Biography of Guy Montfort Count Nola 1244-1288

Paternal Family Tree: Reginar aka Percy

Maternal Family Tree: Helene du Donjon 1095-1189

1218 Siege of Toulose 1218

1264 Battle of Lewes

1265 Battle of Evesham

1271 Murder of Henry of Almain

1287 Battle of the Counts

Siege of Toulose 1218

On 25 Jun 1218 [his grandfather] Simon "Elder" Montfort 5th Earl of Leicester (age 43) was killed at the Siege of Toulose 1218. His son [his uncle] Amaury Montfort (age 23) succeeded 6th Seigneur Montfort. His son [his father] Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester (age 10) succeeded 6th Earl of Leicester.

On 23 Apr 1224 William "The Younger" Marshal 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 34) and [his mother] Eleanor Plantagenet Countess Pembroke and Leicester (age 9) were married. She by marriage Countess Pembroke. The difference in their ages was 25 years. She the daughter of [his grandfather] King John "Lackland" of England and [his grandmother] Isabella of Angoulême Queen Consort England (age 36). He the son of William Marshal 1st Earl Pembroke and Isabel Clare Countess Pembroke.

In 1238 [his father] Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester (age 30) and [his mother] Eleanor Plantagenet Countess Pembroke and Leicester (age 23) were married at Westminster Palace [Map]. She by marriage Countess of Leicester. She the daughter of [his grandfather] King John "Lackland" of England and [his grandmother] Isabella of Angoulême Queen Consort England (age 50). He the son of [his grandfather] Simon "Elder" Montfort 5th Earl of Leicester and [his grandmother] Alix Montmorency. They were half third cousins. He a great x 2 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.

In 1244 Guy Montfort Count Nola was born to Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester (age 36) and Eleanor Plantagenet Countess Pembroke and Leicester (age 29). He a grandson of King John "Lackland" of England.

In 1264 [his father] Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester (age 56) was created 1st Earl Chester. It isn't clear whether this creation took place before or after the Battle of Northampton or the Battle of Lewes.

Battle of Lewes

On 14 May 1264 the army of [his father] Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester (age 56) including Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford (age 20), Henry Hastings (age 29) and Nicholas Segrave 1st Baron Segrave (age 26) defeated the army of [his uncle] King Henry III of England (age 56) during the Battle of Lewes at Lewes [Map].

King Henry III of England, his son, the future, King Edward I of England (age 24), Humphrey Bohun 2nd Earl Hereford 1st Earl Essex (age 60), [his uncle] Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 55), John "Red" Comyn 1st Lord Baddenoch (age 44), Philip Marmion 5th Baron Marmion (age 30) and John Giffard 1st Baron Giffard Brimpsfield (age 32) were captured. John Warenne 6th Earl of Surrey (age 33), John Balliol (age 56), Robert Bruce 5th Lord Annandale (age 49), Roger Leybourne (age 49) and [his uncle] William de Valence 1st Earl Pembroke fought for the King. [his uncle] Guy Lusignan was killed. Fulk IV Fitzwarin (age 44) drowned. Bishop Walter de Cantelupe (age 73) was present and blessed the Montfort army before the battle.

Battle of Evesham

                    On 04 Aug 1265 the army loyal to [his uncle] King Henry III of England (age 57), led by his son the future King Edward I of England (age 26), supported by Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford (age 21), Warin Basingburne and John Giffard 1st Baron Giffard Brimpsfield (age 33) defeated the rebel army of [his father] Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester (age 57) at the Battle of Evesham.
                
                    Roger Leybourne (age 50) fought and reputedly saved the King's life.
                
                    Adam Mohaut rescued the King.
                
                    Alan de Plugenet of Kilpec fought for the King.
                
                    Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester and his son [his brother] Henry Montfort (age 26) were killed. Earl of Leicester, Earl Chester forfeit.
                
                    Hugh Despencer (age 41) was killed by Roger Mortimer 1st Baron Mortimer of Wigmore (age 34).
                
                    Simon Beauchamp (age 31), Ralph Basset (age 50), William Devereux (age 46), Hugh Troyes, Richard Trussel, Peter Montfort (age 60), William Mandeville, William Crepping, William Birmingham, Guy Balliol and Thomas Astley (age 50) were killed. Henry Hastings (age 30), Humphrey Bohun (age 44), Nicholas Segrave 1st Baron Segrave (age 27), John Vesci, John Fitzjohn and Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 21) were captured.
                
                    John Vesci was wounded and taken prisoner.

