Tea at Trianon: The Noble Bandit Fulk FitzWarin

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, August 28, 2020

The Noble Bandit Fulk FitzWarin

Was Fulk the original Robin Hood? From Ancient Origins:

And one such marcher lord is the hero of the story today. The noble FitzWarin family were prominent lords seated in Whittington Castle in Shropshire. All males throughout the history of the FitzWarin family were named Fulk and our protagonist was the 3rd in line.

His grandfather, Fulk I FitzWarin, had established their seat at Whittington Castle and gained prominence as a marcher lord as he supported the Empress Matilda, in the civil war against King Stephen. For this he was richly rewarded by King Henry II, and thus the noble FitzWarin lords established their wealth and power as marcher lords.

When Fulk III became the Lord FitzWarin upon his father’s death, he was immediately burdened by the land disputes that were begun by his father. The FitzWarin family held the royal manor of Alveston in Gloucestershire, and also the Whadborough manor in Leicestershire. They also had claims to the Whittington Castle, which is connected as the seat of their noble house.

This is most likely true, as the progenitor of their house – one Warin de Metz (Guarin de Meez) – inherited the castle through marriage. But during the reign of King Stephen II, Whittington was granted to the noble Peverel family of landed knights. This led to a series of disputes, as the FitzWarin’s struggled to reclaim their ancestral seat. (Read more.)

More HERE.