Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester

Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester (also Hugh Audley or Hugh d'Audele ; * around 1291; † November 10, 1347 ), was an English nobleman, courtier and military man. He was the only favorite of King Edward II who survived the king. He succeeded even under King Edward III. to play an important role.

origin

Hugh de Audley came from the Audley family . He was the second son of Sir Hugh Audley (around 1267 – around 1326) from Stratton Audley in Oxfordshire and of Isolt , the widow of Sir Walter de Balun and daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer . His father was a small baron with possessions in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire who served the crown in a variety of ways.

Favorite of King Edward II.

It is believed that Hugh de Audley was introduced to the court by his father. In November 1311, the younger Audley was named as the recently knighted courtier of King Edward II. He quickly rose to become one of the king's most important favorites. In March 1312 he belonged to a delegation of the king, which should represent the view of the king to the ordinances of the noble opposition led by the Earl of Lancaster at a meeting of the magnates . In November 1313 he received property from the king for lifelong use. In 1315 he continued to belong to the royal court and was again sent as a messenger to the Earl of Lancaster. As a loyal and skilful confidante of the king, he was allowed to marry Margaret de Clare , a niece of the king, widow of the former royal favorite Piers Gaveston and co-heir of the Clare family's estates on April 28, 1317 . Between 1316 and 1319, Audley, along with Roger Damory and Hugh le Despenser , who had married his wife's two sisters, belonged to the small group of courtiers who were in the king's favor and had great influence over him. Of this group, Audley probably had the least influence on the king. He pledged to serve the king live long and was on 20 November 1317 for the first time by Writ of Summons to Parliament convened and thereby Baron Audley collected. England was at this time in a serious crisis because of the defeats in the wars against Scotland and the famine of 1315/17 , which is why the favoritism of the king strengthened the nobility opposition under the leadership of the Earl of Lancaster. Lancaster's opposition to the courtiers shaped English politics until 1319. Due to opposition from the magnates under the Earl of Lancaster, Audley left the court in 1318.

From minion to rebel

Audley then served in the army and took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berwick in September 1319 . The younger Despenser's greed split the group of royal favorites around this time, and Audley became one of the first victims of Despenser, who had become the king's new favorite. Despenser coveted Audley's properties in south Wales , which his wife had inherited, and which bordered Despenser's barony of Glamorgan . In May 1320 he had to cede to Despenser under pressure from King Wentloog and Newport Castle . As a result, Audley was driven to the side of the Marcher Lords , who finally defended themselves in the spring of 1321 in a violent rebellion, the so-called Despenser War , against Despenser's territorial claims. The Earl of Lancaster, Audley's former opponent, joined the rebellion. The King had Audley's possessions confiscated in April 1321, and Audley was captured in March 1322 at the Battle of Boroughbridge , in which the royal troops were able to defeat Lancaster decisively. Audley escaped execution only through the intercession of his wife, the king's niece and sister-in-law of Despenser. However, he remained imprisoned until Despenser and the king were overthrown in the fall of 1326. Under the reigns of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer , Audley was restituted and most of his possessions were returned. Nevertheless, in 1328 he supported the revolt of Henry of Lancaster, 3rd Earl of Lancaster , against the corrupt regime of Mortimer and the Queen. The revolt failed, however, so that Audley had to surrender in January 1329. He was fined £ 10,000 ultimately for the overthrow of Mortimer and the Queen by the young King Edward III. 1330 did not need to pay.

Next life

Audley served the new king as a loyal follower. In 1331 he was ambassador to France and in the mid-1330s he fought in the campaigns against Scotland. In gratitude, he was made Earl of Gloucester in 1337 , a title that Gilbert de Clare , his wife's brother, who had fallen in 1314, had used. Audley continued to serve the king, took part in the unsuccessful siege of Dunbar from 1337 to 1338 , accompanied the king to Flanders during the Hundred Years War in 1339, and took part in the naval battle of Sluys in 1340 and in the king's campaign in Brittany in 1342 .

He was buried next to his wife's ancestors at Tonbridge Priory in Kent .

progeny

From his marriage to Margarete de Clare he had only one daughter, Margaret, who married Ralph de Stafford , the future 1st Earl of Stafford , who became his heir. The title of Earl of Gloucester expired on his death and the Barony of Audley passed to his daughter.

Web links

• JR Maddicott: Audley, Hugh, earl of Gloucester. In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Gloucester 1337-1347	Title expired
New title created	Baron Audley 1317-1347	Margaret de Stafford