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Gerald de Windsor

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Gerald de Windsor
CastellanofPembroke Castle
Bornc.1075
Died1135
Noble familyFitzGerald dynasty
Spouse(s)Nest ferch Rhys
IssueWilliam FitzGerald
Maurice FitzGerald
David FitzGerald
Angharad
Gwladys
FatherWalter FitzOther
MotherBeatrice

Gerald de Windsor(c.1075 – 1135),aliasGerald FitzWalter,was an Cymro-Norman lord who was the firstCastellanofPembroke Castlein Pembrokeshire (formerly part of the Kingdom ofDeheubarth). Son of the first Norman-FrenchConstable of Windsor Castle,and married to a Welsh Princess daughter of the King ofDeheubarth,he was in charge of theNorman forces in south-west Wales.He was alsostewardand governor for the NormanmagnateArnulf de Montgomery.His descendants were theFitzGerald dynasty,as well as theFitzMaurice,De Barry,andKeating[1]dynasties of Ireland, who were elevated to thePeerage of Irelandin the 14th century. He was also the ancestor of the prominent Carew family, ofMoulsfordin Berkshire, the owners ofCarew Castlein Pembrokeshire (in the Kingdom ofDeheubarth) and ofMohuns Otteryin Devon (seeBaron Carew,Earl of TotnesandCarew baronets).[2]

Pembroke Castletoday. The original castle, of which no above-ground trace remains, was built byArnulf of Montgomery(c.1066 – 1118/22), the Anglo-Norman conqueror of South Wales and contemporary of Gerald de Windsor

Origins

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Father

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Gerald may have been born atWindsor Castlein Berkshire, then a strategically placedmotte-and-baileyroyal fortress and a principal royal residence, hence his sobriquet "de Windsor", although may have simply taken the name of the family seat as per tradition demonstrated by thede Barrisof south Wales. He was a younger son ofWalter FitzOther(fl.1086; died after 1099),feudal baronofEton[3]inBuckinghamshire(now inBerkshire) who was the firstConstable of Windsor Castle[4]in Berkshire (directly across theRiver Thamesfrom Eton), a principal royal residence of KingWilliam the Conqueror,and was atenant-in-chiefof that king of 21manorsin the counties ofBerkshire,Buckinghamshire,Surrey,Hampshire andMiddlesex,as well asholdinga further 17 manors as a mesne tenant in the same counties.[5]

Walter FitzOther,as his surnameFitzasserts, was the son ofOtto Gherardini(Latinized toOtheus),[6]who had been Constable of Windsor Castle during the reign of KingEdward the Confessor(r. 1042–1066).[4][7]Walter FitzOtherbecame a follower of the Norman invader King William the Conqueror (r. 1066–1087), who appointed him as his firstcastellanofWindsor Castleand Keeper of theForest of Windsor,an important royal hunting ground.

Upon his father's death after 1100, Gerald's oldest brother William inherited the office of Constable of Windsor Castle; his second-oldest brother Robert inherited the nearby manor of Eton in Berkshire.[8]Gerald's family was one of the "service families" on whom King William the Conqueror relied for his survival.[9]

Mother and siblings

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Gerald's mother was named Beatrice.[10]Gerald had three known siblings: William, Robert, and Maurice.

Career

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Cilgerran Castle,the possible site of PrincessNest's abduction. The first castle on this site is thought to have been built by Gerald of Windsor during the 12th century

The death in battle of Gerald's father-in-law,Rhys ap Tewdwr,Prince of Wales,[11]and the last king ofDeheubarth[12]inWales( "lastking of the Britons"), was the opportunity for a general Norman invasion ofSouth Walesduring whichArnulf de Montgomery,youngest son of the powerfulRoger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury,swept out from Shrewsbury and ravaged south intoDyfed,where he builtPembroke Castle,in the form of a rudimentary fortress later described byGiraldus Cambrensis(c.1146 –c.1223) (Gerald's grandson) as a "slender fortress of turf and stakes. When he went back to England, Arnulf left the fortress and a small garrison in the charge of Gerald of Windsor, a stalwart, cunning man, his constable and lieutenant".[13]The first Pembroke Castle was not very strong and offered little resistance.[13]

In 1096, two or three years after the establishment of NormanPembrokeshire,a general uprising occurred in Wales against the Norman invasion during which Gerald's defence of Pembroke Castle excited the admiration of his contemporaries, all the more for his unique stratagems during the desperate stance. While fortress after fortress fell to the Welsh onslaught, Pembroke Castle held out, despite the rigours of a lengthy siege by Uchtryd ab Edwin and Hywel ap Goronwy, which greatly reduced Gerald's forces. Fifteen of Gerald's knights deserted at night and left by boat,[13]on the discovery of which Gerald confiscated their estates and re-granted them to the deserters' followers whom he created knights. Giraldus Cambrensis described the events as follows:

When they had hardly any provisions left, Gerald, who, as I have said, was a cunning man, created the impression that they were still well supplied and were expecting reinforcement at any moment. He took four hogs, which was about all they had, cut them into sections, and hurled them off over the palisades at the besiegers. The following day he thought of an even more ingenious strategism. He signed a letter with his own seal and had it placed just outside the lodgings of Wilfred, Bishop of St David's, who chanced to be in the neighbourhood. There it would be picked up almost immediately and the finder would imagine that it had been dropped accidentally by one of Gerald's messengers. The purport of the letter was that Gerald would have no need of reinforcements from Arnulf for a good four months. When this despatch was read to the Welsh, they immediately abandoned the siege and went off home.

