Robert fitz Walter

Notes:

Leader of the Magna Carta sureties. From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

"Fitzwalter, Robert (d. 1235), magnate and rebel, lord of Dunmow, Essex and Baynard's Castle, London, was the son of Walter fitz Robert and Matilda, daughter of Henry II's justiciar Richard de Lucy. Henry I had granted the honours of Dunmow and Baynard's Castle to Walter's father, Robert, the king's steward, a younger son of Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare. The date of Fitzwalter's birth is unknown, as are the circumstances of his upbringing, though he may be the Robert Fitzwalter mentioned in the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal as fighting in the Young King's retinue of over 200 knights at the great tournament at Lagny-sur-Marne in 1180.

"[...]

"The families of Quincy and Fitzwalter had long been linked, for Robert's father, Walter, and Saer (d. 1190) were half-brothers, the latter's father, also Saer, having married Maud de Senlis, the widow of Robert fitz Richard (d. 1134), and the Quincys held a fief of 1 1/2 fees from the barony of Dunmow. In a noted demonstration of alliance Fitzwalter and Quincy each bore the other's arms on their seals.

"[...]

"Fitzwalter's close involvement with the rebellion of 1215–17 and with Magna Carta has ensured his prominence, but historians have been sharply divided in their assessment of him. To Tout, Fitzwalter was 'the first champion of English liberty' (DNB), and prefigured Simon de Montfort. Others, like Norgate and Painter, reacting against this naive idealism, dismissed him as a haughty, selfish, but ultimately cowardly, feudal grandee, ready to obstruct justice by private warfare and to cloak treason with a series of makeshift justifications. Yet, given John's harsh and arbitrary rule, the king's opponents had little option save for conspiracy or armed rebellion, particularly after 1213 when Innocent III fully supported John. To see Fitzwalter falling short of the qualities of a great constitutional statesman is to be as anachronistic as Tout. He may have fought in large part to avenge personal wrongs and to regain lost rights, but he played an important role in sustaining the resistance which resulted in Magna Carta. Although Fitzwalter was resolute in his opposition to John, his participation on crusade and his conduct during Henry III's minority belie the image of a turbulent malcontent. Matthew Paris had little cause to praise Fitzwalter, but the final verdict is best left to him. He 'could match any earl in England; valiant in arms, spirited and illustrious, endowed with many possessions, generous, encompassed by a multitude of powerful blood relatives and strengthened by numerous relatives in marriage' (Gesta abbatum, 1.220–21)."

Family/Spouse: Rohese. Rohese died in 1256 in Woodham Walter, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William de Luvetot. William (son of Richard de Luvetot and Cecily Brito) was born in of Sheffield, Yorkshire, England; died on 7 Apr 1181; was buried in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ida Longespée. Ida (daughter of William I Longespée and Ela of Salisbury) died after 1261. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married Gerard de Furnival before 1201. Gerard (son of Gerard de Furnival and Andel) was born in of Great Munden, Hertfordshire, England; died before 12 Apr 1219 in Jerusalem; was buried in Normandy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 7 Jan 1311

Notes:

Also called Ela Fitz Robert.

Incorrectly shown by Blomefield (citation details below) as a daughter of her grandparents, William Longespee and Ela of Salisbury.

Family/Spouse: William de Odingsells. William (son of William de Odingsells and Joan) was born in of Solihull, Warwickshire, England; died in 1294. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Summoned to Parliament 24 Jun 1295 to 10 Oct 1325. Fought at the battle of Falkirk, and present at the siege of Caervaverock.

Robert married Devorguille de Burgh in 1259. Devorguille (daughter of John de Burgh and Cecily de Balliol) was born between 1255 and 1266; died in 1284; was buried in Dunmow Priory, Little Dunmow, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Eleanor de Ferrers before 11 Mar 1290 in King's Chapel, Westminster, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

With his brother, Gerard de Furnival, he accompanied Simon de Montfort on crusade in 1240, and was killed at Damietta.

