Alard Fleming (1177 - 1220)

Born 1177 in Hainault, Belgium

Ancestors

Descendants

Biography

One text tells us:^[1]

There were so many Flemings of Knightly degree settled in England by that time, and it was so much the custom to distinguish them merely by their christian names with the addition of their nationality, that it is very difficult to trace their family history. Rainbald the Fleming was a sub-tenant in Shipton at Domesday, and a Wido Flandrensis was among the benefactors to St. Peter's, Gloucester, in the first half of the next century, but his gift was Dowlais in Wales. The Alard the Fleming in question was so evidently a favourite captain of King John's, that I should have set him down as one of the leaders of the mercenary bands from Flanders, whom that monarch invited into his service in 1202 1 but that his name appears on the Pipe Roll of 2nd Richard I. as paying scutage for one fee in Gloucestershire, presumably these manors above mentioned. In 8th Richard I. he had a letter of quittance for his aid. In the Norman Roll of 4th John, the Chamberlain is ordered to pay Alard Fleming and Henry Rolleston the large sum of £1028 13s. 8d. for behoof of the Knights, Serjeants, and Cross bowmen engaged for wages at Castel Andel. In 6th John he is styled by the King in a mandate, " Marescallus Noster," 1 but what he was marshal of does not appear. At the date of this Return he appears to have been serving with his son in Ireland, for on the Prestita Roll of 12th John there is a payment of 20s. to " Alardus le Flemanc cum filio suo, milites de Exercitu Hibernie," and he is also elsewhere referred to as Abelardus le Fleming de Saperton. After the death of his master he took the Cross, for in the Fine Roll of 4th Henry III. the Sheriff is ordered to seize Saperton and Risendon, on account of the death of Alard le Fleming " in terra Jerusalem," and a little later on Henry, his son, has seizin of these manors on payment of £20. 2

Another:^[2]

Alard Flandrensis (also styled Alard le Flemanc, Alard le Flemeng de Sapperton, Alard Flemang, and Alard Flamenc) (ca. 1160-1220) was a military commander under Richard I and King John. It is important to point out that the Adelard Flandrensis, who is recorded during the reign of King Stephen as tenant of Eastbourne in East Sussex, is not the same man, neither was he a member of the Fleming family. Historians have sometimes mistakenly given his son William Flandrensis, the name William le Fleming.

Alard le Fleming held the manors of Great Rissington, Sapperton, and Framton Mansell in Gloucestershire, and other manors in Sussex and Kent, which were granted to him by Henry II. In a charter to Belvoir Priory dated 1181-87 he is styled Alardus le Flamang filius Willelmi, and his wife's name is given as Idonia. [The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Rutland, Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (1905)] He was one of four Flemings closely associated with King John. (The others were his cousins Richard Flandrensis , sheriff of Cornwall; Stephen Flandrensis, lord of Slane and Chymwell, and Richard Flandrensis de Glamorgan, sheriff of South Glamorgan in Wales.) By order of Henry II, Alard le Fleming was in Flanders in 1187, soliciting participants for the Third Crusade. He was probably one of the commanders of Richard I during the Third Crusade. Returning from the crusade, Alard was granted lands at Fordham in Cambridgeshire, which he held until 1216, at which time he actively sided with Robert fitz Walter against King John in the First Baron's War and his lands therefore confiscated. Upon Alard's death in 1220, however, Henry III, son of King John, assigned these lands to Alard's brother, Geoffrey (4k. Galifridus Flandrensis).

According to Norman charters and pipe rolls, Alard resided from about 1194 until 1204 in Normandy. In a charter of 1197, recording an accord between Prince John and Baldwin, count of Flanders, Alard is styled marschal (Alardo marescalsco).21 In 1203, King John ordered his chamberlain to pay £1028 to Alard le Fleming and Henry Rolleston in order for them to cover the expenses for the mercenaries stationed at Chateau Gaillard in Les Andelys.

Sources

1. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/transactionsofbr1218bris#page/288/mode/2up
2. ↑ https://books.google.be/books?id=EyHC08j_ej0C&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ang Saxberg for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Ang and others.