Otherwise, if there was nothing stopping de Montfort from crossing the
bridge to the south east, it is difficult to see why he did not do so. He
did not need to flee towards London but simply to move onto the higher
ground near Bengeworth, less than a mile away, where at least he would
have a decent defensive position and an open route along the east side of
the Avon to send messengers to Kenilworth. By doing so, he would be
putting the bridge between himself and his enemies and.
while he may not have been able to actually demolish it, he could have
made it difficult to cross and thereby gained himself valuable time.
Also, where at point 1, there was discussion of the army defending itself
in the Abbey, there is no mention of the Bengeworth option, which implies
that it was not available.
Point 6 is also consistent with Mortimer being on the south
of the Avon. The new account is the only one that actually says that
Mortimer killed de Montfort but other chroniclers say that his head and
private parts were sent to Lady Mortimer. This could only really have
happened had Mortimer or his men killed de Montfort and captured his body.
If Edward did want Simon de Montfort killed and organised his
assassination squad accordingly (and this is debatable because other
chroniclers suggest that he would have spared him if he could; indeed he
spared Simon's son Guy who was wounded in the battle) Edward would hardly
have allowed such mutilation of the body of his godfather and uncle by
marriage had he been able to stop it. If Mortimer's division had been with
the rest of the royalist army to the west and to the rear of Edward's
division it is unlikely to have been at the heart of fighting. If on the
other hand it had been south of the bridge then as soon as de Montfort's
army marched northwards it would have been a simple matter to take the
bridge, brushing aside any rearguard left by de Montfort, whose likely
priority would be sanctuary in the Abbey, and then use the mounted men to
charge after de Montfort (and Mortimer hated de Montfort) and attack him
in the rear.
The next question is how Mortimer's division came to be
south of the Avon. Was this part of a master plan or did it just work out
that way? What follows is mostly speculation, but on the previous day, de
Montfort was in Kempsey trying to break out past Worcester towards
Kenilworth. On my reconstruction, Mortimer did not go to Kenilworth but
was at Worcester and able to stop him. Doubtless there was skirmishing
between the armies and then de Montfort, unsuccessful in his attempt to
get through, slips away towards Evesham. My guess is that Mortimer
followed him. Mortimer, as head of a Marcher army would have been used to
acting independently and expected to do so. In Wales the law of the March
would have applied. This basically meant that what land you conquered you
kept but that if you needed help from the King to keep it, then such land
belonged to the King. The law of the March would not apply in Evesham, but
maybe Mortimer pursued the same concept . If he defeated de Montfort's
army, then he was entitled to the spoils. This independent action may have
been specifically pre-arranged with Edward, or more probably, when
Mortimer realised that de Montfort had left for Evesham, he was not going
to let him get away and followed his route, leaving messages in Worcester
for Edward and Clare that he had done so.
So, on the Monday evening we have de Montfort slipping away
towards Evesham via Pershore with his army, and Mortimer, once he realises
what is happening, follows him. At Evesham, De Montfort makes his fatal
decision to cross over the bridge to the comfort of the Abbey where he can
get the provisions he needs for his troops, also perhaps influenced by the
King's desire for spiritual as well as bodily refreshment. But there may
be another reason for crossing the bridge into the town. De Montfort is
aiming for Kenilworth, he has to cross the Avon somewhere and better the
bridge here than some ford higher up. Perhaps he suspects that he is being
followed by royalist forces, in which case, he can put the river and the
easily defended bridge between him and them.
