Robert FitzWalter

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Coat of arms by Robert FitzWalter

Robert FitzWalter , also Robert Fitzwalter , (* around 1180 - 9 December 1235 ), Lord of Dunmow, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He was one of the leaders of the rebellion against King John Ohneland , which led to the conclusion of the Magna Carta and the First War of the Barons .

origin

Robert FitzWalter came from the Fitzwalter family . He was a son of Walter FitzRobert, Lord of Dunmow in Essex , and of Matilda, a daughter of Richard de Lucy , the justiciar of King Henry II of England . His grandfather Robert had been a younger son of Richard de Bienfaite , making FitzWalter one Sideline belonged to the Clare family and was related to Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford and his son Gilbert . His year of birth is unknown, perhaps he is even Robert Fitzwalter , who is mentioned in 1180 in the entourage of King Henry II at a tournament in Lagny-sur-Marne . After the death of his father in 1198 he inherited his possessions, which included Baynard's Castle in the City of London, the Honor of Dunmow with extensive land holdings with 66 Knight's fee in Essex and northern England. Through his marriage to Gunnora , the daughter and heiress of Robert de Valognes , he increased his property by another 32 Knight's fee, so that he became one of the most powerful barons in England, who was owed to the king with a total of 98 Knight's fee. In addition to his property, however, FitzWalter also ran an extensive wine trade.

Participation in the fighting in Normandy and Poitou

During the conquest of Normandy by France , FitzWalter and his close friend and cousin Saer de Quincy became commanders of the strategically important castle Vaudreuil in eastern Normandy in the spring of 1203 . When the French troops approached, they surrendered the fortress in 1203 without a fight, although they had been supplied with supplies shortly before and the castle crew had received their pay. He was despised by the French for the cowardly surrender, while King John claimed that the castle had been surrendered on his orders in order to cover up the disaster. The captured FitzWalter was imprisoned in the castle of Compiègne and only released against a ransom of 5000 marks . The ransom had been raised by FitzWalter's cousin William d'Aubigné , who had administered his property during the imprisonment, through pledges and also land sales, while the king had contributed nothing to the ransom. In 1204 FitzWalter inherited a portion of the inheritance of his uncle Godfrey de Lucy, Bishop of Winchester , but no doubt he had expected more, since his uncle had been administrator of Ongar in Essex, which fell back to the king. In 1206 FitzWalter took part in the king's campaign in Poitou .

Seal of Robert FitzWalter (imprint from the 20th century)

Rebel against the king

In 1210 FitzWalter had accompanied the king on his expedition to Ireland and testified the indictment against the renegade Baron William de Braose . The exact reasons why FitzWalters became a bitter opponent of King Johann are explained in different ways. Roger von Wendover cites a dispute with the Abbot of St Albans over the priory of Binham as the cause. Among other quarrels, the abbot would have appointed a new prior without asking FitzWalter, who at the time was on the campaign in Ireland but claimed rights to the priory. After his return from Ireland, FitzWalter would have besieged Binham, whereupon the king would have decided in the dispute in favor of the abbey. According to another version, the king would have wanted to seduce FitzWalter's daughter Matilda, and according to a third version, the king FitzWalter's son-in-law Geoffrey Fitz would have wanted to hang Geoffrey de Mandeville for the murder of a nobleman, from which only FitzWalter's threats could dissuade him. Ultimately, no single cause can be found that explains FitzWalter's opposition. A dispute with the king over part of his mother's inheritance in 1210 certainly only exacerbated the conflict.

