Tag Archives: Gascony

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.

Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile and Toledo

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By Anonymous – Alfonso VIII el Noble, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7174830

Eleanor was born in 1161 and her marriage had some long lasting consequences in terms of diplomatic, dynastic and cultural influences.

She was Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s second daughter. Her elder sister, Matilda, was five years older than her. When she was 3-years-old she was joined in her nursery by a sister Joanna and in 1166 by her youngest brother – John. We’ll leave her brawling older brothers to one side on this occasion.

When she was 3-years-old her father arranged a marriage for her to Frederick V, who was the eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor and still an infant. However the Duke of Swabia died before the marriage could go ahead. Instead, a marriage was arranged to King Alfonso VIII of Castile who was 7-years-old. Eleanor was still only 9-years-old but it secured Aquitaine’s border. For Alfonso it meant that his father-in-law would be an ally against the king of Navarre. The marriage did not take place until Eleanor was 12-years-old. The couple would go on to have twelve children of whom seven survived infancy. It would be Eleanor who introduced the culture of Aquitaine to her adopted home and who acted as ambassador between her husband and her brothers.

The young bride would meet with her mother again when Eleanor of Aquitaine came to collect her granddaughter, Urraca, in 1200, when it was proposed that she should marry Prince Louis of France. Eleanor of Aquitaine spent two months at her daughter’s court and when she left Castile she took another of her granddaughters, Blanca, as Louis’s intended bride rather than Urraca. Blanche as she would be known became Louis’ queen and the mother of King Louis IX of France while Urraca would become Queen of Portugal.

Relations between Alfonso and Henry were not always so cordial. In 1200, or thereabouts, Alfonso tried to claim Gascony as part of Eleanor’s dowry. In 1205 he even invaded the territory in her name. Historians agree that it is highly unlikely that Henry II would have granted such an important territory to his daughter. By then Eleanor’s brother, John, was on the throne and it was Eleanor who was sent to visit her brother resulting in a peace accord. The argument was never truly settled because her grandson Alfonso X of Castile claimed the duchy stating that the dowry had never been paid in full.

Eleanor was clearly her mother’s daughter, holding much territory throughout her husband’s kingdom and ruling them in her own right or on behalf of her husband. In 1204, when Alfonso made his will, he stipulated that she was to be their eldest son’s regent and his executor. He died in October 1214. Unfortunately Eleanor died only 26 days after her husband and was buried beside him at Burgos.

And she understood the importance of making strategic marriage alliances. It was she who helped make the match between her daughter Berengaria and Alfonso IX of Leon even though the union was later dissolved on grounds of consanguinity. Berengaria, who was Eleanor of Castile’s grandmother, would become her bother’s regent and eventually Queen of Castile in her own right when her brother, Henry I, was killed by a falling roof tile. She abdicated soon after becoming queen, in favour of her son who became Ferdinand III.

And of course – for those of you who are keeping track it means that Eleanor of Castile and Edward I were related within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity along yet another line of the family tree. They were first cousins several times removed and shared kinship inside a web of royal families – Angevin, Capetian and Iberian.

Cockerill, Sara. Eleanor of Castile: The Shadow Queen

King John’s grandson murdered…by King John’s grandsons.

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Henry-Almain-Guy-DeMontfort-It’s an interesting fact, and it must be true because it was mentioned by Jeremy Paxman on University Challenge, that Isabella of Angouleme – wife first to King John and then to Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche had sixteen children, all of whom lived into adulthood. Not that all of her children and grandchildren lived very happy lives and at least one was murdered …by his own cousins. It’s always nice to see the Plantagenets getting along well.

Isabella’s second son to John was Richard of Cornwall. He in his turn married Isabella Marshal, daughter of William Marshal. Their third child was a boy called Henry who was born in Suffolk in 1235. He was murdered thirty-six years later by two of his cousins.

Henry, known as Henry of Almain (Allemagne) on account of his father’s links with the Holy Roman Empire had a problem. He was nephew to both Henry III and also via his aunt Eleanor to Simon de Montfort. Eleanor was married to Simon. The barons didn’t simply shrug their shoulders and return to ‘business as usual’ on the death of King John and accession of  Henry III they continued to seek additional liberties and changes to the feudal system – things such as accountability for actions.  Henry’s problem when the Second Barons’ war kicked off – was which uncle should he support?

