General Notes

William Briwere, Sheriff of Bucks, Berks, Derbys, Devon, Nottingham and Oxon.  [Burke's Peerage

Lord of Torre, Devonshire and of Horsley, Derbyshire. He gained control of the Horsley estate and was also granted the honour of the Lavendon estate in 1204.

Founded Dunkeswell Abbey.

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The following information was contained in a post-em by Curt Hofemann, curt_hofemann@@yahoo.com:

Sir William DE BRIWERRE. Lord of Horsley (DRB) Born circa 1145. Married  Beatrice DE VAUX / DE VALLE.  Sheriff of Devon for 10 years, until his death in 1227 in the reign of Henry III.  After 1189 Itinerant Justice for King Richard. Seat: Bridgwater, Somersetshire.  Circa 1192 "Richard employed his exceptional talents by making him an Itinerant Justice and an ambassador to the French court where he was instrumental in drawing up the terms for Richard's release from captivity, and on that king's second absence abroad Brewer was one of the 4 Justiciars appointed to guard the realm."  (*Gladwin, Sheriff).  Held the honour of Plympton as a Redvers tenant. Died in 1226 (Burke's Landed Gentry) (Weis, AR.). Died in 1227 (*Gladwin, Sheriff). *Irene Gladwin, The Sheriff:  The Man and his Office.  London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1974 [Ref: Pat Patterson <patpnyc@@nyc.rr.com> message to soc.genealogy.medieval 23 Feb 2001]

baron and judge, and a justice itinerant, 1187; bought land at Ileshal, Devon; was one of the four justices to whom Richard I, on leaving England, entrusted the charge of the kingdom; went to Worms to assist Richard I, then in captivity, at his interview with the Emperor, Henry VI, 1193; founded the Abbeys of Torr and Dunkeswell, and the Nunnery of Polslo, in Devon, and the Abbey on Mottisfont in Southants; became lord of Somborne near Southampton, and Sheriff of Devon, co. Oxford, co. Buchingham, Berks., Northants, and co. Derby; supported John against the Barons; assisted at the coronation of Henry III 1216; was one of the Barons of the Exchequer 1221; received a grant of the manor of Bridgewater, where he founded the Hospital of St. John Baptist [Ref: Watney p156]

In 1190 the Manor of King's Somborne was granted to William Briwere, a loyal servant of the Plantaganet kings, who made him one of the most powerful men in the realm, and rewarded him handsomely. Among other offices he was at various times sheriff of Hampshire and of other counties, (including Nottingham while Richard Coeur-de Lion was on a Crusade: this makes him Robin Hood's notorious adversary). He also signed Magna Carta. Though much disliked and an extortioner, his family married well: one of his descendants married Henry of Lancaster: their daughter, Blanche, who inherited the Manor in 1362, married John of Gaunt; the Manor then passed to their son, Henry Bolingbroke, who in 1399 became King Henry IV. The Manor remained a royal possession till the time of Charles I.

In 1200 William Brewer received from King John a licence to fortify a castle at Ashley: Ashley church had stood for over half a century already, so William's bailey was built around it. Subsequently the King stayed there to hunt in the Forest of Bere. In 1201 Brewer (sic) founded a Priory of Augustinian Canons at Mottisfont; his son gave them the church of King's Somborne: from 1207 till the dissolution of the Monastery the Priory appointed the vicars of King's Somborne, and no doubt the priests to serve at the altars and chantry. His brother John presented Little Somborne to the Priory, and there is unreliable evidence that a third brother, Peter de Rivaulx, was a monk there of some sanctity, known as 'the Monk in the Wall'. [Ref: HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ST PETER & ST PAUL, KINGS SOMBORNE http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages/somchurc.htm]

Regards,
Curt