Eudo de Rie ^{1 2 3}

   Other names for Eudo were Eudea De Rie, Eudo FitzHubert and Eudo "le Dapfier" de Rie.

  Research Notes:

From Wikipedia - Eudo Dapifer :

Eudo Dapifer or Eudo `le Dapifer' de Rie (1047c - 1120) was a Norman aristocrat favoured by William the Conqueror .

This Eudo was the fourth son of Hubert de Rie, the loyal vassal who saved the life of Duke William in his flight from Valognes by mounting him on a fresh horse, and misleading his pursuers, who were close upon his heels (vide vol. i, p. 23). Three of Hubert's four sons were directed by him to escort the Duke, and not leave him till he was safe in Falaise . Whether Eudo was one of the three we know not, as Orderic does not name them; but as they must all have been young at that time, and Eudo the youngest of the four, it is probable that Ralph, Hubert, and Adam were the guides and guardians of their youthful prince, themselves not much his seniors.

Eudo, the fourth son, continuing here in King William's service, obtained from him divers lordships in sundry counties, viz, in Essex twenty-five, in Hertfordshire seven, in Berkshire one, in Bedfordshire twelve, in Norfolk nine, and in Suffolk ten; and personally attending the court it so happened that William Fitz Osbern, then steward of the household, had set before the King the flesh of a crane scarce half roasted, whereat the King took such offence as that he lifted up his fist and had stricken him fiercely but that Eudo bore (warded off) the blow. Whereupon Fitz Osborn grew so displeased as that he quitted his office, desiring that Eudo might have it. To which request the King, as well for his father Hubert's demerits and his own, at the desire of Fitz Osbern readily yielded.

Eudo became Dapifer after the departure of the Earl for Normandy, and for seventeen years enjoyed the favour of his sovereign, and being in attendance on the dying Conqueror at Rouen , was mainly instrumental to the securing of the crown to Rufus , whom he accompanied to England, and by his representations obtained from William de Pontarche the keys of the treasury at Winchester , wherein the regalia, as well as the money, was deposited. Thence he hastened to Dover , and bound the governor of the castle by a solemn oath that he would not yield it to any one but by his advice.

Pevensey , Hastings , and other maritime strongholds he managed to secure in like manner, pretending that the King, whose death was still rumoured in secret, would stay longer in Normandy, and desired to have good assurances of the safety of his castles in England from himself, his then steward.

Returning to Winchester he publicly announced the death of the Conqueror; so, while the nobles were consulting together in Normandy respecting the succession, William II, by Eudo's policy, was proclaimed King in England.

His great service was duly appreciated by Rufus, in whose favour he remained during his whole reign, and in 1096/7 founded the Church of St. Peter's at Colchester , he himself laying the first stone, Rohesia, his wife, the second, and Gilbert Fitz Richard de Clare, her brother, the third.

On the death of Rufus he was coldly looked upon by the new King, Henry , who suspected him of being a partisan of his brother Robert Court-heuse, but subsequently was reconciled to him and visited him when he was dying in his Castle of Préaux, and advised him as to the disposition of his temporal estates.

To his Abbey at Colchester, wherein he desired to be buried, he bequeathed one hundred pounds in money, his gold ring with a topaz, a standing cup and cover adorned with plates of gold, his horse and a mule, and in addition to the lands he had endowed it with on its foundation, he bestowed on it his manor of Brightlingsea .

His body was brought over to England, and according to the desire expressed in his will, buried at Colchester on the morrow preceding the kalends of March, 1120 (20th of Henry I).

By his wife Rohesia, daughter of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare or de Bienfaite , and Rohesia, only daughter of Walter Giffard, the first Earl of Buckingham, he left issue one sole daughter and heir, named Margaret, married to William de Mandeville , and mother of Geoffrey de Mandeville , first Earl of Essex, to secure whose services King Stephen and the Empress Maude appear to have bid against each other to a fabulous extent. Dying excommunicated for outrages committed on the monks of Ramsey, his corpse was carried by some Knights Templars into their orchard in the Old Temple at London , arrayed in the habit of the Order, and after being enclosed in lead, hung on a branch of a tree, where it remained until absolution being obtained from Pope Alexander II , by the intercession of the Prior of Walden, it was, taken down and privately buried in the porch of the New Temple, where his effigy is still to be seen.

  Birth Notes:

FamilySearch has b. abt 1063, Normandy, France.

Eudo married Rohese FitzRichard de Clare, daughter of Richard I FitzGilbert of Clare and Tonbridge and Rohese Giffard. (Rohese FitzRichard de Clare was born about 1055 in Tunbridge, Kent, England and died in 1121 in England.)