Wymarca

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1238

Family/Spouse: Oliver de Campo Ernulfi. Oliver (son of Henry de Chambernon and Rohese de Tracy) was born in of Ilfracombe, Barnstaple, Devon, England; died before 1232. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft Jul 1281

Notes:

Also called Henry de Chambernun.

Henry married Dionisia English before Jun 1249. Dionisia (daughter of Gilbert English) died after Mar 1284. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 21 Feb 1305
• Alternate death: Between 1319 and 1320

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Cornwall, Nov 1295; and for Devon, May 1298.

Family/Spouse: Joan de Ferrers. Joan (daughter of William de Ferrers and Matilda) was born in of Bere Ferrers, Tavistock, Devon, England; died after Nov 1309. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Modbury, Devon, England

Richard married Joan de Cornwall before 1281. Joan (daughter of Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans and Joan) was born about 1262; died about 1316. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1271 and 1273
• Alternate birth: Abt 1274, of Ilfracombe, Barnstaple, Devon, England
• Alternate death: 1330

Notes:

Or Campernon; or Champernoun.

Knight of the shire for Devon, April 1309; for Cornwall and Devon, Aug and Nov 1311.

From Pedigrees from the Plea Rolls (citation details below):

Family/Spouse: Joan Bodrugan. Joan (daughter of Henry de Bodrugan and Sybil de Mandeville) was born before 1290; died after 1331. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1284, of Modbury, Devon, England

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Devon, Oct 1324 and Sep 1331. He fought at Boroughbridge.

Douglas Richardson, 22 Mar 2021, post to SGM (citation details below):

Pole in his book, Collections towards a Description of Devon (1791): 309–310 states in error that Sir Richard de Champernoun, Knt., of Modbury, Devon [died 1338] married "Elisabeth, da. & on [of] the heires of Hugh de Valletort, of Tawton."

Contemporary records prove that Richard actually married after 25 Dec. 1312 (date of presentation) and before 1317 (date of assize) Lucy le Bret, widow of Hugh de Valletort (Hugh was living 10 February 1309/10).

Moreover, it appears that Elizabeth de Valletort may not even have existed. Recent research shows that by a deed dated 1316, Hugh de Courtenay granted Lady Margaret de Dynham the wardship of Beatrix and Gilda, daughters and heiresses of Hugh de Valletort, together with their marriage. Reference: Oliver, Ecclesiastical Antiquities in Devon (1840): Addenda, 19.

Elsewhere I've shown that Hugh de Valletort and Lucy le Bret were married before Hillary term 1301 (date of lawsuit). As such, I presume that Lucy le Bret was the mother of Hugh's two surviving minor daughters and coheirs, Beatrix and Gilda de Valletort.

Richard married Lucia le Bret between 25 Dec 1312 and 1317. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Nicholas de Bonville. Nicholas (son of Nicholas de Bonville and Hawise de Shute) was born about 1293 in of Shute, Devon, England; died about 1354. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 12 Nov 1387

Notes:

Sheriff of Devon in 1362-63 and 1367-68. Escheator for Devon, 1369-71.

Family/Spouse: Eleanor Rohaut. Eleanor (daughter of Roger Rohaut and Eleanor Lovel) died before Apr 1369 in year only.. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1340, of Shute, Devon, England
• Alternate death: 14 Feb 1408

Notes:

"[A]mong the most prominent west-country gentry in the late fourteenth century, serving as MP for Devon and Somerset on ten and seven occasions respectively, and receiving a large number of local offices and commissions. He was a liveried retainer of the leading regional magnate, Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon, a close political and family bond that was destined to be violently sundered in the mid-fifteenth century." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry on his namesake grandson]

According to the History of Parliament: MP for Somerset, 1366; Devon, 1371, 1376, 1378, 1379, Nov 1380, 1381, May 1382, Oct 1382; Somerset Oct 1383, Apr 1384; Devon Apr 1384; Somerset Nov 1384, 1386, Feb 1388, 1393, 1395; Devon Jan 1397, Sep 1397; Somerset 1399; Devon 1402. He was also elected for Devon in Oct 1377 but was on active service overseas, so his seat was taken by Thomas Pomeroy. Not counting this last, this comes to twelve times for Devon and nine times for Somerset.

Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset 1 Nov 1381 - 24 Nov 1382; of Devon, 15 Nov 1389 - 7 Nov 1390.

