Hawise of Aumâle
Countess d'Aumâle
Hawise, Countess of Aumâle and Lady of Skipton, Copeland and Holderness, is a "woman almost a man, who was deficient in nothing masculine but manhood," according to the chronicler Richard of Devizes.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Hawisa, countess of Aumale, was one of the rare company of women of her time whose character was so forceful, that even after the passage of centuries her individuality stands out. It is not her beauty which the chronicler noticed, although time and time again this is the only description which is given of some great lady. Of Hawisa, Richard of Devizes observed ’’a woman, who was almost a man, ’cui nihil virile defuit preter virilia’". This seems to be the key to her character; a masculine woman, with a strong distaste for marriage. Barbara English, The counts of Aumâle and Holderness 1086-1260 (PhD thesis, University of St Andrews, 1977)Hawise was born c. 1160, the only child of William le Gros, Earl of Aumâle and Lord of Holderness, and Cecily (de Romilly) Fitzduncan, heiress of Skipton and Copeland. Hawise was named after her paternal grandmother. She inherited the county of Aumâle and the lordship of Holderness on the death of her father in 1179, making her the most eligible heiress of the day. She inherited the lordships of Skipton and Copeland on the death of her mother shortly before 1189. It seems extraordinary that William, one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman lords of his time, would not have settled the issue of his legacy before his death. Hawise was his only legitimate child, and whoever married her would inherit his ancestral lands. Given Hawise's demonstrable distaste for marriage in later life, English suggests that she had asked - and been granted - for her father's permission to remain a spinster. If this is true it is an indication of either Hawise's strength of personality, or extreme paternal indulgence. Or perhaps both. William had, in his younger days, defeated the King of Scots as one of the military commanders at the Battle of the Standard (1138), for which he was granted the title of Earl of Yorkshire by King Stephen. He was as shrewd (and acquisitive) as a politican as he was a warrior, not only adding to his ancestral lands during the course of the Anarchy, but ruling them like a prince. William of Newburgh described him as "more truly the king across the Humber". Despite his support for Stephen, he retained the bulk of the lands and honours he acquired after Henry II came to the throne in 1154. Though William lost his title of Earl of Yorkshire, his marriage to Cecily, heiress of the Honours of Skipton and Copeland, around 1158, strengthened his powerbase in the north of England. He took a back seat in national affairs, though, content to focus on his own estates and his religious foundations. William, having worked to build and protect such a legacy, does not seem to be the sort of man who would risk it merely to indulge his daughter. But he did not die suddenly; despite his great weight (he was too fat to ride a horse by 1150), he lived to the age of 70 in increasing ill health. He knew he could not live much longer, and he had ample opportunity to arrange a suitable marriage. That Hawise managed to persuade her father to allow her to remain single is perhaps the most likely explanation - when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. King Henry II was less easy to persuade. After her father's death, Hawise became a royal ward. Within six months he had offered her hand to one of his most loyal nobles, William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex. If Hawise objected to this marriage, there is no record of her protest. Mandeville was a patron of the arts as well as a trusted courtier - it is possible he is the "Count William" to whom Marie de France dedicated her Fables. Hawise and Mandeville married at his castle of Pleshey, in Essex, on 14 January 1180. It was a grand ceremony, the social event of the year according to Dorothy Stenton (The English Woman in History, 1957). Their marriage, however, was childless. Mandeville spent much of it abroad on the king's business. In 1180 he was sent to pay Henry's Flemish mercenaries. In 1182 he was an ambassador to Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. In 1184 he was twice ambassador to the court of King Philip II of France. In 1187 he commanded a portion of Henry II's Norman army, and in 1188 he was carrying out military operations in the Vexin, even as Philip of Dreux, the militant Bishop of Beauvais, burnt his wife's key holding, Aumâle. In 1189 Mandeville, still firmly loyal to Henry II, was with him on his final flight to Le Mans. Henry ordered him to hold his Norman castles for John, Count of Mortain in the event of Henry's death. In the end, Henry and his rebel son Richard were reconciled, and Mandeville was not required to do battle against Lionheart. Richard, who was inclined to reward those who remained loyal to his father, named him co-justiciar of England alongside Hugh le Puiset, Bishop of Durham. Together, Mandeville