William FitzOsbern

Battle of Hastings, Steward to WTC, WTC's chief military strategist and castle builder

Built Norman fortresses in Welsh marches, including castles and garrisons at Monmouth, Clifford and Wigmore, but his greatest work was the magnificent castle at Chepstow, on the mouth of the river Wye, started 1067.

Built Clifford Castle, Earl of Hereford, died at the battle of Cassel in Flanders on 22 February 1071. One of Williams most trusted advisors. Conquered the isle of Wright for William, the guardian of one of the most important castles in Norwich which rose ot great power and received the earldom of Hereford from William. Regent with Odo of Bayeux and Hugh Montfort in 1067. Senechal for William. Promised sixty ships for William along with Beaumont, Montgomery, Avranches and Montfort.

Aka Earl William , Earl of Hereford. Son of Osbern Sieward of Normandy; brother of Osbern, Bishop of Exeter. Married Adeline, sister of Ralph de Tosny. Large estates in west and Isle of Wight, broken up when his son, Roger, rebelled. Regent, with Odo of Bayeux, 1067.

1054 - Seige of Domfront, sent with Robert Montgomery to seek Geoffrey Martel and inquire as to why he marched into Normandy and took Alecon.

1067 - Awarded the earldom of Hereford and the lordship of the Isle of Wight being the principal honours; the manor of Hanley, in Worcestershire, and several in Gloucestershire and other counties, which, in consequence of his dying before the great survey, cannot now be identified. William made him governor of his newly built Castle of Winchester: an office of great responsibility, as Winchester at that period was a city second only in importance to London. Its palace was the favourite residence of Edward the Confessor and the early Norman kings. It possessed a mint and a treasury, in which the riches and regalia of the sovereign were deposited, and was consequently to be most jealously guarded. The Conqueror also associated him with Bishop Odo, in the vicegerency (sic; viceregency) of the realm during his absence. Fitz Osbern having the chief administration of justice in the north, and Odo in the south of the kingdom

1068 - Appointed mayor of York at Edgar Atherling's defeat.

1069 - Sent to relieve Shrewsbury and Essex from Welsh attacks, too late to save Shrewsbury but saved Essex.

1070 - Sent to Normandy to assist Matilda and Richilde von Egisheim, Countess of Flanders, widow of Baudouin IV whom he married, where he died in battle at Ravenchoven between the forces of Robert the Frison and those of the Countess Richilde and her ally, Philip I, King of France, in which both her son, young Count Ernulph, and her husband, the Earl of Hereford, who fought by his side, fell together. According to Meier, the death-blow of William Fitz Osbern was dealt by one of his own knights, named Gerbodon, who had previously unhorsed him, but we are left in doubt as to the motive of the felon. The Earl's body was carried by his men-at-arms to the Abbey of Cormeilles, in Normandy, of which he was the founder in 1060, and buried there "amid much sorrow."

1075 - An "act of treachery" by William (son?) caused the Wigmore Castle to be removed from the FitzOsberns and given to the Mortimers.

William fitzOsbern (cir 1020 – February 22, 1071), Seigneur de Breteuil, was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror who became one of the great magnates of early Norman England. He was created Earl of Hereford in 1067, one of the first peerage titles in the English peerage.

He was the son of Osbern the Steward, a nephew of Duchess Gunnor, the wife of Duke Richard I of Normandy. Osbern became the steward of his cousin Duke Robert I of Normandy, and when Robert left the duchy to his young son William, Osbern was one of duke William's guardians. He was killed defending the person of duke William against an assassination attempt, sometime around 1040.

Osbern had married Emma, a daughter of count Rodolf of Ivry, who was a half-brother of Richard I. Through her he inherited a large property in central Normandy, including the honors of Pacy and Breteuil.

William fitzOsbern was probably raised at the court of his cousin and namesake duke William, and like his father became one of the ducal stewards. He was one of the earliest and most vigorous advocates of the invasion of England, and tradition holds that he convinced the doubters amongst the Norman barons of the feasibility of the invasion.

FitzOsbern's younger brother Osbern was one of Edward the Confessor's chaplains, and possessed the rich church of Bosham in Sussex, and was well-placed to pass along intelligence on the situation in England. He later became bishop of Exeter.

As duke William took control of England (becoming William I of England), fitzOsbern was given charge of the Isle of Wight, and then in 1067 was given the status of an earl. He is generally considered earl of Hereford, though his authority may have extended to some of the neighbouring shires as well. In any case, that part of England was not yet under Norman control; the understanding must have been that fitzOsbern was to take charge of their conquest when he was able.

