Engelard de Cigogné

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The ruins of Odiham Castle, whose constable was Engelard de Cigogné at times

Engelard de Cigogné († after March 10, 1244) was an official of the English kings Johann Ohneland and Heinrich III. He was considered to be one of the king's bad advisers , who were named in the Magna Carta of 1215.

Promotion as an official under King Johann

Engelard de Cigogné was a relative, probably a nephew of Gerard d'Athée , and came from the village of Cigogné near Tours . After d'Athée was ransomed from French captivity in 1205, Engelard went to England in March 1207 with his brother Matthew and other friends and relatives from the county of Tours . Since d'Athée had not yet been released despite the ransom payment, King John Ohneland gave him and the brothers Guy , Andrew and Peter de Chanceaux the Hurstbourne estate in Hampshire for maintenance. They were patronized by Peter des Roches , who also came from Touraine and had become Bishop of Winchester in 1206 . After Gerard d'Athée finally arrived in England in 1208 and immediately received several offices from the king, he installed Engelard in several offices as his representative.

In 1210, Engelard, presumably after the death or at least after a serious illness of d'Athée, succeeded him as sheriff of Gloucestershire and a little later sheriff of Herefordshire . In this important office of the Welsh Marches he supported Falkes de Bréauté in 1212 in the fighting against the Welsh prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth .

Role in the war of the barons

The chronicler Roger von Wendover counted Engelard among the king's poor advisers . The preference for landless foreigners, whom the king trusted in contrast to his barons, must have so embittered the English barons that Engelard and others are mentioned by name in Article 50 of the Magna Carta in 1215. After that, they should lose their offices and no longer be allowed to hold any further office in England. After completing the Magna Carta, Engelard was replaced as Sheriff of Gloucestershire by Hubert de Burgh on July 19, 1215 . During the armed uprising of the barons , the king resorted to his tried and trusted officials. In April 1216 the king made him constable of Odiham Castle and Windsor Castle . The French Prince Ludwig was able to conquer the sparsely occupied Odiham Castle after eight days of conquest, but Engelard successfully defended Windsor Castle with a strong garrison against the attacks of the Count of Nevers . After the death of King John, William Marshal , the regent for the underage Henry III, recognized a revised version of the Magna Carta on November 12, 1216. In this version, among other things, the demand for the dismissal of Engelard and his relatives had been deleted, so that Engelard could continue to remain Constable of Windsor Castle.

Official under Heinrich III.

The absence of the hitherto powerful Peter des Roches, who took part in the Damiette crusade from April 1221 , was used by lawyer Hubert de Burgh and the papal legate Pandulf to take action against Engelard and Peter de Maulay . They had the management of the castles checked at the time of King John and accused Engelard of embezzlement and corruption, so that at the end of 1223 he lost his posts as Constable of Windsor and Odiham. Because of this intrigue, Engelard initially supported Falkes de Bréauté, but did not participate in his revolt in 1224 and so did not lose the favor of the young king. In 1225 he took part in the campaign of Richard of Cornwall in Gascony .

After the fall of de Burgh, Engelard was made Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1233 . The following year he was again Constable of Windsor and Odiham Castle, Overseer of Windsor Forests and Sheriff of Berkshire instead of Oxfordshire. In his offices, however, he was mostly represented and often stayed at the king's court. In 1236 he gave up his office as sheriff of Berkshire, eventually he also gave up his offices as constable of Odiham Castle and as overseer of the woods. Nevertheless, he did not lose the favor of the king, who gave him property and gifts several times.

Family and offspring

He was married to Agatha, with whom he had at least one son, Oliver. Although Engelard under both Johann Ohneland and Heinrich III. held important offices, Engelard did not succeed in inheriting his position. He survived his wife and son, who is last mentioned in 1225. A presumably illegitimate son served the king as a knight in 1260.

Modern evaluation

Engelard and the other Touraine men were not the bad and corrupt men around the king they were portrayed by the barons and medieval chroniclers. After the loss of Normandy in 1204, King John spent much more time administering England than his brother or father had. As a result, he came into conflict with the English barons striving for autonomy, whom the king mistrusted. Engelard and the other men from Touraine, on the other hand, had better access to the king, since he trusted them as landless strangers.

literature

  • Russell Howes: Magna Carta and two Sheriffs of Gloucestershire . In: Glevensis. Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group Review, 38 (2005), pp. 15-20, pdf, 5.8 MB

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicholas Vincent: Peter des Roches. An alien in English politics, 1205-1238 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-55254-0 , p. 27
  2. ^ Winfried L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978, ISBN 0-520-03494-5 , p. 252
  3. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 249
personal data
SURNAME Engelard de Cigogné
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French civil servant in the service of the English kings
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH around 1244