CHAP. XI. 1265 rounded. The Welch infantry, poor, half-armed troops, fled at once, and were cut down in the neighbouring gardens by Mortimers forces, which must now have been advancing from the rear. Simons horse was killed under him; his eldest son was among the first to fall. When this was told him, he cried, 'Is it so? then indeed is it time for me to die ;' and rushing upon the enemy with redoubled fury, and wielding his sword with both his hands, the old war rior laid about him with so terrific force, that had there been but half a dozen more like himself, says one who saw the fight, he would have turned the tide of battle. As it was he nearly gained the crest of the hill. But it was not to be. For a while he stood Death of ‘like a tower,' but at length a foot soldier, lifting up his coat of mail, pierced him in the back, and, with the words 'Dieu merci' on his lips, he fell. Then the battle became a butchery. No quarter was asked or given. The struggle lasted for about two hours in the early summer morning, and then all was over. Of the horrid cruelties practised by the victors on the body of their greatest foe it is better not to body: speak. The gallant old man lay, with the few who remained faithful to him and to his cause, dead upon the field, and with him the curtain seemed to fall upon all that was free and noble in the land. The tempests which raged throughout the country that day were remarked as shadowing forth the grief of Rob. of Gloucester says that the royalists turned to fly, and were rallied by W. de Basingburn, who reminded them of their disgrace at Lewes. The obelisk is just at the edge of the flat top of the hill. 2 According to T. Wykes, 160 knights and an infinite number of nobles not yet knighted fell, besides many of less rank. The fragments of Simons body, with those of his son Henry and Hugh Despenser, were buried in the abbey, apparently by the command of Edward. Earl Simon; complete his army. defeat of Treatment of the earls portents. CHAP. XI. 1265 Death of Earl Simon : his political work; heaven. The accompanying darkness, which was so thick that in some places the monks could no longer see to chant their prayers, was nothing to that which must have fallen on many when they heard of the death of their protector. But he had not lived in vain. England had learnt a lesson from him, and had seen glimpses of what might be; and a retributive justice brought his principles to life again through the very hands which had destroyed him. It was probably well for England that he died when he did, for a victory at Evesham would not have relieved him from the dilemma in which he was caught, but would rather have made it worse. Had he established and maintained his power, there was no one to take his place when a natural death should have removed him from the headship of affairs, and a feudal anarchy worse than that under Stephen would have supervened. It is easy enough to find fault with his politics. The party of order will blame his unconstitutional violence, and declare that his end did not justify his means. The party of reform will object to his moderation, and condemn him as an aristocrat after all. His political principles were doubtless in some measure premature, circumstances sometimes drove him into desperate and unjustifiable acts. But for all that, it would have been ill for England then, and perhaps would be ill now, had he never lived to raise his voice in favour of the oppressed, to curb the power of a would-be absolute monarch and an irresponsible baronage, and to remind his adopted countrymen that the remedy against such things was in their own hands and in the ancient institutions of their country. CHAP. His character will be better learnt from his actions than from any analysis. An impartial judge1 1265 has said, 'Nothing is more difficult than to form a just his personal idea of the character of this illustrious person, who character. was abhorred as a devil by one half of England, and adored as a saint or guardian angel by the other.2 He was unquestionably one of the greatest generals and politicians of his age; bold, ambitious, and enterprising; ever considered both by friends and enemies as the very soul of the party which he espoused.' These words are true, but they contain only half the truth. He was more than a great general, more than a great politician, far more than a mere party leader, inasmuch as he obeyed to the death that ruling principle which his own words expressed, 'I would rather die without a foot of land than break the oath that I have made.' This was why he was worshipped as a saint and a martyr; and if we smile at the popular superstition which believed in the miracles wrought at his tomb, we can look up to the popular instinct which recognised in him that rarest of all miracles, a true patriot. The form of government which he set up and the constitutional measures he adopted to strengthen it sufficiently disprove the assertion that he used the pretext of reform to cover the designs of a purely selfish ambition. The fact, that he never aimed at supreme power, in spite of the insults and injuries he received at the hands of Henry, until it became evident that in no other way could justice be done, acquits him of the charge of traitorous Dr. Henry. See too the character of him in Stubbs, Const. Hist. vol. ii. * See the miracles, &c., given in appendices ii. and iv. CHAP. 1265 Character of Simon de Montfort. disloyalty to his king. The fact that he was the only can do 347 CHAPTER XII. CONCLUSION. STRANGE to say, the civil war was by no means concluded by the battle of Evesham, crushing as that defeat was for the party that followed de Montfort. The hopeless contest was prolonged for more than two years. Still the main interest was at an end. When Earl Simon had breathed his last, there was no further talk of constitutional liberties. His party was utterly disorganised, without union, without leaders, fighting with the energy of despair for one aim alone, that of self-preservation. The arrogance and pitiless severity of the conquerors were in reality the salvation of the conquered. The violence of the measures taken to stamp out the last sparks of rebellion was such that the survivors were compelled to continue the unequal struggle, until one of the victors of Evesham, ashamed of the part he was playing, stepped forward for their deliverance. The character of the war thus undergoes a complete change, and has no longer the same interest for the student of constitutional history as before; but it may still be worth while to relate the course of events which led to the final pacification, and the mournful fate which overtook the remaining members of the family of Earl Simon. CHAP. 1265 Complete change in the character of the war. |
