Medieval England
Three
MEDIEVAL ANCESTORS - 900 TO 1400 A.D.
England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales
These five hundred years form the heart of what historians call the Middle Ages, or
the Medieval World. There were changes in the standard of living from the darker
centuries that preceded them, and for us there is an explosion in the number of families that
can be located. There are so many it would be confusing to mention all of them. Also, it
would be confusing to discuss all the events of these centuries, so I have selected three key
events, and I will show how our ancestors relate to them. Every person mentioned in this
chapter is a proved LeaMaster ancestor.
Two of the three events happened in England, and the other affected people in all
the nations of Europe. The first event was the invasion of England by the Normans of
France. William the Conqueror led it, and he commanded a force that defeated the AngloSaxon English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. This was one of the key battles in all
of European history, a battle that made England a Norman kingdom, complete with French
as the language of the new rulers. William The Conqueror is an ancestor, and so were many
of the Normans who accompanied him.
The story of our Norman ancestors begins in the early tenth century A.D. when
some Danish Viking began one of the several forays that took them to England, Ireland and
as far as the Mediterranean Sea and Italy. The leader of this particular raid was called
Rollo. Rollo sailed up the Seine River in Normandy France, ravaged the area, and then
decided to stay. With his followers, he stabilized his power in the area, became a Christian,
built churches and monasteries, intermarried with the locals, and became the best of all
pirates. Two centuries later, the descendants of these invaders were called the Normans of
the invasion. His descendant was William The Conqueror.
The Norman invaders who conquered England were mostly from western France,
from Normandy, and from Brittany or Maine south of Normandy, or from Flanders to the
north. The Norman victory at the day-long Battle of Hastings was partly the results of good
generalship, but partly because of some fortunate timing. While the English, led by King
Harold, were awaiting the expected Norman invasion, a Viking expedition led by King
Harold Hardrada of Norway, invaded England. The English army marched north and
fought them at a placed called Stamford Bridge. The English won a great victory, but three
days later William The Conqueror and his Normans landed, and Harold, with his tired and
wounded army, had to march nearly two hundred miles to stop them. They met the
Normans at the Battle of Hastings, less than three weeks after their victory over the Danes.
Harold Hardrada of Denmark died at Stamford Bridge, but King Harold of England died at
Hastings - and so did Anglo-Saxon England. The new English king was called William 1.
All three of these kings are our ancestors.
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People reflect pride in proving that William The Conqueror is an ancestor. That is
all right; but remember, he was an invader, and invading military men of those earlier
generations were not as heroic as we wish them to be. William The Conqueror mastered
England, but it took more than the Battle of Hastings to accomplish it. He laid waste to the
English countryside, leaving death and famine in his wake. Large areas of land were not
farmed for several years.
He took control of England by seizing title to all the land and giving it to his
followers. He built castles everywhere and gave ownership of castles and surrounding land
to his successful followers. Also, he told his followers to cement their title to the land by
marrying Saxon heiresses. Few Anglo-Saxon men remained in control of their own land.
Every Norman soldier who fought at Hastings was given a manor or two, a manor being a
rural village with its surrounding farms. Some of the leaders were given entire shires, or
counties. Some men who were given just a manor or two, paid attention to the marriage of
their sons and daughters and ended up with expansive estates and great power.
Lists do not make great reading, but sometimes they are more enlightening than
finding all of those names in paragraphs. For this reason I am listing the names of our
known Norman ancestors. You will see three lists. The first is a list of the Normans who
are LeaMaster ancestors. The second list includes forty-five families with a short note
concerning each, where they lived, how much property they received and the surnames of
their wives, if the information is available. List three is concerned with other significant
English and Scottish ancestral families of these centuries, with a sketch concerning each.
Given the state of education one thousand years ago, most names were spelled phonetically; so two authors might spell it differently. Also, some use the original French
spelling and others use the Anglicized version. Oftentimes authors refer to a person by their
title instead of their name, which adds more confusion. It took approximately two hundred
fifty years for the Normans of England to drop the "de" from their names, so I will use the
spelling they once preferred. Locating correct ancestors for LeaMaster is a difficult
process. It is likely that I have missed some family connections, and if I knew where, I
would correct them. Also, please note that while I name a certain family as an ancestor, it
does not mean all members of that family through all centuries are ancestors. For example,
the Percy families are ancestors until the middle of the fourteenth century, but not since
then. Some ancestral names are only from the tenth century.