Allegedly, FitzWalter wanted together with Eustace de Vesci to kill King John during his planned campaign to Wales in 1212 or to hand him over to the Welsh. However, the conspiracy was betrayed to the king on August 16, and FitzWalter had to flee into exile with de Vesci. FitzWalter and nine of his followers were ostracized by a royal court in Essex, the king occupied his estates and in January 1213 he destroyed two of FitzWalter's castles, Benington Castle in Hertfordshire and Castle Baynard in London. FitzWalter had fled to France, where his brother, Archdeacon William FitzWalter of Hereford , who had fled with him, made contact with Bishops Giles de Braose of Hereford and Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury, who were also in exile in France . FitzWalter presented himself as a martyr who could no longer serve the excommunicated king. This enabled him and de Vesci to make their return and the restitution of their possessions in 1213 a condition for lifting the excommunication of the king. Therefore, on February 27, 1213, the King granted FitzWalter and Vescy safe conduct, and on July 19, FitzWalter received his possessions back while his imprisoned followers were released. The king tried in November 1213 to get FitzWalter back on his side. He commissioned his officials to estimate the losses incurred during FitzWalter's exile and affirmed the legacy of FitzWalter's son-in-law Geoffrey de Mandeville . Nevertheless, FitzWalter and other barons refused to take part in King John's planned campaign to France, as his feudal obligation would not include fighting for the king's possessions in far-away Poitou . The king now ordered his legal advisor, Peter des Roches , not to have Fitzwalter's sister elected as the new abbess of Barking Abbey , and in June 1214 he also instructed William Marshal that FitzWalter's candidate should not be allowed to run for abbot of St. Edmund's abbey . When the king returned from his failed campaign at the end of 1214 , FitzWalter was again one of the leaders of the rebellious nobles who rebelled against the king's collection of shield money .

King John signs the Magna Carta (historical illustration from 1868)

Leader of the rebels and completion of the Magna Carta

Whether Fitzwalter was one of the barons in Bury St Edmunds who requested confirmation of King Henry I's Charter of Liberties in November 1214 is doubtful, since he was in London two days later. In January 1215 he was one of the barons who submitted their complaints and a demand for the charter to the king. When the king delayed the promised answer to the demands of the barons at the end of April, FitzWalter and other barons went into open rebellion. They united their armed forces and on May 5, 1215 canceled their oath of allegiance to the king. The rebels elected FitzWalter as their leader, and he assumed the title Marshal of the Army of God , which can be seen in response to Johann's crusade vows of March 4th. Together with Geoffrey de Mandeville, he besieged Northampton Castle for two weeks in vain , with FitzWalter's standard bearer being killed in a futile attack. On May 12, the king ordered the occupation of the lands of FitzWalter and other rebels. However, the rebels received a large number of people through the coup-like occupation of London. This success was undoubtedly largely due to FitzWalter, who not least had good relationships with London merchants through his wine trade, but as Lord of Baynard's Castle was also the protector of the city, hereditary standard bearer and leader of the city militia. After looting the houses of supporters of the king, he and Geoffrey de Mandeville had the city walls reinforced, tearing down the houses of the Jews in order to extract material.

The king was now forced to negotiate. As the leader of the rebels, FitzWalter was one of the 25 barons named in the Magna Carta to oversee regulations. In a contract of his own, presumably signed on June 19, the king gave him the management of Hertford Castle , which he had long claimed as his wife's heir. Nevertheless, he continued to distrust the king and remained the leader of the insurgents who were occupying the City of London on the pretext that not all the requirements of the Magna Carta had been met. In August the barons tried to take control of several counties and FitzWalter was to try to do so in Northamptonshire . Open civil war broke out in early September and on September 17th King Henry ordered FitzCount to occupy FitzWalter's holdings in Cornwall.

Role in the First War of the Barons

During the armed conflict with the king that followed, FitzWalter holed up with his armed forces in London. Through an advance to Kent he was able to occupy Rochester Castle , where he left William d'Aubigny with a strong garrison. FitzWalter had promised d'Aubigny that he would be relieved in the event of a siege, but on October 12 he had to give up the defense of the bridge over the Medway against the royal mercenary forces and retreat to London. With 700 knights he advanced back to Rochester on October 26th, but learned at Dartford that they were being met by superior royal troops. He withdrew with his troops back to London, whereupon the castle was conquered on November 30, 1215.

At the beginning of 1216, FitzWalter traveled to France with Saer de Quincy to offer the English crown to the French Prince Louis . Following the Prince's arrival in London on June 3, FitzWalter and Mayor William Hardel led the barons and burghers who paid homage to Louis as the new King at St Paul's Cathedral . While Prince Ludwig conquered Kent and Sussex in June , FitzWalter, along with William de Mandeville and William de Huntingfield , subjugated Essex and Suffolk .

