De Braiose

1. Eva De Braiose: Born about 1220, of Bramber, Sussex, England; Died 28 July 1255; Married 25 July 1238; William De Cauntelou, Baron Abergavenny: Born about 1216, Calne, Wiltshire, England, also of Aston Cantelupe, Warwickshire, England; Died 25 September 1254, Calstone, Wiltshire England; Buried Studley; (See La Zouche)

2. William, 6th Baron De Braiose: Born 1204, Brecknock, Surrey, England; Died 2 May 1230; Buried Aber, Wales; Married Eva Marshal: Born about 1194, of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; Died before 1246. William was hanged for having a romantic liason with Joanna, Princess of Wales. She was the Daughter of King John of England and the wife Of Llewellyn Fawr (the Great), Prince of Wales. He is said to have been caught in he bedroom by Llewellyn. William and Eva's eldest daughter, Isabelle was married to Llewellyn and Joanna's son Dafydd soon after the hanging.

Eva's Parents through Great-Grandparents--

• I. Sir William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke: Born 1146 Died 14 May 1219, Caversham Manor, England; Buried Temple Church, London, Middlesex, England; Married August 1189, London, Middlesex, England; Isabel De Clare, Countess of Pembroke: Born about 1172, of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; Died 1220, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. (See Clermont) He was named in the Magna Carta, 1215; William was generally regarded as the greatest knight of the Middle Ages! Thanks to King Stephen's lack of justice, (see below) William Marshal was permitted to grow up to become the most distinguished of all the lords of Cheapstow Castle and the most renowned knight of his time. Gifted with his father's soldierly prowess, but free of his rascally character, William first served King Stephen and afterward his Plantaganet successor, Henry II, from whom he received Cheapstow Castle along with Isabel de Clare, the "Pucelle [damsel] of Estriguil, good, beautiful, courteous and wise," according to William's biographer. The gift was confirmed by Henry's successor Richard I, the Lionhearted, who generously (or sensibly) overlooked a past episode when William had fought Richard during the latter's rebellion against his father. A member of the royal council, William served King Richard and his brother, King John, for many years and played a leading--or perhaps the leading--role in negotiating the Magna Carta. On John's death he efficiently put down the rebel Barons supporting Prince Louis of France and during a reluctant but statesmanlike term as regent established the boy King Henry III securely on the throne. William's marriage to Isabel was the crowning achievment in his life. He was, as a result of this marriage, a powerful Earl and a man to whom others flocked. Isabel was the last in the Clare line and all her titles passed unto her new husband.
  • A. John Fitz Gilbert, Le Marshall: Born about 1105, of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; Died 1164/1165; Married about 1143, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales; Sibyl De Salisbury: In the Pipe Roll of 1130 John is found paying for the succession to his father's lands and office and in possession of an estate in Wiltshire. In 1138 he fortified Marlborough and Ludgershall, probably as one of the rebels that year, for Stephen was besieging him in Marlborough when the Empress landed, in 1139. In 1140 he was approached by Robert Fitz Hubert, who had seized Devizes Castle, and who hoped to secure Marlborough; but John, overreaching him, made him his prisoner, and then sold him to the Earl of Gloucester. His action in this matter is somewhat mysterious, but he seems to have been fighting, virtually, for his own hand. In 1141, on the downfall of Stephen, he actively supported the Empress, being present with her at Reading in May, at Oxford in July, and at the siege of Winchester in August and September. At the close of the siege, 13 September, he comes into prominence, being cut off with a small force, and forced to take refuge in Wherwell Abbey. The abbey was fired by the enemy, but John stood his ground, and though surrounded by flames, refused to surrender to his foes. Stephen's men, probably lead by William of Ypres, set fire to the church. John, with one of his companions, climbed to the bell tower. The lead roof on the tower roof melted and a drop splashed on John's face, putting out an eye. Nevertheless, he refused to surrender and out waited his enemies, who concluded that he must be dead in the smoking ruins. When they had reached this conclusion he made his escape right under their very noses. There is a stirring description of this scene in the Historie de Guillaume Le Marechal, where commences its narrative, and states that Marshal, though supposed to have perished rejoined his friends, with the loss of an eye and other wounds. It was to his castle of Ludgershall that the Empress first fled, and again in the following summer (1142) he was again by her side at Oxford, where his brother William was acting as her chancellor. In 1144 he is described by the Gesta Stephani as making Marlborough Castle a center of predatory excursions, and as oppressing the clergy, charge which is confirmed by the Chronicle of Abingdon. About the same time he attended the court of the Empress at Devizes. A few years and many escapes later, in 1152, John was prevailed upon to hand over his young son William to the now King Stephen as a hostage against a possible act of treachery during a truce. John then went ahead and committed the treachery, reinforcing the Castle of Newbury, which the king was besieging. King Stephen threatened to hang six year old William unless the castle surrendered. The threat had no effect on John, who coolly answered that he did not care if his son were hanged, since he had "the anvils and hammer with which to forge still better sons." To those of us who are able to examine this statement in hindsight it is an intriguing puzzle to imagine a son better than the famed William Marshal. The lad was accordingly led out next morning toward an oak tree, but his cheerful innocence won the heart of King Stephen, a man of softer mold than John Marshal. Picking the boy up, the king rode back to camp, refusing to allow him to be hanged, or--an alternate proposal from the entourage--to be catapulted off the wall of the besieged castle. The king and the boy were later found playing "knights" with plantain weeds and laughing uproariously when William knocked the head off the king's plantain. Such tenderheartedness in a monarch was almost as little admired as John Marshal's brutality, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle succinctly observing of King Stephen that "He was a mild man, soft and good, and did no justice." In 1149 John witnessed a charter of her son Henry at Devizes, and on the latter' accession he received a grant of crown lands in Wiltshire worth 82l a year. Among them was Marlborough, which, however, he lost in 1158. He repeatedly witnessed Henry's charters, and was present at the council of Clarendon in 1164. Not long afterwards he claimed in the Archbishop's court Mundham, parcel of the archiepiscopal manor of Pagham, Sussex. Failing in his suit he made oath that justice was denied him, and appealed to the King. Henry summoned Becket to answer the complaint in his court, but the primate excused himself on the ground of ill health when the case came up (14 September.) The king then summoned him to a great council at Norhtampton, there on 8 October he was fined 500l. for not appearing in person in September. Next day he spoke on Marshal's case, alleging that the oath by which John had sworn to his refusal of justice was invalid, having been cunningly taken on a troparium. The king replied that John was detained in London as an official of the exchequer, but would come shortly. Becket's biographers take the case no further, but state that John and two of his sons died that same year. As to John, he was certainly dead at Michaelmas 1165; but the Pipe Rolls tell us that it was not till a year later that his son paid relief for his lands. It is possible that the two sons who died were Gilbert and Walter, the children of his first marriage. John appears to have largely increased his patrimony and held several estates as an under-tenant at his death. The Gesta Stephani describes him from Stephen's standpoint as a limb of hell, and the root of all evil." but the Continuator of Florence terms him "a distinguished soldier," and the Historie de Guillaume Le Marechal praises him for his fidelity to the Empress.
  • Sibil's Father--
    • i. Walter De Salisbure, Sheriff of Wiltshire. He was the founder of Bradenstock Priory.
  • John's Father--
    • ii. Gilbert Marshal, Head Groom. Gilbert had been an official at the court of King Henry I. His name had simply been Gilbert. The surname Marshal borne by his children is derived from marechal, meaning head groom, which had been his post. This office was sufficiently remunerative for Gilbert to defend it against rival claimants by judicial duel. His son John went a step further and successfully asserted by judicial combat that the job was hereditary. Following his victory John assumed the aristocratic sounding name of John Fitz Gilbert Le Marechal.

