Arnulf of Montgomery

Who was Arnulf of Montgomery?

Arnulf de Montgomery, also known as Arnulf of Montgomery, was an Anglo-Norman magnate. A younger son of a leading magnate in Normandy and England, Arnulf played an active part in the Anglo-Norman invasion of southwestern Wales in the late eleventh century. Following his successes against the Welsh, Arnulf established himself at Pembroke, built an earth and timber castle, and was likely rewarded with the title earl of Pembroke. At the turn of the twelfth century Arnulf reached his height, with his lordship including much of the former Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and lands in Yorkshire. A short time later, he joined his elder brother's rebellion against the king of England, and married a daughter of the king of Munster in an effort to gain military support against his English sovereign. Following the ultimate collapse of the rebellion, Arnulf and his brothers were outlawed and banished from the realm, and Arnulf appears to have spent much of the next twenty-odd years in a peripatetic life in Ireland and Normandy.