William d'Aubigné

Coat of arms of William d'Aubigné

William d'Aubigné (also William d'Albini or Aubigny ), Lord of Belvoir (* around 1146 or around 1151; † May 1 or May 6, 1236 in Uffington ) was an English nobleman and rebel. He belonged to the aristocratic opposition that forced King John Ohneland to recognize the Magna Carta .

origin

William d'Aubigné III was the eldest son of his father of the same name, William d'Albini II and of Maud (or Matilda) de Senlis, a daughter of Robert de Clare. His family is often confused with the family of the same name d ' Aubigny of Buckenham Castle in Norfolk, who later became the Earls of Arundel. His grandfather William d'Aubigné Brito († around 1148) came to England from Saint-Aubin-d'Aubigné in Brittany at the beginning of the 12th century and married Cecilia, the heiress of Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire .

Followers of Heinrich II. And Richard the Lionheart

Aubigné was still a minor when his father died in 1167 or 1168, so the Honor of Belvoir remained under royal administration until 1172. His mother had probably married immediately after the death of his father Richard de Luvetot, who managed Belvoir until 1170 on behalf of the king. In 1172 Aubigné came of age and took over his inheritance, which included extensive lands with 33 knights' fee , especially in the eastern and northern Midlands with Belvoir Castle as the center. The young Lord of Belvoir was a loyal supporter of King Henry II and is mentioned as a witness in a number of documents in England and Normandy . From 1190 to 1193 he served King Richard the Lionheart as constable of Peveril Castle . In 1194 Aubigné traveled to Speyer to escort Richard the Lionheart to England after he was released from captivity in Germany. Richard rewarded him for his support against the rebellion of Richard's brother Johann Ohneland with lands that had been taken from the rebel Roger de Montbegon . From 1195 to 1198 he served as sheriff of Rutland , from 1196 to 1198 as sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire and from 1197 to 1199 as sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire , in addition he served as royal judge from the 1190s.

Service under Johann Ohneland

At the beginning of the reign of Johann Ohneland, Aubigné supported the tax collection in Gloucester and Bristol . As an experienced and loyal official and vassal , he was highly favored by the king. In 1201, however, he belonged to a group of barons who objected to John's demands for military service in Normandy that this service abroad was not part of their vassal duties. The king then required one of his sons to live hostage at the royal court, and William remained a loyal supporter of the king for the next several years. Despite his objections, he sent knights to take part in the battles for Normandy . In 1208 he served again as judge, and from 1211 to 1212 he was royal administrator of the ports of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire . In contrast to many other barons, he was not in debt to the king and had paid all the fees that he was supposed to pay the king by 1210. In February 1213 he was a member of a commission to investigate tax evasion in northern England.

Switch to the opponents of the king

In 1210, Aubigné was a witness when the king accused his previous favorite William de Braose and drove him into exile without conviction. He belonged to the army with which the king followed the fugitive Braose to Ireland. There, the king's family fell into the hands of the king, who he starved to death in prison, while Braose was able to flee to France. Although Aubigné was initially still loyal to the king, he realized how arbitrarily he had acted against his previous favorite. Since he was also related to a number of northern English barons who opposed the king, he judged the actions of John increasingly critical. Robert FitzWalter , who became the leader of the emerging aristocratic opposition, was his cousin, while Robert de Ros was his nephew. Nicholas de Stuteville , the baron most in debt to the king, was his vassal. When the City of London went over to the rebels in May 1215 , Aubigné also joined the aristocratic opposition to John, albeit reluctantly. Because of his experience and rank, he was elected in June to one of the 25 barons who were supposed to oversee the king's compliance with the Magna Carta .

The keep of Rochester Castle, defended by Aubigné in 1215. The collapsed corner tower was rebuilt as a round tower after the siege

Role in the war of the barons

Siege of Rochester Castle

In the autumn, with the support of the Pope, the king revoked his recognition of the Magna Carta and prepared an armed strike against the rebels. With mercenaries he had recruited in Flanders , he wanted to conquer London from Dover . The rebels were still ready to fight and in late September or early October 1215 occupied Rochester Castle , which controlled the crossing of the road between London and Dover over the River Medway . The rebels left behind a strong garrison led by Aubigné before retreating back to London. The king immediately began to prepare for a siege of the castle, which began the real war of the barons . A fierce battle arose over the castle, which, after the castle courtyard was taken , concentrated on the mighty keep , the Keep . As was not uncommon with medieval sieges, because of his scarce supplies, Aubigné had the wounded and sick thrown out of the castle, whom the king supposedly had mutilated. At the end of November, the attackers succeeded in undermining the keep so that they could bring down a corner of the tower. Nevertheless, Aubigné continued the resistance until a few days later, on November 30, he had to surrender in a hopeless situation. He and the castle crew were imprisoned at Corfe Castle .

Change to the side of the new king

After this success the king turned to the Midlands, where he besieged Aubigné's castle Belvoir. He threatened to starve Aubigné in dungeon, whereupon his son Nicholas, the commander of the castle, handed Belvoir over. After negotiations in which his wife Agatha was also involved, Aubigné offered a ransom of 6,000 marks for his release in July 1216 . By November 1216 he had paid 1,000 marks of this sum before he was appointed by the Regency Council after the death of King John, who was responsible for the underage Heinrich III. ruled, was released. His wife and one of his sons had offered to serve as a hostage for him. Aubigné supported the king's party as the war continued. He fought at the Battle of Lincoln in May 1217 and was then Constable of Sleaford Castle in Lincolnshire.

Next life

After the end of the Barons' War and the Peace of Lambeth , Aubigné reigned as royal judge in 1218. His wife had already been released from hostage custody in May 1217, but other relatives remained hostages of the king until 1220. During the revolt of William de Forz in 1221, he was one of the leaders of the royal army that besieged Forzes Castle Castle Bytham . In 1223 he was allowed to pay the outstanding amount of the ransom agreed in 1216 in small annual installments of 40 marks. In the same year he took part in the king's campaign to Mid Wales . In 1225 he testified to the renewed recognition of the Magna Carta by Henry III.

At the age of well over 80, he died on one of his estates near Stamford and was buried in Newstead Priory , but his heart was buried in Belvoir Priory. He had also been patron saint of St Neots Priory in Cambridgeshire.

Family, descendants and inheritance

Aubigné was married twice. His first marriage was Margery, a daughter of Odinel de Umfreville of Northumberland. He had several children with her:

• William († 1242)
• Robert
• Odinel
• Nicholas

After his first wife had died before 1198, he married Agatha Trussebut in 1198, the widow of Hamo Fitzhamon and daughter and finally co-heir of William Trussebut from Hunsingore in Yorkshire. She outlived him by several years. Heir was his son of the same name, William.

literature

• Loengard, Janet S. (Ed.): Magna Charta and the England of King John , Woodbridge 2010 ISBN 978-1-84383-548-6 .

Web links

• Nigel Saul: Magna Carta 800th: William D'Albini
• William III d'Aubigny on thepeerage.com , accessed December 13, 2015.
• Nicholas Vincent: Aubigné, William d '(d. 1236). 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