Margaret le Despenser

Notes:

Margaret le Despenser and Robert Ferrers were fourth cousins, being both Gx3-grandchildren of Gilbert de Clare (1243-1295) and Joan of Acre (1272-1307).

Margaret married Robert Ferrers before 14 Jul 1389. Robert (son of John de Ferrers and Elizabeth de Stafford) was born on 31 Oct 1357 in of Chartley, Staffordshire, England; died on 12 Mar 1412; was buried in Merevale Abbey, Warwickshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Philippa Ferrers died after 6 Oct 1434; was buried in Greene's Norton, Northamptonshire, England
   .
2. Edmund Ferrers was born before 1389 in of Chartley, Staffordshire, England; died on 17 Dec 1435.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 24 Mar 1336, Essendine, Rutland, England

Notes:

From The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz:

Accompanied the Prince of Wales into Gascony, Sept 1355, and fought at the battle of Poitiers (France, Hundred Years' War), 17 Sept 1356, at which time he was already a knight. He was with the King in the invasion of France 1359-1360. Made a Knight of the Garter, 1361. Took part in the war in Lombardy, 1368-1372; fought in France, 1372-1373, was Constable of the Army in the Duke of Lancaster's unsuccessful expedition to France 1373-1374, and assisted the Duke of Brittany in his campaign in that province, 1375.

From Wikipedia:

He was a friend and patron of Jean Froissart and the eldest brother of Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich.

There is a statue of him on the top of the Holy Trinity Chantry Chapel in Tewkesbury Abbey, renowned as the "Kneeling Knight."

Edward le Despenser (1335-1375)
Elizabeth le Despenser (1365-1408)
Thomas Arundel (1388-1430)
Alianor Arundel
Katherine Browne
Richard Sackville
Richard Sackville
Anne Sackville
Henry Shelley
Richard Shelley
John Shelley
(Unknown) Shelley
John Shelley
Timothy Shelley (b. 1700)
Byssche Shelley (1731-1815)
Timothy Shelley (1753-1844)
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Edward married Elizabeth Burghersh before 2 Aug 1354. Elizabeth (daughter of Bartholomew de Burghersh and Cecily de Weyland) was born in 1342; died on 26 Jul 1409; was buried in Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 26 Jul 1409

Notes:

Slain at the Battle of Morlaix.

Edward married Anne de Ferrers on 20 Apr 1335 in Groby in Ratby, Leicestershire, England. Anne (daughter of William de Ferrers and (Unknown) de Segrave) died on 8 Aug 1367. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1323, of Ewyas Lacy, Herefordshire, England

Notes:

Steward and Constable of Wallingford and St. Valery. Justiciar of Chester. One of the most distinguished warriors of his age.

From Wikipedia:

His recorded career begins in 1339, when he accompanied Edward III in his expedition to Flanders and took part in the first invasion of French territory. We find his name also as attending the king on his third inglorious and unprofitable campaign in Brittany in 1342-3. In 1346, he was one of the retinue of Edward the Black Prince, then in his fifteenth year, in the Battle of Crécy, and in the following year was present at the siege of Calais, being rewarded for his distinguished services there by a rich wardship. In 1349, he was in the campaign in Gascony.

On the institution of the Order of the Garter in 1350, he was chosen to be one of the first knights companions. In 1354, he fulfilled a religious vow by taking a journey to the Holy Land.

On his return home he joined the Black Prince in the expedition, in 1355. He was one of the most eminent of the commanders of the invading army, and had a leading share in the events of the campaign, especially in the battle of Poitiers, 19 September 1356. A daring exploit of Burghersh is recorded by Froissart shortly before the battle. In company with Sir John Chandos and Sir James Audley, and attended by only four-and-twenty horsemen, he made an excursion from the main body of the army, and, falling on the rear of the French army, took thirty-two knights and gentlemen prisoners. His prowess and skill were again tried about the same time, when, on his return with a small foraging party at Romorantin near Berry, he was attacked from an ambuscade by a much more formidable force, which, however, he managed to keep at bay till relieved by the Black Prince. During this campaign his father, Lord Burghersh, died, and he received livery of his lands as his heir.

In 1359, he again accompanied Edward III on his last and most formidable invasion of France, ending in the decisive treaty of Bretigny, 8 May 1360. He was deputed to aid in the negotiation of this treaty between 'the firstborn sons of the kings of England and France' at Chartres, for which letters of protection were given him. He and his brother commissioners were taken prisoners in violation of the bond, and Edward had to interpose to obtain their liberation. During this campaign Knighton records his successful siege of the castle of Sourmussy in Gascony, in which he appears to have evidenced no common skill.

In 1362, he was appointed one of the commissioners on the state of Ireland. When, in 1364, King John II of France, to make atonement for the Louis I, Duke of Anjou's breach of faith, determined to yield himself back to captivity, to die three months alter his Landing at the Savoy Palace, Burghersh was one of the nobles deputed to receive him at Dover and conduct him by Canterbury to Edward's presence at Eltham. In 1366 he was one of the commissioners sent to Urban V, who had rashly demanded the payment of the arrears of the tribute granted by King John.

