Following his father's death in about 1123 he inherited large estates centred on
Trowbridge Castle, the
caput of his feudal barony, although he still owed
feudal relief for his inheritance as late as 1130. Together with his widowed mother he founded the
Cluniac priory of
Monkton Farleigh in accordance with his father's wishes. By 1130 he owed four hundred marks to the Crown for the office of
Lord High Steward, which he had purchased. He appears in royal charters of King
Henry I towards the end of his reign in 1135, and in 1136 he signed the charter of liberties issued by King
Stephen at his
Oxford court. In the civil war during Stephen's reign Humphrey sided with his rival, the
Empress Matilda, after she landed in England in 1139. He repelled a royal army besieging his castle at Trowbridge, and in 1144 Matilda confirmed his possessions, granted him some further lands, and recognised his "stewardship in England and Normandy". He consistently witnessed charters of Matilda as steward in the 1140s and between 1153 and 1157 he witnessed the charters of her son King
Henry II (1154-1189), in the same capacity. In 1158 he appears to have fallen from favour, as he was deprived of the custody of certain royal
demesne lands in Wiltshire. He does not appear in any royal act until January 1164, when he was present for the promulgation of the
Constitutions of Clarendon. ==Marriage and children==