Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, Marshall of England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military: 1313
• Offices Held: 10 Feb 1316
• Offices Held: Spring 1319
• Knighted: 15 Jul 1319
• Travel: 1320
• Miscellaneous: From 1321 to 1322
• Legal: 3 Aug 1321
• Land/House: Aug 1323
• Offices Held: say 1325
• Military: 1326
• Miscellaneous: 3 Mar 1327
• Military: 1328
• Miscellaneous: Feb 1330
• Military: 1333
• Military: 1337
• Miscellaneous: 1337
• Offices Held: 25 May 1337
• Offices Held: 1338
• Will: 4 Aug 1338, Framlingham, Suffolk, England

Notes:

Birth:
Edward I, his new young wife Margaret, who turned twenty-one that year and was pregnant with their first child, and the royal household, set out north from St Albans on 15 April 1300. The army had been summoned to Carlisle for mid-summer, for a new Scottish campaign. Queen Margaret parted company with the main household at Stamford on 5 May, and continued her own journey northward. Preparations had been made for her to use Cawood Castle, a residence of the Archbishop of York, for her confinement. She stopped in the village of Brotherton to hunt late that month, and went into labor, early and unexpectedly. Margaret had married Edward I on 10 September 1299 and, if conception occurred immediately, she was in her 38th week, but as she was apparently hunting and had not yet reached Cawood, she may have been a week or two earlier in her pregnancy. The labor was difficult, and Margaret reportedly called on St Thomas of Canterbury for assistance. The baby was delivered on 1 June, and named for the saint. Edward I rushed over to the village as soon as he was given the news, and stayed there until 9 June.

Military:
Thomas received a summons for military service in Scotland, but it was shortly afterwards remitted by the king (Waugh, 2004) and the young earl of Norfolk appears to have missed completely the disastrous battle of Bannockburn in June 1314.

Offices Held:
He was made the Marshal of England.

Offices Held:
He served as keeper of the realm while the king was on a Scottish military campaign.

Travel:
He accompanied the king to France in June and July, travelling with a large retinue.

Miscellaneous:
Thomas remained strongly supportive of Edward II during the baronial rebellion of 1321-1322, but failed in the one task he assumed on his own, an attempt to arrange negotiations with the earl of Hereford in March 1321. His other roles during that time were ceremonial and undertaken with fellow peers.

Legal:
Rigaud de Asserio, bishop of Winchester, wrote to Roger de Martival, Bishop of Salisbury, authorizing the latter to absolve Thomas of Brotherton from a sentence of excommunication. Thomas had incurred this by violently assaulting a clerk of the bishop - one Deodatus de Pyno - within the diocese of Winchester. Unfortunately the date of the assault is not mentioned, so it is not known how long Thomas was under excommunication. The assault could have happened shortly before the date of the letter, or possibly as early as the spring of 1319, when Thomas was acting as keeper of the realm and working in close conjunction with John de Sandale, the prior bishop of Winchester who was also chancellor of England.

Land/House:
He negotiated with the earl of Norfolk to take control for life of the lordship of Chepstow for a rent of £200 a year,20 and the following year, purchased the lordship outright for only £800. Chepstow was worth far more, so Thomas came out much the worse in this transaction, and many historians surmise he was forced into it, another victim of the Despenser tyranny. Yet the rest of the victims of the Despensers were widows, minor heirs, and those lower down on the social order. The earl of Norfolk was a young man in his early twenties, a peer of the realm and the brother of the king. The fact that Despenser was able to take such advantage of him is another indication of the low regard in which he was held

Offices Held:
The king confiscated the one office he was holding, marshal of England, because Thomas had failed to have someone execute the office on his behalf in Lancashire, when royal justices arrived there to hold the king's pleas. Thomas offered a fine of £100 to recover the office, which Edward II pardoned, but not without a public verbal rebuke, threatening his younger brother with punishment should he again fail to perform the duties of marshal properly.

Military:
On 24 September 1326, Queen Isabella and her son Edmund, landed on the Suffolk Coast. Thomas immediately joined them. While the usurpation was successful, he received little reward.

Miscellaneous:
He was granted the wardship and marriage of John de Segrave, the 12-year-old heir to the barony of Segrave.

Military:
In the Summer of 1328, Thomas participated in Edward Ill's disastrous Weardale campaign against the Scots.

Miscellaneous:
Thomas of Brotherton and Edmund of Woodstock led Edward III's young wife Queen Philippa to her coronation dressed as simple grooms.

Military:
Thomas commanded a contingent of royal forces in the Scottish campaign culminating in the battle of Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333.

Military:
He joined the King in the Scottish campaign, and was named the keeper of Perth. Yet he was not given a leadership position (there are no payments to him as a captain on the pay roll) which had to be humbling for the former Marshal of England. At some point in December 1337, Thomas left the campaign and returned to England, apparently without first informing the king.

Miscellaneous:
In the spring of 1337, Edward III appointed Sir Constantine Mortimer, lord of Attleborough in Norfolk, to restore the Brotherton household to order.

Offices Held:
The office of Marshal was taken from Thomas.

Offices Held:
The office of Marshal of England was resorted to Thomas.

Thomas married Alice de Hales in 1321 in Bungay Castle, Bungay, Suffolk, England. Alice (daughter of Sir Roger de Hales and Alice Skogan) was born in 1305; died before 12 Oct 1330 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
"And the said Thomas Brodirton, Erle of Norfolke, cam dawn into Norfolke and ther he wedded a knyght's daughter fast by Bungey." So writes 19th-century Norfolk historian Francis Blomefield (1808), quoting an ancient manuscript from the Book of Pleas.

