To this Earldom was Robert, Earl[192] of Moreton in Normandy,[192]
brother to King William by the mother, shortly[192] after the Conquest
advanced, and had other great honours given[192] him in this realm.
In the time of King William Rufus, taking[193] part with his brother
Odo, Earl of Kent, in that insurrection on the behalf of Robert
Curthose, he held[194] the castle of Pevensey on that account; but so
soon as the King laid siege thereto, rendered[194] it up to him, and
made his peace.
This Earl having had[195] the standard of Saint Michael carried before
him in battle, as the words of his charter do import (under which it
is to be presumed he had been prosperous) did, out of great devotion
to God and the Blessed Virgin, for the health of his soul and the soul
of his wife, as also for the soul of the most glorious King William
(for those are his expressions) give[196] the Monastery of S. Michael,
at the Mount in Cornwall, unto the Monks of S. Michael de Periculo
Maris in Normandy, and to their successors in pure alms.
To the Abbey of Grestein in Normandy[197] founded by Herlwine de
Contevill, his father, he was a great benefactor, for he gave[198]
thereunto the lordships of Gratings and Broteham in Suffolk, and the
tithe of Cambis, as also his lands at Saisinton in Cambridgeshire;
which place of Gratings (now Cretings) was a cell to that foreign
monastery. He likewise[198] gave thereto the manor of Wilminton in
Sussex, where also there was a cell for monks of that religious house;
and in Ferlis[198] five hides of lands. In Pevensel he gave[198] them
the house of one Engeler; and in his Forest of Pevensel, granted to
them pannage and herbage, with timber for repair of their churches and
houses, as also fuel for fire.
He gave moreover to that Abbey of Grestein half the fishing of
Langeney, and the whole tithe of that fishing, as also the churches of
Eldene, Wesdene, and Ferles, and one hide of land at Heetone. But
whereas he found that the greatest part of the possessions which
belonged to the Priory of St. Petroc at Bodmin in Cornwall, founded by
King Æthelstan, had been[199] taken from the same, and enjoyed by
canons secular, he therefore seised[199] upon the remainder, and
converted them to his own use.
When he departed this world, I do not find; but if he lived after
William Rufus so fatally lost his life by the glance of an arrow in
New Forest from the bow of Walter Tirell; then was it unto him that
this strange apparition happened, which I shall here speak of,
otherwise it must be to his son and successor Earl William,――the
story[200] whereof is as followeth. In that very hour that the king
received that fatal stroke, the Earl of Cornwall being hunting in a
wood distant from that place about two ―――― and left alone by his
attendants, was accidentally met by a very great black goat, bearing
the king all black, and naked, and wounded through the midst of his
breast; and adjuring the goat by the Holy Trinity to tell what that
was he so carried, he answered, “I am carrying your King to judgment,
yea that tyrant William Rufus, for I am an evil spirit, and the
revenger of his malice which he bore to the church of God, and it was
I that did cause this his slaughter; the protomartyr of England, St.
Alban, commanding me so to do; who complained to God of him for his
grievous oppressions in this Isle of Britain, which he first
hallowed,” all which the Earl related soon after to his followers.
This Earl Robert took to wife[201] Maud, daughter to Roger de
Montgomery (Earl of Shrewsbury) which Maud was also a great
benefactress to the Monks of Grestine in Normandy, by the gift[202] of
Conoc, consisting of ten hides, and two hides in Bodingham, with the
church of that place, as also one house in London, with all customs
thereto belonging. Moreover, she gave[202] unto them two and thirty
hides of land which she had of Roger de Montgomery her father, viz. at
Harinton eight, at Mersen eleven, at Hiteford six, at Langeberge two,
at Tavistone three and an half, and at Clavendon three yards land.
By this Maud he had issue[203] WILLIAM, who succeeded him in these
earldoms of Moreton and Cornwall, and three daughters, whose Christian
names are not expressed; whereof the first was wife[203] to Andrew de
Vitrei; the Second to[203] Guy de la Val; the third to the Earl of
Thoulouse, brother to Raymond Count of St. Giles, who behaved himself
so valiantly in the Jerusalem expedition.
