Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameJohn FitzJohn 
[54, His own article], [60, FitzJohn art, Vol V, p.433 seq]
[54, His own article], [60, FitzJohn art, Vol V, p.433 seq]Birthca 1240
Deathca 6 Nov 1275, Lambeth
Generaldsp. Sheriff of Westmorland. Constable of Windsor castle.
FatherSir John FitzGeffery (ca1208-1258)
MotherIsobel Bigod (ca1210-)
DNB Main notes for John FitzJohn
Fitzjohn, Sir John c.1240-1275
Name: Fitzjohn, Sir John
Dates: c.1240-1275
Active Date: 1275
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Land Ownership
Occupation: Baron and leading supporter of Simon of Montfort [q.v.]
Spouse: A daughter of the king's justiciar, Sir Philip Basset
Sources: Chancery rolls; Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, vol...
Contributor: D. A. Carpenter
Article
Fitzjohn, Sir John c.1240-1275, baron and leading supporter of Simon of Montfort [q.v.], was the son of John Fitzgeoffrey [q.v.], justiciar of Ireland and a prime mover, with Montfort, of the political revolution of 1258. In February 1259 John Fitzjohn fined in œ300 for seisin of his father's lands while still under age. He thus acquired a substantial magnate inheritance with the chief centre in Buckinghamshire, where he was lord of Aylesbury, Whaddon, and Steeple Claydon.
In 1261 Fitzjohn, as part of the abortive attempt to prevent the overthrow of the Provisions of Oxford, the revolutionary programme imposed in 1258, became sheriff of Bedfordshire-Buckinghamshire in opposition to the sheriff appointed by the king. Two years later he joined Simon of Montfort when the latter returned to England and reimposed the Provisions. While others deserted, Fitzjohn remained with Montfort to the end, bringing with him several Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire knights. In July 1263 Fitzjohn's local influence was acknowledged and increased when Montfort's government made him keeper of the peace in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire; in December, with the other Montfortians, he accepted Louis IX's offer to arbitrate on their quarrel with the king. When Louis' verdict condemned the Provisions of Oxford outright, the Montfortians refused to accept the verdict and prepared for war. In March 1264 Fitzjohn was involved in the seizure of Gloucester. Next month he led the pillage of the Jews in London. He killed the most famous, Kok Fitzabraham, with his own hands and was less than pleased when Montfort made him share part of the spoils. Fitzjohn then took part in the siege of Rochester (17 April) before being knighted in London (4 May), just before Montfort marched out of the city to bring the king's army to battle. However, according to the annals of Dunstable, Fitzjohn had been knighted earlier at Gloucester.
At the battle of Lewes (14 May 1264) Fitzjohn commanded the second division of Montfort's army with Gilbert de Clare, eighth Earl of Gloucester, and William de Munchenci [qq.v.]. `He fought strenuously in the battle,' the annals of Worcester recorded, `smashing steel helmets and taking many of his adversaries prisoner.' In Montfort's subsequent regime, although involved in negotiations with the Marcher barons and with the increasingly disaffected Gilbert de Clare, his role was in the provinces rather than at court, in part perhaps because of his comparative youth. As castellan of Windsor (from June 1264) he dragooned the local population into providing a garrison and munitions for the castle. In addition, when his brother-in-law Robert de Vipont died in June 1264, he became custodian of Vipont's lordship of Westmorland. After the desertion of Gilbert de Clare and the escape of Edward, the king's son [q.v.], from captivity, Fitzjohn was with Montfort on his final campaign and was captured at the battle of Evesham (4 August 1265), being saved from death by the royalist Roger de Clifford [q.v.], who had married his niece.
Roger de Clifford was not the only royalist to whom Fitzjohn was related, for he himself had married a daughter of the king's justiciar, Sir Philip Basset [q.v.]. Basset's eldest daughter, however, had married Hugh le Despenser [q.v.], one of Montfort's closest associates, and perhaps that tie, together with the role of his father in 1258, influenced Fitzjohn's political sympathies. He was also one of a group of young and warlike men (Robert de Vipont and William de Munchenci were others), called contemptuously `the junior boys of England' by the chronicler, Thomas Wykes [q.v.], who were attracted to Montfort's side, quite probably by the glamour of his military reputation.
Fitzjohn's career after Evesham provides a good example of how former Montfortians could be rehabilitated. In July 1266 he was pardoned by the king for his past trespasses. In the mean time, some of his lands had been occupied and doubtless protected by royalist kinsmen_by Roger de Clifford and by William de Beauchamp of Elmley [q.v.], who had married one of Fitzjohn's sisters. The bulk of his lands had been given to Gilbert de Clare and, under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth, had to be repurchased by Fitzjohn at five times their annual value. Perhaps the financial strain is reflected in Fitzjohn's sale of Ringwood Manor (Hampshire) for 2,250 marks; but he was on good terms with Clare, in and after 1267 appearing as a member of his entourage. Later Fitzjohn gained the favour of Edward I, and, in 1274, he represented the king at a great council at Lyon. His death (childless) in November 1275 caused grief to both king and court.
John Fitzjohn had given vigorous military support to the cause of Simon of Montfort. In his career we catch a glimpse of the medieval miles strenuus.