Bartholomew married Cecily de Weyland before 10 May 1335. Cecily (daughter of Richard de Weyland and Joan de Ufford) was born about 10 Oct 1318; died after 2 Aug 1354. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1319
• Alternate death: Between Aug 1354 and Aug 1366

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, England
• Alternate death: 29 Nov 1326, Hereford, Herefordshire, England

Notes:

"The Younger". Favorite of Edward II; ultimately convicted of treason. "Outside the city he was stripped and then reclothed with his arms reversed, and he was crowned with stinging nettles. Condemned to death as a traitor, on 24 November 1326 he was drawn on a hurdle to the gallows, and then hanged from a height of 50 feet. Still alive, he was cut down and eviscerated before finally being beheaded. His head was displayed on London Bridge; his quarters were sent to Bristol, Dover, York, and Newcastle. In December 1330 Eleanor de Clare received royal permission to collect her husband's bones and inter them in Tewkesbury Abbey." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Hugh married Eleanor de Clare after 14 Jun 1306 in Westminster, Middlesex, England. Eleanor (daughter of Gilbert de Clare and Joan of Acre) was born in Oct 1292 in Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales; died on 30 Jun 1337. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 23 Nov 1292, Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales

Notes:

"She was imprisoned in the Tower of London, 17 Nov 1326, later released, and had her lands restored to her, 22 Apr 1328. Before 26 Jan 1329 she was abducted from Hanley Castle by Sir William la Zouche who subsequently married her. She was imprisoned again in the Tower, shortly after 5 Feb 1329, and then in Devizes Castle, until after 6 Jan 1330 as a result of accompanying her husband in his siege of her castle of Caerphilly." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

Notes:

He fought at the battle of Falkirk, 22 Jul 1298, and was present at the siege of Caerlaverock Castle in 1300. He was summoned to Parliament by writs, 29 Dec 1299 to 24 Sep 1324.

William married (Unknown) de Segrave. (Unknown) (daughter of John de Segrave and Christian de Plessets) died before 1316. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 9 Feb 1317

Notes:

Possibly named Ellen or Margaret.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Buried: Grey Friars, Smithfield, London, England
• Alternate birth: Bef 1305, of Burghersh, Sussex, England

Notes:

"He joined Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in his rebellion against Edward II and was defeated with him at the battle of Boroughbridge, 16 Mar 1322. A knight banneret in 1341; fought at the battle of Crécy (France, Hundred Years' War), 26 Aug 1346; Chamberlain of the Household and Constable of the Tower of London, 27 June 1355 until his death." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

Bartholomew married Elizabeth de Verdun before 11 Jun 1320. Elizabeth (daughter of Thebaud de Verdun and Maud de Mortimer) was born about 1306; died on 1 May 1360; was buried in Grey Friars, Smithfield, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 30 Oct 1290
• Alternate death: Bef 8 Oct 1319

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Suffolk, circa 1312.

Richard married Joan de Ufford. Joan (daughter of Robert de Ufford and Cecily de Valoines) died before 1331; was buried in Grey Friars, Dunwich, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 10 Apr 1319
• Alternate death: Aft 8 Oct 1319

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1 Mar 1261, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England

Notes:

Earl of Winchester. Called "The Elder", despite being the second of three consecutive Hughs Despenser. Fought at Falkirk, at the siege of Caerlaverock, and at Bannockburn.

