JohndEarley

New Information on William and John d'Earley

Based on William Marshal, Court, Career and Chivalry

in the Angevin Empire 1147 to 1219

by Dr. David Crouch ( University of Leeds )

The Erley Family seem to have taken their name from Erley or Erlegh, one of their manors. Most of their
substantial holdings were in Somerset although some like Erley were in Berkshire.

Erley comes from the saxon ER meaning Eagle and LEY or LEIGH meaning Wood. Hence Eagle Wood.

The Family holdings were enough that the Family were considered to be minor Barons.

William d' Erley I was Chamberlain of Henry II. He married Aziria, daughter of Ralph de Insula and had 2 sons
and 3 daughters. John was born about 1172.

William died at the end of 1180 leaving his heir John as an 8 year old boy.

William, on his deathbed donated land and monies for the foundation of a priory at Buckland.

The Erley lands remained in Royal keeping and John became a ward of his great uncle Thomas, archdeacon of
Wells.

Thomas died in approx. 1185 or 1186 and King Henry II gave the wardship of the 14 year old John to William
Marshal.

We know that John remained as William Marshals ward until he came of age in 1194. During this period he
became the Marshals squire and was married to Sybil, another of the Marshals wards.

It is almost certain that Sybil was the illegitimate daughter of William Marshals brother John and his mistress
Alice de Colleville.

Sybil was a Marshal family name - Williams mother, and later after he married, his daughter were called Sybil.

He was almost certainly with William when King Henry II sent the Marshal to Poitou with messages to his son,
Count Richard, who was in rebellion against his father. Unfortunately Richard openly defied his father and a
border war took place through the winter and spring. Henry fell ill and languished in Anjou until the May of 1189
when he met with Richard. This came to no avail and Richard attacked and pursued his father to Maine. He
caught up to him at Le Mans. William Marshal ambushed Richard and killed his horse, so giving Henry II the
chance to escape. He reached Chinon but fell ill again and died.

William accompanied the body to the Abbey of Fontevrault and there waited for the arrival of Count Richard.

Richard arrived at the abbey and John d' Earley described him thus;

'If you ask whether he looked joyful or wrathful when he came, there is no one who can tell if he were joyful, sad,
remorseful, grieving or cheerful'.

Count Richard, now King Richard I summoned William Marshal to him and pardoned him. He gave him the
hand of Isabel de Clare ( the heiress of Earl Richard de Clare, Lord of Striguil ) in marriage and after the
funeral despatched him to England

John d' Erley was knighted in 1194 probably by William Marshal and came into his inheritance at this time.
Although John now had considerable wealth and land he seems to have stayed in the Marshals household. This
was due in part to their mutual liking and also to the family connection through Sybil, his wife.

Also at this time John would have become part of Williams mesnie ( household knights ).

William Marshal and John d' Earley were with Richard in France between 1195 and 1198 both returning to
England briefly. John was with Richard at Gisars in 1198. ( see below )

The second knight from the right is John d' Earley

In march 1199 King Richard marched to the castle of Challus in the Limousin region of France. William Marshal
and John d' Earley took their leave of the King to attend to royal business in Normandy. On the 26th of March
the King was wounded by a crossbow bolt. The wound turned septic and he died on the 6th of April. A day later a
courier carried the news to William Marshal at the castle of Vaudreuil. John d' Earley was then sent
immediately to England to carry the news to the Justicar Geoffrey fitz Peter.

During 1202 King John made John d' Earley sheriff of Devonshire.

In 1204 William Marshal, John d' Earley and a great company of knights and men at arms siezed the castle of
Cillgeran from the welsh, surprising them with a dawn attack.

In June 1205 King John summoned William Marshal and other magnates to a meeting and ordered that they
mount an expedition to France in order to regain the Crowns lost lands in Poitou. William refused and found
himself and his household out of royal favour.

In 1207 William Marshall who was now Lord of Pembroke, Striguil and Leinster ( since 1189 , and since 1199 he
was also Earl of Pembroke ), received a royal license to travel to his holdings in Leinster.

