As many of you may know I have spent the last year on a project that was originally titled ‘The Medieval Princess: Royal Daughters from the Conquest to the Wars of the Roses’. It was one of those projects that seemed to go on and on, with no end in sight. But then, at the end of April, it was done. With one tiny snag. The reason it had seemed never-ending was the word count: a whopping 143,000 words!
Cover reveal coming – be patient!
What does that mean in terms of a physical book? Well, it was 50% more words than in my contract and would come out at a book-and-a-half – about 500 pages.
Just wait a little longer…
It is not a surprise, really, Mary Anne Everett Green’s The Lives of the Princesses of England from the Norman Conquest was published in six volumes in the19th century; the first 3 volumes covered the medieval period. So, I knew all along it was going to be a challenge to bring the book in at under 100,000 words.
And I failed miserably!
Stop scrolling – cover reveal coming soon….
Luckily, I have a very understanding editor and her first words, when I confessed my massive word count, was, ‘well, we’re not going to make you cut 20,000 words. Let’s split it in two!
What a relief!
Not long now…
So, I have spent May splitting the books, polishing off book no. 1 and changing the introduction and conclusions so they are relevant to that particular book. And we have settled on titles. The first book is entitled Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and will look at the English princesses from the daughters of Harold II to King John.
Nearly there….
I still have work to do on book no. 2, Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets, which will include all the royal daughters from Henry III to Edward IV. There will be more on that at the end of the summer…
It’s time!
Did you peek?
So, here it is. The cover for Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest
Drum roll please….
Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest will explore the lives of these young women, how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It will look at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by political necessity and the events of the time.
Almost as interesting as the marriages these girls made are the ones that were never realised. Many English princesses were betrothed, or proposed as brides, three or more times before they were married. Their failed marriage proposals demonstrated their influence and worth on the international royal marriage market, as well as the changing allegiances between countries and the making and breaking of international friendships.
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages will also examine how these girls, who were often political pawns, were able to control their own lives and fates. Whilst they were expected to obey their parents in their marriage choices, several princesses were able to exert their own influence on these choices, with some outright refusing the husbands offered to them. Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking.
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest is due for release in the spring of 2026, with Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets coming in the summer.
I can’t wait for you to read them!
About the Author:
Sharon Bennett Connolly is the bestselling author of several non-fiction history books. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Sharon has studied history academically and just for fun – and has even worked as a tour guide at a castle. She also writes the popular history blog, http://www.historytheinterestingbits.com and co-hosts the podcast A Slice of Medieval, alongside historical novelist Derek Birks. Sharon regularly gives talks on women’s history, for historical groups, festivals and in schools; her book Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest is a recommended text for teaching the Norman Conquest in the National Curriculum. She is a feature writer for All About History, Tudor Places and Living Medieval magazines and her TV work includes Australian Television’s Who Do You Think You Are?
Her previous books include: Heroines of the Medieval World, Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth-Century England, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, Women of the Anarchy, Heroines of the Tudor World and Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark.
22 August is a famous date in history. The Battle of Bosworth, on 22 August 1485 is often seen as the end of one era and the beginning of another: the end of the medieval age and the beginning of the early modern. It was the end of the royal line of the Plantagenets, begun under Henry II in 1154 and ended with the death of Richard III on that fateful August day. It was the advent of, arguably, the most famous royal house in history: the house of Tudor, which ruled England from 1485 to 1603.
But Bosworth was not the only battle fought on English soil on 22 August. 347 years before, during the period known to history as the Anarchy, when King Stephen stole the English throne from his cousin Empress Matilda. At Northallerton in North Yorkshire, an English army faced a Scots army in what would come to be known as the Battle of the Standard; between the forces of King Stephen and those of his wife’s uncle – and also the uncle of Empress Matilda – David I, King of Scots.
On his marriage to Matilda de Senlis, arranged by his brother-in-law King Henry, David acquired lands in Northampton, Bedford, Cambridge and Huntingdon, as well as lands stretching from South Yorkshire to Middlesbrough, which would become known as the ‘honour of Huntingdon’. By the first Treaty of Durham, agreed in February 1136, at which David had refused to do homage to Stephen but allowed his son to do so, young Henry was given Doncaster and the lordship of Carlisle. He also received his mother’s inheritance, the honour and earldom of Huntingdon, paying homage for these lands to King Stephen at York. At Stephen’s Easter court that same year, Henry sat at the king’s right hand, his royal birth giving him precedence ahead of the English earls. This infuriated Earl Ranulf of Chester, who had wanted Carlisle for himself, and Simon (II) de Senlis, Henry’s older half-brother, who maintained a rival claim to the Huntingdon lands.
David I King of Scots
The two barons withdrew from the court in disgust. As the grandson of Earl Waltheof, Henry also demanded the earldom of Northumberland. When Stephen refused to relinquish it, Scottish raids into Northumberland were renewed. David was ostensibly arguing that he was supporting his niece, Empress Matilda, in her struggle with Stephen over the English crown, though his actual motives were far from selfless. The Gesta Stephani was generous in assessing the Scots king’s dilemma:
In Scotland, which borders on England, with a river fixing the boundary between the two kingdoms, there was a king of a gentle heart, born of religious parents and equal to them in his just way of living. Since he had in the presence of King Henry, together with the other magnates of the kingdom, or rather first of all of them, bound himself with an oath that on King Henry’s death he would recognise no-one as his successor except his daughter or her heir, he was greatly vexed that Stephen had come to take the tiller of the kingdom of the English. But because it had been planned and carried out by the barons themselves without consulting him he wisely pondered the ultimate result and waited quietly for some time to see what end the enterprise would come.1
In the early months of 1138, David had exploited Stephen’s preoccupation with the siege of Bedford Castle to lead a foray into Northumberland. The Scots king was apparently spurred on by a letter from Empress Matilda ‘stating that she had been disinherited and deprived of the kingdom promised to her on oath, that the laws had been made of no account, justice trampled under foot, the fealty of the barons of England and the compact to which they had sworn broken and utterly disregarded, and therefore she humbly and mournfully besought him to aid her as a relation, since she was abandoned, and assist her as one bound to her by oath, since she was in distress’.2
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
Whether acting in response to his niece’s pleas or to pursue his own interests, David had moved south in January 1138. He had besieged Wark Castle and led a chevauchée further south. However, he had retreated into the Scottish borders when Stephen brought a substantial force against him. From Roxburgh, David awaited the departure of the English army before renewing his campaign. The Scots ventured across the border, once again, on 8 April, this time targeting the coastal regions of Northumberland and County Durham in a campaign of plunder and waste. Stephen was now tied up in the south in campaigns against various rebel barons, including William Fitz Alan, who was married to a niece of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Arnulf of Hesdin, who held Shrewsbury Castle against the king.
Robert of Gloucester, Empress Matilda’s illegitimate half-brother, had finally made a move in favour of his sister, issuing Stephen with a diffidatio, a chivalric device which was a formal statement of renunciation of allegiance and homage. According to William of Malmesbury, Robert ‘sent representatives and abandoned friendship and faith with the king in the traditional way, also renouncing homage, giving as the reason that his action was just, because the king had both unlawfully claimed the throne and disregarded, not to say betrayed, all the faith he had sworn to him’.3
David took advantage of these distractions and again crossed the River Tees with a Scottish army in July. He sent two Scottish barons to lay siege to Wark Castle while he headed further south. Eustace fitz John, deprived of Bamburgh Castle by King Stephen but still in control of Alnwick, chose to add his own forces to those of King David. The army marched past Bamburgh until the garrison, believing themselves impregnable, taunted the Scots from the safety of the castle’s formidable walls. The Scots promptly attacked, breaking down the barricades and killing everyone in the castle. Bernard de Baliol was then sent north by King Stephen and he and Robert de Bruce were tasked with discussing terms with the Scots. The proposal was that if the Scots went home, Prince Henry would be given the earldom of Northumberland. David rejected the offer.
Stephen, it seems, was beset on all sides, with invaders on his northern borders, rebellion within his kingdom and trouble across the Channel in Normandy. He employed all his senior commanders in putting out the fires – including his wife, Queen Matilda. In the late summer of 1138, following the capitulation of Shrewsbury, Stephen had hanged that town’s entire garrison, learning from his leniency at Exeter. He then ‘besieged Dover with a strong force on the landward side, and sent word to [Queen Matilda’s] friends and kinsmen and dependents in Boulogne to blockade the force by sea. The people of Boulogne proved obedient, gladly carried out their lady’s commands and, with a great fleet of ships, closed the narrow strait to prevent the garrison receiving any supplies.’4 This military pressure, combined with the persuasive power of Robert de Ferrers, father-in-law of the rebel garrison’s commander, Walchelin Maminot, caused Walchelin to surrender to the queen, in late August or early September. The retribution meted out to the Shrewsbury garrison was probably another persuasive argument to the recalcitrant defenders.
Coin of Prince Henry of Scotland
David had overplayed his hand by allowing his troops from Galloway to plunder the countryside, thus uniting the northern barons in their determination to put an end to these all-too-frequent Scottish forays into England. With Stephen, his loyal generals and his wife occupied with rebels in the south of England, the defence of the north fell to Thurstan, Archbishop of York since 1115 and nearing his seventieth year. Placing the archbishop in command was a move which would prevent baronial squabbling over seniority. Thurstan called for a crusade against the Scots and mustered his army at York. The Scots refused all offers of negotiations, so the archbishop marched his force to Northallerton in Yorkshire, just 30 miles north-west of York. Calling upon holy favour, the army was preceded by the banners of St Peter, St John of Beverly and St Wilfrid of Ripon, flying on a mast which itself was mounted on a carriage.
On 22 August 1138, with the carriage supporting the standards placed on the summit of the southernmost of two hillocks next to the Darlington road, the troops were arrayed to the front of their standards. Above the emblems of the saints a banner read, ‘Body of the Lord, to be their standard-bearer and the leader of their battle.’5 It is from this pious display that the ensuing clash, the Battle of the Standard, would get its name. The English forces were formed in three groups, with dismounted men-at-arms in the front rank, a body of knights around the standards and the shire levies deployed at the rear and on both flanks. The Scots were drawn up on the northern hillock, with men-at-arms and archers in the front and the poorly equipped men from Galloway and the Highlanders in the rear. The unarmoured men from Galloway complained bitterly about being placed in the rear and demanded the rightful place of honour in the front of the battleline, to the extent that King David, against his better judgement, granted them their wish to spearhead the attack. Prince Henry took command of the right flank, comprising the troops from Strathclyde and the eastern Lowlands and a body of mounted knights. The left was formed of men from the western Highlands. The king led the small reserve, made up of the men from Moray and the eastern Highlands.
The presence of the apostle and two Yorkshire saints in their force, arrayed against a foe containing a contingent of Picts, led to a sense among the English that they were on a noble crusade. According to Henry of Huntingdon, the Bishop of Durham then gave a stirring speech before the bishops and priests retreated from the field:
Memorial to the Battle of the Standard, Northallerton
… Rouse yourselves, then, gallant soldiers, and bear down on an accursed enemy with the courage of your race and in the presence of God. Let not their impetuosity shake you, since the many tokens of our valour do not deter them. They do not cover themselves with armour in war; you are in the constant practice of arms in time of peace, that you may be at no loss in the chances at the day of battle. Your head is covered with the helmet, your breast with a coat of mail, your legs with greaves and your whole body with shield. Where can the enemy strike you when he finds you sheathed in steel … It is not so much the multitude of a host, as the valour of a few which is decisive. Numbers, without discipline, are a hindrance to success in the attack and to retreat in defeat. Your ancestors were often victorious when they were but a few against many…6
As the English soldiers shouted out ‘Amen! Amen!’ in response to the bishop’s speech, the Scottish army advanced with their own battle cry of ‘Alban! Alban!’ on their lips. The men of Galloway launched the initial attack and ‘bore down on the English mailed knights with a cloud of darts and their long spears’.7 The unclothed Galwegians had no protection against the hail of arrows and English swords, though their sheer ferocity saw them temporarily breach the English front rank. Even so, they could get no further: ‘The whole army of English and Normans stood fast around the Standard in one solid body.’8 It was a stalemate that Prince Henry attempted to break by leading a mounted charge against the English forces. Although he sustained heavy losses, the prince broke through the English ranks and continued towards the enemy’s rear, reaching the horse lines. The English closed ranks before the Scots foot soldiers could take advantage of the gap created by the prince’s charge.
