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- William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke (died 18 May 1296), born Guillaume de Lusignan, was a French nobleman and knight who became important in English politics due to his relationship to King Henry III of England. He was heavily involved in the Second Barons' War, supporting the King and Prince Edward against the rebels led by Simon de Montfort. He took the name de Valence after his birthplace, Valence, near Lusignan.
He was the fourth son of Isabella of Angoulême, widow of John, King of England, and her second husband, Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, and was thus a half-brother to Henry III, and uncle to Edward I. William was born in the Cistercian abbey in Valence [fr], Couhé-Vérac, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, near Lusignan, sometime in the late 1220s (his elder sister Alice was born in 1224).
The French conquest of Poitou in 1246 created great difficulties for William's family, and so he and his brothers, Guy de Lusignan and Aymer, accepted Henry III's invitation to come to England in 1247. The King found important positions for all of them; William was soon married to a great heiress, Joan de Munchensi or Munchensy (c. 1230 – after 20 Sep 1307), the only surviving child of Warin de Munchensi, lord of Swanscombe, and his first wife Joan Marshal, who was one of the five daughters of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke suo jure. As an eventual co-heiress of the Marshal estates, Joan de Munchensi's portion included the castle and lordship of Pembroke and the lordship erected earldom of Wexford in Ireland. The custody of Joan's property was entrusted to her husband, who apparently assumed the lordships of Pembroke and Wexford between 1250 and 1260.
This favoritism to royal relatives was unpopular with many of the English nobility, a discontent which would culminate in the Second Barons' War. It did not take long for William to make enemies in England. From his new lands in South Wales, he tried to regain the palatine rights which had been attached to the Earldom of Pembroke, but his energies were not confined to this. The King heaped lands and honors upon him, and he was soon thoroughly hated as one of the most prominent of the rapacious foreigners. Moreover, some trouble in Wales led to a quarrel between him and Simon de Montfort, who was to become the figurehead for the rebels. He refused to comply with the provisions imposed on the King at Oxford in 1258, and took refuge in Wolvesey Castle at Winchester, where he was besieged and compelled to surrender and leave the country.
However, in 1259 William and de Montfort were formally reconciled in Paris, and in 1261 Valence was again in England and once more enjoying the royal favor. He fought for Henry at the disastrous Battle of Lewes, and after the defeat again fled to France, while de Montfort ruled England. However, by 1265 he was back, landing in Pembrokeshire, and taking part in the Siege of Gloucester and the final royalist victory at Evesham. After the battle he was restored to his estates and accompanied Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I, to Palestine.
From his base in Pembrokeshire he was a mainstay of the English campaigns against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and later Dafydd ap Gruffudd; in the war of 1282–3 that led to the conquest of Wales he negotiated the surrender of one of Dafydd's last remaining castles, Castell-y-Bere, with its custodian, Cynfrig ap Madog. He also went several times to France on public business and he was one of Edward's representatives in the famous suit over the succession to the crown of Scotland in 1291 and 1292.
William de Valence died at Bayonne on the 13 Jun 1296; his body is buried at Westminster Abbey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_de_Valence,_1st_Earl_of_Pembroke
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Medieval Lands:
GUILLAUME de Lusignan "de Valence" ([Cistercian Abbey of Valence, near Lusignan] after 1225-in England [1294/18 May 1296], bur Westminster Abbey). His parentage is stated by Matthew Paris, when he records his visit to England in 1247 to his uterine half-brother King Henry III with his older brother and his sister. Seigneur de Valence, de Montignac, de Bellac, de Rancon et de Champagnac. Matthew Paris records the performance of "Willelmus frater dominus regis uterinus congonomento de Valentia" in a tournament in 1248, and in many other tournaments. He styled himself Lord of Pembroke, but was never invested with the earldom of Pembroke. The testament of "Hugo de Lezignen comes Marchie", dated 8 Aug 1248, appoints as his heirs "Hugonem Brunum comitem Angolisme, Guidonem, Gaufridum, Willelmum de Vallencia, milites, et Ademarum, clericum, filios meos". He joined the crusade in 1250 with King Henry III, the group meeting at Bermondsey 27 Apr. He committed a violent outrage at the manor of the Bishop of Ely at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in 1252. The Annals of Tewkesbury record that “dominus Emerinus electus Wyntoniæ, Willelmus de Walencia, et alii duo…fratres domini regis” refused to swear fidelity to the king in 1258. William of Tyre (Continuation) records his arrival in Palestine 23 Aug 1272. Lieutenant of England 1285. The Annals of Dunstable record that “Willelmus de Walence, patruus domini regis” died in 1295. m (before 13 Aug 1247) JOAN Munchensy, daughter of WARIN Munchensy Lord of Swanscombe & his wife Joan Marshal of Pembroke (-1307 before 20 Sep). The Chronicle of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire names "Johannam" as the daughter of "Warino de Montecaniso" and his wife, adding that she married "domino Willihelmo de Valentia". Matthew Paris names her and her father when he records her marriage. A charter dated 13 Aug 1247 ordered "William de Valence the king’s brother and Joan his wife to have seisin of the lands which belonged to John de Muntchesny of the inheritance of Walter Marshall late Earl of Pembroke, and which after John’s death ought to descend to Joan as his sister and heir".
