The relief showing a very unheroic Henry III at the battle of Evesham is based on the account of the chronicler of Melrose Abbey, who worshipped Simon de Montfort. The chroniclers at Waverley and Dunstable, however, neither of whom was friendly to the king, say Henry fled to the royalist side at the start of the battle. He was probably raining blows down on Simon and his followers instead of begging for his life. Two other chroniclers (Lewes and Winchester) say that in the previous battle at Lewes, Henry engaged in hand-to-hand combat, even took three wounds. Of course, that battle was lost thanks to his son Edward riding off the field. The little seen sketch below shows, on the left, Simon taking Henry prisoner after Lewes, on the right, Henry killing Simon at Evesham.
