Walter Espec

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Walter Espec (died 1153) was a prominent military and judicial figure of the reign of Henry I of England.

File:A Chronicle of England - Page 144 - The Oath of Walter l'Espec.jpg, just before the Battle of the Standard.]]

His father was probably William Speche (William Espec), who joined William the Conqueror in the Norman conquest of England.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/pda/A2350027?s_id=11 H2G2] The senior Speche is believed to have become the feudal baron of Old Warden by 1086.{{cite book |first=I.J. |last=Sanders |year=1960 |title=English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent, 1086-1327 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |pages=133–134}}

In the years up to 1120, Espec controlled northern England, alongside Eustace fitz John.Paul Dalton, Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship: Yorkshire, 1066–1154 (2002), p. 105. He was the builder of Helmsley Castle; he built also Wark Castle.[http://www.coldstream-scotland.co.uk/history_wark_castle.html Wark Castle] As an old man, when High Sheriff of Yorkshire, he fought against the Scots at the Battle of the Standard in 1138.Frank Barlow, The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042–1216 (4th edition), p. 211. He was the founder of Kirkham Priory (Augustinians) and later Rievaulx Abbey (Cistercians).[http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/people/walter-espec.php People] Kirkham Priory was founded around 1130.[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36266 Houses of Austin canons – Priory of Kirkham | British History Online] He then donated {{cvt|1000|acre|km2|0}} to Rievaulx, where building started in 1132, and is largely credited for the arrival of the Cistercians in England.[http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/rie/rievaulx.shtml Rievaulx- A Virtual Tour] By 1135 he also founded Warden Abbey[http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/OldWarden/WardenAbbey.aspx Bedfordshire County Council: Warden Abbey] (Wardon) in Bedfordshire, a daughter house of Rievaulx. Walter Espec later became a Cistercian monk himself.