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The Golden Falcon |
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Chapter III/2 - Fleming |
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Fig.
37
- Lucy Richard
de Lucy, governor of Nottingham temp Henry II (1146-89) > Maud, only
heiress = (1) Walter fitzRobert de Clare and brought Diss, Norfolk in her
dowry = (2) Richard de Ripariis, Redvers or de Rivers (d. 27 Henry III .
1243) > Rohais de Rivers = Fulbert de Dover, lord of Chilham, Kent. Reginald
de Lucy = Annabel, 2nd d. and co-heiress of William fitzDuncan, earl of
Murray by Alice, d. and heiress of Robert de Rumeli, lord of Skipton >
Richard de Lucy (d.c. 15th John - 1214) = 1st John (1199) Ada, d. of Hugh
de Morville >: (a)
Anabel or Amabil de Lucy = Lambert de Multon. (b)
Alice de Lucy = Alan de Multon > Thomas de Multon took name of Lucy =
Isabel,
d. & co-heiress of Adam de Bolleby > Thomas de Lucy dsp. 34
Edw I (1308)
succeeded by his brother Anthony de Lucy >:
A. Joan de Multon =
Melton > William Melton.
B.
Thomas
de Lucy = Mary, sister & co-heiress of John de Multon of Egremont
>:
1. Anthony de Lucy, 3rd
baron (obsp) = Joan, widow of William, lord Greystoke.
2. Maud de Lucy = (1)
Gilbert de Umfraville, earl of Angus = (2) Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland - the barony went to Sir William Melton.
The heir of the earls of Northumberland took the title of Lord
Egremont. William (?) Meschin, earl of Chester (1126), lord of Harewood founded Priory of Embsay = Cecily, d. of Robert de Romelli (temp William I) >: (a)
Craven (b)
Rafe or Ranulf (c)
Mathew (d)
Alice = William fitzDuncan, earl of Murray, nephew of Malcolm I of Scots
> Annabel
fitzDuncan, 2nd d. & coheiress = Richard de Lucy. (e)
Avicia = William de Courcy of Stoke Courcy, Somerset, Steward to Henry I
(mentioned by Gabriel de Moulin). Richard
de Lucy was Justiciar of England at the time of St. Thomas a’Becket’s
murder. John Stow in “Survey of London” says Becket’s was responsible for banishing
Flemings who supported King Stephen and demolishing their castles. “In
the year 1153, the Tower of London and the castle of Windsor were by the
king delivered to Richard
de Lucie, to be safely kept. In
the year 1155 Thomas Becket, being Chancellor to Henry II, caused the
Flemings to be banished out of England, their castles lately built to be
pulled down and the Tower of London to be repaired”. This may provide another reason for Thomas a'Becket's murder on 31.12.1170. Richard de Lucy was on the council which tried Becket. He supported Stephen, then Henry II. He held lands in Norfolk and Essex and had 2 sons, Geoffrey and Herbert who died without heirs. Reginald
de Lucy, alive in the reign of Henry II, possibly Richard's brother, gave
a moiety of the church of Godstone in the Tandridge Hundred of Surrey to
Lesnes Abbey (which Richard de Lucy the Justiciar founded in penitence for
Becket’s murder). Reginald
held the Honour of Egremont or Egremond in Cumberland by right of his
wife. His son Richard de Lucy
held "Wolenste" in
Surrey of the Honour of Boulogne. His
two sisters married Odo Dammartin [Odo de Merdon
- Testa de Nevill]
and Roger St. John. Alice
Dammartin, wife of Roger de Clere (7
Edward I) was
Odo's grand daughter. Renaud
Dammartin was the last native count of Boulogne (then in Flanders). In
1267 Byfleet, Surrey (previously held by Richard the Lucy the justiciar)
came to Geoffrey de Lucy (unidentified) who died at Whitsun 1285 when his
son, also Geoffrey, was aged 17 (he sold Byfleet in 1294).
Geoffrey also held Bulbrooke, le Frith, Weybridge, Bisley and
Frogbury in Surrey. Bertrada,
daughter of Geoffrey, lord Lucy of Cockermouth in Cumberland, married Hugh
Kevellick, earl of Chester from whom the Winters were descended. Geoffrey de Lucy married Juliana, daughter of Ranulf le Broc
(Ralph Purcell) who was involved in Becket's murder. Juliana's sister, Edeline le Broc or Purcell, was wife of
Stephen de Turnham, seneschal of Anjou (d. 1213) ancestor of the Cokesays,
Winters and Wintershulls. According
to a charter of earl Gospatric, earl of Bernicia, Cumberland (part of the "disputed land"), was connected with Northumbria. Gospatric
raised a rebellion in the north, joined an invading Danish fleet, allied
himself with Malcolm, king of Scots and fled to Scotland with Edgar the
Saxon Atheling after the attempt failed.
His earldom was given to the Fleming Robert de Commines who was
attacked by the Northumbrians and burnt alive when the Bishop's house at
Durham (where he was dining) was set alight on 28.1.1069.
Gospatric was pardoned by William I in 1070. From
about 1083-4 Carlisle was part of the diocese of Durham [Monasticon
i. 239-240].
