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John Maunsell and the Castilian Treaty of 1254: A study of the Clerical Diplomat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Jospeh O. Baylen*
Affiliation:
University of Mississippi

Extract

Henry Ill's absolutist pretensions made his conduct of English foreign affairs almost as personal as his domestic policy. But since the heir of John Lackland was chronically dependent on others for ideas, there remain the questions as to (1) how much of the mercurial king's policy was his own or that of his advisers and (2) whether Henry selected his counsellors from that class of administrative clerks who were ‘most dangerous to the welfare of the state’ because they encouraged their master's foreign adventures. Or, were these men, as the executors of the king's personal designs, committed to carry out a course of action ‘dramatically opposite to the interests of the [Angevin] kingdom’ as interpreted by the barons of the realm?

Type
Miscellany
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

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24 Maunsell's opposition to Montfort and his responsibility for the king's failure to support the earl of Leicester were also due to the counsellor's fear of Montfort as a potential threat to Henry's personal government. Cf. Bémont, Montfort (n. 13 supra) 48.Google Scholar

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36 Henry, and Maunsell planned a marriage contract for the king's ten-year old daughter, Beatrice, and the eldest son of Jaime I, king of Navarre. But in view of the successful conclusion of the treaty with Castile, this alternate project was abandoned. Close Rolls 1251–53 pp. 475–76; Powicke I 232.Google Scholar

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63 April 22, 1254: ibid. 509–10. In a separate document of this date, Maunsell pledged his king to support Castilian claims to suzerainty over Navarre. This was apparently a move to dispel Alfonso's suspicions of the king of Navarre's recognition of Edward as his suzerain on March 8, 1254. Cf. ibid. 510; Ch. Bémont, ed. Recueil d'actes relatifs à l'administration des rois d'Angleterre en Guyenne au XIIIe siècle (Paris 1914) 162.Google Scholar

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68 Close Rolls 1253–54, p. 274. There seems to be much uncertainty as to the date of the marriage. While Bémont declared that the couple was united on August 5, the Burton annalist placed the date around October 13. I am inclined to agree with Powicke, Tout, and Ramsay who assert that the ceremony occurred at the end of October. Cf. Bémont, Montfort (n. 13) 124; Luard, H. R., ed. de Burton, Annales, in the Annales monastici I (Rolls Series; London 1864) 323; Powicke, Henry III I 333; Tout, History of England (n. 58) 73; Ramsay, Dawn of the Constitution (n. 5) 147. See also Tout, T. F., Edward the First (London 1913) 11.Google Scholar

69 Cf. CPR 1247–58 p. 351; Paris, Chronica Majora V 396–98, 450. The charter mentioned by Matthew Paris is reproduced in Foedera I i.530–31. It is also interesting to note that Eleanor surrendered all claims to the crown of Castile. José Llampayas, Alfonso X: El hombre, el rey y el sabio (Madrid 1947) 128.Google Scholar

70 From September 8, 1254 to the first week of March, 1255 there is no mention in official records of Maunsell's presence near the king. Thus a letter close, dated September 20, 1254, which mentioned Robert le Sauvage as having ‘departed for Spain … together with John Maunsell,’ seems to indicate that the counsellor had left for Castile not long before that date. Maunsell reappears in the records on March 6, 1255 when a pardon was granted to Thomas Fitz-Adams ‘at the instance of John Maunsell, Provost of Beverley.’ Cf. Close Rolls 1253–54 pp. 76, 274; CPR 1247–58 p. 402.Google Scholar

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