Roger Beler

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Sir Roger Beler (also Belers ) († January 19, 1326 in Rearsby ) was an English knight who served as a royal judge and official.

origin

Roger Beler came from a smaller gentry family . He was a son of William Beler and his wife Amice . His grandfather, Roger Beler , had served as Lincolnshire Sheriff from 1255 to 1256 . Nothing is known about his education or early career.

Follower of the Earl of Lancaster and serving as judge

Beler was a retainer of Earl Thomas of Lancaster , who named him as his representative during Parliament in York in October 1318 . In doing so, he achieved that according to the Treaty of Leake, his employer and his followers, including himself, were pardoned by the king for offenses. In the spring of 1319 he served as administrator of Lancaster at Stapleford in Leicestershire and other estates. In December 1318 he was also serving as a judge for the crown. He continued to serve as a judge for the next several years. Among other things, he checked the administration of royal officials and occasionally served as an assistant judge .

Acting as administrator of confiscated property in Lancaster

Apparently before Lancaster openly rebelled against King Edward II from 1321 , Beler resigned from his service. Beler was considered a traitor by some contemporary chroniclers, but while Lancaster was defeated, captured and executed as a traitor in 1322, Beler profited from the fall of Lancaster. In June 1321 he had been relieved of considerable debts to the Crown, and after the execution of Lancaster he took over the administration of the extensive Lancaster estates in Staffordshire , Derbyshire and Leicestershire for almost two months from March to May 1322 , in addition he confiscated properties from other rebels. Although he later had to hand over these goods to other administrators appointed by the king, Beler seems to have enriched himself considerably during this time. Until July 1323 he had great power and influence as administrator. In addition to managing the estates and collecting the income from them, he was also responsible for prisoners who were held as possible supporters of Lancaster. The new owners, to whom the king then assigned the goods, could hardly control Beler's activities. As early as 1321 he had worked as a moneylender, but in 1324 he was able to lend a handsome sum of £ 300.

Activity in the treasury and murder

The king gave part of the property of Lancaster to his favorite Hugh le Despenser , with whom Beler worked closely. This cooperation was further rewarded. On July 20, 1322, Beler was appointed Baron of the Exchequer , a senior Treasury official, and Despenser appointed him his lawyer a day later. Both as Baron of the Exchequer and as a judge, Beler now clearly favored Despenser, from whom he even took instructions. Beler quickly gained in importance as an official of the Treasury. In early 1324 he planned to reform the treasury and divide it into an authority for northern and one for southern England. He wanted to take over the administration of the richer southern England, while Walter Norwich should take over the administration of the poorer counties north of the River Trent . Both Treasurer Walter Stapeldon and Walter Norwich rejected this division, the usefulness of which was doubtful. Because of this resistance, the division was only implemented in June 1324. Beler's career was ended abruptly by his murder in Leicestershire, in which the brothers Eustace , Robert and Walter de Folville and Ralph la Zouche were involved. The crime was never fully solved. Beler was unpopular with his neighbors in Leicestershire because of his betrayal of Lancaster and his work as a steward, but he may also have been the victim of a feud involving members of the Zouche and Folville families . Perhaps he was also murdered as a supporter of the unpopular Despenser. The government prosecuted the murder severely and confiscated the properties of the families involved in the feud, although their relatives were mostly able to flee to Wales or abroad.

heritage

Beler had used his wealth to expand his land holdings. As early as 1317 he had begun to expand his holdings at Kirby Bellars in Leicestershire. From 1323 he was able to expand his property significantly, so that at his death he owned nine estates and other land holdings in a total of six counties. The focus of his possessions remained in Leicestershire. With his wife Alice, Beler had at least two sons, Roger and Thomas. During his lifetime he had made a foundation for the church in Kirby Bellars, Leicestershire.

In autumn 1326 the reign of Edward II and his favorite Hugh le Despenser was overthrown. One of the first measures taken by the new government was to pardon the Zouche and Folville families. The division of the treasury was reversed.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 229
  2. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 444
  3. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 103
  4. ^ ELG Stones: The Folvilles of Ashby-Folville, Leicestershire, and their associates in crime . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 7 (1957), p. 119
  5. ^ L. Fox: Ministers accounts of the honor of Leicester (1322 to 1324) . In: Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society , 19 (1936-7), p. 206
personal data
SURNAME Beler, Roger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beler, Sir Roger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English judge and civil servant
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1326
Place of death Rearsby