Maud de St Valery

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hay Castle in Hay-on-Wye , according to legend, built by Maud de St Valery in one night

Maud de St Valery (also Matilda de St Valery and Maud de Braose , * 1153/55; † 1210 ) was an Anglo- Norman noblewoman. She was also known as the Matilda of Hay or by her Welsh name, Moll Walbee .

Origin and family

Maud was the daughter of the Anglo-Norman nobleman Bernard de St Valery († around 1190) and his wife Eleanor from Hinton Waldrist in Berkshire . Presumably in the 1170s she married William de Braose , the eldest son and heir to his father of the same name, William de Braose . The couple is said to have had a total of sixteen children, including:

Life

The Welsh chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis describes her as “a wise and virtuous woman,” but she was also a power-conscious woman who confidently fought for her rights. Her husband had risen to become the most powerful baron of the Welsh Marches through the inheritance of his father and grandfathers and the favor of Kings Richard the Lionheart and Johann Ohneland . He constantly had to defend the lands he had conquered in Wales against rebellions and attacks from the Welsh, with his wife actively supporting him. Her tenacious defense of Painscastle Castle in Powys in 1198 earned the castle the nickname "Matilda's Castle".

Around 1207 her husband lost the favor of King John because he had only paid the King 700 Marks of the 5,000 Marks pledged for enfeoffment with Limerick . When her son Giles, Bishop of Hereford , went into exile in France in 1208 because of the interdict against England, the king suspected the family of conspiracy. He asked Maud to hold her eldest son, William, hostage. Her haughty response to this request probably led to the complete overthrow of her family. She is said to have mentioned in the presence of the royal messenger that she would not entrust her son to a man who had himself killed his own nephew, an allusion to the fate of John's nephew Arthur , in whose disappearance her husband was probably involved. The Braose's possessions were then confiscated by the king, whereupon her husband began an open rebellion in Wales. Eventually he fled to Ireland with his wife, son William and his family. When Johann persecuted her in Ireland, Maud fled to Scotland with her son and his family. In Galloway they were captured by Duncan of Carrick . Duncan had them taken to Johann in cages at Carrickfergus . The king demanded a ransom of 40,000 marks for her and her son, but her husband could not raise this enormous sum and fled into exile in France, where he died the following year. Maud and her son William died in dungeons at Windsor or Corfe Castle ; According to the contemporary Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d'Angleterre , Johann let them starve to death together.

Maud de Braose in the legend

The Welsh said it had supernatural properties. She is said to have built the castle of Hay-on-Wye herself in just one night and transported the stones for the castle in her apron. When a stone fell out, she is said to have taken it and thrown it into the churchyard of St Meilig's near Llowes , five kilometers away . The three meter high stone, St Meilig's Cross , is still in the church today.

Literary reception

Her life served as a template for the novel Die Herrin von Hay by Barbara Erskine , and her fate also plays a role in numerous other novels such as The Scarlet Lion and The English Rebel by Elizabeth Chadwick , the Devil's Crown by Rebecca Gablé or The Fourth King by Sylvie von Frankenberg .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Louise J. Wilkinson: Women in thirteenth-century Lincolnshire . Royal Historical Society, London 2007. ISBN 0-86193-285-4 , p. 13
  2. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 250.
  3. ↑ Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d'Angleterre , ed. by Francisque Michel, Paris 1840, p. 114.
  4. ↑ Llowes Tourist Information. Retrieved July 15, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Barbara Erskine: The Mistress of Hay . Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main 1988, ISBN 978-3-550-06159-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Maud de St Valery
ALTERNATIVE NAMES St Valery, Matilda de; Braose, Maud de; Briouze, Maud de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-Norman nobles
DATE OF BIRTH around 1150
DATE OF DEATH 1210