by Dan Jones
William, Earl of Salisbury (?1167–1226)
The bastard son of Henry II, William Longspée was recognized as a man with almost princely status. A brave and talented warrior, he fought with his half-brother Richard I in Normandy and served his other half-brother King John as a diplomat, also taking part in the burning of the French fleet in the River Zwin in 1213. Longspée commanded a division on the losing side at the Battle of Bouvines the following year, despite having counselled John not to fight. He was captured and ransomed. Present at the king’s side at Runny-mede, he temporarily defected to the baronial cause when Louis invaded. This was a brief phase; Longspée soon returned to the king’s ranks and was heavily involved in both the civil war and the peace negotiations for the Treaty of Lambeth in 1217. He continued to play a prominent military role in the minority government of Henry III, until his death in 1226.
William, Earl Warenne (d.1240)
Born in Normandy, William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey (usually referred to as Earl Warenne), was the son of Henry II’s illegitimate brother Hamelin. He attempted to remain in favour with both Philip Augustus of France and John following the loss of Normandy, but he eventually threw in his lot with the English king. An active supporter of the Crown throughout John’s reign, he was closely involved in the civil war and the negotiations with the barons before Runnymede. After John’s death he briefly supported Prince Louis in the hope of regaining French lands lost in 1204, but he returned swiftly to the royal fold and played a prominent role in the reign of Henry III. Warenne was one of the few barons who witnessed Magna Carta both in 1215 and in 1237, at its reissue.
William, Earl of Arundel (c.1174‒1221)
William d’Aubigny was a long-time associate of King John’s, having fought with him in Normandy during Richard I’s reign. He was involved in negotiations with STEPHEN Langton in 1209 and witnessed John’s submission to the pope in 1213. Despite supporting John at Runnymede, in 1216 d’Aubigny went over to Louis’s side, before turning his coat again following the Battle of Lincoln. He participated in the Fifth Crusade and died on his way home, near Rome.
Alan of Galloway, Constable of Scotland (before 1199–?1234)
A ferocious warrior, Alan had semi-princely powers in Galloway and territorial interests stretching from Northern England to the Kingdom of Norway. He assisted John in the subjugation of Ireland, but sided with Alexander II, King of Scots, during the war that followed the repudiation of Magna Carta.
Warin FitzGerald (d.1235)
Warin FitzGerald came from a family of hereditary chamberlains and served King John in the same capacity. His daughter Margaret, widow of the Earl of Devon, was forcefully married by King John to the military captain Falkes de Breauté. Margaret later pleaded to annul the marriage, appealing to Clause 8 of Magna Carta, which forbade the forced marriage of a widow. Divorce was not granted, but she remained in Henry III’s custody.
Peter FitzHerbert (d.1235)
John nominated Peter FitzHerbert as Baron of Barnstable, Devonshire. His other offices included serving as Governor of Pickering Castle and Sheriff of Yorkshire. Despite advising John at Runnymede, he later sided with the barons and his lands were confiscated, only to be returned to him on the accession of Henry III. He died in 1235 and was buried at Reading.
Hubert de Burgh, Seneschal of Poitou (c.1170–1243)
Born into a family of minor landowners, de Burgh’s spectacular rise was reward for his vigorous and loyal service to John and Henry III. Legend – and Shakespeare – has him refusing to castrate Arthur of Brittany (John’s nephew and rival), contrary to John’s orders, in 1203. Captured and ransomed at Chinon in 1205, he subsequently returned to England and built up a substantial landholding in the South and East of the country. He was appointed Seneschal of Poitou during the failed Bouvines campaign and played a prominent role at the king’s side during the negotiations for Magna Carta. Hubert de Burgh held Dover Castle successfully against Prince Louis in 1216–17, led the fleet at the Battle of Sandwich, and subsequently played a prominent, if disruptive, role as justiciar and rival to PETER des Roches during the early reign of Henry III.
