Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/276

 Richard I. In 1190 his sister Maud was married to David, earl of Huntingdon, brother to William, king of Scots ( i. 423 ; Gesta Regis Ricardi, ii. 146). In the fifth year of Richard's reign he was among those before whom fines were levied (, Fines, pref. p. lxiii), his sole exercise of judicial functions. With his brother-in-law, David, in Richard's interest, he joined in the siege of Nottingham (February 1194), which surrendered, after Richard had joined them, on 28 March ( ii. 62). He was then present at the second coronation (17 April), where he bore one of the three swords. After this he accompanied Richard to Normandy. We find him at variance with his wife as early as 1196, when he intercepted her at Pontorson on her way to Richard and confined her in his castle of St. Jean Beveron. Her son's forces, failing to rescue her, ravaged the earl's lands ( ii. 98 ;, iv. 7).

On the accession of John he was one of those suspected magnates whose oaths of fealty were exacted at Northampton before the king's arrival ( ii. 145; Ann. Burt. p. 139). He was, however present at the coronation on 27 May 1199 ( ii. 146). Having accompanied John abroad, he was, in October, deserted by his wife (, iv. 97), who fled with Arthur to Angers, and there married Guy, brother to the Vicomte of Thouars. Dugdale repeats the legendary story that he divorced her in consequence of John's attentions. The earl, soon after her desertion, married Glemence, widow of Alan de Dinan, daughter of William, sister of Geoffrey, the great-niece of Ralph de Fougeres, and niece of William de Humez, constable of Normandy. Dugdale's account is here inaccurate. She appears as his wife in the deeds of agreement between the earl and the house of Fougères 7 Oct. 1200 (printed in Cheshire, i. 39-40), by which he obtained, with her, lands both in England and Normandy. He also gave the king 100l. (Angev.) to pursue his claims in France. Remaining abroad, he was entrusted by John with Similly Castle in Normandy, 23 Sept. 1201. But the king a year and a half later, hearing reports of his infidelity, came to Vire Castle (13 April 1203), whither the earl with Fulk Paynell hurried the next morning, and the two cleared themselves of the charges made against them. Blundevill, however, was constrained to surrender the castle and give pledges. But he was then entrusted (31 May 1203) with the keep of Avranches, on which he had some hereditary claim. On 20 Dec. 1204 he had a safe conduct to a great council on 7 Jan. 1205, and on 6 March 1205 he was given the honour of Richmond (save the constabulary) as it had been held by Geoffrey, earl of Richmond, his former wife's first husband, in compensation for the lands he had lost beyond sea (Ann. Worc. p. 893). He accounted for it in 1211 as forty and a half knights' fees.

On 30 Nov. 1205, and again on 10 April 1209, he was appointed to escort the King of Scots to the south, and in the autumn of 1209, with Geoffirey Fitzpiers and the Bishop of Winchester, he led an army into Wales (Ann. Dunst. p. 32). The next year, with the Earl of Salisbury, he again marched into Wales (, ii. l06), and was henceforth constantly fighting the Welsh. There is a well-known story that in the course of these struggles he had to take refuge in Rhuddlan Castle, and was there besieged by the Welsh till relieved by a rabble from Chester fair, sent to his aid by his constable. On 1 May 1214 he founded his abbey of Dieulacres ('Dieu l'accroisce !') in Leek, Staffordshire, dedicated to the Virgin and St. Benedict, and transferred thither the white monks from Pulton Abbey, Cheshire (founded 1153), which was too exposed to the Welsh (Mon. Angl.)

In the summer of 1214 he accompanied John to Poitou, and Matthew Paris asserts that the preference of Hubert de Burgh to him, in October, as surety for the king to France in 8,000 marcs, laid the foundation of their rivalry (iii. 231). He remained, however, with John on their return, and witnessed his grant of freedom of election to churches on 21 Nov. 1214 (, Sel. Chart. 281). He was also present at the parliament of 6 Jan. 1215 at the Temple. He was entrusted with the castle of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 20 May 1215, and was among those who adhered to John when the barons entered London on 24 May. He was one of the few witnesses ex parte regis to the charter, 15 June. Unswerving in his loyalty, he thenceforth placed himself at the head of John's adherents ( ii. 225), and was rewarded with the custody of the Leicester fief, belonging to his uncle, Simon de Montfort, 21 July (1215), and with the castle of the Peak 13 Aug. (1215). He was also (31 Oct.) given the lands of all the king's enemies within his fiefs. Throughout the struggle which followed the charter he was staunchly faithful to John, and afterwards to his son Henry. On Jan. 1216 the king's constable of Richmond Castle was instructed to obey his orders, and on the 30th (Jan. 1216) he was entrusted with the castle and county of Lancaster. On Ash Wednesday (4 March) he took the cross with John and others (, ii 109), and on 13 April (1216) re- 