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Maud of Gloucester | |
---|---|
Countess of Chester | |
Born | Unknown |
Died | 29 July 1189 |
Spouse(s) | Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester |
Issue | Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester Richard of Chester Beatrice of Chester Ranulf of Chester |
Father | Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester |
Mother | Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester |
Maud of Gloucester, Countess of Chester (died 29 July 1189), also known as Matilda, was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and the daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and Mabel, daughter and heiress of Robert Fitzhamon. [1] Her husband was Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester (died 16 December 1153).[ citation needed ]
Lady Maud was born on an unknown date, the daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Mabel FitzRobert of Gloucester. She had seven siblings, including William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and Roger, Bishop of Worcester. She also had an illegitimate half-brother, Richard, Bishop of Bayeux, whom her father sired with Isabel de Douvres.
Her paternal grandparents were King Henry I of England and one of his mistresses, possibly Sybil Corbet or a daughter of Rainald Gay. Her maternal grandparents were Robert Fitzhamon, Lord of Gloucester and Glamorgan; and Sybil de Montgomery, daughter of Roger de Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Mabel Talvas of Bellême.
Sometime before 1141, possibly as early as 1135, Matilda married Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, and was accorded the title of Countess of Chester. Her husband had considerable autonomy in his palatine earldom.
In January 1141, Earl Ranulf and Countess Matilda were at Lincoln Castle when it was besieged by the forces of King Stephen of England. The following month, a relief army loyal to Empress Matilda and led by her father Robert earl of Gloucester defeated and captured the king in the fierce fighting, later known as the First Battle of Lincoln. In return for his help in repelling the king's troops, the countess's father compelled her husband to swear fealty to Empress Matilda, who was Earl Robert's half-sister.
On 29 August 1146, Earl Ranulf was seized by King Stephen at court in Northampton. Stephen later granted him the castle and city of Lincoln sometime after 1151.[ citation needed ]
Ranulf had an illegitimate son, Robert FitzCount (died before 1166), by an unknown mistress. His date of birth was not recorded. Robert married Agnes fitz Neal; he was her second husband.
One account contains an unsubstantiated rumor that Countess Maud poisoned her husband with the assistance of William Peverel of Nottingham, but there is no evidence that she did so. Earl Ranulf confirmed her grant to one of her servants, probably on his deathbed. [2] She served as her minor son's guardian for nine years.
She was an important patron of Repton Priory in Derbyshire. She also made grants to Belvoir Priory.
The Rotuli de Dominabus of 1185 records property Wadinton de feodo comitis Cestrie, held by Maud, Countess of Chester.[ citation needed ] Although she was said to be about 50 years of age in that document, she was probably closer to 60 in that year.
Maud died on 29 July 1189, although the Annals of Tewkesbury records her death in 1190.[ citation needed ]
Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was the half-brother of the Empress Matilda, and her chief military supporter during the civil war known as the Anarchy, in which she vied with Stephen of Blois for the throne of England.
Robert Fitzhamon, or Robert FitzHamon, Seigneur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was the first Norman feudal baron of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales. He became Lord of Glamorgan in 1075.
Ranulf II, 4th Earl of Chester (1099–1153), was an Anglo-Norman baron who inherited the honour of the palatine county of Chester upon the death of his father Ranulf Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester. He was descended from the Counts of Bessin in Normandy.
Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford, feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, was created Earl of Hertford by King Stephen.
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.
Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester and 1st Earl of Lincoln, known in some references as the 4th Earl of Chester, was one of the "old school" of Anglo-Norman barons whose loyalty to the Angevin dynasty was consistent but contingent on the receipt of lucrative favours. He has been described as "almost the last relic of the great feudal aristocracy of the Conquest".
Reginald de Dunstanville was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and an illegitimate son of King Henry I (1100–1135). He became Earl of Cornwall and High Sheriff of Devon.
Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon, feudal baron of Plympton in Devon, was the son of Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel.
Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, Breton Alan Penteur, also known as "Alan the Black", was a Breton noble who fought for Stephen, King of England. Alan was the third son of Stephen, Count of Tréguier, and Hawise de Guingamp.
Events from the 1140s in England.
William "the Younger" Peverel was the son of William Peverel. He married Avicia de Lancaster in La Marche, Normandy, France. She was possibly the daughter of William de Lancaster I and Countess Gundred de Warenne, daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey. In 1114, she bore a daughter, Margaret Peverel. Another member of his family, Maude Peverel was, by 1120, the first wife of Robert fitz Martin.
Lucy of Bolingbroke or Lucia Thoroldsdottir of Lincoln was an Anglo-Norman heiress in central England and, later in life, countess of Chester. Probably related to the old English earls of Mercia, she came to possess extensive lands in Lincolnshire which she passed on to her husbands and sons. She was a notable religious patron, founding or co-founding two small religious houses and endowing several with lands and churches.
Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman, sometimes known as Maud and sometimes known with the surname de Kevelioc. She was a daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester, and the wife of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon.
Maud de Lacy was an English noblewoman, being the eldest child of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, and the wife of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester.
Hawise of Chester, 1st Countess of Lincoln suo jure, was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. Her father was Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester. She was the sister and a co-heiress of Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. She was created suo jure 1st Countess of Lincoln in 1232. She was the wife of Robert de Quincy, by whom she had one daughter, Margaret, who became heiress to her title and estates. She was also known as Hawise of Kevelioc.
Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman, and a wealthy heiress who brought the lordship of Gloucester, among other prestigious honours to her husband, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester upon their marriage. He was the illegitimate son of King Henry I of England.
Margaret de Quincy, suo jure 2nd Countess of Lincoln was a wealthy English noblewoman and heiress having inherited in her own right the Earldom of Lincoln and honours of Bolingbroke from her mother Hawise of Chester, received a dower from the estates of her first husband, and acquired a dower third from the extensive earldom of Pembroke following the death of her second husband, Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke. Her first husband was John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, by whom she had two children. He was created 2nd Earl of Lincoln by right of his marriage to Margaret. Margaret has been described as "one of the two towering female figures of the mid-13th century".
The feudal barony of Gloucester or Honour of Gloucester was one of the largest of the mediaeval English feudal baronies in 1166, comprising 279 knight's fees, or manors. The constituent landholdings were spread over many counties. The location of the caput at Gloucester is not certain as Gloucester Castle appears to have been a royal castle, but it is known that the baronial court was held at Bristol in Gloucestershire.
The Constable of Chester was a mediaeval hereditary office held by the Barons of Halton. The functions of the Constable are unclear, possibly they related to the custody of Chester Castle, as was the main function of most mediaeval constables, but Sanders (1960) says the office-holder was constable for the entire County Palatine.
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