"Sir Hugh le Despenser, of Loughborough, Arnesby, Parlington, Ryhall, &c., Wycombe, Compton-Basset and Wootton-Basset, &c., s. and h. [of Sir Hugh le Despenser who d. 4 Aug. 1265], b. 1 Mar. 1260/1. In 28 May 1281 he was given the administration of the lands which his father had forfeited, and had livery of his mother's lands, 8 Aug. 1281, although he was not of age till 1 Mar. following. He had livery of the manor of Martley, co. Worcester, 3 Mar. 1281/2, as h. of his father's first cousin, John le Despenser. He was with the King in Gascony in 1287. Was one of those ordered, 22 Aug. 1288, during the King's absence abroad, to abstain from violations of the peace. Was appointed Constable of Odiham Castle, 12 June 1294. Was appointed an envoy to treat with the King of the Romans, June 1294, with the King of France, 1 Jan. 1295/6, and with the King of France and the King of the Romans, Nov. 1296. He accompanied the King to Scotland in 1296. Was one of the proxies who swore to the treaty with the Count of Flanders, 5 Feb. 1296/7 to 18 Aug. 1307. Received instructions to threaten the Clergy, 21 Mar. 1296/7. One of the King's Council, 1297. Accompanied the King to Flanders in Aug. 1297. He was with the King in Scotland in 1300, 1303, 1304, and 1306. Was appointed an envoy to the Pope, Sep. 1300, to treat of peace with the King of France, 25 Apr. 1302, and an envoy to the Pope, Oct. 1305. In 1305 he was appointed and sworn, in Parl., a commissioner to treat with the Scots. At the Coronation of Edward II, 25 Feb. 1307/8, he was one of the four who carried the table (saccarium) on which were laid the royal robes. Constable of the castles of Devizes and Marlborough, 12 Mar. 1307/8 to 2 Dec. 1308. Constable of the Castle of Strigoil and Keeper of the town of Chepstow, 12 Mar. 1307/8 to 17 July (or 21 Aug.) 1310. Appointed Justice of the forests South of Trent during the King's pleasure, 16 Mar. 1307/8, and for life, 28 Aug. 1309. In the quarrel about Gavastone in 1308 he alone sided with the King against the Barons, who induced the King to promise to dismiss him from Court. He took part in the Baron's letter to the Pope, 6 Aug. 1309. Had licence to crenellate all his dwelling houses throughout the kingdom, 29 Sep. 1311. Keeper of the forests South of Trent, 14 June 1312 to 19 Feb. 1314/5. He was one of the King's deputies in the treaty with the magnates concerning the death of Gavastone, 20 Dec. 1312. Was pardoned for all arrears and debts to the King, 25 Mar. 1313, and accompanied him to Pontoise, 23 May following. He was excluded from the peace that was arranged between the King and the discontented barons in the autumn of 1313. Was at the battle of Bannockburn, 24 June 1314, and accompanied the King in his flight to Dunbar, and thence by sea to Berwick. A few months afterwards the party of the Earl of Lancaster obtained his dismissal from Court, and his removal from the council in Feb. 1314/5. A commission was appointed, 13 July 1315, to hear complaints against his acts of oppression as Keeper of the forests South of Trent. He was in the Scottish Wars in 1317. He was again specially excluded when peace was made with the Earl of Lancaster in Aug. 1318: to avoid the Earl, he is said to have gone "on pilgrimage" to Compostella. Was sent to set in order the affairs of Gascony, 28 Feb. 1319/20, and on missions to the King of France and the Pope in Mar. following. Was appointed Constable of Marlborough Castle, 2 May 1321. He was sum. for Military Service from 14 Mar. (1282/3) 11 Edw. I to 11 May (1322) 15 Edw. II, to attend the King at Shrewsbury, 28 June (1283) 11 Edw. II, to attend the King at Salisbury, 26 Jan. (1296/7) 25 Edw. I, to Councils from 8 Jan. (1308/9) 2 Edw. II to 1 July (1317) 10 Edw. II, and to Parl. from 24 June (1295) 23 Edw. I to 14 Mar. (1321/2) 15 Edw. II, by writs directed Hugoni le Despenser, whereby he is held to have become LORD LE DESPENSER. In May and June 1321 the barons of the Welsh Marches and their adherents ravaged the lands of the younger Despenser in Wales, and those of the elder throughout the country. In Aug. of that year both Despensers were accused in Parl., chiefly on account of the son's misconduct, of many misdeeds, viz., of accroaching to themselves royal power, counselling the King evilly, replacing good ministers by bad ones, &c. Wherefore they were disinherited for ever (19 Aug.), and exiled from the realm, not to return without the assent of the King and Parl. The elder Hugh accordingly retired to the Continent. His lands were taken into the King's hand, 15 Sep. 1321. The sentence on the Despensers was pronounced unlawful at a provincial council of the clergy about 1 Jan. 1321/2. In Mar. following the elder Hugh accompanied the King against the contrariants, and was present at the judgment on the Earl of Lancaster. The proceedings against the Despensers were annulled and cancelled in the Parl. of York, the lands of the elder Hugh being formally restored, 7 May 1322. Three days later, 10 May, the King granted him £20 a year from the issues of co. Hants, to be received nomine et honore comitis Wyntonie, and girded him with the sword as EARL OF WINCHESTER. He accompanied the King in his expedition against the Scots in Aug. 1322. He was appointed Keeper of the forests South of Trent, 27 June 1324, for life. He was sum. for Military Service from 20 Sep. (1322) 16 Edw. II to 1 May (1325) 18 Edw. II, to Councils from 20 Nov. (1323) 17 Edw. II to 20 Feb. (1324/5) 18 Edw. II, and to Parl. from 18 Sep. (1322) 16 Edw. II to 10 Oct. (1325) 19 Edw. II, by writs directed Hugoni le Despenser Comiti Wynton. He m. in or before 1286, without the King's lic. (fine of 2,000 marks, afterwards remitted), Isabel, widow of Sir Patric de Chaurces or Chaworces, of Kidwelly, co. Carmarthen, Somborne, Hants, &c. (who d.s.p.m. shortly before 7 July 1283), and da. of William (de Beauchamp), Earl of Warwick, by Maud, sister and coh. of Sir Richard fitz John, of Shere, Surrey, Fambridge, Essex, &c. [Lord FitzJohn], and 1st da. of Sir John fitz Geoffrey, of Shere and Fambridge. She d. shortly before 30 May 1306. On the King's flight to Wales in Oct. 1326 the Earl was dispatched to defend Bristol, which, however, he at once surrendered on the arrival of the Queen, 26 Oct. Next day he was tried--without being allowed to speak in his own defence--condemned to death as a traitor, and hanged on the common gallows. On his death, 27 Oct. 1326, at the age of 65, all his honours were forfeited, the sentence of 'Exile' passed on him in 1321 being re-affirmed in Parl., 1 Edw. III." [Complete Peerage]

"When the queen landed in England with an armed force in September 1326, she put out a proclamation against the Despensers. On the king's flight to Wales in October 1326, Earl Hugh was dispatched to defend Bristol, which, however, he at once surrendered on the arrival of the Queen. The next day, 27 October 1326, Sir Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, was tried -- without being allowed to speak in his own defence -- condemned to death as a traitor, and hanged on the common gallows, all honors forfeited. His head was sent to Winchester." [Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry]

Hanged in his armor, then beheaded and his body cut into pieces for the dogs.

Hugh married Isabel de Beauchamp between 10 Sep 1285 and 27 Jan 1287. Isabel (daughter of William de Beauchamp and Maud fitz John) died before 30 May 1306. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1299

Notes:

Called "Red Gilbert" and "The Red Earl". Earl of Gloucester. Earl of Hertford. Steward of St. Edmund's Abbey. Held, among many other manors and lordships, the lordship of Glamorgan, one of the most wealthy holdings in the Welsh Marches. Built Caerphilly Castle.

