William Peverel (nobleman, † after 1155)

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William Peverel (also William Peverel II or the Younger ) (* around 1090, † after February 1155) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman.

Origin and youth

William Peverel was the eldest son of his father William Peverel and his wife Adeline. His father was an important baron in the northern Midlands , after his death in 1114 Peverel inherited his estate and the offices of commandant of Nottingham Castle and Castle of the Peak , which was later also called Peveril Castle . As early as 1109 he testified to the document with which his father donated Lenton Priory near Nottingham .

Role under Henry I and during the anarchy

In the 1120s, Peverel testified to some documents from King Henry I , but apparently stayed less at court than his father. The king entrusted him several times with the exercise of the royal forest rights in the Midlands. In September 1131 at the latest, Peverel swore in Northampton to support the succession to the throne of Henry's daughter Matilda . When Heinrich's nephew Stephan von Blois claimed the throne after the death of Heinrich at the end of 1135 , Peverel broke his oath and supported him. In April 1136 he testified to the document in which King Stephen confirmed the privileges of the English Church. When it came between Stephan and the supporters of Matilda to the open war of succession, the so-called anarchy , Peverel supported Stephan. He was one of the leaders of the army that defeated the Scots under King David I in the standard battle in August 1138 . In February 1141, however, he was captured at the Battle of Lincoln . Afterwards, Nottingham Castle fell to Ralph Paynel , who occupied the castle on behalf of Robert of Gloucester . His son-in-law Robert de Ferrers , who was also on Stephen's side, probably secured part of Peverel's property in Nottinghamshire and from that time also referred to himself as the Earl of Nottingham . In 1142, Nottingham was retaken from Peverel's vassals.

Fall and dispossession

When Heinrich Plantagenet , the son of Matilda, landed in England in 1153 and continued the war of succession, he called Peverel a traitor and gave Peverel's possessions to Earl Ranulph of Chester . Allegedly, Peverel tried to poison Earl Ranulph when he was his guest. In the summer of 1153, Nottingham Castle was captured and burned by Henry's troops. It is believed that by this time Peverel had lost his holdings in Nottinghamshire for good. In February 1155 his goods were officially confiscated by Heinrich, who had meanwhile become the new king as Heinrich II . Peverel fled from the king's troops, presumably having previously entered Lenton Priory as a monk. His further fate is unknown. His eldest son, William, was dead, and his second son, presumably, had also died. His estates remained in the king's possession, although his son-in-law Robert de Ferrers claimed the inheritance. It was not until their grandson William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby , that the estates in Northamptonshire were awarded in 1199.

Family and offspring

Around 1115 Peverel had married Oddona. He had several children with her, including:

In his second marriage he married Avice, a daughter of William of Lancaster, around 1145.

literature

  • Daniel Williams: The Peverils and the Essebies, 1066-1166 . In: Daniel Williams: England in the twelfth century. Proceedings of the 1988 Harlaxton symposium. Boydell, Woodbridge 1990. ISBN 0-85115-531-6 , pp. 241-259

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Jones: The Charters of Robert II de Ferrers, Earl of Nottingham, Derby and Ferrers . In: Nottingham Medieval Studies 24 (1980), p. 10
  2. ↑ Cracroft's Peerage: Derby, Earl of (E, c. 1138 - forfeited 1266). Retrieved August 2, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Peverel, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES William Peverel II; William Peverel the Younger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-Norman nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1090
DATE OF DEATH after February 1155