" Geoffrey de Mandeville II, 1st Earl of Essex (died September 1144) was a prominent figure during the reign of King Stephen of England. "

" This estate belonged to Aubrey de Vere, in the reign of King Henry the First; and Roese, his daughter, had it for her marriage portion, with her first husband, Geofrey de Mandeville, earl of Essex; it was also holden by her second husband, Pegasus, or Payne de Beauchamp, of Bedford. "

" She bore to this second husband a son, named Simon de Beauchamp, steward of the household to King Stephen;
His son and successor, William, acquired military fame by his prowess and conduct, but proving unfaithful to his sovereign, King Henry the Third, his castle at Bedford was ordered to be demolished. "

" He died in 1259, or 1260, leaving, by his wife Avicia, his sons Simon, William, and John; and his daughters, Maud, Beatrix, and Ella. Simon, the eldest son, survived his father three years, leaving an only daughter, who did not succeed to this inheritance, it being granted by the lord paramount, Hugh de Vere, earl of Oxford, to William, her father's brother, to be held by the service of one knight's fee. "

" GEOFFREY (-Chester 21 Oct 1166, bur Walden Abbey).

He received a grant of his father's lands from Empress Matilda at Devizes before 1147, and he was created Earl of Essex [Jan 1156][722].

The Red Book of the Exchequer refers to "Galfridus de Mondeville iii m i militem et dimidium" in Somerset in [1160/61][723].

The Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall records the death in 1166 of "Galfridus junior de Mandavilla"[724].

The History of the foundation of Walden abbey records the death “1165 XII Kal Nov” of “Galfridus de Mandavill comes Essexiæ”[725]. m (1158 or before, divorced) as her first husband, EUSTACHIE, [relative of HENRY II King of England], daughter of --- (-[1164]).

Geoffrey Earl of Essex confirmed grants of lands in Sawbridgworth by Warin FitzGerold camerarius regis and by his brother Henry to Robert Blund of London by charter dated to [1157/58], witnessed by "Roesia com matre mea, Eust[achia] com[itissa], Ernulfo de Mannavilla fratre meo, Willelmo filio Otuwel patruo meo…"[726].

The Chronicle of Walden records that King Henry II arranged the marriage of “[Galfredo]” and “uxorem generis nobilitate sibi consanguineam”, that her husband refused to live with her and that the couple was divorced, that she received “duobus maneriis Waledena...et Walteham” and was married to “Anselmo...de Campdavene” with the two manors[727].

Charles Evans speculated that she was the illegitimate daughter of Eustache IV Comte de Boulogne, based only on onomastic reasons[728], but other families besides the counts of Boulogne used this name at the time[729]. If correct, this would also mean that Eustachie was little more than a child, even at the time of her second marriage, as her alleged father was himself born in [1127/31], which makes the report of Earl Geoffrey refusing to cohabit rather unlikely. She married secondly as his second wife, Anselme "Candavène" Comte de Saint-Pol (-1174).

Du Chesne says that this wife of Anselme “nommée Eustache vivoit encore avecques luy l’an 1164” but does not cite the primary source which confirms this information[730]. "

" The castle was dismantled in 1158 when Henry II returned the de Mandeville lands to Geoffrey III, but was subsequently rebuilt in 1167 by William II de Mandeville, which was completed following the same plan as before yet including a massively enlarged rampart enclosing the south bailey.

During the civil war that followed King John's rejection of Magna Carta, Pleshey Castle was seized by a detachment of the king's army on Christmas Eve of 1215, then subsequently recaptured by the rebel barons in the winter of 1216/7. On both occasions, it surrendered without a siege. Obsolete and demonstrably indefensible against a major attack, it became the main residence of the de Bohun family in 1227/8. "

" This story of the foundation of Colchester Abbey, has often been referred to by writers on Colchester, and by Dugdale, (I.e.) but it has not before, we believe, been reproduce in full. In any case it is worthy of a place in the Transactions of this Society. Mr. W. J. Andrew, in his Numismatic History of the Reign of Henry I., the latest authority on the subject, states : "1091? William II. by charter grants the town, keep and castle of Colchester to Eudo Dapifer," and remarks
"this date must not be accepted too strictly, as Henry l.'s charter (1101) has been confused with William's, and so this date 1091 was accepted because it was that of the treaty between Rufus and Duke Robert, although the former contains the words, 'Sicut Pater meus et Frater et ego,' referring to William I., II., and Henry I., and is dated at Christmas after the (1101) Treaty with Duke Robert. Colchester is granted to Euclo Dapifer, and there is no ground for the argument that he was merely the King's Castellan, for the wording of Henry's Charter grants him the town and all its privileges."

