Hugh de Morville, Lord of Westmorland
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Sir Hugh de Morville (died c. 1173) 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 ...
knight who served King Henry II of
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 ...
in the late 12th century. He is chiefly famous as one of the assassins of
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 ...
, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. He held the title Lord of
Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
and of Knaresborough; his father was Hugh de Morville,
Constable of Scotland The Lord High Constable is a hereditary, now ceremonial, office of Scotland. In the order of precedence of Scotland, the office traditionally ranks above all titles except those of the Royal Family.p60-61, Bruce, Alistair, Keepers of the King ...
.


Westmorland

Hugh is thought to have been his father's eldest son. He appears in the service of King Henry from 1158.
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
historian Geoffrey W. S. Barrow identifies two charters were given by the younger Hugh in his capacity as Lord of Westmorland, one being read aloud to his court at his castle of Appleby on the upper River Eden. One of the witnesses was Harvard de Malnurs, Constable of
Knaresborough Castle Knaresborough Castle is a ruined fortress overlooking the River Nidd in the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. History The castle was first built by a Norman baron in on a cliff above the River Nidd. There is documentary eviden ...
. Malnurs' rare surname may refer to a hamlet in the northern French province of
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
, now called La Malnoyere at La Rouaudière. Reginald de Beauchamp, who witnessed both charters, maybe a relative of Hugh's mother Beatrice, daughter of Roger de Beauchamp of Bedford. Another mentioned, Peter de Lacelas, appears to be a kinsman of Gerard de Lacelles and his son Alan, who was firmly established as tenants of the de Morville's in Westmorland. Alan de Lascelles was captured with his lord at the siege of
Alnwick Castle Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a G ...
in July 1174. Lascelles has a Beauchamp rather than a Morville association, for Loucelles, whence the name was derived, is one of a small group of parishes between Bayeux and Caen from which the Beauchamps of
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
drew their vassals of knightly rank.


Becket's murder – excommunication and exile

Hugh de Morville and three other of King Henry II's knights,
Reginald Fitzurse Sir Reginald FitzUrse (1145–1173) was one of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket in 1170. His name is derived from ''Fitz'', the Anglo-Norman French term meaning "son of" and ''urse'' meaning a bear, probable the ''nom de guerre'' of his ...
,
William de Tracy Sir William de Tracy (died ) was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with '' caput'' at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to th ...
, and
Richard le Breton Sir Richard le Breton or Richard de Brito (fl. 1170) was one of the four knights who in 1170 murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Origins Roger Brito is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as holding land under the overlordship o ...
(or de Briton), plotted
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 ...
's murder after interpreting the king's angry words (supposedly "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?") as a command. They assassinated the archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170. After Henry advised them to flee to
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, they subsequently took refuge in de Morville's
Knaresborough Castle Knaresborough Castle is a ruined fortress overlooking the River Nidd in the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. History The castle was first built by a Norman baron in on a cliff above the River Nidd. There is documentary eviden ...
. Hugh de Morville, Richard de Brito, and
William de Tracy Sir William de Tracy (died ) was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with '' caput'' at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to th ...
built a church at
Alkborough Alkborough is a parish of 458 people in 192 households (2011 census) in North Lincolnshire, England, located near the northern end of The Cliff range of hills overlooking Trent Falls, the confluence of the River Trent and the River Ouse. Al ...
, near
Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...
in today's
North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Bar ...
, where, until 1690, an inscribed stone on the
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...
recorded the benefaction. This benefaction failed to impress Pope Alexander III, however, who excommunicated Tracy and the other murderers on
Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the ...
, 25 March 1171. Tracy paid
scutage Scutage is a medieval English tax levied on holders of a knight's fee under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Under feudalism the king, through his vassals, provided land to knights for their support. The knights owed the king military s ...
on his lands in 1171 and set out for
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
after the end of September but before Henry II's expedition to
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in October. The departure of Hugh de Morville and the other knights to Rome was delayed until two of them, FitzUrse and de Morville, had taken part in the rebellion against the king in 1173–74. The Archbishop's murderers finally gained their audience with the Pope, who, despite their penitence, decreed they should be exiled and fight "in knightly arms in The Temple for 14 years" in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, and after the given time return to Rome.


Vassal of Richard I of England

A Hugh de Morville, son of Simon and nephew of Hugh the Murderer, appears in the service of the Crusader King
Richard I 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 ...
in the 1190s. He stood hostage for Richard in 1194 when the king had been captured by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. The German poet
Ulrich von Zatzikhoven Ulrich von Zatzikhoven was the author of the Middle High German Arthurian romance ''Lanzelet''. Ulrich's name and his place of origin (''Zezikon'' in Switzerland) are only known definitively from the work itself. However, it is generally accepted ...
wrote that a ''Huc von Morville'' brought with him the French language sourcebook for his romance ''
Lanzelet ''Lanzelet'' is a medieval romance written by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven after 1194. It is the first treatment of the Lancelot tradition in German, and contains the earliest known account of the hero's childhood with the Lady of the Lake-like fig ...
'' ('' Lancelot''). Dahood finds it improbable that Hugh of Knaresborough was the same individual.


Death and burial

Sir
William de Tracy Sir William de Tracy (died ) was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with '' caput'' at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to th ...
's journey east is confirmed by Romwald, Archbishop of Salerno, and
Roger of Hoveden Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...
, who report that the Pope instructed the knights, once their duties were fulfilled, to visit the holy places barefoot and in hair shirts and then to live alone for the rest of their lives on the Black Mountain near
Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
, spending their time in vigil, prayer, and lamentation. Romwald continues that, after their deaths, the bodies of the knights were buried at
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
before the door of the temple, though this does not conform exactly to the tradition that the murderers were buried under the portico in front of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque Al-Aqsa Mosque (, ), also known as Jami' Al-Aqsa () or as the Qibli Mosque ( ar, المصلى القبلي, translit=al-Muṣallā al-Qiblī, label=none), and also is a congregational mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is situate ...
, which was the
refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...
of the Knights Templar.Sudeley pp. 90–91 Another tradition is that the bodies of the knights were returned to the island of
Brean Down Brean Down is a promontory off the coast of Somerset, England, standing high and extending into the Bristol Channel at the eastern end of Bridgwater Bay between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea. Made of Carboniferous Limestone, it is a ...
, off the coast of
Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
, and buried there. The lordship of Westmorland passed to Hugh's sister (some sources say niece), Maud, in 1174; she held the lands until Hugh's expiation.


Notes


References

*Barrow, Geoffrey W. S., "Some Problems in 12th and 13th century Scottish History - a Genealogical Approach", in ''The Scottish Genealogist'', Vol. XXV, no. 4, December 1978. . *Lacy, Norris J. (1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. . *Vincent, Nicholas. (2004) ''Becket's Murderers''. Canterbury: The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral. . Available at: http://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/publications/4590809431. *von Zatzikhoven, Ulrich; Kerth, Thomas (translator), ''Lanzelet'',
Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
, 2005. {{short description, 12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman and assassin of Thomas Becket 12th-century births 1202 deaths 12th-century English people 13th-century English people 12th-century murderers Anglo-Normans Christians of the Third Crusade English assassins Norman warriors Medieval assassins Medieval English knights People from Westmorland People temporarily excommunicated by the Catholic Church Thomas Becket