Siege of Pevensey Castle 1088, Odo of Bayeux rebellion
Who Fought
History & Significance
The Rebellion of 1088 occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and concerned the division of lands in the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy between his two sons William Rufus and Robert Curthose. Hostilities lasted from three to six months starting around Easter of 1088.
William on his deathbed in 1087 decided how his sons would inherit the lands of his native Normandy and recently conquered England. His eldest son Robert was made Duke of Normandy, and his third eldest son (second eldest surviving son) William Rufus was made King of England. This came to pass on William's death.
The division of William the Conqueror's lands into two parts presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the English Channel. Since the younger William and his brother Robert were natural rivals, these nobles worried that they could not hope to please both of their lords and thus ran the risk of losing the favour of one ruler or the other, or both. The solution, as they saw it, was to unite England and Normandy once more under one ruler. The pursuit of this aim led them to revolt against William in favour of Robert, under the leadership of the powerful Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was a half-brother of William the Conqueror.
The rebels, led by Odo and Robert, Count of Mortain, decided to band together to dispose of young King William II and reunite Normandy and England under a single ruler, Robert Curthose.
Among William's initial supporters were all the bishops of England, a few major magnates including Alan Rufus (in the east of England north of London up to Yorkshire), William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey (from Sussex to Yorkshire) and Hugh of Avranches (in the west, around Cheshire, and in Lincolnshire), and lesser tenants-in-chief such as Robert Fitzhamon and Walter D'Aincourt. The rebel ranks were made up many of the most powerful barons in England: of the ten largest baronial landholders in the Domesday Book, six were counted amongst the rebels. They were spread far and wide geographically from Kent, controlled by Odo, to Northumberland, controlled by Robert de Mowbray, to Gloucestershire and Somerset under Geoffrey de Montbray (Bishop of Coutances), to Norfolk with Roger Bigod, through Shropshire and Sussex and other counties with Roger of Montgomery, and a vast swathe of territory in the south-west, centre and south of England under Count Robert. In support of the rebels were Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and "Hugh de Grantmesnil, who had the government of Leicestershire, with Robert de Rhuddlan his nephew, and other knights of distinguished bravery".
The ground they fought on
The site of Siege of Pevensey Castle 1088, Odo of Bayeux rebellion lies on Wealden Group, bedrock that formed in the Barremian. The rock here is sandstone and siltstone, interbedded.
The six-week siege of Pevensey Castle in Sussex proved the turning point of the Rebellion of 1088. William Rufus invested the castle personally and maintained the siege until Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the rebellion's principal leader, was captured within its walls. With relief from Normandy frustrated by storms at sea and Rochester Castle also falling to the king, the rebels had no recourse but to surrender, leaving Odo to be stripped of his considerable wealth and banished from England for life.
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