The Two Eleanors of Henry III by Darren Baker

Author:Darren Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / General
Publisher: Pen and Sword/Pen and Sword History
Published: 2019-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

8

Great Indignation and Fury 1259–1261

The Montfort family enterprise, obstructing the Treaty of Paris

As Henry feared, Simon de Montfort had emerged as one of the leading baronial reformers, if not the leader. In terms of rank and personality, only Roger Bigod, the Earl of Norfolk, and Richard de Clare, the Earl of Gloucester, could challenge him, but both men were deep-seated royalists at heart. For them, it was fine to purge the court and assume control of Crown patronage and prerogative, but they did not want inquiries made into the way they ran their own fiefdoms.

Roger had gone to Cambrai on an equal footing with Simon, but after the peace conference there failed to materialise, he retired to his estates in Norfolk for the time being. Earlier, Clare had nearly been killed in an epidemic that hit Winchester after Parliament moved there in pursuit of the Lusignans. He was left ‘scabby and disfigured’, but had sufficiently recovered to receive his stepfather, Richard of Cornwall, as he landed in England at the end of January 1259 after spending eighteen months abroad as the new King of Germany.1

Paris describes how there was much apprehension about Richard’s visit because he too was a brother of the Lusignans. He adds that Simon de Montfort himself had still not returned from the Continent and this led to suspicions that he was being detained against his will.2 In fact, Simon was with his two oldest sons taking care of personal business. On 1 January 1259, he dictated his will to 20-year-old Henry de Montfort, who drafted it in the elegant handwriting he learned while a pupil of Robert Grosseteste. Simon’s overriding concern was for his debts to be paid and that amends be made to the ‘poor people’ of his land whom he had ruthlessly exploited as their lord. He names Eleanor his executor, to be replaced by young Henry should something happen to her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.