Robert de Mowbray(died 1125), aNorman,wasEarl of Northumbriafrom 1086 until 1095. Robert joined the 1088 rebellion against KingWilliam IIon behalf ofRobert Curthose,but was pardoned and later led the army that killedMalcolm III of ScotlandatAlnwick.In 1095, he conspired to putStephen of Aumaleon the throne, was besieged by the king, and captured. As punishment, his marriage was dissolved and his lands confiscated, given to the new husband of his former wife, while Mowbray was imprisoned for life and later became a monk.
Robert de Mowbray | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1125 |
| Spouse |
Matilda de l'Aigle (m.1095) |
| Relatives | Geoffrey de Montbray(uncle) |
| Military career | |
| Battles / wars | Battle of Alnwick Rebellion of 1088 |
Origin
editRobert was the son of Roger de Mowbray and nephew ofGeoffrey de Montbray,bishop of Coutances.The family name, Mowbray, is anAnglicisationderived fromMontbrayinManche,Normandy.[citation needed]
Earldom of Northumbria
editRobert was made Earl of Northumbria afterAubrey de Coucy,the previous earl, decided that he no longer wished to remain in his post. Coucy was made earl in 1080 and, probably that same year, resigned his position and returned toNormandy,losing all of the lands that he held in England. He was not replaced until Robert was appointed in 1086.[1]Robert joined his uncle, Geoffrey, in the failedrebellion of 1088againstWilliam Rufuson behalf ofRobert, duke of Normandy,but both were pardoned and Robert remained in his post as Earl of Northumbria.[1][2]In November 1093,Malcolm III of ScotlandinvadedNorthumbriafor the second time since 1091, and attackedAlnwick.Robert de Mowbray raised an army and attacked the Scots taking them by surprise on 13 November (St Brice's Day). In the ensuingBattle of Alnwick,Malcolm and his son Edward were slain. Earlier that same year,Geoffrey de Montbraydied and Mowbray succeeded to his uncle's large estates, becoming one of the most powerful barons in the kingdom.[1]Mowbray married in 1095 to Matilda, daughter of Richerde l'Aigle,and niece ofHugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester.[3]
Rebellion and downfall
editIn 1095 Mowbray took part in a rebellion which had for its object the transference of the crown from the sons of theConquerortoStephen of Aumale.It appears that there was a conspiracy that included several barons, but that when the time came for action most of the conspirators abandoned the scheme leaving Mowbray and his fellow conspiratorWilliam of Euexposed. The incident that brought the matter to a head was Mowbray seizing four Norwegian vessels lying in the Tyne. The merchants who owned the vessels complained to the king and Mowbray was commanded to attend theCuria Registo explain his actions. Mowbray did not attend and ignored further summonses, so that William finally led an army against him. Mowbray shut himself up in his stronghold,Bamburgh Castle.William laid siege to Bamburgh and built a temporarysiege castlealongside it, known asMalvoisin,or "evil neighbour". For some reason, during the siege, Mowbray left the castle with a small force of knights and was pursued by his besiegers, being forced to take refuge inTynemouth.After a siege of six days he was wounded in the leg, captured and was taken back to Bamburgh where his wife was still resisting the besiegers. She finally surrendered the castle after the besiegers threatened to blind her husband.[1]
Imprisonment and death
editAs a result of his part in the rebellion Mowbray forfeited his estates and was imprisoned for life, initially atWindsor Castle.He spent many years in prisons, "growing old without offspring", according to the chronicler,Florence of Worcester,and then was allowed to become a monk atSt Albans Abbey,according to another chroniclerOrderic Vitalis.Mowbray's fellow conspirators,William of EuandWilliam of Aldrie,received harsher punishment, William of Eu being castrated and blinded, and William of Aldrie being condemned to death.
Legacy
editOrderic Vitalisgives the following description of Robert de Mowbray: "Powerful, rich, bold, fierce in war, haughty, he despised his equals and, swollen with vanity, disdained to obey his superiors. He was of great stature, strong, swarthy and hairy. Daring and crafty, stern and grim, he was given more to meditation than speech, and in conversation scarce ever smiled".[4]
Mowbray's wife, Matilda, was granted an annulment of her marriage byPope Paschal IIon the basis ofconsanguinity,and sometime after 1107 she became the wife of a kinsman of her former husband,Nigel d'Aubigny,who was also granted the lands in Montbray forfeited by her former husband. The couple remained childless and in 1118 d’Aubigny divorced Matilda and married Gundred de Gournay, daughter of Gerard de Gournay and Edith de Warenne. They had a son,Roger,[3]who inherited the estates originally forfeited by Robert Mowbray. On receiving his inheritance Roger changed his name to Mowbray at the instruction ofHenry I.Thus the name Mowbray was continued, but with no blood line from Robert de Mowbray.
References
edit- ^abcdAird, William M. (2004). "Mowbray, Robert de, earl of Northumbria (d. 1115/1125)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19457.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Mowbray, Robert".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 948.
- ^abGeorge Edward Cokayne,The Complete Peerage; or, A history of the House of lords and all its members from the earliest times,Vol. IX, eds. H.A. Doubleday; Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1936), pp. 367–9, 706
- ^Ordericus Vitalis,The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy,Vol. III, trans. Thomas Forester (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854), pp. 17–18
