Tale of a Crusader

Robert le Strange, Lord of Wrockwardine

1232-1276

Our 26th great grandfather through the Revis/Edwards lines.

Here's a happy side note. Lord Robert is also my husband’s great grandfather through his Carr family line.

Arms are dated to the reign of Edward I: Gules (red) with crusily (little crosses) and two lions passant argent (silver)

Born: circa 1232

Hunstanton, Norfolk, England

Died: Aug 1276

Litcham, Norfolk, England

1232-1263

Early life

Robert Le Strange of Wrockwarden was born the fourth son of John Le Strange III of Knockyn (near the Welsh border) and Lucy de Tregoz.

Sometime around 1248 he married Alianore/Eleanor, Lady de Blancminster. She was the second daughter of William de Albo de Monasterio, Lord of Whitchurch.

Alianore’s father was killed in 1252 and King Henry III had the murder investigated. Interesting notes from the Calendar of the Patent Rolls 1247-1266.

After much legal wrangling, Alianore and her three sisters finally inherit their father’s estate in 1260. Her eldest sister Bertreya, lived in the castle of Whitchurch (de Albo Manasterio) and had refused to move out during the dispute. I looked for Whitchurch/Albo Manasterio castle but was unable to find any existing building.

Robert gets Litcham, Rowton, & Ellardine

In 1261 Robert’s father gave him half of the manor of Litcham in Norfolk; witnessed by his brothers Hamon and Roger, and his brother-in-law, Gruffud ap Gwenwynwyn.

Around 1262 Robert’s brother John enfeoffed* him with the manors of Rowton and Ellardine. I was unable to find any mention of a building existing for either manor.

1264-1265

Civil War

Modern monument on the battlefield at Lewes

The Battle of Lewes-1264

Robert and his brothers fought at the battle of Lewes in support of the king, and against the rebelling barons led by Simon de Montfort. The barons won the battle and ordered the brothers exiled to Ireland. That battle led to the establishment of Britain's first representative parliament.

Prince Edward became a hostage of the barons. This put Montfort in a position of ultimate power, which would last until Prince Edward's escape, and Montfort's subsequent defeat at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265.

Robert fought at Evesham under Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Goucester, against Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. Montfort was killed by Prince Edward.

1265-1269

Lands Change Hands

10/19/1265

Robert was granted a dwelling and its buildings in London formerly belonging to John de Turri, enemy of the king. His brothers also received similar properties. I imagine that this was a reward for their support during the Second Baron's War.

6/28/1266

Lord Robert must have been well thought of at court. The king granted Robert’s request of pardon for Hugh Corbet in the death of Adam le Ventrer.

8/1/1267

Robert exchanged the manors of Rowton and Ellardine with Giles de Erdington acquiring the manors of Marbury, Cheshire; and Halehurst, Salop. I wasn’t able to find any existing buildings.

1269

Robert’s older brother John inherits Knockyn after their father’s death.

Before going on the crusade, older brother Hamon enfeoffed Robert and his wife with Wrockwardine and Chawton in Hampshire, but the grant of Wrockwardine was not recognized by the king until after Hamon’s death.

Robert enfeoffed his son Fulk in the manor of Sutton Madock.

1270-1271

Prince Edward's Crusade (Ninth Crusade)

1270

Robert prepared to go to the Holy Land as part of the Ninth Crusade with Prince Edward "Longshanks". What did it take to arm a knight in the 13th century? Click here.

Prince Edward left from Dover in August on the 8th crusade with his army. His wife, Eleanor of Castile, accompanied him on the crusade. Edward is another one of our distant great grandfathers through the Revis/Edwards/Blewitt line.

Robert and his older brother Hamon left to join the prince soon afterward.

Hamon, who brought 11 knights with him, died on this crusade. But before that, while on crusade Hamon married Isabelle d’Ybelin, Queen of Cyprus, although that is not commonly known in English histories. A French historian wrote, “Isabelle was married four times. Her first husband was Hugh II,King of Cyprus, who died at the age of fourteen. Her second husband was Hamon le Strange ; after his death she married, thirdly, in 1277, Nicholas Prince of Cesarea, and, fourthly, Guillaume Barlais."

In November, Prince Edward arrived in Tunis to find that his ally King Louis of France had died, the crusader forces had been decimated by disease, and King Charles of Sicliy, his uncle by marriage, had already arranged a peace treaty with the emir of Tunis. The French fleet returned the next day.

1271

In January the English army retreated to Sicily.

Letters of protection were issued to Hamon and Robert for their aid of the Holy Land.

Prince Edward moved his forces to Acre; waiting for support to arrive.

It never came.

1272- 1276

Robert's Later Years

1272

Our Robert was back in England and pardoned for cutting and selling a part of a wood (which had been given to him by his brother Hamon) at Chawton in Hampshire.

Prince Edward ascended to the throne in November while returning from crusade.

1275

At Le Knokyn, Robert’s brother John quitclaimed to him his share of Wrockwardine.

Before 6/10/1275

Robert did homage* to the king for Wrockwardine.

After 7/18/1275

Robert received seisin* of Chawton.