Henry of Huntingdon reserves praise for the prince: ‘[David’s] brave son, heedless of what his countrymen were doing, and inspired only by his ardour for the fight and for glory, made a fierce attack, with the remnant of the fugitives on the enemy’s ranks … But this body of cavalry could by no means make any impression against men sheathed in armour, and fighting on foot in a close column; so that they were compelled to retire with wounded horses and shattered lances, after a brilliant but unsuccessful attack.’9 Finding himself marooned behind enemy lines, the prince ordered his men to discard any identifying badges and mingle with the English forces until they could escape. The ruse worked and the prince was able to make his way back to Carlisle.
According to Huntingdon, the men of Galloway were put to flight when their chief fell, pierced by an arrow. Fighting along the line, and having seen what befell the Galwegians, the remainder of the Scots army began to falter. Seeing that the battle was lost, men began to flee. It began as a trickle, but soon the greater part of the army was in retreat. King David had chosen the greatest of the Scottish knights as his personal guard, and they remained steadfast almost to the last. Once they saw the battle was lost, they persuaded the king to call for his horse and retreat rather than risk death or capture. Henry of Huntingdon reports 11,000 Scottish dead against few English casualties, with Gilbert de Lacy’s brother the only English knight to fall on the field of battle.
The English, however, failed to pursue the fleeing Scots. David was therefore able to march his surviving army north to join the forces that had been besieging Wark Castle since June. Satisfied that they had seen off the Scottish threat, the English had withdrawn, leaving only a small contingent in the field to reduce Eustace fitz John’s castle at Malton. Negotiations for peace could then begin:
Durham Cathedral
After the war between the two kings had lasted for a long time, created terrible disorder, and brought widespread calamity, a peace mission was sent out by God’s will; travelling to and fro between the two kings, who were exhausted by the slaughter, destruction, ceaseless anxieties, and hardships, the envoys succeeded in restoring harmony between them.10
A truce was arranged at Carlisle at the end of September 1138 and negotiations for a lasting peace began in earnest. On 9 April 1139, the Treaty of Durham was concluded between King Stephen and David of Scotland. As part of the treaty, Henry of Scotland would marry Ada de Warenne, daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Warenne and Surrey. Not that peace would prevent King David from continuing to aid his niece, Empress Matilda, in her struggles against King Stephen, but that is another story.
Notes:
1. K. R. Potter (trans.), Gesta Stephani; 2. ibid; 3. William of Malmesbury quoted in Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy; 4. John of Worcester quoted in Patricia A. Dark, The Career of Matilda of Boulogne as Countess and Queen in England, 1135-1152; 5. Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War; 6. Thomas Forester (trans. and ed.), The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon. Comprising the history of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the accession of Henry II. Also,the Acts of Stephen, King of England and Duke of Normandy; 7. ibid; 8. ibid; 9. ibid; 10. Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 1075-1143, book XIII.
Potter, K. R. (trans.), Gesta Stephani; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy; Patricia A. Dark, The Career of Matilda of Boulogne as Countess and Queen in England, 1135-1152; Thomas Forester (trans. and ed.), The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon. Comprising the history of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the accession of Henry II. Also, the Acts of Stephen, King of England and Duke of Normandy; David Smurthwaite, The Complete Guide to the Battlefields of Britain; David Crouch, The Reign of King Stephen; Keith Stringer, ‘Henry, Earl of Northumberland (c. 1115-1152)’, Oxforddnb.com; G.W.S. Barrow, ‘David I (c. 1185-1153)’, Oxforddnb.com; Keith Stringer, ‘Ada [née Ada de Warenne], countess of Northumberland (c. 1123-1178)’, Oxforddnb.com; Victoria Chandler, ‘Ada de Warenne, Queen Mother of Scotland (c. 1123-1178)’, The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 60, no. 170; Farrer, W. and C. T. Clay (eds), Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume 8: The Honour of Warenne; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000–1154; Catherine Hanley, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English; Edmund King, King Stephen.
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My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. There are now over 70 episodes to listen to!
Portrait of Henry VIII after Hans Holbein the Younger
When Henry VIII decided to break with Rome, he was making that decision not just for himself but for his entire nation. But Henry was still a conservative Catholic and while others embraced the Reformation and the tenets of Calvinism or Lutheranism, Henry remained Catholic to his dying day, just not Roman Catholic. His break with Rome led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, where monastic institutions and communities were broken up and sold off.
This, in turn led to the Pilgrimage of Grace, a popular revolt in Yorkshire in October 1536, led by Robert Aske, which spread to other parts of northern England. The rebellion was inspired by the failed Lincolnshire Rising, which had started on 1 October 1536 and it was said 22,000 people followed a monk and shoemaker, the vicar of Louth and Nicholas Melton (known as Captain Cobbler) to protest against the closing of the monasteries and the seizure of church land and plate. The figure was probably much smaller, perhaps some 3,000 rebels. However, by the time they marched on Lincoln and occupied Lincoln Cathedral, some 40,000 rebels were demanding the right to worship as Roman Catholics and protection for the treasures of Lincolnshire’s churches. The Rising was all but over by 4 October, when Henry sent word that the protesters should disperse or face retribution at the hands of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who had mobilised his troops to put down the revolt.
By 14 October, most of the host had returned home. The two ringleaders were hanged at Tyburn, while other leading rebels were executed in the following days. It was against this background and the fear that the Rising must have invoked throughout Lincolnshire, that Anne Askew came to the fore. Anne Askew, also spelt Ayscough or Ainscough, was born around 1521, probably at the family home at Stallingborough, near Grimsby in Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Sir William Askew and his first wife, Elizabeth Wrottesley.
Portrait of Anne Askew by Hans Eworth
Anne was the second oldest of five children, with an older sister Martha, a younger sister Jane, and two younger brothers, Francis and Edward. Her father, a landowner in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, was knighted in 1513. He attended the king at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in France in 1520 and in 1521 he was appointed High Sheriff of Lincolnshire. From 1529, he was a member of Parliament for Grimsby. After the death of Anne’s mother, he married twice more. He married the daughter of a Struxley or Streichley of Nottinghamshire, whose name is sadly now lost to history and married again in 1522 to Elizabeth, the daughter of John Hutton of Tudhoe, Co. Durham and the widow of Sir William Hansard of South Kelsey, Lincolnshire, with whom he had two more sons, Christopher and Thomas.
By about 1523, the family had moved to South Kelsey, just 20 miles from Lincoln. Anne was well educated, possibly by tutors, though we do not know the specifics of her education. Anne’s writings were published posthumously by reformist scholar John Bale, and it is from these that we get most of her story.
Anne’s future was decided following the tragic early death of her older sister, Martha. Sir William had arranged for Martha to marry Thomas Kyme of Friskney, the son and heir of a neighbouring landowner. Sadly, Martha died before the wedding could take place. Rather than suffer a financial loss with the failure of the arrangement, Sir William offered 15-year-old Anne as a replacement bride, ‘so that in the ende she was compelled against her will or fre consent to marrye with hym,’ and, as John Bale put it, Anne ‘demeaned her selfe lyke a Christen wife’.1 Anne and Thomas had two children together.
It was about the time that Anne was preparing for her wedding, in 1536, that the Lincolnshire Rising erupted, starting in Louth and making its way towards Lincoln. Her father Sir William was one of the commissioners for the king’s tax subsidy who were due to sit in Caistor as the rebels arrived in the town. Sir William attempted to ride for home, ahead of the rebellious host. He was soon captured, aware that his own servants who were accompanying him supported the rebels. Anne’s brothers were also arrested by the rebels and their house watched. Sir William was then forced to write to the king to inform him of what had happened, with the complaint that ‘the common voice and fame was that all jewels and goods of the churches of the country should be taken from them and brought to Your Grace’s Council, and also that your said loving and faithful subjects should be put off new enhancements and other importunate charges.’2
With the failure of the rebellion, Sir William and his sons returned home. One wonders if the treatment of her menfolk, at the hands of those who were defending Roman Catholicism, was not a factor in Anne turning to the reformed faith. However the transformation came about, and in spite of her husband’s devout Catholicism, Anne did become a committed Protestant. She acquired a copy of an English Bible and began reading aloud from it, though her husband and brother had both forbidden her to do so. Anne explained that ‘in processe of tyme by oft reading of the sacred Bible, she fell clerelye from all olde superstycyons of papystrye, to a perfyght believe in Jhesus Christ.’3
Lincoln Cathedral
In May 1543, the Act for the Advancement of True Religion was passed, forbidding any woman below the rank of noblewoman or gentlewoman from reading the Bible; and forbidding any woman, of any rank, from reading the Bible aloud. Anne was a gentlewoman and therefore still permitted to read the Bible, but only in private. She wanted to travel to Lincoln to see the cathedral’s Bible, but Kyme forbade it. Anne had been apprised of the hostility this would engender: ‘For my fryndes told me, if I ded come to Lyncolne, the prestes wolde assault me and put me to great trouble, as thereof they had made their boast.’4 Anne did travel to Lincoln and stayed there for about six days, reading her Bible in the cathedral. She said that one man confronted her, but he had said so little of significance that she could not recall his words.
This incident, and the fact that Anne continued to read aloud to whoever would listen, to such an extent that the local priest complained to her husband, infuriated Thomas Kyme. Angry and embarrassed at his wife’s actions, Kyme drove her from the house, with some violence. Driven from hearth and home – and from her children, Anne resumed her maiden name and sought a divorce. In late 1544 she travelled to London, accompanied by only a maid, in order to obtain a legal separation in the court of chancery. Two of her brothers were already in London. Edward, who had previously been in the service of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was cup-bearer to Henry VIII and her half-brother, Christopher, who died around this time, was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber.
Her cousin, Christopher Brittayn, was a lawyer at the Temple and Anne’s sister Jane was married to George St Poll, a lawyer in the service of the duke and duchess of Suffolk. Anne lodged in a house close to the Temple, London’s legal centre, and soon met others with like-minded religious views, many with connections. Several gentlewomen gave Anne money, including the countess of Hertford and the wife of Sir Anthony Denny. They both sent messengers to Anne with money.
Queen Kateryn Parr
Anne found herself moving in exalted circles, these ladies were close friends of Henry VIII’s new queen, Kateryn Parr, though whether the queen and Anne ever met is uncertain. Anne made other connections in the city, including her religious advisor John Lascels and the chronicler Edward Hall. She was also close to the Kentish Anabaptist Joan Bocher, who would be executed in 1550.
After preaching publicly in the streets of the capital, Anne came to the attention of the authorities. According to Anne’s nephew, writing after her death, she was arrested following the interception of a letter she was trying to send, while attempting to communicate with the queen. She was detained on 10 March 1545, under the Six Articles Act, which made deviation from the official tenets of the English church a civil offence. Anne was brought before Sir Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London, and the bishop of London’s chancellor, and interrogated as to her beliefs. She was told that St Paul forbade women from talking of the word of God, but Anne countered that St Paul only barred women from instructing a congregation.
