John Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Knayth

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John Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Knayth (also Sir John Darcy or D'Arcy ) (* before 1284; † May 30, 1347 ) was an English nobleman, politician, military and civil servant.

origin

John Darcy came from the family Darcy , a family of gentry of Yorkshire . He was a son of Sir Roger Darcy († around 1284) and his wife Isabel , a daughter of Sir William d'Aton from West Ayton in Yorkshire. After his father's death around 1284 he was heir to Oldcotes and Styrrup in Nottinghamshire , but was still a minor until at least 1292. To distinguish it from the members of the older line of the Darcy family, the descendants of his uncle Norman Darcy († 1295/6) from Nocton , he was called le neveu or le cosyn . He was later called le piere to distinguish him from his son of the same name.

Rise in the service of the Earl of Pembroke

In 1306 Darcy was ostracized for a violent crime, but was pardoned on May 19, 1307 at the request of Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke . In 1309 or 1310 he finally entered the service of Pembroke, to whom he served continuously as a vassal until he was appointed Justiciar of Ireland . However, he was free to take part in tournaments in the wake of another baron. In 1317 Darcy served as the commandant of Norham Castle , an important castle on the border with Scotland. As a follower of Pembroke, who had considerable influence on King Edward II , Darcy served as sheriff of Northumberland from November 5, 1319 to November 1322 , erroneously he is also called sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire during this time . During Parliament in late summer 1320 he was Knight of the Shire for Nottinghamshire. In August 1320 Darcy and Andrew Harclay belonged to the English delegation that traveled to the Scottish King Robert the Bruce to ask for armistice negotiations.

After the rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster was put down in the spring of 1322, the king distributed the estates of Philip Darcy and his son Norman , who had supported the rebellion, to their relatives who had remained loyal, namely to Philip's brothers Robert and John and to John le Cosyn. Presumably Darcy was one of the companions of the Earl of Pembroke, with whom he fled from the Scots to York after the Battle of Byland in October 1322 . Darcy accompanied Pembroke when Pembroke negotiated an armistice with the Scots in Newcastle in May 1323 . Between February 10, 1323 and July 13, 1323 he held the important office of Sheriff of Lancashire . Before August 12, 1323 he was made a Knight Banneret .

Service as Justiciar of Ireland

As the successor to the Earl of Louth Darcy was appointed Justiciar of Ireland on November 18, 1323, whereby he retired from the service of the Earl of Pembroke. King Edward II tried to consolidate the English administration of Ireland at the time, where the Irish people increasingly resisted English rule. Darcy performed his office conscientiously until he was replaced on March 12, 1327 as a supporter of the overthrown Edward II. But he apparently quickly won the confidence of the new government, which was dominated by Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabelle . Between September 30, 1327 and August 13, 1328 he served as sheriff of Yorkshire. The government commissioned him in autumn 1327 to receive Scottish ambassadors in Newcastle after the failed Weardale Campaign . After he was replaced as sheriff, Darcy was reappointed Justiciar of Ireland on August 21, 1328. Through his second marriage to the daughter of the Earl of Ulster , he now also had personal interests in Ireland.

After the young King Edward III. In October 1330 the rule of Roger Mortimer had overturned by a coup d'état, Darcy was replaced as Justiciar on February 27, 1331. However, he did not fall out of favor, but apparently had a close relationship with the king. In 1331 he was a member of the twelve-member jury of experienced knights who acquitted Thomas de Berkeley of complicity in the death of Edward II. In January 1332 the king called him back to parliament. In April 1332 the king gave him the estates of Brocklesby and Greetham in Lincolnshire in gratitude for his services . On September 30, 1332 Darcy was appointed Justiciar of Ireland for the third time. In October 1332 Darcy was still one of the English envoys negotiating with Scottish envoys in Newcastle, but after war with Scotland had broken out again, Darcy and William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster in Ireland, raised an army for war in Scotland. However, these troops had to be used to quell riots in Ulster after de Burgh was murdered in June. Darcy then led probably in the autumn of 1333 with a short campaign against the Scottish Dumbarton . In 1333, with the approval of the King, Darcy released the imprisoned Irish magnates Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond and Walter Bermingham . For the summer campaign to Scotland in 1335 Darcy should mobilize all available forces in Ireland. He should muster 600 men-at-arms , 1,500 light riders and 6,000 foot soldiers, which was very optimistic in view of the difficult situation of English rule in Ireland. Since April 1335, Darcy had gathered a fleet to transport his troops to Scotland. The fleet is said to have comprised 56 ships. The army that Darcy eventually led to Scotland with the Earls of Desmond and Ormonde comprised fourteen Knight Bannerets, 472 men-at-arms, 291 light riders and 805 foot soldiers, including many archers. The fleet sailed from Dublin to the Isle of Bute in August 1335 . There the army tried to capture Rothesay Castle . Although the army carried a siege engine, there is no evidence that the siege was successful. The army eventually plundered Bute and the neighboring Isle of Arran before the first troops withdrew to Ireland in mid-September. By October 15, Darcy, Walter Bermingham and Thomas Wogan also retired to Ireland.

