Simon De Montfort: The Friendship That Led To Civil War | Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty | Chronicle

[Music] out of the chaos darkness and violence of the middle ages one family rose to seize control of england generation after generation they ruled the country for more than 300 years ruthlessly crushing all competition to become the greatest english dynasty of all time the plantagenets what i love about the plantagenet story is that it's more shocking more brutal and more astonishing than anything you'll find in fiction i want to show you the plantagenets as i see them real living breathing people driven by ambition jealousy hatred and revenge these kings murdered betrayed and tyrannized their way to spectacular success for better and for worse the plantagenets forged england as a nation this time a friendship that turns to hatred plunging england into civil war and changing the monarchy forever uh iii is the fourth plantagenet king his grandfather henry ii ruled over more of france than the french king but thanks to the incompetence of henry iii's dad king john most of those lands are gone henry dreams of getting them back he's going to be a great plantagenet king to be a king in the middle ages you've got to be tough and politically savvy you need to fight wars and win and the winning part is important you need to dispense justice fairly and evenly and above everything else you need a boundless energy the appetite to get up in the morning and rule unfortunately for england henry iii lacks pretty much every one of those qualities henry's already had two goals at retaking his lost french lands but henry messed it up big time both times it ended in expensive defeat the barons lost all confidence in the king now they've turned off the money supply which of course they can henry's completely hamstrung by magna carta today we think of it as a charter of human rights and the foundation of liberty but to henry it's just a list of things he can't do and top of that list is that he can't raise any new taxes without the baron say so winning back his plantagenet empire is going to cost henry a bomb but magna carta means the barons don't have to cough up they think henry can talk the talk but he can't walk the walk and that's the truth about henry he's a total dreamer but give him his due he dreams big this is westminster abbey henry builds it to restore some lost plantagenet pride [Music] imagine henry wandering through this incredible building thinking sends off all the right signals for a great king but as far as the barons are concerned that's exactly what he's not and henry just isn't strong enough to take them on alone but in autumn 12 30 a man turns up at court who changes the course of henry's reign a minor french knight with big ambitions simon de montfort de montfort doesn't do anything by halves he wears a hair shirt under his clothes 24 7. it rakes his skin a perpetual reminder to stay focused on god basically he's a fanatic and he backs his belief with action he spent his youth chasing heretics around the south of france with a sword henry sees a man with the muscular no-nonsense single-mindedness that he needs to achieve his big dreams henry was so young when he came to the throne that he's grown up with other people making all the important decisions for him so when you meet simon charismatic decisive he's looking at him and thinking i could use a man like that henry's drawn to de montfort like a moth to a flame but it's not just one-sided because simon may be pious but he's also very ambitious and he's come to england looking for the lucrative title of earl of leicester which he thinks belongs to his family so he's looking at henry and thinking exactly the same thing i could use a man like that unsurprisingly henry and simon quickly become best mates simon soon on the king's council basically his right-hand man he's even steward at the king's wedding simon de montfort is on the way up stored at the national archives is an amazing document that has survived for eight centuries it reveals just how ambitious simon is this is the king's official copy of a charter made by simon de montfort in 1236. his contents aren't really that important what is important is the way simon's referred to himself it says here simon de montfort comes that earl earl of leicester and that's interesting because simon had lots of the lands that went with the title of earl but he didn't have the title itself and that tells us quite a lot about simon firstly it tells us he's ambitious secondly it tells us he rates his relationship with the king high enough to go about using a title he doesn't really have the right to but thirdly it tells us he's right because this is the king's official copy henry's given it his sign off so simon might be cocky but it's with very good reason henry can't get enough of simon he propels his new best friend into the medieval stratosphere simon marries henry's sister eleanor the greatest catch in the kingdom henry should have married her off to one of the great european rulers to secure a political alliance but he's convinced simon can help him become the great king of his dreams so he gives eleanor to his best mate instead you'd imagine simon's feeling pretty pleased with himself he's married to the king's sister he's an insider at court he's the king's favorite considering where he came from he hasn't done