Still only 24 years of age, Anne was confident, fearless and bold in dealing with the great men of the city of London. Women were not meant to behave in such a way, they were supposed to be contrite and accept the superior intellect and authority of the men in charge. As a consequence, the Lord Mayor ordered her imprisonment. She spent 12 days in prison, visited daily by a priest sent by Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London. Her cousin, Brittayn, failed in his petition to have her released on bail, but succeeded in having her examined before the bishop himself, on 25 March. She was accused of subscribing to reformist beliefs concerning transubstantiation and the other sacraments and the dominion of the priesthood and asked to sign a declaration of orthodox faith.
Anne took the paper and wrote ‘I, Anne Askewe do beleve all maner thynges contayned in the faythe of the Catholyck churche.’5 Bishop Bonner flew into a fury, but her cousin, Brittayn, persuaded him that she acted from her ‘weak woman’s wit’ and with the added voices of her friends, Hall, Hugh Weston and Francis Spilman, Anne was returned to prison for one more night before being freed on bail the next day. Whether or not Anne abjured is open to interpretation; the authorities say she did, Anne denied it.
The torture of Anne Askew
Once freed, Anne continued to pursue her divorce from Thomas Kyme. The Privy Council became involved and ordered both Anne and Thomas to appear before them within ten days. Anne and Kyme were brought before the Council at Greenwich and were questioned about their relationship. The questioning, under the direction of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, turned to the matter of Anne’s views in the sacrament and after an exchange of words whereby Anne evaded Gardiner’s questions, she was again committed to prison for the night, this time to Newgate, a harrowing place. Kyme returned home. Anne was brought before the Council the next day and questioned further by Bishop Gardiner, who declared that she should be burnt.
According to Anne herself, they charged her ‘upon my obedience to show them if I knew any man or woman of my sect. Answered that I knew none. Then they asked me of my lady of Suffolk, my lady of Sussex, my lady of Hertford, my lady Denny and my lady Fitzwilliam.’6 These women were close associates of the queen, Kateryn Parr. The queen’s chambers were searched for heretical texts, though none were found.
On 28 June 1546, Anne Askew was arraigned for heresy at the Guildhall in London, alongside Nicholas Shaxton, former Bishop of Salisbury, and two other men. Shaxton abjured but Anne was condemned ‘without any triall of a jurie’.7
The next day, Anne was sent to the Tower and subjected to further questioning. It was hoped that this would force Anne to reveal her associates at court and, by extension, their husbands. When she refused to name anyone, her interrogators, Thomas Wriothesley and Richard Rich, took the exceptional step of having her undress to her shift and fastened to the rack. In Anne’s own words:
Woodcut of the burning of Anne Askew
Then they put me on the rack because I confessed no ladies or gentlewomen to be of my opinion; and there they kept me a long time, and because I lay still and did not cry, my lord chancellor and Master Rich took pains to rack me with their own hands till I was nigh dead. Then the lieutenant (of the Tower) caused me to be loosed from the rack. Immediately, I swooned away, and then they recovered me again. After that I sat two long hours reasoning with my lord chancellor upon the bare floor.8
As a woman, gently born and already condemned, Anne should have been exempt from such treatment. Anne was so severely tortured that by the end of it her body was broken, all four limbs were dislocated and she was unable to stand. She was eventually returned to Newgate from where, on 16 July 1546, Anne was carried to the site of her execution at Smithfield, sat on a chair in a cart, every movement causing her more pain. She was tied to another chair at the stake, where she was given one more chance to recant and receive a pardon.
She refused.
She died alongside three other Protestants, John Lascels, John Hadlam, who was a tailor, and John Hemley, formerly an Observant friar.
The Martyrdom of Anne Askew
Anne Askew holds the terrible distinction of being one of only two women to have ever been tortured in the Tower of London, the other being Margaret Cheyne, who had been involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace and was also burnt for heresy. Anne died bravely, never revealing her connections at court, thus, perhaps, saving a queen of England from the same fate. She was 25 years old.
On a national level, her death was a consequence of the growing fear that accompanied Henry’s failing health. On a personal level, although Anne’s journey to London had arisen from her marriage troubles, these troubles were always entwined within her own spiritual journey. Anne’s supreme confidence in her faith and her courage under torture deservedly earned her a place in the Protestant martyrology. Her own, first-hand account of her story was edited and published by John Bale and reprinted in John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, ensuring her legacy would pass down through the generations.
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Notes:
1. The examinations of Anne Askew, edited by E. V. Beilin, quoted in Diane Watt, ‘Askew [married name Kyme], Anne’, Oxforddnb.com; 2. & P, Vol XI, p. 534, quoted in Elizabeth Norton, The Lives of Tudor Women; 3. The examinations of Anne Askew, edited by E. V. Beilin, quoted in Diane Watt, ‘Askew [married name Kyme], Anne’; 4. ibid; 5. ibid; 6. The examinations of Anne Askew, quoted in Amy Licence, The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women; 7. Thomas Wriothesley quoted in Diane Watt, ‘Askew [married name Kyme], Anne’; 8. Mickey Mayhew, House of Tudor: A Grisly History
Sources:
Diane Watt, ‘Askew [married name Kyme], Anne’, Oxforddnb.com; Amy Licence, The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women; The examinations of Anne Askew, edited by E. V. Beilin; Elizabeth Norton, The Lives of Tudor Women; Don Matzat, Katherine Parr: Opportunist, Queen, Reformer; Mickey Mayhew, House of Tudor: A Grisly History; J.D. Mackie, The Earlier Tudors 1485-1558; Arthur D. Innes, A History of England Under the Tudors; Sarah Bryson, The Brandon Men: In the Shadow of Kings; Steven Gunn, Charles Brandon: Henry VIII’s Closest Friend; Sarah Bryson, La Reine Blanche: Mary Tudor, A Life in Letters; John Paul Davis, A Hidden History of the Tower of London: England’s Most; Robert Lacey, The Life and Times of Henry VIII; David Loades, editor, Chronicles of the Tudor Kings: The Tudor Dynasty from 1485 to 1553: Henry VII, Henry VIII and Edward VI in the Words of their Contemporaries.
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Illumination from Hildegard’s Scivias (1151) showing her receiving a vision and dictating to teacher Volmar
Hildegard of Bingen was rather brilliant. Born in around 1098 in Bremersheim in the Rhineland, into a noble family, Hildegard was the tenth child of Hildebert and Mechtild and was destined for life in a convent from an early age. She was around eight years old when she was placed with Jutta of Sponheim, a reclusive (possibly an anchorite), religious noblewoman who supervised the education of young girls from noble families. In 1112, at the age of fourteen, Hildegard, along with other girls in Jutta’s charge, took her vows at the monastery at Disibodenberg. Under Jutta, who became prioress at Disibodenberg, Hildegard was taught to read, and Latin, although she was not proficient in the latter, and in later life she relied on her secretaries to correct her Latin grammar.
Hildegard was a woman of many talents, she was a visionary, a musician, philosopher, theologian and an expert in medicine. She lived at the monastery of Disibodenberg for more than thirty years. It was in her early years there that she first experienced visions, which would make her famous even in her own lifetime. Initially, she only revealed her prophetic visions to her mentor, Jutta, and it was only when God commanded to her record them, that she revealed them to her friend and secretary, Volmar. With the permission of the Abbot of Disibodenberg, Kuno, and with the encouragement of Volmar and a fellow nun, Richardis of Stade, Hildegard started writing down her visions when she was in her forties. It was only after much encouragement from her Archbishop, Henry of Mainz, that her first work, Scivias, was published. The beautifully illustrated work was given approval from a commission set up by Pope Eugene III and was also supported by the saintly Bernard of Clairvaux.
Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux was one of a number of theologians with whom Hildegard maintained a correspondence. She regularly asked the venerable abbot for advice and guidance, and help in interpreting her visions. In one letter, she would tell him,
‘I have from earliest childhood seen great marvels which my tongue has no power to express but which the Spirit of God has taught me that I may believe … Indeed, I have no formal training at all, for I know how to read only on the most elementary level, certainly with no deep analysis. But please give me your opinion in this matter, because I am untaught and untrained in exterior material, but am only taught inwardly, in my spirit.’
Hildegard corresponded with the great personalities of her time, with emperors, popes and even queens. Sometime between 1154 and 1171, she responded to a letter from Eleanor of Aquitaine, asking for advice, with the words ‘Your mind is like a wall which is covered with clouds, and you look everywhere but have no rest. Flee this and attain stability with God and men, and God will help you in all your tribulations. May God give you his blessing and help in all your works’.
Hildegard of Bingen
In 1148 Hildegard had a vision in which God commanded her to take her nuns and establish her own nunnery. Although Abbot Kuno was reluctant to see Hildegard leave Disibodenberg – her reputation had brought the monastery pilgrims and prestige – she eventually prevailed and established a new convent at Rupertsberg. Hildegard’s convent admitted only noblewomen, she did not believe in mixing the classes within a convent, writing that different ‘classes of people should not be mixed, or they will fall out through deceit or arrogance, and the shame occasioned by their differences. The greatest danger of all is a breakdown in peaceful manners through mutual backbiting and hatred when the upper-class pounce on the lower or when the lower is promoted above the higher.’
It was at Rupertsberg that Hildegard wrote two medical works, Causes and Cures and Physica, after studying the illnesses of the sick who she cared for. Her writings suggested remedies for different ailments, using a wide variety of plants; for example, Hildegard explains how cloves could be used to remedy against gout, swollen intestines and hiccups. She also extolled the virtues of the rose as a cure for many ills, saying:
‘Rose is cold, and this coldness contains moderation which is useful. In the morning, or at daybreak, pluck a rose petal and place it on your eyes. It draws out the humour and makes them clear. One with small ulcers on his body should place rose petals over them. This pulls the mucus from them. One who is inclined to wrath should take rose and less sage and pulverise them. The sage lessens the wrath, and the rose makes him happy. Rose, and half as much sage, may be cooked with fresh, melted lard, in water, and an ointment made from this. The place where a person is troubled by a cramp or paralysis should be rubbed with it, and he will be better. Rose is also good to add to potions, unguents, and all medications. If even a little rose is added, they are so much better, because of the good virtues of the rose.’
Hildegard’s prolific writing career continued in her new surroundings. She produced religious poems, music and even a play, Ordo Virtutum. She also wrote two further books of her visions, Liber vitae meritorum (Book of Life’s Merits) and Liber divinonim operum (Book of Divine Works), and a life of the abbey’s patron saint, St Rupert. Ricardis of Stade and her friend and secretary, Volmar, had accompanied Hildegard from Disibodenberg to Rupertsberg and continued to help her as secretaries and assistants. A succession of secretaries came after Volmar and Richardis, including Hildegard’s nephew, Wesclein, her brother, Hugo of Tholey, and her last secretary, Guibert of Gembloux. Guibert and an earlier secretary, Godfrey of Disibodenbrg, both wrote biographies of Hildegard. The main purpose of the secretaries was to edit Hildegard’s works as her Latin grammar was far from proficient; however, they were under strict instructions not to change any of her words as they came from God, exhorting
‘Let no man be so audacious as to add anything to this writing lest he be blotted out from the book of life’.
Coin commemorating the 900th anniversary of the birth of Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard was a prolific letter writer and, more than 800 years after her death, there are around 400 of her letters still extant today. Many wrote to her asking for advice and prophecies. Indeed, John of Salisbury said Pope Eugene III had consulted Hildegard for predictions about his reign, which had been accurate. In her letters, Hildegard acts as a mediator within the monastic world, soothing arguments within convents, between abbesses and their nuns, and abbots and their monks. She was respected by men and women alike, noble and poor. Hildegard gave advice and support and remonstrated against injustice and corruption. She travelled widely and undertook four preaching tours, between 1158 and 1170, a practice ordinarily forbidden to women, who were expected not to teach or speak in church.
