1535944

[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.

Records not imported into INDI (individual) Gramps ID I2995:

Line ignored as not understood Line 69698: 2 SOUR @S085410@
Skipped subordinate line Line 69699: 3 DATA
Skipped subordinate line Line 69700: 4 TEXT Date of Import: Aug 7, 2000