Euclo died at the Castle of Preaux, in Normandy in 1120. This explains the passage in the Empress Matilda's charter to Geoffrey de Mandeville, "et do ei totam terram que fuit Eudoni Dapiferi in Normannia et Dapiferatmn ipsius" (Round). Our MS. also implies that Eudo was Dapifer in Normandy, that he died there and that his widow never returned to this country. Eudo left no son, and, as Mr. Round points out in Geoffrey de Mandeville , it may be assumed that he died without any issue, for his vast estates reverted to the Crown (see, Andrew, Nnmismatic History of the Reign of Henry I., p. 164). "

" Pleshey Castle's claim to fame includes Shakespeare's play "Richard II" in which the widow of Richard asks Edmund of York: "

" Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex (d. 1144) was one of the prominent players during the Anarchy of the reign of King Stephen of England. His biographer, the 19th-century historian J. H. Round, called him "the most perfect and typical presentment of the feudal and anarchic spirit that stamps the reign of Stephen."

He succeeded his father, William sometime before 1130. A key portion of the family patrimony was in the king's hands, as William had incurred Henry I's displeasure and lost them, along with his office as constable of the Tower of London. The king also held the substantial estate of Geoffrey's maternal grandfather Eudo Dapifer.

Geoffrey's goal in the early years of strife between Stephen and Maud seems to have to recover these losts lands. He succeeded in this, during the shifting tides of fortunes of the two competitors for the English throne, by bidding his support to first one, then the other.

He started out supporting Stephen, who sometime in 1140 (or perhaps December 1139) made him Earl of Essex in reward for his services against Maud. In 1140 or 1141 Stephen returned to him the seized estates in Essex. In 1141 he was also appointed custodian of the Tower of London.

After the defeat and capture of Stephen at Lincoln (1141) the earl, like many barons, acknowledged Maud as his sovereign lady. She confirmed his custody of the Tower, forgave the large debts his father had incurred to the crown, granted him the Norman lands of Eduo Dapifer, and appointed him sheriff of Essex, Middlesex and London, and Hertfordshire. But before the end of the year, learning that Stephen's release was imminent, he returned to his original allegiance. In 1142 he may have been intriguing with the empress; he rebelled when he was deprived of his castles by the king in 1143.

In 1143-1144 Geoffrey maintained himself as a rebel and a bandit in the fen-country, using the Isle of Ely and Ramsey Abbey as his headquarters. He was besieged by Stephen in the fens, and met his death in September 1144 in consequence of an arrow wound received in a skirmish.

His career is interesting for two reasons. The charters which he received from Stephen and Matilda illustrate the peculiar form taken by the ambitions of English feudatories. The most important concessions are grants of offices and jurisdictions which had the effect of making Mandeville almost a viceroy with full powers in Essex, Middlesex and London, and Hertfordshire--but these were based on offices and jurisdictions his ancestors had held. His career as an outlaw exemplifies the worst excesses of the anarchy which prevailed in some parts of England during the civil wars of 1140-1147, and it is probable that the deeds of Mandeville inspired the rhetorical description, in the Peterborough Chronicle of this period, when "men said openly that Christ and his saints were asleep. "

Geoffrey married Rohese de Vere, daughter of Aubrey de Vere. He had four sons:

• Ernulf, (illegitimate) who was exiled for supporting his father in rebellion
• Geoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex (d. 1166)
• William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex (d. 1189)
• Robert (d. before 1189)

Geoffrey (son of William) married
1. Eustache de Champagne (divorced, and afterwards married [SPOL371] Count Anselme, see SAINT-POL); then
2. [OXFO389] Rohese (daughter of Aubrey, see OXFORD (VERE) EARLDOM).

He held Great Waltham, Saffron Walden, High Easter and Pleshey (Essex); Edmonton and Enfield (Middlesex); Sawbridgeworth (Herts); Quarrendon and Amersham (Bucks); Streatley (Berks); Long Compton (Warks); etc.

