Simon III from Montfort

Family coat of arms of Simon III. from Montfort

Simon III von Montfort , called the Bald , (French: Simon le Chauve de Montfort ; † March 13, 1181 ) was a lord of Montfort , Rochefort and Épernon , and Count of Évreux from the house of Montfort-l'Amaury . He was the second son of Amalrich III. von Montfort († 1137) and Agnes de Garlande, the heir to the royal seneschal Anseau de Garlande .

When his older brother, Amalrich IV , died in 1140, Simon inherited the ancestral castles of his family, Montfort and Épernon, as well as the Norman county of Évreux. From his mother he also inherited Rochefort Castle in 1143 , making him the most powerful lord of the Yveline countryside. For his property there he was a direct vassal of the French crown, while as Count of Evreux he was a vassal of the Duke of Normandy .

During the conflict between Duke Heinrich Plantagenet (Henry II of England) and King Ludwig VII , Simon sided with the Duke against the King in 1159. With his strong castles, he cut off the king's routes from Paris to Orléans and Étampes . With his support for Plantagenet, Simon justified the Montfort family's turn towards Anglo-Norman nobility, and all of his children married into English aristocratic families. In 1173 he joined young Heinrich in his rebellion against his father and in 1174 supported King Louis VII in the siege of Verneuil . After his death he was buried in the Abbey of Hautes-Bruyères , the traditional burial place of his house.

Simon the Bald was married to a noblewoman named Mathilde, whose family origin is unclear. He had three children with her:

Amalrich V († 1182), Count of Évreux; married a Gloucester heiress
Simon (IV.) († 1188), Lord of Montfort, Épernon and Rochefort; married a heiress from Leicester
Bertrada († 1227), ∞ with Hugh de Kevelioc, 3rd Earl of Chester (1147–1181)

Web links

The Counts of Évreux from the House of Montfort at fmg.ac (English)

annotation

↑ Ex Obituario ecclesiæ Ebroicensis (Nekrolog der Kirche von Évreux), ed. by Wailly, Delisle and Jourdain in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 23 (1894), p. 461
↑ Gesta Regis Henrici secundis et Gesta Regis Ricardi Benedicti abbatis , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 49 (1867), Vol. 1, pp. 47 and 194
↑ Simon (IV.) Was wrongly identified in older historical research as being identical to Simon III. identified, which is why the ordinal number "IV." was incorrectly used for the grandson of Simon III, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester .

predecessor	Office	successor
Amalrich IV.	Count of Évreux 1140–1181	Amalrich V.
Amalrich IV.	Lord of Montfort and Épernon 1140–1181	Simon IV.
Amalrich III. (de iure uxoris)	Count of Rochefort Lord of Bréthencourt and La Ferté-Alais 1137 / 1143–1181	Simon IV.

personal data
SURNAME	Simon III from Montfort
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Simon III de Montfort
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Lord of Montfort, Épernon and Rochefort, Count of Évreux
DATE OF BIRTH	12th Century
DATE OF DEATH	March 13, 1181

[1] Ex Obituario ecclesiæ Ebroicensis (Nekrolog der Kirche von Évreux), ed. by Wailly, Delisle and Jourdain in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 23 (1894), p. 461

[2] Gesta Regis Henrici secundis et Gesta Regis Ricardi Benedicti abbatis , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 49 (1867), Vol. 1, pp. 47 and 194

[3] Simon (IV.) Was wrongly identified in older historical research as being identical to Simon III. identified, which is why the ordinal number "IV." was incorrectly used for the grandson of Simon III, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester .