Of Knights and Bishops: Part I

Angry Anglos and Dastardly Danes

In 2103, The History Channel began a mini-series titled Vikings. There are a lot of inaccuracies in the series, but the fact that the Vikings marauded and eventually conquered England is true. Our ancestry can be traced back to these Scandinavian Vikings two different ways. One is through Rollo Ragnvaldsson, the first Duke of Normandy, although that line is through an illegitimate child. However, we have a more direct claim through the Danish Vikings.

That the Danes came to England, first as raiders and then in a great invasion, is a certain fact. But why did they come and, more importantly, why did they stay? Like most of the early Scandinavians that crossed the North Sea to England, generally labelled as Vikings, they were looking for plunder.

Archeologist Steven Ashby from the University of York noted that portable wealth was needed as "… help in building allegiances between lords, their followers, and other families and communities, and perhaps also in marriage relations." [1] England's churches, monasteries, and abbeys were filled with gold and jewels and, of course, were not well defended. They were easy pickings for the war-like marauders.

However, what these early raiders found was a land rich in resources with available land on which to raise families. England, at the time, still had extensive areas of available agricultural land for cultivation. The Danes that followed, then, were more interested in land ownership than plunder, or rather, a different kind of plunder. When the Danes invaded in 960, their goal was to conquer the entire island. They almost did but for the tenacious resistance of the Anglo-Saxons in Wessex.

Regardless, by the 1000s, there was an extensive, well-established population of Danes and other settlers from Norway and Sweden. This fact, however, caused a backlash. The Anglo-Saxons were tired of these immigrants. In 1002, King Æthelred " The Unready

King Æthered's nickname is a corruption of the Old English unraed, meaning "poorly advised" and it certainly seems to have fit.

" commanded that all Danes in England should be killed. What resulted was a mass-murder known as St. Brice's Day Massacre.

What the massacre precipitated was a fresh invasion from the Danes, first under Sewyn Forkbeard and then his son Cnut "The Great." That act of genocide resulted not only in Cnut becoming King of England upon the death of King Æthelred, but in being able to marry his wife, Queen Emma of Normandy. England had truly been conquered and Cnut was able to now call himself King of the "North Seas Empire" (Figure 1). The Danes were now in power, which paved the way for them to attain positions of standing.

Figure 1—The North Sea Empire of Cnut "The Great."

One such Dane was an ancestor of ours, named Eodnoth (sometimes spelled Eadnoth). If you go far enough back in researching various families in genealogic research, sooner or later you reach a point where surnames don't exist. Such is the case when following the line of this ancestor known simply as Eodnoth. He was the forefather of the de Berkely line that married into the Wharton family.

 ¹ Eodnoth "The Ställer" of Denmark
 ² Harding (Headinc) FitzEodnoth m. Livida de Berkeley
 ³ Robert FitzHarding m. Eva ?
 ⁴ Sir Maurice FitzHarding m. Alice de Berkeley
 ⁵ Sir Thomas de Berkeley (of Berkeley Castle) m. Joan de Somery
 ⁶ Sir Maurice "The Resoute" de Berkeley m. Isabel FitsRoy
 ⁷ Sir Thomas de Berkeley (1st Baron) m. Joan de Ferrers
 ⁸ Sir Maurice de Berkeley (2nd Baron) m. Eva la Zouche
 ⁹ Isabel de Berkeley m. (2) Thomas de Musgrave (1st Lord)
¹⁰ Elizabeth de Musgrave m. Sir Henry de Wharton*

*Sir Henry de Wharton was the great-great grandson of Sir Gilbert de Querton, the first Wharton, and my 16th great grandfather.

Eodnoth lived at a time when there was a great upheaval in England. It all culminated in 1066—the year that William I "The Conquerer" invaded England from Normandy and changed it forever. Just prior to that, Edward "The Confessor" ruled England from 1042 until 1066. He and Harold Goodwin, who ruled for only 9 months, were the last Anglo-Saxon Kings of England and the last of the House of Wessex to rule.

