William FitzAlan was a Norman nobleman who lived in
Oswestry and
Clun near
Shrewsbury, along the medieval
Welsh Marches. William was the son of
William FitzAlan, controlling the castles of
Clun and
Oswestry and later became the
High Sheriff of Shropshire.[1] Many people today will often confuse William with his father, as their death dates are similar by 5 years. Because of this, it is important to know that this William was married to Mary Erington, the daughter of Thomas. William's father William (d. 1210) married the daughter of Hugh de Lacy, whose name is never mentioned in any documents.[2] When William came to inherit his lands in 1210,
King John demanded a fee of 10,000 marks; unable to pay, William was unable to inherit.[3] He only outlived his father by a few years, dying around Easter 1215.[4] The estates were eventually reclaimed by his younger brother
John Fitzalan.[5]
Bibliography
Burke, John. (1831) A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland. London: Colburn and Bentley.
Eyton, William. (1862) "The Castles of Shropshire and its Border." in Collectanea Archæologica: communications made to the British Archaeological Association Vol. 1. London: Longman.
Mackenzie, James D. (1896) The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure, Vol II. New York: Macmillan.
Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. 3, By Robert W. Eyton (1856). p. 11
Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. 5, By Robert W. Eyton (1857). p. 86 Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. 7, By Robert W. Eyton (1858).
p. 242 Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. 10, By Robert W. Eyton (1860). p. 126