Matilda de Percy

Last updated

Matilda de Percy
Countess of Warwick
Fountains Abbey 2016 095.jpg
Fountains Abbey
One of the principal beneficiaries of Matilda's patronage
Bornc. 1140
Catton
Diedc. October 1204
Noble family Percy
Spouse(s) William, earl of Warwick
FatherWilliam de Percy
MotherAlice of Tonbridge

Matilda de Percy, Countess of Warwick (died c. October 1204), was a 12th-century noblewoman and heiress. She was the wife of William, earl of Warwick (died 1184) and, in 1174 became a co-heir of her father's large Yorkshire barony with her younger sister Agnes.

Contents

Heiress

Matilda was born to the Yorkshire nobleman William II de Percy, lord of Topcliffe and Seamer, son of Alan de Percy. She herself recalls in one of her charters that she was born in the Percy manor of Catton where she was baptised. [1] William was a loyalist in the civil wars of the reign of King Stephen and occupied the office of sheriff of York through most of the reign. [2] He made a prestigious marriage to Alice of Tonbridge, daughter of Richard de Clare. At her father's death in 1174, closely following on that of her brother Alan, Matilda was co-heir to the Percy estate with her sister Agnes. Both women were very attractive marriage prospects and there were complex negotiations between King Henry II, their potential husbands and the ladies themselves as to their fate. This involved an arbitration in 1175 to divide the Percy barony, the text of which survives. From this it appears that Agnes did better, securing a larger number of the lowland Percy manors in the Vale of York, while Matilda had the Percy centres of Tadcaster and Spofforth but more of the less valuable upland estates in Craven. [3] Agnes was married to Joscelin of Louvain and from her is descended the second line of Percy, as her children by Joscelin took Agnes's surname. Matilda's marriage went to Earl William of Warwick from which she acquired only a modest dower, the manor of East Knoyle in Wiltshire.

Spofforth, North Yorkshire
one of Matilda's castles Spofforth Castle Undercroft.jpg
Spofforth, North Yorkshire
one of Matilda's castles

Countess of Warwick

One of the features of Matilda's marriage settlement was the unusual one that she retained a degree of personal control of her Percy inheritance. It must have been imposed on Earl William by herself and her advisers, as it was neither in his interest nor the king's that she had it. There are several charters which make Yorkshire grants in her husband's lifetime, notably her endowment before 1181 of her father's poverty-stricken abbey of Sawley in Craven with lands of the former hospital of Tadcaster. Whatever hopes Earl William might have had for the marriage were disappointed on his death in 1184 without issue. Matilda adroitly negotiated a large fine of 700 marks with King Henry II so that she kept control of her inheritance and would not be remarried. She lived on for two decades as an influential and active Northern landowner. [4] In 1189 she was considering founding her own priory of Augustinian canons in the church of Tadcaster, but decided instead to endow it on the monks of Sawley, which was in financial collapse. She generously patronised a number of Yorkshire monasteries, but most especially the Cistercians of Fountains Abbey. In 1199 she stated her intention of being buried in Fountains, though when her death occurred at the end of 1204 she appears to have changed her mind and asked instead to be buried at Sawley abbey, to which the monks of Fountains transferred her burial rights. [5] This and her long term support for Sawley is likely because her father and other members of her family were buried there. Her lands passed to her nephew Henry de Percy, eldest son of her sister Agnes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adeliza of Louvain</span> Queen of England from 1121 to 1135

Adeliza of Louvain was Queen of England from 1121 to 1135 as the second wife of King Henry I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Northumberland</span> Earldom in the Peerage of Great Britain

The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy, who were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The heirs of the Percys, via a female line, were ultimately made Duke of Northumberland in 1766, and continue to hold the earldom as a subsidiary title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick</span> 12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman

Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick or Henry de Newburgh was a Norman nobleman who rose to great prominence in the Kingdom of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Percy</span> Extinct barony in the Peerage of England

The title Baron Percy has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The first, soon after 1066, a feudal barony rather than a barony by writ, which continued in parallel with the later baronies by writ, until the abolition of feudal tenure by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660. The second, created by writ in 1299, became extinct in 1517. The third, created by writ in 1557, became extinct in 1670. The present creation was in 1722, by writ of summons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy family</span> English noble family

The Percy family is an English noble family. They were among the most powerful noble families in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The noble family is known for its long rivalry with the House of Neville, another family powerful in northern England during the 15th century. The Percy-Neville feud led to the Wars of the Roses, at the time known as the Civil Wars, in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland</span> English peer, politician and landowner

Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, was an English peer, politician, and landowner.