A turbulent figure who fought on both sides of the Second Barons' War of 1263-64, first alongside Simon de Montfort at the battle of Lewes (where according to some accounts he personally took Henry III prisoner), and then on the side of the king, commanding one of the royal divisions at the decisive battle of Evesham where de Montfort was killed.

His subsequent relationships with Henry III and Edward I were complex and fraught. As one of the two or three most powerful non-royal individuals in the realm, he was both a desirable ally and also the very model of the kind of overweening subject that Edward was determined to tame -- and ultimately did.

As a side note, it is worth noting that while de Clare was still allied to the baronial party, he led the massacre of the Jews at Canterbury, which took place while other rebel leaders were conducting similar massacres in London. Ian Stone writes in "The Rebel Barons of 1264 and the Commune of London," quoted here: "The Dunstable annals report rumours that the Jews of London were preparing to betray the citizens: they had Greek fire to burn the city, copies of the keys to the city gates, and subterranean passages to each gate. Such tales were used to excuse an outbreak of looting and murder. One chronicler says that the Jews were suspected of betraying the barons and citizens, and almost all were killed. Another says that the Jewish quarter was pillaged, and any Jews who were caught were stripped, robbed and murdered. Estimates of the number killed range from 200 to 500, with the remainder forcibly converted or imprisoned (or, looking at it another way, the rest were saved by the justices and the mayor, who sent them to the Tower for protection). The chronicler Wykes, who tended to be less favourable to the baronial party, singled out the baronial leader John fitz John, who was said to have killed the leading Jew, Kok son of Abraham, with his own hands, and seized his treasure. Fitz John was then forced to share the proceeds with Simon de Montfort. It is possible that de Montfort was taking the Jewish treasure, not to enrich himself, but to finance his forces. At the same time, the cash of Italian and French merchants, deposited in religious houses around London, was also seized and taken to the city."

Gilbert married Joan of Acre in May 1290 in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex, England. Joan (daughter of Edward I, King of England and Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of England) was born in 1272 in Acre, Palestine; died on 23 Apr 1307 in Clare, Suffolk, England; was buried in Austin Friars, Clare, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 7 Apr 1307
• Alternate death: 28 Apr 1307, Clare, Suffolk, England

Notes:

Also called Joan of England.

"The agreement for Joan's marriage to Gilbert de Clare, earl of Hertford and Gloucester, was made in 1283. Gilbert and his first wife, Alice de la Marche, had had only two daughters; this marriage was dissolved in 1285, and a papal dispensation for the marriage to Joan was obtained four years later. Gilbert surrendered all his lands to the king, and they were settled jointly on Gilbert and Joan for their lives, and were then to pass to their children; if however the marriage was childless, the lands were to pass to Joan's children by any later marriage. The wedding took place at Westminster in early May 1290." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Because of this agreement, Joan remained in control of the estates following Gilbert's death in 1295. Her father intended for her to marry Amadeus V of Savoy, but instead she secretly married Ralph de Monthermer, a squire of Earl Gilbert's household whom she had previously persuaded her father to knight. "She is reputed to have said 'It is not ignominious or shameful for a great and powerful earl to marry a poor and weak woman; in the reverse case it is neither reprehensible or difficult for a countess to promote a vigorous young man.'" [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] Her enraged father slapped de Monthermer into prison and seized all of Joan's lands, but through the mediation of Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, father and daughter were reconciled and her estates restored to her. Subsequently the king "became much attached to his new son-in-law, who was summoned to Parliament as Earl of Gloucester and Hertford during the minority of his step-son Gilbert de Clare." [Royal Ancestry] De Monthermer went on to serve in a variety of offices and military roles.

Notes:

Royal Ancestry gives the date of their marriage as 23 April 1290; Complete Peerage as 30 April; the ODNB as "early May."

Notes:

He was never married to an Anne (or a Joan) Despenser, as widely reported in 19th- and 20th-century secondary sources.

William married Anne Durward in 1270. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1256, of Segrave, Leicestershire, England

Notes:

Justice of the Forest beyond Trent; King's Lieutenant (or Keeper) of Scotland.

"A knight in Aug 1282; served in Wales, 1285, in Ireland, 1287, and in Scotland in 1291 and 1297-1322. He was a principal commander at the victorious battle of Falkirk, 22 July 1298; was at the siege of Caerlaverock, July 1300, being then a knight banneret, and was captured by the Scots following the English defeat at Bannockburn, 24 June 1314 and released following a year of captivity. Appointed Warden of Scotland, 10 Mar 1309 and again, 10 Apr 1310." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

John married Christian de Plessets in 1270. Christian (daughter of Hugh de Plessets) died after 8 May 1331. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called de Plescy, de Plessy, de Plessis.

Notes:

Constable of Dover Castle. Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1299 to his death. Summoned to Parliament by writs from 12 Nov 1303 to 13 Jul 1305.

Robert married Maud de Badlesmere. Maud (daughter of Guncelin de Badlesmere) died after 2 Jan 1306. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Fought at Falkirk. Justiciar of Ireland, 30 Apr 1313 - Jan 1315. He was summoned to Parliament by writs from 29 Dec 1299 to 16 Oct 1315.

