William FitzOdo de Barry

Barri of Manorbier. The most illustrious member of this distinguished house says, in his Itinerary of Wales, that his family took their name from Barry Island in Glamorganshire, which they once owned.' The first of the race who appears in this County was Odo de Barri, who, the records tell us, was dead in 1181[sic]. He came with the conquerors of what was to be the County Palatine of Pembroke, and received the lands of Manorbier for his share of the spoil. His son William, who took an active part in making local history, and who died before 1166,' was twice married. By his first wife he had a son, Walter, who was killed in Wales, and by his second, Angharad, daughter of Gerald de Windsor by the famous Nesta, daughter of the Lord Ehys, three sons, Robert, Philip, and Gerald. This last alliance connected the De Barris not only with the power- ful family of the Fitz Geralds, but also with the princes of the Welsh blood. Gerald, the youngest son, was born at Manorbier about 1147. After his active and troublous life he returned in his old age to his birth-place, which he has proclaimed to be the fairest spot in all Wales.* It has of late been proposed to set up monuments to various Welsh marauders, but it has occui-red to no one to perpetuate the fame of the man who did more for Wales than anyone in mediaeval times. Gerald's brothers were soldiers. There was in those days no alternative for the sons of noble houses, except the mail coat or the cowl. Many Pembrokeshire families took part in the conquest of Ireland in the reign of Henry II, and left their traces in such names as Carew, Prendergast, Roche, Castlemartin, Stackpole, Stainton, Beneger, Bosher, Meyler, Canton, Poer, Harold and Wogan. The list could be prolonged. Philip de Barri, the son and successor of William, for his services in an expedition in 1177, was granted by his uncle, Robert Fitz Stephen (a son of Nesta by Stephen, Constable of Cardigan), lands in Olethan' (County Cork) and elsewhere, which long remained with his descendants, who became Lords Barry, Viscounts Buttevant, and Earls of Barrymore. Philip was a witness to Robert Fitz Elidor's grant of TrefduauF (St. Edi-en's) to St. David's ; he married a daughter of Richard Fitz Tancred,* seneschal of Haverford,' and left three sons : William, his heir ; Robert, who also warred in Ireland ; and Philip, who succeeded his famous uncle as Archdeacon of Brecon. This William may have been the William de Barri who, about 1219, granted certain lands in Gower to the monks of Neath," but he was certainly the William who in 1207" obtained a confirmation from the King of the grant from Robert Fitz Stephen to his father, and who in 1213" was one of his Commissioners appointed to assess the damage done to the clergy of the diocese of St. David's during the interdict which had lasted from 1208 until that year.

