The Golden Falcon

The Golden Falcon

Chapter III/3 - Fleming

It must have been natural for the Flemish mercenaries, settled in Pembroke in 1155, to associate with the Welsh longbowmen.  The surname Winter (of Germanic origin), also found in the Netherlands and Belgium, is encountered in Britain in the same areas as the surname Bowman, deriving from Crossbowman.

 

Henry II also settled Pembroke and Cardigan (which he gave to the de Clares) with Flemings from the north of England who became sheep breeders.  The families involved in sheep farming and cloth weaving were Flemings and during Henry II's reign (1190-1135) Flemish merchants went to fairs and monasteries searching for wool for their looms.  The demand for wool in Flemish communes during King John's reign (1199-1214) was supplied by Gilbertine, Cistercian and Premonstratensian monks and descendants of Flemings in South Wales.  In 1271 Flemish weavers were banished from England by Henry III.

 

Members of the families of Hacket and Cromelyn may have been amongst King Stephen's Flemish mercenaries who settled in England.  Cromellin is also a Picard name and Picardy was on the borders with Flanders.  After Charles "the Good" of Denmark, count of Flanders was murdered on 2.3.1126 by the karl Burchard of Erembald, nephew of Desiderius Hacket, head of the house of Erembald (who fled with his young son Robert to his son-in-law Walter Cromlin, lord of Lissweghe).  One legend has it that Burchard fled to southern Ireland (where the surname Hacket existed in the 1600s).

 

The empress Matilda was designated as her father Henry I's successor and the Great Council of England did homage to her on Christmas Day, 1126 in the presence of Henry I, her uncle David of Scotland and her cousin Stephen, count of Mortaigne and Boulogne who swore fealty to her.  The proclamation of Matilda led to the marriage of Robert of Normandy's son William Clito to the French Queen's sister in January 1127.  The Clito's claim on Normandy was revived and he was invested with Flanders.  Henry I then betrothed Matilda to Geoffrey Plantagenet, heir of Fulk of Anjou (who became king of Jerusalem on his marriage to the heiress Melisande in 1128).

 

On Henry II's death in 1135 (9 years after Charles of Denmark's murder) Stephen claimed the English throne.

 

Desiderius Hacket of the Flemish house of Erembald was a Karl.  The Karls did not belong to the nobility - they despised feudalism and were lawless freemen, hereditary chiefs of commercial circles or guilds.

 

Countess Richilde of Hainault, widow of Baldwin the Good (d. 1070), Count of Flanders (who married William fitzOsbern, earl of Hereford, as her second husband), became involved in a conspiracy against the Karls who helped Robert I "The Frisian" (d. 1092) to seize Flanders.  Both William fitzOsbern and Arnulf (his son by Richilde) died at the battle of Cassel.

 

After Robert I the Frisian's conquest, the Karls' rights as freemen were acknowledged throughout Flanders, their chiefs were received at court on an equal footing with the nobles, they occupied high positions in the church and state, their daughters were married to feudal lords and Robert I's own son Philip, Viscount of Ypres (William of Loo's father) married a Karline, the lady of Loo.  Erembald, a Karl of Furness, was made Chatelain of Bruges, the highest civil appointment in Flanders and one of his sons was made Provost of the Collegiate Church of St. Donation in Bruges, the highest ecclesiastical post.  Robert I's son and heir Robert II, Count of Flanders followed this policy.  Amongst the knights who followed him to Jerusalem was Erembald of Bruges whose son Robert was Count's friend and trusted servant.

 

In 1111 Robert II was thrown from his horse in a narrow lane and trampled to death by his own knights at the siege of Meaux.  His 18-year old son Baldwin VII "Hapkin" was entirely under the influence of his cousin and guardian Charles "the Good" of Denmark who became his minister and then his successor.  Charles was nephew of Robert II whose sister Adela married Canute, king of Denmark.  Charles's wife, Marguerite of Clermont, married secondly Dierick of Alsace (d. 1168), son of Gertrude, Adela's sister.  He became the next heir marrying Sybil of Anjou as his second wife.

 

Charles came into conflict with the Karls who boasted that they had helped him to power but he hated them because of their pride and lawlessness.  They regarded bearing of arms an inherent right of freemen and when the Count issued an edict forbidding all men except his own officers to go armed, they considered it an attempt against their liberty.

 

Desiderius Hacket was head of the most powerful Karlish family of Erembald.  He was Châtelain of Bruges (the Erembalds had been Châtelains for nearly 100 years), his brother Bertulph was Provost of St. Donatian's, hereditary chancellor and chief of the Count's Household.

 

The Erembalds fell out with the feudal house of Straten, whose head Tancmar, having no sons, adopted his nephews Gilbert and Walter called "The Winged Lie".  Walter of Straten quarrelled with Richard, lord of Raeske who challenged him to single combat whereupon Walter refused saying Richard had married a serf.  His wife was a Karline and the Count had issued another edict decreeing that "a freemen who married a slave should after a year's wedlock, cease to be free and sink to his wife's condition".

 

This led to a feud between the two families.  When Charles returned from France, he was met by a deputation of Straten retainers who complained that Burchard de Erembald had plundered their properties whereupon the Count personally supervised the razing of Burchard's house at Straten.

 

Burchard murdered Charles on 2.3.1126 whilst he was praying at St. Donatian's Cathedral.  This led to the Isegrins or nobles, led by William of Ypres and Loo (with help from Charles "le Gros" of France), going to war against the Karls.  The Erembalds (including Wilfred Cnopp, Hacket's brother) were thrown from a tower where they had taken refuge, Bertulph was hanged from a cross in the marketplace of Bruges, his nephew Burchard was either killed in a duel with his cousin Robert the Child or escaped to Ireland, Robert the Child was murdered by Louis "le Gros" on the way back to France and Hacket and his son Robert fled across the salt marshes to his son-in-law Walter Cromlin, the powerful lord of Lisseweghe.

 

Hacket was later restored to his former position, became canon of St. Donatians, then Dean and later Abbot of Dunes.  He founded a branch of Dunes at Lisseweghe called Ter Doest Abbey.  Amongst his descendants was Louis of Gruthuise made earl of Winchester by Edward IV.

