The Battle of Evesham - 4th August 1265

 The Battle of Evesham

4th August 1265.

This was the second of the two major battles of what we now call the 2nd Baronial War or Earl Simon de Montfort's rebellion.  It is also the site of the biggest 13th century re-enactment event in Britain, for more information about that, see this post.

The lead up to the battle.

Earl Simon de Montfort had captured Henry III and his son Prince Edward at the Battle of Lewes in 1264 and governed England in the king's name for a year. He had even called Parliaments in June 1264 and January 1265, however, this did not end the conflict.

Part of the "Form of Peace" signed between Simon de Montfort's administration and King Henry and Lord Edward in January 1265. You can see more and a transcription on the National Archives webpages.

Earl Simon drew up the "Treaty of Pipton" which was signed by the then captive King Henry on 22nd June 1265.  It recognised Llywelyn, Prince of Gwynedd, as "Prince of Wales".  Llywelyn was attacking lands in the Welsh Marches, as he tried to extend his principality and this alliance caused many of de Montfort's Marcher-Lord followers to withdraw their support for him and his government.

Simon de Montfort's real troubles began when Lord Edward escaped from captivity in Hereford on 28th May 1265 (more on this in a future post). Edward was assisted by Roger Mortimer (a Marcher-Lord loyal to the Crown) and quickly met up with Gilbert de Clare (Earl of Gloucester), who had been one of de Montfort's strongest allies, William de Valence (Earl of Pembroke & King Henry's half-brother) and John de Warenne (Earl of Surrey).

Edward and de Clare raised a large army and intended to block Earl Simon's attempts to head eastwards across the River Severn. Edward rapidly took Worcester and advanced on Gloucester, where Royalist troops captured the town, although the castle held out, in mid-June. 

Unable to use the bridges over the Severn, Earl Simon marched south to Monmouth the Newport, aiming to cross to Bristol by ship. After a Royalist night raid by sea destroyed his fleet, de Montfort returned to Hereford. 

De Montfort's son, Simon (the younger), was advancing slowly west from London, first to Winchester, then to Oxford and on to Northampton. At the end of July. he paused briefly at Kenilworth intending to head south towards Worcester to join his father's forces.

Lord Edward was at Worcester and about to be caught in a pincer movement by Simon the younger advancing east from Kenilworth, and his father coming north from Hereford. 

Edward sent  a mounted force in the direction of Shrewsbury to make the Montfortians think he was withdrawing north. In fact, his spy network had informed him where young Simon's army was and that more than half of it was billeted in Kenilworth village rather than safely ensconced in the large castle. By doing a forced march overnight, with some of his infantry in carts to make more speed, Edward's men reached Kenilworth at dawn on 2nd August. 

Kenilworth castle today.

According to writers at the time, many of the Montfortian knights had chosen to spend the night in the relative comfort of the village and ten to twenty of them were quickly captured including the Earl of Oxford. Many  unrecorded foot-soldiers were killed too.

Simon the younger escaped by boat across the castle's extensive water defences, some sources say he was clad only in his nightshirt. Part of his army was safe inside the castle as Edward's lightly equipped force had no way to attack the fortress.

Edward's victorious troops returned to Worcester, where he learnt that Earl Simon had finally crossed the Severn near Kempsey and was moving towards Evesham.

 

The battle.

Edward prepared to deal with de Montfort who was now once more on the east bank of the Severn and who, by the morning of 4 August, had reached Evesham.

The Old Version.

(largely based upon the chronicle of William Rishanger, a Benedictine monk at St. Albans., who wrote his account of the battle many years after it had happened).

Needing to rest his road-weary troops, de Montfort spent the night of August 3rd at the Abbey in Evesham. His lookouts on the Abbey tower are said to have seen Lord Edward’s force approaching under the banners of de Montfort’s son, Simon the younger (which they had captured at Kenilworth), giving the baronial force false hope. This was dashed as the royal army took up positions on the ridge of Green Hill, just north of Evesham with Lord Edward on the left, and Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester on the right. 

Roger Mortimer led his men to the east and crossed the river coming back towards Evesham and blocking de Montfort’s route of retreat over the bridge near the Abbey.

