FitzAlan

Who he is

Name

William FitzAlan (II)

Title

Lord of Oswestry and Clun; sheriff of Shropshire

Since

Heir of his father William (died 1160); of age by the 1170s; sheriff of Shropshire 1190-1201

Born

Not pinned (about 1154)

Family

Son of William FitzAlan (I) and Isabel de Say, heiress of Clun. His uncle Walter FitzAlan (died 1177) was the first High Steward of Scotland, ancestor of the Stewarts. Sons William and John succeed him; wife not pinned here. Dies 1210.

Confidence

high

Wikipedia (High Sheriff of Shropshire: William FitzAlan II, 1190-1201).

Overlord

King John

What it holds

• Oswestry castle and borough and the Marcher lordship of Oswestry
• Clun castle and borough and the Marcher lordship of Clun (Tempsiter and the Clun forest)
• Shrawardine castle on the Severn (medium confidence)
• The shrievalty of Shropshire (custody of Shrewsbury castle and the county farm)
• FitzAlan manors in Shropshire, Sussex and Norfolk

How it was acquired

Inheritance (Oswestry from the FitzAlans, Clun from the Say marriage); the shrievalty by royal appointment (1190).

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor, Gwenwynwyn, the Corbets, Lestranges and the FitzWarin claimants to Whittington.

How things stand that morning

Holds Oswestry and Clun and the shrievalty.

Wealth

Oswestry market and tolls, the Clun uplands, the sheriff's profits.

Military

Oswestry, Clun and Shrawardine castles; the shire levy as sheriff.

Threats

• Raids from Powys

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1201Leaves the shrievalty of Shropshire.Depends on: Royal reappointment Stopped by: John keeping him

Places of note

• Oswestry castle: Caput
• Clun castle: Castle of Clun
• Shrawardine: FitzAlan castle on the Severn

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Sheriff list and the standard FitzAlan descent.

On the map: Whittington (Meurig ap Roger) is excluded from Oswestry; the lordships' Welsh edges are approximate.

Primary sources for March of Wales

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.

• Annals of Wales, Anonymous (St Davids and other Welsh houses) (10th to 13th centuries; the B and C texts continue to 1286 and 1288). Short Latin annals whose later versions are kept at St Davids and Cistercian houses. 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
• Monastic Annals (Margam, Tewkesbury, Burton, Winchester, Waverley, Dunstable, Bermondsey, Worcester, Osney) (12th to 14th centuries). Nine sets of house annals, each with a short entry for 1200. Read online
• The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• The Charter Rolls of King John (1199 to 1216, at the royal chancery). The enrolled charters of John's first years, beginning with his accession in 1199: confirmations to towns, bishoprics and abbeys, grants of land and office, and the great grants to men like William Marshal and the king's new allies in Poitou. Read online
• The Great Rolls of the Pipe for 1199 and Michaelmas 1200 (1199 and 1200, at the Exchequer). The audited accounts of every sheriff and farmer for the Exchequer year ending Michaelmas 1200: county farms, the scutage of 1199, the carucage of 1200, debts of magnates and towns, wardships, and the fines offered to the new king.

3 more in the sources library for The British Isles.