LIST ONE: LEAMASTER NORMAN ANCESTORS
William d'Albini
Hugh de Beauchamp
Robert de Beaumont
Roger Bigod
William Malet
Geoffrey de Mandeville
Martin de Tours
Ranulph de Meschines
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4
Medieval England
William de Mohun
Drogo de Montacute
Hugh de Montfort
Ralph de Mortimer
Gilbert de Neville
Henry Newburgh
William de Percy
William Pevrel
Adam de Port
Richard de Quinci
Hubert de Rie (Dapifer)
William St. John
William de Saye
Robert Stafford
Ralph de Toesni (Toni)
Bertram de Verdun
Alberic de Vere
Ralph de Waer (Waet)
Hugh le Wake
William de Warenne
William THE CONQUEROR
William & Robert Blount
Ralph de Blundeville
Eustace de Boulogne
William de Braose (Briouze)
Baldwin de Brionis
Robert de Brus (Bruce)
Patrie de Cadurcis (Chaworth)
Richard de Clare
Roger Corbet
Robert d'Estuteville
Walter d'Evereux
Henry de Ferrars
Eustice de Fiennes
Flaald (FitzAlan)
William Fitz Rainald (Poynings)
Guarine de Meer (Fitzwaren)
William Fitz Osbern
William de Graunson (Grandison)
Osborne Giffard
Hugh de Gurnay
Ilbert de Laci (Lacy)
LIST TWO: SKETCHES, INDICATING PROPERTY GAINED, TITLES, AND SOME MATERNAL
SURNAMES.
ALBINI - William
was given estates in Norfolk & elsewhere. He gave his Normandy lands
to an abbey and founded an abbey in Norfolk. His son William won a jousting tournament
(military prowess) organized by the widowed queen of France. He rejected her amorous
advances so she showed him her garden, which actually was a lion cage. He was locked in
and he killed the lion - the books say by wrapping his cloak around his arm, thrusting it into
the lion's mouth, then with his other hand ripping out the lion's tongue. He gave the tongue
to the French widow, and then he returned to England where he married the widow of King
Henry I of England. Her name was Adeliza of Lorraine. There are two separate Albini
families. Our ancestors lived at Arundel, and I have no idea if the lion story is true - the
remainder is.
BEAUCHAMP - Ten
generations of ancestors, from the eleventh to the early fifteenth
century. Earliest is Hugh who came with The Conqueror. He was given large estates in
Hertford, Buckingham and Bedfordshire, but his son Walter, established the family in
Elmley, W orcestorshire. Other Beauchamp ancestors built their homes on estates in
Alcester and Bletsho, and another ancestral branch lived in Hache, Somersetshire.
The men in this family were known under their titles "Earls of Warwick", and were
involved deeply in thirteenth and fourteenth century English political affairs. Part of their
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prominence came from marriages to some substantial heiresses. The earldom of Warwick
came to the Beauchamp family when William married Isabel Mauduit. Other maternal
surnames are Abitot, Braose, Mortimer, Fitz Geoffery, Despencer, Pateshul, Clopton, de
Kyme, Toesni, and Roet. The Beauchamp family built several churches.
BEAUMONT (Bellomont) - We
know of five generations of ancestors, of which three lived
in Normandy. Robert was given all of Leicester and several manors in Warwickshire. He
built several churches and lived in a monastery his last fifteen years. Maternal surnames are
all French - Mellent, Vermandois, de Waer, and Grendesmenil. The last man of this line
died in 1190 A.D. while returning from a Crusade.
BIGOD - Five
generations of ancestors. The first Bigod was given 117 manors in Suffolk,
six in Essex, and some in Norfolk, where the family lived. Maternal surnames are
Grendesmenil, de Vere, Warenne, Marshal (Mareschal), and Furnival. The men were
known as the Earls of Norfolk.
BLOUNT - Ten
generations. The original Blounts were from Picardy, France. Three sons
came with The Conqueror, and two stayed. William was a general and Robert commanded
part of the navy. Result is that they received large estates, William in Lincolnshire and
Norfolk, and Robert in Suffolk. Their great grandchildren married, which united all the
Blount holdings and titles. Maternal surnames are Ferrars, Colekirke, Monchensi, L'Isle,
Odinsels, Beauchamp, Sodington, and Ayala.
BLUNDEVILLE - Earls of Chester
for a short time. Ralph received all of Chester.
BOHUN - Nine
generations of ancestors. Humphrey was given some estates in Norfolk, but
his son married Maud Salisbury by which the Bohun's gained most of Wiltshire. His
grandson married Margery, heiress to Herefordshire. The men were known as the Earls of
Hereford and Lord High Constable of England. Additional maternal surnames are
Huntingdon (Scottish), Mandeville, d'Eu, de Braose, Fiennes, and Badlesmere.
BOULOGNE - Eustace
was a key supporter of the invasion and was given land in Yorkshire,
but he was dissatisfied and returned to France. We descend through his granddaughter who
married Waltheof of Huntingdon, a Saxon.
