I started this post thinking we descended from William the Conqueror, but that lineage turns out to be 19th Century myth.  Instead, our ancestors include his uncle Henry  and his loyal companion William de Warenne.

This one was especially fun for me because it ends with 11 generations of Miners.

31st Generation

Henry I of FRANCE King of France was born 1007 in Meulan, Ile-de-France, France. A member of the House of Capet, his parents were Robert II and  Constance of Arles.  He first married Matilda (daughter of the Emperor Conrad II) on 1030 in Meulan, Ile-de-France, France. He next married Matilda of Frisia on 1043 in Paris, Ile-de-France, France.  He married Anna of KIEV Queen of France on 19 May 1051 in Rheims, Marne, France. Henri died 4 Aug 1060 in Vitry-en-Brie, France.

Henri was the King of the Franks from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians. This is not entirely agreed upon, however, as other historians regard him as a strong but realistic king, who was forced to conduct a policy mindful of the limitations of the French monarchy.

Henry  was crowned King of France at the Cathedral in Reims on 14 May 1027, in the Capetian tradition, while his father still lived. He had little influence and power until he became sole ruler on his father’s death four years later.

The reign of Henry I, like those of his predecessors, was marked by territorial struggles. Initially, he joined his brother Robert, with the support of their mother, in a revolt against his father (1025). His mother, however, supported Robert as heir to the old king, on whose death Henry was left to deal with his rebel sibling. In 1032, he placated his brother by giving him the duchy of Burgundy which his father had given him in 1016.

In an early strategic move, Henry came to the rescue of his very young nephew-in-law, the newly appointed Duke William of Normandy (who would go on to become William the Conqueror), to suppress a revolt by William’s vassals. In 1047, Henry secured the dukedom for William in their decisive victory over the vassals at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes near Caen.

A few years later, when William married Matilda, the daughter of the count of Flanders, Henry feared William’s potential power. In 1054, and again in 1057, Henry went to war to try to conquer Normandy from William, but on both occasions he was defeated. Despite his efforts, Henry I’s twenty-nine-year reign saw feudal power in France reach its pinnacle.

Anne of Kiev  (1024–1075) was the queen consort of France as the wife of Henry I, and regent for her son Philip I.  Her parents were YAROSLAV I the Wise and princess Ingegerd OLOFSDOTTER  of Sweden.

Ingegerd was later declared a saint, by the name of St. Anna, in Novgorod and Kiev. The reason was that she initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev as well as the local version, the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, along with many good doings.

After the death of his first wife, Matilda of Frisia, King Henry searched the courts of Europe for a suitable bride, but could not locate a princess who was not related to him within illegal degrees of kinship. At last he sent an embassy to distant Kiev, which returned with Anne (also called Agnes). Anne and Henry were married at the cathedral of Reims on 19 May 1051.

The new queen consort was not instantly attracted to her new realm. She wrote to her father that Francia was “a barbarous country where the houses are gloomy, the churches ugly and the customs revolting.”

Anne is credited with bringing the name Philip to Western Europe. She imported this Greek name (Philippos, from philos and hippos, meaning “the one that love horses”) from her Eastern Orthodox culture.

For six years after Henry’s death in 1060, she served as regent for Philip, who was only eight at the time. She was the first queen of France to serve as regent. Her co-regent was Count Baldwin V of Flanders. Anne was a literate woman, rare for the time, but there was some opposition to her as regent on the grounds that her mastery of French was less than fluent.

A year after the king’s death, Anne, acting as regent, took a passionate fancy for Count Ralph III of Valois, a man whose political ambition encouraged him to repudiate his wife to marry Anne in 1062. Accused of adultery, Ralph’s wife appealed to Pope Alexander II, who excommunicated the couple. The young king Philip forgave his mother, which was just as well, since he was to find himself in a very similar predicament in the 1090s. Ralph died in September 1074, at which time Anne returned to the French court. She died in 1075, was buried at Villiers Abbey, La-Ferte-Alais, Essonne and her obits were celebrated on 5 September.

