Lord Reginald De Braose BRAMBER ¹

   Another name for Reginald was BRAMER Lord.

   Ancestral File Number: 9G92-5B. User ID: 18909732.

   General Notes:

Lord of BRAMER.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Gwladys Ddu (The Black), Mar =1 Reginald De Braose, =2 Ralph Mortimer, Died 1251."

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 Johnand 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 hte 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, whichJohn 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 murdered his 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 caused them to be starved to death in prison."

A History ofthe Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, 1949, Doubleday & Co, p209:
"Hubert de Burgh knew what the sequel would be and he was apprehensive at once when a party of the King's men arrived at Falaise shortly thereafter. John had decided, it developed, that he could not fly in the face of world opinion by killing the boy. To take his eyesight would, however, eliminate him as a candidate for power; and so the instructions of the party were to make use of thewhite-hot irons with which this porm of mutilation was performed.
"Hubert de Burgh was a man of compassion and, fortunately, of stout heart as well. He had become fond of the boy and, moreover, he knew that the claim of the young prince to the throne of England was a better one than that of John. He made, accordingly, one of those decisions which so often change the course of history. He disregarded the royal order and sent the executioners away. Then, being very much afraid that what he had done might endanger his own eyes or even his life, he resolved on a deception. He had the bells in the chapel toll as though for a death and gave it out that Arthur of Brittany was no more.
"It was said that the King was secretly relieved that Hubert de Burgh had disobeyed him. Nevertheless, he had the prince taken from Falaise and imprisoned in Rouen instead. Here a man named William de Braose, the lord of Bramber, was in charge. He was the King's familiar and confidant, a man of great physical strength and high ambition and, it was believed, of no scruples.
"It was generally known that the prince had been imprisoned in Rouen, but after the heavy doors clanged shut behind him he was never seen again. No information could be had from the King's men who garrisoned the place...What had been done with the unfortunate youth?..."
"John does not seem to have said anything. None of the men under him could be induced to talk. It became apparent finally that the disappearance of the prince was as much a mystery to the underlings as to the world outside the walls. The only exception, perhaps, was William de Braose. That bull-necked baron continued to enjoy the King's confidence exclusively, and he was as un- communicative as John himself.
"Then rumors began to circulate. The prince, it was said, had been taken from his cell at night and placed in a boat occupied by the King and one other man. He had been murdered bythe King's hand and his body had been weighted and thrown into the Seine. This story contains flaws which make it hard to accept...This was believed, nevertheless, and it is still the story which is told and accepted.
"A deep silence wasmaintained by the King, and so the disappearance of the brave young prince remained a mystery.
"But why should it be considered a mystery? The scant evidence, when viewed in the light of subsequent events, points the way clearly to the explanation.
"It has already been stated that William de Braose was in charge of the new citadel at Rouen when the prince was taken there from Falaise. One other man would have to know what happened to Arthur besides the King whose orders were carried out, and that would be the lord of Bramber. He returned to England with John and remained in high favor, such high favor that others became jealous of the power and pretensions of this overbearing nobleman. `Braose was with the King at Windsor,' says one historian, `with him in the court, and with him in the chase.' The emphasis thus placed on the fact that they were always together, the guilty King and the man who, perhaps, had been his instrument, is significant.
"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 brought her husband many castles along the Welsh Marches, in thevalley 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 tring 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 began to 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.
"An end always comes, however, to the tenure of favorites. Perhaps a distaste was growing in the King for this man who was waxing so fat beside him. At any rate, the time came when he needed money himself and he made a bargain with De Braose by which the latter was to buy certain lands in Leinster which belonged to the King. At least the King said they did. It developed immediately that there was some question as to his ownership of the lands in question. Two churchmen, the Bishop of Worcester and a brother of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, claimed ownership of part and they refused, naturally enough, to allow the transfer of title to the prospective purchaser. The price John had set was five thousand marks, a large sum indeed in those days, and the King had no intention of letting it slip through his fingers. Not being able todo anything with the two stubborn churchmen, John brusquely ordered his favorite to pay over the five thousand marks and settle things himself with the other claimants.
"De Braose must have been very sure of his position, or of the powerhe had over the King. At any rate, he refused to do anything about it.
"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 waited on the Queen. None of the Braose children had been included, but when the difficulty arose over the five thousandmarks, John ordered them to send a son to serve as a royal page. Brraose and his wife now sensed that their day of favor was over. In spite of this, the haughty Mad 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 mand who had been thecustodian 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 King declared war. If he had been showing favor to De Braose because of what the latter knew, he now went to the other extreme and persecuted him because of it. Orders were given to seize the castle of bramber. When this home of the once favored companion was found to bean empty shell, the owner having been warned in time to remove everything of value, the King led a force himself to the border marches and took possession of all the castles there which had been part of the dower of the Lady Maud. The now thoroughly frightened and repentent De Braose waited on the King at Hereford and begged for terms. The King demanded that the purchase price for the lands in Leinster be paid in full and that in addition the castles of Radnor, Hay and Brecon be thrown in. The lord of Bramber agreed to this, having no alternative. However, in a sudden fit of spleen, he set fire to property of the King and fled to Ireland with his family. Later he made another effort to patch things up, keeping at a safe distance, and was told that the price of peace had risen. Never had terms risen more sharply! He was informed that now he would have to pay forty thousand mards, almost a third of the ransom money for Richard, a sum completely beyond the means of any private man.
"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 throwninto 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 in the 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 his cheeks had been gnawed.
"William de Braose fled to France, where he published a statement on what had happened to Arthur. No copy was ever found, unfortunately, of this report of the only surviving eyewitness. A year later the fugitive died at Corbeil."

