Mercenary: Falkes de Breaute, d 1226

In the wake of the recent terror tragedies in London, it was initially thought that the Vauxhall area near London Bridge was one of the areas stricken.  That later turned out not to be the case.  However, the Vauxhall area near the Thames and Vauxhall Bridge, and the automotive company, Vauxhall, take their name from an estate belonging to a Norman mercenary in the service of King John and Henry III, Falkes de Breaute, who died in 1226.

Falkes was born in Normandy.  His origins were obscure, but he was likely of common stock, not gentry or nobility.  There was only one way up from a life as a peasant and that was to be skilled at weapons, which Falkes was.  He became a mercenary and eventually entered the service of King John.  John soon entrusted him with a mission to Poitou in 1206.  Later Falkes was given the wardship of Glamorgan and Wenlock in Wales and knighted.  He took the name of the Norman village were he was likely born, de Breaute, and used the griffon as his badge, which is part of the car company logo to this day.  Falkes kept on climbing in the royal service.  He kept the King's favor by his reputation in the Welsh Marches or border area for putting down any rebellion and upholding the King's authority. 

Though Breaute's origins was a foreign-born mercenary, he was loyal to King John during the Magna Carta crisis and one of the signatories on the King's behalf.  Later, Falkes was loyal to John during the First Barons War.  His alliance with John marked him out for particular contempt for those barons who believed that John's tyrannical rule was infringing their rights.  Falkes had command of part of the King's army facing the barons and held Oxford against the baronial army.  Later, Falkes and the Earl of Chester sacked Worcester.  John was pleased, and gave Falkes the hand of a wealthy widow, Margaret, whose late husband's family, the Redvers, were related to the Earls of Devon.  This marriage increased Falkes' status.  One of his wife's properties was along the Thames River and Falkes now had the money to build an estate worthy of his status.  Called Falkes' Hall, later Foxhall, and now Vauxhall, the property gave its name to the car company.

When John died, Falkes was named one of the executors of his will and a signatory of the reissued Magna Carta.  Under John's son Henry, Falkes was made the sheriff of 5 counties, including Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Northamptonshire.  In the continuing Barons War, he was infamous for the sack of the City of St. Albans.  Apparently Margaret felt that her husband had gone too far in how he'd treated the City.  She prevailed on him to compensate St. Albans for his rough treatment with a sum of money.  He went on to other successes in the Barons War, which saw the installation of a French prince as a pseudo King of England.  Eventually, Louis was sent back to France and the rightful King, Henry III, was Falkes guest at Christmas in Northampton.  Soon, though, Henry's justiciar, Hugh de Burgh, began to alienate Falkes and other erstwhile supporters of the King by demanding back some of the property they had acquired during the war.

Disputes over land with several barons began to create more enemies for Falkes than he could deal with.  The barons rose again and while Henry III fled, Falkes was one of the royalist leaders who attempted to storm the Tower of London and hold the city for the King.  The siege failed and De Burgh held onto his power.  De Burgh, seeking revenge, accused Falkes of wrongful seizure of several properties and promptly confiscated them, also removing Falkes from his sheriffdoms.  This was too much for Falkes and he went over to the barons side, fighting against the King.  He was excommunicated, which further angered and alienated Falkes, who had at one time been a loyal servant of the King.  After his brother was hanged at De Burgh's order, and having lost his property and position, Falkes begged the King's pardon and was forced to go into exile in France, where he was imprisoned by the now Louis VIII in retaliation for having fought against him earlier in the war.  Margaret, fed up and wanting to recover some of her own property, filed for divorce and did recover some of her land. 

Falkes was eventually released from prison on intercession of the Pope, possibly on account of a vow to go on Crusade.  Released and reinstated to communion, Falkes traveled to Burgundy, where he met up with an English knight who had his own score to settle and imprisoned him again.  Released again, the Pope bailing him out one more time, he ultimately made his way to Rome to live under the protection of the Pope, and died of food poisoning from bad fish.