30th Gen 1 – Isabel’s parents – HUGH I, Count of Vermandois. was born 1057 in Meulan, Ile-de-France, France. He died 18 Oct 1101 in Tarsus, Cilicia. Hugh married Adelaide de VERMANDOIS Countess of Vermandois on 1080 in Vermandois, Normandie, France

Hugh was called Magnus or the Great,  was in his own right Count of Vermandois, but an ineffectual leader and soldier, great only in his boasting. Indeed, Steven Runciman is certain that his nickname Magnus (greater or elder), applied to him by William of Tyre, is a copyist’s error, and should be Minus (younger), referring to Hugh as younger brother of the King of France.

In early 1096 Hugh and his older brother Philip I began discussing the First Crusade after news of the Council of Clermont reached them in Paris. Although Philip could not participate, as he had been excommunicated, Hugh was said to have been influenced to join the Crusade after an eclipse of the moon on February 11, 1096.

That summer Hugh’s army left France for Italy, where they would cross the Adriatic Sea into territory of the Byzantine Empire, unlike the other Crusader armies who were travelling by land. On the way, many of the soldiers led by fellow Crusader Emicho joined Hugh’s army after Emicho was defeated by the Hungarians, whose land he had been pillaging. Hugh crossed the Adriatic from Bari in Southern Italy, but many of his ships were destroyed in a storm off the Byzantine port of Dyrrhachium.

Hugh and most of his army were rescued and escorted to Constantinople, where they arrived in November 1096. Prior to his arrival, Hugh sent an arrogant, insulting letter to Eastern Roman Emperor Alexius I Comnenus.

Alexius was already wary of the armies about to arrive, after the unruly mob led by Peter the Hermit had passed through earlier in the year. Alexius kept Hugh in custody in a monastery until Hugh swore an oath of vassalage to him.

After the Crusaders had successfully made their way across Seljuk territory and, in 1098, captured Antioch, Hugh was sent back to Constantinople to appeal for reinforcements from Alexius. Alexius was uninterested, however, and Hugh, instead of returning to Antioch to help plan the siege of Jerusalem, went back to France. There he was scorned for not having fulfilled his vow as a Crusader to complete a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and Pope Paschal II threatened to excommunicate him. He joined the minor Crusade of 1101, but was wounded in battle with the Turks in September, and died of his wounds in October in Tarsus.

30th Gen 2 – [William II’s parents] –   William de WARENNE 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes ( – 1088) was born 1055 in Bellencombe, Seine Inferieure, France. He died 24 Jun 1088 in Lewes, Sussex, England. m. Gundred of England ( – 1085)  m. 1074 in Bellencombe, Seine Inferieure, France.

Gundred almost certainly born in Flanders, sister of Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester.  She is explicitly so called by Orderic Vitalis, as well as the chronicle of Hyde Abbey  She was also sister of Frederick of Oosterzele-Scheldewindeke, who was killed c.1070 by Hereward the Wake. Legends based in part on late Lewes priory cartulary suggested Gundred was a daughter of William the Conqueror by his spouse Matilda of Flanders, but this is not accepted by most modern historians. The early 19th-century writer Thomas Stapleton had argued she was a daughter of Matilda, born prior to her marriage to Duke William. This sparked a debate consisting of a series of published papers culminating with those of Edmond Chester Waters and Edward Augustus Freeman who argued the theories could not be supported.  Regardless, genealogical and historical sources continue to make the assertion that she was the Conqueror’s daughter.

William was a son of Rodulf de Warenne and is derived from the family of duchess Gunnor, wife of duke Richard I. He is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  At the Domesday Survey he held extensive lands in thirteen counties including the rape of Lewes in Sussex.  He was created Earl of Surrey under William II ‘Rufus’

Sometime between 1078 and 1082, William and his wife Gundred traveled to Rome visiting monasteries along the way. In Burgundy they were unable to go any further due to a war between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. They visited Cluny Abbey and were impressed with the monks and their dedication. William and Gundred decided to found a Clunic priory on their own lands in England. William restored buildings for an abbey. They sent to Hugh the abbot of Cluny for monks to come to England at their monastery. At first Hugh was reluctant but he finally sent several monks including Lazlo who was to be the first abbot. The house they founded was Lewes Priory dedicated to St. Pancras, the first Cluniac priory in England.

