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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
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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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26 I hope to show this at another time.

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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.

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39 Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 70.

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

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55 Close Rolls 1231-34, p. 70.

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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.

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

63 I hope to show this on another occasion.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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