Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

KNIGHT
Evesham saw the end of
the baronial revolt against
Henry III. By the end of the
battle Simon de Montfort
was killed and his body
hacked to pieces, the head
sent by Roger Mortimer to
his wife Maud at Wigmore
Castle as a trophy.
(Bridgeman Art Library)
136
was so wise and full of devices, he would have found some means of establishing a
peace between France and England; and was so much beloved by the king of England
and his court, that they would have believed what he should have said in preference
to all others.
As Orderic says of the knights at Bremule, they sought to capture their enemies not
to kill them.
Whilst this was for the most part true, there were occasions when the surrender of
a knight was neither practical nor desired. One account of the battle of Evesham in
1265 suggests that Edward and the Earl of Gloucester assigned 12 knights, including
the third of the royalist commanders Roger Mortimer, to pick out Simon de Montfort,
leader of the rebels, and ensure his death on the field. Edward was seeking to end the
protracted conflict between the king and the baronial party and the clearest way to do
this was to kill the figurehead of that movement, Montfort himself. Similarly politically
motivated killings took place during the Wars of the Roses, renowned for the slaughter
of the nobilily they witnessed.
When knights faced non-knightly combatants the rules of chivalry no longer
applied and the capture of knights for ransom was not a concern. At Courtrai the
Flemish refused to take prisoners, their leader Guy de Namur supposedly giving
the command to 'kill all ... that has spurs on'. Being formed almost entirely of the
low-born and merchant community, the Flemings could expect no mercy from the
French aristocracy and so would offer none. The same was true of the Swiss in their
wars against the French and Burgundians during the 14th and 15th centuries.
One of the key battlegrounds for the debate about the limits and reality of chivalry
has been Henry V's order to execute French prisoners in the closing stages of the
battle of Agincourt. Despite the seeming incongruity of the action, it is clear that
contemporaries, both French and English, did not consider it to be an act requiring
censure. There were practical reasons for the action. The English were outnumbered,