After 1092 William Rufus ordered that this situation should
continue, the city was placed under a sheriff [Monasticon
i. 241]
and colonised with southerners. During
the reign of Henry I, Carlisle was united to other lands of the old
province of Cumbria. Ranulf
"le Meschin", earl of Chester held Carlisle for some years
before 1120 and was lord of Kendal, Ewecross and Copeland (of which
Egremont was caput), the 3 baronies between Cumberland and the Honour of
Lancaster (held for a short period from 1120-3). Ranulf resigned the lands into the king's hands in exchange
for the earldom of Chester sometime between 1120-23. In
1123 king Stephen held the Honour of Lancaster and the lands to the north
of it were divided into the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, a
boundary which the Scots regarded as established according to a charter of
David I. Robert Bruce
received Annadale "et totam
terram usque a divisa Dunegal de Straint usque ad divisam Randulfi
Meschine" held with all the rights that Ranulf ever had and his
land of Cumberland. Under
the treaty of 1136 between David of Scots and Stephen [John
of Hexham, p. 287],
the English king gave David the earldom Northampton, the Honour of
Huntingdon, Carlisle and Doncaster [Richard of
Hexham pp 145-6]. Carlisle must have included the whole of Cumberland. A
few years later David claimed the whole Honour of Lancaster and asserted
his lordship over Westmorland but the charters regarding these rights
cannot be dated precisely, the earliest of the two relating to the Honour
of Lancaster is dated before September 1141. Ranulf
of Chester held the lands between the Ribble and the Mersey before May
1147. In May 1149 David
released his claim to the Honour to earl Ranulf [John
of Hexham, Henry of Huntingdon].
In 1149 Henry II confirmed David's possession of the 3 northern
shires [Diceto, i. 376, Newburgh Bk I, c. 22, R.
de Monte p. 192, Hovedon]. The
Honour of Lancaster was granted to Ranulf of Chester by Stephen and by
Henry II - the dates of the charters are uncertain but he held the
southern part of the Honour by May 1147. The
Scottish claim to Northumbria and Cumbria was formally abandoned by the
Treaty of York in 1237. There
were several members of the family of Lucy mentioned during the Crecy and
Calais campaigns in 1345-6: Thomas,
Lord Lucy, who joined the 2nd division.after the defeat of the Scots at
Neville's Cross, was one those who displayed his banner. Thomas,
son of William Lucy, knight was exonerated for lands at Charlecote and was
allocated under Gloucester. William
Lucy of Charlecote served under Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (4th May
26 Edward III; Pipe Roll 26 Edward III & Memoranda Rolls 32 Edward
III) at Calais amongst the knights (15th June) and had letters of
protection. William
Lucy in the county of Warwick had to supply 160 men and to choose archers
in other countries. He was
ordered by writ (4th March at Westminster) to array men-at-arms in Warwick
aged 16 to 60 years for embarkation from Portsmouth in Mid-Lent and a writ
postponing departure also ordered him to choose 160 archers in Warwick. William
Lucy of Worcester was in the retinue of Thomas Beauchamp at Crecy and
Calais. Geoffrey
Lucy of Kent is recorded as having died 1346-7 at the siege of Calais. Lucys
of Charlecote, Warwickshire (arms "gules,
3 fishes haurient or") descended from the de Lucy heiress of
Egremont, Cumberland, wife of Thurstan de Montfort of Beaudesert
(descended from Hugh de Montfort who was at the battle of Senlac,
Hastings). The
manors of Charlecote and Coleshill were held in 1186 by Thurston de
Montfort of Beaudesert, enfeoffed by Henry de Newburgh.
Walter de Charlecote held the manor in 1203.
The last lord of Beaudesert, Warwickshire died in 1369/70 leaving a
bastard son Richard de Montfort of Kingshurst, Warwickshire. Charlecote
passed to Thurston II (younger son of Thurstan de Montfort I) who married
Cicely de Lucy of the Cumberland family and then to William de Lucy (Mons.
Ang.).
Sir William de Lucy and his wife Margaret held it in 1492 after
which it passed to Edmund de Lucy's widow Joan who married secondly
Richard Hungerford. Her son
Thomas Lucy married Elizabeth Empson, widow of George Catesby whose third
husband was Richard Verney of London. Margery, daughter of William I de Montfort married a Catesby.
The de Lucys were intermarried with the Burgoynes, fitzWyths,
Throckmortons, Hungerfords and Bouns (Bohuns?). Matilda
de Lucy of Warwickshire (probably Charlecote) married William Winter (d.
1397) of Town Barningham & Eggemere, Sheriff of Norfolk & Suffolk
(1380 & 1392) who was executor of Mary de St. Pol, Countess of
Pembroke (d. 1377), daughter of Guy de Chatillon, Count of St. Pol, Butler
of France. The
families of Montfort, Beaumont, Meulan and their cadets were descended
from Hainault and were intermarried.
Hugh and Robert (sons of Hugh III de Montfort-sur-Risle, younger
brother of Amaury of Montfort l'Amaury between Paris and Chartres) died on
the First Crusade and their English possessions passed to the second son
of their sister Alice, wife of Gilbert de Ghent.
He was Hugh IV, lord of Uppingham, Rutland and other places, who
took his mother's surname of Montfort-sur-Risle and married Adeline de
Beaumont, daughter of the earl of Leicester and grand daughter of Roger de
Beaumont by his wife Adeline de Meulan.
Adeline de Meulan's eldest brother Waleran, Count of Meulan,
married Agnes, daughter of Amaury de Montfort, count of Evreux.