12/1275

Robert had lost his seal and appeared at the Curia Regis to petition for a different seal. The seal shown belongs to his son, John and I found it in the 1904 book, Some Feudal Lords and Their Seals, by Howard de Walden & Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis.

1275

Robert did homage for the manor of Wrockwardine in Telford & Wrekin, which his brother Hamon had given him by charter.

His brother John drowned.

1276

Robert died in August at Litcham, Norfolk, England.

1276-1307

Alianore's Later Years

10 Sep 1276

Alianore is assigned her dower. A Writ Close orders the Sheriff of Hampshire to give 30 librates* of land and rents in Choulton to Robert’s widow, Alianore, until such time as her fair dower should be assigned.

2 Oct 1276

Another Writ enjoins the Sheriff of Shropshire to restore the Manor of Whitchurch, and all things which had been taken therefrom since the Sheriff had seized it, to Alianore, widow of Robert le Strange, whose inheritance the King had verified.

1277 Pipe Roll

Bogo de Knovill, the Sheriff of Shropshire, "responds for no issues of the lands of Robert le Strange in Albo Monasterios Warenne, because he had surrendered them (to the Widow) according to the King's Writ.”

Shortly after this the Sheriff becomes Alianore's second husband.

1281

Eleanor becomes heir to her sister Berta who died unmarried.

1307

Alianore de Blancminster le Strange de Knovill died in August. She is buried at St. Michael & All Angels Churchyard in High Ercall, Shropshire, England.

“DAME ALIANORE LESTRANGE DE BLANCMINSTER GIST ICI. DIEU DE SA ALME EIT MERCI”; [from her brass which still existed in 1860.]

Children of Robert and Alianore:

Sir William Felton, Knight

John le Strange (his seal is shown above);

Fulk le Strange, 1st Baron Strange

Robert de Felton le Strange, knight

Hawise le Strange (married Guffudd of Wales) Carr ancestor

Margaret le Strange (married Sir Rhys Griffith of Wales) Revis ancestor

1255-1376

Wrockwardine Manor History

How the land and title changed hands from

the le Strange family to the Talbot family.

1255

John (III) enfeoffed his son Hamon in the manor.

1271

Hamon gave it to his brother Robert (our grandfather) before they left on Prince Edward's Crusade.

1273

When Hamon's death overseas became known, Wrockwardine was seized by the sheriff as an unlicensed alienation.*

1275

Edward I regranted it to Robert as 1/20 knight's fee.*

1276

Upon Robert's death, the manor transferred to his son John.

1289

John was succeeded in 1289 by his brother Fulk, summoned from 1309 as Lord Strange of Blakemere (d. 1324).

1292

Fulk claimed free warren* in Wrockwardine.

1333

Fulk's son and heir John, Lord Strange (d. 1349), was granted free warren in his demesnes.*

1347

John granted the manor to his son and heir Fulk, later Lord Strange (d. 1349), and Fulk's wife Elizabeth, who retained it during two later marriages until her death as Lady Cobham in 1376. (Side note: our 20x great grandmother was Joan Cobham 1350-1393. She married John de la Pole. Our Joan had to be related to this Lady Elizabeth Cobham in some way. I haven't researched that link.)

1376

The manor then descended with the barony Strange of Blakemere to the Talbots, earls of Shrewsbury.

Thirteenth Century Fashion

c. 1250

The woman is wearing a pale green cotehardie with a full skirt and sleeves over a maroon chainse. Belts were often worn as in this picture to hold up the skirts and allow for freer movements. Low-waisted belts would remain the fashion until the late fourteenth century. She is also wearing a chatelaine to carry household items. She wears a gorget and wimple over her hair and neck.

The man wears a fur houppeland with the leather on the outside and a leather belt with another form of a chatelaine.

St. Peter’s Church

Wrockwardine

The earliest mention of St. Peter's is in the Domesday Book of 1089. The church was rebuilt 100 years later in the 12th century. This was 100 years before our grandfather, Lord Robert of Wrockwardine was born. The layout was unusual in that the tower was built in the centre of the church rather than to the east or west. While the church has seen considerable development over the centuries, the Norman window in the chancel has survived, although it was restored in the 19th century when stained glass, depicting Holman Hunt's painting of Christ as The Light of the World. The church also has several very fine stained glass windows. There is also a walled-up Norman doorway, which suggests that at the time there were plans for future expansion. The continuous masonry of the lower nave walls, however, shows that the plan was never executed.

*Definitions

enfeoff

ĕn-fēf′,

transitive verb

To invest with a feudal estate or fee.

homage

From Medieval Latin hominaticum, lit. "pertaining to a man"

The ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title to his new position (investiture).

seisin

The legal possession of a feudal fiefdom or fee, that is to say an estate in land.

librate

noun Land having a value of a pound a year.

unlicensed alienation

Harmon did not obtain permission from the king to give the land to Robert.

knight's fee

In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. Of necessity, it would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and his retinue with horses and armour to fight for his overlord in battle.

free warren

A type of franchise or privilege conveyed by a sovereign in medieval England to an English subject, promising to hold them harmless for killing game of certain species within a stipulated area, usually a wood or small forest.

demesne

dĭ-mān′

noun

Manorial land retained for the private use of a feudal lord.

Information is from geni, findagrave, british-history, rootsweb, and ancestry.

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