Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England

by Louise J. Wilkinson

  There were other women who visited Eleanor or who were recipients of her favour: ladies such as Lady Catherine Lovel, the widow of John Lovel and sister of the royalist Philip Basset,35 and the lady of Mauley, who was possibly Joan, the widow of Peter de Maule and daughter of Peter de Brus, the sixth lord of Skelton in Yorkshire.36 At the beginning of August, Eleanor paid for the expenses incurred by her younger son, Amaury, in sending letters to the wife of Hugh Despenser, the baronial justiciar.37 Overall, it is hard not to be impressed by the number and social standing of Eleanor’s female acquaintances. Perhaps some of these women were petitioners who hoped, through Eleanor, to secure Earl Simon’s and his sons’ influence or allay possible concerns about the direction of their loyalties. It is certainly striking that on the same day (30 April) that the countess paid a messenger whom she had received from Lady Margery de Crek, another groom was dispatched by the countess from Odiham to Simon junior at Pevensey ‘for the business of the said lady’.38

  Women religious visited Eleanor and sought her aid. Not only did the Prioress of Amesbury in Wiltshire, a house with strong royal connections, enjoy Eleanor’s hospitality at Odiham,39 but it is quite possible that she secured the countess’s intercession on her behalf with key figures in the Montfortian government. The record of a payment made by Eleanor to the prioress’s messenger on 13 April was immediately followed in Eleanor’s household roll by another note, detailing further expenses the countess had incurred in dispatching letters to the chancellor and Peter de Montfort, Earl Simon’s close political ally, on the prioress’s behalf.40 Such entries offer intriguing glimpses of Eleanor’s wider reputation for influence at the peak of her husband’s political career.

  Amesbury was not the only female religious community that came within Eleanor’s orbit during the spring of 1265. Eleanor’s accounts record a one-off payment of 6s. 8d. to Avicia de Fauconberg, a nun at the Benedictine abbey of Wherwell in Hampshire, who was possibly a member of the Fauconberg family, the lords of Rise in Holderness (Yorkshire), and a relation of Eleanor’s knight, Walter de Fauconberg.41 The prioress and nuns of Wintney in Hampshire, a Cistercian house situated approximately five miles from Odiham, often dined with the countess; Eleanor made their prioress regular gifts of wine and at Easter commissioned from them a cope for a priest.42 Although Eleanor’s generosity to these nuns might have accorded well with her spiritual interests and responsibilities as a local religious benefactor, the ties fostered through such relationships proved invaluable to her when she needed to call upon them as the events of the summer of 1265 unfolded. The prioress of Wintney later repaid Eleanor’s generosity by lending her cart to aid the countess’s flight to Portchester Castle when news of the Lord Edward’s escape reached Eleanor.43

  Eleanor’s hospitality and the carefully measured demonstrations of generosity recorded in her accounts offer excellent examples of female networking through the domestic and gendered setting of the great household. Yet it is important to stress that men also occupied a central place within the countess’s circle of influence. She communicated regularly with leading male political associates of her husband. Eleanor sent messengers, for example, to Simon’s close ally Richard Gravesend, Grosseteste’s successor as Bishop of Lincoln,44 as well as entertaining Ralph, Abbot of Waverley (Surrey), the Cistercian monastery situated near Odiham long associated with Eleanor and the Montforts.45 She apparently enjoyed cordial relations with the baronial chancellor, Thomas de Cantilupe, who had been appointed to office with her husband’s backing; Eleanor sent him a gift of wine on 1 March.46 During the summer, she corresponded with his uncle, Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, one of Simon’s mentors and closest allies,47 and another mutual acquaintance of the late Adam Marsh (d. 1259).48 Eleanor also entertained her husband’s tenants like Hereward de Marisco and Anketin de Martival, both of whom visited her at Odiham.49 The manors of Hereward and his wife Rametta at Shapwick in Dorset and Chalton in Hampshire had been acquired by exchange with Earl Simon in 1255–6 in return for the barony of Embleton in Northumberland.50 Anketin, who held the Leicestershire manor of Noseley from Earl Simon, had served as a baronial sheriff and as Earl Simon’s steward in 1261.51

