John fitz John

Sir John fitz John (* around 1240; † November 1275 ) was an English nobleman and rebel leader during the Second War of the Barons .

Origin and heritage

John fitz John was the eldest son of John fitz Geoffrey and Isabel, widow of Gilbert de Lacy, Lord of Meath and daughter of Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk . His father was a smaller but respected baron, King Henry III. served loyally in various offices. In 1258, however, he joined forces with other magnates to form an opposition to the aristocracy, which forced the king to recognize the Provisions of Oxford and thus largely deposed him. Geoffrey became a leader of the rebellious barons who were now in power, but died suddenly in November 1258, making John his heir. Despite being a minor, he paid £ 300 in February 1259 to take over his father's estates. Most of these possessions were in Buckinghamshire , where he was now Lord of Aylesbury and Steeple Claydon .

Supporter of the nobility opposition to the king

In the next few years there was a power struggle between the king and the rebels. John continued his father's work and became one of the king's most bitter opponents and a major supporter of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester , who had become the leader of the rebels. When the King, with the support of the Pope, invalidated the Provisions of Oxford in the summer of 1261 and appointed new sheriffs to administer the counties , the rebels appointed John Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The king was initially able to assert himself, so that John had to give up his offices. When Simon de Montfort returned to England from his exile in France in April 1263, John joined him to persuade the king to recognize the Provisions of Oxford again. He was able to persuade other knights from Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire to join the rebels, so that Montfort appointed him peacekeeper for Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in July 1263 after the king had to give in again and Montfort had taken over the government. In order to finally settle the dispute with the king, John was one of the rebels who swore in December 1263 to recognize the arbitration award of the French king , which he was to make in January 1264 on the legality of the Provisions of Oxford. When the French king then declared the commission invalid, the supporters of Montfort took up arms, so that it came to open war between the barons .

Military in the war of the barons

In March 1264, John was a member of the rebel army that was able to conquer Gloucester , but failed in the siege of Gloucester Castle and therefore had to withdraw from the city. In April he was the leader of the mob that plundered and massacred the Jewish population of London. He killed the most famous Jewish resident of London, Kok, Son of Abraham with his own hands. But then he was forced by Montfort to share the treasures he had captured with him. After that, John took part in the unsuccessful siege of Rochester Castle . Back in London, he was knighted on May 4th, according to other sources he had already been knighted in Gloucester. He then moved south with Montfort from London. At the Battle of Lewes on May 14, 1264, together with Gilbert de Clare and William de Munchensi , he commanded the second division of the rebel army, which was able to decisively defeat the king's army in the battle.

Although John was involved in negotiations with the rebellious Marcher Lords and the vacillating Gilbert de Clare during the subsequent Montfort reign , he played only a minor role. He was rarely in London, but from June 1264 in command of Windsor Castle , where he forced the population to provide soldiers for the garrison. When his brother-in-law Robert de Vieuxpont died before June 1264, he became the administrator of his property in Westmorland . After Gilbert de Clare had changed to the king's side and the heir to the throne, Lord Eduard , was able to escape the guard of the supporters of Montfort, John took part in Montfort's campaign to the west of England. In the decisive battle of Evesham in August 1265, in which Montfort fell, John was captured. Roger de Clifford , who had married his niece, saved him, like most of the other leaders of the rebels, from being slain by the royal troops.

Reconciliation with the king's party

After the victory of the king's supporters, parts of John's property were occupied by Roger de Clifford and William de Beauchamp of Elmley , who had married one of his sisters. However, most of his lands initially fell to Gilbert de Clare. In July 1266, John was pardoned. According to the provisions of the Dictum of Kenilworth he was allowed to buy back his goods against payment of five times the annual income. To raise this amount, he had to sell Ringwood Manor in Hampshire for 2250 marks, but thanks to his good relationship with de Clare and his brothers-in-law, he was finally able to buy back his goods. In 1267 he was part of the retinue of Gilbert de Clare, later he was in the service of the heir to the throne, Lord Edward, whom he represented in 1274 at the Council of Lyon .

John fitz John had married a daughter of Philip Basset , who was royal justiciar from 1261 to 1263. This had not prevented him from being a major supporter of the rebels against the king. He was perhaps encouraged by his brother-in-law Hugh le Despenser, who had married Basset's eldest daughter and was one of Montfort's closest confidants. After the end of the Barons' War, his fate was an example of a successful reconciliation between a former rebel and the king and heir to the throne. When he died childless, his death was sincerely mourned by the king and his court.

Web links

• DA Carpenter: John, Sir, fitz John (c.1240-1275). 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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henry III. Fine rolls project. Sunday 13 April 1264: Looting, burning and murder. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on March 4, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.