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Simon de Montfort | |
|---|---|
| 5th Earl of Leicester | |
 Seal of Simon de Montfort, depicting him riding a horse and blowing a hunting horn with a hound alongside, inscribed with hisLatinised name:SIGILL[UM] SIMONIS DE MONTE FORTI ("seal of Simon from the strong mountain") | |
| Born | c. 1175 |
| Died | 25 June 1218 (aged 42–43) Siege of Toulouse |
| Buried | Cathedral of Saint-Nazaire, Carcassonne, later moved to Montfort l'Amaury |
| Noble family | Montfort |
| Spouse | Alix de Montmorency |
| Issue | Amaury de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester Guy de Montfort, Count of Bigorre Amicie de Montfort Petronilla |
| Father | Simon de Montfort |
| Mother | Amicia de Beaumont |
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester (c. 1175 – 25 June 1218), known asSimon IV (orV[a])de Montfort and asSimon de Montfort the Elder, was a French nobleman and knight of the early 13th century. He is widely regarded as one of the great military commanders of theMiddle Ages.[4][5][6] He took part in theFourth Crusade and was one of the prominent figures of theAlbigensian Crusade. Montfort is mostly noted for his campaigns in the latter, notably for his battle atMuret. He died at theSiege of Toulouse in 1218. He wasLord of Montfort from 1188 to his death andEarl of Leicester in England from 1204. He was also Viscount ofAlbi,Béziers andCarcassonne from 1213, as well asCount of Toulouse from 1215.
He was the son ofSimon de Montfort (d. 1188), lord ofMontfort l'Amaury in France near Paris, andAmicia de Beaumont,[7] daughter ofRobert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. He succeeded his father as lord of Montfort in 1181; in 1190 he marriedAlix de Montmorency,[7] the daughter of Bouchard III de Montmorency. She shared his religious zeal and would accompany him on his campaigns.[8]
In 1199, while taking part in atournament atEcry-sur-Aisne, hetook the cross in the company of CountThibaud de Champagne and went on theFourth Crusade. The crusade soon fell underVenetian control, and was diverted toZara on theAdriatic Sea.Pope Innocent III had specifically warned the Crusaders not to attack fellow Christians; Simon opposed the attack and urged a waiting Zara delegation not to surrender, claiming the Frankish troops would not support the Venetians in this. As a result, the delegation returned to Zara and the city resisted.[9] Since most Frankish lords were in debt to the Venetians, they did support the attack and the city was sacked in 1202. Simon did not participate in this action and was one of its most outspoken critics. He and his associates, including AbbotGuy of Vaux-de-Cernay, left the crusade when the decision was taken to divert once more toConstantinople to placeAlexius IV Angelus on the throne. Instead, Simon and his followers travelled to the court ofKing Emeric of Hungary and thence toAcre.[10]
His mother was the eldest daughter of Robert of Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. After the death of her brotherRobert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, without children in 1204, she inherited half of his estates and a claim to theEarldom of Leicester. The division of the estates was effected early in 1207, by which the rights to the earldom were assigned to Amicia and Simon. However, KingJohn of England took possession of the lands himself in February 1207, and confiscated its revenues. Later, in 1215, the lands were passed into the hands of Simon's cousin,Ranulph de Meschines, 4th Earl of Chester.
Simon remained on his estates in France before taking the cross once more, this time against suspected Christian dissidence. He participated in the initial campaign of theAlbigensian Crusade in 1209, and after theSiege of Carcassonne, was elected leader of the crusade and viscount of the confiscated territories of theRaymond-Roger Trencavel family.
Simon was rewarded with the territory conquered fromRaymond VI of Toulouse, which in theory made him the most important landowner inOccitania. He became feared for his ruthlessness. In 1210 he burned 140Cathars in the village ofMinerve who refused to recant – though he spared those who did. In another widely reported incident, prior to the sack of the village ofLastours, he brought prisoners from the nearby village ofBram and had their eyes gouged out and their ears, noses and lips cut off. One prisoner, left with a single good eye, led them into the village as a warning.