The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line at the head of the Ouse valley to the south of Lewes in the County of Sussex. The Priory is a nationally important historical site but an almost lost monument of mediaeval England, the buildings having been systematically demolished after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. Some parts of the lesser buildings survive above ground, fenced off within a public park. The Priory has been the subject of academic and archaeological study since the mid-nineteenth century.

William was mortally wounded at the siege of Pevensey Castle and died 24 June 1088 at Lewes, Sussex, and was buried next to his wife Gundred at the Chapterhouse of Lewes Priory  See also the rebellion of 1088.

29th Gen – son William de WARENNE   2nd Earl of Surrey (though he was  more often referred to as Earl Warenne)   was born 1080 in Bellencombe, Seine Inferieure, France. He died 11 May 1138 in Lewes, Sussex, England. William married Isabel de VERMANDOIS Countess of Leicester on 1118 in Valois, Bretagne, France.

In 1118 William finally acquired the royal-blooded bride he desired when he married Elizabeth de Vermandois.  She was a daughter of count Hugh of Vermandois, a granddaughter of Henry I, King of France, and was the widow of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester.

His father, the 1st Earl, was one of the Conqueror’s most trusted and most rewarded barons who, at his death in 1088, was the 3rd or 4th richest magnate in England. In 1088 William II inherited his father’s lands in England and his Norman estates including the castles of Mortemer and Bellencombre in Haute-Normandy. But William II was not as disposed to serve the king as his father was. In January 1091, William assisted Hugh of Grantmesnil  in his defense of Courcy against the forces of Robert de Belleme and Duke Robert of Normandy. In 1093 he attempted to marry Matilda, daughter of king Malcolm III of Scotland. She instead married Henry I of England, and this may have been the cause of William’s great dislike of Henry I, which motivated him in the following years.

When Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy (Eldest son of William I)  invaded England 1101 William joined him But when Curthose promptly surrendered to Henry I, William lost his English lands and titles and was exiled to Normandy. There he complained to Curthose that he had expended great effort on the duke’s behalf and in return lost all of his English possessions. Curthose’s return to England in 1103 was apparently made to convince his brother, the king, to restore William’s earldom. This was successful, though Curthose had to give up his 3000 mark annual pension he had received after the 1101 invasion, after which William’s lands and titles were restored to him.

To further insure William’s loyalty Henry considered marrying him to one of his many illegitimate daughters. Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury forbade the marriage based on the couple being related in the 4th generation on one side, and in the 6th generation on the other.  William was one of the commanders on Henry’s side (against Robert Curthose) at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106. Afterwards, with his loyalty thus proven, he became more prominent in Henry’s court.

In 1110, Curthose’s son William Clito escaped along with Helias of Saint-Saens, and afterwards Warenne received the forfeited Saint-Saens lands, which were very near his own in upper Normandy. In this way king Henry further assured his loyalty, for the successful return of Clito would mean at the very least Warenne’s loss of this new territory.  He fought for Henry I at the Battle of Bremule in 1119.  William, the second Earl of Surrey was present at Henry’s deathbed in 1135.  After the king’s death disturbances broke out in Normandy and William was sent to guard Rouen and the Pays de Caux.

Castle Acre Priory, was founded in 1089 by William de Warenne the 2nd  Earl of Surrey.   Originally the priory was sited within the walls of Castle Acre Castle, but this proved too small and inconvenient for the monks, hence the priory was relocated to the present site in the castle grounds about one year later.

Elizabeth of Vermandois, or Elisabeth or Isabel de Vermandois ( –1131), was the third daughter of Hugh Magnus and Adelaide of Vermandois, and as such represented both the Capetian line of her paternal grandfather Henry I of France, and the Carolingian ancestry of her maternal grandfather Herbert IV of Vermandois.  As the wife of two Anglo-Norman magnates, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and William de WARRENE, 2nd Earl of Surrey,  she is the ancestress of hundreds of well-known families down to the present time.

