[fol. 67v] Factum est ergo ut mox perempto Simone et exuto ab armis in quibus iacebat mortuus, quidam ex filiis Belial accederent ad corpus eius abscidentes ei manus et pedes, de quarum altera manu sic se habet uera relatio. Erat quidam marchius in comitatu Cestrie. Hic erat cum Edwardo in bello Eusamie qui post bellum arripiens interfecti Simonis manum de qua ante dictum est, misit illam per clientem inpietatis sue ad uxorem suam ut gauderet de interfectione inimici, cuius interfectionis certissimum signum erat manus amputata. Cum qua ueniens ad predium domini sui cliens et non inueniens predii dominam domi, properat ad ecclesiam parochialem ubi erat non longe a predio uiri sui sitam. Quo cum uenisset cum manu quam portabat in gremio panniculo inuolutam accessit ad dominam loquens ei in aure de interemptione Simonis. Ac inquit, ‘Istud est signum occisionis eius,’ uolens ostendere ei manum amputatam. Set mulier, ne uerecundaretur uel forte metuens Deum, [fol. 68r] tunc cum persisteret in oratione sua noluit manum uidere set neque attrectare, licet cliens instanter persuaderet ei ut allatam acciperet et penes se retineret. Cui perperam suadenti ait domina, ‘Opperire donec diuina fuerint percelebrata.’ Ad iussum igitur domine secedens stabat in multitudine populi ut ascultaret missam. Et factum est dum eleuaretur sacrosancta hostia et populus eleuaret manus suas pariter et cliens ad Dominum a sacerdote eleuatum adorandum, ecce manus sancti uiri quam baiularat satelles diaboli satellitis supra capud eius absque omni sensibilitate eius diuinitus est eleuata ita ut preeminencia altitudinis melius cerni potuisset quam manus preeminentioris hominis de omni multitudine hominum qui ibi tunc aderant. Que dum adoraret Dominum maiestatis in eleuatione eius de qua dictum est, ut inclinauerat se uersus altare ad adorandum eum, omni dicto citius iterum reclinata est in id ipsum unde exierat non sine uirtute diuinitatis, panniculo quo inuoluebatur inuento integre

Miracles from the Melrose chronicle

London, British Library, Cotton MS Faustina B IX, fols 67v–68v, 71v–72r

And so it was that, as soon as Simon was killed and stripped of the armour in which he lay dead, some of the sons of Belial approached his body and cut off his hands and feet, of which one hand is the subject of a true story, as follows. There was a marcher in Cheshire.

The forbidden miracle cult of Simon de Montfort earl of Leicester, who died in 1265, produced a remarkable body of literature before expiring from natural causes after some fifteen years. The writings included laments, prayers and hymns, and a book of some two hundred miracles. The products of that creative surge reveal how some people tried to cope with political events that they could feel and describe but could not influence.

In 1840 James Orchard Halliwell published an edition of the miracle book and, whatever the shortcomings of the sole manuscript and however slight his contribution to our understanding of it, Halliwell's edition has been consulted with profit by generations of historians. A century and a half later Iris Pinkstone, founder of the Simon de Montfort Society, was aware that an English translation would be needed if the full potential of the miracle book were to be appreciated, especially as proficiency in Latin ought no longer to be assumed. A further consideration was that many of the names mentioned in the manuscript were unrecognizable after medieval recopying; Halliwell could not overcome that obstacle, but in the present century it can be breached with tools that he never had. Iris therefore tried to find a competent translator. I understood her aspiration at the time and might have offered to help, but I was busy with other publications and sadly, just as I found myself able to make a start, we received the news of Iris's death.

Nevertheless, my belated readiness to carry out her project coincided happily with the re-emergence of another scheme, which I had imagined some decades earlier but had not been qualified to begin at the time: a collected edition and translation of the Montfortian verses and prayers. It became obvious that such an edition would complement that of the miracle book, and the present volume therefore assembles all the known texts that Simon de Montfort's cult produced. Most of them have been printed at least once since 1800, but in scattered places and in various editorial styles. It will be a modest step forward to have them brought together, freshly edited and translated.

