Humphrey VII de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford & 2nd Earl of Essex

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Humphrey (VI) de Bohun (c. 1249[a] – 31 December 1298), 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex, was an English nobleman known primarily for his opposition to King Edward I over the Confirmatio Cartarum.[1] He was also an active participant in the Welsh Wars and maintained for several years a private feud with the earl of Gloucester.[2] His father, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, fought on the side of the rebellious barons in the Barons' War. When Humphrey (V) predeceased his son, Humphrey (VI) was left as heir to his grandfather – Humphrey (V)'s father – Humphrey (IV). At Humphrey (IV)'s death in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford and Essex. He also inherited major possessions in the Welsh Marches from his mother.

Bohun's spent most of his early career reconquering Marcher lands captured by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd during the Welsh war in England. This was finally accomplished through Edward I's war in Wales in 1277. Hereford also fought in Wales in 1282–83 and 1294–95. At the same time he also had private feuds with other Marcher lords, and his conflict with Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, eventually ended with the personal intervention of King Edward himself. Hereford's final years were marked by the opposition he and Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, mounted against the military and fiscal policy of Edward I. The conflict escalated to a point where civil war threatened, but was resolved when the war effort turned towards Scotland. The king signed the Confirmatio Cartarum – a confirmation of Magna Carta – and Bohun and Bigod agreed to serve on the Falkirk Campaign. Bohun died in 1298, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.

Contents

1 Family background and inheritance

2 Welsh Wars

3 Private war in the Marches

4 Opposition to Edward I

5 Death and family

6 Notes

7 References

8 Sources

9 Further reading

Family background and inheritance

Humphrey (VI) de Bohun was part of a line of Anglo-Norman aristocrats going back to the Norman Conquest, most of whom carried the same name.[3] His grandfather was Humphrey (IV) de Bohun, who had been part of the baronial opposition of Simon de Montfort, but later gone over to the royal side. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Lewes in May 1264, but was restored to favour after the royalist victory at the Battle of Evesham the next year.[4] Humphrey (IV)'s son, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, remained loyal to the baronial side throughout the Barons' War, and was captured at Evesham on 4 August 1265. In October that year Humphrey (V) died in captivity at Beeston Castle in Cheshire from injuries he had sustained in the battle.[5]

Humphrey (V) had been excluded form succession as a result of his rebellion, but when Humphrey (IV) died in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford and Essex.[6] Humphrey (VI) had already served as deputy Constable of England under Humphrey (IV).[7] Humphrey (IV) had reserved the honour of Pleshey for his younger son Henry, but the remainder of his lands went to Humphrey (VI).[4] The inheritance Humphrey (VI) received – in addition to land in Essex and Wiltshire from Humphrey (IV) – also consisted of significant holdings in the Welsh Marches from his mother.[8] His mother Eleanor was a daughter and coheir of William de Braose and his wife Eva Marshal, who in turn was the daughter and coheir of William Marshal, regent to Henry III.[6]

Since Humphrey (VI) was only sixteen years old at the time of his father's death, the Braose lands were taken into the king's custody until 1270.[1] Part of this inheritance, the Marcher lordship of Brecon, was in the meanwhile given to the custody of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford. Humphrey technically regained his lordship from Clare in 1270, but by this time these lands had effectively been taken over by the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, who had taken advantage of the previous decade's political chaos in England to extend his territory into the Marches.[9]

Welsh Wars

Over the next years, much of Hereford's focus was on reconquering his lost lands in the Marches, primarily through private warfare against Llywelyn.[10] Henry III died in 1272, while his son – now Edward I – was crusading; Edward did not return until 1274.[11] Llywelyn refused to pay homage to the new king, partly because of the military actions of Bohun and other Marcher lords, which Llywelyn saw as violations of the Treaty of Montgomery.[12] On 12 November 1276, Hereford was present at a royal assembly where judgment was passed on Llewelyn,[7] and in 1277, Edward I declared war on the Welsh prince.[13] Rebellion in his own Brecon lands delayed Hereford's participation in the early days of the Welsh war. He managed, however, to both suppress the rebellion, and conquer lands further west.[14] He then joined up with the royal army and served for a while in Anglesey, before returning to Brecon, where he received the surrender of certain Welch lords.[15] After the campaign was over, on 2 January 1278, he received protection from King Edward to go on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.[7]

