Generation No. 24
8388608. Theobald Le Botiller FITZWALTER240,241,242,243,244,245,246,247, born Bef. 1156 in West Dereham, Downham, Norfolk, England; died 1207 in Arklow, Wicklow, Leinster, Ireland248. He was the son of 16777216. Hervey WALTER and 16777217. Maud De Valognes. He married 8388609. Maud Le VAVASOUR Abt. 1199249,250,251.
8388609. Maud Le VAVASOUR252,253,254, born Abt. 1176 in Hazlewood and Storiths, Skipton, Yorkshire, England. She was the daughter of 16777218. High Sheriff of Lancashir Robert le Vavasour and 16777219. Julian de Ros.
Notes for Theobald Le Botiller FITZWALTER:
He accompanied Henry II into Ireland, created hereditary Chief Butler of Ireland 1177, was granted Baggotrath, Co.Dublin, and the Stein River lands around what is now Trinity College Dublin.
Between these two great statesmen Theobald Walter, the eldest brother of the archbishop, rose and flourished.’ Theobald is found in the Liber Niger (c. 1166) as holding Amounderness by the service of one knight. In 1185 he went over sea to Waterford with John the king’s son, the freight of the harness sent after him being charged in the Pipe Roll. Clad in that harness he led the men of Cork when Dermot MacCarthy, prince of Desmond, was put to the sword, John rewarding his services with lands in Limerick and with the important fief of Arklow in the vale of Avoca, where he made his Irish seat and founded an abbey. Returning to England he accompanied his uncle Randulf to France, both witnessing a charter delivered by the king at Chinon when near to death. Soon afterwards, Theobald Walter was given by John that hereditary office of butler to the lord of Ireland, which makes a surname for his descendants, styling himself pincerna when he attests John’s charter to Dublin on the 15th of May 1192. J. Horace Round has pointed out that he also took a fresh seal, the inscription of which calls him Theobald Walter, Butler of Ireland, and henceforward he is sometimes surnamed Butler (le Botiller). When John went abroad in 1192, Theobald was given the charge of Lancaster castle, but in 1194 he was forced to surrender to his brother Hubert, who summoned it in King Richard’s name. Making his peace through Hubert’s influence, he was sheriff of Lancashire for King Richard, who regranted to him all Amounderness. His fortunes turned with the king’s death. The new sovereign, treating his surrender of the castle as treachery, took the shrievalty from him, disseised him of Amounderness and sold his cantreds of Limerick land to William de Braose. But the great archbishop soon found means to bring his brother back to favour, and on the 2nd of January 1201-2 Amounderness, by writ of the king, is to be restored to Theobald Walter, dilecto et ff deli nostre. Within a year or two Theobald left England to end his days upon his Arklow fief, busying himself with religious foundations at Wotheney in Limerick, at Arklow and at Nenagh. At Wotheney he is said to have been buried shortly before the 12th of February 1205-6, when an entry in the Close Roll is concerned with’ his widow. This widow, Maude, daughter of Robert Ie Vavasor of Denton, was given up to her father, who, buying the right of marrying her at a price of 1200 marks and two pall reys, gave her to Fulk fitz-Warine. Theobald, the son and heir of Theobald and Maude, a child of six years old, was likewise taken into the keeping of his grandfather Robert, but letters from the king, dated the 2nd of March 1205-6, told Robert, "as he loved his body," to surrender the heir at once to Gilbert fitz-Reinfrid, the baron of Kendal.----1911 version of the Encyclopedia Britannica
He accompanied John, Count of Mortain, Lord of Ireland (afterward King of England), into Ireland where he was conferred with vast estates including the fief of Arklow in 1185. He was conferred with the important office of Butler, a dignity which, of itself, probably comprised (even if it did not comprise more than) Baronial rank and position for himself and his successors before May 1192. He returned to England where he obtained from Richard I a grant of the Wapentake of Amounderness with the Lordship of Preston in 1194 in Lancashire, England. Sheriff of Lancashire in England, between 1194 and 1199.Justice Itinerant in 1197. He was styled "Theobald Butler" as early as 1199 He founded the Abbey of Nenagh in 1200 in County Tipperary, Ireland. He founded the Abbey of Wotheny in 1205 in County Limerick, Ireland.-----Revised by others later George Edward Cokayne CP, II:447.
More About Theobald Le Botiller FITZWALTER:
Burial: Wotheney Abbey, Limerick, Ireland
More About Theobald FITZWALTER and Maud Le VAVASOUR:
Marriage: Abt. 1199255,256,257
Children of Theobald FITZWALTER and Maud Le VAVASOUR are:
4194304 i. Theobald Le BOTILLER, born 1200 in Arklow, Wicklow, Leinster, Ireland; died 19 Jul 1230 in Poitou; married (1) Joan de Marreis Abt. 1222 in Ireland; married (2) Rohese de Verdun Aft. 04 Sep 1225.
ii. Maud (Matilda) le Botiller, born Abt. 1192 in Arklow, Wicklow, Leinster, Ireland; married Lord of Enniscorthy Gerald de Prendergast.
8388610. Geoffrey de Marreis258, born Abt. 1170 in Huntspill, Somerset, England. He was the son of 16777220. GEOFFREY MARREIS.
