General Notes

b: Woodham Walter,Malden,Essex,England

He was lord of Baynard's Castle and Dunmow Castle, with estates primarily in Essex. He and Saier de Quincy "cravenly opened the gates of the vital stronghold of Vaudreuil in Normandy," during King John's campaign in 1203 which resulted in his loss of Normandy to Philip of France. He "had been despised for it even by the French. William Marshal one day asked King Philip why he bothered to have truck with such traitors, and Philip replied that such men were like torches, to be used and then thrown in the cesspool." The loss of Vaudreuil was "a staggering blow for it was a vital link in the defensive chain. It had recently been provisioned and its men paid; it bristled with armaments. . .when its commanders opened the gates to Philip. Its surrender was everywhere the talk of the day, and derisive songs were sung about its 'glorious defence'." Robert later plotted to overthrow and possibly assassinate King John in 1212, and when the plot was discovered he fled for a time to the court of Philip. He and Eustace de Vesci, who had also fled, had, "by an ingenious sleight of hand. . .successfully posed as martyrs to their conscientious objections to obeying an excommunicate king." He was received back in England as part of John's reconciliation with Rome to end the interdict. He was one of the leaders of the baronial rebellion. On April 26, 1215, he led a force to Northampton to compel the king to sign the Magna Carta, but John did not appear. He was appointed general by the other barons, "with the title of Marshal of the Army of God and the Church," and under his command the Magna Carta was extorted from King John at Runnymede on June 10, 1215. He was one of the 25 Magna Carta surety barons. He died on crusade, at the siege of Damietta. The "mystery. . .is what spurred on the chief agitators and promoters of rebellion, Robert FitzWalter and Eustace de Vesci. They put out stories of John's lecherous designs upon their women folk. . .but the stories they told were so confused and unsubstantiated as to be beyond unravelling, let alone belief. . .it is hard to believe that FitzWalter and Vesci were anything more than varional roughnecks. . .FitzWalter was altogether disreputable and mischievious, rescued from ignominy only by his great fiefs, and owing his leadership to his dominating aggressiveness. He was quick to take offense and draw his sword. . .his son-in-law, Geoffrey de Mandeville, once slew a servant of William Brewer in a sordid squabble over lodgings when the royal court was putting up for the night at Marlborough. John threatened to hang him for murder, and FitzWalter broke out with 'You will not hang my son-in-law! By God's body you will not! You will see two hundred laced helms in your land before you hang him!' And when the King put the case up for trial, FitzWalter appeared at court with five hundred armed knights."