William of Mortain (bef. 1084–aft. 1140) was

Count of Mortain The County of Mortain was a medieval county in France centered on the town of Mortain. A choice landholding, usually either kept within the family of the duke of Normandy (or the king of France) or granted to a noble in return for service and fa ...

and the 3rd Earl of Cornwall.

Life

William was the son of

Robert, Count of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hast ...

, the half-brother of

William I of England William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

and Maud de Montgomery, daughter of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Mabel de Bellême. William was born before 1084. From childhood, he harboured a bitter dislike for his cousin

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

,Among the reasons for intensely disliking Henry I, almost certainly included his mother's family, specifically his uncles Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury,

Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury (died 1098), was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat and member of the House of Bellême. He was also known as Hugh the Red. Life He was the second surviving son of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury ...

, Arnulf of Montgomery, and Roger the Poitevin who were all devout enemies of Henry. They had all been dispossessed of their English holdings and exiled from England shortly after Henry became king. See: J. F. A. Mason, 'Roger de Montgomery and His Sons (1067-1102)', ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 5th series vol. 13 (1963), pp. 1-28. and proudly demanded from him not only his father's earldoms of Mortain and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, but his uncle Odo, Bishop of Bayeux's Earldom of Kent. Clues to the character of William are to be found in the Hyde Chronicle, calling him "incorrigibly turbulent" and in William of Malmesbury's depiction of William as having "shameless arrogance." The king kept putting off William's demands for the earldom of Kent and instead offered him the hand of Mary of Scotland, Queen Matilda's sister, which William promptly rejected.C. Warren Hollister, ''Henry I'' (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2003), p. 182 Henry in turn gave her in marriage to Eustace III, Count of Boulogne. Henry continued to stall William's demands until he had dealt with the Montgomerys, William's uncles, and exiled them from England. Henry then removed lands in Cornwall from William he had allegedly misappropriated, after which William angrily left for Normandy joining forces with Robert Curthose. In Normandy William attacked several of Henry's holdings giving the king ample reasons to strip William of all his English honours. He was captured with Duke Robert at the

Battle of Tinchebrai The Battle of Tinchebray (alternative spellings: Tinchebrai or Tenchebrai) took place on 28 September 1106, in Tinchebray (today in the Orne ''département'' of France), Normandy, between an invading force led by King Henry I of England, and th ...

(1106) and stripped of Mortain. William was imprisoned for many years in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

, and in 1140 became a

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

Bermondsey Abbey Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as being founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early eighth century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermond ...

, just across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

from the Tower of London.George Edward Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant, Vol. III, Ed. Vicary Gibbs (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., London. 1913), pp. 428-9

Notes

References

{{s-end 11th-century births 1140s deaths 11th-century English nobility 12th-century English nobility Counts of Mortain Earls of Cornwall (1068 creation) Medieval Cornish people Year of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain