CWD Deputy Director, Dr Sophie Thérèse Ambler, recently featured in BBC Radio 4’s flagship discussion programme, 'In Our Time', in an episode on the Second Barons’ War.

With host Melvyn Bragg, and other guests Professor David Carpenter (KCL) and Professor Louise Wilkinson (University of Lincoln), Dr Ambler discussed the career of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester (d.1265), his seizure of power from King Henry III of England in 1258, and the vicious war that followed in the 1260s.

The conflict saw Simon de Montfort’s party take control of government after the Battle of Evesham in 1264, and attempt to secure the hearts and minds of the broader population through parliament, before the revolutionary regime was brought down at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

The programme considers the influence of Simon V de Montfort (d.1218), father of the earl of Leicester and leader of the Albigensian Crusade, on events in England. The Montfort family’s role in the Albigensian expedition of the early thirteenth century is discussed in our recent CWD War and Diplomacy podcast, ‘The Albigensian Crusade, Heresy, Simon V of Montfort and the Statutes of Pamiers', with Dr Gregory Lippiatt of the University of Exeter.

The In Our Time podcast includes an ‘extra time’ discussion, highlighting the critical role in events of noblewomen. These included Eleanor of Provence, Queen of England, and her sister Marguerite, Queen of France, who raised an army in support of Henry III against Simon de Montfort. Their role is discussed in another recent CWD podcast, ‘Women in War and Diplomacy in Thirteenth-Century Europe: The Evidence of Royal Letters’, with Dr Anaïs Waag of the University of Lincoln.

The CWD’s War and Diplomacy podcast series can be found on all leading platforms, and on Anchor at: https://anchor.fm/cwdlancaster