Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzHamon

Notes:

[From Burke's Peerage-see source for details]

An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

Robert married Sybil de Montgomery about 1084 in Normandy, France. Sybil (daughter of 1st Earl of Shrewsbury Roger de Montgomery and Mabel de Talvas d'Alencon) was born in 1060 in St Germain, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married 1st Earl of Gloucester Robert de Caen about 1115 in Gloucestershire, England. Robert (son of King of England Henry I "Beauclerc" and Sibyl Corbet) was born about 1090 in Caen, Normandy, France; died on 31 Oct 1147 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married 2nd Earl of Chester Ranulph de Gernon about 1141 in Gloucestershire, England. Ranulph (son of Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester and Lucy de Taillebois) was born in 1099 in Guernon Castle, Normandy, France; died on 16 Dec 1153 in Chester, Cheshire, England; was buried in St Werburgh, Chester, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[From Burke's Peerage-see source for details]

An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

William married Hawise de Beaumont about 1150. Hawise (daughter of 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert II de Beaumont and Amice de Gael) was born in 1129 in Leicestershire, England; died on 24 Apr 1197. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

This nobleman, Hugh (Keveliok), 3rd Earl of Chester, joined in the rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster and the King of Scots against King Henry II, and in support of that monarch's son, Prince Henry's pretensions to the crown. In which proceeding he was taken prisoner with the Earl of Leicester at Alnwick, but obtained his freedom soon afterwards upon the king's reconciliation with the young prince. Again, however, hoisting the standard of revolt both in England and Normandy, with as little success, he was again seized and then detained a prisoner for some years. He eventually, however, obtained his liberty and restoration of his lands when public tranquility became completely reestablished some time about the 23rd year of the king's reign. His lordship m. Bertred, dau. of Simon, Earl of Evereux, in Normandy, and had issue, I. Ranulph, his successor; I. Maud, m. to David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William, King of Scotland, and had one son and four daus., viz., 1. John, surnamed le Scot, who s. to the Earldom of Chester, d. s. p. 7 June, 1237; 1. Margaret, m. to Alan de Galloway, and had a dau., Devorguilla, m. to John de Baliol, and was mother of John de Baliol, declared King of Scotland in the reign of Edward I; 2. Isabel, m. to Robert de Brus, and was mother of Robert de Brus, who contended for the crown of Scotland, temp. Edward I; 3. Maud, d. unm.; Ada, m. to Henry de Hastings, one of the competitors for the Scottish crown, temp. Edward I; II. Mabill, m. to William de Albini, Earl of Arundel; III. Agnes, m. to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby; IV. Hawise, m. to Robert, son of Sayer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester.

The earl had another dau., whose legitimacy is questionable, namely, Amicia, * m. to Ralph de Mesnilwarin, justice of Chester, "a person," says Dugdale, "of very ancient family," from which union the Mainwarings, of Over Peover, in the co. Chester, derive. Dugdale considers Amicia to be a dau. of the earl by a former wife. But Sir Peter Leicester, in his Antiquities of Chester, totally denies her legitimacy. "I cannot but mislike," says he, "the boldness and ignorance of that herald who gave to Mainwaring (late of Peover), the elder, the quartering of the Earl of Chester's arms; for if he ought of right to quarter that coat, then must the be descended from a co-heir to the Earl of Chester; but he was not; for the co-heirs of Earl Hugh married four of the greatest peers in the kingdom."

The earl d. at Leeke, in Staffordshire, in 1181, and was s. by his only son, Ranulph, surnamed Blundevil (or rather Blandevil) from the place of his birth, the town of Album Monasterium, modern Oswestry, in Powys), as 4th Earl of Chester.

* Upon the question of this lady's legitimacy there was a long paper war between Sir Peter Leicester and Sir Thomas Mainwaring---and eventually the matter was referred to the judges, of whose decision Wood says, "a tan assize held at Chester, 1675, the controversy was decided by the justices itinerant, who, as I have heard, adjudged the right of the matter to Mainwaring." [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, pp. 365-6, Meschines, Earls of Chester]

Hugh married Bertrade de Montfort in 1169 in Montfort-sur-Risle, Eure, Normandy, France. Bertrade (daughter of Count d'Evereux Simon III de Montfort and Amicia (Maud) de Beaumont) was born in 1155 in Montfort-sur-Risle, Eure, Normandy, France; died on 12 Jul 1189 in Evreux, Eure, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

John divorced her on the ground of consanguinity; her grandfather Robert being an illegitimate son of Henry I. Burke also names her as Avisa.

Also known as Hawise, Joan, Eleanor.

The Complete Peerage vol. V, pp 689-692.

[From Burke's Peerage-see source for details]

An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

Isabel's situation now became that of a great heiress, for whoever she married next would gain the Earldom. John prevented her taking a second husband at all for the time being, however, and exchanged the Earldom of Gloucester with Aumarie de Montfort, son of William FitzRobert's eldest daughter Mabel, for the Comte of Evereux, which he then used as a dowry to secure the marriage of his niece Blanche with the King of France's son. Aumarie died childless and Isabel, who towards the end of John's reign married as her second husband Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and in right of his new wife now Earl of Gloucester too, died childless after marrying in the autumn of 1217 yet a third husband, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent.

The latter seems not to have been recognized as Earl of Gloucester as well as of Kent, despite his wife's undoubted possession of the former Earldom by the time of their marriage. But then she died only a few days later and her sister Amice, by now the only one of William FitzRobert's daughters still living, seems to have been recognized as Countess of Gloucester till her own death some seven and a half years later. On the other hand Amice's son Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford or of Clare (usually called the latter), was apparently acknowledged as Earl of Gloucester in addition this other dignity from as soon as the month after his aunt Isabel's death back in 1217.

Isabel married 5th Earl of Essex Geoffrey de Mandeville before 1216. Geoffrey (son of 1st Earl of Essex Geoffrey FitzPiers and Beatrix de Say) was born about 1184 in Saffron Walden, Essex, England; died on 23 Feb 1215/16 in London, Middlesex, England; was buried in Trinity Priory within Aldgate, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married King of England John I "Lackland" Plantagenet on 19 Aug 1189 in Marlborough Castle, Wiltshire, England. John (son of King of England Henry II "Curtmantlel" Plantagenet and Duchess of Aquitaine Eleanor) was born on 24 Dec 1166 in Kings Manor House, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England; died on 19 Oct 1216 in Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, England; was buried in Cathedral, Worcester, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married 1st Earl of Kent Hubert de Burgh about Oct 1217. Hubert was born about 1165; died on 12 May 1243; was buried in Blackfriars, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Amicia married 4th Earl of Hertford Richard de Clare about 1180. Richard (son of Earl of Hertford Roger de Clare and Maud de St. Hilaire) was born about 1153 in Tunbridge Castle, Kent, England; died in 1217. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[From Burke' Peerage - see source for details]

John (King of ENG) prevented her (Isabel, youngest daughter of William FitzRobert) taking a second husband at all for the time being, however, and exchanged the Earldom of Gloucester with Aumarie de Montfort, son of William FitzRobert's eldest daughter Mabel, for the Comte of Evereux, which he then used as a dowry to secure the marriage of his niece Blanche with the King of France's son. Aumarie died childless.

Mabel married Comte d'Evereux Amaury V de Montfort about 1170. Amaury (son of Count d'Evereux Simon III de Montfort and Amicia (Maud) de Beaumont) was born about 1151 in Evereux, Eure, Normandy, France; died in 1191 in Evereux, Eure, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]