page_title: Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent
section_title: Appointments by King John
hierarchical_section_title: Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent / Appointments by King John
caption_attribution_description: Prince Arthur, Duke of Brittany and Hubert de Burgh
context_page_description: Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent was an English nobleman who served as Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John and of his infant son and successor King Henry III. During his service, he was one of the most influential and powerful men in English politics.
context_section_description: De Burgh entered the service of Prince John by 1198, and from then until 1202 rose in importance in John's administration. He served successively as chamberlain of John's household, an ambassador to Portugal, sheriff first of Dorset and Somerset and then of Berkshire and Cornwall, custodian of the castles of Dover, Launceston and Windsor, and then custodian of the Welsh Marches. For these services, he was granted a series of manors, baronies, and other castles, and became a powerful figure in John's administration.
  In 1202, de Burgh was sent to France by King John, to assist in the defense of Poitou against King Philip II of France. De Burgh was appointed castellan of the great castle of Chinon in Touraine. During this time, he served as guard of the captured Arthur I, Duke of Brittany. After almost all of Poitou had fallen to the French king, de Burgh held the castle for an entire year, until he was captured during the ultimately successful storming of the castle in 1205. He was held captive until 1207, during which time his royal appointments and grants of land passed to other men. Following his return to England, de Burgh did however acquire fresh offices in John's administration. He also acquired lands scattered throughout East Anglia, the southwest of England, and elsewhere, making him once again an important baron in England.
  In 1212, de Burgh returned to France at first as deputy seneschal of Poitou and then as seneschal. He served John in his efforts to recover dominions lost to Philip II of France, until the signing of a truce between John and Philip following John's failed military campaign in France in 1214.
caption: Prince Arthur and Hubert de Burgh by William Frederick Yeames, 1882. Manchester Art Gallery.
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