There was also a Simon IV, Lord of Lippe.

Simon IV de Montfort, Seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, 5th Earl of Leicester (1160 – 25 June 1218), also known as Simon de Montfort the elder, was a French nobleman who took part in the Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...

 (1202–1204) and was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade

Albigensian Crusade

The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...

. He died at the siege of Toulouse in 1218.

Early life

He was the son of Simon de Montfort, lord of Montfort l'Amaury in France near Paris, and Amicia de Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester

Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester

Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester was an English nobleman, one of the principal followers of Henry the Young King in the Revolt of 1173–1174 against his father Henry II...

 - the de Montfort line itself descends from the Counts of Flanders. He succeeded his father as Baron de Montfort in 1181; in 1190 he married Alix de Montmorency

Alix de Montmorency

Alix de Montmorency, died February 24, 1220-1221. Her parents were Bouchard IV/V de Montmorency and Laurette, daughter of Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut and Alice of Namur.-Life:...

, the daughter of Bouchard III de Montmorency. She shared his piety and would accompany him on his campaigns. In 1191 his brother, Guy

Guy de Montfort, Lord of Sidon

Guy de Montfort was the younger son of Simon III de Montfort and Amicia, sister of Robert FitzPernel, Earl of Leicester.-Crusade:...

, left on the Third Crusade in the retinue of King Philip II of France

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...

.

In 1199, while taking part in a tournament

Tournament (medieval)

A tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....

 at Ecry-sur-Aisne, he heard Fulk of Neuilly

Fulk of Neuilly

Fulk of Neuilly was a French preacher of the twelfth century, and priest of Neuilly-sur-Marne. He preached the Fourth Crusade.A priest at Neuilly from 1191, he attended the lectures of Peter the Chanter in Paris. He began to preach, and gained a reputation for piety and eloquence. An invitation...

 preaching the crusade, and in the company of Count Thibaud de Champagne, he took the cross. The crusade soon fell under Venetian

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 control, and was diverted to Zara

Zadar

Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...

 on the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

. Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....

 had specifically warned the Crusaders not to attack fellow Christians; Simon tried to reassure the citizens of Zara that there would be no attack, but nevertheless, the city was sacked in 1202. Simon did not participate in this action and was one of its most outspoken critics. He and his associates, including Abbot Guy of Vaux-de-Cernay, soon left the Crusade altogether from Zara and traveled to King Emico of Hungary's territory. Afterwards, under Venetian guidance, the Crusaders sacked the city of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

.

His mother was the eldest daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. After the death of her brother Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester

Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester

Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester was an English nobleman, the last of the Beaumont earls of Leicester. He is sometimes known as Robert FitzPernel....

 without children in 1204, she inherited half of his estates, and a claim to the Earldom of Leicester

Earl of Leicester

The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England , and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837.-Early creations:...

. The division of the estates was effected early in 1207, by which the rights to the earldom were assigned to Amicia and Simon. However, King John of England

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

 took possession of the lands himself in February 1207, and confiscated its revenues. Later, in 1215, the lands were passed into the hands of Simon's cousin, Ranulph de Meschines, 4th Earl of Chester.

Later life

Simon remained on his estates in France, where in 1209 he was elected captain-general of the French forces in the Albigensian Crusade

Albigensian Crusade

The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...

 by his fellow nobles, reportedly after several larger players had turned down the role. He was present at the siege and subsequent massacre at Béziers

Massacre at Béziers

The Massacre at Béziers refers to the slaughter of the inhabitants during the sack of Béziers, an event that took place on July 22, 1209 and represented the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade.-Background:...

 on 22 July 1209 when the entire population of twenty thousand Cathar

Cathar

Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...

s and Catholics were slaughtered. Thousands sought sanctuary in the Cathedral of St Nazaire which was set on fire and also in the Eglise de la Madeleine inside which all were butchered to death."Tuez les tous, Dieu reconnaitra les siens" - "Kill them all, God will recognize his own" was the famous quotation which exonerated the rampaging Crusaders. Ironically it was Ste Madeleine's Day. Simon was rewarded with the territory conquered from Raymond VI of Toulouse

Raymond VI of Toulouse

Raymond VI was count of Toulouse and marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.-Early life:...

 which in theory made him the most important landowner in Occitania

Occitania

Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...

. He became notorious and feared for his extreme cruelty, massacring whole towns, and for his "treachery, harshness, and bad faith." In 1210 he burned 140 Cathars in the village of Minerve

Minerve, Hérault

Minerve is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-History:In 1210 a group of Cathars sought refuge in the village after the massacre at Béziers during the Albigensian Crusade. The village was besieged by Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester. The...

 who refused to give up their faith. In another widely reported incident, prior to the sack of the village of Lastours

Lastours

Lastours is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.Lastours is located outside Carcassonne, in the valley of the Orbiel. There are 4 small castles each built on a large 300m high rocky ridge. The castles were built to control the access to Montagne Noire and the Cabardes region....

, he brought prisoners from the nearby village of Bram and had their eyes gouged out and their ears, noses and lips cut off. One prisoner, left with a single good eye, led them into the village as a warning.

Simon's part in the crusade had the full backing of his liege lord, the King of France, Philip Augustus, although historian Alistaire Horne, in his book Seven Ages of Paris states that Philippe (sic) "turned a blind eye to Simon de Montfort's brutal crusade...of which he disapproved, but readily accepted the spoils to his exchequer"(36). Following the latter's success in winning Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

 from John Lackland of England, he was approached by Innocent III to lead the crusade himself but turned this down being heavily committed to defend his gains against John and against the emerging alliance between England, the Empire and Flanders. However, Phillip claimed full rights over the lands of the house of St Gilles and some have seen his dispatch of de Montfort and other northern barons as at the very least an exploratory campaign to reassert the rights of the French crown in Le Midi. He may well also have been wishing to appease the papacy after the long dispute over his marriage which had led to excommunication - as well as seeking to counter any adventure by John of England - who had marriage and fealty ties also with the Toulouse comtal house. Meanwhile others have seen Phillip's motives as including removing over-mighty subjects from the north, distracting them in adventure elsewhere where they could not threaten his increasingly successful restoration of the power of the French crown in the north.