too badly but simon's deal is not all it seems eleanor should have come with a massive dowry instead of giving it to his friend henry hangs onto the money and land for himself this decision sews the seeds of catastrophe so in 1239 henry makes de montfort earl of leicester simon's now the king's brother-in-law his chief advisor and an english baron but at precisely this moment of triumph simon goes too far he takes out a big fat loan using henry as guarantor as far as he's concerned henry owes him for his wife's dowry so he doesn't ask henry first big mistake henry threatens to throw simon and his own sister into the tower of london and he's not kidding for henry this is an outrageous liberty giving things to simon well that's one thing but he can't just stand around while simon takes what he wants henry doesn't like it but simon has to go simon and eleanor are forced to flee to france it seems like the end of a beautiful friendship [Music] but henry's going to need simon again sooner than he thinks just three years later the king gets himself into big trouble henry's launched an attack here at poatu in western france it was once his ancestors territory henry thought he could take it back but he couldn't just like last time the barons used magna carta to deny him the taxes he needed but just like last time henry went ahead anyway attacking puerto was spectacularly stupid because the count of puerto's brother is the french king henry's forces quickly find themselves chased down by the whole french army in desperation henry has called on the one man he believes can help him his estranged and banished best friend simon de montfort simon was just back from a year on crusade in the holy land so his military expertise was greater than ever and henry had eaten humble pie to get him back now this is quite a climb down henry was the one who banished simon in the first place and now he's stuffed without him but even simon can't salvage this disaster henry flees the field he leaves simon fighting a desperate rear guard action with the king's men they retreat towards the town of sand henry is cowering inside the town and it's not just the french army that comes storming after him simon is not used to losing now it's his turn to explode at the king the king himself reported what simon says charles simple was a notoriously useless french king who subjects put him in jail because he was such a bad general thinking about locking up your king is one thing but actually saying it to his face is flirting with treason but henry can't call simon on it this is the king's third failure in france there's now zero chance the english barons will support his ambitions he desperately needs an ally in the aristocracy and simon is still the earl of leicester so when they return to england henry eats more humble pie he gives simon this whacking great castle at kenilworth for five years their friendship holds up so when a foreign crisis pops up in 1247 the king turns to his best friend again all henry has left of the plantagena empire in france is gascony but it's in chaos with feuding nobles a french king itching to invade and its southern borders under attack as ever the barons won't let henry raise taxes to sort it out they think he'll just [ __ ] it up again so henry asks simon to fix it for him and he'll pay him later henry admires the fact that simon will take the tough decisions he can't that's why he sends him simon's a zero tolerance sort of guy and true to form he launches a vicious crackdown on the gascon rebels even cutting their vines which in wine country is a terrible punishment but while simon's in gascony henry finds himself drawn in by another powerful figure william de valence the king's half-brother leader of a french family called the lucianians henry starts giving them land and titles in exchange they supplant the english lords and begin to take control of the government for him [Music] finally the king has some allies at home seems great doesn't it but it's not the listenians were actually booted out of france because they're dangerous ruthless and pretty nasty henry's decision to give them so much power will tear the country apart [Music] but right now all he can see is that they make him feel like a powerful king now he doesn't need simon de montfort like he used to [Music] when the gas guns complain about simon's brutality henry hangs his old mate out to dry even though de montfort has run up huge debts doing the king's dirty work henry puts him on trial for his treatment of the gascons the trial takes place here right in the shadow of henry's greatest building project westminster abbey and it's held in what used to be the monks dining room you can still see part of the original wall now if you've been sitting on the other side of that in 1252 you'd witness the end of the friendship of simon de montfort and henry iii the case is held before the king and simon's fellow barons simon is reeling that his friend has put him on trial an all-out route kicks off between them sounds like simon's having a dig at henry's piety but i think there's more to it than that he certainly picked an analogy designed to hurt the king's feelings but what he's really saying is what's the point in confessing admitting your mistakes if you're going to do the same stupid things again afterwards it's like you're useless you know you're useless but you don't want to do anything