Hugh le Despenser, 1st Baron le Despenser

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The coat of arms of the Despensers.

Hugh le Despenser, 1st Baron le Despenser (also Sir Hugh Despenser ) (* around 1223 - † August 4, 1265 near Evesham ) was an English nobleman and rebel. He was the last Chief Justiciar in England.

Origin and youth

Hugh Despenser was the eldest son of his father of the same name, Hugh Despenser , who was a hereditary officer of Earl Ranulf of Chester and was also very popular with King Henry III. was standing. When his father died in 1238, Hugh was still a minor, so that his uncle Geoffrey Despenser became his guardian. In gratitude for the services of his father, the king also allowed that Hugh did not need the king's permission for a marriage. After he came of age, he inherited his father's inheritance, which included estates mainly in Leicestershire . Presumably at the beginning of 1245 he was knighted, for which the king gave him two barrels of wine. In the next few years Despenser repeatedly received royal favors.

In 1255 Despenser was appointed constable of the royal Horston Castle in Derbyshire for five years . From April to September 1257 he was part of the retinue of Richard of Cornwall , the king's younger brother, when he traveled to Aachen , where he was crowned Roman-German king. Despenser had been friends with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester since 1256 at the latest , when the two, together with other barons , agreed to marry the underage Henry de Lacy with Margaret Longespée, 4th Countess of Salisbury .

Joined the aristocratic opposition to the king and rose to become justiciar

When there was a rebellion of the barons against Henry III in April 1258. came, Montfort was one of the leaders of the aristocratic opposition. Despenser was elected one of the twelve representatives of the aristocratic opposition who were supposed to work out a reform program for the king's rule. After this program, the Provisions of Oxford was passed by Parliament in June 1258, Despenser was elected one of the twelve representatives of the barons in Parliament. In addition, he was confirmed as constable by Horston.

In early 1260 Despenser married Alina Basset , a daughter of Philip Basset , who had also been involved in the marriage negotiations of the Lacy heir and was also one of the barons' representatives in parliament. During the ongoing conflict with the king, however, Basset increasingly leaned towards the king's side. Despenser was called to a council meeting in London in August 1260, to which supporters of Montfort were expressly not invited. In the following month he was part of the retinue of the heir to the throne, Lord Edward . For reasons unknown, Despenser had failed to serve as judge for Wiltshire , Oxfordshire and Berkshire , which had been entrusted to him in November 1259. Nevertheless, he was elected around October 20, 1260 by a five-member committee of the State Council in place of the royal candidate to succeed Hugh Bigod as the new Justiciar . At the same time he became Keeper of the Tower . As a result, Despenser became head of administration and justice in the royal government, and for his offices he received an annual salary of 1,000 marks . Henry III. complained, however, that the officials appointed by the barons, such as Despenser, were completely unsuitable for their offices. Regardless, Despenser did not take over all the tasks of his overwhelmed predecessor. For example, in the winter of 1260 to 1261, he dealt primarily with legal cases from Sussex . Together with his father-in-law Philip Basset, Despenser was part of the king's household in December 1260. However, when the king tried to revoke the Provisions of Oxford, he dismissed Despenser as Justiciar and Keeper of the Tower around June 12, 1261. Despenser protested against the dismissal because he had not been dismissed by parliament, but he had to hand over the office to his father-in-law Basset, who became the new justiciar. Despenser was now considered a staunch supporter of the aristocratic opposition and was therefore not one of the crown vassals whom the king summoned to London in October 1261. In June 1262 he had to give up his post as Constable von Horston. From that point on, the family was irreconcilably divided politically. While Despenser's father-in-law Basset was on the king's side, Despenser, along with his cousin John Despenser , his brother-in-law John fitz John and his half-brother Roger de St John , who was probably married to Despenser's sister, belonged to the nobility opposition under Simon de Montfort.

Renewed service as Justiciar and role during the War of the Barons

When Montfort took over the government again in 1263, Despenser replaced his father-in-law as Justiciar and Keeper of the Tower between July 15 and 18. When the king went to negotiate in France, Despenser served as regent of England from 23 September to 7 October during his absence. After unrest broke out in England at the end of October 1263, Despenser resigned from his post as legal advisor, but presumably remained administrator of the Tower. He was one of the barons who on December 13th agreed to an arbitration award from the French King Louis IX. on the validity of the Provisions of Oxford to accept. However, when the latter denied the validity of the commission in the Mise of Amiens , Montfort began an open civil war, the Second War of the Barons . Despenser led a mob of London citizens as Keeper of the Tower in March 1264, who plundered the estate of Richard of Cornwall in Isleworth near London. When supporters of the barons led by his brother-in-law John Fitz John looted the houses of London Jews and murdered numerous Jews in the process, Despenser gave the Jews refuge in the Tower of London . On May 14, 1264 Despenser was one of the leaders of the rebel army that decisively defeated the royal army at the Battle of Lewes . He took his wounded father-in-law Basset prisoner. Basset stayed in the barons' captivity, but his sons-in-law undoubtedly made sure that he received venison and other foods in early June. Despenser also managed to get his cousin John Despenser free, who had been captured by the king during the capture of Northampton in early April .