BRIONIS - Baldwin
was given 159 manors in Devonshire. Through daughters in the family
the Devonshire manors went to Abrincis (Redvers), DeIncourt, then Courtenay. This line
can be traced to the fifth century A.D. in France. Their ancient English home was
Okehampton in Devonshire.
BRUS (Bruce)
- Seven generations. Robert was given ninety-four manors in Yorkshire.
When his son Robert was a young man he became close friends with David who became
King of Scotland. David gave his friend Robert Bruce the Scottish estate of Annandale.
The fifth generation Bruce married into the Scottish royal family and it was the eighth
Robert Bruce who became King of Scotland. This is the man in the movie Braveheart who
could never decide whether or not to support the Scottish rebellion against England.
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Medieval England
Maternal surnames are de Paganell, Huntingdon, de Clare and Carrick. (Braveheart was a
Wallace.)
CHAWORTH (Cadurcis)
- Five generations. From Brittany, France. Patrie was given
manors in Gloucestor. Patrie of the 5th generation was a Crusader. Maternal surnames are
de la Ferte, de Londres (Lord of Kidwelly) and Beauchamp.
CLARE - Nine
generations of Clare ancestors. As a relative to The Conqueror, Richard was
given extensive estates. He owned thirty-eight manors in Surrey, thirty-five in Essex,
ninety-five in Suffolk and some in Wiltshire and Devonshire. The family name comes from
a manor in Suffolk. The family home was at Tunbridge in Kent. Most men were known as
the Earl of Hertford. Richard "Strongbow" Clare led an army into Ireland, capturing Dublin
and marrying Aifa McMurrough, which gives us some of our extensive Irish genealogy.
Additional maternal surnames are Giffard, Cleremont, de Meschines, de St. Hillary,
Gloucester, Marshal, de Lacy, Plantagenet, and Mellent.
CLA VERING - Eustice
was from Normandy. Eight generations lived in Clavering and
Warkworth, in northern England. Maternal surnames are de Lizures, Essex, de Cheney, de
Baliol and de la Zouche.
d'EVREAUX - Walter
was given manors in eight shires. It was his daughter Maude who
married Humphrey Bohun, and all his land moved to that family, including the title Lord
Salisbury.
FERRARS - Earls of Derby.
Henry was given an immense number of manors, mostly in
Derbyshire and Leicestershire. His son Robert founded Merevale Abbey. Marriages in the
following generations gave the family large estates in Chester and Pembrokeshire, but
eventually the family took the wrong side in a civil war and the lands were forfeited to the
king. Maternal surnames are Pevrel, de Braose, Blundeville and Quincy.
FIENNES - Eustice
was given manors in Kent, but the family is normally known by the title
later used by its men, Baron of Dacre, which is from the Dacre family in Cumberland.
Maternal surnames of these two families are de Multon, Neville, and Douglas.
FITZ ALAN - Flaald
was given the castle of Oswaldestre and surrounding territory, land that
was taken from the Welsh kingdom ofPowys. His grandson John married Isabel de Albini,
and therefore the family gained the title Earl of Arundel. Additional maternal surnames are
Warin, de Say, de Verdun, Mortimer, and Plantaganet.
FITZ OSBERN - William
was one of the principle planners of the Norman invasion of
England. Because he was a close friend to The Conqueror he was given all of
Herefordshire.
FITZ WAREN - Guarine
de Meer (FitzWaren) was sent to the Welsh frontier and given
manors in Shropshire. He entered a jousting tournament and defeated the son of the king of
Scotland and the Baron of Burgundy. He won and received the castle of Whittington, and
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Miss Mallet, its heiress. One of the FitzWarens built the local highway directly through his
great hall so that all travelers would stop for food and shelter. Five generations of men were
named Fulke. Maternal surnames are de Dinant, Vavasour, Beaumont, and Audley.
GANT - Earls of
Lincoln. Gilbert was given much of Lincolnshire, but he gave most of it to
the abbey at Bardney.
GRAUNSON (Grandison)
- William was a Bergundian from somewhere near Switzerland.
He was given manors in Herefordshire
GIFFARD - A
general to The Conqueror and was given manors in five shires, with most of
them in Gloucester.
GURNA Y - Hugh
was given manors in Norfolkshire and Suffolkshire.
LACI - Ilbert
received nearly one hundred fifty manors in Yorkshire and ten in Nottingham.
The men were known as the Earls of Lincoln, following three de Gant men who originally
held that title. Ilbert's nephew, also an ancestor, was involved in the subjugation of Ireland
and received all of Meath County. This man married the daughter of the king of Connacht.
Maternal surnames are Riddelsford, Braose, de Vere, and de Quincy.
MALET - William
was with King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and is a Saxon man who
married a Norman lady named Hesilia Crispin.
