Montfort

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

SIMON DE, an English and statesman, born general about 1208. He quitted France for England in 1231 or 1236, where the estates to which he was heir were taken possession of with the title Earl of Leicester. Henry III. permitted him to marry his sister, the Countess dowager of Pembroke, and appointed him lieutenant-general , or seneschal of Gascony . From this time the interest of English history turns on the disputes between this turbulent subject at the head of a confederacy of the barons and the crown, the first incident in it being Montfort's recall from his government. In 1258 Henry had convoked a Parliament, to procure supplies for the conquest of Sicily. ly. Montfort and the barons made an armed protest against his government, the end of which was the appointment of 24 of their number, with Montfort as president, to administer the affairs of the kingdom. The king and his son, Prince Edward, endeavoring to reconquer the royal authority by force of arms, were defeated at the battle of Lewes, 1264. In 1265, De Montfort convened a Parliament, in which representatives were sent from the boroughs for the first time on record and thus originated the House of Commons. He was now the leader of the popular party, and was obliged to take the field by the disaffection of the Earl of Gloucester who, with many other of the barons, joined Prince Edward. The battle of Evesham, Aug. 4, 1265, decided the contest. Simon de Montfort, overpowered by numbers, fell and the ruin of his family succeeded.