Gracia De BRIWERE ¹

   Other names for Gracia were Alice, Graecia and BREWER.

   Ancestral File Number: 91SD-NX. User ID: 18909733.

   General Notes:

BOOKS
The Political History of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905, Ch XX, p414:
[1208] "Even the greatest barons were subjected to arbitrary acts of power of the same kind. On the slightest occasion of suspicion the king demanded their sons or other relatives, or their vassals, as hostages, a measure which had been in occasional use before, but which John carried to an extreme...The case of William de Braose is that most commonly cited. He had been a devoted supporter of John and had performed many valuable services in his interest, especially at the time of the coronation. For these he had received many marks of royal favour, and was rapidly becoming both in property and in family alliances one of the greatest barons of the land. About the time of the proclamation of the interdict a change took place in his fortunes. For some reason he lost the favour of the king and fell instead under his active enmity. According to a formal statement of hte case, which John thought well to put forth afterwards, he had failed to pay large sums which he had promised in returm for the grants that had been made him; and the records support the accusation. According to Roger of Wendove the king had a personal cause of anger. On a demand of hostages from husband, the wife of William had rashly declared to the officers that her sons should never be delivered to the king because he had basely murderedhis nephew Arthur, whom he was under obligation to guard honourably, and it is impossible to believe that it was merely delay in paying money that excited the fierce persecution that followed. William with his family took refuge in Ireland, where he was received by William Marshal and the Lacies, but John pursued him thither, and he was again obliged to fly. His wife and son, attempting to escape to Scotland, were seized in Galloway by a local baron and delivered to John, who causedthem to be starved to death in prison."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain, 1951, Doubleday & Co, p304:
"Of less exalted rank was the fourth fair lady to take a prominent part in events. She was wife of Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore who had been the most active enemy of Simon de Montfort in the West. Born Maud de Braose, she had been a great catch, for the Braose holdings to which she had succeeded comprised a large part of Breconshire and a share as well in the immense Marshal inheritance. Her father was the gallant but unfortunate William de Braose who had been detected in an illicit relationship with Joanna, the wife of Llewelyn (and illegitimate daughter of John of England) and had been publicly hanged by the Welsh leader. This would make her a granddaughter of the unhappy Maude de Braose who was starved to death by John in a cell at Corfe Castle..."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, 1949, Doubleday & Co, p209:
"Braose was married to a most remarkable woman. She had been Maud de Valeri, although in some versions her name is given as Maud de Hay. At any rate, she was a great heiress and had broughther husband many castles along the Welsh Marches, in the valley of the Usk and along the Nedd and Wye, Castles Radnor, Hay, Brecon, and Bradwardine. She was a handsome woman of the heroic type, a Lady Macbeth in many respects, bold and unscrupulous and intensely ambitious. When her husband was away she took charge and thought nothing of donning armor and leading troops into battle. In fact, she was as quick to tying up a prisoner as her violent lord and master. She is said to have been the original of Moll Walbee, the heroine of several old Breconshire romances.
"William de Braose and his amazonian spouse were in such high favor during the first years of John's reign that they married their eldest son to a daughter of the house of Gloucester and their own daughter to the sixth Baron de Lacey, who was also the lorn of Trim in Ireland. They were growing wealthy rapidly and, as it was a rare thing for anyone around the King to accumulate money, whispers beganto circulate. Braose was believed to have some power over the King. This continued for ten years, an exceptional length of time for anyone to retain the favor of the capricious John...
"By this time John was experiencing the bitter opposition of the barons. To compel a more complaisant attitude on their part, he had demanded that each member of the nobility place a child in his care as hostage for future behavior. The children were kept at Windsor and Winchester and they waitedon the Queen. None of the Braose children had been included, but when the difficulty arose over the five thousand marks, John ordered them to send a son to serve as a royal page. Braose and his wife now sensed that their day of favor was over.In spite of this, the haughty Maud was foolish enough to refuse the royal demand. In the hearing of the King's officers she declared that `she would not deliver her children to a king who had murdered his own nephew.'
"Many people had said the same thing, of course, but never as openly. The statement, coming from the wife of the man who had been the custodian of the Rouen citadel, was almost like a confession. Maud de Braose knew the enormity of her mistake as soon as she had spoken and she hastened to make amends as best she could. She sent to the Queen a herd of four hundred beautiful cattle, all of them pure white except their ears, which were a reddish brown, hoping that this would be accepted as a peace offering. The cattle were kept, but the gift did the outspoken donor no good at all...
"The sequel to this is one of the grimmest stories in history. Maud de Braose and her eldest son William were captured while trying to leave Ireland for the Scottish coast and were brought to the King. He had them thrown into a single cell in the keep at Windsor with a sheaf of wheat and a flitch of uncooked bacon. The door of the cell was closed upon them.
"John seems to have been a believer inthe starvation method of getting rid of prisoners. He had employed it with the unfortunate knights captured at Mirabeau, he was to use it on later occasions, but there was something peculiarly repellent in his treatment of the wife and son to the man he now hated so thoroughly.
"After eleven days had passed the cell was opened. The two occupants were found dead, each lying in a propped-up position against the wall. It was apparent that the son had succumbed first, for one of hischeeks had been gnawed..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 91SD-NX Gracia De BREWER (BRIWERE) Mar Reginald De BRAOSE (AFN:9G92-5B) Mother of William De BRAOSE Jr (AFN:84ZT-2B),Ver 4.11 9G92-6H Graecia De BRIWERE Born 1186 Bramber, Sussex, England.

FAMILY SEARCH ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File v4.19 TL3F-SB: Born Abt 1176 Stoke, Devonshire, England.

   Marriage Information:

Gracia married Lord Reginald De Braose BRAMBER, son of Baron William De BRAOSE and Lady Matilda Saint Valery LA HAIE, in Bramber, Sussex, England. (Lord Reginald De Braose BRAMBER was born about 1178-1185 in Bramber, Sussex, England, died on 9 Jun 1228 in Brecon, Breconshire, Wales and was buried in St Johns Priory Church, Brecon, Breconshire, Wales.)