Gervase of Cornhill

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Gervase of Cornhill (* around 1110, † between September 29, 1183 and September 29, 1184) was an English official and judge who was, among other things, Sheriff of Kent for several years .

Origin and heritage

Gervase of Cornhill was believed to be the eldest son and heir to Roger, whose origins are unknown. His father was sheriff of London in 1125, perhaps from 1114 to 1115, and died in 1130 or shortly before during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He left a widow named Ingenolda, although it is uncertain whether she was Gervase's mother. According to a report from the 13th century, Gervase was a son of Hubert of Caen , but this is unlikely since Gervase received the royal estate of Chalk in Kent as a fief together with Roger . However, Hubert of Caen may have been Gervase's uncle. Gervase received his nickname from Cornhill in London, where he had extensive estates. He had acquired this and other properties in and around London through his marriage to Agnes, a daughter of Edward of Cornhill . Both Gervase, as well as his father and father-in-law, were in all likelihood successful and wealthy merchants who had probably traded in wool. In addition, Gervase acquired real estate in Gamlingay , Cambridgeshire . He had received the land as a mortgage , so he was also a moneylender.

Life

Gervase held a judge's office in London from 1136 at the latest. From 1155 to 1157 and from 1160 to 1161, perhaps also from 1159 to 1160, he was one of the two sheriffs of London. He was Sheriff of Surrey from 1163 until his death and High Sheriff of Kent from 1167 to 1174 . As Sheriff of Kent in November 1170, probably at the behest of Archbishop Roger de Pont l'Évêque of York and the Bishops Gilbert Foliot of London and Jocelin de Bohun of Salisbury, he tried in vain to return from exile and land Archbishop Thomas Becket in Prevent sandwich . However, he and other officials could not stop Becket, who returned to Canterbury , where he was shortly afterwards murdered by the king's knights. From 1169 to 1170, Cornhill also served as the traveling royal judge in Devon , Kent and Surrey. Presumably he was also the Gervase who, after the revolt of the sons of the king in 1174, on behalf of the citizens of London, declared the loyalty of the City of London to King Henry II . In addition to his London property and the estates in Chalk and Gamlingay, Gervase probably acquired properties in Langham in Essex and Berkesden in Hertfordshire in the 1140s . He later owned properties in East Horndon , Essex, Ashtead, and other parts of Surrey. Between 1161 and 1168 he renounced his property in Greenwich and Lewisham in favor of Saint Peters Abbey in Ghent. Before 1154 he donated his Berkesden property to Holy Trinity Priory in Aldgate . He died between Michaelis 1183 and Michaelis 1184.

progeny

Gervase left at least three sons:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Barlow: Thomas Becket . University of California Press, Berkeley 1986. ISBN 0-520-05920-4 , p. 225
personal data
SURNAME Gervase of Cornhill
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English civil servant and judge, High Sheriff of Kent
DATE OF BIRTH around 1110
DATE OF DEATH between September 29, 1183 and September 29, 1184