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The Resettlement of England after the Barons' War, 1264–67

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

C. H. Knowles
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Extract

The confiscation and redistribution of the estates of the supporters of Simon de Montfort after the battle of Evesham plunged much of England into confusion. Such was the magnitude and violence of the social upheaval that even after the publication of the Dictum of Kenilworth in October 1266, and the general surrender of the rebels in the following summer, had brought organized resistance to an end, the country was still tense and uneasy. In August 1270, King Henry III abandoned his intention of accompanying his son the Lord Edward on crusade and made it known that he had taken this decision because ‘the prelates, magnates and community of the realm, consider it neither expedient nor safe that both of us should leave the kingdom’. Yet when Edward returned to England as king in August 1274, only seven years after the capitulation of the last rebel stronghold of the Isle of Ely, the situation had undergone a striking transformation. The bulk of the Montfortians had already regained possession of their lands and were being reassimilated into the political community. The theme of this paper is the nature of that recovery, and the light it throws on the operation of the land market and the character of the rebellion of 1264–7.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 32 , December 1982 , pp. 25 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1982

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References

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