Earl Hubert's Daughter
Page 17
APPENDIX.
Historical Appendix.
FAMILY OF DE BURGH.
Hubert De Burgh, whose ancestry is unknown with certainty (though somegenealogists attempt to derive him from Herlouin de Conteville, and hiswife Arlette, mother of William the Conqueror), was probably _born_about 1168-70, and created Justiciary of England, June 15, 1214. He wasalso Lord Chancellor and Lord Chamberlain, with abundance of smalleroffices. He was created Earl of Kent, February 11, 1227. After all thestrange vicissitudes through which he had passed, it seems almostsurprising that he was allowed to die in his bed, at Banstead, May [4?],1243, aged about 74, and surviving his daughter just two years.[Character historical.] He married--
A. Margaret, daughter and heir of Robert de Arsic or Arsike: datesunknown. (Hubert had previously been contracted, April 28, 1200, toJoan, daughter of William de Vernon, Earl of Devon; but the marriage didnot take place.)
B. Beatrice, daughter and sole heir of William de Warenne of Wirmgay,and widow of Dodo Bardolf: apparently _married_ after 1209, and _died_in or about 1214.
C. Isabel, youngest daughter and co-heir of William Earl of Gloucester,made Countess of Gloucester by King John, to the prejudice of her twoelder sisters: affianced by her father to John, Count of Mortaigne[afterwards King John], at Windsor, September 28, 1176; married to himat Salisbury, August 29, 1189: divorced on her husband's accession,1200, on pretext of being within the prohibited degrees. She married(2) Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, to whom she was sold by thehusband who had repudiated her, for the sum of twenty thousand marks, in1213. In the wars of the Barons, she threw all her influence into thescale against the King; but she showed that her enmity was personal, notpolitical, by at once returning to her allegiance on the accession ofHenry the Third. She was then given in _marriage_ (3) to Hubert deBurgh, into whose hands the manor of Walden was delivered, as part ofher dower, August 13, 1217; the marriage probably took place shortlybefore that date, and certainly before the 17th of September. Isabelwas Hubert's wife for so short a time, that some writers have doubtedthe fact of the marriage altogether; but it is amply authenticated. Shewas dead on the 18th of November following, as the Close Rolls bearwitness; and the Obituary of Canterbury Cathedral and the Chronicle ofRochester agree in stating that she died October 14, 1217. She wasburied in Canterbury Cathedral.
D. Margaret, eldest daughter of William the First, King of Scotland,surnamed The Lion; affianced, 1196, to Otho of Brunswick; commuted tothe care of King John of England in 1209; _married_ at York, June 25,1221; _died_ 1259, leaving no surviving issue. [Character inferentiallyhistorical.]
_Issue of Earl Hubert_.
A. _By Margaret Arsic_.
John, knighted Whit Sunday, 1229; _died_ 1274-75, leaving issue._Married_:--
Hawise, daughter and heir of Sir William de Lanvalay: _married_ beforeNovember 21, 1234; _died_ 1249; _buried_ at Colchester. [Characterimaginary.]
2. _Hubert_, living 1281-82; ancestor of the Marquis of Clanricarde.Whom he married is not known.
D. _By Margaret of Scotland_:--
Margaret, or Margery--she bears both names on the Rolls--_born_ probably1222; _married_ at Bury Saint Edmund's "when the Earl was at Merton"--probably January 11-26, 1236,--clandestinely, but with connivance ofmother, to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester; divorced 1237; liveryof her estates granted to brother John, May 5, 1241; therefore _died_shortly before that date. Most writers attribute to Earl Hubert anotherdaughter, whom they call Magotta: but the Rolls show no evidence of anydaughter but Margaret. Magotta, or Magot, is manifestly a Latinism ofMargot, the French diminutive for Margaret; the Earl's gifts tomonasteries for the souls of himself and relatives, include "M. hisdaughter," but make no mention of two; and the grants made by the Kingto Earl Hubert and Margaret his wife, and Margaret their daughter,certainly imply that Margaret was the sole heir of her mother.[Character inferentially historical, except as regards religion, forwhich no evidence is forthcoming.]
RICHARD DE CLARE.
He was the eldest son of Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester and his wife IsabelMarshal (who married, secondly, the King's brother, Richard Earl ofCornwall): _born_ 1222, the same year as that which probably saw thebirth of Margaret de Burgh. King Henry obliged him to _marry_, in orabout January, 1239, Maud de Lacy, daughter of John, Earl of Lincoln, bywhom (after the death of Margaret) he had a family of three sons andthree daughters. His eldest daughter he named after his lost love; butshe proved a far less amiable character. Earl Richard was one ofseveral noblemen who _died_, we are told, from poison, in consequence ofdining with Queen Eleonore's cousin, Count Pietro of Savoy, June 14,1262. He was _buried_ in Tewkesbury Abbey. Richard stood foremost ofthe English nobles in the wars of the Barons against Henry the Third,and with his own hand forced the King to swear to the terms theydictated, in 1259, as is stated in the story. [Character historical.]
FICTITIOUS CHARACTERS.
These are, the priests at Bury Castle; the various Jews introduced;Levina; Doucebelle de Vaux.
Eva de Braose, Marie de Lusignan, Sir John de Burgh and his wife Hawise,are historical so far as their existence is concerned, but thecharacters ascribed to them are imaginary.
The dreadful end of Delecresse is thus far true,--that a Jew was thustreated by Richard de Clare. But who it really was who revealed to KingHenry the clandestine marriage of Richard and Margaret, is one of theinscrutable mysteries of which no evidence remains.