Philip d'Aubigny

Philip d'Aubigny (also Philip d'Albini or Daubeney ) († 1236 ) was an Anglo-Norman knight who served as a royal military, diplomat and advisor.

Origin and promotion by the Earl of Leicester

Philip d'Aubigny came from a branch line of the d'Aubigny family , originally from Saint-Aubin-d'Aubigné in Brittany . He was probably a younger son of Elias d'Aubigny (also d'Aubigné ) and his wife Hawise . His father had received from his relative William d'Aubigné , the Lord of Belvoir Castle , possessions in Lincolnshire , in addition, he owned estates in Brittany and Normandy . Apparently Philip's older brother Ralph d'Aubigny had inherited her father's possessions in, while Philip and his brothers Oliver and Marchisius entered the service of Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester . Earl Robert mediated Philip's marriage to Joan , the widow of Baron William de Bouquetot , which took place in 1200. By marriage, Philip acquired properties in the village of Bouquetot in Normandy, which he held as a fiefdom of the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille , and Horsmonden in Kent as a fiefdom of the Earls of Gloucester . However, after King John Ohneland lost Normandy in the war with France , Philip's brother Ralph decided to recognize French rule in order to retain control of his possessions in France. Therefore, Johann Ohneland declared his English possessions forfeited in 1205 and gave them to Philip.

Military in the service of King Johann Ohneland

After d'Aubigny had received the family estates in England from the king, he was one of the king's loyal supporters. In 1207 he was in command of Ludlow Castle before becoming administrator of the Channel Islands in the same year . When Johann Ohneland wanted to undertake a campaign in France in 1213, Philip was supposed to serve as Marshal of the Army, but the campaign was postponed. When the king set out on an unsuccessful campaign to France the next year , d'Aubigny took part in the expedetion. As a supporter of the king, he witnessed the recognition of the Magna Carta in 1215 . Before the First War of the Barons against the King broke out, he was appointed in July 1215 as Commandant of Bristol Castle .

Service as administrator, military and diplomat under Heinrich III.

During the War of the Barons, d'Aubigny commanded royal troops in Kent and Sussex in 1217 . As Commander of the Knights of Christ , he led several attacks from his base in Rye against the troops of the aristocratic opposition and their French allies. At times, with the support of the Cinque Ports , he was able to lock the French Prince Ludwig in Winchelsea , so that he had to flee to France with a French fleet in February 1217. Subsequently, d'Aubigny played a major role in the reconquest of Hampshire . In May 1217 he fought in the Battle of Lincoln and in August 1217 he commanded one of the ships of the royal fleet during the naval battle at Sandwich . He later became the commandant of Devizes Castle . However, he led from this castle even after the official end of the Barons' War in September 1217 raids on the possessions of the former rebel Henry Fitz Count in south-west England, so that the Justiciar Hubert de Burgh had to intervene. After that, d'Aubigny was a loyal supporter of the Regency Council, which for the underage Henry III. led the government. In 1219 d'Aubigny was given the administration of the Honor of Leicester together with Bishop Peter des Roches . In addition, he was responsible for the knightly training of the underage king, which he probably owed to his patron Peter des Roches. For this, the Regency Council rewarded him with the administration of several failed crown fiefs, including Chewton Mendip and South Petherton in Somerset and Bampton in Oxfordshire . In 1219 he was replaced as administrator of the Channel Islands by his nephew of the same name, Philip d'Aubigny the Younger , a son of his brother Ralph. For this he was sent as envoy to France in 1220 to extend the armistice. In 1221 he was allowed to lease his fiefdoms in England so that he could take part in the fifth crusade . However, he only reached the Holy Land after the defeat of the Crusaders at Damiette . After his return to England he was sent in November 1222 as envoy to Poitou , which belonged to the English kings , to negotiate with the rebellious Hugo X of Lusignan . The next year he served as envoy in Brittany and at the French royal court to renew the armistice with France. However, the French raised claims to the Poitou, and although Pope Honorius III. in December 1223 for an extension of the armistice, there was a new Franco-English war in the summer of 1224 .

While his former liege lord Peter des Roches fell out of favor at the royal court around 1223, d'Aubigny was able to consolidate his position. Nevertheless, he continued to maintain a good relationship with Des Roches. As a former crusader, he was selected in 1223 to accompany John of Brienne , the regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , when he came to England to promote a new crusade. In the same year he protected Richard de Berkying , the abbot of Westminster Abbey , from an attack by angry Londoners. After the French attacked the Poitou in 1224, d'Aubigny was part of the army with which Richard , the king's brother, went to Gascon and Poitou. He spent the next two years mainly in France, and in 1227 and 1228 he traveled as the English ambassador to the French royal court. In addition he was from 1227 to 1229 Sheriff of Berkshire and administrator of the Honor of Wallingford . In July 1228 Henry III granted him. 500  marks so that he could take part in the crusade of Emperor Friedrich II . However, he probably did not take part in the emperor's crusade , because in November 1228 and May 1229 he traveled again as an envoy to France. In 1230 he took part in the unsuccessful campaign of Heinrich III. in Brittany and Poitou. From 1232 to 1234 he was one of the leading English ambassadors in negotiations with Duke Peter Mauclerc of Brittany.

Renewed participation in the crusade, death and inheritance

In 1235, d'Aubigny and his Breton relatives Olivier d'Aubigné and Guillaume de Chevaigné (also Chaeny ) embarked on another crusade. He died the following year in the Holy Land and was buried in Jerusalem.

Since d'Aubigny left no legitimate offspring, his South Petherton estates and most of the family estates in Lincolnshire fell to his nephew Ralph d'Aubigny († 1291). His older brother Philip d'Aubigny the Younger either died in 1225 or switched to the French side, because in that year Philip d'Aubigny the Elder was given the management of Ingleby near Lincoln. Ralph d'Aubigny was believed to have grown up in Brittany, which is a clear sign that the family had remained in close contact despite the frequent conflicts between England and France. His descendants anglicized the name d'Aubigny in Daubeney . They remained in direct male line of succession by Ingleby and South Petherton until almost the mid-16th century.

Web links

• Nicholas Vincent: Aubigny, Philip d '[Philip Daubeney] (d. 1236). 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. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 28
2. ↑ Nicholas Vincent: Peter des Roches. An alien in English politics, 1205 - 1238 . Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 2002. ISBN 0-521-52215-3 , p. 161
3. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 309
4. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 243
5. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 344
6. ↑ Nicholas Vincent: Peter des Roches. An alien in English politics, 1205 - 1238 . Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 2002. ISBN 0-521-52215-3 , p. 250