He was Steward of Normandy, Constable of the Tower of London (1130-43), Sheriff and Justiciar in three separate counties, and was created 1st Earl of Essex (1140) by King Stephen "for reasons which are somewhat obscure.

He also founded Warden Priory (around 1136-43), and his son Geoffrey, the 2nd Earl, was buried here (1166).
It became an Abbey (1190), but after its dissolution, the site of the abbey cloisters were incorporated in the Audley End Jacobean house.

About November 1141 Queen Matilda purchased Geoffrey's support, and he was further rewarded with privileges by King Stephen. However Geoffrey changed his allegiances back to EMPRESS MATILDA, whilst feigning friendship with the king. In early 1142 he drove the rebels out of Ely. His arrogance became too much for the royalists and he was arrested at St. Albans, and was accused of treason (c. October 1143), but ridiculed the charges. He was however attainted at St. Albans, and imprisoned until he surrendered his castles (the Tower, Walden and Pleshey) to avoid being hanged. He broke into open revolt, and fled to the safety of the marshy swamps of the fen country. He drove the monks out of Ramsey Abbey and used it as the base for his army of mercenaries.

From his Ramsey base he ransacked and burned Cambridge Eventually, while besieging Burwell Castle (August 1144), he removed his headpiece on account of the heat and was mortally wounded by an arrow. He died the next month at Mildenhall (September 1144). He died under excommunication, so could not receive a Christian burial. The body was placed in a lead lined coffin, which was then suspended from an apple tree in the orchard belonging to the Knights Templars of the Old Temple in Holborn. Nineteen years later (1163) absolution was at last granted, and the coffin was buried in the graveyard of the New Temple Church near the Thames (consecrated 1185), [the twenty-two years discrepancy between 1163 and 1185 will be noted.] There is a tomb effigy in the church, and the accompanying plaque reads:

Little is known about the earliest burials at Temple Church, and even the identities of the knights that were buried beneath the famous Templar effigies remain the subject of much speculation. Three of the effigies represent William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, and his sons Gilbert and William the Younger, but the identities of the others remain unknown. One was once thought to be an effigy of Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, but this was later disproven. Mandeville rebelled against King Stephen in favour of Empress Matilda and was excommunicated. He died attacking Burwell Castle in 1144, and because of his disreputable life his unshriven body was denied a Christian burial at Waldon Priory, a monastery he founded. The Templars carried him to the Old Temple in the parish of St Andrew, Holborn, and placed his body in a lead coffin which was either left hanging in a tree or thrown in a pit outside consecrated ground. Twenty years later, Mandeville was granted absolution by the Pope, and his remains were interred in the newly consecrated ground at the New Temple, now known as Temple Church, around the year 1163.

Geoffrey de Mandeville was an English peer. With 24 friends he opposed King John for the increased power of the King. Forcing King John to sign the Magna Carta on 15 June 1215 limiting the power of the King and granting greater political freedom. The church is exonerated from the reign of the King, justice and law reformed. In 2016 Geoffrey de Mandeville succumbs to his injuries incurred in a joust in London.

Geoffrey de Mandeville demonstrates that no one is beyond critique.
Authority and power is to be questioned to fight compromise.

Geoffrey de Mandeville, first Earl of Essex *1100 – 1144)
Geoffrey de Mandeville rebels against the King who had confiscated part of his family’s patrimony including the Tower of London.

The feud escalates and Mandeville is excommunicated in 1143 with the support of Pope Celestinus.

Mandeville met his death from an archer’s arrow received in a skirmish. Because he had died excommunicate, his body was denied burial at the monastery he had founded in approximately 1136, the Walden Priory.

Eventually Pope Celestinus II reluctantly agrees for his remains to be buried in the Temple Church in London provided his remains are wrapped in lead to assure his soul cannot escape to heaven.

His comrades abide by these conditions but not before punching a few holes in the box to allow his soul to escape anyway. Friendship and Loyalty at it’s best.

In a medieval manuscript, Mandeville’s death is symbolised by a broken lance. The upside-down coat of arms symbolises his excommunication, making him an outlaw.

The upside down coat of arms is equally the logo of Mandeville Academy, the gifted are beyond the masses. Bless them.