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Admiral Sir William de Leybourne
Born	1242 Leybourne Castle, Leybourne, Kent, England
Died	18 March 1310 Preston, near Wingham, Kent.
Allegiance	England
Service / branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1265–1306
Rank	Admiral
Commands	Admiral of the English Seas Admiral of the South Admiral of the West Admiral of the Irish Sea
Battles / wars	Battle off Bruges Siege of Bayonne Siege of Caerlaverock Siege of Winchelsea

Admiral Sir William de Leybourne (Template:Lang-fr; Template:Lang-la or Leyburna; c. 1242–1310) was an English knight and military commander, sometimes reckoned the first admiral of the English navy.

Life

William de Leybourne, first Baron Leybourne, was the eldest son of Roger de Leybourne from his marriage to Eleanor Ferrers. He married Juliana de Sandwich (1245–1327) on 16 October 1265. She was the heiress of Sir Henry de Sandwich, who had died when she was only four. William had three sons with Juliana, Thomas de Leybourne, Henry de Leybourne, John de Leybourne and three daughters, Idonea, Katherine and Joan. After his marriage William lived at his wife's manor of Preston-next-Wingham, Kent.

Sir William de Leybourne served as a military commander under the English kings Edward I and Edward II. In 1265, for his services during the Second Barons' War, he was given lands taken from Simon de Montfort's rebels. In 1266, he was left in command of Sandwich by his father and joined the Siege of Winchelsea.

In 1275 he was involved in a dispute with a Jewish moneylender over a large loan to his father. In 1278, he decided to sell the manor and Leeds Castle to Queen Eleanor, who cancelled all of his father's remaining debts.

He served in Wales in 1277 and in 1282 he was appointed Constable of Pevensey Castle. His first naval appointment came on 8 March 1287 when Edward I conferred on him the title of Admiral of the English Seas (Template:Lang-la; Template:Lang-fr), making him commander-in-chief of the English Navy of the time. The prominence of this position has sometimes led to his inclusion on lists of the Lord High Admirals of England or even consideration as the first English admiral. He was noted as "Captain of the Sailors and Mariners of the Kingdom" (Capitaneus Nautarum & Marinellorum de Regno) in 1294, "admiral of our navy of England" (Template:Lang-fr) in 1295, and "Admiral of the Sea of the King of England" (Amiral de la Mer du... Roy d'Engleterre) in 1297.

In 1294 he was appointed captain of the King's Fleet gathered at Portsmouth styled as Admiral of the South. The fleet was assembled to convoy Prince Edmund during the siege of Bayonne in Gascony, France. In the same year he was also appointed Admiral of the West and Admiral of the Irish Sea. He held both titles concurrently until 1306. In 1299 he also served in Scotland at the head of 5 knights and 59 esquires, and in 1300 he was in attendance at the Siege of Caerlaverock.

In the period leading up to the death of his first son Thomas in 1307, he bequeathed him and his wife Alice de Toeni, sister of Guy de Beauchamp, the manor of Leybourne. His second son Henry fought for the Earl of Lancaster at Battle of Boroughbridge, where he was taken prisoner and outlawed.

William de Leybourne died in 1310 leaving his granddaughter Juliana Leybourne (1303–1367) as his heir. Juliana Leybourne was to marry three times.

Offices held

• Constable of Pevensey Castle, 1282–1287.
• Admiral of the English Seas, 1286–1298.
• Admiral of the South, 1294–1306.
• Admiral of the West, 1294–1306.
• Admiral of the Irish Sea, 1294–1306.

See also

• Admiral of England
• Admiral of the North & of the West
• Admiral of the Fleet

References

Citations

1. Clowes & al. (1897), p. 206.
2. Nicolas (1828), p. 257.
3. Everingham (2011b), p. 413.
4. Wurts (1945), p. 2765.
5. Everingham (2011a), p. 144.
6. ^ Nicolas (1828), p. 258.
7. "History - A Royal Castle". www.leeds-castle.com. Leeds Castle Foundation, 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
8. Brown & al. (1976), p. 695.
9. Ingleton (2012), p. 46.
10. Haydn (1841), s.v. "Admiral".
11. Colburn's (1845), p. 322.
12. "The Beginnings of English Maritime Enterprise". History. New Series. 13 (50): 97–106. 1928. JSTOR 24400638.
13. Hamilton (1896), Ch. 1.
14. Hone (1841), p. 576.
15. Pro Passagio Edmundi Fratris Regis (3 September 1294) in Rot. Vasc. 22 Edw. I m. 1, Foed., Vol. I, Pt. 3, p. 136.
16. Rot. Vascon. 24 Edw. I no. 4134 (12 December 1295).
17. Ordinatio apud Bruges (8 March 1297) in Foed., Vol. I, Pt. 3, p. 176.
18. Marsden (1907), p. 470.
19. Houbraken & al. (1747), pp. 271–273.
20. Anderson, Adam (1787). An Historical and Chronological Déduction of the Origin of Commerce. London: J. Walter. p. 254.
21. Ingleton (2012), p. 47.
22. Planché (1864), p. 75.
23. Ormrod, W. M. (23 September 2004). "Leybourne, Juliana, countess of Huntingdon (1303/4–1367), noblewoman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54433. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Sources

• "The British Admiral", Colburn's United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal, London: Henry Colburn, October 1845, pp. 321–333.
• Brown, R.A.; et al. (1976), The History of the King's Works: The Middle Ages, London: H.M. Stationery Office.
• Clowes, William Laird; et al. (1897), The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, vol. I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.
• Everingham, Kimball G., ed. (2011), Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families (2nd ed.), Douglas Richardson, ISBN 9781461045137.
• Everingham, Kimball G., ed. (2011), Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. 3 (2nd ed.), Douglas Richardson, ISBN 9781461045205.
• Hamilton, Richard Vesey (1896), Naval Administration: The Constitution, Character, and Functions of the Board of Admiralty and of the Civil Departments It Directs, London: George Bell & Sons, ISBN 9781150465000.
• Haydn, Joseph Timothy (1841), Dictionary of Dates and Universal Reference..., London: Edward Moxon.
• Hone, William (1841), "Office of Lord High Admiral", The Every-Day Book and Table Book..., vol. III, London: Thomas Tegg, pp. 575–579.
• Houbraken, Jacobus; et al. (1747), "A List of Admirals of England, 1228–1745", The History of England, J. & P. Knapton.
• Ingleton, Roy D. (2012), Fortress Kent, Casemate Publishers, ISBN 9781848848887.
• Marsden, Reginald Godfrey (July 1907), "The Vice-Admirals of the Coast", English Historical Review, vol. 22, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 468–477, JSTOR 549921.
• Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1828), The Siege of Carlaverock..., Nichols.
• Planché, James Robinson (1864), A Corner of Kent, or, Some Account of the Parish of Ash-next-Sandwich, Its Historical Sites, and Existing Antiquities, R. Hardwicke.
• Wurts, John S. (1945), Pedigrees of the Barons, Brookfield Publishing.

• 1242 births
• 1310 deaths
• 13th-century English people
• 13th-century English Navy personnel
• 14th-century English people
• 14th-century English Navy personnel
• People of the Barons' Wars
• English admirals
• People from Tonbridge and Malling (district)
• Military personnel from Kent