Child of Geoffrey de Marreis is:
4194305 i. Joan de Marreis, born Abt. 1202 in Ireland; died Bef. 04 Sep 1225; married Theobald Le BOTILLER Abt. 1222 in Ireland.
8388622. Earl of Pembroke William "the Elder" Marshall259, born Abt. 1146 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died May 1219 in Caversham Manor, England. He was the son of 16777244. Marshal John fitz Gilbert and 16777245. Sibyl de Salisbury. He married 8388623. Isabel de Clare Aug 1189 in London, Middlesex, England.
8388623. Isabel de Clare260, born 1172 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died 1220 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. She was the daughter of 16777246. Richard "Strongbow" fitz Gilbert and 16777247. Eva MacMurrough.
Notes for Earl of Pembroke William "the Elder" Marshall:
William "the Elder" Marshall, Earl of Pembroke also went by the name of William "the Protector."
He succeeded to the title of earl of Pembroke in right of Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of Richard de Clare .
Earl of Pembroke, between 1199 and 1215.
Lord of Leinster, Ireland, between 1207 and 14 May 1219.
Lord Marshal of Ireland, between 1207 and 14 May 1219.
He was was present in support of King John at the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215
. Regent of the Kingdom, between 1216 and 1219.
He was was appointed, on King John's death, the guardian of young King Henry. As such William Marshall, the new protector and Regent of England, recruited and reinforced the already powerful royal Anglo/Norman army, with mercenaries and friendly Anglo/Norman barons, He planned to rid England of the Dauphin and all these ambitious French undesirables. Bear in mind, they were French, not Norman as he was. Nominally a lawyer, he soon learned the military skills. Marshall ran a vigorous campaign against Prince Louis, the self-proclaimed King of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and his French army who were still occupying London with our 'heroes', the traitorous Magna Carta Barons, now the vassals of the Dauphin and the King of France. Annals of Monte Fernando 1219
Marshall, the new protector and Regent of England, recruited and reinforced the already powerful royal Anglo/Norman army, with mercenaries and friendly Anglo/Norman barons, He planned to rid England of the Dauphin and all these ambitious French undesirables. Bear in mind, they were French, not Norman as he was. Nominally a lawyer, he soon learned the military skills. Marshall ran a vigorous campaign against Prince Louis, the self-proclaimed King of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and his French army who were still occupying London with our 'heroes', the traitorous Magna Carta Barons, now the vassals of the Dauphin and the King of France. Annals of Monte Fernando 1219
In a room of the Tower of London in August 1189, two people who were about to be married met for the first time. This twist of fate or act of destiny would have a far-reaching effect on English history. The young lady was Isabel de Clare, sole heiress of Richard Strongbow de Clare, Earl of Pembroke and Striguil, and Aoife, daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster. The man was William Marshal, the second son of John the Marshal and Sibyl, sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury. There are no accounts of this first meeting nor of their marriage ceremony, but this was the final step in the making of one of the greatest knights and magnates of medieval English history.
William Marshal's life is well documented because less than a year after his death in 1219, his eldest son William II commissioned a record of his father's life. "L' Historie de Guillaume le Marechal," is a metrical history of a man and of the knightly class in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Little is known about the writer of "L' Historie" except that his first name was Jean, that he personally witnessed some of the events in Marshal's later life, and that he had access to Marshal's squire John D'Erley. The point of view is that of the secular knightly class and not of the ecclesiastical class. The events recorded in "L' Historie" can be verified in most instances by the official records in the Pipe Rolls, Charter Rolls, Close Rolls, Patent Rolls, Oblatis Rolls, and chronicles of the times.
William Marshal was born c 1146, and as a younger son, becoming a knight was his natural choice of a path to success and survival. Marshal was sent to his father's cousin William of Tancarville, hereditary Chamberlain of Normandy, to be trained as a knight in c1159. He was knighted, probably by his uncle, in 1167.
In 1170 William Marshal was appointed head of the mesnie (military) household of the young Prince Henry by King Henry II. From this time until young Henry's death in June of 1183, Marshal was responsible for protecting, training and running the military household of the heir. In 1173, William Marshal knighted the young Henry, and thereby became Henry's lord in chivalry. We know that Marshal led young Henry and his mesnie to many victories on the tournament fields of Normandy. It is during the years from 1170 to 1183 that William Marshal established his status as an undefeated knight in tournaments. 1182 William Marshal was accused of undue familiarity with Marguerite of France, the Young King's wife, and exiled from court. He went to the court of King Henry II that Christmas to ask for trial by combat in order to prove his innocence, but this was refused. A few months later the young king died, and on his deathbed he asked that William Marshal to fulfil his vow of going on Crusade. William fulfilled this promise, crusading in the Holy Land from 1183 to 1186; while there he vowed to be buried as a Knight Templar. Upon his return in 1186, William rejoined the court of King Henry II. It is here that Marshal began to establish his friendships with the powerful and influential men of his day. His reputation and his character were built through his own actions and abilities. In this age of feudalism, Marshal was a landless knight. He had no lord from whom he could gain advantages or status.
On the death of the young Henry, Marshal obtained permission from Henry II to take the young Henry's cross to Jerusalem. Marshal spent two years in the Holy Land fighting for King Guy of Jerusalem and the Knights' Templar. There are no known records of his time in the east, but we know that some of the castle building techniques he later used at Pembroke were probably learned here.