 

There was a branch of the Hacket family in Ireland - Thomas Hacket, mayor of Dublin (1688) whose coat of arms was "gules, 3 hakes haurient in fess argent, on a chief or, 3 trefoils slipped proper".  Crest "out of a mural crown or, an eagle displayed with 2 heads sable", Motto "Spes mea Deus".

 

The Hackets also held the manor of Coston Hacket in Worcestershire which came to the Costons and then to the Hoddingtons (ancestors of the Winters) due to the failure of the Coston line.  ("The parishes of the diocese of Worcester", Vol 2, p. 38 - Millar).  This family also held Broughton Hacket.  In the 1100s the Costons held the manors of Warthvil or Wychall and Coston Richard (which came to the Huddingtons) - the castellan of Caernarvon from whom the Huddingtons and Winters claimed descent may have been Thomas de Coston (1300) possibly the last male of his line.

 

Richard Cromleyn (who held the manor of Huddington and paid a subsidy there in 1327) may have been a descendant of Walter Cromlin (whose wife was Desiderius Hacket's daughter) and may therefore have been a relative of the Hackets in England.  The Cromleyn arms were "azure, 3 fishes (salmons) naiant or" and their crest "a fawn's head cabossed."

 

Some of King Stephen's Flemish mercenaries settled in Pembrokeshire where there was a colony of their fellow countrymen who were sheep farmers from East Anglia.  The humbler Flemings were transported to remote farms, others became outlaws rounded up by the sheriff of Nottingham.  Sherwood Forest (which stretched from Rockingham in Northamptonshire to Barnsdale in Yorkshire) was their refuge - the Flemish knights of Lens were elite crossbowmen and archers.

 

Robert fitzWalter de Clare of Woodham Walter and Dunmow, Essex and Baynard's Castle, banner bearer of London, was the great grandson of Simon of Senlis and Maud of Lens.

 

The "Maid Marion" of legend was lord Robert fitzWalter de Clare's daughter, known as Matilda "the Fair" pursued by King John and poisoned at Dunmow in 1213 when she refused his advances, thus sparking of the Magna Carta rebellion.

 

Baynard's Castle in London and Little Dunmow were given to Robert fitzWalter, son of Richard fitzGilbert de Clare (descendant of the Dukes of Normandy) when the previous owner, William, son of Geoffrey Baynard, forefeited it for felony in 1111.

 

"In the west of this city saith fitzStephen are two most strong castles.  Also Gervasius Tilbury in the reign of Henry II writing of these castles, hath to this effect: "Two castels" saith he "are built with walles and rampires whereof one is, in right of possession, Baynardes; the other the Barons of Mountfichet."

 

The first of these castles, banking on the river Thames, was called Baynard's Castle, of Baynard a nobleman, that came in with the Conqueror, and then built it, and deceased in the reign of William Rufus; after whose decease Geoffry Baynard succeeded and then William Baynard, in the year 1111, who by forfeiture for felony, lost his barony of Little Dunmow and King Henry gave it wholly to Robert, the son of Richard, the son of Gilbard of Clare, and to his heirs, together with the honour of Baynard's Castle".  ("Survey of London" - John Stow)

 

Philip de Braoise, William Malet and William Bainard were summarily sentenced to forfeiture and exile in 1110 by Henry I.

 

The Malet family originated in Graville at the mouth of the Seine.  They were Flemings whose names appear in Flemish charters and one of them, William Malet I, fought at Hastings.  In 1068 Malet and Gilbert of Ghent were given command of the Norman garrison at York which was attacked by a joint Danish and English force that killed everyone except Malet and Gilbert of Ghent who were led away in chains and held to ransom.

 

His sons Robert, William II and Gilbert supported Robert Curthose of Normandy, were banished in 1106 after battle of Tinchebrai and fled to Flanders where in 1111 Baldwin VII gave them, by charters, the lands of Erneghem, Ichteghem, Coucklaere and Bovekerk near the border with Guines.  Robert's sons remained in Flanders, Gilbert's made peace with Henry II and regained some of their English lands and William returned to Graville.  Their arms "or, 3 fermails (buckles) gules" and the variants "argent, on a bend sable, 3 buckles of the field", argent, on a bend azure, 3 buckles or" and "argent, on a bend gules, 3 round buckles or" were inherited by the Scots families of Leslie and Stirling and the Cassys of Droitwich, Worcestershire and Deerhurst, Gloucestershire (ancestors of the Winters).  Robert Malet held Bedingfield, Suffolk and was ancestor of the family called Bedingfeld whose manor house was called Flemings Hall.  The Bedingfelds were linked by marriage to the Winters of Barningham, Norfolk.  Another branch of the Malets held Emore in Somerset and were ancesters of Sir Baldwin Malet.

 

"This Robert1 married Maude Sent Licio2, lady of Bradham and deceased 1134; was buried at St. Needes by Gilbert of Clare, his father.

 

Walter his son succeeded him; he took to wife Matilda de Bocham3 and after her decease, Matilde, the only daughter and co-heir of Richard de Lucy, on whom he begat Robert and others: deceased in the year 1198, and was buried at Dunmow; after whom succeeded Robert fitzWa(l)ter, a valiant knight.

 

About the year 1213 there arose a great discord between King John (1199-1216) and his barons, because Matilda, surnamed “the Fair”, daughter to the said Robert fitzWa(l)ter, whom the king unlawfully loved but could not obtain her, nor her father would consent thereunto, whereupon, and for other like causes, ensued war through the whole realm.  The barons were received into London, where they greatly endamaged the king; but in the end the king did not only thereon banish the said fitzWa(l)ter amongst other, out of the realm, but also caused his castle called Baynard, and other his houses, to be spoiled; which thing being done, a messenger being sent unto Matilda the Fair about the king's suit, whereupon she would not consent, she was poisoned.  Virginitie defended with the losse of worldly goods and life of the bodie for life of the soule.  Robert fitzWa(l)ter and other, being then passed into France and some into Scotland. (“Liber Dunmow” quoted by John Stow in ”Survey of London”).

