Gervase Paganell

Gervase Paganell inherited the feudal barony of Dudley (which included Dudley Castle) around the year 1150. However, after rebelling against King Henry II, his castle was demolished. Gervase founded the Cluniac Priory of St James in Dudley and probably founded the church of St Thomas in Dudley. He died in 1194.

The first of the family of Paganell to hold Dudley Castle and the barony of Dudley was Fulke Paganell around the year of 1100. Dudley Castle was originally a wooden Norman castle, built by a follower of William the Conqueror, Ansculf de Picquigny and at the time of the Domesday survey was in the possession of his son William FitzAnsculf together with manors in the Home counties and the English Midlands, which were rewards for services to the Conqueror. Dudley Castle was the caput of the feudal barony. The Paganell family had origins in Normandy, where Fulke's father William was Lord of Moutiers Hubert. It is not clear how Fulke came into possession of the barony of Dudley. One suggestion is that he married a daughter of William FitzAnsculf but it cannot be ruled out that he may have benefited from the previous owner being dispossessed after a failed rebellion. The family name is still attached to one of their former Buckinghamshire possessions, Newport Pagnell.

Dudley Castle was converted to a stone fortification by Fulke or by Fulke's son and heir Ralph. In the struggle for power between King Stephen and Matilda, a period of history known as The Anarchy, Ralph took the side of Matilda, resulting in the castle being besieged by Stephen in 1138. Since the castle survived the siege, it is assumed the castle had been rebuilt in stone by that time. Ralph's successor to then barony was his son, Gervase.

Although the exact date of Gervase becoming Lord of Dudley is not known, he had inherited by 1150. By 1154, he had married, his wife being the recently widowed Countess Isabel. She had been previously married to Simon de Senlis and was the daughter of Robert, Earl of Leicester.

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