William's Parents--

3. Reginald De Braiose: Born about 1178-85, of Bramber, Sussex, England; Died 1227/1228, of Brecon, Breconshire, Wales; Married about 1203; Cracia De Briwere: Born about 1186, of Bramber, Sussex, England; Died before 1215.

Cracia's Parents--

• I. Sir William Briwere, Lord of Torre and Horsley: Born about 1145, Stoke, Devonshire, England. Died 1226, Devonshire, England; Married about 1174, of Stoke, Devonshire, England; Beatrice (Alice) De Vaux: Born about 1149, Stoke, Devonshire, England; Died 24 March 1217. (See Fortescue)

Reginald's Parents--

4. William, 5th Baron De Braiose: Born about 1153, Bramber, Sussex, England; Died 9 August 1211, Corbeil, Marne France; Married Maud De St. Valerie, Baroness De Braiose, Ladie of La Haie: Born about 1155, of Bramber, Sussex, England; Died 1210. Arthur, King John's 16 year old nephew and only rival to the English throne, was captured by John and put into William De Braiose's custody. He was never seen alive again and to this day no one knows for certain when or how he died. When William's wife Maud (who is reputed to have been a serious bitch with an uncontrolled tongue) publicly accused King John of being responsible for his own nephew's murder, she was taken prisoner and walled up alive in her own castle with her son William, the both of them left to starve to death. He died first and she is believed to have gone mad; then they at last recovered, they found teeth marks in her son's face. Husband William escaped to France, abandoning her to her fate.

