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HUBERT DE BURGH (d. 1243)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 815 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUBERT DE See also:BURGH (d. 1243)  , See also:chief See also:justiciar of See also:England in the reign of See also:John and See also:Henry III., entered the royal service in the reign of See also:Richard I . He. traced his descent from See also:Robert of See also:Mortain, See also:half See also:brother of the Conqueror and first See also:earl of See also:Cornwall; he married about 1200 the daughter of See also:William de See also:Vernon, earl of See also:Devon; and thus, from the beginning of his career, he stood within the circle of the See also:great ruling families . But he owed his high See also:advancement to exceptional ability as an See also:administrator and a soldier . Already in 12or he was See also:chamberlain to See also:King John, the See also:sheriff of three shires, the See also:constable of See also:Dover and See also:Windsor castles, the See also:warden of the Cinque Ports and of the Welsh See also:Marches . He served with John in the See also:continental See also:wars which led up to the loss of . See also:Normandy . It was to his keeping that the king first entrusted the See also:captive See also:Arthur of See also:Brittany . Coggeshall is our authority for the See also:tale, which See also:Shakespeare has immortalized, of See also:Hubert's refusal to permit the See also:mutilation of his prisoner; but Hubert's See also:loyalty was not shaken by the See also:crime to which Arthur subsequently See also:fell a victim . In 1204 Hubert distinguished himself by a See also:long and obstinate See also:defence of See also:Chinon, at a See also:time when nearly the whole of See also:Poitou had passed into See also:French hands . In 1213 he was appointed See also:seneschal of Poitou, with a view to the invasion of See also:France which ended disastrously for John in the next See also:year . Both before and after the issue of the Great See also:Charter Hubert adhered loyally to the king; he was rewarded, in See also:June 1215, with the See also:office of chief justiciar . This office he retained after the See also:death of John and the See also:election of William, the earl See also:marshal, as See also:regent .

But, until the See also:

expulsion of the French from England, Hubert was entirely engaged with military affairs . He held Dover successfully through the darkest See also:hour of John's fortunes; he brought back See also:Kent to the See also:allegiance of Henry III.; he completed the discomfiture of the French and their See also:allies by the See also:naval victory which he gained over Eustace the See also:Monk, the noted See also:privateer and See also:admiral of See also:Louis, in the Straits of Dover (Aug . 1217) . The inferiority of the See also:English See also:fleet has been much exaggerated, for the greater See also:part of the French vessels were transports carrying reinforcements and. supplies . But Hubert owed his success to the skill with which he manoeuvred for the See also:weather-See also:gage, and his victory was not less brilliant than momentous . It compelled Louis to accept the treaty of See also:Lambeth, under which he renounced his claims to the See also:crown and evacuated England . As the saviour of the See also:national cause the justiciar naturally assumed after the death of William Marshal (1219) the leadership of the English See also:loyalists . He was opposed by the See also:legate Pandulf (1218–1221), who claimed the guardianship of the See also:kingdom for the See also:Holy See; by the Poitevin See also:Peter See also:des Roches, See also:bishop of See also:Winchester, who was the See also:young king's See also:tutor; by the See also:foreign mercenaries of John, among whom Falkes de See also:Breaute took the See also:lead; and by the feudal party under the earls of See also:Chester and See also:Albemarle . On Pandulf's departure the See also:pope was induced to promise that no other legate should be appointed in the lifetime of See also:Archbishop See also:Stephen See also:Langton . Other opponents were weakened by the audacious stroke of 1223, when the justiciar suddenly announced the resumption of all the castles, sheriffdoms and other grants which had been made since the king's See also:accession . A plausible excuse was found in the next year for issuing a See also:sentence of See also:confiscation and banishment against Falkes de Breaute . Finally in 1227, Hubert having proclaimed the king of See also:age, dismissed the bishop of Winchester from his tutorship .

Hubert now stood at the height of his See also:

power . His possessions had been enlarged by four successive marriages, particularly by that which he contracted in 1221 with See also:Margaret, the See also:sister of See also:Alexander II. of See also:Scotland; in 1227 he received the earldom of Kent, which had been dormant since the disgrace of See also:Odo of See also:Bayeux . But the favour of Henry III. was a See also:precarious See also:foundation on which to build . The king chafed against the objections with which his See also:minister opposed See also:wild plans of foreign See also:conquest and inconsiderate concessions to the papacy . They quarrelled violently in 1229, at See also:Portsmouth, when the king was with difficulty prevented from stabbing Hubert, because a sufficient See also:supply of See also:ships was not forthcoming for an expedition to France . In 1231 Henry See also:lent an See also:ear to those who asserted that the justiciar had secretly encouraged armed attacks upon the aliens to whom the pope had given English benefices . Hubert was suddenly disgraced and required to render an See also:account of his long See also:administration . The See also:blow fell suddenly, a few See also:weeks after his See also:appointment as justiciar of See also:Ireland . It was precipitated by one of those fits of See also:passion to which the king was prone; but the See also:influence of Hubert had been for some time waning before that of Peter des Roches and his See also:nephew Peter des Rievaux . Some See also:colour was given to their attacks by Hubert's injudicious plea that he held a charter from King John which exempted him from any liability to produce accounts . But the other charges, far less plausible than that of See also:embezzlement, which were heaped upon the See also:head of the fallen favourite, are See also:evidence of an intention to crush him at all See also:costs . He was dragged from the See also:sanctuary at See also:Bury St See also:Edmunds, in which he had taken See also:refuge, and was kept in strait confinement until Richard of Cornwall, the king's brother, and three other earls offered to be his sureties .

Under their See also:

protection he remained in' See also:honourable detention at See also:Devizes See also:Castle . On the outbreak of Richard Marshal's See also:rebellion (1233), he was carried off by the rebels to the Marshal stronghold of Striguil, in the See also:hope that his name would add popularity to their cause . In 1234 he was admitted, along with the other supporters of the fallen Marshal, to the benefit of a full See also:pardon . He regained his earldom and held it till his death, although he was once in serious danger from the avarice of the king (1239), who was tempted by Hubert's enormous See also:wealth to revive the See also:charge of See also:treason . In his lifetime Hubert was a popular See also:hero; See also:Matthew See also:Paris relates how, at the time of his disgrace, a See also:common See also:smith refused with an See also:oath to put fetters on the See also:man " who restored England to the English." Hubert's ambition of See also:founding a great See also:family was not realized . His earldom died with him, though he See also:left two sons . In constitutional See also:history he is remembered as the last of the great justiciars . The office, as having become too great for a subject, was now shorn of its most important See also:powers and became politically insignificant . See See also:Roger of See also:Wendover's See also:Flores Historiarum, edited for the English See also:Historical Society by H . O . See also:Coxe (4 vols., 1841–1844) the Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris, edited by H . R .

Luard for the Rolls See also:

Series (7 vols., 1872-1883) ; the Histoire des ducs de Normandie, edited by F . See also:Michel for the See also:Soc. de 1'Hist. de France (Paris, 184o) ; the Histoire de See also:Guillaume le Marechal, edited by See also:Paul See also:Meyer for the same society (3 vols., Paris, 1891, &c.); J . E . See also:Doyle's See also:Official Baronage of England, ii. pp . 271-274; R . See also:Pauli's Geschichte von England, vol. iii.; W . See also:Stubbs's Constitutional History of England, vol. ii . (H . W . C .

End of Article: HUBERT DE BURGH (d. 1243)
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