Henry II granted Marshal his first fief, Cartmel in Lancashire, in 1187. With this fief Marshal became a vassal of King Henry II and swore fealty to him as his lord and his king. Until Henry II's death in 1188, William Marshal served as his knight, his counselor, and his ambassador. When Richard I came to the throne, he recognized Marshal as a brother and equal in chivalry. Fulfilling the promise made by his father, Richard gave Marshal the heiress Isabel de Clare and all her lands in marriage.
With this marriage, William Marshal became "in right of his wife" one of the greatest lords and magnates in the Plantagenet kingdom. Isabel brought to Marshal the palatine lordships of Pembroke and Striguil in Wales and the lordship of Leinster in Ireland. These were large fiefs of land where the lord held as tenant-in-chief of the Crown. A palatine lord's word was law within his lands. He had the right to appoint his own officials, courts and sheriffs, and collect and keep the proceeds of his courts and governments. Except for ecclesiastical cases, the king's writ did not run in the palatinates. King Richard also allowed Marshal to have 1/2 of the barony of Giffard for 2000 marks. This barony was split with Richard de Clare, Earl of Clare and Hertford, who held the barony in England as lord while Marshal held the land in Normandy as lord. This gave Marshal the demesne manors of Crendon in Buckinghamshire and Caversham in Oxfordshire, for 43 knights' fees, and the fief of Longueville in Normandy with the castles of Longueville and Mueller and Moulineaux, for about 40 knights' fees.
Marshal considered the lands that he held to be one unit, not separate units of English, Irish, Welsh, and Norman lands. They were a compact whole to be preserved and improved for the inheritance of his children. Marshal used what he had learned fighting in Normandy and in the Holy Land to improve these fiefs. The great Tower, the Horseshoe Gatehouse, and the fighting gallery in the outer curtain wall at Pembroke were built under his guidance. At Chepstow (Striguil), he was responsible for the gate in the middle bailey, the rebuilding of the upper level of the keep, the west barbican, and the upper and lower bailey. Marshal was also responsible for the building of the castle at Kilkenny, the new castle at Emlyn, and for taking and improving Cilgerran. From a list of castles by R. A. Brown for the period from 1153 to 1214, Marshal held Chepstow, Cilgerran, Emlyn, Goodrich, Haverford, Inkberrow, Pembroke, Tenby, and Usk in England and Wales. Just these castles would have produced more than two hundred knights' fees owed by Marshal to the Crown. Without including his lands in Normandy and Ireland, as feudal lord Marshal controlled a vast amount of land, wealth, and knights/vassals in the Angevin kingdom
William Marshal served King Richard faithfully as knight, vassal, ambassador, itinerant justice, associate justiciar, counselor, and friend. On Richard I's untimely death in 1199, William Marshal supported John as heir to the throne rather than John's nephew, Arthur of Brittany. It was King John who belted William Marshal and created him Earl of Pembroke on the same day that John was crowned King, May 27, 1199. It is during King John's reign that the character of William Marshal is clearly revealed. John's character has been drawn by countless historians, and none have been able to erase the ineptitude that King John displayed when dealing with his English barons. Whatever his motives were, John inevitably alienated his greatest barons despite the fact that he needed their support and loyalty to rule England. William Marshal was a powerful, respected, wise and loyal knight and baron who had already served two Angevin kings. King John, however, accused Marshal of being a traitor, took all of Marshal's English and Welsh castles, took Marshal's two older sons as hostages, tried to take Marshal's lands in Leinster, and even tried to get his own household knights to challenge Marshal to trial by combat. Despite all of this, William Marshal remained loyal to his feudal lord. He did not rebel when John took his castles; he gave up his two sons as hostages; he supported John against the Papal Interdict; and he supported John in the baronial rebellion. Of all the bonds of feudalism, the greatest and the most important bond was the one of fealty, of loyalty to one's lord. To break this bond and oath was treason, and this was the greatest of crimes. William Marshal was the epitome of knighthood and chivalry. He did not simply espouse it. Marshal's entire life was governed by his oaths of fealty and by his own innate sense of honour. If Marshal had taken his lands, castles, and knights to the side of the rebellion, King John would have lost his crown and perhaps his life.
On the death of John, October 19,1216, William Marshal was chosen by his peers in England as regent for the nine year old Henry III. Henry was knighted and then crowned under the seal of the Earl of Pembroke. William Marshal was the main force and impetus for the defeat of Philip II of France, even leading the attack to relieve Lincoln castle in May 1217 though he was seventy years old. On September 11, 1217, Marshal negotiated the Treaty of Lambeth that ended the war. By his wise treatment of those English barons who had supported Philip II against King John, Marshal ensured the restoration of peace and order in England. This undefeated knight had become a great statesman in the last years of his life. William Marshal died May 14, 1219 at Caversham and was buried as a Knight Templar in the Temple Church in London.