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In Apr 1266 Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 22) escaped from Windsor Castle [Map] in which he had been imprisoned following his capture at the Battle of Evesham.

After 23 Aug 1268 Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 24) was created 1st Count Nola by King Charles Capet of Sicily (age 41) as a reward for his performance at the Battle of Tagliacozzo

Murder of Henry of Almain

                    On 13 Mar 1271 Henry "Almain" Cornwall (age 35) was murdered while attending mass at the Chiesa di San Silvestro Viterbo Lazio by his cousins [his brother] Simon "Younger" Montfort and Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 27) in revenge for the deaths of their [his father] father Simon and [his brother] older brother Henry at the Battle of Evesham.
                
                    The murder was carried out in the presence of the Cardinals, who were conducting a papal Election, King Philip III of France (age 25), and King Charles of Sicily (age 43). The Montfort brothers were excommunicated
                
                    The deed is mentioned by Dante Alighieri some forty years after in the Divine Comedy who placed Guy de Montfort in the seventh circle of hell. Henry "Almain" Cornwall was buried in Hailes Abbey [Map].

New Chronicle by Villani Chapter 39. 13 Mar 1271. And now we return to our chief subject — how was slain Count Henry, earl of Cornwall (age 35), brother [cousin] of King Edward, in revenge for this, as we said before. The court was greatly disturbed, giving much blame therefor to King Charles, who ought not to have suffered this if he knew thereof, and if he did not know it he ought not to have let it go unavenged. But the said Count Guy (age 27), being provided with a company of men-at-arms on horse and on foot, was not content only with having done the said murder; forasmuch as a cavalier asked him what he had done, and he replied, "J’ai fait ma vangeance," [I took my revenge] and that cavalier said, "Comment? Votre père fut trainé;" [How? Your father was dragged] and immediately he returned to the church, and took Henry by the hair, and dead as he was, he dragged him vilely without the church; and when he had done the said sacrilege and homicide, he departed from Viterbo, and came safe and sound into Maremma to the lands of Count Rosso, his father-in-law. By reason of the death of the said Henry, Edward, his brother, very wrathful and indignant against King Charles, departed from Viterbo, and came with his followers through Tuscany, and abode in Florence, and knighted many citizens, giving them horses and all knightly accoutrements very nobly, and then he came into England, and set the heart of his said brother in a golden cup upon a pillar at the head of London Bridge over the river Thames, to keep the English in mind of the outrage sustained. For the which thing, Edward, after he became king, was never friendly towards King Charles, nor to his folk. After like manner, Philip, king of France, departed with his folk, and came and dwelt many days in Florence; and when he was come into France, he buried the body of the good King Louis, his father with great honour, and had himself crowned with great solemnity at Rheims.

Divine Comedy Canto 12. Then I turned me to the Poet, and he said, "Let him now be first, and I second." A little further on the Centaur stopped above some folk who far as the throat were seen to issue from that boiling stream. He showed to us at one side a solitary shade, and said, "He cleft, in the bosom of God, the heart that still is honored on the Thames."¹ Then I saw folk, who out of the stream held their head, and even all their chest; and of these I recognized many. Thus ever more and more shallow became that blood, until it cooked only the feet: and here was our passage of the foss.

Note 1. In 1271, Prince Henry, son of [his uncle] Richard of Cornwall, was stabbed during the mass, in a church at Viterbo, by Guy of Montfort, to avenge the death of his father, Simon, Earl of Leicester, in 1261. The heart of the young Prince was placed in a golden cup, as Villani (vii. 39) reports, on a column, at the head of a bridge in London.

In or before 1274 Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 30) and Margherita Aldobrandesca were married. He the son of Simon de Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester 1st Earl Chester and Eleanor Plantagenet Countess Pembroke and Leicester (age 58). He a grandson of King John "Lackland" of England.

Around 1274 [his daughter] Anastasia Montfort was born to Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 30) and [his wife] Margherita Aldobrandesca. She a great granddaughter of King John "Lackland" of England.

On 13 Apr 1275 [his mother] Eleanor Plantagenet Countess Pembroke and Leicester (age 60) died at Montargis Abbey.

Battle of the Counts

On 23 Apr 1287 Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 43) was captured during the Battle of the Counts.

In 1288 Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 44) died in a Sicilian prison having been captured the year before at the Battle of the Counts.

[his daughter] Pietro di Vico Montfort was born to Guy Montfort Count Nola and Margherita Aldobrandesca. She a great granddaughter of King John "Lackland" of England.