Sir Henry FitzHenry, of Ravensworth

Predeceased his father, so the title skipped him and landed on his son Henry.

Sir Henry FITZ HENRY Knight [Parents] 1, 2, 3 was born 1297 in Ravensworth, North Riding, Yorkshire, England. He died 24 Sep 1352 in Ravensworth, North Riding, Yorkshire, England. Henry married Joan de FOURNEAUX on Mar 1330 in Ravensworth, North Riding, Yorkshire, England.

Joan de FOURNEAUX [Parents] 1, 2, 3 was born 1297 in Carlton in Lindrick, Nottinghamshire, England. She died Sep 1349 in Ravensworth, North Riding, Yorkshire, England. Joan married Sir Henry FITZ HENRY Knight on Mar 1330 in Ravensworth, North Riding, Yorkshire, England. Other marriages: ORREBY, John Knight

They had the following children:

• M i Hugh FITZ HENRY was born 1331 and died Sep 1349.
• F ii Joan FITZ HENRY was born 1333 and died 1 Sep 1403.
• M iii Henry FITZ HENRY Lord Fitz Hugh was born 1337 and died 29 Aug 1386.

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• http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00140239&tree=LEO
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=labron00&...
  • The Complete Peerage, 1936 , Doubleday, H.A. & Lord Howard de Walden, Reference: V 419/420

notes

The following excerpt is from a book entitled "Regal Richmond and the Land of the Swale", written in 1909 by Edmund Bogg (pages 176-179).

