Margaret le Gras

• Preferred Name: Margaret le Gras^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}
  
• Gender: F
  
• Death: 1242 in Worcestershire, England at LATI: N2.2334 LONG: E2.2125
  
• FSID: LZFM-VTJ
  
• Birth: 1160 in England with note: oprava
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH MARGARET MARSHAL. Please do not change name, merge or link to the John FitzGilbert Marshal and Sibyl de Salisbury family group. This Margaret's mother was an unknown daughter in that family.
  
  Margaret Crassus le Gros
  do Willian Crassus le Gros, Seneschal of Normandy & d/o John Marshal
  b- 1160
  m-before 1194 - Ralph Somery - her marriage lands from her father were - lands at Little Dalby
  m-2- Maurice Gant
  d- after 14 June 1247
  
  by 1210 - William Crassus le Gros, MARGARET Somery's brother - confirmed his widowed sister's grant of Little Darby from their father
  
  June 1247 -MARGARET Somery, reached an agreement with Henry Gant, Rector of St Mark's Hospital - she granting to said Henry, the tithes of the mill of East Quantox, Somersetshire & the right of pasture, for 6 oxen, 2 cows, 2 horses in her pasture - for this Henry Gant quitclaimed to MARGARET, for the rest of her life, all the land he had at Coke, in return for 16p a year
  
  From Medieval Lands"
  MARGARET Crassus (-after 14 Jun 1247). Her parentage and first marriage are confirmed by a charter [dated to before 1194] under which “William le Gros” gave land at Little Dalby to “Ralph Somery” as part of the marriage contract for his daughter Margaret[2932].
  
  Her second marriage is indicated by two sources relating to Staffordshire, where Ralph [II] de Somery had been granted land by King John (see above). Firstly, King Henry III ordered the sheriff of Staffordshire to permit “Maurice de Gant” to collect scutage from knights’ fees he holds in his bailiwick of the land “he holds in dower of Margaret his wife,” dated [Sep]
  1224[2933].
  
  Secondly, the Assize Rolls for 1228 record that eight persons were summoned to show cause why they intruded into “a carucate of land which Alan de Englefeld held, the custody of whose lands after his death belonged to Maurice de Gant and Margaret his wife...the land formed part of the dower of Margaret” [2934]. Alan de Englefield was Margaret’s son-in-law (see below).
  
  Several other sources have been identified which name Margaret, none of which makes the connection between Ralph de Somery and Maurice de Gant. Three of these sources clearly refer to the widow of Ralph de Somery: (1) “Roger de Sumeri” confirmed an agreement between “Margaret his mother” and “William de Englefeld” [his nephew, son of his sister Isabel] concerning a grant and exchange of lands “at Bradfield”, Berkshire[2935], undated, but presumably dateable to after Roger’succession to the family estates following the death of his nephew Nicholas (before 4 Jul 1229); (2) and (3) two sets of entries in the Testa de Nevill, Berkshire fees in [1235/36] which include " i.m de i. feodo in Englefeud de feodo de Sumeri et...quarta parte unius feodi Nicholai le Butiler de eodem honore [=honore de Walingeford?] et i.m de i. feodo Margerie de Sumery in Cumton Beucamp de eodem honore et i.m. de i. feodo eiusdem Margerie in Idesleg...et...in Adecote...Watindeden...Stanford...Yngelpenne de eodem honore"[2936], and Berkshire fees in [1242/43] which name "Rogerus de Sumery in Bradefeld i. feodum...Margareta de Sumeri in Bradefeld unum feodum predicti Rogeri...Willelmus de Englefeld in Englefeld unum feodum de eodem feodo"[2937].
  Two further sources clearly refer to the wife of Maurice de Gant. Firstly, Henry III King of England ordered the sheriff of Somerset, notwithstanding the order of seisin in favour of "Walter de Everm", to give seisin of "maneriis de Cantokesheved et de Hivis [Quantockshead and Huish]...que fuerunt Mauricii de Gant quondam viri sui" to "Margarete de Sumery" as dower, by order dated 1231[2938]. Secondly “Margaret de Somery” reached agreement with “Henry de Gaunt rector of the almonry of St Mark’s Hospital, Billeswick” on the tithes of the mill of East Quantoxhead, Somerset and other matters by charter dated 14 Jun 1247[2939].
  
