Edmund's Second Wife

After returning to England from failed Crusade attempts, Edmund Crouchback had to deal with some unrest. His father, Henry III, died on 16 November 1271. The succession passed to Edward, who was still returning from the Mediterranean. In fact, Edward was gone so long that there was a rumor that he would never return. This prompted some unrest and a rebellion in the north. Edmund had to suppress that rebellion with help from royalist supporter Roger, 1st Earl Mortimer.

Edmund's wife Aveline turned 14 in 1273, so Edmund was allowed to consummate the marriage. She died suddenly on 10 November 1274, however, meaning there would be no chance of Edmund inheriting any of the titles and lands of Aveline's still-living mother, Isabel. The search for a new wife commenced. 

Enter Margaret of Provence, Edmund's aunt, who had been married to Louis IX and was therefore the Dowager Queen of France. She wanted Edmund to marry Blanche of Artois (c.1248 - 1302). Blanche was recently widowed after the death of King Henry I of Navarre (c.1244 - 1274). Blanche was also Countess of Champagne and Brie, making her quite wealthy.

Blanche was willing, because she had to manage Champagne and Brie, and wanted a husband who was on good terms with the current king of France, Philip III. Since Edmund and Philip were cousins, this seemed like a sensible choice. At least one chronicler of the time, the Benedictine monk John of Trokelowe (flourished about 1290 - 1330) claimed the two knew of each other already, and the reputation of Edmund as a handsome knight and Blanche as an attractive woman made them both amenable to the union.

One person was not in favor. Blanche had a brother, the Robert II, Count of Artois, who still thought of England as an enemy of France. King Edward I supported the union, however. The couple was close in age; Edmund was only three years older.

Edmund went to France to meet her after August 1275, and met and married Blanche sometime between December and January of 1276. Edmund was now Count of Champagne, and paid homage to King Philip III as his vassal in Champagne.

Edmund and Blanche returned to England in June to see Edmund's lands, and then in July went to Navarre to see the lands there that she still possessed. The couple's first child, Thomas, was born in 1278. Henry was born c.1281, and John, Lord of Beaufort was born in 1286.

In many of those years of their marriage Edmund was away fighting wars on behalf of his brother Edward. We'll take a brief look at those tomorrow.

Second Baron's War Ends

Simon de Montfort was in control of London in April 1264. Northampton was under siege by supporters of King Henry, and Simon assembled his army to go stop the royalists, but he was too late. Simon then went to Kent to besiege Rochester Castle, held in support of Henry by constable Sir Roger de Leybourne (1215–1271), whose father, also called Roger, was on the side of rebels in the First Barons' War.

Roger was originally on the side of Simon, but changed his mind when he heard of an alliance Simon had made.

Simon decided to make an ally of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the Prince of Gwynedd. Wales was England's enemy, and the followers of Simon started to turn on him when he and Llywelyn made peace. The Welsh Marcher Lords, English nobles guarding castles along the Welsh border, were friendly with Henry's eldest son Edward, and rallied around Edward and the royalist cause.

Prince Edward's forces defeated several of Montfort's allies at the Warwickshire market town of Kenilworth, even though the rebels had been bolstered by Welsh forces. Simon was moving across the Severn to join his son's army, and saw an army approaching flying his son's banners. Edward had seized the banners at Kenilworth and was using them to fool the rebels.

They encountered each other at the Battle of Evesham when Simon—who was hemmed on three sides by the River Avon—realized too late that he had been fooled and attempted a foolish uphill charge against a superior force. Edward had appointed a dozen men to avoid direct fighting in the encounter and search specifically for Simon. Having been located, Simon was stabbed in the neck by Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer. The royalists attacked the corpse, cutting off his head, ripping out his intestines, cutting off his testicles and hanging them on his nose, etc. His hands and feet were cut off and sent to various parts of England as a sign of the consequences of treason. (The illustration is of Simon's body being mutilated on the battlefield.)

Fighting continued, but eventually the royalists won. There are two follow-ups to offer: the Dictum of Kenilworth between Henry and the rebels, and the story of Simon's niece by marriage who was Henry's daughter, Margaret of England. We'll cover Kenilworth tom arrow and Margaret the next day.