William de Braose,(orWilliam de Briouze),4th Lord of Bramber(1144/1153 – 9 August 1211), courtfavouriteof KingJohn of England,at the peak of his power, was also Lord ofGower,Abergavenny,Brecknock,Builth,Radnor,Kington,Limerick,Glamorgan,Skenfrith,BriouzeinNormandy,GrosmontandWhite Castle.
William de Braose | |
|---|---|
| 4th Lord of Bramber | |
| Other titles | Lord ofGower,Abergavenny,Brecknock,Builth,Radnor,Kington,Limerick,Glamorgan,Skenfrith,BriouzeinNormandy,GrosmontandWhite Castle |
| Died | 9 August 1211 Corbeil,Kingdom of France |
| Buried | Abbey of Saint-Victor, Paris,Kingdom of France |
| Noble family | House of Braose |
| Spouse(s) | Maud de Braose |
| Issue | William de Braose, Giles de Braose,Bishop of Hereford, Reginald de Braose, Matilda (also called Maud) de Braose, Margaret de Braose, Lady of Trim, Annora de Braose, Loretta de Braose, John de Braose, Flandrina de Braose, Abbess of Godstow |
| Father | William de Braose, 3rd Lord of Bramber |
| Mother | Bertha of Hereford |
Lineage
editWilliam was the most notable member of the de Braose dynasty. His steady rise and sudden fall at the hands of King John is often taken as an example of that king's arbitrary and capricious behaviour towards his barons.
William was the son ofWilliam de Braose, 3rd Lord of Bramberand his wifeBertha of Hereford,also known as Bertha de Pitres (bornc.1130), daughter ofMiles Fitz Walter,Earl of Herefordand his wife,Sibyl,daughter ofBernard de Neufmarché.From his father, he inherited theRape of Bramber,inSussex,and through his mother, he inherited a large estate in theWelsh Marchesarea of modern-dayMonmouthshire.
Abergavenny Massacre
editIn 1175, William de Braose carried out theAbergavenny Massacre,luring three Welsh princes and other Welsh leaders to their deaths. His principal antagonist was aSeisyll ap Dyfnwal,ofCastell ArnalltnearLlanoverin the valley of theRiver Usknear Abergavenny, whom he blamed for the death of his uncleHenry.
After having invited the Welsh leaders to a Christmas feast atAbergavenny Castleunder the pretence of peace and the start of a new era at the end of the year (a traditional time for settling outstanding differences amongst the Welsh), he had them murdered by his men. This resulted in great hostility against him among the Welsh, who named him the "Ogre of Abergavenny".
Gerald of Walesexonerates him and emphasises the religious piety of de Braose and his wife and de Braose generosity to the priories ofAbergavennyandBrecon.William de Braose did however reputedly hunt down and kill Seisyll ap Dyfnwal's surviving son, Cadwaladr, a boy of seven.
In 1192, William de Braose was madesheriff of Herefordshire,a post he held until 1199. In 1196 he was made Justice Itinerant for Staffordshire. In 1195 he accompanied KingRichard I of Englandto Normandy and in 1199, William de Braose fought beside Richard atChâlus,where the king was mortally wounded. He then supported King John's claim to the throne of England, and represented the new king, making various royal grants.
The disappearance of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany
editIn 1203, William de Braose was put in charge ofArthur of Brittany,[a]whom he had personally captured the previous year at theBattle of Mirebeau.William was suspected of involvement in Arthur's disappearance and death, although no concrete evidence ever came to light. There is somewhat better evidence that he at least knew the truth of the matter. William was in attendance with John in Normandy at the time of Arthur of Brittany's imprisonment and it was alleged that Arthur suffered the same fate as the Welsh princes at William's hand, although this has never been proven. Arthur's death remains a mystery. After Arthur disappeared, De Braose served in the war of 1204 against KingPhilip II of Francein France.
Royal favourite
editHe was greatly favoured byKing Johnearly in his reign. John granted him all that he might conquer from theWelshinRadnorshire,gave him lordship over Limerick inIreland(save for the city itself), possession ofGlamorgancastle, and theLordship of Gowerwith its several castles.
In early 1200, King John deprivedTheobald Walter, 1st Baron Butlerof all his offices and lands in Ireland because of his irregularities as sheriff. His lands were not restored until January 1202.[1]A manuscript in theNational Library of Irelandpoints to William as the agent of his restoration:
"Grant by William de Braosa (senior), to Theobald Walter (le Botiller) the burgh of Kildelon (Killaloe)... thecantredof Elykaruel (the baronies ofClonliskandBallybritt,County Offaly), Eliogarty, Ormond, Ara and Oioney, etc. 1201. "[2]
"Elykaruel" refers to the Gaelictuathof "Ely O'Carroll", which straddled the southern part ofCounty Offalyand the northern part of Tipperary (atIkerrin). The other cantreds named are probably the modernbaroniesofEliogarty,Ormond Upper,Ormond Lower,andOwney and ArrainCounty Tipperary.
Before 1206 William successfully claimed half of the barony of Totnes from Henry de Nonant, to which family it had been granted after its forfeiture fromJuhel de Totnes.[3]
In 1206, after his service in France,King Johngave William de Braose the three great neighbouring trilateral castles ofGwent(Skenfrith Castle,Grosmont CastleandWhite Castle). These have been interpreted as bribes encouraging silence on the demise of Arthur, seen by many as a rightful heir to the throne occupied by John of England.