In 1096, Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan reputed to be “the wisest man in his time between London and Jerusalem” insisted, in deference to the laws of the church, on marrying a very young Elizabeth, he being over fifty at the time.  In early 1096 Bishop Ivo, on hearing of the proposed marriage, wrote a letter banning the marriage and preventing its celebration on the grounds the two were related within prohibited degrees. In April of that year Elizabeth’s father count Hugh left on Crusade, his last act being to see his daughter married to count Robert. The crusader was able to convince Pope Urban to issue a dispensation for the marriage which then went forward.

Her husband was a nobleman of some significance in France, having inherited lands from his maternal uncle Henry, Count of Meulan, and had fought at the Battle of Hastings as a known companion of William the Conqueror.  He was rewarded with ninety manors in the counties Leichestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire. The count of Meulan was one of Henry I’s “four wise councellors and was one of the king’s commanders at the battle of Tinchebray 28 Sep 1106. In 1107 Robert became Earl of Leicester.

Elizabeth, Countess of Meulan apparently tired of her aging husband at some point during the marriage. The historian Planche says (1874) that the Countess was seduced by or fell in love with a younger nobleman, William de Warenne for whom she left her husband Robert. William II de Warenne had sought a royal bride in 1093 in a failed attempt to wed Edith who later married Henry I, but obtained a bride of royal blood when he married Elizabeth in 1118, at the death of Earl Robert.

By her first husband,  Elizabeth had three sons (including twin elder sons) and five or six daughters.  By her second husband,William de Warenne, Elizabeth had three sons and two daughters.

29th Gen – son  Reginald de WARENNE Lord Wormegay  was born 1126 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. He died 1179 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England. Reginald married Alice de WORMEGAY on 1147 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England.

Reginald de Warenne inherited his father’s property in upper Normandy, including the castles of Bellencombre and Mortemer.  He married Adeline, daughter of William, lord of Wormgay in Norfolk,  Reginald was one of the persecutors of Archbishop Thomas Beckett in 1170.

Early in his career he married Alice, daughter and heir of William of Wormegay, whose Norfolk barony came to her on his death, c.1166. Warenne was shown in the pipe rolls to have owed a fine of over £466 for the inheritance, a large sum of which was still owed at his death. His heir was his only son, William. His daughters’ names are not known with certainty, but they were very likely Gundreda, who married Peter de Valognes, William de Curcy, and Geoffrey Hose; Alice, who married Peter the Constable; Muriel, a nun at Carrow Priory; and perhaps Ada or Ela, who married Duncan, earl of Fife.

Warenne’s first public appearance was as early as 1138, as a witness to several of the charters of William (III) de Warenne. He became involved in the administration of some of the Norfolk estates of the honour of Warenne by 1146?7, and held lands of the honour in Sussex and Norfolk. He was certainly of age by 1147, when William (III) left him in charge of the Warenne lands upon his departure for the second crusade, from which he did not return, much to his brother’s sadness. After William’s death early in 1148 the Warenne inheritance went to his daughter Isabel, whom King Stephen promptly married to his son William, later count of Boulogne and Mortain. Warenne continued to administer the honour for the new earl and became his principal adviser. At this time he also began his long career of royal service, and witnessed several of Stephen’s charters.

Warenne made a smooth transition between the reigns of Stephen and Henry II. He was specifically mentioned in the treaty of Winchester (Dec 1153) as having been given the option of having the custody of the Warenne castles at Bellencombre and Mortemer in Normandy, and he witnessed Stephen’s notification of this treaty. He continued as a courtier; he witnessed charters under the new reign and also appeared with Henry II on several important occasions. He was present with the king at Battle Abbey in 1157, when the king judged a dispute between Archbishop Theobald and Abbot Silvester of St Augustine’s, Canterbury, and a case regarding the abbot of Battle (a brother of royal favourite Richard de Lucy). He attended the Council of Clarendon (1164) and was among those chosen to accompany Henry’s daughter Matilda to Saxony for her marriage in early 1168 to Duke Henry. His loyalty to the king and hostility to Thomas Becket when the archbishop landed in England in December 1170 earned him an unfavourable comparison to his crusader brother from a monastic writer. Warenne also worked as a government official during the reign and served as an itinerant justice in numerous southern and midlands counties (1168-76), as a baron of the exchequer (Michaelmas 1169), and as sheriff of Sussex (from Easter 1170 to Michaelmas 1176).