Thebaud married Maud de Mortimer on 29 Jul 1302 in Wigmore, Herefordshire, England. Maud (daughter of Edmund de Mortimer and Margaret de Fiennes) died on 17 Sep 1312 in Alton, Staffordshire, England; was buried in Croxden Abbey, Staffordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 18 Sep 1312, Alton, Staffordshire, England

Notes:

"A knight by 4 Sept 1297. Fought in Scotland 1297, 1298 and 1301; went to the Court of Rome for the King 1298." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz]

John married Mary before 1289. Mary died after Oct 1312. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 12 Dec 1312

Notes:

Ravilious makes her a daughter of Richard de Braose of Stinton, Norfolk (d. bef. 1292) and Alice de Rus. Richardson does not show her among the children of that couple.

Notes:

1st Lord Ufford. Summoned to Parliament by writ, 4 Mar 1309 to 19 Dec 1311.

Robert married Cecily de Valoines before 1298. Cecily (daughter of Robert de Valoines and Eve) was born in 1281; died on 16 Jul 1325. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1326

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1224, of Ryhall, Rutland, England

Notes:

"Sir Hugh le Despenser of Loughborough, Burton, Hugglescote, Freeby, and Arnesby, co. Leicester, Parlington and Hilliam, co. York, Sibsey and Aukborough, co. Lincoln, Ryhall and Belmesthorp, Rutland, s. and h. of Sir Hugh le Despenser, of the same (who d. between 23 Feb. and 30 May 1238). He was b. in or before 1223. Had respite of knighthood, 11 July 1244. On 7 Nov. 1255 he was appointed Constable of Horston Castle for five years from the preceding Michaelmas. In Apr. 1257 he accompanied Richard, Earl of Cornwall, to Aachen, for the latter's coronation, on 17 May, as King of the Romans. At the Parl. of Oxford, in Jun 1258, he was one of the twelve elected by the Barons to redress grievances, and also one of the twelve elected to treat with the King's Council in Parl. Appointed Justiciar of England, 25 Oct. 1260, being the nominee of the Barons: he was deprived of his office by the King, May or June 1261. Attended Montfort's Parl. at Oxford in Apr. 1263. Appointed Justiciar of England and Constable of the Tower of London, about 15 July 1263, by the Barons, with the assent of the King. In Mar. 1264, when Constable of the Tower, he led the rioters who sacked the mansion at Isleworth of the King of the Romans. Was at the battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264. Appointed, by the counsel of the Barons, Constable of the Castles of Devizes and Oxford, 12 July, of Orford Castle, 18 July, and of Nottingham Castle, 15 Dec. 1264. Was appointed an arbiter to consider the peace between the King and the Barons, 11 Sep. 1264. He was sum. for Military Service against the Welsh, 14 Mar. (1257/8) 42 Hen. III and 25 May (1263) 47 Hen. III, by writs directed Hugoni le Despenser Justic' Anglie. He was appointed an arbiter between the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester in May 1265. He m., in or before 1260, Aline, da. and h. of Sir Philip Basset, of Wycombe, Bucks, Compton-Bassett and Wootton-Basset, Wilts, &c., Justiciar of England, by his 1st wife, Hawise, da. of Sir Matthew de Lovaine, of Little Easton, Essex. He joined the Earl of Leicester in his last campaign, and with him was slain at the battle of Evesham, 4 Aug. 1265. He was bur. in Evesham Abbey." [Complete Peerage IV:259.]

Hugh married Aline Basset before 1261. Aline (daughter of Philip Basset and Hawise de Hastings) was born about 1240 in of Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England; died before 11 Apr 1281. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1241 and 1249
• Alternate birth: 1245

Notes:

Also called Aliva.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1240, of Elmley, Worcestershire, England
• Alternate death: 5 Jun 1298, Elmley, Worcestershire, England
• Alternate death: 9 Jun 1298, Elmley, Worcestershire, England

Notes:

Earl of Warwick. Hereditary Chamberlain of the Exchequer, an office he inherited from the Mauduit family. Hereditary Sheriff of Worcestershire.

William married Maud fitz John before 1270. Maud (daughter of John fitz Geoffrey and Isabel le Bigod) died on 16 Apr 1301; was buried on 7 May 1301 in Friars Minor, Worcester, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 18 Apr 1301

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 15 Jul 1262, Ashenfield, Waltham, Kent, England

Notes:

Earl of Gloucester; Earl of Hertford; High Marshal and Chief Butler to the Archbishop of Canterbury; Privy Councillor 1255, 1258; Warden of the Isle of Portland, Weymouth, and Wyke, 1257.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Richard de Clare was a minor at the time of his father's death, and heir to one of the greatest collections of estates and lordships in all of England and Wales. His wardship and marriage were thus matters of the keenest interest to the politically powerful and ambitious of the day. The justiciar Hubert de Burgh, using his position in the government of Henry III, managed to have custody of Richard assigned to himself. On Hubert's fall from power in 1232, the king transferred custody of both Richard and his lands to the new royal favourites, Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, and his nephew Peter des Rivaux. Hubert de Burgh's wife, in an apparent effort to rescue the family fortunes, secretly married Richard de Clare to her daughter Margaret; but the marriage was apparently never consummated, and was in any event mooted by Margaret's death in 1237. In the meantime both Peter des Roches and Peter des Rivaux had themselves fallen from power in 1234, and thereafter King Henry kept the wardship in his own hands, although allowing custody of at least some of the Clare lands to be secured by Richard de Clare's uncle Gilbert Marshal, earl of Pembroke. During this time the king began searching for a suitable marriage. A proposed arrangement with the great French comital family, the Lusignans, fell through, and in 1238 Richard de Clare was married to Maud, daughter of John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln. The prime mover in the marriage negotiations seems to have been the king's brother, Richard of Cornwall, who was Richard de Clare's stepfather, having married the widowed Isabel Marshal in 1231. Notwithstanding his marriage Clare remained the ward of the king until 1243, when he came of age and received both official seisin of his inheritance and formal dubbing to knighthood.

