John de Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Chartley

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John de Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Chartley (born June 20, 1271 in Cardiff , † September 1312 ) was an English nobleman who served as Seneschal of Gascony in 1312 .

Origin and heritage

John de Ferrers came from the Anglo-Norman Ferrers family . He was the eldest son of Robert de Ferrers and his second wife Eleanor de Bohun. His father had lost almost all of the immense family property and the title of Earl of Derby as a rebel against the king during the Second War of the Barons . Most of the possessions fell to Edmund of Lancaster , a younger son of King Henry III. After his father's death in 1279, John inherited only the Chartley estate in Staffordshire . When he came of age in 1293 and paid homage to King Edward I , he was heir to his grandmother Margaret de Quincy, who died in 1281, her property in Southoe, Keyston and parts of Eynesbury in Huntingdonshire . He received Bugbrooke in Northamptonshire in 1294 as the heir of his cousin Cecily, the wife of Godfrey de Beaumont . To do this, he continued to claim the family possessions lost by his father. Between 1298 and 1300 he married Hawise, the widow of William Mortimer and daughter of Sir Robert de Mucegros . She brought lands in Somerset , Gloucestershire , Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire into the marriage.

Service under Eduard I.

In the service of King Edward I, he belonged to the escort of the king's daughter Eleonore in 1294 when she traveled to France to get married. In 1297 Ferrers was escorted by Margaret, another king's daughter who was married to Duke John II of Brabant . In the same year, however, he was one of the barons who protested against the ongoing wars of the king, as taxes were levied for these and the barons also had to do military service. Besides Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk and Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford , Ferrers was named as the only baron in the de tallagio deed , in which the aristocratic opposition had written down their demands. Ferrers was probably less one of the leaders of the aristocratic opposition, but was only named because of the earlier count of his family. Although he was thus an open opponent of the king, Ferrers was invited to parliaments between February 1299 and October 1311 , which is why he is considered Baron Ferrers of Chartley . During the Scottish War of Independence he took part in campaigns to Scotland in 1298, 1301, 1303 and 1306.

Fight for his father's lost goods

In the end, Ferrers was hardly politically active, but continued to try above all to get his father's lands back from Edmund of Lancaster and his son Thomas . In 1297 he turned to Pope Boniface VII to raise funds from the clergy to raise the £ 50,000 demanded by Edmund of Lancaster to buy back his lands. Of course the Pope refused, but around 1300 Ferrers again turned to the Pope to support his lawsuit against Thomas of Lancaster in which Ferrers asked Lancaster £ 20,000 for lost income. Ferrers was assisted by Archbishop Robert Winchelsey , who wrote a letter to Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta on January 24, 1300, asking for support for Ferrers. The Pope then instructed Winchelsey to deal with Ferrers' complaint. Apparently the trial took place between May 30th and June 27th 1300, but after that Winchelsey referred the lawsuit to Rome for judgment. In the meantime, however, Lancaster had received assurance from Edward I, his royal uncle, that secular fiefs could not be negotiated before a spiritual court . The king's decision was served on both Winchelsey and Ferrers, and the lawsuit was void. Lancaster then sued the Archbishop for the staggering sum of £ 100,000, but negotiations to pay that sum were never final. Ferrers himself had to answer for his actions and lawsuits before the royal court, but was not sentenced to serious penalties. With the support of the Prince of Wales Eduard , however, he accused Walter Langton , the King's Treasurer , of partisanship for Lancaster in 1307 . Langton was pardoned by the king, which Ferrers described in vain as a forgery. When the Prince of Wales became king a little later than Edward II, however, he used this case to take action against Langton, whom he hated.

Seneschal of Gascony

Edward II. Ferrers appointed him administrator of Gloucester Castle in September 1311 and in January 1312 Seneschal of Gascony. After his arrival in south-west France, Ferrers immediately got into a dispute with the powerful Baron Amanieu d'Albret , the exact reason for which is unknown. The king was forced to send envoys to Gascony to settle the dispute. In August 1312 those involved were asked to answer to the king. Ferrers died in Gascony in September 1312, allegedly he was poisoned.

progeny

From his marriage to Hawise de Mucegros, Ferres had several children including:

His heir became his eldest son, John. He was still a minor in 1321 and died before July 23, 1324. Thereupon Ferrer's younger son Robert, who was also a minor at that time, became the heir of the title and the property.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California Press, Berkeley 1988. ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 433
predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Ferrers of Chartley
1299-1312 		John Ferrers
personal data
SURNAME De Ferrers, John, 1st Baron Ferrers of Chartley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Ferrers, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman, Seneschal of Gascony
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1271
PLACE OF BIRTH Cardiff
DATE OF DEATH September 1312