Thereafter, events
moved rapidly, by anybody's standards. Although , from some accounts , an
extra day was involved , the most likely diary - incredible as it seems -
is as follows.
Friday 31st July:
Simon junior arrives at Kenilworth.
Saturday 1st
August: Spies inform Edward that the nobility in Simon's army are
sleeping in the grounds of the Priory in the town, outside the protection
of the castle. In the afternoon, Edward with his army sets off for
Kenilworth.
Sunday 2nd
August: Edward beats up Simon junior's quarters at Kenilworth,
capturing banners and important prisoners. The same day, Simon senior, no
doubt hearing about Edward's departure from Worcester on the Saturday,
marches from Hereford, crosses the Severn and occupies Kempsey about three
miles south of Worcester.
Monday 3rd
August: Edward returns to Worcester from Kenilworth. Simon senior
spends most of the day at Kempsey but departs for Evesham in the evening.
Tuesday 4th
August: Simon senior arrives at Evesham about 5 am. The royalists
arrive at Evesham some time between then and 9 am. when the battle starts.
Our first puzzle
concerns Edward's brilliantly successful attack on Kenilworth.
Intelligence had reached him that the nobility in Simon's army had decided
against roughing it in the castle but had pitched their pavilions and
tents in the grounds of the Priory. A visit to Kenilworth in the summer
and comparison of the beautiful grounds of the old Priory with the the
forbidding castle can make one understand why. With hindsight, Simon
junior's negligence seems appalling, but at the time, an overnight march
by Edward's army from Worcester must have seemed beyond comprehension.
According to A.H.
Burne, in his book "The Battlefields of England", it is 34 miles
from Worcester to Kenilworth, and this figure seems to be generally
accepted. However, looking at the map of principal west midland roads in
D.C. Cox's "Battle of Evesham - a new account"
and assuming that Edward went via Barbourne and Droitwich (there is
Chronicler evidence to support this) and avoided Warwick, I estimate the
distance at over 40 miles. Warwick Castle had been taken by John Gifford,
governor of Kenilworth castle, for De Montfort earlier in the Barons war
and partially destroyed and although the situation is confused by Gifford
changing sides, Warwick castle does not seem to have been restored to the
Royalist cause until well after the battle of Evesham. It therefore seems
unlikely that Edward would risk taking troops through Warwick in the
middle of the night which might alert De Montfort sympathisers.
Unfortunately, we
know so little about how Edward's army was mobilised, how it was organised,
fed, equipped and trained. Some clues however can be found in "The Welsh
Wars of Edward I" by John Morris which tells of
the period only a dozen years later. Here is an extract from a list of
soldiers presenting themselves for the campaign of 1277:
