Alix de Montmorency, died February 24, 1220-1221. Her parents were
Bouchard IV/V de Montmorency and Laurette, daughter of
Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut and
Alice of Namur.
Life
In 1190 she married
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester (1160 – June 25, 1218), son of
Simon III de Montfort, who descended from the lords of
Montfort l'Amaury near
Paris,
France. She accompanied her husband on his campaigns during the
Albigensian Crusade. Like her husband, she was very pious. Both of them had come under the influence of
Fulk of Neuilly and they were patrons of the
Dominican Order.
Albigensian Crusade
Alix also participated in the councils of the crusaders and recruited reinforcements in
France. In 1217, she imprisoned the
Jews in
Toulouse.
[2] She went to the French court with
Folquet de Marselha to plead for support, but she was nearby when her husband was killed as he besieged Toulouse. After this she returned to her family's estates near
Paris.
Children of Alix and Simon
They left three sons: Their French estates passed to their eldest son,
Amaury de Montfort, while their younger son,
Simon, eventually gained possession of the earldom of Leicester and played a major role in the reign of
Henry III of England. Another son, Guy, was married to Petronille, Countess of Bigorre, on 6 November 1216, but died at the siege of
Castelnaudary on 20 July 1220. Their daughter, Petronilla, became an abbess at the
Cistercian nunnery of St. Antoine's. Another daughter, Amicia, founded the nunnery at
Montargis and died there in 1252.