Page "John Maunsell" Paragraph 6

He enjoyed great secular power ; the 1258 Provisions of Oxford gave four men the power to elect a council of fifteen to govern the treasury and the chancellery.

These four men were the Earl Marshal ( the Earl of Norfolk ), Hugh Bigod, John Maunsell, and the Earl of Warwick ( John du Plessis ).

Not only did he arrange the marriage of Henry III daughter, Margaret of England to Alexander III of Scotland in 1249, but he entertained the courts of England and Scotland on King Alexander's visit to London in 1256.

Such a feat would not have been possible but for the income from his pluralities.

He was named Seneschal of Gascony in 1243 a post later held by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and subsequently by Prince Edward.

Alfonso of Castile had his eyes on Gascony and John Maunsell helped to defuse the situation by arranging the marriage of Edward to Alfonso's half-sister, Eleanor in 1254.

Sedgwick castle came into his hands in 1249.

In 1261 he was named Constable of the Tower of London.

He was mediator along with Simon de Montfort in arranging the marriage of Henry's daughter Beatrice with John of Brittany in 1259.

John Maunsell was in France with Queen Eleanor and Edmund when Simon de Montfort vanquished Henry III at the Battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264.

Shortly thereafter, Simon de Montfort took possession of Maunsell's estates in August 1264.

John Maunsell died 20 January 1265 in Florence and was buried in York Minster.

Among his contemporaries were the better known Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Roger Bacon.