Amanieu VIII (died 1326) was the Lord of Albret from 1298 until his death.

He was an ally of the English and sat on the King's Council during the reigns of Edward I

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

 and Edward II of England

Edward II of England

Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...

. As a relative of the Plantagenets and of the sitting pope (Martin IV

Pope Martin IV

Pope Martin IV, born Simon de Brion held the papacy from February 21, 1281 until his death....

) and one of the most powerful lords in Gascony

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...

, he was the recipient of conspicuous royal largesse.

In 1286 Amanieu ended a long private war with Jean Ferrars, the English seneschal

Seneschal

A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...

 of Gascony, in return for 20,000 livres tournois

Livre tournois

The livre tournois |pound]]) was:#one of numerous currencies used in France in the Middle Ages; and#a unit of account used in France in the Middle Ages and the early modern period.-Circulating currency:...

from Edward I.

His son Bernard Ezi IV

Bernard Ezi IV

Bernard Ezi IV was the Lord of Albret from 1324 to 1358 and the son of Amanieu VIII.In 1330, Edward III of England sent men to Gascony to negotiate with the nobles. Bernard tried to negotiate a marriage between his eldest son and heir Arnaud Amanieu and a daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl...

 succeeded him in Albret and on the Council.

Amanieu used the French occupation of Aquitaine during the war between Edward I and Philip IV of France

Philip IV of France

Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...

 from 1294 to 1303 to expand his own authority at the expense of the ducal administration.

Between 1310 and 1324 he continued to increase his independence from the English government in Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 by appealing a successive number of sometimes trivial quarrels before the Parlement of Paris.

In 1324 he completed his defection from the English cause by joining the French during the short War of Saint-Sardos

War of Saint-Sardos

The War of Saint-Sardos was a short war fought between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France in 1324. The war was a clear defeat for the English, and led indirectly to the overthrowing of Edward II of England...