(Jody Gray): Many months ago, when I ordered a biography of William Marshal, Greatest Knight, I had no idea that I would be able to include him in my family tree. Amazon “recommended” it because of other books I was ordering.
(from the book’s back cover) In The Greatest Knight, renowned historian Thomas Asbridge draws upon the thirteenth-century biography of William Marshal along with an array of other contemporary evidence to present a compelling account of his dramatic life and times. This knight’s tale lays bare the brutish realities of medieval warfare and the machinations of the legendary courts of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, and the bad King John, drawing us into the heart of a formative period of our history, when the West emerged from the Dark Ages and stood on the brink of modernity. It is the story of one remarkable man, the birth of the knightly class to which he belonged, and the forging of the English nation.
(from the front cover) The remarkable life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal,_1st_Earl_of_Pembroke
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| Kilkenny Castle in Ireland built by William Marshal in 1195 |
William Marshal b. 1146 d. 1219, was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English Kings: The “Young King” Henry, Henry II (1154-1189), Richard I, aka Lionheart (1189-1199), John (1199-1216), and Henry III. (1216-1272).
Knighted in 1166, he spent his younger years as a knight errant and a successful tournament fighter; Stephen Langton eulogized him as the “best knight that ever lived.” In 1189, he received the title of Earl of Pembroke though marriage during the second creation of the Pembroke Earldom. In 1170, he was appointed protector for the 9 yr old Henry III, and regent of the kingdom.
Before him, his father’s family held a hereditary title of Marshal to the king, which by his father’s time had become recognized as a chief or master Marshalcy, involving management over other Marshals and functionaries. William became known as ‘the Marshal’, although by his time much of the function was actually delegated to more specialized representatives. Because he was an Earl, and also known as the Marshal, the term “Earl Marshal” was commonly used and later became an established hereditary title in the English Peerage.
Early life.
William’s father, John Marshal, supported King Stephen when he took the throne in 1135, but in about 1139 he changed sides to back the Empress Matilda in the civil war of succession between her and Stephen which led to the collapse of England into “the Anarchy”.
When King Stephen besieged Newbury Castle in 1152, according to William’s biographer, he used the young William as a hostage to ensure that John kept his promise to surrender the castle. John, however, used the time allotted to reinforce the castle and alert Matilda’s forces. When Stephen ordered John to surrender immediately or William would be hanged, John replied that he should go ahead saying, “I still have the hammer and the anvil with which to forge still more and better sons!” Subsequently, there was a bluff made to launch William for a pierriere, a type of trebuchet towards the castle. Fortunately for the child, Stephen could not bring himself to harm young William. William remained a crown hostage for many months, only being released following the peace that resulted from the terms agreed at Winchester on 11/6/1153 that ended the civil war.
Knight-Errant.
As a younger son of a minor nobleman, William had no lands or fortune in inherit, and had to make his own way in life. Around the age of twelve, when his father’s career was faltering, he was sent to Normandy to be brought up in the household of William de Tancarville, a great magnate and cousin of young William’s mother. Here he began his training as a knight… He was knighted in 1166 on campaign in Upper Normandy, then being invaded from Flanders… In 1167 he was taken by William de Tancarville to his first tournament where he found his true metier. Quitting the Tancarville household he then served in the household of his mother’s brother, Patrick, Earl of Salisbury. In 1168 his uncle was killed in an ambush by Guy de Lusignan. William was injured and captured in the same skirmish… After a period of time, he was ransomed by Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was apparently impressed by tales of his bravery.
Thereafter he found he could make a good living out of winning tournaments, dangerous, often deadly, staged battles in which money and valuable prizes could be won by capturing and ransoming opponents, their horses and armour. His record is legendary: on his deathbed he recalled besting 500 knights during his tourneying career.
