Abstract

Why did some English bishops become committed to Simon de Montfort's rebellion against the king in 1263, although their experience of the earlier phase of rebellion had demonstrated that de Montfort and his barons were not interested in addressing the Church's grievances? The answer may lie in the bishops' concern for the maintenance of natural law. Their surviving records suggest that their real problem with the King was that by not fulfilling his obligation to good rule he did not keep this law, thereby upsetting the balance of the world. This was a risky practice when the last judgment of souls was thought to be very close. The bishops who remained close to de Montfort hoped he would enforce the balance of this law even if he ignored their personal grievances. They also felt a personal obligation to ensure he did so, an obligation which was part of the philosophical and theological beliefs they had obtained from the now deceased bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste