Bertram de Criol

SirSo styled in 1248 Inspeximus of charter of Robert de Guysnes, Calendar of Charter Rolls: Henry III, 1226-1257 (HMSO 1903), pp. 340-41. He is miles in the 1229 Tunstall attestation (see below). Bertram de Criol (Criel, Crioill, Cyroyl, or Kerrial; died 1256) was a senior and trusted Steward and diplomat to King Henry III. He served as Constable and Keeper of Dover Castle, Keeper of the Coast and of the Cinque Ports, Keeper of the receipts, expenses and wardships of the archbishopric of Canterbury, Constable of the Tower of London and Sheriff of Kent.

Background and origins The historian Nicholas VincentVincent, Peter Des Roches: An Alien in English Politics, 1205-1238, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 518. agrees with the Duchess of ClevelandDuchess of Cleveland, (C.L.W. Powlett), The Battle Abbey Roll, with some account of the Norman lineages, 3 vols (John Murray, London 1889), II, pp. 11-15, at p. 11. in deriving the de Criol family from Criel-sur-Mer, Seine-Maritime, though Planché favoured Creil, Oise,'Criol or Keriel', in J.R. Planché, A Corner of Kent: or, some account of the parish of Ash-next-Sandwich (Robert Hardwicke, London 1864), pp. 291-96. and Dunlop offered Creully, Calvados.J. R. Dunlop, 'Pedigree of the Family of Crioll, or Kyriell, of co. Kent', Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica (1927). In Battle Abbey Roll lists the Duchesne recension has the name as "Escriols",Cleveland, Battle Abbey Roll, II, p. 11. the Anglicized "Kyriel" appearing in the earlier Auchinleck manuscript.'Battle Abbey Roll', Auchinleck manuscript, fols. 105v-107r, no. 504, at fol. 106v column d. Criel-sur-Mer is likely, because Robert, younger son of Robert, Count of Eu (d. c 1092), obtained it from his father, whose possession of Criel is shown from a charter to the Abbey of St-Michel du Tréport;'Ashburnham', in The Norman People and their existing descendants (Henry S. King & Co., London 1874), p. 143, citing Gallia Christiana, xi, col. 13, Instrumental. in the Domesday Survey, Robert de Cruell held Esseborne (Ashburnham), Sussex, from his kinsman the Count of Eu, governor of the Rape of Hastings,W. Page (ed.), The Victoria History of the County of Sussex Vol. I (James Street, London 1905), p. 396 (Internet archive). J. Morris (ed.), Domesday Book: Sussex (Phillimore, Chichester 1974), sect. 9.7. and from these the de Criols and the ancient Ashburnham family are both supposed to descend.Cleveland, Battle Abbey Roll, II, pp. 11-12.The National Archives (UK), Discovery Catalogue, 'Ashburnham family archive' (East Sussex Record Office). "Bartholomew" de Criol witnessed the confirmation charter of Henry, Count of Eu to Battle Abbey before 1140.The National Archives (UK), Discovery Catalogue, ref. BAT/3 - Autograph attestation. (East Sussex Record Office).

Bertram, or Bertrand, de Criol was the eldest son of John de Criol and his wife Margery. John is known principally for a grant of the advowson of Sarre, in Thanet (to Leeds Priory, Kent) in 1194, title to which he had (perhaps by marriage) inherited from Elias de Crevecoeur,Planché, 'Criol or Keriel', pp. 291-96. (son of that priory's founder), who had previously made a similar grant in 1138, confirmed by his Crevecoeur descendants.L. Sherwood, 'The Cartulary of Leeds Priory', Archaeologia Cantiana LXIV (1951), pp. 24-34, no. 9 (at p. 27). He may be the same John de Crioile alias Crihuil who granted to Henry de Cornhill his land and tenement at Wyvermerse (EssexIn the Honour of Rayleigh, formerly of Henry de Essex.) in c. 1179–82 in the presence of Prince John, Ranulf de Glanville, Hubert Walter, Roger fitzReinfrid and others,'Charters of the Duchy of Lancaster - contd', Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (HMSO 1874), nos. 162 & 163, p. 16. The National Archives (UK), Discovery Catalogue, refs. DL 27/51 and DL 27/52. a residual claim to which was released to Hugh de Neville after 1216.'Charters of the Duchy of Lancaster', nos. 21 & 22, p. 3. The National Archives (UK), Discovery Catalogue, refs. DL 27/8 and DL 27/9.

