Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: 9CW5-JNL
• Appointments / Titles: 1054; Queen Consort of England; Queen Consort of Wales

Notes:

05 Aug 1063 in Snowdonia, Wales; After escaping a surprise attack by the forces of Harold Godwinson in 1062, Gruffydd lost his head to Harold's brother in Snowdonia on 5 August 1063.

Jan 1066 in London, England; Ealdgyth married for a 2nd time to Harold Godwinson (King of England). The marriage was likely politically motivated and is believed to have occurred shortly before or after he became king in January 1066.

14 Oct 1066 in Hastings, Sussex, England; Ealdgyth's second husband, King Harold Godwinson, died on 14 October 1066 in the Battle of Hastings against William the Conqueror

14 Oct 1066 in Cheshire, England; At the news of Harold's death, Ealdgyth's brothers went to London to fetch her and immediately sent her to Chester for shelter. It is unknown what happened to her thereafter.

NOT THE SAME AS EDITH SWANNECK: Ealdgyth was the wife of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and 2nd wife of Harold Godwinson, while Edith Swanneck was the mistress/consort of Harold Godwinson BEFORE his marriage to Ealdgyth

1041 Capture of Wife of Hywel
Some historians hold that Gruffydd had a liaison with the wife of Hywel ab Edwin, taken as part of "the spoils of war" in 1041.
Wolcott states that in 1041 that during a battle with King Hywel ap Edwin of Deheubarth, Gruffudd ap Llewelyn seized Hywel's wife. The 3 principal versions of the Brut differ as to what Gruffudd had in mind when he took the lady.
- Took her for his own, i.e. took her for a mistress;
- Took her as his own wife
- Took her and controlled her. This version might describe his simply taking the lady hostage, a common occurrence in warfare during that era. Since we believe he already had a wife, and knew the lady was a daughter of Earl Leofric we suspect she was taken as a bargaining chip in the event Mercia interfered with his plans to take Deheubarth and, indeed, all of Wales.

Edith or Ealdgyth, was the daughter of Aelfgar, who became Earl of East Anglia in 1053 and Earl of Mercia in 1057, dying shortly after 1062.
Wolcott emphasizes that while many suppose that Aeldgyth was the same lady Gruffudd had taken from Hywel in 1041, the chronology does not fit. The lady widowed in 1063 bore 2 sons to Harold before 1066, but the lady taken from Hywel would have been in her mid or late 40's by then.
First Marriage to Gruffudd
Gruffudd married, first, about 1057, as her first husband, Edith (or Ealdgyth Ealgyth Aldgyth), daughter of Aelfgar (of Elgar), King of Mercia, son of Leofric, son of Leofwine, the earl of Mercia who died before 1032. Her grandmother was Lady Godiva.
Edith married, about 1057, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn.

After his first wife Nest died, probably in childbirth, Gruffudd married Ealdgyth about 1055 . The marriage of Gruffudd and Eadgyth would have been about 1055 when Gruffudd and Aelfgar were known to be allies.
The number of Ealdgyth's children with Gruffydd is also in some dispute. While Nesta is her daughter, there is some uncertainty about the mother of Maredudd and Idwal.
m.1(c. 1050 or 1056/7) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Wales (d. 1063).[2] Issue: 1 proven:

(unproven) Maredudd "Meredith" ap Gruffydd (d. 1068 or later; or 1070).
(unproven) Idwal ap Gruffydd (d. 1068 or 1070).
Nesta.
m. Osbern FitzRichard
Per https://www.geni.com/people/Ealdgyth/6000000000115658521, Ealdgyth was butied in Spalding, Lincoln, England

Ealdgyth married ap Llywelyn, Gruffydd in 1054 in Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales. Gruffydd (son of ap Seisyll, King Llewelyn and verch Maredudd, Queen Angharad) was born in 1007 in Flynn on-Fair, St. Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales; died on 5 Aug 1063 in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, Scotland; was buried after 5 Aug 1063 in Abbey-Cwmhir, Radnorshire, Wales. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Wales
• FSID: G8ZS-9TQ