  As had also been the case in 1264, some responsibility for the day-to-day care of the prisoners in Earl Simon’s custody, including royal captives, fell to Eleanor. On 8 March 1265, two weeks after Eleanor’s household had taken up residence at Odiham, following a sojourn at Wallingford, the royalist baron, Sir Robert de Brus of Annandale, who had been captured by her husbands’ forces at Lewes, joined the countess’s establishment. He was escorted there by Sir Thomas of Astley, a Warwickshire knight and Montfortian supporter who was later slain at Evesham.52

  Various expenses were incurred by the countess throughout the spring and summer of 1265 in helping to maintain her kinsmen imprisoned in Montfortian strongholds. Her officials paid the Lord Edward’s barber, both before and after the relaxation of the Lord Edward’s custody as part of the settlement agreed in March 1265.53 Eleanor sent both her brothers gifts of food and spices. During March, the countess dispatched a barrel of sturgeon and some whale meat to the king at Wallingford Castle.54 A further 20lbs of almonds, 5lbs of rice, 2lbs of pepper, 2lbs of cinnamon, ½lb of galingale, 1lb of ginger, 2lbs of sugar and 20 pieces of whale were dispatched to her other brother, Richard of Cornwall, who was then confined at Kenilworth.55 This was followed on 30 March 1265 by another gift of spices to Richard and, during the week of Pentecost, by yet another that comprised almonds, pepper, ginger, galingale and cloves.56 In May, the countess’s agents purchased twelve ells of high-quality ruby scarlet cloth in London for Richard’s robes, together with other fine cloths, including rayed – or striped – cloth from Paris for new robes for Edmund his son.57 Eleanor’s generosity on this occasion extended to Henry III and the Lord Edward, for whom her representatives purchased hoods of the finest linen from an Italian merchant.58 These gifts were strongly reminiscent of Henry III’s earlier gifts to her of fine clothing and food,59 and are strongly suggestive not only of Eleanor’s generosity to her kin in captivity, but also of her personal concern that the captives might still enjoy some of the luxuries and clothing appropriate to their rank and dignity. There was, after all, the practical concern that Eleanor’s brother and nephews would not disgrace themselves or shame the Montforts as their ‘hosts’ with shabby or soiled attire.60

  The care and attention to detail suggested by Eleanor’s accounts not only stand as testimony to the countess’s competence as the lady of a great household, but might also have helped to make the captives’ confinement a little less irksome. Such consideration possibly paid off, in political terms, when the tables were subsequently turned on Eleanor after Evesham. On 6 September 1265, Eleanor’s son, Simon junior, persuaded Richard of Cornwall, prior to his release from Kenilworth, to promise that he would be a loyal friend to Eleanor, her children and their households.61 Although Richard as Simon’s hostage probably had little choice in the matter, one wonders whether his undertaking was influenced by the arrival of Wilecok, the countess’s messenger, who had been sent directly by Eleanor to him four days earlier.62 Similarly, Eleanor’s earlier courtesy towards the Lord Edward might well have smoothed the path of her later negotiations with him. On 17 April 1265, her accounts refer to letters sent by her infant daughter, another Eleanor, to the Lord Edward, hinting at a rather touching and, perhaps deceptive, picture of familial harmony in view of the political climate.63 It was, of course, with Edward that Eleanor ultimately negotiated the surrender of Dover Castle and her safe passage overseas in the autumn, having first received assurances for the safety of those in her service whom she left behind.64 On 26 October 1265, two days before her departure to France, Edward wrote to Walter Giffard, the royal chancellor, providing him with the names of those who had been received into his favour, ‘at the instance of his very dear aunt’.65 In spite of the bitterness after Evesham, Eleanor and the Lord Edward proved capable of maintaining family appearances
. What is more, Edward apparently kept his word to Eleanor with regard to the wellbeing of her followers who remained in England. On 9 November 1265, for example, the sheriffs of Kent, Lincolnshire, Surrey, Sussex and Northamptonshire were all ordered to restore the lands of the former rebel, Sir John de la Haye, ‘who was with the countess in the munition of Dover Castle’.66

