Category: King Stephen

Death of Robert, Earl of Gloucester

31/10/2017

On the 31st October 1147 occurred death of Robert, Earl of Gloucester the illegitimate son of Henry I and a chief supporter of his half-sister Matilda during the Anarchy.

Robert of Gloucester was a proposed candidate for the throne of England. In the Gesta Stephani it is written:

"Among others came Robert, Earl of Gloucester, son of King Henry, but a bastard, a man of proved talent and admirable wisdom. When he was advised, as the story went, to claim the throne on his father's death, deterred by sounder advice he by no means asserted, saying it was fairer to yield it to his sister's son than presumptuously to arrogate it to himself."

But because of his illegitimacy, he was ruled out, however, in 1139 Matilda was heading for England to enforce her right to the throne of England. On the death of her father Matilda was in Anjou with her husband, but on hearing that Stephen had usurped the throne she left there for Normandy. She, along with Gloucester, set out for England.

On the 2nd February 1141 Ranulf, Earl of Chester seized control of Lincoln Castle and fortified it against attack, the people of Lincoln appealed to the King for help. Stephen responded, riding to Lincoln at the head of his army, it is said that he placed his bowmen and siege machines on the west front of Lincoln Cathedral, which faces the castle across Castle Hill, but soon after the arrival of Stephen, Gloucester came to Matilda’s aid. The inhabitants of the city joined Stephen's forces against Gloucester's army, but the royal army was overwhelmed. The city itself suffered for its support of King Stephen many of its inhabitants killed by the victorious army under Gloucester. Eventually, the King was taken prisoner imprisoned at Bristol.

Six months later the tables were turned and Gloucester was himself captured on a bridge in the Hampshire village of Stockbridge following a rout at Winchester and imprisoned. Matilda later escaped from her guards at Devizes by disguising herself as a corpse and being carried out for burial.

Robert of Gloucester died five years later at Bristol Castle, the very castle in which the king was held. He was buried in the St James' Priory, Bristol, which he had founded.

A year later, following Gloucester's death, Matilda and her son Henry, the future Henry II returned to Normandy.

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Empress Matilda

9/9/2016

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Born on the 7th February in 1102, Matilda was the eldest child of Henry I and Matilda of Scotland, the death of her younger brother William Adelin, on the 25th November 1120 caused a succession crisis, known to us today as The Anarchy.

King Henry I’s only son and heir had perished when the ship in which he was travelling sank in the English Channel.
Following this tragedy, Henry made his daughter Matilda his heir when she married Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou.
In support of Matilda, Henry made the leading barons of the realm, including his nephew Stephen of Blois, swear an oath to accept Matilda as his rightful heir, these oaths were taken in 1127, 1128 and 1131. The Kings decision was not popular for
two reasons, firstly, Matilda was a woman and secondly, Anjou was the sworn enemy of the Normandy. When Henry I died
in 1135 disregarding the oaths previously taken, Stephen travelled from Boulogne to England’s capital and was crowned king, in justification of this Stephen stated that Henry, on his deathbed, had had a change of heart and named him as his successor, the fact that he was not present at his uncle's demise did not deter him.

To support his claim Stephen called one Hugh Bigod, who stated that he was witness to Henry’s change of mind, not surprisingly Stephen did not summon those men who actually attended the king on his death, an archbishop, a bishop and four earls. Ulger, Bishop of Angers who supported Geoffrey Plantagenet and subsequently Matilda too, was highly suspicious and later put it to another who also claimed to be at the king's death.

‘As for your statement that the King changed his mind, it is proved false by those who were present at the Kings death, neither you nor Hugh could possibly know his last request, because neither of you were there”

R. H. C. Davis in his book ‘King Stephen’ suggests that Bigod and others were present when the King was dying but not present at his death and therefore not witness to a 'last minute change of heart' as they had left to inform Stephen of the news. At this time Matilda was in Anjou with her husband, on hearing that Stephen had usurped the throne she left there for Normandy and in 1139 she set out, with her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, for England.

Henry I making Matilda his heir in 1120, proved to be nothing but trouble, a woman ruler was unprecedented and also her marriage, as previously stated, was unpopular.

12th-century depiction of Matilda and Henry.

Following the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, Stephen was captured and imprisoned and Matilda made her play for the crown, but
her advantage lasted only a few months, she marched on London under the title of Lady of the English and the city was ready with their support. However, she refused the people’s request to have their taxes halved and on arrival in London she found the gates shut, the civil war reignited on 24 June 1141. Helen Castor writes

"Matilda did not ‘fit’ the crown she claimed" and she was seen by chroniclers as having "intolerable pride and wilfulness”,

By November, Stephen was free, having been exchanged for the captured Robert of Gloucester. A year after Stephen
regained his throne the tables were turned and Matilda was captured, she eventually escaped from her guards at Devizes
by disguising herself as a corpse and being carried out for burial. The year 1142 saw Matilda based at Oxford Castle but by Christmas, it was surrounded by Stephen's men, it was at this time that Matilda made her most famous daring escape. She
is said to have lowered herself down the castle wall in the dead of night, dressed only in white as camouflage against the snow. Matilda then crossed an icy river, past the royal army to safety.

