Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester  Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester (c. 11703 November 1219) was one of the leaders of the baronial rebellion against John, King of England, and a major figure in both the kingdoms of Scotland and England in the decades around the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Although he was an Anglo-Norman, Saer de Quincy's father, Robert de Quincy, had married and held important lordships in the Scottish kingdom of his cousin King William the Lion. His mother, Arabella, was the heiress of the lordship of Leuchars and through her Robert became lord over lands in Fife, Perth and Lothian (see below). Saer's own rise to prominence in England came partly through his marriage to Margaret, the younger sister of Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester. Earl Robert died in 1204, and left Margaret as co-heiress to the vast earldom along with her elder sister. The estate was split in half, and after the final division was ratified in 1207, de Quincy was made Earl of Winchester. Following his marriage, Winchester became a prominent military and diplomatic figure in England. There is no evidence of any close alliance with King John, however, and his rise to importance was probably due to his newly acquired magnate status and the family connections that underpinned it. Saer seems to have developed a close personal relationship with his cousin, Robert Fitzwalter (died 1235). In 1203, they served as co-commanders of the garrison at the major fortress of Vaudreuil in Normandy. They surrendered the castle without a fight to Philip II of France, fatally weakening the English position in northern France. Although popular opinion seems to have blamed them for the capitulation, a royal writ is extant stating that the castle was surrendered at King John's command, and both Winchester and Fitzwalter endured personal humiliation and heavy ransoms at the hands of the French. In Scotland, he was perhaps more successful. In 1211 to 1212, the Earl of Winchester commanded an imposing retinue of a hundred knights and a hundred serjeants in William the Lion's campaign against the Mac William rebels, a force which some historians have suggested may have been the mercenary force from Brabant lent to the campaign by John. In 1215, when the baronial rebellion broke out, Robert Fitzwalter became the military commander, and the Earl of Winchester joined him, acting as one of the chief authors of Magna Carta and negotiators with John; both cousins were among the 25 guarantors of the Magna Carta.