MANDEVILLE - Geoffrey
was given manors in ten shires. The ancestral home was in Essex
and they were known as the Earls of Essex. His grandson, an ancestor, incurred the wrath
of the king and turned outlaw. Before he was killed he ravaged churches and monasteries
and generally laid waste to the countryside.
MARTIN - Six
generations, from Tours, France. Was sent to fight the Welsh and was given
manors in Pembrokeshire. Maternal surnames are Peverell, Griffin (Welsh), de Brienne,
and Mohun.
MESCHINES - Earls of Chester.
This family owned property in England and Normandy for
three generations. Ranulph married the Saxon heiress of Mercia. Additional maternal
surnames are Gloucester and Evereux.
MOHUN - Seven
generations. William was given fifty-five manors in Somerset and several
others in Wiltshire, Devonshire and Warwickshire.
MONTACUTE - Drogo
was given manors in Somersetshire.
MONTFORT - Eight
generations. Hugh was given fifty-one manors in Suffolkshire, twentyeight in Kent, sixteen in Essex and nineteen in Norfolk. Descendants were deeply involved
in the politics of this period. One was killed in a duel, the king imprisoned two, and one fell
in battle against the king. Maternal surnames are de Gant, Mellent, and de Aldithley.
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1.
Medieval England
MORTIMER - Eleven
generations, into the fifteenth century. Ralph was a principle
commander at the Battle of Hastings and was given all the land he could conquer in Wales.
The family home was Wigmore, and the descendants were deeply involved in English civil
wars. Maternal surnames are de Ferrars, Gladuse of Wales, de Braose, de Fiennes, de
Genevill, Badlesmere, Montacute, Plantagenet, and Holland.
NEVILLE - Twelve
generations, into the fifteenth century - Earls of Westmoreland. It is not
stated how many manors Gilbert received, but fortunate marriages in the next two
generations made the family very powerful. The first was Geoffrey who married Emma de
Bulmer, the heiress of Brancepeth, and the second was Isabelle Neville who married the
Saxon Robert Fitz Maldred, Lord of Raby. Raby became the family home. Additional
maternal surnames are Fitz Randolph, de Audley, Percy, Stafford, Beaufort, and Beauchamp. Two more of these marriages were with heiresses, bringing more land into the
Neville family, including the Beauchamp estates of Burgavenny.
NEWBURGH (Henry,
brother to Robert Beaumont) - Three generations, Earls of Warwick.
He was given Warwickshire, but three generations later Isabel, a Newburgh heiress,
married William Beauchamp and Warwick went to that family. Maternal surnames are de
Moreton, Warren, and de Harcourt.
PERCY - Fifteen generations into the sixteenth century, Earls
of Northumberland, with Viking ancestry prior to 1066 A.D.
William was given eighty manors in Yorkshire, then married
Emma de Port, the Saxon heiress to extensive estates in
northern England. Three generations later, Agnes married
Josceline de Louvain of Belgium, but only on condition he
change his name to Percy, which he did.
One of the famous soldiers of the fourteenth century
was
Henry "Hotspur" Percy. He spent a lifetime fighting in
the
English civil wars and against the French, Scots, and
Welsh. He fought his first battle at age fourteen and was
made famous in one ofthe most popular ballads of that century. For years he fought against
the Scottish Earl of Douglas, but ultimately they joined together in an unfortunate war
against England. Douglas was captured, "Hotspur" was killed, and his head was set on a
pike at the entrance to the city of Kent. The picture is of Hotspur's father, Henry Percy. He
died in 1393. Additional surnames are de Gaunt, de Clare, de Brus, de Baliol, Plantagenet,
Fitz Alan, Clifford, Neville, Mortimer, Ployings, and Herbert (Wales). Two of these are
Scottish marriages and most of the others are families from northern England.
PEVREL - William
was given one hundred sixty-two manors in Nottingham & Derbyshire.
PORT - Seven
generations. Adam was given fifty-five manors in Hampshire, with his
principle home as Basing. Four generations later Adam de Port married Mabel, heiress to
the St. John family. He changed his name to St. John, and by such they were known.
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Additional maternal surnames are Plantagenet, Paganell, de Cantilupe, and Warren. Adam
de Port has a Saxon background, but I am not certain where it begins.
QUINCI - Earls of
Winchester. Richard was given manors in Northhamptonshire and
Bedfordshire. Maternal surnames are de St. Liz, and Beaumont.
FITZ RAINALD (Poynings)
RIE (Dapifer)
SAYE - Four
- William was given manors in Sussex.
- Hugh was given thirty-six manors in Derbyshire.
generations. William was given land in Shropshire.
STAFFORD (younger
son of Roger de Toesni). Thirteen generations of the Earls of Stafford
are ancestors, into the sixteenth century. Three of the later generations were also known as
the Dukes of Buckingham. The original Robert was given one hundred thirty-one manors
in seven shires. Maternal surnames are de Ferrars, Corbet, Basset, de Audley, Ros,
Beauchamp, Nevill, Somerset, Wydville, and Percy.
