Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:12:30.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Fall of Hubert De Burgh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2014

David Carpenter
David Carpenter*
Affiliation:
Queen Mary College, University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Few incidents in the reign of Henry III excited more interest and amazement than the fall of Hubert de Burgh. Between 1215 and 1232, Hubert held the office of chief justiciar. After 1219 he progressively dominated the government of England. “He lacked nothing of royal power,” commented the Waverley annalist, “save the dignity of a royal diadem.” Then suddenly in 1232 “the great judge” was swept from court and stripped of all his lands and offices. He became a hunted fugitive. He was dragged from a chapel in which he had taken sanctuary, and incarcerated in chains in Devizes castle. Historians have been attracted by the drama of these events, but they have never provided a coherent explanation of Hubert's dismissal. The accounts of Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris are confused. Those of Sir Maurice Powicke, though illuminating, are discursive and inaccurate.

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the fall of England's last great justiciar. It is hoped to show that Powicke exaggerated the extent to which the justiciar's demise was consciously planned by the king, and that he underestimated the force of Hubert's struggle to stay in office. Powicke also failed to stress the connection between the justiciar's fall and events in the early years of the minority. Although Henry III came fully of age in 1227, the politics of the period 1217-34 must be viewed as a whole. Conflicts that burgeoned between 1217 and 1224, and were in some respects the legacy of the reign of John, cast a malign shadow over the next decade.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , Spring 1980 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

The author would like to thank Miss B.F. Harvey, Dr. J.F.A. Mason, and J.O. Prestwich for commenting upon drafts of this article.

1 Luard, H.R. (ed.), Annales Monastici (London, 1865), ii, 311Google Scholar.

2 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, Luard, H.R. (ed.), (London, 1876), iii, 217–21Google Scholar. This is the account of Roger of Wendover with additions by Matthew Paris.

3 Powicke, F.M., Henry III and The Lord Edward (hereafter Henry and Lord Edward (Oxford, 1947), i, 68–83Google Scholar; The Thirteenth Century (Oxford, 1953), pp. 42–51Google Scholar. Ellis, C., Hubert de Burgh, A Study in Constancy (London, 1952)Google Scholar, the only biography, gives a useful survey of Hubert's career but does not analyze in detail the reasons for his fall.

4 For Hubert's early career, see Ellis, Hubert de Burgh.

5 For the politics of the minority, see Norgate, K., The Minority of Henry III (London, 1912)Google Scholar.

6 Stubbs, W. (ed.), The Historical Collections of Walter of Coventry (London, 1873), ii, 251Google Scholar.

7 The redistribution began in November 1223 and continued into March 1224. The opposition effectively surrendered on December 29, 1223; Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 203-14, 290–92Google Scholar. Falkes resigned the sheriffdoms and castles of Oxfordshire, Northants, Beds-Bucks, Cambr-Hunts.

8 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 74–76Google Scholar; Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 117–19Google Scholar.

9 Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 7, 119-20; 180–81Google Scholar; Stubbs, , Walter of Coventry, ii, 259–60Google Scholar.

10 Luard, H.R. (ed), Annales Monastici (London, 1866), iii, 75Google Scholar. For the accusations see note 14.

11 Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 291–92Google Scholar; Tout, T. F., Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England (Manchester, 1937), i, 191Google Scholar.

12 Luard, , Annales Monastici, iii, 84Google Scholar; Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 206–07Google Scholar.

13 Memoranda Roll 14 Henry III, p. 32; see Close Rolls 1227-3l, p. 142; PRO Lists and Indexes, ix, 1, 12, 92, 107Google Scholar; PRO Fine Roll 8 Henry III, C. 60/12, m.2.

14 Stubbs, , Walter of Coventry, ii, 259–60Google Scholar. De Mauley and the bishop were accused of coming to an agreement with the king of France and arranging to hand over to him Arthur's sister, Eleanor.

15 Luard, Annales, Monastici, iii, 68Google Scholar; Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, p. 291Google Scholar; Patent Rolls 1216-25, pp. 285, 423; Rot. Litt. Claus., i, 590Google Scholar. After 1224, Engelard was employed on military expeditions and retained his annual fee. But he held no office and attests no charters enrolled between 1227 and 1232. Brian was restored as joint chief justice of the forest in 1229; Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 278. For Passeleue, Stubbs, , Walter of Coventry, ii, 262–63Google Scholar; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 293Google Scholar. For other foreigners associated with the bishop's regime, see p. 13, and Paris, Chronica Majora, iii, 240Google Scholar.

