Monday Book: The Valley of Ravens, Barbara Erskine

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Time-slip fiction combining history, the supernatural and romance at its best that also includes a character from the iconic Lady of Hay. Atmospheric story telling and richly observed characterisation meeting with obsessions from the past and the present. Like her other novels it’s immersive and the pace builds. Set in the Welsh marches readers encounter Llywelyn the Last Prince of Wales and the fraught politics and wars of the thirteenth century. Meticulous research about his daughter Gwenllian who was born a few months before his death and her fate when Edward I captured Llywelyn’s brother David and his family draw attention to women without power its consequences for their lives – a factor at play in the story of Alys, a healer, whose story is at the heart of Erskine’s novel. The history of the period casts its shadow across the novel and the life of Erskine’s modern character, Eve – who faces a different kind of persecution while at the same time living in a place where the weight of the past pushes through into the present. Couldn’t put it down!

And as it happens I have recently revisited the fate of Gwenllian of Wales while exploring the life of Eleanor of Castile. An infant at the time of her father’s death, Gwenllian was his only legitimate heir. She was captured, when she was 18-months-old, along with her uncle, Dafydd, and his family on 21 June 1283 at Nanhysglain in Snowdonia. For Dafydid, a brutal execution at Shrewsbury followed. He had, after all, shifted his allegiance one too many times so far as Edward I was concerned.

Gwenllian was separated from her cousins. Daffyd’s legitimate daughter and Gwenllian, with a claim to the crown of Wales, were sent to nunneries to prevent them from marrying and their families contesting Edward’s claim to Wales. Also sent to England for a lifetime of contemplation were Daffyd’s other six, or possibly seven, daughters. Gwenllian, who was twice over a cousin of Edward I due to her descent from King John’s daughter, Joan and the fact that her mother Eleanor was Edward’s cousin, was sent to Sempringham, a Gilbertine priory in Lincolnshire. Dafydd’s own daughter, Gwladys, was sent to Sixhills, another Gilbertine priory in Lincolnshire. Their fate was kinder than the one which befell Dafydd’s sons who were incarcerated in Bristol Castle for the rest of their lives.

Edward I wrote to the prioress that as an ‘innocent’ Gwenllian should be treated with pity given her age and sex. It seemed that while he wanted her removed from the Welsh line of succession he did not want her badly treated or harmed. Four years later, Edward sent an administrator to Lincolnshire to report on the way that Gwenllian and her cousins were being treated and cared for. He also arranged for a pension of £20 a year to be paid to the priory for her care.

The monastery accommodated around 120 nuns and 60 monks – the Gilbertines running double, segregated, houses. Gwenllian, veiled as an infant, spent the rest of her 54 years in Lincolnshire – dying 1337. The Gilbertines took vows of chastity, poverty and obedience but in 1327 when Gwenllian petitioned Edward II she described herself as Prince of Wales – reminding the king ( who would be dead by September) that his father had promised land and rent for the house at Sempringham to fund the pension. It was Edward III who granted her a pension of £20 a year for life.

In April 1328 Edward III visited Sempringham and granted the priory a charter that April.

If you want to know more about Gwenllian and her mother – Sharon Bennett Connolly’s book Ladies of the Magna Carta: Women and Influence in Thirteenth Century England is an excellent starting point.

A plaque commemorating the princess, who was abducted from her homeland, was raised in 1993 at Sempringham at St Andrew’s Church – which contains all that remains of the priory Her grave was lost during the dissolution of the monasteries.

‘Houses of the Gilbertine order: The priory of Sempringham’, in A History of the County of Lincoln: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1906), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lincs/vol2/pp179-187 [accessed 8 June 2026].

Alexander of Abingdon

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Side views of Eleanor of Castile, medieval statues from Waltham Cross, held by the V & A (photo J. Brod) accessed from https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/alexander-of-abingdon)

Logically Alexander came from Abingdon – which during the thirteenth century gained a reputation for masonry. Alexander became a court sculptor associated with a group of masons that worked at Westminster. He’s even identified in Eleanor of Castile’s accounts (well the executors of her estates) as an image maker. Inevitably little is known about Alexander other than his role at court as an image maker and that it is likely that he received his training during the building of Abingdon Abbey.

