Simon VI. de Montfort

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simon de Montfort the Younger. Illumination from the 13th century

Sir Simon VI. de Montfort , called the Younger , (* April 1240 near Brindisi , † 1271 near Siena ) was an English nobleman and military man.

origin

Simon came from the Montfort-l'Amaury family . He was the second son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and of Eleanor of England , the youngest daughter of King John Ohneland , and was probably born in April 1240 near Brindisi, from where his father wanted to embark on the barons' crusade .

Life

Supporter of his father against King Henry III.

Together with his brother Henry , he accompanied his father to France in October 1259. In October 1260 he was the heir Lord Edward to beat Knight . When the conflict between his father's supporters and those of his uncle King Henry III. expanded to open war between the barons , Simon supported his father like his brothers and, together with his brother Henry, plundered the estates of Boniface of Savoy , Archbishop of Canterbury , in Kent in the summer of 1263 .

When the king bowed to pressure from the rebels in August 1263 and had to recognize the Provisions of Oxford again at the beginning of September , Simon received the possessions of John Mansel , a confidante of the king who had gone into exile, from his father, who had actually become regent of England . After the French King Louis IX. on January 23, 1264, in his arbitration award, the Mise of Amiens , which had invalidated the Provisions of Oxford, the conflict broke out again. Simon and Henry de Montfort led a force into the Welsh Marches in February 1264 to fight the Marcher Lords who were on the side of the king . He then moved to Northampton , where he and other rebels were captured on April 5, 1264 after a skirmish against the king's supporters. But on May 14th his father won the Battle of Lewes over the king, who in turn was captured. Simon was released and his father put him in charge of Gloucester , Nottingham , Portchester and other important royal castles. From winter 1264 to spring 1265 he besieged Pevensey Castle in Sussex on behalf of his father , a castle of Peter of Savoy that was still held by royal troops.

During this time he was one of the pillars of the renewed reign of his father, but he made mistakes that led to the overthrow of his father. First he tried to kidnap Isabel de Forz , the richest heiress in England, in order to marry her and in this way to come into possession of her inheritance. The attempt failed, however, because Isabel was able to escape in time. Simon was more successful in forcing the Baron William de Braose through a combination of violence and perversion of the law to renounce his rule Rape in Sussex and become Lord of Rape himself.

Defeat and imprisonment

When the war flared up again in the spring of 1265, Simon secured southeast England for his father, while in April the latter pursued the king's supporters as far as the Welsh Marches. When his father was trapped there in May by the king's supporters, Simon moved from Dover to London, where he raised an army. From there he moved to Winchester , which he plundered, and on via Oxford and Northampton to Kenilworth , which he reached on July 31st. His troops camped in front of the castle and were taken by surprise during the night by a royal army under Lord Eduard and put to flight. Simon narrowly escaped, but his banner fell into the prince's hands. On August 4th, Lord Eduard used a ruse in the ensuing Battle of Evesham by marching against the troops of Montfort under Simon's banner. Simon had tried to join his father with his remaining troops, but did not reach Evesham until his father's army had already been destroyed. He saw his father's severed head on a lance and fled back to Kenilworth Castle. There he released Richard of Cornwall , the king's brother, who had been in his father's captivity , on September 6th . After unsuccessful negotiations with King Heinrich III. he left Kenilworth Castle in November and joined a remaining rebel group on the Isle of Axholme in Lincolnshire. The group was placed by a royal troop under Lord Edward in December 1265 and forced to surrender. Lord Edward asked Simon to persuade the crew of Kenilworth Castle to give up and then leave England. In return, he offered him a pension. Despite Simon's attempt, however, the Kenilworth rebels refused to surrender and Simon was taken to London. From there he fled to Winchelsea on February 10, 1266 . After initially leading a group of pirates, he eventually went into exile in France.

The church of San Silvestro in Viterbo, where Simon and Guy de Montfort murdered Henry of Almain

Exile and death

Allegedly he tried to set up an army in France in order to land with this in England and to continue the fight. In September 1267, the French King Louis IX tried. in negotiations with the English king to enable Simon to return, but King Henry III. set unacceptable conditions so that the negotiations failed.

With his brother Guy , Simon therefore joined Charles of Anjou , who had conquered the Kingdom of Sicily . On the side of Anjou they fought in 1268 in the victorious battle of Tagliacozzo against the Staufer Konradin . In March 1271 they were part of the retinue of Charles of Anjou when he was in Viterbo for the papal election . It was there that Simon and Guy found out about their cousin Henry of Almain , son of Richard of Cornwall, staying in the city. Together with Guy's father-in-law, the brothers attacked their cousin on March 13th in the Church of San Silvestro. Although he clung to the altar and begged for mercy in vain, they killed him in revenge for the death of their father and brother at Evesham. This act resulted in the immediate ostracism of the Montfort brothers. Simon died in the same year in a castle near Siena .

literature

  • JR Maddicott: Simon de Montfort (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
  • Frederick Maurice Powicke: Ways of medieval life and throught: essays and addresses (1949)

source

Web links

Commons : Simon VI of Montfort  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Simon VI. de Montfort
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Simon de Montfort the Younger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman and military
DATE OF BIRTH April 1240
PLACE OF BIRTH at Brindisi
DATE OF DEATH 1271
Place of death at Siena