Bertram de Criol
Sir[1] Bertram de Criol (Criel, Crioill, Cyroyl, or Kerrial; died 1256) was a senior and trusted Steward and diplomat to King Henry III.
The historian Nicholas Vincent[2] agrees with the Duchess of Cleveland[3] in deriving the de Criol family from Criel-sur-Mer, Seine-Maritime, though Planché favoured Creil, Oise,[4] and Dunlop offered Creully, Calvados.
[5] In Battle Abbey Roll lists the Duchesne recension has the name as "Escriols",[6] the Anglicized "Kyriel" appearing in the earlier Auchinleck manuscript.
[23] "The Salt Water swellith yet up at a Creeke a Myle and more towards a Place called Sarre," says John Leland, "which was the comune Fery when Thanet was full iled.
[27] In that year Hubert married Margaret of Scotland, and (at King Henry's coming of age) in April 1228 he was granted the castles of Dover, Canterbury, Rochester and Montgomery for life.
[32] With Stephen de Segrave and Ralph and William Briton, and many of the bishops, he witnessed the grant and confirmation of Hubert's gift of Tunstall, Kent, to the archbishop in 1229.
[33] Shortly before the king's departure on a military expedition to Poitou in the spring of 1230, in which de Burgh accompanied him, an order was issued that Margaret was to be admitted to any of his castles without hindrance, and to have freedom of residence, and access to the wine cellars, at her pleasure.
[44] He was at once entrusted with wardship of the lands and heirs of Simon de Chelefeld,[45] a Kentish justiciar, pending their settlement upon Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke in December.
[52] During 1237 his London agent Robert Hurlizun[53] mediated delivery of 20,000 quarrels to him at Dover, and later that year he had two of the king's galleys refitted and housed at Winchelsea.
De Criol was not to impede the merchants of Brabant or of the Count of Flanders, but to take whatever provisions he could from the assets of the French king and of Henry Puchepap of Rye.
[85] In the following February the barons of Winchelsea and the Cinque Ports were, with de Criol's counsel, "to furnish all the galleys they can to grieve the king's enemies by sea and land so long as the war lasts with France.
[95] Preparations for the marriage of Richard, Earl of Cornwall to the queen's sister Sanchia in November 1243 involved de Criol and Caxton in many duties.
[96] A great sum was expended on candles for the Canterbury churches for the arrival of the Countess, and the keepers had the cost of her journey home.
[101] He was occupied with the king's interdictions: during the spring of 1244 armed Scotsmen were to be sought out and arrested, and merchant ships in the ports were not permitted to sail.
A year later, religious persons of any kind arriving were to be held and searched for letters, and not permitted to proceed without the king's approval.
[103] Meanwhile, the king sent gifts of bucks from the park at Elham, and Nicholas de Croill, royal groom ("vadlettus"), was sent hunting for them.
Bertram received a goshawk from Hubert de Rewley, the king's fine for a market at Cattawade, by Orwell Haven.
[106] Dover Castle's best hospitality, at the King's expense, was required for Baldwin II, Emperor of Constantinople, on his journey home in April 1247, but the Constable was to pay his whole passage.
[109] At Easter 1249 he, with two other knights, was sent to the Duchy of Gascony for four months on the king's service, being required to deliver £1000 by weight to Simon de Montfort, its viceroy.
In February 1251 a delegate for the bailiwick of the Cinque Ports was required of him to join the sheriffs in their commission into money counterfeiting and false exchange.
[112] Great were the arrangements of August and September 1252, when the port barons were to make ready 60 ships to cross from Portsmouth in the first week of October.
[114] After witnessing special privileges granted to William of Kilkenny, soon to be the king's Chancellor,[115] in the summer of 1253 he was to prevent any count, baron or magnate leaving for France without royal licence.
On 2 October Queen Eleanor and Earl Richard sent orders requiring him to oversee in person the preparation at Winchelsea and Rye of two ships and crews, armed with crossbowmen, to carry the king and his treasure ("thesaurus") to Gascony from Portsmouth 11 days later.
He was therewith notified that, in case of the King's death, the castle should not be given into the charge of Prince Edward during his minority without Queen Eleanor's assent.
[134] In March he was called to supervise the clearing and felling of old oaks and chestnuts for timber in Kent and the Weald, for sale on the king's behalf.
[135] Upon the arrival of Eleanor of Castile at Dover in 1255, Henry sent orders that she should at once celebrate the feast of St Edward (13 October) at Canterbury, which de Criol and three others were to provide and superintend.
[136] The king did not forget his gifts, and in July 1253, granting six bucks for de Criol and four hinds for his wife, he thoughtfully instructed the park keeper to give him advice and help in catching them.
[146] Matthew Paris provides an epitaph:"Et circa dies illos obiit dominus Bertrammus de Criol, domini regis dapifer et Doveriae opidanus et custos fidelissimus.
