Battle of Evesham

I went to see the site of the Battle of Evesham this summer. Although few have heard of it today, it was the most important event in the England of 1265 as well as the years following. It was a clash between Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester along with some of the English barons, and the King Henry III. The barons were wanting to limit royal government while the king, naturally, wished to preserve it. Historians and scholars of the constitution often credit de Montfort with helping to steer England onto the course of constitutional government which we still enjoy.

Unfortunately, de Montfort was a rather antisemitic character who enjoyed expelling Jews from various English towns and sometimes massacred them as a way to obtain their records of debt, which could then be conveniently destroyed or used against their enemies. His final battle, at Evesham, which he lost, was described by one chronicler as the "murder of Evesham, for battle it was none", so great was the bloodshed. He was a forward-thinking man; his belief in limited government would spread the world over (even earning his mugshot a place in the US House of Representatives), and so, too, his antisemitism, sadly. The man was killed, but his values- both good and ill- survived him.

The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Proverbs 11:17