Even after the death of King Johann in October 1216, FitzWalter remained on Prince Ludwig's side. In April 1217 he was to relieve the beleaguered Mountsorrel Castle , a castle of Saer de Quincy, as the leader of a strong French force . The siege army withdrew to Lincoln , whereupon FitzWalter followed them. To relieve the besieged Lincoln Castle , a royal relief army appeared on May 20 under William Marshal . In the following Battle of Lincoln , FitzWalter was captured along with his son Robert. He remained in captivity with William de Forz and was only released after the Peace of Lambeth , which ended the war of the barons. Due to the amnesty of the regent William Marshal, he only had to pay a small ransom and got his possessions back. He was released on October 8, 1217. From late October to early November 1217 he attended a large council meeting in Westminster , during which, like other earlier rebels, he met the new King Henry III. paid homage and swore allegiance to him.

Crusade and Later Life

In January 1218, FitzWalter vouched with other barons for the freed John de Braose and his brother. In July he became the guardian of his nephew Walter Fitzsimon and testified to the agreement that no new charter or letter patent may be sealed with the Great Seal until the king comes of age . In November 1218 he again took part in a large council meeting with Archbishop Langton and other former rebels, which further reconciled the two formerly warring camps. In 1219 FitzWalter took part in the fifth crusade together with his old comrade in arms Saer de Quincy . In July 1219 they reached Damiette , where they reinforced the siege troops. Quincy died on November 3, shortly before the city was conquered, and FitzWalter returned from the crusade prematurely, probably in 1220, due to illness.

FitzWalter took an active part in political life in England until his death. He was clearly reconciled and loyal to the king. After the siege of Castle Bytham in January 1221, he vouched for the rebellious William Forz, who had captured him in 1217 and eventually surrendered to the royal troops. In September and October 1223 vassals of FitzWalter took part in the campaign to Montgomery against the Welsh prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth . In December 1223 he supported the king and legal counsel Hubert de Burgh against the Earl of Chester , Falkes de Bréauté and other renegade castellans who opposed the return of royal castles. On February 11, 1225, he testified to the renewed recognition of the Magna Carta by King Henry III.

He was buried in Dunmow Priory .

The former priory church of Little Dunmow, where FitzWalter was buried

Family and offspring

From his first marriage to Gunnora , a daughter of Robert de Valognes, FitzWalter had three children:

After Gunnora's death he married Rohese after 1207 , with whom he had at least one other child:

  • Walter († 1258)

Since his eldest son Robert had died before him without male descendants, his underage son Walter from his second marriage became his heir, and his descendants received the title of Baron FitzWalter . His daughter Christina, daughter from his first marriage and wife of William de Mandeville, inherited the estates of her mother Gunnora de Valognes.

In exile in France, FitzWalter is said to have justified the conspiracy of 1212 with an attempted seduction of his daughter Matilda by the king. This story was further embellished in later chronicles. According to this, the king is said to have poisoned Matilda after she was rejected. In his Robin Hood plays, published around 1600, the writer Anthony Munday equated the figure of Maid Marian with FitzWalter's daughter Matilda, who died in 1212.

rating

FitzWalter was judged negatively by medieval chroniclers. The French King Philip II described FitzWalter to William Marshal as a torch that was used and then thrown into the cesspool. Historian Wilfred Warren called him disreputable and vicious. Because of his contentiousness, he was only accepted as the leader of the barons by his peers because of his wealth, extensive relatives and his aggressiveness. Ultimately, he was a simple noble rough leg who only wanted to see the blood of the king. Nigel Saul accuses him of having used the political dispute to assert personal interests. On the other hand, he was unshakable in his opposition to the king, and his advocacy of the underage Henry III. and his participation in the crusade put his later life in a more favorable light.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 230
  2. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 86
  3. ↑ John T. Appelby: John "Ohneland" King of England . Riederer, Stuttgart 1958, p. 107
  4. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 200
  5. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 202
  6. ^ University of Rochester: Teams Middle English Texts; Introduction to the Munday Plays. Retrieved January 8, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 231
  8. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 230
  9. ↑ Magna Carta 800th Anniversary: ​​Robert Fitzwalter. Retrieved January 8, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Robert FitzWalter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robert Fitzwalter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-Norman nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1180
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1235