Hugh de Grandmesnil
Hugh de Grandmesnil (1032 – 22 February 1098),[1] (known in French as Hugues and Latinised as Hugo de Grentmesnil, aliter Grentemesnil, etc.), is one of the proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Subsequently, he became a great landowner in England.
He was the elder son of Robert I of Grandmesnil by his wife Hawise d'Echaffour, a daughter of Giroie, Lord of Échauffour. His younger brother was Robert II of Grandmesnil.
Following the
Origins
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The Grandmesnil family achieved prominence in about 1050 in central Normandy, where the family became famous for breeding and training war horses. The family had made a fortune from a string of
Hugh de Grandmesnil wielded power at the court of William Duke of Normandy, but the paranoid Duke banished Hugh in 1058. For five years Hugh was out of favour at court. In 1063 he was reinstated as Captain of the castle of Neuf-Marché en Lyons. Hugh was made a cavalry commander for the invasion of England in 1066.[citation needed]
There is a popular story that Hugh de Grandmesnil was almost killed at the Battle of Hastings. As fierce battle raged, Hugh's horse leapt a bush during a cavalry charge and his bridle broke. Barely able to keep upright in the saddle, and with no control over his horse, Hugh saw to his dismay that he was all alone, and careering towards a band of Englishmen. Just as his enemies leaped in for the kill and as Hugh was preparing to die, the English gave out a great shout in triumph. Hugh's horse immediately shied in fear and bolted in the opposite direction and carried its helpless master away from the English and back to the safety of his own lines.
Leicester
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Hugh had become one of William the Conqueror's main men in England. In 1067 he joined with William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford and Bishop Odo of Bayeux in the government of England, during the king's absence in Normandy. He also was one of the Norman nobles who interceded with the Conqueror in favour of William's son Robert Curthose, and effected a temporary reconciliation.
Following the Conquest William, so far as is known, did not destroy or terrorise Leicester in the same way as he did places further north. By 1086 he had built a castle there with a wooden tower on a mound and an outer bailey. William later handed the castle over to Hugh de Grandmesnil. The Domesday Survey (of 1086) recorded Hugh as owning 190 of the 322 houses in the borough. The king himself owned 39.
Death of Adelize
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Adelize, the wife of Hugh de Grandmesnil, died at Rouen in 1087, and was buried in the Chapter House of St. Evroult. They had five sons and as many daughters, namely, Robert, William, Hugh, Ivo de Grandmesnil, and Aubrey; and daughters Adeline, Hawise, Rohais, Matilda, and Agnes.
On the death of William the Conqueror, also in 1087, the Grandmesnils, like most of the Norman barons, were caught up in the civil war raging between his three surviving sons. Now lands in Normandy and England had two different masters, as Robert Curthose became Duke of Normandy and William Rufus became king of England as William II. Royal family squabbles put fortunes at risk if barons took the wrong side, and ultimately this was the fate of the Grandmesnil family which tended to support the fickle Duke of Normandy against the English king, although allegiances changed continually. Duke Robert did not always support his barons' loyalty, which is illustrated in Hugh's later struggles.
Old age
By 1090 Hugh de Grandmesnil was still defending his lands in Normandy. Hugh made a stand along with his friend
Robert de Belesme did not have enough troops to surround the castle of Courci. He set about building a wooden siege engine, the Belfry, a great tower, that could be rolled up to the castle walls. Every time the Belfry was rolled forward, Grandmesnil sallied from the castle and attacked a different part of the line. Soldiers manning the Belfry were urgently needed elsewhere to beat back Grandmesnil's attack. These skirmishes were frequent, savage and bloody. On one occasion William, son of Henry de Ferrers (another Leicestershire landowner, whose family would become Earls of Derby), and William de Rupiere were captured by de Grandmesnil and ransomed for a small fortune. However, Ivo de Grandmesnil, Hugh's son, and Richard fitz Gilbert were seized by the attackers. Ivo was later released, but de Clare did not survive Belesme's dungeon (Planche).
As the siege continued a deadly ritual was played out. The inhabitants of Courci had built their oven outside the castle's fortifications, and it now lay midway between the main gate and the enemy's Belfry. The men of Courci therefore, would stand to arms and rush from the castle to surround the oven, so that the baker could work. Here they would defend their bread, as the attackers would attempt to carry it off. This would often lead to a general engagement as each side poured more troops into the fray. On one occasion Grandmesnil's charge was so ferocious that De Belesme's men were scattered. The men of Courci overran the great siege engine and burned it. However this success was short-lived, as Duke Robert of Normandy took sides with De Belesme. It now looked all over for De Grandmesnil and De Courci. Then William Rufus arrived with a fleet in arms against his brother, and so Duke Robert and De Belesme simply retreated home.
