Gloucestershire

Who holds it

Name

William Marshal, earl of Pembroke

Title

Sheriff of Gloucestershire

Since

1199 (first year of John), succeeding Herbert FitzHerbert (sheriff 1196-99); he holds it until 1206-07

Born

about 1146

Family

Younger son of John Marshal; lord of Striguil and Pembroke and of Leinster through his wife Isabel de Clare; girded earl of Pembroke on 27 May 1199

Confidence

high

Named sheriff for 1199-1206 in the list of sheriffs drawn from the Pipe Rolls; the day he took the county in 1199 is not pinned. He is rarely in the shire himself and works through a deputy (not pinned).

Overlord

King John

What it holds

• The farm of the shire and the profits of the shire and hundred courts
• Custody of Gloucester castle, the royal castle at the shire town
• The king's demesne manors in the shire not granted away (Cheltenham, King's Barton by Gloucester, Awre and others: their custody that winter not pinned)
• Escheats and wardships that fall in the shire, until the king grants them

How it was acquired

Shire of the old kingdom; the sheriff is the king's appointee.

Allies and rivals

The Marshal's interests run from here into the March (Striguil across the Wye) and Leinster. Rival franchises: the Berkeley herness, the abbots of Gloucester, Cirencester and Winchcombe, and the honour of Gloucester's keepers. In the Church the shire is split: east of the Severn it is in the diocese of Worcester, whose king's-physician bishop-elect Mauger Innocent III has quashed for illegitimacy; west of the Severn the Forest of Dean is in the diocese of Hereford, vacant since 24 December 1198 (campaign notes, Part 6 G and Part 8, 10).

How things stand that morning

Under William Marshal as sheriff. Bristol is on the Gloucestershire bank of the Avon; its southern suburbs of Redcliffe and Bedminster lie in Somerset. West across the Wye is Monmouth and the March (Wales researcher); north are Worcestershire and Warwickshire (Midlands researcher); Herefordshire lies north-west (Wales researcher).

Wealth

Cotswold wool, the Severn trade, Bristol's port, Dean iron and timber, Severn fisheries (the lampreys of Gloucester). No figures.

Military

The shire levy under the sheriff; the castles above; Bristol and Gloucester as bases for any Welsh or Irish expedition.

Threats

• Welsh raids are a threat to the west bank of the Wye, not to the shire itself this winter
• The disputed Gloucester inheritance

Sheriff in 1200

Name

William Marshal, earl of Pembroke

How

Sheriff, answering for the farm at the Exchequer, with the custody of Gloucester castle

Since

1199 (1 John)

Hundreds

The thirteenth-century hundreds (some held privately): Berkeley, Bisley, Bledisloe, Botloe, Bradley, Brightwells Barrow, Cheltenham, Cleeve, Crowthorne and Minety, Deerhurst, Dudstone and King's Barton, Grumbalds Ash, Henbury, Kiftsgate, Langley and Swineshead, Longtree, Pucklechurch, Rapsgate, Slaughter, St Briavels, Tewkesbury, Thornbury, Tibaldstone, Westbury, Westminster and Whitstone. Tewkesbury, Berkeley and the abbots' hundreds are in private hands. The list is approximate for 1200.

Forests

The Forest of Dean, the great royal forest between Severn and Wye, run from St Briavels castle with its iron forges and timber; Kingswood by Bristol; Corse chase in the north-west of the shire (status not pinned).

Castles

Gloucester (royal, the sheriff's); Bristol (royal); St Briavels (royal, the forest's headquarters); Berkeley (FitzHarding); Dursley (Berkeley of Dursley); Brimpsfield (Giffard); Miserden (Musard); Sudeley; Holm castle at Tewkesbury (the honour of Gloucester's manor house).

Places of note

• Gloucester castle: Royal castle and the sheriff's seat
• St Briavels castle: Royal castle of the Forest of Dean

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Sheriff from the PRO list of sheriffs as given on Wikipedia; the hundreds and castles from the Victoria County History pattern; the deputy sheriff is not pinned.

On the map: Traced along the historic boundary at a coarse scale; small detached parishes (and parishes later moved between Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire) are not followed exactly.

Primary sources for England

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, Jocelin of Brakelond (about 1198 to 1203). An inside account of Bury St Edmunds under Abbot Samson, written while the events were fresh. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Princes, Anonymous (Welsh translation of a lost Latin chronicle kept at Strata Florida) (Latin original to about 1282, compiled from contemporary annals; Welsh versions about 1300 and later). The native Welsh record of the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online
• Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
• Images of History, Ralph de Diceto (about 1188 to 1202). A London view of the year from the dean of St Paul's, who knew the justiciar and the bishops personally. Read online

22 more in the sources library for The British Isles.