William Marshal had been born during the Civil Wars of King Stephen and Empress Mathilda. He trained and knighted one intended king; served faithfully Kings Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, and John Lackland; and knighted and served as regent for a fourth king. As "rector regis et regni," Marshal had the Great Charter reissued in 1216 and in 1217 for the welfare and future of England and the Crown. There are many explanations and definitions of Marshal, his life and his time. Some say he survived so long and so well because of his physical stamina and condition, that he was simply a man of great physical strength. This gives only a piece of the complete portrait of William Marshal. He was a brilliant strategist in terms of his world, militarily and politically. He lived and survived in Henry II's arena, earning Henry's respect and affection. No man of little intelligence would have survived very long there. William Marshal can be understood in terms of his world of feudalism, fealty, loyalty and honour. Marshal stood by King John because of Marshal's oath of fealty and homage to his "lord," who also happened to be the King. William Marshal was a man who lived his life according to his sense of honour, and his sense of honour was defined in the laws and customs of feudalism and knighthood. It is that sense of honour that made no man equal to William Marshal, knight, Earl of Pembroke and Striguil, Lord of Leinster, and Regent of England.
This was in part written by Catherine Armstrong focusing on the life and times of William Marshal and his father-in-law Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare
Catherine Armstrong has Master's degree in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University. Her field is medieval English history. Her specific field is William Marshal, his fiefs and "familiares". Her concentration is on the lands and people bound to Marshal by blood and marriage, by feudal tenure, and by "affinity". She can be reached via e-mail at: seneschal@gbronline.com
The end of the Marshal family
During the civil wars in Ireland, William, Sr., had taken two manors that the Bishop of Ferns claimed but could not get back. Some years after William's death, that bishop is said to have laid a curse on the family that William's sons would have no children, and the great Marshal estates would be scattered. Each of William's sons did become earl of Pembroke and marshal of England, and each died without issue. William's vast holdings were then divided among the husbands of his five daughters. The title of "Marshal" went to the husband of the oldest daughter, Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, and later passed to the Mowbray dukes of Norfolk and then to the Howard dukes of Norfolk, becoming "Earl Marshal" along the way. The title of "Earl of Pembroke" passed to the husband of Joan Marshal's daughter, Joan de Munchensy, the first of the de Valence line of earls of Pembroke
More About Earl of Pembroke William "the Elder" Marshall:
Burial: Burial: Temple Church, London, England
More About William Marshall and Isabel de Clare:
Marriage: Aug 1189, London, Middlesex, England
Children of William Marshall and Isabel de Clare are:
4194311 i. MAUD MATILDA MARSHALL, born Abt. 1192 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died 27 Mar 1248; married (1) HUGH BIGOD; married (2) Guillaume IV de Varennes.
ii. William Marshall, born 1190; died 06 Apr 1231.
iii. Gilbert Marshall, died 27 Jun 1241.
iv. Isabella Marshall, born 09 Oct 1200; died 17 Jan 1240.
v. Sibyl Marshall
vi. Joan Marshall
vii. Joan Marshall
viii. Walter Marshal, born 1198; died Nov 1245.
ix. Richard Marshal, born 1190; died 16 Apr 1234.
x. Anselm Marshal, died 22 Dec 1245.
8388704. Walter BURGH He married 8388705. Alice.
8388705. Alice
Child of Walter BURGH and Alice is:
4194352 i. William BURGH, born Abt. 1158 in Of, Connaught, , Ireland; died 1206.
8404992. DE COKESLEY He was the son of 16809984. WILLIAM.
Child of DE COKESLEY is:
4202496 i. SELWYN.
9230848. Randolph fitz Henry261, died 1262. He was the son of 18461696. Henry fitz Hervey.
Child of Randolph fitz Henry is:
4615424 i. Henry fitz Randolph, died 1262.
9230888. Robert "Furfan" de Ros262, born Abt. 1170; died Bef. 23 Dec 1226. He was the son of 18461776. 3rd Lord Hamlake Everard de Ros and 18461777. Roese Trussebut. He married 9230889. Isabel MacCrinan 1191 in Haddington.
9230889. Isabel MacCrinan263,264,265,266, born Abt. 1170. She was the daughter of 18461778. Lord Blaen Llynfi William I "the Lion", King of Scotland and 18461779. Daughter of Avenal.
More About Robert de Ros and Isabel MacCrinan:
Marriage: 1191, Haddington
Child of Robert de Ros and Isabel MacCrinan is:
4615444 i. 5th Lord of Hamlake William de Ros, born Abt. 1205; died 1265; married Lucy fitz Piers Bef. 1230.
9230890. Lord Blaen Llynfi Piers FitzHerbert He married 9230891. Alice de Warkworth.
9230891. Alice de Warkworth
Child of Piers FitzHerbert and Alice de Warkworth is:
4615445 i. Lucy fitz Piers, born Abt. 1207; married 5th Lord of Hamlake William de Ros Bef. 1230.
Generation No. 25
16777216. Hervey WALTER267,268,269,270, born Abt. 1130 in Weeton & Preese, Fylde, Lancashire, England; died 1189. He was the son of 33554432. Hervey WALTER. He married 16777217. Maud De Valognes.
16777217. Maud De Valognes271,272, born Abt. 1133 in Parham, Plomesgate, Suffolk, England. She was the daughter of 33554434. lord of Parham Theobald de Valognes and 33554435. Helewise de Valensis.
Children of Hervey WALTER and Maud De Valognes are:
8388608 i. Theobald Le Botiller FITZWALTER, born Bef. 1156 in West Dereham, Downham, Norfolk, England; died 1207 in Arklow, Wicklow, Leinster, Ireland; married Maud Le VAVASOUR Abt. 1199.
ii. Hubert Butler, died 1205.