In addition to his public career Warenne also attended to the private business of religious benefaction with donations to the Warenne foundations of Lewes and Castle Acre priories, as well as gifts to St Mary Overie in Southwark, Carrow, Clerkenwell, and Binham priories, and a notification of a quitclaim to Battle Abbey. He retired from the worldly life to become a monk at the Warenne family foundation of Lewes Priory some time between Michaelmas 1178 and 1179, during which year he died.

28th Gen – son William de WARENNE was born 1150 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England. He died 1208 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England. William married Beatrix de PIERREPONT on 1177 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England

William was founder of the priory of Wormegay

Wormegay Castle is a motte and bailey earthwork, located next to the village of Wormegay in the English county of Norfolk.  The castle was probably built by Hermer de Ferrers after the Norman Conquest, and remained in the de Ferrers family until 1166. The motte is 5 metres high and 77 metres by 62 metres wide at the base.   The castle controlled the local causeway across the Fens. Wormegay formed the centre, or the caput, for an honour of feudal properties across East Anglia.

27th Gen – dau Beatrice de WARENNE was born 1178 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England. She died Dec 1214 in Barnstead, Surrey, England.  She first married Beatrice married Doun  Bardolf on 1198 in Wormegay, Norfolk, England. Beatrice married Hubert de BURGH on 1210 in Barnstead, Surrey, England.

Beatrice inherited the barony of Wormegay from her father.

Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (c. 1160 – before 5 May 1243) was Earl of Kent, Justiciar of England and Ireland, and one of the most influential men in England during the reigns of John and Henry III.

De Burgh was born into a modest, minor landowning family from East Anglia and, therefore, had to work twice as hard to make a name for himself as opposed to his counterparts in the nobility.  He was the son of Walter de Burgh of Burgh Castle, Norfolk.    Hubert seems to have been a staunch supporter of John, youngest son of King Henry II, even before he became king, acting as chamberlain of the prince’s household. When John succeeded his brother, Richard I, to the throne in 1199, Hubert was upgraded to royal chamberlain, a position that involved being constantly within the presence of the king. Therefore, it is no surprise that his influence rapidly grew.

In his early adulthood Hubert vowed to rescue the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the holy land, so he set off for Jerusalem on the Third Crusade. Hubert is one of the possible de Burgh’s that received the coat of arms, it is said that Richard I dipped his finger in the blood of a slain Saracen king, put a red cross on the gold shield of de Burgh, and said “for your bravery this will be your crest”, and it is also said that he uttered the words “a cruce salus” which became the family motto.

In the early years of John’s reign de Burgh was greatly enriched by royal favour. While John was away in France pressing his claim to his territories there, Hubert was left in charge of the Welsh marches and was given several other important posts.  He received the honour of Corfe in 1199 and three important castles in the Welsh Marches in 1201 (Grosmont Castle, Skenfrith Castle, and Llantilio Castle). He was also High Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset (1200), Berkshire (1202) and Herefordshire (1215), and castellan of Launceston and Wallingford castles.  He was also appointed Constable of Dover Castle, and also given charge of Falaise, in Normandy. He is cited as having been appointed a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports  by 1215.

After John captured his nephew Arthur of Brittany, niece Eleanor and their allies in 1202, de Burgh was made their jailor.

There are several accounts of de Burgh’s actions as jailor, including complicity in Arthur’s death and an account that the king ordered de Burgh to blind Arthur, but that de Burgh refused. This account was used by Shakespeare in his play King John. The truth of these accounts has not been verified, however.