Hildegard of Bingen died in her eighty-second year, at Rupertsberg, on 17 September 1179, and was canonised as Saint Hildegard on 10 May 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, who declared her a doctor of the Church, in the same year. She was a woman of extraordinary talents, an exceptional writer, a poet and composer, a visionary, a mystic and a scientist. She was trusted and respected by the great men of her age and is considered to be the most influential woman in medieval Church history, a well-deserved accolade.
Sources:
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, translated by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman; Hildegardis Bingensis, Epistolarium, edited by Lieven Van Acker and Monika Klaes-Hachmoller; Medieval Europe 400–1500 by H.G. Koenigsberger; Medievalists.net, The Herbal Cures of Hildegard von Bingen – was she right?; Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica: The Complete English Translation of Her Classic Work on Health and Healing by Priscilla Throop; Six Trailblazing Medieval Women article by Susan Signe Morrison; The Letters of John of Salisbury, edited by W.J. Miller, S.J. Butler, H.E. Butler and revised by C.N.L. Brooke
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Empress Matilda depicted at the coronation of her granddaughter, Matilda of England, as Duchess of Saxony, in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
In the mid-12th century, England was riven by civil war as King Stephen and Empress Matilda fought for a crown that was rightfully hers. In 1141, the empress came close to realising her ambition: Stephen had been captured and she was proclaimed ‘Lady of the English’, but the crown itself eluded her. Stephen’s wife, Queen Matilda, had fought back, captured the empress’s illegitimate half-brother, Earl Robert of Gloucester and negotiated a prisoner swap.
By January 1142, everyone was back where they started, with Stephen on the throne and Empress Matilda still fighting to wrest it from his grasp. In the early months of the year, both sides spent time consolidating their resources and manoeuvring for position rather than forcing a confrontation.
Except, things were a little more desperate. Her stocks were severely depleted and only her staunchest supporters remained with her; worse still, Stephen was now free to act on his own behalf. With the defection of Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, back to his brother’s side, the church was against her as well.
The empress needed reinforcements. Her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, implied that he would help, but only if her brother, Earl Robert, would come to him and ask in person. The empress was against the idea and Earl Robert was reluctant to leave his sister, not that Stephen was free again. But the king was lying ill at Nottingham, with rumours circulating that he was close to death. Robert decided it would be safe enough to leave for Normandy, though not without reservations.
Empress Matilda moved to Oxford to await her brother’s return. Although Oxford was not the most secure residence. It may have strong, high walls, but it was close to enemy territory. It was close to London. Her presence there would mean that the empress could act quickly, were Stephen to die.
But then, the king unexpectedly recovered.
King Stephen
And went on the offensive, taking Wareham, held by Earl Robert’s eldest son, William of Gloucester. It was the castle guarding that would have been the earl’s landing place on his return from Normandy. Stephen then marched to Cirencester, the castle was abandoned by the garrison on his approach. He burned it to the ground before moving on to Bampton and Radcot, both garrisoned by the empress’s forces; one was taken by storm while the other surrendered.
By taking the nearby castles, Stephen was isolating the empress at Oxford, cutting off any possible aid. And it was only when this was done that Stephen turned his sights on the empress.
Oxford was a city protected by the surrounding Thames, guarded by a palisade on one side while the formidable castle, with its high donjon, stood sentinel on the other side. According to the Gesta Stephani, the king managed to find a deep ford by which he led his men across the river, ‘swimming rather than wading’, and launched an attack on the city’s defenders. When the defenders pulled back into the city, hoping to close the gates, the king’s forces mingled with them and made their way inside, burning buildings, killing those who resisted and capturing those who could offer a ransom. Others were ejected from the town, left to their own devices in the neighbouring countryside. While others were forced to seek shelter in the castle, with the empress.
The king encircled the castle, ordering that it be closely watched, day and night. The empress was not going to escape him again. There was slim chance of reinforcements coming to her aid. Her uncle David, King of Scots was back in Scotland, her loyal servant Miles of Gloucester, now Earl of Hereford, did not have enough men, and Brian FitzCount had to look to the defence of his own castle at Wallingford. And Earl Robert was still far away in Normandy, campaigning with Count Geoffrey while the latter made up his mind about sending reinforcements to aid his wife: over the summer and autumn of 1142, the two of them captured ten Norman castles.
On hearing of the empress’s predicament, Robert abandoned his quest for more troops and returned to England, forcing a landing at Wareham. With fifty-two ships and a force of between 300 and 400 knights in addition to foot soldiers, the earl managed to force Wareham’s surrender after a three-week siege. He then ordered a full muster of the empress’s forces at Cirencester before marching on Oxford to rescue his sister.
Charles Ricketts, ‘The Flight of Matilda from Oxford’
Shut up in the castle, with winter upon them, the empress and her forces were cold, hungry and desperate. Entirely cut off from the outside world, neither supplies nor news had been able to get past the king’s blockade since September. In the middle of December, with the ground white with snow and the river frozen, the empress made a desperate gamble.
‘Very hard pressed as she was and altogether hopeless that help would come she left the castle by night with three knights of ripe judgement to accompany her.’
Gesta Stephani
In the dark of the night, presumably dressed in white to camouflage against the blanket of snow, accompanied by just 3 men, she slipped out of a postern gate, and ‘in wondrous fashion she escaped unharmed through so many enemies, so many watchers in the silence of the night, whom the king had heedfully posted on every side of the castle.’ The empress walked 6 miles, crossing the frozen river and traversing the enemy’s pickets, to reach Wallingford Castle. The Gesta Stephani remarked that never had he ‘read of another woman so luckily rescued from so many mortal foes and from the threat of dangers so great’.
Oxford Castle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells the story slightly differently, saying that ‘in the night she was let down from the tower with ropes and stole out, and she fled and went on foot to Wallingford’.
Henry of Huntingdon added the detail that the empress was dressed in white, as camouflage: ‘Not long before Christmas, the empress fled across the frozen Thames, clothed in white garments, which reflected and resembled the snow, deceiving the eyes of the besiegers.’
Though they all tell the story slightly differently, every chronicler eagerly tells of the empress’s daring escape from Oxford Castle.
With the empress safely ensconced at Wallingford with Brian FitzCount, the garrison at Oxford could surrender. The king, deprived of his quarry, agreed easy terms with the remaining defenders.
Earl Robert, on hearing of his sister’s escape, stopped his advance on Oxford and instead made for Devizes, where brother and sister were reunited. The earl had brought a surprise for his sister. After 3 years apart, she was reunited with her eldest son, Henry of Anjou. Henry’s presence served to show England that Henry I’s heir was Empress Matilda’s nine-year-old son, Henry, rather than Stephen’s twelve-year-old son, Eustace.
Henry II
Henry was placed in the household of his uncle, Earl Robert, and sent to Bristol to continue his education, alongside his cousin Roger, the earl’s younger son, who would later become Bishop of Worcester. Henry remained at Bristol until March 1144 and soon began to receive homage from his English vassals in person.
The war changed shaped at this time, with empress and earl consolidating their position in their own lands but biding their time, waiting for Henry to grow old enough to take over the reins of the struggle.
Henry’s presence changed the focus of Matilda’s campaign. She now realised that she would never sit on her father’s throne. But there was a new generation to fight for. The empress’s purpose was now to secure the throne for Henry in the next reign rather than to displace Stephen in this one.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, edited and translated by Michael Swanton; Gesta Stephani, translated by K. R. Potter; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154, translated by Diana Greenway; Henry of Huntingdon, The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon; Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy; Catherine Hanely, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Edmund King, King Stephen.
Images:
Courtesy of Wikipedia, except Oxford Castle which is used with the kind permission of Jayne Smith
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My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. Our first ever episode was on The Anarchy!
Although the Battle of Hastings was fought by men, the women of the two opponents, Harold and William, had as much invested in the outcome as their husbands. The two women, however, have very different reputations. Whereas Matilda appears as the epitome of the medieval ideal woman, Edith has come down through history as ‘the other woman’. However, for both these women, their futures, and the futures of their children, were inextricably linked with the fates of the men fighting on Senlac Hill on that October morning in 1066.
Harold had met Edith Swan-neck at about the same time as he became earl of East Anglia, in 1044. Which makes it possible that Edith Swan-neck and the East Anglian magnate, Eadgifu the Fair, are one and the same. Eadgifu the Fair held over 270 hides of land and was one of the richest magnates in England. The majority of her estates lay in Cambridgeshire, but she also held land in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk; in the Domesday Book Eadgifu held the manor at Harkstead in Suffolk, which was attached to Harold’s manor of Brightlingsea in Essex and some of her Suffolk lands were tributary to Harold’s manor of East Bergholt. While it is by no means certain that Eadgifu is Edith Swan-neck several historians – including Ann Williams in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – make convincing arguments that they were. Even their names, Eadgifu and Eadgyth, are so similar that the difference could be merely a matter of spelling or mistranslation; indeed, the abbey of St Benet of Hulme, Norfolk, remembers an Eadgifu Swanneshals among its patrons.
By 1065 Harold had been living with the wonderfully-named Eadgyth Swanneshals (Edith the Swan-neck) for twenty years. History books label her as Harold’s concubine, but Edith was, obviously, no weak and powerless peasant, so it’s highly likely they went through a hand-fasting ceremony – or ‘Danish marriage’ – a marriage, but not one recognized by the church, thus allowing Harold to take a second ‘wife’ should he need to. Harold and Edith had at least 6 children together; including four sons, Godwin, Edmund, Magnus and Ulf and two daughters, Gytha, who married Vladimir Monomakh, Great Prince of Kiev, and Gunnhild, was to become a nun at Wilton Abbey in Wiltshire, but never took her vows.
King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, from the Bayeux Tapestry
However, despite their twenty years and many children together, with the health of the king, Edward the Confessor, deteriorating, it became politically expedient for Harold to marry in order to strengthen his position as England’s premier earl and, possibly, next king. Ealdgyth was the daughter of Alfgar, earl of Mercia, and, according to William of Jumieges, very beautiful. She was the widow of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd from 1039 and ruler of all Wales after 1055, with whom she had had at least one child, a daughter, Nest. Gruffudd had been murdered in 1063, following an expedition into Wales, some sources suggest it was by Harold himself, however Gruffudd’s own men are the chief suspects. Harold’s subsequent marriage to Ealdgyth not only secured the support of the earls of Northumbria and Mercia, but also weakened the political ties of the same earls with the new rulers of north Wales.
Rather than his loyal and loving ‘wife’, Edith, it was Ealdgyth, therefore, who was for a short time, queen of England. However, with Harold having to defend his realm, first against Harold Hardrada and his own brother, Tostig, at Stamford Bridge in September of 1066 and, subsequently, against William of Normandy at Hastings, it is unlikely Ealdgyth had time to enjoy her exalted status. At the time of the Battle of Hastings, 14th October 1066, Ealdgyth was in London, but her brothers took her north to Chester soon after. Although sources are confused it seems possible that Ealdgyth was heavily pregnant and gave birth to a son, Harold Haroldson, within months of the battle. Unfortunately, that is the last we hear of Ealdgyth; her fate remains unknown. Young Harold is said to have grown up in exile on the Continent and died in 1098.
Despite his marriage to Ealdgyth it seems Edith Swan-neck remained close to Harold and it was she who was waiting close by when the king faced William of Normandy at Senlac Hill near Hastings on 14th October 1066. She awaited the outcome alongside Harold’s mother, Gytha. Having lost a son, Tostig, just two weeks before, fighting against his brother and with the Norwegians at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, Gytha lost three more sons – Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine – and her grandson, Haakon, in the battle at Hastings.
And it was Edith and the elderly Gytha, who wandered the blood-soaked field in the aftermath of the battle, in search of the fallen king. Sources say that Gytha was unable to identify her sons amidst the mangled and mutilated bodies. It fell to Edith to find Harold, by undoing the chain mail of the victims, in order to recognize certain identifying marks on the king’s body – probably tattoos.
