Robert de Marny

Sir Robert de Marny was an English knight who resided and died in Leyre-Marney, Essex. In 1335 King Edward III accorded him confirmation of the de Marny family charter, dating back to 1266. De Marny was the son of Sir William de Marney and Catherine Venables. According to church registers he married Alice le Lacer in 1345 and was succeeded by their son William, who subsequently became Sheriff of Essex. (The date of marriage to Alice le Lacer seems dubious as her first husband, Sir William Bruyn, son of Maurice Bruyn is said to have died circa 1360/61 which of course may be wrong.) de Marny held several manors from the le Bruyn family via Alice le Lacer until his death when they reverted to William Bruyn's heir Ingram or Ingelram Bruyn. The Manors included Rownor, Fordingbridge, Beckenham and Southwokyndon (Hampshire, Kent and Essex)

De Marny fought in the Battle of Poitiers or Poictiers (1356) in which the English defeated the French. He is best remembered now from William Morris's fictional poem "The Haystack in the Floods," which imagines his death in a skirmish while attempting to reach English-held Gascony.[1]