Dictum of Kenilworth

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Kenilworth Castle, which gave the decision its name

The Dictum of Kenilworth ( German  decision of Kenilworth ) was a peace offer made on October 30, 1266 by the English King Henry III. to the remaining rebels who rebelled against him in the Second War of the Barons .

background

At the Battle of Evesham , the rebel barons around Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester , suffered a decisive defeat in August 1265. Montfort and most of the other leaders of the rebels had died in the battle, but the repression of the king's supporters against the remaining rebels, many of whom were expropriated and thus ruined, drove them to continue the armed struggle. These so-called disinherited people waged a guerrilla warfare over large parts of the country, while a large force of rebels had holed up in Kenilworth Castle . At the end of June 1266 the king himself took charge of the siege of Kenilworth Castle. Given the strength of the fortress, he decided to starve the rebels to surrender. This fierce resistance, along with a revolt from the Isle of Ely , forced him to review his policy towards the disinherited. For August 1266 he therefore convened a parliament at which the papal legate Ottobono demanded the start of negotiations with the disinherited. This led to the convening of a committee of bishops and barons to work out a peace plan. Ottobono himself served as one of the two mediators who mediated disputes within the committee.

content

After the outcome of the negotiations had been approved by a parliament meeting in Northampton , it was enacted by the king on October 30th in the encampment outside Kenilworth Castle, while it was promulgated the following day by Ottobono during a council of the church in nearby Coventry . In his decision, the king stipulated that, in compliance with the Magna Carta, he should be in full possession of his power and could exercise it freely. The Provisions of Oxford and other edicts issued by the Montfort rebels were declared invalid. All rebels who submitted within 40 days were promised amnesty and allowed to buy back their properties for a penalty of five years' income. Alternatively, they could try to get their possessions back before the royal courts, but if the courts did not uphold their claims, their possessions would be permanently confiscated. At the same time the king forbade them to continue the fight.

consequences

Despite the harsh regulations, many rebels submitted to the king in view of the hopelessness of their situation. Others, faced with the high price to be paid to get their goods back, continued the struggle, including their remaining leaders who had been excluded from the repurchase offer. Kenilworth Castle surrendered only after the last supplies had been used up in December 1266. Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford , who had been a supporter of Montfort at the beginning of the rebellion, realized that the Dictum of Kenilworth was not acceptable to many of the disinherited At the same time he found that many of the king's supporters, including Roger Mortimer of Wigmore and even the heir to the throne Edward , enriched themselves at the expense of the disinherited and did not return their possessions to them even after submission. In April 1267, in a bold action, he occupied the City of London , which supported him, and demanded concessions from the king to the disinherited. Henry III. and Edward the heir to the throne were preparing to siege London while Queen Eleanor recruited Flemish mercenaries. However, Gilbert de Clare entered into negotiations on April 20. He withdrew from London on May 13th, and surrendered on June 16th, having obtained important concessions in the negotiations in favor of the disinherited. The Dictum of Kenilworth was changed so that the rebels could repurchase their properties but could raise their fine from the income from their properties. In individual negotiations they were able to achieve a reduction in the sentence, and Legate Ottobuono even promised them financial support from the clergy. On June 18, the king returned to London, and on July 1, 1267, the remaining rebels submitted. The statute of Marlborough , enacted by a parliament in November 1267, confirmed the amended Dictum of Kenilworth.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brenda M. Bolton: Ottobuono (c.1205-1276). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  2. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 115
  3. ^ HW Ridgeway: Henry III (1207-1272). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004