Hubert de Burgh first appears in King John as a representative of the city of Angiers (which is under siege) and a mediator between King John and Philip II of France, suggesting that the two men should make peace with a marriage between Louis the dauphin and John’s niece Blanche. It is unclear as to why Shakespeare would use De Burgh in a role as a French citizen (considering he was a full-blooded Englishman). Hubert next major role comes in the form of a hired hand by John. The king expects De Burgh to blind his nephew Arthur, therefore eliminating him as competition to his throne. Hubert reluctantly agrees to the task but, when the time comes, he cannot go through with it and tells Arthur he will help him escape. When the magnates rebel against John when they find out of Arthur’s supposed murder, De Burgh informs him that Arthur is still alive. Unfortunately, Arthur dies while attempting to escape captivity. During the subsequent rebellion involving the lords and Louis the dauphin, De Burgh remains completely loyal to King John and the rebellion is ultimately put down.

In any case de Burgh retained the king’s trust, and in 1203 Hubert had departed to France to aid with the wars and would remain there for several years..  He was given charge of the great castles at Falaise in Normandy and Chinon, in Touraine. The latter was a key to the defence of the Loire valley. After the fall of Falaise de Burgh held out while the rest of the English possessions fell to the French. Chinon was besieged for a year, and finally fell in June, 1205, Hubert being badly wounded while trying to evade capture.

During Hubert’s two years of captivity, his influence waned within England and many of his lands and positions were either given away or absorbed by the crown. Finally, in 1207, King John ransomed Hubert and quickly returned him to royal favor, helping him reacquire most of what he had lost during his captivity.   he acquired new and different lands and offices. These included the castles of Lafford and Sleaford, and the shrievalty of Lincolnshire (1209–1214). Probably, however, de Burgh spent most of his time in the English holdings in France, where he was seneschal of Poitou.

Over the following years, Hubert would continue to build his wealth, power and influence, acting as a sheriff and gaining experience as a justiciar, a task he would be remembered for. It is believed that Hubert remained completely loyal to John when the magnates rebelled and forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215..

The Magna Carta mentions him as one of those who advised the king to sign the charter, and he was one of the twenty-five sureties of its execution. John named him Chief Justiciar in June 1215.  and appointed him High Sheriff of Surrey (1215), High Sheriff of Herefordshire (1215), High Sheriff of Kent (1216–1222), and Governor of Canterbury Castle. Soon afterwards he was appointed Governor of the castles of Hereford, Norwich and Oxford.

De Burgh played a prominent role in the defence of England from the invasion of Louis of France, the son of Philippe II who later became Louis VIII. Louis’ first objective was to take Dover Castle, which was in de Burgh’s charge. The castle withstood a lengthy siege in the summer and autumn of 1216, and Louis withdrew. The next summer Louis could not continue without reinforcements from France. De Burgh gathered a small fleet which defeated a larger French force at the Battle of Dover and Battle of Sandwich, and ultimately led to the complete withdrawal of the French from England.

During the new minority regime, Hubert no doubt possessed a great amount of influence as justiciar, but with men such as William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (regent to the underage king Henry III); the papal legate Pandulf; and Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, in the mix, de Burgh was most certainly kept in check. However, the aged Pembroke died (1219); Pandulf left for Rome (1221); and des Roches left for an extended crusade (1223).

These departures left de Burgh as the undisputed top man in Henry’s government and in effect, the acting regent.  During the next eight years or so, de Burgh acted as justiciar, military commander (taking part in the Welsh expeditions, with mixed results) and played a role in the keeping of the royal exchequer. He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk (1216–1225) and High Sheriff of Kent (1223–1226). De burgh accumulated much wealth as a result and was rewarded for his services even further by being created Earl of Kent (1227).

When Henry III came of age in 1227 de Burgh was made lord of Montgomery Castle in the Welsh Marches and Earl of Kent. He remained one of the most influential people at court. On 27 April 1228 he was named Justiciar for life.

Unfortunately, De Burgh’s success would be fairly short-lived. Bishop Des Roches returned to England (1231) and joined forces with his nephew Peter de Rivallis in an effort to bring down the justiciar, accusing him of a number of crimes, including appointing Italians to English posts. The king, at first, defended De Burgh, but soon enough, Hubert was stripped of his offices and most of his lands and forced to take sanctuary in various cathedrals.