In William avenged Hugh's rebellion against him by having Leicester Castle, the church and part of the town destroyed. This is according to Agnes Fielding Johnson. She does not give a date for this but says Hugh made amends and was restored to his position.[4]
Hugh's death
In 1098, Hugh de Grandmesnil was again in England, worn out with age and infirmity. Feeling his end approaching, in accordance with the common practice of the period, he took the habit of a monk, and died six days after he had taken to his bed on 22 February 1098 at Leicester.
Issue
Hugh's eldest son, Robert III de Grandmesnil (d.1126),[8] inherited his Norman lands in the Ouch valley, while Ivo de Grandmesnil became Sheriff of Leicester, and master of Earl Shilton manor.
William's uncle Odo and many others, who had rebelled against William Rufus in 1088, felt that the
In 1102 Stephen of Blois returned to Jerusalem under a cloud of shame, and died in a battle charge.
Henry I of England had moved swiftly to take the English throne, in Robert Curthose's absence. It appears that Ivo de Grandmesnil was influenced by his brother Robert, who held the family lands in Normandy, and joined the faction fighting against Henry of England. War quickly followed.
Duke Robert set sail for England in 1101 and his army caught up with Henry at Alton, on the Winchester road. A peace was quickly negotiated and Robert went back to Normandy with promises of English gold. Unfortunately, this left the Duke's supporters high and dry and King Henry, 'a famously unpleasant individual' [citation needed] took note of his enemies, including the Grandmesnils (Morris).
King Henry bestowed the manors of Barwell, Burbage, Aston, Sketchley and Dadlington on Hugh de Hastings, as he set about getting rid of any baronial opposition. Thus, Ivo, Sheriff of Leicester, found that he was in disgrace at court, and also besieged with lawsuits and delayed judgements by the king. The cronies of the king's court treated Ivo contemptuously, and courtiers openly called him 'ropedancer', a reference to his escape from Antioch. When he over-reacted to the jibes, Ivo was fined for turbulent conduct at court. To escape his situation, Ivo financed another trip to the Holy Land, where he could regain his honour fighting on crusade.
Ivo approached
Ivo's nephew and heir, Hugh de Grandmesnil, Baron Hinckley, never recovered the honour of Leicester. The eventual heiress, Pernel, daughter of William de Grandmesnil, married Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester.
Hugh's daughter Adeline married Roger d'Ivry,[9] who was the sworn brother-in-arms of Robert D'Oyly.
Hugh's daughter Rohais married Robert de Courcy,[10] son of Hugh's friend Richard de Courcy.
Hugh and Adeliza's holdings in England
The Domesday book lists Hugh's lands in Leicestershire
In
He also had interests in
Adeliza's lands in Bedfordshire included Lower and Upper Shelton, Houghton Conquest and Chalton.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography ("DNB"), 1885–1900, Volume 28 states Hugh de Grandmesnil died in 1094, although the earlier Orderic Vitalis ("OV"), Tome III, p. 400 states that he died in 1098. The OV 1098 date is internally consistent with its twenty-eight-year span to the death of his three-times-married son Richard (III), which is recorded elsewhere[citation needed] as 1126. Orderic Vitalis was witness to the interment of the remains of Richard III at his abbey. The 1094 date may be purposeful pre-publication edit (to avoid compilation confusion with the DNB entry for Hugh, Earl of Shrewsbury (d.1098)) that was not reversed prior to publication of the DNB.
- ^ ISBN 0-14-143994-7
- ISBN 1 86077 099 1.
- ^ a b c Fielding Johnson, Mrs T (Agnes) (November 1891). Glimpses of Ancient Leicester (2nd [1906] ed.). Leicester: Clarke and Satchell. pp. 44–45.
- ^ "Courcy".
- ^ "Courcy Historique". (in French).
- ^ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k94619v/f408.image Orderic Vitalis, Tome III, p. 400.
- ^ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k94619v/f409.image Orderic Vitalis, Tome III, page 401.
- ^ "The Domesday Book Online - Landowners G-I". www.domesdaybook.co.uk.
- ^ Aird Robert Curthose pp. 138–139
Further reading
- Hagger, Mark (2006), "Kinship and identity in eleventh-century Normandy: the case of Hugh de Grandmesnil, c. 1040–1098", Journal of Medieval History, 32 (3): 212–230, S2CID 159495645.