Family/Spouse: FitzAlan, Fledaldus. Fledaldus (son of Seneschal, Allan and de Lumley, Margaret Filia Rex) was born in 1046 in Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; died in 1106 in Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military: Mercenary for King Henry I of England
• Appointments / Titles: Lord
• Appointments / Titles: Sir Knight
• Life Event: Oswestry, Shropshire, England; Chevalier (Knight) breton et baron de Oswerty
• Life Event: Shropshire, England; Sheriff of Shropshire
• Life Event: Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; Steward of Dol
• FSID: K2NQ-X1C
• Religion: Founder of the Sporle Priory
• Life Event: 1086; Witness to Mezuoit Charter in France
• Military: 1097; Took part in the First Crusade

Notes:

After an anonymous work of 1874 drew attention to a strong connection between Alan Fitz Flaad and Brittany, and confirmed Flaad's relationship to Alan the Seneschal, J. Horace Round definitively established and publicized Alan Fitz Flaad's true Breton origins

Alan had two wives, the first one died about 1114 and is not known by name, they had one child together, he then married Avelina before 1126 and had the rest of the children known. Do not merge those wives please. Check sources below.

Alan fitz Flaad was a Breton knight, probably recruited as a mercenary by Henry, son of William the Conqueror, in his conflicts with his brothers. After Henry became King of England, Alan became an assiduous courtier and obtained large estates in Norfolk, Sussex, Shropshire, and elsewhere in the Midlands, including the feudal barony and castle of Oswestry in Shropshire.

Progenitor of Stewart Kings of Scotland and FitzAlan Earls of Arundel

Alan married de Hesdin, Lady Avelina in 1114 in Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. Avelina (daughter of de Hesdin, Sir Ernulf and Baladon, Lady Emmelina) was born in 1088 in Hesdin-l'Abbé, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died in 1126 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England; was buried in 1126 in Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Oswestry, Shropshire, England; Lord
• FSID: LCTX-HJN

Notes:

William FitzAlan (1105–1160) was a nobleman of Breton ancestry. He was a major landowner, a Marcher lord with large holdings in Shropshire, where he was the Lord of Oswestry, as well as in Norfolk and Sussex. He took the side of Empress Matilda during the Anarchy and underwent considerable hardship in the Angevin cause before regaining his lands and former status. William's younger brother, Walter fitz Alan (d. 1177), became ancestor of the royal House of Stuart.

Background and early life
William was born around 1105. He was the eldest son and heir of Alan fitz Flaad, a Breton noble whose family were closely associated with the sacred environs of Dol-de-Bretagne, close to the border with Normandy and a short distance south-west of the great abbey of Mont Saint-Michel. Alan was a close ally of Henry I of England (1100-1135), who was determined to insert reliable supporters into strategically key areas after the disloyalty of Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, who had a strong support network in the Marches. Alan received extensive fiefs in Shropshire and Norfolk from around the beginning of Henry's reign and more as he proved his worth. Much of the Shropshire land was taken from the holdings of Rainald de Bailleul, ancestor of the House of Balliol, as was land around Peppering, near Arundel in Sussex.[1]

William's mother was Avelina de Hesdin. Her father was Ernulf de Hesdin (also transcribed as Arnulf), a crusader baron from Hesdin in Artois, which was a fief of the County of Flanders and only loosely attached to France. Ernulf built up large holdings in Staffordshire and Gloucestershire. After his death in the First Crusade, Avelina's brother, also called Ernulf, inherited his lands and titles.

Baron and rebel
William succeeded his father around 1114, probably still aged under 10. He was appointed the High Sheriff of Shropshire by Adeliza of Louvain, the second wife of Henry I.[2] His first notable appearance is as a witness to King Stephen's charter to Shrewsbury Abbey in 1136.

