Battlefields Trust London & South East

Introduction
King Henry III exasperated much of the English nobility by ignoring the constraints of the Magna Carta and by tolerating his unruly French relatives, the Lusignans. In 1258, after expelling the latter, the reforming barons forced the king to sign the Provisions of Oxford, which required him to be guided by a council. After the king asserted his independence in 1261, the Provisions were submitted to arbitration two years later and when Henry was vindicated, war broke out in April 1264.

Location
Although there is general agreement that the battle was fought north-west of medieval Lewes, there are two credible alternatives for the precise deployments. The crucial factors are an area called Boxholt, the discoveries of grave pits and the site of a windmill. Based upon rival interpretations of these factors, traditionalists and revisionists argue that the Monfortians occupied either Offham Hill, or the ridge west of Lewes Prison respectively. Both theories agree that the latter stages of the battle were fought in the area between the modern town centre and the Prison, finishing around St Pancras Priory in Southover.

According to the traditionalist interpretation, the Montfortians deployed along an 800-yard front between the chalk pits to the east and the site of the old racecourse grandstand to the west. This site is recognised by both English Heritage and by the Ordnance Survey, having been supported by Alfred Burne in 1952. The revisionist theory originated with Charles Osman in 1924 and was supported by David Carpenter in 1987.

Boxholt, the reputed site of the rebel camp, has been identified as part of Coombe Hollow. Revisionists argue that having marched south-west to this site, the Montfortians probably moved south to threaten Lewes from the west, whereas traditionalists believe that they moved east to dominate from the north.

The Nineteenth Century discoveries of mass graves below Offham Hill, in the Wallands, near Lewes Prison and St Pancras Priory were poorly documented. Although there is no forensic evidence that the deceased fell in battle, there is no other obvious reason for mass burials in the area. The Offham Hill site complements the traditionalist theory and although revisionists have seized upon the other locations, they accord equally well with the common view that the rout occurred in the west and south-west of the modern town.

On Spital Road in 1995, five skeletons excavated on the site of the Hospital of St Nicholas showed signs of violent death, including ‘Skeleton 180,’ who had apparently been struck a fatal blow from behind and then struck several times after falling. Just east of the prison, this site accords with both battle sites. A mid Thirteenth Century ring discovered just north of Offham Hill complements the traditionalist view of the royalist rout.

A windmill is described in contemporary accounts as being near the centre of the battlefield and a place of refuge for the Earl of Cornwall during the rout. Sir James Ramsay pioneered the traditional view in 1908 by focusing on the Spital Mill, shown near the remains of the on a map of 1769. The nearby Windmill pub allegedly commemorates the vanished structure. An alternative site is the large windmill shown on Sixteenth Century maps between St Nicholas’s Hospital and St Anne’s Church, now a bricked-up reservoir. Revisionists claim that this site is the ‘mill suelligi,’ usually translated as ‘the mill of the Hide’ and related to the Hides, an area in the south-west of the modern town.

Landscape Interpretation
The street pattern of central Lewes is unchanged since medieval times, when it had a population of around 2,000.

Lewes Castle was Prince Edward’s headquarters before the battle and a royalist refuge afterwards. Although now fragmentary, the castle has impressive remnants including the Fourteenth Century barbican and the much-altered keep. Behind the barbican is a ruined gatehouse, dating from around 1100. The castle normally flies the blue and yellow checked flag of the Warennes, royalist owners of the castle in 1264. Plaques and the castle guidebook refer to views of the battlefield from the battlements and there is a rather confusing panel overlooking Offham Hill from Castle Bank. The Paddock, where the royalist horses were kept, is in the foreground.

St Pancras Priory in Southover, half a mile south-west of the medieval town, was the headquarters of King Henry III and his brother. Henry retreated here afterwards and then sealed his submission by signing the Mise of Lewes. There is a rather dilapidated battle monument at the ruined priory, beside a dual carriageway.