Hugh de Neville (d.1234)
Son of a family of unpopular royal foresters, de Neville was raised at court with Richard I and knew him and John well. He went on crusade with Richard and was present at the siege of Jaffa. He became one of John’s closest advisers, but before the king’s death de Neville joined the baronial party, which temporarily cost him his office and lands. Under Henry III he reconciled with the Crown and was reappointed chief justice of the forests.
Matthew FitzHerbert (c.1166–c.1231)
Matthew FitzHerbert was from Gloucestershire. His name appears repeatedly as High Sheriff of Sussex: from 1211 to 1215, in 1218, and from 1219 to 1224.
Thomas Basset (d.1220)
An associate of John from his days as Count of Mortain, Basset was one of the men excommunicated for his treacherous behaviour during Richard I’s absence on crusade. During the Barons’ War he remained loyal to John, who compensated him with Warwick Castle and the estates of several rebel knights. He was the brother of ALAN BASSET.
Alan Basset (d.1232)
A noted diplomat under Richard I, Basset continued his loyalty into John’s reign, frequently witnessing royal charters in England and France and receiving rewards for good service, including immunity from paying scutage (the feudal payment in lieu of actual military service). Basset fought on the winning side at the Battle of Lincoln (1217), and joined the government of Henry III thereafter, travelling to France to negotiate terms for peace in 1220. He remained in royal service until his death. He was the brother of THOMAS BASSET.
Philip d’Aubigny (d.?1236)
A baron with interests on both sides of the Channel before 1204, d’Aubigny took the part of John following the loss of Normandy and fought at Poitou in the Bouvines campaign. During the Barons’ War he was awarded the title ‘Commander of the Knights of Christ’. D’Aubigny fought at both the Battle of Lincoln (1217) and the naval Battle of Sandwich (1217), and he subsequently took responsibility for the military education of Henry III. He died in Jerusalem after joining the Fifth Crusade.
Robert de Roppel (dates unknown)
An obscure character, also known variously as Robert de Roppeley, de Ros and de Rokkeley, he seems to have served the Crown as Sheriff of Norfolk. After the signing of Magna Carta he joined the barons and was taken prisoner by King John’s forces at Rochester Castle in 1216.
John Marshal (d.?1235)
A nephew of WILLIAM MARSHAL, Earl of Pembroke, Sir John fought with his uncle in Normandy and subsequently served King John in a variety of capacities in Ireland. After Runnymede, Marshal was sent to Rome as an ambassador, but returned in time to take part in the battles of Lincoln and Sandwich in 1217. He retained his Irish interests during Henry III’s reign, remaining largely loyal to the Crown until he died.
John FitzHugh (dates unknown)
John FitzHugh belonged to a Yorkshire family known as the FitzHughs of Ravensworth. He served as a judge and was a firm adherent of King John.
The effigy of William Marshal (c.1146–1219) atop his tomb, in London’s Temple Church. Known as ‘the greatest knight that ever lived’, William, Earl of Pembroke, was loyal to all the Plantagenet kings he served. He advised John during the Magna Carta negotiations and played a crucial role in saving the reign of John’s young son Henry III.
A marginal illustration from Matthew Paris’s Historia Anglorum (1250s), which shows Hubert de Burgh (c.1170–1243) seeking sanctuary at Merton Priory in 1233/4 after falling out with Henry III. Before that, however, he was a powerful figure in the land, as justiciar; and during John’s reign he was one of the leading royal advisers during the drafting of Magna Carta.
Appendix III
The Enforcers of Magna Carta
Matthew Paris (c.1200–59), in his Chronica Majora, lists the twenty-five barons (in this order) who were appointed to enforce Magna Carta 1215.1 Un
der the terms of Clause 61, these men were empowered to ‘distrain and distress [the king] in all ways possible’ if he or his officials broke the terms of the charter and did not provide remedy within forty days. Another copy of this list, now held in Lambeth Palace, included the number of knights that each of the twenty-five barons (with the exception of the Mayor of London) was expected to bring to war in the event of the security clause being activated.2
SMALL CAPITALS indicate cross-references.
