Biography of Bishop William of Savoy -1239

Paternal Family Tree: Savoy

Maternal Family Tree: Margaret Geneva Countess Savoy 1180-1252

Bishop William of Savoy was born to Thomas Savoy I Count Savoy and Margaret Geneva Countess Savoy.

On 04 Mar 1188 [his grandfather] Humbert Savoy III Count Savoy (age 54) died. His son [his father] Thomas Savoy I Count Savoy (age 10) succeeded I Count Savoy.

In 1195 [his father] Thomas Savoy I Count Savoy (age 17) and [his mother] Margaret Geneva Countess Savoy (age 15) were married. She by marriage Countess Savoy. He the son of Humbert Savoy III Count Savoy and Beatrice Macon Countess Savoy.

In 1224 Bishop William of Savoy was elected Bishop Valence.

On 01 Mar 1233 [his father] Thomas Savoy I Count Savoy (age 55) died. His son [his brother] Amedeo Savoy IV Count Savoy (age 36) succeeded IV Count Savoy.

Wedding of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence

Chronica Majora. 14 Jan 1236. Anno Domini 1236, which was the twentieth year of the reign of King Henry the Third, he held his court at Winchester at Christmas, where he observed that festival with rejoicings. He was at this time anxiously looking for the return of the special messengers, whom he had sent into Provence to Raymond (age 38), count of that province, with letters containing his own inmost thoughts about contracting a marriage with his daughter Eleanor (age 13). This said count was a man of illustrious race and brave in battle, but, by continual wars, he had wasted almost all the money he possessed. He had married the [his sister] daughter (age 38) of [his father] Thomas, the late count of Savoy, and sister of the present count, [his brother] Amadeus (age 39), a woman of remarkable beauty, by name Beatrice (age 38). This lady had issue by the aforesaid count, two daughters of great beauty, the elder of whom, named Margaret (age 15), was married to Louis (age 21), the French king, as we are told by a clerk named John de Gates; and the king of England had now, by the aforesaid messengers, demanded the younger one, a young lady of handsome appearance, in marriage. In order to obtain this favour, he had secretly sent Richard, prior of Hurle, in advance, who faithfully and with diligence brought the matter to a conclusion. On the prior's returning and telling the king the result, the latter sent him back to the count with some other messengers, namely, the bishops Hugh of Ely, and Robert of Hereford, and the brother of Robert de SANFORD, the master of the Knights Templars. These messengers were received by the count on their arrival in Provence with the greatest honour and respect, and from his hands received his daughter Eleanor, for the purpose of being united to the King of England; she was also attended by her uncle, William, bishop elect of Valentia; a man of distinction, and by the count of Champagne, a relation of the English king. The king of Navarre, on learning that they would travel through his territories, went joyfully to meet them, and accompanied them as a guide through his dominions during a journey of five days and more; he also, from his natural generosity, paid all their expenses, both for horses and attendants. Their retinue consisted of more than three hundred horsemen, not including the people who followed them in great numbers. On reaching the boundaries of France, they obtained not only a safe but honourable passage through that country, under conduct of the French king (age 21) and his queen (age 15), the sister of the lady about to be married to the English king, and also of Blanche (age 47), the French king's mother. They embarked at the port of Sandwich [Note. Should be Wissant], and with full sail made for Dover, Kent [Map], where they arrived, after a quick passage, before they were expected. Having thus safely landed, they set out for Canterbury, Kent [Map], and were met by the king, who rushed into the arms of the messengers, and, having seen the lady and received possession of her, he married her at Canterbury; the ceremony being performed on the fourteenth of January, by Edmund, archbishop (age 61) of that place, assisted by the bishops, who had come with the lady, in the presence of the other nobles and prelates of the kingdom. On the 19th of January the king went to Westminster, where an extra-ordinary solemnity took place on the following day, which was Sunday, at which the king wore his crown and Eleanor was crowned queen. Thus was Henry the Third married at Canterbury, and the nuptials were celebrated in London, at Westminster, on the feast of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian.

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                    Chronica Majora. 28 Apr 1236. In the same year, on the 28th of April, the nobles of England assembled at a council at London, to discuss the affairs of the kingdom. It was a cause of astonishment to many that the king followed the advice of the bishop elect of Valentia more than he ought, despising, as it appeared to them, his own natural subjects, and at this they were annoyed, and accused the king of fickleness, saying amongst themselves, "Why does not this bishop elect betake himself to the kingdom of France, as the French king has married the elder sister of our queen, to manage the affairs of the French kingdom, like he does here, by reason of his niece the queen of that country?" And they were highly indignant. On the first day of the council the king went to the Tower of London, and gave great cause of discontent to many about this matter, and more unfavourable than prosperous conjectures were entertained. The nobles would not either singly or in numbers go to the Tower to the king, fearing lest he, yielding to evil counsel, should vent his rage on them, and being warned by the words of Horace - Quia me vestigia terrent Omnia te versum spectantia, nulla retrorsum. [Because the footsteps of these beasts all point towards your den, But none of them, as far I can see, come back again.]
                
