William Beauchamp

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]

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]

Isabel married Lord of Kidwelly Patrick de Chaworth in 1275/1282. Patrick was born about 1250 in Kempsford, Gloucestershire, England; died about 7 Jul 1283. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: 1st Earl of Winchester Hugh le Despenser. Hugh (son of 1st Baron le Despencer Hugh le Despenser and Aline Bassett) was born on 1 Mar 1261 in Louchborough, Leicestershire, England; died on 27 Oct 1326 in Bristol, Gloucester, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick (d. August 10, 1315) was an English nobleman, and one of the principal opponents of Edward II's favorite Piers Gaveston.

He was the son of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick and Maud FitzGeoffrey, and succeeded his father as earl in 1298. Later that year he distinguished himself at the Battle of Falkirk, and he subsequently served in other campaigns in Scotland. He also received grants of land in Scotland and, in 1309, he married Alice de Toeni, a Scots heiress.

Warwick had no great like for Piers Gaveston, who had called Warwick "the black cur of Arden" (an allusion to Warwick's dark complexion and to the Forest of Arden in Warwickshire). Not long after Edward II's accession, he helped arrange for Gaveston's banishment, and refused to be reconciled when Gaveston returned the next year.

Warwick was one of the great peers who petitioned the king for reform of the government in 1310. The peers were successful in getting Gaveston banished again, and when he returned to England in 1312, Warwick was one of the 5 nobles who arrested him. Gaveston was placed in the custody of the Earl of Pembroke, but then on June 10 Warwick, with a force of 140 men seized him and carried him off to Warwick castle. After the arrival of the confederate nobles, Gaveston was executed, though the Warwick declined to be present.

Warwick, along with his allies, was eventually pardoned for the Gaveston affair in 1313. He and the others nevertheless refused to serve in the king's Scottish campaign of 1314. The next year Warwick suddenly fell ill and died. As was inevitable in such cases, there were rumors of poison.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Guy married Isabel de Clare on 11 May 1297 in Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England. Isabel (daughter of 7th Earl of Hertford, 3rd Earl of Gloucester Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester and Alice de Lusignan) was born on 10 Mar 1262 in Worcestershire, England; died in 1333 in Elmley, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Alice de Toeni. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maud married Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Lancaster before 2 Mar 1297. Henry (son of Edmund "Crouchback" Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster and of Artois Blanche Capet) was born about 1281 in Grosmont Castle, Monmouthshire, Wales; died on 22 Sep 1345 in Monastry of Cannons, Leicester, Leicestershire, England; was buried in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 1311, Alnwick, Northumberland, England

Notes:

Buried:
Collegiate Church of St. Mary

Family/Spouse: Katherine de Mortimer. Katherine (daughter of Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Greneville) was born in 1314 in Ludlow Castle, Shropshire, England; died on 4 Aug 1369 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England; was buried in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married on 22 Feb 1326. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]