Richard, Earl of Clare (d.1217)
Otherwise known as Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, a title he held from 1173, Richard was present at the coronations of both Richard I and John, although he enjoyed a closer relationship with the older brother than the younger. His power base was at Tonbridge Castle in Kent, and Richard was among the rebellious East Anglian barons; he may have been involved in the plot to kill John in 1212. His lands were seized during the Barons’ War of 1215–17, and he was excommunicated by the pope. Richard died in November 1217, leaving as his heir a son, GILBERT, who was also named among the twenty-five.
William de Forz, Count of Aumale (?1190s‒1241)
Aumale was a small town in Normandy, so in theory William’s English title should have become obsolete when Philip Augustus reconquered the duchy. But it was obstinately maintained under King John and linked with the Lordship of Holderness in Yorkshire. William’s mother, Hawisa, suffered the blunt force of John’s feudal extortion: when her husband (William’s stepfather) died in 1212, she had to pay 5,000 marks to avoid being forced to remarry. Although raised mostly outside England, William came to the realm to claim his inheritance on Hawisa’s death in 1214 and immediately found reason to join the baronial opposition. However, he switched to John’s side in late summer 1215 and profited mightily from grants of confiscated rebel lands. William was a witness to the reissues of Magna Carta under Henry III in 1216 and 1225, but also caused significant political trouble during Henry’s minority. He lived a relatively long and very active life before dying on his way to Jerusalem, on pilgrimage.
Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex,
Earl of Gloucester (d.1216)
De Mandeville was a wealthy baron whose responsibilities included being custodian of the Tower of London. He was driven to rebellion in 1214, when, after marrying the king’s divorced first wife Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, he was browbeaten into agreeing to pay the monstrous sum of 20,000 marks for the privilege – by some distance the most outlandish of all John’s feudal extortions. The debt was simply unpayable, and it was probably set at an impossible level so that John could seize back Gloucester lands that he had forfeited by separating from Isabel. De Mandeville was expected to bring 200 knights to oppose the king if the ‘council of twenty-five’ went to war to enforce Magna Carta – the only other baron contracted for so many was WILLIAM MARSHAL THE YOUNGER. De Mandeville’s was a brief rebellion: he was killed at a tournament in London, in February 1216.
Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester (d.1219)
A major landowner on the Scottish borders, de Quincy was also an experienced soldier who fought with Richard the Lionheart and John in Normandy, and who was captured by the French at Vaudreuil in 1203. Later he served John in Scotland, Ireland and Germany, worked as a royal justice, and was heavily involved in the work of the Exchequer. De Quincy witnessed both John’s legal deposition against William de Briouze in 1210 and the king’s submission to the pope in 1213. He took the cross with the king in March 1215, but turned on him weeks later, travelling to Scotland to stir up Alexander II for an invasion of England’s North. A great friend and brother-in-arms of ROBERT FITZWALTER, de Quincy allowed the rebels to use his lands at Brackley to renounce their homage before the march on London in May 1215. Later, he was among the party of barons who invited Prince Louis to invade England. Captured at the Battle of Lincoln (1217), de Quincy returned to loyalty and was present during the council that granted Magna Carta 1217; but he left the realm on crusade eighteen months later and died in Damietta, to be buried in Acre.
Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford (c.1175‒1220)
Hereditary Constable of England, de Bohun was the nephew of William I (the Lion), King of Scots, to whom he was sent on diplomatic business shortly after John’s coronation. Disputes with John, stemming in part from an argument with the king’s half-brother William Longspée (see Appendix II) over Trowbridge Castle in Wiltshire, caused de Bohun to side with the rebels, and all his lands were confiscated by the king. He went back to John’s side late in 1215, then switched once again to support Prince Louis against Henry III. Captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1217, he made peace with the new regime and died on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1220.
Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk (c.1143‒1221)
The Bigod family had a history of conflict with Plantagenet kings dating back to Roger’s father, Hugh Bigod, and his involvement in the ‘Great War’ against Henry II of 1173–4. Despite this, Roger was close to Richard I and very active in the service of King John, taking part in campaigns in Poitou, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. It may have been John’s grinding financial demands that lay behind Roger’s decision to join the rebels, as part of the bloc of East Anglian barons. Whatever his reasons, Bigod remained unreconciled with John at the king’s death and only returned to loyalty in 1217, once it was clear that William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (see Appendix II), and the supporters of Henry III had won the war. His heir was Hugh Bigod. The Bigod earls remained vastly powerful for several generations before dying out in the early fourteenth century.
Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford (d.1221)
Another eastern rebel, de Vere was named by Roger of Wendover as one of the prime movers of dissent against John’s regime. His actions seem to have been inspired more by pragmatism than deep rebellious commitment – he was one of the barons who wavered back and forth between John and Prince Louis in 1216 and was active as a royal judge following the victory of the Plantagenet loyalists.
William Marshal the Younger (c.1190‒1231)
William experienced the rough end of John’s kingship as a young man, when he was kept as a hostage at court for seven years, to guarantee the good behaviour of his father, the illustrious William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (see Appendix II). Unlike the elder Marshal, the young man sided with the opposition in 1215–16 and was appointed the marshal of Prince Louis’s army. But he switched sides early in the war and fought under his father at the Battle of Lincoln (1217). After his father’s death early in Henry III’s reign, Marshal set about expanding his family’s possessions in Wales, Ireland and Southern England. He died suddenly and without offspring in 1231, leaving his brothers – Richard, Gilbert, Walter and Anselm – as his successive heirs. None produced legitimate children, and in 1245 the Marshal estates were broken up among their sisters and heiresses.
Robert FitzWalter (d.1235)
FitzWalter was one of the rebel ringleaders from 1212, when he plotted with EUSTACE DE VESCI to have John murdered. A rich and powerful East Anglian, he had particularly close links to SAER DE QUINCY, whom he considered a brother and whose arms he bore on his seal. Argumentative and easily stirred to violence, FitzWalter led the widespread baronial refusal to fight alongside John during the Poitou and Bouvines campaigns of 1213–14. In May 1215 he declared himself Marshal of the Army of God and led the march on London. Despite his riches and his large following, FitzWalter failed to relieve the siege of Rochester Castle during the fighting in autumn 1215 and was captured during the Battle of Lincoln in 1217. After the war, he travelled with Saer de Quincy to Damietta on the Fifth Crusade. Unlike his friend, he survived, returning to England a much-changed man: he served Henry III’s regime loyally until his death.
Gilbert de Clare (c.1180‒1230)
The son and heir of RICHARD, EARL OF CLARE, Gilbert was around thirty-five years old in 1215 and had been guided by his rebellious father in his political activity during the preceding years. He sided with Prince Louis during the war following John’s
death, but switched sides to ally with William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (see Appendix II), following the Battle of Lincoln (1217). Gilbert inherited the great Earldom of Gloucester from his mother Amicia but was never a very active political figure. Present at the reissue of Magna Carta by Henry III in 1225, he died in Brittany on campaign with the king five years later.
Eustace de Vesci (1169/70‒1216)
De Vesci was a Northerner of considerable status, thanks to his marriage to an illegitimate daughter of William I (the Lion), King of Scots. One of the ringleaders of baronial rebellion from the very start, he was implicated deeply in the plot to assassinate John in 1212. Chroniclers, from William of Newburgh onwards, suggested that the root of such long-standing opposition was the king’s lecherous designs on de Vesci’s wife. Whether this was true or not, de Vesci was committed to rebellion early. He supported Prince Louis’s invasion and was killed during the siege of Barnard Castle in County Durham, when an arrow was shot through his brain.
Hugh Bigod (d.1225)
The son and heir of ROGER BIGOD, Earl of Norfolk, Hugh inherited the earldom when his father died in 1221. He married Matilda, a daughter of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (see Appendix II). Bigod survived long enough to witness the reissue of Magna Carta in 1225 but died shortly afterwards.
