Magna Charta Surety Barons

This list displays the four Magna Charta Surety Barons that I am directly descended from through my Dorsett line.  The full list of Magna Charta Surety Barons can be viewed at http://www.magnacharta.org/magna_charta_barons_at_runnymede.htm

 

1- Richard De Clare - Earl of Hertford d. 1217

Richard de Clare, the son of Roger de Clare, was born in 1153.  On the death of his father in 1173 he became the 6th Earl of Clare and the 4th Earl of Hertford.  He married Amicia, the daughter of the Earl of Gloucester.  In 1183 Richard de Clare obtained control of Glamorgan, the largest and the most important marcher lordship in Wales.

In 1200, King John became involved in a long-drawn out war with France. This war was expensive and John was forced to introduce new taxes to pay for his army. This created a great deal of resentment in England, and John's position was not helped when, in 1205, the king's army lost control of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou and Maine.

In 1215, King John made another desperate attempt to gain control of his lost territory in France. Once again he was defeated and was forced to pay £40,000 to obtain a truce. When John tried to obtain this money by imposing yet another tax, the barons rebelled.

Richard de Clare was one of the leaders of the rebellion. Few barons remained loyal, and in most areas of the country, John had very little support. John had no chance of victory and on 15th June, 1215, at Runnymede in Surrey, he was forced to accept the peace terms of those who had successfully fought against him.

The document the king was obliged to sign was the Magna Carta. In this charter the king made a long list of promises, including no new taxes without the support of his barons, a reduction in the power of his sheriffs and the right of a fair trial for all freemen.

The barons had doubts whether King John could be trusted to keep his word. A small group of barons were given the task of making sure that John kept the promises he had made in the Magna Carta. Two of the barons chosen were Richard de Clare and his son Gilbert de Clare.

Soon after he signed the charter the king appealed to Pope Innocent III for help. The pope was concerned about this rebellion and decided to excommunicate the barons who had fought against their king. The pope also provided money to help King John recruit foreign mercenaries to fight against his disloyal barons. The civil war resumed. One of King John's main targets was Richard of Clare and in November, 1215, his troops seized his castle at Tonbridge. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/NORclareR.htm

2- Gilbert De Clare - Earl of Hertford's heir d. 1230

GILBERT de CLARE, son of Surety Richard de Clare, and himself a Surety, was born about the year 1180. In June 1202 he was
entrusted with the lands of Harfleur andMostrevilliers. He was
one of the Barons still opposing the arbitrary proceedings of
the Crown. He championed Louis the Dauphin, fighting at Lincoln
underthe Baronial banner, and was taken prisoner by William
Marshall, whose daughter he later married. He led an army
against the Welsh in 1228 and captured Morgan Gam, who was
released the next year. After an engagement in Brittany, he died
on his return at Penros in that Duchy, 25 October 1230. His body
was conveyed by way of Plymouth and Cranbourn to Tewkesbury. He
was buried there before the High Altar 10 November 1230. He
married Isabella, sister of William Marshall, the Surety, and
daughter of William Marshall, the Protector, on 9 October 1217.
She died 17 January 1239/40. http://www.magnacharta.org/Barons/baron_gilbert_de_clare.htm

3- Saire De Quincey - Earl of Winchester d. 1219

Saire de Quincey (Quincy), the Surety, born before 1154, was a Baron present at Lincoln when William the Lion of Scotland did homage to the English monarch in October 1200. He obtained large grants and immunities from King John and was created Earl of Winchester, 2 March 1207, having been governor in 1203 of the Castle of Ruil in Normandy. He is created with rewriting Magna Charta from the Charter of King Henry I and the Saxon Code. Because he had opposed the King’s concession to the Pope’s legate, he was bitterly hated by King John. One of the Barons to whom the City and Tower of London were resigned, Saire de Quincey was excommunicated with the other Barons the following year. He was sent, with Robert FitzWalter, the Surety, by the other Barons, to invite the Dauphin of France to assume the Crown of England and, even after the death of King John, he kept a strong garrison in Montsorell Castle in behalf of Prince Louis. When the Barons, being greatly outnumbered, were defeated by the troops of King Henry III, Saire de Quincey, with many others, was made prisoner and his estates forfeited. In the following October his immense estates were restored upon his submission. In 1218 the Earl of Winchester went with the Earls of Chester and Arundel to the Holy Land, assisted at the siege of Damietta in 1219, and died 3 November in the same year, on the way to Jerusalem. His wife was Margaret Beaumont, whom he married before 1173.

