Pain fitzJohn (before 110010 July 1137) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and administrator, one of King Henry I of England's "new men", who owed their positions and wealth to the king.
Pain's family originated in Normandy, but there is little to suggest that he had many ties there, and he appears to have spent most of his career in England and the Welsh Marches. A son of a minor nobleman, he rose through ability to become an important royal official during Henry's reign. In 1115, he was rewarded with marriage to an heiress, thereby gaining control of the town of Ludlow and its castle, which he augmented with further acquisitions.
Although later medieval traditions described Pain as a chamberlain to King Henry, that position is not securely confirmed in contemporary records. He did hold other offices, however, including that of sheriff in two counties near the border between England and Wales. In his capacity as a royal justice, Pain also heard legal cases for the king throughout much of western England.
After King Henry's death in 1135, Pain supported Henry's nephew, King Stephen, and was with the new king throughout 1136. In July 1137, Pain was ambushed by the Welsh and killed while leading a relief expedition to the garrison at Carmarthen. His heirs were his daughters, Cecily and Agnes. Cecily married the son of one of Pain's close associates, Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford. Pain was generous in his gifts of land to a number of monastic houses.
Family background
Pain was a son, probably the eldest, of John fitzRichard, a tenant-in-chief listed in Domesday Book. John may have had two wives, therefore the identity of Pain's mother is uncertain. On the basis of landholding, it has been speculated that Pain's mother was a daughter of Ralph Mortimer, who held Wigmore in Domesday Book. As well as being a moneyer, Pain's paternal grandfather, who came from near Avranches in Normandy, owned a mill. Pain's brother, Eustace fitzJohn, became a royal official who owned lands in the north of England. His other siblings included William, Alice and Agnes. William was probably the same William who later held Harptree in Somerset, and in 1130 was a royal justice in western England. Alice was the abbess of Barking Abbey and Agnes became the wife of Roger de Valognes.
Pain was born some time before 1100. His father may have been in the service of King Henry in Normandy before Henry became king. The family lands in England, which were not extensive, were mainly in East Anglia, and Pain appears to have inherited most of them; his payment for danegeld, a tax, in 1130 for his East Anglian properties was 40 shillings, compared to only 9 shillings for his brother Eustace.
Marriage and lands
All accounts agree that Pain married in 1115 and that his wife was named Sybil, although the identity of Sybil's parents is unclear. Pain's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry states that he married Sybil Talbot, the niece of Hugh de Lacy. The Complete Peerage states that he married Sybil, the daughter of Geoffrey Talbot and Talbot's wife Agnes, who was herself probably the daughter of Walter de Lacy. The historian K. S. B. Keats-Rohan states that Pain married Sybil de Lacy, the daughter of Hugh de Lacy, a view shared by fellow historians Judith Green and Paul Dalton. Others such as Bruce Coplestone-Crow and David Crouch agree with the Oxford Dictionary of National Biographys designation of Sybil as Hugh's niece, and daughter of Geoffrey Talbot and Agnes, the sister of Hugh de Lacy.
King Henry and King Stephen recognised Pain as the legitimate holder of the lands acquired through his wife Sybil. Her kinsman Gilbert de Lacy was the son of Roger de Lacy, who had been banished from England in 1095 and his English estates confiscated; he had though retained his properties in Normandy. Roger's English possessions were given to his brother Hugh de Lacy, from whom Sybil had inherited them. On Roger's death Gilbert inherited the lands in Normandy, and pressed his claim to the family's former English estates. Coplestone-Crow speculates that the uncertainty hanging over the inheritance was one reason why Pain endeavoured to secure more lands around Ludlow.