 

1 (fitzGilbert de Clare).

2 Maud de St. Hillary or St. Hilaire du Harcouet, ancestor of the Winters - according to

  other sources she was daughter of Simon de Senlis, earl of Northampton

3 Maud de Beauchamp or Maud de Fay of Little Bookham & Bramley, Surrey ancestor

  of the Winters

 

There is some confusion about the origins of Maud St. Lis.  According to some sources she was daughter of James St. Lis or St. Hillary, a Norfolk baron descended from the family of St. Hilaire du Harcouet.

 

Rye in "Norfolk Families" refers to the grant of the Templars' Commandry or Preceptory of Great Carbrook, Norfolk to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem in 1182 with the churches of Great and Little Carbrook and the moiety of the town for an annual payment of 13s.4d.to the nuns of Buckland by Maud (daughter of James St. Hillary, Countess of Clare and widow of Roger, earl of Clare, their founder.  [Monasticon fo. 546 calls him William; Dugdale Baronage vol i, fo.211, Monasticon Vol. ii, fo.508, 546].

 

The earliest record, the "Incipunt Gesta antecessorum Comitis Waldevi" of the nun of Delapre Abbey maintains she was daughter of Simon de Senlis, earl of Northampton.  She married secondly William d'Aubigny (or he married her daughter Maud de Clare who took her mother's surname of St. Lis) and were the ancestors of the Winters.

 

Matilda de "Bocham" was perhaps Matilda de Beauchamp or Matilda de Fay of Bookham and Bramley, Surrey who married, as her second husband, William de Braoise and was ancestress of the Winters.

 

Stow wrote that Robert fitzWalter fought on the French side against King John and took part in a joust in which he proved himself the champion.  When King John heard he was an English knight, he was restored to royal favour and allowed to repair Baynard's and other castles.

 

In the first year of the Henry III's reign he asked for the castle of Hertford which was his by ancient right and title.  Robert died in 1234 and was buried at Dunmow being succeeded by his son Walter.  In 1258 the barony of Baynard was in the hands of the king during the minority of his son Robert fitzWalter who married secondly, Eleanor, daughter and heiress of earl Ferrars in 1289 and on 12.3.1303 swore to defend the liberties of London.

 

"The said Robert and his heirs ought to be and are, chief bannerers of London, in fee of the Chastilerie which he and his ancestors had by Castle Baynard in the said city.  In the time of war the said Robert and his heirs ought to serve the city in manner followeth:"  (“Survey of London” -. John Stow)

 

He was to come on horseback, covered with cloth or armour to the west door of St. Paul's with his banner displayed, to meet the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs who would present him with a banner being "gules, with the image of St. Paul, gold, face, hands, feet and sword of silver".  He had to go on foot out of the gate with the banner and the mayor and his retinue would provide him with a horse and £20.  He must choose a marshal to lead the army from the city, warn the commoners to assemble and follow him to Aldgate.  In peace time he had the right of sokemanry in the city, to hold a court and to attend the Guildhall meetings.

 

He died in 1305 leaving a son Walter fitzRobert whose son Robert fitzWalter received Castle Baynard in 1320 and died in 1325 being succeeded by his son Robert fitzRobert.  The fitzWalters died out in 1471 and the de Clares in 1314

 

In 1199 king John recognised Hugh of Lusignan's claim to la Marche which was disputed with Ademar of Angoulême but in 1200 John married Ademar's daughter Isabella (betrothed to Hugh of Lusignan) and took over the administration of La Marche whereupon Hugh appealed to Philip II Augustus of France, John's overlord.  Philip summoned John to his feudal court but he refused to attend and his lands were confiscated.  During the ensuing war between King John and Philip of France, Robert fitzWalter and Saer de Quincy, earl of Winchester surrendered the fortress of Vaudreuil on the Seine (a key to the defence of Rouen) without a fight in 1203.  FitzWalter had a grievance because he had been deprived of the lands of Richard de Lucy, Henry II's justiciar.

 

In 1213 the hostage daughter of earl Richard of Clare was released by King John.  Robert fitzWalter de Clare, Richard, earl of Clare and Gilbert de Clare were amongst the 25 Magna Carta barons with William Malet, Saer de Quincy and William de Albini (Daubeney) of Belvoir.

 

Matilda "Maid Marion" (d. 1213) was daughter of Robert fitzWalter de Clare, great grandson of Simon de Senlis, earl of Northampton and his wife Maud of Lens who subsequently married David, King of Scots.

 

According to legend, Matilda fitzWalter was betrothed to Robert of Loxley, earl of Huntingdon.

 

"Robin Hood" or Robert fitzOoth (fitzOdo, Eudes or Otto) of Loxley was related through his mother to Gilbert de Ghent or Gant, lord of Lindsay and Kyme and cousin of Count Eustace of Boulogne.  Gilbert's daughter Maud or Matilda de Gand married Ralf fitzOoth who became lord of Kyme.  They were cousins of Simon of Senlis and also of Simon's wife Maud of Lens and Robert FitzOoth or fitz Odo was their younger son.

 

The Gands or Ghent family were earls of Huntingdon.  Alice de Ghent, the last English countess of Huntingdon, married Ilbert II de Lacy (obsp 1141-3) and then Roger de Mowbray.

 

The earldoms of Northampton (1088) and Huntingdon (1090) were originally held by Simon of Senlis and were given to David I, king of Scots on his marriage to Simon's widow Matilda of Lens.  In 1173 the earldom and Honour of Huntingdon was offered to David (brother of William "the Lion", king of Scots) by Prince Henry (eldest son of Henry II).  In 1185 Henry II gave the Honour of Huntingdon to William "the Lion" and his brother David (d. 1219) became earl.  The earldom and Honour of Huntingdon passed to Alexander II of Scots (1214-49) and his brother David and after the latter's death to his son John the Scot (d. 1237), earl of Chester and Huntingdon, whose sisters (wives of Bruce, Baliol and Hastings) were his co-heiresses with the overlordship going in 1237 to Alexander II.

