Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester

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Coat of arms of Hugh le Despenser the Elder

Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester (also Hugh le Despenser the Elder (the elder) ; born March 1, 1261 , † October 27, 1326 near Bristol ) was an English magnate , diplomat and military.

origin

Hugh le Despenser was the son of Hugh le Despenser , who died as a legal adviser at the side of Simon de Montfort in 1265 at the Battle of Evesham , and of Alina Basset . After the king's victory in the Second Barons' War , his father's possessions were confiscated by the crown.

Career as a military and diplomat

In May 1281 Despenser received his father's confiscated property back, and in August 1281 his mother's inheritance was also given to him. During King Edward I's second campaign to conquer Wales , he served in 1283 under Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall . After he married Isabella , daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick and widow of Patrick de Chaworth, in 1285 without the permission of King Edward I , the king sentenced him to a fine of 2,000 marks . Despenser quickly made a career in the service of the king. In 1287 he accompanied the king to Gascony . In June 1294 the king appointed him constable of Odiham Castle , around the same time he became one of the English ambassadors to the German King Adolf of Nassau and to Siegfried von Westerburg , the archbishop of Cologne. At the end of 1294 he was again in Gascony. In 1295 the king appointed him to parliament for the first time as Baron le Despenser . In April 1296 he fought in the Battle of Dunbar before he was the king's representative for Guido , the Count of Flanders, with whom an alliance was formed on February 5, 1297, during the Franco-English War from 1296 to 1297 . A week later he was appointed Justice of the Forest south of Trent and in June 1297 he became a member of the Royal Council . In the summer of 1300 he was one of only three magnates who took part in the king's campaign in Scotland .

In November 1300 he was sent as envoy to Rome to Pope Boniface VIII, along with Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln , and in April 1302 he was one of the envoys who were to negotiate a peace treaty in France to the French-English End war. In October 1305 the king sent him to Lyon to discuss a possible crusade with Pope Clement V , but also to discuss Anglo-French relations. Between these numerous diplomatic missions, he took part in the king's campaigns in Scotland in 1303, 1304 and 1306. The king rewarded him for his loyal service with Kirtlington in 1296 and with Great Haselse in Oxfordshire in 1301 . In 1306 his eldest son, Hugh le Despenser , was allowed to marry Eleanor de Clare , a granddaughter of the king.

Follower of King Edward II.

After the death of King Edward I in July 1306, Despenser was a loyal supporter of his son and successor King Edward II from the start. During his coronation, he wore part of the insignia . In early 1308, when there was unrest among the barons, who were dissatisfied with the rule of the king, he took over the administration of Devizes , Marlborough and Chepstow Castle including the town of Chepstow . In March 1308 he was again Justice of the Forest south of Trent, this lucrative office was conferred on him for life in August 1309. He was one of the few barons who still supported Piers Gaveston , the king's favorite , which is why there was an open rebellion of the barons in the spring of 1308. Because of this attitude he was denied participation in the Northampton Parliament , but in the autumn of 1308 he was back at the royal court. In May 1313 he accompanied King Edward II to France, where his sons were knighted by King Philip IV , and where he met the French king in Montreuil in December 1313 . Around this time Despenser was one of the enemies of Thomas Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Lancaster , who had become the leader of the aristocratic opposition. Despenser took part in the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314 . After this English defeat, Lancaster won supremacy at the royal court, which is why Despenser had to withdraw from there.

Despensers' favoritism

In the spring of 1316 Despenser was together with his son of the same name Hugh le Despenser again in the king’s entourage, but remained at odds with Lancaster despite attempts at reconciliation. In 1317 he accompanied the king on his campaign against Scotland. His son Hugh became the king's chamberlain in 1318 and quickly rose to become his new favorite. In 1320 the king sent him together with Bartholomew de Badlesmere to Gascony to supervise the English administration there. From there he traveled to Amiens , where he met the king. Against the growing influence of the younger Despenser on the king, a rebellion was directed by the Welsh Marcher Lords , who occupied his possessions in Wales in May 1321 in the so-called Despenser War . During Parliament of 1321, the rebellious barons forced the king to banish the Despensers on August 14th. Despenser went into exile in Bordeaux , but on December 1st the king called him and his son back to England. In early 1322 the king began a campaign to defeat the rebellious barons. At the beginning of March, the Despensers joined the royal army. Lancaster's army was decisively defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge on March 16 , Lancaster was captured and executed as a traitor. Of the confiscated properties of Lancaster, the King gave Denbigh Castle in North Wales Despenser as a fief, in addition he received Brimpsfield and other goods from his brother-in-law, Baron Giffard , who was also convicted as a rebel . On May 10, 1322 the king made him Earl of Winchester , and in the next few years he and his son had a decisive influence on the tyrannical king. The queen hated the Despensers and fled to France.

The siege of Bristol defended by Despenser in 1326, 15th century miniature

Fall and death

When the Queen landed in England with an army under her lover Roger Mortimer in September 1326 , the King and the Despensers fled to Wales. From Chepstow the king sent the elder despenser to Bristol Castle . However, the garrison refused to obey his orders and handed the castle and town over to the queen's troops. Despenser was captured, condemned as traitors by Mortimer, the Earls of Leicester , Norfolk , Kent, and others, expropriated and executed by hanging outside the city. His head was sent to Winchester , his body was fed to dogs.

progeny

From his marriage to Isabel de Beauchamp he had several children including:

literature

  • Ronald H. Fritze; William B. Robison: Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272-1485. Greenwood press, Wesport (Conn.) 2002, ISBN 0-313-29124-1 , pp. 151-153

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hugh le Despenser, 1st and last Earl of Winchester on thepeerage.com , accessed September 10, 2016.
  2. ^ Ruth F. Butler: The last of the Brimsfield Giffards and the Rising of 1321-2 . In: Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 1957 (76), p. 90
predecessor Office successor
New title created Earl of Winchester
1322-1326 		Title forfeited
Hugh le Despenser Baron le Despenser
1265-1326 		Title forfeited
personal data
SURNAME Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hugh le Despenser, 2nd Baron Despenser; Hugh le Despenser the Elder; Hugh le Despenser the Elder; Winchester, Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English magnate, military and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1261
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1326
Place of death at Bristol