Maud's Parents--

• I. Bernad IV De Saint Valery: Born about 1117, of Haseldene, Gloucstershire, England; Married about 1146, of Isleworth, Middlesex, England; Matilda (De Saint Valery): Born about 1128, of England.
  • A. Reginald II De Saint Valery: Born about 1094, of Isleworth, Middlesex, England; Married about 1116, of Isleworth, Middlesex, England; Died 1166. Reginald was a Twin.
    • i. Bernard III De Saint Valery: Born about 1065, of Isleworth, Middlesex, England; Married about 1090, of Isleworth, Middlesex, England.

William's Parents--

5. William De Braiose, 1st Baron of Gwetland: Born about 1100, of Bramber, Sussex, England; Died about 1192, of England; Married about 1150, of Herefordshire, England; Bertha Fitz Miles of Gloucester: Born about 1130, of Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England.

William's Parents, Grandparents and Great-Grandparents--

• I. Philip De Braose: Born Before 1073, of Bramber, Sussex, England; Died 1134/1135 Holy Land, Palestine; Married Aenor De Totnais: Born about 1084, of Barnstaple, Devonshire, England.
• Aenor's Parents--
  • A. Judeal (Johel, Judhael), Lord De Totenais and Barnstaple: Born about 1049, of Barnstable, Devonshire, England Died after 1123; Married Miss De Pecguigny: Born about 1054, of Barnstable, Devonshire, England.
    • i. Alured De Totnais: Born about 1015, of Barnstaple, Devonshire, England.
  • Philip's Parents--
    • B. William De Braose: Born about 1049, of Brienze, Normandy, France; Died 1087 Bramber, Sussex, England; Married Agnes De Saint Clare: Born about 1054, of Barnstaple, Devonshire, England.
    • Agnes' Parents--
      • i. Waldron De Saint Clare: Born about 1015, of Normandy, France; Married Helena Le Bon: Born about 1030, of Normandy, France.

Bertha's Parents--

6. Miles of Gloucester, Fitz Walter, Earl of Hereford, Lord High Constable of England: Born about 1092, of Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England; Died 23 or 24 December 1143, Llanthony Priory, Gloucestershire, England; Married April or May 1121 Sibyl De Neufmarche: Born about 1096, Aberhonwy, Bronshire, Wales; Died after 1143, Gloucestershire, England.

Miles' Parents, Grandparents and Grandmother's father--

• I. Walter of Gloucester, Fitz Roger, Sheriff of Gloucester: Born about 1065, of Gloucestershire, England; Died before 1129, England; Married about 1087, England; Bertha (Berthe) (of Gloucester): Born about 1069, of England; Died in England.
  • A. Roger De Pitres: Born about 1035, of Pitres; Died in England; Married in England; Eunice De Baalun: Born about 1050; Died in England.
  • Eunice's Father--
    • i. Drew De Baalun: Born about 1025, of Gloucestershire, England; Died in England.

Sibyl's Parents--

7. Bernard De Neufmarche, Lord of Brecnoch: Born about 1070, of Neufmarche, France; Died 1093; Married Nesta Fitz Osborn: Born about 1079, of Herefordshire, England.

Nesta's Parents, Grandfather and Great-Grandfather--

• I. Osborn (or Osbert or Osbern) Fitz Richard, Sheriff of Hereford: Born about 1055, of Richard's Castle, Hereford, England; Died 1080 or after 1100; Married Nesta "of North Wales" Merch Griffith: Born about 1055-1059, of Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales. (See Princes of North Wales )
  • A. Richard Fitz Scrob: Born about 1030, of Herefordshire, England; Died about 1067-1080, of Richard's Castle, Herefordshire, England.
    • i. Scrob.

Bernard's Father--

8. Geoffrey De Neufmarche: Born about 1025, of Neufmarche, France; Married France; Ada De Hugelville: Born about 1025, of Neufmarche, France.

Geoffrey's Father--

• I. Thurcytel (Thureyitel) De Neufmarche: Born about 990, France.

Ada's Father--

9. Richard Fitz Gulbert, Seigneur De Hugelville and Auffay.

10. Gulbert De St. Valerie: Alive 1011; Married Papia of Normandy. He was the Advocate of St. Valerie, and Protector of the monastery of Fecamp.

Papia's Parents--

11. Richard I "the Fearless", Duke of Normandy: Born 28 August 933, of Normandy, France; Died 20 November 996, Fecamp, Seine-Inferieure, France; Had issue with a concubine: Born about 935, of Normandy, France. (See The Kings of England)