Simon de Montfort (6th Earl of Leicester)

Simon de Montfort (c. 1208–1265), 6th Earl of Leicester, was a visionary military commander and political reformer who led the baronial rebellion during the Second Barons' War against King Henry III. Arriving in England from France in the 1230s, Montfort married the King's sister Eleanor and served as seneschal of Gascony.

Championing the Provisions of Oxford to limit royal arbitrary power, Montfort took military command of the reformist barons. In 1264 at the Battle of Lewes, his inferior army won a tactical masterstroke, capturing both King Henry III and Prince Edward (later Edward I). During his de facto rule in 1265, he summoned the famous 'Montfort's Parliament', the first to include both knights of the shires and burgesses from the boroughs, pioneering modern parliamentary democracy before falling in battle at Evesham.