Robert Marmion, 3rd

Baron Marmion There have been four different baronies held by the Marmion family, two feudal baronies, one purported barony created by Simon de Montfort and one barony by writ. Feudal barony of Tamworth The first feudal barony was obtained by Roger Marmion ...

of Tamworth (died 1218) was an

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

itinerant justice An eyre or iter, sometimes called a general eyre, was the name of a circuit travelled by an itinerant justice in medieval England (a justice in eyre), or the circuit court over which they presided, or the right of the monarch (or justices acting ...

. He was reputed to have been the

King's Champion The Honourable The King's (or Queen's) Champion is an honorary and hereditory office in the Royal Household of the British sovereign. The champion's original role at the coronation of a British monarch was to challenge anyone who contested the n ...

but his grandson, Phillip, is the first Marmion to have a solid claim to this. Robert was descended from the lords of Fontenay-le-Marmion in Normandy, who are said to have been hereditary champions of the

Dukes of Normandy In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles III in 911. In 924 and again in 933, Normandy ...

Career

Marmion first appears as a justiciar at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Sheriff of Worcestershire This is a list of sheriffs and since 1998 high sheriffs of Worcestershire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the ...

. He was an

for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in 1187-1188,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in 1187–1192,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

in 1187–1194,

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

in 1188–1190,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

in 1189,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1189–1191 and 1193, and

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in 1194. Marmion had taken the vow to join the

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

, but had bought his way out of it. In 1195 he was with

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

in Normandy, and in 1197 witnessed the treaty between Richard and Baldwin of Flanders. During the early years of

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

's reign he was in attendance on the king in Normandy. In 1204-1205 he was again one of the justices before whom fines were levied. He sided with the barons against the king, but after John's death rejoined the royal party under the nine-year old Henry III. He gave a mill at

Barston Barston is a village and civil parish in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands of England. It is approximately 4 miles (6.5 km) east of Solihull and is located inside a large meander of the River Blythe, at the western edg ...

, Warwickshire, to the

Templars , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

, and was a benefactor of

Kirkstead Abbey Kirkstead Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Kirkstead, Lincolnshire, England. The monastery was founded in 1139 by Hugh Brito, (or Hugh son of Eudo), lord of Tattershall, and was originally colonised by an abbot and twelve monks from Fo ...

, Lincolnshire. Marmion died before 15 May 1218, whereupon his lands were placed in the custody of his younger son Robert Marmion the Younger until such time as his older brother Robert Marmion the Elder dropped his support of the rebel barons and came into the King's peace.

Family and descendants

Marmion first married Matilda/Maud, daughter of William de Beauchamp of Elmley, with whom he had the following issue: * Robert the Elder (d.1241), of Tamworth, Scrivelsby and Normandy. * Mabel m. Hugh de Say of

Richard's Castle Richard's Castle is a village, castle and two civil parishes on the border of the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire in England. The Herefordshire section of the parish had a population of 250 at the 2011 Census. The Shropshire section o ...

* daughter m. William de Lizures and secondly, to Philippa, who bore him: * Robert the Younger, of Winteringham, Coningsby and Tanfield. *

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 ...

, of Torrington and Normandy. Palmer claimed that he had at least the following three additional sons: * Geoffrey, * Phllip (d. 1276) * Manasser (aka Manser or Mauncer) but no supporting evidence was quoted. Banks identified Geoffrey as actually being the son of Robert's eldest son and cited the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

as evidence. Manasser is recorded as being the son of a Sir William Marmion in evidence submitted by the Marmion family of Galby and Keisby at the National Archives and this is confirmed by various petitions. Seeing as there is evidence to suggest that the identification of Geoffrey and Manasser as sons of Robert is dubious it also seems likely that Philip is also misplaced and that Robert had just three sons, i.e. Robert the elder, Robert the younger and William.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marmion, Robert Year of birth unknown 1218 deaths 12th-century English landowners 13th-century English landowners Medieval English knights High Sheriffs of Worcestershire People from Calvados (department) Anglo-Normans English people of French descent English people of Belgian descent People from Tamworth (district)