Peter II of Savoy
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Peter II of Savoy (1203 - 1268) was Count of Savoy from 1263 until his death, and built the Savoy Palace in London.
Peter was the uncle of Queen Eleanor of Provence; queen-consort of Henry III of England, and travelled first with her to London. There Peter ('the Little') was chosen to succeeded Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, another uncle of Eleanor, who was killed on the battlefield.
King Henry made Peter of Savoy Earl of Richmond in 1241 and gave him the land between the Strand and the Thames where Peter built the Savoy Palace in 1263, on the site of the present hotel in London. It was destroyed during the 'Peasants Revolt' of 1381.
Given that he was known as the Count of Savoy from 1263 to 1268, the year he died: "Peter de Savoy by contemporary chroniclers was referred to as the earl of Richmond although the title seems not to appear in any official documents."
"By his will he left the honour of Richmond to his niece, the queen consort, who transferred it to the crown."
Five years later in 1246 the king granted to Peter de Savoy the Castle of Pevensey.
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United European crusade.
In 1214 there peace negotiations in Paris were held between France and England even though the war had not really ended. The King sent his representatives who were his half-brother Geoffrey, along with Peter of Savoy and Simon de Montfort.
Simon de Montfort, eager to negotiate the peace, was motivated perhaps by his father's history as a great crusader, and by his own participation clearly recognized that the peace between France and England, consolidated with Richard of Cornwall (king of the Romans) in Germany, gave rise to the possibility for another crusade drawing on the strength of the combined realms.
"It has been said that in the negotiations Simon was “possessed for a time by the dream of a united west”, marching against the Muslims."
This vision failed to get real support from many of the Barons including Richard of Cornwall.
Peter of Savoy worked against de Montfort and the Pope failed to give his support to the ambitious plan.
Family.
In 1234 Peter married to Agnes of Faucigny and had a daughter:
- Beatrice of Savoy (c.1235-November 21, 1310), married (1) Guigues VII Dauphin du Viennois; (2) Gaston VII of Bearn.
The Barons' War.
King Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Savoy in 1236 only exacerbated a situation, already of great concern to the court. Opposition to this favoritism to foreign influence was led by Simon de Montfort, the earl of Leicester, himself French by birth.
On April 12, 1258, in a move that led to the Barons' War, a small alliance of powerful barons begun to opposed Henry`s military strategy in Europe because his 'meddling' was costing excessive amounts of money, when the nation was recovering from the 'black death', which had halved the population. With the king seen to be living 'beyond the means of the country', and with the failure of the national harvest these barons swore to support each other against the King.
These men were Simon de Montfort, Richard de Clare (Earl of Gloucester), Peter of Savoy, Hugh Bigod, and his brother Roger Bigod (Earl of Norfolk), John Fitz-Geoffrey, Peter de Montfort, who not a relation of Simon de Montfort.
These events led some time later to Queen Eleanor and Peter of Savoy with others to leave England for France, during the conflict.
Markets and Fayres.
Donington manor is also thought to have been passed from John de la Rye to Peter of Savoy about 1255 when a charter was granted for a market to be held at the Manor on Saturdays. A similar grant was made for the holding of a Fair on the 15th of August, in the same year also to be held at the manor. A separate charter was issued to Savoy to hold a market on a Monday and granted on the 8th of April, in 1255, by the King.
Of greater significance Boston (a borough by 1279) beside on the river Witham, had over many years become an important port for Lincoln. Its fair was, with the town held by the dukes of Brittany until about 1200. In 1241, Savoy obtained along with the Earldom of Richmond ('one of the most important in medieval England') the manor of Boston. It was restored to John of Brittany in 1268, with Savoy's death.
| Preceded by: Boniface | Count of Savoy 1263–1268 | Succeeded by: Philip I |
| Preceded by: The Lord de Segrove | Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1241–1255 | Succeeded by: The Lord Cobham |