Sir Falkes de Bréauté (died 1226) (also spelled Fawkes de Bréauté or éautéFulk de Brent) was an Anglo-Norman soldier who earned high office by loyally serving first King John and later King Henry III in the First Barons' War. He played a key role in the Battle of Lincoln Fair in 1217. He attempted to rival Hubert de Burgh, and as a result fell from power in 1224. His "heraldic device" is now popularly said to have been a griffin, although his coat of arms as depicted by Matthew Paris (died 1259) in his Chronica Majora (folio 64/68 verso) was Gules, a cinquefoil argent.
When he married the widow Margaret de Redvers, she was an heiress and the last of her father's Baldwin de Redvers line, and the Earl of Devon's line became extinct. The title was inherited by Isabella de Fortibus, owner of the Isle of Wight, whose extensive fortune became the property of Hugh de Courtenay, the next Earl of Devon and Baron of Okehampton. Fawkes' new wife's home in London was then called "Fawkes Hall" (Falkes' Hall), which over the years changed into "Foxhall" and finally into "Vauxhall". The Vauxhall car company derived its name from that part of London and still uses de Bréauté's griffin as its badge. The house stood on approximately 31 acres in the royal manor of Kennington; it was the centre of tension between the Archbishop at Lambeth Palace and the monks of Canterbury, who tried to influence the election of English bishops.
Early life
De Bréauté was of obscure Norman parentage, and has been described as the illegitimate child of a Norman knight and a concubine, possibly a knightly family from the village of Bréauté in Normandy. Most chroniclers, however, describe him as from common stock, and he was often referred to only by his first name, which was said to be derived from the scythe he had once used to murder someone, as a sign of contempt.
Service under John
The first accurate records of his royal service are from 1206, when he was sent to Poitou by King John on royal service. Upon his return in February 1207 he was entrusted with the wardenship of Glamorgan and Wenlock, and around that time also knighted. He was then made constable of Carmarthen, Cardigan and the Gower Peninsula, and gained a fearsome reputation in the Welsh Marches. He was sent to destroy Strata Florida Abbey in 1212 for its opposition to the king, though the abbey was spared after the abbot paid a heavy fine of 700 Marks. He served regularly in royal service, including in trips to Flanders and Poitou, and was in high favour with the king. It is often said that he was a foreign mercenary condemned by Magna Carta; this is incorrect, and he was actually one of the royalists who swore to abide by the charter's terms.
Bréauté rose to power during the First Barons' War as an unquestioning subject of King John, earning the hatred of baronial and monastic leaders alike. He earned the title of John's steward in 1215, a title he kept until the following year. On 28 November 1215, de Bréauté captured Hanslope, Buckinghamshire, a castle of William Mauduit, and he soon after captured Bedford Castle belonging to William de Beauchamp, and in reward was allowed to keep it. In 1216 John divided his army between William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and four "alien" captains, one of whom was de Bréauté. When Prince Louis of France invaded in the same year de Bréauté was tasked with holding Oxford against the baronial forces. On 17 July he and the Earl of Chester sacked Worcester, which had allied itself with Louis. In reward John gave de Bréauté the hand of Margaret the daughter of Warin Fitzgerald, the royal chamberlain. She was the widow of Baldwin de Revières (Redvers), former heir to the Earl of Devon, who had died in 1216, and after the death of the 5th Earl in 1217 her son became the 6th Earl. So this marriage made de Bréauté "the equal of an earl" as he was regent for the Earldom until his stepson the 6th Earl reached his majority. As Margaret's dowry he gained control of the Isle of Wight, and as part of her inheritance took Stogursey, also becoming chamberlain to the Exchequer. When John died on 19 October de Bréauté served as the executor of his will, and was one of the royalists who reissued Magna Carta on 12 November 1216.