From Kirkby Hill a footpath down the steep brae leads to Ravensworth village and Castle with its remains of a deep moat and vast outworks. The Castle occupied the whole of a raised platform, ringed round by a moat; outworks are visible some distance away, and vestiges of the boundary park wall are still discernable. One gable and parts of the wall of the great hall, shewing its extent, and portions of four towers are still standing. The one at the north-west angle (as at Richmond) has been the Keep, and in it is a ruined stairway and the fireplace in an angle of the wall. Floors and roof have gone. The tower flanks the entrance gateway, wherein a moulded arch still spans it, and both the grooves for the portcullis are still intact. The crenellated openings for archers, set in the tower masonry, still command the approach from the village and that ever most-dreaded quarter, the North, from which the Scots came. The curtian walls, once linking tower to tower, have disappeared totally, but the levels of the platform walk are still shown by outjutting stones where the quarries or flags have broken away from the towers. So much, so little is now left of the erstwhile magnificent stronghold of the Fitz-Hughs, a family clan whose forbears were at Ravensworth when King Knut ordered the waves of the sea-shore to roll backwards. The estates passed to the Fitz-Hughs from one Bardolph, who held them in fee at the time of the Domesday Survey. The great topographer's (Camden's) account fires the imagination. In 1596 he wrote: - "Ravensworth, a Castle encompassed with a pretty large wall, but now ruinous, which belonged to the Barons called Fitz-Hugh (descended from the Saxons, who were Lords of this place before the Conquest) who flourished until the time of Henry VII., being enriched with great estates by marriages with the heirs of the famous families of the Forneaux and Marmions, which came at last by females to the Feenes, Lords Dacre in the south, and to the Parrs." Brief, that! Yes, but much in little there, and a modern may fain shrink from the attempt to add to it. The name of the parish, simple but sufficient, tells much - Kirk-by, the church and the place anigh it, "appurtenant" as lawyers say, for the place was a town by a church, a church town, when Viking Hrafen arrived on the scene from Scandinavia with his followers. The name Hrafensworth (worth, a guarded district, a fortress), now softened to Ravensworth, connotes therefore the guarded place of Rafe or Hrafen, his possession. Bardolph, ancestor of the Fitz-Hughs, was lord of Ravensworth (and other manors) at the Conquest, and was in all probability a descendant of the Viking who settled down here in the 10th century. In his old age he assumed the monastic garb, becoming a veritable monk in the Abbey of St. Mary, at York. To this abbey he presented the churches of Ravensworth and Patrick Brompton. Akaris Fitz-Bardolph, his son and successor, founded the Abbey of Fors in Wensleydale, then called 'the Abbey of Charity,' at Bow-bridge, hard by Askrigg. At his death his son, Henry Fitz-Akaris, a renowned and doughty knight, much sought after, succeeded to him. He it was gave leave to Conan, Earl of Richmond, to 'translate' the Abbey of Fors from its bleak situation into the lovely green bay or dell by the Yore at East Witton - it becoming known afterwards as Yore-vaulx, now Jervaux. Son became father, and his son in regular order succeeded, intermarrying with the noblest in the land, their arms and shields growing more complex in quarterings for many a generation, until at length, so widespread was their blood and connexion, that their 'Coats' are to be found mouldering on many a religious House up and down England. Hugh Fitz-Henry dying in 1304, his son Henry adopted the variation of Fitz-Hugh surnomically, and his descendants were ever afterwards called Fitz-Hugh commemoratively. Such were the powerful knights of this famous house, and such their sentiments. In the later Lancastrian 'era' they attained, as all know, to a high place of honour. In 1423 certain jewels of Henry V., valued at £40,000 (about half a million as present day value of money) were delivered to Sir Henry Fitz-Hugh, Knt. Previously, in 1391, this same Sir Henry had licence to empark (enclose) 200 acres of land around his Castle of Ravensworth. The bounds of this are still traceable, and a portion of its wall remains. The Fitz-Hughs were ever firm adherents to the Lancastrian cause, yet on the accession of Edward IV., the champion Knight of the Yorkists was taken into marked favour by that monarch. Sir Henry made pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, and returning, founded a chantry for two priests in his castle, to celebrate divine service for himself and his wife Alice during their lifetime, and for their souls' welfare after death. This brief outline of the knightly Fitz-Hughs must suffice. They shed lustre on Richmondshire in bygone centuries, and also stemmed the bloody tide of many a Border foray. Their very name, Ugh! gave the raiding Scots fits! one might venture to put it. Ravensworth village wears a pleasant homely-countrified garb. Its 'green' is over five acres in extent, and on it a magnificent sycamore covers an area of over a hundred yards in circumference. Under its branches is the base and part of the shaft of an ancient cross. In Harrison's "Local Charters" there is an account of Richard Hulk, of Kirkby, having killed William Stellyng with a club in this village, during a fracas on the green; anyway, in consequence of this deed, Hulk was 'outlawed.' Both these names, Stellyng especially - 'stell' meaning marsh or dike - seem to be of Danish origin.  
  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT RAVENSWORTH CASTLE
  Ravensworth Castle was the home of the Fitz-Hugh family. Built in the late 14th century out of sandstone, the castle was used as a quarry by the inhabitants of Ravensworth village when it was abandoned in the 16th century. It is now listed in the "Buildings at Risk" register, launched in 1998 by English Heritage: "Much repointing and consolidation needed to all parts of the building. Significant parts of the standing remains, including the gate tower are now at risk." The castle originally had curtain walls and three towers. The best preserved part of the castle is the three-story north west keep / gate tower and its arch. Here was the main entrance to the castle. The arch was protected by a portcullis, the guiding slots for which can still be seen. The Latin inscription "Chrs dns Ihs via fons & origo, alpha & omega" (Christus dominus, Ihesus via, fons et origo, alpha et omega: Christ, Lord Jesus, the way, the fountain-head and the source, the beginning and the end) can be found above another preserved entrance. Of the south east and south west towers little is left. The remains of some ancillary buildings can be seen: a belfry tower towards the southwest, and a rectangular building that stood in the centre of the castle walls. It is not known if this latter structure was residential or used for stabling. One can also trace the water defences, later adapted to form water gardens.

http://familytrees.genopro.com/azrael/skaggs/Fitzhugh-Joane-ind1352...