The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Vernoys : "De Venois" is on the Dives Roll: the name was taken from Venoix, near Caen, held by the hereditary Marshals of the Stable of the Dukes of Normandy. Four brothers of this house are entered in Domesday: Robert de Hastings (see Hastings), Roger, Gerold, and Gosfrid. The latter was the father of Gilbert, who, with his son John, was impleaded by Robert de Venoix and William de Hastings for the Office of Mareschal to the King, which, although it could not have been theirs by right of birth, they then held, and successfully maintained. John espoused the cause of the Empress Maud, and was rewarded on her son's accession with lands of great value in Wiltshire. Henry II. further confirmed the office of Lord Mareschal to the next heir, his son John, who accordingly bore the great gilt Spurs at the coronation of Coeur de Lion, and was succeeded by his brother William—at that time one of the great potentates of the land—in 1199. We first hear of this William at the death-bed of young Prince Henry, when the rebellious son, in deep penitence, had made confession and received absolution; and committed to him, as "his most familiar Friend," his cross to carry to Jerusalem. He must also have been in favour with Richard I., for, shortly after his accession, the new King bestowed upon him the hand and the two Earldoms of the great heiress of the Clares, who had been in ward to Henry II. for fourteen years. Isabel de Clare's father was the renowned Earl Strongbow who invaded and conquered Ireland, and roused the jealous fears of the King lest he should rule his new realm as an independent sovereign. He never threw off his allegiance, but bore the titles of Earl of Pembroke in England and Earl of Striguil in Ireland, with the office of Justiciary. He married a Celtic princess with a royal dowry, by whom he had one son and one daughter. But the son, when about seventeen, was taken by his father to one of his many great battles; and the wretched boy, panic-struck by the howls and gestures of the hordes of wild Irishry, fled in terror from the field. He never showed himself again till the fighting was at an end, when he came to wish his father joy of his, victory. The Earl received him with a lowering brow: sternly rebuked him for his cowardice, and, declaring that such a dastard was not fit to live, turned to one of his followers, and bade him take his sword and cleave asunder the body of his disgraced and craven son. Thus, when he himself "died untimely" in 1174, a little orphan girl alone was left to bear his honours and enjoy his lands.

The new Earl of Pembroke (often styled Earl Mareschal in virtue of his office^[105]) carried the golden sceptre and cross at Coeur de Lion's coronation as the representative of the De Clares; and was appointed one of the assistants to the two Justiciaries deputed to govern England during the King's absence on his crusade. At the same time he received the moiety of Walter Gifford's Earldom, which was divided between him and Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, the lands in Normandy being allotted to his share. King John further granted him Goderich Castle, and the whole province of Leinster, to be held by the service of one hundred knight's fees; and he became (according to Matthew Paris) "a severe Tamer of the Irish," carrying fire and sword among them as his father-in-law had done. When the barons rose in revolt, he was sent by the King to treat with them at Brackley; and when their terms were rejected and war declared, he had the title of Mareschallus Excercitus Dei et Ecclesiae in the King's army.

"Moreover," continues Dugdale, "being a Person of great Power and Prudence, upon the death of King John, he convened many of the Earls and Barons, and setting young Henry in the midst of them, said, Behold your King! Whereupon they appointed a day for his Coronation." He was constituted guardian to the young King whom he had helped to place on the throne, and approved himself as good and true a servant to him as he had been to his father. When the barons took up arms, he raised a powerful army, besieged Mountsorel Castle, one of their principal strongholds; encountered and routed them with great slaughter at Lincoln; and beleaguered London by sea and land; thus, "Peace was forthwith wrought with the adverse Party." He died at a good old age in 1219, leaving five sons, who all in turns inherited the Earldom, and five daughters.

William, second Earl, the eldest son, had been in arms against King John, and was one of the twenty-five illustrious "conservators" of Magna Charta. He made his peace with Henry III., whose sister Eleanor (afterwards married to Simon de Montfort) became his second wife; and obtained some of the lands forfeited by his former companions in arms, Saher de Quincy and David Earl of Huntingdon. He was renowned in the Welsh wars, and named Captain General of Brittany in 1229. He died two years afterwards, having had no children by either of his wives.