Also for the central part of 1067 the king returned to Normandy, leaving fitzOsbern (along with Odo of Bayeux) in charge of England. The king was back in England in 1068, and fitzOsbern accompanied him in the subdual of southwest England. He attended the king's Whitsun court in May, and then himself paid a visit to Normandy, where he fell ill for some months.

In February or March of 1069 fitzOsbern was given charge of the new castle at York, but he returned south in time to attend the king's Easter court in April. Anglo-Saxon resistance in the west Midlands was subdued later in 1069, and it is likely fitzOsbern played a major part in this, though the details are not certain. During this time fitzOsbern and his followers pushed on into Wales, beginning the conquest of Gwent.

As part of the assertion of Norman control over England (and Wales), fitzOsbern was one of the major Norman castle builders. Early castles attributed to him include Carisbrooke, Chepstow (Striguil), Wigmore, and Monmouth, as well as creating or improving the fortifications of the towns of Hereford and Shrewsbury.

In 1070 trouble arose in Flanders, where king William's brother-in-law Baldwin VI of Flanders had died, leaving his county and his young sons in the hands of his widow Richildis of Hannonia. Her control of Flanders was challenged by the brother of her late husband, Robert the Frisian. Looking for help, she offered herself in marriage to fitzOsbern. He could not resist the chance to become also count of the rich principality in the German Empire, close to Normandy. He hurried with his army, but nevertheless was defeated by the Count of Flanders: fitzOsbern lost his life in the Battle of Cassel on February 22, 1071.

fitzOsbern married first Adeliza, daughter of Roger I of Tosny. One assumes that he also married Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut shortly before the Battle of Cassel. He was succeeded in Normandy by his eldest son, William of Breteuil, and in England and Wales by his younger son, Roger de Breteuil. His daughter Emma married Ralph de Gael, 1st Earl of Norfolk .

He lived in carisbrooke castle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_fitzOsbern

William succeeded his murdered father in his office of Dapifer and the favour of the Duke. No particular feat of arms is recorded of him, though he must have fought in some, if not all, of the battles in Normandy during the twenty years or more which immediately preceded the invasion of England, from that of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047 to that of Varaville in 1060, and was probably with the Duke in his expeditions against Conan in Brittany and his invasion of Maine in 1063. We have proof at least of his presence at the siege of Domfront in 1054, when he was sent with Roger de Montgomeri to demand an explanation from Geoffrey Martel of his conduct in marching into Normandy and seizing Alençon. It is not, however, till the memorable year 1066 that he becomes a prominent person in the history of Normandy and of England. He appears to have somewhat resembled his master in character, combining great valour with much readiness of wit and astuteness of policy. We have seen him entering the hall of the Palace at Rouen "humming a tune," and rousing the moody Duke from his silent and sullen consideration of the news from England by bidding him bestir himself and take vengeance on Harold, who had been so disloyal to him; to call together all that he could call, cross the sea, and wrest the crown from the perjured usurper. It is at this last and large assembly at Lillebonne that the audacity and cunning of Fitz Osbern become strongly apparent.

In Taylor's List, the number of ships furnished by Fitz Osbern, whose name stands first upon it, agrees with that mentioned by Wace. "Habuit a Willielmo Dapifero, filio Osberni LX naves." No knights are mentioned.

We next hear of him on English ground. While the Duke of Normandy was haranguing his forces on the morning of the battle, "William Fitz-Osber" rode up and interrupted him, saying, "Sire, we tarry here too long, let us all arm ourselves. Allons! Allons!" Wace, who recounts this incident, says, Fitz Osbern's horse was "all covered with iron." This is one of the instances in which he has been guilty of an anachronism, no such practice existing in the days of the Conqueror (vide the Bayeux Tapestry), but at the time that he composed the Roman de Rou, the fashion had been imported from the East by the Crusaders, and the horses were often coated with chain from the tail to the nostrils. In the disposition of the army, he was selected by the Duke to be a leader of the wing composed of the men of Boulogne and Poix, but we hear of no special incident connected with his name in the course of the battle.

The reward of his great and long-continued service was promptly bestowed upon him. The earldom of Hereford and the lordship of the Isle of Wight being the principal honours; the manor of Hanley, in Worcestershire, and several in Gloucestershire and other counties, which, in consequence of his dying before the great survey, cannot now be identified.

On the defeat of Edgar Athelin and his confederates at York by the Conqueror in 1068, William Fitz Osbern was appointed governor of that city, and in the following year was hastily summoned to relieve the cities of Shrewsbury and Exeter, simultaneously attacked by the Welsh and the disaffected men of Cheshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall. He was too late to save Shrewsbury, which the insurgents, under Edric the Wild, had burned and abandoned; but reaching Exeter at the moment when a sudden sally of the garrison had driven back the besiegers and thrown them into confusion, the Earl, in conjunction with Count Brian of Brittany, fell upon them and put them nearly all to the sword.

