Montfort, Simon de (mŏnt`fərt, Fr. môNfôr`), c.1160–1218, count of Montfort and earl of Leicester. A participant in the Fourth Crusade (1202–4), he did not join in the sack of Constantinople, but instead proceeded to Syria. He later led the crusade against the Albigenses Albigenses (ălbĭjĕn`sēz) [Lat.,=people of Albi, one of their centers], religious sect of S France in the Middle Ages.
..... Click the link for more information. . Capable, ambitious, and fanatically religious, he commanded the Crusaders who remained in S France after the taking (1209) of Carcassone and, with papal approval, was elected viscount of Béziers and of Carcassone by the armies. In 1211 he attacked the remaining territories of Raymond VI Raymond VI, 1156–1222, count of Toulouse (c.1194–1222). His tolerant attitude toward the Albigenses resulted in his repeated excommunication, although he temporarily made peace with the church in 1209.
..... Click the link for more information. of Toulouse and overran all but Toulouse and Montauban. Pope Innocent III attempted to make him recognize Peter II Peter II, 1174–1213, king of Aragón (1196–1213) and count of Barcelona, son and successor of Alfonso II. He had himself crowned (1204) at Rome by Pope Innocent III, whom he accepted as overlord of Aragón and Catalonia.
..... Click the link for more information. of Aragón as overlord, but in 1213 Simon defeated Peter and Raymond at Muret. He was proclaimed lord of Toulouse and Montauban by the Crusaders (1215), and his title was confirmed by the pope at the Lateran Council. Raymond recaptured (1217) some of his territories, and Simon renewed the warfare; he was killed while besieging Toulouse. Through his mother he claimed the English earldom of Leicester, to which his right was intermittently recognized by King John. His son was Simon de Montfort, the leader of the English barons.

Montfort, Simon de

(born 1165?—died June 25, 1218, Toulouse, France) French leader of the Albigensian Crusade. From 1209 he led a Crusade against the Cathari heretics, and he became governor of the lands he conquered in southern France. The fourth Lateran Council gave him Toulouse (1215), but Raymond VI, count of Toulouse, refused to accept defeat, and Montfort was killed while besieging the city. His eldest son ceded the Montfort lands in southern France to King Louis VIII.

Montfort, Simon de

later Earl of Leicester

(born c. 1208, Montfort, Ile-de-France, France—died Aug. 4, 1265, Evesham, Worcestershire, Eng.) The second son of Simon de Montfort, he gave up Montfort lands in France but revived the family claim to the English earldom of Leicester. His marriage to Henry III's sister (1238) offended the barons and led to his temporary exile. Simon distinguished himself on a Crusade to the Holy Land (1240–42) and joined Henry's failed invasion of France (1242). Sent to pacify Gascony (1248), he was censured for his harsh methods there and recalled. He joined the other leading barons in forcing Henry to accept the Provisions of Oxford. When Louis IX annulled the Provisions, Simon defeated and captured Henry (1264) and summoned (1265) what became the beginning of the modern Parliament. He governed England for less than a year before being defeated and killed by Henry's son Edward.