Falkes de Breauté
Encyclopedia
Sir Falkes de Breauté (also spelled Fulk de Brent) was an Anglo-Norman
soldier who earned high office by loyally serving first King John
and later King Henry III
in First Barons' War
. He played a key role in the Battle of Lincoln Fair
in 1217. He attempted to rival Hubert de Burgh
, and as a result fell from power in 1224. His heraldic device was the griffin.
When he married, his new wife's home in London was then called "Fawkes Hall" (Falkes' Hall), which over the years changed into "Foxhall" and finally into "Vauxhall
". The Vauxhall car company
derived its name from that part of London; and still uses de Breauté's griffin as their badge.
parentage, and has been described as the illegitimate child of a Norman knight and a concubine, possibly a knightly family from the village of Bréauté
. Most chroniclers, however, describe him as from common stock, and he was often referred to only by his first name, which was said to be derived from the scythe he had once used to murder someone, as a sign of contempt.
by King John
on royal service. Upon his return in February 1207 he was entrusted with the wardenship of Glamorgan
and Wenlock
, and around that time also knighted. He was then made constable of Carmarthen
, Cardigan
and the Gower Peninsula
, and gained a fearsome reputation in the Welsh Marches
, destroying Strata Florida Abbey
in 1212 for its opposition to the king. He served regularly in royal service, including in trips to Flanders
and Poitou, and was in high favour with the king. It is often said that he was a foreign mercenary condemned by Magna Carta
; this is incorrect, and he was actually one of the royalists who swore to abide by the charter's terms.
Breauté rose to power during the First Barons' War
as an unquestioning subject of King John, earning the hate of baronial and monastic leaders alike. He earned the title of John's steward in 1215, a title he kept until the following year. On 28 November 1215, de Breauté captured Hanslope
, Buckinghamshire
, a castle of William Mauduit, and he soon after captured Bedford Castle
belonging to William de Beauchamp
, and in reward was allowed to keep it. In 1216 John divided his army between William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and four "alien" captains, one of whom was de Breauté. When Prince Louis of France
invaded in the same year de Breauté was tasked with holding Oxford
against the baronial forces. On 17 July he and the Earl of Chester sacked Worcester
, which had allied itself with Louis. In reward John gave de Breauté the hand of Margaret the daughter of Warin Fitzgerald, the royal chamberlain. She was the widow of Baldwin de Revières, former heir to the Earl of Devon, who had died in 1216, and after the death of the 5th Earl in 1217 her son became the 6th Earl. So this marriage made de Breauté ‘the equal of an earl’[2] as he was regent for the Earldom until his stepson the 6th Earl reached his majority. As Margaret's dowry he gained control of the Isle of Wight
, and as part of her inheritance took Stogursey
, also becoming chamberlain to the Exchequer. When John died on 19 October de Breauté served as the executor of his will, and was one of the royalists who reissued Magna Carta on 12 November 1216.
Under Henry III
de Breauté continued to fight with the same loyalty he had shown John. Holding the High Sheriffdoms of Cambridgeshire
, Oxfordshire
, Buckinghamshire
, Northamptonshire
and Bedfordshire
he presented a major obstacle to Louis and the barons, although he lost Hertford and Cambridge in 1217. On 22 January of that year de Breauté and his men committed their worst atrocity, attacking St Albans
because it had come to terms with Prince Louis, although it had done so under duress. After attacking the townspeople his men turned on the abbey, killing the abbot's cook and only leaving after blackmailing the abbot for 200 marks. His men also attacked Wardon Abbey
, and although he eventually compensated St Albans it was felt he only did so to please his wife.