The lands whereof he was possessed at the time of the Conqueror’s
Survey,[204] were in Sussex, fifty-four manors, besides the borough of
Pevensel; in Devonshire seventy-five, besides a church and a house in
Exeter; in Yorkshire an hundred and ninety-six; in Wiltshire five; in
Dorsetshire forty-nine; in Suffolk ten; in Hantshire one; in Middlesex
five; in Oxfordshire one; in Cambridgeshire five; in Hertfordshire
thirteen; in Buckinghamshire twenty-nine; in Gloucestershire one; in
Northamptonshire ninety-nine; in Nottinghamshire six; and in Cornwall
two hundred and forty-eight, having two castles, one at Dunhevet, the
other at Tremeton.
William, succeeding Earl Robert his father in the earldom of Moreton
in Normandy, and this of Cornwall, being a person[205] of a malicious
and arrogant spirit from his childhood, envied the glory of King Henry
the First; and not contented with those two earldoms, demanded from
King Henry the earldom of Kent as his right, which earldom his uncle
Odo (the Bishop) formerly had, giving out[205] privately, that he
would not put on his robe, unless that inheritance which he challenged
by descent from his uncle might be restored to him, unto which demand,
the King at first, considering[205] his own unsettled condition,
gave[205] a subtile and dilatory answer; but when[205] he discerned
that those clouds, from whence he doubted a storm, were over, he not
only denied[205] his request, but began to question him for whatsoever
he possessed unrightfully; yet (that he might not seem to oppose what
was just) modestly yielding[205] that he should have a lawful trial
for the same; but with that judicial sentence, which thereupon ensued,
this Earl being highly displeased, in a great rage got over into
Normandy, and there besides some fruitless attempts which he made
against the King’s castles, having an evil eye towards Richard Earl of
Chester (son of Hugh) made[206] no little spoil upon his lands, though
he was then but a child, and in the King’s tutelage; from which time,
together with Robert de Bellesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, he ceased
not[206] to foment a rebellion in those parts. Anno 1103.
4th H. I. 1104. The king therefore discerning these his practises,
seised[207] upon all his possessions here in England, razed[208] his
castles to the ground, and banished[208] him this realm.
And not long after passing[208] over into Normandy to quench those
flames which these two earls had made by joining with Robert Curthose
(who thought himself injured, that his younger brother Henry had made
himself King,) subdued[208] (anno 1106) all that power which there
appeared against him, and at length laid siege to Tenerchebray (a town
belonging to this[208] Earl). For the raising whereof Duke Robert with
this William, and Robert de Belesme, and many other came[209] with a
great army, where a short fight[210] ensued, this earl leading[211]
the van, and Robert de Belesme the rear; and of the king’s army,
Ranulf de Bajorsis (an eminent baron) the van, and Robert Earl of
Mellent the rear. The armies thus disposed, our Earl William made
the[212] onset upon Ranulf with extraordinary courage, but could not
break through his troops, they stood so stoutly to it. The front on
both sides thus maintaining their ground, Helias Earl of Maine, (on
the King’s part) fell upon the flank of the enemy’s foot, who being
not well armed, were soon shattered, which disorder, being observed by
Robert de Bellesme, he began to fly with the rear; whereupon, the King
soon obtained an absolute victory, the duke himself being made
prisoner, and all his principal adherents, amongst which, this Earl,
being taken by the Britains, from whose hands the king and his friends
had much ado to get him, was sent prisoner into England, there to be
secured during his life.[213] After which, the king causing his eyes
to be put out, bestowed[214] his earldom of Moreton upon Stephen of
Blois (son of Stephen Earl of Champaine), whom he then honoured with
knighthood, who was after King of England.
This Earl William built[215] the castle of Montacute in Somersetshire,
and called it by that name from the sharpness of the hill on which he
did set it, and likewise founded[216] a priory near thereto, which he
amply endowed, annexing it as a cell to the Abbey of Cluny in
Burgundy.
He also gave[217] to the Abbey of Bee in Normandy his lordship of
Preston in the Rape of Pevensel in Sussex, and was buried[218] in the
Abbey of Bermondsey in Southwark; but when he died, I find no mention,
nor of either wife or issue that he had.