At the beginning of John’s reign, Saire de Quincey was not a Baron, much less a great one. In the civil war the King had had the advantage over the rebels. Few of the Barons had had much actual military experience. The Barons’ contribution to the war was the scutage they paid, a war fund substituted for the contingent of knights owed to the King’s service. The money was collected from vassals, and mercenary knights were paid from it. Many of the mercenaries were regulars who served the same Baron from campaign to campaign, but those Barons who are known to have had extensive military experience were only Saire de Quincey, Robert FitzWalter, William de Mowbray, William d’Albini, Roger de Cressi and Robert de Roos.

Saire de Quincey is associated with two stalwart Castles in the South of England: Colchester and Winchester, both with the Latin castrum root, signifying that they were once the site of Roman forts.

Colchester Castle could not have been built before the early 12th Century, though Roman materials may have been re-used in its construction. The keep, the only portion now surviving, is in complete harmony with other Norman castles. Colchester must have been a formidable stronghold, and a challenge to Saire de Quincey. The King's men held the Castle against Quincey, the first Earl to attack Colchester. John had given the fortress into the charge of a Fleming whom he thought he could trust. But Quincey took the Castle, and later found holding it more difficult. The fighting was of such a nature that John himself came to Colchester to see just how stubborn Saire de Quincey was. The Earl held the Castle for two months, but lack of food forced him to give up and take flight to France.

Colchester was the largest Norman keep in England. It measures one hundred fifty-two by one hundred seventeen feet, enclosing nearly twice the area of the Tower of London. Its walls vary between eleven and thirty feet in thickness. It was erected either by William the Conqueror or by William II. It is of the quadrangular variety, turreted at the corners. In it and elsewhere herringbone masonry has been noted.

Winchester Castle was first erected by William the Conqueror. Later alterations and extra height were added by Henry III, about the year 1138. The great Hall has Purbeck columns of 13th Century architecture, supporting a restored roof and containing handsome windows of the same approximate period. Only the keep remains. "How commonplace this saying, 'Only the keep still stands,' . . . thanks to the old builders who made the keep strong and high to withstand time, and so difficult to tear down that it escaped the looters of the ages." Perhaps Murphy was thinking of Colchester or Winchester when he thus wrote, for this was the fate of the Quincey strongholds.  http://www.magnacharta.org/Barons/baron_saire_de_quincey.htm

Saire's grand daughter "Margaret de Quincy was born in 1208 in Lincoln, Lincoln, England and died before 30 Mar 1266 in Clerkwell, Middlesex, England .
Margaret married John de Lacy. John was born in 1192 in Lincoln, Lincoln, England. He was the son of Baron Roger de Lacy and Maud (Mathilde) de Clare. He died on 22 Jul 1240 and was buried in Cistercian Abbey of Stanlaw, Cheshire, Eng. . " http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/de-quincy.htm

4- John de Lacie, Lord of Halton Castle, Cheshire, d. 1240

John de Lacie (Lacy) "was born in 1192 in Lincoln, Lincoln, England and died on 22 Jul 1240 and was buried in Cistercian Abbey of Stanlaw, Cheshire, Eng. . He was the son of Baron Roger de Lacie and Maud (Mathilde) de Clare.   
John married Margaret de Quincy. Margaret was born in 1208 in Lincoln, Lincoln, England. She was the daughter of Robert de Quincy and Countess Hawise of Chester.  She died before 30 Mar 1266 in Clerkwell, Middlesex, England .

Margaret - married 2nd, Walter Marhsall, 5th Earl of Pembroke.

John - seventh Baron of Halton Castle and hereditary constable of Chester, was one of the earliest Barons to take up arms at the time of Magna Charta. He was also appointed to see that the new statutes were properly carried into effect and observed in the counties of York and Nottingham. He was excommunicated by the Pope. Upon the accession of King Henry III, he joined a party of noblemen and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, rendering valuable service at the Siege of Damietta."  http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/de-lacy.htm#name2896

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