General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> III
Name Prefix:<NPFX> King
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 8XJ5-ZJ
[janet skelton.FTW]

Henry III, who succeeded [his father, King John] when he was only nine years old,...played a large part in an important event connected with thehistory of Lewes which had a far-reaching effect on the development of England.
King Henry appears to have been a man of artistic tastes as well aspossessing a fondness for magnificence. For years during his reign therewas misgovernment, for Henry had no sense of political justice. Hisextravagance, coupled with several bad harvests, brought grave discontentand hastened matters to a climax, and to a conflict between King andbarons. Simon de Montfort, Duke of Leicester, a nephew of the King,became their leader, and in the spring of 1264 gather together a force of15,000 men and began to march to the relief of the Cinque Ports on thecoast of Sussex, which the King was threatening.
The King and his army arrived in the neighbourhood of Lewes in May. DeMontfort's men had also entered the county and were encamped at thevillage of Fletching in the Weald, eight miles away. The King was stayingwith his brother,... known as the King of the Romans, at the Priory ofSt. Pancras, at Southover. His son, Prince Edward, was the guest of Johnde Warenne, Earl of Surrey, at Lewes Castle....
Simon de Montfort seems to have made a last-minute attempt to come to terms with the King...but Henry refused to listen [to the bishops thatwere sent to him]. [On the break of day, Wednesday, 13 May 1264, deMontfort's men set out for field of battle, on a long march. They hadapparently spent the night before in prayer. But the King and his company had spent the night in feasting at the Priory and were] in such a livelyand riotous state that the Prior and his monks were shocked. [The Kingwas surprised that the other force was so near, and hastily collected hisforces to meet it.] The King himself led the centre of his army with his banner bearing a white dragon fluttering in the breeze, giving as his battle cry, 'Symon, je vous defie'.
The clash between the two armies took place on Mount Harry, which is not far from the present race course. The name of that point of the downs, is,however, believed to have no connexion with the king. [At first thebattle went in the King's favour, and Prince Edward, commanding the army on the left, drove some of de Montfort's men down the hillside to the Weald by Offham, probably close to where there is now a disused chalkpit. So sure was he that the day was theirs, that he followed theretreating men for miles, eventually returning to the top of the downs tofind that the King's army had been beaten and his soldiers were fleeingin all directions.]
Simon de Montfort strangely enough brought along with his army threeunfortunate aldermen of London who had recenty shut the drawbridge ofLondon Bridge in his face. [He imprisoned them in a kind of coachprotected with metal plates. The Kings' men had not been able todistinguish de Montfort himself during the battle; but thought the coachprobably contained him. They thrust spears through the iron grating atthe side and the aldermen were killed. The story used to be told thatKing Henry surrendered to Simon de Montfort on the field of battle, butthe King actually fell back to the Priory and fortified himself and someof his men inside. His brother, King of the Romans, also fled and oldballads say he took refuge in a windmill, where he was afterwardsdiscovered and taken prisoner. But all mills in Henry's day werewatermills. The mill in question may have been a very small watermillknown to have stood on the banks of the Winterbourne in Southover.]
[The beaten army was pursued through Lewes and there was fighting in thenarrow streets, continuing down the slopes through the East Gate and onto the narrow bridge over the river, where there was a frightful melee,and on toward the marshes beyond where many men were lost. 5,000 men weresaid to have