Henry d'Essex

Henry of Essex (also: Henry d' Essex, † 1170 ) was a Norman nobleman, the fief of Rayleigh ( Essex ) and Haughley (by his second wife Alice de Montfort ) and during the reign of Kings Stephen and Henry II the office of Constable of England held. This office included the right to hold the royal standard to indicate the whereabouts of the King. Around 1150, he is also known as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Henry was the son and heir of Robert fitz Swein of Essex, who was a favorite of King Edward the Confessor and was built in 1066 by Rayleigh Castle and a grandson of Swein, a son of Robert FitzWimarc.

Henry is mentioned in several chronicles, including the Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond. His biggest influence at the court he had in the reign of King Stephen, and in the first years of the reign King Henry II under King Henry, he served from 1156 to 1159 as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, as well as in-house counsel and Constable. He took part in the spring and summer of 1159 at the Toulouse campaign of the king.

After losing in a Welsh ambush during the Wales campaign Köig Henry 1157 the royal standard, he lost political influence. On Judgment Day to Easter 1163 Henry was indicted by a claimant to the goods of Montfort of treason. A few months later, the two men faced each other in court. Jocelin describes Henry's court battle against Robert de Montfort at Fry's Iceland in the Thames near Reading (Berkshire ). After the fight the senseless Henry was brought by monks in the nearby Reading Abbey, where he recovered and entered the Benedictine Order. As a convicted traitor his possessions and offices were confiscated and his family stripped of their titles.

It is believed that Henry of Essex died the same year as Becket in 1170 in Reading Abbey.

Family

Henry's first wife was Cecily, with her he had two sons, Henry and Hugh. His second wife was Alice de Montfort, widow of Robert fitz Bernard de Vere. With her he had at least one daughter, Agnes of Essex. Agnes was as a child with Geoffrey de Vere, the brother of the 1st Earl of Oxford, engaged, but later married as his third wife Aubrey de Vere III, 1st Earl of Oxford.