Philip d Aubigny

Philip d'Aubigny, sometimes Phillip or Phillipe Daubeney (ca. 1166 – ca. 1236), a knight and royal chancellor, was one of five sons of Ralph d'Aubigny and Sybil Valoignes, whose ancestral home was Saint Aubin-d'Aubigné in Brittany. He was lord of the manor of Chewton Mendip, South Petherton, Bampton, Waltham and Ingleby and Keeper of the Channel Islands. D'Aubigny died in the Holy Land and was buried at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Life and career

Following his father's death, Philip's elder brother, Ralph, inherited estates at Belvoir, Ingleby, Saxilby and Broadholme. Ralph, however, later defected to the French in 1205. Philip and at least two of his brothers entered the service of Robert de Breteuil, earl of Leicester, and he was granted the manor of Waltham-on-the-Wolds in Leicestershire. D'Aubigny donated the manor of Waltham-on-the-Wolds to Croxton Abbey.

Philip was present at the signing of Magna Carta as a member of the king's party, and was mentioned within the document. He participated in First Barons War and was leader of the royalist forces in Kent and Sussex. He participated in the Battle of Lincoln in 1217, and commanded a ship during the Battle of Sandwich later that same year.

Following the Pro-Angevin victory in the war he was made a tutor of the young Henry III of England and gave him military training. For his role in the king's education, d'Aubigny was granted the manors of Chewton Mendip and South Petherton in Somerset, and Bampton in Oxfordshire.

Death and burial In 1235, d'Aubigny set out on crusade with his brother Oliver. Philip died in the Holy Land a year later and was buried in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. His inscribed ledger stone displaying his arms was discovered in 1925, in excellent condition, and was lowered slightly below floor-level to protect it from future foot-fall wear and covered by an iron grille. The official record states: