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Birth:          BEF 1181 Poitou
Death:          BEF 22 Dec 1241 Mulgrave Castle, Whitby, Yorkshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_de_Maulay
Peter de Maulay or Peter de Mauley[a] (died 1241) was a nobleman and administrator 
who was one of King John of England's "evil counsellors". First appearing in the 
historical record in 1202, Maulay was in England by 1204 and serving as an official of 
John. During the rebellions of the end of John's reign, Maulay supported the king and 
was given custody of the king's younger son as well as important prisoners. Maulay 
continued to serve the new king after 1216 but ran into difficulties with the regents for 
the young King Henry III and was accused of treason in 1221. Although cleared of the 
treason accusation, Maulay retired to his lands in late 1221. In 1223 Maulay's lands at 
Upavon were confiscated by the king but were returned within a few months. Upavon 
was again confiscated in 1229 and given to another noble, but in 1233 King Henry 
regranted the manor to Maulay, an event which led to a revolt by Richard Marshal, the 
Earl of Pembroke, against the king. In 1241 Maulay went on crusade and died in late 
1241, probably in the Holy Land while on crusade.
Early life[edit]
Maulay's parentage is unknown, but he originated from the Maulay region in Poitou.[1] 
He appears to have had a younger brother named Aimery, who possibly was the same 
as an Aimery de Maulay who owned lands in Quinçay and La Rochelle between 1218 
and 1259. In a monastic chronicle, Peter is said to have relinquished his lands in 
France to Aimery in 1204,[2] after the overlordship of the lands passed from King John 
of England to King Philip II of France.[3] Peter's first appearance in the historical 
record was in 1202,[1] when he received land around Loudun in exchange for 
Moncontour.[4] Under John, he was appointed an usher in the king's household,[5] 
where he soon became a close advisor of the king. He was considered one of the 
"evil counsellors" of John by the chronicler Roger of Wendover.[1]

After John's loss of Normandy, Maulay went to England and was given the manor of 
Upavon in Wiltshire.[1] His grant of the manor was at the king's pleasure, because the 
manor, which had been held by a noble who forfeited his land in England by staying in 
Normandy after its loss, would need to be restored to its rightful holder if John 
recovered Normandy.[6] He served as an envoy to Rome in 1213 and in 1214 was in 
command of royal forces at La Rochelle in France. In 1214 he married Isabella, the 
daughter and heiress of Robert of Thornham.[1] Robert had died in 1211, so through 
his wife, Maulay acquired the Barony of Mulgrave in Yorkshire.[7] Maulay paid the 
king 7000 marks as a fine for the right to marry Isabella, one of the highest fines paid 
for the right to marry under John.[8][b] According to the medieval chronicler Ralph of 
Coggeshall, Maulay was the murderer of John's nephew Arthur of Brittany.[9]

When the barons of England revolted against John in 1215, Maulay was given 
command of Corfe Castle by John. Along with Corfe, Maulay was also given custody of 
John's younger son, Richard of Cornwall.[1] He was also given Gomshall in Surrey.[4] 
In 1216 he was given the office of Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset, where he made a 
name for himself with his exactions and heavy profiteering.[1] Besides the custody of 
Richard of Cornwall, Maulay was also responsible for supervising the confinement of 
John's niece, Eleanor of Brittany,[10] who, as the daughter of Geoffrey II, Duke of 
Brittany, elder brother of King John,[11] had a strong claim to the English throne and 
had been held captive since 1202.[12] At times, he was also responsible for keeping 
John's wife, Isabella of Angouleme and his heir, Prince Henry, safe from rebels, as 
long as they were at Corfe.[10]

Under Henry III[edit]
Maulay remained in office under the new king, Henry III, who succeeded to the throne 
in late 1216.[1] While at Corfe, he had custody of William of Lancaster, who had been 
captured by the royalist side at Rochester in 1215. Ranulf de Blondeville, the Earl of 
Chester, attempted to secure William's freedom but was rebuffed by Maulay, leading 
the earl to threaten to depart England and the king's cause and go on crusade.[13][c] 
In early 1217 Maulay was ordered by the regent, William Marshal, to surrender control 
of Sherborne Castle and Somerset to William Longespee, the Earl of Salisbury, to help 
secure the return of Longespee to the royal cause.[15] But Maulay refused to do so.
[16] In October 1217, Maulay was summoned to the royal court to answer charges that 
he had waged a private war against the earl over control of Somerset, and that he had 
broken a truce that had held between the two men.[17] The dispute was finally solved 
in February 1218 when Maulay was confirmed by the regent as custodian of Sherborne 
Castle and in the office of Sheriff of Somerset. Maulay compensated Longespee for his 
loss with a payment of 500 pounds, and a further payment of 1000 pounds by the 
government and custody of a royal ward.[18]

Maulay received a total of 6561 marks by 1221 from ransoms paid by 16 prisoners he 
held at Corfe.[19][d] He also paid nothing into the Exchequer from Somerset or Dorset 
for the period from 1218 to 1220,[21] with the total owed to the government amounting 
to a bit over 1500 pounds.[22][e] Maulay's extortions, however, led to him losing 
custody of Richard of Cornwall in 1220.[1]

Maulay brought Richard of Cornwall to London to attend his brother's second 
coronation,[24] which occurred on 17 May 1220.[25]