At the end of February he led a royalist force in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the port of Rye
. After this he captured the Isle of Ely
, before playing a critical role in the campaign leading up to the Battle of Lincoln Fair
. He joined the Earl of Chester to besiege Mountsorrel
, and in response the rebels were forced to divide their forces, with Prince Louis and half his forces remaining at the siege of Dover
while the rest marched north to relieve Mountsorrel. After achieving this the rebels marched to Lincoln to assist a rebel force besieging Lincoln Castle
; while the town had fallen to the rebels, the castle garrison had remained loyal to King Henry. By the time they got there the royalist force had already arrived under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
, and he forced a battle in the streets of the town itself. Before the battle began de Breauté had led his force into the castle itself, and his crossbowmen shot down at the rebel force from the walls. Sallying out himself, with such force that he was captured before being rescued by his men, he fought on until the rebels fled, with even the Angevin leaders acknowledging his role in a critical victory against superior forces.
In reward for his role in the victory the royal court celebrated Christmas
at his expense at Northampton
, but this proved the climax of his career. After the battle he was one of the many fighters who was alienated by Hubert de Burgh
, Justiciar
of England, over them keeping the castles they had captured for their own profit. Due to his role in the campaign and the victory at Lincoln itself he was unassailable for many years; he deflected judgements made against him in 1218 and 1219 and kept hold of his High Sheriffdoms, including that of Rutland
. Between 1218 and 1219 he also served as a Justice of the Peace
for Essex
, Hertfordshire
and East Anglia
, and when William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon
died he was given the castle of Plympton
.
He had made many enemies due to his actions during the war; numbered among them were William Marshal
, who pawned four manors to him during the war and had difficulty getting them back, and the Earl of Salisbury, who grew to dislike him after de Breauté supported Nicola de la Haie
for constable of Lincoln Castle
against Salisbury's personal preference. Due to his status as a commoner his position was more tenuous than that of his enemies, as he had no lands to base himself on, and relied increasingly on the favour of noblemen such as the Earl of Chester and Peter des Roches
, Bishop of Winchester
, who supported him due to their disenchantment with the rule of Hubert de Burgh. In 1222 he cooperated with de Burgh to suppress a revolt by the citizens of London
, capturing three of the ringleaders and executing them without trial.
De Burgh's growing ascendancy drew de Breauté and his allies even closer together, but tensions boiled over in November 1223, when de Burgh and the king were forced to flee to Northampton
while de Breauté, the Count of Aumale and the earls of Chester and Gloucester attempted to seize the Tower of London
. A new civil war was averted by the intervention of Simon Langton
, Archbishop of York
, but after a parley in London on 4 December failed tensions rose again. Threatened with excommunication the "schismatics" returned to the king's court, agreeing on 30 December to give their castles and shrievalties to the king. De Breauté immediately lost Hertford Castle
and the shrievalties of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire, and lost the rest of his shrievalties by 18 January 1224.
The failure of de Breauté and his allies gave the advantage to de Burgh, who in February 1224 ordered de Breauté to give up Plympton and Bedford castles, rejecting his claim that Plympton Castle was part of his wife's inheritance. De Breauté refused to give the castles up, and in response the royal court sent justices to his land with a fake charge of Breach of the Peace. They found him guilty of 16 counts of Wrongful Disseisin
, and on 16 June William de Breauté, Falkes' brother, seized Henry of Braybrooke
, one of the justices sent by the king and a personal enemy of both de Breautés. This was foolish in the extreme, as the King and his court were barely 20 miles away discussing the defence of Poitou
, and on 20 June the king and his forces besieged Bedford Castle
, with Simon Langton excommunicating both the brothers and the garrison as a whole. The siege lasted eight weeks, with over 200 killed by the missiles of the defenders. After a fourth assault broke the walls William and 80 knights were captured, refused pardon and hanged.
he was imprisoned by Louis VIII in Compiègne
as revenge for his defeat of the French forces during the war, but was released in 1225 either through the intervention of the pope or through his Crusader's Badge, assumed in 1221. After release he spent several months in Rome
, and published a fourteen-page defence of his actions, the querimonia, which laid the blame at the feet of Langton and de Burgh, and begged the pope to support him as a man excommunicated without cause and as a crusader. Departing for England, de Breauté was captured in Burgundy
by an English knight he had once imprisoned, but papal intervention yet again saw his release. After this he lived in Troyes
, but was expelled from France in 1226 for refusing to pay homage to the king, and again stayed in Rome, dying slightly before 18 July, allegedly from a poisoned fish.