"The Bonvilles, of French origin, established themselves in Devon shortly after the Conquest and by the end of the 14th century their wealth and standing in the county had become second only to that of the Courtenays. The antagonism between the heads of the respective families in the mid 15th century, which expressed itself on the battlefields of the Wars of the Roses and ended in the extinction of the main Bonville line, was exacerbated if not caused by jealousy of the material prosperity of the Bonvilles, for which Sir William himself was largely responsible. At his death in 1408 he was holding some 40 manors, and extensive lands and rents, in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, providing his grandson and heir with an income sufficient to justify his elevation to the House of Lords. Such material assets led Sir William into wide fields of public service and military enterprise. In 1369 he served under the duke of Lancaster at Caux and later at Boulogne, and in October 1377 he was again absent overseas and unable to take his seat in Parliament. His military career, however, was only an interlude in a remarkably active political life: beginning in 1366, Bonville sat, either for Devon or Somerset, in 20 out of the 33 Parliaments convened in the next 36 years. His position in the West Country, if not already evident from this near monopoly, may be gauged by the frequency of his appointments to royal commissions, some of which were of major importance." [History of Parliament]

William married Margaret d'Aumarle before 1365. Margaret (daughter of William d'Aumarle and Agnes) was born about 1347 in of Woodbury, St. Thomas, Devon, England; died on 25 May 1399. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Alice before 6 Jun 1402. Alice died on 27 Mar 1426; was buried in Newenham Abbey, Devon, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Modbury, Devon, England
• Alternate death: Aft 26 Feb 1419

Notes:

"On the Sunday following his baptism, his great-grandfather and godfather, Sir Richard Lovel, held a feast at la Mersh, by Wyncaulton for all who attended to bear witness to this event. He was a knight by 27 May 1379 and served as Sheriff of Devonshire 1368-69, 1381-82, and 1387-88." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below]

Richard Champernoun was the direct ancestor of several well-known adventurer-explorers.

Ancestor of Sir Walter Ralegh:

Richard Champernoun (d. 1419) = Alice Astley
Joan Champernoun (d. 1419) = John Courtenay (d. <1406)
Philip Courtenay (1404-1476) = Elizabeth Hungerford (d. 1476)
Philip Courtenay (1430-1489) = Elizabeth Wonwell (1432-1482)
Margaret Courtenay (d. 1527) = John Champernowne (1458-1503)
Philip Champernowne (d. 1545) = Catherine Carew (d. 1546)
Katherine Champernowne (d. 1594) = Walter Ralegh (1505-1581)
Sir Walter Ralegh (1554-1618)

And of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a man loathsome even by the standards of imperialist chancers:

Richard Champernoun (d. 1419) = Alice Astley
Joan Champernoun (d. 1419) = John Courtenay (d. <1406)
Philip Courtenay (1404-1476) = Elizabeth Hungerford (d. 1476)
Philip Courtenay (1430-1489) = Elizabeth Wonwell (1432-1482)
Margaret Courtenay (d. 1527) = John Champernowne (1458-1503)
Philip Champernowne (d. 1545) = Catherine Carew (d. 1546)
Katherine Champernowne (d. 1594) = Otho Gilbert (d. 1547)
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1537-1583)

And ancestor of Francis Champernowne and his father Arthur Champernowne, both of whom were associates of Sir Ferdinando Gorges in his early efforts to settle and develop the coasts of what are now Massachusetts and Maine. Gorges was married to Mary Fulford, sister of Arthur Champernowne's wife Bridget Fulford. Francis settled permanently in Massachusetts in 1637.

Richard Champernoun (d. 1419) = Alice Astley
Joan Champernoun (d. 1419) = John Courtenay (d. <1406)
Philip Courtenay (1404-1476) = Elizabeth Hungerford (d. 1476)
Philip Courtenay (1430-1489) = Elizabeth Wonwell (1432-1482)
Margaret Courtenay (d. 1527) = John Champernowne (1458-1503)
Philip Champernowne (d. 1545) = Catherine Carew (d. 1546)
Arthur Champernowne (1524-1578) = Mary Norreys (d. 1570)
Gawen Champernowne (1554-1591) = Roberta d'Orge
Arthur Champernowne (1580-1650) = Bridget Fulford
Francis Champernowne (1614-1687)

It's notable that the Champernoun family was rich, and rich for a long time. In the direct male line, the earliest known individual, Jordan de Cambernon (d. >1172), married a granddaughter of Henry I. His 3XG-grandson Richard de Champernoun married a granddaughter of King John. So why did Arthur Champernowne and his son Francis involve themselves in the risky, high-stakes business of financing fishing colonies in Newfoundland and on the coast of Maine? The answer is, because their line of Champernowns had lost all their money.

Arthur's maternal grandfather, remarkably, was Gabriel d'Orge, count of Montgomery, who at a joust in 1559 accidentally killed Henri II, king of France. Despite the dying king's forgiveness, so traumatized was the count by this -- and so immediate and complete was his exclusion from French courtly society -- that in due course he converted to Protestantism and became a leader of the Huguenots. He was one of the few Huguenots to escape the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, from which he fled to England. The queen mother, Catherine de Medici, demanded his extradition, which Elizabeth I refused. In 1573, d'Orge raised a fleet in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the siege of La Rochelle. The next year, he tried to raise an insurrection in Normandy but was captured and executed. Just before his execution he was told that all his property and that of his children would be confiscated and all their titles stripped.