In 1233, De Burgh was forced to beg the king’s mercy, which he was given, and was restored to some of his lands. The following year, he was officially pardoned, but his days of power were clearly at an end. Hubert’s rivals made several more attempts to completely eliminate the justiciar, but De Burgh was able to live out the rest of his life quietly, dying in 1243 at the age of 82 or 83 in Banstead, Surrey, England and was buried at the church of the Black Friars in Holborn.

Over his long life, De Burgh had demonstrated the powers of royal favor and how they could make or break a man. In the end, though able to live out his life peacefully, Hubert remained broken.

26th Gen – son   Sir John de BURGH Knight was born 1211 in Barnstead, Surrey, England. He died 1275 in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England. John married Hawise de LANVALEY on 1232 in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England.

John inherited  his father Hubert de Burgh’s estates but not his earldom or other titles.

25th Gen – son Sir John de BURGH (Peerage) Baron Lanvallei of Walkern was born in  1233 in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England. He died Mar 1280 in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England. John married Cecily de BALIOL  dau. of  John de BALLIOL  on 1255 in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England.

Cecily’s brother King John I of Scotland, was a successful competitor for the Crown in 1292. He proved a weak king and was soon succeeded by two guardians you know from Braveheart fame

• Sir William Wallace (1297–1298)
• Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick (1298–1300).

Cecily’s father John de Balliol ( – 1268) was a leading figure of Scottish and Anglo-Norman life of his time. Balliol College, in Oxford, is named after him.

Following a dispute with the Bishop of Durham, he agreed to provide funds for scholars studying at Oxford. Support for a house of students began in around 1263; further endowments after his death, supervised by Dervorguilla, resulted in the establishment of Balliol College.

Sir John lived at Wakerley, Northamptonshire, England

24th Gen – dau Lady (Hamyse) Hawise de BURGH was born 1259 in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England. She married Sir Robert IV de GRELLE Knight  (Baron Robert Greslei ) on 1278 in Manchester, Lancashire, England. He died in 1282.

23rd Gen– dau Lady Joan de GRELLE was born 1281 in Manchester, Lancashire, England. She died 21 Mar 1353 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, England. Joan married Sir John la WARRE Lord la Warre on Nov 1294 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.

22nd Gen – dau  Lady Katherine la WARRE was born 1304 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, England. She died 9 Aug 1361 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England. Katherine married Sir Warin le LATIMER Lord Latimer on 1326 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England.

21th Gen – dau Elizabeth le LATIMER was born 1335 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England. She married Sir Thomas GRIFFIN Knight on 1349 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England.  Elizabeth died before 1411

Sir Thomas Griffin, Knight (1323–1360) was a Knight of Weston Favell Manor and the Manor Of Braybrooke,Northamptonshire, England. Thomas Griffin was the son of John Griffin (1272-1350) and Elizabeth Favell (b. 1275) Married 1316.

Sir Thomas inherited his father-in-law’s title of Lord Braybrooke upon the latter’s death in 1349, the same year as his marriage

20th Gen – son Richard GRIFFIN was born 1355 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England. He married Anne CHAMBERLAIN on 1379 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England.

19th Gen – son  Nicholas GRIFFIN (1390 – 1436) m. Margaret de PILKINGTON on 1422 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England.

18th Gen – son Nicholas GRIFFIN Lord Latimer (1426-1482) m Catherine CURZON  on 1453 in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, England

17th Gen – dau Catherine GRIFFIN (1465-1520) m John DIGBY on 1485 in Eye Kettleby, Leicestershire, England.

John son of Everard Digby Esq., sheriff of Rutlandshire in 1485,  also member of Parliament. Sir John was knighted at the Battle of Bosworth Field fighting for Henry VII [where he defeated Richard III].

16th Gen – son William DIGBY (1495-1558) Ketteby Luffenham, Leicestershire, England m. 1518 in England to Rose PRESTWICH (1500 in Lubenham, Leicestershire, England – )

15th Gen – son Simeon DIGBY (1520 – 1570) m Anne GREY 3 Jun 1539 in St. Pancras Soper Lane, London, England.

