Hello everyone and welcome back to the History of England.

The rota fortuna, or the wheel of fortune, was a favourite motif in ancient and particularly medieval literature.

And I think you can guess why. Death was just around the corner for most people, without modern science so much of what happened in the natural world must have looked just like magic.

I'm sure many of you will know this bit of music from Carlos, Carmina Burrina, modern music set to a medieval poem that talks about fate monstrous and empty.

The goddess fortuna was depicted with her wheel as blind or blind folded, with her wheel split into four parts, showing the progress of man from having nothing but expectations to having nothing but memories.

Well, our Simon de Montford is going to experience the full turn of said wheel over the next couple of years.

We left him in May 1264 with a civil war going badly. The king had already won notable victories in de Montford's heartland in the Midlands and captured one of de Montford's sons, and moved south of London to capture the all-important southeast gateway to France.

He was now near battle in Sussex, the site of William the Conqueror's victory 200 years before.

De Montford left London with his much smaller force, a force that had one-third the amount of cavalry.

And Henry heard about this and headed towards a town called Lewis, on the south Sussex coast, where the magnet John of Warren had his castle and priory.

De Montford reached his own manner eight miles north of Lewis on the 12th of May 1264, and made one last effort to negotiate. He was well aware of the disadvantage of his position.

His final offer was around the observance of the provisions of Oxford, but offering to submit their terms to arbitration and also offering a cash incentive, £30,000 to cover any damage that De Montford may have caused.

Now it appears that Henry was minded to accept, but Richard of Cornwall and Edward told him not to be such a weak minded idiot.

And so, on the 13th of May we get the formalities of feudal rebellion, though withdrawal of homage by De Montford, the declaration of defiance.

That night, De Montford apparently knighted Gilbert Declare with sword and sword belt.

For the next bit, by the way, there's an excellent map on the website, produced by David Carpenter Noles, and a link to the Sussex Archaeological Society website, where you can find out even more if you're interested.

The following day, De Montford marched south to Lewis.

We've not had a battle for a while, have we? Certainly not one that we know a lot about, so please indulge me.

De Montford had with him a carriage, and he set it on top of a hill with the standard.

In the carriage where some Londoners, who were not keen on the Buronial cause, De Montford maybe put them there as a warning to others.

But once he'd established his standard, he ordered his army to sow white crosses on their circuits, both so that they knew who each other were, but also to share the justice of their cause.

So most of the army settled down to a bit of morning needlework, as you do.

...