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Individual Record for: Saire IV DE QUINCY (male)

Source:

bulkeley.txt

Notes:

MAGNA CARTA Surety.

Saier D Quincy was one of the Barons present at Lincoln when William t he Lion of Scotland did homage to the English monarch. He received lar ge grants and tax immunities from King John. He was governor of Ruil Cast le in Normandy in 1203. He was also created the first Earl of Winchest er shortly before 1210.

He seems to have been at or near the center of action for the events leadi ng up to the Magna Carta. He was one of the first Barons to argue for t he Charter of Liberty, and he is given credit for being one of the peop le who created it from the Charter of Henry I and the Saxon Code. After R unnemede, he was elected one of the Magna Carta Sureties. This was a gro up of 25 men, elected from among all the barons, to supervise the King's a dherance to the Magna Carta.

Later he went crusading in 1218 where he assisted in the siege of Bamiet ta in 1219 and later died on the way to Jerusalem.

He would emptomize what we, in modern times, visualize as a chivalrous kni ght.

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A portion of the information concerning Surety Baron SAIRE de QUINC EY is as follows:

SAIRE de QUINCEY, the Surety, born before 1154, was a Baron present at Lin coln when William the Lion of Scotland did homage to the English monar ch in October 1200. He obtained large grants and immunities from King Jo hn and was created Earl of Winchester, 2 March 1207, having been govern or in 1203 of the Castle of Ruil in Normandy. He is created with rewriti ng Magna Charta from the Charter of King Henry I and the Saxon Code. Becau se he had opposed the King?s concession to the Pope?s legate, he was bitte rly hated by King John. One of the Barons to whom the City and Tower of Lo ndon were resigned, Saire de Quincey was excommunicated with the other Bar ons the following year. He was sent, with Robert FitzWalter, the Suret y, by the other Barons, to invite the Dauphin of France to assume the Cro wn of England and, even after the death of King John, he kept a strong gar rison in Montsorell Castle in behalf of Prince Louis. When the Barons, bei ng greatly outnumbered, were defeated by the troops of King Henry III, Sai re de Quincey, with many others, was made prisoner and his estates forfeit ed. In the following October his immense estates were restored upon his su bmission. In 1218 the Earl of Winchester went with the Earls of Chester a nd Arundel to the Holy Land, assisted at the siege of Damietta in 1219, a nd died 3 November in the same year, on the way to Jerusalem. His wife w as Margaret Beaumont, whom he married before 1173.

At the beginning of John?s reign, Saire de Quincey was not a Baron, much l ess a great one. In the civil war the King had had the advantage over t he rebels. Few of the Barons had had much actual military experience. T he Barons? contribution to the war was the scutage they paid, a war fund s ubstituted for the contingent of knights owed to the King?s service. The m oney was collected from vassals, and mercenary knights were paid from i t. Many of the mercenaries were regulars who served the same Baron from ca mpaign to campaign, but those Barons who are known to have had extensive m ilitary experience were only Saire de Quincey, Robert FitzWalter, Willi am de Mowbray, William d?Albini, Roger de Cressi and Robert de Roos.

Saire de Quincey is associated with two stalwart Castles in the South of E ngland: Colchester and Winchester, both with the Latin castrum root, signi fying that they were once the site of Roman forts.

Colchester Castle could not have been built before the early 12th Centur y, though Roman materials may have been re-used in its construction. The k eep, the only portion now surviving, is in complete harmony with other Nor man castles. Colchester must have been a formidable stronghold, and a chal lenge to Saire de Quincey. The King's men held the Castle against Quince y, the first Earl to attack Colchester. John had given the fortress into t he charge of a Fleming whom he thought he could trust. But Quincey took t he Castle, and later found holding it more difficult. The fighting w as of such a nature that John himself came to Colchester to see just how s tubborn Saire de Quincey was. The Earl held the Castle for two months, b ut lack of food forced him to give up and take flight to France.

Colchester was the largest Norman keep in England. It measures one hundr ed fifty-two by one hundred seventeen feet, enclosing nearly twice the ar ea of the Tower of London. Its walls vary between eleven and thirty fe et in thickness. It was erected either by William the Conqueror or by Will iam II. It is of the quadrangular variety, turreted at the corner s. In it and elsewhere herringbone masonry has been noted.

Winchester Castle was first erected by William the Conqueror. Later altera tions and extra height were added by Henry III, about the year 1138. The g reat Hall has Purbeck columns of 13th Century architecture, supporting a r estored roof and containing handsome windows of the same approximate perio d. Only the keep remains. "How commonplace this saying, 'Only the keep sti ll stands,' . . . thanks to the old builders who made the keep strong a nd high to withstand time, and so difficult to tear down that it escaped t he looters of the ages." Perhaps Murphy was thinking of Colchester or Winc hester when he thus wrote, for this was the fate of the Quincey stronghold s.

Appreciation is expressed to Reed M. W. Wurts, one of the Heralds of the S ociety for furnishing the Baron?s Shield on this page.

Notes Source: bulkeley.txt

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