Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saers de Quincy coat of arms

Saer de Quincy (also Saher de Quency ) († November 3, 1219 before Damiette ) was an English magnate . He belonged to the aristocratic opposition that forced King John Ohneland to recognize the Magna Carta in 1215. As a holder of high state offices and as a royal judge, Saer was considered one of the most capable and experienced administrators in the ranks of the aristocratic opposition. He made a significant contribution to the negotiations that led to the conclusion of the Magna Carta.

origin

Saer was a son of Robert de Quincy († 1197) and his wife Orabilis , a daughter of the Scottish nobleman Ness, Lord of Leuchars from Fife . The Quincy family were located in Northamptonshire and related to the Scottish royalty. Through this relationship, the family also held estates in the Scottish counties of Fife , Perth and Lothian . Saer is not to be confused with his uncle of the same name Saer († 1190), who is mentioned from the 1160s, in the 1180s Henry II in Normandy , among other things served as castellan of Nonancourt from 1180 to 1184 and died in 1190, and his son of the same name, Saer , who acquired extensive land in England. Saer, a cousin of Saer de Quincy, probably died childless before 1192. His possessions in England fell to his uncle Robert.

Follower of the Scottish king and fights in France for the English kings

Not many details are known of Quincy's life prior to 1190. A member of an Anglo-Norman family with strong Scottish ties, he spent much of his life in Scotland. In the 1180s and 1190s he attested to numerous documents from the Scottish King William I , and also confirmed the donations made by his parents in favor of Newbattle Abbey near Edinburgh . He himself made donations to Dunfermline and Cambuskenneth Abbey . Around 1190 he married Margaret de Beaumont († 1235), a daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester . When his father inherited the lands of his cousin Saer in England, Quincy took over the management of these estates and entered the service of the English King Richard the Lionheart . In the battles for the Angevin Empire , he fought in 1197 and 1198 in the king's army in Normandy and France. After Richard's death in April 1199, Quincy recognized the succession of his younger brother Johann Ohneland and entered his service. In October 1200 he was part of the escort that brought the Scottish King William I to Lincoln , where he paid homage to the English king on November 22nd for his possessions in England. At the beginning of the new Franco-English War , Quincy returned to Normandy with the royal army in 1202. Johann Ohneland appointed him together with his cousin Robert FitzWalter as castellan of the strategically important Vaudreuil castle in eastern Normandy in the spring of 1203 . When a French army approached, however, they surrendered the fortress a little later without a fight, although they had been supplied with supplies a short time before and the castle crew had received their pay. For the cowardly handover, FitzWalter and Quincy were despised by the French, while the angry Johann Ohneland refused to partake in the ransom demanded for their release. The reasons for the surrender without a fight are unclear, but there are indications that Quincy had formed a brotherhood in arms with FitzWalter. His coat of arms showed, before he was made Earl, a small shield with FitzWalter's coat of arms, while the preserved seal shows the coat of arms that Quincy later carried as Earl of Winchester.

Rise under King Johann

When Quincy's brother-in-law Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester , died childless in 1204 , his wife Margaret and her sister Amice became the heir to the Beaumont estates in England. Since Simon de Montfort , Amice's first husband, had already died, Quincy was appointed administrator of the lands until the inheritance was divided. In addition, he seems to have temporarily taken over the office of High Steward of England, which was connected with the title of Earl of Leicester . In 1207 the inheritance was finally divided. Quincy's wife Margaret received extensive estates in the Midlands , while Simon de Montfort , Amice's eldest son, inherited the remaining estates in England as well as the title of Earl of Leicester and the office of high steward. In recognition of its increased importance, Quincy was promoted to Earl of Winchester . From this time on he again served King John frequently. When there was a serious political crisis between Scotland and England in the spring of 1209, Quincy was one of the ambassadors of the English king who met the Scottish King William in Edinburgh . The crisis was finally resolved in August by the Norham Treaty. In Scotland, Quincy was probably able to settle his long-running dispute with the cathedral priory of St Andrews over the patronage of the Church of Leuchars , in any case he visited his property Leuchars Castle in Scotland in April 1209 . In the summer of 1210 he accompanied King John on his campaign to Ireland , and possibly he was the actual commander of an English armed force which, under the nominal supreme command of the Scottish heir to the throne Alexander, put down the rebellion of Guthred Macwilliam in Ross-shire against the Scottish king in 1211 and 1212 . In March 1212 he was again leader of an English embassy in Scotland. By this time Quincy had reached the peak of his career. He served as a royal judge from 1211 to 1214, was the auditor of the treasury in 1212 and in the same year the king's envoy to Emperor Otto IV , a nephew of John, from whom he asked for support for John's policy towards France and Pope Innocent III. advertised. In view of the tense situation in England due to the excommunication of the king, however, Johann had to give in to the Pope. In May 1213, Quincy was one of the barons who testified how the king submitted to the papal legate at Dover and offered his kingdom to the pope as a fief .

