Family tree Cromer/Russell/Buck/Pratt » William Fitz Osbern, Regent of England, 1st Earl of Hereford (1016-1071)

Personal data William Fitz Osbern, Regent of England, 1st Earl of Hereford 

• Alternative name: Guillaume de Crepon
• He was born in the year 1016 in Poitiers, Poitou-Charentes, France.

  Attention: Was older than 65 years (66) when child (Emma Fitzosbern de Breteuil) was born (??-??-1082).

• Alternative: He was born in the year 1000.
• He died on February 22, 1071 in Cassel, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, he was 55 years old.

  Attention: Died 9 months (February 22, 1071) prior to the birth (??-??-1082) of child (Emma Fitzosbern de Breteuil) .

  Killed in battle of Cassel

• Alternative: He died on February 22, 1071, he was 55 years old.
• Alternative: He died on February 22, 1071 in Cassel, Great Britain, he was 55 years old.
• He is buried in the year 1071 in Cormeilles, Eure, Upper Normandy, France.

  Attention: Had already been buried (??-??-1071) 9 months before the birth (??-??-1082) of child (Emma Fitzosbern de Breteuil).

• A child of Osbern de Crepon, Steward of Normandy, one of William the Conqueror's closest counsellors and Emma Mathilde Bayeux-Ivry

Household of William Fitz Osbern, Regent of England, 1st Earl of Hereford

(1) He is married to Adeliza de Toeni (Tosny), Countess of Hereford.

They got married in the year 1055 at Castle Ivry, Normandy, France, he was 39 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Lady Adeliza FitzOsbern of Croy  1035-1095 
2. Guillaume fitz Guillaume de Bréteuïl, Lord of Bréteuïl  1050-1099
3. Giselbert (Gilbert II) FitzOsbern de Breteuil, bishop of Evreux  1050-1112
4. Emma FitzOsbern, Baroness of Gael, Countess of Norfolk  1054-1095 

(2) He is married to Richildis Countess of Mons and Hainaut (von Egisheim).

They got married July 1070 at Flanders, Nord, France, he was 54 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Emma Fitzosbern de Breteuil  1082-????

Notes about William Fitz Osbern, Regent of England, 1st Earl of Hereford

William FitzOsbern (c. 1020 – 22 February 1071), Lord of Breteuil, in Normandy, was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror.

1st Norman Earl of Hereford William FitzOsbern became one of the great magnates of early Norman England. He was created Earl of Hereford before 22 February 1067, one of the first peerage titles in the English peerage.

Early life He was the son of Osbern the Steward, a nephew of Duchess Gunnor, the wife of Duke Richard I of Normandy. Osbern became the steward of his cousin Duke Robert I of Normandy, and when Robert left the Duchy to his young son William, Osbern was one of Duke William's guardians. Osbern was killed defending the person of Duke William against an assassination attempt, sometime around 1040.

Osbern had married Emma, a daughter of Count Rodolf of Ivry, who was a half-brother of Duke Richard I of Normandy. Through her he inherited a large property in central Normandy, including the honours of Pacy and Breteuil.

William fitzOsbern was probably raised at the court of his cousin and namesake Duke William, and like his father, became one of the ducal stewards. He was one of the earliest and most vigorous advocates of the invasion of England, and tradition holds that he convinced the doubters amongst the Norman barons of the feasibility of the invasion.

FitzOsbern's younger brother Osbern was one of Edward the Confessor's chaplains, and possessed the rich church of Bosham in Sussex, and was well-placed to pass along intelligence on the situation in England. He later became Bishop of Exeter.

In England after 1066 As Duke William took control of England (becoming William I of England), fitzOsbern was given charge of the Isle of Wight, and then before 22 February 1067 he was made Earl of Hereford as well as Gloucester, Worcester and Oxfordshire.

Challenge and reward In any case, that part of England was not yet under Norman control; the understanding must have been that fitzOsbern was to take charge of their conquest when he was able. Also for the central part of 1067 the King returned to Normandy, leaving fitzOsbern, along with Odo of Bayeux, in charge of England.

Subduing Southwest England The King was back in England in 1068, and fitzOsbern accompanied him in the subdual of southwest England. He attended the King's Whitsun court in May, and then himself paid a visit to Normandy, where he fell ill for some months.

In charge at York In February or March 1069 fitzOsbern was given charge of the new castle at York, but he returned south in time to attend the King's Easter court in April.

Subduing the West Midlands Anglo-Saxon resistance in the West Midlands was subdued later in 1069, and it is likely fitzOsbern played a major part in this, though the details are not certain.

Invasion of Gwent During this time fitzOsbern and his followers pushed on into Wales, beginning the conquest of the Welsh Gwent.

