About the Book
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 35. Chapters: Anthony Gueterbock, 18th Baron Berkeley, Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Stratton, Baron FitzHardinge, Berkeley Castle, Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth, Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge, Charles Berkeley, 3rd Baron FitzHardinge, Craven Berkeley, Elizabeth Carey, Lady Berkeley, Elizabeth le Despenser, Baroness Berkeley, Francis Berkeley, 2nd Baron FitzHardinge, George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, George Berkeley (general), George Cranfield Berkeley, George Harding, 8th Baron Berkeley, Grantley Berkeley, Grenville Berkeley, Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, Henry FitzHardinge Berkeley, James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley, John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton, John Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley of Stratton, Margaret Mortimer, Baroness Berkeley, Mary Foley-Berkeley, 17th Baroness Berkeley, Maurice Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge, Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley, Richard Berkeley (died 1604), Richard Berkeley (died 1661), Robert Fitzharding, Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley, Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, William Berkeley, 1st Earl FitzHardinge, William Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley of Stratton, William Berkeley (governor), William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley. Excerpt: Robert Fitzharding (c. 1095 1170) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman from Bristol who was granted the feudal barony of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. He rebuilt Berkeley Castle, and founded the Berkeley family which still occupies it today. He was a wealthy Bristol merchant and a financier of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Aquitaine, who was the rival of King Stephen (1135 54) during the period known as The Anarchy and who subsequently became King Henry II (1154 89). Fitzharding founded St. Augustine's Abbey, which after the Reformation became Bristol Cathedral. Many members of the Berkeley family were buried within it, and some of their effigies survive there. As J. Horace Round asserted he was one of the very few Anglo-Saxon noblemen who managed to retain their noble status in Norman England and successfully integrate with the Norman nobility, if not the only one. Robert Fitzharding is believed to have been the grandson of Eadnoth, who had held the post of Staller under King Edward the Confessor and King Harold. Robert's father Harding of Bristol was the King's Reeve in Bristol, with a house in Baldwin Street. Robert later built a large house in Broad Street, on the River Frome. He became a burgess of the city and sufficiently wealthy to buy from Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester extensive manorial lands around Bristol to its south and west, including Redcliffe, Bedminster, Leigh, Portbury and Billeswick. In 1140, Fitzharding founded St Augustine's Abbey as a Victorine Augustinian monastery. The chosen site was in Billeswick, just across the River Frome from Bristol Castle. He endowed the abbey with many lands, and the rights to revenues from many churches, in Bristol and within several counties. In 1148 he chose Richard of Warwick as the first abbot. In 1155 King Henry II made endowments to the abbey and in 1159 Fitzharding confirmed his own endowments by charter. The abbey carried out a building programme during Fitzharding's lifetime which created a new abbey church, the chapt