Adeline de Beaumont's half-sister, Adeline de Warenne married
Henry, son of Maud (daughter of Walteof, earl of Northumbria by Judith of
Lens) and David I of Scotland. Adeline
de Beaumont's niece Isabel de Beaumont married Simon de Senlis II, Maud's
son by the earl of Northampton and Huntingdon. The
Lucys of Cumberland also settled in Birmingham and were connected by
marriage to the Morvilles. Hugh
Morville was involved in Becket's murder with William de Tracy, Richard le
Bret, Ranulf de Broc (ancestor of the Winters) and Reginald or Reynold
fitzUrse. Elsi,
son of Winter, had a grant from Hugh Morville of the lands of Thirlstane
near Lauder, Scotland before 1162 (Caledonia
I, p. 504).
Morville held Knaresborough Castle Yorkshire and died in1202 in the
reign of King John or perhaps this was another man of the same name.
He was a witness to a grant by Reynold fitzUrse to Robert fitzUrse,
of a moiety of Williton and the house there, the other moiety went to the
Knights Templar in alms for his soul.
Hugh de Morville left 2 daughters - his sword is at Brayton between
Whitehaven and Carlisle. Other
Flemings at the Conquest were Bailleul (Balliol), Ernisius the Crossbowman
(of Seaton, Rutland), Guisnes, Hesdin, Alost, Ardres, William Malet,
d'Aubigny, Engayne (Enghien), advocates of Bethune, St. Omer (Seymour),
Insula (de Lille), Douai, Quincy (Cuinchi), Cioques (Choques), de Ferrarrs
(from Ferriers or Fillievres in the county of St. Pol), de Furnes, de
Fiennes and de Faquemberg (Falconberg).
Many of them received lands especially in the Midlands.
Arnulf, brother of the Count of Hesdin (vassal of Boulogne) was
given manors in Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset,
Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire and Huntingdon.
Gilbert of Ghent, brother of Baldwin, lord of Alost (Eustace of
Boulogne's kinsmen - their aunt Adele was the count's grandmother) was
given manors in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Warwickshire,
Derbyshire, Oxford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, Leicester,
Nottingham, Rutland, Lincoln and York. Eustace
I of Boulogne was a Surrey landholder and came from an aristocratic
Flemish family as did many of his followers.
He was related to the Counts of Hainault, Louvain, Guisnes, Alost,
Lens, Vermandois, Hesdin and St. Pol. Eustace
I was given manors in Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, Somerset, Hertfordshire,
Bedfordshire, Oxford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk -
Nutfield, Surrey and Kingweston, Somerset were given to his second wife
Ida. He
first married Goda or Godgifu, sister of Edward the Confessor, who held
land in her own right in Surrey and elsewhere.
She married three times, first to Siward, earl of Northumbria by
whom she had Waltheof, secondly to Dreux of Mantes, Count of the Vexin (d.
1035) by whom she had a younger son-Roger of Suddeley (d. 1057) from whom
the family of de Tracy descend. She
married thirdly Eustace I of Boulogne and died before her brother Edward
the Confessor. Fig.
38
- Suddeley & de Tracy Warin
(d. 677 AD) or Hucbold, Count of Ostrevant
(d. after 895 AD) > descendant Walter, Count of Laon > Ralph de Gouy. OR:
Hucbold, Count of Ostrevant (d.
after 895 AD) = Heiliwich, d. of Eberhard of Friuli (d. 864-6 AD) by
Gisela, d. of Emperor Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne > Ralph de
Gouy. OR
Count Childebrand I, lord of Perrecy and Jully (d. 752), half-brother of
King Charles Martel who was grandfather of Charlemagne > Nibelung, lord
of Perrecy (living 768) > grandson Nibelung, Count of Vexin in 895 >
grandson Nibelung, Count of of Vexin in 864 > Count Theuderic (living
888) > Ralph de Gouy. Ralph
de Gouy, Count of Amiens (d. 926), son of Heiliwich > Ralph, Count of
Valois (d. 943) > Walter I, Count of Amiens, Vexin and Valois (d.
992-8) > grandson Dreux of Mantes, Count of Vexin (d. 1035) = Goda or
Godgifu, sister of King Edward the Confessor = (2) Eustace II of Boulogne
> no issue. By (1) younger
son Ralph (d. 1057) of Suddeley, Gloucestershire given English lands >
Harold held Suddeley and Toddington, Glos. and Chilvers Cotton, Warks. in
1086 > John de Suddeley = Grace, d. of William de Tracy, bastard son of
Henry I >: (a)
Ralph de Suddeley. (b)
William de Tracy > descendants Tracys of Toddington who held it till
1797. Eustace
II, Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, Advocate of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem and Baldwin, Count of Edessa & king of
Jerusalem (1110-17) were Eustace I's sons by his second wife Ida of
Lorraine called Ida of the Ardennes.
They were first cousins, on their mother's side, of Adeliza of
Louvain "Fair Maid of
Brabant", second wife of Henry I and subsequently countess of
Arundel. According to Robert
Cooke, Clarenceaux King of Arms, Adeliza was ancestress of the Winters of
Huddington, the Percies, earls of Northumberland, the Mowbrays and Howards,
earls and dukes of Norfolk, the fitzAlans of Clun and Oswestry (later
earls of Arundel), the Stuart kings of Scotland and the families of
Montalt, Tateshall (Tattersall), Cromwell and the d'Aubignys, earls of
Arundel. Eustace
II Count of Boulogne, descendant of Charlemagne, is pictured in the Bayeux
tapestry as one of a group of knights (including a son of Guy of Ponthieu,
Hugh Giffard and Geoffrey de Montfort) who killed earl Harold Godwinson. Most
of the Boullonais settled in the east Midlands.
Gant, Gand or Ghent received Lincoln, Peverell held Nottingham,
Aumale held Holderness, Walter and Hugh Fleming had Bedfordshire. Count Eustace gave his kinsman Arnold of Ardres land in 5
Bedfordshire villages. Gunfrid
and Sigar de Cioches (from Choques near Bethune, kinsmen of the hereditary
Advocates of Boulogne) received lands in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire and
Gloucestershire, their kinsman, Richard de Quincy (from Cuinchi, a
lordship near Douai) was given sub-tenancies in Northamptonshire by them.
Members of the Boulogne family (origin of the surname Boleyn)
settled in Brecon. When
William I "the Conqueror" died
on 7.9.1087, his eldest son Robert "Curthose"
became Duke of Normandy which was still considered more important than
England which was inherited by his second son Willam II "Rufus". This
split Normandy and England into two factions.
Rufus who ruled landholders from the Tweed to the borders of Anjou
and the Île de France, was intent on acquiring Normandy. In 1088 his uncles Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Robert of Mortain
and his kinsman William of Eu raised a rebellion in support of Robert of
Normandy in which Roger Montgomery of Bellême, earl Palatinate of
Shrewsbury, Bernard Newmarch, lord of Brecon, Robert Mowbray, warden of
Bamborough and Northumbria, Robert's uncle Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances,
Roger Bigod, Roger de Lacy and Gilbert de Clare of Tonbridge joined. In
1090-1 Rufus's brother, Henry the Atheling (later Henry I), accompanied by
Robert of Bellême, earl Roger's son, came to claim his mother's lands in
England and on their return to Normandy, were arrested as traitors and
imprisoned. The earl got Rufus's permission to cross over to Normandy to
help his son. All the Talvas
vassals flocked to support him so Robert "Curthose"
of Normandy made peace with Shrewsbury and released his prisoners.
Henry went to the Cotentin and prepared for war but fell out with
Rufus who had given his mother's lands to Robert fitzHamon.
When Rufus invaded Normandy in 1000, the men of Rouen, led by a man
named Conan, opened the city gates to the English troops.
Robert of Normandy sent for help to his erstwhile prisoners, his
brother Henry and Robert of Bellême, who came to his aid and defeated
Rufus. Conan was thrown from the castle tower, his body was dragged
through the streets of Rouen at a horse's tail and thrown into the Seine. In
1095 another rebellion occurred in which men who had been pardoned for
taking part in Odo's conspiracy of 1089 were involved - they were Hugh
Montgomery of Bellême, earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Lacy, Gilbert de
Clare of Tonbridge, Odo of Champagne, lord of Holderness (husband of Adela,
the Conqueror's half-sister) and Robert Mowbray, earl of Northumberland
who was captured but later released, becoming a monk at St. Albans.
Roger de Lacy and Odo of Champagne lost their English lands, Hugh
Montogmery and others escaped by paying heavy fines, others not so lucky
were hanged or blinded. William
of Eu not only lost his sight but was also castrated. Meanwhile
Robert of Normandy decided to go on Crusade and in 1096 offered Normandy
in pawn for the sum of 10,000 marks to be repaid at the end of 3 years. He led a force of troops from Normandy, Maine, Anjou,
Brittany and England, which after losses, numbered 15,000 when they took
part at the siege of Antioch. Amongst
them was Odo of Bayeux (who died at Palermo, Sicily when returning to
England), Edgar the Saxon Atheling (Robert's brother-in-arms), William de
Percy of York (benefactor of Whitby Abbey), Arnulf de Hesdin (of Flemish
descent) and Baldwin Godwinson (who remained in Palestine and was martyred
by the Saracens in 1102). Robert
of Normandy was at the sieges of Jerusalem and Antioch and was offered the
crown of the Holy City. Rufus
died on 2.8.1100 whilst hunting in the New Forest, killed by an arrow said
to have been shot by Walter Tyrell, brother-in-law of Rufus's enemy
Gilbert de Clare. Tyrell fled
abroad, he denied having killed the king, his estates were not confiscated
neither was he punished. Giraldus
Cambrensis in "De Institutione Principum" maintained Radulphus (Ralph or
Raoul) of Acquis was the murderer. Henry
was one of the hunting party but did not witness his brother's murder or
accidental death but on hearing of it, rode at full speed to Winchester,
followed by Duke Robert of Normandy's supporter, the Treasurer William of
Breteuil (d. 1189 of leprosy), younger son of Robert fitzPernel, earl of
Leicester. William of Breteuil demanded the keys but Henry drew his
sword, saying Robert was an alien. Duke
Robert returned to Normandy in 1100 and married an heiress of Hauteville,
Sybilla of Conversana, great-niece of Robert Guiscard, king of Sicily. Robert of Normandy invaded England in 1101 but when his
troops met Henry at Alton, Hampshire he agreed to accept a pension of
3,000 marks and was promised the recovery of his county of Maine. Curthose's
supporters, the three Montgomery brother, Robert of Bellême, Arnulf of
Pembroke and Roger of Poitou rebelled in 1102, helped by Llywelyn ap
Iorwerth, but were defeated and lost all their lands in England.
