Roger le Strange, Baron Strange, also known as, Roger Lestrange or Roger Strange (died 31 July 1311), Lord of Ellesmere, was an English knight, commander and royal advisor.

Life

Role in Wales

The second son of John Lestrange and his wife Lucy, daughter of Robert of Tregoz, he was given land taken by

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

from rebels in the

Second Barons' War The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of King Henry III, led initially by the king himself and later by his son, the fut ...

. From May 1270 to October 1274 he was

Sheriff of Yorkshire 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 responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...

, but the focus of his activities was in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Due to his local knowledge of the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

he was an important advisor to

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

during his

conquest of Wales The conquest of Wales by Edward I took place between 1277 and 1283. It is sometimes referred to as the Edwardian Conquest of Wales,Examples of historians using the term include Professor J. E. Lloyd, regarded as the founder of the modern academi ...

. During Edward's first campaign in 1277 he was put in charge of

Oswestry Castle Oswestry Castle is a England in the Middle Ages, medieval castle in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. The castle has also been known as, or recorded in historical documents as: ''Album Monasterium; Blancminster; Blankmouster; Blancmustier ...

Dinas Bran Dinas may refer to: Places England * Dinas, an area of Padstow, Cornwall * Castle an Dinas, St Columb Major, an Iron Age hillfort at the summit of Castle Downs, Cornwall * Treryn Dinas, a headland near Treen, on the Penwith peninsula, Cornwa ...

Builth Builth Wells (; cy, Llanfair-ym-Muallt) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of ...

and

Montgomery Castle Montgomery Castle ( cy, Castell Trefaldwyn) is a stone-built castle looking over the town of Montgomery in Powys, Mid Wales. It is one of many Norman castles on the border between Wales and England. Its strategic importance in the Welsh March ...

- the Welsh inhabitants living near these castles regarded him as a tyrant. Roger played a major part in the 1282-83 campaign and on 30 October 1282 succeeded

Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer of Wigmore (1231 – 27 October 1282), of Wigmore Castle in Herefordshire, was a marcher lord who was a loyal ally of King Henry III of England and at times an enemy, at times an ally, of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, ...

as the English commander in mid-Wales. On 11 December, he fought at the

battle of Orewin Bridge The Battle of Orewin Bridge (also known as the Battle of Irfon Bridge) was fought between English (led by the Marcher Lords) and Welsh armies on 11 December 1282 near Builth Wells in mid-Wales. It was a decisive defeat for the Welsh because ...

, in which Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was killed - Lestrange wrote the letter informing Edward of his death. From 1283, he took part in the siege and capture of

Castell y Bere Castell y Bere is a Welsh castle near Llanfihangel-y-pennant in Gwynedd, Wales. Constructed by Llywelyn the Great in the 1220s, the stone castle was intended to maintain his authority over the local people and to defend the south-west part of ...

. In 1284, he took part in Edward's castle-building campaign in north Wales. In 1287, he took part in the suppression of

Rhys ap Maredudd Rhys ap Maredudd ( 1250 – 2 June 1292) was a senior member of the Welsh royal house of Deheubarth, a principality of Medieval Wales. He was the great grandson of The Lord Rhys (died 1197), prince of south Wales, and the last ruler of a unit ...

's revolt and the siege of

Dryslwyn Castle Dryslwyn Castle ( cy, Castell y Drysllwyn) is a native Welsh castle, sited on a rocky hill roughly halfway between Llandeilo and Carmarthen in Wales. It stands on high ground overlooking the Tywi Valley with extensive views. It was built in about ...

, as well as the suppression of the 1294 Welsh uprising under

Madog ap Llywelyn Madog ap Llywelyn (died after 1312) was the leader of the Welsh revolt of 1294–95 against English rule in Wales and proclaimed "Prince of Wales". The revolt was surpassed in longevity only by the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in the 15th century. M ...

and the 1295 Gascogny and 1297 Flanders campaigns. On 21 October 1283, he was transferred to the role of

justiciar 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 equivalent ...

of the "Forest south of the

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

", which he held until 12 February 1297.

Marriages

Roger's first marriage was to Maud, widow of Roger II de Mowbray, 6th Baron Mowbray (died 1266), younger brother of

William de Mowbray William de Mowbray (–), lord of Thirsk and Mowbray, was a Norman Lord and English noble who was one of the twenty-five executors of '' Magna Carta''. He was described as being as small as a dwarf but very generous and valiant. Family origin W ...

, signatory of

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

. After her death, he was allowed to hold her lands and property until her children came of age in 1278. On the death of his brother,

Hamo le Strange Hamo le Strange, Heimon Lestrange, Hamo L'Estrange or Hamo Extraneus (died late in 1272 or early 1273) was an English Crusader. His surname means ''the Foreigner''. By marriage to Isabella of Beirut he was Lord of Beirut in the Kingdom of Jerusalem ...

, without issue in 1272 or 1273 Roger inherited

Ellesmere, Shropshire Ellesmere ( ) is a town in Shropshire, England, located near the Welsh border and the towns of Oswestry, Whitchurch and Wrexham. It is notable for its proximity to a number of prominent Meres. History Ellesmere Castle was probably an 11th- ...

and other lands. His second wife Eleanor died in 1280 and in 1307 he married his third wife, another Maud.

Later life

In 1291 he was sent as an envoy to

pope Nicolas IV Pope Nicholas IV ( la, Nicolaus IV; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292), born Girolamo Masci, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be ele ...

, only returning in 1292. He was summoned to several meetings of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and the royal counsel and in 1295 he was given the title

Baron Strange Baron Strange is a title which has been created four times in the Peerage of England. Two creations, one in 1295 and another in 1326, had only one holder each, upon whose deaths they became extinct. Two of the creations, that of 1299 and that ...

. Despite his contribution to the conquest of Wales, he did not have a fiefdom or lordship there, although he had hoped to rule

Maelor Saesneg English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...

in north Wales.Rees R. Davies: ''The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063–1415''. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford 1991; , S. 363. He served in the royal household as a knight for many years but he was already recorded as being sick in 1298 - Edward decreed in 1306 that he was so indebted to him for his service that he would attend his funeral. He undertook several further smaller missions for the king and was one of the signatories of the barons' letter to the pope in 1301. He died without surviving issue in 1311 after a long illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lestrange, Roger 1311 deaths 13th-century births High Sheriffs of Yorkshire 13th century in Wales R R