The Downs north-west of Lewes are largely unchanged since 1264, as the Eighteenth Century racecourse, which closed in the 1960s, has had little environmental effect. Various paths link Lewes with Offham Hill, via Landport Bottom. The Nineteenth Century chalk pits have produced sheer cliffs to dramatically mark the position of the Montfortian left, at the eastern edge of the hill.

Lewes Prison represents the centre of the revisionist battlefield. The Montfortian positions of this site are open but the Royalist positions are developed except for The Paddock, a recreation ground in which Prince Edward would have deployed on the right wing.

St Anne’s Church, around which the latter stages raged according to both interpretations and where some of the dead were later reinterred, is contemporary with the battle. In 1264, there were probably houses scattered between here and the town walls.
Historical Background

After attaining majority, King Henry III sought to escape the constraints of the King’s Council and restore the unchallenged authority of the crown, while tolerating an unpopular and unruly clique of French relatives, the Lusignans. Matters came to ahead in 1258, when their fellow barons, including Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who had remained independent after his marriage to Henry’s sister Eleanor, exiled the Lusignans. Isolated and desperate for money, the king agreed the Provisions of Oxford, which required him to rule with the consent of a council of fifteen members of the nobility and clergy, one of whom was Leicester. The council would meet three times a year and have a vague responsibility for the wider community, including governmental reform.

Henry reasserted himself in 1261, aided by his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who returned from abroad after being created King of Germany and by divisions amongst the barons. The militant Leicester remained defiant, however, resulting in the Provisions being submitted to the arbitration of King Louis IX of France in 1263. The following January, mindful of stirring discontent amongst his own nobility, the king vindicated Henry in the Mise of Amiens, by which the Provisions were annulled.

Contemporary Sources
The various contemporary accounts largely favour the Montfortians, who had much support amongst the religious establishment responsible for most medieval chronicles. In addition to the problem of identifying the site, it is difficult to construct the end of the battle.

The Chronicle of William de Rishanger of the Barons’ Wars was written by a monk of St Albans Abbey in 1312 but includes material copied from Matthew of Westminster’s Flowers of History, a continuation of the work of Matthew Paris. De Rishanger’s chronicle forms the basis for the English Heritage Battlefield Report on Lewes but is considered overrated by David Carpenter. William describes the rebels leaving Fletching before dawn on 14 May to climb a hill before Lewes. He also gives slightly ambiguous details of the individual commanders, suggests that the Earl of Leicester commanded a reserve and describes Henry being taken back to the priory after surrendering.

The Gilson Fragment is an anonymous contemporary account named after its publisher, who discovered it in the British Museum. This mentions Boxholt and describes the Montfortians advancing to ‘the mill outside the house of lepers of Lewes,’ believed by Carpenter to be the Hospital of St Nicholas.

The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough was written from around 1300 but contains copied material from the 1260s. It details the armies’ formations and describes Henry escaping back to the priory after being involved in heavy fighting.

Although differing in detail, contemporary chroniclers agree that the rebels were heavily outnumbered. The Gilson Fragment numbers 3,000 royalist cavalry against 500 for the enemy. The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury suggests the same number of rebel cavalry, outnumbered by 3:1. The Trinity Fragment, an anonymous source found in Trinity College, Cambridge mentions 200 rebel cavalry defeating 1,200 royalists.

The Campaign
On 3 April 1264, the king raised the Royal Standard at Oxford, thus symbolically defying the Provisions that were signed there and declaring war on the Montfortians. The royal army quickly subdued Northampton, Leicester and Nottingham to control the East Midlands and isolate the Montfortian strongholds of Kenilworth in Warwickshire and Dover and London in the South-East. Temporarily outmanoeuvred, the predominantly Southern rebels besieged the royal fortress of Rochester Castle on 17 April, aiming to draw Henry into hostile territory. As the king approached, the rebels went to London on 26 April, resulting in the relief of the Governor of Rochester, John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey.