Alice Hales brought nothing to her marriage save her beauty. She was not the heiress of the Hales manors, as she had a brother, and the Hales family would have supported of the young earl of Norfolk whether or not he married Alice, since he was their feudal overlord. On Thomas's end, there was no political or territorial advantage to the marriage - it was a love match, pure and simple.

1. Margaret de Botherton, Duchess of Norfolk was born about 1322; died on 24 Mar 1398/99; was buried in Christ Church Greyfriars, London, England.
2. Edward de Botherton was born about 1323; died in Aug 1334.
3. Alice de Botherton, Lady of Bungay was born in 1324; died in 1352.

Thomas married Mary de Braose, Countess of Norfolk in 1334. Mary was born in 1305/06; died on 11 Jun 1362. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
It was a second marriage for both Thomas and Mary.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Title(s): 1272
• Crowned: 19 Aug 1272, Westminster Abbey, London, England
• Reign: From 1274 to 1307; King of England
• Military: 1277
• Miscellaneous: 1290
• Military: 1296

Notes:

Name:


He was also the Duke of Aquitaine.

Title(s):
He became the Duke of Aquitaine.

Crowned:
He was crowned the King of England by Robert Kilwardby, Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey.

Military:
In 1277, he began a campaign to subdue Wales and defeat Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. The campaign lasted until Llywelyn's death in 1282. Wales was divided into shires and English law was established.

Miscellaneous:
In 1290, when Alexander III, King of Scotland died without heirs, Edward intervened as feudal lord. Margaret Maid of Norway and heir to the throne of Scotland, then a child, was betrothed to the future Edward II, and sailed from Norway to England. She died in 1290 before reaching England leaving the throne empty. Edward chose John Baliol from among thirteen candidates as King of the Scots. While John Balioli did homage to Edward the Scots resisted English domination.

Military:
Edward invaded Scotland and soundly defeated the Scots under Baliol. Edward forced Balliol to abdicate The Scottish barons did homage to Edward as their king. William Wallace incited a rebellion in 1297, defeated the English army at Stirling, and harassed England's northern counties. The next year, Edward defeated Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk but encountered continued resistance until Wallace's capture and execution in 1304. Robert the Bruce revolted in 1306 against England ultimately defeating Edward II at Bannockburn.

Edward married Marguerite of France on 10 Sep 1299 in Canterbury, Kent, England. Marguerite (daughter of Philip III "the Bold", King of France and Marie of Brabant) was born in 1279 in France; died on 14 Feb 1318 in Marlborough Castle, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England; was buried in Basilica of Saint-Denis, St. Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
The marriage was negotiated by Pope Boniface VIII in June 1298 in order to bring an end to the Gascon war between Edward I and Philip IV, King of France, Margaret's elder half-brother. King Edward was aged sixty, and Margaret forty years his junior.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Crowned: 1216; In 1261, he was crowned King of England.
• Reign: From 1216 to 1279; King of England

Notes:

Name:

Henry married Eleanor of Provence on 14 Jan 1237 in Canterbury, Kent, England. Eleanor (daughter of Raymond IV Berenger, Count of Provence and Forcalquier and Beatrix of Savoy, Countess of Provence) was born about 1223 in Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France; died on 25 Jan 1291 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth: Stuart (2002) gives her birth as about 1223 in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Crowned: 1270; He was crowned the King of France in 1270.
• Reign: From 1270 to 1285; King of France (House of Capet)

Notes:

Name:

Philip married Marie of Brabant in 1274. Marie (daughter of Henry III, Duke of Brabant and Alix of Burgundy) was born in 1256; died in 1321. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Reed (2002) and Weis (1982) give the year as 1272.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reign: From 1199 to 1216; King of England
• Charter/Grant/Gift: 19 Jun 1215, Runnymede, Surrey, England

Notes:

Name:


Charter/Grant/Gift:
King John Signed the Magna Charta at Runnemede.

John married Isabella of Angoulême, Queen of England on 24 Aug 1200 in Bordeaux, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. Isabella (daughter of Aymer de Valence, Count of Angoulême and Alice de Courtenay) was born in 1188; died on 31 May 1246; was buried in Fontevrault Abbey, Fontevrault, Maine-Et-Loire, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• General Information: She was the heiress of Angoulême.

Raymond married Beatrix of Savoy, Countess of Provence on 5 Jun 1219 in Dez, France (not found). Beatrix (daughter of Thomas I of Savoy, Count of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva) was born in 1198; died in Dec 1266. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Marriage Date: Stuart (2002) gives their marriage date as December 1220, and Moriarity (1947) gives the year as 1220.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Crowned: 1226; He was crowned King of France in 1226.
• Reign: From 1226 to 1270; King of France (House of Capet)
• Miscellaneous: 1227; Starting in 1227, Blanche of Castile served as the regent during the minority of her son, Louis IX.
• Canonized: 11 Aug 1297; He was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII on 11 August 1297.

Notes:

Name:
       

Died:
He was killed in battle.

Louis married Margerite of Provence on 27 May 1234 in Sens, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France. Margerite (daughter of Raymond IV Berenger, Count of Provence and Forcalquier and Beatrix of Savoy, Countess of Provence) was born in 1221 in Saint-Maime, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France; died on 20 Dec 1285 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; was buried in Basilica of Saint-Denis, St. Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Death: She may have died on 21 December 1285.

Notes:

Death: Weis (1982) gives his death date as 1291.

Henry married Alix of Burgundy. Alix (daughter of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy and Yolande de Dreux) died on 23 Oct 1273. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Her name was also spelt Adelheid.