1272). Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2002. Looks at Henry’s reign as it affected England and the Continent.