In 1094(?) in recognition of Gerald's successful defence of Pembroke, KingWilliam IIrewarded Arnulf, Gerald's overlord, with the lordship ofDemetia,and created himEarl of Pembroke.

In 1102, before the revolt of the Montgomery faction against KingHenry I(r. 1100–1135), Gerald went to Ireland, where he negotiated the marriage of his overlord Arnulf de Montgomery with Lafracoth, daughter of the Irish kingMuircheartach Ua Briain,King of Munster.

Gerald de Windsor held the office of Constable ofPembroke Castlefrom 1102. In 1108 Gerald built the castle ofLittle Cenarth(Cenarth Bychan) which is probablyCilgerran Castle.

Landholdings

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Gerald received themanorofMoulsfordthen in Berkshire (since 1974 inOxfordshire), by grant of King Henry I.[14]Moulsford descended to the Carew family ofCarew Castlein Pembrokeshire, descended from Odo de Carrio, a son of William FitzGerald, son of Gerald de Windsor.[11]

Marriage and progeny

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Carew Castle,estate part of Princess Nest dowry, castle built by Gerald of Windsor

Gerald marriedNest ferch Rhys( "Nesta" ) a Welsh princess, daughter ofRhys ap Tewdwr,the last king ofDeheubarthin Wales. Nest brought the manor of Carew as part of her dowry, and Gerald cleared the existing fort to build his own castle along Norman lines.[15]They had five children:

In 1109 his wife Nest was abducted by her second cousinOwain ap Cadwgan.According to theBrut y Tywysogion,Owain and his men entered the couple's home (assumed by historians to have been eitherCilgerran Castleor Little Cenarch) and set fire to the buildings. When Gerald was awoken by the noise, Nest urged him to escape by climbing out through the drain-hole of thegarderobe.Owain then seized Nest and her children and carried her off. Some sources, however, suggest that she went with him willingly.

Gerald's influence was such that due to Nest's abduction Owain and his father soon lost much of their territory ofPowys.Owain himself was obliged to go into exile in Ireland and when he returned in 1116, he was killed when his retinue of fifty men at arms was cunningly attacked by Gerald and his large cohort as they both traveled to aid the king of England.[16]

Gerald's son William had a daughter named Isabella Le Gros,[citation needed]who marriedWilliam De Haya Walensis,by whom she had sonsDavid WalensisandPhilip Walensis.David and Philip were surnamed in LatinWalensis( "of Wales" ), and were the founders of the widespread family surnamedWelshorWalshorWallace.Philip Walensis had a son named Howell of Welsh Walensis.

Nest is the female progenitor of the Fitzgerald Dynasty, and through her the Fitzgeralds are related to Welsh royalty and to theTudors(Tewdwrs). The Tudors are descended from Nest's father Rhys ap Tewdwr (Anglicized to "Tudor" ).Henry Tudor,King of England, was a patrilineal descendant of Rhys ap Tewdwr. Consequently, Gerald and Nest's offspring, the Fitzgeralds, are distant cousins to the English Tudors.

Death

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TheAnnals of Cambriarecord the date of Owain's death as 1116. As Gerald de Windsor makes no further appearance to that date in the "Annals" or in the "Chronicles of the Princes", the presumption is that he did not long survive his enemy, Owain ab Cadwgan, and that theEarl of Kildare'sAddendais erroneous in putting his death as late as 1135.[17]

References

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  1. ^Joseph Amyot Padjan (2015).The Tuscan Origin of the Geraldines(PDF).p. 51.Retrieved29 September2022.
  2. ^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.,(Ed.)The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising theHeralds' Visitationsof 1531, 1564 & 1620,Exeter, 1895, pp.133-145, pedigree of Carew
  3. ^Sanders, I.J.English Baronies, a Study of their Origin and Descent 1086–1327,Oxford, 1960, p.116-17
  4. ^abVivian, Lt.Col. J.L.,(Ed.)The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising theHeralds' Visitationsof 1531, 1564 & 1620,Exeter, 1895, p. 133, pedigree of Carew
  5. ^The Domesday Book Online.Accessed 9 January 2023.
  6. ^Fitzgibbon, A. "Appendix to the Unpublished Geraldine Documents: The Gherardini of Tuscany",The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland,Fourth Series, Vol. 4, No. 29, 1877.
  7. ^Sanford, John Langton and Meredith Townsend.The Great Governing Families of England.2v. Blackwood & Sons, 1865 (Books for Libraries Press, 1972), p. 133-134
  8. ^Rev. E. Barry,Records of the Barrys of County Cork from the earliest to the present time.,Cork, 1902, p.3; Vivian, p.133: Robert of Easton (sic), co. Bucks, quotingThe Life of Sir Peter Carew, of Mohun Ottery, co. Devon.,byJohn Hooker(c.1527 – 1601), edited by SirThomas Phillipps,1st Baronet (1792–1872), published 1840 inArchaeologia,the journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London
  9. ^Maund, Keri (2007).Princess Nest of Wales.Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd.ISBN9780752437712.
  10. ^Weis, Frederick Lewis,Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonies Who Came to America before 1700,2002, p. 153
  11. ^ab"Vivian, p.133"
  12. ^VCH
  13. ^abcGiraldus Cambrensis.Journey Through WalesI.xii.ii
  14. ^Victoria County History:A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3,Page, William & Ditchfield, P.H. (eds.), 1923, pp.504–7[1]
  15. ^"Gerald De Windsor and Princess Nest", Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
  16. ^"Owain ap Cadwgn (died 1116), prince of Powys".Dictionary of Welsh Biography.National Library of Wales.
  17. ^Rev. E. Barry,Records of the Barrys of County Cork from the earliest to the present time., Cork, 1902, pg 4.
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