Bob Juch's Kin

305291648. Richard FitzPonce Lord of Cantref Bychan was born 1078 in Lahnyndhry Castle, Wales. He died 1129. Richard married Maud FitzWalter de Pitres. [Parents]

305291649. Maud FitzWalter de Pitres was born 1088 in Frampton, Gloucestershire, England. [Parents]

305291650. Ralph IV de Toeni de Conches Lord Flamstead ^{1, 2} was born ³ about 1081 in Flamstead, Hertfordshire, England. He died ¹ about 1126 in Conches, Sein-et-Marne, France. Ralph married ^{1, 2} Alice Huntingdon on 1103 in England. [Parents]

305291651. Alice Huntingdon ^{1, 2} was born about 1077 in Flamsted, Herefordshire, England. She died ¹ after 1126. [Parents]

305291652. Robert de Condet Lord of Appleby ¹ was born about 1108 in Thorngate Castle, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. He died ¹ about 1141. Robert married Alice de Meschines after 1136. [Parents]

305291653. Alice de Meschines ^{1, 2} was born about 1094 in Gernons Castle, Normandy, France. She died 1154. [Parents]

305291654. Aubrey I de Dammartin High Chamberlain ¹ was born 1110 in Dammartine, Seine-et-Marne, France. He died 1183. Aubrey married Joan Basset before 1135. [Parents]

305291655. Joan Basset ¹ was born about 1120 in Wellingford, Oxfordshire, England. [Parents]

305291656. Harold d'Ewyas Lord of Sudeley ¹ was born about 1055 in Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England. He died ² after 1115. Harold married Margaret d'Avranches about 1084. [Parents]

305291660. Sir Walter de Scudamore was born 1080 in Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire, England. [Parents]

305291662. Elias Giffard 2nd Lord of Brimsfield was born 1095 in Brimsfield, Gloucestershire, England. He died 1166. Elias married Bertha de Clifford on 1127. [Parents]

305291663. Bertha de Clifford was born 1107 in Frampton, Gloucestershire, England. She died after 1167. [Parents]

305291680. William Vipont ¹ was born about 1110 in Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland, England. He died ¹ 1160. [Parents]

305291682. Hugh Roger de Moreville 1st Earl of Norfolk was born about 1123 in Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland, England. He died ¹ 1162 in Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland, England. Hugh married Beatrice de Beauchamp. [Parents]

Hugh's son Hugh participated in the murder of Thomas a Becket, 1170.

305291683. Beatrice de Beauchamp ¹ was born 1120 in of Essex and Bedfordshire, England. [Parents]

305291684. Richard de Busli ¹ was born ¹ 1116 in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, England. He died ¹ 1179 in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, England. Richard married Emma. [Parents]

305291685. Emma ¹ was born about 1117 in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, England.

305291686. William II de Busli ¹ was born ¹ 1090 in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, England. He died ¹ 1164. William married Roesia de Clare. [Parents]

305291687. Roesia de Clare ¹ was born about 1120 in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. [Parents]

305291698. Geoffrey de Mandeville Earl of Essex ^{1, 2} was born 1092 in Great Waltham, Essex, England. He died ¹ 14 Sep 1144 in Mildenhall, Suffolk, England. Geoffrey married Rohese de Vere on 1129 in England. [Parents]

Constable of the Tower of London

English Anarchy and Geoffrey de Mandeville - Scourge of the Fens

Geoffrey de Mandeville was the Earl of Essex in the time of King Stephen (1135-1154). He is famous for his treachery and violence around the time of the civil war waged between Stephen and Henry I's daughter, the empress Matilda. As we shall see, his ability to wreak havoc and suffering was to be felt heavily by the people of Cambridgeshire.

The civil war of 1139-1153 is characterized by the greed and ruthlessness of many knights and gentry who declared themselves to be allied to either Stephen or Matilda but proceeded to wage war on whoever they could gain most from whether it helped either of the main protagonists or not. Stephen, King Henry I's nephew, had opportunistically seized the throne immediately after Henry died with the help of his brother, the powerful bishop of Winchester. Henry had persuaded his barons to swear an oath in support of Matilda, his only surviving legitimate heir. However, Matilda had spent most of her life in far away Germany, she was a poor diplomat, was married to an Angevin (an unpopular alliance as far as both the English and the Normans were concerned) and she was a woman. It wasn't a hard decision for many of the barons to renege on their oath in support of Matilda and support Stephen instead. Stephen might have avoided much bloodshed during his reign had he not made a big mistake in the way he dealt with Roger, bishop of Salisbury whom he suspected, perhaps not unreasonably, of being in league with the empress. Roger had experienced a meteoric rise in fortune during the reign of Henry. Henry, if one historian is to be believed, had discovered Roger in France where he had been impressed at the speed at which the clergyman could read a mass. Henry appointed him as chancellor and as bishop of Salisbury and quickly elevated him to justiciar - making him the second most powerful man in England after himself. During Stephen's reign, Roger had established a powerful dynasty with his son as chancellor, his nephew Nigel as bishop of Ely and another nephew as bishop of Lincoln, all of whom were building or strengthening and garrisoning their own castles and ostentatiously taking large retinues of armed men about with them wherever they went. Stephen used a street brawl involving Salisbury's men as an excuse to seize Salisbury, his son and the bishop of Lincoln and chase Nigel of Ely to Devizes. After three days siege, Nigel was betrayed by Salisbury's mistress who feared for the safety of her husband and son. The king now had all the castles of Salisbury's family and had badly abused the legates in his custody. This action proved to be disastrous for Stephen. The church was appalled at the way in which Stephen had treated the clergymen. The king found many of his supporters switching to Matilda's side, including his own brother, the bishop of Winchester.

Stephen was a fearsome soldier. His chivalry and misplaced generosity, however, could be said to have been excessive and detrimental to his cause. His downfall at the battle of Lincoln in 1141 can be attributed to behavior which was typical of him. Towards the end of 1140 one of Matilda's supporters, Annul, the earl of Chester seized the castle of Lincoln. Instead of attempting to punish Rannulf, Stephen gave him the castle plus the city of Lincoln, plus a number of other castles. It was complaints of harsh treatment by the citizens of Lincoln which caused Stephen to rush to the city to sort Rannulf out. However Rannulf had slipped away to get reinforcements among the desperate knights who had lost everything they possessed fighting for the Empress.

The battle of Lincoln took place on the 2nd of February 1141. The kings forces easily defeated scouts sent by the earl to impede his progress and gained a good tactical position. Obeying his fatally chivalrous nature, Stephen took his men from easily defendable high ground to a marshy plane by the city of Lincoln to meet the earl's rabble for a fair fight. His cavalry failed to ward off frenzied attacks of the disinherited knights who had nothing to lose and everything to fight for. Stephen fought fiercely until both his sword and axe were broken and eventually was forced to surrender to Robert of Gloucester when he was knocked down by a flying stone.

Stephen's cause was now left in the hands of his shrewd queen, also called Matilda. She stood her own Cambridgeshire estates as collateral for a loan from the London justiciar, Gervase of Cornhill. She repurchased the support of Geoffrey de Mandeville who had transferred his allegiance to the empress when things started to go wrong for Stephen. She also won back the support of Stephen's brother, the bishop of Winchester whose support Stephen had lost after he miss-handled dealing with Roger of Salisbury.

In November of 1141 Stephen was released in exchange for Robert of Gloucester, an important ally of the empress who had been captured by royalist forces whilst fleeing a defeat at Winchester. Unchastened by his experience with the earl of Chester, he heaped rewards and privileges on the treacherous Geoffrey de Mandeville on top of the payment already made to him by the queen. De Mandeville became sheriff and justiciar in three separate counties. He was made constable of 'The Tower' - a role which effectively put him in charge of London but in which he evidently earned the loathing of the people of that city. The proof of the Londoners' hatred of de Mandeville exists in a document which points to his ultimate treason (that is, before he turned into a sadistic monster of the fens). He changed his allegiance back to the empress, drawing up a charter in which he dictates that she should make no peace with the burgesses of London without his consent 'because they are his mortal foes'. He continued to attend court and feign friendship with the king even though it was generally known that he was in league with the Stephen's enemies. Eventually his arrogance was too much for the royalists and he was arrested suddenly in St. Albans in 1143. As punishment for treason he was given the choice of execution or giving up the Tower and his castles in Essex. He chose life and vengeance - on the people of Cambridgeshire!