Elizabeth of Vermandois, was a French noblewoman, who by her two marriages was the mother of the 1st Earl of Worcester, the 2nd Earl of Leicester, the 3rd Earl of Surrey, and of Gundred de Warenne, mother of the 4th Earl of Warwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick</span>

Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick was the second son of Earl Roger of Warwick and Gundreda de Warenne, daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was known in his elder brother's time as 'Waleran of Warwick' marking the shift of surname in the family in his generation. The surnames 'Beaumont' and 'Newburgh' were used by the first two generations of the family, and are applied to the later generations by convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sawley Abbey</span> Historic site in Sawley, Lancashire

Sawley Abbey was an abbey of Cistercian monks in the village of Sawley, Lancashire, in England. Created as a daughter-house of Newminster Abbey, it existed from 1149 until its dissolution in 1536, during the reign of King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford</span> English noble

Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford was an English noble involved in the succession conflict between King Stephen and Empress Matilda in the mid-twelfth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale</span> Early 12th century Anglo-Norman baron and knight

Robert I de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale was an early-12th-century Anglo-Norman lord and the first of the Bruce dynasty to hold lands in Scotland. A monastic patron, he is remembered as the founder of Gisborough Priory in Yorkshire, England, in present-day Redcar and Cleveland, in 1119.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joscelin of Louvain</span>

Joscelin of Louvain, also spelled Jocelin de Louvain and Jocelyn of Leuven, (1121/36–1180) was a nobleman from the Duchy of Brabant who settled in England after his half-sister Adeliza of Louvain married King Henry I. There Joscelin married an English heiress, and through his son, the House of Percy—as the Earls and later the Dukes of Northumberland—became the most powerful family in Northern England.

Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford, was an English noble who played an active and influential part in the wars between Empress Matilda and King Stephen.

Eustace fitz John, Constable of Chester, was a powerful magnate in northern England during the reigns of Henry I, Stephen and Henry II. From a relatively humble background in South East England, Eustace made his career serving Henry I, and was elevated by the king through marriage and office into one of the most important figures in the north of England. Eustace acquired a great deal of property in the region, controlled Bamburgh Castle, and served jointly with Walter Espec as justiciar of the North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Warwick</span>

William earl of Warwick was an English nobleman. He was married to Matilda de Percy, daughter of William de Percy and his first wife Alice of Tonbridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gisburn Forest</span> Civil parish in Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England

Gisburn Forest is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire, England. Mainly lying within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the parish includes the larger part of the village of Tosside and the hamlet of Grunsagill to the south. Historically, the parish lay within the West Riding of Yorkshire. It had a population of 151 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ela Longespée</span>

Ela Longespée, Countess of Warwick was an English noblewoman. She was the daughter of Ela of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury and William Longespée, and sister to, among others, Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury. Ela married, first, Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick, and, secondly, Philip Basset. She was a great religious benefactor, and contributed to the foundation of Merton College, Oxford.

Simon III de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton was an English nobleman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippa Basset</span>

Philippa Basset, Countess of Warwick, was a 13th-century noblewoman and heiress. She was the wife firstly of Henry (II) de Newburgh, earl of Warwick and after his premature death she was married to Richard Siward a soldier and adventurer at the court of King Henry III of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gundreda de Warenne</span> Anglo-Norman noblewoman

Gundreda de Warenne, Countess of Warwick was the wife of Earl Roger. She was the daughter and eldest child of William II, earl Warenne by the Capetian princess Isabel of Vermandois daughter of Count Hugh the Great of Vermandois and niece of King Philip I of France. On the death of her first husband Count Robert of Meulan and Leicester in 1118 Isabel promptly married Earl William II de Warenne and since Gundreda had an infant daughter by 1138 it is most likely she was the eldest child of the marriage. The Flemish name Gundreda was given her in recollection of her father's mother Gundreda de Warenne.

References

  1. Richard Dace, "Introduction" in, The Newburgh Earldom of Warwick and its Charters, 1088-1253 ed. David Crouch and Richard Dace (Dugdale Society, 48, 2015), p. 10.
  2. D. Crouch, "Civil and Social Engineering Projects in Early Angevin Yorkshire: the Bishops of Durham and the East Riding," Northern History, 58 (2021), 4 and n. 12.
  3. D, Crouch, "The Local Influence of the Earls of Warwick, 1088-1242," Midland History, 21 (1996),10.
  4. Dace, "Introduction" in, Newburgh Earldom of Warwick, p. 10.
  5. Newburgh Earldom of Warwick, pp. 156-7, 167-8.

Sources