Ref:

(1) Monasticon- St. Augstine's Monastery, Canterbury- Vol. LIX, p. 144
(2) Ibid- Hurley Priory, Bershire- Vol. I, p. 433
(3) Liber Eliensis- D.J. Stewart, Ed., London, 1848- Vol. I, II, 121, p. 257
(4) Pieces Justificatives- Delisle, 1867- 46, p. 55

The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families- Lewis Christopher Loyd, Charles Travis Clay, David Charles Douglas, Harleian Society, Vol. 103
Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700- Frederick Lewis Weis
Dictionary of National Biography- Leslie Stephen, Ed., Oxford University Press
The Complete Peerage- St. Catherine Press, London- Vol. V, p. 114
Domesday People- K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Boydell Press, 1999- pp.226-7

m. MARGARET de RYE - (m.2. c.1116, Ottiwell) d. of Eudes de Rie, Dapifer de Normandie and Rohese FitzRichard de Clare

William was from Great Waltham, Essex. His wife was supposedly Margaret, daughter and heir of Eoun de Rie, dapifer of Colchester, however, the The Complete Peerage states that this was most likely erroneous. Although the "Genealogia Fundatoris" of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, names "Margareta" as daughter of "Eudoni dapifero Regis Normanniae" adding that she married "Willielmo de Mandavill" by whom she was mother of "Gaufridi filli comitis Essexiae et iure matris Normanniae dapifer".(1) In 1142 the Empress gave to Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, "totam terram que fuit Eudonis Dapiferi in Normannia et Dapiferum ipsius. Et hec reddo ei ut rectum suum ut habeat et teneat hereditabiliterita ne ponatur inde in placitum versus aliquem. Et si dominus meus Comes Andegavie et ego voluerimus Comes Gaufredus accipiet pro dominiis et terris quas habet eschaetis et pro servicio militum quod habet totam terram que fuit Eudonis Dapiferi in Anglia sicut tenuit ea die qua fuit et vivus et mortuus quia hoc est rectum suum." (4). Round considers that "the fact that this [Eudo's] fief escheated to the Crown [in the Pipe Roll for 31 Henry I], instead of passing to the Mandevilles with the Dapifer's alleged daughter, is directly opposed to a story [viz., "the received statement that Geoffrey was maternally a grandson of the Dapifer, whose daughter and heiress Margaret had married his father William"] which has no foundation of its own."(5) The Genealogia Fundatoris appears to be the only authority for the paternity or even the name of William's wife. Round concludes that the relationship between Eoun and Geoffrey was "probably collateral instead of lineal". Eoun had two brothers and a least one sister each who left male heirs living in 1142.

Margaret's second marriage to Ottiwell is suggested by a charter dated 1141/2 in which Empress Matilda made grants of property including a grant to "Willelmo filio Otuel fratri... Comitis Gaufredi". The only contemporary Ottiwell who has been identified was Ottiwell FitzHugh, the illigitimate son of Hugh, Earl of Chester.(2)

C.W. Hollister in his article in History agrues that William DID marry a daughter of Eoun de Rie and states that the Genealogia Fundatoris is supported by contemporary circumstantial evidence in particular to Eoun's land being Geoffrey's by right, implies that he was Eoun's heir.(6) Hollister argues that the reason that Eoun's lands were still in the king's hand in 1130 was due to the conflict between the claims of Geoffrey de Mandeville and Ottiwell's son, William fitz Othuer. Issue-

Ref:

(1) Monasticon- Dugdale- Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire- Vol.III, p.l 269
(2) Geoffrey de Mandeville, a Study of the Anarchy- J.H. Round, 1892- p. 169
(3) Ibid-
(4) Ibid- p. 167
(5) Ibid- p. 173
(6) The Misfortunes of the Mandevilles- C. Warren Hollister, in History- Vol. 58 (1973) pp. 18-28

Domesday Descendants- K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Boydell Press, 2002- p. 568
Dictionary of National Biography- Leslie Stephen, Ed., Oxford University Press
The Complete Peerage- St. Catherine Press, London- Vol. V, p. 113

m.1. ?
2. ROHESE de VERE (m.2. Payne de Beauchamp, Lord Beford, d. after 1166), d. of Aubrey de Vere II and Adelisa de Clare
d.c. 16 Sept. 1144 Mildenhall, Suffolk
bur. New Temple, London