about it and that sounds like simon's really overstepping the mark again but he's about to give henry a brutal lesson in kingship simon has taken the political temperature in the room the king hasn't when henry puts the charges to a vote simon walks the other barons are as fed up with the king and his listenians as simon is henry and simon now hate each other with a passion and england will pay a terrible price [Music] henry sulks and he lets the listenings off the leash [Music] they start grabbing land and property in total violation of magna carta their supporters even ransacked the archbishop of canterbury's london palace henry simply stands by and lets them get away with it it just confirms the baron's view that he's a spineless excuse for a king and then in 1256 henry does something quite extraordinary it's spelt out in an astonishing 700 year old book here in the british library this is the chronicle of matthew paris who is writing at the time of henry iii had better access than anyone else to henry in his court and he writes that the king gave an order under the reggio siguilo the royal seal that no brief there's any official government document could be used to cause injury ala kui fratri sui to any of his brothers which includes the listenings so henry's saying the listeners can't be prosecuted effectively they're above the law this is political dynamite [Music] the barons are furious in retaliation they squeeze henry's finances further henry's not in a very good place he's lost the war with france he's made a mess of gascony he's upset most of his barons and he's broke it's time to sort things out so what does he do does he kick out the listenings does he reassure his barons does he sort out gascony no he decides to do something bold something radical something no one will expect he decides to invade sicily it was actually the pope's idea he asked henry to do it but henry jumps at the opportunity to take control of a wealthy country this could help free him from the control of the english barons but sicily is a thousand miles away it would cost an absolute fortune to take henry can't even hang onto his lands in france so invading sicily is a bonkers idea and everyone can see it except the king henry demands taxes from the english barons to fund the invasion he thinks he can get away with it because developers violent lucinians support him a group of barons come to london to put henry back in his box and it's his old friend simon de montfort leading the charge [Music] [Music] simon de montfort comes to london to bring king henry iii to heal the king stitched him up over gascony simon will never forgive him this is westminster hall more than 900 years old it's all that's left of the medieval palace and it's here that simon and the barons march up to meet henry iii he's sitting up there on his throne and he thinks they've come to give him money for his sicilian invasion but as soon as they arrive he realizes something's very wrong simon and the others might not have swords in their hands but they're still done up in their battle armor and henry knows the tables are turned on and his allies aren't here to take henry captive what they're demanding is almost worse first they want the listening stripped of all their english property and kicked out of the country second they want a permanent council of barons to manage the affairs of the king however they want to phrase it the reality is they're taking over this is a nightmare for henry simon and his mates are saying not only are we not going to help you with sicily but you're such a disaster we're going to take away pretty much all your power they come armed because they're telling henry we're stronger than you and they are henry's forced to agree to all their demands just to get out of the room but as soon as he does he backtracks on everything he's promised eight weeks later at a parliament in oxford henry faces off against simon and the barons and he takes his half-brother william and his listening thugs with him the town's full of knights from both sides armed to the teeth the atmosphere is electric you can feel the tension the country's teetering on the verge of civil war the hated listenians have no intention of giving up their castles and land they think they can take on simon de montfort the explosive meeting becomes known as the mad parliament simon directly threatens the king's half-brother make no mistake you will either give up your castles or you will lose your head is he bluffing or is simon serious well frankly i wouldn't put it past him this isn't some soft wealthy english baron this is a hard man a crusader a guy who's used to spilling blood the listenings are no match for de montfort and they know it they flee for their lives henry's resistance collapses he has to accept all the baron's demands the new rules that he's forced to sign up to are legally recorded in a document called the provisions of oxford this is one of the most important documents in british history everyone thinks of magna carta as the great bill that limited king's power but the provisions of oxford are actually far more extreme henry spent his whole life railing against the restrictions of magna carta the provisions of oxford really give him something to complain about we have them here copied in french into a chronicle from the time and you can see a council of cairns that's 15 barons will meet