As Sheriff of the county, William was also castellan of Shrewsbury Castle. In 1138, he joined in the revolt against Stephen and garrisoned the castle against the king. After resisting the attacks of the royal army for a month,[2] he fled with his family in August 1138, leaving the castle to be defended by his uncle, Ernulf de Hesdin. When the town fell, Stephen acted in anger, hanging Ernulf and 93 others immediately, frightening the local people and magnates into transferring their allegiance to him.[2]

William was deprived of his lands and titles and spent the next fifteen years in exile, until the accession of Henry II to power in place of Stephen in 1153–4.[2][3] He was a close supporter of the Angevin cause, accompanying the Empress or her son on numerous occasions. He was present with Empress Matilda at Oxford in the summer of 1141,[4] and shortly after at the siege of Winchester Castle. He remained in attendance on her at Devizes, witnessing the charter addressed to himself by which she grants Aston to Shrewsbury Abbey. In June 1153 he was present with Henry FitzEmpress, then Duke of Normandy, at Leicester. It was during this period that his younger brother, Walter, used the family's royal connections to make a new career in Scotland under David I of Scotland, an uncle of the Empress.

William's active support did not end with Henry's accession to the throne. In July 1155, when the king marched against Hugh de Mortimer, a turbulent Marcher lord who had been a key supporter of Stephen, and recaptured the castles at Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth, William FitzAlan was the chief beneficiary. At Bridgnorth 'the king restored his lands' and William there received the feudal homage of his tenants. Thus he regained his paternal fief. He was also restored as High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1155, holding the post until his death in 1160.

Benefactor
It was probably between 1130 and 1138 that FitzAlan made the first recorded grant to Haughmond Abbey: a fishery at Preston Boats on the River Severn, near Shrewsbury.[1] It is possible that there was a hermitage or a small religious community at Haughmond even in his father's time, and a small church from this earlier period has been revealed by excavations on the site, so it is not clear that William was the founder of the abbey. However, it was he who set it on a secure financial basis, with a series of important land grants in Shropshire and Sussex, which were reciprocated by other magnates in the region. Haughmond received lands from the Empress, confirmed by Stephen and Henry II. William continued to make benefactions to it when he returned from exile, including the wealthy portionary church of Wroxeter, declaring his intention to increase the number of priests there too. He also made grants to nearby Lilleshall Abbey, another Augustinian house.[5] Though not the founder of Wombridge Priory, a smaller Augustinian house, he sanctioned its foundation by the Hadley family, his vassals.[6] It was, however, Haughmond that became the FitzAlan shrine, with all heads of the family after William buried there for a century and a half.[1]

Death and burial
William died around Easter 1160. He was buried at Shrewsbury Abbey, according to Eyton, noted in the Haughmond Abbey history ("After William FitzAlan (I), who left his body for burial in Shrewsbury Abbey").[1]

Family and heritage
William's first wife was Christiana. She was the niece of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of Henry I, and thus cousin to William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, who was a principal supporter of the Empress. She was the mother of his heir and other children.

William's eldest son and heir was also called William FitzAlan.
Christiana, their daughter married Hugh Pantulf, 4th Baron of Wem, a later High Sheriff of Shropshire.
His wife Christiana died before William regained his ancestral estates in 1155. Henry II therefore gave him the hand of Isabel de Say.[7] She was the sole heiress of Helias de Say, who held the lordship of Clun[8] and was an early benefactor of Haughmond Abbey. Clun was to pass to the FitzAlans on the death of Helias, but he outlived William, so it passed to his son, the second William. Isabel brought prestige as well as land.

The FitzAlans remained important Marcher lords and magnates in central England for several centuries. A strategic marriage with their Sussex neighbours, the d'Aubigny family, brought the FitzAlans the rich and important Earldom of Arundel. This they held from 1243 until 1580. It was as earls of Arundel that William FitzAlan's descendants made their most important mark on the history of England.

In literature
The taking of Shrewsbury in 1138 by King Stephen, including the escape of William FitzAlan and the hanging of the supporters who did not escape, was the historical background for the novel One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters.[9] Agents of FitzAlan are characters in a few of the later novels in The Cadfael Chronicles.

Buried:
Abby

William married of England, Christiana in 1140 in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Christiana was born in 1120 in England; died in 1153 in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]