In 1282, war with Wales broke out again; this time it would not be simply a punitive campaign, but a full-scale war of conquest.[16] Initially, the king wanted to fight the war with paid forces, but the nobility insisted on the use of the feudal summons. To men like Hereford, this was preferable, because as part of a feudal army the participants would have both a stake in the war and a justifiable claim on conquered land. In the end, although the earls won, none of them were paid for the war effort.[17] Hereford jealously guarded his authority as hereditary Constable of England, and protested vigorously when the Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester was appointed commander of the forces in South Wales.[18] In the post war settlement, however, neither Hereford nor Gloucester received any significant rewards of land, the way several other magnates did.[19] Hereford fought again in Wales, in the suppression of the rebellion of 1294–95, when he again had to pacify the territory of Brecon before joining the king in the north.[20]

Private war in the Marches

The historic county of Brecknockshire, which corresponds roughly to Hereford's lordship of Brecon.Parallel with the Welsh Wars, Hereford was also struggling to assert his claims to lands in the Marches against other Marcher lords. In 1284 Edward I granted the hundred of Iscennen in Carmarthenshire to John Giffard. Hereford believed the land belonged to him by right of conquest, and started a campaign to win the lands back, but the king took Giffard's side.[21] Problems also arose with the earl of Gloucester. As Gloucester's former ward, Hereford had to buy back his own right of marriage, but Gloucester claimed he had not received the full sum.[6] There was also remaining resentment on Hereford's part for his subordination to Gloucester in the 1282–83 campaign. The conflict came to a head when Gloucester's started construction of a castle at Morlais, which Hereford claimed was his land.[22] In 1286, the Crown ordered Gloucester to cease, but to no avail.[23]

It had long been established Marcher custom to solve conflicts through private warfare.[1] Hereford's problem, however, was his relative weakness in the Marches, and now he was facing open conflict with two different enemies. He therefore decided to take the issue to the king instead, in a break with tradition.[6] King Edward again ordered Gloucester to stop, but the earl ignored the order and initiated raids on Hereford's lands.[24] Hostilities continued and Hereford responded, until both earls were arrested and brought before the king.[25] The real offense was not the private warfare in itself, but the fact that the earls had not respected the king's injunction to cease.[2] In the parliament of January 1292, Gloucester was fined 10,000 marks and Hereford 1,000. Gloucester's liberty of Glamorgan was declared forfeit, and confiscated by the crown, as was Hereford's of Brecon.[26]

In the end the fines were never paid, and the lands were soon restored.[22] Edward had nevertheless demonstrated an important point. After the conquest of Wales, the strategic position of the Marcher lordships was less vital to the English crown, and the liberty awarded to the Marcher lords could be curtailed.[2] For Edward this was therefore a good opportunity to assert the royal prerogative, and to demonstrate that it extended also into the Marches of Wales.[27]

Opposition to Edward I

In 1294 the French king declared the English duchy of Aquitaine forfeit, and war broke out between the two countries.[28] Edward I embarked on a wide-scale and costly project of building alliances with other princes on the Continent, and preparing an invasion.[29] When the king, at the parliament of March 1297 in Salisbury, demanded military service from his earls, Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, refused in his capacity of marshal of England. The argument was that the king's subjects were not obliged to serve abroad if not in the company of the king, but Edward insisted on taking his army to Flanders while sending his earls to Gascony.[30]

At the time of the Salisbury parliament, Hereford was accompanying two of the king's daughters to Brabant, and could not be present.[31] On his return, however, as Constable of England, he joined Bigod in July in refusing to perform feudal service.[6] The two earls were joined in their opposition by the earls of Arundel and Warwick.[32] The main reasons for the magnates' defiance was the heavy burden of taxation caused by Edward's continuous warfare in Wales, France and Scotland. In this they were also joined by Robert Winchelsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in the midst of a ongoing dispute with the king over clerical taxation.[33] At one point Bohun and Bigod turned up in person at the Exchequer to protest a tax they claimed did not have the consent of the community of the realm.[34] For Hereford there was also a personal element in the opposition to the king, after the humiliation and the affront to his liberties he had suffered over the dispute in the Marches.[35][36] At a meeting just outside London, Bohun gave an impassioned speech objecting to the king's abuse of power and demanding the restoration of ancient liberties. The grievances were summarised in a document known as the Remonstrances.[37]

Neither party showed any inclination to back down, and the nation seemed on the brink of another civil war.[38] Just as the conflict was coming to a head, however, external events intervened to settle it. In September 1297, the English suffered a heavy defeat to the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.[39] The Scottish victory exposed the north of England to Scottish raids led by William Wallace. The war with Scotland received wider support from the English magnates, now that their own homeland was threatened, than did the war in France to protect the king's continental possessions.[40] Edward abandoned his campaign in France and negotiated a truce with the French king. He agreed to confirm Magna Carta in the so-called Confirmatio Cartarum (Confirmation of the Charters).[41] The earls consequently consented to serve with the king in Scotland, and Hereford was in the army that won a decisive victory over the Scots in the Battle of Falkirk in 1298.[7] Hereford, not satisfied that the king had upheld the charter, withdrew after the battle, forcing Edward to abandon the campaign.[2]