Simon's part in the crusade had the backing of his feudal superior, the King of France,Philip Augustus.[b][11] However, historianAlistair Horne, in his bookSeven Ages of Paris, states that Philip "turned a blind eye to Simon de Montfort's crusade ... of which he disapproved, but readily accepted the spoils to his exchequer". Following the latter's success in winningNormandy fromJohn Lackland of England, he was approached byInnocent III to lead the crusade but turned this down. He was heavily committed to defending his gains against John and against the emerging alliance among England, the Empire and Flanders.[citation needed]
However, Philip claimed full rights over the lands of the house of St Gilles; some historians believe his dispatch of de Montfort and other northern barons to be, at the very least, an exploratory campaign to reassert the rights of the French Crown inLe Midi. Philip may well also have wanted to appease thepapacy after the long dispute over his marriage, which had led to excommunication. He also sought to counter any adventure by King John of England, who had marriage and fealty ties also with the Toulouse comtal house. Meanwhile, others have assessed Philip's motives to include removing over-mighty subjects from the North, and distracting them in adventure elsewhere, so they could not threaten his increasingly successful restoration of the power of the French crown in the north.[citation needed]
Simon is described as a man of unflinching religious orthodoxy, deeply committed to theDominican order and the uprooting ofheresy. Dominic Guzman, laterSaint Dominic, spent several years during the war in the Midi at Fanjeau, which was Simon's headquarters, especially in the winter months when the crusading forces were depleted. Simon had other key confederates in this enterprise, which many historians view as a conquest of southern lands by greedy men from the north. Many of them had been involved in the Fourth Crusade. One was Guy Vaux de Cernay, head of aCistercian abbey not more than twenty miles from Simon's patrimony of Montfort Aumary, who accompanied the crusade in the Languedoc and became bishop ofCarcassonne. Meanwhile, Peter de Vaux de Cernay, the nephew of Guy, wrote an account of the crusade. Historians generally consider this to be propaganda to justify the actions of the crusaders; Peter justified their cruelties as doing "the work of God" against morally depraved heretics. He portrayed outrages committed by the lords of the Midi as the opposite.[citation needed]
Simon was an energetic campaigner, rapidly moving his forces to strike at those who had broken their faith with him – and there were many, as some local lords switched sides whenever the moment seemed propitious.[citation needed] The Midi was a warren of small fortified places, as well as home to some highly fortified cities, such asToulouse,Carcassonne andNarbonne. Simon showed ruthlessness and daring as well as being particularly brutal with those who betrayed their pledges – as for example, Martin Algai, lord of Biron.[12] In 1213 Simon defeatedPeter II of Aragon at theBattle of Muret. This completed the defeat of theAlbigensians, but Simon carried on the campaign as a war of conquest. He was appointed lord over all the newly acquired territory asCount of Toulouse andDuke of Narbonne (1215). He spent two years in warfare in many parts of Raymond's former territories; he besiegedBeaucaire, which had been taken byRaymond VII of Toulouse, from 6 June 1216 to 24 August 1216.
Raymond spent most of this period in theCrown of Aragon, but corresponded with sympathisers in Toulouse. There were rumours in September 1216 that he was on his way toToulouse. Abandoning the siege of Beaucaire, Simon partially sacked Toulouse, perhaps intended as punishment of the citizens. Raymond returned in October 1217 to take possession of Toulouse. Simon hastened to besiege the city, meanwhile sending his wife,Alix de Montmorency, with bishopFoulques of Toulouse and others, to the French court to plead for support. After maintaining the siege for nine months, Simon was killed on 25 June 1218 while combating a sally by the besieged. His head was smashed by a stone from amangonel, operated, according to one source, by thedonas e tozas e mulhers ("ladies and girls and women") of Toulouse.[13] He was buried in theCathedral of Saint-Nazaire at Carcassonne.[14] His body was later moved by one of his sons to be reinterred at Montfort l'Amaury. A tombstone in the south transept of the cathedral is inscribed "of Simon de Montfort".
Simon and Alix had:
His French estates passed to his eldest son, Amaury, while his second son, Simon, eventually gained possession of the earldom of Leicester and played a major role in the reign ofHenry III of England. He led the barons' rebellion against Henry during theSecond Barons' War, and subsequently became the de facto ruler of England.
Media related toSimon IV of Montfort at Wikimedia Commons| Peerage of England | ||
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| Preceded by | Earl of Leicester 1206–1218 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Viscount of Béziers, Albi andCarcassonne 1209–1218 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Viscount of Nîmes 1214–1218 | |
| Preceded by | — DISPUTED — Count of Toulouse 1215–1218 Disputed byRaymond VI | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | — DISPUTED — Lord of Montfort-l'Amaury c.1188–1218 | Succeeded by |
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