We do not know the date of birth of Simon de Montfort
IV, earl of Leicester, and father of “our” Simon de Montfort but we do
know that he died at Toulouse on June 25th 1218. Simon de
Montfort IV was descended from the lords of Montfort l'Amaury in Normandy,
being the second son of Simon III, and Amicia, daughter of Robert de
Beaumont, third earl of Leicester. Having succeeded his father as Baron de
Montfort in 1181 he married Alice de Montmorency, the daughter of Bouchard
de Montmorency III in 1190. In 1199 while taking part in a tournament at
Ecry-sur-Aisne in the province of Champagne he heard Fulk de Neuilly
preaching the crusade, and in company with Count Thibaud de Champagne and
many other nobles and knights he took the cross. Unfortunately the crusade
ran out of control and the French knights, instead of co-operating with
the pope, set off on to Egypt on their own campaign. On their arrival at
Venice the crusaders entered into a contract for transport across the
Mediterranean. Being unable to fulfil the terms of the contract, they
compounded by assisting the Venetians to capture Zara in Dalmatia. In vain
the pope urged them to set out for the Holy Land. They preferred to march
on Constantinople, though Simon de Montfort offered energetic opposition
to this proposal. In spite of his efforts the expedition proceeded and
the pope's plans were lost.
In 1204 or 1205 Simon succeeded to the earldom of
Leicester and large estates in England. On the death of the fourth earl
of Leicester in that year his honour of Leicester devolved on his sister
Alicia, Simon's mother; and as her husband, Simon III and her eldest son
were already dead, the earldom devolved on Simon. But, although he was
recognized by King John as earl of Leicester, he was never formally
invested with the earldom, and in February, 1207, the king seized all his
English estates on pretext of a debt due from him. Shortly afterwards they
were restored, only to be confiscated again before the end of the year.
Simon, content with the Norman estates he had inherited from the de
Montforts and the de Beaumonts, remained in France, where in 1208 he was
made captain-general of the French forces in the Crusade against the
Albigenses. At first he declined this honour, but the pope's legate,
Arnold, Abbot of Cîteaux, ordered him in the pope's name to accept it, and
he obeyed.
He received control over the territory – “Cathar
Country” - conquered from Raymond VI of Toulouse and by his military
skill, fierce courage, and ruthless brutality he swept the country. His
success won for him the admiration of the English barons, and in 1210 King
John received information that they were plotting to elect Simon King of
England in his stead. Simon, however, concentrated his fierce energies on
his task in Toulouse, and in 1213 he defeated Peter of Aragon at the
battle of Muret. The Cathars were now crushed, but Simon carried on the
campaign as a war of conquest, being appointed by the Council of
Montpellier lord over all the newly-acquired territory, as Count of
Toulouse and Duke of Narbonne (1215). The pope confirmed this appointment,
understanding that it would effectively complete the suppression of the
heresy.
Simon was widely recognised for his many great
qualities so it is perhaps more surprising that, during the Albigensian
Crusade, his name became a by-word for brutality, treachery, harshness and
bad faith. His severity became cruelty, and he delivered over many towns
to fire and pillage, involving innocent people in the common ruin. Simon
is regarded by many as the epitome of evil.
Meanwhile the pope had been making efforts to secure
for him the restitution of his English estates. The surrender of his lands
by John was one of the conditions for reconciliation laid down by the pope
in 1213; but it was not till July 1215 that John reluctantly yielded the
honour of Leicester into the hands of Simon's nephew Ralph, Earl of
Chester, "for the benefit of the said Simon". Simon's interest in England
was shown by his efforts to dissuade Louis of France from invading England
in July 1216, in which matter he was seconded, though fruitlessly, by the
legate Gualo. Having at this time raised more troops in Paris Simon
returned to the south of France, where he occupied himself in waging war
at Nîmes, until in 1217 a rebellion broke out in Provence, where Count
Raymond's son re-entered Toulouse. Simon hastened to besiege the city, but
was hampered by lack of troops. On June 25th 1218, while he was
at Mass he learned that the besieged had made a sortie. Refusing to leave
the church before Mass was over, he arrived late at the scene of action
only to be wounded mortally (it is said by a stone launched from a
catapult operated by towns-women of Toulouse). He died shortly after and
was laid to rest initially in the Basilica of St. Nazaire in Carcassonne
(see photographs on right). When his son Amaury left the region to return
to northern France he took his father’s remains with him for reburial in
the Monastery of Haute-Bruyère, well aware what would happen to them if
they were left in Cathar Country.
He left three sons, of whom Almeric the eldest
ultimately inherited his French estates; the youngest was the Simon de
Montfort we commemorate who succeeded him as Earl of Leicester, and who
was to play so great a part in English history.
