House of Braose
The House of Braose ("alias" Breuse, Brewes, Brehuse, Briouze, Brewose etc., Latinised to de Braiosa) was a prominent family of Anglo-Norman nobles originating in Briouze, near Argentan, Orne, Normandy. Members of this family played a significant part in the Norman conquest of England and subsequent power struggles in England, Wales and Ireland in the 11th to 14th centuries. Lands held. The first English land-holding by the family was the feudal barony of Bramber in Sussex, granted by King William the Conqueror to William I de Braose (died 1093/1096) between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and  the Domesday Book of 1086 in which he is shown as the holder of Bramber. Philip I made personal conquests in the Welsh Marches of Radnor and Builth. A moiety of the feudal barony of Barnstaple was inherited by William II from his mother. William III acquired the feudal barony of Kington c.1194 and the lordship of Gower in 1203, and a moiety of the feudal barony of Totnes in 1206. King John temporarily seized most of the lands of William III in 1208 but his infant son King Henry III (1216–1272) regranted most, except Barnstaple which was lost permanently , to his 3rd son Reginald. Reginald's son William V died leaving 4 daughters co-heiresses to all the family's Welsh lands, but Bramber and Gower passed back to the senior family line which held them until 1326 when William VII died leaving two daughters co-heiresses. Prominent land-holders. The most significant members of this family were as follows, with ordinal numbers based on those shown by Sanders, English Baronies: Arms. William III de Braose. These arms were attributed to William III de Braose (d.1211) by Matthew Paris in "Historia Anglorum, Chronica Majora", Part III (1250–59) British Library  MS Royal 14 C VII f. 29v (shown there inverted to denote his death): "Party per fesse gules and azure, three garbs or". Matthew Paris is not generally regarded as a reliable source for heraldry and these arms must be considered doubtful. Giles and Reginald de Braose. The arms of Giles de Braose (d.1215) and his brother Reginald de Braose (d.1228), younger sons of William III de Braose (d.1211) : "Barry of six vair gules and ermine and azure". William V de Braose. Matthew Paris (c.1200-1259) in his "Historia Anglorum" (folio 116) attributed the arms, "Party per pale indented gules  and azure", to William V de Braose (d.1230). They appear as a marginal drawing of an inverted shield referring to his "impious murder" ("Nota impiam murthram"). However Matthew Paris depicts different arms for him in his "Chronica Majora", Part III, fol.75v, in an inverted shield: "Gules, four piles meeting in base or" William VII de Braose. The Falkirk Roll of Arms c.1298 blazons the following arms for William VII de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose (1260–1326): "Azure crusilly (i.e. semy) of cross-crosslets, a lion double queued rampant or". These are the arms shown on his seal appended to the Barons ' Letter of 1301. Similar arms, with a single queue, had been adopted by his father, William VI de Braose, 1st Baron Braose (died 1291).