After relieving Rochester, Henry captured the rebel stonghold of Tonbridge Castle and marched through the forested and dangerous Weald to secure the Cinque Ports. At Flimwell on 2 May, Henry executed 315 local archers in retaliation for the murder of his cook, before reaching Battle Abbey the following day, where he obtained money. The royal army spent several drunken days in the port of Winchelsea, where the king secured ships to blockade London.

Montfort, meanwhile had been reinforced in London, from where he marched south on 6 May, seeking to fight the king quickly, on the most favourable terms possible. Henry then returned to Battle Abbey, from where he moved via Hurstmonceaux to the Warenne stronghold of Lewes by 11 May, which had town defences, a castle and a walled priory. As the royalist army swamped the small town, Henry and Cornwall lodged at the priory with the infantry, while Prince Edward occupied the castle, with the horses outside in the Paddock. Leicester remained undaunted and on the same day, moved to his forested estate at Fletching, about nine miles north of Lewes.

A pious and principled man, Montfort presented the fight for the Provisions as a moral and religious crusade. Clerics were therefore attracted to this cause, including the Bishop of Chichester, who was sent to negotiate with the king, after a skirmish on 12 May. Denying any harmful intent against Henry, Leicester demanded general compliance with the Provisions, while agreeing to submit contentious issues to arbitration and offering compensation for war damage. With superior odds, Henry arrogantly refused, fortified by Cornwall and Edward, who vaguely threatened the rebels, while treating the offer of battle with contempt.

The Montfortian army of perhaps 5,000 infantry and 500 cavalry advanced on 13 May, possibly along the River Ouse, failing to entice the king to fight. Leicester then attempted a different approach on a narrow chalk track across the downs to the north and west of Lewes. Camping in the hollow of Boxholt, Leicester spent the night in prayer and encouraging his men to make confessions.

The Battle
Before dawn broke at 4am on 14 May, the Montfortians, wearing crosses on their backs and chests, deployed in three divisions on Offham Hill. Leicester’s sons Henry and Guy commanded the right wing, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester the centre, and Nicholas Segrave the left wing, comprising Londoners. Leicester, recovering from a broken leg, commanded the small reserve. His standard and four royalist prisoners were placed in the chariot in which he had travelled to the battle. The precise deployment of cavalry and infantry is unknown, although David Carpenter suggests the former in front of the latter.

At around 10am, an attack on royalist scouts provoked an advance from Edward, whose cavalry included Surrey and Roger Mortimer. Edward quickly rode three quarters of a mile north-west to attack the Londoners, who had recently insulted his mother. The raw recruits were routed and pursued down the northern slope of the Downs and for up to four miles the other side.

Despite the disintegration of his left wing, Leicester remained calm since the elite of the royal army had disappeared with Edward. Cornwall retreated after a brief engagement, leaving his brother isolated. Despite fighting on after two horses died under him, Henry was pushed back by the momentum gained by the Monfortians’ downhill movement and Leicester’s fresh reserves. The unpopular Cornwall sheltered in a windmill, where he was surrounded and mocked by rebels in an incident later turned into a political song. Henry retreated to St Pancras Priory at about midday, while others fled through the West Gate into the Castle, pursued by the enemy. Sporadic fighting continued in the streets of Lewes, which was set on fire by incendiary arrows.

Edward returned to the battlefield at around 2pm and mistakenly killed the royalists in Leicester’s carriage, assuming that they were rebels. Suspecting that the battle was lost many royalists fled, including Surrey, who thus abandoned his stronghold. Edward pushed on to Lewes with the remnants of his force, including Mortimer. This prompted further fighting and defiance from the Castle, which was besieged together with the Priory.

Aftermath
An extract from the writings of St Pancras Priory suggests 2,700 royalist dead, whereas William de Rishanger numbered 5,000 in total, including many Scots in the royalist army. The burials subsequently uncovered accounted for approximately 2,000 fatalities.

