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Regnante effettivo in Inghilterra durante la rivolta dei baroni [1258- 65]. Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester From Wikipedia, the fre e encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Not to be confused with Sim on de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester. Relief in the Chamber of the U nited States House of RepresentativesSimon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Le icester (23 May 1208 – 4 August 1265), was a French-English nobleman , notable as the principal leader of the baronial opposition to King H enry III of England. After the rebellion of 1263 and 1264, de Montfor t became de facto ruler of England and called the first directly elect ed parliament in medieval Europe. For this reason, de Montfort is rega rded today as one of the progenitors of modern parliamentary democracy . Contents [hide] 1 Family and early life 2 Royal marriage 3 Crusad e and turning against the king 4 War against the king 5 Death 6 Legac y 7 Family 8 Bibliography 9 External links 10 References [edit] Fami ly and early life Arms of Simon de MontfortHe was the youngest son o f Simon de Montfort, a French nobleman and crusader, and Alix de Montm orency. His paternal grandmother was Amicia de Beaumont, the senior co -heiress to the Earldom of Leicester and a large estate owned by her f ather Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester in England, but King J ohn of England would not allow a French subject to take ownership of s uch an estate in England. As a boy, de Montfort accompanied his paren ts during his father's campaigns against the Cathars. He was with hi s mother at the siege of Toulouse in 1218, where his father was kille d after being struck on the head by a stone pitched by a mangonel. O n the death of their father, de Montfort's elder brother Amaury succee ded him. Another brother, Guy, was killed at the siege of Castelnaudar y in 1220. As a young man, Montfort probably took part in the Albigens ian Crusades of the early 1220s. In 1229 the two surviving brothers ( Amaury and Simon) came to an arrangement whereby Simon gave up his rig hts in France and Amaury gave up his rights in England. Thus free fro m any allegiance to the King of France, de Montfort successfully petit ioned for the English inheritance, which he received the next year, al though he did not take full possession for several years, and was no t formally recognised as earl. Simon was a distant cousin of King Hen ry III; his ancestor Simon I de Montfort was father of Bertrade de Mon tfort who herself was a paternal great-grandmother of King Henry II . [edit] Royal marriage In January 1238 de Montfort married Eleanor o f England, daughter of King John and Isabella of Angouleme and siste r of King Henry III. While this marriage took place with the king's ap proval, the act itself was performed secretly and without consulting t he great barons, as a marriage of such importance warranted. Eleanor h ad previously been married to William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, a nd she swore a vow of perpetual chastity upon his death, when she wa s sixteen, which she broke by marrying de Montfort. The Archbishop o f Canterbury, Edmund Rich, condemned the marriage for this reason. Th e English nobles protested the marriage of the King's sister to a fore igner of modest rank; most notably, Eleanor's brother Richard, 1st Ear l of Cornwall rose up in revolt when he learned of the marriage. Kin g Henry eventually bought off Richard with 6,000 marks and peace was r estored. Relations between King Henry and de Montfort were cordial a t first. Henry lent him his support when de Montfort embarked for Rom e in March 1238 to seek papal approval for his marriage. When Simon an d Eleanor's first son was born in November 1238 (despite rumours, mor e than nine months after the wedding), he was baptised Henry in honou r of his Royal uncle. In February 1239 de Montfort was finally investe d with the Earldom of Leicester. He also acted as the King's counsello r and was one of the nine godfathers of Henry's eldest son, Prince Edw ard who would inherit the throne and become Edward I ("Longshanks") . [edit] Crusade and turning against the king Shortly after Prince Ed ward's birth, however, there was a falling out. Simon owed a great su m of money to Thomas II of Savoy, uncle of Queen Eleanor, and named He nry as security for his repayment. King Henry had evidently not been t old of this, and when he discovered that Montfort had used his name, h e was enraged. On 9 August 1239 Henry confronted Montfort, called hi m an excommunicant and threatened to imprison him in the Tower of Lond on. "You seduced my sister," King Henry said, "and when I discovered t his, I gave