De Mandeville fled to the marshy swamps of the fens with an army of mercenaries and ruffians. He seized and occupied Ely, using it as a fortress and drove the monks out of Ramsey Abbey and used it as a headquarters for his mob. From here he plundered, ransacked, and burnt property. He employed every type of torture conceivable to extract crippling ransom from anyone unfortunate enough to fall into his hands. Cambridge itself was ransacked and burnt. No one, regardless of age, sex or profession was safe. Over a stretch of twenty or thirty miles of countryside there was not an ox or plough to be seen. A serious famine resulted to add to the already enormous death toll. Stephen was unable to get an army through the impenetrable fens to rid the area of the evil earl leaving de Mandeville free to carry on at will. Fortunately, however, de Mandeville was hit by an arrow whilst attacking Burwell Castle in August 1144 and died soon afterwards.

The earl of Chester was arrested for treason two years later and on his release after surrendering his castles, plunged into an similar orgy of ferocious brutality. Scores of lesser barons and free lances around the country waged horror upon anyone they felt they could extract plunder from.

The anarchy slowly abated over several painful years. Two factors helped bring back order. Firstly, the Angevin cause was fading. Stephen cut Matilda off from her Gloucestershire strongholds with a success at Farringdon in 1145 and effectively ended the Angevin threat for the rest of his reign. Secondly, the fall of Edessa in 1144 eventually led to the second crusade which gained momentum in 1146 when Louis VII of France and emperor Conrad III took the cross. Many lawless Anglo-Norman noblemen took leave from their bloody work in England to slaughter and get slaughtered in the Holy Land.

Factual information in this article was obtained from 'Domesday Book to Magna Carta' by A.L. Poole, published by Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-285287-6.

305291699. Rohese de Vere ¹ was born about 1112 in Hedingham, Essex, England. She died ² 21 Oct 1166 in England and was buried in Chicksands Priory, Bedfordshire, England. [Parents]

305291700. Richard FitzGilbert de Clare Earl of Hertford ¹ was born 1084 in Hertford, Hertfordshire and Clare, Suffolk, England. He died ¹ 15 Apr 1136 in Slain by Welsh near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales and was buried in Gloucestershire, England. Richard married Alice de Meschines about 1115. [Parents]

Lord of Cardigan in Wales

Richard de Clare first bore the title of Earl of Hertford and, being one of those who, by power of the sword, entered Wales, there planted himself and became lord of vast territories as also of divers castles in those parts, but requiring other matters of moment from the king, in which he was unsuccessful, he reared the standard of revolt and soon after fell in an engagement with the Welsh. His lordship in 1124 removed the monks out of his castle at Clare into the church of St. Augustine at Stoke, and bestowed upon them a little wood, called Stoke-Ho, with a doe every year out of his part at Hunedene. He m. Alice, sister of Ranulph, 2nd Earl of Chester, and had issue, Gilbert, his successor, with two other sons, and a dau. Alice who m. Cadwalader-ap-Griffith, Prince of North Wales. His lordship d. 1139 and was s. by his eldest son, Gilbert de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 119, Clare, Lords of Clare, Earls of Hertford, Earls of Gloucester]

Richard de Clare first bore the title of Earl of Hertford and, being one of those who, by power of the sword, entered Wales, there planted himself and became lord of vast territories as also of divers castles in those parts, but requiring other matters of moment from the king, in which he was unsuccessful, he reared the standard of revolt and soon after fell in an engagement with the Welsh. His lordship in 1124 removed the monks out of his castle at Clare into the church of St. Augustine at Stoke, and bestowed upon them a little wood, called Stoke-Ho, with a doe every year out of his part at Hunedene. He m. Alice, sister of Ranulph, 2nd Earl of Chester, and had issue, Gilbert, his successor, with two other sons, and a dau. Alice who m. Cadwalader-ap-Griffith, Prince of North Wales. His lordship d. 1139 and was s. by his eldest son, Gilbert de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 119, Clare, Lords of Clare, Earls of Hertford, Earls of Gloucester]

