Lords of the Manor
The French Invasion
There was one historic precedent, some three centuries earlier.
On 21 May 1216, on the invitation of the Barons who were in dispute with King John, the French Dauphin, Prince Louis, son of King Philippe II of France, and afterwards King Louis VIII of France, landed on the Isle of Thanet and claimed the throne of England.
The above drawing by Matthew Paris (c. 1200- 1259) the Benedictine Monk and artist in illuminated manuscripts, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire, shows Louis of France arriving to support the Barons in their revolt against King John (1216)
Prince Louis met with little resistance and entered London on 2 June 1216 and at once received the homage of the Barons and the Mayor and was proclaimed King at St Paul’s Cathedral with great pomp and celebration.
The invading army eventually arrived at Hertford and laid siege to the Castle, the siege lasting more than three weeks, from 11 November 1216 until 6 December, when the garrison was compelled to surrender.
However, Louis was defeated at Lincoln in May the following year, 1217, with Falkes de Bréauté, a Norman mercenary, who had been in the personal service of King John, playing a critical role in the campaign: before the battle began de Bréauté had led his force into the castle itself, and his crossbowmen shot down at the rebel force from the walls. De Bréauté is reputed to have sallied out himself and, although captured, was rescued by his men, and fought on until the rebels fled, with even the French leaders acknowledging his role in a critical victory against superior forces.
The above drawing by Matthew Paris (c. 1200- 1259) the Benedictine Monk and artist in illuminated manuscripts, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire, shows Falkes de Bréauté’s crossbow men firing on Louis’ men, while under the battlements, Thomas, the young Count of Perche, dies from a dagger thrust through the eye hole of his helmet. (1217)
This defeat greatly reduced the French threat to the English crown and, In September 1217, the treaty of Lambeth was agreed, with Prince Louis giving up his claim to the English throne and returning to France with his remaining forces.
(Main Source: Wikipedia)
Falkes de Bréauté subsequently became Governor of Hertford Castle but, after the siege, the buildings must have been in a ruinous state, unsuitable to be his residence, and in 1223 he acquired the manor of Little Berkhamsted, just four miles from the Castle, from Geoffrey d'Eschalers, whose family had been granted the manor by William after the Conquest in 1066 and which previously had been held by the Anglo-Saxon Kings.
“These lands were of the alms (lands) of King Edward, and of all the Kings his predecessors, as the Shire testifies.”
(Source: Domesday)
De Bréauté, however, had no need to build a grand new house, as the ancient hall (veterem Aulam) was still standing from the time before the Conquest, when the Manor had been the Royal Manor, and where, after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the remnants of the Anglo-Saxon leadership had met the Norman Duke William to agree the submission of London.
Falkes de Bréauté had been, in effect, King John’s “fixer”, in much the same role as Thomas Cromwell filled for Henry VIII, but after the death of King John, on 19 October 1216, the many enemies de Bréauté had made during his service to King John, came back into the Royal favour and he was forced to submit to the young Henry III: on August 19, 1224, he made complete submission, surrendered all his estates and was sentenced to banishment from England for ever. He had held the Lordship of the Manor of Little Berkhamsted for only a very short time – from some time in 1223 until August 25 the following year, 1224, following which:
“In April, 1225, orders were sent (1) to the Sheriff of Herts to pull down without delay Falkes' houses at Little Berkhamstead, and to cart them to Hertford Castle, where they were to be re-erected. In the following July the King granted Falkes' land there, during pleasure, to John Marescall for his maintenance in the King’s service; and in August, Falkes' houses having been removed to Hertford Castle, the sheriff was directed to leave the ancient hall and ancient chapel, brewery and stable (veterem Aulam et veterem Capellam, bracinum et marescalciam) till further orders”.
(1) Close Rolls.
(Source: THE EARLY HISTORY OF LITTLE BERKHAMSTEAD, HERTS by C.E. Johnston, 1909.)
Falkes de Bréauté had been knighted by King John and had taken the “Gryphon” as his personal emblem. He had also been able to acquire a notable residence in South London, the name of which, “Falkes Hall”, came to be applied to the surrounding area and that name has survived over the intervening centuries, although corrupted to “Vauxhall”, and Falkes’ emblem can now be seen, every day, on any of the several hundred thousand Vauxhall motor cars on the roads of the UK.