and le Puiset would head the royal bureaucracy and govern England while Richard went on crusade. It was not to be. Mandeville died in Normandy on 14 November 1189, aged about 50. While his own lands from the Earldom of Essex were the subject of an inheritence dispute, Hawise's lands remained in her hands. But this time, following the death of her grandmother in 1187 and her mother in 1189, they included the Honours of Skipton and Copeland. Lionheart was, like his father, eager to reward his followers, and Hawise was once again a royal ward and valuable heiress. Richard ordered her to marry one of his close companions, the Poitevin mercenary captain William de Forz. Hawise flatly refused. It was while chronicling her refusal that Richard of Devizes described her as a "woman almost a man, ’cui nihil virile defuit preter virilia’". The Latin phrase could be translated as 'lacking nothing manly except manhood' or 'lacking nothing virile except the virile organ'. In more modern vernacular, Devizes called her a man without a cock. I'll discuss what he may have meant by that in the Speculation section below. Richard did not accept Hawise's refusal. He ordered royal officials to confiscate movable possessions from her lands and estates - as Hawise's legal guardian this fell within his privilege, if not within the spirit of care. Goods to the value of £114 1s 4d were sold before Hawise capitulated. This is the equivalent of more than £250,000 in 2021. It is not clear exactly where or when Hawise and William were married. De Forz commanded one of Richard's crusade fleets, and rendevouzed with Richard in Sicily in September 1190. Barbara English notes that he was not styled 'Count of Aumâle' in spring or summer of 1190, but he was so called by Michaelmas (29 September) of that year, when he owed scutage for the honours of Aumâle and Skipton. Hawise is known to have sailed to Normany with Eleanor of Aquitaine aboard the royal galley commanded by Alan Trenchemar early in 1190. She may have joined the crusaders in Sicily around September and married in Messina. Hawise and de Forz' marriage produced a son, William de Forz II. His exact date of birth is uncertain, but was between 1191 and 1196. Like Mandeville, De Forz the elder spent much tyime away from England. He was involved in the crusade until late 1192 or early 1193. He was certainly in Normandy in 1193 and 1194, when records survive of supplies and clothing for his mercenaries. He died in Normandy in 1195. On Richard's orders Hawise was married a third time, to Baldwin of Béthune, a Flemish knight noted for his loyalty. Like William Marshal, he had been part of Henry the Young King's entourage in ther 1170s, and had fought in tournaments alongside the Young King and the Marshal. He was with Richard throughout the crusade, and returned with him. After their vessel was shipwrecked, he acted as a decoy as Richard travelled incognito overland. After Richard's release in 1194 he served as a hostage for payment of Richard's ransom. After his release, Richard said in council at Huntingdon that he owed more to Baldwin de Béthune than to any other man. Marriage to Hawise was his reward. Hawise, however reluctant, married Baldwin at Séez, in the shadow of the French Alps. The wedding cost £207 (the equivalent of around £450,000 in 2021). Baldwin continued to serve Richard, and later King John, faithfully until his own death at Burstwick in Holderness in 1212. In November of that year Hawise promised John 5,000 marks (more than £7m in the 2021 equivalent) in order that she may not be married again. Baldwin was buried by the door of the chapter house of the Cistercian abbey of Meaux, Holderness, founded by Hawise's father William le Gros. Hawise paid only 1,000 marks of the fee she promised King John by the time of her own death in March 1214. Conventional genealogies indicate Hawise and Baldwin had a daughter, Alice, whose date of birth is unclear. English notes that no provision from Hawise's lands was made for Alice after Hawise's death but her inheritance instead came from Baldwin's own estates. This suggests she may have been Baldwin's daughter from an earlier, unknown marriage. If this is the case, then Baldwin and Hawise's marriage was childless. What of Hawise herself? Fourteen of her charters as Countess of Aumale survive, seven of them from her brief period as a widow in full command of her own affairs. They indicate a degree of care to her household servants as they aged. In one notable charter, of around 1191-2, she grants her childhood nurse, Agnes de Preston, four bovates of land (about 60 acres) formerly held by the reeve in Preston-in-Holderness, for a rent of 6d to be paid to the castle ward of Skipsea, the Aumâle caput in Holderness. This, combined with her father's dedication to his Holderness lands, may indicate she spent much of her childhood in the marshy lands of Holderness. In another she grants the fees of her chamber to her chamberlain Hugh, and his heirs. It is impossible to date this charter any more accurately than some time during her term as countess (1179-1214). In a