Super-Simons

July 1265. Simon de Montfort junior, called Bran in the Sharon Penman novels to distinguish him from his father, is laying siege to Pevensey castle in Sussex. On 28 June he had been granted the custody of Surrey and Sussex, responsible for keeping the peace in those counties. In practice this means reducing the stubborn royalist garrison at Pevensey, which has held out for over a year against Earl Simon's forces.

The siege, like all military operations, is expensive. On 24 November 1264 the Bishop of Winchester was ordered to pay over 700 marks (about £500) from the surplus of a fine due to the Crown, towards the expenses of the siege at Pevensey. Simon junior gives a quittance for 300 marks of this sum at Winchester on 16 July 1265. Thus, money raised from a fine meant to be paid to the king is redirected towards fighting the king's loyal supporters.

A talented soldier, Simon junior is in need of all the romantic gloss later fiction writers will pour over him. He is grasping and self-seeking, and once pursued Isabella de Forz all the way into the Welsh marches, so he could force her to marry him and get his hands on her inheritance. This unsavoury episode, and the antics of Simon's brothers, do little to endear the Montfort clan to the English public. According to Robert of Gloucester, a certain knight once confronted Earl Simon and warned him to restrain his sons:

“For thou has wicked sons, foolish and unwise; you do not reprove their deeds, nor will you at all chastise them. I warn you to give good heed, and correct them soon; you may be blamed for them, for vengeance is a granted boon.”

Other chroniclers were unimpressed with Simon's efforts at Pevensey. Thomas Wykes derided the siege as 'useless and worthless', while the more moderate Oseney chronicle says 'he [Simon] spent much effort, but made little or no progress'. Certainly, the castle is a tough nut to crack. The ancient Roman walls are in good repair, and supplemented with a Norman keep and gatehouse. Due to its position on the coast, Pevensey is also easily supplied by sea. This deprives Simon of the besieger's best weapon, hunger.

At the end of June Earl Simon, stranded beyond the Severn by the Lord Edward and Gilbert de Clare, sent messengers to summon help from his son. They were intercepted, but at least one made it through to Pevensey. Upon receiving the news, Simon junior breaks up the siege and summons the barons to London. There he raises an army of between 16 to 20 bannerets and an 'infinite' number of fighting men. 

Simon marches from London into Hampshire and on 14 or 16 July reaches Winchester, Henry III's birthplace. The inhabitants bar the gates against an army not led by the king. Instead of moving on, Simon decides to plunder the city. Some of his men clamber through a window into the monastery of St Swithin's, adjoining the city wall, and smash the doors open. The rest of his men pour into the streets and set about helping themselves: private houses and churches are plundered, while the Jews in particular are targeted. Winchester is picked clean, and the Montfortians come away with 'an infinity of money'. 

The sack of Winchester, however profitable, is an exercise in time-wasting. Perhaps Simon junior is not yet aware of the destruction of his father's transport ships in the Bristol Channel. With the Montfortian fleet at the bottom of the sea, Earl Simon has no means of getting over the Severn and linking up with his son. 

Once he does learn of the disaster, Simon junior can only push on or 'keep buggering on', as Churchill once said. He takes his army to the family castle at Kenilworth, a massive stronghold in the heart of Warwickshire, equipped with all modern siege defences. Time to relax. After a long and anxious march, Simon's men decide to kick back a little:

“And having dined, and given tired horses their feed, with little forethought or precaution, fearing nobody, taking off the arms of war, because they thought themselves in safety, they slept on camp beds until morning.” (Wykes)

Young Simon's approach has not gone unnoticed. His arrival has forced the Lord Edward to return to his base at Worcester. His army is now roughly equidistant between the forces of the two Simons at Hereford and Kenilworth (24 and 34 miles respectively). He has a straight choice: sit tight and let his enemies converge, or knock out one of the Simons before they can merge into a great big super-Simon. Of the two, Simon junior is the easier prey.