Geoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex

Last updated

Geoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex (died 1166) was an English nobleman, the second son of Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex and Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex.

Contents

Life

During or soon after his father's rebellion against King Stephen in 1143–1144, young Geoffrey was sent or made his way to Devizes, a base of the Empress Matilda. After the earl's death, the empress recognized the right of Geoffrey III to the earldom of Essex and the vast Mandeville holdings. [1] His whereabouts during the remaining years of King Stephen's reign are unknown. In January 1156 King Henry II confirmed Geoffrey's title as earl of Essex and the Mandeville lands, but not those lands or offices granted to his father during the civil war.

The earl served as an itinerant royal justice with Richard de Lucy in 1165–1166, visiting many of the counties of England. In 1166 he was engaged in preparations for a royal campaign in Wales when he fell ill and died in September or October. [2] He was buried at Walden Priory in Essex, a monastery founded by his father. Geoffrey was succeeded by his brother, William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex.

Family

Earl Geoffrey married a kinswoman of King Henry, Eustachia, but when she complained that her husband would not live with her, the king helped her obtain an annulment. [3] The couple were apparently childless.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empress Matilda</span> Holy Roman Empress; claimant to the English throne during the Anarchy

Empress Matilda, also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as a child when she married the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She travelled with her husband to Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned in St Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry V had no children, and when he died in 1125, the imperial crown was claimed by his rival Lothair of Supplinburg.

Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1095–1177) was the second son of Roger Bigod, sheriff of Norfolk and royal advisor, and Adeliza, daughter of Robert de Todeni.

Geoffrey de Mandeville II, 1st Earl of Essex was a prominent figure during the reign of King Stephen of England. His biographer, the 19th-century historian J. H. Round, called him "the most perfect and typical presentment of the feudal and anarchic spirit that stamps the reign of Stephen". That characterisation has been disputed since the later 20th century.

William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex was a loyal councillor of Henry II and Richard I of England.

William de Mandeville was an Anglo-Norman baron and Constable of the Tower of London.

Geoffrey Fitz Peter, Earl of Essex was a prominent member of the government of England during the reigns of Richard I and John. The patronymic is sometimes rendered Fitz Piers, for he was the son of Piers de Lutegareshale, a forester of Ludgershall and Maud de Manderville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester</span>

William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was the son and heir of Sir Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and Mabel FitzRobert of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon, and nephew of Empress Matilda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester</span> British Earl

Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, Earl of Worcester, was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois, and the twin brother of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester. He is not referred to by any surname in a contemporary document other than 'Waleran son of Count Robert'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel (bishop of Ely)</span> 12th-century English Treasurer and Bishop of Ely

Nigel was an Anglo-Norman Bishop of Ely. He came from an ecclesiastical family; his uncle Roger of Salisbury was a bishop and government minister for King Henry I, and other relatives also held offices in the English Church and government. Nigel owed his advancement to his uncle, as did Nigel's probable brother Alexander, who like Nigel was advanced to episcopal status. Nigel was educated on the continent before becoming a royal administrator. He served as Treasurer of England under King Henry, before being appointed to the see, or bishopric, of Ely in 1133. His tenure was marked by conflicts with the monks of his cathedral chapter, who believed that Nigel kept income for himself that should properly have gone to them.

Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex was a noblewoman in England in the Anglo-Norman and Angevin periods. Married twice, she and her second husband founded the Gilbertine monastery of Chicksands in Bedfordshire.

Events from the 1140s in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eudo Dapifer</span> 11th and 12th-century Norman nobleman and royal official in England

Eudo Dapifer ;, was a Norman aristocrat who served as a steward under William the Conqueror, William II Rufus, and Henry I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Chesney</span> 12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman

William de Chesney was an Anglo-Norman magnate during the reign of King Stephen of England and King Henry II of England. Chesney was part of a large family; one of his brothers became Bishop of Lincoln and another Abbot of Evesham Abbey. Stephen may have named him Sheriff of Oxfordshire. Besides his administrative offices, Chesney controlled a number of royal castles, and served Stephen during some of the king's English military campaigns. Chesney's heir was his niece, Matilda, who married Henry fitzGerold.

Richard Basset was a royal judge and sheriff during the reign of King Henry I of England. His father was also a royal justice. In about 1122 Basset married the eventual heiress of another justice; the marriage settlement has survived. In 1129–30 Basset was co-sheriff of eleven counties. Basset and his wife founded a monastic house in 1125 from their lands, which before the donation were equivalent to 15 knight's fees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walden Abbey</span>

Walden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Saffron Walden, Essex, England founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex between 1136 and 1143. Originally a priory, it was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1190.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pain fitzJohn</span> 12th century Norman baron in England

Pain fitzJohn was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and administrator, one of King Henry I of England's "new men", who owed their positions and wealth to the king.

Henry fitzGerold was a 12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman and government official.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josce de Dinan</span> 12th-century Anglo-Norman landholder in England

Josce de Dinan was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who lived during and after the civil war between King Stephen of England and his cousin Matilda over the throne of England. He was a landholder in the Welsh Marches when he was married by Stephen to the widow of Pain fitzJohn, a union that gave Josce control of Ludlow Castle. Control of the castle was contested by other noblemen, and the resulting warfare between the nobles forms the background to a late medieval romance known as Fouke le Fitz Waryn, which is mainly concerned with the actions of Josce's grandson, but also includes some material on Josce's lifetime. Josce eventually lost control of Ludlow and was granted lands in compensation by Matilda and her son, King Henry II of England, who succeeded Stephen in 1154.

Hasculf de Tany was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who lived in medieval England, in the region of London. He is believed to have been castellan of the Tower of London.

References

  1. "The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery," ed. Watkiss & Greenway (Oxford: 1999), p. xx.
  2. R. W. Eyton, Court, household, and itinerary of King Henry II (London: 1878), p. 99.
  3. "The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery," pp. xxi-xxii.

Sources

Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Essex
1144–1166
Succeeded by