Amaury de Montfort

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Amaury de Montfort. Illumination from the 13th century

Amaury de Montfort (according to his own claims Amaury de Montfort, Earl of Leicester ) (* 1242 or 1243; † around 1300) was an Anglo-French clergyman.

Origin and advancement as a clergyman

Amaury de Montfort came from the originally French Montfort-l'Amaury family . He was the third son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and his wife Eleanor . His father rose to a leading English magnate through his grandmother's inheritance , and Amaury's mother was a daughter of King Johann Ohneland . Like his eldest brother Henry de Montfort , Amaury was brought up for a period around 1250 in the household of Bishop Robert Grosseteste of Lincoln. As a younger son, Amaury was then earmarked for a spiritual career at an early age. In April 1259 he was already a chaplain and owned property in Évreux in Normandy . He later became a canon at the local cathedral, and in July 1260 , Archbishop Eudes Rigaud of Rouen, who was a friend of his father, procured him a benefice at the cathedral in Rouen . Around this time his father became the leader of an aristocratic opposition to Amaury's uncle, the English King Henry III. Simon de Montfort took over the government in 1263 and was able to bring the king into his power through his provisional victory in the Second War of the Barons in 1264. Like his brothers, Amaury benefited from his father's new power. Presumably in 1263 he received a benefice at St Paul's Cathedral in London . In 1264 he became rector of the wealthy Wendron in Cornwall and in February 1265 he received the office of treasurer of York Minster , which was considered one of the richest beneficiaries in England. He received another benefice at Lincoln Cathedral . Amaury had not even been ordained a subdeacon . As was customary in his time, he was represented by vicars in his spiritual offices . However, Amaury enjoyed a good education from Master Nicholas , whom Roger Bacon counted among the best mathematicians of his time, and was praised for his education. Amaury himself wrote a treatise on alchemy .

Flight, exile and study

However, in August 1265, Amaury's father was defeated and killed by the royal party at the Battle of Evesham . Amaury was able to flee to France with his mother and younger brother Richard , but he lost his position as treasurer of York. In December 1267, Archbishop Rigaud gave him permission to be ordained a priest by any bishop. In 1268 Amaury traveled to Italy, where he studied at the University of Padua until 1271 . There he was promoted to papal chaplain . In March 1271 his cousin Henry of Almain was murdered by his brothers Guy and Simon in Viterbo , whereupon Amaury was accused in April of having been involved in the crime. In a joint statement, however, Bishop Giovanni Forzatè and the Cathedral Chapter of Padua, the university and other clergymen defended Amaury and testified that he had not left the city since October 1270. Instead, he would have been seriously ill and near death at the time of the murder. On April 19, 1272 Amaury was in Rome, where he returned three medical books to Bernhard Ayglerius , the abbot of the Monte Cassino monastery, which he had apparently borrowed for his studies. From then on he called himself Earl of Leicester , which he claimed after the death of his older brother Simon in 1271.

Captivity and attempt to reclaim his inheritance

At the end of 1275 or 1276, Amaury was captured by King Edward I of England when he was escorting his sister Eleanor to Wales to marry Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd . Their ship was boarded by English seafarers and Amaury was held captive first at Corfe Castle , then Sherborne, and then Taunton . During his imprisonment he wrote at least three theological treatises. It was not until April 1282 that he was released on condition that he leave England and the areas belonging to England. On May 22nd, Amaury of Arras in the Netherlands wrote a letter from the king. In this he thanked him for his grace and promised him loyalty. But he also asked permission to go to court in England to claim his father's inheritance. This request was either rejected or not answered at all. Thereupon Amaury sued in December 1284 before the papal court in Rome against Edmund of Lancaster , the king's brother, for the surrender of his inheritance. Edmund of Lancaster had taken over substantial parts of the possessions of Montfort and led to the title Earl of Leicester.

Last years

After his mother's death in 1275, he served as her executor. In June 1286 he was in Paris, where he was still busy regulating his mother's last will. He himself drew up his will in the Dominican Sisters' office in Montargis, south of Paris, where his mother had died. In it he bequeathed his inheritance claims in England to the Pope and the College of Cardinals. Little is known about its final years. Allegedly, after the death of his brother Guy in 1291 or 1292, he resigned from his clerical offices. As a knight, he is said to have traveled to Italy to supervise the upbringing of Guy's two daughters. In 1302 Pope Boniface VIII received a certified copy of the will of Amaury, who had probably died shortly before.

literature

  • LE Boyle: E cathena et carcere: the imprisonment of Amaury de Montfort, 1276 . In: Medieval learning and literature: essays presented to RW Hunt , ed. by JJG Alexander and MT Gibson, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1976, ISBN 0-19-822402-8 , pp. 379-397

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JR Maddicott: Simon de Montfort. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-37636-X , p. 43
  2. ↑ JR Maddicott: Simon de Montfort. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-37636-X , p. 198
  3. ↑ JR Maddicott: Simon de Montfort. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-37636-X , p. 324
personal data
SURNAME Montfort, Amaury de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Montfort, Amaury de, Earl of Leicester
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-French clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH 1242 or 1243
DATE OF DEATH around 1300