William FitzMartin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Newport Castle, Pembrokeshire, begun by William FitzMartin

William FitzMartin (* around 1155 , † around 1209 ) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman.

He was a son of Robert FitzMartin , who was wealthy in south-west England , and his second wife Alice de Nonant , a daughter of Roger de Nonant . His father had conquered the barony of Cemais in the Welsh Ceredigion in the course of the Anglo-Norman conquest of Pembrokeshire around 1108 and built Nevern Castle there. Due to the defeat in the Battle of Crug Mawr , however, he had lost Cemais again to the Welsh in 1136. After the death of his father in 1159, the young William inherited the estates in south west England, including Dartington Hall in Devon . By balancingRhys ap Gruffydd , the ruler of Deheubarth with the English King Henry II , William got the barony of Cemais and Nevern Castle back in 1171, and he married Angharad, a daughter of Rhys ap Gruffydd. He probably had Nevern Castle converted into a stone fortress, but when he was probably on the Third Crusade , his father-in-law captured the castle. During the Wars of Succession after the death of his father-in-law in 1197, William was able to recapture Cemais by 1204 and built Newport Castle 4 km west of the destroyed Nevern Castle as a new castle at the mouth of the Nefern River in Newport Bay.

Family and offspring

From his marriage to Angharad he had a son, William (* 1185; † around 1215). His Dartington and Newport estates remained in the FitzMartin family until 1325, when they were married to the Audley family.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Celtic Casimir: Sir William FITZ MARTIN of Cemmaes & Combe. Retrieved September 17, 2013 .
  2. ^ British History Online: Dartington. Retrieved September 17, 2013 .
  3. ↑ David M. Browne; David Percival: Newport Castle (Pembrokeshire): An Architectural Study. Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales, 1992. ISBN pp. 1-871184-07-X, p. 7
personal data
SURNAME William FitzMartin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES William fitz Robert fitz Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-Norman nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1155
DATE OF DEATH around 1209