debor044

On this day in 1264, the Simon de Montfort the Earl of Leicester (b.1208-1265) won a stunning victory over the royal armies of King Henry III (b.1207-1272), led by his son Prince Edward (1239-1307). Known today as Edward Longshanks and   as King of England, Edward I (r.1272-1307), the Hammer of the Scot s, the Battle of Lewes was fought in Sussex, England and and was shattering victory of the royal army. Arguably the most well known battles to have been fought during the struggles of the Barons' Wars in 1215-1217 and in 1264-1267, de Montfort's victory at Lewes made him (disputably) a candidate to become the next sovereign King of England. Prince Edward, center, fights at the Battle of Lewes, Today in History, 1264 The Baron's Wars themselves are singularly important because of the creation of the Magna Carta 1215, and for de Montfort's later calls to create a strong representative parliament to check the then unlimited power of the King and the Engli...

A Short History of the Wars of the Roses. By David Grummit. London: I.B. Tauris, 2013. Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-84885-875-6. Dramatis personae. Timeline. Family trees. Map. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xxxix, 212. $25.00. A Short History of the Wars of the Roses, by David Grummit In May 1455, the recently dismissed Protector of the Realm, Richard the Duke of York, met the royalist Lancastrian army of King Henry IV, “vi et armis”, with force and arms (p. 43), winning a decisive but bloody victory at the First Battle of St. Albans. The Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians that day on the streets of St. Albans beginning the sporadic and violent episodes of rebellion, upheaval, and open warfare which characterized the greater period of English medieval history from 1455-1487, known today as the Wars of the Roses. Yorkist line at the Battle of Towton Author David Grummitt’s primary goal in A Short History of the Wars of the Rose...