The de Montfort's

The Domesday Book dated August 1086 reports Montfort, Hugh de also called Hugh Beard from Montfort-sur-Risle, Eure, Regent with Odo of Bayeux and Earl William FitzOsbern in 1067. Castle at Saltwood, with extensive Kent holdings to defend coast. Also holdings in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Simon de Montfort (Snr) c 1160-1218 or Simon IV de l'Amaury was created 5th Earl of Leicester by King John in 1206. He died in 1218 during the siege of Toulouse the capital of Haute-Garonne, on the river Garonne, SE of Bordeaux.  The city has a fine 12th-13th-century Romanesque church (St Sernin), the church of the Jacobins (belonging to a monastery founded 1216). Toulouse was the cultural centre of medieval France in the 12th-13th centuries and was captured by Simon during the infamous Albigensian wars (1209-29). When a papal legate was assassinated in the territory of Count Raymond of Toulouse, Pope INNOCENT III called for a crusade against these heretics. Simon de Montfort's massacre (1209) of the inhabitants of Beziers stands out as an example of the crusaders' cruel conduct.  Asked how to separate Christians from heretics, one leader is said to have replied:  "Slay them all.  God will know his own."

Simon de Montfort (Jnr), 6th Earl of Leicester c1208-1265 English politician and soldier. Born of an Anglo-French family in Normandy, France. In 1229 he came to England, where two years later Henry III, King of England, confirmed his title and estates. He married Princess Eleanor, the youngest sister of the king, on 7th January 1239. Princess Eleanor was a widow having been previously married to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke who died in 1231. Eleanor and Simon had five sons, Henry b. 1238 who was killed in 1265, Simon b. 1240, Guy, Count of Nola b. 1243, Richard and Aymer, Conon of York. They also had a daughter who was  named Eleanor b.1253. She married Llywelyn the Last of Wales, together they had a daughter Gwenllian who became a nun and died in 1337.

Green in his history of the English people notes, "His life was pure and singularly temperate; he was noted for his scant indulgence in meat, drink or sleep. Socially he was cheerful and pleasant in talk, but his natural temper quick and ardent, his sense of honour keen, his speech rapid and trenchant." He also records an anecdote which displays his high sense of honour and promptness to repel any assault upon it. Green says that having for four years been seneschal of Gascony and in that service having drawn a large sum of money on the king's promise to repay it; upon reminding the king of this promise " Henry hotly retorted that he was bound by no promise to a false traitor. Simon at once gave Henry the lie " etc. (Vol. I, paragraphs 221-223. )

He led the second Barons' War, rebellion of the English nobility against King Henry III, staged between 1263 and 1267.  The rebellion was precipitated by Henry's refusal, abetted by Pope Urban IV, to effect the Provisions of Oxford, amendments to the Magna Carta that had been adopted by the nobility in 1258 in an effort to curb Henry's abuse of his powers. In 1263 the dispute between the barons and Henry was submitted for arbitration to King Louis IX of France, whose decision on 23rd January 1264 and known as the Mise of Amiens favoured the English sovereign. Refusing to accept the decision, Montfort and his supporters, including sections of the middle class, resorted to arms. They inflicted a severe defeat on Henry's forces at Lewes Sussex on on 14th May 1264 and took Henry prisoner. Montfort, who became virtual ruler of the kingdom, in the King's name summoned a Parliament for 1265. This was the first parliament in which the towns and shires were represented and established principles of representation that figured significantly in the eventual development of the House of Commons. The war was renewed, however, and on August 4, 1265, Henry's troops, led by his son Edward, later king of England as Edward I, won a decisive victory over the barons at Evesham, where Montfort was killed. For further reading visit the Medieval Sourcebook.

A Baron Montfort descended from Thurstan de Montfort of Beldesert (sic) Beaudesert Castle in Warwickshire was summoned to Parliament in 1295. For other references to the Montfort family visit The Peerage and The Packrat. Whilst one John Mountford was a student at Oxford in 1586.

                                 Blazon of Arms
            Or; a lion salient azure
            Crest:    A demi cat rampant guardant proper.
            Motto    "Quod Deus Vole Volo"  or   What God Wishes, I wish

It is not known when or why the spelling of the name was changed into its present form of Munford, but the original " Montfort " is still adhered to by collateral branches whose blood relationship is known. For further information on the family castles click here.