Eodnoth was central to many of the changes that ocurred in England during that time, though nothing is truly known of his ancestry. Even his wife's name is shrouded in mystery—most genealogies list her as unknown. Some think he may have been anglo-saxon, while others maintain he was of royal Danish ancestry; all of which is undocumented, or course. He is said to have been a Constable, a Saxon Dapifer

From Latin daps meaning "feast" and ferō meaning "bearer"—the official title of a steward in a medieval English nobleman's household.

and a Staller

Sometimes written steallere, stalre, or ställer. A "standard bearer"—a dignified position in the courts of Scandanavian kings. He was the superintendant of the court, similar to the High Stewart position.

He has been considered of Danish origins for three reasons:

1. His son, Harding FitzEodnoth used the title Prince of Denmark

2. The position of ställer is a Danish term

3. The English courts prior to the Norman invasion were filled primarily by Danes.

Eodnoth was most certainly highly placed in the court of the Anglo-Saxon kings in the 9th century and had numerous and extensive land holdings. He was mentioned in the Doomesday Book of 1086 to have had 30 holdings in Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and Wiltshire before the conquest.

He also served as Steward to both Anglo-Saxon kings—Edward "The Confessor" and Harold II—and seems also to have served as a royal justice as well, all of which suggest he may have been Anglo-Saxon. Yet, that doesn’t exclude him from being a Dane, since Danes had assumed position of wealth and power, especially after the arrival of Cnut “The Great.”

If Eodnoth did come from Danish royalty, two possibilities for his parents have been conjectured: Ulifius Thorgilsson (Earl of Denmark) m. Estrid Svensdottir (Princess of Denmark); or Svend II Ulfsson (King of Denmark) m. Glytha Decrepon. Not enough evidence exists, however, to list either of them as parents of Eodnoth. One thing we know for certain—he was not a Norman.

Even so, he continued in the service of William I. It’s possible, though not documented, that being a Dane, he had been put in his position of steward by either King Cnut or his son King Harthecut and had been so successful that he was kept on. [2] That's not surprising, though, because It was only during the reign of King Edward that the Danish influence was replaced by Normans who arrived via the Norman Invasion, which is what finally supplanted Danish power in the English courts. [3]

He seemed to have lost his lands because his son, Harding, did not initially receive any land as an inheritance. Eadnoth probably was forced to surrender his lands because he supported Edward "The Confessor" and Harold II Goodwinson, whom William defeated. Regardless, he was able to keep his position at Court as Stewart under William.

In 1068, the remaining sons of Harold II renewed their claim on the Crown. Eadnoth, commanding the local militia, was killed at the Battle of Bleadon while repulsing the invasion of Harold II's sons who were trying to wrest back control of England.

"In the summer of 1068 when the sons of Harold, sailing from Ireland, had failed in their attempt on Bristol, they retried to plunder the sea-board of Somerset. There they were confronted by Eadnoth the Stallere. A battle ensued. The victory seemed doubtful, for, on the one hand, the sons of Harold fled, on the other Eadnoth fell." [4]

Eodnoth's bravery and loyalty to William resulted in some of his lands being returned to his son, Harding, our 16th great-grandfather, which included what would become Berkeley Castle (Figure 2).

Berkeley Castle (prounounced BARK-lee) has a storied history. King Edward II, the deposed husband of Queen Isabella I, was murdered there in 1327. It was captured in 1645 during the English Civil War where it received point-blank cannon fire. Damage to the Keep and Outer Bailey were never repaired, which is still enforced today by the Act of Parliament drawn up at the time.

And that's where it gets really interesting ... as if it wasn't already.

Figure 2—Berkeley Castle as it stands today.

Ownership of Berkeley Castle was originally granted by William "The Conquerer" to Roger de Berchelai (b.1040 d.1093), who had arrived with him during the Norman invasion of 1066. For three generations (and three successive Roger de Berkeleys), the castle and feudal baronage of Dursley remained in their hands.