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ANGOULEME.htm#GuillaumeLusignanValencedied12941296
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Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson, Vol 1 pg 46, 58, 190, 232; Vol 3 pg 124/254/380; Vol 4 pg 48-49/60/61; Vol 5 pg 115
Knt., seigneur of Valence, Montignae, Bellac, Rancon, and Champagnac, Constable of Goodrich and Pembroke Castles, 1247, Warden of the Town and Castle of Hertford, 1247, 1251, Steward of the manors of Stamford and Grantham, Lincolnshire, 1258, Privy Councillor, Contable of Kilgarran Castle, 1275, Seneschal of the Agenois, 1279, Constable and Keeper of Bergavenny Castle, 1281, Constable of Kilgaran Castle, 1282, Guardian and Lieutenant of England, 1285, and, in right of his wife, Lord (or Earl) of Pembroke, and Lord of the Towns of Ross, Carnbothe, andClumene, co. Wexford, Ireland, 4th son of Hugues [X] le Brun (or de Lusignan), Count of la Marche and Angouleme, seigneur of Lusignan, Chateau-Larcher, Montreuil-Bonnin, and la Morthe-Saint-Heray de Lusignan, by Isabel, widow of John, King of England, and daughter and heiress of Ademar III Taillefer, Count of Angouleme. He was born after 1225.
He was the uterine half-brother of King Henry III of England. In 1247 William and his brothers, Guy and Aymer, and their sister, Alice, came to England at the invitation of their half-brother, King Henry III. In 1248 he was granted the manor of Bampton, Oxfordshire by the king. He was appointed joint Ambassador to France in 1249. He took the cross 6 Mar 1250, but did not go to the Holy Land. He was with the king in Aquitaine in 1253-4. He quarreled with Simon de Montfort in the Parliament of 1257. In 1260 he was appointed one of the king's representatives to negotiate a peace with France, and returned to England with Prince Edward about Easter 1261. He was again with the king in France in 1262. In 1263 he served with the king at the Siege of Northampton in April and fought at the Battle of Lewes 14 May. He escaped to Pevensey, and thence to France. In May 1265 he landed in Pembrokeshire with an armed force and joined Edward and Gloucester. He took part in the Siege of Gloucester in June, the attack on Kenilworth 1 Aug, and the Battle of Evesham 4 Aug. He took the cross again 24 Jun 1268. Sometime before 7 Feb 1270 he granted to Nicholas Fit Martin, Knt., his wife, Isabel, and to their heirs 50 marks of yearly rent to be gotten from the lands and tenements which formerly belonged to Peter Fitz Matthew, Knt.; together with all arrears which were owing to him, namely 400 pounds, on account of detinue of 50 marks, whereof he had a grant of the king in 1257; for which quitclaim, Nicholas Fitz Martin gave him 720 marks. He went on Crusade to the Holy Land with Prince Edward in 1270-3. He acted constantly for King Edward I in Aquitaine in 1273-9. In 1274-5 William and Joan his wife arraigned an assize of novel disseisin against Gilbert [de Clare], Earl of Gloucester, and Robert de Boyton touching a tenement in Woolstone, Buckinghamshire. In 1279 he served as ambassador to the King of Castile. In Jul 1282 he was appointed commander of the army of West Wales. In Aug 1282 he was granted protection in Ireland for one year, he staying in England on the king's business. In 1283 he forced David ap Griffith to surrender by taking his stronghold at Bere in Snowdonia. He presented to the churches of Whitechurch, Herefordshire, 1289, and Ganarew, Herefordshire, 1293. In 1289 he was engaged in negotiating the Treaty of Salisbury with Scotland. In 1291 he, his wife, sons, and household were granted a papal indult for a portable altar. In 1292 he was appointed joint commissioner for the armament of the kingdom. In 1294 he and the Earl of Norfolk suppressed the revolt in South Wales. In Jan 1296 he headed an embassey to Cambrai in a fruitless attempt to negotiate between King Edward I of England and King Philippe IV of France.
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