In the History of William Marshal, the biography of the knight (Marshal was assigned by Henry II to tutor his son, “Young” Henry) in 1170 and became his tournament team leader until 1182. The History depicts (“Young” Henry) as constantly moving from one tournament to another across northern and central France between 1175 and 1182. With his cousins, Philip, Count of Flanders, and Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, Flanders and Namur, he was one of the key patrons of the sport… There was a perception amongst his contemporaries and the next generation that his death in 1183 marked a decline both in the tournament and knightly endeavor.
Young Henry fell out with his father in 1173. (Although, Henry II had “Young” Henry crowned in 1170, he never gave him a realm to rule)…
(“Young” Henry) contracted dysentery at the beginning of June 1183… on June 7 he confessed and received the last rites. As a token of his penitence for his war against his father he prostrated himself naked on the floor before a crucifix. He made a testament and since he had taken a crusader’s vow, he gave his cloak to his friend William Marshal with the plea that he should take the cloak to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem…. (William Marshal completed the pilgrimage in 1185.)
Royal favor.
Upon his return during the course of 1185 William rejoined the court of King Henry II, and now served the father as a loyal captain through the many difficulties of his final years. The returns of royal favor were almost immediate. The king gave William the large royal estate of Cartmel in Cumbria, and the keeping of Heloise, the heiress of the northern barony of Lancaster (23rd GGM). It may be that the king expected him to take the opportunity to marry her and become a northern baron, but William seems to have had grander ambitions for his marriage. In 1188 faced with an attempt by Philip II to seize the disputed region of Berry, Henry II summoned the Marshal to his side. The letter by which he did this survives, and makes some sarcastic comments about William’s complaints that he had not been properly rewarded to date for his service to the king. Henry therefore promised him the marriage and lands of Dionisia, lady of Chateauroux in Berry. In the resulting campaign, the king fell out with his heir Richard, count of Poitou, who consequently allied with Philip II against his father. In 1189, while covering the flight of Henry II from Le Mans to Chinon, William unhorsed the undutiful Richard in a skirmish. William could have killed the prince but killed his horse instead, to make that point clear. He is said to have been the only man ever to unhorse Richard. Nonetheless after Henry’s death, Marshal was welcomed at court by his former adversary, now King Richard I, who was wise to include a man whose legendary loyalty and military accomplishments were too useful to ignore, especially in a King who was intending to go on Crusade.
During the old king’s last days he had promised the Marshal the hand and estates of Isabel de Clare, but had not completed the arrangements. King Richard however, confirmed the offer and so in August 1189, at the age of 43, the Marshal married the 17 yr old daughter of Richard de Clare (Strongbow). Her father had been Earl of Pembroke, and Marshal acquired large estates and claims in England, Wales, Normandy and Ireland. Some estates however were excluded from the deal. Marshal did not obtain Pembroke and the title of earl until 1199, as it had been taken into the king’s hand in 1154. However, the marriage transformed the landless knight from a minor family into one of the richest men in the kingdom, a sign of his power and prestige at court…
William was included in the council of regency which the King appointed on his departure for the Third Crusade in 1190. He took the side of John, the king’s brother, when the latter expelled the justiciar, William Longchamp, for the kingdom, but he soon discovered that the interests of John were different from those of Richard. Hence in 1193 he joined the loyalists in making war upon him. In spring 1193, during the course of the hostilities in England and before King Richard’s return, William Marshal’s elder brother John Marshal (who was serving as seneschal) was killed while defending Marlborough for the king’s brother John. Richard allowed Marshal to succeed his brother in the hereditary marshalship, and his paternal honor of Hamstead Marshall. The Marshal served the king in his wars in Normandy against Philip II. On Richard’s death-bed the king designated Marshal as custodian of Rouen and of the royal treasure during the interregnum.
King John and Magna Carta.