INTERNET
Draper Gedcom
http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/draper/05191
Reginald supported Giles in his rebellions against King John. They were both active against the King in the barons' war. Neither was present at the signing of Magna Carta because they were still rebels who refused to compromise. K. John aquiesced to Reginald's claims to the de Braose estates in Wales in May 1216. He became Lord of Brecon, Abergavenny, Builth and other Marcher Lordships but was very much a vassal of Llewelyn Fawr, Prince of Gwynedd and now his father-in-law. Henry III restored Reginald to favour and the Bramber estates (confiscated from William by K. John) in 1217. At this seeming betrayal, Rhys and Owain, Reginald's nephews who were princes of Deheubarth, were incensed and they took Builth (except the castle). Llewelyn Fawr also became angry and beseiged Brecon. Reginald eventually surrendered to Llewelyn and gave up Seinenydd (Swansea). By 1221 they were at war again with Llewelyn laying seige to Builth. The seige was relieved by Henry III's forces. From this time on Llewelyn tended to support the claims of Reginald's nephew John concerning the de Braose lands. Reginald was a witness to the re-issue of Magna Carta by Henry III in 1225. [Source: http://freespace.virgin.net/doug.thompson/BraoseWeb/Reginald.htm]

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 17779 James Carl Romans.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 9G92-5B Reginald De BRAOSE Born Abt 1178/1185 Bramber
Sussex England Mar Gracia De BREWER (BRIWERE) 91SD-NX Died Abt 1228 Brecon
Breconshire Wales Bur Priory Church Brecon Breconshire Wales.

   Marriage Information:

Reginald married Gracia De BRIWERE, daughter of William De BRIWERE and Beatrice De VAUX, in Bramber, Sussex, England. (Gracia De BRIWERE was born about 1176 in Stoke, Devonshire, England and died in 1223.)

   Marriage Information:

Reginald also married Princess Gwladys Verch Llewelyn WALES, daughter of Prince Llewelyn Ap Iorwerth WALES and Princess Joan England WALES, before 1221 in , , Wales. (Princess Gwladys Verch Llewelyn WALES was born about 1205 in , Gwynedd, Wales and died in 1251 in Windsor, Berkshire, England.)