At this time his tenants in Ireland were rebelling hence the need of an expedition there to secure his holdings.

John d' Earley and Henry Hose, the Marshals most intimate followers were also granted licenses by King John
to accompany their Lord to Ireland. Their lands were granted Royal protection for the period of their stay in
Ireland.

At the last moment the King had a change of heart and demanded Williams second son as a hostage against his
good behaviour. He already had the eldest son as hostage at this time. William gave up Richard, his second son
and left for Ireland.

In early March 1207 William Marshal, his wife Isabel and his household knights arrived in Ireland. By
September 29th the Marshal was once again in England, summoned by the King to a meeting at Woodstock.

Isabel was left in Ireland to defend her husbands interests there. Jordan de Sauqueville and John d' Earley were
left with her. Jordan was made bailiff of Northern Leinster up to Dublin. John d' Earley was bailiff of Ossory and
the southern half of Leinster, having an under bailiff in Stephen d' Evreux.

King John sent letters in January 1208 using Thomas Bloet as a messenger to Ireland recalling John d' Earley,
Stephen d' Evreux and Jordan de Sauqueville to England. Knowing that they would forfeit their English lands
and holdings if they refused, they conferred amongst themselves.

John d' Earley felt it would be dishonourable to yield up the trust that the Marshal had placed in their hands,
saying " Let us not complain of the game if we lose land and honour; better that than to lose land, honour and
the love of our lord".

Stephen d' Evreux thought " that the King could do as he pleased with their lands rather than they be shamed
before God".

All three returned to Thomas Bloet and refused to yield their positions and return to England.

These brave sentiments were the sort to be respected in those times.

Meanwhile in February the King taunted William Marshal by telling him that Kilkenny had been besieged and
that Jordan and Stephen had been killed and that John d' Earley had been mortally wounded, dying soon after.

The King then had all the lands of John d' Erley, Stephen d' Evreux and Jordan de Sauqueville confiscated. A
letter was then sent to the Marshal on the 20th of February informing him of this action , particularly in regard to
John d' Earley whom everyone was aware was as close to William Marshal as his own sons.

In actual fact Meilyr fitz Henry, the Kings man in Ireland, who had attacked the Marshals men had been beaten
and his lands and castle had been siezed and he himself taken and imprisoned.

King John accepted the inevitable finally and made up to William, who returned to Ireland. John d' Earley was
rewarded by William with the grant of land in Kilkenny, which became Earlytown. At this time John d' Earley
became Williams Carissimus; his most intimate of intimates, his most loyal and trusted friend.

The situation between the Marshal and King John flared up again in 1209. William de Briouse, formerly a
favourite of the King, fell out of favour and fled to Ireland. He was given sanctuary for a time at Kilkenny by the
Marshal. King John arrived in force in Ireland in order to put down a minor revolt and at the same time, in order
to show his displeasure at the Marshals behaviour, took John d' Earley as a hostage. He was imprisoned at
Nottingham castle for a short while before returning to court.

!n 1211 John d' Earley was made Sheriff of Devon, a position he held until 1215.

In 1212 the King fearing a plot to assassinate him again felt the need of the Marshals good will. He released
William Marshals eldest son William into the hands of John d' Earley. The younger son Richard was released to
Thomas de Sandford.

Also at this time John d' Earley was named Marshal of the Royal Household.

The Kings favour continued and in 1213, during October gave William Marshal the town and castle of
Haverford. John d' Earley was a witness to that charter.

In the year 1216 King John fell ill at Kings Lynn after eating a meal of cider and peaches and later at the
bishops palace at Newark, Lincolnshire he died. At the last he asked that the Marshal look after his son Henry,
a boy of 9.