Notes for Hubert Butler:
Hubert had been Bishop of Salisbury and had accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade; he was then Primate, Chief Justiciar, Papal Legate and Chancellor--a sort of Pooh-Bah of his day--and when Hubert died in 1205, John paid him the oblique compliment: "Now for the first time am I King of England". That was what led to Magna Carta ten years later
iii. Roger Butler
16777218. High Sheriff of Lancashir Robert le Vavasour273,274,275,276, born Abt. 1148. He was the son of 33554436. William le Vavasour, Lord of Hazelwood and 33554437. Matilda Perry. He married 16777219. Julian de Ros.
16777219. Julian de Ros277, born 1158.
Notes for High Sheriff of Lancashir Robert le Vavasour:
He paid a fine of £1200 marks and two palfreys, that his daughter, then widow of Theobald Butler, might be married to Fulke Fitzwarin
Child of Robert le Vavasour and Julian de Ros is:
8388609 i. Maud Le VAVASOUR, born Abt. 1176 in Hazlewood and Storiths, Skipton, Yorkshire, England; married Theobald Le Botiller FITZWALTER Abt. 1199.
16777220. GEOFFREY MARREIS, born Abt. 1145 in England.
Child of GEOFFREY MARREIS is:
8388610 i. Geoffrey de Marreis, born Abt. 1170 in Huntspill, Somerset, England.
16777244. Marshal John fitz Gilbert278, born Abt. 1105; died 1165. He married 16777245. Sibyl de Salisbury 1143 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
16777245. Sibyl de Salisbury279, born Abt. 1126 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. She was the daughter of 33554490. Walter fitz Edward de Salisbury and 33554491. Sibyl de Chaworth.
Notes for Marshal John fitz Gilbert:
John fitz Gilbert was the father of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke. John was the son of Gilbert, the marshal of the royal household of King Henry I. The office of the marshal was part of the Curia, with a deputy in the Exchequer and one in the King's Bench, as well as one in the Court of the Marshalsea of the King's household. The office was subordinate to the office of constable of the royal household.. The office was responsible for everything connected to the horses of the royal household, the hawks and the hounds as well. He had the general duty of keeping order in the royal court/household, arranging for the billeting of members of the court, keeping tallies and other vouchers of the expenditures of the household, keeping rolls of all who performed their military service there, and being responsible for the imprisonment of debtors. The "Constitutio Domus Regis" gives the duties of the master marshal for King Henry I.
Both John and his father are found in the king’s court before 1130 where they maintained [probably by trial by battle] their office of master of the king’s marshalsea against William de Hastings and Robert de Venoiz. On the pipe roll of 1130 John is found paying twenty-two pounds for seisin to his father’s lands and ministerium and forty marks for the office of marshal of the court. In this same year John married the daughter and heiress of Walter Pipard, a minor Wiltshire landholder. John was a loyal and trusted royal official and attested to at least twelve royal acts of Henry I between 1129-1135, most of them in England but some in Normandy.
When Stephen (depicted right) took the English throne on the death of Henry I in 1135, John continued to serve in the office of marshal and accompanied Stephen to Normandy in 1137. In 1138 John took possession of the castles of Marlborough and Ludgershall in Wiltshire as castellan and proceeded to strengthen both. During the early years of the war between King Stephen and the Empress Mathilda, John was more or less content to wait and watch, increasing the number of knights bound to him and fortifying his castles. He used his position in Wiltshire to attack and ravage the lands of those opposing King Stephen, though according to some of the chronicles of the times, John was not too particular about whom he attacked.
In February 1141, King Stephen was captured at the battle of Lincoln by Robert of Gloucester, natural brother to the Empress. This event apparently convinced John that he should be on the Empress’s side in the civil war, and he actively supported her from this time forward. John was with the Empress at Reading in May, Oxford in July, and at the siege of Winchester in August 1141. When Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester and brother to King Stephen, brought troops to relieve the siege of Winchester, it was decided that the Empress would flee to John’s castle of Ludgershall with John while Robert of Gloucester continued the battle. At the village of Wherwell, John sent the Empress on to his castle with Brian fitz Count, and he stayed with some men to defend her retreat at the River Test. At the end of this struggle at the river, only John and one of his knights were left standing. They retreated to the church of Wherwell Abbey, and the enemy set fire to it. The enemy departed from Wherwell thinking that John had perished, but he survived and made it to his castle of Marlborough, losing one eye from melting iron in the fire.
The rising and falling fortunes of neither side in this civil war greatly effected fitz Gilbert’s prosperity; he used his position and his castles in Wiltshire to continue to attack the lands of Stephen’s supporters. One of his frequent victims was Patrick constable of Salisbury, who was King Stephen’s man. After several years of this warfare, both men had had enough of the deprivations resulting from their attacks on each other. They worked out a compromise in 1141; John fitz Gilbert would put aside his first wife and marry Patrick’s sister Sibile [Sibyl], and Patrick came over to the Empress’s side. This compromise gave Patrick peace and relief as well as the later title and lands of the earldom of Salisbury. John nullified his most dangerous enemy and definitely increased his own social position by marrying into one of the great feudal families of England. It hurt neither man that they could both now raid the lands of Stephen’s supporters in Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire.
