Finally a house with a number on the mailbox. This year stands out for being a mostly quiet one at […]
In the year 1245
This year started off with the birth of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence’s second and youngest son Edmund. Endowments […]
In the year 1244
Moving to the next house over, we find the Simon and Eleanor de Montfort fully restored to royal favour. Henry […]
In the year 1243
The next house is 1242 but it shows no number to this effect and the front yard looks kind of […]
In the year 1241
The next house being 1241, in this year Simon de Montfort went on crusade and took the family with him. […]
In the year 1240
Just walking through a nearby neighborhood and saw this house number. So what happened in 1240? Simon de Montfort returned […]
Two “Thirds”
Today 1 October marks the birth of Henry III in 1207. Born in Winchester, he had just turned nine when […]
The Lord Steward
The open question following the battle of Evesham was whether Simon de Montfort had been aspiring for the throne, if […]
Pioneering queen
Celebrating the life of Eleanor of Provence (1223-91) this International Women’s Day, the first woman in post-Conquest England to be […]
The house of houses
It’s the 14th of February, the year 1265, and something big is about to go down in the chapter house […]
A saint otherwise
On this day of 12 February in 1266, Walter de Cantilupe, the bishop of Worchester, died a broken man. He […]
The Wheel of Fortune
On this date of 02 February in 1239, Henry III invested Simon de Montfort with the title of Earl of […]
Merton and the unicorn
In 1258 Henry III and his barons set out to reform the realm under a constitution known as the Provisions […]
Clerical War, not Barons’ War
More evidence that the ‘Second Barons’ War’ was in fact a ‘Clerical War’ comes in the writs for parliament to […]
Sex and money
On this day of 7 January in 1238 (780 years ago), one of the first sex scandals in English politics […]
From irate legate to forgiving pope
As of 22 November 1263, crimes of all sorts were being committed in England. This was the report of the […]
Before there was King Lear
In May 1265 Simon de Montfort had been at the head of a parliamentary state for one year, with King […]
Born on this day of 1 October in 1207
Henry of Winchester, in nine years’ time to be the third king to bear the name Henry since the Norman […]
Miracle of Battlewell
The miracles of Simon de Montfort, as recorded in the chronicle of William Rishanger, has this interesting entry: ‘The […]
When the legate becomes the pope
In the aftermath of Simon de Montfort’s victory at Lewes in May 1264, Cardinal Guy Foulquois tried to go to […]