to manage the affairs of the kingdom a parliament will meet trays three times a year whether or not the king summoned it simon and the barons essentially a parliament can now make decisions on pretty much anything that happens in the kingdom whether or not henry likes it he's become a rubber stamp and if he breaks the provisions the penalty is war it's a seismic shift in political power away from the king and it's the basis of our modern parliamentary system this must be devastating for henry he's already lost most of his ancestral lands in france and now in england where his authority is supposed to be supreme he's virtually powerless as well his whole vision of what it is to be a king is being shattered the barons demand that everyone swears an oath before god to abide by the provisions problem is henry and simon's attitudes to the oath are poles apart everyone knows plantagenet kings and their barons have a long history of breaking their oaths but for simon once he's made a sacred oath with god he's really boxed himself into a corner remember this guy is a religious zealot [Music] the oath is sworn at blackfriars church in oxford by henry the barons and by simon so after he makes the oath he stays up half the night in prayer he abstains from sex and he's still wearing his hair shirt under his clothes this is his treaty with god and he's never going to break it but he knows henry will within four years de montfort's worst fears come true [Music] because henry has sworn the oath knowing he'll break it he brings back the listenians and just like before they do pretty much whatever they want henry's gambling the barons will turn a blind eye because the alternative is civil war and no one wants that do they it's a massive miscalculation by the king one man is committed almost alone amongst those who've sworn it simon will keep the oath whatever the cost simon raises an army from those barons who still believe in the provisions of oxford in 1264 england is plunged into a civil war this is the town of louis close to the south coast and it's here that simon de montfort and henry iii face off against each other in battle for the first time simon may have the law on his side but however you dress it up he's still taking on god's anointed king he is now a traitor and when it comes to traitors henry can still call on plenty of support by the time they confront each other simon's on the back foot simon's experienced enough to know that as he approaches the town of lewis here on the sussex downs things don't look very good for him he's injured with a broken leg his arm is massively outnumbered two to one and henry is holed up down there behind strong town walls simon knows the king will be feeling pretty confident but then again that's what he's banking on he's planning to force the king into a winner takes all battle on his terms by drawing the king out into the open it's a massive gamble but that's simon all over under cover of darkness simon's army takes this ridge overlooking the town now he has the high [Music] ground early next morning simon's army prostrate themselves on the ground to be blessed by the bishops now many parties feel you spiritually simon and his men are on a crusade for liberty he and his men truly believe that god is on their side they're radicalized driven by the dream of a different kind of england which the king no longer calls the shots henry is fighting for the absolute supremacy of the king simon de montfort is fighting to crush it de montfort may have god on his side but the king's got far more men he also has a secret weapon edward his eldest son and heir he's utterly fearless and champing at the bit to hack up demonford and his mates henry finally sees a chance to win his great plantagenet victory how can he lose just as simon hoped the king comes out fighting [Applause] the battle is a complete disaster for the king henry's still a terrible general his son edward goes charging off over the hill after a rabble of civilians his brother richard gets himself besieged in a windmill and henry ends up forced back here to the priory of saint pancras just outside the town walls simon dares and he wins the king and his son edward are captured the king's sword is surrendered to simon not exactly the plantagenet glory henry was aiming for simon de montford once a minor french nobleman now holds ultimate power in england [Applause] this is a revolution simon's taken an army to the field to seize the power of an anointed king it's treason and it's also an unforgivable betrayal of friendship the king's dreams of glory have been crushed but there is still one plantagenet who could save the dynasty and it's not henry [Applause] [Music] in the aftermath of lewis henry's in a desperate state he's been humiliated in battle again his nemesis simon de montfort is running the country and to top it all off henry simon's prisoner the king's dreams of plantagenet glory have been comprehensively trashed for more than a year simon de montfort dominates the government of england from his castle at kenilworth henry's still king in theory in reality he's just simon's puppet to maintain his hold on the country simon keeps the king with him everything in the government is decided under the direction of de montfort for the first time in the history of england a political movement has succeeded in crushing a tyrannical king sounds very noble doesn't