Simon is described as a man of extreme religious orthodoxy, deeply committed to the Dominican order

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 and the suppression of heresy. Dominic Guzman, later Saint Dominic

Saint Dominic

Saint Dominic , also known as Dominic of Osma, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán was the founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans or Order of Preachers , a Catholic religious order...

, spent several years during the war in the Midi at Fanjeau, which was Simon's headquarters, especially in the winter months when the crusading forces were depleted. Simon had other key confederates in this enterprise which many see as a naked seizure of southern lands by ambitious men from the north, many of whom had been involved in the notorious fourth crusade. One of these was Guy Vaux de Cernay - head of a Cistercian abbey not more than twenty miles from Simon's patrimony of Montfort Aumary - who accompanied the crusade in the Languedoc and became bishop of Carcassonne for his pains. Meanwhile the nephew of Guy, Peter de Vaux de Cernay, arguably a stool-pigeon of De Montfort,his uncle and the papacy, wrote an account of the crusade which many have seen as a transparent piece of propaganda to justify the actions of the crusaders, whose outrages are described consistently as doing the work of God against the heretical agents of the demonic power - while outrages committed by the embattled lords of the Midi are predictably portrayed as the opposite. Simon was an energetic campaigner, making rapid movements to strike at those who had broken their faith with him - and there were many as local lords switched sides whenever the moment seemed propitious. The Midi was a warren of small fortified places, as well as home to some of the most magnificent defended cities - such as Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, Carcassonne

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...

 and Narbonne

Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Simon seems to have shown great personal valour and daring as well as being particularly brutal with those close to him who betrayed him - as for example, Martin Algae, lord of Biron. In 1213 he defeated Peter II of Aragon

Peter II of Aragon

Peter II the Catholic was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.He was the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile...

 at the Battle of Muret

Battle of Muret

At the Battle of Muret on 12 September 1213 the Crusading army of Simon IV de Montfort defeated the Aragonese and Catalan forces of Peter II of Aragon, at Muret near Toulouse.-Background:...

. The Albigensians were now crushed, but Simon carried on the campaign as a war of conquest, being appointed lord over all the newly-acquired territory as Count of Toulouse and Duke of Narbonne

Duke of Narbonne

The title Duke of Narbonne was a title employed at various times by the overlords of Narbonne, while the direct power in the city was held by the viscounts...

 (1215). He spent two years in warfare in many parts of Raymond's former territories; he besieged Beaucaire, which had been taken by Raymond VII of Toulouse

Raymond VII of Toulouse

Raymond VII of Saint-Gilles was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death. He was the son of Raymond VI of Toulouse and Joan of England...

, from 6 June 1216 to 24 August 1216.

Raymond spent most of this period in Aragon

Aragon

Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

, but corresponded with sympathisers in Toulouse. There were rumours that he was on his way to Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

 in September 1216. Abandoning the siege of Beaucaire, Simon responded with a partial sacking of Toulouse, perhaps intended as punishment of the citizens. Raymond actually returned to take possession of Toulouse in October 1217. Simon hastened to besiege the city, meanwhile sending his wife, Alix de Montmorency, with bishop Foulques of Toulouse

Folquet de Marselha

Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille...

 and others, to the French court to plead for support. After maintaining the siege for nine months Simon was killed on 25 June 1218 while combating a sally by the besieged. His head was smashed by a stone from a mangonel

Mangonel

A mangonel was a type of catapult or siege engine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested. Mangonel may also be indirectly referring to the 'mangon' a French hard stone found in...

, operated, according to the most detailed source, by donas e tozas e mulhers ("ladies and girls and women") of Toulouse. He was buried in the Cathedral of Saint-Nazaire at Carcassonne

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...

.. His body was later moved, however to Montfort l'Amaury by his son. There is still a tombstone in the Cathedral called "of Simon de Montfort" in the South Transept.

Legacy

Simon left three sons: his French estates passed to his eldest son, Amaury VI de Montfort, while his younger son, Simon

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...

, eventually gained possession of the earldom of Leicester and played a major role in the reign of Henry III of England

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

. He led the barons' rebellion against Henry during the Second Barons' War

Second Barons' War

The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...

, and subsequently became de facto ruler of England. During his rule, de Montfort called the first directly elected parliament in medieval Europe. For this reason, de Montfort is regarded today as one of the progenitors of modern parliamentary democracy. Another son, Guy

Guy of Bigorre

Guy de Montfort was the Count of Bigorre from 6 November 1216 to 1220 in right of his wife, Petronilla. He was a son of Simon IV de Montfort and Alice of Montmorency.Guy joined his father on the Albigensian Crusade while still quite young...

, was married to Petronille, Countess of Bigorre, on 6 November 1216, but died at the siege of Castelnaudary

Castelnaudary

Castelnaudary is a commune in the Aude department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in south France. It is in the former province of the Lauragais and famous for cassoulet of which it claims to be the world capital, and of which it is a major producer....

 on 20 July 1220. His daughter, Petronilla, became an abbess at the Cistercian nunnery of St. Antoine's. Another daughter, Amicia, founded the nunnery at Montargis

Montargis

Montargis is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. The town is located about south of Paris and east of Orléans in the Gâtinais....

and died there in 1252.