John was in high favor with the Empress, and she appointed his brother William as her chancellor. John himself witnessed at least four charters of the Empress, and there are two writs addressed to John in Wiltshire by her. He also witnessed five charters of Duke Henry in Normandy. October 25, 1154, King Stephen died and on December 19, 1154, Henry was crowned King Henry II of England. Henry II gave to John the manors of Marlborough, Wexcombe, and Cherhill in Wiltshire; they yielded eight-two pounds annually in revenues. He retained the office of marshal of the royal household. Along with these lands and the lands of his father, John held seven other knights’ fees: land of the bishop of Winchester, of the bishop of Exeter, of the bishop of Winchester, of the abbot of Abingdon, of Richard de Candos[Chandos], of Manasser de Arsic, and of Geoffrey de Mandeville. He held Tidworth in Wiltshire by serjeanty of his office as marshal and possibly Hampstead in Berkshire. The "Cartae Baronnum" shows him holding Wigan in Oxfordshire, and Inkberrow in Worcestershire may have been originally John fitz Gilbert’s. John was still a minor baron in comparison to the great magnates, but he had increased the inheritance left to him by his father by a great deal.
John fitz Gilbert was a clever and ruthless baron who had more than his share of daring, energy, and ambition. He was known for his ability as a soldier/knight and for his cunning and love of military stratagems. The "Gesta Stephani" describes him as "a limb of hell and the root of all evil." It accuses John of building adulterine castles [probably Newbury in Berkshire], taking the lands of both laity and clergy, and of forcing payments from the church. He put aside his first wife without a qualm in order to better himself and his position. In "L’Historie de Guillaume le Marechal", the chanson de geste written as a history of the life of John’s son William, there is a story told of the siege of John’s castle of Newbury by King Stephen in 1152. King Stephen held John’s son William as hostage for his father’s good behavior during a granted truce. John ignored the truce; he used the time to re-fortify and supply his castle. When King Stephen called John to the castle’s walls and reminded John that his son’s life was forfeit for John’s own actions, John said that, "he had the anvils and the hammer to forge still better sons." This was a ruthless warrior and only the gentle nature of King Stephen protected the life of the five-year old William.
John fitz Gilbert died 1164/1165 while his son William was in Normandy being trained as a squire by his cousin William de Tancarville Chamberlain of Normandy. Of the two sons by John’s first marriage, the oldest, Gilbert, died within a year of John’s own death, and the youngest, Walter, died before John. By the lady Sibile [Sibyl], John had four sons and two daughters; John as the eldest son inherited his father’s lands and the office of marshal. John fitz Gilbert’s second son, William Marshal, would inherit nothing tangible from his father, but he would be heir to his father’s standing in respect to the confidence and favor of King Henry II. John fitz Gilbert, unlike others in the wars between King Stephen and the Empress, changed his allegiance only once. When he joined the Empress’ side in the war, he not only served her and her son loyally and faithfully, but he placed his own life in jeopardy protecting and defending her. This was a debt that Henry II remembered and paid. John’s son William would do the same for King Henry’s wife Eleanor near the castle of Lusignan in Poitou at the end of 1167. Two of the Lusignan brothers attacked and killed William’s unarmed uncle, Patrick earl of Salisbury, while Patrick, Queen Eleanor, and William were riding near the castle of Lusignan. William was wounded and taken prisoner while defending the Queen’s retreat into the castle and trying to avenge his uncle’s murder. William might have inherited some of the physical strength and knowledge of military strategy from his father, but as a second son, he would become in his own right and by his own abilities, skills, and sense of honour the best of chivalric knighthood, a "familiaris Regis," the Earl of Pembroke and regent of England.
This essay is part of a series (listed below) written by Catherine Armstrong focusing on the life and times of William Marshal and his father-in-law Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare
More About Marshal Gilbert and Sibyl de Salisbury:
Marriage: 1143, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Children of Marshal Gilbert and Sibyl de Salisbury are:
8388622 i. Earl of Pembroke William "the Elder" Marshall, born Abt. 1146 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died May 1219 in Caversham Manor, England; married Isabel de Clare Aug 1189 in London, Middlesex, England.
ii. Maud Marshal, born 1150.
iii. Margaret Marshall
16777246. Richard "Strongbow" fitz Gilbert280, born 1130 in Tonbridge, Kent, England; died May 1177 in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. He was the son of 33554492. Gilbert Strongbow de Clare and 33554493. Countess of Pembroke Isabel. He married 16777247. Eva MacMurrough 26 Aug 1171 in Waterford, Ireland.
16777247. Eva MacMurrough281, born Abt. 1141. She was the daughter of 33554494. rí Laigin Diarmait na-nGall MacMurchada and 33554495. Mor ingen Muirchertaig Ó Toole.
Notes for Richard "Strongbow" fitz Gilbert:
Also called Richard "Strongbow
Earl of Pembroke, England, between 1148 and 1176.6 2nd Earl of Buckingham, between 1148 and 1176
He was given, to marry, the daughter of Mac Murchada for helping restore him to Leinster in 1170.
He leader of the 4th landing of Normans there to help Dermot MacMurrough in Leinster, in fact promised lands and Dermot's daughter's hand in marriage, and arrived with a force of about a thousand men, taking Loch Garman, entering Port-Lairge by force where they took Gillemaire, the officer of the fortress, and Ua Faelain, lord of the Deisi, and his son, and killed seven hundred persons there on 23 August 1170 in Waterford, Ireland.
