English justiciar and regent of England. He
began his career in the administration of
Richard I, and was promoted to the
justiciarship by King John; he remained in
that position under Henry III from 1216 until
his dismissal. He was a supporter of King
John against the barons, and ended French
intervention in England by his defeat of the
French fleet in the Strait of Dover in 1217.
He reorganized royal administration and the
Common Law.