Robert of Bellême returned to Normandy, Arnulf fled to Dublin and
spent his time between Ireland and Normandy. Robert
of Normandy came to England in 1103 in support of William, earl of Warenne
and Surrey who had been promised an amnesty by Henry I but this promise
had never been fulfilled. He
was met by Robert of Meulen who told him the king regarded his visit as an
attempt to stir up a new rebellion and Robert, unable to return to
Normandy because of unfavourable winds, was forced to surrender his
pension to Henry's queen, Matilda. William de Warenne had his earldom restored him but Henry
insisted that his Norman fief of Breteuil should be given to the king's
illegitimate daughter Juliana. Normandy
became a refuge for dissatisfied English barons, who plotted with Robert
of Bellême whom Curthose was unable to restrain so Henry invaded and
conquered Normandy in 1105-6l., buying off Curthose's allies, Robert,
Count of Flanders and the King of France.
Curthose was captured after the battle of Tinchebrai and imprisoned
in Devizes and later at Cardiff where he died in 1134.
One of his followers, his cousin William of Mortain, was blinded
but later freed in 1140 and became a monk. Robert's
infant son William Clito (Cliton or Prince) had fallen into Henry I's
hands after the battle of Tinchebrai on 18.9.1106 and was handed over to
his uncle, the Count of Arques, who had married Robert Curthose's natural
daughter. Many Normans including Robert Montgomery of Bellême
(imprisoned in 1112 ) favoured Clito's claim to the Duchy of Normandy. In
1111 the Count of Arques, fearing (with reason) that Henry I would repent
of having spared his nephew, carried his ward into France.
Louis "le Gros"
of France tried to enlist the Pope on the Clito's behalf. In
1123-5 William Clito married Sybilla, daughter of Fulk of Anjou.
Fulk raised a rebellion against his erstwhile ally Henry I but the
Pope declared the Clito's marriage null and void.
The Pope was supported by Henry I's son-in-law, the Holy Roman
Emperor Henry V (d. 23.5.1125) "the Lion" who had married the Princess Matilda, William
the Atheling's twin sister in 1114. William
Clito then married the French queen's sister in January 1127 and Henry I
married his daughter, the Dowager Holy Roman Empress Matilda, to Fulk of
Anjou's son Geoffrey as her second husband the same year which caused
several Normans (who disapproved of serving their erstwhile Angevin enemy)
to join the Clito. When
Henry I died in Normandy, no one wanted his daughter Matilda the Empress
to succeed. Both Theobald,
Count of Blois and his brother Stephen, count of Boulogne (the Conqueror's
grandsons through his daughter Adela and Stephen of Blois) had strong
claims to the throne. The
Norman knights invited Theobald to rule but Stephen sailed for England
where he was crowned whilst Theobald was still preparing to invade so he
renounced his claim and persuaded the Pope to recognise his brother's
claim (supported by France and Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, their
brother) on the grounds that Matilda was a nun's daughter and
illegitimate. Her mother
Edith or Matilda was daughter of Edward the Saxon Atheling's sister
Margaret, queen of the Scots king Malcolm Canmore and she had been brought
up in England by her aunt, the abbess Christine.
There was doubt at the time whether or not Edith-Matilda had taken
her final vows which she denied doing, saying she had sometimes worn a
nun's habit as a protection against unwanted suitors - a practice so
common that Abbot Lanfranc had even issued a special canon, exempting
noble ladies who did so, from their religious obligations as nuns. King
Stephen's wife was Matilda of Boulogne, grand daughter of Eustace II,
Count of Boulogne, heiress and countess of Bolougne in her own right.
Her son Eustace (d. 1153) was heir to the English throne but Thomas
a'Becket persuaded the Pope not to accept him. Fig
39
- Counts of Boulogne Berta, d. of Charlemagne = Angilbert, Count of Ponthieu, the poet courtier, overlord of Boulogne> their descendant William of Ponthieu helped Louis d'Outremer, king of France to keep his throne.> his son Ernicule of Ponthieu was given Boulogne by Louis d'Outremer >: (a)
Arnoul (obsp) (b)
Eustace (obsp) (c)
Mahaut = Adolf, Count of Guisnes > Guy "Blank Barbe",
Count of Boulogne >
Baldwin = Adele de Gand, sister of lord of Alost > Eustace I "l''oeil",
Count of
Boulogne = Maud of Louvain, grand d. of Charles, Duke of Lorraine,
Charlemagne's
last direct male heir and last male heir of the Carolingian rulers
of France > Eustace
II "al gernons"
= (1) Goda or Godgifu, sister of Edward the Confessor.
Eustace =
(2) Ida, d. of the duke of Bas-Lorraine. By
(2) >:
1. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, conqueror of
Jerusalem &
Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre
2. Baldwin, Count of Edessa, king of Jerusalem
3. Eustace III =
Matilda of Scotland > Matilda of Bouloge = King Stephen of
England (see Fig. 8) Stephen
was weak and his followers, many of whom he had bribed with favours, soon
deserted him and joined Matilda's party, headed by Robert of Caen, Consul
of Gloucester, Henry I's illegitimate son and Matilda's half-brother. In
1138 the Scottish king David I (earl of Huntingdon by right of his wife
Maud, daughter of Waltheof, last earl of Northumbria) demanded the earldom
of Northumberland for his son Henry and raided England.
