The Mise of Amiens and a storrm called Iola

On this date in 1264 the Mise of Amiens judgment was announced by the French king, Louis IX. It guaranteed that the conflict between Henry III and Simon de Montfort and the English barons would end in warfare, for Louis absolved Henry from the oath he’d sworn to obey the Provisions of Oxford, which had circumscribed some of his royal power. It seems very naïve that Simon and the barons could have expected the French king to rule against a fellow king, one who was also his brother-in-law. But naiveté was not one of Simon’s personality traits, so they must have agreed to submit their quarrel to the French king out of sheer desperation, a last ditch effort to avoid bloodshed.
Good luck for all of you in the path of the current winter storm, Iola. I was astounded when I heard its name, for my mother was christened Theresa Iola. It was such an unusual name that she was curious about its origins, but her mother remembered only that it was a family name. Many years later, I solved the mystery when I was researching Here Be Dragons. Iola is a Welsh name, the female equivalent of Iolo. My mom had Welsh blood, so it made sense that it would have been passed down through the generations until its origin was forgotten. The correct Welsh pronunciation is with a Y, not a long I, as my mom and the Weather Channel pronounced it. My mom was delighted by what I discovered, and I am sure she’d be amused to know that there is now a storm named Iola; hopefully it will not cause too much misery this weekend.