Richard Siward

Richard Siward coat of arms

Sir Richard Siward (also Suard , Sewad or Syward ; † around 1248) was an English knight , mercenary and courtier. As a war hero, he rose to a wealthy landowner thanks to the favor of a powerful patron from a humble background. After the death of his patron, he later lacked this support in the power struggles and intrigues of the time, so that he lost most of his possessions at the end of his life.

Origin and early career

The origin of Siward is uncertain. At the beginning of his career he is called Richard, son of Siward , which suggests an Anglo-Saxon descent. He may be the same as a young man named Richard from Farnham , Yorkshire , who was arrested and charged with manslaughter by King John towards the end of the reign , but was later released and served as a soldier for an unnamed Yorkshire nobleman. Siward was first mentioned for sure around 1215 as a follower of William de Forz , a nobleman from Yorkshire. Together with other followers of Forz, Siward changed as a knight in the suite of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , with whom he appeared in London in 1216 during the First Barons' War . After he had supported the French Crown Prince Ludwig in 1216 , he fought against the French fleet in 1217 in the naval battle of Sandwich in 1217 on Hubert de Burgh's flagship . After the end of the war of the barons he returned to the service of Forz and supported him in his unsuccessful revolt against the king in 1220. He escaped from the besieged Castle Bytham and hid in the woods of Northamptonshire for a week or two from the royal soldiers in February 1221 . Eventually he surrendered and had to leave England as a rebel until he was pardoned in September 1221.

Follower of William Marshal

In 1223 he again belonged to the entourage of William Marshal, whom he supported in his battles in South Wales against the Welsh prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth . From 1224 to 1226 he was presumably with Marshal in Ireland , and in 1230 he took part with Marshal in the French campaign of King Henry III. part. Marshal rewarded him with the provision of several goods, and through Marshal connections he was able to marry the widowed Philippa Basset in October 1229 , whose first husband Henry de Beaumont, 5th Earl of Warwick, had died shortly before. Philippa was one of the three heir daughters of Thomas Basset from Headington , her cousin Gilbert Basset was also a follower of William Marshal. Philippa brought her inheritance and her stately Wittum with her into the marriage. Siward became wealthy, although his patron William Marshal died in 1231 and he had to hand over the goods he had received to his brother Walter Marshal .

St John's Church in Devizes, where Siward rescued Hubert de Burgh from his sanctuary

Involved in the Richard Marshal rebellion

When Gilbert Basset in 1233 because of a dispute with the royal favorite Peter de Maulay at King Henry III. fell out of favor, Siward also lost the king's favor and was falsely accused of marrying his wife, the widow of a crown vassal , without the king's permission. Siwards and Basset's estates were confiscated, whereupon the two fled to Richard Marshal in South Wales in August . He began his rebellion against the king shortly afterwards, and on behalf of Marshal Siward began several raids into England from southeast Wales. At the end of September he led a force of about 80 to 100 men to Langley in Berkshire , where they plundered an estate of Bishop Peter des Roches , the king's leading favorite. On October 29th, Siward led his army of knights and Welsh mercenaries through the fog to Devizes , Wiltshire . They were able to approach the city undetected and then attacked it while the Welsh cries of war, causing the defenders and residents to flee in a panic. In the city, Siward was able to free Hubert de Burgh , Peter des Roches' opponent, from his sanctuary after the royal soldiers besieging the church had fled. Together with de Burgh, Siward withdrew, set von Aust with boats across the Bristol Channel and, despite being chased by a royal flotilla from Bristol, reached safely Chepstow in south-east Wales. These daring raids made Siward a symbol of resistance against the hated rule of the Poitevins , the king's favorites from France. In November Siward probably took part in the unsuccessful attack on Monmouth Castle , while in December he again undertook raids into England. Siward continued his forays until Richard Marshal died in Ireland in April 1234 and the rebellion collapsed.