The complexities, intricacies, and rivalries involved in the story of Richard de Clare's wardship are an excellent case study of the stakes and resources at issue when contemplating the lives of the upper aristocracy in the thirteenth century. A connection to Richard de Clare was a prize well worth pursuing at full tilt. His inheritance was vast. [...] Richard de Clare was, by every criterion--annual income (close to £4000), knight's fees (nearly 500), and both the sheer number of and the strategic location of his estates and lordships--easily the richest and potentially the most powerful baron, next to the members of the immediate royal family, in the British Isles (excluding Scotland) as a whole.

From Wikipedia:

He joined in the Barons' letter to the Pope in 1246 against the exactions of the Curia in England. He was among those in opposition to the King's half-brothers, who in 1247 visited England, where they were very unpopular, but afterwards he was reconciled to them.

In August 1252/3 the King crossed over to Gascony with his army, and to his great indignation the Earl refused to accompany him and went to Ireland instead. In August 1255 he and John Maunsel were sent to Edinburgh by the King to find out the truth regarding reports which had reached the King that his son-in-law, Alexander III, King of Scotland, was being coerced by Robert de Roos and John Balliol. If possible, they were to bring the young King and Queen to him. The Earl and his companion, pretending to be two of Roos's knights, obtained entry to Edinburgh Castle, and gradually introduced their attendants, so that they had a force sufficient for their defense. They gained access to the Scottish Queen, who made her complaints to them that she and her husband had been kept apart. They threatened Roos with dire punishments, so that he promised to go to the King.

Meanwhile the Scottish magnates, indignant at their Castle of Edinburgh's being in English hands, proposed to besiege it, but they desisted when they found they would be besieging their King and Queen. The King of Scotland apparently traveled South with the Earl, for on 24 September they were with King Henry III at Newminster, Northumberland."

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In July 1258 Richard de Clare and his brother William both fell ill. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes contemporary reports that this was due to an attempted poisoning, "supposedly instigated by King Henry's uncle, William de Valence, earl of Pembroke, in retaliation for Clare's support of the baronial reform movement; and Valence's purported agent in the plot, Clare's seneschal, Walter de Scoteny, was tried and hanged." William died, but Richard survived with the loss of his hair and nails. In 1259 Richard was appointed chief ambassador to the Duke of Brittany, presumably in hopes of frightening the duke by sending a hairless, nailless creature to his court. Three years later, Richard died at Ashenfield, Waltham, Kent, on the 15th, the 16th, or the 22nd of July 1262. It was again bruited about that he had been poisoned, this time by the Queen's uncle Peter of Savoy, but the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, noting that "the annals of Tewkesbury Abbey are the single most valuable literary source for the reconstruction of [de Clare] family history for this period", points out that "the silence of the Tewkesbury account on this point strongly indicates that such rumours were unfounded."

In a perfectly medieval series of postmortem events, Richard de Clare's body was borne to the Cathedral Church of Christ at Canterbury, where his entrails were buried before the altar of St. Edward the Confessor; it was then taken to the Collegiate Church of Tonbridge, Kent, where his heart was buried; finally, what remained of his body was taken to Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire where it was buried in the choir at his father's right hand.

Richard married Maud de Lacy about 25 Jan 1238. Maud (daughter of John de Lacy and Margaret de Quincy) died before 10 Mar 1289. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1288 and 1289
• Alternate death: Aft 1288

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 18 Jun 1239, Westminster Palace, Westminster, Middlesex, England
• Alternate death: 8 Jul 1307, Burgh-by-Sands, Carlisle, Cumberland, England

Notes:

Edward Longshanks, Hammer of the Scots, conqueror of Wales. Although he is acclaimed for his many administrative accomplishments and for establishing Parliament as a permanent institution, he also expelled the Jews from England; significant numbers of them returned only 350 years later. He was tall (6' 4"), personally intimidating, and rigid in personal morality, in marked contrast to most earlier post-Conquest English rulers.

Edward married Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of England on 18 Oct 1254 in Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castile, Spain. Eleanor (daughter of St. Fernando III, King Of Castile, León, Galicia, Toledo, Córdoba, Jaén, and Seville and Jeanne de Dammartin) was born in 1240; died on 28 Nov 1290 in Hardby, Nottinghamshire, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1241, Burgos, Castile, Spain
• Alternate birth: Abt 1241

Notes:

Countess of Ponthieu.

Eleanor of Castile, first wife of Edward I, was a daughter of Ferdinand III, King of Castile, Leon, and Galicia, and the French noblewoman Jeanne de Dammartin, suo jure Countess of Ponthieu. Although her marriage (in 1254) to then-prince Edward was a political match designed to affirm English control of Gascony, the couple were unusually close; she even accompanied Edward on the Fourth Crusade, where he was wounded at Acre in Palestine. She was notably well-educated and maintained her own scriptorium, the only one in northern Europe at the time. Her preference for Spanish-style home decorations, kitchen utensils, and personal comforts had a great influence on English domestic life. She brought a considerable personal fortune to her marriage, and increased it all her life through shrewd purchases of lands and manors. Although this had a negative effect on her personal popularity, her husband always encouraged her in it.

