Page 61 - History of War - Issue 30-16

FRANCE’S HERETIC WAR

THE DEATH OF

DE MONTFORT

THE CRUSADER LEADER, SIMON DE
MONTFORT, WAS THE CENTRAL DRIVING
FORCE OF THE CRUSADE UNTIL HIS DEATH
OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF TOULOUSE IN 1218
By the summer of 1218, Simon de Montfort
and his northern forces still had not captured
Toulouse by siege. Since the crusader army
could not completely surround the huge fortii ed
city, southern troops continued to arrive to help
the defenders. Conversely, De Montfort was
struggling to pay his mercenaries, so tensions
remained high in the crusader camp.
Desperate to overcome the city’s defences,
de Montfort ordered his men to construct a
huge siege tower that could i t 400 knights
The siege of Carcassonne was only
lifted after the defenders were cut off and 150 archers. The defenders knew the
from their water supply siege engine was extremely dangerous, so they
planned to make a sortie and assault the belfry
on 25 June. In response, De Montfort and his
Whenever southerners captured crusaders, southern army increased to 2-4,000 cavalry
they would brutally murder their captives. When and thousands of infantry. On 10 September, brother, Guy, led a group of mounted knights to
repel the attack on their prized siege tower. The
northerners were ambushed, every last one the southern forces reached Muret and put crusaders tried to stay upon their steeds, but a
would be killed. Late in 1209, two northern it under siege. It did not take long before de
vicious volleys of crossbow bolts and artillery
knights, taken prisoner by a southern lord, were Montfort arrived with a relief force of 800- missiles made it incredibly difi cult to remain
blinded and had their noses, upper lips and 1,000 cavalry and 700 infantry. The two mounted. Guy’s horse was slain by a bolt to the
ears cut off. An abbot and his entourage were armies faced each other on 12 September – head, and the rider was also struck in the groin.
also assaulted and brutally hacked to death. Peter led the army from the centre, while Foix De Montfort was even hit by i ve arrows that
Then in April 1211, at least 1,500 crusaders commanded the vanguard, with de Montfort caused minor wounds.
were ambushed at Montgey by southern leading his crusaders from the rearguard. According to one source, a group of
forces under the command of the formidable At i rst, the northern centre and van noblewomen and their daughters shot a stone
Raymond-Roger, Count of Foix, and were killed. slammed into the southern allied army as de from a mangonel that caused considerable
The brutality of the southerners was in Montfort held the rearguard back in reserve damage to the crusader cause. The anonymous
response to the mass murders that continued and watched, waiting for the most opportune writer of the latter part of the Song of the Cathar
to be carried out by the northern invaders. time to strike. After the crusaders penetrated Wars, claims the stone “struck Count Simon
When Minerve surrendered in July 1210, 140 deep into the southern ranks, the crusader on his steel helmet, shattering his eyes, brains,
Cathars were burned to death. When Lavaur general saw how vulnerable the left l ank under back teeth, forehead and jaw. Bleeding and
black, the count dropped dead on the ground.”
was taken in May 1211, more people were Raymond-Roger was, and made his assault.
burned alive than at any other point throughout Meanwhile, Peter was in dire straits as i erce
Below: A 19th-century depiction of Simon de Montfort
the crusade. De Montfort used these horrii c combat had engulfed his entire army. Many
after he was slain by a stone i red from a mangonel
acts to win the war, and the plan was working of his noble warriors had perished and the
for the most part until he led an army of 4,000 king was in a i ght for his life. Peter was then
troops to besiege Toulouse on 17 June. Not mortally wounded and died on the battlei eld
only was the city too massive to surround, surrounded by his foremost warriors. Once the
but the 30,000 people within its walls king was killed, the southern army panicked
outnumbered his forces. Ten days later, the and l ed the i eld. The number of casualties
crusaders were forced to abandon the siege. is unknown, yet it is certain that the south
Later, Toulouse, allied with Foix and two suffered severe losses.
southern magnates, raised a 1-2,000-strong
force. At the Battle of Castelnaudary, the The ultimate defeat
southern army faced 700 crusaders but were After the defeat at Muret, the south had not
still defeated by de Montfort. The southerners given up but many more towns and strongholds
may have been beaten, but Languedoc submitted to the crusaders. Throughout 1214
continued to unite as the conl ict became violent conl icts decreased. The pope ofi cially
more of a war between north and south. From ended the crusade by 1215 after Raymond,
the end of 1211 to 1213, a grinding guerrilla Raymond-Roger and the other leading nobles
war ensued over the control of the numerous of Languedoc reconciled themselves with
strongholds in the region. Most fortresses the Church. But the war between northern
lost by the southerners fell back into their France and the south was not over. Since the
possession when the defenders within betrayed southerners could no longer look to King Peter
the crusaders – many never intended to break for protection, de Montfort was determined to
their original pledges of loyalty in the i rst place. win the independent Languedoc for his lord, the
However, the i rst major gain for the southern King of France. In May, the northern ruler sent
resistance came when its forces successfully his son, Prince Louis, with a large army to join
stormed Le Pujol in May 1213. de Montfort’s forces.
This momentum stayed with the southerners When the northern army arrived at Toulouse,
in 1213, as Raymond i nally convinced King the citizens opened the city gates to them
Peter to intervene on behalf of his vassals without any resistance. The northerners then
in Languedoc. With the Spanish troops, the destroyed much of the city’s fortii cations

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