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Brien FitzCount

 

 
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Brien FitzCount
 
 
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Brien FitzCount (also known as Brian de Insula, Brian des Illes, Brientius de Insulata and Brian of Wallingford), was the Lord of Wallingford
Wallingford

Wallingford is a small market town and civil parish in the upper Thames Valley in Oxfordshire, England....
 and Baron Abergavenny
Baron Abergavenny

The title Baron Bergavenny was created several times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain, all but the first creation being mistakes....
, and a staunch supporter of the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda, also known as Matilda of England or Maude was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry....
 during the Anarchy
The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen Year Winter refers to a period of history of England during the reign of the Normans King, Stephen of England, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government....
 of King Stephen's reign in England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 in the 1140s.

Illegitimate Birth
He was the illegitimate son of Alan IV, Duke of Brittany
Alan IV, Duke of Brittany

Alan IV Fergant was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II, Duke of Brittany....
. His date of birth is unknown but Brien was almost certainly born before his father became a monk in 1112.






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Brien FitzCount (also known as Brian de Insula, Brian des Illes, Brientius de Insulata and Brian of Wallingford), was the Lord of Wallingford
Wallingford

Wallingford is a small market town and civil parish in the upper Thames Valley in Oxfordshire, England....
 and Baron Abergavenny
Baron Abergavenny

The title Baron Bergavenny was created several times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain, all but the first creation being mistakes....
, and a staunch supporter of the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda, also known as Matilda of England or Maude was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry....
 during the Anarchy
The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen Year Winter refers to a period of history of England during the reign of the Normans King, Stephen of England, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government....
 of King Stephen's reign in England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 in the 1140s.

Illegitimate Birth


He was the illegitimate son of Alan IV, Duke of Brittany
Alan IV, Duke of Brittany

Alan IV Fergant was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II, Duke of Brittany....
. His date of birth is unknown but Brien was almost certainly born before his father became a monk in 1112. He was sent to be fostered at the court of King Henry I of England
Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror. He succeeded his elder brother William II of England as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106....
.

Marriage and Titles


He married an English heiress, Matilda D'Oyly, widow of Miles Crispin
Miles Crispin

Miles Crispin was a wealthy Anglo-Norman landowner, particularly associated with Wallingford Castle in Berkshire .Miles was a major landowner according to the Domesday Book, with holdings in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Wiltshire and three other neighbouring counties....
, and through her obtained the title of Wallingford
Wallingford

Wallingford is a small market town and civil parish in the upper Thames Valley in Oxfordshire, England....
 by 1127. Brien also inherited the castle
Abergavenny Castle

Abergavenny Castle is a castle in the market town of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire in south east Wales....
 and Barony of Abergavenny
Abergavenny

Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales.It is located 24 km west of Monmouth on the A40 road and A465 road roads, 10 km from the England border within the Welsh Marches....
 in the Welsh Marches from his uncle, Hamelin de Balun
Hamelin de Balun

Hamelin de Balun, , was an early Normans Baron and the first Lord of Baron Abergavenny and Lordship of Over Gwent and Abergavenny, granted shortly after the Norman Conquest of England and Wales by King William I of England, William the Conqueror, and he also served William Rufus....
. He also held the honour of Grosmont Castle
Grosmont Castle

Grosmont Castle is a ruined castle in Grosmont, Monmouthshire very near the present English / Welsh border, approximately 8 miles northeast of Abergavenny, between Abergavenny, Hereford and Monmouth....
, but by what right is uncertain. He handed this over to Walter de Hereford
Walter de Hereford

Walter de Hereford was a holder of the feudalism title Baron Bergavenny or Lord Abergavenny in the Welsh Marches in the mid twelfth century....
 the son of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford
Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford

Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, Lord of Brecknock , was the son of Walter de Gloucester, who appears as sheriff of that county between 1104 and 1121....
 about 1141.

He declared for the Empress Matilda in 1139, and was besieged by the forces of King Stephen
King Stephen

Kings named Stephen include:* Stephen I of Hungary , Saint Stephen of Hungary* Stephen V of Hungary * Stephen of England * Stefan Batory , King of Poland, Prince of Transylvania...
, but the monarch failed to take Wallingford Castle
Wallingford Castle

The remains of Wallingford Castle, once an important royal castle and defensive stronghold, are situated in Wallingford in the England county of Oxfordshire , adjacent to the River Thames....
 and had to retreat.

Later career


Brien and Matilda D'Oyly had two sons who were both stricken with leprosy
Leprosy

Leprosy , or Hansen's disease , is a Chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the Peripheral nervous system and Mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions are the primary external symptom....
, and who died young. Brien's end is a matter of speculation. One account, the Abergavenny chronicle, claimed he had gone on crusade to Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
, and died there sometime around 1147. Another more likely possibility is that he spent his last years in a religious order. Matilda became a nun
Nun

A Nun is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an monasticism who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent....
 at Bec
Bec Abbey

Bec Abbey in Le Bec-Hellouin, Normandy, France, is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure d?partement in France, in a valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Le Havre....
 and died in the 1150s, and as they had no heirs their lands and castles in England and Wales reverted to the Crown.

Briens des Illes appears as a character in Arthurian romance
King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary Britons leader who, according to medieval histories and Romance , led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century....
 by Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes

Chr?tien de Troyes was a France poet and trouv?re who flourished in the late 12th century in poetry. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness Count of Champagne Marie de Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquit...
.

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