Giles de Braose

Giles de Braose, 5th Baron of Bramber (* probably 1176 ; † November 17, 1215 in Gloucester ) was a bishop of the English diocese of Hereford from the House of Braose . He was the second son of the Marcher Lord William de Braose and his wife Maud de St Valery .

In 1200 he was elected Bishop of Hereford to succeed William de Vere . At the time of his ordination he had no experience in canon law, probably the decisive factor in his choice was that his father was the most powerful baron in the southern Welsh Marches . However, Giles employed a group of well-trained clerics in his household to advise him. Most of these clerics were soon canons of the pin chapter of Hereford. Giles himself must also have acquired extensive knowledge of canon law, because he was appointed ecclesiastical judge by the Pope. Because of the interdict of Pope Innocent III. against England , however, he went in 1208 together with four other bishops to Stephen Langton , the Archbishop of Canterbury in exile in France. King Johann then occupied the diocese and confiscated the income for the crown. Giles' mother and elder brother William died in the king's dungeon in 1210, while his father died in exile in France in 1211.

Giles returned to England in 1213 with the Archbishop and other bishops. At first it seemed as if the king wanted to make up with the bishop. Giles was able to take over his bishopric again and the king promised him, as heir to his father, that he would return the confiscated lands of his family in Wales and England. Johann delayed the implementation of his promise, however, so that Giles commissioned his younger brother Reginald in May 1215 to wage an open war in Wales against the king together with the allied Welsh prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth . With the support of the Welsh Reginald was able to conquer several castles, including Abergavenny , White Castle and Skenfrith , while Giles was able to take the castles of Brecon , Hay and Builth himself. In return for supporting the Welsh people, Giles renounced Elfael with the long-contested castles of Painscastle and Colwyn, while his brother Reginald married Gwladus Ddu , a daughter of Llywelyn. On October 21, 1215 there was a settlement with the king, according to which Giles was to pay the king a fine of 9,000 marks and in return got his father's lands back. However, Giles fell ill and died just four weeks later, the lands were then reclaimed by the king. It was not until May 26, 1216 that Johann gave it back to Reginald.

An epitaph for Giles is in the choir of Hereford Cathedral and his tomb is in the south aisle.

Web links

• The Barons of Braose: Giles de Braose
• William Rees: Braose (Breos, Brause, Briouse, Brewes, etc.) family . Welsh Biography Online, National Library of Wales, [1] , accessed June 30, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerald Aylmer; John Tiller: Hereford Cathedral - a history. Hambledon, London 2000. ISBN 1-85285-194-5 ; P. 30
2. ^ John Edward Lloyd: A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest . Vol. 2. Longmans, Green and Co., London 1912, pp. 644f
3. ↑ The Barons de Braose: Magna Charta. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved July 4, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

predecessor	Office	successor
William de Vere	Bishop of Hereford 1200–1215	Hugh de Mapenore