Death and family

The Bohun coat of arms.In 1275 Bohun married Maud de Fiennes, daughter of Ingelram de Fiennes and Isabel de Conde. She predeceased him, and was buried at Walden Priory in Essex. Hereford himself died at Pleshey Castle on 31 December 1298, and was buried at Walden alongside his wife.[6] The two had a son, also named Humphrey, born around 1276.[42] The son was given possession of his father's lands and titles on 16 February 1299.[43] The young Humphrey also inherited his father's title of Constable of England.[44]

A common theme in Humphrey de Bohun's actions was his fierce protection of what he regarded as his feudal privileges.[1] His career was marked by turbulence and political strife, particularly in the Marches of Wales, but eventually he left a legacy of consolidated possessions there. In 1297, at the height of the conflict between Edward I and rebellious barons, the king had actively tried to undermine Hereford's authority in the Marches, but failed due to the good relations the earl enjoyed with the local men.[45]

Notes

a. ^ He was reported to be 18 ½ in the 51st year of the reign of Henry III, and 24 or 26 after the death of his grandfather in 1275; [7]

References

1.^ a b c d Fritze and Robison, (2002).

2.^ a b c d Hicks (1991).

3.^ White, Graeme (2004). "Bohun, Humphrey (III) de (b. before 1144, d. 1181)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2774.

4.^ a b Vincent (2004).

5.^ Powicke (1953), p. 202.

6.^ a b c d e f Waugh (2004).

7.^ a b c d e Cokayne (1910–59), pp. 463–6.

8.^ Morris (1901), p. 21.

9.^ Morris (1901), p. 112.

10.^ Davies (2000), pp. 322–3.

11.^ Powicke (1952), pp. 225–6.

12.^ Prestwich (1997), pp. 174–5.

13.^ Powicke (1952), p. 408.

14.^ Morris (1901), p. 171.

15.^ Morris (1901), pp. 178–9, 194.

16.^ Prestwich (1997), p. 188.

17.^ Prestwich (1972), pp. 71–3.

18.^ Prestwich (1972), p. 72.

19.^ Prestwich (1997), p. 204.

20.^ Morris (1901), p. 256.

21.^ Morris (1901), pp. 201–2.

22.^ a b Prestwich (2007), p. 136.

23.^ Prestwich (1997), p. 348.

24.^ Morris (1901), p. 226.

25.^ Carpenter (2003), p. 478.

26.^ Powicke (1952), p. 350

27.^ Davies (1978), pp. 259–60, 255–7.

28.^ Prestwich (1997), pp. 378–9.

29.^ Prestwich (1997), pp. 387–8.

30.^ Powicke (1952), pp. 666, 678.

31.^ Powicke (1952), p. 680 n.

32.^ Prestwich (1997), p. 419.

33.^ Prestwich (1997), p. 420.

34.^ Carpenter (2003), p. 485.

35.^ Morris (2008), p. 297.

36.^ Morris (1901), pp. 274–5.

37.^ Prestwich (1997), pp. 420–1.

38.^ Davies (1978), p. 269.

39.^ Morris (1901), p. 283.

40.^ Prestwich (2007), p. 170.

41.^ Prestwich (1997), pp. 427–8.

42.^ Cokayne (1910–59), p. 467.

43.^ Fryde, E. B. (1961). Handbook of British Chronology (Second ed.). London: Royal Historical Society. p. 431.

44.^ Morris (1901), p. 300.

45.^ Davies (1978), p. 290.

[edit] Sources

Carpenter, David (2003). The Struggle for Mastery: Britain, 1066-1284. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195220005.

Cokayne, George (1910–59). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. VI (New ed.). London: The St. Catherine Press.

Davies, R. R. (1978). Lordship and Society in the March of Wales, 1282-1400. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198224540.

Davies, R. R. (2000). The Age of Conquest: Wales, 1063-1415. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198208782.

Fritze, Ronald H.; William Baxter Robison (2002). "Bohoun, Humphrey de, 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex (c. 1249-98)". Historical dictionary of late medieval England, 1272-1485. Westport, London: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0313291241. http://books.google.com/books?id=INmdwCSkvIgC&pg=PA61. Retrieved 2009-04-11.

Hicks, Michael (1991). Who's Who in Late Medieval England (1272-1485). Who's Who in British History Series. 3. London: Shepheard-Walwyn. ISBN 0856830925.

Morris, J. E. (1901). The Welsh Wars of Edward I. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Morris, Marc (2008). A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain (updated ed.). London: Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091796846.

Prestwich, Michael (1972). War, Politics and Finance under Edward I. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571090427.

Prestwich, Michael (1997). Edward I (updated ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300072090.