After the Battle of Lewes, Montfort took control of England again. Despenser took over the office of justiciar again. Although he was not formally a member of the nine-member State Council, Despenser became a leading member of the government. He took part in the deliberations of the Council of State and in parliaments and testified to numerous documents. He was present at the inauguration of Henry, the prior of St Radegund on November 3, 1264 as Treasurer and of Thomas de Cantilupe on February 25, 1265 as Lord Chancellor . When Cantilupe resigned from his office on May 7, 1265, but remained officially chancellor, Despenser was with him in Hereford .

As justiciar, Despenser coordinated the defense of England. Although the king, the heir to the throne Lord Edward and Richard of Cornwall were in the power of the barons, the rule of Montfort was threatened by many of the king's remaining supporters who had fled to Wales or into exile. The queen and other followers of the king were in France. Most bishops, on the other hand, supported the rule of the barons. To enforce the government's measures, Despenser received an army consisting of 100 knights and soldiers with which he was supposed to officially punish attacks against the church. Despenser himself took control of the important castles of Devizes , Oxford , Orford and Nottingham . He was also responsible for the defense of the East Anglia coast . When the imminent threat of invasion by the king's supporters subsided, he was increasingly involved in attempts to strike a balance with the king. On September 24, 1264 Despenser traveled to France as the barons' envoy, where he informed the papal legate Gui Foucois that the government would reform the Provisions of Oxford as soon as the king promised to fill the most important state offices with Englishmen instead of foreigners. Despite these negotiations, he was excommunicated by the legate on October 20th as a member of the Barons' government .

Even if Despenser received no land gifts other than his salary, he benefited considerably from his offices. In September 1264, on favorable terms, he was able to acquire the guardianship of Henry de Lacy, who was still underage, and to manage his extensive estates. He only released the Barons Robert de Pierpoint and Marmaduke of Thwing , who were captured in the Battle of Lewes, after paying a ransom, of which Pierpont's was 700 marks. As chief judge, he passed judgments in favor of the family of Simon de Montfort, for example a court under his chairmanship on June 30, 1264 sentenced the Marcher Lord William de Briouze to pay a fine of 10,000 marks because he allegedly owned goods from Simon de Montfort during the civil war Montfort had devastated the younger . Briouze was supposed to pay this large sum within ten days. On November 18, 1264 Despenser became a member of the committee that should determine the dowry of Montfort's daughter Eleanor , who should be married to Montfort's ally Prince Llywelyn of Wales .

After the flight of the heir to the throne, Lord Eduard, in May 1265, Despenser tried in vain with John Fitz John and others to settle the dispute between Montfort and Gilbert de Clare , which considerably weakened Montfort's rule. In the summer he took part in the campaign from Montfort to the Welsh Marches , during which they were provided by a superior army of the king's followers. Despenser refused to flee and fell at the Battle of Evesham , allegedly by a stab in the back of the Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer . killed.

Depiction of the Battle of Evesham from the 13th century. In the upper center the fallen Hugh le Despenser can be seen, below him on the left his coat of arms.

Together with the corpses of Simon and Henry de Montfort, he was buried with the king's permission in the nearby Evesham Abbey . Miracles are said to have occurred soon at his grave, including the blind to have been healed. His wife Alina after the defeat of the barons fled to her father. She was second married to Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk . The victorious king gave Despenser's lands to Philip Basset.

progeny

Despenser had several children with his wife, Alina, including:

His son Hugh received his father's possessions back in 1281.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Hugh Bigod Justiciar of England
1260–1261 		Philip Basset
Philip Basset Justiciar of England
1263-1265 		-
New title created Baron le Despenser
1264-1265 		Hugh le Despenser
personal data
SURNAME Hugh le Despenser, 1st Baron le Despenser
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman, Grand Justiciar of England
DATE OF BIRTH around 1223
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1265
Place of death Evesham