William supported King John when he became king in 1199, arguing against those who maintained the claims of Arthur of Brittany, the teenage son of John’s elder brother Geoffrey Plantagenet. William was heavily engaged with the defence of Normandy against the growing pressure of the Capetian armies between 1200 and 1203. He sailed with King John when he abandoned the duchy in December 1203. He had the king had a falling out in the aftermath of the loss of the duchy, when he was sent with the earl of Leicester as ambassadors to negotiate a truce with King Philip II of France in 1204. The Marshal took the opportunity to negotiate the continued possession of his Norman lands.
Before commencing negotiations with King Philip, William had been generously permitted to do homage to the King of France by King John so he might keep his possessions in Normandy… However, once official negotiations began, Philip demanded that such homage be paid exclusively to him, which King John had not consented to. When William paid homage to King Philip, John took offence and there was a major row at court which led to cool relations between the two men. This became outright hostility in 1207 when John began to move against several major Irish magnates, including William. Though he left for Leinster in 1207 William was recalled and humiliated at court in the autumn of 1208, while John’s justiciar in Ireland Meilyr fitz Henry invaded his lands, burning the town of New Ross.
Meilyr’s defeat by Countess Isabel led to her husband’s return to Leinster. He was once again in conflict with King John in his war with the Braose and Lacy families in 1210, but managed to survive. He stayed in Ireland until 1213, during which time he had Carlow Castle erected and restructured his honor of Leinster. Taken back into favor in 1212, he was summoned in 1213 to return to the English court. Despite their differences, William remained loyal throughout the hostilities between John and his barons which culminated on 6/15/1215 at Runnymede with the sealing of Magna Carta. William was one of the few English earls to remain loyal to the king through the First Barons’ War. It was William whom King John trusted on his deathbed to make sure John’s 9 yr old son Henry would get the throne. It was William who took responsibility for the king’s funeral and burial at Worcester Cathedral.
King John died 11/11/1216; William Marshal was named by the king’s council (the chief barons who had remained loyal to King John in the First Barons’ War) to serve as protector of the 9 yr old King Henry III, and regent of the kingdom.
On his (father’s) deathbed, John appointed a council of thirteen executors to help Henry reclaim the kingdom, and requested that his son be placed into the guardianship of William Marshal, one of the most famous knights in England. The loyalist leaders decided to crown Henry immediately to reinforce his claim to the throne. William knighted the boy, and Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, the papal legate to England, than oversaw his coronation at Gloucester Cathedral on October 28. In the absence of the archbishops of Canterbury or York, he was anointed by the bishops of Worcester and Exeter, and crowned by Peter des Roches…
The young King inherited a difficult situation, with over half of England occupied by the rebels and most of his father’s continental possessions still in French hands… Guala set about strengthening the ties between England and the Papacy, starting with the coronation itself, where Henry gave homage to the Papacy, recognising the Pope as his feudal lord… As an additional measure, Henry took the cross, declaring himself a crusader and so entitled to special protection from Rome.
Two senior nobles stood out as candidates to head Henry’s regency government. The first was William, who, although elderly, was renowned for his personal loyalty and could help support the war with his own men and material. The second was Ranulf de Blondeville, the Earl of Chester and one of the most powerful loyalist barons. William diplomatically waited until both Guala and Ranulf had requested him to take up the post before assuming power. William then appointed des Roches to be Henry’s guardian, freeing himself to lead the military effort.
End of the Barons’ War.
In a bid to take advantage of this, Henry encouraged the rebel barons to come back to his cause in exchange for the return of their lands, and reissued a version of the Magna Carta, albeit having first removed some of the clauses, including those unfavorable to the Papacy. The move was not successful and opposition to Henry’s new government hardened.
In February, Louis set sail for France to gather reinforcements. In his absence, arguments broke out between Louis’s French and English followers, and Cardinal Guala declared that Henry’s war against the rebels was a religious crusade. This resulted in a series of defections from the rebel movement, and the tide of the conflict swung in Henry’s favor. Louis returned at the end of April and reinvigorated his campaign, splitting his forces into two groups, sending one north to besiege Lincoln Castle and keeping one in the south to capture Dover Castle. When he learnt that Louis had divided his army, William Marshal gambled on defeating the rebels in a single battle. William marched north and attacked Lincoln on May 20; entering through a side gate, he took the city in a sequence of fierce street battles and sacked the buildings. Large numbers of senior rebels were captured, and historian David Carpenter considers the battle to be “one of the most decisive in English history.”