It was Alexander who was given the task of carving the stone chest upon which Eleanor’s effigy rests in Westminster Abbey, at Lincoln Cathedral, and the wax models for the metal images of Eleanor at Blackfriars where her heart was buried – lost at the Reformation.

He also created the images of Eleanor that appear on the Eleanor Crosses (the V and A holds the medieval images of Eleanor from the cross at Waltham). We know that Alexander charged 5 marks each for the seven deportations of Eleanor on the cross at Charing.

A statue of the Virgin and Child, held by the Metropolitan Museum in New York is attributed to Alexander because of its style – he was good at folds and draperies – and of course, its worth mentioning that the images he created of Eleanor took their form from the saints and statues of the Virgin Mary that he carved – religious iconography was part and parcel of medieval life. During my reading I also discovered that his work marks the move from the Gothic to the Decorated style.

Virgin and Child, attributed to Alexander of Abingdon. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Purchase, Edward J. Gallagher Jr. Bequest, in memory of his father, Edward Joseph Gallagher, his mother, Ann Hay Gallagher, and his son, Edward Joseph Gallagher III; and Caroline Howard Hyman Gift, 2003

He was still at work in 1316 (in a document that associates him with Michael of Canterbury) and while it is difficult to be certain it is thought that he sculpted the figures on the tombs of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster at Westminster Abbey and Bishop de Luda at Ely. It’s also thought that a shrine (to St Edburg) at Stanton Harcourt that was originally in Bicester Abbey (we’re back to the Dissolution of the Abbeys) and an effigy at Aldworth near Abingdon (Joan, Lady De la Beche) were also created by Alexander but it is difficult to be certain. Evidentially it is only the sculptures associated with Eleanor that historians can be certain about.

Joan, Lady de La Beche, Aldworth, St Mary’s Church attributed to Alexander of Abingdon.

Hourihane, Colum. The Grove Encyclopaedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. (2012)

Alexander of Abingdon
Alexander of Abingdon

Monday Book: The Queen’s Painter by Wendy Holden

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A sympathetic reimagining of Hans Holbein’s life and relationships in England, the story places Holbein at the centre of a web of intrigue at the Tudor court. Wendy Holden undertook extensive research for this book, and it shows on every page. The historical detail is richly woven into the narrative without ever overwhelming the story, bringing Tudor England vividly to life. Holden has a particular talent for humanising historical figures, and her portrayal of Holbein, Wyatt, Cromwell and Henry VIII is both convincing and deeply engaging. The court’s rivalries, shifting loyalties, and political tensions provide a compelling backdrop, while the personal relationships at the heart of the novel add warmth and emotional depth. As with many of Holden’s books, the writing is accessible, immersive, and meticulously researched, striking an excellent balance between historical authenticity and storytelling. It proved to be one of the best works of historical fiction I have read this year and is highly recommended for readers who enjoy well-crafted historical novels populated by believable characters.

Wendy Holden’s other works of historical fiction often focus on more recent history and women linked to the royal family including Wallis Simpson. All her works of historical fiction are meticulously researched and maintain a balance between storytelling and history. Inevitably I loved the historical notes at the back of The Queen’s Painter. And you wouldn’t have thought there could have been much more written about Anne Boleyn – or Thomas Cromwell for that matter!

St Luke’s Church, Sheen and its gargoyles

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Sheen is on the boundary between Staffordshire and Derbyshire within the Peak District. In 1327, when Edward II had been deposed and Isabella of France and her lover – Roger Mortimer- were acting as regents for Edward III, 8 people were assessed for tax in the village which continued to expand across the centuries.

In 1666, 33 people paid hearth tax. This was a tax granted by Parliament to Charles II in 1662 to fund his household. Householders were required to pay 1 shilling per year for each hearth, stove or fireplace in their property – so basically it was a wealth tax. The more fireplaces you had, the bigger your home was and thus the more you were required to pay.

The population reached 458 by 1871 but began to decline after that. It was during the 1850s that the church was rebuilt and a new house provided for the vicar as well as a school and a reading room.

The manor of Sheen originally belonged to Wulfric Spot, an Anglo Saxon noble who lived during the reign of Æthelred the Unready. He was a patron of Burton Abbey dedicated to St Modwen. In about 1003 he granted land at Sheen to the abbey but by 1086 the manor lay in the hands of William the Conqueror. However, the conqueror and the papacy confirmed Burton Abbey’s ownership of the chapel at Sheen and granted them the tithes accruing from it. At that time the chapel was described as being dependent upon the church at Ilam.