charter that probably dates either from her marriage to Baldwin de Béthune or to her widowhood (1196-1214), she notifies her bailiff in Hedon, Holderness, that she has granted land in Hedon to Fulk de Oryry. Fulk served as her steward from 12045, and continued to run the administation of the Aumâle estates until 1220. Two charters Hawise certainly issued as a widow bestow further land and rights to Fulk de Oyry; one grants him the manor of Wymering in Hampshire in return for a pair of gilded spurs or 6d, the other freedom from suits and fines, free passage from tolls on the Humber, and free warren at his estate in Dunnington in Holderness. The remaining charters are primarily confirmation of grants to religious houses made by her predecessors, husbands or tenants. She does not appear to have instigated any new gifts to religious houses herself. One of these confirmation charters, dated 1212-1214, names three of her ladies-in-waiting: Alice de Fontibus, Richeuda and Clementia, described in the charter as 'puellis meis' (my girls). 'De Fontibus' may be an error for 'de Fortibus', the Latinization of 'de Forz', so Alice de Fontibus may be a relative of her second husband. A charter of 1181 is witnessed by seven noblewomen, possibly her ladies-in-waiting at that time; I am currently trying to find a copy of that charter.
Speculation
Richard of Devizes' description of Hawise as a woman so masculine she lacked only a penis is generally taken as monkish misogyny when presented with a Strong, Independent WomanTM. Certainly, this is the interpretation of Susan M. Johns (Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm, University of Manchester, 2003). Johns notes Devizes had a tendency to frame strong women in gendered terms - he describes Nicolaa de la Haye defending her husband's castle "manfully". The qualities he admired in a woman were epitomised by how he saw Eleanor of Aquitaine: beautiful and virtuous, powerful yet gentle, humble yet keen-witted. This rather seems to gloss over Eleanor's achievements as an intriguer, politician and fomentor of rebellion. What if Devizes is hinting at something else? Something even he dare not say directly about one of the most powerful women in his day? Looking at Hawise's history from modern eyes - her supposed masculinity, her reluctance to marry or bear children - it's easy to see someone we'd nowadays describe as lesbian, or (relying more on Devizes' snarky aside) genderqueer, perhaps a trans man. But we have no insight into what Hawise thought, or how she saw herself. This is not a claim I would make in an academic context - there's no real evidence to support it. But it is an interpretation I consider plausible based on the limited circumstantial evidence we have of Hawise's life. And so, in Fabula Mundi, Hawise has from an early age been romantically and physically attracted to women, and experiences symptoms of gender dysphoria: she wishes she were born a man, she is uncomfortable in women's clothing, does her best to hide her breasts, wishes to be regarded as and treated as a man. In her bleakest times she may hate her body. What she lacks is context or framework for these feelings of being in the wrong body. She might, if well educated, be familiar with Ovid's Metamophosis, for the work became popular in the 12th century. Ovid mentions several sex changes, inclduing the woman Caenis being transformed into a man, Caeneus, by the god Poseidon. Yet even if she were familiar with the story, Metamorphosis was pagan myth. While physicians following Galen might regard gender as a spectrum, Aristotelian binary views dominated Scholastic theology. Perhaps, given her first husband William de Mandeville's patronage of the arts and connection with Henry the Young King, she is familiar with the Livre de Manières (Book of Manners) of Étienne de Fougères, clerk to the Young King and later Bishop of Rennes, which in one colourful passage pours scorn upon women who have sex with other women - scornful though it may be, the passage might have let Hawise know she was not the only woman to have such feelings (see Homosexuality in Medieval Europe for the passage). To this end, I have given her a partner, Alix de Birkin, a fictitious member of the real social-climbing Birkin family who held lands near Doncaster and in Nottinghamshire, conveniently linking Cravenshire and Nottinghamshire, my two primary areas of interest as game settings. The women's relationship must be discrete, but intimacy was a different in the medieval period, and it would be an honour for a lady-in-waiting to share a bed with her mistress. With Hawise's husbands so often away, a little discretion might go a long way. The absence of any gifts to religious houses by Hawise in her own right indicate a degree of conviction that the romantic life she leads is true to herself. She feels no need to repent for her feelings or actions as her father did following the Anarchy, when he founded Meaux Abbey in Holderness.Gender Identity
Richard of Devizes noted Hawise's masculinity. Exactly what he meant by that, or how Hawise regarded herself, is unknown.
Sexuality
Hawise is attracted to women.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Hawise does not accept the role society expects of a high-ranking noble woman. Since she was a child she has always been physically active, more comfortable in the saddle than embroidering in the solar. As a teenager she realised she had little romantic interest in men.
She seeks - as far as possible - to be independent and true to herself. She prefers to live at her isolated castle in Skipton, where she can ride the moors and hunt in her deer parks.
She wants as little to do with her husband William de Forz as possible. After providing him with an heir, she lives apart from him. She does, however, love her young son, who she is raising in Skipton with her life-partner Alix de Birkin.
Likes & Dislikes
Hawise detests embroidery and 'womanly' pursuits, and much prefers outdoor sports and activities. She is a keen rider and a good falconer and huntswoman.
She grudgingly wears dresses when she must hold court (or attend the royal court), but does her best to avoid the necessity. She favours tunic and hose - far more practical for the rigours of the hunt.
Social
Reign
Countess of Aumâle: 1179-1214 (the Aumâle lands in Normandy were lost in 1196, when they were conquered by King Philip II of France, but the English monarchs maintained their claims to Normandy and continued to recognise the title of the Counts of Aumâle).
Lady of Holderness: 1179-1214
Lady of Skipton: 1189-1214
Contacts & Relations
The names of Hawise's maids in waiting survive from two periods in her life.
In 1181, or shortly thereafter, when she granted a large estate in Eastwell, Leicestershire, to the Cistercian abbey of Garendon, the charter was witnessed by the lady Aanor of Walden, Mabel de Oseville, Breatrice de Gueres, Avice, Beatrice de Berneres, and Maud of Hastings, alongside a group of men.
Between 1212 and March 1214, when she held her lands as liege, she confirmed this gift to Garendon Abbey. Alongside male witnesses, the confirmation charter was witnesses by "Alice de Fountains, Richenda, and Clemency, my maidens".
Family Ties
On her mother's side, Hawise is descended from the House of Romilly - the descendants of the first Norman lord of Skipton - and the Royal house of Scotland (her grandfather, William Fitz Duncan, Mormaer of Moray, was the son of King Duncan II and nephew to King David).
On her father's side she is descended from the Counts of Champagne and the House of Normandy. Her paternal grandfather, Stephen, Count of Aumâle (c. 1070-1127) was the son of Odo, Count of Champagne, and Adelaide of Normandy, Countess of Aumâle and sister of William the Conqueror.
Through these she has family ties to many of the great houses of Britain and northern France.
Mannerisms
Hawise is determined in word and deed. She strides, rather than walks. Once she has set her mind to something, it is very hard to persuade her to change it.
Speech
Hawise speaks her mind. She speaks quickly and clearly, without hesitation or circumlocution. She is terse almost, but not quite, to the point of rudeness.
Relationships
Wealth & Financial state
Hawise is one of the richest women in England and Normandy, with extensive lands in northern England and (until 1196) around Aumâle in Normandy.
Seal and counterseal of Hawise of Aumâle, from Hatton's Book of Fees
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Countess of Aumale, Lady of Skipton, Lady of Holderness
Date of Death
11 March 1214
Year of Birth
1160 AD
32 Years old
Birthplace
Great Waltham, Essex
Siblings
Children
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Would that I were a man!"
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Ruled Locations
She almost reads as a forerunner to Queen Elizabeth I at times.