  ELEANOR AND THE WAR

  During the spring of 1265, however, this still lay far in the future. The dramatic events that unfolded after the Lord Edward’s escape from Hereford on 28 May can be traced within Eleanor’s accounts, as can her role in the war against the resurgent royalists.67 Their contents hint at the scale of the political crisis which engulfed her family, culminating in Evesham, widowhood and her eventual exile to France. The strength of her relationship with, and her importance to, her husband were strongly conveyed by the speed with which Earl Simon dispatched the news of Edward’s flight to her at Odiham; his messengers reached her by 1 June when the countess and Simon junior left this castle in great haste, travelling by night and covering approximately forty-two miles in just one day until they reached the greater protection afforded by Portchester Castle.68 They remained at Portchester, where Eleanor received another messenger from Earl Simon, until 11 June.69 Here their ranks were swelled by Simon junior’s men-at-arms and various supporters (the number of horses in Eleanor’s stable rose dramatically from twenty-eight on 30 May70 to eighty-four on 12 June71) before continuing on to the greater safety of Dover Castle, which they reached on 15 June.72 The urgency of Eleanor’s journey was demonstrated once again when her household managed to cover thirty miles a day.73 When the countess and her son reached Dover, their combined retinue was so large that it initially proved impossible to accommodate all their followers within the castle. While Eleanor, Simon junior and their knights dined at the castle, their esquires and other followers ate in the town.74 Simon junior’s departure for London on 16/17 June, taking with him one hundred horses, considerably eased this cramped situation (and the number of horses in Eleanor’s stable shrank to twenty-six).75

  During June and July, while Earl Simon attempted to counter the Lord Edward’s forces in the Welsh Marches, Eleanor presided over the castle and garrison of Dover, in the company of the acting constable, Sir John de la Haye, a man with a long history of service to Earl Simon.76 Eleanor looked to improve the defence of the castle, purchasing arms and accommodating, at the end of July, Master William the Engineer.77 As a domestic establishment in a time of war, the countess’s household continued to function reasonably smoothly. Eleanor’s accounts in the months leading up to August betray few signs of serious disruption to the functioning of Eleanor’s administration, even in the fast-changing political climate of 1265. At mealtimes, the countess usually dined in the hall, at the high table, in the presence of her family and her guests, so that all who served her might thus be reminded of her authority over them.78

  The countess’s officials continued, as we might imagine they had done for many years before, to account each day for the grain, wine and other foodstuffs and victuals consumed by Eleanor, her household and her visitors. Considerate of the fact that she was a guest in her son Henry’s castle at Dover and also perhaps in preparation for a siege, Eleanor kept careful records of provisions, including red wine, taken by her household from his stores.79 At the same time, the compilers of her wardrobe accounts kept meticulous records of payments for messengers and tradesmen employed on the countess’s business, as well as for various items that were purchased for the countess’s own use, and that of her children, servants and supporters. In order to feed the large entourage that accompanied Eleanor to Dover in the summer of 1265, the countess’s officials purchased oats, corn and wine from the nearby port of Sandwich, thirteen and a half miles away, and fish from the port of Hythe, fourteen and a half miles from Dover. They obtained further provisions from Eleanor’s Kentish manor of Brabourne, situated approximately seventeen to eighteen miles from Dover.80 On 8 July 1265, for example, the manorial reeve accounted with Eleanor for sheep with which he had supplied her household from this estate.81 Boats were also hired to transport essential items such as peat, firewood, salt and corn to Dover.82

  Although the identity of Eleanor’s household steward remains clouded in obscurity, the surviving records preserve the names of other officials in her service. On 9 May, it was Richard of Havering, Earl Simon’s steward, who made payments at Oxford on the countess’s behalf for her daughter’s breviary and to a chaplain for prayers on Simon junior’s behalf.83 Sir William de Wortham was another senior officer, to judge from Eleanor’s frequent correspondence with him and the payments that he authorized on her behalf, recorded in her accounts.84 Wortham, a landholder with estates in Bedfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, possessed long-standing connections with the Montforts and in the 1250s had also been associated with Grosseteste, their former friend.85 His sister Hawise served as one of the Countess of Leicester’s damsels in 1265 and was trusted to make payments on behalf of her mistress.86 Sir Fulk Constable, a Yorkshire landholder who was later captured by the royalists at Kenilworth, William the clerk of Leicester and John the Scot, the countess’s almoner, had all presided over the countess’s offerings during Lent.87 Fulk and John were of sufficient seniority within the countess’s staff to have grooms, whose expenses in late April were also met from Eleanor’s purse.88