16 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 83Google Scholar.

17 Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 210, 290–92Google Scholar.

18 Ramsay, Norgate, Minority of Henry III, pp. 204, 206Google Scholar; SirJames, , The Dawn of the Constitution (Oxford, 1908), p. 34Google Scholar.

19 Stubbs, , Walter of Coventry, ii, 268Google Scholar; Rot. Litt. Claus., i, 578Google Scholar. Large numbers of royal letters in this period were attested by the king coram the justiciar and these two bishops.

20 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 205–206Google Scholar.

21 Shirley, W. W. (ed.), Royal Letters Illustrative of the Reign of Henry III (London, 1862), i, 379–80Google Scholar.

22 Luard, , Annales Monastici, i, 79Google Scholar and iii, 127; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 212Google Scholar.

23 Denholm-Young, N., Richard of Cornwall (Oxford, 1947), pp. 10–12Google Scholar.

24 Walker, R.F., “Hubert de Burgh and Wales,” E.H.R., LXXXVII (1972) 473–76Google Scholar; Rot. Litt. Claus., i, 571b, 577, 580Google Scholar; Close Rolls 1227-31, pp. 582, 590; Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 435; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 204–206Google Scholar. There may have been trouble with Richard of Cornwall (married to Richard's sister) at this time; Denholm-Young, , Richard of Cornwall, pp. 19–20Google Scholar.

25 Curia Regis Rolls, xv, pp. xxiii–ivGoogle Scholar; no. 131; Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 128–29Google Scholar; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 28–29Google Scholar; Luard, , Annales Monastici, i, 91Google Scholar and iii, 138.

26 I hope to show this at another time.

27 During the expedition, the king sought the appointment of a legate without consulting Hubert; Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 72–73Google Scholar; Walker, , “Hubert de Burgh and Wales,” E.H.R., LXXXVII, 485Google Scholar.

28 Powicke, , The Thirteenth Century, p. 47Google Scholar.

29 The bishop first attested a royal charter on August 10, at Painscastle. De Mauley attested with him. He had last attested on December 12, 1227; PRO Charter Roll 15 Henry III, C. 53 / 25, m.4; and 12 Henry III, C. 53 / 20, m. 11. See Curia Regis Rolls, xv, no. 131.

30 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 211Google Scholar. Des Roches attested charters in January, February, April, May, and June. No charters were attested in March; PRO Charter Roll 16 Henry III, C. 53 / 26, mis. 18-7. All statements in this paper about attendance at court in 1232 come from the evidence of this roll. Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 142–87Google Scholar omits the witnesses of the charters, but it serves to indicate the dates of the enrolled charters.

31 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 220Google Scholar.

32 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 75, 77, 79Google Scholar; The Thirteenth Century, pp. 45, 47-50. The basic emphasis in the second account is the same, but it is less certain as to when Hubert's fate was “determined.”

33 Luard, , Annales Monastici, iii, 127Google Scholar; see, however, Walker, , “Hubert de Burgh and Wales,” E.H.R., LXXXVII, 490Google Scholar.

34 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 219Google Scholar.

35 Close Rolls 1231-34, pp. 66, 70.

36 Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 492.

37 Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 93, Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 496.

38 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 219Google Scholar, 211-12; Patent Rolls 1225-32, pp. 466, 490-91; Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 140; see Mitchell, S.K., Taxation under John and Henry III (Yale, 1914), pp. 199–200Google Scholar.

39 Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 70.

40 Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 478. Peter attested on June 11.

41 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 219–20Google Scholar.

42 Close Rolls 1227-31, p. 599; Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 156Google Scholar; Paris, Matthew, Historia Anglorum, SirMadden, F. (ed.), (London, 1866), iii, 265Google Scholar. The date of Peter's first appointment and of the life grant were sufficiently far apart for him to be given quittance for accounting for the interval; Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 164Google Scholar. But the precise date of his first appointment is unknown, Tout, , Chapters in Administrative History, i, 200Google Scholar.