"beside the Thames near the present Vauxhall Bridge known as Vauxhall
seems originally to have been part of the extensive Manor of South Lambeth, which was held in the 13th century by the de Redvers family. The name Vauxhall (Fauxhall) is derived from Falkes de Breaute, the second husband of Margaret, widow of Baldwin de Redvers."
Vauxhall Ironworks were founded in 1857. In 1903 they built the first Vauxhall car. They are now known as Vauxhall Motors
and still use de Breauté's griffin as their badge.
tells the story of de Breaute's wife Margaret, and he is a principal character.
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
soldier who earned high office by loyally serving first King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
and later King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
in First Barons' War
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War was a civil war in the Kingdom of England, between a group of rebellious barons—led by Robert Fitzwalter and supported by a French army under the future Louis VIII of France—and King John of England...
. He played a key role in the Battle of Lincoln Fair
Battle of Lincoln (1217)
The Second Battle of Lincoln occurred at Lincoln Castle on 20 May 1217, during the First Barons' War, between the forces of the future Louis VIII of France and those of King Henry III of England. Louis' forces were attacked by a relief force under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke...
in 1217. He attempted to rival Hubert de Burgh
Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent
Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent was Earl of Kent, Justiciar of England and Ireland, and one of the most influential men in England during the reigns of John and Henry III.-Birth and family:...
, and as a result fell from power in 1224. His heraldic device was the griffin.
When he married, his new wife's home in London was then called "Fawkes Hall" (Falkes' Hall), which over the years changed into "Foxhall" and finally into "Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
". The Vauxhall car company
Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...
derived its name from that part of London; and still uses de Breauté's griffin as their badge.
Early life
De Breauté was of obscure NormanNormans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
parentage, and has been described as the illegitimate child of a Norman knight and a concubine, possibly a knightly family from the village of Bréauté
Bréauté
Bréauté is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A farming village situated in the Pays de Caux, some northeast of Le Havre, at the junction of the D52 and D910 roads.-Heraldry:...
. Most chroniclers, however, describe him as from common stock, and he was often referred to only by his first name, which was said to be derived from the scythe he had once used to murder someone, as a sign of contempt.
Service under John
The first accurate records of his royal service are from 1206, when he was sent to PoitouPoitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
by King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
on royal service. Upon his return in February 1207 he was entrusted with the wardenship of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
and Wenlock
Wenlock
Wenlock may refer to:Places* Little Wenlock, Shropshire, England* Wenlock Edge, limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock* Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England** Wenlock ** Much Wenlock and Severn Junction railway...
, and around that time also knighted. He was then made constable of Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
, Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...
and the Gower Peninsula
Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...
, and gained a fearsome reputation in the Welsh Marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
, destroying Strata Florida Abbey
Strata Florida Abbey
Strata Florida Abbey Flowers. Ystrad corrupts into Strata, while Fflur is the name of the nearby river. After the region around St. David's was firmly occupied by the Norman Marcher lordship of Pembroke by the early 12th century, with St...
in 1212 for its opposition to the king. He served regularly in royal service, including in trips to Flanders
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....
and Poitou, and was in high favour with the king. It is often said that he was a foreign mercenary condemned by Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
; this is incorrect, and he was actually one of the royalists who swore to abide by the charter's terms.