The Genealogia Fundatoris of Tintern Abbey names "Gaufridi filii comitis Essexiae et iure matris Normanniae dapifer" as son of "Willielmo de Mandavill" and his wife "Margareta".(1)

Geoffrey was one of the prominent players during the reign of King Stephen of England. His biographer, the 19th-century historian J. H. Round, called him "the most perfect and typical presentment of the feudal and anarchic spirit that stamps the reign of Stephen." That characterization has been disputed in the twentieth century.

He succeeded his father, William, sometime before 1130. In the Pipe Roll for 31 Henry I, Geoffrey de Mandeville rendered an account for �866 13s. 4d. for his father's lands, and had paid �133 6s. 8d. A key portion of the family patrimony was in the King's hands, as William had incurred Henry I's displeasure and lost them. The office of constable of the Tower of London was taken from the family, which had held it since its inception by William the Conqueror, Geoffrey's grandfather of the same name being appointed the first constable. The King also held the substantial estate of Geoffrey's maternal grandfather Eudo dapifer to which Geoffrey laid claim.

Geoffrey's goal in the early years of strife between Stephen and Empress Matilda seems to have been to recover these lost lands. He succeeded in this, during the shifting tides of fortunes of the two competitors for the English throne, by bidding his support to first one, then the other.

He started out supporting King Stephen, who sometime in 1140 (or perhaps December 1139) made him Earl of Essex in reward for his services against Empress Matilda. In 1140 or 1141 Stephen returned to him the seized estates in Essex. In 1141 he was also appointed custodian of the Tower of London.

The Tower of London

After the defeat and capture of Stephen at Lincoln in 1141, the Earl, like many barons, acknowledged Matilda as his sovereign lady. She confirmed his custody of the Tower, forgave the large debts his father had incurred to the crown, granted him the Norman lands of Eudo Dapifer, and appointed him sheriff of Essex, Middlesex and London, and Hertfordshire, and granted him 100 librates of land and the service of 20 knights. But before the end of the year, learning that Stephen's release was imminent, he returned to his original allegiance. By Christmas 1141 he had a charter from the King of 400 librates of land, custory of the Tower, the offices of chief Justice and Sheriff and 60 knights! In 1142 he may have been intriguing with the Empress as he rebelled (he extorted from the Empress a charter confirming all the lands and grants from herself and the King and giving him the lands and office of Eoun Dapifer) when he was deprived of his castles by the King in 1143. There has been a serious debate over the dating of the charters he received from Stephen and Matilda. Depending on the order and timing of those, Geoffrey appears to have either been playing off one against the other to get what he wanted or was courted by the rival claimants to the throne for his support. There is debate on the dating of Maud's second charter and that it should be dated between 25 July and 1 Aug. 1141 rather than 1142 therefore there is no reason to believe that Geoffrey joined the Empress after returning to the King's at Christmas 1141.(2)

In 1143-1144 Geoffrey maintained himself as a rebel and a bandit in the fen-country, using the Isle of Ely and Ramsey Abbey as his headquarters. He sacked Cambridge and besieged Burwell Castle, Cambridgeshire. He was besieged by Stephen and met his death in September 1144 in consequence of an arrow wound received in a skirmish, although Dr. Keaths-Rohan states that he may have survived by a few years after this time. Denied burial because he died excommunicate, his body was wrapped in lead and taken to the Templar community in London. He was buried in the Temple Church in London and an effigy was placed on the floor, where it still can be seen today.

His career is interesting for two reasons. The charters which he received from King Stephen and Empress Matilda illustrate the peculiar form taken by the ambitions of English feudatories. The most important concessions are grants of offices and jurisdictions which had the effect of making Mandeville almost a viceroy with full powers in Essex, Middlesex and London, and Hertfordshire, but these were based on offices and jurisdictions his ancestors had held. His career as an outlaw exemplifies the worst excesses of the civil wars of 1140-1147, and it is possible that the deeds of Mandeville inspired the rhetorical description, in the Peterborough Chronicle of this period, when "men said openly that Christ and his saints were asleep." He had seized Ramsey Abbey (near Peterborough) in 1143, expelling the monks and using Ramsey as a base for forays into the surrounding region.

