Philip of Oldcoates

Sir Philip of Oldcoates (also Oldcotes or de Ulecot ) († between September 16 and November 2, 1220 in Étampes ) was an English knight who served as a royal military and rose to a high-ranking official.

Origin and follower of Johann Ohneland

Philip of Oldcoates was named after the village of Oldcotes in Nottinghamshire . He was the only son of the knight Gerald of Styrrup and his wife Matilda , a daughter of an Ingeram . Oldcoates apparently supported as a knight in 1194 the revolt of his liege lord Johann Ohneland against his brother King Richard I. After the failure of the uprising, Oldcoates lost his possessions in the Honor of Tickhill . When Johann Ohneland succeeded his brother as king in 1199, he rewarded his former ally with possessions and offices in Northumberland . Oldcoates was allowed to marry Johanna, a daughter of Robert de Meinil , for a fee of £ 100 and a warhorse to the king . In the Franco-English War from 1202 , Oldcoates helped defend the possessions of the Angevin Empire in France. Together with Hubert de Burgh , he was in command of Chinon Castle from 1204 at the latest . When it was conquered by the French in 1205, Oldcoates was taken prisoner. The king contributed 200 marks (over £ 133) to the ransom of oldcoates.

Mitford Castle, which Oldcoates owned in 1216 and which he delayed returning for years

Rise to be a powerful official in the north of England

In order to expand his position in northern England, where numerous barons were already among his opponents, Johann Ohneland specifically assigned offices and possessions there to familiar members of his household. Oldcoates also benefited from this when the king appointed him administrator of the vacant Diocese of Durham in 1209 . In August 1212 the king made him Sheriff of Northumberland . When Baron Eustace de Vesci rebelled against the king, Oldcoates occupied Alnwick Castle and recruited additional troops to reinforce the royal castles in Northumberland. As a powerful official he was counted by the contemporary chroniclers to the bad advisers of the king . During the open First War of the Barons against the King, the Scottish King Alexander II supported the rebellious barons and invaded northern England. Oldcoates now had to defend his castles in north-east England not only against the rebels, but also against the Scots. In January 1216 he occupied Mitford Castle , a castle belonging to the rebellious Baron Roger Bertram . When King John Ohneland died in October 1216, Oldcoates had the estates of the rebels de Vesci and Bertram, the lands of the Bishop of Durham and the royal castles of Bamburgh and Newcastle under his control.

Difficult vassal during the minority of Henry III.

After the death of Johann Ohneland, the Regency Council promised for the underage King Heinrich III. the government led the rebels, who submitted, to return their lands. To this end, the government tried to regain control of the royal castles, lands and income, some of which had been in the hands of almost autonomous officials for several years. Oldcoates was doubly affected by this policy, because on the one hand he was supposed to return their possessions to Roger Bertram and the heir of Eustace de Vesci and to hand over the royal castles in his possession back to the government. In his position in north-west England he had become so powerful that he himself had become a threat to the government. He was therefore able to postpone the return of the castles and estates he held until the regent William Marshal gave him the income from the royal estates of Newcastle, Bamburgh and Corbridge as a replacement in November 1217 , which he was allowed to keep until the king came of age. Marshal also promised him land from which he could earn £ 300 a year. These promises were not enough for Oldcoates, so he refused to return Mitford Castle and the associated lands to Roger Bertram and the estates of Eustace de Vesci. Although he received further lands from the government in 1218 and 1219, he made no move to surrender the lands. Only in the early summer of 1219 could Oldcoates be persuaded at a large council meeting in Gloucester to hand over the Vesci estates to the Earl of Salisbury , the guardian of the young William de Vesci , and to compensate him for the lost income. Still, Oldcoates kept Mitford Castle, despite the fact that the papal legate Pandulf , who was a member of the Regency Council, threatened him with excommunication in December 1219 and February 1220 . Only when his old comrade-in-arms Hubert de Burgh, who had meanwhile become royal justiciar , deposed him as sheriff on June 18, 1220, did he return Mitford Castle to Bertram. Given the king's minority, Oldcoates was able to hold off and humiliate the government for years. In addition, the government was also dependent on insubordinate vassals such as Oldcoates. His precise knowledge of the conditions in northern England led the government to appoint him from November 1218 to January 1219 as a traveling judge in Westmorland, Cumberland and Lancashire. Oldcoates also had a protracted argument with Richard de Umfraville , a baron from Northumberland, over the building of a castle near Natterton. A violent feud broke out in 1217 with Richard Marsh , who became the new bishop of the Diocese of Durham, which had been administered by Oldcoates since 1209, in 1217.

Seneschal of Poitou and death

In the summer of 1220 Hubert de Burgh planned to appoint Oldcoates Seneschal of Poitou , which was a lucrative position and would have removed the difficult official from northern England. Oldcoates had already gained experience in France through his service in Chinon and might be able to subdue the defiant vassals Hugo X of Lusignan . In France he was supposed to send Johanna of England , a sister of the king, who was originally supposed to marry Hugo von Lusignan, back to England. Oldcoates turned down the office, however, fearing that his own remaining possessions in northern England would fall into the hands of his opponents during his absence. He also claimed that he did not have the means to properly protect the Poitou . In fact, he had learned that the cities of Poitou and Gascony refused to pay taxes and levies until the debts of the former Seneschal Geoffrey de Neville were paid. Hubert de Burgh then renewed his promise to give him lands with an annual income of £ 300 and reinstated him as Sheriff of Northumberland and Constable of Bamburgh and Newcastle. Thereupon Oldcoates agreed to take over the office of Seneschal. The Pandulf Legate lent the government money that had originally been collected for a crusade so that the government could pay 500 marks to Oldcoates for his expenses in Poitou. On September 16, 1220 de Burgh provided him with ships for the crossing to France and Oldcoates left England. Before November 2nd, however, news reached England that Oldcoates had died in Étampes in northern France. Since he had no legitimate offspring, his property was divided between his five sisters. His widow Johanna married Oliver d'Aubigny , a younger brother of Philip d'Aubigny , in 1221 .

Web links

• John M. Todd: Oldcoates, Sir Philip of (d. 1220). 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. ↑ Nicholas Vincent: Nicholas Vincent, King John's evil counselors (act. 1208-1214) (Oxford DNB). Retrieved September 6, 2016 . 
2. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 176
3. ^ Henry Summerson: Richard de Umfraville (d. 1226). 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
4. ^ Robert C. Stacey: Marsh, Richard (d. 1226). 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
5. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 217
6. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 214
7. ↑ 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