Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/310

 Berkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire (, Bar.} He married Beatrice de Valle. In 1201 Brewer founded the abbey of Motisfont as a house of Augustinian canons. This foundation has been ascribed to his son William {Ann. de Osen.}, but the charters of the abbey prove that it was the work of the father (Mon. vi. 480). On 15 Aug. of the same year he was present as founder at the foundation of the Cistercian abbey of Dunkeswell in Devonshire. He is said also to have founded the Benedictine nunnery of Polslo in that county (''Ann. de Margam; Mon.'' iv. 425, v. 678).

During the reign of John, Brewer held a prominent place among the king's counsellors. His name appears among the witnesses of the disgraceful treaty made with Philip at Thouars in 1206. When an attempt was made to reconcile the king to Archbishop Langton in 1209, he joined Geoffrey Fitz-Peter and others in guaranteeing the archbishop's safety during his visit to England, and saw him safely out of the kingdom. During the period of the interdict he strongly upheld the king, and is mentioned by Wendover (iii. 238) as one of John's evil advisers, who cared for nothing else save to please their master. The king's extortions from the clergy, the monks, and especially the Cistercians, were in obedience to Brewer's advice, and in 1210 he caused the king to forbid the Cistercian monks to attend the annual chapter of their order—a sin which, according to Paris, brought him and others concerned to a sorrowful end. He signed the treaty made by John with the Count of Boulogne in May 1212. On 15 May 1213 he signed the charter by which John surrendered the crown and kingdom of England to Innocent III, and on 21 Nov. 1214 the charter granting freedom of election to sees and abbeys, by which the king hoped to win the English church to his side. When the barons made a confederation against the king at Brackley in 1215, and drew up the list of their demands, Brewer refused to join them. After their entry into London, however, he and other ministers of the king were compelled to act with the baronial party, and his name appears among the signatures subscribed to the great charter. His heart, however, was by no means in the work, and when war broke out he became one of the leaders of the army left by John to watch the baronial forces, cut off their supplies, and ravage their lands. On the death of John he assisted at the coronation of Henry at Gloucester on 28 Oct. 1216. He warmly espoused the cause of the young king against the French, and joined with other barons in pledging himself to ransom all prisoners belonging to the king's party. He was one of those who guaranteed the observance of the treaty of Lambeth on 11 Sept. 1217, though he did not approve of the moderate terms granted to Louis (Ann. Wav.} The next year he was present with the king and court at the dedication of the cathedral church of Worcester, to which he afterwards presented a chalice of gold of four marks weight, 'not to be removed from the church save for fire, hunger, or necessary ransom' (''Ann. Wig.''} With the restlessness and plots of the foreign party Brewer had no sympathy, and, indeed, seems to have acted in full accord with the justiciar Hubert de Burgh. In 1221 he sat as one of the barons of the exchequer (Foss, Biog. Jurid.} He was one of the favourite counsellors of Henry III, and his influence with the king was not for good. For example, when in January 1223 Archbishop Langton and the lords demanded that Henry, who was then holding his Christmas festival at Oxford, should confirm the great charter, Brewer answered for the king, and said: 'The liberties you ask for ought not to be observed; for they were extorted by force.' Indignant at this declaration, the archbishop rebuked him. 'William,' he said, 'if you loved the king you would not disturb the peace of the kingdom.' The king saw that the archbishop was angry, and at once yielded to his demand ( iv. 84). Later in the same year Honorius III associated Brewer with the Bishop of Winchester and the justiciar in a letter declaring Henry to be of full age. He died in 1226, having assumed, probably when actually dying, as was not infrequently done, the habit of a monk at Dunkeswell, and was buried there in the church he had founded. During the reigns of John and Henry III he acquired great possessions. By John he was made guardian of Henry Percy and of many other rich wards. He received a large number of grants from the king, and among them the manor of Bridgwater, with an ample charter creating that place a free borough with a market (, Bar.} In this town he founded the hospital of St. John Baptist, for the maintenance of thirteen sick poor, besides 'religious' and pilgrims (Mon. vi. 662). In the same reign he also acquired half the fee of the house of Brito: this acquisition probably was made unjustly ('per potestatem domini Willielmi Bruyere veterioris,' Inq. p. m. 49 Hen. III, Somerset Archæol. Soc. Proc. xxi. ii. 33). It included the honour of Odcomb, with other places in Somersetshire and Devonshire. The memory of this grant is preserved in the name of Ile Brewers, a village near Langport, which