Background
He was born in about 1042, a son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre.
defenders of Exeter Bishop of London Street Paul
He was born in about 1042, a son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre.
Godwine and Edmund, sons of Harold Godwinson, escaped after the Battle of Hastings to Leinster, where they were guests of Diarmait. In 1068 and 1069 Diarmait lent them the fleet of Dublin for attempted invasions of England. At midsummer in 1069 Brian and Alan led a force that defeated a raid by a fleet of 64 ships on the mouth of the River Taw in Devon.
Later in the same year Brian and William fitz Osbern were sent to relieve sieges at Shrewsbury and Exeter by English forces rebelling against Norman lordship.
They were too late to save the former but a sally by the defenders of Exeter drove the English into the path of Brian and William who "punished their audacity with great slaughter". Brian"s name is often associated with the construction of Launceston Castle.
Brian may have left England soon after the battles of 1069, or perhaps following the rebellion of Ralph de Gaël in 1075. In any case, his estates became part of the grants made by King William to Robert of Mortain.