  Other officials, servants and agents frequently figure in Eleanor’s accounts, men like Hicqe the Tailor, who often journeyed between London, Odiham, Kenilworth and Portchester on the countess’s business.89 The services of men like William the Carter, who transported food and goods from one place to another, were invaluable,90 as were those of Petronilla, who served as the household’s laundress.91 Eleanor’s regular stream of correspondence with her husband, kin, friends, acquaintances and petitioners necessitated a group of reliable messengers: Bolett,92 Gobithest,93 Diqon,94 Picard,95 Slingawai96 and Wilecok97 were among those who travelled constantly on their mistress’s behalf. Eleanor’s accounts refer to other men such as Colin the Farrier, who received a stipend from the countess,98 S. the Cook,99 Garbag, who served in Eleanor’s kitchen at Dover,100 Andrew the Butler and Colin the Marshal,101 as well as various unnamed grooms who performed a variety of tasks for her.

  Although, in common with other comital households, most of Eleanor’s staff were men, she retained a small but significant group of women within it, as she had done in her youth.102 In addition to Petronilla the laundress, nurses who were employed to care for Eleanor’s young daughter and William de Briouze junior feature in the roll.103 The two Eleanors, mother and daughter, enjoyed the company of a select body of damsels who saw to their personal needs and provided companionship.104 Alongside Hawise de Wortham, a damsel by the name of Christiana de Craiwell served Eleanor and made purchases for her mistress at Dover.105 The countess paid Christiana’s expenses for undertaking a pilgrimage from Odiham to Chichester, although it remains frustratingly unclear whether this spiritual journey was at Christiana’s or, in fact, Eleanor’s behest.106 The same Christiana received new shoes from the countess when the household was in residence at Dover.107 Eleanor’s responsibility for the health and welfare of her damsels is conveyed by an expense of 2s. 8d. incurred when the countess summoned a barber from Reading to bleed a damsel, who had apparently been taken ill at Odiham.108

  The spiritual needs of Eleanor and her household were met through the services of the countess’s chaplain, his assistants and John the Scot, her almoner.109 A ‘G. the chaplain’ numbered among those for whom horses were borrowed during Eleanor’s June flight to Dover.110 John the Scot presided over the countess’s offerings, ensuring that Eleanor as a noblewomen fulfilled her charitable responsibilities to the poor.111 In addition to the offerings of 7s. 4d. made at Lent (22 February to 5 April in 1265),112 he oversaw the distribution of 19s. 1d. for the period between 5 April and 8 June.113 A more modest sum of 7s. 5d. was spent during the twenty-one days from 15 June to 5 July, and
a further 7s. 5d. in the ensuing period up to 30 July.114 During the months covered by the roll, John was provided with an average of 4d. per day for the poor, a pretty generous amount if it is borne in mind that the offerings of a churchman, Bogo de Clare (d. 1294), a notorious pluralist who was the brother of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, typically amounted to just 1d. on great feast days.115 C. M. Woolgar has calculated that Eleanor maintained between fourteen to fifteen poor per day in her household in early May 1265, but it is clear, that, at other times, Eleanor provided bread for more than twenty-five paupers.116 On 28 June, the vigil of Saints Peter and Paul, for example, Eleanor fed forty-five paupers, while on 11 July 1265, the vigil of St Benedict of Nursia, the countess fed twenty-five paupers in one day.117 On 14 April 1265, nine days after Easter, Eleanor fed an unprecedented eight hundred poor.118 The importance of religious observances for Eleanor’s household were also reflected in its strict observance of abstinence during Lent, when meat and poultry were omitted from the daily fare, as they also were on Fridays and Saturdays, and sometimes on Wednesdays, throughout the year.119