The barons in the south and west, led by Geoffrey Talbot, took the
opportunity to rebel. 15-16
castles held for Empress Matilda's supporters including the Mohuns' castle
of Dunster, the de Lacys' castle of Ludlow as well as Bristol and
Shrewsbury. Stephen also
failed to get the support of Miles fitzWalter, lord of Brecon, sheriff and
justiciar of Gloucester and earl Robert of Gloucester held Glamorgan for
Matilda. In the north the
Battle of the Standard was successfully fought by the English barons who
supported Stephen against David I and the men of Galloway and a peace
treaty signed on 9.4.1139 gave prince Henry the earldom of Northumberland
(except for the castles of Bamborough and Newcastle) in exchange for the
earldoms of Huntingdon and Northampton and Scottish troops to fight
Matilda's supporters. Stephen
then antagonised Roger le Poer, bishop of Salisbury whose son another
Roger le Poer, was the Chancellor, one nephew Nigel was bishop of Ely and
another Alexander of Lincoln, had influence at court. In
1139 Matilda's supporter, Baldwin of Redvers landed at Wareham, Dorset and
seized Corfe castle, William de Mohun fortified Dunster and the castellan
of Marlborough started burning and pillaging.
The Empress landed on the 30.9.1139, accompanied by her
half-brother Robert and 140 knights.
Robert marched to Bristol whilst Matilda took refuge with the Queen
Dowager Adeliza of Louvain and her second husband William d'Aubigny at
Arundel castle in Sussex. Stephen
marched there but allowed the Empress a safe-conduct to meet her brother -
she was received by Miles fitzWalter of Gloucester, lord of Brecon.
Robert sacked and burned Worcester, Hereford was captured and Brian
of Wallingford joined the rebels. Many
lords took the opportunity to pillage and torture (the worst were Geoffrey
de Mandeville, Earl of Essex in the Cambridgeshire fens, William Comyn, a
Scotsman in Durham, William of Aumale in Yorkshire, Robert fitzHubert in
Devizes, William of Dover in Cricklade, Phillip of Gloucester and Phillip
Gay in Bristol - all Stephen's supporters) so a state of anarchy and
famine reigned, described by contemporary historians as "the
winter of our discontent." In
1141 Ranulf le Meschin, earl of Chester, having failed to recover the
Honour of Carlisle from David I (to whom Henry I had given it in 1136) or
to assassinate the Scots king, joined his half-brother William of Roumare
(created earl of Lincoln by Stephen but aggrieved because the castle of
Lincoln had not been included with the earldom) to support Matilda.
Stephen was captured at Lincoln after his Flemish and Breton
mercenaries deserted him and imprisoned in chains at Bristol.
Only Kent held for Stephen under William of Ypres and Loo, heir of
Flanders and Stephen's wife Matilda of Boulogne.
The king's brother, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester defected
to the Empress and allowed her to enter the city.
Londoners demanded Stephen's release and the city capitulated
within two months but rose up when the Empress demanded tax - she fled
from Westminster to Oxford whilst William of Ypres and Matilda of Boulogne
entered London. The
Papal legate began corresponding with Stephen so the Empress, her
half-brother brother Robert of Caen and David of Scots besieged him at
Wolvesey castle in Winchester where Stephen's followers came to his aid.
Robert of Gloucester (d. 1147) was captured, imprisoned and then
exchanged for Stephen. Matilda
fled to Gloucester and appealed for help from her husband, Geoffrey of
Anjou, who was attempting to conquer Normandy piecemeal so sent his young
son to England instead. Meanwhile
Stephen captured Oxford from where the Empress fled during the night. Stephen's
wife Matilda of Boulogne arranged for the marriage of the French princess
Constance to her son Eustace but the bride-to-be was captured in London
and held for ransom by Geoffrey de Mandeville whom Stephen had created
earl of Essex but joined the Empress who made him "custos"
of the Tower of London as well as sheriff and justiciar of Essex.
Mandeville then returned to Stephen who made him sheriff and
justiciar of London, Middlesex and Hertfordshire - he turned his coat
again and joined Matilda! When
Stephen discovered his treachery, he was arrested but was released in
exchange for surrendering London and all his castles but rebelled, seizing
Ramsey Abbey, sacking Cambridge and St. Ives and pillaging until he was
killed in 1144 by a stray arrow. In
Normandy, Rouen fell in January 1144 to Geoffrey of Anjou (helped by the
king of France and the Count of Flanders) and Arques capitulated in summer
1145. Robert
of Gloucester died in 1174 so Matilda returned to Normandy.
The Angevin party was now led by her son prince Henry Plantagenet
who had left England in 1146 but returned in 1149.
He confirmed Stephen's grant of Cumberland and Northumberland to
David of Scots in exchange for his help and appeased Ranulf "le Meschin", earl of Chester for the loss of Carlisle by
giving him the Honour of Lancaster but he was outbid by Stephen. Henry
returned to rule Normandy on his father Geoffrey's death in 1151. He married Eleanor, heiress of Aquitaine, the divorced wife
of Louis VII of France. Stephen's
feud with the church prevented his son Eustace from getting a title which
encouraged Henry of Anjou to invade England in 1153, capturing Malmesbury
and Oxford. Eustace died in
August 1153 and Stephen gave up all hope of continuing his struggle,
recognising Henry's right to the throne, requesting that his lands be
given to his second son, William of Blois, earl of Surrey. The
terms of the Treaty of Alton also included the dismissal of mercenaries
and demolition of 1,115 illegal castles.
