CHAPTER VII
THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM
When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,
Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;
A leader of courage undaunted was hee,
And oft-times he made their enemyes flee.
At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine
The barons were routed and Montfort was slaine.
—THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN.
One of the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin at Evesham was the tomb of the great and popular hero Simon de Montfort. Such tombs were a source of much profit to the ecclesiastical institutions of those days. Hither pilgrims flocked in great numbers, particularly on the day specially devoted to the memory of the saint or martyr, and offerings were made proportionate to the wealth of the devotee. Not only was it supposed that spiritual advantages could be gained by devotion at these holy places, but cures innumerable were believed to have been worked through the intercession of the departed spirit. Hence the great monasteries often partook of the nature of our present-day hospitals, "the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" thronging thither; and, if at first unsuccessful, trying shrine after shrine in the hope of eventual restoration to health.
Though de Montfort was not canonised as a saint and martyr, yet he appears to have been regarded in such a light by the common people, and among the archives of the Monastery was preserved a long list of accredited cures and miracles reported to have been worked at his tomb.
It was on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th, 1265, that the memorable battle, ending in the death of Simon de Montfort, was fought. Earl Simon was travelling on the previous day from the neighbourhood of Worcester to join his eldest son, also named Simon, at Kenilworth. With the Earl was King Henry the Third as prisoner or hostage, and on the night of Monday, the 3rd of August, the Earl and his retinue were received as guests in the Abbey, his army being quartered or encamping in the town.
Prince Edward, King Henry's eldest son, was in the neighbourhood with a large army, but his movements for some days past were unknown to de Montfort. On the Saturday before the arrival of the Barons' army at Evesham the Prince had surprised the younger Simon at Kenilworth, killed or taken as prisoners the greater part of his army, and seized all the baggage and standards. The same day he had returned to Worcester and joined the Earl of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer, both leading considerable forces.
Thus we see the Earl, with his adherents, resting at Evesham, unconscious of the fact that, unaided, he must soon face three powerful foes. Next day saw his fate decided.
Early on Tuesday morning all was stir and bustle in the Monastery and in the little town. The troops were preparing to depart at daybreak towards Kenilworth, where father and son were to meet and arrange their future tactics. In the early dawn Nicholas, the Earl's barber, ascended one of the towers of the Abbey, and, gazing northwards, over Green Hill he descried soldiers bearing standards which were evidently those of the younger Simon. For a few moments joy prevailed at the thought of so happy a meeting; but this feeling soon gave place to anxiety and dread. Closer examination showed that though the standards were those of the Earl's son the soldiers who carried them were not Simon's but Prince Edward's followers. In a moment all was clear: the younger Simon had been defeated, perhaps slain, and de Montfort must fight single-handed or yield his cause ingloriously. Retreat over the bridge by which the army had entered the town was useless, for soon it became known that Roger Mortimer was following the route the barons had taken the day before, and would soon be on their rear. With the river on both sides of them, and both ways blocked by enemies, two alternatives alone presented themselves, to fight or to yield. To add to the hopelessness of their position the Earl of Gloucester, with his army, was now joining Prince Edward by the upper Worcester road. De Montfort knew that against such odds the fight would be a hopeless one, and urged his supporters to flee while there was yet time, and not to lose their lives in an unavailing struggle; but none would desert their leader in the hour of peril. "Then," exclaimed the Earl, "may the Lord have mercy on our souls for our bodies are in the power of our enemies."
It is recorded that on this fatal Tuesday all the elements seemed to unite in adding horror to the scene of carnage. Shortly before this a great comet had made men fear and wonder; and now, on this morning the sky was overcast with such dense clouds that the land was in darkness; so black were the heavens that nothing like it had been known within the memory of man. A violent tempest, with a deluge of rain and terrific thunder and lightning, swept over the country. The terrified monks could not see their books as they chanted the Psalms in the darkened choir, and as they sat in the refectory they could not tell what food lay upon their trenchers.
Meanwhile the battle raged on the hill above the town; desperately the barons fought, but, one by one, they fell overpowered by numbers. Though the earl was sixty-five years of age he fought "stoutly, like a giant, for the liberties of England" to the end.
We will not dwell on the horror of the battle. Popular tradition still points to the spot where the great leader was slain, and there, beside a spring called Battlewell, was placed a sacred rood. Two young de Montforts fell by their father's side, and many barons, knights, and common soldiers; but few fled. The stragglers from the defeated army were, many of them, slaughtered, as they attempted their escape; and by Offenham Ferry, where in those times probably stood a bridge, there is a meadow, once an island, which to this day bears the name of "Deadman's Ait." The chroniclers tell of the shameful mutilation of the earl's corpse, and how the limbs were distributed through the country, but the dismembered body was buried reverently by the monks in the most sacred part of their church, even before the High Altar. The severed hands were sent by a servant to the wife of Roger Mortimer, at Wigmore Castle in Shropshire. They arrived, so says the legend, while the Mass was being celebrated, and, at the raising of the Host, they were seen, before the bag containing them was opened, clasped in the attitude of prayer above the head of the messenger. In fear and trembling, Lady Mortimer returned the bloody trophy.
Prince Edward himself attended the funeral of Henry de Montfort, his cousin and friend, in the Abbey church.
"Such," sings Robert of Gloucester, "was the murder of Evesham, for battle none it was."
As in the case of other national heroes of old times, popular fancy was allowed to play unfettered round the memory of this noble family. In the well-known ballad preserved by Bishop Percy, of "The Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green," it is imagined that Henry de Montfort was rescued at night from the field of battle while still living, by "a baron's faire daughter," in search of her father's body; that she nursed him, and that, on his recovery they married, their daughter being "prettye Bessee."
The miracles we read of, and to which reference has been made, are many and varied. For some time the fear of royal censure and punishment prevented cures being openly attributed to "Saint Simon," but it was not long before the fame of his healing power spread, and persons were brought from all parts of the country to "be measured by" Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal.
The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast, personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the "judgements" may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the manners of some of the clergy of that date.
A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict."
In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife, whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit "Saint Simon's" relics.
For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed "saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:—
"Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious!
Noblest flower of chivalry!
O'er the pains of death victorious,
England's saviour, praise to thee.
More than all the saints in story,
Ere they gained their rest in glory,
Thou of cruel wrongs hast borne;
Foully foes thy corpse insulted,
O'er thy head and limbs exulted
From thy mangled body torn.
Once of wrongs the great redresser
Be thou now our intercessor,
Pray for us with God on high."
"Pray for us, blessed Simon, that we may be made worthy to obtain the promises of Christ."