General Notes

LEADER OF MAGNA CHARTA BARONS
LORD DUNHAM CASTLE
AR 148-27  120-121

Robert's daughter Maud (or Matilda) was the basis of the legendary MaidMarion of Robin Hood.  Leader of the Barons against King John.

This feudal lord, upon the assessment of the scutage of Scotland in the13th of John [1212], had the king's especial writ of acquittal forsixty-three knights' fees and a half, which were of his own properinheritance; and for thirty knights' fees, and a third part which he hadacquired by marriage. But the next year he was forced to fly with hisfamily into France in order to avoid being arrested upon the firstdisposition of the barons to revolt; and was soon afterwards charged withtreason and rebellion, when his house, called Baynard Castle, in the cityof London, was demolished by order of the king.

"The primary occasion of these discontents," say Dugdale, "is by somethus reported: viz., -- that this Robert Fitz-Walter having a verybeautiful dau. called Maude, residing at Dunmow, the king frequentlysolicited her chastity but, never prevailing, grew so enraged that hecaused her to be privately poisoned, and that she was buried at the southside of the quire at Dunmow, between two pillars there."

FitzWalter, however, is said, subsequently, to have made his peace withKing John by the great prowess and valour he displayed at a tournament,held in Normandy before the kings of France and England, where, running atilt with his great lance, he overthrew his rival at the first course,which act of gallantry caused the English monarch to exclaim, "By God'sTooth, he deserves to be a king who hath such a soldier of his train;"and afterwards, ascertaining the name of the victorious knight, heimmediately sent for him and, having restore his barony, gave him libertyto repair his castle of Baynard. In the 17th of King John, FitzWalter hadso far regained the confidence of the crown that he was appointedgovernor of the castle at Hertford; but soon after, arraying himselfunder the baronial banner, his lands were all seized and those inCornwall committed to Prince Henry, the king's son; a course ofproceeding that had the immediate effect of riveting the haughty baron tothe cause which he had espoused, while his high rank, tried courage, andacknowledged abilities soon gave him a lead amongst his compeers. We findhim, therefore, amongst the first commissioners nominated to treat withthe king when it was agreed that the city of London should be deliveredup to the barons, and twenty-five of those powerful feudal chiefs chosento govern the realm. The insurrectionary lords subsequently assembled atSt. Edmundsbury, and there pledged themselves, by solemn oath at the highaltar, that, if the king refused to confirm the laws and libertiesgranted by Edward the Confessor, they would withdraw their allegiancefrom him and seize upon his fortresses. After which, forming themselvesinto a regular army, they appointed this Robert FitzWalter their generalwith the title of Marshal of the army of God and the Church, and underhis command they eventually extorted the Great Charters of Freedom fromJohn on the plains of Runnymede, when FitzWalter was elected one of thecelebrated twenty-five appointed to see the faithful observance of thoselaws. He continued, during the remainder of John's reign, equally firm tohis purpose; and after the accession of Henry III until the battle ofLincoln, where the baronial army sustained a signal defeat under hiscommand, and he became a prisoner himself after displaying a more thanordinary degree of valour. He does not appear, however, to have remainedlong under restraint, for we find him the very next year in the HolyLand, and assisting at the great siege of Damietta.
This eminent feudal baron m. 1st, Gunnora, dau. and heiress of Robert deValoines, and had issue, Walter, his successor; Matilda; Christian, m.1st to William Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and 2ndly, to Raymond de Burgh.He m. 2ndly, Rose ---, and dying at the siege of Damietta in 1234, was s.by his son, Walter FitzWalter. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant,Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p.212, FitzWalter, Barons FitzWalter]

Robert Fitz Walter, feudal Lord of Woodham Walter; foremost of the 25Barons (magnates rather than peers of Parliament) enforcing the MagnaCarta; killed at the siege of Damietta, Egypt, 9 Dec 1235.  [Burke'sPeerage]

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Robert's daughter Maud (or Matilda) was the basis of the legendary MaidMarion of Robin Hood.  Leader of the Barons against King John.

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This feudal lord, upon the assessment of the scutage of Scotland in the13th of John [1212], had the king's especial writ of acquittal forsixty-three knights' fees and a half, which were of his own properinheritance; and for thirty knights' fees, and a third part which he hadacquired by marriage. But the next year he was forced to fly with hisfamily into France in order to avoid being arrested upon the firstdisposition of the barons to revolt; and was soon afterwards charged withtreason and rebellion, when his house, called Baynard Castle, in the cityof London, was demolished by order of the king.

"The primary occasion of these discontents," say Dugdale, "is by somethus reported: viz., -- that this Robert Fitz-Walter having a verybeautiful dau. called Maude, residing at Dunmow, the king frequentlysolicited her chastity but, never prevailing, grew so enraged that hecaused her to be privately poisoned, and that she was buried at the southside of the quire at Dunmow, between two pillars there."

FitzWalter, however, is said, subsequently, to have made his peace withKing John by the great prowess and valour he displayed at a tournament,held in Normandy before the kings of France and England, where, running atilt with his great lance, he overthrew his rival at the first course,which act of gallantry caused the English monarch to exclaim, "By God'sTooth, he deserves to be a king who hath such a soldier of his train;"and afterwards, ascertaining the name of the victorious knight, heimmediately sent for him and, having restore his barony, gave him libertyto repair his castle of Baynard. In the 17th of King John, FitzWalter hadso far regained the confidence of the crown that he was appointedgovernor of the castle at Hertford; but soon after, arraying himselfunder the baronial banner, his lands were all seized and those inCornwall committed to Prince Henry, the king's son; a course ofproceeding that had the immediate effect of riveting the haughty baron tothe cause which he had espoused, while his high rank, tried courage, andacknowledged abilities soon gave him a lead amongst his compeers. We findhim, therefore, amongst the first commissioners nominated to treat withthe king when it was agreed that the city of London should be deliveredup to the barons, and twenty-five of those powerful feudal chiefs chosento govern the realm. The insurrectionary lords subsequently assembled atSt. Edmundsbury, and there pledged themselves, by solemn oath at the highaltar, that, if the king refused to confirm the laws and libertiesgranted by Edward the Confessor, they would withdraw their allegiancefrom him and seize upon his fortresses. After which, forming themselvesinto a regular army, they appointed this Robert FitzWalter their generalwith the title of Marshal of the army of God and the Church, and underhis command they eventually extorted the Great Charters of Freedom fromJohn on the plains of Runnymede, when FitzWalter was elected one of thecelebrated twenty-five appointed to see the faithful observance of thoselaws. He continued, during the remainder of John's reign, equally firm tohis purpose; and after the accession of Henry III until the battle ofLincoln, where the baronial army sustained a signal defeat under hiscommand, and he became a prisoner himself after displaying a more thanordinary degree of valour. He does not appear, however, to have remainedlong under restraint, for we find him the very next year in the HolyLand, and assisting at the great siege of Damietta.

This eminent feudal baron m. 1st, Gunnora, dau. and heiress of Robert deValoines, and had issue, Walter, his successor; Matilda; Christian, m.1st to William Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and 2ndly, to Raymond de Burgh.He m. 2ndly, Rose ---, and dying at the siege of Damietta in 1234, was s.by his son, Walter FitzWalter. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant,Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p.212, FitzWalter, Barons FitzWalter]


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