her to you, against my will, to avoid scandal." Most histo rians perceive this to be the outbursts of an angry monarch, rather th an fact[citation needed]. Simon and Eleanor fled to France to escape H enry's wrath. Having announced his intention to go on crusade two yea rs before, Simon raised funds and travelled to the Holy Land, but doe s not seem to have ever faced combat there. That autumn, he left Syri a and joined King Henry's campaign in Poitou. The campaign was a failu re, and an exasperated de Montfort declared that Henry should be locke d up like Charles the Simple. Like his father, Simon was a hardened an d ruthless soldier, as well as a capable administrator. His dispute wi th King Henry came about due to the latter's determination to ignore t he swelling discontent within the country, caused by a combination o f factors, including famine and a sense among the English Barons tha t King Henry was too quick to dispense favour to his Poitevin relative s and Savoyard in-laws. In 1248, de Montfort again took the cross, wi th the idea of following Louis IX of France to Egypt. But, at the repe ated requests of King Henry and Council, he gave up this project in or der to act as Governor in the unsettled and disaffected Duchy of Gasco ny. Bitter complaints were excited by the rigour with which de Montfor t suppressed the excesses of the Seigneurs and of contending faction s in the great communes. Henry yielded to the outcry and institute d a formal inquiry into Simon's administration. Simon was formally acq uitted on the charges of oppression, but his accounts were disputed b y Henry, and Simon retired in disgust to France in 1252. The nobles o f France offered him the Regency of the kingdom, vacated by the deat h of Queen Blanche of Castile, but he preferred to make his peace wit h Henry which he did in 1253, in obedience to the exhortations of th e dying Grosseteste. He helped King Henry in dealing with the disaffec tion in Gascony; but their reconciliation was a hollow one, and in th e Parliament of 1254, Simon led the opposition in resisting a demand f or a subsidy. In 1256-57, when the discontent of all classes was comin g to a head, de Montfort nominally adhered to the Royal cause. He unde rtook, with Peter of Savoy, the Queen's uncle, the difficult task of e xtricating the King from the pledges which he had given to the Pope wi th reference to the Crown of Sicily; and Henry's writs of this date me ntion de Montfort in friendly terms. But at the "Mad Parliament" of Ox ford (1258) de Montfort appeared side by side with the Earl of Glouces ter at the head of the opposition. It is said that de Montfort was rel uctant to approve the oligarchical constitution created by the Provisi ons of Oxford[citation needed], but his name appears in the list of th e Fifteen who were to constitute the supreme board of control over th e administration. There is better ground for believing that he dislike d the narrow class-spirit in which the victorious Barons used their vi ctory; and that he would gladly have made a compromise with the modera te Royalists, whose policy was guided by Prince Edward[citation needed ]. But the King's success in dividing the Barons and in fostering a re action, rendered such projects hopeless. In 1261, Henry revoked his as sent to the Provisions, and de Montfort, in despair, left the country . [edit] War against the king Simon de Montfort returned in 1263, a t the invitation of the barons, who were now convinced of the king's h ostility to all reform; and raised a rebellion with the avowed objec t of restoring the form of government which the Provisions had ordaine d. For a few weeks it seemed as though the royalists were at his mercy ; but he made the mistake of accepting Henry's offer to abide by the a rbitration of Louis IX of France. At Amiens, in January 1264, the Fren ch king decided that the Provisions were unlawful and invalid. De Mont fort, who had remained in England to prepare for the ruling, at once r esumed the war, and thus exposed himself to accusations of perjury, fr om which he can only be defended on the hypothesis that he had been le d to hope for a genuine compromise. Though merely supported by the tow ns and a few of the younger barons, he triumphed by superior generalsh ip at the Battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264, where the king, Prince Edwar d, and Richard of Cornwall fell into his hands. De Montfort used his v ictory to set up the government by which his reputation as a statesma n stands or falls. The weak point in his scheme was the establishmen t of a triumvirate (consisting of himself, the young Earl of Glouceste r, and the Bishop of Chichester) in which his colleagues were obviousl y figureheads[citation needed]. This flaw, however, is mitigated b y a scheme which he