Sir Geoffrey Fitz Piers Knight, 4th Earl of Essex

  General Notes:

Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, 8th Edition, 246B:27, Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex (by right of his first wife), Justiciar of England, 1198-1213, and son of Piers de Lutegareshale by Maud de mandevill, lady of Costow, was married a second time to Aveline de Clare, daughter of Roger de Clare and Maud de St. Hilary. ¹⁶⁰

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Geoffrey Fitz Piers married 1^st, sometime before 25 Jan 1184/5, Beatrice, elder daughter and coheir of William de Say. In 1190, Geoffrey obtained, for a fine of 3,000 marks, the lands to which his wife's grandmother. Her grandmother, Beatrice, mother of the said William, had become heir on the death of her nephew, William Earl of Essex. Moreover, he received, as from Easter 1190, the third penny of the county of Essex. With Archbishop Hubert and the Marshal, he persuaded the magnates to swear fealty to King John, who, at the Coronation, 27 May 1199, girded him with the sword of the Earldom of Essex.

Geoffrey was Sheriff of Westmorland, 1199-Easter 1200; Sheriff of Beds and Bucks, 1199-1204; of Hants, and of Salop, Easter 1201-1204; and of Yorkshire, 1202-Dec 1204. On 26 Apr 1204, the King gave him the manor of Aylesbury, at fee farm, to him and his heirs to hold at a rent of 60 pounds a years, and by the service of a knight's fee. His wife, Beatrice died in childbirth, before 19 Apr 1197, and was buried in Chicksand Priory, but was later transferred to Shouldham Priory.

Geoffrey married, 2^nd, sometime before 29 May 1205, Aveline, widow of William de Munchanesy, of Swanscombe, Kent, Winfarthing and Gooderstone, Norfolk, &c. (who d. shortly before 7 May 1204), and daughter of Roger (de Clare), Earl of Clare, or of Hertford, by Maud, daughter and heir of James de Saint Hilaire, of Dalling, Great & Little Carbrooke, Norfolk, &c. On 11 Sep 1208 the King gave him Queenhithe in London, to him and his heirs, at a rent of 30 pounds a year, and a payment of 60s a year to the Lepers of St. Giles' without London; and, on 24 July 1213, the forest of Huntingdon between Kimbolton and Melchbourne, to him and his heirs. He died 14 Oct 1213, and was buried in Shouldham Priory, which he had founded before 15 June 1198. His widow, who held the manor of Towcester, Northants, in free marriage, was living 22 Nov 1220, and died before 4 June 1225

~Cockayne's Complete Peerage, (Essex), Vol. V, pp, 122-125

• Background Information. ⁹⁴⁰
Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex (d. 1213), younger brother of Simon Fitz Piers, sheriff of Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire in the reign of Henry II, marshal in 1165, and justice-itinerant in Bedfordshire in 1163 [Norgate, Anglevin Kings, ii. 355, n. 2], married Beatrice daughter and coheiress of William de Say, eldest son of William de Day, third baron, who married Beatrice, sister of Geoffrey de Mandeville, earl of Essex. In 1184 Geoffrey shared the inheritance of his father-in-law with William de Bocland, the husband of his wife's sister. During the last five years of Henry's reign he was sheriff of Northamptonshire, and acted occasionally as a justice of assize and judge of the forest-court [Eyton, Itinerary of Henry II; Norgate]. He took the cross, but in 1189 paid a fine to Richard I for not going on the crusade [Richard of Devizes, p. 8]. On the departure of the king, he was left one of the five judges of the king's court, and baron of the exchequer, and was therefore one of the counselors of Hugh, bishop of Durham, the chief justiciar [Hoveden, iii. 16;, 28]. On the death of William de Mandeville, earl of Essex, in this year, his inheritance was claimed by Geoffrey in right of his wife as daughter of the elder son of Beatrice de Say, aunt and heiress of the earl. Her claim was disputed by her uncle Geoffrey, who was declared heir by his mother. William Longchamp, the chancellor, adjudged the inheritance to Geoffrey de Say, on condition that he paid seven thousand marks, and give him seisin. As he made default, the chancellor transferred the inheritance to Geoffrey Fitz Piers for three thousand marks [ib. Preface, xlviii, n. 6; Monasticon, iv. 145; Pipe Roll, 2 Ric. 1].

The patronage of the priory of Walden in Essex formed part of the Mandeville inheritance; but, while the succession was disputed, the monks on 1 Aug. 1190 prevailed on Richard, bishop of London, to change their house into an abbey. When Geoffrey went to Walden, he declared that the abbot and monks had defrauded him of his rights by thus renouncing his patronage. He seized their lands, and otherwise aggrieved them. They appealed to the Bishop of London, who excommunicated those who disturbed them, and William Longchamp also took their part, and caused some of their rights to be restored. This greatly angered Geoffrey, who set at naught Longchamp's authority, and continued to aggrieve the monks. Nor did he pay any attention to a papal mandate, which they procured on their behalf.