Whether the identification of Cecilia, wife of Simon d'Avranches (Lord of Folkestone, died c. 1203) as a de Criol is correct,Planché, 'Avranches', in A Corner of Kent, pp. 260-64, citing MS Baronagium of William Segar in the College of Arms. or whether she was the daughter of Simon son of Simon de Brixworth and Beatrice de Fraxineto,The National Archives, Discovery Catalogue refs. SAS-M/1/331 and SAS-M/1/671. is undecided. Bertram de Crioll appears in the scutage for Poitiers in 1214.T.D. Hardy (ed.), Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum In Turri Londinensi Asservati, I: ab anno MCCIV ad annum MCCXXIV (Commissioners, London 1833), p. 200. He has half a knight's fee in Sarre, from the Archbishop, in 1210–1212.H. Hall (ed.), The Red Book of the Exchequer, Rolls Series, 3 Vols (1896), Part II, p. 469, fol. 132A, and p. 724, fol. 230d (HathiTrust). Bertram's connection with '"his manor of Sarre" is indicated by a market granted by the king in 1219Fine Rolls, ref C 60/12: 4 Henry III, Fine Roll membrane 8, item 45, image at m. 8 (Henry III Fine Roll Project). and regranted in 1226, for which Bertram de Crioil was to pay a palfrey.'Sarre, Kent', in Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516, Centre for Metropolitan History , and citations, and see T.D. Hardy (ed.), Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum 1204-1227, II: Ab anno MDCCXXIV ad annum MDCCXXVII (1844), p. 96 (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). "The Salt Water swellith yet up at a Creeke a Myle and more towards a Place called Sarre," says John Leland, "which was the comune Fery when Thanet was full iled."T. Hearne (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary: In Nine Volumes, 2nd Edition (James Fletcher, Oxford 1744), VII, pp. 127-28.

Castle politics In 1221 Bertram de Criol, together with Thomas de Blundeville, Osbert Giffard and others, witnessed a charter of Hubert de Burgh, Chief Justiciar of England.F.J. West, ‘Burgh, Hubert de, earl of Kent (c.1170–1243)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). Online edition, 2008 (subscription required) granting the church of Portslade, West Sussex, to St. Radegund's Abbey at Bradsole near Dover.W. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum new edition (James Bohn, London 1846), VI Part 2, pp. 939-943, at p. 942, No. VIII. (Monastic Matrix pdf, p. 4). Source: Cartulary of St Radegund's Abbey, Bodleian Library MSS Rawlinson B 336. In that year Hubert married Margaret of Scotland, and (at King Henry's coming of age) in April 1228 he was granted the castles of Dover, Canterbury, Rochester and Montgomery for life.Calendar of Charter Rolls, Henry III: 1226-1257 (HMSO 1903), p. 74.

De Criol, a member of Hubert's household, became acting constable for him at Dover, where he carried out works in 1229, he and Robert de Auberville, castellan of Hastings and Warden of the ports from Portsmouth to Sandwich,Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III: 1225-1232 (HMSO 1903), p. 180. being favoured by a writ de intendendo addressed to the barons of the Cinque Ports.Calendar of Liberate Rolls, Henry III: 1226-1240 (HMSO 1916), p. 139. In 1228 the king appointed him, with Alan Puignant, keepers of the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury,Henry III Fine Rolls Project, 'Fine Roll C 60/27, 12 Henry III (1227–1228)', item 222, membrane 4. to manage revenues, payments and estates.Cal. Liberate Rolls, 1226-1240, 168, 175, 178-79. With Stephen de Segrave and Ralph and William Briton, and many of the bishops, he witnessed the grant and confirmation of Hubert's gift of Tunstall, Kent, to the archbishop in 1229.J. Nichols, Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica (J. Nichols, London 1780-1790), I, pp. 43-44, citing Bodleian Library, Canterbury Cartulary, Tanner MSS no. 223, fols. 79a and 86b.