When King Stephen died in October 1153-4, Henry II campaigned
against the Flemings. Hugh
and Walter went to Scotland, Senlis was disinherited in favour of the
Scottish king David. During the civil between Stephen and the Empress Matilda, the king's Flemish mercenaries earned a bad reputation for sacking and pillaging through England. They were led by William of Ypres, Burgrave of Loo, legitimate heir to Flanders and King Stephen's commander so many Flemings flocked to join his troops. William
of Ypres was given Queenshithe in London: "Ripa
Regina, the Queenes bank or Queene hithe may well be accounted the very
chief and principal water gate of this city, being a common strand
or landing place. Touching
the antiquity and use of this gate and hithe, first the same belongeth to
one named Edred, and was then Edred's hithe, which since falling to the
hands of King Stephen, it was by his charter confirmed to William
de Ypre (Liber Trinitate); the farm thereof in fee and inheritage,
William de Ypre gave unto the prior and convent of the Holy Trinity within
Aldgate, as appeareth by this charter: "To Theobald,
by the grace of God, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of England and
legate apostolike, to the Bishoppe of London and to all faithfull people,
clarkes and layemen, William
de Ypre sendeth
greeting. Know ye me to have given and graunted to God, and to
the church of the Holy Trinity of London, to the prior and canons
there
serving God in perpetuall almes, Edred's hithe, with the appurtenances
with such devotion, that they shall send every yeare twentie pounds unto
the maintenance of the hospital of St. Katherens, which hospitall they
have in their hands, and one hundred shillings to the monkes of Bermondsey,
and sixty shillings to the brethren of the hospitall of St. Giles, and
that which remayneth,
the said
prior and canons shall enjoy to themselves.
Witnesses Richard de Lucie,
Ralph Picot etc. This
Edred's hithe after the aforesaid grant, came again to the king's hands,
and pertained unto the queen, and therefore, was called Ripa Regina, the
Queen's bank or Queen's hithe and great profit was made to her use.
King Henry II in the 9th of his reign, commanded the constables of
the Tower of London to arrest the ships of the Cinque Ports on the river
of Thames, and to compel them to bring their corne to no other place, but
to the Queen's hithe only. In
the 11th of his reign, he charged the said constables to distrain all fish
offered to be sold in any place of this city, but at the Queenehithe. West
from the said church on the same side was one great messuage called Ipres
Inn of William Ipres, a Fleming,
the first builder thereof. This
William was called out of Flanders with a number of Flemings to aid of
King Stephen against Maude the empress, in the year 1138 and grew in
favour with the said king for his service in so far that he built this his
house near Tower Royall, in the tower it seemeth the king was then lodged
as in the heart of the city for his more safety.
Robert, earl of Gloucester, brother of the Empress being taken, was
committed to the custody of this William to be kept in the castle of
Rochester, till King Stephen was also taken and then the one was delivered
in exchange for the other and both set free.
This William of Ipres gave Edredshithe now called the Queenshithe
to the prior and canons of the Holy Trinity in London, he founded the
abbey of Boxley in Kent etc. In
the first of Henry II, the said William with all the other Flemings,
fearing the indignation of the new king, departed the land but it seemeth
that said William was shortly called back again and restored both the
king's favour and to his old possessions here so that the name and family
continued long after in this realm. In the year 1377 the 51st of Edward III, the citizens of
London, minding to have destroyed John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster and
Henry Percie, marshall sought up and down and could not find them, for
they were that day to dine with John of Ipres his inn.
("Survey
of London"
- John Stow) William
of Ypres and Loo was one of the heirs to Flanders. Fig.
40 - Counts of Flanders Baldwin
V of Lille (d. 1070) = Ethel, d. of Robert the Wise, King of France >: 1.
Baldwin VI (d. 1070) = Richilde of Hainault > Baldwin I of Hainault (d.
1102) >
Baldwin II (d. 1113) > Baldwin III of Hainault > Baldwin IV
of Hainault & VIII of
Flanders = Marguerite, d. of Direck of Alsace by Sybil of Anjou. 2.
Judith of Flanders = Tostig, earl of Northumbria (1055 d. 1066 at Stamford
Bridge). 3.
Matilda of Flanders = William I of England >:
(a) Robert, duke of Normandy = Sibilla of Conversana, great niece
of Robert
Guiscard of Hauteville > William Cliton (d. 1128) = (1) Sibilla
of Anjou (annulled)
= (2) sister of Louis VI "le
Gros's" wife (1127).
(b) Henry I = (1) Matilda of Scotland = (2) Adeliza of Louvain.
By (1) >:
(A) William “the
Atheling”
(d. in wreck of “White
Ship”)
(B) Matilda the Empress = Henry “the
Lion”,
Holy Roman Emperor = (2) Geoffrey
Plantagenet of Anjou. Henry
I = (2) Adeliza of Brabant & Louvain = (2)
William d’Aubigny, earl of Arundel.
(c) Adela (d. 1137) = Stephen of Blois (d. 1102) > Stephen of
England = Matilda of
Boulogne (d. 1154). 4.
Robert I the Frisian (d. 1092) = Gertrude of Saxony, widow of Florence,
Count of
Holland & Friesland >:
(a) Robert II (d. 111) = Clemence of Burgundy > Baldwin VII
Hapkin (d. 1119).
(b) Philip of Ypres (d. 1093) = the Lady of Loo >
William of Loo & Ypres =
d. of Godfrey of Brabant (sister of the English Queen Adeliza of
Louvain).
(c) Adela = Canute, king of Denmark > Charles "the
Good"
(d. 1126) =
Marguerite of Clermont = (2) Dierick of Alsace (d. 1168) = Sybil of
Anjou.
