Gervase Paganell inherited the feudal barony of Dudley (which included

Dudley Castle Dudley Castle is a ruins, ruined castle, fortification in the town of Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Originally, a wooden motte and bailey castle built soon after the Norman Conquest, it was rebuilt as a stone fortifica ...

) around the year 1150. However, after rebelling against King Henry II, his castle was demolished. Gervase founded the

Cluniac Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul. The abbey was constructed ...

Priory of St James in

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

and probably founded the Church of St Thomas in Dudley. He died in 1194.

The Paganells of Dudley Castle

The first of the family of Paganell to hold Dudley Castle and the barony of Dudley was Fulke Paganell around the year 1100. Dudley Castle was originally a wooden Norman castle, built by

Ansculf de Picquigny Ansculf de Picquigny (c. 1014 – c. 1084) was a French baron who followed William the Conqueror to England. Biography Ansculf de Picquigny, born around 1014, was the son of Guermond de Picquigny, Picquigny being a village near Amiens in Picard ...

, a follower of William the Conqueror. At the time of the

Domesday survey Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

in 1086, the castle was in the possession of his son William fitz Ansculf together with manors in the Home counties and the English Midlands, which were rewards for services to the Conqueror. Dudley Castle was the

caput A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may not ...

of the feudal barony. The Paganell family had origins in Normandy, where Fulke's father William was Lord of Moutiers Hubert. It is not clear how Fulke came into possession of the barony of Dudley. One suggestion is that he married Beatrice ferch William, a daughter of William FitzAnsculf, but it cannot be ruled out that he may have benefited from the previous owner being dispossessed after a failed rebellion. The family name is still attached to one of their former Buckinghamshire possessions,

Newport Pagnell Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area. The town is separated from the rest of the u ...

. Dudley Castle was converted to a stone fortification by Fulke or his son and heir Ralph. In the struggle for power between King Stephen and Matilda, a period of history known as

The Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Duchy of Normandy, Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adel ...

, Ralph took the side of Matilda, which led to the castle being besieged by Stephen in 1138. Since the castle survived the siege, it is assumed that it had been rebuilt in stone by that time. Ralph was made Governor of the Castle of Nottingham in 1140. Ralph's successor to the barony was his son, Gervase.

Gervase Paganell

Although the exact date of Gervase becoming Lord of Dudley is not known, he had inherited by 1150. By 1154, he had married, his wife being the recently widowed Countess Isabel. She had been previously married to Simon de Senlis and was the daughter of Robert, Earl of Leicester. In 1166, he was assessed as holding 55 and two-thirds

knight's fees In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...

. Gervase was involved in a failed rebellion against King Henry II in 1173–4 that led to an order that the castle be demolished. He was later restored to the king's favour after making him a payment of a fine of 500

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

. It is not clear how much of the original stone castle was demolished, but it is usually assumed that the site remained an unfortified manor house until the second half of the 13th century. Gervase founded a Cluniac priory in Dudley dedicated to St James, fulfilling a wish of his father, Ralph. It is also thought that he founded the Church of St Thomas in Dudley. The church was originally dedicated to

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

, who was killed in 1170 and canonized in 1173. Gervase attended the coronation of

King Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

in 1189. When he died in 1194, his heir was his sister Hawise, who had married John de Somery. Their son, Ralph de Somery became the next baron.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paganell, Gervase 1194 deaths Anglo-Normans Founders of Christian monasteries Medieval rebels History of Dudley English feudal barons 12th-century rebels