Simon de Montfort wins the Battle of Lewes

May 14, 1264

The baronial rebel leader captured King Henry III and his son Edward on the Sussex downs after a confused battle in fog. For a year England was ruled by committee in the king's name. Montfort's earldom would become a byword for parliamentary precedent. His summons of town representatives to a parliament in January 1265 established a model that would shape English governance for centuries.