Robert de Umfraville, 8th Earl of Angus

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Robert de Umfraville, 8th Earl of Angus (* around 1277 - † March 1325 ) was an English - Scottish nobleman.

origin

Robert Umfraville came from the Anglo-Scottish Umfraville family . He was the second son of Gilbert de Umfraville, 7th Earl of Angus and his wife Elizabeth Comyn . After the death of his older brother Gilbert in 1303, he became his father's heir. When he died in 1307, Robert inherited his possessions in England and Scotland, the Scottish title of Earl of Angus and the English title of Baron Umfraville .

Military service in the Scottish War of Independence

During the Scottish War of Independence , Umfraville rejected the rebellion of Robert Bruce , who had risen to become King of the Scots in 1306. Instead, like his father, he was a loyal and determined supporter of the English crown, which claimed supremacy over Scotland. The English King Edward II entrusted Umfraville with responsible offices. In 1308 he became governor of Scotland and in 1310 defender of the Scottish Marches . Nevertheless, Umfraville could not prevent the Scots under Bruce from gradually pushing back the English positions. Between 1307 and 1313 he was a regular member of delegations that had to negotiate armistices with the Scots. It is believed that Umfraville was able to hold the royal Dundee Castle, administered by his family, until 1312 before it was conquered by Robert the Bruce. Like other nobles who had lost their possessions in Scotland, Umfraville supported the Lords Ordainer , who criticized Edward II's warfare in Scotland and in 1311 implemented a reform program, the so-called Ordinances . In 1314 Umfraville took part in the campaign of King Edward II to Scotland and fought in the Battle of Bannockburn . After the English defeat, he fled the battlefield with a group of horsemen under the Earl of Hereford . They sought refuge in Bothwell Castle , but the commandant of the castle, a native of Scots named Walter Fitz Gilbert , changed sides after the British defeat, captured the fugitives and handed them over to the Scottish king. Robert Bruce confiscated Umfraville's Scottish possessions and in November 1314 had his Scottish title forfeited by a parliament in Cambuskenneth Abbey . Most of his possessions were given to Sir Alexander Stewart of Bonkle , whose son John Stewart was later made Earl of Angus. Umfraville was released more than a year after paying a ransom.

Another service for the English king

After his release, the English king took him into his household as Knight Banneret , after which Umfraville returned to the Scottish border as a military man. Between 1309 and 1318 he was repeatedly invited to the English parliaments . In England, Umfraville was part of the retinue of Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster . He paid him 100 marks for his services in 1318 or 1319 , and in return Umfraville served Lancaster at least once with an entourage of twenty men-at-arms . In 1319 he took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berwick by Edward II. After the siege failed in September, the king and Sir John Cromwell commissioned him to defend the Scottish Marches until midsummer 1320 . In addition to his own entourage of 30 men-at-arms, Umfraville had a further 140 men-at-arms paid for by the king. As a follower of Lancaster, Umfraville took part in the meeting of northern English barons with the rebellious Marcher Lords in Sherburn-in-Elmet in June 1321 , in which Lancaster tried to achieve an alliance between the groups. When Lancaster himself rebelled against the king a little later, however, Umfraville obviously changed sides. In March 1322 he is said to have been one of the seven judges who sentenced the captured Lancaster to death for high treason. In the same year he took part in the unsuccessful campaign of the king in Scotland .

Family and offspring

Umfraville was married twice. In his first marriage he had married Lucy Kyme , a daughter of Philip Kyme, 1st Baron Kyme . Through marriage he acquired extensive estates in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire . He had two children with his first wife:

His second marriage was Eleanor , who may have been related to the Clare family. With her he had two sons:

Umfraville was not buried in the family chapel in Hexham Priory , but in the Cistercian Abbey of Newminster .

literature

  • James Balfour Paul (Ed.): The Scots Peerage . tape 1 . David Douglas, Edinburgh 1904, Umfraville, Earl of Angus , p. 167 f . ( online at www.archive.org [accessed September 1, 2014]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 126.
  2. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 154.
  3. ^ Nicholas Harris Nicolas: A Synopsis of the Peerage of England. Volume 2, London 1825, p. 655.
  4. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 56.
  5. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 251.
  6. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 274.
  7. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 312.
  8. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 238.
predecessor Office successor
Gilbert de Umfraville Earl of Angus
1307-1314 		Title forfeited
Gilbert de Umfraville Baron Umfraville
1307-1325 		Gilbert de Umfraville
personal data
SURNAME Robert de Umfraville, 8th Earl of Angus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1277
DATE OF DEATH March 1325