Otto de Grandson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the poet, see Oton III de Grandson.

Otto de Grandson
Otto I de Grandson, detail from his effigy in Lausanne Cathedral
Bornc. 1238
Lausanne, Savoy
Died1328
Aigle, Savoy
AllegianceKingdom of England
Service/branchSavoyard knights
RankBaron Grandison
Other workLord of the Isles (Channel Islands)
Arms of Otto Grandison, Baron Grandison: Paly of six argent and azure, on a bend gules three escallops or.[1]
Othon de Grandson from an altar screen from the Cathedral in Lausanne now displayed in the Bern Historic Museum.

Otto de Grandson[a] (c. 1238–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the closest personal friend and many of whose interests he shared. His misrule of the Channel Islands, particularly after he left England following Edward's death, prompted greater care of the English kings when considering provision of future life estates.

Family

The son of Pierre, lord of Grandson near Lausanne and Agnès de Neuchâtel. He was the elder brother of William de Grandison, 1st Baron Grandison and Henri de Grandson, both of whom would join him in England. As would his cousins Pierre de Champvent and Guillaume de Champvent.

Service in England and Wales (1265–90)

The young Otto travelled to England probably in the company of

Ninth Crusade, where he served at Acre that year. According to one source, it was Otto, not Eleanor of Castile
, who sucked the poison from the wounded Edward after an attempted assassination. In 1272 Otto was appointed an executor in Acre.

Returning to England, he was a key

Robert Burnel. to reform the government. They appointed Jean I de Grailly as the new Seneschal and laid the foundations for the Treaty of Amiens sealed in 1279. He was also employed as a diplomat and gained contacts with most of the sovereigns of western Europe. During the second invasion of Wales in 1282–83 he narrowly escaped death at the battle of Moel-y-don before in April 1283 taking the town of Harlech at the head of 560 infantry. As a commander of the royal army that had begun the campaign from Anglesey he was amongst the first of Edward’s retinue to see the future castle sites at Caernarfon and Harlech
. In 1283 he was briefly in the employ of Edmund Crouchback, the king's younger brother, for diplomatic work. It was said that no one could do the king's will better, including the king himself.

He was appointed lord of the Channel Islands[4][5] and in 1290 appointed a bailiff for Jersey and another for Guernsey, giving them civil powers to administer the islands.[6]: 21 

Crusading years (1290–99)

King

Acre in the Holy Land in 1290 along with some English knights.[7] At the time of the fall of Acre (1291), he was the master of the English knights in Palestine. At Acre he saved the life of fellow Savoyard Jean I de Grailly, with whom he had served Edward in Gascony earlier. As the city fell to the Muslims he commandeered Venetian ships filling them with fleeing troops and the wounded Jean I de Grailly, Otto was the last to join them on board.[8]

After the fall of the city he fled to

Mamluks.[9][10] In his La flor des estoires d'Orient, the Armenian monk Hayton of Corycus mentions his activity on the mainland in Cilicia in 1298–1299: "Otto de Grandison and the Masters of the Temple and of the Hospitallers as well as their convents, who were at that time [1298 or 1299] in these regions [Cilician Armenia] . . .".[11]

Otto has been hypothesised as the author of the Via ad Terram Sanctam, an Old French treatise on the recovery of the Holy Land. The hypothesis has been widely accepted, but has its detractors.[12]

Back in England (1299–1307)

He was summoned to Parliament in 1299, which resulted in him becoming Baron Grandison. This title became extinct on his death.[13] In 1302 he was amongst the team of plenipotentiaries appointed by Edward I of England to negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1303) that returned Gascony to Edward.[14]

Ireland and the Continent (1307–28)

In 1307, on Edward's death, Otto left England permanently. He remained in the service of the crown for a while longer, however, for until 1317 he represented England at the

Carthusian monastery at La Lance
in 1317.

Tomb of Otto de Grandson in Lausanne Cathedral.

At the end of his life he returned to Grandson, which he had inherited from his father and to which he had made recurrent visits throughout his adult life. He never married and was succeeded by his nephew. He had advanced many of his relatives through his embassies, especially in the church. Three of his relatives served as

cathedral of Lausanne.[citation needed
]

Notes

  1. Latinized form is de Grandisono.[3]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Foster, Joseph. Some Feudal Coats of Arms: From Heraldic Rolls 1298-1418. Clearfield Company, 1994. p.96.
  2. ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, n.s., vol.6, p.69
  3. ^ As on his writ to attend Parliament (G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, n.s., vol.6, p.72)
  4. ^ Le Roy, Pierre. Note book of Pierre Le Roy. Guille Alles Library 1893.
  5. ^
    doi:10.1111/1468-229X.13269
    .
  6. ^ Wimbush, Henry (3 December 2023). The Channel Islands. A&C Black 1924.
  7. ^ Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades: Volume III The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press. 1954, 345.
  8. ^ Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades: Volume III The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press. 1954, 350.
  9. ^ Demurger, 142–143.
  10. ^ Newman, 231, says that De Molay had an "ill-fated expedition to Armenia around 1299, in which the last Templar holding in that kingdom was lost."
  11. ^ Quoted in Demurger, 116
  12. doi:10.1080/28327861.2017.12220191
    .
  13. ^ Complete Peerage, 1st edition, Volume IV, P74
  14. ^ CPR Edward I vol 4 1301-17,56
  15. ^ Dean, 120.
  16. ^ Reymond, Maxime. Revue historique vaudoise, vol.28, Juin 1920 pp 177–178.
  17. ^ Clifford, Esther, R. 1961, A knight of Great Renown', University of Chicago Press, USA. (Death, p 276; Funeral,276-77; His will, 275,276-77)

Bibliography

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