3rd Lord le Despenser1 Hugh "the younger" le Despenser

Notes:

Hugh (1286 – November 26, 1326) was sometimes referred to as "the younger Despenser". He was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, by Isabel Beauchamp, daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick.

He was knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, Constable of Odiham Castle, Keeper of the castle and town of Dryslwyn, and Cantref Mawr, Carmarthenshire, Keeper of the castle and town of Portchester, Keeper of the castle, town and barton of Bristol. He was also Keeper of the castles, manor, and lands of Brecknock, Hay, cantref Selyf, etc., co. Brecon, and Huntington, Herefordshire. He was given Wallingford Castle although this had previously been given to Queen Isabella for life.

In May 1306 Hugh was knighted, and that summer he married Eleanor de Clare, a granddaughter of King Edward I of England. Her grandfather owed Hugh's father vast sums of money, and the marriage was intended as a payment of these debts. When Eleanor's brother was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn, she unexpectedly became one of the three co-heiresses to the rich Gloucester earldom, and in her right Hugh inherited Glamorgan and other properties. In just a few short years Hugh went from a landless knight to one of the wealthiest magnates in the kingdom.

Eleanor was also the niece of the new king, Edward II of England, and this connection brought Hugh closer to the English royal court. He joined the baronial opposition to Piers Gaveston, the king's favorite, and Hugh's brother-in-law, as Gaveston was married to Eleanor's sister. Eager for power and wealth, Hugh seized Tonbridge Castle in 1315. The next year he murdered Llywelyn Bren, a Welsh hostage in his custody.

Hugh Despenser became royal chamberlain in 1318. As a royal courtier, Hugh manoeuvred into the affections of King Edward, displacing the previous favorite, Roger d'Amory. By 1320 his tyranny was running free. Hugh seized the Welsh lands of his wife's inheritance, ignoring the claims of his two brothers-in-law. He forced Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, to give up her lands, cheated his sister-in-law Elizabeth de Clare out of Gower and Usk, and allegedly had Lady Baret's arms and legs broken until she went insane. He also supposedly vowed to be revenged on Roger Mortimer because Mortimer's grandfather had murdered Hugh's grandfather, and once stated (though probably in jest) that he regretted he could not control the wind. By 1321 he had earned many enemies in every strata of society, from Queen Isabella to the barons to the common people. There was even a bizarre plot to kill Hugh by sticking pins in a wax likeness of him.

Finally the barons prevailed upon King Edward and forced Hugh and his father into exile in 1321. His father fled to Bordeaux, and Hugh became a pirate in the English channel, "a sea monster, lying in wait for merchants as they crossed his path". The pair returned the next year and King Edward quickly reinstated Hugh as royal favorite. His time in exile had done nothing to quell his greed, his rashness, or his ruthlessness. While Queen Isabella was in France to negotiate between her husband and the French king, she formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer and began planning an invasion. Hugh supposedly tried to bribe French courtiers to assassinate Queen Isabella. When Mortimer and the queen invaded England in October 1326, King Edward was deposed, Hugh's father was executed, and Hugh himself was captured.

Hugh tried to starve himself before his trial, but face trial he did on November 24, 1326, in Hereford. He was judged a traitor and a thief, and sentenced to public execution by hanging, drawing and quartering. Immediately, he was dragged behind four horses to his place of execution, where a great fire was lit. He was hanged from a gallows fifty feet high, but cut down before he could choke to death and tied to a ladder, in full view of the crowd. A man climbed up beside him, and sliced off his penis and testicles which were then burnt before him, still alive and conscious. Subsequently, the executioner plunged his knife into his abdomen, and cut out his entrails and heart, which were likewise burnt before the delighted crowd. Finally, he was beheaded, and his body cut into four pieces, and his head was mounted on the gates of London.

No book-length biographical study of Hugh Despenser exists, although The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II: 1321-1326 by historian Natalie Fryde is a study of Edward II's reign during the years that the Despensers' power was at its peak. Fryde pays particular attention to the subject of the Despensers' ill-gotten landholdings. The numerous accusations against the younger Despenser at the time of his execution have never been the subject of close critical scrutiny, although historian Roy Martin Haines called them "ingenuous" and noted their propagandistic nature.

Despite the crucial and disastrous role he played in the reign of Edward II, Despenser is almost a minor character in Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II, where as "Spencer" he is little more than a substitute for the dead Piers Gaveston.

Trivia
In 2006, he was selected by the BBC History Magazine as the 14th century's worst Briton. (BBC)

In 2006, he was selected by the BBC History Magazine as the 8th worst Briton in the last 1000 years.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hugh married Eleanor de Clare on 14 Jun 1306 in Westminster Palace, London, Middlesex, England. Eleanor (daughter of 7th Earl of Hertford, 3rd Earl of Gloucester Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester and Joan "of Acre" Plantagenet) was born on 16 Sep 1292 in Caerphilly Castle, Caerphilly, Glamorganshire, Wales; died on 30 Jun 1337 in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. 4th Lord Despenser Hugh le Despenser was born in 1308; died on 8 Feb 1349.
2. Edward le Despenser was born before 1326 in Buckland, Buckinghamshire, England; died on 30 Sep 1342 in Peslethorpe, England.
3. Isabel le Despenser was born in 1312; died in 1356.