Breauté rose to power during the First Barons' War
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War was a civil war in the Kingdom of England, between a group of rebellious barons—led by Robert Fitzwalter and supported by a French army under the future Louis VIII of France—and King John of England...
as an unquestioning subject of King John, earning the hate of baronial and monastic leaders alike. He earned the title of John's steward in 1215, a title he kept until the following year. On 28 November 1215, de Breauté captured Hanslope
Hanslope
Hanslope is a village in the Borough of Milton Keynes and is the centre of a Civil Parish of the same name. It is about 4 miles WNW of Newport Pagnell, about 4 miles north of Stony Stratford, about 8 miles north of Central Milton Keynes and just south of Northamptonshire. For ceremonial...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, a castle of William Mauduit, and he soon after captured Bedford Castle
Bedford Castle
Bedford Castle was a large medieval castle in Bedford, England. Built after 1100 by Henry I, the castle played a prominent part in both the civil war of the Anarchy and the First Barons' War. The castle was significantly extended in stone, although the final plan of the castle remains uncertain...
belonging to William de Beauchamp
William de Beauchamp (1185)
-Magna Carta baron:de Beauchamp took part in the 1210 expedition to Ireland and the 1214 expedition to Poitiers before joining the rebellious barons in 1215 at the beginning of the First Barons' War, entertaining them at his seat of Bedford Castle; as such Beauchamp was one of the rebels...
, and in reward was allowed to keep it. In 1216 John divided his army between William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and four "alien" captains, one of whom was de Breauté. When Prince Louis of France
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
invaded in the same year de Breauté was tasked with holding Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
against the baronial forces. On 17 July he and the Earl of Chester sacked Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, which had allied itself with Louis. In reward John gave de Breauté the hand of Margaret the daughter of Warin Fitzgerald, the royal chamberlain. She was the widow of Baldwin de Revières, former heir to the Earl of Devon, who had died in 1216, and after the death of the 5th Earl in 1217 her son became the 6th Earl. So this marriage made de Breauté ‘the equal of an earl’[2] as he was regent for the Earldom until his stepson the 6th Earl reached his majority. As Margaret's dowry he gained control of the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, and as part of her inheritance took Stogursey
Stogursey
Stogursey is the name of a small village and civil parish in the Quantock Hills in Somerset, England. It is situated from Nether Stowey, and west of Bridgwater...
, also becoming chamberlain to the Exchequer. When John died on 19 October de Breauté served as the executor of his will, and was one of the royalists who reissued Magna Carta on 12 November 1216.
Service under Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
de Breauté continued to fight with the same loyalty he had shown John. Holding the High Sheriffdoms of Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
and Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
he presented a major obstacle to Louis and the barons, although he lost Hertford and Cambridge in 1217. On 22 January of that year de Breauté and his men committed their worst atrocity, attacking St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
because it had come to terms with Prince Louis, although it had done so under duress. After attacking the townspeople his men turned on the abbey, killing the abbot's cook and only leaving after blackmailing the abbot for 200 marks. His men also attacked Wardon Abbey
Wardon Abbey
Wardon or Warden Abbey, Bedfordshire was one of the senior Cistercian houses of England, founded about 1135 from Rievaulx Abbey.It is a Grade I listed building.- History :...
, and although he eventually compensated St Albans it was felt he only did so to please his wife.
At the end of February he led a royalist force in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the port of Rye
Rye, East Sussex
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...
. After this he captured the Isle of Ely
Isle of Ely
The Isle of Ely is a historic region around the city of Ely now in Cambridgeshire, England but previously a county in its own right.-Etymology:...
, before playing a critical role in the campaign leading up to the Battle of Lincoln Fair
Battle of Lincoln (1217)
The Second Battle of Lincoln occurred at Lincoln Castle on 20 May 1217, during the First Barons' War, between the forces of the future Louis VIII of France and those of King Henry III of England. Louis' forces were attacked by a relief force under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke...
. He joined the Earl of Chester to besiege Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants.-Geography:...
, and in response the rebels were forced to divide their forces, with Prince Louis and half his forces remaining at the siege of Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
while the rest marched north to relieve Mountsorrel. After achieving this the rebels marched to Lincoln to assist a rebel force besieging Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle is a major castle constructed in Lincoln, England during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is only one of two such castles in the country, the other being at Lewes in Sussex...