He earned his reputation as a warrior by taking a force of warriors to Ireland, where he stormed the Norse-Irish city of Dublin; his progress in conquest was so successful that Henry I feared that Richard had grown too powerful and ordered him to return to his lands in Wales... Richard stubbornly refused and fought on. Eventually, his allies submitted to Henry's demand and Richard had to follow suit, however, after reaffirming his allegiance to Henry, a large force returned to Ireland and Richard held control over the lands of Leinster. He and Miles de Cogan, Lord of the Moiety of the Kingdom of Corke were beseiged by an army of the Irish led by Ruaidhri Ua Conchobhair, Tighearnan Ua Ruairc, and Murchadh Ua Cearbhaill, with conflicts and skirmishes between them for the space of a fortnight, in 1171 in Ath-cliath, Ireland.
He married Eva MacMurrough, daughter of rí Laigin Diarmait na-nGall MacMurchada and Mor ingen Muirchertaig Ó Toole, on 26 August 1171 in Waterford, Ireland; "Haec jacet Ricarduo Strongbow, filius Gilberti, Comitis de Pembroke."
He became Lord of Leinster by marriage with Eva, the only daughter of McMurgh, King of Leinster, whose inheritance King Henry II granted to him, consisting of the province of Leinster, in which were contained Wexford, Kildare, Kilkenny, Ossory, and Catherlogh, after 26 August 1171.
Lord of Leinster, Ireland, between 1172 and May 1177.
Constable of Ireland, between 1172 and May 1177
Strongbow arrived in Ireland in August 1170; he had already sent many of his vassals from Wales to Ireland in 1169. Strongbow met Dermot and the Anglo-Norman knights, who were already there, with 200 men-at-arms and over one thousand archers. They took Waterford on St. Bartholomew's Eve [August 28, 1170], and a day later, he and Eve MacMurchada were married in the cathedral in Waterford. [There is a painting of the marriage of Strongbow and Aoife by Maclise in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.] Soon after the marriage, Strongbow, Dermot and their knights marched to Dublin and took that city and the adjacent surrounding lands. Strongbow and the other Anglo-Normans quickly took control of the cities of Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford and much of the southeastern land of Ireland.
King Henry II became alarmed at the success of his knights and fearing their growing strength and possible motives, he ordered all his knights in Ireland to return to England on pain of forfeiture of their lands in England, Wales and Normandy. Strongbow met Henry at Newnham in Gloucester in July 1171. At this meeting Strongbow gave Henry, Dublin and its adjacent lands, the maritime towns and the castles, and his own lordship of Leinster. Henry kept Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, and the castles, and granted back to Strongbow the other lands, including the lordship of Leinster, as lands he now held by right of King Henry. In effect, this meant that King Henry took from Strongbow most of the lands that Strongbow himself had either conquered or gained by his marriage and granted them back to Strongbow as lands held by the grace of the king. Henry II was determined that he would not have a repeat of the palatine lordships of Wales in Ireland, nor strong mini-kingdoms on his own left flank. Henry's expedition to Ireland in 1171/72 was to enforce his own rule on the Anglo-Normans who had invaded Ireland, and gain recognition from both Anglo-Normans and Irish that he was King and overlord of the already conquered lands and the lands to be conquered. He achieved his purpose, but he was not totally reassured until the April 1173 rebellion of his sons in Normandy.
When this rebellion began Henry called his leading knights and barons from Ireland to assist him in putting down this revolt in Normandy. Strongbow came with most of the leading barons in Ireland. He proved his military skills and his fealty at Gisors, Breteuil, and Verneuil. Henry recognized Strongbow's loyalty and actions by granting him the governing of Ireland, the city of Wexford, the castle of Wicklow, and the constableship of Waterford and Dublin. Henry ordered Strongbow back to Ireland to control it as the king's representative and to send back to Normandy more knights from Ireland and Wales.
Strongbow returned to Ireland and did his best to control the rebellion that had arisen while the major knights were in Normandy. He served the king's interest and his own in Ireland, and he did well in trying to control and modify the constant warring factions. He was in England for the Treaty of Windsor in 1175 between King Henry II and Rory O'Connor, high king of Ireland. There is very little contemporary record of Strongbow's last year or two in Ireland. The "Song of Dermot" ends sharply in 1174/75, and Giraldis Cambrensis' record, "Expugnatio Hibernica" is concerned with recording the deeds of his own family rather than de Clare's.
Strongbow died in June 1176 of some type of infection in his leg or foot. He was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Dublin with his uncle-in-law, Lawrence bishop of Dublin, presiding. He and Eve had a son Gilbert, who died still a minor in 1185, and a daughter Isabel, who would become Strongbow's sole heir. King Henry II took all of Strongbow's lands and castles into his own hands and placed a royal official in charge of them. He guarded well the inheritance of the young girl, Isabel. Eve was given her dower rights and possibly held Striguil [Chepstow] as part of those dower rights until the Welsh rebellion of 1184/85. There is a record of Eve confirming a charter in Ireland in 1188/89 as "comtissa de Hibernia".