 

The 3 daughters of fitzOdo de Loxley (d. 1196), lord of the manor of Harbury, Warwickshire during the reign of Henry II, married de Mora, Trussell and Bagot.  If Trussell was ancestor of William Trussell, the Winters of Wych could claim descent from "Robin Hood" or more probably one of his sisters.

 

Fig 41 - Trussell & St. Pierre

 

Isabel, d. of William Trussell (+) = John de St. Pierre, knight of Shocklach, Co. Chester (18 Edw 3, 1344) > Urian de St. Pierre = Agnes, d. of John de Braiose, sister & co-heiress of George Braiose > John de St. Pierre > Urian de St. Pierre = Isabella > Isabella de St. Pierre, daughter & co-heiress = Walter Cokesay > Elizabeth or Cecily Cokesay = Thomas, son of John Cassy of Adesbury > Agnes Cassy = Walter de Huddington > Thomas Huddington = Jane, d. & heiress of Henry (Richard) Thurgrin > Joan Huddington = Roger Winter.

 

In March 1323 Sir William Trussell, his son and Ralph and Roger de la Zouche attacked Hugh Despencer, earl of Winchester's Midland properties.  Trussell was accused of having retained John English, king Edward II's spy, to recruit mercenaries to fight for the count of Hainault (whose daughter Philippa married Edward III).  Trussell, a former Contrariant (who opposed the king in 1321-2), supported Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer and led a group to meet the Edward II at Kenilworth.  In 9.1.1327 Trussell renounced allegiance to Edward II in the name of parliament and was given various manors.  After the confrontation between Roger Mortimer, earl of March and Henry, earl of Lancaster and Leicester, Trussell was one of a group who were excepted from a pardon for trespass to all who wanted to surrender to Edward III by Epiphany 1328.

 

Urian St. Pierre held 4 knight's fees of the manor of Hunningham, in the Knightlow Hundred of Warwickshire in 1293 from John de Hastings.  Urian's son John St. Pierre married Isabel, daughter of William Trussell, probably the castellan of Beaumaris.

 

Urian St. Pierre (1293) = (1) Idonea, d. of David de Malpas = (2) Margaret, widow of Ralph Bassett of Sapecote [Inq. pm. Nos. 56 & 101 23 Edw I 1295, No.17, 25 Edw I -1297, Feet of Fees, Sussex Case 235, 35, No. 32, 29 & 30 Edw I - 1300-1].  He held half a knight's fee in Hunningham, Warwickshire > by (1) John St. Pierre = Isabel, d. of William Trussell who held manor of Hunningham, Worcs > Urian St. Pierre = Agnes de Braiose, held manors of Lea, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire & Bramley, Surrey > Isabel St. Pierre (1353) = Walter Cooksey (bur.1410) son of Hugh Cooksey >:

A. Hugh Cooksey (obsp).

B. Joyce = (1) Walter Beauchamp = (2) John Greville of Chipping Campden, Glos = (3)

    Leonard Stapleton (d. 13 Edw IV).

C. Cecily/Elizabeth = Thomas Cassy > Winters & Russells.

 

John St. Pierre's grand daughter and heiress Isabel married Walter (son of Hugh Cokesay) in 1353.  In 1382 Hunningham passed to Hugh's widow Denise or Dionisia nee Botiller (Butler).  Walter de Cokesay held the manor from the earl of Warwick in 1405 but his son Hugh de Cokesay died without heirs in 1445 when it was inherited by his widow Alice who died in 1460.  The manor then passed to Hugh's sister Joyce Beauchamp alias Cokesay (obsp) and then to Cecily (Elizabeth), daughter of Walter Cokesay (son of Isabel St. Pierre) and to Robert Russell and Roger or Robert Winter in 1500 whose were her heirs.  Roger's grandson George Winter held it at his death in 1594.  It was sold by Roger to John Underhill whose son Thomas Underhill married Roger Winter's sister.

 

There were fitzOdos de Loxley in Warwickshire and Loxleys in Surrey.  The manors of Polstead, Godalming in the Compton Hundred of Surrey and Burgham, Worplesdon, Woking Hundred of Surrey passed from the family of Wintershill, Wintershall or Wintershull (deriving from Winter's Hall, Surrey) to Robert Loxley, half-brother of Thomas Wintershill.  Alice, widow of Thomas Wintershill, became wife of Henry Loxley [Cal. Close Rolls 1346, 9 p.33].

 

Odo or Eudes was a common name and there were several people who bore it.  One was Odo de Barry and another was Odo or Uther (ancestor of the fitzGeralds) who, according to some genealogies, was the son of Gerald Dias Lopez, Lord of Biscay.

 

The fitzGerald arms "argent, a saltire, gules" were inherited by the families of Windsor, Osbern fitzRichard, lord of Ynysmaengwyn, Merioneth and Gerrard of Harrow.  Walter fitzOther was castellan of Windsor and Warden of Forests who held lands in Berkshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Middlesex, Wiltshire, Somerset and Hampshire and William fitzOther held the manor of Pepper Harrow.

 

The fitzGeralds, Gerrards and Windsors were descendants of Walter fitzOdo or fitzOther (d. after 1100) who held lands in five counties at the Domesday Survey of 1086 and was castellan of Windsor Castle.

 

His eldest son William fitzOther of Windsor, who held the manor of Pepper Harrow, Surrey in 1086, was ancestor of the Windsors of Stanwell, Middlesex from 1529-1641, the fitzGeralds, fitzMaurices, Gerards, Carews, Barrymores and the earls of Desmond from whom Alice Tirry (Sir William Winter's mother) descended.

 

Of Walter's other sons, Maurice of Windsor was steward of the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds before 1119, Reinald was steward to Henry Il's Queen Adeliza later Countess of Arundel (ancestress of the Winters of Huddington) and Gerald of Windsor, constable of Pembroke Castle under Arnulf de Montgomery of Belleme.

 

Gerald married Princess Nesta, daughter of Rhys ap Tudor Mawr, Prince of South Wales.

 

Gerald's son William (d. 1173-4). had a son Odo called Carew from his castle of Carew in Pembrokeshire and held Moulsford, Berkshire.  His descendant Nicholas Carew was ancestor of the Carews of Devon and Cornwall and the Barons Haccombe.

