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It began when Simon succeeded.

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In the spring of 2018, David Manson completed his drama about Simon de Montfort - and the Barons’ War of 1264-65. The script had emerged from an original idea for a trilogy, covering a period dating back to 1238. Now, the scriptwriter returned to this earlier period for an entirely new screenplay.

 

This prequel story would draw heavily on research already done. But fresh reading was required for characters like Eleanor de Montfort and, especially, Robert Greathead. The mighty Grosseteste. Reforming Bishop of Lincoln. The intellectual giant of the age.

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David also read the one and only biography of Richard of Cornwall.

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Richard was once a man of the world. A Plantagenet prince and a king's brother, he used his vast private wealth to become titular King of the Romans. In his time, he was famed as a diplomat in the Holy Land. And in 1242 he saved his unworthy brother – and England itself – from an ignominious fate.

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Today, he is a forgotten figure. The abbey he founded in the Cotswold hills is now a ruin. His achievements mean little to the 21st century world. But things might have been very different for Richard of Cornwall. In 1238, he had the chance to be the hero which Simon de Montfort later became. Instead, he became a figure of scorn - to the English public in general - and one English monk in particular.

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Matthew of St Albans was a remarkable character. Long known as Matthew Paris, for reasons still obscure, he was the greatest chronicler of his age. He was also an illustrator of the first rank, and a personal acquaintance of many great men.

 

And women. Matthew’s biography reveals correspondence with many noble ladies. The commercial savoir-faire of a sworn-to-poverty monk is also revealed. And though there is no evidence that Matthew engaged a younger man to assist in his private scriptorium, the character of Brother Thomas helps bring out the chirpy spirit of a man in his prime - at the heart of events - in the High Middle Ages.

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Matthew was no unbiased reporter. His illuminated Latin pages are full of critical words for bishops, kings, even the Holy Father in Rome. But as a recorder of events in mid-13th century England, he was second to none. His text remains a primary source for historians of the period. Scriptwriters also.

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Richard’s short-lived rebellion against his brother. The attempt to murder the King at Woodstock. The French farce of 1242. The public oration of Isobel Arundel. The remarkable curse upon the brothers Pembroke. The final humiliation of the piety-signalling King. From start to finish, it is Matthew's chronicle that sources How Richard of Cornwall Did Fail.

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The actual words of the Giles translation are often heard, and David Manson regrets that he could not use brother Matthew's description of French Countess Biarne as a woman "of singularly immense size.”

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Still, the sworn-to-chastity chronicler did know some lovely women. And in the imagination of the scriptwriter, it is this historical detail which proves Matthew's undoing - one unforgettable summer's evening - as titular Richard struts and frets his hour upon the stage elsewhere...

 

The story belongs to Matthew of St. Albans.