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Hervey de Glanvill ''Glanville( fl. c. 1140–50) was an 
In 1150, Hervey took part in a joint meeting of the
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
* Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
* Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
nobleman and military leader. He was a scion of a younger line of the Glanvill family, which had been established in East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
, especially Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, since before 1086. He had several sons and daughters, the most prominent of which was Ranulf de Glanvill, who became justiciar of England
Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivale ...
.
In 1144, Nigel, bishop of Ely, instructed Hervey and Ranulf to restore to the monks of Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...
the lands they were possessing at Bawdsey
Bawdsey is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, eastern England. Located on the other side of the river Deben from Felixstowe, it had an estimated population of 340 in 2007, reducing to 276 at the Census 2011.
Bawdsey Manor is notable as the ...
in Suffolk.
In 1147, Hervey was the leader of an East Anglian contingent that joined the Second Crusade
The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...
. When the fleet mustered at Dartmouth, he and the other crusading leaders formed a sworn commune for the duration of the crusade. During a stop in Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
on the way to the Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
, they were asked by King Afonso I
Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', dependi ...
to help him take Muslim-held Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. Hervey dominated the debate in the commune over the king of Portugal's request and, appealing to honour and unity, he convinced the commune to give its assistance. The ''De expugnatione Lyxbonensi
''De expugnatione Lyxbonensi'' ('On the Conquest of Lisbon') is an eyewitness account of the Siege of Lisbon at the start of the Second Crusade, and covers the expedition from the departure of the English contingent on 23 May 1147 until the fall ...
'', an eye-witness account of the successful Siege of Lisbon
The siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords. The siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of ...
, was probably composed by a member of Hervey's retinue. There is no record, however, that would indicate whether Hervey ever made it to the Holy Land.
In 1150, Hervey took part in a joint meeting of the shire moot
A Shire court, or moot was an Anglo-Saxon legal institution, used to maintain law and order at a local level, and perform various administrative functions, including the collection of taxes for the central government.
The system originated in Wes ...
s of Suffolk and Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
in the bishop's garden in Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
. Also present were Nigel, bishop of Ely, and some other East Anglian tenants-in-chief
In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as oppos ...
. Before the moots, royal agents were seeking to set aside the immunities of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds
The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suffolk, England. It was ...
in order to prosecute a certain Hubert and his accomplices. Hervey gave a speech in opposition to the government, citing his fifty years' experience of the shire moots and the tradition of abbatial independence. His argument was recorded by a neutral eye-witness, and it apparently swayed the assembly.
Hervey was possibly still alive as late as 1166. If his own claim of lengthy experience with the shire courts can be trusted, he was an old man when his son Ranulf was born and a very old man at his death. It has been suggested that there were in fact two Herveys de Glanvill, but the two independent accounts of the Portuguese expedition and the East Anglian moots portray similar figures: eloquent, conservative, familiar with the law.
Notes
Sources
* * {{refend 12th-century English people Anglo-Normans Christians of the Second Crusade