Henry Fitzcount

Henry Fitzcount (died 1222) was an English nobleman. He was the illegitimate son of Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall. Dunstanville died with no legitimate heir and his earldom reverted to the crown upon his 1175 death. Fitzcount afterwards received several grants of land in Devon and Cornwall. A loyalist during the First Barons' War of 1215–17, he was appointed Sheriff of Cornwall in 1215. Fitzcount was stripped of the post within two months as he had assumed the title of Earl without the king's permission. John and Fitzcount reconciled and he was reappointed as sheriff in 1216, being also granted farming rights across the whole of Cornwall. The grant of Cornwall was confirmed by John's successor Henry III but Fitzcount also incurred his displeasure and the county was taken into possession of the Crown in 1220. Fitzcount joined the Fifth Crusade around 1221 and died on that expedition in 1222.

Biography

Henry Fitzcount was the illegitimate son of Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall who was, in turn, an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England.[1] Fitzcount's surname refers to his descent from the Earl, who administered the county of Cornwall.[2] Dunstanville died without a legitimate heir in 1175 and his holdings in Cornwall, and the title of Earl, reverted to the Crown.[3] Fitzcount was granted the manors of Kingskerswell and Diptford in Devon and Liskeard in Cornwall by an 1194 charter of Richard I of England.[4]

In 1206, Fitzcount provided two ships to Richard's successor John in a cancelled expedition to recover Normandy from the French.[5] Fitzcount received the barony of Totnes in Devon from John in 1209, it may have been seized by the king from Loretta de Braose, Countess of Leicester.[6] By 1212 he also held Totnes in Devon.[7]

Fitzcount remained loyal to John during the First Barons' War of 1215–17.[8] He was one of a group of loyal barons that secured the south-west of England for the king.[9] During the war Fitzcount was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall on 17 September 1215.[10] The king replaced him on 16 November 1215 with Robert de Cardinan as Fitzcount had assumed the title of Earl of Cornwall, without the permission of the king who planned to grant it to his son Richard.[11] The king later reconciled with Fitzcount and in the 17th year of his rule (circa 1216), he was granted permission to farm all of Cornwall, until such time as the "Realm should be at Peace and the King is satisfied whether he ought to hold it as Part of his Inheritance, or as a Desmesne of the Crown".[12][1] The grant is thought to have been made with the intention that Fitzcount would hold the land in trust for Richard.[13] At the same time, he was awarded the holding of Launceston, Cornwall including its castle.[1]

After Henry III succeeded John, Fitzcount received a further grant of the entire county including all demesnes.[1] He was reappointed as high sheriff on 7 February 1217 by Henry III in recognition of his loyalty to John during the First Baron's War.[11][10] Fitzcount incurred the king's displeasure and he soon took the grant back, taking Cornwall into crown ownership in 1220.[1][3] Fitzcount's appointment as sheriff was terminated on 10 July 1220.[10] Henry III commanded the new sheriff of Cornwall William Lunet to oversee the returning of all lands held or given out by Fitzcount to the crown, with the exception of those which had been given to Robert de Tintagel.[14]

After he lost Cornwall, Fitzcount went on the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Lands and died either there or at Gascony, while travelling, in 1222.[15][16][17][18]

References
  1. Maclean, Sir John (1873). The Parochial and Family History of the Deanery of Trigg Minor, in the County of Cornwall. Nichols & son. p. 29.
  2. Mckinley, Richard (12 May 2014). A History of British Surnames. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-317-90146-4.
  3. Report. Royal Institution of Cornwall. 1848. p. 31.
  4. Office, Great Britain Public Record (1964). Lists and Indexes: Supplementary series. Kraus Reprint. p. 5.
  5. Prestwich, Michael (1 January 1999). Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. Yale University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-300-07663-9.
  6. Tait, James (1933). Historical Essays in Honour of James Tait. Manchester University Press. p. 260.
  7. Publications. Historical Series. University of Manchester. 1913. p. 509.
  8. Paris, Matthew (15 November 2012). Chronica Majora. Cambridge University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-108-04905-4.
  9. Lloyd, Alan (1973). King John. David & Charles. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-7153-5915-0.
  10. Hughes, A. (1898). List of Sheriffs for England and Wales from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1831. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. p. 21.
  11. Saunders, A. D. (2006). Excavations at Launceston Castle, Cornwall. Society for Medieval Archaeology. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-904350-75-0.
  12. Journals of the House of Lords. H.M. Stationery Office. 1822. p. 408.
  13. Daniell, John Jeremiah (1906). A Compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall. Netherton & Worth. p. 39.
  14. Cornwall, Royal Institution of (1891). Journal. p. 383.
  15. The American Genealogist. D.L. Jacobus. 1953. p. 14.
  16. Lloyd, Simon D. (1988). English Society and the Crusade, 1216–1307. Clarendon Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-19-822949-0.
  17. Dressler, RachelAnn (5 July 2017). Of Armor and Men in Medieval England: The Chivalric Rhetoric of Three English Knights' Effigies. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-351-55599-9.
  18. Abbey, Forde (1998). The Cartulary of Forde Abbey. Somerset Record Society. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-901732-33-0.
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