Rostan de Soler was a 13th-century Gascon knight and administrator who served as lieutenant of the

Seneschal of Gascony The Seneschal of Gascony was an officer carrying out and managing the domestic affairs of the lord of the Duchy of Gascony. During the course of the twelfth century, the seneschalship, also became an office of military command. After 1360, the off ...

in 1231 and then Seneschal of Gascony 1241–43. During his seneschalcy, King

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

, who was also the hereditary Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony, launched the a war against France. One of the lead citizens (''prud'hommes'') of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, he served two terms as mayor there in 1237–38 and 1241.

Life

Soler was the son of Rostan de Soler. Following his father, he became the head of the family, one of the most prominent in Bordeaux. In 1216, he was a prisoner of King

John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Emp ...

being held in

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the P ...

. On John's death that year he was released on the orders of the regent,

William Marshal William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: ', French: '), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings— Henry II, his sons the "Young King" ...

Charles Higounet Charles Higounet (13 January 1911 – 8 April 1988, aged 77) was a French historian medievalist, specialising in bastides and the Middle Ages in the southwest of France. Biography Charles Higounet was a French medievalist who taught in Bordeau ...

, ''Histoire de Bordeaux sous les rois d'Angleterre'' (Bordeaux: Fédération historique du Sud-Ouest, 1962), pp. 78 and 566–67. Rostan served as Mayor of Bordeaux from 26 March 1237 until 13 March 1238. In 1241 he was again elected mayor and served from 22 July. Until when is not known. Higounet has him leaving office on 24 September that same year, after having been appointed seneschal. Bémont has him continuing in office until the next known mayor, Pierre Béguey, was installed on 9 July 1242. This would mean that he was both mayor and seneschal simultaneously, a unique occurrence.Charles Bémont, "Les institutions municipales de bordeaux au moyen age. la mairie et la jurade", in ''Revue Historique'', 123, fasc. 1 (1916), pp. 1–53. Rostan was appointed on 22 September 1241, as Seneschal of Gascony, replacing Henry de Turberville. Rostan resigned the position on 10 November 1242 and was replaced by

John Maunsell Sir John Maunsell ( 1190/1195 – 1265), Provost of Beverley Minster, was a king's clerk and a judge. He served as chancellor to King Henry III and was England's first secretary of state. Life His grandfather, Robert Mansel, was a Templar u ...

. During 1249, the Solers family and the Colom family fought over political control of Bordeaux.

Simon de Monfort Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, the Seneschal of Gascony, put down the factional fighting, arresting Rostan and sending him to England to appear before Henry III. Rostan was succeeded by his son Gaillard.

Marriage and issue

Rostan was married to Honorette Aymar and are known to have had the following known issue: *Gaillard de Soler, married to Esclarmonde de Tartas, had issue.

Notes

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soler, Rostan de Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 13th-century French people Medieval French knights