STUTEVILLE - Robert
was given two manors in Norfolk
TOESNI (Toni,
Todeni) - Five generations. Ralph carried The Conqueror's personal flag and
was given eighty manors, mostly in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire. There is
some uncertainty concerning his descendants, but one son changed his name to de Albini
(Daubeney). The family castle was at Belvoir in Lincoln.
VERDUN - Five
generations of ancestors. Bertram was given land in Buckinghamshire.
VICRE - Five
generations, Earls of Oxford. One of the most illustrious families in medieval
England, with several becoming chief of staff to their kings. Alberic was given manors in
Middlesex and Essex. Maternal surnames are de Clare, d'Abrincis, de Bolebec, de Quincy,
and de Saundford.
WAER - Ralph
gained several manors but I have not found the location. He married
Amicia, daughter of William Fitz Osbern.
WAKE - Origins are
Norman but no evidence that any were at the Battle of Hastings. Hugh
Ie Wake was the first of his family to be known in England. Maternal surnames are de
Rullos, de Humet, de Briwere, de Stuteville, and de Quinci.
LIST THREE - KEY FAMILIES NOT NECESSARILY NORMAN
AUDLEY (Alditheley)
- Five generations with estates in Cheshire and Staffordshire. The
family men fought in the Welsh wars, and later the French wars. Grandmother surnames
are Mesnilwarin, Giffard, Martin, and Malbank. The family built Hilton Abbey near the
family home in Heleigh, Staffordshire.
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Medieval England
BASSET - Six
generations of ancestors. Family home was III Drayton Staffordshire.
Grandmother surnames are Ridel, de Someri, and Grey.
BERKELEY -Nine
generations, to 1361 A.D. Family was established in Berkeley Castle,
Gloucester. Roger Berkeley came with The Conqueror, but he had no children, so willed
his estates to his nephew. Two generations later, there were no sons, so when Alice married
Maurice Fitz Harding, he changed his name to Berkeley. We descend through a branch of
the family that five generations later established their home in Beverstone. Maternal
surnames are de Somery, de Credonia, de Ferrars, le Zouche, and Clyvedon.
de BURGH - six
generations. One of the most powerful families in thirteenth century
Ireland. Achieved power by conquest and by marrying Irish heiresses. Richard
Burgh! Agnes O'Conor built the castle at Galway, and his grandson built the castles of
Ballymote, Corran and Sligo, plus the Carmelite monastery at Loughrea. At one point in
time this Richard commanded all the armies of Ireland. Additional maternal surnames are
de Laci, Gloucester and Plantagenet.
CLIFFORD - Eleven
generations in Cumberland and Westmoreland. Name was taken from
Clifford Castle in Herefordshire, an inheritance of Margaret Toesni who married Richard.
Additional maternal surnames are de Cundi, a daughter of Llewellyn of Wales, de
Longespee, de Ewyas, de Vipount, Clare, Berkeley, Beauchamp, Ros, Percy, and Dacre.
FITZGERALD - Earls of Desmond
(Ireland). This family began in England, married into a
Welsh family from Deheubarth. Maurice led a Norman expedition into Ireland and was
given several manors there.
HUNTINGDON - Waltheof
was a Saxon who had married a relative of The Conqueror prior
to the invasion. Consequently he was given Huntingdon as well as Northumberland. He
was upset with Norman policies in England so he fought against them, but was captured
and beheaded. His daughter, Maud, married Simon de St. Liz, who received all of
Waltheof's land and titles. Later, she married King David I of Scotland.
MARSHAL (Mareschal)
- Earls of Pembroke. William was the most powerful baron of the
early thirteenth century - and some thought, the wisest. He married the heiress of the Clare
family, went on a Crusade, and defended King John when the barons revolted. They had
five sons and five daughters, of which we descend from four of the daughters - Maud who
married William Warenne, Isabel who married Gilbert de Clare, Sybil who married
William de Ferrars, and Eve who married William de Braose.
PLANTAGENET - William The
Conqueror's granddaughter Matilda married Geoffrey
Plantagenet of Anjou France.
SEGRA VE Five
generations living in Leicestershire. These men were deeply involved in
political affairs in England, with some serving as high justices and some serving at generals
during the many wars. Maternal surnames are de Chaucumbe, and de Lucy and Despencer.
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I can identify five Norman men who married Saxon women. They are Ranulph de
Meschines who married Lucia of Mercia, William de Percy who married Emma; Hugh de
Gurney who married Erneburga of Yorkshire; Henry de Newburgh who married Margaret,
daughter of Thurkill; and Hugh Wac (Wake) who married Emma de Gand, a descendant of
Hereward the Saxon. Also, Gilbert Neville's granddaughter Isabel married Robert Fitz
Maldred, a Saxon. Their son chose her maternal surname over his Saxon name.