Notes:

Hugh le Despenser (1262 – October 17, 1326), son of Hugh le Despenser II, sometimes referred to as "the elder Despenser", was for a time the chief adviser to King Edward II of England.

He was created a baron by writ of summons to Parliament in 1295. He was one of the few barons to remain loyal to Edward during the controversy regarding Piers Gaveston. Despenser became Edward's loyal servant and chief administrator after Gaveston was executed in 1312, but the jealousy of other barons led to his being exiled along with his son Hugh the younger Despenser in 1321, when Edmund de Woodstoke replaced him as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Edward found it difficult to manage without them, and recalled them to England a year later, an action which enraged the queen, Isabella, the more so when Despenser was created Earl of Winchester. When Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer, led a rebellion against the king, both Despensers were captured and executed. The elder Despenser was hanged at Bristol on October 27, 1326.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hugh married Isabel Beauchamp. Isabel (daughter of 9th Earl of Warwick William Beauchamp and Maud FitzGeoffrey) was born about 1263 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England; died on 30 May 1306 in Elmley Castle, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hugh married Aline Bassett. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Maud FitzGeoffrey in 1255/1284. Maud (daughter of Sheriff of Yorkshire, Justiciar of Ireland John FitzGeoffrey and Isabell (Isabella) Bigod) was born about 1237 in Shere, Surrey, England; died about 18 Apr 1301 in Grey Friars, Worcestershire, England; was buried on 7 May 1301 in Grey Friars, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Isabel de Mauduit in 1231/1258. Isabel (daughter of Baron of Hanslape William de Mauduit and Alice de Beaumont) was born in 1210/1226 in Elmley, Gloucestershire, England; died about 1268 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/history/kells.htm

Geoffrey FitzRobert died in 1211, being held hostage on behalf of his Lord [Marshall] at Hereford Castle in England. As a result some of Geoffrey's lands were seized. Geoffrey is often confused with Geoffrey de Mareis [Marisco] who was Justiciar of Ireland for various terms between 1215 and 1228. The sons of Geoffrey included William and John, who were noted providing charters to the townspeople of Kells. After William died about 1234, he was succeeded in the lands at Kells by his brother, John FitzGeoffrey, who in 1243 is described as lord of Kells. In that year John granted to William Coterel and his heirs the land of Kilmenege (Kilmaganny) in free socage. In the 1247 feodary John held the 1 1/2 knights' fees in Kenles (Kells). In the 1317 partition of the "Share of Hugh le Despenser and Alianora his wife" these fees (of Kells and Dunnamaggan) were held by the heir of John son of Geoffrey. t John FitzGeoffrey had two sons, William FitzJohn and Geoffrey FitzJohn. William, the elder, died at Dublin in custody of the Justiciar, sometime between 1250 and 1256, relinquishing his inheritance to his younger brother Geoffrey FitzJohn. Geoffrey FitzJohn in turn had a son named John who confirmed the gifts to Kells monastery of his ancestors by charter dated 1286. Another charter of his to Kells is dated 1292. John [FitzGeoffrey] died sometime around 1305 for his heir William [FitzJohn] for that year the lands in Kells were held of the heir of John, son of Geoffrey, lord of Kenles, under age and in custody of the Earl of Gloucester (Cal. Just. Rolls, ii, 96). In 1308 William [FitzJohn] is quitted claim to Geoffrey Coterel of his rights in premises in Donimegan (Dunnamaggan), including the water courses and exits of the mill where formerly stood the mill of Nesta de Davy his grandmother (Ormond Deeds), who appears therefore to have been the wife of Geoffrey FitzJohn. In 1317 William, the heir of John, is cited holding the knights fees of Kells in the feodary recorded that year, which included Kenles and Donymegan (Dunnamaggin). The family presumably died out shortly after this, for Kells is soon found in the possession of the le Pores. g to the Ormond Deeds (Vol. 1, Curtis, 1933), John fitz Geoffrey is mentioned as lord of Kells in a grant to William Coterel and his heirs for ever Kilmegene [Kilmoganny] in free socage. This grant included the mountain and wood, extending in length from the cave of Letter, and from Corballyup to the water of Gortneslie; and in breadth from Karreenemo [Garrandynas, part of the town land of Rossenara] up to the water that runs between Kilmegene and Avene [Rossenara, anciently known as Owny];paying a mark of silver yearly. In a note by Curtis he cites Lettercorbally appearing in ancient documents as an alias for Castlehale, now the town land of Rossenara demesne, in the parish of Kilmoganny.

John married Isabell (Isabella) Bigod about 1229. Isabell (daughter of 3rd Earl of Norfolk Hugh Bigod and Matilda (Maud) Marshal) was born in Thetford, Norfolk, England; died on 23 Nov 1258. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

DEATH: I can't find a source for this. Many people have her dying in 1239, but also have her children born after that.