Gilbert Middleton

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Sir Gilbert Middleton († after January 26, 1318 ) was an English knight and rebel.

Origin and service as a knight of the royal household

Gilbert Middleton was a son of his father of the same name, the knight Gilbert of Middleton . His father was a younger son of Richard of Middleton , who during the final years of Henry III's reign . had served as royal chancellor . Gilbert's father died before 1291, after which William of Felton , a squire in the king's service, became guardian of the underage Gilbert. When Middleton came of age in 1300 he was given his inheritance, which included a small Northumberland estate with an annual income of £ 20. As a small landowner from a family with strong ties to the Crown, Gilbert Middleton also entered the king's service. As early as 1300 he took part in Edward I's campaign to Scotland . Before 1313 he became a member of the royal household and was a member of the Berwick garrison . He got into a dispute with the city's commanders because, as a member of the royal household, he did not want to recognize its authority. In 1315 he was a knight of the royal household of the Alnwick garrison , and in 1317 he received over £ 42 for military service in the Scottish Marches for himself and his entourage.

Assault on the Bishop of Durham and rebellion

Assault on the bishop and his companion

On September 1, 1317, Middleton and armed followers attacked Louis de Beaumont and his entourage at Rushyford between Darlington and Durham . Beaumont had been appointed the new Bishop of Durham , and with his brother Henry de Beaumont he was en route to his episcopal ordination and enthronement in Durham. Cardinals Gauscelin de Jean and Luca Fieschi were therefore also among his entourage . The cardinals were robbed, but then given horses to continue on their way to Durham. Louis and Henry Beaumont, however, were taken to Mitford Castle , which was under Middleton's administration. Middleton also came to Durham himself, where he met the Earl of Lancaster in the cathedral . At Durham he returned most of their stolen property to the cardinals. The two cardinals were able to travel back to York under the personal protection of Lancaster from September 7, and according to other information to Boroughbridge , where he handed them over to the king. Louis and Henry Beaumont were released before October 17 after paying ransom money.

Rebellion, capture and execution

After the attack, Middleton was considered a rebel. He and his men carried out further raids in the region, for which he demanded the payment of 500 marks from the Diocese of Durham as compensation for unspecified incidents. He was paid at least 250 marks. He was also able to capture John de Felton , the commanding officer of Alnwick Castle, in order to extort a ransom. Middleton was initially supported by Walter Selby in Northumberland and Goscelin d'Eyville in North Yorkshire , so there was a risk of a major rebellion in northern England. However, the disorganized rebellion was quickly put down. In mid-December 1317 William Felton , a son of Middleton's former guardian and a relative of John de Felton, conquered Mitford Castle together with knights from Northumberland by a ruse and took Middleton prisoner. He was brought by ship to London, where he was charged with treason on January 26, 1318 before the king. His attack on the cardinals was the worst attack on papal envoys in medieval England. The attack was considered a heinous crime by his contemporaries, and since Middleton, as a long-time knight of the royal household, had the trust of the king, he was sentenced as the second English nobleman after Thomas de Turberville as a traitor to death by hanging, eviscerating and quartering and little later executed. The remaining rebels were asked in early January 1318 to surrender to Robert de Umfraville . Walter Selby first fled to Scotland, and by April 1318 the revolt was finally crushed.

Controversial causes of the rebellion

The exact causes of Middleton's rebellion are unexplained and also controversial in recent research. The appointment of the French native Louis de Beaumont as bishop by Pope John XXII. had been highly controversial. The powerful Earl of Lancaster, who was also a political opponent of the king, was particularly upset about Beaumont's appointment. Lancaster had hoped that his candidate John Kynardsey would become the new bishop, and to do this he turned down Louis de Beaumont, who was a foreigner and a brother of the courtier Henry de Beaumont, whose removal from the royal court Lancaster had unsuccessfully requested in 1311. Therefore, according to various sources, Lancaster is the likely instigator of Middleton's attack. He is to his follower John Your have requested to prevent the establishment of Beaumont as a bishop, whereupon he would have turned to Middleton. The badly planned and, due to its consequences, unsuccessful action shows how great Lancaster's hatred of the courtiers had become. A direct involvement of Lancaster cannot be proven, however, and according to another opinion he only had an intermediary role in the case. The attack must therefore have had other causes. Since the two cardinals were supposed to move Scotland to a peace with England on behalf of the Pope and were authorized to excommunicate the Scottish King Robert Bruce if necessary , this could also have been the real instigator. Even Robert Sapy , a knight of the royal household, which the temporalities administered the Diocese of Durham, an interest might have had to delay the establishment of Beaumont as a bishop and the surrender of temporalities at him. On April 25, 1317, John Eure, who was also the administrator of Mitford Castle at the time, had assured Sapy that he would ensure that Beaumont could not take over the administration of the diocese until after Michaelmas 1317, when the tenants and vassals had paid their dues . Should this happen earlier, your Sapy promised to compensate you with 100 marks. According to chronicler Thomas Gray , Middleton may also have rebelled in protest against the arrest of Adam Swinburne , who had sharply criticized the king for the lack of defense of the Scottish Marches. Swinburne was not, however, a cousin of Middleton, as Gray states, but another knight of the royal household. He was actually in custody in Nottingham at the beginning of September 1317 . Even John Lilburn , another knight of the royal household, had taken part in the attack on the Cardinals. Perhaps the cause of the rebellion was only the dissatisfaction of some knights from northern England with royal politics, or it was perhaps just a particularly well-known crime at a time when assaults and violence were common in northern England.

literature

  • Arthur E. Middleton: Sir Gilbert de Middleton and the part he took in the rebellion in the north of England in 1317 . Newcastle upon Tyne, 1918
  • Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages . Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , pp. 179-194

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages. Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , p. 179
  2. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 60
  3. ^ Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages . Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , p. 179
  4. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 107-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 204
  5. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 107-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 206
  6. ^ Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages . Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , p. 189
  7. ^ Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages . Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , p. 181
  8. ^ Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages . Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , p. 194
personal data
SURNAME Middleton, Gilbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Middleton, Sir Gilbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English knight and rebel
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH after January 26, 1318