Henry Percy, 2nd Baron Percy

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Henry Percy, 2nd Baron Percy, bought Warkworth Castle for his family

Henry Percy, 2nd Baron Percy (of Alnwick) (also Henry de Percy ; * 1301 - † February 26, 1352 in Warkworth Castle ) was an English military man and magnate . In the family history of the Percys he has a similarly important position as his father Henry Percy, 1st Baron Percy , who had established the leading position of the family in Northumberland. The second Baron Percy expanded this position by acquiring Warkworth to a territory in northern England. Although he lost further lands in Scotland due to the failure of Edward Balliol's claim to the throne , his role in the fight against Scotland made him an indispensable vassal of the English kings and ensured his family constant importance in English politics towards Scotland.

Origin and heritage

Henry Percy came from the Percy Anglo-Norman family . He was probably born in February 1301 as the eldest son of Henry Percy, 1st Baron Percy and his wife Eleanor FitzAlan, a daughter of John FitzAlan . His father died in 1314, and in October 1318 Percy, despite being a minor, was given control of Alnwick Castle and his father's other estates , with the exception of the Yorkshire estates.

Engagement in the war against Scotland

In May 1321, after the Despenser War , Percy took part in the meeting of the northern English barons with Thomas of Lancaster , but did not continue to support his rebellion against King Edward II. Instead, he remained loyal to the king and paid him homage on December 26, 1321 , whereupon he was allowed to take over the full inheritance of his father. On March 26, 1322 he was called to war against Scotland under the orders of Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle , and on September 10 of the same year he was knighted ( Knight of the Bath ). In September 1322 he served under David Strathbogie in Northumberland , where he was given the special task of defending his Alnwick castle. In April 1323, Percy served in Scotland as a hostage for the safety of the Scottish ambassador, the Earl of Moray , who had traveled to England for negotiations. In July 1325 he was given the task of maintaining the armistice with Scotland.

Percy supported Queen Isabelle when she landed in England in September 1326 and successfully rebelled against her husband King Edward II and the rule of his favorites, the Despensers. When a few weeks after the coronation of the new King Edward III. In February 1327 the Scots led a new raid across the border, Percy was entrusted with the defense of northern England on February 27, for which he was given 100 men-at-arms in addition to his own forces. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed guardian of the Scottish Marches . On September 5, 1327, his post as guardian of the Scottish Marches was extended until Christmas. On October 9th he was appointed one of the two ambassadors who should make a final peace with Scotland, after which he negotiated the Edinburgh-Northampton Accords . During the negotiations he was undoubtedly pursuing his own interests. On July 28, 1326, the Scottish King Robert Bruce had granted him lands in Scotland that had belonged to his father, especially the Barony of Urr in Galloway and Red Castle in Angus . Percy was one of the so-called disinherited who had lost land in Scotland because of the war or at least claimed land there. Percy's claims were legally very dubious. On June 3, 1331, he paid the rightful heir of the lands 200 marks to waive his claims. But this also shows that he was able to dispose of the claimed lands, at least for a short time.

Support of Edward Balliol's claim to the throne

Relations between Scotland and England deteriorated again when after the death of Robert Bruce Edward Balliol claimed the Scottish throne lost by his father and invaded Scotland in 1332 with the help of some of the disinherited. Percy initially acted cautious and wait-and-see, but when the English King Edward III. after a short time openly supported Balliol, Percy also promised Balliol his help on May 9, 1333 and promised him to provide 100 servants or 30 knights. Balliol promised him land in Scotland, from which Percy would draw an annual income of 2000 marks. In less than three months, Percy was almost there. After the conquest of Berwick and the victory at Halidon Hill , Percy received parts of Lochmaben as well as Annandale and Moffat on July 29, 1333 . On September 5, 1333, he received a number of confiscated properties at Stirling , and on September 20, he received further possessions at Lochmaben. With these lands he almost got the promised sum of 2,000 marks in annual income.