Richard, the second son, styled by Matthew Paris "the flower of chivalry in that time," then held the Earldom during three tempestuous years. It had at first been withheld from him by the King, who ordered him out of the kingdom as a traitor; but having gone over to meet his brothers in Ireland, he returned thence with a great force to seize his inheritance, and took possession of his castle of Pembroke. Upon this the King relented, acknowledged his right, and accepted his fealty; yet not long after the new Earl was again in arms, and leagued with the Welsh prince Llewellyn, defending his castles, storming and taking others, and fighting and winning pitched battles against the Royal levies. At length a plan was devised at Court for getting rid of him. His great Irish domain was promised to Maurice Fitz Gerald, then Justiciary of Ireland, if he could "take this Earl living or dead," and the promise was confirmed by a patent of assurance. Accordingly, the Justiciary, in order to bring Mareschal over to Ireland, made a forcible entry on his lands; and he at once hurried to the rescue, landing with a retinue of not more than fifteen men. Then one of his own liegemen, Richard de Marisco, who was a secret emissary of Fitz Gerald's, came to propose that he should "raise all the power he could, and subjugate that whole Realm to his obedience." At this audacious proposition the Earl naturally paused; but the wily traitor urged it upon him all the more vehemently. "What do you fear?" he said. "Will you degenerate from your valiant Ancestors, who never turn'd their Backs to an Enemy? Who then will believe that you are the Son of the victorious William Mareschall? See, Conquest waits at your door! Behold your ancient Rights by lineal Descent, which your most puissant Ancestor, who took the name of Strongbow, most valiantly acquired!" Mareschal's pride and ambition were stirred: he accepted the enterprize, raised what force he could within his territories, and besieged and took Limerick. At first none dared to make head against him; but when he encountered the Justiciary, and was brought face to face with the King's soldiers, he speedily perceived that treason had been at work in his camp. His men hung back or deserted; Marisco and others refused to cross swords with Fitz Gerald, and he found himself left at the mercy of his enemies. He told them that he saw he was betrayed, but would rather die with honour than quit the field; "and looking back upon his Brother Walter, commanded some of his Servants to take him to his Castle near at hand, that he might not perish with him, whereby his whole Generation should be extinct. And having put his Men in Order, exhorted them to go on with Courage, for the sake of Justice, and the English Laws; himself boldly charging into the midst of his Enemies. But some of those in whom he most trusted, perfidiously forsaking him, he was left almost alone: Nevertheless, though opprest with Numbers on every side, he slew many: but at length his Horse being killed under him, he was stabb'd into the Back, and carried Prisoner to his own Castle:" where he died. He had never been married.

His next brother, Gilbert, and Anselm, the youngest, who had both been implicated in his rebellion, were at that time the King's prisoners; and were summoned to Court on the news of his death. They came "bare-headed, barefooted, with Arms bare to the Elbows, to crave his mercy:" and the King kissed them, pardoned them, restored his inheritance to Gilbert, and delivered to him the Rod of Marshal of his Court, according to custom, at the following Whitsuntide. Before very long, however, he was once more in disfavour, and forbidden to appear at Court; having fallen under the King's displeasure for taking part with his brother-in-law, Richard Earl of Cornwall. He, again, was childless, though twice married; first to Margaret, sister of the King of Scotland, with whom he "had a noble Dowrie;" and secondly, to Maud de Lanvaley; and was killed in 1241 at a Tournament at Ware. He was "mounted upon a lusty Italian Horse, with whose Qualities he had not been acquainted; and first curbing him, and afterwards giving him the Spur, the Horse furiously mounting, broke both the Reins of his Bridle, and cast him out of the Saddle. Whereupon, hanging in one of the Stirrups, he was so dragg'd about, trodden upon, and bruised, as that he died the same Evening."

Walter, the fourth son, whose life had been saved by his chivalrous brother, had much ado to obtain livery of his lands. The King rehearsed all his grievances against the Mareschals; and bitterly upbraided him with the treason of Richard, and the disobedience of Gilbert, who, in defiance of his express prohibition, had attended the tournament in which he lost his life. "And thou," he continued, "in contempt of me, wast also there. With what Face, therefore, cans't thou lay claim to that Inheritance?" However, by the good offices of the Bishop of Durham and others, he ultimately obtained his Earldom, and died peaceably at Goderich Castle in 1246. He had married the heiress of Robert de Quincy, but no heir had been born to him; and his last surviving brother, Anselm, sixth Earl, "a Youth of singular comeliness and hopes," followed him to the grave within eighteen days. Thus, by an extraordinary fatality, all the five sons of the renowned William Mareschal had, within twenty-seven years of his own death, one after the other passed away without posterity; "their Mother, as 'tis said, prophetically foretelling their Deaths in this sort."

The five daughters, on the other hand, had no lack of descendants. Anne, the eldest of these great heiresses, was three times married; first, to Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk; second, to William de Warren, Earl of Surrey; and third, to Walter de Dunstanville. She had for her share, with other manors, that of Hempsted-Marshal, and the office of Marshal of England, which she transmitted to her son Roger Bigod, fourth Earl. Joan, the second, was the wife of William de Montchensy; and it was through her daughter and eventual heir, Joan, that the Earldom of Pembroke came to William de Valence, and in the following generation passed, by the marriage of a second heiress, to the kindred blood of Hastings. Isabel; the third, had Kilkenny for her portion, and married, first, Gilbert de Clare, fifth Earl of Gloucester; and second, the King's brother, Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Poitou and Cornwall, who was elected King of the Romans in 1257. Sybil, the fourth, married William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, to whom she brought Kildare; and Eve, the youngest, was the wife of William de Braose of Brecknock.

The male descent was continued by a younger line, founded by Sir John Mareschal, a nephew of the first Earl of Pembroke's, who, like him, had taken King John's part against his barons, and been very active in his service. He was munificently rewarded with various forfeited estates; and the grant in fee of the office of Marshal of Ireland; and married a rich wife, Aliva, the eldest coheiress of Hubert de Rie. His grandson William took the other side, and joined the baronial standard against Henry III.; but died soon after. His two sons, being under age, received the King's pardon, with permission to inherit their grandmother's property: and the younger, who became the heir, was summoned to parliament by Edward I. in 1309. John, the second baron, his only son, died about 1316, leaving as his sole heir a sister named Hawise, married to John Lord Morley. His lands lay chiefly in the counties of Norfolk and Lincoln.

There were no doubt other collateral branches; for the original Norman name appears in the Liber Niger. Leonard de Venuiz held a barony in Essex 1165; and Robert de Venuiz occurs about 1130 in Wilts. It has travelled down to our own time as Venus or Veness, and is now extremely common among the cottagers and farm labourers in the neighbourhood of Battle Abbey.