About this time his wife Beatrice died in childbed, and was buried in the priory of Chicksand in Bedfordshire, which also formed part of the Mandeville inheritance. Towards the end of his reign Richard exhorted Geoffrey to satisfy the monks, but he delayed to do so. The dispute went on, until in the reign of John, he restored part of the lands, which he had taken away, and the matter was arranged [Monasticon, iv. 145-8]. Meanwhile, in February 1191, Richard, who had heard many complaints against Longchamp, wrote from Messina to Geoffrey and the other justices bidding them control him if they found it necessary, and informing them that he was sending over Walter, archbishop of Rouen, to guide their actions [Diceto, ii. 90, 91]. Geoffrey took part in the league against the chancellor, served as one of the coadjutors of Archbishop Walter, the new chief justiciar [Giraldus Cambrensis, iv. 400; Benedictus, ii. 213], and was one of the persons excommunicated for the injuries done to Longchamp.

When Hubert Walter resigned the chief justiciarship, Richard, on 11 July 1198, appointed Geoffrey as his successor [Fœdera, i. 71]. The new justiciar gathered a large force, marched to the relief of the men of William of Braose, who were besieged by Gwenwynwyn, son the the prince of Powys, in Maud's Castle, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Welsh. Richard was in constant need of money, and Geoffrey, as his minister, carried out the oppressive measures by which his wants were supplied. The religious houses refused to pay the carucage, and their compliance was enforced by the outlawry of the whole body of the clergy. A decree was issued that all grants were to be confirmed by the new seal, and the people were oppressed by the strict administration of justice, and by a visitation of the forests [ib. pp. 62-6].

When Richard died, Geoffrey took a prominent part in securing the succession of John at the council of Northampton. At the king's coronation feast, he was girded with the sword of the earldom of Essex, although he had been called earl before. He had exercised certain administrative rights, which Roger of Hoveden speaks of as pertaining to the earldom [ib. p. 90)]; the chronicler seems to confuse the office of sheriff and the title of earl. He was sheriff of several counties, and among other marks of the king's favor received grants of Berkhamsted and Queenhythe. He was confirmed in his office, and evidently lived on the terms of some familiarity with the king [Foss]. John is said to have made him the agent of his extortion, and he was reckoned among the king's evil counselors; he served his master faithfully, and the work he did for him earned him the hatred of the oppressed people.

At the same time John disliked him, for the earl was a lawyer, brought up in the school of Glanville. Although no doubt ready enough to gain wealth for himself or his master by any means within the law, can scarcely have been willing to act in defiance of it. He was one of the witnesses of John's charter of submission to the pope on 15 May 1213, and when the king set sail on his intended expedition to Poitou, was left as his vicegerent in conjunction with the Bishop of Winchester. He was present at the assembly held at St Albans on 4 Aug., and promised on the king's behalf that the laws of Henry I should be observed. He died on 2 Oct. When the king heard of his death he rejoiced, and said with a laugh, 'When he enters hell let him salute Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, whom no doubt he will find there;' adding that now for the first time he was king and lord of England. Nevertheless the death of his minister left him without any hold on the baronage, and was an important step towards his ruin [Stubbs].

By his first wife Geoffrey left three sons, Geoffrey and William, who both succeeded to his earldom, and died without issue, and Henry, a churchman, and a daughter, Maud, who married Henry Bohun, earl of Hereford. By a second wife, Aveline, a son named John, who inherited his father's manor of Berkhamstead. Geoffrey founded Shouldham Priory in Norfolk [Monasticon, vi. 974)], and a hospital of Sutton de la Hone in Kent [ib. p. 689], and was a benefactor to the hospital of St Thomas of Acre in London.

[Sources cited by the author: Roger of Hoveden, pref. to vol. iii., and 16, 28, 153, iv. 48, 53, 62-6; Benedictus, ii. 158, 213, 223; Ralph of Diceto, i. 90; Matt. Paris, ii. 453, 483, 553, 559; Walter of Coventry, ii. pref. (all Rolls Ser.); Roger of Wendover, ii. 137, 262 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Dugdale's Baronage, i. 702, and Monasticon, iv. 145-8; Foss's Judges of England, ii. 62; Norgate's Angevin Kings, ii. 355, 393; Stubbs's Const. Hist. ii. 527.]

~ Rev. William Hunt, The Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. VII, pp. 192-194

Geoffrey married Beatrix de Say, daughter of William II de Say and Anfrica of Scotland, before 0035-Jan 1185 in England ¹⁴¹.^,723 (Beatrix de Say was born about 1160 and died about 1197.)

Geoffrey next married Aveline de Clare, daughter of Roger "the Good Earl" de Clare Earl of Hertford and Maud de St. Hilary ²⁶².^,940 (Aveline de Clare died before 4 Jun 1225 in Towcester, Northamptonshire, England ¹⁴¹.)