ONE day, while Edward was at Acre and walking in the gallery of the palace, a messenger arrived from Italy; and, with a grave countenance, presented a letter. On perusing this, the Prince started, shuddered, and appeared struck with surprise and horror. The letter, which was written by the King of Sicily, bore date the 13th of March, 1271; and its contents were such as might well make Edward's heart beat and his lip quiver.
At Viterbo, a papal city about twenty-five miles from Rome, the cardinals, wearing their scarlet robes, had, in the spring of 1271, assembled to choose a successor to the Sixth Clement; when thither, trusting to influence the election, went Philip, the young King of France, and his uncle, Charles of Anjou. At the same time, in the company of his kinsmen, but probably not sympathising with their object, appeared Henry of Cornwall, then in his thirty-sixth year, and in the full vigor of manhood.
Henry, who was heir of Richard, King of the Romans, and some years older than Prince Edward, had fought in the Barons' War, yielded himself to Mnntfor* after Lewes, and resided for some time, in gentle captivity, at the castle of Kenilworth. By his aunt, the Countess of Leicester, and two of her sons, Guy and Simon de Montfort, the heir of Cornwall had been treated with kindness. With young Guy, especially, he had been on terms of intimacy. The cousins hunted together, hawked together, and indulged in the recreations fashionable at the period; and, as Henry and his sire were prisoners at the time of Evesham, they had no share in the overthrow of Montfort's power.
But Edward's victory at Evesham opened up a new scene; and when Henry the Third was restored by his son to the throne of his fathers, the King of the Romans and his heir appeared as supporters of the royal authority. Moreover, when an expedition to the Holy Land was resolved on, the King of the Romans undertook the guardianship of Edward's son; and Henry of Cornwall accompanied the Prince on the crusade, from which so much was hoped. These very natural circumstances, the Montforts appear to have regarded with a jealous eye; and a tragic catastrophe was the consequence.
It happened that while Edward was passing the winter of 1270 in Sicily, circumstances led him to distrust the King of France, and to feel some suspicions as to the intentions of the Earl of Gloucester. Such being the case, he deemed it prudent to send the heir of Cornwall to Gascony, that Henry might watch over the safety of that province, and, at the same time, keep an eye on the affairs of England. Accompanying the Kings of France and Sicily to Yiterbo, and becoming interested in the deliberations of the cardinals, Henry yielded to curiosity and lingered in the city to witness the ceremony of an election. His stay was to cost him dear.
During the week that Henry of Cornwall was loitering about Viterbo, Guy and Simon de Montfort, bent on mischief, appeared in the city. In England, where these young noblemen had so recently domineered, they had no chance of a home. After Evesham, Edward obtained the King's pardon for the Countess of Leicester, but declined to say one word for her sons. The young Montforts, therefore, finding themselves banished men, and, brooding over misfortunes, forgot the exact cause of quarrel, and believed themselves injured parties. Moreover, Simon had just returned from a stolen visit to his father's tomb in England, burning for vengeance. When men are in this state of mind, it is marvellous what deeds they can contemplate without horror. Understanding that Henry was in the city, he resolved on an assassination, and induced Guy to take part in the project.
Utterly unaware of the hostility felt towards him by his cousins, Henry of Cornwall, on the morning of the 13th of March, went to mass at the church of St. Lawrence; and, having for days been dogged from place to place, he was observed to enter the sacred edifice. Immediately the church was surrounded by the Montforts and their adherents; and, while Guy kept watch at the door to prevent his kinsman's escape, Simon, suppressing all scruples of conscience, entered the building bent on murder.
When the heir of Cornwall was at his prayers before the high altar, he heard a well known voice exclaim, "Henry, traitor, thou shalt not escape!" and looking round he saw his cousin Simon, completely armed and brandishing a sword. Utterly defenceless, and alarmed, as he well might be, Henry clung to the altar; and two priests rushed between the assassin and his intended victim. But Simon, who appears to have inherited his sire's nature as his name, regardless of everything but a craving for revenge, stabbed his kinsman to the heart, and is said to have even slain the priests, who attempted to stay his hand. Having perpetrated this crime, the. assassin called in his friends to view the bleeding body of his kinsman; and the Mont-forts, after dragging the corpse to the door of the church, and exhibiting it to the multitude, mounted their horses and rode off to take refuge with the Count of Aldobrandini, whose daughter Guy had espoused.
The assassination of Henry of Cornwall excited the utmost horror at Viterbo; and some attempts were made to prevent the escape of the murderers. Neither the King of France nor the King of Sicily, however, exerted themselves very vigorously; and grave suspicions were, not without cause, entertained that the Montforts had been instruments of personages much more important than themselves.
Henry's mortal remains were brought to England, his heart was interred in a gold cup, near St. Edward's shrine, at Westminster, and his body in the abbey which his father founded at Haylcs. Sorrowing over the death of his heir, and refusing to be comforted, the King of the Romans pined away; and in the spring of 1272, he was laid by the side of his son. At Viterbo, the memory of Henry of Cornwall was long preserved by a painting of his death on the walls of the church of St. Lawrence.
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From John G. Edgar
The Crusades and the Crusaders, 1860
