Mise of Lewes

Mise of Lewes

Settlement between King Henry III of England and oppositional magnates
1964 monument to the Battle of Lewes[1]
Type	Settlement
Signed	14 May 1264
Location	Lewes, Sussex
Effective	Immediately

The Mise^[a] of Lewes was a settlement made on 14 May 1264 between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons, led by Simon de Montfort. The settlement was made on the day of the Battle of Lewes, one of the two major battles of the Second Barons' War. The conflict between king and magnates was caused by dissatisfaction with the influence of foreigners at court and Henry's high level and new methods of taxation. In 1258 Henry had been forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, which essentially left the royal government in the hands of a council of magnates, but this document went through a long series of revocations and reinstatements. In 1263, as the country was on the brink of civil war, the two parties had agreed to submit the matter to arbitration by the French king Louis IX. Louis was a firm believer in the royal prerogative, and decided clearly in favour of Henry. The outcome was unacceptable for the rebellious barons, and war between the two parties broke out almost immediately.

The Mise of Lewes was signed on the day of de Montfort's victory at the Battle of Lewes, though it is not known whether it happened during or after the battle. Neither are the terms of the document known, though it seems clear that they involved conditions for further negotiations. These efforts at a permanent settlement fell through, however, and the support for de Montfort's government gradually eroded. Henry's oldest son, Edward – the later King Edward I – started a military campaign that ended in the Battle of Evesham in August 1265, where de Montfort was defeated and killed. Parts of the baronial resistance still held out, but by the end of 1266 the final besieged garrison at Kenilworth Castle surrendered. The rebels were given pardons according to terms set out in the Dictum of Kenilworth.

Background

By 1264, the reign of Henry III was deeply troubled by disputes between the king and his nobility. The conflict was caused by several factors: the influence of foreigners at court, a wasteful war over the crown of

Cornered, de Montfort had to accept a truce and agree to submit the issue to arbitration by the French king

Since no documents exist to confirm the content of the Mise of Lewes, there has been much debate among historians over its content, and the circumstances under which it was written. Noël Denholm-Young, in an article published in 1933, made a conjecture on what the main points of the agreement were. The first point, according to Denholm-Young, was that Prince Edward and his cousin, Henry of Almain, should be given over to the barons as hostages. Secondly, those of the baronial party who had been taken hostage at Northampton were to be released. Thirdly, those who had taken hostages from the royalist party at the Battle of Lewes were to receive ransom. Finally, it was agreed that a committee of French clergy and nobles should arbitrate over a permanent settlement.^[13] This interpretation has been largely followed by later historians.^[14][15]

One contentious point in Denholm-Young's article was his assertion that there was no mention of the Provisions of Oxford in the Mise of Lewes.^[16] This was an idea that John Maddicott strongly contested in a 1983 article. According to Maddicott, the provisions had been at the centre of Montfort's opposition over the last six years, and it was unlikely that he would give them up so easily.^[17] Nevertheless, de Montfort showed willingness to negotiate the terms of the provisions. As such, the Mise of Lewes was a moderate document; Montfort wanted to avoid a repetition of the situation after the Mise of Amiens. Rather it was external circumstances outside of de Montfort's control that led to the eventual failure of the negotiations between the royalists and the barons.^[18]

This interpretation was challenged by David Carpenter two years later, in 1985. De Montfort had no intention to compromise with the royalists at all, according to Carpenter.^[19] In Carpenter's version of events, the Mise of Lewes was written while the battle was still ongoing, not after the battle was over, as previously assumed.^[20] This put de Montfort in a situation where concessions were necessary, in order to bring hostilities to a halt as soon as possible. Once the battle was over and government in de Montfort's hands, he had no longer any interest in reaching a compromise with the royalists, and that was why hostilities continued.^[21] This dating of the document, however, has later been disputed by D. W. Burton, who maintains that the document was in fact signed after the battle was concluded.^[22]

Aftermath

The government led by de Montfort soon ran into problems; he faced poor finances, general disorder, and the threat of invasion from exiled royalists in France.

De Montfort's success was illusory, however. The terms of the Peace of Canterbury were rejected by a papal legate in negotiations at Boulogne.^[29] Meanwhile, the Marcher lords did not leave the country, and remained a thorn in the side of the regime.^[30] The triumvirate at the head of government broke up when the Earl of Gloucester defected to the royalist side.^[31] In May, Edward was able to escape captivity, with Gloucester's help.^[32] Edward started on a campaign of re-conquest, while de Montfort was forced to suppress a rebellion in the Marches. He succeeded only by making large concessions to Llewelyn, and then moved east to join forces with his son Simon.^[33] Edward, however, routed the younger Simon at Kenilworth Castle. On 4 August 1265 de Montfort found himself trapped at Evesham, forced to give battle with a much smaller army than the royals.^[33] The battle soon turned into a massacre; de Montfort himself was killed and mutilated on the field.^[34] Even with Montfort dead resistance remained, particularly at the virtually impregnable Kenilworth Castle. In October 1266 the Dictum of Kenilworth set down terms by which the rebels could obtain pardons, and by the end of the year the garrison surrendered.^[35]

Notes

References

Sources

• Burton, D. W. (1993), "1264: some new documents",
  doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1993.tb01816.x
  .
• doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1985.tb01974.x
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• Denholm-Young, Noël (1933), "Collected Papers on Mediaeval Subjects",
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• JSTOR 569785
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• Maddicott, John (1994), Simon de Montfort, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  ISBN 0-521-37493-6
• Maddicott, John (2004). "Montfort, Simon de, eighth earl of Leicester (c.1208–1265)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19049.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)
• Powicke, F. M. (1947), King Henry III and the Lord Edward: The Community of the Realm in the Thirteenth Century, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Powicke, F. M. (1962) [1953], The Thirteenth Century: 1216–1307 (2nd ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ISBN 0-300-07209-0
• Prestwich, Michael (2007), Plantagenet England: 1225–1360 (new ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-19-822844-8
• Ridgeway, H. W. (2004). "Henry III (1207–1272)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12950.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) (Subscription or UK public library membership
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• ISBN 978-1-84415-831-7
• Treharne, R. F.; Sanders, I. J. (1973), Documents of the Baronial Movement of Reform and Rebellion, 1258–1267, Oxford: Clarendon Press,
  ISBN 0-19-822222-X