The following day, negotiations led to the Priory’s surrender and the Mise of Lewes, which reinstated the Provisions of Oxford, while submitting disputed clauses to arbitration. Some royalists such as Mortimer were freed, but confining his son to Hereford Castle and imprisoning his brother in Kenilworth Castle ensured Henry’s co-operation. The offer of arbitration was withdrawn and the Provisions were rigidly enforced. Fugitive royalists including Surrey were besieged in Pevensey Castle, before fleeing the country.

Consequences
Although the king himself was apparently at liberty, the constitution of June 1264 created a triumvirate comprising Leicester, Gloucester and the Bishop of Chichester, which would to choose a council of nine to control Henry and rule the country until a date to be determined in the next reign.

With Henry a mere figurehead, Montfort’s little support shrunk to the extent that he ruled alone and his sons gained patronage. Leicester was excommunicated in October 1264 and feared both rebellion and invasion from either King Louis or from exiled enemies such as the queen and Surrey.

On 20 January 1265, Montfort summoned a parliament, initially comprising twenty-three barons, then extended to two knights from each county and two citizens and burgesses from certain towns and boroughs and representatives from the Cinque Ports. This gave the minor gentry and traders representation for the first time and was the prototype for the House of Commons.

Divisions soon appeared in the barons’ ranks as conservatives were alienated by Leicester’s dictatorial style and attempts to extend the membership of the parliament to knights and burgesses. Thus, opposition from the nobility offset Montfort’s popularity amongst the middle classes. Crucially, Gloucester withdrew to his estates in the rebellious Welsh Marches and united with Mortimer and Edward, after the prince’s escape on 28 May.

Simon and Henry de Montfort and over thirty knights were killed at the Battle of Evesham on 4 August, causing the chronicler Robert of Gloucester to believe the closing stages of the battle to be more akin to murder as old scores were settled. In contrast to the relatively chivalrous Battle of Lewes, the hatred felt by royalists for the enemies regarded as traitors meant that the traditional practice of taking knights prisoner for ransom was ignored and Montfort’s body was dismembered.

When the last Montfortians surrendered in June 1267, their cause was apparently doomed and Henry III ruled until his death in 1272, when his son became King Edward I. The idea of regular, representative parliaments had, however, been established and Edward’s Model Parliament of 1295 comprised the earls and greater barons, the bishops, the abbots, two knights from each county and two citizens and burgesses from each town and borough.
Conclusion

The Earl of Leicester’s tactics at the Battle of Lewes, in which he divided his army into three main bodies, supported by a small reserve, represented a significant development in English medieval warfare. Edward displayed the flair shown at Lewes during the Evesham campaign and replicated Montfort’s control in defeating his enemy in the battle that followed. Edward is now regarded as one of England’s greatest warrior kings, due to his conquest of Wales and domination of Scotland.

Simon de Montfort is probably the most famous nobleman in English medieval history and although historians argue over his precise role in the development of democracy, his assembly of January 1265 is often referred to as the first Parliament. His attempt to reform the monarchy followed the example of the Magna Carta and stopped short of the brutal depositions that would follow in the next two hundred years. Although his intentions were apparently honourable, Leicester ruled by necessity in the name of a puppet king, setting a precedent for those overmighty subjects of the Fifteenth Century, the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick. Politically, similar issues to those fought over in the 1260s would be contested on a far greater scale in the 1640s, at the end of which, Oliver Cromwell would assume powers that would have horrified Montfort’s enemies.

References
M Brown, Mighty was the Sword: Victims of the Battle of Lewes (Battlefields Review, Issue 25)
A Burne, The Battlefields of England (Greenhill Books, 1996)
D Carpenter, The Battles of Lewes and Evesham 1264/1265 (Mercia Publications, 1987)
B Fleming, The Battle of Lewes 1264, They Fought for England (J&KH Publishing, 1999)
P Marren, The Battle that created Parliament: Lewes May 14th 1264 (Battlefields Review, Issue 12)
Battlefield Report: Lewes 1264 (English Heritage, 1995)