 

Gerald's daughter Angharad had several sons by different fathers.  One was the historian Gerald de Barry called Giraldus Cambrensis, another David was Bishop of St. Davids (d. 1176) and Maurice fitzGerald (d. 1176) from whom descend the Barons of Offaly (c. 1180), the earls of Kildare (1316) and the Dukes of Leinster (1767).

 

From Thomas fitzGerald (d. 1113), youngest son of Maurice fitzGerald (d. 1176) descend the Earls of Desmond (1329-1601) and from the younger sons of his son John fitzThomas (d. 1261) the White Knights, the Black Knights of Glin and the Green Knights of Kerry

 

The fitzMaurices, barons of Kerry and Lixnaw ( 1295) and earls of Kerry (1725) and the Marquesses of Landsdowne (1784) descend from Thomas fitzMaurice (d. 1280), son of Maurice fitzThomas (d. 1261), ancestors of the earls of Desmond.

 

The arms of the family of Huddington are given in Rev. Frederick Brown's Collection at the Taunton records Office as "argent, a saltire gules, within a bordure azure 8 mullets or", which are a variation of the fitzGerald arms.

 

However the Huddington arms appear on the Russell tomb at Strensham and in the church at Huddington, Worcestershire as "gules, a saltire argent, within a bordure sable, 8 mullets or" which are the arms of Neville.

 

The bordure was a sign of cadency i.e. a junior or cadet branch of a family descended from a younger son.  It was used more frequently in Scotland especially by families of Flemish descent or given as an augmentation to an armiger (a person who had a coat of arms) for some special deed of valour.

 

The Huddingtons may have inherited these arms from a member of the Neville family who settled in Worcestershire and Warwickshire.  The Winters involved in the Gunpowder Plot were descended from the family of Neville via the Inglebys.

 

According to Robert Cooke, Clarenceaux King of Arms, the Winters were also descended from the fitzGeralds through Alice Tirry, wife of John Winter of Lydney.

 

Fig. 44 - Tirry & fitzGerald

 

William Tirry = d. of John fitzGerald, brother of the Earl of Desmond > William Tirry of Ireland = Joan Gamage > Alice Tirry = John Winter.

 

Incited by James fitzMaurice of Desmond, Garrett fitzGerald, earl of Desmond and the fitzGerald earls of Kildare, rebelled against Elizabeth I in 1579-83 and all the Kildares were hanged.  The earl of Desmond's brother, Sir John fitzGerald murdered Henry Davells, sheriff of Cork and a Devon man..  Sir John himself was shot in the throat by a former servant, his body hanged in chains at Cork and his head sent to the Lord Deputy as a New Year's gift.

According to Welsh genealogies, the Winters moved to Carmarthen from Rhyd-y-gors in Pembrokeshire prior to the 1300s.  Although they were are supposed to descend from a daughter of William fitzBaldwin, castellan of Rhyd-y-gors, there is no mention of her in the main Baldwin genealogy but it was not unusual for daughters to be left out especially if they were not heiresses nor married men of importance.

 

The Normans and their Flemish mercenaries invaded Pembroke in 1093.  The first castle in Carmarthen (called Caer Myrdin or Merlin's Fort by the Welsh), built in 1096 was subsequently captured by the Welsh.

 

Carmarthen was captured in 1146-7 by a force of Normans and Flemings under the fitzGeralds and William, son of Aed (Gwilym ap Aedan in Welsh).  He was probably Gwilym ap Aeddan ap Blegored whose daughter Gwenllian married Walter or William Gwyntour, lord of Rhyd y gors and Menorgain.  Aeddan ap Blegored and his sons were killed by Llywelyn ap Seisyllt, usurper prince of North Wales.

 

The Welsh recaptured both castles and in 1218 under the terms of the Treaty of Worcester, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth Fawr retained the royal castles of Carmarthen and Cardigan (which the Welsh had captured) as Henry III's lieutenant.  In 1231 it was attacked by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth who also attacked Montgomery, Radnor, Brecon, Caerleon (Castrum Legionis of the Romans and Arthur's Kaer Llion) and Cardigan which resulted in Henry III's campaign in Elfael.  Llywelyn destroyed 10 castles while Henry rebuilt Painscastle.  Llywelyn joined Richard Marshall, retaining Cardigan and Builth.

 

In 1233, William Marshall junior, earl of Pembroke seized Carmarthen and Cardigan which he surrendered to the king in 1226.  By 1229 they were held by Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent made justiciar of England by King John at Runnymede.  Hubert also held  Grosmont, Skenfrith and Whitecastle in Monmouthshire, Montgomery, Brecon, Radnor and Abergavenny.  The de Braiose lordship of Gower was subordinated to Cardigan and Carmarthen, together with the de Clare's lordship of Glamorgan.

 

The Burgh, de Burgo or Burke family originated in Burgh, Norfolk.  Hubert's brother William settled in Ireland and his descendants became earls of Ulster, marrying into the Scots royal family and becoming ancestors of the English one through the Mortimers and the Plantagenet dukes of York.

 

Hubert de Burgh's first wife was the widow of Doon Bardolf and daughter of earl Warenne and Surrey.  She died in 1214 leaving a son who succeeded his father.  Hubert then married Isabella, daughter of William, earl of Gloucester and grand daughter of Robert, the illegitimate son of Henry I.  She had been married to King John who divorced her on the grounds that she did not produce any heirs.  She then married Geoffrey fitzPeter.  She was a widow in 1214 when she married Hubert de Burgh and died in 1217.

 

Hubert married as his third wife, Margaret of Scotland and had a daughter Megotta whom he married to his ward Richard de Clare.  Megotta died in November 1237 and Richard de Clare married Maud, daughter of John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln in January 1238.  Richard's mother Isabella, daughter of William de la Grace, the Marshall married (1) Gilbert de Clare (2) Earl Warenne and Surrey and (3) Richard of Cornwall, King Henry III's brother.

 

Hubert's fall from grace was precipitated by his attempt to marry his daughter Megotta to the de Clare heir and his confiscated lands were given to Peter des Rivaux, the next justiciar in 1233.

