Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244 – c. 1288) was the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England. He participated in the Battle of Evesham against the royalist forces of his uncle, King Henry III of England, and his cousin, Prince Edward. Both his father and his elder brother were killed during the disastrous battle, and Guy was seriously wounded and taken prisoner. He was held at Windsor Castle until spring 1266, when he bribed his captors and escaped to France to rejoin his exiled family. Guy and his brother, Simon the younger, wandered across Europe for several years, eventually making their way to Italy. Guy took service with Charles of Anjou, serving as his Vicar-General in Tuscany. There he married an Italian noblewoman, Margherita Aldobranderschi, and had two daughters:
- Anastasia, married Romano Orsini
- Tomasina, married Pietro Vico
He distinguished himself at the Battle of Alba and was given Nola by Charles of Anjou. In 1271 Guy and Simon discovered their cousin Henry of Almain (son of Richard, Earl of Cornwall) was in Viterbo at the church of San Silvestro. In revenge for the deaths of their father and brother at Evesham, Guy and Simon murdered Henry while he clutched the altar, begging for mercy. "You had no mercy for my father and brothers", was Guy's reply. For this crime the Montfort brothers were excommunicated, and Dante banished Guy to the river of boliing blood in the seventh circle of his Inferno (Canto XII). Simon died later that year at Siena, "cursed by God, a wanderer and a fugitive". Guy was stripped of his titles and took service with Charles of Anjou again, but was captured in 1287 by the Aragonese at the Battle of the Counts. He died in prison. Among his direct descendants (via his elder daughter, Anastasia): late 15th century Kings of Naples, 16th century rulers of Poland, Dukes of Ferrera, and Dukes of Guise.
Sources
- Maddicott, J.R. Simon de Montfort, 1996
