Despensers

Exactly ninety-nine years apart …

Jan 21, 2025

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Bauge, Boroughbridge, Charles VI, coincidence, Despensers, Edward II, executions, France, Humphrey of Gloucester, Hundred Years War, John of Bedford, rebellions, regent, Thomas Duke of Lancaster, Thomas Earl of Lancaster

Thomas Earl of Lancaster, died 22 March 1322, and Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, died 22 March 1321 … The former, the grandson of Henry III, was executed at Pontefract, having fought at Boroughbridge in opposition to Edward II and the Despensers. The latter, the second son of Henry IV and great-great-great-nephew of his…
Roman Wales

Mar 1, 2024

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, culture, religion

Anne Neville, British tribes, caerlent, Caerleon, Cardiff Castle, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Christianity, Colchester Castle, conversion, Demetae, Despensers, Gower Peninsula, Kent, Llanelli, Magnus Maximus, Monmouthshire, Normans, Ordovices, Richard III, River Usk, Robert Curthose, Roman Britain, rugby, Silures, Swansea, Time team, Tower of London, tribes, Wales

The first thing to note about Roman rule in Wales is that it started in 48 AD, a few years later than in England, which is a consequence of the Claudian invasion having started in Kent. It is likely to have finished a little earlier too, in about 383, as the general Maximus Magnus sought…
Heraldry

Oct 29, 2023

genealogy, heraldry

crests, de Clares, Despensers, family rolls, heiresses, impalement, inheritance, Joan de Geneville, Ludlow Castle, Ludlow Castle Heraldic Roll, multiple quartering, Roger Mortimer, stained glass, tombs

The shield depicted, which belongs to the Heraldic Roll of Ludlow Castle (and which can be seen at the castle) is that of Roger Mortimer, first Earl of March and his wife Joan de Geneville. This is what is called a heraldic impalement. The husband’s arms are to the left as you look at it…
Elizabeth de Clare, the lady who took on a king and his favourites….

Sep 16, 2023

anniversaries, Book Reviews, buildings, genealogy

abduction, Clare, Despensers, East Anglian Daily Times, Edward II, forced marriage, Isabelle de France, Joan Bridges, John Sandys, Minories, Roger Mortimer, Romsey Abbey, Usk

“Elizabeth de Clare was born on this day, 16th September 1295, the granddaughter of King Edward I. The 11th Lady of Clare, she was the heiress to the lordships of Clare in England and Usk in Wales.” So starts this article about a very remarkable lady, also known as Elizabeth de Burgh, who took on…
Elisabeth Brooke, Marchioness of Northampton.

Apr 2, 2023

anniversaries, genealogy, law, religion

Anne Bourchier, Anne Bray, annulment, attainder, bigamy, cancer, Catherine Parr, Constance of York, Despensers, divorce proceedings, Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset, Edward VI, Elizabeth Brooke, Elizabeth I, executions, George Brooke Lord Cobham, Henry VIII, Isabelle Despencer, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, Katherine Howard, King’s Council, Lord Protector of the Realm, Marquessate of Norfolk, Mary I, Netherlands, Richard Beauchamp, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, royal attendants, secret marriage, separation, Sir William Parr, Thomas Despenser

Elisabeth Brooke had a very eventful life! My attention was drawn to her as she was a descendant of Constance of York and Thomas Despenser through their daughter Isabelle’s first marriage to Richard Beauchamp – the Richard Beauchamp who became Earl of Worcester as opposed to her second husband, also Richard Beauchamp, the Earl of…
The Despensers: The Rise and fall of a mediaeval family

Feb 8, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, Book Reviews, genealogy

Anne Neville, Battle of Evesham, Boroughbridge, Contrarians, Despensers, Edward II, Edward IV, Eleanor de Clare, Elizabeth Despenser, Epiphany Rising, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Henry III, Henry IV, Huchon Despenser, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Hugh Earl of Winchester, Isabel Neville, Isabella de Valois, Isabelle Despencer, John Ashdown-Hill, Justiciar, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Margaret Beauchamp, Margery Wentworth, Philip Despenser, plague, Richard II, Richard III, Thomas Earl of Gloucester, Thomas of Lancaster

Here is another of Kathryn Warner‘s volumes in which the genealogy is central but there is plenty of history about the principal individuals that comprise the structure of the book. These range from Hugh Despenser the Justiciar, who fell at Evesham in 1265 opposing Henry III, to his son and grandson (the latter married to…
The Death and Burial of Constance of York

Nov 28, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, sources

Anne Beauchamp the Younger, burial, Constance of York, delayed burial, Despensers, Henry I, intestacy, Reading Abbey, Richard Beauchamp, Tewkesbury Chronicle, The Yorkist Age

(Reblogged from The Yorkist Age.) According to the Tewkesbury Chronicle Constance died in 1417 ( recte November 1416) but was not buried until 1420. This is hard to explain, and may simply be an error. However, given that Constance left no will behind her, there is a good possibility that her death was sudden and unexpected. She…
The Touchet/Audley Family in the Fifteenth Century.

Sep 26, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Alionore Holland, Arundels, Barnet, Battle of Bosworth, Battles of Sandwich, Bishop Edmund Audley, Bishop of Hereford, Blore Heath, Buckingham rebellion, Calais, Cheshire, Constance of York, Despensers, Dukes of Somerset, Edmund Holland, Edward I, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, executions, Fitzalans, Francis Viscount Lovell, Heighley Castle, Henry III, Henry VII, Isabel Mylbery, James Lord Audley, Joan Bourchier, Joan of Kent, John Lord Audley, Lord High Treasurer, Ludlow Castle, Margaret Darrell, Margaret of Anjou, Margaret Roos, Mortimer’s Cross, Parliament’s power to determine legitimacy, Red Castle, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Sir Humphrey Audley, surnames, Tewkesbury, Towton, Welsh Marches, Wydevilles

James Touchet, Lord Audley, was born about 1398. He was not in the first rank of magnates but nevertheless had significant estates, notably Heighley Castle, near Madeley in Staffordshire, and the Red Castle (Hawkstone) in Shropshire, as well as two small Marcher lordships in Wales. His first marriage was to Margaret Roos, daughter of Lord Roos…
The Ancestry of Sir Richard Pole.

May 28, 2022

anniversaries, genealogy

Bletsoe, Charltons, Cheshire, Constable of Haverfordwest, Dafydd Fawr, de la Poles, Despensers, Earl of Pembroke, Earls of Suffolk, Edith St. John, executions, Geoffrey Pole I, Henry IV, Henry V, jousting, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Beauchamp, Poles of Powys, Pooles of the Wirral, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard II, Sheriff of Glamorgan, Sir John Poole of Cheshire, Sir John St. John, Sir Oliver St. John, Sir Richard Pole, Thomas Stafford, Wales

Richard Pole is perhaps most famous for being the husband of Margaret Plantagenet, later Countess of Salisbury. But who was he? His maternal ancestry is relatively straightforward. He was the son of Edith St. John, who was the half-sister of Margaret Beaufort. So that makes him the (half-blood) first cousin of Henry VII. Edith St.…
The Decline of Villeinage

Oct 11, 2021

culture, law

Despensers, Elizabeth I, farms, Kent, Nigel Saul, Peasants’ Revolt, serfs, Tewkesbury, villeins

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 is well-known, and it is often thought that the decline of serfdom, or villeinage, began at about this time. The truth is more complex. Like most English traditions, villeinage took a long time to pass and outlived its usefulness by many decades. Indeed Queen Elizabeth I still owned serfs –…