In 1529, with the Reformation Parliament settling in to make the break with Rome so that Henry VIII could divorce Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, the abbey leased the chapel along with its glebe (the plot of land belonging to the church), the tithes and offerings to the curate of Sheen -Henry Longworth and his brother Thomas for their lives. In 1536, Henry was granted a 30 year lease on the church and the responsibility for providing a priest. Evidently the monks at Burton were anxious to ensure that their property remained, if possible, out of the hands of the Crown. it seems that Henry left money for the building of the church tower when he died in 1541.

However, the Crown was not to be thwarted. In 1546 Henry VIII granted Burton Abbey’s possessions – together with the chapel at Sheen to Sir William Paget who began his political career as the MP for Lichfield in 1529. By the time of the grant he was one of Henry’s privy councillors. In his turn Paget leased the chapel to Ralph Crane of Middleton – and the chapel ceased to be part of Ilam’s parish. Crane’s family inherited the right to appoint the curate but in 1743, as part of Queen Anne’s Bounty, the curacy became a perpetual curacy.

Queen Anne’s Bounty was a fund established in 1704 to improve the incomes of poor clerics in the Church of England – it effectively returned church taxes to Sheen so that the curate’s salary could be improved. The idea was that the Bounty would make donations made by local landowners

The current church at Sheen dates from 1852 when it was rebuilt by A.J.B. Hope in the style of the original 14th century church. The tower was buttressed and raised. Instead of a spire it was covered with a copper cap. Locally it is believed that the four gargoyles at the bottom of the tower (who appear to retain their interest in water if the watering cans and buckets are anything to go by!) were destined to sit atop another storey but that the architect feared the foundations weren’t strong enough – it’s certainly the reason why the projected spire was abandoned. Porteous’ book, entitled Peakland, written in 1954 and the Historic England website state that they belong to the earlier medieval church that stood upon the same site.

A P Baggs, M F Cleverdon, D A Johnson, N J Tringham, ‘Sheen’, in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 7, Leek and the Moorlands, ed. C R J Currie, M W Greenslade (London, 1996), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol7/pp239-250 [accessed 23 May 2026].

Deserted villages

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There’re a variety of reasons why villages and settlements might have been deserted in the past. The obvious reason relates to the Black Death of 1348. Other reasons include landlords deciding to use an area for a new purpose. For instance, at Nether Haddon in the Peak District, the settlement was moved so that a new deer park could be created, Other settlements were relocated or abandoned due to an increase in wool production, enclosure and even the end of the monasteries which saw former monastic land end up in the hands of private landowners.

Climate change has its own story to tell – and at places like Hungry Bentley – also in Derbyshire which can’t have been particularly prosperous in the first place given its name – a couple of bad years would be enough to see a village deserted. Of course, living close to the coast could bring its own problems. Dunwich was once a thriving port but now its a ruin thanks to storms and coastal erosion.

In all there are about 3,000 deserted or vanished settlements in England – from across the centuries. The number of deserted medieval settlements in 1968 stood at 2,263 which was updated in 1977. Derbyshire had gained five lost settlements by that time rising from 33 to 37; the West Riding held steady at 75 settlements while Nottinghamshire had actually lost a settlement dropping from 67 to 66. The county with the biggest number of lost settlements is the North Riding of Yorkshire with 176 missing settlements. The University of Hull maintains a database of more than 2,200 sites.

Once upon a time Conksbury, which is on private property and not accessible, was part of the royal manor of Bakewell which William the Conqueror granted to William Peverel. He in turn granted land near Conksbury to Lenton Priory which he founded in Nottinghamshire while Conksbury was later given to St Mary de Pratis Abbey, Leicester by William Avenal – where it remained until the dissolution of the monasteries.

Henry VI hung on to it for a while as did the later Tudors but by 1610 it was part of the Cavendish family land holdings and as such remains part of the Devonshire estate. Magna Britannia states that Meadow Place Grange was given to Sir William Cavendish in 1552. The packhorse bridge at Conksbury was rebuilt in the 18th century to carry traffic and there were tolls for its upkeep from 1758 onwards.

John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey – the problem of his wife.

