Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Bluets 65
But as Ralph IV was dead by 1252 the argument is academic.
In 1253 William Bluet is listed as being in King Henry‘s expedition to the
rebellious province of Gascony. This was the last English possession in
France and had been a troubled area for many years. Henry had been
there in 1243 but that was a disastrous campaign. In 1243 only
a limited amount of territory between the Dordogne and the
Pyrenees alone acknowledged Henry. This narrower Gascony
was a thoroughly feudalised land: the absentee dukes had little
authority, domain, or revenue: and the chief lordships were
held by magnates, whose relations to their overlord were
almost formal, and by municipalities almost as free as the
cities of Flanders or the empire. The disastrous campaign of
Taiilebourg 268 lessened the prestige of the duke, and Henry
quitted Gascony without so much as attempting to settle its
affairs. 269
Henry sent his brother in law Simon de Montfort to Gascony as
governor to control the province, but de Montfort utterly
disregarded impartiality or justice while doing so. Henry III ignored
his methods at the time but continued complaints from the Gascons
eventually forced him to act and he and Simon eventually fell out. de
Montfort was forced to vacate his office in September 1252 but the
tumults of Gascony raged with more violence than ever now that his
strong hand was withdrawn 270 . The interference of the new king of
271
Castile, Alfonso X, didn‘t help the situation and King Henry had to
go to Gascony himself in 1253. He took his Army, which included
William Bluet, with him. The problems were eventually sorted out
diplomatically, mainly by Henry III betrothing his son Edward I to
268
When Henry‘s army had been decisively beaten by the French under Louis IX in
1242. An even more decisive battle was fought at Saintes two days later
269
Tout, TF The History of England from the Accession of Henry III. to the
Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) : Political Retrogression And National
Progress at http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=s&p=h&ID=1971
270
Tout, TF The History of England from the Accession of Henry III. to the Death
of Edward III. (1216-1377) : Political Retrogression And National Progress at
http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=s&p=h&ID=1971
271
Morris, M (2008) A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of
Britain Hutchinson, London p17