; while the town had fallen to the rebels, the castle garrison had remained loyal to King Henry. By the time they got there the royalist force had already arrived under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...
, and he forced a battle in the streets of the town itself. Before the battle began de Breauté had led his force into the castle itself, and his crossbowmen shot down at the rebel force from the walls. Sallying out himself, with such force that he was captured before being rescued by his men, he fought on until the rebels fled, with even the Angevin leaders acknowledging his role in a critical victory against superior forces.
In reward for his role in the victory the royal court celebrated Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
at his expense at Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, but this proved the climax of his career. After the battle he was one of the many fighters who was alienated by Hubert de Burgh
Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent
Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent was Earl of Kent, Justiciar of England and Ireland, and one of the most influential men in England during the reigns of John and Henry III.-Birth and family:...
, Justiciar
Justiciar
In medieval England and Ireland the Chief Justiciar was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister as the monarch's chief minister. Similar positions existed on the Continent, particularly in Norman Italy. The term is the English form of the medieval Latin justiciarius or justitiarius In...
of England, over them keeping the castles they had captured for their own profit. Due to his role in the campaign and the victory at Lincoln itself he was unassailable for many years; he deflected judgements made against him in 1218 and 1219 and kept hold of his High Sheriffdoms, including that of Rutland
Rutland
Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
. Between 1218 and 1219 he also served as a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
and East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, and when William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon
William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon
William de Reviers, 5th Earl of Devon was the son of Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon and Adelise Baluun. William de Redvers is also William de Vernon, because he was brought up at Vernon Castle, in Normandy, the seat of his grandfather.He took part in Richard the Lion-Hearted's second...
died he was given the castle of Plympton
Plympton
Plympton, or Plympton Maurice or Plympton St Maurice or Plympton St Mary or Plympton Erle, in south-western Devon, England is an ancient stannary town: an important trading centre in the past for locally mined tin, and a former seaport...
.
He had made many enemies due to his actions during the war; numbered among them were William Marshal
William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke was a medieval English nobleman, and the son of the famous William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.-Early life:William was born in Normandy probably during the spring of 1190...
, who pawned four manors to him during the war and had difficulty getting them back, and the Earl of Salisbury, who grew to dislike him after de Breauté supported Nicola de la Haie
Nicola de la Haye
Nicholaa de la Haye was the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Richard de la Haye , a Lincolnshire lord, and a descendant of the pre-Conquest Lord Colswain of Lincolnshire. Nicholaa's first husband was William fitz Erneis...
for constable of Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle is a major castle constructed in Lincoln, England during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is only one of two such castles in the country, the other being at Lewes in Sussex...
against Salisbury's personal preference. Due to his status as a commoner his position was more tenuous than that of his enemies, as he had no lands to base himself on, and relied increasingly on the favour of noblemen such as the Earl of Chester and Peter des Roches
Peter des Roches
Peter des Roches was bishop of Winchester in the reigns of King John of England and his son Henry III. Roches was not an Englishman, but a Poitevin.-Life:...
, Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, who supported him due to their disenchantment with the rule of Hubert de Burgh. In 1222 he cooperated with de Burgh to suppress a revolt by the citizens of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, capturing three of the ringleaders and executing them without trial.
Rebellion
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
while de Breauté, the Count of Aumale and the earls of Chester and Gloucester attempted to seize the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
. A new civil war was averted by the intervention of Simon Langton
Simon Langton (archbishop)
Simon Langton was an English medieval clergyman who served as Archdeacon of Canterbury from 1227 until his death in 1248. He had previously been Archbishop-elect of York, but the election was quashed by Pope Innocent III.-Life:...
, Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, but after a parley in London on 4 December failed tensions rose again. Threatened with excommunication the "schismatics" returned to the king's court, agreeing on 30 December to give their castles and shrievalties to the king. De Breauté immediately lost Hertford Castle
Hertford Castle
Hertford Castle was a Norman castle situated by the River Lea in Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire, England.-Early history:Hertford Castle was built on a site first fortified by Edward the Elder around 911. By the time of the Norman Invasion in 1066, a motte and bailey were on the site...
and the shrievalties of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire, and lost the rest of his shrievalties by 18 January 1224.
The failure of de Breauté and his allies gave the advantage to de Burgh, who in February 1224 ordered de Breauté to give up Plympton and Bedford castles, rejecting his claim that Plympton Castle was part of his wife's inheritance. De Breauté refused to give the castles up, and in response the royal court sent justices to his land with a fake charge of Breach of the Peace. They found him guilty of 16 counts of Wrongful Disseisin
Assize of novel disseisin
In English law, the Assize of novel disseisin was an action to recover lands of which the plaintiff had been disseised, or dispossessed. The action became extremely popular due to its expediency...
, and on 16 June William de Breauté, Falkes' brother, seized Henry of Braybrooke
Henry of Braybrooke
Henry of Braybrooke was an English High Sheriff and justice.He was the son of Robert of Braybrooke, who had served as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland, as well as Master of the Great Wardrobe, and had accumulated large amounts of land in Northamptonshire,...
, one of the justices sent by the king and a personal enemy of both de Breautés. This was foolish in the extreme, as the King and his court were barely 20 miles away discussing the defence of Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, and on 20 June the king and his forces besieged Bedford Castle
Bedford Castle
Bedford Castle was a large medieval castle in Bedford, England. Built after 1100 by Henry I, the castle played a prominent part in both the civil war of the Anarchy and the First Barons' War. The castle was significantly extended in stone, although the final plan of the castle remains uncertain...
, with Simon Langton excommunicating both the brothers and the garrison as a whole. The siege lasted eight weeks, with over 200 killed by the missiles of the defenders. After a fourth assault broke the walls William and 80 knights were captured, refused pardon and hanged.
Exile
Having lost Bedford and his brother, Falkes submitted to Henry III on 19 August, pleading for forgiveness in exchange for the loss of all his possessions. At this his wife left him and pled for divorce, claiming she had been forced into the marriage eight years before; she was unsuccessful, but did manage to recover some of her lands. On 25 August Falkes officially gave up his lands, and chose exile to France rather than judgement from the barons. Arriving in NormandyNormandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
he was imprisoned by Louis VIII in Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
as revenge for his defeat of the French forces during the war, but was released in 1225 either through the intervention of the pope or through his Crusader's Badge, assumed in 1221. After release he spent several months in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and published a fourteen-page defence of his actions, the querimonia, which laid the blame at the feet of Langton and de Burgh, and begged the pope to support him as a man excommunicated without cause and as a crusader. Departing for England, de Breauté was captured in Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
by an English knight he had once imprisoned, but papal intervention yet again saw his release. After this he lived in Troyes
Troyes
Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
, but was expelled from France in 1226 for refusing to pay homage to the king, and again stayed in Rome, dying slightly before 18 July, allegedly from a poisoned fish.
Vauxhall
The part of LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
"beside the Thames near the present Vauxhall Bridge known as Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
seems originally to have been part of the extensive Manor of South Lambeth, which was held in the 13th century by the de Redvers family. The name Vauxhall (Fauxhall) is derived from Falkes de Breaute, the second husband of Margaret, widow of Baldwin de Redvers."
Vauxhall Ironworks were founded in 1857. In 1903 they built the first Vauxhall car. They are now known as Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...
and still use de Breauté's griffin as their badge.
In fiction
The novel LEOPARDS AND LILIES (1954) by Alfred DugganAlfred Duggan
Alfred Duggan was an English historian, archeologist and best-selling historical novelist during the 1950s. Although he was raised in England, Duggan was born Alfred Leo Duggan in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish descent. His family moved to England when he was...
tells the story of de Breaute's wife Margaret, and he is a principal character.