Family/Spouse: Bertha de Ferrers. Bertha (daughter of William de Ferrers and Agnes of Chester) died after 10 Feb 1267; was buried in Grey Friars, Dunwich, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gerard married Christian Ledet before 22 Jun 1238. Christian (daughter of Wischard Ledet and Margery Foliot) died in 1271. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1270
• Alternate death: Aft 8 Apr 1325

Notes:

Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum (1846) says that this Ida, widow of John de Clinton, was a prioress of Wroxhall and died in 1300. VCH Warwick 2 says that "Lady Isabel Clinton" succeeded Agnes as prioress of Wroxhall and died in 1325. The register of Thomas Cobham, Bishop of Worcester, 1317-1327, names "the noble lady Ysabella de Clyntone" as one of the several parties to a dispute he adjudicated at Wroxhall in 1323, but says nothing about Isabel becoming prioress, nor anything to identify her as the Ida who was the widow of John de Clinton who died in 1311. Additionally, while several records exist of the widow Ida in the 1320s, none of them make any reference to her being at Wroxhall, as a prioress or not. As John Watson pointed out on SGM, 8 and 9 Sep 2017, the likeliest solution to the above is that Dugdale was mistaken, and that the Clinton widow of Wroxhall priory was someone else, perhaps the otherwise-unknown widow of John de Clinton of Coleshill who died in 1316.

"He [John Clinton] married, probably about 1290, Ida, sister and coheir of Edmund d'Odingsells, 1st daughter of William d'Odingsells, of Maxstoke, by Ela, daughter of Walter Fitz Robert, of Woodham Walter, with whom he acquired the Lordship and Castle of Maxstoke and other considerable possessions. He died late in 1310. His widow accompanied the Queen Consort to France in 1312-13. She, who was born about 1270, was living 1 March 1321/2." [Complete Peerage III:12-13]

Douglas Richardson in a post to SGM, 27 Sep 2001, adds a first husband for Ida:

From: Douglas Richardson (royalancestry@msn.com)
Subject: Ida de Odingsells's Herdeburgh and Clinton Marriages: Further Evidence
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Date: 2001-09-27 08:31:32 PST

Dear Newsgroup:

Two days ago I announced the discovery that Ida de Odingsells, a descendant of King Henry II, married (lst) Roger de Herdeburgh (died c. 1284), by whom she had a daughter, Ela de Herdeburgh, who left many descendants. Previously Ida was only known to have had a marriage about 1290 to John de Clinton, 1st Lord Clinton (died c. 1310). Following my post, Rosie Bevan kindly provided a citation which confirmed that Roger de Herdeburgh's wife was in fact named Ida.

Since my first post, I've located an informative article on the Herdeburgh family which appeared in Norfolk Archaeology, 30 (1952): 19-25. That article cites two documents, one dated 1284, the other 1286, which establish beyond doubt that Roger de Herdeburgh's wife was named Ida and that Ida, as Roger's widow, held the manor of Prilleston, Norfolk (a Herdeburgh manor) following his death. The article further states that Prilleston was eventually conveyed by Ida de Herdeburgh's heirs to her grandson, Walter de Hopton, Knt. This confirms that that Prilleston stayed in the family past Ida's death about 1328.

As for other evidence that widow Ida de Herdeburgh married John de Clinton, I found elsewhere that Prilleston, Norfolk was held in 1316 by "Idonia de Clynton" [Reference: Feudal Aids, 6 (1920): 478]. Idonia de Clynton can be none other than Ida de Clinton, then a widow for the second time.

Best always,
Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

Family/Spouse: Roger de Herdeburgh. Roger (son of Hugh de Herdeburgh and Isabel de Craft) was born in of Willey, Warwickshire, England; died before 9 Feb 1284. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ida married John de Clinton after 29 Sep 1286. John (son of Thomas de Clinton and Maud Bracebridge) was born about 1258 in of Amington in Tamworth, Warwickshire, England; died in 1310. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1318

Margaret married John de Grey before 14 Jan 1297. John (son of Robert de Grey and Joan de Valoines) was born about 1272 in of Rotherfield, Oxfordshire, England; died on 17 Oct 1311. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She died as a nun.

Family/Spouse: William Marshal. William (son of John Marshal and Hawise de Say) was born about 24 Sep 1277 in Denham, Suffolk, England; died on 24 Jun 1314 in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joan de Multon. Joan (daughter of Thomas de Multon and Eleanor de Burgh) died on 16 Jun 1363; was buried in Dunmow Priory, Little Dunmow, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]