In the aftermath of Lincoln, the loyalists campaign stalled and only recommenced in late June… The French prince negotiated terms with Cardinal Guala, under which he would renounce his claim to the English throne; in return, his followers would be given back their lands, any sentences of excommunication would be lifted and Henry’s government would promise to enforce the Magna Carta. The proposed agreement soon began to unravel…
On 8/24/1217, a French fleet arrived off the coast of Sandwich, bring Louis soldiers, siege engines and fresh supplies. Hubert de Burgh, Henry’s justiciar, set sail to intercept it, resulting in the Battle of Sandwich… the French flagship was captured… Louis entered into fresh peace negotiations. Henry, Isabella, Louis, Guala and William came to agreement on the final Treaty of Lambeth, also known as the Treaty of Kingston…
Restoring royal authority.
Despite his success in winning the war, William had far less success in restoring royal power following the peace. In part, this was because William was unable to offer significant patronage, despite the expectations from the loyalist barons that they would be rewarded. William attempted to enforce the traditional rights of the Crown to approve marriages and wardships, but with little success. Nonetheless, William was able to reconstitute the royal bench of judges and reopen the royal exchequer. The government issued the Charter of the Forest, which attempted to reform the royal governance of the forests. The regency and Llywelyn came to agreement on the Treaty of Worcester in 1218, but its generous terms - Llywelyn became effectively Henry’s justiciar across Wales - underlined the weakness of the English Crown.
Death and Legacy
On his deathbed, William Marshal was invested into the order of the Knights Templar. He died 5/14/1219 at Caversham, was buried in the Temple Church in London, where his tomb can still be seen.
Through his daughter Isabel, William is ancestor to both the Bruce and Stewart king of Scots. Through his granddaughter Maud de Braose, William is ancestor to the last Plantagenet kings, Edward IV through Richard III, and all English monarchs from Henry VIII and afterward.
Ancestry.com Media: William Marshal, Family and Alliances
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke b. 1146 or 1147
Father: John Marshal
Mother: Sybilla of Salisbury
m: Isabel de Clare (1172-1220)
17 yr-old daughter of Richard de Clare (Strongbow)
Sons of William Marshal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke William II Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke b. 1190 d. 4/6/1231
Married twice, but produced no surviving male progeny.
m1: Alice de Bethune, daughter of his father’s ally Baldwin of Bethune.
m2: Eleanor of Leicester, youngest daughter of King John by Isabella of Angouleme, thereby strengthening the Marshal family’s connection with the Plantagenets.
Died, 4/6/12131; buried in the Temple Church in London, next to his father. His titles passed to his younger brother Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke.
Noteworthy: His lack of progeny was credited to a curse bestowed upon the family by the Bishop of Ferns, Ailbe Ua Mail Mhuaidh (died 1223). All of William’s brothers inherited the title successively, but as predicted, none had children and the male line of the family died out on the death of Anselm Marshal in 1245.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Marshal,_3rd_Earl_of_Pembroke
Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke b. 1191 d. 4/16/1234
Married Gervaise de Dinan, daughter of Alan de Dinan, Baron de Dinan, did not produce any offspring.
April 1234 he was overpowered and wounded at the Battle of Curragh and died of his wounds, 4/16/1234. Buried at Kilkenny, succeeded by his brother Gilbert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Marshal,_4th_Earl_of_Pembroke
Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke b. 1194 d. 6/27/1241
Married (8/1/1235) Marjorie of Scotland, daughter of King William of Scotland. Their marriage was childless.