simultaneously promulgated for establishing a thor ough parliamentary control over the executive, not excepting the trium virs. The Parliament of 1265 (De Montfort's Parliament), which he summ oned, was, it is true, a packed assembly; but it can hardly be suppose d that the representation which he granted to the towns was intended t o be a temporary expedient. De Montfort sent out representatives to e ach county and to a select list of boroughs, asking each to send two r epresentatives (this was not the first parliament in England, but wha t distinguished it was that de Montfort insisted the representatives b e elected). It is from him that the modern idea of a democratic repres entative parliament derives. The list of boroughs which had the righ t to elect a member grew slowly over the centuries as monarchs gave ou t more Royal Charters. (The last charter was given to Newark in 1674. ) The right to vote in Parliamentary elections for county constituenc ies was uniform throughout the country, granting a vote to all those w ho owned the freehold of land to an annual rent of 40 shillings (‘Fo rty-shilling Freeholders’). In the Boroughs, the franchise varied an d individual boroughs had varying arrangements. The reaction agains t his government was baronial rather than popular; and the Welsh March er Lords particularly resented Montfort's alliance with Llywelyn ap Gr uffydd, Prince of Wales. Little consideration for English interests i s shown in the Treaty of Pipton which sealed that alliance on 22 Jun e 1265. Many other barons who had initially supported him now starte d to feel that Montfort's reforms were going too far, and his many ene mies turned his triumph into disaster. Prince Edward escaped, and Mont fort's ally, Thomas de Clare, abandoned him and took with him his garr ison. Though boosted by Welsh infantry sent by Montfort's ally Llywely n ap Gruffydd, Montfort's forces were severely depleted. Prince Edwar d attacked the Montfort forces at Kenilworth, capturing more of Montfo rt's allies. Montfort himself had crossed the Severn with his army, in tending to rendezvous with his son Simon. When he saw the army awaitin g him at Evesham, Montfort initially thought it was led by his son. Bu t the army belonged to Prince Edward, flying the Montfort banners he h ad captured at Kenilworth, and so leading Simon into a trap. [edit] D eath Memorial stone on the site of de Montfort's grave, EveshamSimo n de Montfort died on 4 August 1265 at the battle of Evesham, and wa s buried at the nearby Evesham Abbey. De Montfort and his army were aw aiting the army led by his second son, Simon. He saw his son's banner s flying high and began to hope, with the two armies they had a fighti ng chance to claim England. However, his son had been ambushed, and Pr ince Edward, Henry's son, led the army carrying de Montfort's stolen b anners. From within the church of Evesham, de Montfort and his army le d a final charge to their death. After a charge uphill against superio r forces, Simon's army was completely destroyed; the battle was descri bed as the "murder of Evesham, for battle it was none". Simon's body w as cut up and different parts sent to the Lords who had accomplished t he most. His head was sent to Wigmore Castle by Roger de Mortimer, 1s t Baron Wigmore as a gift to his wife, Maud[1]. Such remains as coul d be found were buried under the altar of Evesham Abbey by some clerks . It was visited as holy ground by many commoners until King Henry cau ght wind of it. He declared that Simon deserved no spot on holy groun d and had his remains reburied under an insignificant tree. The remain s of some of his soldiers were found in the nearby village of Cleeve P rior after fleeing from the battle of Evesham. His last words were sai d to have been "Now it is time to die!"[citation needed] Matthew Pari s reports that the Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste, once said t o Simon's eldest son Henry: "My beloved child, both you and your fathe r will meet your deaths on one day, and by one kind of death, but it w ill be in the name of justice and truth." Evesham Abbey and the sit e of de Montfort's grave were destroyed with the Dissolution of the Mo nasteries in the sixteenth century. In 1965 a memorial stone was lai d on the site of the former altar by Speaker of the House of Commons S ir Harry Hylton-Foster and Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey. Th e inscription reads: Here were buried the remains of SIMON DE MON TFORT, EARL OF LEICESTER pioneer of representative government who wa s killed in the Battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265. This stone brough t from his birthplace the Castle of Montfort-l'Amaury in France was er ected to commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of his