Fulk Fitz-Gwarine acted the hero in all his enterprizes with such vigour, capacity, and celerity, that Henry I. knighted him, made him steward of his house, and conferred on him the arduous office of Lieutenant of the Marches; it was this that gave him the name of Fulco or Fulk, signifying Lieutenant. In this department his sword did not long remain undrawn; the Cambrian Prince, Gryffydd ap Cynan, according to the general practice of his countrymen, made a descent upon the lordship of Whittington, and the surrounding country. These incursions were made so frequently, and attended with such pernicious effects, that the power of the Lords’ Marchers was often necessary to repel their progress: indeed this was their sole office, and a very useful one it was. In the present case, Fitz-Gwarine nobly conducted himself, by wounding the Welsh king in the shoulder, and completely routing his army. The Welsh however returned soon after, drove Fulk from the Castle of Whittington, and gained possession of the lordship; and it appears from a peace made by Henry II. with Owen Gwynedd, the succeeding prince of Wales, that it was kept by the latter, and bestowed on one of his favourites, of the name of Roger; Fulk had the manor of Alston, in Gloucestershire as a recompence. It is recorded that Fulk Fitz-Gwarine, and John son to Henry II. afterwards King John, were playing at chess together, when it happened that they disagreed, and the prince gave Fulk a severe blow upon the head with the board, which the latter returned in such a violent manner, as almost to kill the young prince; a circumstance, had it happened, not much to be regretted, were it not in consideration of the glorious Magna Charta afterwards obtained from him. Mr. Dovaston in speaking of the noble actions of Fitz-Gwarine, mentions Fulk and John’s quarrel in the following manner: “Enough to name our last affray, The prince his temper lost at play, The chess-board swung with coward sway And hurl’d my head upon. Ill could the wrong my bosom brook, I sent him first a furious look, Then firm with knuckles clench’d I strook The pate of royal John.” Fulk Fitz-Gwarine was succeeded by his eldest son, who bore the same name. He raised the glory and dignity of his family beyond any thing it had yet attained to, by numerous and valourous actions, hereafter respectively to be recorded. At the time, his father died, he was actively engaged in Lombardy, where he conducted himself with such ability and vigour, that king A.D. 1189. Richard I. just before he went on the Crusades, made him Lord Marcher of Wales, an office that required all the exertion and capacity that could possibly exist in one man.