William Marshal and John d' Earley attended the Kings funeral at Worcester cathedral and afterwards joined
other magnates at Gloucester in council. The 9 year old Henry, now Henry III was brought from Devizes. After
the coronation of Henry the magnates urged the Regency on the Marshal. He retired to his rooms at Gloucester
castle and called his nephew John Marshal, John d' Earley and Ralph Musard ( Sheriff and Castellan of
Gloucester ) into private council.

He had misgivings concerning the Regency and wanted their advice. Ralph Musard and John Marshal urged
him to accept, seeing rich rewards for the Marshal and his followers. John d' Earley taking into consideration his
lords age ( 69 ) and not wishing for gains at the expense of Williams health advised against. The Marshal bade
them goodnight, promising to sleep on their advise.

The following day the Earl of Chester arrived and deferred to the Marshal, saying that he should accept the
Regency. William again called the three friends from the previous night into council and announced that he was
going to accept. John d' Earley then said ;

" you have undertaken a task that must be carried through at all costs. But when we reach the end, I tell you
that, even putting things at their worst, only great honour can come of it. And as the worst possible outcome is so
honourable, the most propitious will bring you both great honour and great joy. No man will have ever earned
such glory on earth".

William Marshal caught Johns mood and said;

" By God's sword this advise is true and good. It goes straight to my heart, that if everyone abandoned the
King, do you know what I would do ? I would carry him on my shoulders step by step, from island to island, from
country to country and I would not fail him, not even if it meant begging my bread".

The Marshal, his Royal ward and retinue left Gloucester in early November and moved to Tewkesbury.

In the time around 1217 the lands in South Wales had been attacked by the Welsh prince Morgan ap Hywel,
Lord of Caerleon. Morgan had been an ally of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, prince of Gwynedd. He was trying to
regain lost welsh lands around Usk and in Netherwent ( Lower Gwent - the area between Chepstow and Usk
bordered by the rivers Wye and Usk ). The main holding of the welsh was the castle of Caerleon. This was
attacked in September 1217 by John d' Earley, then bailiff at Striguil ( Chepstow ), and captured.

In Westminster during January 1219 William Marshal fell ill with great pains.

In the middle of March he and his wife were rowed up the river Thames to his manor of Caversham, close to
Earley, his friend Johns manor. He was aware that he was dying.

At this time John d' Earleys son, John, was acting as his deputy as seneschal of Netherwent and Striguil.John d'
Earley himself had hastened to Caversham to be at Williams side.William received news that his lands in South
Wales were under threat from the Welsh. At some point William Marshal said to him;

" John, do not tarry. Go to your bailiwick. I am disturbed about my men in Netherwent and especially about your
son who if he should be foolishly advised might make some expedition in which our men would suffer".

John returned to Netherwent, sorted the problem out and swiftly came back to the Marshal.

On the 14th of May 1219 with his son William, his best friend John d' Earley and two bishops giving him
absolution, he died.

John d' Earley was executor of the Marshals will and both he and William Marshal the younger paid to have a
poem written to celebrate the Marshals life.

This poem of 19214 lines was written by John the troubadour. Some speculation suggests that the author may
have been John d' Earley himself.

John d' Earley carried on by serving William the younger until dying in 1230.

His own son John had died two years previously, leaving no offspring and his second son Henry died much later
in 1272, leaving a son, Phillip as his heir.

NOTES:

Spelling of Earley - As spelling was not fixed at this time and there were no dictionaries, the records spell this
name as Earley, Erley and Early. Likewise John d' Earley is also referred to as John of Earley. The French ' d'
' meaning ' of '.

Pronunciation - Sauqueville is Sackville, Evreux is Evro.

On the foyer wall, above the entrance to the great hall at Chepstow, there are two painted shields. Time and
algae have severely damaged them. The left hand shield was at one time red, traces of red paint still remaining.
I have digitally enhanced the lower third and a white scallop shell can be made out.

Obviously in my opinion these are the arms of John d' Earley; gules, three escallops argent. This was doubtless
to commemorate his time as seneschal or bailiff of Striguil for which the records show he was, between 1217 and
1219.