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Sandal Castle

Last week I posted that Surrey was married twice. Except Surrey only had one wife – Alice de Lusigan. May thanks goes to Sharon Bennett Connolly who kindly explained that the theory of a second wife comes from the suggestion that Isabella, Surrey’s daughter, was only a girl when she married John Balliol but that was a mistake made by a chronicler who wrote the account. The same chronicler also said Balliol was a mere boy at the time of the marriage, which he wasn’t – all of which scuppers the evidence of a second wife. There no mention of another anywhere in the primary sources – which is inconvenient to put it mildly. Once upon a time I might well have panicked but now I think it just goes to demonstrate what a tricky business it can be identifying wives and daughters!

The chronicle in question was written by Thomas Wykes who thought that Balliol was Edward I’s ward and then he described Isabella de Warenne as a young girl – though as a daughter of Alice de Lusigan she would have been considerably older. And voila – the mystery of the two wives is solved – it all rests on the age of Isabella when she married.

Happily while I was digging around I came across the fact that the de Warennes owned Wakefield Manor from about 1100 onwards and there was an enquiry in 1280/1281 about Surrey’s ownership of lands in and around Halifax. Surrey claimed hunting rights and free warren among his possessions there – a charter dating from Henry III confirmed his rights.

Surrey’s grandson, also named John, inherited the title but had no lawful issue, thanks to a life time of trying to get out of his marriage to Joan of Bar. His mistress, Maud of Nerford, did have children and John later married to Isabel Holland (Joan was still inconveniently very much alive if I’ve got my dates right.) The 7th earl surrendered his estates to Edward III in 1316 in return for a land settlement made to his sons by Maud.

When Isabel Holland died Wakefield Manor reverted to the crown – and Edward III gave it to his son the Earl of Cambridge. For those of you, who like me enjoy making connections, Cambridge’s son, Edward, Earl of Rutland was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He was, in turn, succeeded by his nephew – Richard Duke of York – who of course ‘gave battle in vain’ and was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. When his son, Edward, ascended the throne as Edward IV, the manor was once again Crown land.

If you wish to know more about the de Warenne Earls of Surrey I recommend Sharon’s blog History – the interesting bits – they are and it is! Her new book is just out as well – Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest.

Turner, Joseph Horsfall, The History of Brighouse, Rastrick, and Hpperholm: With Manorial Notes on Coley, Lightcliffe, Northowram, Shelf, Fixby, Clifton and Kirklees. (1893) – which is freely available via Google books.

John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey

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Wikipedia

Surrey was appointed Viceroy of Scotland after the defeat of the Scots at Dunbar in 1296 but their association was of long standing. He had been earl since 1240 and was married, during his wardship to the Crown, to Alice de Lusignan, the half sister of Henry III. She died in 1256 having given birth to John’s heir – William.

About four years older than Edward he was raised with the royal family at Guildford Castle and in 1254 accompanied Edward to Spain to claim his bride, Eleanor of Castile. He was still part of Edward’s household in Gascony in 1260-1261. His guardian was Peter of Savoy who was the queen, Eleanor of Province’s uncle.

During the Second Barons’ War he was largely supportive of Prince Edward, except during the year 1262-1263 when he supported Simon de Montfort. Effectively both the barons and the Royalist knew that war was coming after the Provisions of Oxford broke down. In London, the barons were commanded by Simon de Montfort and the Earl of Gloucester.

In 1264 Surrey defended Rochester Castle which was besieged by the barons until it was relieved by Edward who then marched on Tonbridge Castle. Their next stop was Lewes, which was Surrey’s ancestral home. Following the Battle of Lewis which saw de Montfort and the barons victorious- the earl escaped to France via Pevensey – recognising that he would not be treated sympathetically by de Montfort.

In 1265 he landed at Pembroke with Edward’s uncle William de Valence, and Surrey’s brother-in-law. He immediately petitioned the barons for the return of his estates which had been granted, for the main, to the Earl of Gloucester – who was a cousin both of them being part of the extended Marshal family. De Montfort refused to return them – and Surrey took part in the Battle of Evesham on 4 August, 1265. he was at the Battle of Chesterfield the following year with Henry of Almaine.

