The Second Barons' War—Causes

The Second Barons' War started in 1264 by Simon de Montfort, the 6th Earl of Leicester, against King Henry III of England. Henry was relying to much on favorites for advice—many of them from France, which annoyed the English lords—and the barons of the land wanted to have more authority in guiding king and country.

Ironically, de Montfort was one of those French foreigners whom Henry favored with not only his title (originally withheld, though his by right through his English mother), but also by marriage to Henry's sister. Such a royal marriage was a political matter, and traditionally the barons would be consulted. So de Montfort himself was one of the reasons the barons were not pleased with their king.

de Montfort started to turn against Henry when de Montfort was put on trial for actions in Gascony. He had been named governor of Gascony in 1248, whereupon he exercised his authority by suppressing the local lords' excessive behavior. Although ultimately acquitted of improper behavior, de Montfort was relieved of the title in 1252, and Henry himself went to Gascony to reconcile with the locals.

The insult to de Montfort caused a falling out between him and Henry.

Another point of contention was the control the king had over the Jewish population. (See the Statute of Jewry post.) Often, when the king wanted an influx of money, he would tax the Jewish population exorbitantly. The Jewish moneylenders would sometimes raise cash quickly by selling the debt contracts to someone with money to buy them. A wealthy lord would buy the contracts at a cheaper price, then start to collect (rather than use the long-term method of allowing interest to grow, since Christians were forbidden to charge interest). This impoverished many.

The death of Hugh of Lincoln in 1255, blamed on the Jews, also inflamed anti-semitism. That, debts barons owed to Jews, and anti-Jewish policies promoted by the Church helped give de Montfort an enemy and motivation to create widespread change to the political system. He called for the cancellation of all Jewish debt. (Note that France was more anti-Jew than England, having expelled all Jews in 1182 by order of King Philip II shortly after his coronation.) de Montfort expelled all Jews from Leicester back in 1231.

Another point of contention between the barons and the king was Henry's attempt to gain the throne of Sicily for his son Edmund, which he attempted to buy from Pope Innocent IV. The barons objected to Henry's attempt to raise money and start a war against the Hohenstaufens for Sicily.

This gave the barons an opening to curb the king's power, however. They would agree to fund his war for Sicily, if he would agree to some demands of theirs. I'll explain the deal they made next time.