The Simon de Montfort Society has of course encouraged the project from the beginning. I record my thanks to all the repositories that have provided images of manuscripts in their possession.

[Voice I]

Miles Christi gloriose

Symon certans in agone

Pro iusticia

Qui constanter conseruasti

A subuersione

Fidem Christi tibi datam

Et a lesione

Vt nos mundet a delictis

Satisfactione

Et in ***

[Voice II]

Plorate ciues Anglie

Magnanimum Lecestrie

Qui bellans pro iusticia

Prostratus est in Anglia.

O zelus ineffabile

[O] nephas <innarrabile>

Quo fit pius ob emulis

Morti datur et meritis

Dum pungnat pro iusticia.

Prauorum ruit framea

Fideles ***

Miles Christi (222)

Cambridge, St John's College, MS F. (formerly MS 138),

former fols 127v–128r (now detached)

[Voice I] O Simon, by fighting to the death for justice as a glorious soldier of Christ you staunchly kept [5] from overthrow and harm that faith in Christ which was given to you, so that he might cleanse us of our sins by penance [10] and in ***

[Voice II] O citizens of England, weep for the great-hearted earl of Leicester who was cut down battling for justice in England. [5] O the wonderful zeal, O the unspeakable wickedness, by which he is made blessed. While he fights for justice he is given over to death by his enemies and by those who deserve it themselves. He falls to the evildoers’ spear. [10] The faithful ***

[fol. 10v]

Anno milleno bis centenoque uiceno

Ter iam quintoque denique luce quoque,

Heu milleno bis centeno terque uiceno

Anno quintoque denique luce quoque,

Augusti quarta uera de Virgine parta

Luce Symon querit prelia sicque perit

Corpore non anima nam celsa petens fugit ima

Et postrema dies fit sibi prima quies.

Martis luce cadit cum uim ui pellere uadit.

Lux festo uacua congruit esse sua.

O pugil anglorum, tu fidus amator eorum

Pro quis castrorum non fugis ipse chorum.

O capud illorum, manus et pes atque cor horum

Pro causa quorum tis facis ipse forum

Singula membrorum uendens pro pace tuorum.

O pie mercator, inclite large dator

Dans corpus morti periure membra chohorti.

O magne fidei uir, bone serue Dei,

Iniuste pateris quia ius uir iuste tueris.

Sed quia ius queris in nece uictor eris.

Ha Deus in celis merito manet iste fidelis

Passus pro patria uulnera seua pia

Causa nam sponte populo pro paupere monte

De forti dictus nec uulnere nec nece uictus.

Iam bene de monte forti dictus quia sponte,

Fortiter ut fortis, fert horrida uulnera mortis.

Anno milleno (203)

Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 349/542, fol. 10v

In the year one thousand, two hundred, three score and five, and at dawn (alas, at dawn in the year one thousand, two hundred, three score and five) on the fourth of August, in a true dawn born of the Virgin, Simon sought battle and thus perished in the body but not in the soul. In seeking the highest he escaped the lowest, and the next day became his first respite. On a Tuesday he fell; with force he went forth to banish force. [10] The day, being void of any calendar feast, was proper to be his. O defender of the English, their faithful friend, for whom you do not flee even from a ‘company of hosts’. O their head, their hand, foot and heart: of yours you even hold a market on behalf of their cause, selling each of your limbs for the peace of your people. [16] O holy merchant, renowned and generous giver, giving your body to death and your limbs to a perjured gang. O man of great faithfulness and good servant of God, you suffer unjustly, O just man, for you protect the law. [20] Since you seek the law, however, in death you shall be the victor.