Castle builder As part of the assertion of Norman control over England (and Wales), fitzOsbern was one of the major Norman castle builders. Early castles attributed to him include Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight and then in South Wales Chepstow (Striguil), Wigmore, Clifford Castle and Monmouth Castle, as well as creating or improving the fortifications of the towns of Hereford and Shrewsbury.

Distraction and death in Flanders In 1070 trouble arose in Flanders, where King William's brother-in-law Baldwin VI of Flanders had died, leaving his county and his young sons in the hands of his widow Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut. Her control of Flanders was challenged by the brother of her late husband, Robert the Frisian. Looking for help, she offered herself in marriage to fitzOsbern. He could not resist the chance to become also Count of the rich Principality in the German Empire, close to Normandy. He hurried there with his army, but nevertheless was defeated by the Count of Flanders: fitzOsbern lost his life in the Battle of Cassel on 22 February 1071.

FitzOsbern married first Adeliza de Tosny, daughter of Roger I of Tosny. One assumes that he also married Richilde shortly before the Battle of Cassel.

He was succeeded in Normandy by his eldest son, William of Breteuil--who had the unfortunate experience of being held captive and tortured by his daughter's unwelcome suitor, Ascelin Gouel de Perceval 'Lupus', Sire de Yvery, until he finally granted daughter Isabella de Breteuil's hand in marriage to him, and in England and Wales by his younger son, Roger de Breteuil. His daughter Emma married Ralph de Gael, 1st Earl of Norfolk.

He lived in Carisbrooke Castle.
General information about the Earls of Hereford, who are not all related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Hereford

Norman companion with William the Conqueror. Interred: Abbey of Cormeilles. 1st Earl of Hereford. Acceded 1067.
William fitz Osbern, 1st Earl of Hereford was the son of Osbern (?) and Emma d'Ivry. He died on 20 February 1070/71 at Flanders, Belgium, killed in action.

Child of William fitz Osbern, 1st Earl of Hereford

* Emma (?)

http://www.thepeerage.com/p382.htm#i3819
William was also called William de Crepon.

William FitzOsbern, seigner de Bréteuil, Earl of Hereford, married Adelise de Tosny, daughter of seigneur de Tosni et Conches Roger de Tosny I and Godeheut (?).

William fought with William the Conqueror on 14 October 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, England. He was granted the Lordship of the Isle of Wight by the Conqueror, his kinsman.

William was regent, with Odo of Bayeux, in 1067.

William was created Earl of Hereford by his "distant relation" (1st cousin, 2x removed) William the Conqueror in 1067

William married Richilde de Mons, comtesse de Hainaut.

William died on 20 February 1070/71 in Flanders; he had joined Philip of France with 10 knights only and went off to Flanders, where he was killed.

His large estates in the west and on the Isle of Wight were broken up when his son, Roger, rebelled in 1088.

See "My Lines" ( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p348.htm#i7116 ) from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA ( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm )
William Fitz Osbern, a Companion of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, 1066, Earl of Hereford.

The castle was founded by Earl William Fitz Osbern in the period between his being made earl of Hereford soon after Christmas 1066 and his death at the battle of Cassel in Flanders on 22 February 1071. In that time it is likely that his

engineers found the natural knoll lying alongside the steep drop to the River Wye near a ford. This gave the site its later name, the cliff by the ford or Clifford. Fitz Osbern's men scarped and ditched the knoll they found into what is today a

motte with a secondary platform to the West. The land of Clifford was at that time waste, but under the earls of Hereford and their successors this waste was brought to blossom with castle, borough and church. After Earl William's death, his

son, Earl

Note: Alice [de Toeni] married William fitz Osbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, of the creation made shortly after the Conquest. [Burke's Peerage]
Note: -----------------------------
Note: William Fitz Osbern, a Companion of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, 1066, Earl of Hereford. [Ancestral Roots]
Note: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999
Note: Page: 1378, 2680
Note: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999
Note: Page: 53-25, 163-23
Note: The Plantagenet Ancestry, by William Henry Turton, 1968
Note: Page: 100 Text: 1071

Seigneur of Breteuil in Normandy, he played a leading part in the events leading up to, as well as during, the battle of Hastings, for which he was rewarded with vast estates in England, including the county of Hereford by which he became Earl of Hereford. During the Conqueror's absence in 1067, he was in command of the army, and the following year was with the King in Normandy. In 1068/69, he was governor of York. He divided Herefordshire into casteleries, and attracted many knights to his service. In 1070 or early 1071, he was sent to Normandy to assist Queen Maud in the administration of the Duchy, and there became involved in the troubles in Flanders. In Feb of 1070/71, after joining Philip of France and marching into Flanders, he was killed.

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Timeline William Fitz Osbern, Regent of England, 1st Earl of Hereford

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