 

Cardigan and Builth were retaken by the English in 1241 and retained as royal fortresses like Montgomery and Carmarthen.  Cardigan and Carmarthen became centres of administration for Wales from 1241 and troops from adjoining counties were mustered there for wars.  In 1254 Edward I, when prince, was given the administration of Chester, the Four Cantrefs, Montgomery, Builth, the three castles of Upper Gwent, Cardigan and Carmarthen which he ruled from his headquarters at Bristol.  In 1265 Cardigan and Carmarthen were given to his youngest brother Edmund (d. 1296), earl of Leicester and Lancaster, when Edward became king.

 

Carmarthen was given a charter in 1313 and became an important wool staple in 1353 - the only one for Wales trading with Flanders.

 

According to Welsh genealogies, David Winter (descendant of the Winters who held the lordships of Rhyd-y-gors and Menorgain) settled in Carmarthen.  Unless he lived under Welsh rule (which seems probable as his descendants married into Welsh families), he would have lived there sometime between 1146 and 1330.  He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Perrott of Eastington, Pembrokeshire, one member of whose family followed Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke into that county where they settled.  The Perrotts also held the manor of Westington in Worcestershire.

 

There is an inquisition post-mortem No. 119 dated 3 Edward III (1330) which showed Walter Winter held "Lantlewenny eccl. appropriata, S. Wales" and also a cartulary of St. Peters, Carmarthen recording that Walter Winter, archdeacon, gifted 2 acres of land in Llanwllni and the advowson (right to appoint clergy) of a moiety or half-share (the other was held by Hugh Fastolf, rector of Norwich and Bishop of St. David's) of a church there to St. Peter's Carmarthen.  The connection of the Fastolf family with Carmarthen is interesting as they were a family from Norfolk (where a branch of the Winter family settled in Barningham in the 1300s) and Suffolk (where the Winters settled in the 1500s in Aldeburgh).  Hugh Fastolf was sheriff of London in 1387 and a Walter Winter was rector in Gimmingham, Norfolk in 1386.

 

According to the Brecon genealogy, David Winter of Carmarthen had a son Jenkin who married Anghard, daughter of Philip Vychan (Vaughan) of Edwinsford and his son, also named David Winter, married Jane, daughter of John Morgan.

The family then divided into the Brecon and Gloucester branches with Morris of Brecon and Owen of the Forest of Dean respectively.

 

A son, grandson or nephew of David Winter of Carmarthen, named Sir Roger Winter settled in Wych (Droitwich, Worcestershire) during the reign of Edward II (1307-27) and married Margaret, widow of John, Lord Mohun of Dunster, Somerset.  There is no record in the genealogies of Mohun of Dunster or in the College of Heralds of the re-marriage of a Mohun widow to John Winter but she may have been either his daughter or sister.  Alternatively she may have been Elizabeth fitzPiers, widow of John Mohun of Dunster who married secondly William Martin.  The Mohuns held the manors of Whichford and Long Compton in the Kington Hundred of Warwickshire in the 14th century.

 

There is a town called Moen in Flanders in the arrondissement of Courtrai, canton d'Aveighem and a Moyenville near the Flemish border but the family of Mohun (now Moone) came from Moyon, Manche, arrondissement St. Lo, canton Tessy-sur-Vire.  Moyon was in the dower of Adela, wife of Richard III of Normandy in 1027 and Ralph Mowin who murdered Duke Robert of Normandy may have been related.  Taisson, Marmion, Montfichet, Bigot, Mowbray, Mortimer, Painell, Basqueville, de Cory and de Lacy may have been followers of the Mohuns.

 

The original Mohun arms were "gules, a maunch argent" and variants, the manche or sleeve representing La Manche or the English Channel.

 

In 1255 William de Mohun (d. 20.10.1257) was given the golden rose by the Pope and bore a rose on his on coat of arms, his crest was a "a dexter arm habited in maunch, the hand holding a fleur de lys" but John Mohun V, the Garter Knight took "or, a cross engrailed sable".

 

On every fourth Sunday in Lent called Rose Sunday, the Pope blesses the "Golden Rose", which is not just one rose but a cluster of roses and rosebuds of pure gold on one thorny stem.  It has a cup within its petals which the Pope fills with a few particles of amber and musk before blessing it.  It is sent each ecclesiastical year to the royal lady who has performed the most pious deeds or has shown the most pious intentions; a prince receives the blessed sword and cap.  The Pope dips the Golden Rose in balsam, sprinkles it with holy water and incenses it.  Popes Julius II in 1510 and Leo X sent the sacred rose to Henry VIII, it was sent to Isabella II of Spain in 1856, Charlotte, Empress of Mexico and Eugenie, Empress of France also received it.

 

William II de Mohun married Agnes de Gand or Ghent, from a noble Flemish family.

 

In 1299 John de Mohun, co-heir of the Marshall family, held lands in Kildare.  Sir John Mohun (d. 1376) was the last male of his line, his daughter Matilda (d. 1376) married Sir John Strange of Knockin - the Stanleys, earls of Derby were descendants. According to Robert, Clarenceux King of Arms the Winters were also descended from the family of Strange of Knockin.

 

Fig. 45 - Mohun of Dunster

 

(a) Wilmund de Mohun

(b) William I de Mohun of Dunster (1066-90) = Adeliza >:

     1. Geoffrey de Mohun (1090)

     2. Robert de Mohun (1090)

     3. Durand de Mohun > William fitzDurand, illegit. son (1166)

     4. William II de Mohun (1142) = Agnes de Gand (Ghent) >:

         A. Henry, Ivan, Richard & Peter (all clerks)

         B. William III de Mohun (d. 1176) = Godehold or Godeline (d. 1208) >:

             a. Geoffrey de Mohun

             b. John de Mohun (d.,1221) > Mohuns of Ham, Dorset

             c. William IV de Mohun (d. 1190-4) = Lucy (d. 1204) >:

                 (a) William V de Mohun (d. 119)4

                 (b) Reginald de Mohun (b. 1183, d. 1213) = Alice, d. of William Briwerre.