I find four Normans who married Irish women. "Strongbow" Clare married Aife
McMurrough, giving us centuries of Irish genealogy; Arnulph Montgomery (I do not know
if he came with The Conqueror) married Lafracoth Ui Briain; William Burgh also married
a Ui Briain; and Richard de Burgh married Una O'Conor. Also, Simon Montacute married
Aufrick of the Isle of Man.
Five marriages crossed the English-Scottish border in the first two centuries. They
formed ties with these families: Clare/Bruce, ClaveringlBalliol; PercylBalliol;
Ros/daughter of Scottish king William; and Dacre/Douglas.
I find thirteen Norman-Welsh marriages. A few of these are marriages between the
children of heads of state, but most reflect the Normans who were sent into Wales to
conquer. They stayed, and had their hearts conquered. I list the surnames. They are our
ancestors.
Braose-Gladys Ddu
Clifford-Margaret of Gwynedd
Johanna Corbet-Owen ofPowys
Fitzgerald-Nesta of Deheubarth
Fitz Waren-Margaret ofPowys
Herbert-Christian Ddu of Llandillo
Herbert-Alice of Monmouth
Lacy-Rohese of Monmouth
Mortimer-Gladys Ddu
Percy-Maude of Monmouth
Joan Plantagenet-Llewylyn The Great, King North Wales
Quincy-Helen of Gwynedd
Hawys Strange-Griffydd of Wenwynwyn
F or several decades Normandy and England were one kingdom, and several
Norman families held estates in both. Norman-English men often went to France to find a
suitable wife, and for three hundred years they went there to fight against the French for
control of all of Normandy as well as other French principalities.
The Welsh had a short respite while the Normans occupied the English kingdoms of
Mercia and Wessex, but the Conqueror's efficient armies soon cut a swath through South
Wales, erecting a string of castles to enforce his will. The Welsh struggle against England
22
Medieval England
continued in spite of the string of castles. The Welsh won some battles and lost others, yet
they refused to accept total control. Oftentimes the three Welsh kingdoms went their own
way, and sometimes they were forced to form a military union. Llewellyn The Great
(Llewellyn ap Iorwerth) of North Wales was such a man. He spent his life working to keep
Norman England at bay.
Finally the English King John married his daughter Joan to Llewellyn. He had
hoped for peace, but the marriage did not achieve its purpose. Llewellyn continued his war
until he had regained independence for most of Wales. He repressed internal WeIsh
dissension and had a role in creating extensive political dissension inside England. In spite
of all the wars his forty-four year reign is considered a time of peace for Wales. In all, it
took the Normans two hundred years to conquer Wales. All three of Llewelynn and Joan's
daughters are our ancestors.
During the early years of Norman control of England there was an attempt to
subjugate Ireland and Scotland. Battles were fought and temporary control was sometimes
achieved, but the only permanence was in the form of a few family alliances. Scotland
united with England only when the crowns were united, and Ireland never did - unless you
consider England's shaky control over Ulster.
When Rome withdrew from Britain in the fifth century A.D., they left behind a
Scotland which had been kept insulated by a wall, and which had felt very little Roman
influence. The Picts and Scots finally came together, then they spent centuries fighting the
Saxons and the Vikings, or absorbing them, and then they spent more centuries fighting the
Norman invaders. In between wars they fought amongst themselves.
Malcolm Canmore ruled Scotland for thirty years in the late eleventh century. He
was King of Scotland when William The Conqueror invaded England. King Malcolm
married Margaret, sister to Edward Aetheling of the ancient Anglo-Saxon royal family, and
by his marriage supported the Saxons who were being driven out of England by the
Normans.
Margaret has been canonized a Saint, particularly for her work at reforming and
improving the Church in Scotland. However, her reforms were not well received by the
Celtic elements in Scotland. For nearly two centuries they changed Christianity in a
peculiarly Celtic manner. The druids were entrenched in the church when Margaret began
her reforms, but she modified the Church into more acceptable western patterns. Margaret
was considered beautiful, charitable, and pious, and she tempered the more ferocious side
of her husband.
The king who brought Scotland together was David I, a twelfth century king who
was educated in England. He eradicated much that was left of Celtic influence, especially
the old rule of law that was so vague. He separated the Scottish Church from England, and
freed the rural people from the old custom that denied them the right to leave the land on
which they were born. He saw to it that schools and monasteries and churches were built
23
throughout the land. He married Maud, heiress of Huntingdon (northern England) through
her father, Waltheof.