Edith finding Harold’s body on the battlefield
The monks of Waltham Abbey had a tradition of Edith bringing Harold’s body to them for burial, soon after the battle. Although other sources suggest Harold was buried close to the battlefield, and without ceremony, it is hard not to hope that Edith was able to perform this last service for the king. However, any trace of Harold’s remains was swept away by Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, so the grave of England’s last Anglo-Saxon king is lost to history.
Harold’s mother, Gytha, eventually fled into exile on the Continent, taking Harold and Edith’s daughter, another Gytha, with her, possibly arranging her marriage to the prince of Smolensk and – later – Kiev. The sons of Edith and Harold fled to Ireland with all but one, living into the 1080s, though the dates of their eventual deaths remain uncertain. Gunnhild remained in her nunnery at Wilton until sometime before 1093, when she became the wife or concubine of Alan the Red, a Norman magnate. Whether or not she was kidnapped seems to be in question but when Alan died in 1093, instead of returning to the convent, Gunnhild became the mistress of Alan’s brother and heir, Alan Niger. Alan Rufus held vast lands in East Anglia – lands that had once belonged to Eadgifu the Fair and, if Eadgifu was Edith Swan-neck, it’s possible that Alan married Gunnhild to strengthen his claims to her mother’s lands.
Of Edith Swan-neck, there is no trace after Harold is interred at Waltham Abbey, she simply disappears from the pages of history…
For Matilda, on the other hand, the Battle of Hastings marked the start of another stage of her life and career as the wife of William, duke of Normandy and, now, King of England. Matilda of Flanders was probably born around 1032, the daughter of Baldwin V, count of Flanders, and his wife, Adela, a daughter of King Robert the Pious of France. The young duke, William of Normandy, was probably pushing his luck when he proposed a marriage between himself and young Matilda. Although he was a duke and Baldwin a mere count, there was the question of his illegitimacy and Normandy was hardly the most stable of regions; William had spent all of his adult life fighting to keep hold of it.
Matilda of Flanders
A later story tells of how Matilda refused to marry William, stating that, being granddaughter of a king, she was too high born to marry a bastard. William was said to be so incensed with this response that he straightaway rode to Flanders, accosted young Matilda in the street, pulling her from her horse by her braids, before hitting her and cutting her with his spurs; whereupon Matilda changed her mind and agreed to marry William. While amusing, it is highly likely that the story is an invention, and highly unlikely that Matilda was asked her opinion on the marriage. Getting to the altar was not an easy task, however, as the pope refused to allow the marriage, without giving his reasons. It is possible that the refusal was on the grounds of consanguinity, although it seems the only familial link is that William’s aunt married Matilda’s grandfather as his second wife (Matilda’s father, however, was the son of the count’s first wife, so there was no blood relationship). It seems more likely that the refusal was politically motivated, due to Count Baldwin’s support of the Lotharingian’s rebellion against Pope Leo IX’s sponsor, the Holy Roman Emperor.
William was not to be thwarted, however, and before 1053 he married, Matilda despite the papal interdict; they were eventually ordered to establish a monastery each in penance for the marrying without papal dispensation, but the marriage was allowed to stand. In penance Matilda established the Abbaye-aux-Dames, consecrated in 1066, while William founded the Abbay-aux-Hommes, both in Caen.
The marriage between Matilda and William proved to be a strong and trusting relationship; William is one of very few medieval kings believed to have been completely faithful to his wife, no rumours of extra-marital affairs have ever been uncovered. He trusted Matilda to act as regent in Normandy during his many absences on campaign or in England. Matilda supported her husband’s proposed invasion of England, promised a great ship for William’s personal used, it was called the Mora; the ship had a figurehead of a small boy, whose right hand pointed to England and left hand held a horn to his lips.
William the Conqueror from the Bayeux Tapestry
Matilda and William had a rather large family, with 4 boys and at least 4 daughters. Their eldest son, Robert Curthose, who inherited Normandy, was followed by Richard, who was killed during a hunting accident as a youth, William, known as Rufus who became King William II, and the future Henry I. Of the 4 or 5 daughters Adelida became a nun following a series of failed marriage plans, Cecilia was given to the convent of Ste Trinite as a child, Constance married Alain Fergant, duke of Brittany and Adela married Stephen of Blois; their son, another Stephen would succeed Henry I as King of England. There are suggestions of 2 further daughters, Matilda and Agatha, though evidence for their existence is highly limited.
Matilda was very close to her family, especially her eldest son, Robert, whose later antics were to cause problems between his parents. William and Robert, father and son, were often at loggerheads, with Robert in open rebellion against his father as a young adult. Matilda was constantly trying to play the peacemaker and was so upset by one quarrel that she was ‘choked by tears and could not speak’. Even during a period of exile imposed on Robert, Matilda still supported her son as best she can; she would send him vast amounts of silver and gold through a Breton messenger, Samson. On discovering Samson’s complicity William threatened to blind the messenger and it was only through Matilda’s intervention that the Breton escaped.
Where poor Edith Swan-neck lost almost everything at Hastings, Matilda’s star was in the ascendant, but the Conquest was not without problems and it was not until 1068 that William felt secure enough to bring his wife over to England. Matilda was crowned Queen of England in Winchester Cathedral at Pentecost in that year, although further unrest soon saw her returned to the relative safety of Normandy, where she was acting as regent for her absent husband. Matilda was one of the most active of medieval queens, standing in as an able administrator during her husband’s absences; hearing land pleas and corresponding with such as the pope, who is known to have asked her to use her influence over her husband, on occasion. She was also the driving force in holding together her family, keeping relations as cordial as possible, even with the rebellious Robert. And it may well be her own strength of character, as the centre of the family, that meant none of her sons would marry until after her death.
Matilda’s piety is renowned. Although founding the Abbaye-aux-Dames in Caen was a penance for her irregular marriage to William, her constant and repeated donations to religious houses demonstrate her dedication to her faith. Among her many donations; she gave the monks of Marmoutier a new refectory and a cope and to the monks of St Evroult she gave £100 for a refectory, a mark of gold, a chasuble decorated with gold and pearls, and a cope for the chanter. The nuns of her abbey at Ste Trinite, Caen, received a substantial bequest from Matilda’s will; as well as her regalia, they were given a chalice, a chasuble, a mantle of brocade, 2 golden chains with a cross, a chain decorated with emblems for hanging a lamp in front of the altar, several large candelabras, the draperies for her horse and all the vases ‘which she had not yet handed out during her life’.
Matilda and William’s Xs on a charter
Matilda and William’s relationship is one of the most successful of the medieval period. Said to be a happy and loving marriage, their trust in each other was demonstrable and it was remarked up on when William fell seriously ill during a stay at Cherbourg between 1063 and 1066, Matilda prayed for his recovery at the altar; the monks remarking on her informal appearance as the sign of her distress her husband illness was causing her. Matilda fell ill in the late summer of 1083 and died on 2nd November of the same year. She was buried at Ste Trinite, Caen, where the original tombstone, with the inscription carved round the edge, still survives. Following her death William cut a sad and lonely figure; becoming increasingly isolated he followed his wife to the grave 4 years later in 1087.
Select bibliography:
Oxforddnb.com; The Norman Conquest: William the Conquerors’ Subjugation of England by Teresa Cole; William the Conqueror: The Bastard of Normandy by Peter Rex; Kings, Queens, Bones and Bastards by David Hilliam; Britains’ Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; The Oxford Companion to British History edited by John Cannon; epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu.
My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Tomb effigy of Nicholaa de la Haye, St Michael’s Church, Swaton
As you may have noticed, Nicholaa de la Haye is a favourite of mine. She is the subject of my 5th book, King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye. She was one of King John’s most stalwart supporters. She held Lincoln Castle against all-comers during the First Barons’ War which followed the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. Her career is the more remarkable because Nicholaa was a woman in command of a castle in her own right. And she masterminded its defence against the might of the rebel barons and their French allies, even though the city of Lincoln was also against her.
So, who was she?
10 Things about Nicholaa de la Haye that you may not know…
1. Nicholaa had both English and Norman ancestry. Unlike many Normans, Nicholaa could trace her Lincolnshire roots, through her paternal grandmother, Muriel, to before the Norman Conquest; her grandmother’s grandfather was Colswein of Lincoln, an Englishman who had found favour with William the Conqueror in the years after the Conquest. Nicholaa’s father was Richard de la Haye, whose family originated from La Haye-du-Puits in Normandy, and was distantly related, through marriage, to William the Conqueror. Nicholaa’s mother was Matilda de Vernon, a niece of Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon, the first magnate to rebel against King Stephen when he stole the throne from Empress Matilda.
2. Nicholaa was hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle. Just like her father and grandfather before her, Nicholaa held Lincoln Castle for the king. A charter dated between 1155 and 1158, issued by Henry II, confirmed the succession of Richard de la Haye to his father in all of his father’s lands in Lincolnshire, including the constableship of Lincoln Castle.
The Charte aux lacs d’Amour
3. Nicholaa was the oldest of three sisters. Her sister Gila (or Julia) married Richard du Hommet, the grandson and son of successive constables of Normandy. In 1191 a charter was issued to Gila and Richard, known as the charte aux lacs d’amour (the charter of the laces of love), which had laces attached to the seal on which was written a love poem: ‘I am a pledge of love. Do not give me away. May whoever separates our love receive death’. Nicholaa’s other sister, Isabel de la Haye married William de Rollos, who was probably from Bourne, in Lincolnshire. The Rollos family returned to Normandy during the reign of King John.
4. Nicholaa’s first husband was William Fitz Erneis, who may have been a younger son of Robert Fitz Erneis, a minor Lincolnshire lord. Nicholaa and William had one surviving child, a daughter named Matilda, before William died in 1178. Nicholaa would later pay a fine of 300 marks to King Richard I so that she could marry her daughter to whomever she wished except, of course, to an enemy of the king. Nicholaa was still accounting for this debt until 1212. In 1201, she still owed 40 marks and a palfrey (a horse).
5. Before 1185, Nicholaa had remarried, this time to Gerard de Camville, son of Richard de Camville, lord of Middleton Stoney in Oxfordshire. A family with an impressive record of royal service, Richard had died in Italy in 1176 while escorting the king’s daughter, Joanna, to her wedding with King William of Sicily. Gerard’s half-brother, also called Richard, accompanied Richard the Lionheart on Crusade; this Richard de Camville was made governor of Cyprus before dying at Acre in 1191. Gerard himself served the kings Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and John. He was Constable of Lincoln Castle by right of his wife and sheriff of Lincolnshire on two occasions.
6. Nicholaa first comes to the attention of the chroniclers in 1191, when Prince John led the opposition to, William Longchamp, the man left in charge of England during Richard the Lionheart’s absence on crusade. Longchamp wanted Lincoln Castle for one of his friends and determined to take it. Gerard sought the help of Prince John swearing fealty to him at Nottingham, leaving to Nicholaa to hold the castle. William Longchamp hired a force of mercenaries and laid siege to the castle in Gerard’s absence. The formidable Nicholaa refused to yield, holding out for 40 days before Longchamp gave up and went home. Amusingly, Richard of Devizes said of this defence of Lincoln Castle, that she did it ‘without thinking of anything womanly’.
The kings Nicholaa served: Henry II, Richard I King John and Henry III, Lincoln Cathedral
7. By the time the king arrived home in 1194, John had fled to France, leaving his supporters to face the music. On 31 March 1194, on the first day of his council at Nottingham, King Richard dispossessed Gerard de Camville of the castle and shrievalty of Lincoln. And on 2 April, Gerard was charged with harbouring outlaws (wonder if they mean Robin Hood?), treason for failing to answer the king’s justices’ summons over the harbouring of the said outlaws, and for taking up arms and aiding John in taking the castles of Tickhill and Nottingham. The outcome of the proceedings is not recorded, but given that Gerard was fined 2,000 marks to recover the king’s good will and his lands, we can assume that the judges did not find in his favour.
