• General Notes

  [SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]
  
  Justicular of England.
  1st Earl of Kent.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  REF: The Pageantry of England: The Magnificent Century, by
  Thomas B. Costain: As young men Hubert & his elder brother
  William went to court to further their chances, & came into
  contact with Prince John, who seems to have taken a liking to
  the landless pair. When he went to Ireland in 1185 he took
  William & settled large estates on him. Hubert went into John's
  service & rose to the post of Seneschal of Poitou, John then
  appointed him chief justicular. This was the most important
  position in the kingdom, behind the monarch & the Archbishop of
  Canterbury, & ahead of the Constable, the Marshal, the Steward,
  the Chamberlain, & the Chancellor. His 1st three wives were
  rich widows, his 4th a Princess of Scotland. The marriage to
  Margaret of Scotland caused much indignation among the nobility
  & caused a peak of bitterness, in fact, when one of Margaret's
  sisters was suggested as a possible wife for Henry III, the
  peers would not allow it because it did not seem fitting for
  the King to have as a brother in law Hubert de Burgh. He was no
  rough, uncouth soldier. His sword was his fortune, but he was
  an adept courtier, had an ingratiating manner (to his
  superiors, to his inferiors he was stern & to his "peers" he
  was brusque & overbearing), certainly of pleasing mien, of
  shrewd political sense, deft, adriot & quick-witted, as
  attested to by his rise under the ill-tempered & hard to please
  King John & his four outstanding marriages to women of
  succeedingly higher degree.  The great baronial families never
  regarded him as anything but an upstart, indicating he must
  have been too aggressivelydedicated to success, too prone to
  brush aside any obstacle, too demanding of concession on the
  part of others while never making any himself.
  He was, however, a man of great ability & decision, & with the
  exception of Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
  only man in the kingdom with the strength & prestige to assume
  control of state affairs once William Marshal died (as Henry
  III was still in his minority). Hubert gathered the reigns in
  his hands, even though he never had any assumption of title nor
  formal declaration of accession. His control of the state was
  bitterly resented by the barons, but the administration of the
  realm was firm & consistent in the best traditions of Henry II.
  His importance continued to grow through the last years of
  Henry III's minority. Hubert was the first of a long succession
  of commoners who rose to posts of almost supreme power & lived
  in the magnificence of royalty. He was created Earl of Kent &
  had firmly established himself in Wales, being castellan of the
  fortresses of Montgomery, Carmarthen & Cardigan. The royal
  castles of Dover, Canterbury, Rochester & Norwich were in his
  hands, as was the Tower of London & what later became known as
  Whitehall. He was sheriff of seven counties. His marriage with
  the Scottish princess was highly successful, one daughter,
  Meggotta, was born. The resplendent justiciar, filled with a
  sense of his importance & so drunk with power that he paid
  little heed to the growing resentment of the nobility, lived
  with his beloved daughter & princess wife in the White Tower of
  the Tower of London. Everywhere he went, he went out
  accompanied by a long train of knights, men-at-arms, archers, &
  various others (such as scriveners, acrobats, cooks, barbers,
  etc.). He himself travelled in polished chain mail, with a
  bright scarf about his neck & a jewel encrusted sword. He owned
  so many properties that no matter where he might ride, he could
  always stay in one of his own; he never had to partake of the
  hospitality of others. In January, 1227, Henry III assumed his
  majority & announced he would assume the full power &
  responsibilities of kingship. This was done with Hubert's
  acquiscience. Hubert remained in the royal favor for quite some
  time & developed monies by charging landowners who held land by
  Royal patent fees payable to the crown, this further
  antogonized the nobility. In the late 1220's there was much
  trouble with Wales. Hubert was building a castle at Arwystli,
  which was threatening the independence of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth
  the Great. Llywelyn attacked & enjoined a guerrila style
  campaign against Henry, Hubert & the English. The Welsh
  campaign from Hubert & Henry's eyes was a total disaster. In
  1228, Pierre de Dreux, Count of Brittany, revolted from St.
  Louis IX of France & enticed Henry into leading an army into
  France. On 28 Oct 1228, the invasion force was gathered, but it
  was much too small & provisions were low or non-existent.
  Hubert had opposed the campaign, & Henry at this time called
  him a traitor for the lack of men & provisions & rushed him
  with his sword, the Earl of Chester convinced Henry not to kill
  Hubert, only because he knew England was in no position to
  fight a French war. The campaign was put off until men &
  provisions were gathered & in May 1230 a great host was sent to
  France. The campaign was a dismal failure. Only Peter de Dreux
  in Brittany supported the English. Henry blamed the lack of
  success on Hubert, saying that Hubert influenced the knights to
  drink & wench rather than give their all to the martial
  necessities of the campaign. Peter des Roches, who was formerly
  Henry's tutor, was a very unscrupulous bishop who carefully
  prepared the fall of Hubert. On Aug 8 1232, Hubert was ordered
  to surrender all royal castles in his possession to Stephen de
  Segrave, his former comrade & later betrayer, & to surrender
  his office as Chief Justiciar to Segrave. Henry then imprisoned
  Hubert & made Hubert sign away all his personal wealth &
  possessions (a vast amount kept by the Templars in London) to
  the crown. Hubert escaped London & took sanctuary at Merton
  Priory, where he was drug away by force; however, the Church
  intervened & he was allowed to return to sanctuary, but was
  starved until he submitted. He was tried, refused to plead to
  the Court of earls & threw himself on the King's will. The
  charges of venality were easy enough to prove, but the charges
  of murder, dabbling in black magic, etc. were clearly lies. He
  was deprived of all offices & honors save his earldom &
  permitted to keep his private landholdings. He was then held in
  extremely close solitary confinement (chained to the wall in
  the darkest cell) at Devizes Castle. Finally, he escaped with
  the aid of two friends, Richard Siward & Gilbert Basset, & made
  it across the River Wye & rode across to Chepstow where the
  King's writ did not run. He stayed there two years & was
  briefly reinstated until the secret marriage of his ward
  Richard de Clare & his daughter Meggotta. Henry insisted that
  he had arranged the marriage (evidence did not support this) &
  thus violated his reinstatement clauses. Henry separated the
  couple & Meggotta died of a broken heart. After her death,
  Hubert did not seem to care what happened to him.

Details of Hubert de Burgh's family with Margaret de Arsic