Again and again the Scots fought against England. They fought throughout the
fourteenth century, and when the century ended they were still fighting and ravaging the
frontier between the two kingdoms. Several of our grandfathers, and not a few grandmothers, were killed - Bruce, Plantagenet, Percy, Clifford - all these great families lost
members in the century of carnage. In the fifteenth century, four Percy grandfathers in a
row died in battle. All were named Henry, including "Hotspur",
The second key event of the three hundred years between 1000 A.D. and 1300 A.D.
were the Crusades. Actually the Crusades were a series of events having similar goals.
There were seven of these, covering nearly two hundred years (1096-1270), and they
affected deeply our English, French, German and Byzantine ancestors.
The Crusades reflected the attempts of Christian Europe and England to regain
control of the Holy Land from the people they called "heathen Mohammedans" - those we
now call Moslems. The Crusades began as a series of individual pilgrimages to Jerusalem,
pilgrimages that Europeans had been making since the ninth century. They were meant to
gain redemption from personal sins, but when the pope issued an appeal to help the Holy
Land gain relief from the ravages of the Mohammedans, all of the Christian nations
responded. It became a Christian Holy War - the Crusades.
Whether or not they were successful depends upon how you measure them. Battles
were won and lost, and Jerusalem was won and lost. The Christian nations fought amongst
themselves and held each other for ransom. Twenty thousand children went on the
Children's Crusade, but none got beyond the slave-ridden Mediterranean ports in France
and Italy, and few ever returned to their homes.
It took three to five years to complete a crusade, and of the twenty-three NormanEnglishman ancestors we can identify, more than half died or were killed before they
returned. All twenty-three listed crusaders are LeaMaster ancestors. Many more ancestors
were from France, Belgium, and Germany.
Robert Beaumont
Ralph Blundeville
Henry Bohun
Patrie Chaworth
\Villiam F errars
Robert Fitz Walter
John Lacy
Roger Lacy
William Marshal
Simon Montfort
William Percy
Robert Quincy
Saher Quincy
David St. Liz
Geoffrey Say
Nicholas Segrave
24
Nicholas Segrave
Hugh Stafford
Robert Stafford
Ralph Toesni
Bertram Verdon
Hugh Wake
William Warenne
Medieval England
The immediate impact of the Crusades was incredible. One hundred fifty thousand
joined the First Crusade, and that requires us to consider the logistics of that many people
traveling toward a common goal. Three years later, twenty thousand reached Jerusalem
and assisted in its capture. The remainder died en route, were killed in battle, or returned
home before they reached their destination.
These tens of thousands of Crusaders either sailed the Mediterranean from French
or Italian ports, or they traveled overland through the Balkans and Greece. Either way their
first goal was to reach the ancient city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) which stood at the
point where Europe met Asia, on the west end of the Black Sea. It was the capital of the
empire called Byzantium.
Every crusade began there, and when they arrived they found the Byzantine Empire
distrustful of their goals and unable to care for the huge armies. The distrust festered
because some of the crusaders would have loved to slice off a part of the Empire. When the
crusaders confronted Byzantium's leaders, they were confronting more ancestors. These
ruling families were named Angelos, Comnenus, Dukai, Laskaris, Monomachus and
Porphyrogenitus. All are LeaMaster ancestors.
In the long run there was some good accomplished by the crusades. In spite of the
squabbles amongst the leaders, it united Christendom in a common cause. It enriched the
port cities of France and Italy, in spite of the haunting memories of the children that were
snatched into servitude. The only decent memory of that disaster is the story is found in the
"Pied Piper of Hamelin".
The Crusades brought Christians into contact with a world culture they never knew
existed. They discovered that Mohammedan medicinal practices were superior to those of
Europe. They brought home silk and they brought home the Arab mathematical discovery
of the concept of zero - something the Arabs learned from India. Many brought home
sacred relics, such as pieces of the lance that entered the side of the Savior, or part of his
fingernail, or part of the shroud, at least things that were thought to be sacred relics.
The lance was discovered during the First Crusade. Many of the Crusaders felt that
the lance was fraudulent, but they became believers when they carried the lance into battle
and annihilated the enemy. They believed in such things and when they returned home they
built special churches to house their relics. While the Turks and Mohammedans may have
considered them fanatics, we might remember that most were very devout and humble.
They believed in what they were doing.
The third significant event was the signing of the Magna Carta in England in 1215
A.D., and it is one of the most important events of the last thousand years of secular
history. That is because of what it did for that period of time, and for what it triggered for
the future. It happened approximately one hundred fifty years after the Norman occupation
of England. During that period of time there was too much chaos, and in spite of periodic
guarantees, the large land barons found their titles and property could be lost if they
25
supported the wrong claimant to the throne. There were several ruling kings and one queen
during that time period, and with the demise of each, there was a dynastic war, or near war
before a new one was placed in power. The large landholders discovered their titles and
estates were forfeit if they supported the loser. For them it was chaotic, because everything
was so arbitrary.