it but the reality is that this is at least as much about greed as liberty simon may have set himself up as a man selflessly doing what's right for england but actually there's a lot more going on even though he has this vast castle at kenilworth simon's been brooding that the king shortchanged him on money and land but now he has henry just rubber stamping his decisions it's an opportunity too good to miss simon decides to take what he believes he's owed de montfort takes money and land for himself and his family and by keeping the king close to him simon thinks he's got everything under control it's a fatal error of judgment it's not henry who threatens simon's hold on england the man he should be watching is the 25 year old heir to the throne edward but simon's taken his eye off the ball and left the prince in hereford under house arrest with things going so well simon's relaxed the guard on prince edward he even allows him out riding so edward plays a game with his captors swapping horses to find the fastest they think it's all great fun until he finds the fastest horse [Music] prince edward finds plenty of nobles increasingly nervous that simon will snatch the crown and that scares the barons more than henry's abysmal reputation edward promises to let them keep the reforms and that persuades many of them to defect back to the plantagenet cause the plantagenet army is back on the march the end game in the 25 year grudge match between the former best friends henry iii and simon de montfort takes place here in worcestershire simon's got the king with him for insurance he's trying to get back to kenilworth to gather reinforcements but edward is moving too fast at the beginning of august he catches up with simon here at evesham from the top of the old abbey tower simon sees the plantagenet army approaching in the distance he's pinned down and outnumbered de montford realizes that if edward's men free henry the game is up so simon disguises the king in one of his own uniforms if he goes down he's taking henry with him [Music] he doesn't wait for the plantagenets to come for him simon attacks first this is signing the crusader last time the odds were stacked against him he dared and won so this time he dares again he can't help it it's what he's good at simon's army charges out in a single wedge home to punch through enemy ranks they race up through the center of yvesham to the fields overlooking the town where the plantagenet soldiers are lined up simon gambles that because he's got the king with him the plantagenet army will be too cautious to attack but simon's as wrong as you get this time the armies rallied behind the king's son edward and they're out for bloody revenge the two armies meet here in the fields outside yvesham as the plantagener army piles in the battle descends into an orgy of violence the royalists cut down four thousand of the rebels the battlefield and streets of evesham are piled high with their corpses more than 30 of simon's knights are slaughtered but there is only one way to end the rebellion for good edward sends a 12-night hit squad onto the battlefield with one mission find and kill simon de montfort king henry still dressed as one of demonford's men is almost taken out by his own hit squad simon already badly wounded by alliance is not so lucky simon's killed somewhere on these fields outside eveshum and some of the chroniclers go so far as to call it murder this might be a battlefield but 12 knights ganging up against one he's hardly playing by the rules but even then just killing simon isn't enough for henry's men this is an upstart an outsider someone who's taken on a king and undermined what being a king means simon de montfort traitor to the crown once the most powerful man in england dies the message to everyone must be crystal clear no one defies the king and lives the body of the king's once best friend is butchered his testicles are cut off and then rammed into his mouth before his head is cut from his body and paraded on a spear henry finally has his moment of plantagenet glory but in truth it's his son edward who delivers it [Music] henry is just a bystander but the price of victory over simon is accepting the reforms that simon was fighting for because that's the deal edward sealed to raise an army [Music] henry's won the battle but he's lost the war the king's dream of absolute power has died with simon [Music] dismal as henry's reign was he still left behind him two of the greatest legacies of the whole plantagenet dynasty and they're both right here westminster abbey henry's extraordinary palace to god and over there parliament seated the democracy that still governs our country today it was born not out of wisdom and smart politics but out of the passion and fury of a brutal bloody feud between two best friends next time edward ii his short-sighted obsessions plunged england into a nightmare of political violence bloodlust and most of all revenge

Channel: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Views: 47,669

Keywords: history documentary, medieval history documentary, middle ages, medieval history, the middle ages, simon de montfort, henry iii, who killed henry iii, medieval documentary, earl of lecister, barons revolt, dan jones, dan jones documentary, dan jones history documentary

Id: UH29r5PDJUQ

Length: 44min 52sec (2692 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021