William d'Aubigny or D'Aubeney or d'Albini, Lord of Belvoir (died 1 May 1236) was a prominent member of the baronial rebellions against 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 Empi ...

. He was one of the signatories of

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

Family background

D'Aubigny was the son of William d'Aubigny II of Belvoir and Maud FitzRobert and the grandson of William d'Aubigny and Cecily le Bigod, and was heir to

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

landholder Robert de Toeni, who held many properties, possibly as many as eighty. Amongst them was one in Leicestershire, where he built Belvoir Castle, which was the family's home for many generations. He was High Sheriff of Warwickshire and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 1199.

Involvement in military actions

D'Aubigny stayed neutral at the beginning of the troubles of King John's reign, only joining the rebels after the early success in taking London in 1215. He was one of the twenty-five sureties or guarantors of

. In the war that followed the sealing of the charter, he held Rochester Castle for the barons, and was imprisoned (and nearly hanged) after John captured it. He became a loyalist on the accession of Henry III in October 1216, and was a commander at the Second Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 1217.

Death

He died on 1 May 1236, at Uffington, Lincolnshire and was buried at Newstead Abbey and "his heart under the wall, opposite the altar at Belvoir Castle." He was succeeded by his son, another William d'Aubigny, who died in 1247 and left only daughters. One of them was Isabel, a co-heiress, who married Robert de Ros.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DAubigny, William Year of birth unknown 1236 deaths Place of birth unknown 12th-century English people Anglo-Normans English soldiers High sheriffs of Leicestershire High sheriffs of Warwickshire High sheriffs of Buckinghamshire High sheriffs of Bedfordshire Magna Carta barons People from the Borough of Melton Sheriffs of Warwickshire English feudal barons