At this point, only an earldom separated him from the greatest in England.
Royal persecution and death in exile
edit
Soon after this, William de Braose fell out of favour with King John of England. The precise reasons remain obscure. King John cited overdue monies that de Braose owedthe Crownfrom his estates, but the king's actions went far beyond what would be necessary to recover the debt. He distrained (seized) de Braose's English estates in Sussex and Devon, and sent a force to invade Wales to seize the de Braose domains there. Beyond that, he sought de Braose's wife,Maud de St. Valery,who, the story goes, had made no secret of her belief that King John had murdered Arthur of Brittany.[b]
De Braose fled to Ireland, then returned to Wales as King John had him hunted in Ireland. In Wales, William allied himself to the Welsh PrinceLlywelyn the Great,and helped him in his rebellion against King John.
In 1210, William de Braose fled Wales disguised as a beggar, to France. His wife and eldest son were captured. William died the following year in August 1211 atCorbeil,France. He was buried in theAbbey of St. Victorin Paris by a fellow exile and vociferous opponent of King John,Stephen Langton,theArchbishop of Canterbury.His hopes to return alive to Wales and for burial in Brecon were to be unfulfilled. William's wife, Maud, and eldest son, William, once captured, were allegedly murdered by King John, possibly starved to death while incarcerated atWindsor CastleandCorfe Castlein 1210.
While William had aroused the jealousy of the other barons during his rise, the arbitrary and violent manner of his fall very probably discomfited them and played a role in the Baronial uprisings of the next decade. The historian Sidney Painter, in his biography of King John, called it "the greatest mistake John made during his reign, as the King revealed to his Barons once and for all his capacity for cruelty."[5]
The de Braose lineage
editWilliam de Braose's eldest son, William, married Maud (Matilda) de Clare (ca. 1184–1213), the daughter ofRichard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford.[6]This younger William was captured with his mother and starved to death in 1210. He had fathered four sons,John,Giles, Philip and Walter and although they were also held in prison, they were released in 1218.John,the eldest, was said to have been brought up secretly, in Gower, by a Welsh ally or retainer. On his release, he came under the care of his uncleGiles de Braose.John made a claim to being the rightful heir of the de Braose lands and titles and although the courts did not find for him, his other uncleReginald de Braosewas able to cede by a legal convention the barony ofBramberto him for a fee. This established John's branch of the family and positioned it for survival at least or, at best, an opportunity for continued future power and influence.
Later dynasty
editThe middle son,Giles de Braose,exiled in France until 1213, wasBishop of Herefordfrom 1200 until his death in 1215. He made peace with KingJohnand agreed terms for regaining de Braose lands in 1215 but had also made alliances with the Welsh leaderLlywelyn the Great.He died in 1215 before he could come into the lands.
William's third son,Reginald de Braosereacquired his father's lands and titles for himself by simply seizing them back by force following the death of Giles. Reginald did not actually come to terms with the Crown until 1217 and the new, young KingHenry III of England,after the death of King John. This, in turn, aroused the anger ofLlywelyn the Greatwho had an understanding with Giles de Braose and the seeming duplicity caused the Welsh to attack de Braose lands inBreconandAbergavennyandGower.Abergavenny Castlehad to be rebuilt as a result. Reginald de Braose died in 1228.
William's eldest daughter Matilda/Maud married a prominent Welsh prince,Gruffydd ap Rhys IIofDeheubarth.
Another daughter,Margaret,marriedWalter de Lacy,Lord ofMeathin Ireland and himself another powerfulMarcher Lord. [There seems to be some confusion with Matilde about who her father is re Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, M.A., F.S.A., (1905–1964), Aberystwyth. she is the daughter of William Braose and Bertha Hereford, the father of this William].
Fiction
editThe story of the death ofMaud de St. Valeryand the conflict of her family withJohn Lacklandis covered in several novels, notablyLady of HaybyBarbara Erskine.Erskine describes the life of Maud by sending a woman of the 20th century by psychological regression back into the 12th century.
Notes
edit- ^Arthur of Brittany was John's nephew and was seen by many as the rightful heir to the English throne.
- ^Gerald of Walesdescribes Maud as a 'prudent and chaste woman' who bore her husband three sons William, Giles and Reginald de Braose.
References
edit- ^Joliffe, J. E. A.Angevin KingshipLondon: Adam and Charles Black 1955 pp. 67-68
- ^National Library of Ireland, DublinD. 27
- ^Sanders, Ivor, English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.90, Totnes
- ^Lewis, S (1987),The Art of Matthew Paris in Chronica Majora,California Studies in the History of Art (series vol. 21), Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press,p. 448,ISBN0-520-04981-0
- ^Painter, Sidney (1979),The Reign of King John.New York: Arno Press, pp. 249–250.
- ^Altschul 2019,Table 2:The Clares.
Sources
edit- Altschul, Michael (2019).A Baronial Family in Medieval England: The Clares, 1217-1314.Johns Hopkins University Press.
External links
edit
- Holden, Brock W., "King John, the Braoses, and the Celtic Fringe, 1207-1216",Albion: Journal of British Studiesv.33 (2001)