                      She = (2) William Paganel (alive 1228) >:

                      (1) William de Monun (d. 1265) = Juliana

                      (2) Reginald II de Mohun = (1) Hawise = (2) Isabel (d. 1260), d.

                           of William Ferrars, earl of Derby & widow of Gilbert Basset.

 

by (1) John Mohun I (d. 1254) = Joan, d. of William Ferrars, earl of Derby (stepmother's sister).  Joan's 2nd husband was Robert Augylyon > John Mohun II (d. 1279) = Eleanor fitzPiers (2nd husband William Martin, 3rd husband John Winter of Castell Mayett & Wych) > John Mohun III (b. 1269, d. 1330) = (1) Ada, d. of Robert Tiptoft (d. 1323) = (2) Sibilla (alive 1333) > Sir John Mohun IV (d. 1322) = in 1305 Christiana, d. of John Segrave > Sir John Mohun V, KG (d. 1376) = Joan (d. 1404), d. of Bartholomew Burghersh > (a) Elizabeth de Mohun (b) Phillipa de Mohun = (1) Walter fitzWalter = (2) Sir John Golafre (buried at Westminster Abbey) = (3) Edward Plantagenet of York (c) Matilda (d. 1376) = Sir John Strange of Knockin.

 

Other issue included the Mohuns of Bocannoc (lasted till 1612) and John of Okehampton (1628).

 

John Mohun by (2) >:

1. Lucy = John de Grey

2. William (b. 1254 d. 1281) = Beatrice (alive 1282) >:

    A. Eleanor (b. 1281) = John de Grey

    B. Mary (b. 1282) = John Meriet

 

The "caput" or head of the Honour was Dunster Castle which manufactured cloth called "dunsters".  The Mohuns gave their name to Hammoun in Dorset, Ottery Mohun and Tor Mohun in Devon and Grange Mohun in Kildare.  Branches of the Mohun family settled in Ham in Dorset, Porlock, Corton, Bradworthy, Carhampton, Tavistock, Bocannock and Boddinick in Lanteglos-by-Fowey, Cornwall.  Bocannock has an altar table made by Sir Reynold Mohun of 1621 and the tomb of Thomas Mohun and a brass of John Mohun (d. 1503) at Boddinick where they had a house.  Membury in Devon has the tomb of Alice, wife of Reginald Mohun.  One of their descendants Reginald Mohun (1344) married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of John fitzWilliam of Cornwall - the Bocannock and Okehampton families are descendants.

 

William I de Mohun., sheriff of Somerset in 1086, is mentioned in the Domesday Survey and held 60 manors (52 in Somerset, 11 in Dorset, 1 in Devon and 2 in Wiltshire) amongst which were Alcombe, Staunton, Stockland, Sedtamtone, Cutcombe, Minehead, Broadwood, Exford, West Quantockshead, Kilton, Newton, Wolverton, Bromfield, Lydeard St. Lawrence, West Bagborough, Stoke Pero, Brewham, Brampton Ralph (Somerset), Spettisbury, Pulham, Ham (Dorset) and Carhampton.

 

He gave grants to the priory of Dunster and William Mohun IV confirmed the priory charter.  William Mohun I also gave the church at Dunster to the monks of Bath (at the same time as Walter de Douai gave them Bampton, Devon) and 2 fisheries at Dunster and Carhampton to the Priory of Dunster.  In 1909-1100 William Mohun I and his wife Adeliza granted the advowson of St. George of Dunster to St Peter's, Bath.  Vines were cultivated at Dunster and the tithes were given to St. Peter's - a field south of Grabbist Hill is still known as the Vineyard.

 

William Mohun I had 3 sons, the eldest William Mohun II succeeded.  With Henry de Tracy, he supported the Empress Matilda against Stephen and was made earl of Dorset in 1140 but he may have actually been earl of Somerset.  William Mohun II's wife Agnes gave Whichford to Bridlington Priory and founded the Priory of Bruton in 1142.  He gave the manor of Brueham to the Carthusian Priory of Witham in 1142 and land in Hamelham for the soul of his son Ralph - he had 5 sons, 4 of whom were clerks in Holy Orders.

 

William Mohun II's eldest son, William Mohun III, was benefactor of the Benedictines of Dunster and the Augustine Canons of Bruton Priory which he founded in 1142, endowing it with the manor and rectories of St. Mary's and St. Adhelm's churches, Moion, Pierreville, Regoufe and Lyon-sur-Mer on his Norman properties in the dioceses of Coutances and Bayeux and the estates of Cresserons, Sequeville and Messons.  He also gave the manor of Lydeard St. Lawrence to Taunton Abbey.  He married Godehold or Godelind (d. 1209) who held  the vill of Brinkley, Cambridgeshire.

 

He had 3 sons, William IV, Geoffrey and John, the last two held Brinkley and Ham, Dorset.  William IV of Mohun (d. 1190) inherited in 1177.  He granted a charter to Bruton Abbey and the right to choose its own prior.  By his wife Lucy, he had a son William who died soon after his birth.  During the reign of Richard I, Dunster was in crown hands, adminstered by William St. Marychurch (a priest), William de Wroteham, Nicholas Puinz (Poyntz), Hubert de Burgh, Hugh de Gurney and Reginald de Clifton.

 

William de Mohun IV's son by Lucy was Reginald Mohun I (d. 1212) who inherited Dunster in 1204.  He married Alice, daughter of William Briwerre (Brewer).  The church of East Camel received a grant in 1204-13 from Reginald de Mohun described as being given to the "monachi Vallis Floridae quae vulgo dicti Clyve" (monks of Valle Florida commonly called Clyve).  He also gave it Shortmansford and Slaworth in 1192-1205 and the manor and church of Mariansleigh, Devon to the Priory of Barlynch.

 

His son Reginald Mohun II was a ward of Henry fitzCount, son of the Earl of Cornwall then of William Briwerre.  The king maintained archers and horsemen in Dunster soon afterwards.  In 1242 and 1252 Reginald was Justice of Forests south of the Trent and Henry III gave him given the right to hold a weekly market and free warren in Dunster, the manor of Ottery in Devon and Whichford in Warwickshire and forest hunting rights in Somerset.  In 1254 Reginald II gave 50 marks to St. Peters, Bath for soul of his son John and founded Newenham Priory on the Devon/Somerset border.  Reginald Mohun II married Avice or Hawyse, sister of John fitzGeoffrey or alternatively she was a Bohun or Fleming heiress of Ottery.  Reginald was earl of Somerset when he died in 1258.

