Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel
Edmund FitzAlan, 9th , according to another count, 2nd Earl of Arundel (born May 1, 1285 at Marlborough Castle , † November 17, 1326 in Hereford ) was an English magnate . Like other nobles, he changed sides several times during the turbulent reign of King Edward II . Although he had at times been one of the king's bitterest opponents, he was ultimately one of the few magnates who supported the king's rule after 1322. After the king was overthrown, he was executed as a traitor.
Origin and youth
Fitzalan came from the FitzAlan family . He was a son of Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel and of Alasia (also Alice), a daughter of Thomas , Margrave of Saluzzo in Piedmont . His father died in 1302, after which John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey became his guardian and received the right to marry him. Warenne died in 1304, but he had agreed that FitzAlan would marry his granddaughter Alice, a daughter of his late son William de Warenne. Fitzalan initially refused, but married Alice in 1305. In April 1306 King Edward I gave him his inheritance and knighted him together with Edward, the Prince of Wales , on May 22nd .
Member of the aristocratic opposition
After the death of Edward I and the succession of Edward II, FitzAlan, now Earl of Arundel , testified on August 6, 1307 the elevation of Piers Gaveston to Earl of Cornwall. At Edward's coronation on February 25, 1308, he served as cupbearer and bearer of the royal robe. However, he soon joined Gaveston's opponents, one reason could have been a tournament in late 1307 in which Gaveston defeated Arundel. In 1309 Arundel refused to attend Parliament at Stamford . In March 1310, when the king had to give in to the aristocratic opposition, he was elected as one of the 21 Lords Ordainer . When Gaveston returned from exile illegally in January 1312, Arundel was one of the magnates who vowed to hunt him down and take him prisoner. In June he was one of the four earls who had the prisoner Gaveston executed after a brief trial.
Although the king officially pardoned him in 1313, Arundel remained cautious about the king. In June 1314 he refused to participate in the king's campaign in Scotland, which ended in the crushing defeat of Bannockburn . He probably followed the example of the Earl of Lancaster , the leader of the aristocratic opposition, who criticized the fact that the campaign had not been decided by a parliament, contrary to the provisions of the ordinances. In return, the king forbade him in 1315 to acquire the rule of Caus in the Welsh Marches , which he wanted to buy from Sir Peter Corbet.
Approaching the King
In February 1316, Arundel belonged to the royal council, which took over the rule of the empire under the leadership of Lancaster, but failed after a few months. In the next few years, however, he increasingly moved away from the Lancaster line. On November 19, 1316, the king appointed him overseer of the Scottish Marches , presumably against Lancaster's will . In August 1318 he supported the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Leake and thus to an interim reconciliation between Lancaster and the king. In September 1319 Arundel took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berwick by the king. On February 9, 1321 his eldest son Richard married Isabel le Despenser , a daughter of the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser , at the royal estate of Havering-atte-Bower , which made his membership of the king's party evident.
Partisans of the king
When the Marcher Lords , the so-called Despenser War , rebelled in May 1321 , Arundel therefore refused to join the rebels. Thereupon Roger Mortimer of Chirk and Roger Mortimer of Wigmore besieged Arundel's castle of Clun . Nevertheless, Arundel agreed to the exile of the Despensers after the interim victory of the Marcher Lords at Parliament in August 1321. In October, however, he again supported the king in the siege of Leeds Castle . On behalf of the king, he advised the clergy to lift the despensers' exile. In the winter of 1321-1322 he took part in the king's campaign in the Welsh Marches. The king appointed him legal counsel for Wales on January 5 , and Arundel managed to persuade the Mortimers to give up in late January. On March 11th he approved the condemnation of Lancaster as a traitor, and after he was captured after the Battle of Boroughbridge he was among the judges who sentenced him to death on March 22nd at Pontefract Castle . The king rewarded his support with the delivery of confiscated rebel estates, including lands in the Isle of Axholme previously owned by John Mowbray and the reign of Chirk , previously owned by Roger Mortimer of Chirk and those of Arundel's reign of Oswestry bordered. Through these territorial gains, Arundel, along with his inherited estates, had a combined annual income of about £ 2,000. He participated in the campaign of 1322 against Scotland and remained a supporter of the king for years to come. In 1326 the king confirmed his claim to inheritance of the estates of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey .
execution
When the exiled Queen Isabella and the escaped captivity Roger Mortimer of Wigmore landed in England and the reign of Edward II collapsed, Arundel as one of the king's most powerful supporters inevitably became a target of the rebels. He fled with the king to the west of England, but was captured by John Charlton of Powys at Shrewsbury and taken to Queen Isabella at Hereford . There he was made responsible for the death of Lancaster as an ally of the Despensers and accused of conspiracy against the Queen. Sentenced to death as a traitor, he probably owed Mortimer's insistence that he should be honored rather than hanged as a traitor. The inexperienced executioner is said to have required 22 blows to separate his head from the torso. Arundel's body was later interred in Haughmond Abbey , the traditional family burial place of the FitzAlans.
His considerable treasure, which he had deposited in Chichester Cathedral and in the Holy Trinity Priory in London, was stolen, and large parts of the treasure were finally discovered with the Queen and Mortimer. As a traitor he had been expropriated and his descendants disinherited. The Honor of Arundel with Arundel Castle was given to the Earl of Kent, his possessions in Shropshire and North Wales fell to Mortimer.
progeny
From his marriage to Alice de Warenne he had six children:
- Richard Fitzalan
- Edmund ∞ Sibyl Montagu
- Michael
- Alice ∞ John de Bohun ( House Bohun )
- Aleyne ∞ Roger Lestrange, 5th Baron Strange of Knockin
- Jane ∞ Lord Lisle
After the fall of Roger Mortimer in 1330, his eldest son Richard was raised again to Earl of Arundel.
Web links
- C. Given-Wilson: Fitzalan, Edmund, second earl of Arundel (1285-1326). 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
- Edmund Fitzalan, 2nd / 9th Earl of Arundel on thepeerage.com , accessed November 13, 2015.
Individual evidence
- ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 111.
- ↑ Andy King: The English and the battle of Bannockburn (act. 1314) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (license required)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | FitzAlan, Edmund, 9th Earl of Arundel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fitzalan, Edmund; FitzAlan, Edmund, 2nd Earl of Arundel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English magnate |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 1, 1285 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Marlborough Castle , Wiltshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 17, 1326 |
| Place of death | Hereford |