Simon de Montfort, Earl
of Leicester, commanded the rebel cavalry. The infantry was under the
command of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. De Montfort’s son Simon
commanded the forces marching to his aid, but they never arrived at the
battlefield, news of the defeat reaching them while on the march.
Prince Edward (later
Edward I) commanded the royal army, with Gilbert de Clare, Earl of
Gloucester, and Roger de Mortimer commanding the other two divisions.
There
is limited evidence on the numbers engaged on either side but, according
to Melrose chronicle, de Montfort was outnumbered at least 3 to 1. If this
was correct then the Evesham chronicle’s claim that de Montfort had more
than 6000 Welsh and other infantry would mean that Edward’s army was well
over 18,000. Though well within the range of chronicle estimates for other
battles it still appears excessive.
The
report that few of Edward’s men killed may be correct while the losses on
de Montfort’s side may have been far higher at Evesham than other battles
of the period, because no quarter was to be given. However, the 7500 -
10,000 said by to have been killed is another example of the gross
exaggeration of most of the medieval chronicles when recording numbers.
The claim of 160-200 knights killed is also unsupported, although 36 names
of the most important are recorded. The English Heritage report