He was accidentally killed 6/27/1241 while in a tournament at Ware, which King Henry III had expressly forbidden. Gilbert was thrown from his horse and his foot was caught in the stirrup, he was dragged for some distance and died from injuries received. He was buried at Temple Church next to his father. His title passed to his young brother Walter a year after his death. Walter was not immediately confirmed as Earl of Pembroke due to the King’s anger at his disobedience of royal orders, he’d also attended the tournament.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Marshal,_5th_Earl_of_Pembroke
Walter Marshal b. 1196 d. 11/24/1245
Married (1/6/1242) Margaret de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln, the wealthy widow of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln. They had no children.
He died suddenly at Goodrich Castle 11/24/1245, buried at Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire; the earldom passed to his younger brother, Anselm Marshal, who died a month later.
Walter’s widow, Margaret received a dower third from the Pembroke earldom, she controlled most of the extensive Pembroke estates as her third outweighed the individual holdings of the 13 different co-heirs of his five sisters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_Marshal
Anselm Marshal b. ? d. 12/23/1245
Married Maud, the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex; they had no children.
He died at Chepstow Castle, was buried at Tintern Abbey.
Daughters of William Marshal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Marshal
Matilda aka Maud Marshal b. 1192 d. 3/27/1248
m1: (before Lent in 1207), Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk. Hugh was one 25 sureties of the Magna Carta. He came into his inheritance in 1221. They had five children.
m2 (before Oct 13, 1225): William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey. They had two children.
Maud d. 3/27/1248, buried at Tintern Abbey with her mother, and two of her brothers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Marshal
Isabel Marshal b. Oct 1200 d. 1/17/1240
m1: Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, 5th Earl of Gloucester (he was 20 years her senior -she was 17); they married at Tewkesbury Abbey. The had six children.
M2 (3/30/1231, Fawley Church): Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall. They had four children (three died as babies); Henry was murdered by his cousins Guy and Simon de Monfort.
Noteworthy: She died of liver failure, shortly after she gave birth to Nicholas who also died. She asked to be buried next to her first husband at Tewkesbury Abbey, but Richard had her interred at Beaulieu Abbey with her infant son; as a pious gesture, he sent her heart, in a silver-gilt casket, to Tewesbury.
Sibyl Marshal b. ca 1201 d. 4/27/1245. (she has no Wikipedia page but her husband does)
m: William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby; they had seven daughters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_de_Ferrers,_5th_Earl_of_Derby
William III. de Ferrers b. 1193 d. 3/28/1254. An English nobleman and head of a family which controlled a large part of Derbyshire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Marshal
Eva Marshall b. 1203 d. 1246
m: William de Broase, Marcher lord, who in June 1228 succeeded to the lordship of Abergavenny; they had four daughters. He was much hated by the Welsh who called him “Black William”. William was publicly hanged by Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales on 5/2/1230 after being discovered in the Prince’s bedchamber with his wife Joan, Lady of Wales. Several months later, Eva’s eldest daughter Isabella married the Prince’s son, Dafydd ap Llywelyn, as their marriage contract had been signed prior to William de Broase’s death. The Prince wrote to Eva shortly after the execution, offering his apologies, explaining that the Welsh lords had insisted; he added that he hoped the execution would not affect their business dealings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_de_Clare,_4th_Countess_of_Pembroke Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke.
The legacy of William Marshal and Isabel de Clare.
Within a few generations their descendants included much of the nobility of Europe, including all the monarchs of Scotland since Robert I (1274-1329) and all those of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom since Henry IV (1367-1413); and, apart from Anne of Cleves, all the queen consorts of Henry VIII.
Most attributed to their daughter, Isabel who first married Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford; and secondly, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall. She had issue by both marriages. King Robert I of Scotland and Queen consorts Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr were descendants.
