General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> 5th Baron, Lord Of Limerick
Burke's Dormant & Extinct Gentry:
WILLIAM DE BRAOSE, who likewise inherited the large estate
s of his grandmother, and besides possessed the Honour of B
raose, in Normandy. This feudal lord was a personage of gre
at power and influence during the reign of HENRY II. and RI
CHARD I., from the former of whom he obtained a grant of th
e "whole kingdom of Limeric, in Ireland," for the service o
f sixty knight's fees, to be held of the king and his young
er son, John. For several years after this period he appear
s to have enjoyed the favour of KING JOHN, and his power an
d possessions were augmented by divers grants from the crow
n. But in the 10th of the king's reign, when the kingdom la
boured under an interdiction, and JOHN deemed it expedien
t to demand hostages from his barons to ensure their allegi
ance, should the Pope proceed to the length of absolving th
em from obedience from the crown, his officers who came upo
n the mission to the Baron de Braose, were met by Maud hi
s wife, and peremptorily informed that she would not entrus
t any of her children to the king, who had so basely murder
ed his own nephew, PRINCE ARTHUR. De Braose rebuked her, ho
wever, for speaking thus, and said that if he had in any th
ing offended the king, he was ready to make satisfaction, a
ccording to the judgement of the court, and the barons hi
s peers, upon an appointed day, and at any fixed place, wit
hout however giving hostages. This answer being communicate
d to the king, an order was immediately transmitted to seiz
e upon the baron's person, but de Braose having notice ther
eof fled with his family into Ireland. This quarrel betwee
n de Braose and KING JOHN is, however, differently relate
d by other authorities. The monk of Lanthony states, that K
ING JOHN  disinherited and banished him for his cruelty t
o the Welsh, in his war with Gwenwynwyn, and that his wif
e Maud, and William, his son and heir, died prisoners in Co
rfe Castle. While another writer relates, "that this Willia
m de Braose, son of Philip de Braose, Lord of Buelt, held t
he lands of Brecknock and Went, for the whole time of KIN
G HENRY II., RICHARD I., and KING JOHN, without any disturb
ance, until he took to wife the Lady Maud de St. Valerie, w
ho, in revenge of Henry de Hereford, caused divers Welshme
n to be murthered in the castle of Bergavenny, as they sa
t at meat: and that for this, and for some other pickt quar
rel, KING JOHN  banished him and all his out of England. Li
kewise, that in his exile, Maud his wife, with William, cal
led Gam, his son, were taken and put in prison; where she d
ied, the 10th year after her husband fought with Wenwynwyn
, and slew three thousand Welch." From these various relati
ons, says Dugdale, it is no easy matter to discover what hi
s demerits were; but what usage he had at last, take here f
rom the credit of these two historians, who lived near tha
t time. "This year, viz. anno 1240," quoth MATTHEW OF WESTM
INSTER, "the noble lady Maud, wife of William de Braose, wi
th William, their son and heir, were miserably famished a
t Windsore, by the command of KING JOHN; and William, her h
usband, escaping from Scorham, put himself into the habit o
f a beggar, and privately getting beyond sea, died soon aft
er at Paris, where he had burial in the Abbey of St. Victor
." And Matthew Paris, putting his death in anno 1212 (whic
h differs a little in time), says, "That he fled from Irela
nd to France, and lying at Ebula, his body was carried to P
aris, and there honourably buried in the abbey of St. Victo
r." "But after these great troubles in his later days," con
tinues Dugdale, "I shall now say something of his pious wor
ks. Being by inheritance from his mother, Lord of Bergavenn
y, he made great grants to the monks of that priory, condit
ionally, that the abbot and convent of St. Vincenti, in Mai
ne (to which this priory of Bergaven