Henry d'Essex
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Henry of Essex (died c. 1170) was a Norman noble who held the manor of Rayleigh, Essex, Haughley (by right of his 2nd wife Alice de Montfort), and the office of Constable of England during the reigns of Kings Stephen and Henry II. That office included the duty of holding the royal standard to indicate the location of the king.
Henry was the son and heir of Robert fitz Swein of Essex and grandson of Swein, who constructed Rayleigh Castle during the reign of Edward the Confessor. He is mentioned in several chronicles, including the Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond.
His influence at court waned after he dropped the royal standard in a Welsh ambush during Henry II's 1157 campaign into Wales. At the Easter court of 1163, Henry was accused of treason for that act by a claimant to the Montfort estate and the two men fought a judicial duel. Jocelin details Henry's trial by battle with Robert de Montfort (related to Henry's wife) in 1163 on Fry's Island in the River Thames at Reading. Henry's body was carried senseless from the site of the duel by monks of nearby Reading Abbey, but he revived and there took the cowl. As a convicted traitor, however, his estates and offices were forfeit.
Henry of Essex is thought to have died the same year as Becket, in 1170.
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[edit] Arms of Henry of Essex
"Arms, Argent, an Orle Gules. Eodem anno, as in Madox's Exch. p.685 John de Bidun."
[edit] Family
His daughter Agnes of Essex, by his second marriage, was betrothed to Geoffrey de Vere, brother of the first earl of Oxford, but later married Aubrey III de Vere, first earl of Oxford, as his third wife.
[edit] Source
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 246-26; Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton 2001.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Unknown |
Royal Constable
years=1150–1154 |
Succeeded by Unknown |