Her heart was buried in the Dominican priory of Blackfriars in London, along with that of her son Alphonso. Her entrails were buried in Lincoln Cathedral.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 28 Mar 1254, Evington, Leicestershire, England

Notes:

Earl of Derby. Constable of Bolsover Castle. He died of injuries sustained when he was thrown from a chariot crossing a bridge at St. Neots in Cambridgeshire.

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So to start with, Sir William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby, born 1193, helpfully had two daughters named Agnes de Ferrers.

The first Agnes de Ferrers, by Sir William's first wife Sybil Marshal, was born about 1222 and married William de Vescy (b. bef. 16 May 1205).

The second Agnes de Ferrers, by Sir William's second wife Margaret de Quincy, was born about 1252 and married Sir Robert de Muscegros (b. abt. 1252).

But that's not all!

Sir William also had two daughters named Joan de Ferrers.

Again (you're starting to get the idea by now), the first Joan de Ferrers, by Sir William's first wife Sybil Marshal, was born about 1233 and married, first Sir John de Mohun (b. abt. 1227, d. bef. 1254), and second, Sir Robert de Aguillon (b. 15 Feb 1235/36).

The second Joan de Ferrers, by Sir William's second wife Margaret de Quincy, was born in 1245 and married Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (b. 1245).

This second pair of Joans is made even more hilarious by the existence of yet a third Joan de Ferrers, contemporary to the other two, born abt. 1256 to a completely different William de Ferrers, the one born c. 1225, of Bere Ferrers, Tavistock, Devon.

I'm sure they all got together regularly to laugh about how aggravating this would be to people seven hundred years in the future.

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As a final piece of genealogical curiosa, Eleanor de Ferrers, youngest daughter of William de Ferrers by his first wife, married Roger de Quincy, father of William de Ferrers' second wife Roger de Quincy, thus rendering Eleanor de Ferrers and Margaret de Quincy one another's stepmothers.

William married Margaret de Quincy before 1239. Margaret (daughter of Roger de Quincy and Helen of Galloway) was born before 1223; died before 12 Mar 1281. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1294

Notes:

Usher of the King of Scots. Sometime Earl of Athol, 1233-35. Styled Justiciar of Scotland at various points between 1243 and 1255.

In 1251 he was suspected of seeking his wife's legitimization so that she could be heiress to the throne of Scotland. In 1253 he accompanied Henry III of England on his expedition to Guienne. In 1255 he was one of the guardians of Alexander III during the king's minority.

In 1264, acting on the king's orders, he and the earls of Buchan attacked the western islands of Scotland, specifically to punish those who had urged King Haakon IV of Norway to invade Scotland. They killed some, expelled others, and returned with a great deal of plunder.

Alan married Marjory of Scotland before 4 Jul 1251. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 17 Dec 1238, of Seagrave, Leicestershire, England
• Alternate death: 12 Nov 1295

Notes:

From Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell (citation details below):

On 28 March 1259 he was recorded as going on a pilgrimage to Pontigny, and on 28 Oct 1259 he crossed with the king to France. On 16 Sep 1261 he was at Windsor to swear he would never oppose the king, but in May 1262 he did so in Parliament. In July 1263 he joined the king in Worcester, where he was knighted on 1 Aug before going with the king to Wales. He was at the siege of Rochester with the Earl of Gloucester, Henry de Hastings and others in April 1264, and commanded the Londoners at the battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264.

On 4 Aug 1265 he was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Evesham, and on 25 Oct. his lands were granted to Edmund, the king's son, but on 28 April 1266 he was coming to the king’s court to make peace. On 1 July 1267 he was pardoned, and on 12 May 1270 he was going to the Holy Land with the king and Prince Edward. He was summoned to serve in Wales in 1276, 1277, 1282 and 1283, and on 28 June 1283 was summoned to Shrewsbury to treat with Dafydd ap Gruffudd. He served on various commissions from 1290 to 1294, and was summoned to Parliament at Westminster on 24 June 1295.

Notes:

Also called de Plescy, de Plessy, de Plessis.

Notes:

Or Gunselm. Justice of Chester and Cheshire, 16 Oct 1274 to 1281. Custodian of Chester Castle.

His wife is frequently given as Joan Fitzbernard, daughter of Ralph Fitzbernard of Kingsdown, Kent, probably due to the statement to that effect in CP I, p. 372. However, CP V (p. 403, note b) states "Nor is anything known about the wife of Guncelin, father of Bartholomew de Badelesmere." CP XIV, p. 57, correcting volume I, notes the latter passage.

Notes:

He was summoned to Parliament by writs from 24 Jun 1295 to 11 Jun 1309. Styled himself constable of Ireland, 1282-84.

Thebaud married Margery de Bohun before 6 Nov 1276. Margery (daughter of Humphrey de Bohun and Maud of Avenbury) died between 1280 and 1304. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She has long been widely held to be a daughter of the Humphrey de Bohun who died in 1265, in the lifetime of his father, and who as a result never held the earlship of Hereford possessed by both his father and his son.

In a 2 Dec 2020 post to soc.genealogy.medieval, Peter Stewart argued that she may instead have been a daughter of that Humphrey's father, the Humphrey de Bohun who d. 1275, by his second wife, Maud of Avenbury.