There are no known extant records of the personal lives of Strongbow and Eve. We know that this young red-haired son of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Pembroke survived the years of being deprived of his rightful inheritance. He took the gamble that Dermot MacMurchada offered. By his skills as a warrior/knight and wise lord, he conquered and re-constituted his inherited lordship of Leinster, married the golden-haired Eve, and re-gained the respect and affection of his lord and king, Henry II. Two interesting questions arise for which there is no known extant contemporary records. Did Strongbow perhaps meet the man who would be his daughter's husband in the 1173 rebellion of the young King Henry? Would Strongbow have approved of the knight William Marshal who married his daughter Isabel and not only regained all the land, castles and titles that Strongbow should have inherited, but added greatly to them, and cared for them all as a true knight and lord should do
More About Richard Gilbert and Eva MacMurrough:
Marriage: 26 Aug 1171, Waterford, Ireland
Children of Richard Gilbert and Eva MacMurrough are:
8388623 i. Isabel de Clare, born 1172 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died 1220 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; married Earl of Pembroke William "the Elder" Marshall Aug 1189 in London, Middlesex, England.
ii. Gilbert de Strigoil
16809984. WILLIAM He was the son of 33619968. DE COKELE.
Child of WILLIAM is:
8404992 i. DE COKESLEY.
18461696. Henry fitz Hervey282, died 1201. He was the son of 36923392. Hervey fitz Ankaris.
Child of Henry fitz Hervey is:
9230848 i. Randolph fitz Henry, died 1262.
18461776. 3rd Lord Hamlake Everard de Ros, born Abt. 1145. He was the son of 36923552. ,2nd Lord Hamlake Robert de Ros, 2nd Lord Hamlake and 36923553. Sibyl de Valognes. He married 18461777. Roese Trussebut Bef. 1170.
18461777. Roese Trussebut, born Abt. 1147.
More About Everard de Ros and Roese Trussebut:
Marriage: Bef. 1170
Child of Everard de Ros and Roese Trussebut is:
9230888 i. Robert "Furfan" de Ros, born Abt. 1170; died Bef. 23 Dec 1226; married Isabel MacCrinan 1191 in Haddington.
18461778. Lord Blaen Llynfi William I "the Lion", King of Scotland, born 1143; died 04 Dec 1214 in Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland. He married 18461779. Daughter of Avenal.
18461779. Daughter of Avenal
Notes for Lord Blaen Llynfi William I "the Lion", King of Scotland:
William I "the Lion", King of Scotland was the second son of the Scottish Henry, Earl of Northumberland.
Also called Willelm Rex Scotie. He was born in 1143
. He inherited the earldom of Northumberland from his father, assigned to him by King David on the death of his father, in 1152.
2nd Earl of Northumberland, England, between 12 June 1152 and 1157.
He relinquished the earldom of Northumberland to King Henry II of England in 1157.
He saw the Earldom of Northumberland surrendered to King Henry II of England by his elder brother, Malcolm, King of Scotland, in 1157.
He made frequent attempts to regain the Earldom of Northumberland between 1157 and 1165.
He was recognized as Earl of Huntingdon by King Henry II of England, but denied the Earldom of Northumberland, upon which he became an enemy of the King in 1165.
He succeeded to the throne of his elder brother, King Malcolm IV, in 1165.
7th Earl of Huntingdon, England, between 1165 and 12 July 1174.
King of Scotland, between 9 December 1165 and 1214.
He was enthroned, succeeding his brother, Malcolm IV, on 24 December 1165 in Scone, Scotland.
He associated with daughter Avenal, daughter of Richard Avenal, before 1170. He joined a revolt of Henry's sons in an attempt to regain Northumberland in 1173.
Annals of Monte Fernando 1174: "Capcio Willelmi regis Scocie."
He and Henri II "Courtmanteau", roi d' Angleterre concluded a peace treaty between England and Scotland in 1174.
He submitted to English overlordship for 15 years between 1174 and 1189.
He was deprived of his earldom on 12 July 1174.
He joined with Prince Henry of England in rebellion against his father, was defeated and taken prisoner at Alnwick on 12 July 1174.
He founded Arbroath Abbey, which had become probably the wealthiest monastery in Scotland by the time of his death, in 1178 in Scotland.
He obtained a regrant of Huntingdon from the King, but immediately resigned it to his brother David in 1185.
He married Ermengarde de Beaumont, daughter of comte de Beaumont La Maine Richard de Beaumont, on 5 September 1186 in Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire, England.
He obtained release from his feudal subjection by paying a large sum of money to England's new king, Richard I, on the death of Henry II in 1189. He purchased, for 10,000 marks, from Richard I a release of all claim to allegience from Scotland in 1189.
He ultimately obtained independence for his kingdom in 1189.
He supported in his claim of independency for Scotland when Pope Celestine III ruled that the Scottish church owed obedience only to Rome, not to England, in 1192.2
He was forced by King John to forevermore renounce his claim to Northumberland in 1209 in England.
Annals of Monte Fernando 1214: "Willelmus rex Scottorum Ob.
He died on 4 December 1214 in Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, at age 71 years. William I "the Lion", King of Scotland was buried in Arbroath Abbey, Aberbrothock, Scotland.
Child of William Lion" and Daughter Avenal is:
9230889 i. Isabel MacCrinan, born Abt. 1170; married (1) Earl of Norfolk; married (2) Robert "Furfan" de Ros 1191 in Haddington.
