Montfort, L'AMAURI

Montfort, L'AMAURI, the name of a noble French house, traditionally descended from a marriage (end of 10th century) between the heiress of Montfort and Epernon and William of Hainault, great-grandson of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, the third husband of Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald. The name was taken from the castle of Montfort between Paris and Chartres. Its most famous members were the great Simon de Montfort and his father, Simon IV., Comte de Montfort and Earl of Leicester, subsequently Comte de Toulouse, the ruthless persecutor of the Albigenses. He was born about the year 1160, went on a fruitless crusade to Palestine, but began about 1208 the more congenial crusade of extermination against the harmless heretics in the south of France. He was killed by a stone at the siege of Toulouse, 25th June 1218. See ALBIGENSES.