Sources
Chancery rolls; Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, vol. i, 1916; H. R. Luard (ed.), Annales Monastici, 5 vols. (Rolls Series), 1864-9; W. Stubbs (ed.), The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, 2 vols. (Rolls Series), 1880; E. F. Jacob, Studies in the Period of Baronial Reform and Rebellion, 1925.
Contributor: D. A. Carpenter
published 1993
Name: Fitzjohn, Sir John
Dates: c.1240-1275
Active Date: 1275
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Land Ownership
Occupation: Baron and leading supporter of Simon of Montfort [q.v.]
Spouse: A daughter of the king's justiciar, Sir Philip Basset
Sources: Chancery rolls; Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, vol...
Contributor: D. A. Carpenter
Article
Fitzjohn, Sir John c.1240-1275, baron and leading supporter of Simon of Montfort [q.v.], was the son of John Fitzgeoffrey [q.v.], justiciar of Ireland and a prime mover, with Montfort, of the political revolution of 1258. In February 1259 John Fitzjohn fined in œ300 for seisin of his father's lands while still under age. He thus acquired a substantial magnate inheritance with the chief centre in Buckinghamshire, where he was lord of Aylesbury, Whaddon, and Steeple Claydon.
In 1261 Fitzjohn, as part of the abortive attempt to prevent the overthrow of the Provisions of Oxford, the revolutionary programme imposed in 1258, became sheriff of Bedfordshire-Buckinghamshire in opposition to the sheriff appointed by the king. Two years later he joined Simon of Montfort when the latter returned to England and reimposed the Provisions. While others deserted, Fitzjohn remained with Montfort to the end, bringing with him several Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire knights. In July 1263 Fitzjohn's local influence was acknowledged and increased when Montfort's government made him keeper of the peace in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire; in December, with the other Montfortians, he accepted Louis IX's offer to arbitrate on their quarrel with the king. When Louis' verdict condemned the Provisions of Oxford outright, the Montfortians refused to accept the verdict and prepared for war. In March 1264 Fitzjohn was involved in the seizure of Gloucester. Next month he led the pillage of the Jews in London. He killed the most famous, Kok Fitzabraham, with his own hands and was less than pleased when Montfort made him share part of the spoils. Fitzjohn then took part in the siege of Rochester (17 April) before being knighted in London (4 May), just before Montfort marched out of the city to bring the king's army to battle. However, according to the annals of Dunstable, Fitzjohn had been knighted earlier at Gloucester.
At the battle of Lewes (14 May 1264) Fitzjohn commanded the second division of Montfort's army with Gilbert de Clare, eighth Earl of Gloucester, and William de Munchenci [qq.v.]. `He fought strenuously in the battle,' the annals of Worcester recorded, `smashing steel helmets and taking many of his adversaries prisoner.' In Montfort's subsequent regime, although involved in negotiations with the Marcher barons and with the increasingly disaffected Gilbert de Clare, his role was in the provinces rather than at court, in part perhaps because of his comparative youth. As castellan of Windsor (from June 1264) he dragooned the local population into providing a garrison and munitions for the castle. In addition, when his brother-in-law Robert de Vipont died in June 1264, he became custodian of Vipont's lordship of Westmorland. After the desertion of Gilbert de Clare and the escape of Edward, the king's son [q.v.], from captivity, Fitzjohn was with Montfort on his final campaign and was captured at the battle of Evesham (4 August 1265), being saved from death by the royalist Roger de Clifford [q.v.], who had married his niece.
Roger de Clifford was not the only royalist to whom Fitzjohn was related, for he himself had married a daughter of the king's justiciar, Sir Philip Basset [q.v.]. Basset's eldest daughter, however, had married Hugh le Despenser [q.v.], one of Montfort's closest associates, and perhaps that tie, together with the role of his father in 1258, influenced Fitzjohn's political sympathies. He was also one of a group of young and warlike men (Robert de Vipont and William de Munchenci were others), called contemptuously `the junior boys of England' by the chronicler, Thomas Wykes [q.v.], who were attracted to Montfort's side, quite probably by the glamour of his military reputation.
Fitzjohn's career after Evesham provides a good example of how former Montfortians could be rehabilitated. In July 1266 he was pardoned by the king for his past trespasses. In the mean time, some of his lands had been occupied and doubtless protected by royalist kinsmen_by Roger de Clifford and by William de Beauchamp of Elmley [q.v.], who had married one of Fitzjohn's sisters. The bulk of his lands had been given to Gilbert de Clare and, under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth, had to be repurchased by Fitzjohn at five times their annual value. Perhaps the financial strain is reflected in Fitzjohn's sale of Ringwood Manor (Hampshire) for 2,250 marks; but he was on good terms with Clare, in and after 1267 appearing as a member of his entourage. Later Fitzjohn gained the favour of Edward I, and, in 1274, he represented the king at a great council at Lyon. His death (childless) in November 1275 caused grief to both king and court.
John Fitzjohn had given vigorous military support to the cause of Simon of Montfort. In his career we catch a glimpse of the medieval miles strenuus.
Sources
Chancery rolls; Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, vol. i, 1916; H. R. Luard (ed.), Annales Monastici, 5 vols. (Rolls Series), 1864-9; W. Stubbs (ed.), The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, 2 vols. (Rolls Series), 1880; E. F. Jacob, Studies in the Period of Baronial Reform and Rebellion, 1925.
Contributor: D. A. Carpenter
published 1993