Originally built around 1067, the castle was rebult by the de Berkeleys in the first half of the 1100s. However, Roger de Berkeley III (b.1105 d.1170) withheld his allegience from House Plantagenet during the civil war between 1135 and 1153, resulting in the family being stripped of the castle and baronage by Henry II (a Plantagenet) in 1152, shortly before he became King (1154-1189).

Tenure of the castle was granted to Henry's supporter and financier, Robert FitzHarding (b.1095 d.1169), Eodnoth's grandson and Harding's son. FitzHarding received a royal charter giving him permission to rebuild the castle with the aim of defending the Bristol–Gloucester Road, the Severn Estuary, and the Welsh border.

Shortly afterwards, King Henry II had a change of heart, regretting the effect that dispossession of the de Berkeleys had caused. He told the two families to unite through the forced intermarriage by contract of the eldest heir of each. Thus the son of Robert FitzHarding, Maurice, and the daughter of Roger III de Berkeley, Alice, were married. Maurice adopted the Berkeley surname and Alice continued to use her Berkeley surname, so they were all Berkeleys now.

However, Since Maurice was the male heir and therefore more powerful, the line of fuedal barons of Berkeley Castle was authorized to be traced back through his FitzHarding line. The other line, on Alice Berkeley's side, retained the truncated feudal barony of Dursley.

The ancestral lines converge in Thomas Berkeley as follows:

Berchelai's Descendents
¹ Roger de Berchelai (b.1040 d. 1093)
         m. Rissa de Montgomery
² Roger II de Berkeley (b.1073 d.1131)
³ Roger III de Berkeley (b.1105 d.1170)
⁴ Alice Berkeley (b.1140 d.1170)
         m. Sir Maurice FitzRobert (renamed Berkeley) (b.1120 d.1190)
⁵ Sir Thomas Berkeley (b.1170 d.1243)

Eodnoth's Descendents
¹ Eodnoth "The Ställer" (b.1030 d.1068)
² Harding FitzEodnoth (b. 1050 d. 1125)
         m. Livida de Berkeley (b. 1070 d.1167)
³ Robert FitzHarding³ (b. 1095 d.1169)
⁴ Sir Maurice FitzRobert (renamed Berkeley)(b.1120 d.1190)
         m. Alice de Berkeley (b.1140 d.1170)
⁵ Sir Thomas de Berkeley⁵ (b.1170 d.1243)

Its bad enough that two grandchildren were forced to marry, but Roger II de Berkely's sister, Livida, had married Harding FitzEodnoth. That means Livida was Thomas's great-grandmother on his father's side and his great aunt on his mother's side. You just can't make this stuff up.

The Berkeleys provide even more excitement:

1. We can trace our Wharton ancestry through the Berkeley line to King John "Lackland" Plantagenet, William I "The Conquerer," the famous Warrene family, and the Blois family (from which King Stephen hailed)—albeit through illegitimacy (Figure 3). Of course from King John, it leads to his father, Henry II, mastermind of the ill-conceived mess with who owns Berkeley Castle and the marrying of grandchildren.

Figure 3—Relationship of the Wharton Family to the Norman, Angevin, and Early Plantagenet Kings of England.

NOTES TO FIGURE 3:

^aWilliam de Warrene, 1st Earl of Surrey, was one of the most trusted and most rewarded barons of William I “The Conqurer.” He became the 3rd or 4th richest noble in England.

^bWilliam de Warren, 3rd Earl of Surrey, was a Crusader Knight (1146-48). accompaning Louis VII of France in the Second Crusade. In December 1146, the French-Norman force marched across Anatolia (modern day Turkey) on their way to the Holy Land. They reached the Biblical town of Ephesus on the west coast of Turkey and then headed across Southwest Turkey. They fought an unsuccessful battle at Laodicea against the Turks on the border between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuks of Rum on January 3-4, 1148. On January 8, they battled again in the area of Mount Cadmus, where the Turks were able to ambush the train of infantry and non-combatants because the main force had moved too far ahead. King Louis and his bodyguard of Templar Knights and Noblemen, which included William de Warrene, charged the Turks. Unfortunately, the battle did not go well and King Louis barely escaped with his life. Most of the knights were killed, including William. The battle was recorded by Odo de Deuil, personal chaplain to Louis, in his book De Profectione, p. 68–127.

