page_title: Pain fitzJohn
section_title: Marriage and lands
hierarchical_section_title: Pain fitzJohn / Marriage and lands
caption_attribution_description: English: Painscastle Village of Painscastle featuring the Motte and Bailey castle. Also prominent is the Pub, "The Roast Ox ", excellent food and Real ales.
context_page_description: Pain fitzJohn was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and administrator, one of King Henry I of England's "new men", who owed their positions and wealth to the king.
  Pain's family originated in Normandy, but there is little to suggest that he had many ties there, and he appears to have spent most of his career in England and the Welsh Marches. A son of a minor nobleman, he rose through ability to become an important royal official during Henry's reign. In 1115, he was rewarded with marriage to an heiress, thereby gaining control of the town of Ludlow and its castle, which he augmented with further acquisitions.
  Although later medieval traditions described Pain as a chamberlain to King Henry, that position is not securely confirmed in contemporary records. He did hold other offices, however, including that of sheriff in two counties near the border between England and Wales. In his capacity as a royal justice, Pain also heard legal cases for the king throughout much of western England.
  After King Henry's death in 1135, Pain supported Henry's nephew, King Stephen, and was with the new king throughout 1136.
context_section_description: All accounts agree that Pain married in 1115 and that his wife was named Sybil, although the identity of Sybil's parents is unclear. Pain's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry states that he married Sybil Talbot, the niece of Hugh de Lacy. The Complete Peerage states that he married Sybil, the daughter of Geoffrey Talbot and Talbot's wife Agnes, who was herself probably the daughter of Walter de Lacy. The historian K. S. B. Keats-Rohan states that Pain married Sybil de Lacy, the daughter of Hugh de Lacy, a view shared by fellow historians Judith Green and Paul Dalton. Others such as Bruce Coplestone-Crow and David Crouch agree with the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography's designation of Sybil as Hugh's niece, and daughter of Geoffrey Talbot and Agnes, the sister of Hugh de Lacy.
  King Henry and King Stephen recognised Pain as the legitimate holder of the lands acquired through his wife Sybil. Her kinsman Gilbert de Lacy was the son of Roger de Lacy, who had been banished from England in 1095 and his English estates confiscated; he had though retained his properties in Normandy. Roger's English possessions were given to his brother Hugh de Lacy, from whom Sybil had inherited them. On Roger's death Gilbert inherited the lands in Normandy, and pressed his claim to the family's former English estates. Coplestone-Crow speculates that the uncertainty hanging over the inheritance was one reason why Pain endeavoured to secure more lands around Ludlow.
  Pain is the presumed builder of Pain's Castle in the Welsh county of Radnor. He also controlled Caus Castle in Shropshire, and through his wife Ludlow Castle in the same county. Although he held the title to Weobley Castle, he does not appear to have exercised any control over it, which eventually went to Gilbert de Lacy. Pain was not the only recipient of Hugh de Lacy's lands; some went to Jocelin de Dinan and some to Miles of Gloucester. Pain's share included property in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire, and he succeeded in acquiring additional lands near Ludlow, adding to the manors he held there through his wife; his holdings of land were considered to be worth 17 knights fees. By 1130 he had evidently acquired additional properties in Oxfordshire, where he is recorded as being excused payment of danegeld that year.
caption: Early 21st century aerial view of Painscastle showing the outline of the Motte and Bailey castle.
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