V

VALENCE, DE
The connection of the de Valence family with Ireland
began in 1247 when William de Valence (d. 1296), the
Poitevin half-brother of Henry III, married Joan,
daughter of Joan de Munchensy and heiress to one-
fifth of the Marshal lordship of Leinster. By this mar-
riage William, lord of Montignac and other lands in
France in his own right, became lord of Wexford in
Ireland and gained the lands of the earldom of Pembroke
in Wales, as well as lands in England. William’s career
was focused on the English court; and he served
Henry III and Edward I as a counselor and envoy, roles
that his son, Aymer, was to fulfill for Edward II. William
was particularly interested in increasing his lands and
rights in the earldom of Pembroke, the official title to
which he coveted.
William was, nevertheless, also interested in his
lands in Wexford. These constituted between six and
thirteen percent of William de Valence’s total annual
income of about £2,500. It was perhaps in order to
acquire a local ally to facilitate the maintenance of his
Irish interests that William married his daughter,
Agnes, to Gerald Fitz Maurice, one of the Geraldine
lords of Offaly and a member of one of the most
important settler families in Ireland. Although he did
not make the trip, William considered traveling to
Ireland in early 1272 regarding the purchase of the
custody of the lands, with marriage of the heirs, of
Gerald Fitz Maurice, a potential rival to the claims of
his daughter, Agnes. Thirty years later, the absentee
Agnes was still tenacious in her pursuit of her rights
in Ireland.
On the death of William in 1296 the management
of Wexford fell to Joan, countess of Pembroke, who
was succeeded by her son, Aymer de Valence, the earl
of Pembroke, in 1307. Aymer does not appear to have
been very interested in his lordship of Wexford. Tran-

scripts of legal records show that he (and Joan) were

interested in maintaining their rights in Ireland, but

that neither were particularly litigious in this respect.

Wexford contributed just over ten percent of Aymer’s

total annual landed income of £3,160, but it was not

only financial considerations that decided where the

earl’s focus lay. Aymer, as one of the few magnates

who demonstrated continuous loyalty to Edward II,

was heavily involved in English politics. His lands in

France made him particularly valuable to Edward II

as a diplomat on the continent. Indeed, it was his

service as an envoy to Avignon in 1316 that accounted

for his absence from the list of absentees summoned

to the defense of the lordship of Ireland, in response

to the Bruce invasion.

On his childless death in 1324, Aymer’s estates were

divided between his nephew and two nieces. His wife,

Mary de Sancto Paulo, Countess of Pembroke, held

dower lands in Ireland, which she was summoned to

defend in 1331 and, again, in 1361. The interest of the

de Valence family proper in Ireland, however, had

already ended in 1324.

BETH HARTLAND

References and Further Reading

Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: 1917–.

Ó Cléirigh, Cormac. “The Absentee Landlady and the Sturdy

Robbers: Agnes de Valence.” In “The Fragility of Her Sex?”

Medieval Irishwomen in Their European Context, edited by

Christine Meek and Katherine Simms, 101–118. Dublin:

Four Courts Press, 1996.

Phillips, J. R. S. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke

1307–1324: Baronial Politics in the Reign of Edward II.

Oxford: 1972.

Ridgeway, Huw. “William de Valence and His Familiares,

1247–72.” Historical Research 65 (1992): 239–257.

See alsoLeinster; Marshal