Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (c. 1160 – before 5 May 1243) 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
De Burgh was the son of Walter de Burgh of
Burgh Castle,
Norfolk. He was the younger brother of
William de Burgh (d. 1206) who accompanied Prince
John, to Ireland in 1185, and eventually became
Lord of Connacht.
Hubert and William's two younger brothers were
Geoffrey de Burgh and Thomas de Burgh; Geoffrey became Archdeacon of Norwich (1202) and then bishop of Ely (1225), while Thomas was
castellan of
Norwich (1215–16).
Early life
He was a minor official in the household of Prince John in 1197, and became John's chamberlain the next year. He continued as John's chamberlain when the latter became king in 1199.
Crusade
In his early adulthood Hubert vowed to rescue the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the holy land, so he set off for
Jerusalem on the
Third Crusade. Hubert is one of the possible de Burgh's that received the coat of arms, it is said that
Richard I dipped his finger in the blood of a slain Saracen king, put a red cross on the gold shield of de Burgh, and said "for your bravery this will be your crest", and it is also said that he uttered the words "a cruce salus" which became the family motto.
Honours from John
In the early years of John's reign de Burgh was greatly enriched by royal favour, receiving the honour of
Corfe in 1199 and three important castles in the
Welsh Marches in 1201 (
Grosmont Castle,
Skenfrith Castle, and
Llantilio Castle). He was also
High Sheriff of Dorset and
Somerset (1200),
Berkshire (1202) and
Herefordshire (1215), and castellan of
Launceston[1] and Wallingford castles.
He was also appointed Constable of
Dover Castle, and also given charge of
Falaise, in
Normandy. He is cited as having been appointed a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports by 1215, and although the co-joint position of this office to that of the constableship of Dover Castle was not fully established until after the Baron's War, a rather long period seems to have elapsed between the two appointments. (White and Black books of the
Cinque Ports Vol XIX 1966)
Captor of Arthur
After John captured his nephew
Arthur of Brittany, niece
Eleanor and their allies in 1202, de Burgh was made their
jailor.
There are several accounts of de Burgh's actions as jailor, including complicity in Arthur's death and an account that the king ordered de Burgh to blind Arthur, but that de Burgh refused. This account was used by
Shakespeare in his play
King John. The truth of these accounts has not been verified, however.
Chinon
In any case de Burgh retained the king's trust, and in 1203 was given charge of the great castles at
Falaise in
Normandy and
Chinon, in
Touraine. The latter was a key to the defence of the
Loire valley. After the fall of Falaise de Burgh held out while the rest of the English possessions fell to the French. Chinon was besieged for a year, and finally fell in June, 1205, Hubert being badly wounded while trying to evade capture.
During the year he was trapped in Chinon, and the two following years when he was a prisoner of the French, de Burgh lost most of his estates and posts. The reasons are much debated. After his return to England in 1207, he acquired new and different lands and offices. These included the castles of
Lafford and
Sleaford, and the
shrievalty of
Lincolnshire (1209–1214). Probably, however, de Burgh spent most of his time in the English holdings in France, where he was seneschal of
Poitou.
Barons' revolt
De Burgh remained loyal to the king during the barons' rebellions at the end of John's reign. The
Magna Carta mentions him as one of those who advised the king to sign the charter, and he was one of the twenty-five sureties of its execution. John named him
Chief Justiciar in June 1215. and appointed him
High Sheriff of Surrey (1215),
High Sheriff of Herefordshire (1215),
High Sheriff of Kent (1216–1222), and Governor of Canterbury Castle. Soon afterwards he was appointed Governor of the castles of Hereford, Norwich and Oxford.
De Burgh played a prominent role in
the defence of England from the invasion of Louis of France, the son of
Philippe II who later became
Louis VIII. Louis' first objective was to take
Dover Castle, which was in de Burgh's charge. The castle withstood a lengthy siege in the summer and autumn of 1216, and Louis withdrew. The next summer Louis could not continue without reinforcements from France. De Burgh gathered a small fleet which defeated a larger French force at the
Battle of Dover and
Battle of Sandwich, and ultimately led to the complete withdrawal of the French from England.
He was appointed
High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk (1216–1225) and
High Sheriff of Kent (1223–1226).
Regent to Henry III
After the death of
William Marshal in 1219, de Burgh effectively became regent of England. In this position de Burgh acquired a number of enemies and rivals.
When Henry III came of age in 1227 de Burgh was made lord of
Montgomery Castle in the Welsh Marches and
Earl of Kent. He remained one of the most influential people at court. On 27 April 1228 he was named Justiciar for life. But in 1232 the plots of his enemies finally succeeded and he was removed from office and soon was in prison. He escaped from
Devizes Castle and joined the rebellion of
Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke in 1233. In 1234,
Edmund Rich,
Archbishop of Canterbury effected a reconciliation. He officially resigned the Justiciarship about 28 May 1234, but had not exercised the power of the office after September 1232.
His judgment was reversed by
William Raleigh also known as
William de Raley in 1234, which for a time, restored his earlship.
He again faced forfeiture in 1239, but retained some standing by granting several castles to the king, including the Trilateral Castles (
Skenfrith,
White and
Grosmont) in Wales.
Trouble with the King
The marriage of Hubert de Burgh's daughter Margaret (or Megotta as she was also known) to Richard of Clare, the young Earl of Gloucester, brought de Burgh into some trouble in 1236, for the earl was as yet a minor and in the king's wardship, and the marriage had been celebrated without the royal license. Hubert, however, protested that the match was not of his making, and promised to pay the king some money, so the matter passed by for the time. Eventually the marriage came to an end, either through annulment or Margaret's death.
Death
He died in 1243 at the age of 82 or 83 in Banstead, Surrey, England and was buried at the church of the Black Friars in Holborn.
Marriages and issue
De Burgh married three times:
▪ (1) Beatrice de Warrenne, daughter of William de Warrenne, Lord of Wormegay, and Beatrice de Pierrepont, by whom he had two sons, John and Hubert. The former inherited de Burgh's estates but not his earldom or other titles.
▪ (2)
Isabel of Gloucester, first wife (marriage annulled) of King
John of England (c. 1217), without issue.
▪ (3)
Princess Margaret of Scotland, daughter of King
William I of Scotland and
Ermengarde de Beaumont (1221), by whom he had a daughter,
Margaret (c. 1222-1237), called "Megotta", who married
Richard de Clare,
Earl of Gloucester, but had no issue.
Before all these marriages he had a marriage contract with Joan, daughter of
William de Reviers, 5th Earl of Devon, but that engagement was broken off in 1200.
Among his descendants was Sir
Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough,(c. 1431-1496).