He was, it appears, a man with a very bad temper – certainly not someone you would wish to cross. In 1268 he fell out with Alan de la Zouche and his son over properties in Northamptonshire. Encountering them at Westminster, in 1270, there was a fight that left Alan seriously injured, dying from them. In the aftermath, he took himself off to Reigate Castle which he intended to defend against the Crown. It was Henry of Almaine, and the self-same Earl of Gloucester, who persuaded him to submit and pay a fine rather than rebelling against the king.

In 1278 he had a falling out with Edward I who held a Parliament in Gloucester to identify lords who had impinged on royal rights of justice and to reclaim them for the Crown. Surrey was served with a writ of quo warranto – or by what warrant he held some of his rights – it is said that Surrey drew a rusty old sword exclaiming that it was his warrant since he’d arrived on English shores with William the Conqueror.

He held Wakefield and Conisborough under royal grant, fought agains the Welsh, and the Scots but was defeated by William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. Surrey had been reluctant to return to Scotland after 1296 and he now fled all the way back to York. Surrey’s initial interest in Scotland, aside from his long service to Edward I, was the fact that his daughter Isabel, by his second wife, was married to one of the prospective king’s of Scotland – John Baliol. After the defeat Surrey did return to Scotland the following year.

By that time his only son, William, had been killed in a tournament held in 1285 at Croydon. In time Surrey was succeeded by his grandson, another John, who had been an infant when his father died in 1285. The 7th Earl was still a minor when the 6th Earl died in 1304 and was buried at the Cluniac priory in Lewes. He was raised alongside the future Edward II and married to Joan of Bar – who was Edward I’s granddaughter. It wasn’t a happy marriage. The descriptions of the 7th earl are not flattering and he claimed to be pre contracted to Maud of Nerford.

The Savoyards, Lusignans and the Castilians

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Eleanor of Castile from the Rochester Cathedral Priory Chronicle

Eleanor of Provence’s – who was Henry III’s wife – mother, Beatrice, came from Savoy. When Eleanor married Henry in 1236 her retinue contained a large number of her maternal relations (approximately 170) including her uncle, Peter of Savoy, and Boniface who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1244. About 70 of them settled in Britain. They were not popular with the barony because of the royal favour they garnered for themselves.

Henry’s marriage to Eleanor had been to establish political alliances to safeguard his control over the south of France (the remnants of Aquitaine and Gascony) but it also meant that Henry was able to appoint Eleanor’s relations to various posts in England so that they would be loyal to him. It also meant that his queen was able to secure a political faction that worked in her interests…if they knew what was good for them.

The Savoyards would later, in 1258 form an alliance with the barony, in opposition to Henry’s four Lusignan half-siblings from the Poitou region. It is perhaps not surprising that the king’s own relations were quick to find royal favour. Henry married his youngest half brother, William de Valence, to Joan de Munchensy who was an heiress of the Marshal family. He would gain the earldom of Pembroke through the match. However, unlike their Savoyard counterparts they made no attempt to assimilate into English society or culture.

The arrival of Eleanor of Castile and her retinue in 1255 suggested to the barons and the people of London that there would be yet more foreign interlopers at court looking for preferment. And it was true that Edward’s wife protected the Castilians who came to court. However, to counterbalance that, Eleanor’s influence bought with it Spanish cultural tastes, new administrative practices and more intellectual pursuits, not to mention – horrifying at the time- the use of carpet rather than rushes on the floor, brightly coloured candles and coloured glass. Her liking for the fruits from her home country was regarded as extravagant but I’d have to say that if I’d left Seville for the cold of English shores I might also want a more varied diet and a bright warm bedroom with carpet on the floor.

Cockerill, Sara. Eleanor of Castile.

Ebulo de Montibus –

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Henry III being crowned

Ebulo was a younger son from Savoy, modern Switzerland, who came to make his fortune in England on the recommendation of Eleanor of Province’s uncle – Peter of Savoy. Or in other words he was one of the foreigners who arrived at the court of Henry III intent on making his fortune- The Savoyards who were Eleanor’s relations and the Lusignans who were Henry III’s relations were deeply resented by England barony because of the matches they made, the grants they received and the rewards they accrued.

Ebulo arrived in England in 1246. Two years later he became one of Henry III’s household knights and began to witness royal grants. In 1249 the king began to make him grants of land and of wardships. In 1254 he became part of Prince Edward’s household in Gascony and his ties to the prince were confirmed by various appointments back in England. In August 1256 he went to Ireland with Edward and witnessed various charters for the prince. It has been suggested that by then he was Edward’s Steward of the Household.