(All of which sounds remarkably like a Dumas novel, and in fact a novel about Gabriel, The Two Dianas (1846-47) was published with Dumas' name on it, albeit mostly or entirely written by his friend and collaborator Paul Meurice.)

The count's daughter Roberta had married the Devon squire Gawen Champernowne, father of Arthur, and Gawen had become a close ally of the count. Now their branch of the family was substantially penniless. It's little wonder that Arthur and Francis looked to the potential riches of the New World, despite the risks involved.

Richard married Alice Astley about 25 Apr 1369. Alice (daughter of Thomas de Astley and Elizabeth de Beauchamp) died before 1394. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Katherine Daubeney before 13 Aug 1394. Katherine (daughter of Giles Daubeney and Eleanor de Wilington) was born in of South Ingleby, Lincolnshire, England; died before 1419; was buried in Dodbrooke, Devon, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Thomas Carew before 1395. Thomas (son of Leonard de Carew and Elizabeth Arundel) was born about 1368 in of Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died on 25 Jan 1431. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Elizabeth Fitz Roger before 18 Oct 1377. Elizabeth (daughter of John Fitz Roger and Alice) was born on 15 Aug 1370 in of Chewton, Somerset, England; died on 15 Apr 1414. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joan married John Courtenay about 1403. John (son of Philip Courtenay and Anne Wake) was born in of Powderham, Exminster, Devon, England; died before 1415. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1382

Alexander married Joan Ferrers before Nov 1384. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Margaret Hamley. Margaret (daughter of Arthur Hamley and Isabel) was born in 1409 in of Halwyn in St. Issey, Cornwall, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Isabel Bonville. Isabel (daughter of John Bonville and Elizabeth Fitz Roger) died after 5 Feb 1421. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joan Courtenay. Joan (daughter of Hugh Courtenay and Philippe l'Arcedekne) died before 3 Aug 1465. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Richard Champernoun. Richard (son of Richard Champernoun and Katherine Daubeney) was born in of Modbury, Devon, England; died on 20 Jan 1420. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1392
• Alternate birth: 12 Aug 1392, Shute, Devon, England
• Alternate birth: 31 Aug 1392, Shute, Devon, England
• Alternate birth: 13 Aug 1393
• Alternate birth: 30 Aug 1393
• Alternate death: 19 Feb 1461

Notes:

From Wikipedia:

Bonville was knighted before 1417 during the campaigns in France of King Henry V. He was Knight of the shire for Somerset in 1421, and for Devon in 1422, 1425 and 1427. In 1423 he was appointed by the king as Sheriff of Devon. He was Seneschal of Aquitaine at various times from 1442 to 1453, and Governor of Exeter Castle from 1453–61. In 1443 Bonville was retained to serve King Henry VI for a one-year term and in 1449 was retained to serve the King at sea. He was summoned to Parliament from 10 March 1449 to 30 July 1460 by writs directed, for the most part, Willelmo Bonville domino Bonville et de Chuton ("To William Bonville, lord of Bonville and Chewton"), by which he is held to have become Baron Bonville. On 8 February 1461 he was nominated to the Order of the Garter.

In 1441 riots resulted from a dispute over the Duchy of Cornwall between Bonville and Thomas Courtenay, 13th Earl of Devon, and on 14 December 1455 the two sides fought the Battle of Clyst Heath near Exeter, which resulted in the defeat of Bonville, the sacking of Shute and injury to a number of persons.

Bonville was to all outward appearances loyal to King Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses until he joined the Yorkist side at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460. Both his son, William Bonville, and his grandson, William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington, were slain at the Battle of Wakefield on 31 December 1460.

Less than two months later in 1460 the Yorkists suffered another defeat at the Second Battle of St Albans, where Lord Bonville and another Yorkist, Sir Thomas Kyriel, were taken prisoner by the victorious Lancastrians. The two men had kept guard over King Henry VI during the battle to see that he came to no harm. The King had been held in captivity by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and transported in the train of the latter's army, but had been abandoned on the battlefield. In return for their gallantry the King promised the two men immunity. However Queen Margaret, who was present at the battle, remembered that Lord Bonville had been one of the men who had held King Henry in custody after the Battle of Northampton in July 1460, and wanted revenge. Disregarding the King's promise of immunity, she gave orders for the beheading of Lord Bonville and Sir Thomas Kyriel the next day, 18 February 1461. It is alleged that she put the men on trial and appointed as presiding judge her seven-year-old son, Prince Edward. "Fair son", Margaret is said to have inquired, "what death shall these knights die?" The young prince replied that they were to have their heads cut off, an act which was swiftly carried out, despite the King's pleas for mercy.

