- William de Braose, 10th Baron Abergavenny
William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny (c. 1197 to 1204 – 2 May 1230) was the son of
Reginald de Braose by his first wife, Grecia de Briwere (born 1186) from Stoke inDevon . He was the tenth Baron Abergavenny and an ill-fated member of a powerful and long lived dynasty ofMarcher Lord s.Dynastic history
William de Braose was born in
Brecon . The Welsh, who detested him and his family name, called him "Gwilym Ddu", Black William. He succeeded his father in his various lordships in 1227, includingAbergavenny andBuilth .Marriage and children
William married Lady Eva Marshal, daughter of
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke . They had four daughters:
#Isabella de Braose (born c. 1222), wife of PrinceDafydd ap Llywelyn
# Maud de Braose (born c. 1224 - 1301), wife ofRoger Mortimer, 1st Baron Wigmore another very powerful Marcher dynasty.
#Eleanor de Braose (c. 1226 - 1251), wife ofHumphrey de Bohun and mother ofHumphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford .
#Eve de Braose (c. 1227- July 1255), wife ofWilliam de Cantelou .Career
He was
captured by the Welsh forces ofLlywelyn the Great , leader (Welsh, "Tywysog ") of most ofWales , in fighting in the commote of Ceri near Montgomery, in 1228. William was ransomed for the sum of £2,000 and then furthermore made an alliance with Llywelyn, arranging to marry his daughterIsabella de Braose to Llywelyn's only legitimate sonDafydd ap Llywelyn .However on a later visit to Llywelyn during
Easter 1230 William de Braose was found in Llywelyn's private bedchamber with Llywelyn's wife,Joan, Lady of Wales .Execution
The [http://www.webexcel.ndirect.co.uk/gwarnant/hanes/chronicle/chroniclearglwyddrhys.htm Chronicle of Ystrad Fflur] 's entry for 1230 reads: :"In this year William de Breos the Younger, lord of Brycheiniog, was hanged by the Lord Llywelyn in Gwynedd, after he had been caught in Llywelyn's chamber with the king of England's daughter, Llywelyn's wife."
Llywelyn had William publicly hanged on 2 May 1230, in the marshland at the foot of the royal home
Garth Celyn , Aber Garth Celyn, the spot remembered as Gwern y Grog, "Hanging Marsh."Legacy
With William's death by hanging and his having four daughters, who divided the de Braose inheritance between them and no male heir, the titles now passed to the junior branch of the de Braose dynasty, the only male heir was now
John de Braose who had already inherited the titles of Gower andBramber from his far-sighted uncleReginald de Braose .William's wife Eva continued to hold de Braose lands and castles in her own right, after the death of her husband. She was listed as the holder of
Totnes in 1230, and was granted 12 marks to strengthenHay Castle by King Henry III on theClose Rolls (1234-1237).References
* [http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/de-braose.htm#name5050 de Braose family] Accessed 30 March 2008
Bibliography
*"Tystiolaeth Garth Celyn" Y Traethodydd ISSN 09698930
*"Registrum Epistolarum Fratis Johannis Peckham Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis," ed. C. T. Martin, 3 Vols (RS, 1882-86)
*"Caernarvonshire Historical Society Transactions" 1962 Article Aber Gwyn Gregin Professor T. Jones Pierce
*Y Traethodydd (1998) "Tystiolaeth Garth Celyn"
*Gwynfor Evans (2001) "Cymru O Hud Abergwyngregyn"
*Gwynfor Evans (2002) "Eternal Wales Abergwyngregyn"
*John Edward Lloyd (1911) "A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest" (Longmans, Green & Co.)
*F.E. Fynes-Clinton (1912) "The Welsh Vocabulary of the Bangor District" (Oxford)Literature
*
Saunders Lewis - "Siwan" (play)
*Thomas Parry - "Llywelyn Fawr" (play)
*Edith Pargeter - "The Green Branch" (novel)
*Sharon Penman - "Here Be Dragons " (novel)External links
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/doug.thompson/BraoseWeb/family/evam.html Eva Marshal page and pictures]
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/doug.thompson/BraoseWeb/family/william5.html William de Braose page]
*The Barons de Braose [http://freespace.virgin.net/doug.thompson/BraoseWeb/frames.htm A history of the de Braose family in England]
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