^cIsabella was the great granddaughter of the Gundred de St Omer ofFlanders. Isabella first married William of Blois, the younger son of King Stephen,. It has been suggested Gundred was the daughter of William I "The Conquerer" by his wife Matilda of Flanders, but this is not accepted by most modern historians. When Isabella's father died during the 2nd Crusade in 1148, she inherited the earldom of Surrey, becoming 4th Countess of Surrey. When her husband died while campaigning in Toulouse about a decade later (1159), she became the wealthiest widow in England. In April 1164, she married Hamelin de Anjou, a natural half-brother of King Henry II, who became 4th Earl of Surrey. The countess lived an unusually long life, dying at age 73.

^dHamelin adopted the surname de Warrene as did his descendents.

^eWilliam FitzEmpress sought dispensation to marry Isabella, a marriage of interest to Henry II because it would bring Isabell’s vast lands into the family. However, the union was denied by St. Thomas á Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, due to his assessment it constituted consanguinity (the blood-relationship or the natural bond between persons descended from the same stock)—in this case, the relationship between William and Isabella’s first husband, William of Blois. While the rift between Henry II and Becket had more weighty contributing factors, it’s fair to say this action by Becket did not go unnoticed. Raised with Henry II and a good friend of William FitzEmpress was Sir Richard Brito, who, with four other knights, would later murder Becket. Brito delivered the fatal blow, breaking his sword in the process, and was said to have shouted “Take that, for the love of my lord William, the king's brother!" [5]

^fJohn was a lousy king—perhaps the lousiest—whose lousiness was so great, it resulted in the establishment of a restrained monarchy. He was forced to sign the Magna Carta which limited the powers of the king.

^gThe surname Fitzroy is a dead giveaway about Richard's status as the illegitimate son of the king. Fitz means "son of" and Roy is a French word for king. Its the root word for "royal" and "royalty." FitzRoy was a descriptor given to most royal natural-born.

2. The Berkeley line leads through the Musgraves, an important family in England, which included several Members of Parliament. One of our Musgrave ancestors in particular, Thomas Musgrave (b.1302), our 18th great-grandfather, is also the 18th great-grandfather to Prince Charles as well as the late Lady Diana.

3. Evidently we are related to the actress Courtney Cox, who played Monica on the television program "Friends" through the Berkeley line. Her 22nd great grandfather (my 18th) is Sir Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron (1271-1326). She hosted a television documentary in 2017 titled "Who Do You Think You Are?" while searching for her ancestors that featured Berkeley Castle.

¹ Eodnoth "The Ställer"
² Harding FitzEodnoth m. Livida de Berkeley
³ Robert FitzHarding
⁴ Sir Maurice FitzRobert m. Alice de Berkeley
⁵ Sir Thomas Berkeley m. Joan de Somery
⁶ Sir Maurice "The Resolute" de Berkeley m. Isabel FitzRoy
⁷ Sir Thomas "The Wise" de Berkeley m. Joan de Ferrers
⁸ Sir Maurice de Berkeley m. Eva la Zouche ☜ Courtney's Ancestor

So next time you see Courtney or Prince Harry, yell "Hey Cuz."

———————

FOOTNOTES

[1] Brix, Lesa. "Why Did the Danish Vikings Move to England." ScienceNordic, 23 Feb 2017.
sciencenordic.com/denmark-society--culture-videnskabdk/why-danish-vikings-moved-to-england/1442885

[2] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England 2004-14.

[3] Worssae, Jens Jakob Asmussen. An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, Section XII: Duration of Danish Influence, p.145.

[4] Eyton, Rev. R. W. Doomesday Studies, An Analysis and Digest of the Somerset Survey and Somerset Gheld Inquest A.D. 1084. Vol.1 of 2, Reeves & Turneer, 196 Strand, Bristol, England, 1880.

[5] Amt, Emile, “William FitzEmpress (1136–1164)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

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