William Latimer, 2nd Baron Latimer

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William Latimer, 2nd Baron Latimer (* around 1276, † February 27, 1327 ) was an English nobleman, military man and administrator.

Origin and advancement as a knight in the service of Edward I.

William Latimer was the eldest son of his father of the same name, William Latimer, 1st Baron Latimer and his wife Alice Ledet . His father was a Yorkshire nobleman who had served Edward I for many years as a knight of the royal household . Like his father, the younger Latimer also served as a knight in the royal household from 1294 onwards. He was knighted in 1294 during the campaign to put down the Welsh uprising . He and his father served in Gascony during the War with France in 1295 and in Scotland during the Scottish War of Independence in 1297. In early 1304 he undertook a Chevauchée to Lothian together with John Seagrave and Robert de Clifford . In March 1304 they defeated a Scottish troop under William Wallace and Simon Fraser . After the death of his father in 1304, Latimer inherited his lands, including estates in Yorkshire and estates in Kent , Bedfordshire and Surrey . In February 1299, while his father was still alive, he had already taken part in a parliament . Until 1326 he was regularly invited to parliaments as Baron Latimer . In 1307 he took part in a campaign to Scotland with 23 soldiers in the entourage of Aymer de Valence .

Knight in the service of Edward II.

After the death of Edward I in 1307, Latimer also served his son and successor Edward II as a knight of the royal household. When numerous barons revolted against the king in 1308, Latimer was one of the king's few supporters. This rewarded him in March 1308 with the administration of Rockingham Castle and the administration of the royal forests between Oxford and Stamford Bridge . Later that year, on behalf of the king, he is said to have led a small force to northern England that attempted to capture Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln , the leader of the aristocratic opposition to the king. On behalf of the king, Latimer traveled abroad in 1309, while from November 1310 to July 1311 he was part of the king's entourage on a campaign to Scotland. He attested to numerous documents from the king in Berwick . Between January 24 and March 24, 1312, he was part of the king's entourage in York when the royal favorite Piers Gaveston returned from exile, contrary to the prohibition of ordinances . This sparked an open nobility revolt, during which Gaveston was pursued by the barons. The king had given Latimer the administration of Scarborough Castle in January 1312 , but Henry Percy refused to hand it over to him. Gaveston took refuge in this castle in April. In May he surrendered to the barons who besieged the castle, but was later executed. Between September 1312 and March 1313, Latimer was again part of the King's entourage at Westminster and Windsor Castle , before he traveled abroad again on behalf of the King in the spring of 1313. In the summer of 1314 he took part in Edward II's campaign to Scotland. He got into Scottish captivity at the Battle of Bannockburn . He was held captive at Bothwell Castle before being released before February 1315 after paying a ransom. In April 1315 the king called him to a council of war in Doncaster . In August the king ordered him to stay in northern England for the winter. In May 1319 Latimer took part in Parliament in York, during which the fruitless campaign to retake Berwick was prepared. Latimer changed on May 15 to the service of Thomas of Lancaster , the king's cousin and leader of the nobility opposition to the king.

In the service of the Earl of Lancaster, final years and death

Only the Earl of Lancaster, England's richest magnate , could reward his vassals as generously as his agreement with Latimer shows. Then Latimer committed himself to support Lancaster with 40 soldiers, including a Knight Banneret and ten other knights next to him . In return, Lancaster gave him the Sedgebrook estate in Lincolnshire for lifelong use. In addition, he received annual income from the estates of Raunds in Northampthonshire and Huntingdon and Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire . In the event of war he was to receive £ 1000 from Lancaster to be able to lead his troops into the field for a year, with the exception of the fact that Latimer should take up arms against the king. To this end, he should serve as an advisor or judge for Lancaster if necessary. Indeed, in 1319 Lancaster paid Latimer £ 250 for his participation in the Berwick campaign. Latimer only needed half the money to pay his soldiers, so he had a profit of over £ 128 on that quarterly payment.

In the summer of 1321 Latimer took part in the meeting of the opposition barons at Sherburn in Elmet , during which Lancaster tried to form an alliance of northern English barons, Marcher Lords and his own vassals against the king and his favorites, especially against Hugh le Despenser the Elder and his son, the younger despenser . According to their obligation, Latimer did not need to take part in a fight against the king, so that he, like other vassals of Lancaster, did not take part in Lancaster's open rebellion against Edward II, which began a little later . Instead, he put up a contingent in Yorkshire against the army of Lancaster on behalf of the king in February 1322. Latimer was one of the leaders of the royal army that defeated Lancaster and the Earl of Hereford on March 16, 1322 in the Battle of Boroughbridge . Lancaster was captured and executed shortly after the battle. Latimer, however, was rewarded by the king with the administration of York in October 1322. In the spring of 1324 he was again a frequent member of the King's entourage at Westminster. The last time he was mentioned on April 11, 1325 as a witness to a royal charter in Beaulieu . After his death he was buried in Guisborough , Yorkshire.

Marriages and offspring

Latimer had married Lucy Thwing , a daughter of Sir Robert Thwing of Danby , Yorkshire , before April 1295 . After her father died, his wife and her sister inherited her father's possessions. With her he had at least one son, but in 1304 a scandal broke out. Latimer had to ask the Sheriff of York to seize his escaped wife and bring her back to his residence in Brunne in Yorkshire. However, Lucy began an affair with Nicholas Meynell of Whorlton Castle . This led to a conflict with Meynell. In 1306, Latimer testified in a York court that Meynell hired three men to try to kill him. Lucy finally turned to Archbishop Thomas of Corbridge of York for the annulment of the marriage. As a reason she gave too close kinship with Latimer, but also his cruelty. The marriage was finally annulled before July 22, 1312, it had previously been agreed that Latimer would receive the goods of Danby and Bozeat for lifelong use from the inheritance of Robert Thwing . Before August 18, 1314 he married without the permission of King Sibill († before 1317). She was a daughter of Sir Richard de Forneaux and the widow of William of Huntingfield . Latimer's heir eventually became his son William Latimer (around 1301-1335) from his marriage to Lucy Thwing.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 150
  2. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 499
  3. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322: a study in the reign of Edward II . Oxford University Press, London 1970, p. 48
  4. ↑ Michael Prestwich: An Everyday Story of Knightly Folk . In: Peter R. Coss: Thirteenth Century England IX: Proceedings of the Durham Conference 2001. Boydell, Woodbridge 2003, ISBN 0-85115-575-8 , p. 154
predecessor Office successor
William Latimer Baron Latimer
1304-1327 		William Latimer
personal data
SURNAME Latimer, William, 2nd Baron Latimer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman, military man and administrator
DATE OF BIRTH around 1276
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1327