William FitzRobert (abt. 1116 - 1183)

Born about 23 Nov 1116 in Gloucestershire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Hawise (Beaumont) of Leicester — married before 1150 in England

Descendants

Died 23 Nov 1183 at about age 67 in Priory, Keynsham, Somerset, England

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Biography

William was heir to one of the greatest Anglo-Norman baronies. From his mother, Mabel (d. 1157), daughter of Robert fitz Haimon, came Norman lands, the Welsh marcher county of Glamorgan, and the English honour of Gloucester. His total annual income at times may have been more than £700, and he commanded the service of more than 300 knights' fees from England and Wales alone. Significant additions came from the patronage which William's grandfather Henry I bestowed on his father, Robert, earl of Gloucester, and from Robert's own acquisitions. William was the eldest of at least five sons and one daughter born to Earl Robert and Countess Mabel. He also had a number of illegitimate siblings, products of his father's extramarital liaisons. (Ref: ODNB)

After Earl Robert's death at Bristol on 31 October 1147 William received the comital title, but Countess Mabel initially exercised joint authority, with the new earl as her associate. By 1150, having shed his associate status, W Per Wikipedia:

"William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester (died 1183) was the son and heir of Sir Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and MabelFitzHamon of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon. ... "In October 1141, William looked after the Baronial estates, when his father fell into the hands of partisans at Winchester. His father was exchanged for King Stephen, and during his father's absence in Normandy in 1144 he served as Governor of Wareham. In 1147, he overthrew Henry de Tracy at Castle Cary.

"In 1154 he made an alliance with Roger de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, by which they agreed to aid each other against all men except Henry II of England. ... "He was Lord of the manor of Glamorgan, as well as Caerleon, residing chiefly at Cardiff Castle. It was there that in 1158 he and his wife and son were captured by the Welsh Lord of Senghenydd, Ifor Bach("Ivor the Little") and carried away into the woods, where they were held as prisoners until the Earl redressed Ivor's grievances.

"In 1173 the earl took the King's part against his sons, but thereafter he appears to have fallen under suspicion, for the following year he submitted to the King, and in 1175 surrendered to him Bristol Castle. Because his only son and heir Robert died in 1166, Earl William made John, the younger son of King Henry II, heir to his earldom, in conformity with the King's promise that John should marry one of the Earl's daughters, if the Church would allow it, they being related in the third degree.

"Earl William was present in March 1177 when the King arbitrated between the Kings of Castile and Navarre, and in 1178, he witnessed Henry's charter to Waltham Abbey. But during the King's struggles with his sons, when he imprisoned a number of magnates of whose loyalty he was doubtful, Earl William was among them."^[1]

Death

William died on his birthday, 23 November 1183, in Henry II's custody and was buried at Keynsham Abbey. Henry II marked the occasion by taking into his wardship the earldom of Gloucester and his cousin's only unmarried daughter and his heir, Isabella, whom Robert de Torigni described as being ‘in the hand of God and the lord king and to whomever he wished to give her’ (Chronicles, 4.308).

Saltford Manor House

Prior to 1150, William constructed Saltford Manor House which is the "oldest continuously inhabited house in Britain."

Notes

William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia:William_Fitz_Robert,_2nd_Earl_of_Gloucester Wikipedia

• "Royal Ancestry" Douglas Richardson 2013, Vol. III. p. 88

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Wikipedia:William_Fitz_Robert,_2nd_Earl_of_Gloucester Wikipedia
• Ancestry family trees
• Massé, Henri. The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury (George Bell & Sons, London, 1900) Page 8