Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Albini, William de (d.1236)
ALBINI, or AUBENEY, WILLIAM de (d. 1236), baronial leader, was grandson of the preceding, and son of William de Albini ‘Meschin,’ whom he succeeded in 1167–8. He was sheriff of Rutland and other counties under Richard, and served as an itinerant justice in 1199, and on several occasions in John's reign. In the conflict between the crown and the baronage, he joined the moderate or middle section, who remained in attendance on the king till the eve of the Charter, but went over to the extreme party on their obtaining possession of London (24 May 1215). Accompanying them to Runnymede (15 June), he was elected one of the twenty-five barons of the Charter (Matt. Paris), but then withdrew to his castle of Belvoir, and, though included by name in the excommunication of the barons, refused to attend the Hounslow tournament (6 July). Prevailed upon, in the autumn, to return, he was placed in charge of Rochester, but was compelled after a gallant defence (11 Oct. to 30 Nov.) to surrender it to John, who instantly committed him to prison, and was narrowly dissuaded from hanging him (Gervase, Rolls Ser. ii. 110). In the following year (1216) he regained his liberty and estates by a fine of 6,000 marks, and, embracing the royal cause at the accession of Henry, was entrusted with a command at the battle of Lincoln (19 May 1217), and was subsequently high in favour. In 1219 and 1225 he again acted as an itinerant justice, and died in May 1236.
[Dugdale's Baronage (1675), i. 113; Foss's Judges (1848), ii. 204.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.4
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 234 | ii | 18 | Albini, William de: for the preceding read William de Albini (Brito) d. 1155-6 [q. v.] |