William Fitz Alan Sheriff of Shropshire

  General Notes:

~"The Origins of the Stuarts and the FitzAlans", NEHGR, Jan 1962, pg. 22, ⁷³⁶

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
The castle of Oswestry, so. Salop, was obtained along with an extensive fief in shropshire, early in the reign of Henry I by Alan Fitz Fleald, a Brenton, whose son and heir was William Fitz Alan, of Oswestry. This William died in 1160 and was succeeded by his son of the same name.*

~ Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, Vol. , (Fitz Alan), pp. 391-392

• Background Information. ⁷³³
In King Stephen's Charter to Shrewsbury Abbey, the earliest mention of William Fitz Alan is made. It notes that William was the son and heir of Alan Fitz Flaald, in the presence of the whole county and with his own seal (King Stephen), confirms all things given by his father to the Shrewsbury Abbey.

In 1136, William Fitz Alan's hereditary Shrievalty of discharging the office, as well as holding the estates of the Sheriff of Shropshire, was recognized by King Stephen. in the spring of 1138, with the concurrence of King Stephen, William was the Casstellan of Shrewsbury, an office which later devolved on the acting Sheriff.

In May 1138, Robert the Consul formally renounced all allegiance to King Stephen, and later ten or twelve of the strongest Castles joined that summer in the Kingdom, including William Fitz Alan. They sided with Empress Maude and her claim to the throne. When Henry Duke of Normandy landed in England to claim the "Crown," January 1153, it is probable that William Fitz Alan joined him in his campaign the following summer, yet it wasn't until Henry II succeeded to the throne that Fitz Allan regained his estates.

William's first wife was Constantia, niece of the Earl of Gloucester. She and any issue they may have had were all deceased without issue at the time Fitz Alan regained his estates. William next married the richest heiress of Shropshire, Isabel de Say, Baroness of Clun, At the time of William's death, his son and heir by Isabel de Say was likely no more than the age of five years.

~Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. VII, Robert William Eyton, Pedigree, pgs. 233-240

William married Isabel de Say, daughter of Helias de Say Baron of Clun and Unknown ⁷²¹.^,733 (Isabel de Say was born in 1132 in Clun, Shropshire, England and died in 1199 in Boscastle, Cornwall, England.)

  Marriage Notes:

~Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. VII, Robert William Eyton, Pedigree, pp. 228-229

William next married Christina of Gloucester.