Geoffrey de Say (around 1155-1230)

Coat of arms of Geoffrey de Say

Geoffrey de Say (also Saye ; * around 1155 ; † August 24, 1230 ) was an English nobleman and rebel. He was a member of the aristocratic opposition that forced King John Ohneland to recognize the Magna Carta in 1215 . However, his rivalry with Geoffrey de Mandeville for the legacy of the Mandeville family makes it clear that the aristocratic opposition to the king was not a closed group, but was divided into several camps by rivalries.

origin

Geoffrey was a son of his father of the same name Geoffrey de Say and his wife Alice Maminot. His father had claimed the inheritance of William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex , who died in 1189 , as the son of Beatrice de Say, a sister of Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex . King Richard the Lionheart had agreed to give him the right to the inheritance for a fee of 7,000 marks , but Geoffrey was unable to raise the amount. Thereupon the king had passed the inheritance to Geoffrey FitzPeter in 1191 , who, as the husband of Geoffrey's niece Beatrix, also claimed the inheritance.

Life

The young Geoffrey de Say served Richard the Lionheart and, after his death in 1199, his brother and successor Johann Ohneland in the wars against the French King Philip II , until he conquered Normandy and most of the French possessions of the English king in 1204 . As a result, Geoffrey also lost his possessions in Normandy , for which he was compensated by King John. In 1210 he took part in the king's campaign to Ireland , and in 1214 he accompanied John on his unsuccessful campaign to Poitou . Hoping that the king would now support him, Geoffrey renewed his claim to the Mandevilles' possessions as heir to his father, who died around 1212 . He now even offered the king 15,000 marks (£ 10,000) if he would grant him the inheritance. Johann then asked his legal counsel Peter des Roches for advice, but did nothing further. It was not surprising that Geoffrey joined the aristocratic opposition to the king in 1215 and was elected in June 1215 as one of the 25 barons who were to oversee the king's compliance with the provisions of the Magna Carta . In the barons' camp he met his cousin Geoffrey de Mandeville , whose inheritance he challenged.

After the barons started an open war against the king in the autumn of 1215 , Geoffrey, along with Robert FitzWalter and Gilbert de Clare, was one of the negotiators who tried in vain to reach an agreement with the king in November. As a result, he fought on the side of the rebels, before he surrendered to the new King Henry III after the defeat of Lincoln in May 1217 . subjugated. After the end of the Barons' War in the autumn of 1217, Geoffrey played while the young Henry III was a minor. no active role. In 1219 he began a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and in 1223, presumably accompanied by William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey , to Santiago de Compostela . In 1230 he accompanied Heinrich III. during his campaign to France , where he died in the Poitou .

Family and offspring

Geoffrey's first marriage was to Alice de Chesney, a daughter of John de Chesny. After her death in 1225 he married Margery Briwere, a daughter of the powerful official William Brewer , but the marriage was divorced again. From his first marriage to Alice de Chesney, he had several children including:

• William de Say († 1271)
• Geoffrey de Say

His son William became his heir.

Web links

• Nigel Saul: Magna Carta 800th: Geoffrey de Say
• Geoffrey de Say on thepeerage.com , accessed November 25, 2015.