In a 3 Dec 2020 post, Douglas Richardson defended her placement as a daughter of the Humphrey de Bohun who d.s.p. in 1265.

In subsequent posts in the thread, Peter Stewart defended his position, in particular making the point that if this Margery de Bohun had been a daughter of Humphrey de Bohun who d. 1265 and his (only) wife Eleanor de Briouze, her son Thebaud de Verdun's 1302 marriage to his first wife Maud de Mortimer, which produced issue, would have been a marriage of second cousins, both of them being great-grandchildren of William de Briouze and Eve Marshal.

No record exists of a dispensation for this Verdun-Mortimer marriage in the 4-volume published records of the pope of that time, Boniface VIII. Stewart pointed out that Boniface is known to have believed that dispensations from consanguinity rules should only be given for reasons such as the general good of the realm, and that the Verduns and Mortimers were "not in a league where this sort of reason could be proposed." As Stewart pointed out, "Defiance of canon law was not undertaken lightly in that era. The upside of trying, at the Verdun-Mortimer stratum of rank and power anyway, was hardly worth the very foreseeable downside."

This, combined with the chronological problems which are resolved by placing this Margary as a daughter of the older Humphrey de Bohun by his second wife, convinces us that this is likelier to be the correct solution.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1252
• Alternate birth: 1255, of Wigmore, Herefordshire, England
• Alternate death: Aft 17 Jul 1304, near Cilmiri, Powyth, Wales

Notes:

Mortally wounded at the Battle of Builth. "Intended for a church career, he was Treasurer of York 1265-1270. He commanded the troops that slew Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, at Buelt 1282, he not yet being a knight." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

Edmund married Margaret de Fiennes before 12 Dec 1285. Margaret (daughter of Guillaume de Fiennes and Blanche de Brienne) died on 7 Feb 1344. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1333 and 1344

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Blaxhall, Suffolk, England
• Alternate death: Aft 1291, Paris, France

Notes:

"A justice of the common pleas in Essex and Hertfordshire 1272; a knight in May 1276; Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1278-1288 when he was removed. Ordered to be imprisoned in the Tower of London, Feb 1290, and to be granted to him his life and limbs if he will confess his felony and abjure the realm." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz]

Sources differ over whether he died in exile. He appears to have been among the Parisian experts consulted in 1292 by a representative of Edward I on the question of the Scottish succession. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says that he was ultimately pardoned by Edward, probably in 1297, and allowed to return home.

Thomas married Ann de Coleville before 1267. Ann (daughter of Richard de Coleville) died before 1276. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From Complete Peerage:

ROBERT DE UFFORD (b) had interests in Ufford, Suffolk, by (1255-6) 40 Hen. III, when he levied a fine of the advowson there to Gilbert Pecche. He was in Wales with Edward, the King's son, Oct. 1257, was going with him beyond seas, July 1261, and was with him at Boulogne-sur-Mer, Jan. 1263/4. Having gone to Ireland on the Prince's affairs, Sep. 1268, he was made Justiciary there, 1268-69, and again 17 June 1276-Nov. 1281, when he was replaced, being "so affected by infirmity that he cannot attend to the office." He was granted the custody of the town and castle of Orford, Suffolk, 15 May 1275 - May 1276, and again for life, 28 Dec. 1280; was Justice of Chester, before Oct. 1276; had a protection for 3 years, staying in England, 7 Dec. 1282; and he and his heirs received a grant of a weekly market and yearly fair at Bawdsey, Suffolk, 28 Aug. 1283. On 7 May 1290 he was allowed to appoint attorneys, being too old to ride, and again on 30 Dec. 1296, by reason of his debility; but he was a Commissioner to keep the sea-coast near Dunwich, 30 Aug. 1295. He married, 1stly, before 12 May 1273, Mary, widow of William DE SAY (died shortly before 12 Feb. 1271/2). She was living, 10 Aug. 1280. He married, 2ndly, before 1286-87, Joan. He died shortly before 9 Sep. 1298. His widow was living, 18 Nov. 1307. [Complete Peerage XII/2:148-9]

(b) In his collections for Suffolk genealogies, Sir Simonds d'Ewes says that Robert de Ufford was, "uti colligo", 2nd son of John de Peyton, son of Nigel, who lived in the reign of Henry I; but there is no evidence among the charters which he there transcribes from the documents then (Dec. 1631) penes Sir Edward Peyton, Knight and Barinet, at Isleham, Cambs, and no evidence has been traced elsewhere; nor is the chronology easily reconcilable with the known facts. Robert de Ufford is known to have had a brother John, who was h. in July 1276. A John de Ufford had letters of protection for 3 years, 7 Nov. 1280, proceeding by the King's license, to Ireland, and letters of safe conduct, 14 Mar. 1282/3 and 30 Aug. 1284, to go to the Court of Rome. Royal assent was given to his election as Bishop of Enachdune, a disputed Irish see, 16 Mar 1282/3, but he d. "prosecuting his right" thereto before 1300. Another man (? other men) of this name (fl. 1302-25) is described with John, brother of Robert, in Knights of Edward I.

Robert married Mary before 12 May 1273. Mary died between 10 Aug 1280 and 1287. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 10 Aug 1280

Robert married Eve. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was previously married to Nicholas Tregoz (d. 1279). CP says she is "commonly described as Eva Criketot, presumably of the family of Criketot in Ousden, Suffolk."