The Leopard - The road to Evesham

The following is part three of my study of the early military campaigns of Edward Longshanks, the infamous ‘Leopard’, conqueror of Wales and Hammer of the Scots. After his early experiences in Gascony and Wales, Edward was now forced to turn inward, and help his father Henry III face the might of Simon de Montfort. All roads would, eventually, lead to a bloody field at Evesham…

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ONSLAUGHT: THE ROAD TO EVESHAM 1263-65

“To whom shall the noble Edward be compared? Perhaps he will be rightly called a leopard. If we divide the name, it becomes a lion and a pard: a lion, for we have seen that he was not slow to meet the strongest; fearing the attack of none; making a charge in the thick of battle with the most unflinching bravery, and as though at his will, and wherever he went, as if, like Alexander, he would rule the whole world, if the mutable wheel of Fortune would but stand still; in which, although he stand at the top, let him know that his fall is near at hand, and that he who reigns like a lord will not reign long.

Which, in fact, has happened to the noble Edward, who has manifestly fallen from his unstable position. He is a lion by his pride and ferocity; by his inconstancy and changeableness he is a pard, not holding steadily his word or his promise, and excusing himself with fair words. When he is in a difficulty, he promises just what you will; but as soon as he has escaped the danger, he forgets his promise. Witness Gloucester, where, as soon as he was out of the difficulty, he revoked immediately what he had sworn. The treachery or falsehood by which he gains his ends he calls prudence; the way by which he arrives at his object, be it ever so crooked, is reputed to be straight; when wrong serves his purpose, he calls it right; he calls lawful whatever he wills, and thinks himself absolved from the law, as though he were greater than a king; for every king is ruled by the laws he enacts.”