Peter des Roches An Alien in English Politics, 1205–1238

The first biography of one of the wealthiest and most influential bishops of medieval Europe.

This is the first biography of one of the wealthiest and most influential bishops of medieval Europe, who for a period of over thirty years exercised a degree of power over the Plantagenet court second only to that of the king. The career of Peter des Roches and the activities of his fellow aliens are fundamental to an understanding of the process by which England and France developed as two separate kingdoms. As a politician, des Roches cast a shadow across the reigns of both John and Henry III. His biography encompasses the first detailed narrative yet attempted of English political history in the early 1230s and of the civil war of 1233–4. It sheds new light on such issues as the role of aliens in English politics, the reception of Magna Carta, the loss of Normandy, and the constitutional and administrative developments of the reign of Henry III.

Introduction; 1. An alien abroad; 2. The reign of King John; 3. The Justiciarship; 4. Magna Carta and civil war; 5. The king's guardian 1216–19; 6. Decline and disgrace 1219–27; 7. Des Roches and the Crusade 1227–31; 8. The fall of Hubert de Burgh; 9. The coalition; 10. Des Roches in power; 11. The gathering storm; 12. The Marshal's war; 13. The fall of Peter des Roches; 14. The final years; Bibliography.

This is the first biography of one of the wealthiest and most influential bishops of medieval Europe. It sheds new light on on the role of aliens in English politics, Magna Carta, the loss of Normandy, and the constitutional and administrative developments of the reign of Henry III.