                    The king, nevertheless, restrained by motives of prudence, went from the Tower to his palace, there to discuss the urgent business of the kingdom more suitably with his nobles. After discussing several matters, he came to one praiseworthy determination, which was, that all the sheriffs should be dismissed, and others appointed in their places, because they had been corrupted by bribes and deviated from the paths of truth and justice. The king, therefore, substituted in their places men who possessed more tenements, who were richer, and of more noble race, who would not be driven by necessity to covet presents, nor to be cornipted. He also made them swear that they would not accept any gifts, unless in food and drink, and that only moderately and not to excess; or any present of land by way of reward, by which justice would be corrupted. To this council the king of Scotland (age 37) sent special messengers, who urgently demanded from the king the rights which pertained to their lord, the said king of Scots, concerning which they said that they held a charter and had the testimony of a great many nobles; but the determination of this matter was put off for the present. At the same time, too, the king, because he could not re-establish peace between Earl Richard (age 27), his brother, and Richard Seward, banished the latter from the kingdom, saying that he would rather incur his anger than that of his brother.                

                    He also, to the astonishment of many, removed from their offices and dismissed from his councils, Ralph Fitz-Nicholas, seneschal of his palace, and several other high offices of his household. He also demanded instantly his seal from the bishop of Chichester, his chancellor; although he had blamelessly discharged the duties of his office, proving himself a remarkable pillar of truth at court. This, however, the chancellor refused to do, seeing that the kings violence exceeded the bounds of moderation, and said that he could on no account give it up, since he had undertaken the charge by the general consent of the kingdom, and therefore could not resign it without that same consent. About the same time, too, the emperor sent messengers to the king, demanding from him a large sum of money which he, the king, had promised him with his sister.

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Chronica Majora. After 14 Feb 1237. About this time William, bishop elect of Valentia, to whom the king (age 29) had entirely intrusted the reins of government, seeing that the nobles had, not without reason, conceived great indignation against him, on that account took his departure for his own country; his lands and rich farms, which the king had given him, he placed in the hands of Aaron, a Jew of York, in the form of a pledge, receiving from him, by way of loan, nine hundred marks of new sterling money in hand. He then directed his steps towards Dover, under the guidance of the king himself, with the packsaddles of his beasts of burden full of gold, silver, and divers royal presents, besides some desirable jennets and valuable saddle horses. And so cunningly had this man managed matters, that the king, abandoning the example set him by the noble emperor and the careful king of France, who did not permit their backs to be trodden upon by their wives and their relatives and countrymen, deprived and drained of all his money, and become a needy man, suffered this bishop to pull his kingdom to pieces, and, being under the influence of his wife (age 14), allowed him, on the least pretence, to consume the produce of his own temtories. He also allowed foreigners, - Poictevins, Germans, Provencals, and Romans, - to fatten themselves on the good things of the country, to the injury of his kingdom. The aforesaid bishop elect of Valentia then went to France, whence, after paying his respects to the king and his sister, he was without delay sent away in peace, and allowed to depart without any presents. He then sent the presents he had brought from England to Provence, and there distributed them, together with some horses loaded with an immense sum of money, and then returned empty lianded to England, where he was received by the king with open arms.

Chronica Majora. Mar 1237. About the same time, the king's anger was again kindled against the earl of Kent, Hubert de Burgh (age 67), because Richard, earl of Gloucester (age 14), still a boy, under the king's care, secretly married Earl Hubert's (age 67) daughter Margaret (age 15), without his, the king's, permission or connivance. For he had determined (as it was stated) to unite the said youth, the earl of Gloucester, together with his county and all his honours, to a young lady, a near relative of William, bishop elect of Valentia, a native of Provence. The king's anger was, however, at length set at rest by the intercession of a great many people, and on Hubert's declaring that he had not been aware of it, and that it had not been done by him, and on his promising a sum of money to the king. In the same year, by the management of the emperor Frederick (age 42), another senator was created at Rome, in order that, by the united skill and power of two senators, the insolence of the Romans might be checked, and the city be pacified, and governed more safely, and easily ruled by their counsels.

In 1239 Bishop William of Savoy died.

Royal Ancestors of Bishop William of Savoy -1239

Ancestors of Bishop William of Savoy -1239