Henry de Cornhill (sheriff)

Henry de Cornhill (c. 1135 – c. 1193) was a medieval English royal official and sheriff who served King Henry II of England. Henry's son King Richard I of England put him in charge of assembling part of the fleet for the Third Crusade, plus appointing him as sheriff of three jurisdictions. Through marriage he acquired lands in Somerset, Dorset, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire.

This article is about the medieval sheriff. For Dean of St Paul's, see Henry de Cornhill (dean).
For other uses, see Cornhill.
Henry de Cornhill
Sheriff of London
In office
1187–1189
Sheriff of Surrey
In office
c. 1189 – 1192
Sheriff of Kent
In office
1190–1192
Personal details
Born
Henry

c. 1135
Diedc. 1193
Spouse(s)Alice, daughter of William de Courcy
ChildrenJoan de Cornhill

Early life

Henry de Cornhill was the eldest son of Gervase de Cornhill, a royal official and Sheriff of Kent, Surrey, and London during the reign of King Henry II. Henry de Cornhill was likely born around 1135.[1] Henry married Alice, the daughter of William de Courcy, and sister and heiress of William de Courcy, lord of Stogursey in Somerset.[2] Through this marriage, Henry acquired lands in Somerset, Dorset, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire worth 25 and a quarter knight's fees.[1]

Career

By 1175, Henry was a royal official in charge of purchasing cloth and other items for the royal household. He also was given custody of two estates that had escheated to the crown – Rayleigh in 1181 and Boulogne in 1183.[1] Henry often acted as a purchaser for the king, for example in 1188 Cornhill spent 290 pounds on gold, jewels, furs, and cloth for the king.[3] Henry was present at the deathbed of Henry II in 1189. The new king, Richard I, kept Henry close and put him in charge of assembling the fleet that Richard needed to go on the Third Crusade.[1] His accounts for his efforts in 1190 in assembling the fleet still survive. These show that Henry bought part or all of 40 ships and paid out a year's wages for over a thousand sailors for the expedition. The total expenses for Henry's efforts totalled over 5,000 pounds.[4]

Henry was appointed to the office of Sheriff of Surrey early in the reign of King Richard I.[5] He was also Sheriff of Kent during Richard's reign,[6] in 1190 as well as one of the Sheriffs of London from 1187 to 1189.[1] Henry was only one of six sheriffs that retained office after the accession of Richard I.[7] He owed his appointments to the influence of William Longchamp, Richard's chancellor.[8] He was also Warden of the Mint in 1191.[9] Henry lost his offices when Longchamp fell from favour in 1192.[10] He died sometime between Michaelmas 1192 and Michaelmas 1193.[1]

Death and legacy

Henry's heir was his daughter Joan, who married Hugh de Neville,[2] either in or soon after 1195. He left debts at his death that his brothers Reginald de Cornhill and Ralph were responsible for.[1] His widow married Warin fitzGerold sometime in 1193.[2] Warin was the son of Henry fitzGerold.[11]

Citations
  1. Harvey "Cornhill, Gervase of" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  2. Sanders English Baronies p. 143
  3. Joliffe "Camera Regis" English Historical Review pp. 356–357
  4. Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 259
  5. Turner Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 99
  6. Turner Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 101
  7. Appleby England Without Richard p. 20
  8. Turner Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 116
  9. Steward "Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Work" Journal of the Royal Society of Arts p. 869
  10. Turner Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 132
  11. Vincent "Warin and Henry Fitz Gerald" Anglo-Norman Studies pp. 237–239

References
  • Appleby, John T. (1965). England Without Richard: 1189–1199. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Bartlett, Robert C. (2000). England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822741-8.
  • Harvey, P. D. A. (2004). "Cornhill, Gervase of (c.1110–1183/4) (also including Henry of Cornhill (c.1135–1192/3))" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52168. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  • Joliffe, J. E. A. (July 1953). "The Camera Regis Under Henry II (Continued)". The English Historical Review. 68 (268): 337. doi:10.1093/ehr/LXVIII.CCLXVIII.337. JSTOR 555866.
  • Sanders, I. J. (1960). English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent 1086–1327. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. OCLC 931660.
  • Steward, W. Augustus (4 August 1933). "Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Work". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 81 (4211): 865–876. JSTOR 41359272.
  • Turner, Ralph V.; Heiser, Richard R. (2000). The Reign of Richard Lionheart: Ruler of the Angevin Empire 1189–1199. The Medieval World. Harlow, UK: Longman. ISBN 0-582-25660-7.
  • Vincent, Nicholas (1999). "Warin and Henry Fitz Gerald, the King's Chamberlains: The Origins of the Fitzgeralds Revisited". In Harper-Bill, Christopher (ed.). Anglo-Norman Studies XXI: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1998. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. pp. 233–260. ISBN 0-85115-745-9.

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