After some indecision he ultimately he sided with the royal connection. It is possible that he was bribed by Edward to change sides but one thing is for sure Henry was troubled by taking up arms against his family. He told Simon de Montfort that he wouldn’t turn against his uncle the king but neither would he take up arms against de Montfort…Simon told him to bring his arms along – which suggests that Henry wasn’t terribly intimidating. After the Battle of Lewes in 1246, which de Montfort won a provisional government was set up, the royal family were effectively imprisoned whilst Henry became one of many hostages and was held captive in Wallingford Castle. It is also probable that Henry became an intermediary between the various members of the warring family.

Events continued to unfold. Young Prince Edward escaped his ‘house arrest,’ raised an army and took on the barons in the second key battle of the Second Barons’ War. The Battle of Eveham (4 August 1265) saw Fortune favour the royalists. It is unlikely that Henry was at Evesham. Uncle Simon lost the battle and lost his head. Simon’s eldest son (another Henry) was killed at the same time. Guy de Montfort was badly wounded and imprisoned. He bribed his captors and escaped abroad in 1266. He became an officer in the forces of Charles of Anjou. Simon de Montfort the Younger arrived in Evesham just in time to see his father’s head on a pike. Prince Edward had effectively saved his cousin from the wrath of the royalists.

In 1268 Henry, took the cross with his royal cousin Edward who would become King Edward I of England. The pair set off but when they arrived in Sicily they received word of problems in Gascony. Edward sent Henry home to deal with them but Henry got only so far as Italy. Whilst in Vitebo he attended mass and was murdered by Simon de Montfort the younger and his brother Guy de Montfort in revenge for their father’s death. It was such a shocking murder that Dante wrote about it over forty years later. Henry clutched the altar and begged for mercy as his cousins attacked him and then dragged him from the cathedral to finish the job off. Guy is purported to have said that Henry gave his father and brother no mercy and could expect to receive none himself.

The two brothers were swiftly excommunicated for their crime whilst Henry’s body was transported back to Hailes Abbey for burial. Edward, on his return from Palestine two years after the murder, told the pope that Henry had been on a peace mission. The problem was that the de Montfort’s thought that Henry had turned out just like the rest of the royal family in that he had been implicated in ceasing land some of which had belonged to the de Montforts before their fall and he had married Constance de Bearn in 1269.

Constance’s father had caused problems for de Montfort whilst he was Governor of Gascony. De Montfort had put de Bearn on trial (the Gascons were troublesome but de Montfort wasn’t very pleasant in his approach). Henry III had freed de Bearn and put de Montfort on trial. This didn’t help relations between de Montfort and Henry III. For the sons of de Montfort it must have seemed that Henry of Almain was up to his neck in the royalist cause.

Alphonso, Earl of Chester

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Prince Alfonso is one of history’s ‘what ifs?’  He is a son of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.  The couple had fourteen children though many did not survive infancy.  Alfonso was born on the 24 November 1273 in Bayonne (Gascony) as his parents journeyed home from crusade upon receiving the news that King Henry III was dead.  This made Alfonso the third male child of the couple to have survived into infancy and then childhood.

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Sadly when his parents arrived home they discovered that his older brother Prince John had died in August 1271.  He was just six years old.  A year after Alfonso’s birth his remaining brother Henry also died.  Like John, he was six years old. Both died from unspecified illness.

So, Alfonso, named after Eleanor’s family, was heir to the throne.  Apparently he was lively, quick and intelligent.  His father created him Earl of Chester and planned a marriage that would enhance an English alliance against the French.  The illuminated page in this blog comes from the so-called Alphonso Psalter which was commissioned when Alphonso was to have been married to Margaret, daughter of Florent V, Count of Holland.  The coats of arms at the bottom of the page show the union of the two families.

The psalter is beautiful. It contains fantastical creatures such as griffins and mermaids as well as scenes from everyday life and biblical characters – like this letter depicting King David playing his harp.  Work soon came to a halt though.

On August 19 1284 the ten-year-old heir to the throne died at Windsor Castle.  He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

The psalter is in the British Library.  It was eventually completed thirteen years later when Alfonso’s sister Elizabeth married John I of Holland and Zealand – the brother of the girl Alphonso was to have married.

And as for the English crown?  Well, Edward I had only one more male heir – Edward of Caernarfon who is known in popular history as the king murdered with a red-hot poker.