Rishanger says that the baronial forces, numbering approximately 8,000 (5,000 of which were Welsh infantry) men, wore white crosses on their clothing whilst the Royalists, with around 10,000 men, wore red ones.

Around 8.00am, Simon de Montfort moved his troops north to prepare for battle just as a great thunderstorm started. De Montfort, realising how heavily out numbered he was, tried a charge to break through the royalist forces. He was probably hoping then hea2d north to meet up with his son, Simon the younger’s men that he thought were coming south from Kenilworth (see above)  to his aid. His charge was unsuccessful and the royalist forces swung in on his flanks and surrounded him. His Welsh soldiers fled and were massacred down by the river by the Marcher troops of Roger Mortimer.

Simon de Montfort's eldest son Henry was killed first, then Simon was dismounted and died fighting on foot. His body was mutilated; his head, hands, feet and testicles cut off. 

King Henry himself, who had been a prisoner of de Montfort since the Battle of Lewes in May the year before, was barely rescued from the mêlée by Roger de Leybourne, allegedly Henry had thrown off his helmet and was shouting “I am Harry of Winchester, your King; do not kill me!” 

 

The New Version.

A new source, written in Norman French was found on the back of the roll which is now College of Arms, MS 3/23 B. (see Olivier de Laborderie et al. below). It appears to be an eyewitness account of the battle and its details give a different story to the one above.

Map of the battle from the Visit Evesham web site

In this version, now widely accepted as a more accurate account, Mortimer’s section of the royalist army did not block the bridge but formed on Green Hill as the right flank, with Lord Edward in the centre and de Clare on the left flank. 

It is thought Edward may have deliberately left the bridge clear initially as he believed that a bottled up enemy force with no avenue of escape would fight harder than one where men could flee away if routed. Another possibility is that he did send a small force over the ford to swing round and block the bridge but it had not arrived there by the time of the battle but reached the bridge in time to catch many of the fleeing Montfortians, especially the Welsh infantry.

This new source mentions that de Montfort's banner bearer, Guy de Balliol, shattered his lance (considered a bad omen by Earl Simon) on the abbey gate riding out to fight and that de Montfort told many of his knights to think of their wives and families and leave, which they refused to do. It also mentions that Edward and de Clare knighted several of their followers immediately before the battle.

The battle more or less followed the same  format as above apart from de Montfort seems to have charged straight into Edward's section of the royalist army.

Unlike the Battle of Lewes the previous year, the traditional custom of capturing enemy knights for ransom was disregarded. At Evesham, it would seem, Edward was determined that no quarter was to be given and the Montfortian knights were to be killed. Edward had selected twelve of his strongest and most able men-at-arms to seek out and kill Simon de Montfort. It was said that it was Roger de Mortimer who finally killed him. This does make more sense if Mortimer is in the main battle and not at the bridge.

 

The Immediate Aftermath.

Lord Edward’s victorious soldier chased the remaining baronial troops down into Evesham killing most of them and sacking the town and the Abbey.

Whichever version of the battle you prefer, we do know that the death toll was light for the Royalists and very heavy for de Montfort’s men as another chronicler, Robert of Gloucester , (again writing some years after the battle) described it as "a murder of Evesham for battle it was none."

It has been said that of the hundred and sixty knights who accompanied Earl Simon on the field, only twelve survived.  This must be taken with a pinch of salt as all the surviving lists from the period only seem to record around thirty dead knights and six or so captured. Of course, we do not know the casualty figures for the poor common soldiery but it is though that over 80% of the Montfortian soldiers were slaughtered either in the battle or as they were trying to escape in the rout afterwards.

 

Simon's remains and the bodies of his son Henry and that of Hugh le Despenser were carried away by the monks and buried near the High Altar of the Abbey.

Soon after this stories of miracles began to circulate and many people made pilgrimages to the Abbey and to the Battle Well- said to be a source of healing.

 

Sources for this article:

Olivier de Laborderie, J. R. Maddicott and D. A. Carpenter, ‘The Last Hours of Simon de Montfort: A New Account’, English Historical Review 115 (2000), 378-412. 

Dr David Carpenter. "The Battles of Lewes & Evesham 1264/65". British Battlefields Series, Mercian Publications Limited (1987).

 Dvid Pilling. "Rebellion Against Henry III- The Disinherited Montfortians". Pen & Sword (2020).