In March 1570, he was executed for High Treason in classic Braveheart fashion for his participation in the Rising of the North.

… Among the prisoners were Simon Digby of Aiskew, and John Fulthorpe of Iselbeck, Esquires, Robert Pennyman of Stokesley and Thomas Bishop of Pocklington, gentlemen, who were imprisoned in York Castle, and afterwards hanged, headed, and quartered; and, according to the barbarous custom of that age, their heads were set up on the four principal gates of the city.

The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.

14th Gen – son Everard DIGBY (1578 – 1606) m. Katherine STOCKBRIDGE de =de Vandershaff, Theobor [Theodore] de Newkirk in 1581 in London, England.

When I saw the name Everard Digby pop up on our tree, I thought we were related to a famous conspirator of Guy Fawkes fame. The plan of the Gunpowder Plot was to blow up Parliament with James I in it and install his nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, as the Catholic head of state.  A feature film about Everard Digby’s adventurous life is in development. Working Title – Digby: The Gunpowder Plotter’s Legacy.  Check out the filmmakers site here.

Unfortunate for fame, it appears that while rare today, Everard was a popular name in the Digby family. For example there was a 16th-century scholar also named, Everard Digby.  The conspirator Everard  was our Everard’s third cousin.

13th Gen – dau Elizabeth DIGBY (1584-1669) m. Enoch LYNDE 25 Oct 1614 in Church of St. John, Hackney, England.

Elizabeth was ”sent into Holland for Education.” Left an orphan, she went to her mother’s family to be brought up.

The second Chief Justice of Massachusetts Benjamin Lynde, in his Will (1776) gives to his wife his “best Tankard” and “half the Plate and Books, to be accounted six hundred pounds;” and “to my grandson Lynde Walter a Large flowered Silver Beaker that was my great Grandmother Elizabeth Digby’s, which piece of Plate is near two hundred years old,”

12th Gen dau Elizabeth (Mary) LYNDE (1625 London, England -1682, New London, CT) m. Capt. Mathew BECKWITH in 1641 in Hartford, Connecticut Colony.

11th Gen – son Joseph BECKWITH (1653 – 1707) m. Susannah TALLMAN 1676 Portsmouth, RI

10th Gen – dau Sarah BECKWITH (1677-1723) m. William MINER of Niantic, CT in 1693.  After Sarah, this line has ten sons in a row.

9th Gen – son Elihu MINER Sr. (1722 – 1807) m. Keziah WILLEY  21 Mar 1745 in East Haddam, CT.

8th Gen – son  Elihu MINER Jr.  (1745 – 1821) m. Mrs. Mary DEAN about 1769 in Sharon, Litchfield, CT.

7th Gen – son Selden MINER (1780 – 1842) m. Sally PEASE on 29 Nov 1810 in Hartford, Connecticut

6th Gen – son Philo Sidney MINER Sr. (1811 – 1890) m. Sophia L. POLLEY

5th Gen – son Philo Sidney MINER Jr. (1838 – 1911)  He married Calista Jane LATTA on 4 May 1869 in Cass County Nebraska

4th Gen – son Harvey Latta MINER  (1873 – 1958)  m. Cora Lorena McCAW in Oct 1895

3rd Gen – Fay Everett MINER (1900 – 1982) m. Eleanor Coleman SHAW on 30 Aug 1923 in San Diego, California.

2nd Gen – Evereton Harvey Miner m. Nancy BLAIR

1st Gen –  Mark Everett MINER m. Guadalupe VILLA VELAZQUEZ Osnaya in Sausalito, California.

Alex!

Sources:

The Magna Charta sureties, 1215: the barons named in the Magna Charta, 1215 …By Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, William Ryland Beal

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2005-05/1116982257

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/scripts/data/database.cgi?file=Data&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0001694

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110224215945AAEFhe0

http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/NorthernRebellion.htm

Warenne, Reginald de  Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, By Victoria Chandler,  Oxford University Press, 2004

http://www.shakespeareandhistory.com/hubert-de-burgh.php

http://www.warrenfamilyhistory.com/Docs/Our%20Warrens%20in%20England.htm