Robert of Thornham
Robert of Thornham (also Robert of Turnham or de Turnham ) († April 26, 1211 ) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and military.
Life
Origin and participation in the Third Crusade
Robert was a younger son of Robert de Turnham , the builder of Thurnham Castle and founder of Combwell Priory in Kent , and brother of Stephen de Turnham . Like his brother, he took part in King Richard's Third Crusade the Lionheart and was one of the commanders of the royal fleet during the voyage to the Holy Land . In May 1191, during the conquest of Cyprus, he was in command of half the fleet and led an attack on the enemy fleet. When the king after the successful conquest of Acre traveled on, Robert was with Richard de Camville as Justiciar the island back. However, De Camville died shortly afterwards, so that Robert as sole administrator of the island had to put down a rebellion of the local population. Cyprus was finally sold to Guido von Lusignan in 1192 . In April 1193 Robert returned to England with the armor and weapons of Richard the Lionheart.
Follower of Richard the Lionheart
At the beginning of 1194 Robert Richard's mother accompanied Eleanor of Aquitaine to Germany. He was one of the hostages who remained in Germany for the release of Richard until Richard's ransom was paid in full. After his release he became Sheriff of Surrey in 1194 , and in thanks the King in 1195 allowed him to marry Joan , the underage daughter and heiress of William Fossard, Lord of Mulgres . Through this marriage he acquired the extensive holdings of the Fossards, which included Mulgrave and Doncaster . In 1195 the king appointed him Seneschal of Anjou . In 1196 he invaded Brittany with a force and tried in vain to capture Richard's nephew Arthur . During the war with the French king in 1197 he commanded Richard the Lionheart's troops in Anjou.
Follower of Johann Ohneland
After the death of Richard the Lionheart in April 1199, he handed over the castles Chinon and Saumur with the throne to Richard's brother Johann Ohneland . In June 1199 he was replaced as Seneschal by Aimery de Thouars , and Robert became part of the new king's entourage. In June 1200 was with the king in Normandy and on November 22nd in Lincoln , where the Scottish King William the Lion paid homage to John Ohneland for his English possessions. In the autumn of 1201, after the death of Geoffrey de Celle, King appointed Robert Seneschal des Poitou , where he had to fight against the Lusignans, who rebelled against King John, and from the end of 1202 against Aimery de Thouars and Guillaume des Roches , who sided with King Philip II. Had changed from France. In 1203 Robert besieged Angers , the capital of Anjou, in vain . Despite his experience, after the conquest of Normandy during the war with France, he could not prevent the conquest of most of the Poitou by the French king Philip II. At the end of 1204 he was captured during an attempt at relief from the besieged Chinon Castle, which is why Savary de Mauléon was appointed as his successor as Seneschal. After the ransom was paid for him in late 1205, he was released and returned to England in 1206. In October 1206 he accompanied King John during his campaign in the Poitou and conquered Angers. In 1207 he was again Sheriff of Surrey. From 1207 to 1208 he was again Seneschal of Poitou and Gascony . In April 1207 he was in La Rochelle , in October he returned to England, in order to sail again with supplies to south-west France at the end of the year or beginning of 1208. In December 1208 he returned to England. There he administered the occupied temporalities of the Archdiocese of Canterbury after the Pope had imposed the interdict on England. As a supporter of the excommunicated king, he was named by medieval chroniclers as one of the king's poor advisers .
Family and offspring
In September 1197 Robert married his fiancée Joan. With her he had a daughter, Isabella, who became his heir. Isabella married his friend Peter de Maulay after his death .
literature
- Charles Lethbridge Kingsford: Turnham, Robert de (d. 1211) , in: Dictionary of National Biography . Volume LVII . Macmillan, Smith, Elder & Co., London and New York 1899
Web links
- Henry Summerson: Thornham, Robert of (d.1211). 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
- ^ John T. Appleby: Johann "Ohneland". King of England . Riederer, Stuttgart 1965, p. 62
- ^ Doncaster History: The Lords of Doncaster. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 4, 2015 ; accessed on March 20, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 102
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Robert of Thornham |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Robert of Turnham; Robert de Turnham |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Anglo-Norman nobleman and military |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 12th Century |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 1211 |