8. When Richard the Lionheart died on 6 April 1199 and was succeeded by his brother, John, Nicholaa and Gerard de Camville were restored to favour and to Lincoln Castle. Gerard was also appointed sheriff of Lincolnshire and served in that office for the next six years, becoming ‘a greater man than ever.’ In November 1200, Nicholaa and Gerard welcomed the kings of England and Scotland to Lincoln, where King William the Lion paid homage to King John outside the city walls.
The Observatory Tower, Lincoln Castle
9. Gerard died in December 1214, leaving Nicholaa in command of Lincoln Castle. In 1216, she was besieged by a force of rebel barons who had taken up arms against King John in the aftermath of the issuing of Magna Carta. Nicholaa paid them off – they stopped attacking the castle but remained in the city. In the same year, Nicholaa met King John at the East Gate of Lincoln Castle, with the castle’s keys in her hand, offering to resign her position as constable, citing her weariness and great age (she was in her 60s). John refused, telling her to remain in post until he ordered otherwise.
10. On 18 October 1216, at Newark Castle, in one of his final acts and just hours before his death, King John appointed Nicholaa de la Haye as sheriff of Lincolnshire. She was the first woman in English history to be appointed to the office of sheriff in her own right – but she would not be the last.
Depiction of the 1217 Battle of Lincoln from Matthew Paris
11. (Oops!) For 7 months, from October 1216 to May 1217, Lincoln Castle was once again under siege by a force of English rebel barons and their French allies under the command of the Comte de Perche. Nicholaa directed the castle’s defence until royalist forces could come to her aid. On 20 May 1217, William Marshal and the royalist army came to her relief, fighting the Battle of Lincoln through the city’s streets.
12. (double oops!) There was a rise in the number of baby girls named Nicholaa, in Lincolnshire, in the 13th century.
13. Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval episode dedicated to Nicholaa de la Haye, where Derek Birks and I discuss the ins and outs – and highs and lows – of Nicholaa’s career.
Sources:
Richard of Devizes, The Chronicle of Richard of Devizes; Roger of Howden (Hoveden), The Annals of Roger of Howden; The Plantagenet Chronicles edited by Elizabeth Hallam; Brassey’s Battles by John Laffin; 1215 The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger & John Gillingham; The Life and times of King John by Maurice Ashley; The Plantagenets, the Kings Who Made England by Dan Jones; England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; lincolnshirelife.co.uk; catherinehanley.co.uk; magnacarta800th.com; lothene.org; lincolncastle.com; The Sheriff: The Man and His Office by Irene Gladwin; Louise Wilkinson, Women in Thirteenth Century Lincolnshire; Richard Huscraft, Tales from the Long Twelfth Century; J.W.F. Hill, Medieval Lincoln; swaton.org.uk; oxforddnb.com; Ingulph, Ingulph’ Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland; Stephen Church, King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a Tyrant; Marc Morris, King John; Pipe Rolls; Red Book of the Exchequer
*
My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Nicholaa de la Haye first came to the attention of the chroniclers in the year 1191. She and her husband, Gerard de Camville, were in command of Lincoln Castle. Gerard was a talented administrator and was sheriff of Lincoln in 1189 and 1190 and again from 1199 to 1205. He was also hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle by right of his wife, Nicholaa. Although he had sworn allegiance to King Richard on his accession, in 1191 Gerard paid homage to the king’s brother John, then count of Mortain, for Lincoln Castle. This meant that Gerard and Nicholaa would be drawn into John’s dispute with King Richard’s chancellor, William Longchamp.
Before King Richard’s departure on crusade, the king had extracted a promise from John and their illegitimate half-brother Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, that neither would set foot in England for three years. Although it seems highly unlikely that Longchamp released John from his oath, the prince was back in England by 1191, possibly on the insistence of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was watching over her favourite son’s domains while he was away on crusade.
Longchamp’s heavy-handed administration of the country caused much dissent among the barons and John chose to champion their cause. The catalyst for John’s armed opposition to William Longchamp may well have been the king’s recognition of his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Brittany still only a child of five years, as his heir; the only person in England who was meant to know was William Longchamp. However, it seems that Longchamp may have sounded out others to measure the level of support for Arthur. According to the chronicler William of Newburgh, he passed on the information to the king of Scots, at least, and possibly some of the Welsh princes. In early 1191 the news was widely leaked, and John came to hear of it.
Richard I and John side by side in the Gallery of Kings on the West Front of Lincoln cathedral
According to William of Newburgh, John had expected to become the successor to the kingdom, should the king not survive the cursade. Indeed, Richard’s advancement of his brother since his accession, in giving John lands in England and arranging his marriage to an English bride, all seemed to support this expectation. Richard’s actions in naming Arthur his heir, and Longchamp’s support for this, threatened to undermine John’s own claims and rights. Having heard the not-so-secret secret, John started building up his own powerbase. According to Richard of Devizes, John, ‘when he knew for certain that his brother had turned his back on England, presently perambulated the kingdom in a more popular manner, nor did he forbid his followers calling him the king’s heir.’
Tensions were rising. Richard of Devizes reported that, as a result of the king’s departure on crusade, the nobles were ‘all stirred up in arms, castles closed, cities fortified and entrenchments thrown up.’
John sent out letters, in secret, eliciting the support of the nobles against the justiciar. The king himself was so concerned over events in England that, in the spring, he had released Walter de Coutances, archbishop of Rouen, from his crusading vow and sent him back to sort things out. The king must have had concerns about the efficacy of William Longchamp’s rule, as he also sent a letter, to William Marshal, Hugh Bardolf, Geoffrey Fitz Peter and William Brewer, in which he ordered ‘If our chancellor does not act faithfully according to the advice of yourselves and others to whom we have committed the care of our kingdom, we order you to carry out your own dispositions in all the affairs of our kingdom, in castles and escheats, without any dispute.’
Walter de Coutances landed at Shoreham on 27 June, 1191. The situation had already escalated, however.
In 1190, on returning from his investigation into the massacre of the Jews of York, Longchamp stopped at Lincoln. He accused Gerard de Camville of harbouring thieves and robbers who preyed on the merchants attending the fair at Stamford. Longchamp had demanded that Gerard de Camville, described as ‘an enemy of the chancellor’ by the Crowland Chronicle, relinquish his custody of Lincoln Castle and swear allegiance to him, personally, as justiciar. Camville refused and instead ‘had done homage to Earl John, the king’s brother, for the castle of Lincoln, the custody whereof is known to belong to the inheritance of Nicholaa, the wife of the same Gerard, but under the king.’1
In acting against Gerard de Camville, Longchamp had forced him into John’s arms. On learning of Gerard’s defiance, Longchamp sent overseas for foreign mercenaries and set out north with the troops he had under his command, attacking Wigmore along the way and forcing Roger de Mortimer, impeached for conspiracy against the king, to surrender his castles and abjure England for three years. As Gerard de Camville joined John at Nottingham, Longchamp continued to Lincoln where he besieged the castle as ‘Gerard was with the earl; and his wife Nicholaa proposing to herself nothing effeminate defended the castle like a man. The chancellor was wholly busied about Lincoln.’2
Lincoln castle, East Gate
The formidable Nicholaa refused to yield, holding out for forty days before Longchamp raised the siege, having heard that Tickhill and Nottingham had fallen to John.
Gerard’s decision to leave Nicholaa in command of the castle, even though Longchamp was heading her way with an army, may have been to emphasise the standing of the de la Haye family in Lincolnshire, and its connections to the castle itself. He believed Lincoln would rally to her side. That he did not appoint a male deputy to take charge is testament to his trust in Nicholaa and her abilities. She had, after all, grown up with the castle as her birth right and would have been familiar with every part of its defences, its strengths and weaknesses. Although she would not have been able to fight, with sword and shield, she could direct the defence, placing soldiers where they were most needed, organising supplies of weapons and ammunition, and ensuring the stores of food and drink were suitably rationed.
Nicholaa was approaching forty when William Longchamp besieged her. She was no young, inexperienced girl, and she would have been used to command – and to her orders being obeyed. She was also a mother, of a daughter in her teens and at least two young boys, but it is unlikely that the children were in the castle; it is more likely they were being raised on her manor at Brattleby, just to the north of Lincoln. The castle itself may appear difficult to defend. The curtain wall was a third of a mile in length, but there was a steep drop on the south side. There were two main entrances, the East and West gates, and a number of postern gates. These had to be guarded closely. Similarly, the castle would also have been difficult to attack, and besiegers would have concentrated their energies on the main and postern gates. There is no record of Longchamp bringing up siege machinery, so it would have been a case of watching and waiting and hoping to starve out the castle occupants.
Nicholaa held out for forty days, as demonstrated by the Pipe Roll of 1191, which showed that mercenaries were employed for that length of time on the siege of Lincoln Castle. All the same, it must have been a relief for Nicholaa, when William Longchamp gave up the siege and marched his soldiers away.
According to Roger of Howden, the chancellor besieged Lincoln Castle, ‘having expelled Gerard de Camville from the keepership and the office of sheriff of Lincoln; which former office the chancellor gave to William de Stuteville and made him sheriff as well.’ John, in turn moved north in support of Gerard, quickly taking the ill-prepared royal castles of Tickhill (in Yorkshire) and Nottingham and demanding that Gerard de Camville be reinstated, saying that he ‘would visit him [the chancellor] with a rod of iron’.3
Gatehouse of Tickhill Castle, Yorkshire
John admonished Longchamp, saying ‘it was not proper to take from the loyal men of the kingdom, well known and free, their charges and commit them to strangers and men unknown; that it was a mark of his folly that he had intrusted the king’s castles to such, because they would expose them to adventurers; that if it should go with every barbarian with that facility, that even the castles should be ready at all times for their reception, that he would no longer bear in silence the destruction of his brother’s kingdom and affairs.’4
In the meantime, Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen but an Englishman by birth, had landed in England and hastened north to act as intermediary between the two warring factions. At some point in the escalating tensions, as Roger of Howden reports, William Longchamp, as papal legate, also issued a sentence of excommunication on John’s supporters. The list included John’s leading supporters, as well as Walter de Coutances, archbishop of Rouen, and Gerard de Camville.
Despite the blatant mistrust on both sides, settlement was reached, with the aid of bishops trusted by both men, and of barons who ‘swore that they would provide satisfaction between the earl and the chancellor concerning their quarrels and questions to the honour of both parties and the peace of the kingdom.’5 Agreement, mostly favourable to John, was reached whereby John would relinquish the castles he had taken, but then Longchamp would give Tickhill into the custody of Reginald de Wasseville and Nottingham to William de Wenn, both men of John’s affinity who each agreed to give up a hostage to the chancellor. John also promised not to harbour outlaws in his lands. Longchamp also agreed to drop his support for Arthur as Richard’s heir, to support John’s claim and ‘if the king should die…should promote him to the kingdom with all his power.’6
The Lucy Tower, Lincoln Castle’s main keep
Especial mention was made of Gerard de Camville, who was reinstated to Lincoln Castle, and ‘shall be reinstated in the office of sheriff of Lincoln, and on the same day a proper day shall be appointed for him to make his appearance in the court of our lord the king, there to abide his trial; and if in the judgement of the court of our lord the king proof can be given that he aught to lose that office as also the keepership of the castle of Lincoln, then he is to lose the same; but, if not, he is to keep it, unless in the meantime an agreement can be come to relative thereto on some other terms. And the lord John is not to support him against the decision of our lord the king, nor is he to harbour such outlaws or enemies to our lord the king, as shall be named to him, nor allow them to be harboured on his lands.’7
So, Gerard and Nicholaa would be safe in their castle at Lincoln, at least for now. What may happen on the king’s return was still to be determined. They also benefited from John’s largesse; Gerard was appointed keeper of the honour of Wallingford.