Ancestry.com Media: William, 1st Earl of Pembroke (2nd Creation).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Pembroke Earl of Pembroke
Creation, 1138. Monarch: Stephen of England. First holder, Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
Earldom of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th Century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its original inception. With each creation beginning with a new first Earl, the original seat of Pembroke Castle is no longer attached to the title.
The first creation: de Clare (1138) Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1100-1147). Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1130-1176) aka Richard Fitz Gilbert (son of Gilbert) de Clare commonly known as Strongbow. Gilbert de Striguil, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1173-1185). Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke (1172-1220).
When Strongbow died his son, Gilbert was a minor. When he died in 1185, his sister Isabel de Clare became Countess of Pembroke in her own right until her death in 1220… the title Earl was re-created for her husband, the famous Sir William Marshal, son of John the Marshal, by Sibylle, the sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury.
The second creation: Marshal (1189). William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146-1219). William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1190-1231). Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (c. 1191-1234). Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke (died 1241). Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pemboke (c. 1199-1245). Anselm Marshal, 6th Earl of Pembroke (died 1245).
In August 1189, at the age of 43, William Marshal, held by many to be the greatest knight in Christendom, was given the hand of Isabel de Clare, and, in 1199, was created the 1st Earl of Pembroke by King John. Although he had previously served Richard’s father, Henry II, against Richard’s rebellions, Richard confirmed the old king’s licence for his marriage with the heiress of Strigul and Pembroke. He served Richard and John loyally, defending the latter against the French and English rebel barons in the First Baron’s War. He was present at the signing of the Magna Carta in order to secure the peace. He fell ill early in 1219, and died on May 14 at his manor of Caversham near Reading. He was succeeded in the regency by Hubert de Burgh, and in his Earldom by his five sons in succession.
Marshal’s eldest son, William Marshal (died 1231), 2nd Earl of Pembroke of this line, passed some years in warfare in Wales and Ireland, where he was justiciar from 1224 to 1226; he also served Henry III. in France. His second wife was the King’s sister, Eleanor, who later married Simon de Montfort, but he left no children.
His brother Richard Marshal (died 1234), 3rd Earl, came to the fore as the leader of the baronial party, and chief antagonist of the foreign friends of Henry III. Fearing treachery, he refused to visit the King at Gloucester in August 1233, and Henry declared him a traitor. He crossed to Ireland, where Peter des Roches had instigated his enemies to attack him, and in April 1234, he was overpowered and wounded, and died a prisoner.
His brother Gilbert (d. 1241), who became the 4th Earl, was a friend and ally of Richard, Earl of Cornwall. When another brother, Anselm, the 6th Earl, died in December 1245, the male descendants of the great Earl Marshal became extinct. The extensive family possessions were now divided among Anselm’s five sisters and their descendants, the Earldom of Pembroke reverting to the Crown.
Ancestry.com Media: Striguil aka Chepstow Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chepstow_Castle Chepstow Castle
Built 1067-1300 by William fitzOsbern, William Marshal and his sons, Roger Bigod. In use 1067-1685. Located in Monmouthshire, Wales is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Originally known as Striguil, it was the southernmost of a chain of castles built in the Welsh Marches, and with its attached lordship took the name of the adjoining market town in about the 14th century.
It was held by two of the most powerful Anglo-Norman magnates of medieval England, William Marshal and Richard de Clare. However, by the 16th century its military importance had waned and parts of its structure were converted into domestic ranges. Although re-garrisoned during and after the English Civil War, by the 1700s it had fallen into decay. With the later growth of tourism, the castle became a popular visitor destination.
The Chepstow Castle is open to the public’ since 1984 has been in the care of Cadw, the Welsh government body.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striguil Striguil or Strigoil
Is the name which was used from the 11th century until the late 14th century for the port and Norman castle of Chepstow, on the Welsh side of the River Wye which forms the boundary with England. The name was also applied to the Marcher lordship which controlled the area in the period between the Norman conquest and the formation of the Monmouthshire under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542.
The Lordship of Striguil.
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