By (2) > Marguerite = Baldwin IV of Hainault & VIII of
Flanders. William
of Loo's aunt, Clemence of Burgundy, Dowager Countess of Flanders married
(2) the duke of Brabant. Before
the the murder of Charles "the
Good" of Denmark, Count of Flanders, some of the Flemings wanted
to despose him and choose William instead.
After Charles's murder, William was considered the nex heir by the
men of Ypres but was opposed by the French king Louis who wanted to make
William Clito (son of Robert, duke of Normandy) the next count. William
of Ypres and Loo was married to his cousin, a daughter of Godfrey of
Brabant and Louvain, Count of Lower Lorraine whose wife was William's
aunt. William's wife was
sister of Queen Adeliza of Louvain "The
Fair Maid of Brabant". Adeliza
married Henry I as his second wife in 1120 (after the wreck of the "White Ship" or
"Blanche Nef" when Henry's heir Prince William the Atheling
was drowned) and after the king's death, she married as her second
husband, William d'Aubigny, earl of Arundel. William
of Ypres's claim to Flanders was backed by the powerful Karlish family of
the Erembalds, one of whom, Burchard de Erembald (nephew of Desiderius
Hacket) murdered Charles "the
Good" of Denmark, Count of Flanders on 2.3.1126.
William failed to support the Karls when they fell and was
suspected of being involved in Charles of Denmark's murder so lost the
chance of becoming Count of Flanders. The
French king Louis VI "le Gros"
warned the barons and burghers of Bruges "to
have nothing to do with William of Ypres because he is a bastard born of a
noble father and a mother of vile birth, who all her life was a weaver of
thread (she
was a Karline) but
to come forthwith to Arras and there choose in my presence a prince worthy
of Flanders." This
prince was the son of Robert Curthose of Normandy, named William "Clito”
or “Cliton" meaning
Prince (d. 4.8.1128 when besieging Alost), who was married to Louis's
sister-in-law. William of
Ypres was captured by Clito who was soon deposed by Dierick of Alsace. In
the midst of all the chaos of the English civil war, Pope Eugenius III and
St. Bernard preached the Second Crusade in 1147 after the fall of the
Christian kingdom of Edessa. Flemish,
German and English crusaders flocked to the Holy Land, led by Louis VII
(who took his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine to the Holy Land), pausing on
their way to help king Alfonso I of Portugal against the Saracens at the
siege of Lisbon. The
Flemings had led the first Crusade - Robert II, Count of Flanders, the
counts of Hainault, Vermandois, Baldwin, lord of Alost, Hugh of St. Pol
and his son Engelram, Stephen of Aumale, (Countess Judith of
Northumberland's half-brother), Stephen of Senlis (her son-in-law) and her
cousins Eustace III of Boulogne, Baldwin, Count of Edessa (later king of
Jerusalem) and Godfrey, Advocate or Guardian of the Holy Sepulchre.
Amongst the Flemish contingent from England were Guy and Robert de
Montfort (nephews of Baldwin of Alost and his brother, Gilbert of Ghent),
Arnulf of Hesdin, Guy de Insula (Lille), Arnold de Choques (tutor to
Cecily, daughter of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy and went to the Holy
Land with him), Hugh de Fauquemberg and Warner de Grey (cousin of the
Counts of Boulognes through his mother Ida of Boullion). Jerusalem
was captured during the First Crusade on 15.7.1099 by the Christians who
entered the city, massacred the inhabitants, whether Christian, Jew or
Moslem and wading through a sea of blood up to their horses' knees,
reached the Holy Sepulchre. William,
archbishop of Tyre, writing 90 years after the event said "The
city offered a spectacle of such a slaughter of enemies, such a profusion
of bloodshed, that the victors themselves could not help but be struck
with horror and disgust." Arnold
de Choques was the first Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Godfrey of
Bouillon, former Count of Lower Lorraine, was made Advocate of the Holy
Sepulchre and his brother Baldwin, count of Edessa, who after Godfrey's
death, was crowned king of Jerusalem.
Baldwin's wife Godvere de Toeny was sister-in-law of Alice de St
Lis or Senlis, wife of Ralph de Toeny and sister of Maud de Senlis (wife
of Robert de Clare) Baldwin
was succeeded by his cousin Baldwin du Bourg who married as his second
wife, an Armenian princess, Morphia, daughter of Gabriel of Melitene. Hugh
de Faquemberg or Falconberg (who held lands in Northampton, Yorkshire and
Saint-Omer), became lord of Tiberias and Prince of Galilee, Rainier de
Brus, lord of Banyas (his cousin Robert held lands in Yorkshire and
Rutland). One of the Montforts remained as adminstrator in Palestine,
the other died there. Their
nephew (son of their sister Alice, wife of Gilbert de Ghent) became their
heir in England, taking the name of Montfort-sur-Risle.
A descendant Thurstan de Montfort of Beaudesert married the heiress
of Lucy and took her surname - they were ancestors of the Lucys of
Charlecote, Warwickshire. After Stephen died in October 1154, Henry II dismissed the Flemings (encouraged by Thomas a'Becket) or allowed them to settle in Pembroke from where many followed their lords on further conquests in Wales (as well as Strongbow to Ireland) as did those already settled in the Welsh Marches, especially from Monmouth which had been held by William fitzOsbern of Breteuil, Count of Flanders by right of his wife, the Dowager Countess Richilde. |