Shortly before the king's departure on a military expedition to Poitou in the spring of 1230, in which de Burgh accompanied him, an order was issued that Margaret was to be admitted to any of his castles without hindrance, and to have freedom of residence, and access to the wine cellars, at her pleasure.'Quod comitissa Kancie habeat ingressum in castra', Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1225–32 (HMSO 1903), p. 341. (in Latin). However, in October de Criol, who had been ordered not to let anyone in,Close Rolls of the Reign of Henry III: 1227-31 (HMSO 1902), pp. 407-08. (fragmentary, in Latin). stoutly refused to admit her to Dover Castle.Related in the "Annals of Dover Priory", British Library Cotton MS Julius D V, fol. 29 r. As a result, he was dismissed, and in November he was deprived of his wardships by the king's orders,Vincent, Peter Des Roches, pp. 268-69, 318-19, and sources there cited. including an estate at Kettleburgh in Suffolk, held in bail for Guy de la Val,Cal. Charter Rolls, 1226-1257, pp. 97, 117. and the manor of Moulsford, Berkshire, held during an heir's minority, which was disputed with John Marshall.'Parishes: Moulsford', in P.H. Ditchfield and W. Page (eds), A History of the County of Berkshire, Vol. 3 (VCH, London 1923), pp. 504-07, (British History Online, accessed 16 October 2017).C. Roberts (ed.), Excerpta e Rotulis Finium in Turri Londinensi Asservatis, Henrico Tertio Rege, A.D. 1216-1272, I: A.D. 1216-1246 (Commissioners, 1835), p. 269.S. Annesley, 'The Countess and the Constable: An exploration of the conflict that arose between Margaret de Burgh and Bertram de Criel', Fine of the Month, July 2008, Henry III Fine Rolls Project, especially section 8, and sources there cited.

De Criol and the king were reconciled in February 1231, and he was rehabilitated under the stricture that he could not plead his cause against de Burgh before the king's court.'Criol', in W. Dugdale, The Baronage of England, 3 Vols (London 1675-6), I, pp. 770-71. (Umich/EEBO). In ordering the return of Moulsford, the king owned that the disseisin had been "at the king's will", a seeming trespass upon those rights in Magna Carta upon which de Burgh himself had insisted.Vincent, Peter Des Roches, p. 269, citing Close Rolls of the Reign of Henry III: 1231-34 (HMSO 1905), p. 29. (in Latin). De Criol was appointed Sheriff of Kent in June 1232: Hubert's fall from grace followed weeks later.

In September de Criol had custody of Dover Castle under new auspices.Annesley, Countess and Constable, sections 11-12, and sources there cited. He was at once entrusted with wardship of the lands and heirs of Simon de Chelefeld,Calendar of Patent Rolls: Henry III, 1232-1247 (HMSO London 1906), p. 2. Also Excerpta e Rotulis Finium, I, pp. 232-33. a Kentish justiciar, pending their settlement upon Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke in December.'Pro comitissa Penbroc',' Close Rolls of the Reign of Henry III: 1231-1234, p. 174. (in Latin). See L.J. Wilkinson, Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England (A. & C. Black, London 2012), p. 52. Similarly he held Tonbridge Castle for the king until the wardship of Richard de Clare in his minority was settled upon Richard de la Lade in June 1234.Cal. Patent Rolls, 1232-1247, p. 54. His presence is recorded among the principals at Canterbury on 2 April 1234 at the consecration of Edmund Rich as Archbishop.'Consecration of St. Edmund', in B.N. Ward, St Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. His Life, as told by Old English Writers (B. Herder, St Louis, Mo. 1903), pp. 77-80, quoting the St Paul's Cathedral Archives MS, Register A sive I Liber Pilosus (now MS 25501, Guildhall Library) fol. 18.