Sybil (wife of Pain fitzJohn)

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Sybil was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman in 12th-century England. Her parentage is unclear, but her first marriage to

Fouke le Fitz Waryn
.

Parentage

Historians disagree about Sybil's parentage. One theory, given in the entry for her first husband in the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that Sybil was the niece of Hugh de Lacy.[1]

Another theory, coming from the

Walter de Lacy, Hugh's father.[2][a] Yet another theory, put forth by historian Katharine Keats-Rohan, states Sybil was the daughter of Hugh de Lacy.[6][b]

Marriage

Sybil married, first,

Welsh Borders.[14] Sybil also brought her husband lands in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire.[10]

Both King

Stephen recognized Pain's right to his wife's lands. Sybil had inherited lands that originally had been held by her kinsman Roger de Lacy, who had been banished from England in 1095 and his English estates confiscated; he had though retained his properties in Normandy. Roger's English possessions were given to his brother Hugh de Lacy, from whom Sybil had inherited them.[10]

On Roger's death his son Gilbert inherited the lands in Normandy, and pressed his claim to the family's former English estates. Coplestone-Crow notes that there was uncertainty hanging over the inheritance, and accounted for one reason why Sybil's husband worked to secure more lands around Ludlow.[12]

Sybil was not the only recipient of Hugh de Lacy's largesse; some went to Josce de Dinan and some to Miles of Gloucester.[9]

Widowhood

Pain died on 10 July 1137 and was buried in

Gloucester Abbey.[1] Sybil retained control of Ludlow Castle until the middle of 1139, when she was forced to surrender it to King Stephen after a siege.[15] Stephen then married Sybil to Josce de Dinan,[16] probably because he felt that Josce trustworthy enough to control the castle.[15]

Dinan thus acquired control of Ludlow Castle

Fouke le Fitz Waryn is based.[16] Josce, however, rebelled against Stephen and fortified Ludlow against the king.[17] Josce died in 1166.[18]

Children

Sybil had two daughters, Cecily and Agnes, with Pain.[6] The two girls married five times in their lives;[1] Cecily's three marriages failed to produce any direct heirs.[19] Cecily was first married to Roger, the son of Miles of Gloucester.[1] This alliance had been arranged by Cecily's father and the marriage contract specified that Roger would inherit all of Pain's lands, but at Pain's death the marriage had still not been formally contracted. In December 1137, King Stephen confirmed the terms of the settlement.[3] Stephen also settled the bulk of Pain's lands on Cecily, which led to disturbances and a minor war among disappointed claimants.[20]

Agnes first married

Haldenald de Bidun. She died sometime after 1185, when she was noted as a widow.[2] Presumably Sybil is the mother of Josce's two daughters – Sibil, who married Hugh de Pulgenet and died in 1212, and Hawise who married Fulk FitzWarin, who died in 1197.[18]

In 1199, Sibil and Hawise petitioned the king regarding the ownership of the town and castle of Ludlow but were turned down.[21]

Notes

  1. ^ Other historians agreeing with this are Bruce Coplestone-Crow[3][4] and David Crouch.[5]
  2. ^ Also shared by historians Judith Green,[7] Paul Dalton,[8] Brock Holden,[9] and W. E. Wightman.[10]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e Mason "Pain fitz John (d. 1137)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed 28 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b Cokayne Complete Peerage XII/2 pp. 270–271
  3. ^ a b Coplestone-Crow "Payn fitzJohn and Ludlow Castle" Shropshire History and Archaeology pp. 171–172
  4. ^ Coplestone-Crow "Payn fitzJohn and Ludlow Castle" Shropshire History and Archaeology p. 179
  5. ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 79 footnote 21
  6. ^ a b Keats-Rohan Domesday Descendants p. 919
  7. ^ Green Henry I p. 133
  8. ^ Dalton "Eustace Fitz John" Speculum p. 360
  9. ^ a b Holden Lords of the Central Marches pp. 17–18
  10. ^ a b c Wightman Lacy Family p. 175
  11. ^ Keats-Rohan Domesday Descendants p. 538
  12. ^ a b Coplestone-Crow "Payn fitzJohn and Ludlow Castle", Shropshire History and Archaeology, p. 178
  13. ^ Green Henry I p. 174
  14. ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 102 and footnote 55
  15. ^ a b Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 102
  16. ^ a b Coplestone-Crow "Payn fitzJohn and Ludlow Castle" Shropshire History and Archaeology p. 181
  17. ^ Chibnall Empress Matilda pp. 123–124
  18. ^ a b Keats-Rohan Domesday Descendants p. 434
  19. ^ Newman Anglo-Norman Nobility, pp. 172–173
  20. ^ Green Aristocracy of Norman England, p. 381
  21. ^ Coplestone-Crow "The End of the Anarchy to the de Genevilles" Ludlow Castle: Its History & Buildings, pp. 36–37

References


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