Related Research Articles
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke was a Anglo-French nobleman. Though primarily active in England, he also had strong connections with the French royal house. One of the wealthiest and most powerful men of his age, he was a central player in the conflicts between Edward II of England and his nobility, particularly Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster. Pembroke was one of the Lords Ordainers appointed to restrict the power of Edward II and his favourite Piers Gaveston. His position changed with the great insult he suffered when Gaveston, as a prisoner in his custody whom he had sworn to protect, was removed and beheaded on the instigation of Lancaster. This led Pembroke into close and lifelong cooperation with the King. Later in life, however, political circumstances combined with financial difficulties would cause him problems, driving him away from the centre of power.
Sir John de Benstede KB (c.1275 –1323/4) was a prominent member of the English royal household in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was Prebendary of Sandiacre from 3 February 1297 until, presumably, 1308, when he married. He was also King's Secretary, and he served variously as keeper of the Great Seal and controller of the wardrobe. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1305 to 1306, and as a royal judge from 1309 onwards.
The King's Wardrobe, together with the Chamber, made up the personal part of medieval English government known as the King's household. Originally the room where the king's clothes, armour, and treasure were stored, the term was expanded to describe both its contents and the department of clerks who ran it. Early in the reign of Henry III the Wardrobe emerged out of the fragmentation of the Curia Regis to become the chief administrative and accounting department of the Household. The Wardrobe received regular block grants from the Exchequer for much of its history; in addition, however, the wardrobe treasure of gold and jewels enabled the king to make secret and rapid payments to fund his diplomatic and military operations, and for a time, in the 13th-14th centuries, it eclipsed the Exchequer as the chief spending department of central government.
Otto de Grandson, sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the closest personal friend and many of whose interests he shared.
Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick was a wealthy English heiress and the second wife of Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, an English nobleman in the reign of kings Edward I and Edward II. He was one of the principal opponents of Piers Gaveston, a favourite of Edward II. Alice married three times; Guy was her second husband.
John de Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Chartley was the son of Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby and Alianore de Bohun, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun and Eleanor de Braose, and granddaughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford. He was both Seneschal of Gascony and Lieutenant of Aquitaine in 1312, the year of his death.
Marie of Hainaut was the daughter of John II, Count of Holland and Philippa of Luxembourg, and her brother was William I, Count of Hainaut.
William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville, was an English nobleman and an important, powerful landowner in south-west England during the Late Middle Ages. Bonville's father died before Bonville reached adulthood. As a result, he grew up in the household of his grandfather and namesake, who was a prominent member of the Devon gentry. Both Bonville's father and grandfather had been successful in politics and land acquisition, and when Bonville came of age, he gained control of a large estate. He augmented this further by a series of lawsuits against his stepfather, Richard Stucley. Bonville undertook royal service, which then meant fighting in France in the later years of the Hundred Years' War. In 1415, he joined the English invasion of France in the retinue of Thomas, Duke of Clarence, Henry V's brother, and fought in the Agincourt campaign. Throughout his life, Bonville was despatched on further operations in France, but increasingly events in the south-west of England took up more of his time and energy, as he became involved in a feud with his powerful neighbour Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon.
Robert le Poer was an Irish judge and Crown official who held the offices of Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.
The Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine was an officer charged with governing the Duchy of Aquitaine on behalf of the King of England. Unlike the seneschalcy of Gascony, the lieutenancy was not a permanent office. Lieutenants were appointed in times of emergency, due either to an external threat or internal unrest. The lieutenant had quasi-viceregal authority and so was usually a man of high rank, usually English and often of the royal family.
Sir Antonio (di) Pessagno was a Genoese merchant and administrator. He is known mainly from his activities in England and France. He was the chief financier of King Edward II of England from 1312 until 1319.
Thomas d'Ippegrave was an English official who had "a career fairly characteristic of the more capable clerks" in the household of the Lord Edward, future Edward I of England. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1264, served as Constable of the Tower and Lord Mayor of London in 1268 and then served as Seneschal of Gascony from 1268 until 1269.
Sir Drogo de Barentyn was an English knight and administrator who served as Warden of Guernsey and Jersey, Seneschal of Gascony and Constable of Windsor Castle. He held a manor at Chalgrove, South Oxfordshire, known as Barentin's Manor.
Sir John de Wisham of Little Ellingham, was an English knight and administrator who served as Constable of St Briavels Castle, Justice of North Wales, Seneschal of Gascony (1324–1325) and Captain of Berwick-upon-Tweed (1316).
Rostan de Soler was a 13th-century Gascon knight and administrator who served as lieutenant of the Seneschal of Gascony in 1231 and then Seneschal of Gascony 1241–43. During his seneschalcy, King Henry III of England, who was also the hereditary Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony, launched the a war against France. One of the lead citizens (prud'hommes) of Bordeaux, he served two terms as mayor there in 1237–38 and 1241.
The Seneschal of Ponthieu was an officer carrying out and managing the domestic affairs of the lord of the County of Ponthieu. During the course of the twelfth century, the seneschalship, also became an office of military command.
References
- Seneschals of Gascony
- Warren, W.L.; Henry II (English Monarchs)
- Shirley, Walter Waddington (1866). Royal and Other Historical Letters Illustrative of the Reign of Henry III : From the Originals in the Public Record Office. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139206679. ISBN 978-1-108-04677-0. OCLC 889954981.
- Tout, Thomas Frederick (1936). The place of the reign of Edward II in English history : based upon the Ford lectures delivered in the University of Oxford in 1913. Manchester University Press. OCLC 311430323.