Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameWilliam d’Albini , 4th Lord of Belvoir 
Birthabt 1135
Death1 May 1236
Misc. Notes
William fought at the battle of Lincoln in 1217.
Listed as one of the “Surety Barons” for the enforcement of the Magna Carta signed by King John of England in 1215.
William d'Albini was one of the King's foremost financial officers. Before 1200 he had been custodian sheriff, a sort of tax collector and treasurer combined. After 1200 King John appointed him one of the justices or "exchequers" of the Jews. As such he kept a record of all royal debts to Jews, and of payments made to them. Possibly such an official settled disputes connected with money-lending operations. The Jews were a powerful source of revenue, which the King desired to protect to his own interest. From Michaelmas 1210 to mid-Lent of 1211, William and five other Barons were in charge of customs duties on dyes and grain. In 1213 we find him involved in a baronial investigation committee, which sought to unearth evidence of alleged embezzlements charged to certain sheriffs.
He appears to have remained longer faithful to King John, as well as more moderate in his opposition to the King than most of the Barons, and he did not join the insurgents until he could no longer with safety remain neutral or adhere to the King for, as late as January 1214/5, he was one of King John's commissioners appointed for the safe conduct of such as were traveling to his Court at Northampton.
After he joined the Baron's party, d'Albini entered with great spirit into their cause and was excommunicated but, after having gained their point, he was looked upon with suspicion by the other Sureties, because he did not attend the grand tournament in Staine's Wood on 29 June 1215, to celebrate the victory. It was not until after other Barons had alarmed him that he fortified his Castle at Belvoir and joined them at London. But the sequel proves that their suspicions were not well grounded. He was placed as governor of Rochester Castle when, though he found it so utterly destitute of provisions as almost to induce his men to abandon it, he recruited and held it until weakness and famine obliged them to surrender to the King. The siege lasted three months and his army suffered considerable loss. King John ordered that all nobles in the Castle be hanged, but his chief counsellers resolutely opposed this sentence and William d'Albini and his son, Odonel, with several other Barons, were mereIy committed to the custody of Peter de Mauley, and sent as prisoners to Corfe and Nottingham Castles.
While d'Albini remained at Corfe, the King marched, on Christmas morning 1216, from Nottingham to Langar near Belvoir Castle, and sent a summons to surrender. Upon this, Nicholas d'Albini, one of the Baron's sons and a Clerk in Orders, delivered the keys to the King, asking only that his father should be mercifully treated. The fortress was then committed to the custody of Geoffrey and Oliver de Buteville. William's liberty was gained by paying to the King a fine of 6,000 marks (more than 4,000 pounds) and the sum was raised from his own lands by his wife. After King John's death, though he submitted himself to King Henry III, William d'Albini was forced to give his wife and son Nicholas as hostages for his allegiance, but in 1217 he was one of the King's commanders at the Battle of Lincoln. He died at Offington 1 May 1236, and his body was buried in Newstead, and "his heart under the wall opposite the high altar" at Belvoir Castle.
From www.MagnaCharta.org
Listed as one of the “Surety Barons” for the enforcement of the Magna Carta signed by King John of England in 1215.
William d'Albini was one of the King's foremost financial officers. Before 1200 he had been custodian sheriff, a sort of tax collector and treasurer combined. After 1200 King John appointed him one of the justices or "exchequers" of the Jews. As such he kept a record of all royal debts to Jews, and of payments made to them. Possibly such an official settled disputes connected with money-lending operations. The Jews were a powerful source of revenue, which the King desired to protect to his own interest. From Michaelmas 1210 to mid-Lent of 1211, William and five other Barons were in charge of customs duties on dyes and grain. In 1213 we find him involved in a baronial investigation committee, which sought to unearth evidence of alleged embezzlements charged to certain sheriffs.
He appears to have remained longer faithful to King John, as well as more moderate in his opposition to the King than most of the Barons, and he did not join the insurgents until he could no longer with safety remain neutral or adhere to the King for, as late as January 1214/5, he was one of King John's commissioners appointed for the safe conduct of such as were traveling to his Court at Northampton.
After he joined the Baron's party, d'Albini entered with great spirit into their cause and was excommunicated but, after having gained their point, he was looked upon with suspicion by the other Sureties, because he did not attend the grand tournament in Staine's Wood on 29 June 1215, to celebrate the victory. It was not until after other Barons had alarmed him that he fortified his Castle at Belvoir and joined them at London. But the sequel proves that their suspicions were not well grounded. He was placed as governor of Rochester Castle when, though he found it so utterly destitute of provisions as almost to induce his men to abandon it, he recruited and held it until weakness and famine obliged them to surrender to the King. The siege lasted three months and his army suffered considerable loss. King John ordered that all nobles in the Castle be hanged, but his chief counsellers resolutely opposed this sentence and William d'Albini and his son, Odonel, with several other Barons, were mereIy committed to the custody of Peter de Mauley, and sent as prisoners to Corfe and Nottingham Castles.
While d'Albini remained at Corfe, the King marched, on Christmas morning 1216, from Nottingham to Langar near Belvoir Castle, and sent a summons to surrender. Upon this, Nicholas d'Albini, one of the Baron's sons and a Clerk in Orders, delivered the keys to the King, asking only that his father should be mercifully treated. The fortress was then committed to the custody of Geoffrey and Oliver de Buteville. William's liberty was gained by paying to the King a fine of 6,000 marks (more than 4,000 pounds) and the sum was raised from his own lands by his wife. After King John's death, though he submitted himself to King Henry III, William d'Albini was forced to give his wife and son Nicholas as hostages for his allegiance, but in 1217 he was one of the King's commanders at the Battle of Lincoln. He died at Offington 1 May 1236, and his body was buried in Newstead, and "his heart under the wall opposite the high altar" at Belvoir Castle.
From www.MagnaCharta.org