Prestwich, Michael (2007). Plantagenet England: 1225-1360 (new ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198228449.

Powicke, F. M. (1953). The Thirteenth Century: 1216-1307. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN 0192852493.

Vincent, Nicholas (2004). "Bohun, Humphrey (IV) de, second earl of Hereford and seventh earl of Essex (d. 1275)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2775.

Waugh, Scott L. (2004). "Bohun, Humphrey (VI) de, third earl of Hereford and eighth earl of Essex (c.1249–1298)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2776.

[edit] Further reading

Le Melletier, Jean (1978). Les Seigneurs de Bohon: Illustre Famille Anglo-Normande Originaire du Contentin. Coutances: Imprint Arnaud-Bel. pp. 32–4.

Jones, G. (1984). The Bohun Earls of Hereford and Essex, 1270-1322. Oxford M.Litt. thesis.

Political offices

Preceded by

Hamo de Crevequer Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports

1264–? Succeeded by

Edmund Crouchback

Preceded by

Humphrey de Bohun Lord High Constable

1275–1297 Succeeded by

Humphrey de Bohun

Peerage of England

Preceded by

Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford

1275–1297 Succeeded by

Humphrey de Bohun

Earl of Essex

1275–1297

Persondata

NAME Humphrey de Bohun

ALTERNATIVE NAMES

SHORT DESCRIPTION Earl of Hereford and Essex

DATE OF BIRTH c. 1249

PLACE OF BIRTH

DATE OF DEATH 1298-12-31

PLACE OF DEATH Pleshey, Essex

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_de_Bohun,_3rd_Earl_of_Hereford"

Categories: 1249 births | 1298 deaths | Earls in the Peerage of England | Lord High Constables | Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports | Earls of Herefordshire | 13th-century English people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_de_Bohun,_3rd_Earl_of_Hereford

Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Humphrey VII de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex (c. 1249 – December 31, 1298 or 1 January 1299) was one of several noblemen of the same name to have held the title Earl of Hereford, and a key figure in the Norman conquest of Wales.

Family

He was the grandson of Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford and his wife Maud. His father was Humphrey de Bohun, the son of Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford and his mother was Eleanor de Braose, a daughter of William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny and Eve Marshall, daughter of the famous William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. He had a sister, Margery.

His mother died in 1251 when he was an infant; his father died in 1265 when Humphrey was a young man, of wounds sustained at the Battle of Evesham.

[edit]Career

He succeeded his grandfather, Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford, in 1275 as Earl of Hereford and Essex and Lord High Constable. Around 1264, he was made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Humphrey de Bohun took part in Roger Mortimer's war against the Welsh, and was present at the defeat at Cefnllys in November, 1262, by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. He also participated in the campaigns against the Gauls and the Scots.

[edit]Rebellion

He refused to pay tribute to Edward I of England and convened an army at Worcester on 24 June 1277. In the campaign he commanded the nobles of the Welsh Marches and recovered the lands of Brecon. He was later imprisoned but freed by a ransom of 10,000 marcs.

In 1294, Humphrey fought (again) against King Edward at Gallois along with Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk and other Barons.

Later career

Ultimately, Humphrey regained the royal favour in Scotland, once more on the side of Edward I, and won the victory at Falkirk on 22 July 1298.

He died in Pleshley Castle, Essex on 31 December 1298 or 1 January 1299 and was buried with his wife at Walden Abbey in Essex, founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville.

Marriage and succession

Humphrey de Bohun married Mahaud (Maud) de Fiennes (d. bef. 31 December 1298) sometime between 1264 and July 17, 1275. Maud was born about 1250, a daughter of Enguerrand II (Ingelram) de Fiennes and Isabel de Conde.

Their son, another Humphrey de Bohun, succeeded him as the Earl of Hereford and Essex and Lord High Constable.

Humphrey de Bohun VII, born c1249, died Pleshy 31 Dec 1298, Earl ofHereford and Essex, Constable of England; married 1275 Maud, daughter ofEnguerrand de Fiennes, Seigneur de Fiennes in Guisnes. [Magna ChartaSureties]

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Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Earl of Essex, and Lord HighConstable. This nobleman inheriting the high and daring spirit of hispredecessors, often strenuously opposed the measures of the courtand wasoften, therefore, in disgrace, but he appears at the close of his careerto have regained royal favour, for we find him attending the king intoScotland with that monarch (Edward I) obtained a great victory nearRoxburgh. His lordship m. Maud, dau. of Sir Ingelram de Fiennes, anddying in 1297, was s. by his son, Humphrey de Bohun. [Sir Bernard Burke,Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 57,Bohun,Earls of Hereford, Earls of Essex, Earls of Northampton, and HighConstables of England]