The texts in this edition are all related to the sudden death of Simon de Montfort earl of Leicester, which occurred on 4 August 1265 at the battle of Evesham in Worcestershire. As a revolutionary politician and soldier he had been so popular and successful in England that during his lifetime some had begun to portray him as a Christ-like saviour. The shock of his death, magnified by horror at the royalist mutilation of his corpse, launched a miracle cult so vigorous that it soon spread to parts of the British Isles that were well beyond his burial place at Evesham abbey. In defiance of royalist threats the cult lasted some fifteen years, during which Earl Simon's devotees compiled a miracle book and composed laments, prayers and hymns.

The miracle book

The monks of Evesham welcomed pilgrims at Simon de Montfort's grave and recorded every miracle story that came to them. Some miracles had been generated locally but reports of many more were received from other parts of the country. It seems that they usually came by word of mouth; in only two instances is there some indication that a report was delivered in writing (127, 190). When a story was given orally, the monks’ first task was to write a summary, not necessarily in complete sentences, of what may have been a long-winded or unstructured tale. At Evesham the note needed to record the identity (not necessarily the name) of the miracle's recipient and that of the informant (if it was someone else); where the recipient lived (unless they were a prominent person whose residence was well known); the nature of the miracle; and who else could vouch for the story. When the informant referred to a minor place outside Worcestershire and beyond the adjoining counties nearest to Evesham (Gloucestershire and Warwickshire) they were asked for its county or its nearest well-known town. Those details were enough to make the story credible and verifiable. There are only two references to testimony on oath (127–8) and none was needed, for there was no prospect of the formal canonization proceedings that would have called for sworn statements. The recording monk could choose to include more details than those described, but he often settled for the minimum. In particular, the date of a miracle was not of the essence and was not routinely taken down.

[fol. 84v]

Symonis comitis ac sociorum martirum 4o augustia antiphona

Versus. Letamin[i] in Domino.

Collecta. Deus pro cuius pace et ueritate gloriosus sanguis beati Symonis martiris effunditur concede propitius ut qui ipsius sociorumque eius beneficia implorant pace perfrui mereantur eterna. P[er] D[ominum nostrum Iesum Christum].

O decus militie (Cologne MS) (221)

Cologne, Historisches Archiv der Stadt Köln, Best. 7010 (Wallraf) 28, fol. 84v

Antiphon of Earl Simon and his companions, martyrs, on 4 August O earl of Leicester, glory of the knighthood of the English people, right hand of the oppressed, knight of the king of glory, storehouse of decency, implore the life of the blessed for our miserable selves.

Versicle. Be glad in the Lord.

Collect. O God, for whose peace and truth was shed the glorious blood of the blessed martyr Simon, graciously grant that they who implore his help and that of his companions may be deemed worthy to enjoy everlasting peace. Through [our Lord Jesus Christ].

This chapter brings the sensory potentialities of material objects used in Roman ritualized activities into discourse concerning the nature and production of ancient religious knowledge. By combining perspectives derived from lived religion and material religion it is argued that religious agency should be understood as the product of the intertwining of human and more-than-human things within assemblages. Lived experiences of this production of agency, in turn, cause people to feel and consequently think in certain ways, ultimately producing what can be categorized as distal and proximal forms of religious knowledge. The chapter uses the example of the frieze of the Vestal Virgins from the Ara Pacis Augustae to argue that different forms of ancient religious knowledge were actively created through a multiplicity of lived experiences of ritualized action that brought human and more-than-human material things together, rather than existing only as something that was expressed through ritual behaviours. Exploring the Vestals’ experience of ritualized encounters with material things makes it possible to establish new understandings of the real-world lived experiences and identities of these priestesses, offering significant insights into how individualized forms of religious knowledge could be sustained even in the context of shared communal or public rituals.

“A Portent, beyond Statues Sweating Blood in the Forum …” reconstructs the fire that destroyed San Paolo fuori le mura in July 1823 and the despairing responses the event provoked in Rome.

“Luigi Poletti and the Challenge of Rebuilding San Paolo” details how Poletti set about pursuing a completely revised project for San Paolo that was historicist in all but name and which aimed at salvaging what he perceived as the flawed Early Christian basilica building type by recasting it in a neo-Renaissance idiom.