In the meantime, Nicholaa and Gerard could get on with the business of managing Lincoln Castle and the county of Lincolnshire.
For now…
Notes:
Richard of Devizes, The Chronicle of Richard of Devizes, edited and translated by J. A. Giles
ibid
Roger of Howden (Hoveden), The Annals of Roger of Howden, translated by Henry T. Riley
Devizes, The Chronicle of Richard of Devizes
ibid
ibid
Howden, The Annals of Roger of Howden
Sources:
Richard of Devizes, The Chronicle of Richard of Devizes; Roger of Howden (Hoveden), The Annals of Roger of Howden; The Plantagenet Chronicles edited by Elizabeth Hallam; Brassey’s Battles by John Laffin; 1215 The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger & John Gillingham; The Life and times of King John by Maurice Ashley; The Plantagenets, the Kings Who Made England by Dan Jones; England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; lincolnshirelife.co.uk; catherinehanley.co.uk; magnacarta800th.com; lothene.org; lincolncastle.com; The Sheriff: The Man and His Office by Irene Gladwin; Louise Wilkinson, Women in Thirteenth Century Lincolnshire; Richard Huscraft, Tales from the Long Twelfth Century; J.W.F. Hill, Medieval Lincoln; swaton.org.uk; oxforddnb.com; Ingulph, Ingulph’ Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland; Stephen Church, King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a Tyrant; Marc Morris, King John; Pipe Rolls; Red Book of the Exchequer
My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available, please get in touch by completing the contact me form or through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
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Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. In episode 15, Derek Birks and I discuss Nicholaa’s remarkable story:
William de Warenne, Holy Trinity Church, Southover
William de Warenne, first earl of Surrey, was a younger son of Rodulf de Warenne and his wife Beatrix. It is possible that Beatrix was a niece of Duchess Gunnor of Normandy, making young William a cousin of William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy. The family name is probably derived from the hamlet of Varenne, part of the Warenne lands in the modern French department of Seine-Inférieure, Normandy. William’s older brother, Rodulf or Ralph, would inherit the greater part of the Warenne family estates in Normandy.
William’s date of birth is unrecorded; a younger son of the minor nobility does not tend to get a mention until he does something remarkable or becomes someone notable. Although still young William was considered a capable and experienced enough soldier to be given joint command of a Norman army, by the mid-1050s. His first recorded military action is in the 1054 campaign against the French. He was one of the commanders who fought against the King of France’s brother, Count Odo, at the Battle of Mortemer.
De Warenne was rewarded with some of the lands of his kinsman, Roger (I) de Mortemer, who had fought for the French. William managed to retain some of these lands even after Mortemer was restored to favour, including the castles of Mortemer and Bellencombre. Bellencrombe would become the capital of the de Warenne estates in Normandy. De Warenne had also received some of the confiscated lands of William, count of Arques in 1053. Duke William’s confidence in de Warenne is demonstrated in the fact he was one of the barons consulted during the planning of the invasion of England in 1066.
In fact, William de Warenne is one of only a handful of Norman barons who can be positively identified as having fought at the Battle of Hastings on 14th October, 1066. De Warenne was rewarded with vast swathes of land throughout the country. According to the Domesday survey his lands extended over 13 counties: stretching from Conisbrough in Yorkshire to Lewes in Sussex. His territories were acquired over the course of the reign of William I and elevated him the highest rank of magnates. By 1086 his riches were only surpassed by the king’s half-brothers and his own kinsman, Roger de Montgomery. He still ranks in the Top 20 of the richest people in the world – ever!
Lewes Castle
Throughout his career, William de Warenne acquired lands in numerous counties, sometimes by nefarious means. Much of the property, such as Conisbrough, had formerly belonged to the late king, Harold. In Norfolk he is said to have asserted lordship over freemen not necessarily assigned to him. He had disputes with neighbouring landowners in Conisbrough, over which properties were sokelands and he is said to have stolen lands from the bishop of Durham and the abbot of Ely. Some acquisitions were obtained peacefully, such as the manor of Whitchurch in Shropshire, which was left to him by his kinsman Roger de Montgomery. William was an energetic and attentive landowner and improved the economy of most of his estates; more than tripling his sheep flock at Castle Acre and doubling the value of his Yorkshire estates in just 20 years (at a time when the county was devastated by the Harrying of the North).
In 1067 William de Warenne was one of 4 prominent Normans appointed to govern England during William the Conqueror’s absence in Normandy. Following the Conquest, he continued to support the king and – subsequently – his son, William II Rufus – as a military commander for over 20 years. In 1074 he was with his father at the abbey of Holy Trinity in Rouen, where he was a witness to his father’s last known charter, and in 1083-85 he fought with the king on campaign in Maine, being wounded at the siege of the castle of Sainte-Suzanne.
In 1075, along with Richard de Clare, his fellow justiciar, he was sent to deal with the rebellion of Earl Ralph de Gael of East Anglia. De Gael had failed to respond to their summons to answer for an act of defiance and so the 2 lords faced and defeated the rebels at Fawdon in Cambridgeshire, mutilating their prisoners afterwards. Ralph withdrew to Norwich Castle; besieged for 3 months he managed to escape his attackers by boat, while the castle surrendered and was occupied by de Warenne.
William de Warenne was married to a Flemish noblewoman, Gundrada; her brother Gerbod was sometime earl of Chester and another brother, Frederic, held lands in Norfolk which eventually passed to Gundrada. Frederic, appears to have jointly, with Gundrada, held lands in England even before the Conquest, when two people named Frederic and Gundrada are mentioned as holding four manors in Kent and Sussex. It would indeed be a coincidence if there were two other related people, named Frederic and Gundrada, very distinctive foreign names, in England at that time. Gundrada’s brothers, it seems, were deeply involved in the border politics between Flanders and Normandy; indeed, it is thought that Gerbod resigned his responsibilities in Chester in order to return to the Continent to oversee the family’s lands and duties there, following the death of an older brother, Arnulf II of Oosterzele-Scheldewindeke.
Gundrada de Warenne, Holy Trinity Church, Southover
Frederic was murdered by English freedom fighter, Hereward the Wake; his murder giving rise to a personal feud between Hereward and William de Warenne:
‘Among his other crimes, by trickery [Hereward] killed Frederick, brother of Earl William of Warenne, a man distinguished by lineage and possessions, who one night was surrounded in his own house. On account of his murder, such discord arose between Hereward and the aforesaid William that it could not be settled by any reparation nor in any court.’1
There has been considerable debate among historians over the theory that Gundrada may have been the daughter of William the Conqueror, but the confusion appears to have come from an unreliable charter belonging to Lewes Priory and Gundrada being part of the household of King William’s wife, Matilda. The confirmation charter of the foundation of the priory has King William naming ‘William de Warenne and his wife Gundrada, my daughter.’2 In the same charter, William de Warenne pleads ‘for the health of my mistress Queen Matilda, mother of my wife.’3 However, this is a confirmation of an earlier charter and in the original, while the king and William de Warenne, both, mention Gundrada, neither refer to her as being related to the king or queen.
Historian Elisabeth van Houts argues that Gundrada was most likely a distant relative of Queen Matilda and the counts of Flanders, as asserted in her epitaph as ‘offspring of dukes’ and a ‘noble shoot’. Indeed, had her father been William the Conqueror, her epitaph would surely have referred to her as the offspring of kings. Even if she had been the daughter of Matilda by an earlier marriage, off-spring of kings would have still been appropriate, given that Queen Matilda was the granddaughter of King Robert II of France. Though it does seem likely that Matilda and Gundrada were related in some way, perhaps distant cousins.
The ‘dukes’ referred to in Gundrada’s epitaph, although naturally assumed to be of Normandy, could well refer to a kinship with the house of Luxembourg, to which Queen Matilda’s paternal grandmother, Orgive, belonged. Moreover, Frederic was a familial name within the house of Luxembourg. This kinship via the House of Luxembourg with Queen Matilda would also explain the queen’s gift to Gundrada, of the manor of Carlton, which is usually given as evidence that Gundrada belonged to the queen’s household; an association which would be entirely consistent with kinship.
De Warenne coat of arms, Holy Trinity Church, Southover
Gundrada and William were married sometime around the time of the Conquest, either before or after the expedition to conquer England. They had 3 children together. Their eldest son, William, would succeed his father as Earl of Surrey and Warenne. He married Isabel de Vermandois, widow of Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leicester; with whom he had, according to one chronicler, been having an affair even before the earl’s death. Young William had a chequered career, he supported the claims of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, to the English throne against the duke’s younger brother, Henry I, but changed sides and fought for Henry at the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. Duke Robert lost and was captured and imprisoned by Henry. William remained in the king’s favour for the rest of the reign, fighting alongside Henry at the Battle of Bremule in 1119. William, his son and stepsons were at Henry’s deathbed at Lyons-la-Foret when he died in 1135.
William and Gundrada’s second son, Rainald de Warenne, led the assault on Rouen in 1090, for William II Rufus, in the conflict between the English king and his older brother, Duke Robert. However, by 1105 Rainald was fighting for the duke against the youngest of the Conqueror’s sons, Henry I, defending the castle of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives for the duke. He was captured by Henry the following year but had been freed by September 1106. It is possible he died shortly after but was certainly dead by 1118 when his brother issued a charter, in which he gave 6 churches to Lewes Priory, for the soul of deceased family members, including Rainald.
Gundrada and William also had a daughter, Edith, who married Gerard de Gournay, son of the lord of Gournay-en-Bray. Gerard also supported William II Rufus against Duke Robert and took part in the Crusade of 1096. Edith later accompanied him on pilgrimage back to Jerusalem, sometime after 1104, where he died. Gerard was succeeded by their son, Hugh de Gournay, whose daughter Gundreda would be the mother of Roger de Mowbray. Edith then married Drew de Monchy, with whom she had a son, Drew the Younger.
Castle Acre, Norfollk, where Gundrada died
Sadly, Gundrada died in childbirth at Castle Acre in Norfolk on 27th May 1085. She was buried in the chapter house of the couple’s own of foundation Lewes Priory.
William’s second wife was a sister of Richard Guet, who was described as ‘frater comitissae Warennae’ when he gave the manor of Cowyck to Bermondsey Abbey in 1098.3 Guet was a landowner in Perche, Normandy, but his sister’s name has not survived the passage of time. All we know of her is that, a few days after her husband’s death, she attempted to gift 100 shillings to Ely Abbey in restitution for damage caused by William de Warenne. The monks refused the donation, hoping that Warenne’s departing soul had been claimed by demons.4
Despite this feud with Ely, William de Warenne and his wife, Gundrada, had a reputation for piety. At some point in their marriage, probably 1081-3, they went on pilgrimage to Rome. Due of war in Italy they only got as far as the great abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, where they were received into the fellowship of monks. On their return to England, they founded a priory at Lewes, following the Cluniac rule and a prior and 3 monks were sent from Cluny to establish the foundation. It was the first Cluniac foundation in England.
St Pancras priory, Lewes, founded by William and Gundrada
Following the Conqueror’s death, William fought in support of the late king’s second son, William II Rufus against his older brother, Robert Curthose, who had inherited the dukedom of Normandy. He was rewarded in early 1088 with the earldom of Surrey. The new earl fought for William II Rufus during an invasion by Robert’s supporters and was badly wounded at the siege of Pevensey Castle, East Sussex, in the spring of 1088. He was taken to Lewes, where he died of his wounds on 24th June of the same year. Earl Warenne was buried beside his first wife, Gundrada, in the chapter house of Lewes Priory.