The timing of the signing of the Magna Carta was related to the attempt of King
John of England to regain control over Normandy and Aquitaine in France. He ordered the
barons to join him in his attempt. It was an order that angered them, and when he increased
their taxes by fifty percent to pay for it, they rebelled, especially the northern English
families. They banded together and met the king's representatives at a meadow called
Runnemede, not far from Windsor Castle. For a week they met, seeing the king once each
day, and they forged the document of sixty-three articles, which became the basic freedom
of rights in England.
Without enumerating all of the freedoms found in the Magna Carta, let me note that
most dealt with the grievances of the great land barons, but not the grievances of all
Englishmen. Nevertheless, those basic freedoms were expanded in later generations. The
articles required the king to end arbitrary tax increases by requiring the approval of a
special council, guaranteed that the church was to have elections free of the king's
influence, that the king could no longer tell his barons whom they could marry, that the
king could no longer seize the property of a widow, that the king could no longer send
anyone to prison for an arbitrary offense, that the king could no longer hold the children of
a baron as hostage for good behavior, and that the forests were to be national and not his
private preserves (remember the story of Robin Hood?). Also, there is a general promise of
freedom and liberty to all.
When it was signed, the barons chose twenty-five of their number to serve as
enforcers, to make certain the king upheld the terms of the agreement. There were some
additions to the agreement a few years later, and a general reaffirmation in 1225 A.D., the
year some authors use for the signing of the Magna Carta.
King John is an ancestor and so were several of his principle counselors - Thomas
and Alan Basset, Piers Fitz Herbert, Alan of Galloway, William Marshal and Hubert de
Burgh. Several of these men advised the king to sign the agreement, but they incurred his
wrath by doing so.
The furious king did not plan to uphold the agreement and he had some powerful
support. He seized the land of the twenty-five "enforcer" barons and the pope agreed to
excommunicate them. As a consequence the barons invited the King of France to come to
England to assist them, and he did, occupying London. All this craziness ended when King
John suddenly died and shortly thereafter the French left England.
Henry III was the new king but he was nine years of age, so William Marshal, King
John's key advisor, became regent - ruler of England - until the boy reached his maturity.
William Marshal The Regent is a remarkable ancestor. He was nearing seventy years of
26
Medieval England
age when he became Regent, and he rallied England to defeat the French, and then wisely
returned all expatriated lands to the rebellious barons. He reaffirmed the Magna Carta and
did all he could do to reunite a divided England. He was a great and wise man. His wife
was Isabel Clare and we descend from each of their five daughters.
When William Marshal died, Hubert de Burgh became Regent, and he is one of
England's greatest heroes, both in his day and in the centuries since. He defended the
liberties of ordinary men and women, and is called England's first great naval commander,
an honor achieved by defeating the French navy off Dover while the French were
occupying London. Shakespeare immortalized him in "King John" (Act IV, scenes 1 & 2)
when he refused to blind a hostage when ordered to do so by the king.
Of the twenty-five barons who formed the watchdog committee we can identify
fourteen who were ancestors. You will recognize that several of the surnames are the same
as those of the Normans who accompanied The Conqueror one hundred years earlier.
Hugh Bigod
Roger Bigod
Henry Bohun
Gilbert Clare
Richard Clare
John Fitzrobert (Clavering)
William de Lanvallei
William Longuespee
William Malet
Richard Percy
Robert de Ros
Saher de Quincy IV
Robert de Vere
All these are LeaMaster ancestors. Roger Bigod and Saher Quincy wrote most of
the document. Two men, Piers Fitzherbert and William Malet, had Saxon ancestors.
William Longuespee was a half-brother to King John, which led to some difficulties. When
it was completed five of the men went on a crusade to atone for their sin of opposing their
king. They are Bohun, Fitzwalter, Lacy, Quincy and Say.
The Magna Carta guaranteed specific rights for a few selected landowners, yet the
next centuries find us carrying the concept further. We have broadened it in a profound
way, and it began in England with our ancestors. Perhaps you can see the development of a
balance to the king when the barons made King John agree to a council prior to increasing
taxes.
There are several additional events in these centuries. One was the Black Death of
1347-1350. It is called the Bubonic Plague now, and we know that the vermin found on rats
transmits it. They did not understand it then, nor could they stop its progress. It came out of
Asia, went through southern Europe to the British Isles, and everywhere else.
It was an agonizing death. It killed one third of the people in Europe and over one
half of the people in England. Cities were decimated, and so was the countryside. Nothing,
not even war and brigandage brought so much terror. Consider the impact on our
generation if half of us died within a three-year span.
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