This is a lovely story, but its highly unlikely that Matilda would have left the castle out of the highest window, it is more
than likely that she used was is known as a Postern Gate, a door that is hidden from view which allows people to come
and go without being seen.

Stephen later recognised Matilda's son Henry as his heir, following this Matilda spent the rest of her life in Normandy where she died on the 10th September 1167.

Part of the epitaph on Matilda's tomb at Bec Abbey in France, reads

"Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring: here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry",

Matilda's tomb was damaged by fire ninety-six years after her death, and twice in the following decades her remains were disturbed and lost, eventually they were found and she was finally laid to rest in 1846 in Rouen Cathedral.

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Mohun, Norman Lords of Dunster.

15/5/2015

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The Mohun Family of Dunster
The Mohun family story from 1050 to 1268 can be viewed here:
http://meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/mohun-of-dunster.html

Nevertheless, William was named in this work as “Le Viel Willame de Moion” where it is stated “Ont avec li maint compagnon," which roughly translated means “to have many comrades.” There is little mention of William in books I have read but the main concentration of interest in William via the internet is the meaning of the above quote.“Ont avec li maint compagnon." The term Viel in our own language means old and therefore implies that he is the elder of two William Mohuns.

The early Mohuns were landlords under Robert Count of Mortain, half brother to the conqueror and the biggest land owner in the south-west. The Mohuns prospered under the reigns of the first Norman kings and with the county of Somerset ‘settled’ they were able to fund the building of religious houses. William's son, also William was the most prominent of the Mohuns becoming infamous in the west country during the power struggle between Matilda and Stephen. Mohun sons and grandsons found themselves caught up in the troubles that Richard I, King John and the Barons Wars brought to the country. Dynastic marriages into the FitzPiers/deClare family and later the de Ferrers see the family hovering on the fringe of England’s power base with a connection to the family of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, regent of England. The Mohun line continues past my direct ancestor Alice Mohun, who married into the Beauchamp family, to her nephew John Mohun. By the middle of the fortheenth century the last male Mohun had died childless and his wife left in control of the estate, eventually Joan Mohun passed Dunster into the hands of Elizabeth Luttrell whose descendants held the castle and manor for the next 600 years.

Today the castle is run by the National Trust, it was bequeathed to them in 1976 by the last Luttrell one Geoffrey Walter Fownes Luttrell. It is now graded by the trust as a Grade 1 listed building

Dunster Castle by Stephen Biesty

Robert Wace presents Le Roman de Rou to Henry II

Medieval Gatehouse of Dunster Castle

Today I begin the story of the Mohuns, Norman Lords of Dunster in the county of Somerset.

This family were eleventh to thirteenth century feudal barons and my 22nd to 28th great grandparents. My direst ancestry within the Mohun’s lasted six generations through the main male line from 1050 to 1257. My direct line ends about 1212 with the birth of a daughter.

The Mohuns, pronounced Moon, owned Dunster Castle which proudly stands on what is known locally as The Tor, which is in fact a very steep hill. The arrival of the Normans saw these lands given to William de Mohun who built a timber castle here to keep an eye on the rebellious English in the West Country. It was a motte and bailey castle, the motte being built at the beginning of the twelth century. The Mohuns lived in and owned the castle until it passed from them to the family of Luttrell.

The progenitor of this ancient family was one William de Moion whose name probably derives from the French village of Moyon which lies just south of St Lo in Normandy, and it seems that this family had considerable land and possessions there. In 1027 these lands formed part of the dowry of Adela, Duchess of Normandy. Mohun descendant's flourished in the west country and their names can be seen in such villages as Ottery Mohun, Tormorham and Grange Mohun in Ireland.

It is more than likely that the first mention of a Mohun is a William whose name is found in “Le Roman de Rou” a work by Wace, a Norman poet. This work covered the history of the Duchy of Normandy at the time of Rollo until the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106, it was written two centuries after the event and therefore must be treated with scepticism.

Dunster Castle as it is today

The castle seen today by visitors is the house as it would have been seen in the seventeenth century, all remains of the medieval castle is the gatehouse and towers in the lower part of the house.

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Death of Robert, Earl of Gloucester

Empress Matilda

Mohun, Norman Lords of Dunster.

The Mohun Family of Dunster
The Mohun family story from 1050 to 1268 can be viewed here:
http://meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/mohun-of-dunster.html

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Death of Robert, Earl of Gloucester

Empress Matilda

Mohun, Norman Lords of Dunster.

The Mohun Family of DunsterThe Mohun family story from 1050 to 1268 can be viewed here: http://meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/mohun-of-dunster.html

Archives

Categories

The Mohun Family of Dunster
The Mohun family story from 1050 to 1268 can be viewed here:
http://meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/mohun-of-dunster.html