  Two more sources are inconclusive. The Plea Rolls for 1233 include a claim in Oxfordshire by “John de Beauchamp” against “Margery de Sumery, in a plea of land and wardship”[2940], and an undated order, in 1237, records “Assizes taken...in...Worcestershire” from “Margaret de Somery”[2941].
  Thomas Stapleton made a detailed study of the life of Maurice de Gant in the mid-19th century but all the sources to which he refers are inconclusive regarding the parentage of Maurice de Gant’s second wife[2942].
  
  It is somewhat surprising that Maurice would have married the widow of Ralph [II] de Somery who, although she had proven her child-bearing capacity, must have been nearly 40 years old by [1220].
  
  Stapleton dates the Margaret de Somery/Maurice de Gant marriage to “prior to the fifth year of Henry III [Nov 1220/Nov 1221] when Maurice de Gaunt paid scutage of Byham for the manor of Bradfield in Berkshire to Percival de Sumery”[2943].
  
  m firstly (before 1194) RALPH [II] de Somery of Dudley, Worcestershire, son of JOHN de Somery & his wife Hawise Paynell (-[Jan/Jul] 1210).
  m secondly ([1220/21]) as his second wife, MAURICE de Gant, son of ROBERT “Juvenis” de Berkeley & his wife Avice de Gand (-1230).
  
  [Source: The Medieval Lands Project, "MARGARET Crassus", downloaded 19 September 2018, dvmansur; see link in Sources.]
  
  Memorial
  Complete Peerage erroneously calls her a sister of William le Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, not his sister. She was his niece. See the relevant discussion at soc.genealogy.medieval.
  
  Historian Douglas Ri
  
  Memorial
  From Medlands:
  
  RALPH [II] de Somery (-[Jan/Jul] 1210). m (before 1194) as her first husband, MARGARET Crassus, daughter of WILLIAM [III] Crassus & his wife [--- Marshal] (-after 14 Jun 1247). Her par
  
  === Birth note ===
  Old Sodbury is a small village in the valley of the River Frome just below and to the west of the Cotswold escarpment and to the east of Chipping Sodbury and Yate in South Gloucestershire, England. It is situated in the Hundred of Grumbald's Ash. The village extends from Chipping Sodbury in the West to the Cotswold Edge in the East and is on the Cotswold Way. The Badminton Road (A432) winds eastwards towards Badminton, Gloucestershire through the village, up to the Cross Hands junction with the A46, which runs along the top of the Cotswold escarpment from Bath to Stroud.
  The village lies on an old coaching route, and is much more ancient than its westerly neighbour, Chipping Sodbury: hence the name 'Old' Sodbury.
  
  === Relationship to N. G. Utting note ===
  Twenty-Seventh Great Grandmother
  Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandmother
  
  === !William Marshal Court, Career and Chiva ===
  !William Marshal Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219 by David Crouch p166;

• m. 1181 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom

1. Joan de Somery, b. ABT 1191 in Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom     d. 22 MAY 1276 in Bristol, England, United Kingdom
2. Roger de Somery Baron Dudley, b. 30 DEC 1194 in Dinas Castle, Cardigan, Pembrokeshire, Wales     d. 26 AUG 1273 in Dudley Castle, Dudley, Worcestershire, England

• m. ABT 1220

• m. ABT 1181 in Of, , Wiltshire, England

1. Roger de Somery, b. ABT 1285 in Dudley, Staffordshire, England     d. 1322 in Staffordshire, England

1. Title: Geni - Margaret le Gras
   Publication: Name: https://www.geni.com/people/Margaret-le-Gras/6000000003051263516;
   
2. Title: Millennium File
   Publication: Name: https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7249/records/109615901;
   
3. Title: The Medieval Lands Project, "MARGARET Crassus "
   Author: fmg.org
   Publication: Name: http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3.htm#MargaretCrassusM1RalphSomery;
   Note: Cites primary sources.
   
