Henry of EssexorHenry de Essex(died c. 1170) was anAnglo-Normannobleman who wasfeudal baronofRayleigh[1]in Essex (by inheritance) and ofHaughley[2]in Suffolk (by right of his second wife). He served as one of the royalconstablesduring the reigns of KingsStephenandHenry IIby right of his second wife, which office included the duty of bearing the royal standard to indicate the location of the king when on campaign or in battle. In 1163 he was convicted as a traitor, having been defeated in trial by battle,[3]and took the habit of a monk, spending his last years atReading Abbey.
Life
editHenry was the son and heir of Robert fitz Swein of Essex, a descendant of the pre-ConquestlandownerRobert fitz Wimarchwho was favoured byKing Edward the Confessor.
Henry is mentioned in several chronicles, including that ofJocelin of Brakelond.His influence at the royal court was greatest during the reign of Stephen, but it continued into the early years ofHenry II's. He served Henry asSheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshirefrom 1156 to 1159, and as ajusticiar,as well as being his constable.[4]Henry participated in the king's Toulouse campaign in the spring and summer of 1159.[5]
He was alleged[a]to have dropped the royal standard in a Welsh ambush during Henry II's campaign into Wales of 1157. As royal constable, his office required that he hold the standard to indicate the king's position during any military engagement. Dropping the standard seemed to signal the king's death. At the royal court held at Easter, 1163, Henry was accused of treason for that act by Robert de Montfort, a claimant to the Montfort estate of Haughley. The two men fought a judicial duel a few months later.[7]Jocelin details Henry'sjudicial duelwith Robert de Montfort (a rival for Henry's wife's inheritance) onFry's Islandin theRiver ThamesatReading.Henry's body was carried senseless from the site of the duel by monks of the nearbyReading Abbey,but he survived and took the Benedictine cowl. As he was a convicted traitor, however, his estates and offices were forfeit, and his family was disgraced.[8]Henry was allowed to remain as a monk at Reading Abbey for the rest of his life.[citation needed]
Henry of Essex is thought to have died at Reading Abbey in the same year that ArchbishopThomas Becketwas murdered, 1170.
Family
editHenry married firstly Cecily, daughter ofRoger de Valognes;they had least at two sons, Henry and Hugh.[9]His second wife was Alice, probably the daughter and heiress of Robert de Ver, the royal constable (d. circa 1151).[10][11]It is unknown which wife was the mother of Henry's daughter,Agnes,who marriedAubrey de Vere,firstEarl of Oxford,but Cecily seems most likely.[12][13]
References
edit- ^Sanders, I.J.English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327,Oxford, 1960, p.139
- ^Sanders, p.120
- ^Sanders, p.120
- ^Richardson and Sayles,Governance of Medieval England(Edinburgh: 1963), p. 196
- ^Frank Barlow,Thomas Becket,p. 57.
- ^Salzman, L. F. (1917).Henry II.London.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Poole, Austin Lane (1954).Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087-1216(2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 292.ISBN0-19821707-2.
- ^T. Keefe,Feudal Assessments and the Political Community under Henry II and His Sons(Berkeley, 1983), p. 259.
- ^G. E. Cokayne,The Complete Peerage,vol. 10, pp. 199-207
- ^Amt, Emilie, "Essex, Henry of (d. after 1163)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004accessed 10 June 2017
- ^"Parishes: Braborne | British History Online".
- ^DeAragon, R., "Agnes of Essex, Countess of Oxford", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 6, p. 467.
- ^Amt, Emilie, "Essex, Henry of (d. after 1163)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004accessed 10 June 2017