John FitzGilbert, the Marshal of the Horses ( 1105 – 1165), was a minor nobleman of supposed
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 ...
origin, during the reign of
King Stephen, and fought in the 12th-century
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
on the side of
Empress Matilda.
Life
Beginning in 1130 and probably earlier, he had been the royal marshal to
King Henry I. When Henry died, John FitzGilbert swore for Stephen and was granted the castles of
Marlborough and
Ludgershall,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
during this time. Along with
Hamstead Marshal, this gave him control of the valley of the
River Kennet
The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which â ...
in Wiltshire. He also held lands in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
and
Berkshire, and owned some buildings in
Winchester. When Empress Matilda and her supporters landed in
Sussex in 1139 to press her claim for the throne, John seems to have only been a nominal supporter of Stephen. His loyalty to the king seems to have been in sufficient doubt that his castle at Marlborough was briefly besieged. When Stephen was captured at the
Battle of Lincoln in 1141, John switched allegiance to Matilda. In September 1141, Matilda fled the siege of Winchester and took refuge in the Marshal's castle at Ludgershall. While covering her retreat from Winchester, John Marshal was forced to take refuge at
Wherwell Abbey. The attackers set fire to the building, and John lost an eye to dripping lead from the melting roof.
In 1152, John had a celebrated confrontation with King Stephen, who had besieged him at
Newbury Castle
Newbury Castle is the name of an English adulterine castle built by John Marshal during The Anarchy. It is located west of the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. The Castle is mentioned in L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal (' ...
. After John had broken an agreement to surrender, Stephen threatened to kill his son, whom John had given as a hostage. John refused, saying he could make more sons, but Stephen apparently took pity on the young boy and did not kill him. The boy grew up to be
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: ', French: '), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings— Henry II, his sons the "Young King" ...
, a legendary figure in medieval lore, and one of the most powerful men in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Later in his life, John briefly became entangled in the
Becket controversy
The Becket controversy or Becket dispute was the quarrel between Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England from 1163 to 1170.Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' pp. 401–402 The controversy culminated ...
. Having unsuccessfully tried to assert a claim over the archbishop's land in
Pagham
Pagham is a coastal village and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, England, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of Bognor Regis.
Governance
Pagham is part of the electoral ward called Pagham a ...
in 1164, John then appealed to the king. Although John's claims were dubious at best,
King Henry II used the affair to his advantage against
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
, who had refused to appear in person at the appeal. The resulting Council of Northampton in October 1164 led to further charges being aimed at Becket, such as embezzlement during his time as chancellor,
[Warren, W.L., Henry II, p.486] and he would soon flee to the continent.
The office of
Lord Marshal, which originally related to the keeping of the King's horses, and later, the head of his household troops, was won as a hereditary title by John, passed to his eldest son and was later claimed by William.
Family
John was the son of Gilbert, Royal Serjeant and Marshal to Henry I and his wife Matilda. After his father died in 1129, John inherited the title of King's Marshal. John married Aline Pipard, whose father Walter Pipard had been a friend of John's father. John repudiated Aline, about 1141; she subsequently married Stephen de Gay. John married (2nd) Sibyl of
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
, the sister of
Patrick of Salisbury, who had been a local rival of his, and a supporter of King Stephen, up to that point. John had two sons by Aline Pipard—Gilbert (died 1166) and Walter (died before 1165). Walter predeceased his father and Gilbert died shortly after inheriting his father's lands.
John's eldest son by Sibyl of Salisbury, also called John Marshal (1145–1194), inherited the title of Marshal, which he held until his death. The title was then granted by
King Richard the Lionheart
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
to his second son by Sibyl,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(1147–1219), who made the name and title famous. Though he had started out as a younger son without inheritance, by the time he inherited the title his reputation as a soldier and statesman was unmatched across Western Europe. John Marshal had four sons by his second wife. As well as John and William, there were
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
(1150–1206), who went on to become
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
of
Exeter, and Anselm, who served as a knight in the household of his kinsman,
Rotrou IV,
Count of Perche The county of Perche was a medieval county lying between Normandy and Maine.
It was held by an independent line of counts until 1226. One of these, Geoffroy V, would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before the assembled for ...
. There were also daughters: Maud (wife of William le Gras), Margaret and Sybilla. Maud's daughter, Margaret, married
Ralph de Somery, son of John de Somery and Hawise de Paynell.
References
*''Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700'' by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines 55–28, 66–27, 81–28, 122A-29
*
Barlow, Frank. ''The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216'' London: Longman Group Limited, 1961.
*William Marshal, Knighthood, War and Chivalry 1147-1219 Longman 2002
;Specific
External links
John Marshal (David Crouch) - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Historical fiction
*John FitzGilbert the Marshal is the subject of
Elizabeth Chadwick's 2007 novel, ''A Place beyond Courage''.
*John Marshal is a prominent character in
Sharon Kay Penman
Sharon Kay Penman (August 13, 1945 – January 22, 2021) was an American historical novelist, published in the UK as Sharon Penman. She was best known for the Welsh Princes trilogy and the Plantagenet series. In addition, she wrote four medieval ...
's 1995 novel, ''When Christ and His Saints Slept''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshal, John
12th-century English people
1100s births
1165 deaths
English soldiers
People from Hamstead Marshall
People from Marlborough, Wiltshire
People from Newbury, Berkshire
Lord Marshals of England
High Sheriffs of Sussex
High Sheriffs of Yorkshire
English people with disabilities
Royalty and nobility with disabilities
Marshals of England