On 14 May 1264 the rebel Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, defeated King Henry III at the Battle of Lewes. Both the king and his son Prince Edward were taken prisoner leaving the government of England almost exclusively in the hands of de Montfort. The royalist forces had been defeated but de Montfort’s position was by no means secure.
Invasion from France was a very real threat and the Welsh Marches were on the threshold of rebellion. At the same time de Montfort managed to antagonise many of his own supporters by using his newly found power to grant lands to family members. His powerbase began to crumble and when in May 1265 Prince Edward escaped, the royalist forces were galvanised into action.
The Armies Move West
Edward raised his standard at Worcester and then proceeded to run a brilliant military campaign against de Montfort. First he captured Gloucester forcing de Montfort to regroup his forces at Hereford. On 1 August 1265 Edward led a surprise attack on Kenilworth and destroyed the rebel forces under the command of de Montfort’s son, also called Simon.
Meanwhile de Montfort senior, oblivious of his son’s defeat, was marching to Kenilworth and reached Evesham on 3 August. Edward again acted decisively and moved his army to the banks of the River Avon at Cleeve Prior. Sending a cavalry detachment south under Roger Mortimer to seize Bengeworth Bridge, Edward deployed his own forces on Green Hill to the north of Evesham. De Montfort was now trapped in a loop of the River Avon.
The Murder of Evesham
On seeing the approaching army de Montfort first thought they were troops led by his son. When he realised they were not and the vulnerability of his position became clear he was heard to declare: ‘God have mercy on our souls for our bodies are theirs.’
Edward’s army numbered some 8000 soldiers formed up into two divisions; the left commanded by Edward and the right by the Earl of Gloucester. De Montfort faced them with 6000 troops deployed in column, cavalry in the van and infantry behind. His only hope was to smash his way through Edward’s army.
Rain began to fall as de Montfort ordered his column forward aiming for the gap between the two royal divisions. As he did so many of the infantry began to lose heart and slipped away. The column failed to break through and when the royalist cavalry wheeled round to attack de Montfort’s flanks the battle was lost.
Surrounded and overwhelmed, de Montfort and his knights fought on. Gradually the fighting became less of a battle and more of a massacre. The fighting was savage and at one point, Henry III, who was still de Montfort’s prisoner, came close to being killed by Edward’s soldiers. Fortunately he was recognised and eventually rescued.
At the end of the battle de Montfort, his son Henry and around 4000 of his soldiers lay dead. An observer said at the time, ’such was the murder of Evesham, for a battle it was not’.
The Fruits of Victory
The Battle of Evesham restored Henry III to the English throne where he stayed until his death in 1272. He was succeeded by his son Edward I who went on to conquer Wales and nearly Scotland. Monks recovered de Montfort’s mutilated body and buried him at Evesham Abbey. Today his grave is marked by a stone on which an inscription commemorates his death.
Sources:
David Smurthwaite, Battlefields of Britain, (Webb & Bower, 1984)
Ian Heath, Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300, (Wargames Research Group, 1978)
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