1323435653. Countess Gundred de Warenne
Daughter of William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey,and great granddaughter of Henry I of France.
1323435664. Baron William d'Albini
Called the Briton, from having been born in England. This feudal Baron was a soldier of distinction, and acquired great renown in the celebrated battle of Tenercheby in Normandy when he commanded the calvary, for "by a charge of much spirit, he determined at once the fate of the day." The monk Matthew Paris records "in this encounter chiefly deserveth honour the most heroic William d'Albini, the Briton, who with his sword broke through the enemy and terminated the battle."
When he became a supporter of the Empress Maud, his castle at Belvoir with all its great possessions, were seized by King Stephen who presented them to Ranulphgerons de Meschines, the Earl of Chester.
All from "Magna Charta," by John S. Wurts.Called the Briton, from having been born in England. This feudal Baron was a soldier of distinction, and acquired great renown in the celebrated battle of Tenercheby in Normandy when he commanded the calvary, for "by a charge of much spirit, he determined at once the fate of the day." The monk Matthew Paris records "in this encounter chiefly deserveth honour the most heroic William d'Albini, the Briton, who with his sword broke through the enemy and terminated the battle."
When he became a supporter of the Empress Maud, his castle at Belvoir with all its great possessions, were seized by King Stephen who presented them to Ranulphgerons de Meschines, the Earl of Chester.
All from "Magna Charta," by John S. Wurts.
1323435756. Magna Charta Surety, Earl of Winchester Saire de Quincey
SAIRE de QUINCEY, the Surety, born before 1154, was a Baron present at Lincoln when William the Lion of Scotland did homage to the English monarch in October 1200. He obtained large grants and immunities from King John and was created Earl of Winchester, 2 March 1207, having been governor in 1203 of the Castle of Ruil in Normandy. He is created with rewriting Magna Charta from the Charter of King Henry I and the Saxon Code. Because he had opposed the King’s concession to the Pope’s legate, he was bitterly hated by King John. One of the Barons to whom the City and Tower of London were resigned, Saire de Quincey was excommunicated with the other Barons the following year. He was sent, with Robert FitzWalter, the Surety, by the other Barons, to invite the Dauphin of France to assume the Crown of England and, even after the death of King John, he kept a strong garrison in Montsorell Castle in behalf of Prince Louis. When the Barons, being greatly outnumbered, were defeated by the troops of King Henry III, Saire de Quincey, with many others, was made prisoner and his estates forfeited. In the following October his immense estates were restored upon his submission. In 1218 the Earl of Winchester went with the Earls of Chester and Arundel to the Holy Land, assisted at the siege of Damietta in 1219, and died 3 November in the same year, on the way to Jerusalem. His wife was Margaret Beaumont, whom he married before 1173.
At the beginning of John’s reign, Saire de Quincey was not a Baron, much less a great one. In the civil war the King had had the advantage over the rebels. Few of the Barons had had much actual military experience. The Barons’ contribution to the war was the scutage they paid, a war fund substituted for the contingent of knights owed to the King’s service. The money was collected from vassals, and mercenary knights were paid from it. Many of the mercenaries were regulars who served the same Baron from campaign to campaign, but those Barons who are known to have had extensive military experience were only Saire de Quincey, Robert FitzWalter, William de Mowbray, William d’Albini, Roger de Cressi and Robert de Roos.
Saire de Quincey is associated with two stalwart Castles in the South of England: Colchester and Winchester, both with the Latin castrum root, signifying that they were once the site of Roman forts.
Colchester Castle could not have been built before the early 12th Century, though Roman materials may have been re-used in its construction. The keep, the only portion now surviving, is in complete harmony with other Norman castles. Colchester must have been a formidable stronghold, and a challenge to Saire de Quincey. The King's men held the Castle against Quincey, the first Earl to attack Colchester. John had given the fortress into the charge of a Fleming whom he thought he could trust. But Quincey took the Castle, and later found holding it more difficult. The fighting was of such a nature that John himself came to Colchester to see just how stubborn Saire de Quincey was. The Earl held the Castle for two months, but lack of food forced him to give up and take flight to France.
Colchester was the largest Norman keep in England. It measures one hundred fifty-two by one hundred seventeen feet, enclosing nearly twice the area of the Tower of London. Its walls vary between eleven and thirty feet in thickness. It was erected either by William the Conqueror or by William II. It is of the quadrangular variety, turreted at the corners. In it and elsewhere herringbone masonry has been noted.
