Baron Marmion

Arms of Marmion of Tamworth, Winteringham and Torrington: Vair, a fess gules[1]
Arms of Philip Marmion, 5th feudal baron of Tamworth: Vair, a fess gules fretty or

There have been four different baronies held by the Marmion family, two feudal baronies and two baronies by writ.

Feudal barony of Tamworth

The first feudal barony was obtained by Roger Marmion (d. circa 1129),[2] who held lands in Lindsay in 1115-18,[3] lord of the manor of Fontenay and castellan of Falaise Castle, Normandy, when between 1110 and 1114 he was granted the feudal barony of Tamworth, the caput of which was Tamworth Castle, after the exile of Roger d'Abetot, nephew and heir of the King's steward, Robert Despenser. The eldest son of the 3rd Marmion feudal baron of Tamworth acquired the manor of Winteringham in North Lincolnshire.

Welsh feudal barony of Llanstephan

A second barony was obtained by Roger Marmion, lord of the manor of Fontenay-le-Marmion during the Norman invasion of Wales when he was rewarded with the Barony of Llanstephan, whose caput at Llansteffan Castle played a central role in the Welsh wars.

Barony of Torrington, barony by writ (1264)

The third barony was a barony by writ of summons for William Marmion (as "Baron of Torrington") to Simon de Montfort's Parliament in 1264, but the summons was not continued after the rebels' defeat at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

Barony of Winteringham, barony by writ

Created for John Marmion (d.1322).

Ancestry

According to Cokayne "the earliest known occurrence of the Marmion name seems to be that of a William Marmion who exchanged 12 acres of land with Ralf Taisson, son of Ralf the Angevin, which were granted by the latter to the abbey of Fontenay before Oct 1049 and who acted as a witness to a confirmation charter by William Duke of Normandy in 1060.[4] Due to similarities between the coats of arms of the Taisson and Marmion families there is some speculation that they were related.

In 1140 King Stephen left Robert Marmion of Fontenay in charge of defending Falaise Castle from Geoffrey of Anjou.[5] Falaise was the birthplace of William the Conqueror and former seat of the Dukes of Normandy so was a big prize. Robert, was "a warlike man with no match for boldness, fierceness or cunning"[6] and his successful defence of Falaise so angered Geoffrey that he marched to Fontenay and captured and destroyed Marmion's own castle.[7]

Robert moved to England (possibly after being rewarded by King Stephen for the defence of Falaise and the loss of his own castle) and expelled the monks of Coventry, making a castle of their church. Soon after, on 8 September 1143, in a fight with the Earl of Chester he was thrown from his horse and broke his thigh. As he lay on the ground he was killed by a common soldier. Robert was buried at Polesworth, Warwickshire, in unconsecrated ground as an excommunicated person.

Robert was married to Millicent, a kinswoman of Adeliza of Louvain,[5] wife of Henry I. Upon Robert's death Millicent remarried to Richard de Camville.[5]

Some believe that either Robert or his eldest son married the daughter of Gervais, Count of Rethel (brother to Baldwin II King of Jerusalem).

King's Champion

Legend has it that the Marmions were Champions of Normandy before moving to England during the Anarchy. Robert Marmion's defence of King Stephen's castle at Falaise (birthplace of William the Conqueror and former seat of the Dukes of Normandy) in 1140 against Geoffrey of Anjou, is possibly an indication that the title originally had more than symbolic meaning.[8] In addition, as Normandy was still the homeland of the Kings of England at this time, it makes sense that, if one existed, the Kings Champion would be known as "Champion of Normandy and England".

Philip Marmion (d.1291) used the "3 Swords" badge, later used by the Dymokes to denote being heridatary Champions of England, as a seal as early as 1265[8] and in 1328 Tamworth Castle was held by the service of "appearing armed in the Royal Arms and mounted on the King's best charger to make proof for the king against any who opposed his coronation".[8]

The duty passed to the Dymokes through Philip's granddaughter Margaret Ludlow due to him having no legitimate male heirs.[8]

Baron Marmion of Tamworth (c.1110-14)

By Tenure (feudal barony)

Baron Marmion of Llanstephan (c.1114)

By tenure (feudal barony)

Baron Marmion of Winteringham

By tenure

By writ

Baron Marmion of Torrington (1264)

By writ

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Bernard Burke (1884), Burkes General Armory (hardback), London: Burkes
  2. ↑ Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.145, Tamworth
  3. ↑ Sanders, p.145
  4. 1 2 3 4 George Edward Cokayne (1893), Complete Peerage (hardback), London: George Bell & Sons.
  5. 1 2 3 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (hardback), Oxford University Press
  6. ↑ Sir Leslie Stephen (1893), Sidney Lee, ed., Dictionary of National Biography (hardback), 36, London: Smith, Elder & Co
  7. ↑ John Burke (1883), Sir Bernard A Burke, ed., Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Scotland and Ireland, extinct, dormant and in abeyance (hardback), London: Burkes Peerage
  8. 1 2 3 4 Sir Anthony Richard Wagner, ed. (1957), Rolls of Arms Henry III (hardback), London: Harleian Society
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Charles Ferrers R. Palmer (1875), History of the Baronial Family of Marmion, Lords of the Castle of Tamworth, etc. (hardback), Tamworth: J. Thompson
  10. ↑ John Horace Round (1895), Feudal England (hardback), London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co
  11. ↑ François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des Bois (1969), Dictionnaire De La Noblesse (hardback), Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint
  12. ↑ John Caley, ed. (1806), Calendarium Inquisitionum post mortem sive Escaetarum (hardback), 1, London: Record Commission
  13. 1 2 John Nichols (1795), The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester (hardback), Leicester: John Nichols
  14. ↑ Thomas Stapleton (1844), Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normannias, London: Society of Antiquaries
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