Putting one's house in order

The siege of Benauges in Gascony lasted from 1 October-5 November 1253, weeks that Henry III put to good use. While the king was encamped before the walls, his men went off to seize lesser castles. On 26 October, for instance, a Gascon named William Ernaldi de Marchan swore to hold the castle of Lubylly for the king and do him faithful service.

When Benauges finally surrendered, a part of Henry’s army moved on to besiege the other main rebel stronghold at La Réole. The king himself went to St Macaire and Bazas, retraced his steps to Benauges and then returned to Bazas. It seems he was still taking submissions and putting his house in order. On 28 November the communes of Marenne, Marencin, Gosse and Seyniaus were ordered to provide men ‘to ride against the king’s enemies’, whenever Henry saw fit. Two days later, 1 December, he received the submission of Amanieu de la Brett, a rebel knight.

While Henry was busy, Gaston Moncada de Béarn rose up in the south and attempted to seize the port of Bayonne. The pro-royalist faction inside the town drove him out and punished those conspirators who had tried to surrender Bayonne to the rebels. It may be that the leader of the conspirators was Peter Rosset, whom Simon de Montfort had appointed mayor the previous year. Certainly, he was imprisoned in the August of that year and only pardoned by the incercession of the king of Castile.

Bayonne

The people of Bayonne were consistently loyal to the Plantagenet regime. Renowned pirates, they have been described as the ‘Genoese of the northern seas’. Their sailors formed part of a maritime union which linked them with English-held ports from Bristol to Dublin and Berwick; in time of war the Bayonnais generally made common cause with English sailors against the Normans and other subjects of the French crown. Back in 1206 they had developed a collective organisation known as the Societas navium baioensiom, a guild of merchants, shipowners, shipmasters and silors. This was a powerful confraternity, and their badge can still be seen on the roof-bosses of Bayonne cathedral.