General Notes

Earl of Arundel 1st, Earl of Sussex & Lincoln

William de Albini, surnamed "William with the strong hand," from the following circumstance, as related by Dugdale:---

"It happened that the Queen of France, being then a widow, and a very beautify woman, became much in love with a knight of that country, who was a comely person, and in the flower of his youth: and because she thought that no man excelled him in valour, she caused a tournament to be proclaimed throughout her dominions, promising to reward those who should exercise themselves therein, according to their respective demerits; and concluding that if the person whom she so well affected could act his part better than the others in those military exercises, she might marry him without any dishonour to herself. Hereupon divers gallant men, from forrain parts hastening to Paris, amongst others came this our William de Albini, bravely accoutered, and in the tournament excelled all others, overcoming many, and wounding one mortally with his lance, which being observed by the queen, she became exceedingly enamoured of him, and forthwith invited him to a costly banquet, and afterwards bestowing certain jewels upon him, offered him marriage; but, having plighted his troth to the Queen of England, then a widow, he refused her, whereat she grew so much discontented that she consulted with her maids how she might take away his life; and in pursuance of that design, inticed him into a garden, where there was a secret cave, and in it a fierce lion, unto which she descended by divers steps, under colour of shewing him the beast; and when she told him of its fierceness, he answered, that it was a womanish and not a manly quality to be afraid thereof. But having him there, by the advantage of a folding door, thrust him in to the lion; being therefore in this danger, he rolled his mantle about his arm and, putting his hand into the mouth of the beast, pulled out his tongue by the root; which done, he followed the queen to her palace and gave it to one of her maids to present her. Returning thereupon to England, with the fame of this glorious exploit, he was forthwith advanced to the Earldom of Arundel, and for his arms the lion given him."

He subsequently obtained the hand of the Queen Adeliza, relict of King Henry I, and daughter of Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine, which Adeliza had the castle of Arundel in dowry from the deceased monarch, and thus her new lord became its feudal earl. The earl was one of those who solicited the Empress Maud to come to England, and received her and her brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, at the port of Arundel, in August, 1139, and in three years afterwards (1142), in the report made of King Stephen's taking William de Mandevil at St. Albans, it is stated -- "that before he could be laid hold on, he underwent a sharp skirmish with the king's party, wherein the Earl of Arundel, though a stout and expert soldier, was unhorsed in the midst of the water by Walkeline de Oxeai, and almost drowned." In 1150, his lordship wrote himself Earl of Chichester, but we find him styled again Earl of Arundel, upon a very memorable occasion -- namely, the reconciliation of Henry Duke of Normandy (afterwards Henry II) and King Stephen at the siege of Wallingford Castle in 1152. "It was scarce possible," says Rapin, "for the armies to part without fighting. Accordingly the two leaders were preparing for battle with equal ardour, when, by the prudent advice of the Earl of Arundel, who was on the king's side, they were prevented from coming to blows." A truce and peace followed this interference of the earl's, which led to the subsequent accession of Henry after Stephen's decease, in whose favour the Earl stood so high that he not only obtained for himself and his heirs the castle and honour of Arundel, but a confirmation of the Earldom of Sussex, of which county he was really earl, by a grant of the Tertium Denarium of the pleas of that shire. In 1164, we find the Earl of Arundel deputed with Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London, to remonstrate with Lewis, King of France, upon affording an asylum to Thomas à Becket within his dominion, and on the failure of that mission, despatched with the archbishop of York, the bishops of Winchester, London, Chichester, and Exeter, -- Wido Rufus, Richard de Invecestre, John de Oxford (priests) -- Hugh de Gundevile, Bernard de St. Valery, and Henry Fitzgerald, to lay the whole affair of Becket at the foot of the pontifical throne. Upon levying the aid for the marriage of the king's daughter, 12th of Henry II [1165-66], the knights' fees of the honour of Arundel were certified to be ninety-seven, and those in Norfolk belonging to the earl, forty-two. In 1173, we find the Earl of Arundel commanding, in conjunction with William, Earl of Essex, the king's army in Normandy, and compelling the French monarch to abandon Verneuil after a long siege, and in the next year, with Richard de Lucy, justice of England, defeating Robert Earl of Leicester, then in rebellion at St. Edmundsbury. This potent nobleman, after founding and endowing several religious houses, departed this life at Waverley, in Surrey, on the 3 October, 1176, and was buried in the abbey of Wymondham. His lordship left by Adeliza, his wife, widow of King Henry I, four sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom, Alice, m. John, Earl of Ewe. The eldest son, William de Albini, 2nd earl, had a grant from the crow, 23rd Henry II [1177-8] of the Earldom of Sussex, and in the 1st of Richard I [1189-90], had a confirmation from that prince of the castle and honour of Arundel, as also of the Tertium Denarium of the county of Sussex. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, pp. 2-3, Albini, Earls of Arundel]

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Note: On the Earldom of Lincoln, previous creations: [Burke's Peerage,p. 1711]:

Henry I's widow Adeliz married in 1138 William d'Aubigny, whothe next year, probably as a result, was created Earl ofLincoln. William's father was a Norman immigrant to England inHenry I's reign. His son, who by this advantageous marriage cameinto the former Queen's dowry of Arundel Castle, together withits Honour (feudal administrative unit embodying severalknight's fees), has been held thereby to have become Earl ofArundel. By 1142 he had been deprived of his Earldom of Lincoln,indeed even before, was spoken sometimes as Earl of Arundel andsometimes as Earl of Chichester or Earl of Sussex.