In 1070, he was sent to Normandy by King William in order to assist Queen Matilda, the duchy being at that time in a very disturbed state. About the same period war broke out in Flanders between Richilde, widow of Count Baldwin VI -- called De Mons, and mother of his eldest son and heir, Ernulph -- and Robert, surnamed the Frison, who claimed the regency during the minority of Ernulph, in conformity with the will of his deceased brother. Matilda, taking the side of her sister-in-law, sent the Earl of Hereford with what forces she could spare to her aid. The Earl was then a widower, and either from love or ambition, became a suitor for the hand of the still fair Countess of Flanders. Richilde, either responding to his affection, or from a desire to attach the valiant Norman more thoroughly to her interest, married him, and made him titular Count of Flanders. He did not long, however, enjoy his dignity, for, on the 22nd of February, 1071, a sanguinary engagement took place at Ravenchoven, near Cassel, between the forces of Robert the Frison and those of the Countess Richilde and her ally, Philip I, King of France, in which both her son, young Count Ernulph, and her husband, the Earl of Hereford, who fought by his side, fell together. According to Meier, the death-blow of William Fitz Osbern was dealt by one of his own knights, named Gerbodon, who had previously unhorsed him, but we are left in doubt as to the motive of the felon. The Earl's body was carried by his men-at-arms to the Abbey of Cormeilles, in Normandy, of which he was the founder in 1060, and buried there "amid much sorrow." His first wife, Adelina or Adeliza, was the daughter of Roger de Toeni. The date of her death is uncertain, but it probably took place some few years before the Conquest. She was buried at the Abbey of Lire, on the river Risle, in Normandy, which was also founded by Fitz Osbern as early as 1046; perchance on the occasion of his marriage, as Cormeilles may have been on that of her death. The dates are at least suggestive.

By Adelina de Toeni he had three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, William, succeeded him as Lord of Breteuil and Pacy, and in all his other possessions in Normandy. The second, Ralph, was shorn a monk, when young, in the Abbey of Cormeilles; and the third, Roger de Breteuil, had the earldom of Hereford and all the land his father held in England. The eldest daughter, Emma, married Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, of whom much hereafter. The name of the second and that of her husband are at present unknown, but she became the mother of Raynold de Cracci. (It is clear, therefore, that Dugdale and the other genealogists are in error, who give to Roger de Toeni for wife Alicia, a daughter of William Fitz Osbern, independently of the fact that in that case she would have been his own grand-daughter. Adela, by Pere Anselm called Helene, the widow of Roger de Toeni, and mother of Adeline or Alicia, wife of Will. Fitz Osbern, married secondly Richard Count of Evreux, vide chapter viii., p. 249.) A natural daughter of William de Breteuil, named Isabel, married Ascelin Goel, and was the direct ancestress of the Lovels of Tichmarsh. (Vide vol. ii, ch. vii)

http://genealogy.patp.us/conq/fitzosb.shtml

Founder of Bradenstock Priory

Earl of Gloucester, Constable of England.

Each daughter had a 1/3 interest in the Barony of Gloucester

Killed by Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, who was later murdered by his son-in-law, William de Braose

Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, lord of Brecknock (1100 - 24 December 1143), was the son of Walter of Gloucester, who appears as sheriff of that county between 1104 and 1121.

Milo succeeded his father about the latter year. He was high in the service of Henry I between 1130 and 1135, and combined the office of sheriff with that of local justiciar for Gloucestershire. After the death of Henry he declared for Stephen, at whose court he appears as constable in 1136. But in 1139, when the empress Matilda appeared in England, he declared for her, and placed the city of Gloucester at her disposal; he was further distinguished by sacking the royalist city of Worcester and reducing the county of Hereford.

In 1141, at Matilda's coronation, he was rewarded with the earldom of Hereford. He remained loyal to the empress after her defeat at Winchester. John of Salisbury classes him with Geoffrey de Mandeville and others who were non tam comites regni quam hostes publici. The charge is justified by his public policy; but the materials for appraising his personal character do not exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_de_Gloucester%2C_1st_Earl_of_Hereford