Treason accusations[edit]
On 20 May 1221 Maulay was accused of treason by Richard Mucegros and Hubert de 
Burgh before the king. The specific crime was alleged to be a plot to hand over 
Eleanor of Brittany, then held at Corfe Castle, to King Louis IX of France. Maulay was 
imprisoned for a short time, but on 4 June was released after surrendering Corfe to the 
king. He was allowed to retain his sheriffdom. The accusation may have owed more to 
the fact that Maulay had recently taken Mucegros' lands into custody because 
Mucegros had failed to make a payment due for a royal fine. The event may also have 
been used by de Burgh as an opportunity to weaken Maulay's patron and de Burgh's 
rival for power, Peter des Roches, while des Roches was out of England. The loss of 
Corfe by one of des Roches' primary supporters would have weakened des Roches' 
standing and power.[26] In July Peter des Roches returned to England and in late July 
was instrumental in the clearing of Maulay from the charges of treason. Maulay was 
not given back custody of Corfe, but on 29 July the royal government discharged the 
7000 marks that Maulay still owed for his marriage fine. The stated reason for the 
release of this debt was to compensate Maulay for his expenses while controlling 
Corfe, but the real reason appears to have been to compensate for the loss of Corfe.
[27] In late 1221 Maulay agreed to go on crusade with Peter des Roches and Falkes 
de Breauté, another of des Roches supporters.[28] The loss of Damietta in September 
meant that the three men postponed their departure,[29] and in November 1221 
Maulay was replaced as sheriff. In return for Maulay's agreement to the ouster, the 
Exchequer wrote off more debts that Maulay owed the government, this time over 
8800 marks.[30] Maulay retired to his lands in Yorkshire.[1]

Upavon case[edit]
In February 1223, Maulay forfeited Upavon to the king. This was part of a string of 
confiscations that struck at supporters of des Roches, including William de Cantilupe, 
Breauté, and Robert de Vieuxpont, by taking back grants that had been made earlier 
and which were held at the king's will. The seizures were made to teach the nobles a 
lesson and curb their dissension from the royal government, which was in the hands of 
Roches' rival de Burgh. Most of the manors, including Upavon, were returned to their 
previous holders in April after a settlement between de Burgh and those who resented 
his government.[31] Around this time Maulay began work on Mulgrave Castle, in 
Yorkshire, which was part of his wife's inheritance.[1] In June and July 1224, Maulay 
was present at on the royal side at the siege of Bedford Castle, which was held by de 
Breauté against the government.[32][f] In 1225 Maulay claimed that he had sworn to 
King John that he would not give up custody of the royal castles until after John's son 
came of age.[33] Maulay lost Upavon to the king again in 1229,[34] with the king 
regranting Upavon to Gilbert Basset.[35] This grant to Basset was by charter, with the 
lands to be held in fee. Maulay claimed that he only gave up his tenure because of 
threats by de Burgh.[6]

Maulay returned to royal service in 1230[g] when he joined the royal expedition to 
Brittany and was once more at the royal court in 1232 as a follower of Peter des 
Roches. Maulay regained Upavon in 1233,[1] after the king reopened the case.[35] 
Henry justified his action as being exercised "per voluntatem nostrum", or through his 
own will.[37] Henry opened a case of quo warranto, and then declined to recognise 
his own charter as valid, thus granting the manor to Maulay.[6] Although the case 
could be made that Maulay's right to the manor was better than Basset's, it is more 
probable that the dispute over Upavon and its ownership was the opening move in an 
effort to curtail the influence of Richard Marshall, the Earl of Pembroke.[37] It was 
also an attempt to turn back grants made by the king to de Burgh's supporters, now 
that de Burgh had fallen from power.[6] The royal actions led to conflict between 
Henry III and the barons, because of Henry's grant of the manor to Basset. The 
restoration to Maulay and Basset's deprivation were considered illegal by many of the 
nobles, and led to a revolt by Basset and Marshal, who was Basset's overlord.[1] 
Maulay was seen as a non-Englishman who was profiting over a popular English noble, 
Basset.[6] Maulay was briefly in disgrace but managed to return to favour,[1] and was 
named constable of Devizes Castle in January 1234, his first royal appointment since 
1221.[38] He was granted the office of Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1236,[1] 
perhaps owing these offices more to his former ward, Richard of Cornwall, than to his 
patron des Roches, who fell from power in 1234. Des Roches' loss of power did not 
adversely affect Maulay's royal service.[39] Maulay was present at the baptism of 
Prince Edward, and was one of the nobles who raised the infant from the baptismal 
font.[4]

Last years and legacy[edit]
Maulay had vowed to go on crusade in 1220, and in 1241 he finally set out for the 
Holy Land, along with Richard of Cornwall. Maulay died later in 1241, probably while 
still in the Holy Land.[h] His wife died before him and his heir was his son Peter de 
Maulay.[1] Besides his heir, Maulay had two other sons – Robert and Stephen, and a 
daughter, Hilary, who married Piers de Brus, son and heir of Piers de Brus,[4] the Lord 
of Skelton.[40][i] Maulay had endowed a chantry at Meaux Abbey in Yorkshire in 
memory of his wife. He also confirmed grants of lands to Eskdale Priory, a 
Grandmontine house founded by Isabella's father,[41] and to Nostell Priory.[4] Maulay 
was also a benefactor of the Knights of Saint Thomas, a military religious order for 
Englishmen.[42]
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I04797


Marriage To DE TURNHAM Isabella (ABT 1197 - BEF 22 Jan 1238)
    m. 1214 

Notes

Parents
DE TURNHAM Robert (ABT 1165 - 26 Apr 1211)
FOSSARD Joane or Isabella (ABT 1170 - )

Children by DE TURNHAM Isabella ABT 1197 - BEF 22 Jan 1238
DE MAULEY Peter (BEF 1226 - BEF 15 Jul 1279)

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