Winchester Castle was first erected by William the Conqueror. Later alterations and extra height were added by Henry III, about the year 1138. The great Hall has Purbeck columns of 13th Century architecture, supporting a restored roof and containing handsome windows of the same approximate period. Only the keep remains. "How commonplace this saying, 'Only the keep still stands,' . . . thanks to the old builders who made the keep strong and high to withstand time, and so difficult to tear down that it escaped the looters of the ages." Perhaps Murphy was thinking of Colchester or Winchester when he thus wrote, for this was the fate of the Quincey strongholds.
1323435757. Margaret de Bellomont
A descendant of Charlemagne.
1323435776. Baron Roger de Mowbray
Succeeded to the lands of Mumbray or Mowbray, thus came to be know by the surname of de Mowbray.
In 1138, though still young, he took part in the expedition against the Scots which culminated in the Battle of the Standard. At the Battle of Lincoln in Feb. 1140/41 he fought for Stephen and was taken prisoner. In 1147 he took part in the second Crusade. At about Easter 1186, again as a Crusader, he arrived in Jerusalem. In the Battle of Hittin, 4 July 1187, he was taken prisoner and the following year was ransomed by the Templars, but died in 1188, in Palestine or on the way home.
1323435847. Lady Elizabeth
Daughter of Reginald, Lord of Courtenay
1323435856. King of France Louis VII
Called "The Young," King of France (1137-1180). In the first year of his reign he married Eleanor of Aquitane, daughtr of William X, duke of Aquitane. Louis soon aroused the opposition of Pope Innocent II because of his support of a rival to the papal candidate for the archbishopric of Bourges, and his lands were placed under papal interdict. Louis next fought a 2-year war and conquered Champagne in 1144. In 1147 he joined the unsuccesful Second Crusade as one of its two chief military leaders (the other was Conrad III of Germany). Louis returned to France two years later, and in 1152 his marriage to Eleanor was annulled; in the same year she married Henry of Anjou, later Henry II, king of England. Louis warred with Henry for the possession of Aquitane but renounced all rights to the duchy in ll54, the year Henry became king of England. Between 1157 and 1180 Louis continued sporadic warfare against Henry, who held many French provinces.
1323435969. Empress of Germany Matilda (Maud)
Empress Matilda (1101-1169) Born: February 1101 at Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire Empress of Germany Lady of the English Died: 10th September 1169 at Rouen, France
Matilda is the Latin form of Maud, and the name of the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I. She was born in 1101, generally it is said at Winchester, but recent research indicates that she was actually born at the Royal Palace in Sutton Courtenay (Berkshire).
In something of a political coup for her father, Matilda was betrothed to the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They were married on 7th January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two. Unfortunately there were no children and on the Emperor's death in 1125, Matilda was recalled to her father's court.
Matilda's only legitimate brother had been killed in the disastrous Wreck of the White Ship in late 1120 and she was now her father's only hope for the continuation of his dynasty. The barons swore allegiance to the young Princess and promised to make her queen after her father's death. She herself needed heirs though and in April 1127, Matilda found herself obliged to marry Prince Geoffrey of Anjou and Maine (the future Geoffrey V, Count of those Regions). He was thirteen, she twenty-three. It is thought that the two never got on. However, despite this unhappy situation they had had three sons in four years.
Being absent in Anjou at the time of her father's death on 1st December 1135, possibly due to pregnancy, Matilda was not in much of a position to take up the throne which had been promised her and she quickly lost out to her fast-moving cousin, Stephen. With her husband, she attempted to take Normandy. With encouragement from supporters in England though, it was not long before Matilda invaded her rightful English domain and so began a long-standing Civil War from the powerbase of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, in the West Country.
After three years of armed struggle, she at last gained the upper hand at the Battle of Lincoln, in February 1141, where King Stephen was captured. However, despite being declared Queen or "Lady of the English" at Winchester and winning over Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, the powerful Bishop of Winchester, Matilda alienated the citizens of London with her arrogant manner. She failed to secure her coronation and the Londoners joined a renewed push from Stephen's Queen and laid siege to the Empress in Winchester. She managed to escape to the West, but while commanding her rearguard, her brother was captured by the enemy.
Matilda was obliged to swap Stephen for Robert on 1st November 1141. Thus the King soon reimposed his Royal authority. In 1148, after the death of her half-brother, Matilda finally returned to Normandy, leaving her son, who, in 1154, would become Henry II , to fight on in England. She died at Rouen on 10th September 1169 and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey, though some of her entrails may possibly have been later interred in her father's foundation at Reading Abbey .