Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby

Coat of arms of Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby

Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby KG (* around 1385 - † July 25, 1452 ) was an English nobleman and military man.

Life

Since Robert Willoughby was 24 years old when his father, William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby de Eresby , died 1409, he must have been born around 1385. His mother was Lucy Lestrange, the daughter of the 5th Baron Strange of Knockin , who died in 1388, so that Robert grew up without a mother, as his father only remarried between 1402 and 1404. He died on July 25, 1452 and was buried in Mettingham, Suffolk . Since he had no sons, his barony passed to his only daughter Joan as the 7th Baroness of Willoughby de Eresby.

Military career

Robert Willoughby served his king in the military for most of his life. Although he also exercised his political rights as a hereditary member of the English House of Lords , for he took part in the deliberations and sessions of Parliament from September 21, 1411 to September 5, 1450, the focus of his life was on the completion of military tasks, especially in France, with which England was in the Hundred Years War . At the beginning of his military career he accompanied the Duke of Clarence in 1412/13 on his expedition to Normandy and Bordeaux in a rather subordinate position. Back in England, he was appointed one of the judges over the Earl of Cambridge and Henry Srcope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham , who had conspired against King Henry V. After the trial was over, he embarked with Heinrich for France and took part in the Battle of Azincourt , which was victorious for England on October 25, 1415 .

After the death of his relatives Isabel, the widow of the 2nd Earl of Suffolk on September 29, 1416, he inherited the Castle and the city of Orford , as well as the estates of Parham and Ufford in Suffolk. As a reward for his services at the Battle of Agincourt and because he was one of the richest vassals of the king, he took this in 1417 in the Order of the Garter on. In the same year he went back to France and served his king as a troop leader for many years. He was present at the siege of Caen in August 1417 and was rewarded by Heinrich with a pension of 100 pounds a year. He also participated in the siege of Rouen as a representative of the commander-in-chief, the Duke of Exeter, then, after the surrender of Rouen, he besieged Melun from July to November 1420 and from October 1421 to May 1422 Meaux . He also took part in the relief of Cravant and served under the regent, the Duke of Bedford , at the surrender of Ivry and at the Battle of Vernieul on August 17, 1424. For all these valuable services, the regent rewarded him princely. He appointed him Count of Beaumont sur Oise and on September 20, 1430 Count (Comte) of the Vendôme . With the Earl of Salisbury, he besieged the city of Le Mans and took it.

In between he had been sent to Scotland to remind the Scots of their commitment to loyalty. Then he was the companion of the Cardinal of England, Henry Beaufort , on his crusade against the heretical Bohemians ( Hussites ).

Back in Normandy, he was defeated by the French at Vivoin and forced to abandon the siege of St. Ceneri (July / August 1431). But the fortunes of war soon turned again: he besieged St. Valery and conquered it in August 1433, then Bayeux and after a two-month siege with Lord Scales also Saint-Denis (October 1435). He was then appointed commander of Paris. The following year he had to withdraw to the Bastille due to a lack of supplies and surrender to the French on April 17, 1437.

After his release from French custody, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land . On his return he returned to England and was appointed Master of the Kings Hart Hounds by the king in 1441. In 1444 he was in France again to accompany Margaret of Anjou to England. Then he died in 1452.

literature

• GL Harriss: Willoughby, Robert (III), sixth Baron Willoughby (1385-1452). 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 January 2008

Web links

• Robert de Willoughby, 6th Lord Willoughby de Eresby on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Alan Sutton: The Complete Peerage Vol. XII., 1982, p. 663.
2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 9.

predecessor	Office	successor
William Willoughby	Baron Willoughby de Eresby 1409-1452	Joan Willoughby