43 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 163Google Scholar; Patent Rolls 1225-32, pp. 488-89. After Hubert's fall, the king called him to financial account; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 220–21Google Scholar; Luard, , Annales Monastici, iii, 129Google Scholar.

44 Close Rolls 1231-34, pp. 2, 5, 7, 25, 57; Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 466.

45 Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 480; PRO Lists and Indexes, ix, 67Google Scholar.

46 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 74, 156Google Scholar.

47 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, p. 165Google Scholar. The bishop had last attested on May 10.

48 On June 15, Peter was allowed to have a clerk at the exchequer; Cal. Charter Rolls, i, p. 157Google Scholar.

49 Curia Regis Rolls, xv, no. 1289

50 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 164–65Google Scholar.

51 The chancellor, Ralph de Neville, had charters that granted him for life the chancellorship and the custody of the great seal; Cal. Charter Rolls, i, pp. 9, 156Google Scholar.

52 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 77, 79, 81Google Scholar; The Thirteenth Century, p. 48. See also Denholm-Young, , Richard of Cornwall, p. 23Google Scholar.

53 For Powicke's various hypotheses in respect of the oaths, see “The Oath of Bromholm”, E.H.R., LVI (1941), 529–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Henry and Lord Edward, i, 79–81Google Scholar; The Thirteenth Century, p. 49.

54 Powicke, , “Oath of Bromholm,” E.H.R., LVI, 530–34Google Scholar.

55 Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 70.

54 Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 164Google Scholar.

57 Powicke felt that “the fact that Hubert was the king's host is significant,” but did not explain how this could be so if the oaths were conceived as early as June 25; “Oath of Bromholm,” E.H.R., LVI, 530Google Scholar.

58 Tout, , Chapters in Administrative History, i, 200–201Google Scholar. When des Rivaux attested his first charter as keeper of the wardrobe (June 14) he was placed beneath the king's stewards in the witness list. In a charter of July 7 and in all those subsequent to that date, he was placed above them, which suggests that he was now the senior household official. The stewards cannot have welcomed this. Powicke's view that Crowcombe was an ally of the Poitevins is hard to accept; his extreme measures in arresting Hubert in September were taken “out of fear of the lord king”; Foedera, I, i, 207Google Scholar; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 227Google Scholar; see also Peter des Rivaux's statement about Crowcombe; Curia Regis Rolls, xv, no. 1289.

59 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 81Google Scholar. Powicke was led into this error in part by his belief that all those involved in the compacts were present at court. In fact, both Walter Mauclerc and Ralph fitz Nicholas were absent.

60 The other witness was Henry de Capella, usually the last witness to royal charters. The record was attested by the three in the presence of Peter des Rivaux and Godfrey of Crowcombe. (Peter and Godfrey could not act as witnesses since they were beneficiaries of the oath); PRO Charter Roll 16 Henry III, C. 53 / 26, m.4.

61 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 220Google Scholar.

62 Curia Regis Rolls, xiv, p. xGoogle Scholar.

63 I hope to show this on another occasion.

64 Shirley, , Royal Letters, i, 551Google Scholar.

65 Foedera, I, i, 207Google Scholar.

66 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 79Google Scholar; The Thirteenth Century, p. 45.

67 Foedera, I, i, 207Google Scholar.

68 Foedera, I, i, 203–04Google Scholar; see also Luard, , Annales Monastici, i, 239–43Google Scholar. For Powicke on this letter as giving the king his opportunity, see The Thirteenth Century, p. 50.

69 Curia Regis Rolls, xiv, p. xviGoogle Scholar; Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 493.

70 Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 489; Cal. Charter Rolls, i, 163Google Scholar; Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 84. Between July 21 and 28 Ranulf le Breton was once more disgraced, either a symptom or an additional cause of Hubert's downfall.

71 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 217–18Google Scholar; Luard, , Annales Monastici, iii, 130Google Scholar. That the inquiries were commissioned at the same time as the letters to the king (which do not themselves order an investigation) is implied by Roger of Wendover. The instructions do not survive, however.

72 Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 498. Hubert claimed in 1239 that since the pope took no action on the report it must have cleared him; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, vi, 72Google Scholar.

