DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0194
104
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
parts of Shropshire were not included in the Conqueror's grant to the Norman Earl.
From an incidental passage in Domesday-book, there is great reason to believe
(though that fact has never yet been noticed) that they formed a portion of King
William's donation to his kinsman, the brave William Fitz-Osberne, Earl of Here-
ford : and if any Earl Roger began (for that is the expression of Glover's MS.)
a castle at Ludlow, it was Fitz-Osberne's son, of that name, who might be engaged
in such a work at the time when that conspiracy was discovered, for which he had
forfeited his earldom and estates before the compilation of the Domesday Survey.
That a building was set about here during the Norman period, is certain, from the
very curious circular chapel, and other parts pointed out in the excellent descriptive
account which follows this historical sketch.
Though, as I have said, Ludlow is not mentioned in that record, yet it is plain,
that upon the treason of Earl Roger of Hereford, this place, with other extensive
manors in the neighbourhood, were granted in capite to Walter de Laci, or Lacy,
who most probably held them under the Earl before his treason. But Walter's son,
Roger, rebelled against King Rufus, and Roger's brother Hugh (the founder of
Lanthony Priory) died without issue : and on one or other (but most probably on
the latter) of these events, Ludlow, with the other Lacy estates, were reserved by
the crown ; when, if we may trust the MS. of Glover, Henry I. granted it to Fulke
de Dinant, a knight (as appears by his name) of Bretagne. It was certainly holden
in the reign of King Stephen, by one Gotso, or Joce de Dinant, who may have
been a son of the former, and Gotso appears to have been an adherent of Henry's
grandson, Fitz-Empress ; since we know that Stephen laid siege to this castle, then
in the interest of his rival, from the striking and well-known incident of the imminent
danger from which he rescued his companion in arms, the young Prince of Scotland.
In the last year of his reign, Stephen granted the earldom of Hereford "hereditarily"
to Robert, Earl of Leicester, and " if he can arrange matters with Gotso de Dinant,"
says Stephen, " I freely grant that the said Gotso may hold his fee, which had been
Hugh de Lacy's, of the earl." The wife of this nobleman was the great grand-
daughter of William Fitz-Osberne, and his charter justifies what has been said before
of Earl Roger's forfeiture, and its subsequent possession by Lacy.
Of the recapture of Ludlow Castle by Lacy, and the consequent expulsion of
Joce de Dinant, with the gallant exploits of Fulke Fitz-Warin, in support of this,
his father-in-law, we have a picturesque and romantic account in the Gestes of the
Guarines, a MS. abstracted by Leland. Lacy having advanced from Carnham
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
parts of Shropshire were not included in the Conqueror's grant to the Norman Earl.
From an incidental passage in Domesday-book, there is great reason to believe
(though that fact has never yet been noticed) that they formed a portion of King
William's donation to his kinsman, the brave William Fitz-Osberne, Earl of Here-
ford : and if any Earl Roger began (for that is the expression of Glover's MS.)
a castle at Ludlow, it was Fitz-Osberne's son, of that name, who might be engaged
in such a work at the time when that conspiracy was discovered, for which he had
forfeited his earldom and estates before the compilation of the Domesday Survey.
That a building was set about here during the Norman period, is certain, from the
very curious circular chapel, and other parts pointed out in the excellent descriptive
account which follows this historical sketch.
Though, as I have said, Ludlow is not mentioned in that record, yet it is plain,
that upon the treason of Earl Roger of Hereford, this place, with other extensive
manors in the neighbourhood, were granted in capite to Walter de Laci, or Lacy,
who most probably held them under the Earl before his treason. But Walter's son,
Roger, rebelled against King Rufus, and Roger's brother Hugh (the founder of
Lanthony Priory) died without issue : and on one or other (but most probably on
the latter) of these events, Ludlow, with the other Lacy estates, were reserved by
the crown ; when, if we may trust the MS. of Glover, Henry I. granted it to Fulke
de Dinant, a knight (as appears by his name) of Bretagne. It was certainly holden
in the reign of King Stephen, by one Gotso, or Joce de Dinant, who may have
been a son of the former, and Gotso appears to have been an adherent of Henry's
grandson, Fitz-Empress ; since we know that Stephen laid siege to this castle, then
in the interest of his rival, from the striking and well-known incident of the imminent
danger from which he rescued his companion in arms, the young Prince of Scotland.
In the last year of his reign, Stephen granted the earldom of Hereford "hereditarily"
to Robert, Earl of Leicester, and " if he can arrange matters with Gotso de Dinant,"
says Stephen, " I freely grant that the said Gotso may hold his fee, which had been
Hugh de Lacy's, of the earl." The wife of this nobleman was the great grand-
daughter of William Fitz-Osberne, and his charter justifies what has been said before
of Earl Roger's forfeiture, and its subsequent possession by Lacy.
Of the recapture of Ludlow Castle by Lacy, and the consequent expulsion of
Joce de Dinant, with the gallant exploits of Fulke Fitz-Warin, in support of this,
his father-in-law, we have a picturesque and romantic account in the Gestes of the
Guarines, a MS. abstracted by Leland. Lacy having advanced from Carnham