Member of the nobility opposition to the king

Despite this apparent familiarity with the king, Quincy had unresolved complaints about the king. The main reason for this was possessions which he unsuccessfully claimed as inheritance from his wife. These included Mountsorrel Castle in Leicestershire, which was claimed by the king. Quincy therefore had contacts with the aristocratic opposition in northern England at an early age, but at the beginning of March 1215 he took a vow of crusade with the king . He then traveled to Scotland to see King Alexander II, whom many of his barons urged to intervene in the face of the crisis in England. Before the end of April, Quincy met and openly joined representatives of the aristocratic opposition at his main residence at Brackley in Northants . Together with them he moved to London to take part in the King’s recognition of the Magna Carta in Runnymede in June . Subsequently, he was elected one of the 25 barons who were to oversee the king's compliance with the provisions of the Magna Carta. When the barons waged an open war against the king in October 1215 , Quincy, like numerous other rebels, was excommunicated by the Pope. At the end of 1215 he led, together with Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford, an embassy of the rebels to France, where they asked for support and offered the English crown to the French Prince Louis . In January 1216 he returned to England with the first advance detachment of French knights, followed in May by Prince Ludwig with his army.

Even after the death of King Johann and the succession of his young son Heinrich III. in October 1216, Quincy continued to support Prince Ludwig. When he learned in the spring of 1217 that his rival Ranulf de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester , was besieging Mountsorrel Castle , he led a relief army to the castle together with his friend Robert FitzWalter and the French Count Thomas von Perche . The royal troops broke off the siege before arriving, and Quincy, FitzWalter and Perche turned to Lincoln to attack Lincoln Castle , which was held by royal troops . There their army suffered a decisive defeat in the Battle of Lincoln on May 20 , whereby Quincy was captured. Only after the victory of the supporters of King Henry III. and the Peace of Lambeth he was released in September 1217. He was pardoned, his lands returned, and in November in Westminster he testified that the Regency Council recognized the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest . He had to forego his claims to Mountsorrel. In return, however, he was awarded Chesterton , to which he had also made claims. In March 1218 he testified in Worcester the peace agreement with the Welsh prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth , who had supported the rebels during the War of the Barons.

Participation in the crusade and death

From the end of December 1218, Quincy equipped a ship in Galloway to set out on the Damiette crusade . In the spring of 1219 he set off for the Holy Land with his son Roger, Robert FitzWalter and William d'Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel . Shortly after arriving in front of Damiette in Egypt, besieged by the Crusaders, Quincy fell ill and died. According to his last will, he was buried in Acre . Only the ashes of his entrails were transferred to England and buried in Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire, of which he was the patron and that he had supported with donations.

Descendants and inheritance

From his marriage to Margaret de Beaumont he had five sons and three daughters, including:

Quincy had been one of the most important landowners in England and Scotland. On his death he left estates in eleven English and three Scottish counties. He was known for his generous donations to several English and Scottish monasteries. His eldest son Robert had died in 1217 , leaving behind an underage daughter, Margaret , who after the death of her grandfather was passed on to Quincy's second eldest son, Roger , her uncle. He paid homage to the king for his inheritance in 1221, but was only made Earl of Winchester after the death of his mother in 1235.

Web links

Commons : Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nigel Saul: Saer de Quincy (Magna Carta 800th). Retrieved November 30, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978. ISBN 0-520-03610-7 , p. 230.
  3. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 242.
  4. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 250.
predecessor Office successor
New title created Earl of Winchester
1207-1219 		Roger de Quincy
personal data
SURNAME De Quincy, Saer, 1st Earl of Winchester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Winchester, Saer de Qincy 1st Earl of; Quency, Saher de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English magnate
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1219
Place of death Damiette