Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Montfort, Eleanor of
MONTFORT, ELEANOR of (1252–1282), only daughter of Simon of Montfort, earl of Leicester [q. v.], and Eleanor his wife, seems to have been their youngest child, born at Kenilworth in October 1252 Adam Marsh, Epp. p. 262; cf. Green, Princesses, ii. 104). She went into exile in France with her mother about November 1265 (cf. Ann. Monast. iii. 259, and Green, ii. 149-51). In 1275 she was married by proxy to Llywelyn ab Gruffydd [q. v.], prince of Wales, to whom she had been betrothed before her father's death, and at the close of the year she set out with her brother Almeric [q. v.] for Wales, but their ship was captured in the Bristol Channel on behalf of the English king (Anne. Monast. ii. 121, iii. 259, 266, iv. 266-7; Cant. Gerv. Cant. ii. 283; Cont. Will. Tyr. 1. ii. c. 22). Eleanor was imprisoned for a week at Bristol, and afterwards at Windsor (Green, Princesses, ii. 163-4) till 1278, when Llywelyn submitted to Edward I, and was married to her in Edward's presence at Worcester on 13 Oct. (Cont. Flor. Worc. ii. 219). In January 1281 Eleanor was at Windsor again, on a visit to the English court (Green, ii. 168); on 19 June 1282 she died, at the birth of a daughter, Gwenllian (Cont. Flor. Worc. ii. 226). The child, whose father was killed in battle shortly after, was brought to England 'in her cradle,' passed her whole life as a nun at Sempringham, and died there on 7 June 1337 (Brunne, Langtoft, ii. 243).
[Letters of Adam Marsh (Monumenta Franciscana, vol. i.), Continuation of Gervase of Canterbury, Annales Monastici, vols. ii. iii. iv., all in Rolls Ser.; Continuation of Florence of Worcester (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Robert of Brunne's translation of Peter of Langtoft, ed. Hearne; Mrs. Everett Green's Princesses of England, vol. ii. Three letters from Eleanor to Edward I are in Rymer's Fœdera, vol. i. pt. ii.]