Gospatric (Workington) FitzOrme (abt. 1105 - abt. 1179)

Born about 1105 in Cumberland, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1179 at about age 74 in Cumberland, England [uncertain]

Biography

Jackson writes that his father Orme probably died before 1156...

[...]Gospatrick, is named in the Pipe Rolls of that year for the first time, and from that period his name frequently occurs down to 25 Henry II. (1179). He exchanged Middleton, in Westmorland, with the 1st William de Lancaster for Workington and Lamplugh. He had a grant of Ireby from his relative Alan, son of Waldeoff.

This land transaction with William de Lancaster has interesting implications, and seems to have been needed to ensure that possession was hereditary. We need to keep in mind that the lordships of the area were in flux as the Scots moved in to the area, while the Norman English kingdom in the south was weakened by a civil war. Ragg writes:

William de Lancaster wanted Middleton, which Gospatrik owned. Gospatrik was holding Workington and Lamplugh of William de Lancaster at the time, but not as "of fee," that is not as hereditary possession which would go to his descendants. Possibly the tenure was of the kind called demise for years. or that called demise for life. In return for the grant of Middleton, Gospatrik receives Workington and Lamplugh as a "fee " ; that is as his right and inheritance. He is thus made lord of both townships, but still under de Lancaster ; he has to give homage for them, in other words he holds them in military tenure ; and he is moreover to do the forensic service to William, not for William, at the Castle of Egremont. This implies that for the time being William was holding the barony. And from Farrer (Pipe Rolls of Lancashire, p. 305) we find that Mulcaster (in the Barony) must have been held by William, and in some way now unknown the possession came to an end. One can only surmise that this was during the disturbed time when Henry II. had to recover Cumberland from the Scots. Later on we find Workington and Seaton both held direct under de Lucy, and there is no de Lancaster as mesne lord between

Concerning other events, Jackson writes:

Gospatrick is recorded as having been one of the witnesses to the Foundation Charter of the Abbey of Holm Cultram by Henry the Third, son of David, King of Scotland, to which Abbey he gave two parts of the fishing in the Derwent, except Waytcroft, which he gave to the Priory of Carlisle. He gave Salter to Saint Mary's Abbey at York, and he also gave the Church of Caldbeck to the Priory of Carlisle. He gave Flimby to the Abbey of Holm Cultram.

Gospatrick was in command of the Castle of Appleby when William the Lion invaded Cumberland in 1174, and to translate, in equally rude rhymes, the Norman French of the rhyming Chronicler, Jordan Fantosme,

Around the King were counsellors not few,

And soon and well he all their business knew.

Robert de Vaux he harmed not then, but straight

To Appleby marched on and to its gate

Came and the ancient city took with speed,

For there were none to guard it in its need :

The Castle, too, King William took with speed,

For there were none to guard it in its need.

Gospatrick, son of Orme, with years grown grey,

An Englishman, was Constable : the fray

Soon ended for full soon he mercy cried ;

The King forgot his sorrow in his pride

When he the Tower of Appleby had won,

And threaten'd much our Lord Matilda's son.

Gospatrick was subjected to a fine of 500 mares for surrendering the Castle, and perhaps not without reason

Wife

Michael Anne Guido has shown clearly that Gospatrick's mother was named Ivrea.^[1]

Among the witnesses we find in the first charter are “Elgiva uxore ipsius Gospatricii, Ebrea matre ejus,” showing that both his wife Elgiva and his mother Ebrea witnessed this charter. Again in the second charter the witnesses include “Egeliva uxore mea, Ebrea matre mea,” conclusively giving us the name of his wife as Elgiva [Egeliva] and his mother as Ebrea.

Though the identity of Ebrea is not conclusively proven in these documents there is circumstantial evidence which allows the postulation that she is probably Ebrea de Trevers, daughter of Robert de Trevers, whose first husband was Ranulf Engaine.

Death

He disappears from the records after 1179, soon after the above incident, when he was an old man. And it is likely to be no coincidence that a duel was to be fought at that time, with his cousin William de Lancaster, the son of the cousin with whom he made an important and complicated land transaction.

Jackson proposes that it was a result of the controversy from his poor defense of Appleby, against his Scottish cousins:

It is possible that out of this charge arose the ill feeling of William, Second Earl of Lancaster, towards Gospatrick, for we learn that William paid a fine of ten mares to be allowed to fight a duel with Gospatrick in the year 1179,* and this is the last mention we find of him.

Ragg proposes a story where Gospatrick is a victim of the Scots:

He would be in the full vigour of manhood when this William fitz Duncan made his ravages, and he would find himself and his land transferred by King Stephen's act over to David, King of Scots. When re-transferred during the later part of his life to the realm of England he was in a barony, the overlord of which was for a time the said William fitz Duncan,-and after the death of this William and his wife was in dispute between the coheirs and claimants, or was having trespass made upon it. An unhappy time for Copeland at any rate, and possibly some complication arising out of the confusion was the reason for his seeking permission to have a duel with William, son of William (de Lancaster) ; since the barony had been for a time in de Lancaster hands. Gospatrik gave land at Flemingby (Flimby) to the Priory of Carlisle (Prescott, Reg. of Wetherhal, 389) .

Children

Ragg names the following sons:

• Thomas. Son and heir.
• Alexander.
• Henry.
• Adam. Rector of Camerton.
• Robert. Robert of Lamplugh?^[2]
• Alan.
• Orme de Ireby. Apparently ancestor to an Ireby family.
• Gilbert de Southaik. Ragg's own pedigree shows him being of Southaik, Kirkudbrightshire. He had sons Thomas and William.

Sources

• FW Ragg (1914) De Culwen, TCWAAS [3]
• W Jackson (1881) The Curwens of Workington Hall and Kindred Families. TCWAAS, [4]
• W Jackson (1881) The Curwens of Workington Hall and Kindred Families. Part II., [5]
• English Heritage/ Cumbria County Council, Archaeological Assessment Report for Workington, [English Heritage/ Cumbria County Council, Archaeological Assessment Report for Workington, [6]
• Register of St Bees (see especially index entry and the long footnote on p.248)

1. ↑ Guido (2005) "The Ancestry of Gospatrick, Lord of Workington" Foundations , 1 (6): 395-403 pdf
2. ↑ See Taylor (1938) The Lamplugh Family of Cumberland, TCWAAS [1] and Collingwood (1929) Ravenglass, Coniston and Penrith in ancient deeds, TCWAAS, [2]

See Also...

• Christian (Christine) de Ireby De_Ireby-2