305291704. Hugh Bigod 1st Earl of Norfolk ^{1, 2} was born ¹ about 1095 in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, England. He died ² about 1177 in Thetford Church, Norfolk, England and was buried in Thetford Church, Norfolk, England. Hugh married Juliana de Vere about 1133 in Marriage was annulled. [Parents]

Hugh Bigod, brother of William, steward of the household of King Henry I, was also steward to King Henry I, who being mainly instrumental in raising Stephen, Earl of Bologne, to the throne upon the decease of his royal master, was rewarded by this new king with the Earldom of the East Angles, commonly called Norfolk, and by that designation we find him styled in 1140 (6th Stephen). His lordship remained faithful in his allegiance to King Stephen through the difficulties which afterwards beset that monarch, and gallantly defended the castle of Ipswich against the Empress Maud and her son until obligated at length to surrender for want of timely relief. In the 12th Henry II, this powerful noble certified his knight's fee to be one hundred and twenty-five "devetrifeoffamento," and thirty-five "de novo," upon the occasion of the assessment in aid of the marriage of the king's daughter; and he appears to have acquired at this period a considerable degree of royal favor, for we find him not only re-created Earl of Norfolk, by charter, dated at Northampton, but by the same instrument obtaining a grant of the office of steward, to hold in as ample a manner as his father had done in the time of Henry I. Notwithstanding, however, these and other equally substantial marks of the kings liberality, the Earl of Norfolk sided with Robert, Earl of Leicester, in the insurrection incited by that nobleman in favor of the king's son (whom Henry himself had crowned, ) in the 19th of the monarch's reign; but his treason upon this occasion cost him the surrender of his strongest castles, and a find of 1,000 marks. After which he went into the Holy Land with the Earl of Flanders, and died in 1177. His lordship had married twice; by his 1st wife, Julian, dau. of Alberic de Vere, he had a son, Rogers; and by his 2nd, Gundred, he had two sons, Hugh and William. He was s. by his eldest son, Roger Bigod, 2nd earl. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 53, Bigod, Earls of Norfolk]

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The Bigods held the hereditary office of steward (dapifer) of the royal household, and their chief castle was at Framlingham in Suffolk. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1961 ed, Vol. 3, pages 556/557, Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.)

305291705. Juliana de Vere ¹ was born 1116 in Hedingham, Essex, England. She died ¹ after 1185. [Parents]

305291716. Robert de Caen 1st Earl of Gloucester ^{1, 2} was born ¹ about 1090 in Caen, Normandy, France. He died ³ 31 Oct 1147 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. Robert married Maud FitzHamon about 1115 in Gloucestershire, England. [Parents]

[From Burke's Peerage-see source for details]

An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

305291717. Maud FitzHamon ¹ was born about 1094 in Gloucestershire, England. She died 1157 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. [Parents]

305291718. Robert II de Beaumont 2nd Earl of Leicester ^{1, 2} was born ² 1104 in Leicestershire, England. He died ² 5 Apr 1168 in England. Robert married ² Amice de Gael on 1120/1151 in Brittany, France. [Parents]

305291719. Amice de Gael ¹ was born 1108 in Montford de Gael, Brittany, France. [Parents]

305291728. Richard FitzEustace Clavering Lord Baron Halton was born about 1128 in Halton Castle, Skipton, Yorkshire, England. He died 1163 in Halton Castle, Skipton, Yorkshire, England. Richard married Albreda (Aubrye) de Lisoures about 1150. [Parents]

Richard Fitz-Eustace, Baron of Halton and constable of Chester, m. Albreda, dau. and heir of Robert de Lisours and half sister of Robert de Lacy, and had issue, John, who becoming heir to his uncle, the said Robert de Lacy, assumed the surname of Lacy, and s. his father as constable of Chester, and was ancestor of the Earls of Lincoln of that family; Robert, the hospitaller, that is of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England; and Roger, surnamed FitzRichard, progenitor of the great families of Clavering. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 121, Clavering, Barons Clavering, and p. 555, Vesci, Barons Vesci]

305291729. Albreda (Aubrye) de Lisoures ¹ was born about 1128 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. She died after 1193 in Halton Castle, Skipton, Yorkshire, England. [Parents]