In 1258 baronial resentment reached breaking point and resulted in the provisions of Oxford. Ebulo was sent overseas with Peter of Savoy and in 1260 he represented the king when Louis IX of France arbitrated in the dispute between Henry, his sister (Eleanor) and her husband, Simon de Montfort, in the matter of Eleanor’s dower.

Later he would be subject to the barons’ wrath but in the short term he continued to hold important posts. His loyalty to the crown would earn him the stewardship of Windsor Castle.

He died in 1268.

‘A Vaudois servant of Henry III, Ebal II de Mont (Ebulo de
Montibus)’ (2017), available online at
https://www.academia.edu/31930999/A_Vaudois_servant_of_Henry_III_Ebal_II_de_Mont_Ebulo_de_Montibu
s?email_work_card=view-paper,

‘Three alien royal stewards in thirteenth-century England: the careers and
legacy of Mathias Bezill, Imbert Pugeys and Peter de Champvent’, in Thirteenth Century England X, ed. M.
Prestwich, R. Britnell, and R. Frame (Woodbridge, 2005), pp. 50-70.

Medieval Gascony – a quick Look at 12th and 13th century geopolitics.

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map showing Angevin Empire

As many of you are aware I prefer to keep my feet firmly on this side of the Channel when it comes to writing about history. However, I do, on occasion, talk about the Angevin empire and King John’s loss of most of his father’s territories in 1204. So it’s probably more than time to take a closer look at Gascony.

Aquitaine and Gascony passed into the hands of Henry, Duke of Normandy when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. Gascony had been controlled by the dukes of Aquitaine since the eleventh century. It meant that Eleanor’s new husband became the most powerful vassal of her first husband – Louis VII of France. Two years later Henry ascended England’s throne by right of his mother, Empress Matilda, as King Henry II.

Henry and Eleanor’s youngest son, John, managed to lose most of his father’s empire while his mother, who was Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, continued to rule there and in Gascony – owing her feudal allegiance to the French rather than her son. When she died in 1204 most of Aquitaine fell into French hands because the region’s nobility preferred to offer their allegiance to Philip II of France rather than John.

Gascony – which was ruled by the dukes of Aquitaine and effectively the southern part of the duchy by that time- held out for the English under the command of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Elias de Malemort or Elie de Malmort depending on the source. All that remained of northern Aquitaine were parts of the Poitou region – including La Rochelle but the whole Poitou region was contested and by 1224 had fallen into French hands.

Territory that remained under English control, and which was managed from Bordeaux, became known as the Duchy of Guyenne – and by 1300 Gascony, south of the River Garonne, was all that remained of the formerly extensive territory.

The person appointed by the duke/king to govern Gascony had extensive powers as the ruling representative but becoming Seneshal was no sinecure. There was the difficulty of owing fealty to the Plantagenets who in turn were vassals of the French Crown. It meant that the inhabitants of Gascony often appealed to Paris if they disagreed with English policy or any of the seneschal’s decisions with regard to the administration and taxes levied in the region. There was also the fact that any British garrison was going to feel somewhat isolated – the territory was effectively surrounded by the French. In addition to invasion there was also the potential to cut off supply lines.

Gascony. Map by Goran tek-en / Wikimedia Commons

It should be added that the Gascons do appear to have liked a brawl with one another, the English and anyone else they encountered. At the time, kings of England were troubled by relations with their own barons – think First Barons’ War and Second Barons’ War. The best known of the seneschals, Simon de Montfort (who was Henry III’s brother-in-law and leader of the Second Barons War), was sent by King Henry III to sort out a local rebellion but found himself short of cash and supplies and beset by local politics – his response to the situation led to accusations of brutality, open rebellion against his rule and a threatened trial at Westminster in 1252. None of which helped his relationship with Henry III and did much to contribute to his own rebellion against the Crown.

It would have to be said that Simon de Montfort appears to have made a better fist of the task than one of his successors, John de Ferrers, who was seneschal in 1312. He died in office – either due to an accident while crossing a river or from being murdered!

For the Crown the region remained incredibly important not simply because of it was a territory in main land Europe but because its wine trade provided a massive amount of royal income.