Bonville was not attainted, as within three weeks of his death the Yorkist King Edward IV came to the throne. Bonville's widow, Elizabeth, was assigned a substantial dower in recognition of his services to the Yorkist cause.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

While his extensive and complex inheritances led to some violent disputes with neighbours during these years, these were on nothing like the scale of disorder that was to characterize Bonville's notorious conflict with the Courtenays during the 1440s and 1450s.

This power struggle was triggered by the appointment of Bonville in 1437 as royal steward in Cornwall for life. This was seen by the young Thomas Courtenay, thirteenth earl of Devon, recently come of age and in possession of a severely reduced inheritance, as a serious challenge to his own regional authority. The bitterness of the strife that grew from this was symptomatic of a change in the local balance of power and wealth that had over a generation tilted against the Courtenay earls (the traditional leaders of west-country society) in favour of a small group of powerful gentry among whom Bonville was pre-eminent.

Violence reached an alarming level during the summers of 1439 and 1440, and the situation was worsened by a serious blunder on the part of the government--the appointment of the earl to the stewardship of the duchy of Cornwall, a post so similar to that held by Bonville as to be hardly distinguishable from it. Urgent attempts at even-handedness and arbitration failed, and the dispute was only temporarily resolved by the appointment of Bonville as seneschal of Gascony in December 1442, thereby removing him temporarily from the scene (he sailed from Plymouth in March 1443 but was back in Devon by April 1445). Even though the government, coming increasingly under the influence of the duke of Suffolk, was careful not to antagonize the earl of Devon, the latter was clearly seen to be the principal culprit. Bonville's connection with Suffolk grew stronger. He was a member of Suffolk's entourage at Margaret of Anjou's betrothal ceremonies at Rouen in May 1444, and married his daughter Elizabeth to one of Suffolk's henchmen, Sir William Tailboys. This development culminated in the parliament of 1449, when Bonville was raised to the peerage as Baron Bonville of Chewton.

Antagonisms hardened after the fall of Suffolk in 1450. The earl of Devon attached himself to the duke of York, and felt confident enough in the summer of 1451 to risk an encounter in the field with Bonville (and his ally, James Butler, earl of Wiltshire). Despite much plunder and violence, a major showdown was avoided when York's unexpected arrival in the west country persuaded the earl of Devon to lift the siege of Taunton Castle, which Bonville had made his headquarters. Although temporarily imprisoned (as were Devon and the other principal malcontents), Bonville was soon able to exploit the dramatically changed political situation that followed the humiliating submission of York and Devon to the king at Dartford on 3 March 1452.

Between 1452 and 1455 Bonville became the dominant force in west-country politics [...] and the king personally reinforced his position by staying at Bonville's house at Shute on his progress through the west country in the summer of 1452. Bonville was confirmed as steward of the duchy of Cornwall in 1452 (the post that had triggered the violence in 1439), and appointed constable of Exeter Castle in 1453, both posts to be held for life. [...]

These partisan appointments of Bonville to positions within the earl of Devon's traditional zone of influence forced the earl to take increasingly desperate measures [...] [T]he enmities that had grown over more than twenty years proved irresolvable. The death in 1458 of Bonville's old adversary afforded him little comfort. The new earl of Devon [...] quickly gained favour with Queen Margaret, and this presented enormous risks for Bonville and his family.

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Kirkby. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Margaret Grey after 12 Dec 1414. Margaret (daughter of Reynold Grey and Margaret de Ros) was born about 1399; died after May 1426. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Elizabeth Courtenay before 9 Oct 1427. Elizabeth (daughter of Hugh Courtenay and Anne Talbot) died on 28 Oct 1471; was buried in Porlock, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Powderham, Exminster, Devon, England
• Alternate death: 14 Dec 1476

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Devon, 1455-56. "In 1440 he was joint commander of a fleet commissioned to repress pirates, and in 1445 he obtained a license so his ship, Trinity Cou[r]tenay, could take pilgrims to St. James in Galicia in northwestern Spain." [Carl Boyer, citation details below]

Philip married Elizabeth Hungerford about 1426. Elizabeth (daughter of Walter Hungerford, Speaker of the House of Commons and Catherine Peverell) died on 14 Dec 1476. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Elizabeth Bikebery before 4 Aug 1452. Elizabeth (daughter of William Bikebery and Elizabeth Paulet) was born about 1426; died after 8 Jun 1469. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Reynell. Elizabeth (daughter of Walter Reynell and Joan Walrond) was born in of Malston, Sherford, Devon, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 24 Nov 1419

Notes:

Burgess (M.P.) for Barnstaple, Devon.

Family/Spouse: Alice Bois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]