Person:Henry de Montfort (1)

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Sir Henry de Montfort (November 1238 – 1265) was the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and with his father played an important role in the struggle of the barons against King Henry III. Henry's mother was Princess Eleanor of England (daughter of King John), whose marriage to Simon further increased the foreign influence begun by the king, which was to result in great hostility by those very barons who later revolted against the king.

Henry's father was Simon de Montfort, the leader of the English Barons in the Second Barons' War. Simon was the younger son of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, a French noble who had been barred from his English titles and claims due to his allegiance to the French crown. Upon his father's death, the younger Simon had traded his interests in the family's French titles with his older brother for the sole possession of the English claims, and moved to England in 1229 to assert them. Becoming a favorite of Henry III, the younger Simon de Montfort received permission to marry the king's sister Eleanor of England, a jump in social status that alarmed the English nobility. In gratitude for the King's permission and support, the first son was named Henry in his honor. Despite this relationship, Henry de Montfort sided with his father and the other nobles in revolt against his namesake known as the Second Barons' War, with his father emerging as the leader of the rebellion and eventually the de facto leader of the nation.

When the siege of Gloucester began in 1263, Henry de Montfort and Humphrey de Bohun, holding the King and Prince Edward (later Edward I) as prisoners, spent two weeks fortifying the town and castle. Henry then accompanied his father to Evesham, where they intended to rendezvous with Henry's younger brother, Simon the younger de Montfort. Instead they met Prince Edward who had ambushed the younger de Montfort's army and then marched under its stolen Montfort banners to lure Henry and the elder Simon into a trap. (See: Evesham)

"The final act was played out in a monstrous summer storm, (in) 'such a downpour of rain, such thunder and lightning, ...the darkness was so profound, that though it was dinner-time those who sat down to eat could scarcely see the food before them'. The first of the nobles to fall in battle was Henry de Montfort, 'first born son and heir, in full view of his father, perished, split by a sword.'"

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Henry de Montfort, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. (Online: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.).
2.   Henry de Montfort, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.