General Notes

REFN: 4655AN
REFN: P4656
Odonell De Umfreville II d 1182
Lord of Redesdale
Baron of Prudh oe c1166-1182
Seems to have succeeded his father Odinell I (Hedley) sometime b etween
1162 and 1166 as in 1166 he appears in a document assessing him for
scutage5 in Northumberland, he appears again in 1171. In 1173 he had a
grant of £20 out of the rental of the mines of Carlisle to retain Knights
at Prudho e on account of Scots raiding (Wallace laid seige in this year).
It is as wel l he was granted this income for in 1174 Harbottle Castle was
taken and Prudh oe was again put under seige. Wallace seems to have taken
a dislike to Odonel l "Thus said King William: Then may I be accursed
Excommunicated by priest, p ut to shame and discomfited. If I give the
castle of Odinel a fixed time or r espite. But I will cause him wholly to
his joy and delight" Odonell escaped h owever. He was present at Alnwick
when William the Lion was defeated and capt ured. Odonell was given £17
10s out of the booty stolen from him by William. Odonell was also granted
Elton in Yorkshire for life as well as the forfeited lands of Thomas
Muscamp the Baron of Wooler.
After the defeat of the Wallac e Odonell made several alterations to the
castle including a new gatehouse. T he mound was levelled and a new stone
keep was erected which after Norham is the oldest stone keep in
Northumberland. Part of the curtain wall was rebuilt in stone. An
interesting story relates to this rebuilding work.... "All his
neighbours, the legend runs, had, either from love or fear, given him
assis tance in the work, except the men of Wylam, a possession of the
monastery of St Oswin of Tynemouth, which had been freed from all
contributions to castle building by several royal charters. Neither the
threats nor the persuasions o f the king's officers had any effect. Odinel
was so enraged that he sent for one of them who lived, without fear of
God, in the city of Corbridge, and bad e him seize the property of the
Wylam peasants and bring it to the castle. Th is man took with him two
officers names Richard and Nicholas, and proceeded a t once to Wylam.
According to the English law that had then been long establis hed, a fine
for neglecting to perform a customary duty like that of repairing a
castle was first to be levied on the private property of the serfs, and
only in the case of this proving insufficient was recourse to be had to
the l ord's demesne. The Corbridge official, however, announced his
intention of la ying hands on whatever first came his way, and it was in
vain that his compan ions cautioned him not to interfere with the head of
St. Oswin. They came to the pasture where the demesne oxen were grazing,
but these, together with the ruddy youth and his barking dog who were
looking after them, were by the pow er of St. Oswin made miraculously
invisible and inaudible to the wicked distr ainer". (Cadwallader Bates)
The St 'Oswin' is of course the former King of No rthumbria, Oswiu, whose
numerous body parts were attributed to have miraculou s powers although in
this case I suspect either bribery or the alehouse to be the more
rational explanation. Odonell you will note selects a man who was
'without the fear of God' to perform the irksome task of taking monastic
pro perty while his two companions implore him not to risk the wrath of
the holy relic, St Owin's head.
Despite Odonell's landholdings his debts on his death w ere very
substantial because of the rebuilding, so much so that some were sti ll
unpaid on the death of his son Robert in 1195.