Percy had become one of Balliol's most important supporters. Its importance, particularly evident during the Siege of Berwick, led Balliol to ignore the claims of other disinherited people in favor of Percy. Edward de Bohun, a younger son of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford , also claimed Lochmaben and Annandale, which his father had received from King Edward I in 1306 . When Balliol ceded large parts of southern Scotland to the English king, a solution to the conflict between Bohun and Percy seemed possible. On September 20, 1334 Percy ceded his lands in southern Scotland to the English crown. In return, he and his heirs received from Eduard III. Jedburgh Castle and the forest of Jedburgh , which were worth about 1000 marks a year, as well as a pension of 500 marks, which should be financed from the tariffs of Berwick and from the administration of Berwick Castle .

These were not all the advantages Percy enjoyed at the beginning of Edward III's reign. from the Scottish Wars. He had agreed to a contract that he would serve for the king with a company of men-in-arms for life and receive 500 marks a year for it. On March 1, 1328, the crown granted him the possessions of the Clavering family in Northumberland, including the barony of Warkworth and Warkworth Castle , waiving the annual 500 marks . Parliament declared this treaty inadmissible in 1331 and Percy had to hand Warkworth over to the king. However, he gave the castle and barony, with the consent of parliament, as a fief to Percy. The last male member of the Clavering family died in 1332, and after the death of his widow in 1345, all of the family's holdings in Northumberland fell permanently to Percy.

Securing the Scottish Marches

In the summer of 1334 a rebellion threatened Balliol's rule in Scotland, whereupon Edward III. continued to support him for the next three years. After the rebellion began, Edward appointed Percy and Ralph Neville on August 3, 1334 as guardians of the Scottish Marches and the king's lands in Scotland. In January 1335, Percy repulsed a Scottish raid on Redesdale . In July 1335 he played an important role in an English campaign in which two divisions advanced to Scotland. Percy was the commander of the English division that Balliol led from Berwick. In 1336 and 1337 he accompanied Eduard III. during his campaigns in Scotland. However, the English could no longer enforce the rule of Edward Balliol, and in the next few years the importance of the Scottish War of Independence against the beginning of the Hundred Years War with France receded. After the king took over the warfare against France, Percy took over the security of the border with Scotland. Because of this position, the king appointed him on April 28, 1340 as one of the advisors to Edward , the young Prince of Wales , when he moved to Flanders.

When the King and Prince of Wales set out on the French campaign that led to the Battle of Crecy in 1346 , Percy stayed behind as one of the administrators of the kingdom. When the Scottish King David II then invaded northern England with an army, Percy led the first division of the English troops, which provided the Scottish army and decisively defeated it at the Battle of Neville's Cross . Due to illness, however, he could not take part in the English counterattack to Scotland after the battle. The capture of the Scottish king and the death or capture of numerous Scottish magnates at Neville's Cross gave the English, similar to 1333, the opportunity to conquer large parts of Scotland. On January 26, 1347, Percy made an agreement with Lionel of Antwerp , a younger son of the king, who administered the kingdom in the absence of his father, according to which he served for a year with 100 men-in-arms and 100 mounted archers in Scotland. The leadership of the invading army was returned to Edward Balliol, who led one division of the army from Carlisle , while Percy led the other from Berwick. While the army was not strong enough to regain the Scottish throne for Balliol, it secured the English possessions in southern Scotland and strengthened Percy's control of Jedburgh. However, he had to give up the claimed possessions near Stirling.

Family and offspring

Percy married Idonea († 1365) in 1314, a daughter of Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford and his wife Maud de Clare . With her, Percy had six sons and four daughters:

  1. ⚭ Robert de Umfraville († before 1368), son of Gilbert de Umfravillie
  2. ⚭ William Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Groby (1333–1371)

According to his will, which he had made on September 13, 1349 , perhaps in view of the Black Death , he wanted to be buried in Sawley Abbey , but was eventually buried in Alnwick Abbey . His heir became his eldest son, Henry. In addition, he left 1000 marks in Florentine Florins for a crusade to the Holy Land , which he could not undertake in view of the ongoing war with Scotland and which one of his heirs should undertake in his place.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 122.

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predecessor Office successor
Henry Percy Baron Percy
1314-1352 		Henry Percy
personal data
SURNAME Percy, Henry, 2nd Baron Percy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Percy, Sir Henry; Percy, Henry, 2nd Baron Percy of Alnwick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English magnate and military
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: February 1301
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1352
Place of death Warkworth Castle