4. Title: thesignsofthetimes - Margaret le Gras
   Publication: Name: https://thesignsofthetimes.com.au/36/68786.htm;
   
5. Title: Ancestry Family Trees
   Author: Ancestry Family Tree
   
6. Title: GenMedieval
   
7. Title: The Medieval Land Project, "MARGARET Crassus"
   Author: fmg.ac
   Publication: Name: http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3.htm#MargaretCrassusM1RalphSomery;
   Note: MARGARET Crassus (-after 14 Jun 1247). Her parentage and first marriage are confirmed by a charter [dated to before 1194] under which “William le Gros” gave land at Little Dalby to “Ralph Somery” as part of the marriage contract for his daughter Margaret[2932]. Her second marriage is indicated by two sources relating to Staffordshire, where Ralph [II] de Somery had been granted land by King John (see above). Firstly, King Henry III ordered the sheriff of Staffordshire to permit “Maurice de Gant” to collect scutage from knights’ fees he holds in his bailiwick of the land “he holds in dower of Margaret his wife”, dated [Sep] 1224[2933]. Secondly, the Assize Rolls for 1228 record that eight persons were summoned to show cause why they intruded into “a carucate of land which Alan de Englefeld held, the custody of whose lands after his death belonged to Maurice de Gant and Margaret his wife...the land formed part of the dower of Margaret”[2934]. Alan de Englefield was Margaret’s son-in-law (see below). Several other sources have been identified which name Margaret, none of which makes the connection between Ralph de Somery and Maurice de Gant. Three of these sources clearly refer to the widow of Ralph de Somery: (1) “Roger de Sumeri” confirmed an agreement between “Margaret his mother” and “William de Englefeld” [his nephew, son of his sister Isabel] concerning a grant and exchange of lands “at Bradfield”, Berkshire[2935], undated, but presumably dateable to after Roger’succession to the family estates following the death of his nephew Nicholas (before 4 Jul 1229); (2) and (3) two sets of entries in the Testa de Nevill, Berkshire fees in [1235/36] which include " i.m de i. feodo in Englefeud de feodo de Sumeri et...quarta parte unius feodi Nicholai le Butiler de eodem honore [=honore de Walingeford?] et i.m de i. feodo Margerie de Sumery in Cumton Beucamp de eodem honore et i.m. de i. feodo eiusdem Margerie in Idesleg...et...in Adecote...Watindeden...Stanford...Yngelpenne de eodem honore"[2936], and Berkshire fees in [1242/43] which name "Rogerus de Sumery in Bradefeld i. feodum...Margareta de Sumeri in Bradefeld unum feodum predicti Rogeri...Willelmus de Englefeld in Englefeld unum feodum de eodem feodo"[2937]. Two further sources clearly refer to the wife of Maurice de Gant: firstly, Henry III King of England ordered the sheriff of Somerset, notwithstanding the order of seisin in favour of "Walter de Everm", to give seisin of "maneriis de Cantokesheved et de Hivis [Quantockshead and Huish]...que fuerunt Mauricii de Gant quondam viri sui" to "Margarete de Sumery" as dower, by order dated 1231[2938], and secondly “Margaret de Somery” reached agreement with “Henry de Gaunt rector of the almonry of St Mark’s Hospital, Billeswick” on the tithes of the mill of East Quantoxhead, Somerset and other matters by charter dated 14 Jun 1247[2939]. Two more sources are inconclusive: the Plea Rolls for 1233 include a claim in Oxfordshire by “John de Beauchamp” against “Margery de Sumery, in a plea of land and wardship”[2940], and an undated order, in 1237, records “Assizes taken...in...Worcestershire” from “Margaret de Somery”[2941]. Thomas Stapleton made a detailed study of the life of Maurice de Gant in the mid-19th century but all the sources to which he refers are inconclusive regarding the parentage of Maurice de Gant’s second wife[2942]. It is somewhat surprising that Maurice would have married the widow of Ralph [II] de Somery who, although she had proven her child-bearing capacity, must have been nearly 40 years old by [1220]. Stapleton dates the Margaret de Somery/Maurice de Gant marriage to “prior to the fifth year of Henry III [Nov 1220/Nov 1221] when Maurice de Gaunt paid scutage of Byham for the manor of Bradfield in Berkshire to Percival de Sumery”[2943]. m firstly (before 1194) RALPH [II] de Somery of Dudley, Worcestershire, son of JOHN de Somery & his wife Hawise Paynell (-[Jan/Jul] 1210). m secondly ([1220/21]) as his second wife, MAURICE de Gant, son of ROBERT “Juvenis” de Berkeley & his wife Avice de Gand (-1230).
   
8. Title: soc.genealogy
   
9. Title: Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-Current
   Publication: Name: https://search.ancestry.com/collections/9289/records/6716872;