Henry of Essex
Henry of Essex or Henry de Essex (died c. 1170) was an
Life
Henry was the son and heir of Robert fitz Swein of Essex, a descendant of the pre-Conquest landowner Robert fitz Wimarch who was favoured by King Edward the Confessor.
Henry is mentioned in several chronicles, including that of
After he dropped the royal standard in a Welsh ambush during Henry II's campaign into Wales of 1157, however, his political importance waned. As royal constable, his office required that he hold the standard to indicate the king's position during any military engagement. Dropping the standard seemed to signal the king's death. At the royal court held at Easter, 1163, Henry was accused of treason for that act by a claimant to the Montfort estate of Haughley. The two men fought a judicial duel a few months later. Jocelin details Henry's
Henry of Essex is thought to have died at Reading Abbey in the same year that Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered, 1170.
Family
Henry married firstly Cecily, daughter of
References
- ^ Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.139
- ^ Sanders, p.120
- ^ Sanders, p.120
- ^ Richardson and Sayles, Governance of Medieval England (Edinburgh: 1963), p. 196
- ^ Frank Barlow, Thomas Becket, p. 57.
- ^ T. Keefe, Feudal Assessments and the Political Community under Henry II and His Sons (Berkeley, 1983), p. 259.
- ^ David Nash Ford, Trial by Combat at Reading in Royal Berkshire History at berkshirehistory.com, accessed 2004-12-01
- G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. 10, pp. 199-207
- ^ Amt, Emilie, "Essex, Henry of (d. after 1163)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 10 June 2017
- ^ "Parishes: Braborne | British History Online".
- ^ DeAragon, R., "Agnes of Essex, Countess of Oxford", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 6, p. 467.
- ^ Amt, Emilie, "Essex, Henry of (d. after 1163)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 10 June 2017