Stephen de Segrave

Stephen de Segrave
Chief Justiciar of England
In office
1232–1234
Monarch Henry III
Preceded by Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent
Succeeded by vacant until 1258
Hugh Bigod
Personal details
Born c. 1171
Died 9 November 1241
Spouse(s) Rohese le Despenser
Relations parent: Gilbert de Segrave

Stephen de Segrave (or Stephen Sedgrave or Stephen Segrave) (c. 1171 – 9 November 1241) was a medieval Chief Justiciar of England.

Life

He was born the son of a certain Gilbert de Segrave of Segrave in Leicestershire, who had been High Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire in 1193.

Stephen became a knight and was made constable of the Tower of London in 1220. He obtained lands and held various positions under Henry III. From 1221 to 1223 he served as High Sheriff of Hertfordshire and Essex, from 1222 to 1224 as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, from 1228 to 1234 as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire and from 1229 to 1234 as High Sheriff of Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.[1] In 1236, he became castellan of Beeston Castle and Chester Castle, jointly with Hugh de Spencer and Henry de Aldithley.[2]

He was given the manor where Caludon Castle was built, at Wyken near Coventry in 1232[3] or earlier,[4] by Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester. Ranulph also granted him Bretby in 1209.[5]

In 1232, he succeeded Hubert de Burgh as chief justiciar of England.[6] He officiated at the trial of de Burgh, in November 1232, which has been called the "first state trial" in England.[7] As an active coadjutor of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, Segrave incurred some share of the opprobrium which was lavished on the Poitevin royal favourites of Henry III of England. In 1234, he was deprived of his office as Justiciar.[6] Soon, however, he was again occupying an influential position at Henry's court, and he retained this until his death.

He died on 9 November 1241, and was buried in Leicester Abbey.

Family

He married twice; firstly to Rohese le Despencer, daughter of Thomas Despenser (producing no children)* and secondly to Ida de Hastings, daughter of William de Hastings and Margery Bigod of Norfolk, who bore him a son, Sir Gilbert de Segrave in 1202.[8][9] Gilbert died at Pons in the Prerogative County of Poitiers (Comte apanage de Poitiers (de Poitou)), in the province of Saintonge, in a region controlled by the Kingdom of France, on 8 October 1254, following his capture during a campaign in Gascony.

His grandson, Nicholas, was 1st Baron, Segrave which is now Mowbray.[10]

Notes

  1.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Segrave, Stephen de (d.1241)". Dictionary of National Biography 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. The Saint-Amand Connection Lines accessed on September 7, 2007
  3. Caludon castle accessed on September 7, 2007
  4. British History Online: Caludon accessed on September 7, 2007
  5. PDF South Derbyshire site - Grant of Bretby, p.1 accessed on September 7, 2007
  6. 1 2 Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 70
  7. Nicholas Vincent, Peter Des Roches (1996), p. 317.
  8. Geneajourney: le Despenser accessed on September 7, 2007
  9. Cawley, Charles, English Nobility Medieval: English Earls Created 1066-1122, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012,
  10. Stourton, A.J. (1876) 5 papers relating to ... Mowbray and Segrave Oxford University pg 17 (via Google)

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Hubert de Burgh
Chief Justiciar
12321234
Succeeded by
office vacant until 1258
(Hugh Bigod)
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