See also
| Husband: | William VI + of BRAOSE (1255-1326) | |
| Wife: | Elizabeth + of SULLY (1263-1328) | |
| Children: | Alivia + of BRAOSE (1288-1331) | |
| Marriage | 1275 | England |
| Name: | William VI + of BRAOSE | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | William V + of BRAOSE (1244-1290) | |
| Mother: | Aline + of MULTON (1240- ) | |
| Birth | 1255 | Gower, Glamorganshire, Wales |
| Title | Baron og Braose | |
| Title | Lord of Gower | |
| Title | Lord of Bramber | |
| Occupation | Baron of Braose | |
| Death | 1 May 1326 (age 70-71) | |
| Name: | Elizabeth + of SULLY | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | Raymond + of SULLY (1245-1317) | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 1263 | Glamorganshire, Wales |
| Death | 24 Aug 1328 (age 64-65) | |
| Name: | Alivia + of BRAOSE | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Spouse: | John + (1286-1321) | |
| Birth | 1288 | Gower, Glamorganshire, Wales |
| Death | 20 Jul 1331 (age 42-43) | |
William de Braose, (sometimes William de Briouze, William de Breuse, William de Brewes or William de Brewose) was the first Baron Braose, as well as Lord of Gower and Lord of Bramber.[1]
Braose was the son of John de Braose, the Lord of Bramber and Gower and John's wife Margaret, the daughter of Llywelyn the Great, prince of Gwynedd. His father was dead in 1232, before 18 July, when William became lord of his father's properties. William came of age before 15 July 1245. He served King Henry III of England and Henry's son Edward I as a councilor and in various councils. In April and May 1292, he was summoned to Parliament, as Lord Braose.[1]
He married three times. The first was Aline, daughter of Thomas de Multon. His second wife was Agnes, daughter of Nicholas de Moeles. His third wife was Mary, daughter of William de Ros. He died at Findon in Sussex shortly before 6 January 1291. His son, William de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose, by his first wife, succeeded
Braose was the son of William de Braose, 1st Baron Braose and his first wife, Aline, daughter of Thomas de Multon.[1] He was likely born around 1260, as his age was given as about 46 in 1307. Other events prove that he was born prior to 1264, as he was captured in that year. This came about during the Second Barons' War (1264–1267) during the reign of King Henry III of England, as the elder Braose had sided with the king during Simon de Montfort's rebellion. The younger Braose was a hostage in the custody of Montfort's wife, Eleanor. Her household accounts include expenses related to the younger William's care.[2]
In 1286 Braose was in the king's service, for unspecified duties overseas. It is possible that these included accompanying the king, Edward I, to Paris where Edward performed homage to the new French king, Philip IV, for Edward's French lands.[2] Braose played a significant role in King Edward's Welsh wars. In the winter of 1287-8 he commanded the force blockading Emlyn castle. His men also provided the escort for the transport of a huge siege engine from Dryslwyn to Emlyn. The arrival of the engine, with 480 great stones as ammunition, persuaded the defenders of the castle to surrender peaceably.[3]
[edit] Marcher BaronThe younger Braose succeeded his father before 1 March 1291, when he did homage for his father's lands.[1] He received custody of his father's lands on 2 March 1291, which had been placed into the custody of Robert de Tibetot on 12 January 1291.[4] He was summoned a number of times to Parliament from 1291 until 1322 as Baron Braose. He was the second Baron Braose, as well as Lord of Gower and Lord of Bramber.[1]
After his father's death, Braose continued to serve Edward. He contributed both money and personal military service in Edward's wars in Wales, Scotland, and France. In 1297 he took part in a military campaign in Flanders. As a reward for his service in Flanders, he received the wardship of John de Mowbray, who Braose eventually married to his daughter Aline. He further served the king in 1301, when he signed a letter from the leading barons of England to Pope Boniface VIII in which the barons decried papal interference in the royal rights of England.[2]
Braose captured the Welsh rebel William Cragh in 1290, whose miraculous resurrection after being hanged was attributed to Thomas de Cantilupe.[5] This led in 1307 to Braose giving testimony to papal commissioners inquiring into the events surrounding Cragh's hanging and whether or not it would support the canonization of Cantilupe.[6]
It was most likely Braose who commissioned a condensed copy of Domesday Book, now Public Record Office manuscript E164/1. This copy has a marginal notation of "Br" next to the estates owned by Braose's ancestor, the first William de Braose.[7]
Braose was embroiled in a dispute over his lordship of Gower in 1299 when the Bishop of Llandaff, John de Monmouth, brought a case against Braose to the king. Although the case was adjudicated in 1302, the resulting decision was overturned. In 1304 Braose secured King Edward's confirmation of earlier grants and charters granting Braose special rights and liberties in Gower. He managed this because he was serving the king in Scotland at the time, and thus had easy access to the king. In 1305, however, Braose miscalculated and insulted a royal judge, which caused the case of Gower to be reopened in 1306, and he was only able to settle the issue again by the grant of rights to his men in Swansea and Gower.[8]
In 1320 King Edward II of England confiscated the lordship of Gower on the grounds that Braose had given it to his son-in-law Mowbray without royal permission. Over the preceding years Braose had promised Gower to a number of persons, including Hugh Despenser, who persuaded the king in 1320 to take Gower. Despenser wanted Gower for himself. The other lords in the Welsh Marches resented this seizure, feeling that the king's excuse for it was not applicable. The seizure was one of the precipitating causes of the baronial rebellion that led to the exile of the Despensers in 1321.[9] The lordship of Gower eventually ended up in the hands of the Beauchamp family, but it was not until the 1350s that the issue was decided.[10]
[edit] Marriage, death, and legacyThe name of Braose's first wife was Agnes,[11] but her family is not known. His second wife was Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Raymund de Sully. He had two daughters with his first wife, but no children with his second wife, who outlived him.[1] It appears that there was a son named William, who was the subject of a military summons from King Edward in 1311, but nothing further is mentioned of him after 1315. In 1316 a settlement of the William the father's estates made no mention of this son, it is likely that the son died before this date.[12]
Braose died not long before 1 May 1326 and his heirs were his daughters Aline and Joan. Aline married John de Mowbray and Richard de Peschale. Joan married James de Bohun and Richard Foliot. Mowbray received the lands of Gower and Bramber before Braose's death.[1]
Braose was known as a man often in debt and as being unable to manage his cash flow well.[12] Thomas Walsingham stated in his chronicle that Braose was "very rich by descent but a dissipater of the property left to him".[13]