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FITZWALTER, ROBERT (d. 1235)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FITZWALTER, See also:ROBERT (d. 1235) , See also:leader of the baronial opposition against See also:King See also:John of See also:England, belonged to the See also:official See also:aristocracy created by See also:Henry I. and Henry II. He served John in the See also:Norman See also:wars, and was taken prisoner by See also:Philip of See also:France, and forced to pay a heavy See also:ransom. He was implicated in the baronial See also:conspiracy of 1212. According to his own statement the king had attempted to seduce his eldest daughter; but Robert's See also:account of his grievances varied from See also:time to time. The truth seems to be that he was irritated by the suspicion with which John regarded the new baronage. Fitzwalter escaped a trial by flying to France. He was outlawed, but returned under a See also:special See also:amnesty after John's reconciliation with the See also:pope. He continued, however, to take the See also:lead in the baronial agitation against the king, and upon the outbreak of hostilities was elected " See also:marshal of the See also:army of See also:God and See also:Holy See also:Church " (1215). To his See also:influence in See also:London it was due that his party obtained the support of the See also:city and used it as their See also:base of operations. The famous clause of Magna Carta (§ 39) prohibiting sentences of See also:exile, except as the result of a lawful trial, refers more particularly to his See also:case. He was one of the twenty-five appointed to enforce the promises of Magna Carta; and his aggressive attitude was one of the causes which contributed to the recrudescence of See also:civil See also:war (1215).

His incompetent leadership made it necessary for the rebels to invoke the help of France. He was one of the envoys who invited See also:

Louis to England, and was the first of the barons to do See also:homage when the See also:prince entered London. Though slighted by the See also:French as a traitor to his natural See also:lord, he served Louis with fidelity until captured at the See also:battle of See also:Lincoln (May 1217). Released on the conclusion of See also:peace he joined the See also:Damietta crusade of 1219, but returned at an See also:early date to make his peace with the regency. The See also:remainder of his career was uneventful; he (lied peacefully in 1235. See the See also:list of See also:chronicles for the reign of John. The Histoire See also:des dues de Normandie et des rois d'Angleterre (ed. F. See also:Michel, See also:Paris, 184o) gives the fullest account of his See also:quarrel with the king. See also:Miss K. Norgate's John Lackland (1902), W. McKechnie's Magna Carta (1905), and See also:Stubbs's Constitutional See also:History, vol. i. ch. xii.

(1897), should also be consulted.

End of Article: FITZWALTER, ROBERT (d. 1235)

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