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Birth:          ABT 1118 Lambourn, Berkshire, England
Death:          1166 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_FitzWarin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josce_de_Dinan
Josce de Dinan[a] (died 1166) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who lived during and 
after the civil war between King Stephen of England and his cousin Matilda over the 
throne of England. He was a landholder in the Welsh Marches when he was married 
by Stephen to the widow of Pain fitzJohn, a union that gave Josce control of Ludlow 
Castle. Control of the castle was contested by other noblemen, and the resulting 
warfare between the nobles forms the background to a late medieval romance known 
as Fouke le Fitz Waryn, which is mainly concerned with the actions of Josce's 
grandson, but also includes some material on Josce's lifetime. Josce eventually lost 
control of Ludlow and was granted lands in compensation by Matilda and her son, 
King Henry II of England, who succeeded Stephen in 1154.
Background and early life[edit]

Following King Henry I's death in 1135, the succession was disputed between the 
king's nephews—Stephen and his elder brother, Theobald II, Count of Champagne—and 
Henry's surviving legitimate child Matilda, usually known as the Empress Matilda 
because of her first marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. King Henry's only 
legitimate son, William, had died in 1120. After Matilda was widowed in 1125, she 
returned to her father, who married her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. All the magnates 
of England and Normandy were required to declare fealty to Matilda as Henry's heir, 
but after the king's death in 1135 Stephen rushed to England and had himself 
crowned before either Theobald or Matilda could react. The Norman barons accepted 
Stephen as Duke of Normandy, and Theobald contented himself with his possessions 
in France. But Matilda was less sanguine, and secured the support of her maternal 
uncle, the Scottish king David I, and in 1138 also that of her half-brother Robert, Earl 
of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of Henry I.[b] Nobles in the Welsh Marches revolted 
against Stephen in 1136, but the revolt was not settled until 1138. In 1139, Matilda 
invaded southern England with her half-brother's support and the period of civil war 
began.[7]

Josce was the youngest son of Geoffrey de Dinan and Radegonde Orieldis,[8] and had 
two older brothers, Oliver of Dinan and Alan of Becherel.[2] Josce's family was from 
Brittany, and he was described by the historian Marjorie Chibnall as an "obscure 
Breton adventurer".[9] Josce moved from Devon in southern England to the Welsh 
Marches, the border between England and Wales, because the lords of Monmouth 
were also of Breton extraction. While in the Marches he joined King Stephen's 
household.[10]

Ludlow Castle[edit]

Josce was married to Sybil, the widow of Pain fitzJohn, who died in 1137. Sybil had 
held Ludlow Castle against Stephen in 1139, but surrendered after a siege. Ludlow 
was an important strategic stronghold for control of the Welsh Borders, and Stephen 
decided to marry Pain's widow to someone he felt was trustworthy.[11] Upon his 
marriage Josce also acquired control of the castle, built in the late 11th century.[1][c] 
Josce probably also received many of the de Lacy family's holdings in southern 
Shropshire,[4] but he rebelled against Stephen and fortified Ludlow against the king. 
Josce's position was so strong that when Stephen granted much of the surrounding 
lands to Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, Ludlow was specifically exempted. 
Stephen told Robert that he would have a royal grant of the castle if he could secure 
Josce's submission as a vassal.[1]

Custody of Ludlow was contested not only by Stephen but also by Gilbert de Lacy, 
whose efforts to wrest the castle from Josce are the background to the medieval 
romance Fouke le Fitz Waryn;[14] the extant prose version dates from the 14th 
century, but it was originally a 13th-century poem, now lost.[15] Gilbert claimed the 
castle through his familial link with Sybil, fitzJohn's widow, who was a member of the 
de Lacy family.[16] Others trying to take Ludlow were Hugh de Mortimer and Gilbert de 
Lacy.[17] According to the Chronicle of Wigmore Abbey, some time after September 
1148[d] Mortimer and Josce became embroiled in a private war, during which Josce 
seized Mortimer while the latter was travelling. Josce imprisoned his captive in Ludlow 
and demanded a ransom of 3,000 silver marks,[18] as well as, according to the 
Chronicle, Mortimer's "plate, his horses, and his birds".[19][e] Presumably, Mortimer 
met the ransom, as he is later known to have been a free man.[18]

While Josce was absent from Ludlow, Gilbert de Lacy was able to take the castle. 
Josce laid siege to the castle but was unsuccessful in his attempt to retake it,[17] and 
retreated to Lambourn with his military forces.[1] Although the exact date of this event 
is unknown, it appears to have been some time about 1150 or shortly before.[20] 
Matilda gave Josce some lands around Lambourn after Ludlow's fall as compensation.
[21] Later he was given land in Berkshire by King Henry II (became king in 1154), 
Matilda's son, as further recompense for the loss of Ludlow.[8] In 1156 Josce held 
lands in Berkshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Devonshire and Somerset. These holdings 
included the manor of Lambourn, worth £76 in income per year, as well as the manor 
of Stanton (now known as Stanton Fitzwarren in Wiltshire) in addition to the lands 
scattered in other counties.[22]

Josce's grandson Fulk fitzWarin, who died in 1258, is ostensibly the hero of a lost 
romantic poem called Fouke le Fitz Waryn. The work survives as French prose in a 
loose corpus of medieval literature known as the Matter of England.[23] However, it 
appears to confuse events of Fulk fitzWarin's lifetime with those of his grandfather's.
[24] Other errors in the work include transposing some of the Welsh Marcher barons of 
King Henry I of England's reign into nobles of William the Conqueror's time, and 
omitting an entire generation of fitzWarins.[25] Although scholars believe Fouke le Fitz 
Waryn draws on genuine tradition, the difficulty in separating the fitzWarin biographies 
makes it a problematic source.[24]

Family[edit]

Josce died in 1166. He was survived by two daughters: Sibil, who married Hugh de 
Pulgenet and died in 1212, and Hawise who married Fulk fitzWarin, who died in 1197.
[8] In 1199 his two daughters petitioned the king regarding the ownership of the town 
and castle of Ludlow but were turned down.[26]

Parents
DE DINAN Geoffrey (ABT 1065 - AFT 1122)
NERONDES Orieldis or Radegonde (ABT 1069 - 1147)

Siblings
DE DINAN Oliver II (ABT 1088 - ABT 1150)
DE DINAN Alan (ABT 1100 - BEF 1166)
DE DINAN Joceas (Josselin) (ABT 1118 - 1166)

Marriage To ----- ----- ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- ----- 
DE DINAN Hawise (ABT 1143 - )

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