Following the dissolution of Lewes Priory in the 16th century, Gundrada’s tombstone was first moved to Isfield Church; it was moved again in 1775 to the parish church of St John the Baptist at Southover in Lewes. The remains of Gundrada and William, themselves, were discovered in 2 leaden chests in 1845, when the railway line was excavated through the priory grounds. They were laid to rest, for a final time, at the Southover church, in 1847, in a chapel dedicated to Gundrada de Warenne.
William and Gundrada de Warenne had founded a dynasty that would survive for almost 300 years, dying out in the reign of Edward III following the disastrous marriage of John de Warenne, 7th and last Earl of Warenne and Surrey
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Footnotes:
¹ The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle edited and translated by Elisabeth M.C. van Houts and Rosalind C. Love; 2 My translation from quote in George Floyd Duckett, Observations on the Parentage of Gundreda, the Daughter of William Duke of Normandy, and Wife of William de Warenne; 3 ibid; 4 Early Yorkshire Charters Volume 8: The Honour of Warenne, Edited by William Farrer and Charles Travis Clay; 5 ibid
Early Yorkshire Charters Volume 8: The Honour of Warenne, Edited by William Farrer and Charles Travis Clay; England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; Brewer’s British Royalty by David Williamson; Britain’s Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; british-history.ac.uk; kristiedean.com; English Heritage Guidebook for Conisbrough Castle by Steven Brindle and Agnieszka Sadrei; oxforddnb.com; George Floyd Duckett, Observations on the Parentage of Gundreda, the Daughter of William Duke of Normandy, and Wife of William de Warenne; Elisabeth M.C. Van Houts and Rosalind C. Love (eds and trans), The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle; C.P. Lewis, ‘Warenne, Gundrada de (d.1085)’, ODNB; Elisabeth Van Houts, ‘The Warenne View of the Past’, in Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2003, edited by John Gillingham
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
It is impossible to talk about anything related to Magna Carta without mentioning the man who has come to be known as ‘the Greatest Knight’: William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and his family. Marshal was one of the few nobles to stay loyal to King John throughout the Magna Carta crisis. That is not to say that the king and Marshal did not have their differences, nor that their relationship was always smooth sailing. However, William Marshal was famed for his loyalty and integrity and maintained his oaths to King John throughout his reign, regardless of the distrust between the two men.
The children of William and his wife, Isabel de Clare, cannot fail to have benefited from William Marshal’s rise through the ranks from fourth son and humble hearth knight, to earl of Pembroke and, eventually, regent for King Henry III. Their father’s position as a powerful magnate on the Welsh Marches, and the most respected knight in the kingdom, saw William’s daughters make advantageous marriages in the highest echelons of the English nobility.
William and Isabel were the parents of 10 children who survived to adulthood, 5 boys and 5 girls. In a bizarre and sad twist of fate, each of the boys would, in turn, succeed to the earldom, with not one leaving a male heir to continue the Marshal line. Of the girls, the couple’s eldest daughter was Matilda, also known as Maud or Mahelt. Given that her parents married in 1189 and she had two elder brothers, Matilda was probably born in 1193 or 1194. The Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal wrote glowingly of Matilda, saying she had the gifts of
‘wisdom, generosity, beauty, nobility of heart, graciousness, and I can tell you in truth, all the good qualities which a noble lady should possess.’
Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal
The Histoire goes on to say;
‘Her worthy father who loved her dearly, married her off, during his lifetime to the best and most handsome party he knew, to Sir Hugh Bigot.’
Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal
Unfortunately for Matilda, her husband Hugh, the eldest son of the earl of Norfolk, was among the rebels during the Magna Carta crisis; their eldest son was taken hostage by the king when their castle at Framlingham surrendered to the royal army. It must have been a comfort to Matilda that, on John’s death, her son’s welfare, while still a hostage, would have been supervised by the new regent, the boy’s grandfather. When Hugh died in 1225, Matilda married for a second time just a few months later, to William de Warenne, Earl of Warenne and Surrey, thus uniting the Bigod, Warenne and Marshal families. The marriage appears to have been one of convenience rather than love but produced 2 children, a boy and a girl, John and Isabel. Matilda’s son by her second marriage, John de Warenne, joined his 3 older Bigod half-brothers, Roger, Hugh and Ralph as pall bearers for their mother’s coffin at her funeral in 1248, when she was laid to rest beside her mother at Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire.
Seal of Matilda Marshal’s youngest son John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Warenne and Surrey
The next daughter, Isabel, was at least six years younger than Matilda, born in 1200. She was married to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who was twenty years her senior. Gilbert was the son of Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, and Amicia, coheiress of William, Earl of Gloucester; through his mother he could trace his ancestry back to King Henry I, albeit through king’s illegitimate eldest son, Robert of Gloucester, the stalwart supporter of his half-sister, Empress Matilda. Gilbert’s aunt, Amicia’s sister, was Isabella of Gloucester, the discarded first wife of King John, who had held the earldom of Gloucester until her death on 14 October 1217, when it passed to Gilbert.
Both Gilbert and his father were named among the twenty-five barons appointed as Enforcers of Magna Carta in 1215; as a consequence, father and son were excommunicated at the beginning of 1216. After the death of King John, Gilbert sided with Prince Louis of France and was only reconciled with the royalist cause after the Battle of Lincoln in May 1217. This was despite having married Isabel, the second daughter of William Marshal, in 1214; Marshal had been regent of England for 9-year-old Henry III since King John’s death in October 1216. Like her older sister, Isabel had found her husband’s family were on the opposing side to her father in the Magna Carta crisis and the civil war that followed. They had 6 children together before Gilbert’s death in October 1230; he died on the return journey from an expedition to Brittany. Isabel was married again, not 6 months later, to the king’s younger brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. The early deaths of at least 2 children put a strain on this marriage and Richard had been seeking a divorce when Isabel found herself pregnant again. She was safely delivered of the longed-for son and heir, Henry of Almain in 1235. Tragically, Isabel herself died in childbirth, in 1240. Her baby son, Nicholas, died the same day.
The next-youngest of the Marshal sisters, Sibyl, was born around 1201: she was married to William de Ferrers, fifth earl of Derby. Unlike her elder sisters, Sibyl and her husband played little part in national affairs. Ferrers had been plagued by gout since his youth and led a largely secluded life. He was regularly transported by litter. Further, he had never fully recovered from an accident that had happened sometime in the 1230s. While crossing a bridge at St Neots in Huntingdonshire, Ferrers was thrown from his litter, into the water. It must have been a terrifying experience. He succeeded to the earldom of Derby on his father’s death in 1247 but died in 1254. During the marriage Sibyl gave birth to 7 children, all daughters: Agnes, Isabel, Maud, Sibyl, Joan, Agatha and Eleanor. Sibyl died sometime before 1247 and was laid to rest at Tintern Abbey, alongside her mother.
Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, resting place of several members of the Marshal family
William and Isabel Marshal’s fourth daughter, Eva, was born in about 1203 in Pembroke Castle, and so was only 16 when her father died – and 17 when she lost her mother. As a child, she spent several years with her family in exile in Ireland, only returning to England when her father was finally reconciled with King John in 1212. Sometime before 1221, Eva was married to William (V) de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny, son of Reginald de Braose and grandson of Matilda de Braose, who had died of starvation in King John’s dungeons in 1210. William de Braose was a wealthy Norman baron with estates along the Welsh Marches. He was hated by the Welsh, who had given him the nickname Gwilym Ddu, or Black William, and had been taken prisoner by Llywelyn ap Iorweth – Llywelyn the Great – in 1228.
Although he had been released after paying a ransom, de Braose later returned to Llywelyn’s court to arrange a marriage between his daughter, Isabella, and Llywelyn’s son and heir, Dafydd. During this stay, Eva’s husband was ‘caught in Llywelyn’s chamber with the King of England’s daughter, Llywelyn’s wife’. Whilst Llywelyn’s wife, Joan, Lady of Wales, the illegitimate daughter of King John, was imprisoned for a year, a much worse fate was meted out to William de Braose. He was publicly hanged on Llywelyn’s orders, leaving Eva a widow at the age of 27, with 4 young daughters, all under the age of 10. Despite the discomfort caused by Llywelyn’s execution of Braose, the marriage of Isabella and Dafydd went ahead, following some impressive diplomacy on Llywelyn’s part. Eva never remarried and spent her widowhood managing her own lands. She was caught up the revolt of her brother, Richard, in 1234, and appears to have acted as intermediary between her brother and the king to help resolve the situation. She died in 1246.
The youngest Marshal sister was Joan, who was still only a child when William Marshal died in 1219, being born in 1210. She is mentioned in the Histoire as having been called for by her ailing father, so that she could sing for him. Joan was married, before 1222, to Warin de Munchensi, a landholder and soldier who was born in the mid-1190s. When his father and older brother died in 1204 and 1208 (possibly), respectively, Warin was made a ward of his uncle William d’Aubigny, Earl of Arundel. He was ill-treated by King John, who demanded 2,000 marks in relief and quittance of his father’s Jewish debts on 23 December 1213. He was ordered to pay quickly and pledged his lands as a guarantee of his good behaviour.
Effigy identified as William Marshal, Temple Church, London
This harsh treatment drove him to ally with the rebel barons and he was captured fighting against the royalist forces, and his father-in-law, at the Battle of Lincoln, on 20 May 1217. He was, soon after, reconciled with the crown and served Henry III loyally on almost every military campaign of the next forty years. His marriage to Joan Marshal produced two children; John de Munchensi and a daughter, Joan, who would marry the king’s half-brother, William de Valence, fourth son of Isabelle d’Angoulême and her second husband, Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche. It was through his wife and, more accurately her mother, that William de Valence was allowed to accede to the earldom of Pembroke following the extinction of the Marshal male line. Joan Marshal died in 1234 and so never saw her daughter marry and become countess of Pembroke in 1247.
The various experiences of the 5 Marshal daughters serve as a demonstration of the divisions among the nobility, caused by the Magna Carta crisis, with several of them finding themselves on the opposing side to that of their father. It must have been a source of great anxiety for a family which appears to have been otherwise very close. These 5 young women also provide a snapshot of the fates of women in thirteenth century England, death in childbirth, early widowhood and second marriages arranged for personal security rather than love. What is evident is that, just like their father, these girls were an integral part of the Magna Carta story.
Rich Price, King John’s Letters Facebook group; Robert Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225; Dan Jones The Plantagenets; the Kings who Made England; The Plantagenet Chronicle Edited by Elizabeth Hallam; Maurice Ashley The Life and Times of King John; Roy Strong The Story of Britain; Oxford Companion to British History; Mike Ashley British Kings & Queens; David Williamson Brewer’s British Royalty; Ralph of Diceto, Images of History; Marc Morris, King John; David Crouch, William Marshal; Crouch and Holden, History of William Marshal; Crouch, David, ‘William Marshal [called the Marshal], fourth earl of Pembroke (c. 1146–1219)’, Oxforddnb.com; Flanagan, M.T., ‘Isabel de Clare, suo jure countess of Pembroke (1171×6–1220)’, Oxforddnb.com; Thomas Asbridge, The Greatest Knight; Chadwick, Elizabeth, ‘Clothing the Bones: Finding Mahelt Marshal’, livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com; Stacey, Robert C., ‘Roger Bigod, fourth earl of Norfolk (c. 1212-1270)’, Oxforddnb.com; finerollshenry3.org.uk; Vincent, Nicholas, ‘William de Warenne, fifth earl of Surrey [Earl Warenne] (d. 1240)’, Oxforddnb.com.
My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. Including an episode on William Marshal with Elizabeth Chadwick, author of The Greatest Knight. Every episode is now available on YouTube.
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Don’t forget!Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.
History... the interesting bits! 