Issue-

Ref:

(1) Monasticon- Dugdale, Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire- Vol. III, p. 269 (2) English Historical Review- R.H.C. Davis- Vol. 79 (1964), pp. 299-307

Domesday Descendants- Katherine Keats-Rohan, Boydell Press, 2002- p. 681
The Misfortunes of the Mandevilles- C. Warren Hollister, in History- Vol. 58 (1973) pp. 18-23
The Treason of Geoffrey de Mandeville- R.H.C. Davis, J.O. Prestwich, in The English Historical Review- Vol. 103, No. 407 (1988), pp. 283-317; also Prestwich Geoffrey de Mandeville: A Further Comment- ibid No. 409, pp. 960-6; also Prestwich & Davis Last Words on Geoffrey de Mandeville- ibid Vol. 104, No. 416, pp. 670-2
Geoffrey de Mandeville, A Study of the Anarchy- J.H. Round, London, 1892
Knight in Anarchy- George Shipway, Cox & Wyman, London, 1969

b.c.1134
m. MAUD de MANDEVILLE (b.c.1138 Pleshey, Essex, m.2. Hugh de Bocland of Buckland (d.1175))
bur. 8 May 1198 Church of St. Swithin, Winchester, Hampshire

Piers became a monk late in life and his son Geoffrey moved his body from the monks' cemetery to the church.

Issue-

Ref:

The Complete Peerage- St. Catherine Press, London- Vol. V, p. 122 footnote

b.c.1162
m.1. c.1189 BEATRICE de SAY- (d. before 19 Apr. 1197), d. of William de Say and Beatrice de Mandeville
2. c.1204 Aveline de Clare- (m.1. William de Munchanesy of Swanscombe, Kent), d. of Roger de Clare, Earl of Hertford
d. 2 Oct. 1213

Geoffrey was the Sheriff of Northamptonshire from 1184 until 1189. By his marriage to Beatrice, daughter and co-heiress of William de Say he received a share of the de Say inheritance and the earldom of Essex and became the 4th Earl of Essex. As the earldom was associated with Beatrice's Mandeville heritage it was inherited by Henry de Bohun, the husband of Maud, instead of Maud's half-brother John.

When Richard I left on crusade, he appointed Geoffrey one of the five judges of the king's court, and thus a principal advisor to Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham, who, as Chief Justiciar, was one of the regents during the king's absence. Late in 1189, Geoffrey's wife's cousin William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex died, leaving no direct heirs. His wife's inheritance was disputed between Geoffrey and his in-laws, but Geoffrey used his political influence to eventually obtain the Mandeville lands (but not the earldom, which was left open) for himself.

On 11 July 1198, King Richard appointed Geoffrey Chief Justiciar, which at that time effectively made him the king's principal minister. He continued in this capacity after the accession of king John until his death on October 14, 1213. On his coronation day the new king also recognized Geoffrey as Earl of Essex.(1)

"Gaufridus filius Petri comes Essex" donated the chapel of St. Peter, Drayton to York Cathedral by and undated charter.(2) For a history of this lovely church go to: http://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/east-drayton/hhistory.php . I particularly enjoyed the story about the "cake rings".

St Peter's Church- East Drayton, Nottinghamshire

The Annals of Waverley records his death in 1213: "Gaufridus filius Petri comes de Essexe et justitiarius totius Angliae".(3)

Issue- first six children by Beatrice, last four by Aveline

Ref:

(1) Florentii Wigomensis Monachi Chronicon, Continuatio- p. 164
(2) Monasticon VI.3, St. Peter's Cathedral, York- LXXXIV, p. 1191
(3) Annales de Waverleia- p. 273; see also Monasticon IV, Walden Abbey, Essex, I, Fundationis Historia- pp.139-40 (4) Selden Society- Vol. 111 (1996), p. 89

Handbook of British Chronology- F. Maurice Powicke, E.B. Fryde, Royal Historical Society, London, 1961- p. 70
The Magna Charta Barons and Their American Descendants- Charles Henry Browning, 1898- pp. 436-7