Admiral Sir William de Leybourne[1] (French: Guillaume de Leybourne; Latin: Willelmus de Leyburnia or Leyburna; c. 1242–1310) was an English knight and military commander, sometimes reckoned the first admiral of the English navy.
Admiral Sir William de Leybourne | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1242 Leybourne Castle, Leybourne, Kent, England |
| Died | 18 March 1310 Preston, near Wingham, Kent. |
| Allegiance |  England |
| Service/ |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1265–1306 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands held | Admiral of the English Seas Admiral of the South Admiral of the West Admiral of the Irish Sea |
| Battles/wars | Battle off Bruges Siege of Bayonne Siege of Caerlaverock Siege of Winchelsea |
Life edit
William de Leybourne, first Baron Leybourne, was the eldest son of Roger de Leybourne[2] from his marriage to Eleanor Ferrers.[3] He married Juliana de Sandwich (1245–1327) on 16 October 1265.[4] She was the heiress of Sir Henry de Sandwich, who had died when she was only four. William had three sons with Juliana, Thomas de Leybourne, Henry de Leybourne, John de Leybourne and three daughters, Idonea, Katherine and Joan.[5] After his marriage William lived at his wife's manor of Preston-next-Wingham, Kent.
Sir William de Leybourne served as a military commander under the English kings Edward I[6] and Edward II. In 1265, for his services during the Second Barons' War, he was given lands taken from Simon de Montfort's rebels. In 1266, he was left in command of Sandwich by his father and joined the Siege of Winchelsea.
In 1275 he was involved in a dispute with a Jewish moneylender over a large loan to his father. In 1278, he decided to sell the manor and Leeds Castle to Queen Eleanor,[7] who cancelled all of his father's remaining debts.[8]
He served in Wales in 1277 and in 1282 he was appointed Constable of Pevensey Castle.[9] At some point thereafter, he was appointed commander of the king's own ships and ad hoc levies under a variety of titles that appear in various treaties and in items in the Gascon Rolls. He was noted as "Captain of the Sailors and Mariners of the Kingdom" (Capitaneus Nautarum & Marinellorum de Regno) in 1294,[10] "admiral of our navy of England" (French: amiral de nostre navie d'Engleterre) in 1295,[11] and "Admiral of the Sea of the King of England" (Amiral de la Mer du... Roy d'Engleterre) in 1297.[12][13] The last is sometimes glossed as the later title "Admiral of the English Seas"[14] (Latin: Admirallus Maris Angliae).[15] Under any of these titles, he seems to have been commander-in-chief of the English Navy of the time[16] and the prominence of this position has sometimes led to his inclusion on lists of the Lord High Admirals of England[citation needed] or even consideration as the first English admiral.[17] In 1299 he also served in Scotland at the head of 5 knights and 59 esquires, and in 1300 he was in attendance at the Siege of Caerlaverock.[6]
In the period leading up to the death of his first son Thomas in 1307, he bequeathed him and his wife Alice de Toeni, sister of Guy de Beauchamp, the manor of Leybourne.[18] His second son Henry fought for the Earl of Lancaster at Battle of Boroughbridge, where he was taken prisoner and outlawed.
William de Leybourne died in 1310 leaving his granddaughter Juliana Leybourne (1303–1367) as his heir.[19] Juliana Leybourne was to marry three times.[20]
Offices held edit
- Constable of Pevensey Castle, 1282–1287.
- Admiral of the English Seas, 1286–1298.
- Admiral of the South, 1294–1306.
- Admiral of the West, 1294–1306.
- Admiral of the Irish Sea, 1294–1306.
See also edit
References edit
Citations edit
- ^ Nicolas (1828), p. 257.
- ^ Everingham (2011b), p. 413.
- ^ Wurts (1945), p. 2765.
- ^ Everingham (2011a), p. 144.
- ^ a b Nicolas (1828), p. 258.
- ^ "History - A Royal Castle". www.leeds-castle.com. Leeds Castle Foundation, 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ Brown & al. (1976), p. 695.
- ^ Ingleton (2012), p. 46.
- ^ Pro Passagio Edmundi Fratris Regis (3 September 1294) in Rot. Vasc. 22 Edw. I m. 1, Foed., Vol. I, Pt. 3, p. 136.
- ^ Rot. Vascon. 24 Edw. I no. 4134 (12 December 1295).
- ^ Ordinatio apud Bruges (8 March 1297) in Foed., Vol. I, Pt. 3, p. 176.
- ^ Marsden (1907), p. 470.
- ^ Haydn (1841), s.v. "Admiral".
- ^ Hamilton (1896), Pt. 1, Ch. 1.
- ^ "The Beginnings of English Maritime Enterprise". History. New Series. 13 (50): 97–106. 1928. JSTOR 24400638.
- ^ Hone (1841), p. 576.
- ^ Ingleton (2012), p. 47.
- ^ Planché (1864), p. 75.
- ^ Ormrod, W. M. (23 September 2004). "Leybourne, Juliana, countess of Huntingdon (1303/4–1367), noblewoman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54433. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Sources edit
- Brown, R.A.; et al. (1976), The History of the King's Works: The Middle Ages, London: H.M. Stationery Office.
- Clowes, William Laird; et al. (1897), The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, vol. I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.
- Everingham, Kimball G., ed. (2011), Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families (2nd ed.), Douglas Richardson, ISBN 9781461045137.
- Everingham, Kimball G., ed. (2011), Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. 3 (2nd ed.), Douglas Richardson, ISBN 9781461045205.
- Haydn, Joseph Timothy (1841), Dictionary of Dates and Universal Reference..., London: Edward Moxon.
- Hone, William (1841), "Office of Lord High Admiral", The Every-Day Book and Table Book..., vol. III, London: Thomas Tegg, pp. 575–579.
- Ingleton, Roy D. (2012), Fortress Kent, Casemate Publishers, ISBN 9781848848887.
- Marsden, Reginald Godfrey (July 1907), "The Vice-Admirals of the Coast", English Historical Review, vol. 22, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 468–477, JSTOR 549921.
- Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1828), The Siege of Carlaverock..., Nichols.
- Planché, James Robinson (1864), A Corner of Kent, or, Some Account of the Parish of Ash-next-Sandwich, Its Historical Sites, and Existing Antiquities, R. Hardwicke.
- Wurts, John S. (1945), Pedigrees of the Barons, Brookfield Publishing.