Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Notes for William (II) de Mohun Earl of Somerset
Feudal baron (2nd class) of Dunster, Somerset.
There has been some uncertainty about his relationship to his father:
DNB in his own article, says he was the eldest son.
CP in the Mohun article in Vol IX, p. 18 calls him "presumably son, though probably not eldest son"
CP in the Somerset article in Vol XII/1, p. 37, says he "was h. of William de Moion above named but his exact relationship is uncertain"
Keats-Rohan in her Domesday Desecndants, p. 587 says "Son of William I de Moyon".  I am taking this most recent research as correct.
DNB Main notes for William (II) de Mohun Earl of Somerset
Mohun, Moion, or Moyne, William de Earl of Somerset or Dorset fl. 1141

Name
: Mohun, Moion, or Moyne, William de
Title: Earl of Somerset or Dorset
Dates: fl. 1141
Active Date: 1141
Gender: Male

Spouse: Agnes
Sources
: Lyte's Dunster and its Lords, pp. 5, 6, 28; Gesta Stephani, pp...
Contributor: W. H. [William Hunt]

Article
Mohun, Moion, or Moyne, William de Earl of Somerset or Dorset fl. 1141, eldest son of William de Mohun (fl. 1066) [q.v.], by his wife Adelisa, was possessed of forty-four knights' fees, and in 1131 was present at the council held by Henry I at Northampton, and one of the witnesses of the charter there granted by the king to the church of Salisbury. He rose against Stephen in 1138, and, relying on the strength of his castle of Dunster, committed many deeds of violence and cruelty in the west country. Stephen marched against him, but believing Dunster Castle to be impregnable, and being unwilling to remain long enough before it to compel its surrender by blockade, marched away, leaving Henry Tracy to carry on the war in those parts. This Tracy did with success, preventing William from continuing his expeditions from Dunster, and on one occasion taking 104 knights prisoners. William was humbled and compelled to remain quiet (Gesta Stephani, pp. 52, 53). He was with the empress at Westminster in June 1141, and marched with her to the siege of Winchester. There it is said (ib. p. 81) that the empress made him Earl of Dorset, but it appears that he was an earl when he was at Westminster in June (Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 93). He called himself Earl of Somerset (Monasticon, vi. 335), but the close connection then existing between the two shires renders this apparent discrepancy of no importance. In 1142 he founded a priory at Bruton for Augustinian canons. He also granted land to the monks of Dunster to pray for the soul of his son Ralph (Lyte, p. 28). By his wife Agnes he had six sons, of whom four were clerks, and another, Ralph, predeceased him. A son William succeeded him, without, as far as known, the title of earl, and was in turn succeeded by his son William, whose grandson was Reginald de Mohun (d. 1257) [q.v.].

Sources
Lyte's Dunster and its Lords, pp. 5, 6, 28; Gesta Stephani, pp. 52, 53, 81 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Ann. Wav. ap. Ann. Monastici, ii. 226 (Rolls Ser.); Sarum Charters, p. 7 (Rolls Ser.); Liber Niger Scacc. i. 91, ed. Hearne; Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 335; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 497; Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 93, 95, 125, 271, 277; Stubbs's Const. Hist. i. 362, 451; Somerset Archæol. Soc.'s Proc. 1857 vii. ii. 73-75, 1873 xix. ii. 96.

Contributor: W. H.

published  1894
Last Modified 11 Nov 2013Created 14 May 2022 by Tim Powys-Lybbe
Re-created by Tim Powys-Lybbe on 14 May 20220