 

William de Mohun V (Reginald Mohun II's 2nd son by his 2nd wife Isabel Ferrars) inherited the lands of grandfather William Briwerre in 1232 as well as property from the Fleming family.  William de Mohun V (d. 1280) was a baron summoned to the king at Bristol.  He received Ottery Mohun, Devon and married Beatrice.  William de Mohun V only had 2 surviving daughters Eleanor (b. 1281) wife of John de Carew and Mary (b. 1282), wife of John de Meriet.

 

Reginald Mohun II eldest son John Mohun I married Joan, daughter of William Ferrars, earl of Derby by whom he had a son John

 

William III de Mohun's son John Mohun I by his first marriage, was husband of Joan Ferrars (his stepmother's sister), whose 2nd husband was Robert Aguyllon whom she married in 1288.  They had John Mohun II who succeeded Reginald and granted a charter to Dunster.  He married Eleanor fitzPiers, whose 2nd husband was William Martin.  There is no record of her (or any other Mohun widow) marrying Roger Winter of Wych as her 3rd husband.

 

John Mohun III, his son, took part in Edward I's wars in Flanders and and Scotland.  He was commissioner in 1325 under the earl of Winchester and writs were issued in May 1303, July 1306, autumn 1309, September 1310 and summer 1311 to raise troops to fight against Robert Bruce.

 

John Mohun III married Ada, daughter of Payn or Robert Tiptoft by whom he had 7 sons and 1 daughter.  The eldest, John Mohun IV was at the battle of Boroughbridge in 1322, dying afterwards and was buried at Greyfriars, York.  He married Christiana, daughter of John Segrave.  His 2nd son Robert Mohun married Elizabeth fitzRogers of Porlock (the Mohuns of Fleet near Weymouth are descendants) and he was supposed to have been murdered by her.

 

John Mohun IV has a son John Mohun V (d. 1376), a Knight of the Garter who married Joan (d.1404), daughter of Batholomew Burghersh.  In 1380 Joan "Moion" was ordered to delilver to the owners, the cargo of a Genoese merchantman lost in Minehead Bay which she had seized.

 

The manor of Whichford in the Kington Hundred of Warwickshire was held at Domesday by Gilbert de Gand (Ghent) who also held Willington in the Barcheston Hundred.  It passed to his son Walter de Gand whose daughter Agnes married William de Mohun II [GEC Complete Peerage 2 edition ix 18].  The advowson of the church circa 1120 was held by William de Mohun II and his wife Agnes, daughter of Walter de Gand [Dugdale "Monasticon Anglicanum" vi. 286, 287, 289 and 49 Dugdale].

 

In 1195 Joelin or Joscelin, brother of Henry de Pomeray held it [Rot. Nor. 1.38, Dugdale "Monasticon Anglicanum" v.382] possibly by marriage as Joan de Pomeray was daughter of Henry de Mohun [Bruton Cartulary, Somerset Records Society No. 424].  The Pomerays descended from Robert Pomerai who was a tenant in 1285 of the widow of John Meriet in Somerset.  In 1265 Terry de la Pomerai, a landless malefactor lodging at Merriot, took part with the rebels against Henry III.  In 1355 John Pomerai held a free tenement in Buckerell, Devon where the Pomerais of Berry Pomeroy were lords of the manor and a villein in Ryme Intrinseca from Margaret, widow of John Beauchamp and Bartholomew Pomeray another villein there.

 

In 1204 King John granted Whichford to Reynold (Reginald ) de Mohun I [Rot. Little. Claus. Rec. Comm. 9].  His widow Alice had it in 1215 [Ibid 24 of Feet of Fees, Dugdale Soc. xi 568].  In 1235 one knight's fee was held by Reynold de Mohun II [Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 1237].

 

In 1305 the manor was settled (after his marriage to Ada, daughter of Payn or Robert Tiptoft) on John Mohun III (son of John Mohun II), lord of Whichford [Feud. Aids v. 174].

 

In 1405 after the death of Joan, widow of the last John de Mohun V [Ch. Inq. p.m. 6 Henry IV No.33] the manor passed to his grandson Richard, Lord Strange [Ibid 27 Henry VI No. 29].  His grand daughter Joan married George Stanley and died in 1514 [Exc. Inq. p.m. 1121 No.14].  It was sold by the Stanley family, (earls of Derby).

 

The manor of Long Compton, in the Kington Hundred of Warwickshire was granted by King Edward I in November 1299 to Sir John de Mohun III (one of the Marshall coheirs) and Ada his wife for a knight's fee in exchange for lands in Kildare, Ireland. [Cal. Chart. R. ii. 48 Cal. Pat 1301-7 pp. 119, 240].  The tombs of Sir John Mohun and his wife Ada are in Dunster.

 

The manor was settled on his son John IV who married Christiana, daughter of John, Lord Segrave [Ibid 327].  Christiana was grand daughter of Hugh de Plessey, a previous holder of the manor in May 1281 [GEC Peerage 2nd edition ix.21].

 

John de Mohun IV died in 1330 and the manor passed to his son John V (aged 20 at his father's death) who became a prominent soldier and Garter Knight.  In 1343 he settled the manor on himself and his wife Joan [Cal. Pat. 1343-5 p.43].  He died in 1375 and Joan in 1404 [Chan. Inq. p.m. 6th Henry IV No. 33].

 

His son and 2 daughters died without heirs and the manor then came to the son of the third and youngest daughter named Joan.  He was Richard, Lord Strange [GEC Comp. Peerage 2nd ed. ix 24] who died in 1449 [Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Henry VI No. 29].  His wife Elizabeth who survived him was the next owner.  Their grand daughter Joan, baroness Strange married Sir George Stanley who died in 1514.  His son Thomas Stanley, earl of Derby inherited and it remained in the family till 1600.

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