73 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 217–18Google Scholar; Luard, , Annales Monastici, iii, 129Google Scholar.

74 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 205Google Scholar and vi, 72; Luard, , Annales Manastici, iii, 128–29Google Scholar; Shirley, , Royal Letters, i, 549Google Scholar; see the last paragraph of the pope's letter to the king; Foedera, I, i, 204Google Scholar. For Hubert's marriages, Complete Peerage, vii, 141–42Google Scholar; Johnston, S.H.F., “The Lands of Hubert de Burgh,” E.H.R., L (1935), 429CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Powicke does not mention the bishop of Winchester's inquiry or the question of Hubert's marriage.

75 Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 188; Foedera, I, i, 203–04Google Scholar.

76 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 229Google Scholar; Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, p. 291Google Scholar; Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 504. Brian had been joint chief justice of the forest since 1229. After the forest was given to des Rivaux (July 1232) Brian became his chief coadjutor; Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 576.

77 Curia Regis Rolls, xiv, p. xviGoogle Scholar.

78 The two earls attested at Woodstock but not at Oxford.

79 They attested no charters after December 28, 1232. Both returned to court and favor after the collapse of the bishop's regime; Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 505; Curia Regis Rolls, xv, no. 1178. Evidence for changes at court between October 1232 and October 1233 may be obtained from PRO Charter Roll 17 Henry III, C. 53 / 27.

80 Cal. Pat. Rolls 1232-47, pp. 7-8; PRO Fine Rolls 17 Henry III, c. 60 / 32, m.7; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 240, 248Google Scholar.

81 Carpenter, D.A., “The Decline of the Curial Sheriff in England 1194-1258,” E.H.R., XCI (1976), 14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

82 Close Rolls 1231-34, pp. 202, 250, 327, 173; Rot. Litt. Claus., ii, 139b; Curia Regis Rolls, xv, no. 1426. Both were rehabilitated after the bishop's fall. Crowcombe and Walter Mauclerc also returned to court at this time.

83 John first attested in April 1233, Matthias in June.

84 Cal. Pat. Rolls 1232-47, pp. 7-8; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 240Google Scholar; Patent Rolls 1225-32, p. 137.

85 Close Rolls 1231-34, pp. 332, 341-42; PRO Lists and Indexes, ix, 144Google Scholar.

86 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, iii, 240Google Scholar. Des Roches, des Rivaux, and de Mauley were Poitevins. De Cigogné was from Touraine.

87 Shirley, , Royal Letters, i, 467–69Google Scholar; Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 75–76Google Scholar; Curia Regis Rolls, xv, p. 28Google Scholar n.2; nos. 1426-27, 1475, 1895.

88 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 128, 132–33Google Scholar.

89 Luard, , Annales Monastici, ii, 311Google Scholar.

90 Curia Regis Rolls, xv, p. xxiiiGoogle Scholar n.2.

91 Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, pp. 201–02Google Scholar; Denholm-Young, , Richard of Cornwall, pp. 12-13;Carpenter, “Decline of the Curial Sheriff,” E.H.R., XCI, 10–11Google Scholar.

92 This is the argument of Walker, , “Hubert de Burgh and Wales,” E. H. R., LXXXVII, 465–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

93 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 302Google Scholar.

94 Carpenter, D.A., “Sheriffs of Oxfordshire and their Subordinates 1194-1236” (PhD thesis, Oxford University, 1973), pp. 118, 175–76Google Scholar.

95 Denholm-Young, , Richard of Cornwall, pp. 10–12Google Scholar; Curia Regis Rolls, xv, pp. xxiii–xxivGoogle Scholar; no. 131; see also no. 1426.

96 Powicke, , Henry and Lord Edward, i, 49Google Scholar.

97 Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, p. 200Google Scholar.

98 For Falkes' sheriffdoms, see note 7. Hubert de Burgh quickly recovered the castles that he surrendered during the 1223-24 changes. He gave up the sheriffdoms of Kent and Norfolk-Suffolk in 1227; PRO Lists and Indexes, ix, 67, 86Google Scholar; Norgate, , Minority of Henry III, p. 213Google Scholar.

99 Carpenter, , “Decline of the Curial Sheriff,” E. H. R., XCI, 14Google Scholar.