Courtier and military under Edward III.

On March 12, 1337 Darcy was appointed Steward of the King's Household , whereupon he was replaced as Justiciar on July 28, 1337. As a steward, he was closely involved in the preparations for the war with France . He accompanied the king from 1338 to 1340 during his long stay in the Netherlands. The king thanked Darcy by granting him the post of Justiciars of Ireland for life on March 3, 1340. This unusual award did not end Darcy's service at the royal court, because this time the office was only awarded to him as a sinecure . In 1344 the king granted him an annual income of £ 183. When the king unexpectedly returned to England in December 1340 and dismissed numerous members of the government that remained there, Darcy was replaced as steward on December 15 and instead appointed King's Chamberlain .

The dispute between the king and his former minister, John Stratford , Archbishop of Canterbury, created the greatest challenge of Darcy's political career. Together with the new steward Ralph Stafford , Darcy was commissioned to prevent Stratford's participation in Parliament, which took place in Westminster from April 1341 . The two denied Stratford access to Westminster Hall for a week , which is why contemporary chroniclers Darcy and especially William Kilsby , the Keeper of the Privy Seal, as the main opponents of Stratford at the royal court. This led to a serious domestic political crisis in which the Earl of Surrey found Darcy not worthy to attend parliament. As a result, Darcy had to leave the parliamentary sessions, while the king had to allow Stratford to attend under pressure from the magnates . Still, Darcy retained his office as Chamberlain and the king's trust until at least September 13, 1346. However, he now devoted himself to the administration of his estates and served on various commissions and as a tax collector in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Hertfordshire . In 1342 he took part in a campaign in Brittany and in 1346 in the king's campaign in northern France. After the victory at the Battle of Crécy , he was a member of the legation that traveled back to England on behalf of the king to report the victory in France to Parliament. The King thanked him by giving him the life of Constable of Nottingham Castle in 1344 and the life of Constable of the Tower in 1346 . He died on the very day the King issued a pardon for all offenses Darcy had committed in his life.

Marriages, Inheritance, and Late Baron Darcy Recognition

Her first marriage was Darcy Emmeline , the only daughter and heir to Walter Heron of Silkstone , Yorkshire. With her he had at least one son:

In his second marriage he married Joan after 1328 , a daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster and his wife Margaret de Burgh. She was the widow of Thomas FitzJohn, 2nd Earl of Kildare . He had several children with her, including:

While his son John inherited the English possessions from his first marriage, his son William inherited the Irish possessions from his second marriage, including Plattyn in County Meath, where he established a branch of the family. John Darcy's second wife survived, she only died on April 23, 1359.

After 1334, Darcy had not received any other Writ of Summons to attend parliaments. In 1341 and 1344 he took part in parliaments only because of his office as King's Chamberlain. It was not until 1903 that the House of Lords decided that he should still be considered Baron Darcy , while his title was given the addition of de Knayth to distinguish it from the main line of the family after his estate Knaith in Lincolnshire .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 268
  2. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 371n267
  3. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 187
  4. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 203
  5. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 73
  6. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 229
  7. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 231
  8. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 511
  9. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 95
  10. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 573
  11. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 196
  12. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 219
  13. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 197
  14. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 222
  15. ↑ Anthony Verduyn: Darcy family (per. C. 1284–1488). 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 Baron Darcy de Knayth
1332-1347 		John Darcy
personal data
SURNAME Darcy, John, 1st Baron Darcy de Knayth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Darcy, Sir John; D'Arcy, Sir John; John le Cosyn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman, politician, military man and civil servant
DATE OF BIRTH before 1284
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1347