I think I'd look more towards Eleanor of Aquitaine (who Hawise certainly knew), but I can see some similarities with Elizabeth I as well. These are all determined women making their mark in a male-dominated world. At some point I'll write about Isobel of Conches, who started and fought in a baronial war in Normandy - but that was in 1090-91, about a hundred years before the 'current date' of Fabula Mundi, and my current priorities are getting Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Cravenshire into usable shape. What I may do as an interrim measure is write up my research on fighting women of the Middle Ages; the research is done, and more general articles such as that are easier to research than deep dives on individuals. I needed to do the deep dive for Hawise, though. She's the holder of the main fief in one of my key areas, at the key time. And she fascinates me. Over the last year or so I've kept stumbling new bits of information about her, and chased them down research rabbit-holes. Part of the reason for the deep dive is so that she stops distracting me for a while.
I know the feeling. I've been trying to knock together my own setting under the early Medieval Period about the time of the 9th Century. Been trying to (obviously) include usual fantasy tropes from Dungeons & Dragons. Not easy when you try to include the old myths & legends, and folk lore, and whatnot. Found it good going down some of those rabbit holes at times though. Reading this though will likely have to do an article similar on Charlemagne. When the players get up a few levels they may want an audience with him. Bet there's more fighting women than people think. Just look at the previous centuries with the stories of the Celtic peoples, and the Norse shieldmaidens. Not one bit proper to those who wanted to paint them as 'barbarians'. You always need a good anchor point like Hawise & her fief. Keeps the game going and the brain cells active. And you'll probably turn up something more, even if it's just some old footnote somewhere.
9th century is certainly an interesting time. The difficulty of figures like Charlemagne, about which much has been written, is to decide which of all those descriptions - or what blend of them - suit your purpose. But one of the advantages of research is that you can adapt quickly if your planned purpose isn't fitting the players' stories well enough. I've something of an advantage with Hawise's fief. The village I live in lies within it (part of it, anyway) and I've some expereince with landscape archaeology. I've visited every village in Cravenshire where she had lands, and walked many of the surrounding moors and fells. You'll notice a number of articles in Fabula Mundi are illustrated with photographs.
Oh,. and my article on Marvels and Prodigies outlines my approach for fantasy elements. I'm using Chivalry & Sorcery 5th Edition, which is designed for 11th-15th century gaming (and which I helped design - much of what's here will eventually work its way into setting books). Have you taken a look at Paladin? It's a variant of Chaosium's King Arthur Pendragon RPG focusing on the Matter of France. It may be too much based on the legends than the history for your taste, but I have a lot of respect for the design.
Definitely going to be hard to do, but we wouldn't be doing this if it were easy or boring, haha. That's something I lack myself. No experience at archaeology. That would be handy for yourself living in the area there. Gives you a feeling or link of sorts to it.
Having those photographs would help to flesh out the articles too. I've heard of Paladin and Chivalry & Sorcery as well. Nice to talk to a designer of well-known games. Might take a wee look at the Paladin setting, thank you for that. The legends are an important part for my own. Helps explain why there's certain characters, creatures, items, and magic in many places.
I can't claim Paladin - that's by others, based on Greg Stafford's Pendragon rules. The notable feature of these is that they give mechanics for your character's personality, in part so that characters are in line with the legends. If you make your Lustful check, you character IS going to fall for the charms of that mysterious and highly suspicious love interest, even if you as a player know it's a trap. You generally only play knights (who may eventually advance to membership of the Round Table or become one of the Paladins), though you may play Ladies in some cases. Also, you play a dynasty, rather than a character, so family, marriage and heir-making is important. This is why I say it may not be to taste. I have a lot of love for the system. It does what it intends - simulate legends, rather than history - better than any other game I know. And I find the personality traits liberating rather than limiting. Playing a knight who was notably Reckless and Brave, I knew he would have a short, glorious career. Playing a Lady who was notably Cowardly, I wept and begged our liege lady not to go into battle with the Saxons, but instead accept their overlordship and pay their tribute. Marvellously liberating. C&S takes a different approach. You can play anyone from a serf to a monarch, with whatever goals and personality you choose. It can simulate anything from gritty historical to medieval romance and even fairytale. Playing a more historical game, I'd choose C&S over Pendragon, But were I playing in Mallory's Arthurian setting, I'd choose Pendragon over C&S. We have a supplement in the pipeline for 9th-10th century Scandinavia, but I don't think we have anything yet planned for the Carolingian setting.
Interesting to see the differences there. I'll likely keep an eye out for that Scandinavian supplement. Appeals more to my own personal interests.