Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Bluets 21
It has been said that Ralph III was the most important 64 of
William‘ Marshal‘s tenants, indeed he had been one of the people who
delivered the honor of Striguil and its Castle (Chepstow) to the
Marshal when Marshal inherited it in 1189. How Ralph came to be
responsible for the honor is a little involved 65 ;
the original heir to
the honor was Gilbert de Clare a minor, and in 1185 custody of the
honor had been given jointly, 66 to William Bluet,and Ralph III who
was one of the barons of the honor and, if the suggestion that Ralph
II had married Isabel is correct, they would have been Gilbert‘s
(step or half) uncles. Gilbert died young in 1185 and his sister Isabel
, whom the Marshal married in 1189, became the heiress. William
Bluet also died in 1185 and the honor was then administered jointly
by William de St Leger and Ralph Bluet on behalf of Isabel before
her marriage. Isabel herself was a ward of the King and kept in the
Tower before her marriage. It would have been these men [Bluet
and St Leger] who delivered seisin of the honor to William Marshal
in 1189 67
Ralph III wasn‘t aonly important in the Marches, he
inherited Lackham and Silchester - and other estates, of course.
Until recently it was a given that Ralph III only married Nest, a sister of
the ruler of Caerleon. However research by Paul Reed 68 has suggested
64
Crouch, D (1993) William Marshal: Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin
Empire 1147 – 1219 p134
65
Crouch D (1986) Strategies of Lordship in Angevin England and the Career of
William Marshal in Harper-Bill, C and Harvey, R (1986) The Ideals and Practice of
Medieval Knighthood II. Papers from the Third Strawberry Hill Conference 1986
p17
66
Pipe Rolls 31 Hen II Pipe Roll Society (1903) Vol XXXIV
(most of the entry is omitted )
HONOR DE STRIGVIL,
de anno integro.
Radulfus Bloet et Willelmus Bloet reddt. comp. de .xx. 1. de firma de
Striguil…..... Et in liberatione .iij. vigilum et janitoris castelli .xvij. s. Et comitisse de
Strigoil .ij. m.
Et debet .xxij. I. et .ij. s. et .iij. ob..
67
Crouch, D (1993) William Marshal: Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin
Empire 1147 – 1219 p134
68
Reed PC (2008) Descent of St Maur family of Co. Monmouth and Seymour family
of Hatch, Co Somerset Foundation (2008) 2 (6) 395-397