Son of Eochaid III (Erc, Fergus Mor, Gabhran, Aedan, Eochaid Buide, Domnall Brecc, Domangart II, Eochaid II, Eochaid III)
Ruled Dal Riata 750-758
Aed is Celtic for "fire" and derived from the Celtic word Aodh, the Celtic sun god.
Aed was a child when Angus of the Picts overcame all of Dal Riata.
750 - Angus defeated by Teudebur of Strathclyde, Aed took control of Dal Riata.
768 - Aed led attack against Angus' successor, Ciniod at Fortriu, inconclusive but Ciniod accepted Aed in Dal Riata.
Aed led first stable kingdom since Aedan, establishing laws that were incorporated into the laws of Alba by Donald I a hundred years later.
Succeeded by his brother, Fergus Eochaid, Donncorci, Domnall and Eochaid IV

52 FC27

Ruled the Swedes after his father's untimely death. He himself, became quite drunk, saw a dwarf sitting under this huge stone, beckoned Svegdi to come see Odin (within the stone), hence the stone closed around Svegdi and he was never seen from again.
Heimskringla, Ynglinga Saga, Section 15

Sveigder or Swegde was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling in Norse mythology. He was the son of Fjölner.

The Ynglinga saga relates that at his father's death Sveigder vowed to go to Godheim (Asgard) and visit Odin. He took his twelve hirdmen (companions; literally 'household men') and went through the world. He came to Turkland and Great Sweden (Russia), but after five years he returned home. He got himself a wife from Vanaheim (a Vanir?) who was called Vana and they had a son, Vanlande. Then Sveigder resumed his search for Odin and came to a mansion east of Sweden called Stein (see also Ingvar) which was called so because there was a stone as big as a house. After sunset, Sveigder was going to bed from having drunk with the hosts, and passing the stone he saw that a dwarf (see elf) was sitting under it. Sveigder and his companion were drunk and ran for the dwarf. The dwarf called to Sveigder to come into the stone and see Odin which Sveigder did and he never came back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sveigder

Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex, (Piers de Lutegareshale), (b. ca. 1162), d. 1213), was a prominent member of the government of England during the reigns of Richard I and John. The patronymic is sometimes rendered Fitz Piers.

He was from a modest landowning family that had a tradition of service in mid-ranking posts under Henry II. Geoffrey's elder brother Simon was at various times sheriff of Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire. Geoffrey, too, got his start in this way, as sheriff of Northamptonshire for the last five years of Henry II's reign.

Around this time Geoffrey married Beatrice de Say, daughter and eventual co-heiress of William de Say. He was the son of William de Say, 3rd Baron de Say, and Beatrice, sister of Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex. This connection with the Mandeville family was to prove unexpectedly important. In 1184 Geoffrey's father-in-law died, and he received a share of the de Say inheritance.

When Richard I left on crusade, he appointed Geoffrey one of the five judges of the king's court, and thus a principal advisor to Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham, who, as Chief Justiciar, was one of the regents during the king's absence. Later that year, Geoffrey's wife's cousin William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex died, leaving no direct heirs. His inheritance was disputed between Geoffrey and his in-laws, but Geoffrey used his political influence to eventually obtain it for himself.

On July 11, 1198 King Richard appointed Geoffrey Chief Justiciar, which at that time effectively made him the king's principal minister. He continued in this capacity after the accession of king John. On his coronation day the new king also recognized Geoffrey as Earl of Essex.

Geoffrey's first two sons died without issue. Apparently the earldom was associated with their mother's Mandeville heritage, for the earldom was inherited by the husband of their sister Maud, instead of their half-brother John.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Fitz_Peter%2C_1st_Earl_of_Essex

In 1075, Emma, Countess of Norfolk defended Norwich Castle when it was under siege. She eventually negotiated safe passage for herself and her troops in exchange for her castle. Leaving his wife to defend Norwich Castle, her husband Ralph sailed for Denmark in search of help, and eventually returned to England with a fleet of 200 ships under Cnut and Hakon, which failed to do anything effective. Meanwhile the Countess held out in Norwich until she obtained terms for herself and her followers, who were deprived of their lands, but were allowed forty days to leave the realm. Thereupon the Countess retired to her estate in Brittany, where she was rejoined by her husband.

In 1096, accompanied by his wife and under Robert Curthose, he went on Crusade. He was one of the Breton leaders who took part in the siege of Nicaea, after which he joined Bohemund I of Antioch’s division of the army. Both Ralph and his wife Emma died on the road to Palestine in the course of the Crusade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_de_Guader and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_de_Guader%2C_Countess_of_Norfolk

Osborne FitzRichard may have been a kinsman of Robert FitzRichard who assisted Duke William north in his 1068 expedition. He was an under-tenant of Earl Roger in Shropshire. Holdings per Domesday: Ashford Badger Brockton Burford Ludford Milson Neen Sollars Ryton Tetsill Ackhill Stanag. http://www.infokey.com/Domesday/Shropshire.htm