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Sunday, August 30, 2020

Lord Bernard de Newmarch & Nefta verch Trahearn

 79959638. Lord Bernard de Newmarch & 79959639. Nefta verch Trahearn

~1045, Bernard de Feuf Marche born in Normandy, s/o §§Geoffrey de Newmarch & Ada de Hugleville.

10/14/1066, William, duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, Sussex. The English forces were primarily infantry and archers. The Norman forces were cavalry and archers. Bernard known to be a companion of Duke William.

1076-81, §§Trahearn ap Caradog, the chief ruler of Gwynedd.

~1080, Annesta [Nefta] born in Wales, d/o §§Trahearn ap Caradawg [Cradock]. (S) History of the Princes, Lloyd, 1881, P77.

1081, Nefta’s father, ruler of North Wales, killed at the battle of Mynydd Cairn by Rhys ap Tewdwr. (S) Ireland, Wales, and England, Maund, 1991, P35. [Trahearn allied with Caradog ap Gruffudd and Meilir ap Rhiwallon; Rhys with Gruffudd ap Cynan.]

9/9/1087, William the Conqueror died; his oldest son Robert getting Normandy, and his son William Rufus receiving England.

Bef. 1088, Bernard held Castell Dinas, Wales.

1088, Bernard joined the marcher lords in a rebellion against William Rufus. [Who was not well liked.]

1088, Bernard captured Glasbury and issued a charter to the abbey of St. Peter’s at Gloucester.

1091, William Rufus by ‘letters of marque’ [which allowed adventureous knights to seize lands and subjugate inhabitants to the rule of the crown] sanctioned Benard de Feuf Marche to seize lands in Brycheiniog, Wales.

1093-4, At the battle of Brecon, Bernard killed the local ruler, Rhys ap Tewdwr, king of Deheubarth, when his better disciplined knights were attacked by the Welsh forces. [Richard fitz Pons was one of Bernard’s knights.] Bernard used the Roman ruins at Gaer to build a castle.

Aft. 1093, Bernard became one of the 1st Lord Marchers and built his town and castle of Brecknock near the confluence of 2 rivers, Honddu and Usk. Bernard, holding his lands in service to the King, divided his lands into 3 vassal areas subject to his service.

1094, Bernard, still fending off local resistance, lost a significant battle to Gelli Darnauc.

1095, Bernard de Newmarch founded a cell of Battle at Brecon. (S) Church Work and Life in English Minsters, V2, Walcott, 1879, P74.

1096, Bernard de Newmarch divided the county of Brecon into 12 lordships. (S) Cambrian Journal, 1864, P110. [The 12 knights are identified in (S) Burke, V2, 1847, P1507.]

[––Bernard & Nefta––]

~1098, Bernard married Nefta [or Nest], the Welsh daughter of a local leader, which helped gain the loyality of his subjects. [Nest was also a descendent of Anarawd, s/o Rhodri the Great, who 200 years before had ruled all of Wales.]

1098, A key Welsh opponent of Bernard, Llywelyn ab Cadwgan, was killed. (S) History of the Princes, Lloyd, 1881, P94.

8/2/1100, Henry I crowned King of England after the death of his older brother William Rufus. King Henry’s eldest brother Robert, duke of Normandy, was returning from crusade when Henry usurped the throne of England.

1102, A fire burned much of Gloucester cathedral.

1102-7, Bernard confirmed grants of his vassals to Brecknock priory, in which Bernard is identified as lord of Cleobury.

By 1104, Bernard de Neufmarch gave the church of Much Cowarne in Herefordshire to Abbot Serlo of Gloucester. (S) Secular Jurisdiction of Monasteries, Shirley, 2004, P138.

1106, Griffri and Meurig, brothers of Nesta, killed by Owain ap Cadwgan ap Bleddyn of Powys.

Aft. 1115, Bernard de Novo Mercato assented to an endowment of his vassal William Revel to the parish of Hay in Brecknockshire. (S) A Defence of the Chruch of England, Selborne, 1888, P358.

10/16/1119, Bernard de Newmarch named in a papal bull of Pope Calixtus II to Walter fitz Richard about a complaint of the church of Llandaff. (S) Liber Landavensis, 1840, P561.

1121, Bernard purchased from King Henry the marriage of his daughter Sybill to Milo fitz Walter. (S) Women of the Engish Nobility, Ward, 1995, P27.

By 1125, Bernard, Lord of Brecknock died; buried in the Chapter House at Gloucester Cathedral. (S) Cathedral Chruch of Gloucester, Masse, 1905, P102.

[––Nefta––]

Nest disavowed Bernard’s only male heir Mahel was as the actual son of Bernard. King Henry I deprived Mahel the right of succession, which then fell to Nest.

Nest died; succession of Brednock falling to her daughter Sybil.

(S) Annals and Antiquities … Wales, Nicholas, 1872, P67. (S) Battle Abbey Roll, V2, Duchess of Cleveland.

Families notes:

·         ~1060, Duke William seized the castle of Newmarche, Normandy, to the prejudice of Geoffrey de Newmarch. (S) Ord. Vitalis.

·         Trahaearn’s son Owain (d.1129); his son Ieuaf (d.1130); his son Hywel (d.1185), who left surviving charters. (S) Acts of Welsh Rulers, Pryce, Univ. of Wales Press, 2005.

·         1075, Trahearn’s sons all under age when he claimed the crown after the death of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in north Wales.

Child of Bernard and Nefta:

i. Sybill de Newmarch (39979819), born ~1100 in Wales.

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