death. Un veiled by the Speaker of the House of Commons and dedicated by His Gra ce the Archbishop of Canterbury on the 18th day of July 1965. [edit ] Legacy In the years that followed his death, Simon de Montfort's gra ve was frequently visited by pilgrims. There was an attempt to canonis e him; this was not carried out however, due to opposition by the Engl ish monarchy at the time[citation needed]. Today, de Montfort is most ly remembered for calling the first directly elected parliament and i s regarded as one of the fathers of modern democracy. He may have a mo re romantic legacy; Roger Godberd, one of de Montfort's captains who s urvived Evesham, fought on until his capture in 1272 as a bandit or re bel in and around the Sherwood Forest area. Godberd is one candidate f or being the character around whom the Robin Hood legend is based.[2][ 3] Napoleon Bonaparte described Simon de Montfort as "one of the great est Englishmen".[4] Various local honors were dedicated to his memory , and he has become eponymous several times over. De Montfort Hall , a concert venue in Leicester, is named after de Montfort, as is th e nearby De Montfort University. A statue of de Montfort is one of fou r to adorn the Clock Tower in Leicester. A relief of de Montfort adorn s the wall of the Chamber of the United States House of Representative s. De Montfort's banner described as the 'Arms of Honour of Hinckley' , shown in the stained glass image in Chartres Cathedral, is used by t he town of Hinckley, part of his Earldom in Leicestershire, in their t own coat of arms. It also forms part of the club crest for the town' s football team Hinckley United F.C. [5] A school[6] and a bridge base d on the north east stretch of the A46 are named after him in Evesham . Sharon Penman's novel, Falls the Shadow, is a fictional retelling o f de Montfort's life from his arrival in England to his death. The d e Montfort story is the focus of the second part of The Brothers of Gw ynedd Quartet by Edith Pargeter (who also wrote as Ellis Peters). Th e four books tell the story of Llewellyn Prince of Wales, who marrie d Simon's daughter Eleanor, and his three brothers. [edit] Family Sim on de Montfort and Eleanor of England had seven children, many of who m were notable in their own right: Henry de Montfort (November 1238-1 265) Simon the Younger de Montfort (April 1240-1271) Amaury de Montfor t, Canon of York (1242/1243-1300) Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244 -1288). Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of Edward IV of England, wa s one of Guy's descendants. Joanna de Montfort (born and died in Borde aux between 1248 and 1251). Richard de Montfort (d.1266) Eleanor de Mo ntfort (1252-1282). She married Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales , honouring an agreement that had been made between Earl Simon and Lly welyn. Eleanor, Lady of Wales, died on 19 June 1282 at the royal Wels h home Garth Celyn, Aber Garth Celyn, on the north coast of Gwynedd, g iving birth to a daughter, Gwenllian of Wales. After Llywelyn's deat h on 11 December 1282, Gwenllian was captured by King Edward I and spe nt the rest of her life in a convent. The last actual member of the fa mily line to bear the name de Montfort was: Marie-Jean-Baptiste-Benoî t de Montfort (1784-1839), 2nd Marquis of Chardonnay, Sire de La Marne , de La Malloniere, de Bicherel, who married D. Joana de Lima Barret o Coelho (London, 1814), with succession. [edit] Bibliography Labarge , Margaret Wade. Simon de Montfort (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962 ) Maddicott, J. R. Simon de Montfort, 1996 [edit] External links Simo n de Montfort's Rebellion A contemporary account by Matthew of Westmin ster Parliament: The political institution Credits Simon de Montfort w ith producing the first representative (elected) national parliament G enealogy [edit] References ^ Thomas B. Costain, The Magnificent Centur y, p. 308 ^ For example see BBC website, accessed 11 May 2008 on the G odberd theory.[1] ^ Maurice Hugh Keen The Outlaws of Medieval England , 1987, Routledge ^ Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon’s Notes on Englis h History made on the Eve of the French Revolution, illustrated from C ontemporary Historians and referenced from the findings of Later Resea rch by Henry Foljambe Hall (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1905), 12, 5 6. ^ "Hinckley United Independent Club Crest History". Hinckley Unite d Independent. 2009-02-22. http://www.hinckleyunitedfc.co.uk/club/cres t.html. Retrieved 2009-02-22. ^ "Simon de Montfort Middle School, Eves ham". http://www.simondemontfort.worcs.sch.uk/. Retrieved 2007-05-14 . This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, El eventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.