Rise as landowner and courtier

After the failure of the rebellion, Siward and Basset, who had not attacked the king's possessions on their raids, were pardoned by the king in May 1234. Siward was appointed to the royal council on May 28th and was temporarily administrator of Glamorgan and Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire , in July he was administrator of Swansea Castle and Gower . Between October 1233 and June 1234 Siward had acquired the reigns of Ruthin , Talyfan and Llanbethian in South Wales , although it is unclear whether he received them as gifts from Richard Marshal or whether he acquired them during his tenure as administrator. Hubert de Burgh gave him possessions in Northants and King Alexander II of Scotland, who admired his knightly deeds, gave him Kellie Castle and other lands in Aberdour in Scotland in 1235 . At the coronation of Eleanor , the wife of King Henry III. on January 27, 1236 he had the honor of carrying the scepter. However, Siward had also made powerful enemies. Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick , his wife's stepson from their first marriage, had come of age and was claiming his mother's Wittum back. Another bitter opponent was Richard of Cornwall , the king's brother, whose property in Buckinghamshire had twice been the target of Siward's raids during the Richard Marshal rebellion. After a dispute during a council meeting, Richard of Cornwall demanded the banishment of Siward on April 28, 1236, but the king refused. In June, Simon de Montfort and other courtiers opposed Siward, who was finally arrested on July 4th. However, through the intercession of the Scottish king, he was released within 14 days and was reinstated into the court of the English king, and he enjoyed the king's favor for the next few years. During the Saintonge War in 1242, Siward served as a Knight Banneret in the Poitou . It was probably around this time that he reconciled himself with Simon de Montfort, whose henchman he became. Nevertheless, he got embroiled in further trouble. His friend Gilbert Basset died in 1241 and his wife Philippa quickly divorced him in the fall of 1242.

Power struggle in Wales and death

Around this time he became embroiled in a dispute between Hywel ap Maredudd , the Welsh Lord of Meisgyn, and Richard de Clare , the Lord of Glamorgan. Richard de Clare, who as Earl of Hertford was one of the most powerful English magnates , had taken over the administration of Glamorgan and its other possessions in Wales again after his long minority. In Glamorgan there was a conflict between Hywel ap Maredudd and Gilbert III de Turberville , the English lord of Coity Castle , from 1242 . Richard de Clare had brokered a truce between his two vassals, but Siward had meanwhile also launched attacks on the Welsh Meisgyn, which bordered to the north on his possessions in Glamorgan. He had to answer to Clare in Cardiff , but there was still no peace between him and his Welsh neighbor, who now attacked English settlements in retaliation. It was not until the end of 1244 that an agreement was finally reached between Siward and Hywel ap Maredudd, who, however, now, with the support of Siward, undertook attacks on Richard de Clare's property. On July 5, 1245 Siward was arrested by Richard de Clare when he was about to attend a court hearing. De Clare offered to prove the legality of his attacks by a duel against Stephen Bauzan , one of his knights, which Siward refused. As a result, Siward had to cede his holdings in Glamorgan as a pledge until he would answer before a court. Siward accused Richard de Clare that he wanted to appropriate his goods, which he had acquired in 1233 or 1234, and refused to participate in the court hearings controlled by Clare's followers. When he repeatedly failed to appear in court, he was ostracized on October 30, 1245 and his property was confiscated. Clare then occupied Meisgyn and sold Hywel ap Maredudd. The dispute led to proceedings before the royal court in 1247, which had still not been decided in July 1248. Siward suffered a severe stroke and probably died in late 1248.

progeny

Siward had a son from his marriage to Philippa, Richard Siward, who was still a minor at his death and grew up in Scotland with King Alexander II. He inherited the Scottish estates on which his descendants lived until 1360. Siward also had an illegitimate son named Daniel, to whom he had given land in Merthyr Mawr in Glamorgan before 1245 .

literature

• David Crouch: The last adventure of Richard Siward . In: Morgannwg, 35 (1991), pp. 7-30, online

Web links

• David Crouch: Siward, Sir Richard (d.1248). 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. ^ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. III - Part 1b: Medieval Secular Monuments the Later Castles from 1217 to the present , Her Maj. Stat. Office, London 2000, ISBN 978-1-871184-22-8 , p. 186
2. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 68