Lord Roger de Berkeley

 39979330. Lord Roger de Berkeley

~1110, Roger born in England, s/o §§Lord William de Berkeley, Lord of Dursley.

1135, Roger and his father supporters of Stephen of Blois to the crown of England.

12/22/1135, Stephen crowned king of England.

1138, Bristol fell to Robert, earl of Gloucester [brother of Empress Matilda.]

1139, Roger’s father died.

Aft. 1139, King Stephen granted Roger de Berkeley free warren in all lands as his father used to have.

1141-42, Henry [II], son of Empress Matilda, lived in Bristol.

1144-47, Roger a kinsman of Miles of Gloucester, bound by a treaty of peace with Miles’ son Walter. Walter captured Roger and unsuccessfully laid siege to Roger’s castle of Dursley. (S) King Stephen, Davis, 1967, P92.

1146, Roger de Berkeley patron of the church of St. Leonard Stanley.

Aft. 1147, Robert Fitz Harding obtained a grant of Berkeley castle, Gloucester, from the Duke of Normandy [later King Henry II]. The castle was taken from Roger de Berkeley, an adherent of King Stephen.

1148, Roger de Berkeley confirmed to the monastery of Kingswood all the lands … (S) Memoirs Historical and Topographical of Bristol, V1, 1821, P475.

4/13/1149 at the castle of Devizes, ‘Henry [II], son of the Duke of Normandy and Earl of Anjou. … Know that I have restored to the church of Sarum … in the presence of Roger Earl of Bedford, Patrick Earl of Sarum, John Fitz-Gilbert, …, W’m de Bello Campo, Elias Giffard, Roger de Berkley, John de Saint John, Hubert de Valibus, Thomas Basset, … (S) Journal of the British Arch. Assoc., V40, 1884, P146.

1150-51, Roger and Duke Henry at issue over Reading Abbey’s claims to Berkeleye church.

1/1153, Duke Henry [II] landed in England. Supported by the Earl of Chester, he captured Malmesbury and relieved Wallingford where King Stephen’s men held the north bank of the Thames. [Henry’s mother and Stephen had been conducting a civil war in England for many years.]

Winter/1153, with Henry and Stephen’s forces facing each other in snow and cold, a peace agreement was made.

1153 [early in the year], Duke Henry, visiting Bristol, granted the entire manor of Bitton, and £100 of land in Berkeleye, to Robert fitz Harding, with a promise that he would build a castle there. [This grant at the cost of Roger de Berkeley, hereditary farmers of the royal manor.]

1153, To settle the dispute over Berkeley lands: a contract where Sir Robert Fitz-Harding, Lord and Baron of Berkeley, in the house of Robert Fitz-Harding in Bristowe, in the presence of King Stephen and Henry, Duke of Normandy, and Earl of Anjou, and by his ascent and in the presence of many others, both clerks and laymen; it was agreed that Maurice, eldest son and heir of Robert Fitz-Harding, should marry Alice, daughter of Roger de Berkeley, receiving with her the town of Slimebrigge … the manor of Siston … (S) The great governing families of England, Sanford, 1865, P217.

11/6/1153, Signed at Westminster, by the Treaty of Wallingford, Henry recognized by his cousin King Stephen of England as his heir. Stephen was to reign without dispute until his death.

10/1154, King Stephen died.

12/19/1154, Henry II crowned king of England.

Roger refused to pay the fee-farm of the Barony of Berkeley to King Henry II. King Henry took the Baronies of Berkeley and Dursley from Roger de Berkeley, a supporter of King Stephen, and gave them to Robert Fitz Harding.

By 1166, Roger died.

(S) The Accession of Henry II, Amt, 1993. (S) Transactions – Bristol and Gloucester, V5, 1880.

Family notes:

·         1139, William de Berkeley, s/o §§Lord Roger de Berkeley [living 1094], founded the monastery of Kingswood near Wotton-under-Edge.

Children of Roger and ?:

i. Alice de Berkeley (19989665), born ~1145 in England.

ii. Roger de Berkeley, born ? in England.

1154-88, Roger de Berkeley, son of Roger de Berkeley has granted to Reginald the mason and Estrida his wife land and a burgage in Durseleg. (S) UKNA.

iii. Robert de Berkeley, born ? in England.

Robert married Helena, eldest d/o Lord Robert Fitz Harding [and sister of Alice’s husband].

1209, Robert died.