Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st earl of Essex

Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st earl of Essex (died Sept. 16, 1144, Mildenhall, Suffolk, Eng.) , was the worst of a number of cruel and lawless barons during the reign of King Stephen of England.

Geoffrey was a great landowner in Essex and elsewhere and hereditary constable of the Tower of London. He came to prominence in 1140 when Stephen, who could not dispense with his support against Matilda, a rival claimant for the throne, made him hereditary earl of Essex, by the earliest charter granting an English earldom extant or even known.

When Stephen was captured by Matilda’s supporters (February 1141), Geoffrey deserted to her and was granted virtually viceregal powers in Essex. Before the rout of Matilda’s force at Winchester (September 1141), Stephen’s queen brought Geoffrey back to the royalist side by more concessions, possibly including the viceregal powers in London, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire, which were formally granted to him by Stephen in December 1141.

Arrested at St. Albans for treason against Stephen in 1143, he gave up his offices and castles in return for his freedom and went off to plunder the fenland around Ely, using Ramsey Abbey, which he fortified, as headquarters. It was here that his atrocities became a byword. Stephen besieged him in vain, but in August 1144 Geoffrey was mortally wounded by a chance shot while laying siege to Burwell, and he died the following month.