William de Mohun, 1st Earl of Somerset

Coat of arms de Mohun (with the lily of the de Agulon )

William de Mohun, 1st Earl of Somerset († around 1145), one was Anglo-Norman nobleman who in anarchy mentioned Thronfolgekrieg (1139-1163) on the part of the Empress Matilda fought.

Life

William de Mohun was the heir and most likely also the son of William de Mohun († 1100), 1084 High Sheriff of Somerset and Seigneur de Moyon (near Saint-Lô in the Manche department ). His father is referred to in the Domesday Book as "tenant en chef" and had extensive property in England, especially in Somerset and there mainly around Dunster Castle .

The first mention of William de Mohun is his presence at the Council of Northampton held by Henry I in 1131. After the king's death in 1135, his nephew Stephen of Blois is crowned, although the throne of his cousin Matilda, Henry's daughter, is promised was. In late 1138 or early 1139, after Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester , had given up his vow of loyalty to Stephen and declared that he would stand by his half-sister, the Empress, William de Mohun took part in the general uprising of the barons in the west of the kingdom. He gathers a large band of knights at Dunster Castle, and from there raided all of Somerset.

Stephan, who tried to counteract this uprising, came to siege the castle in the late spring of 1139. When he found that the castle was impregnable, he had a counter castle built, which he subordinated to Henry de Tracy, Lord of Barnstaple . On February 2, 1141, Stephan was captured by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester and Robert of Gloucester at the Battle of Lincoln . William de Mohun was among those who accompanied Matilda on their march on London. Matilda probably made him Earl in June 1141 , in any case he is referred to as Earl in a document written in this city in the summer, whereas this was not the case in the months before. According to the author of Gesta Stephani , he was Earl of Dorset , but Mathilde addressed him as Earl of Somerset at the end of 1142 . The name discrepancy between the title can be put into perspective by the fact that the counties of Dorset and Somerset border each other and that his possessions and powers probably extended in both counties. He participated in the Battle of Winchester in September 1141, which resulted in the Empress's defeat and the capture of her military commander and half-brother Robert of Gloucester. After an exchange of prisoners, Stephan finally found his throne.

He founded the Augustinian Abbey of Bruton in Somerset in 1142 and is considered a benefactor of Dunster Priory. In Bruton's charter he describes himself as "Willielmus de Moyne, comes Somersetensis". At the end of 1143, William de Mohun appears to have been unfaithful to the Empress's Angevin cause. It is possible that an event reported by Gesta Stephani was the cause: According to the chronicle, 104 of his knights were captured during a clash with Henri de Tracy. Allegedly he left the country afterwards.

Around 1130 William de Mohun had married Agnès de Gant, a daughter of Walter de Gant ( House Gent ) and Maud of Brittany ( House Rennes ). He probably died around 1145, certainly before 1155. His eldest son, who was also called William de Mohun, inherited him as Lord of Dunster, but did not bear the title of Earl of Somerset, as he was not recognized as such by King Henry II .

literature

• Robert Bearman: Mohun, William de, earl of Somerset (dc1145). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, 2004, online, accessed December 2008 .
• George Edward Cokayne , Geoffrey F. White (Eds.): The Complete Peerage . Volume XII, Part 1, St. Catherine Press, London 1953, pp. 36-38.
• William Hunt: Mohun, William de, Earl of Somerset or Dorset, (fl. 1141) . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 38, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1894, pp. 112-113.