The successor of William was David, who was a witness to Earl Walter Marshal's charter to Gilbert de Vale (1243-5)." A David de Barri in 1247 held four knight's fees at Pembroke, which, in the division of the inlieritance of the Mareschals (or Marshalls) Earls of Pembroke, were assigned to Joan de Munchensy, and a David de Barri was Judiciary of Ireland in 1267; these were probably father and son, and they both seem to have been lords of Olethan as well as of Manorbier. John, the son of (the last-named) David, in 1301 granted the advowson of Penally to Acornbury Priory," an Austin nunnery in Here- fordshire, and that of Manorbier to the Priory of Monk- ton. His wife's name was Beatrice, and he had two brothers, David and Richard, of whom the former died before him, leaving a son also called David. The grant to Acornbury may be accounted for by the fact that Ann de Barri, his daughter, was prioress of that nunnery.'* There are three charters by John de Barri in the car- tulary of St. David's'" with reference to his grant of St. Dogwells to Richard Simond; in two he is styled "John son-and-heir of David de Barri," and in the third "John de Barri of Manorbier". The first is without date, the second is dated at Manorbier in 1273, and the third (to which a WiUiam de Barri is a witness), is dated at Pembroke in 1299. He granted in 1800 the manor of St. Dogmell to Richard Simond (who is described in the earlier charters as Clericus and afterwards as Miles), which manor was held by de Barri of the bishop ; John afterwards enlarged the grant with permission to alienate. Sir Richard Simond in 1329 granted the manor to St. David's on condition that two chaplains should say daily prayers before the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, for the bodily health of himself and his wife Eleanor, while they lived, and for their souls* health cmn ab hoc seculo migraverint.^" Eichard Siinond was a witness to the Countess Joanna's charter to Monkton in 1299, and to Earl Aymer's charter to the same in 1302, and to that Earl's confirmation to Slebech in 1323.^' In the next year he held at Kingsdown (Kingston ?) of the Earl land by a yearly rent of 6d.,^' and tliei'e was a fine between him and William Beneger, of I'embroke, for a messuage and sixty acres of land at Aylwardston (AUeston)." In 1325 he was appointed seneschal of Pembroke, removed by Eoger de Mortimer and restored on his fall. Richard and Eleanor were still holding the land at Alleston for life in IBS-i." Walter Simond was a juror at Pembroke in 1327, and William Simond in 1378, but whether they were connected with Sir Eichard does not appear. In 1324 John de Barri was seised of five knight's fees at Manorbier of the value of 100 marks. It is probably of this John that there is the effigy in Manorbier church;^' he was a witness to the Angle charter of 1298." Shortly before that date he by two fines passed his lands in Ireland to his nephew David," who, upon his uncle's death, claimed the lordship of Manorbier against Eichard, who had married Beatrice, daughter of Nicholas de Carew. The proceedings are extant in this the earliest recorded instance of a Pembrokeshire law-suit. David's complaint was that John de Barri had granted the lordship in fee to his brother David, reserving to himself a life interest, and upon David's death, being then only a life tenant, had re- granted it to his brother Eichard. The contention was at its height in 1327. Edward II had just died, leaving the kingdom in confusion, and the Earldom of Pembroke was in the hands of the Crown owing to the minority of the heir, Lawrence Hastings. David took possession of the lordship by force, in defiance of the injunction of Roger de Mortimer,t Justiciary of Wales, who then, in concert with the Queen Isabella, governed England at his pleasure, but he was expelled by Thomas de Hampton, Seneschal of Pembroke, who seized the lands on behalf of the Crown. The next step was taken by Richard, who indicted two local men of note, William Crespyng and Stephen Perrot, for conspiring with David; the jury found them both guilty (Perrot appeared in court and then departed in contempt), they were imprisoned and had to give bonds in large sums for their release." Tn 1330 Edward III took the government into his own hands, hanged Roger de Mortimer, and shut Queen Isabella up in prison. David then sent a petition to the King, in which he sets forth that he had been wrongfully accused by the deceased Roger of having been a partizan of Edmund Earl of Kent, uncle of the King, who had been executed for one of the many conspiracies of the time. An inquisition in 1331 found that the facts were as stated by David f the leaders of Richard's party, William de Carew, Owen ap Owen, and Thomas de Carew, were in their turn indicted for the share they had taken in deforcing David, and the bonds given by Crespyng and Perrot were ordered to be can- celled.'" The triumph of David was short-lived. He was supported by the family de la Roche, and the whole of the county palatine was divided into two factions ; as either got the upper hand they packed the juries with their adherents (it has been done since) and obtained verdicts at their desire. The house of Carew, with which, as above stated, Richard was connected by marriage ? and there is reason to believe that Manorbier was settled upon him at the time of his marriage? was far and away the most powerful family under the Earls, and in the result Richard remained in possession of Manorbier until his death in 1335. He was succeeded by his daughter Avice, who married Owen ap Owen. She survived her husband, and died on the 15th August 1358, seised of the lordships of Manorbier and Penally (of the value of £30) held of the Earldom, and of Begelly (of the value of £10) held of the barony of Carew. An inquisition in 1331 states that the two former lord- ships were of the value of £100, and that Jameston and Newton were members of Manorbier."' In 1247 and 1323 the number of knight's fees held by De Barri (five of which George Owen says when held of the Earldom of Pembroke constituted a barony and contained 3,200 acres^") is given as five, but in 1331 as three. The heir of Avice was David, the son of the litigant. David resided wholly in Ireland, and about 1377 granted his Pembrokeshire lordships to John, Lord of Carew. This grant was con- fii'med by Henry IV in the first year of his reign, which Penton wi-ongly supposes to be the original grant." From 1377 the name of De Barri disappears from Manorbier which, after many vicissitudes, passed through the Bowens of Trefloyne to Philipps of Picton. The arms of the De Barris were Argent, three bars

Sources Barrymore records