Vol II File 8: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James

11. Bohun Line (Earls of Hereford and Essex)

Ref: Burke, pg. 57.

Ref: Wurts, pg. 51-56.

Ref: Cokayne, Vol. VI, pg. 457-474.

1. Humphrey (Honfroi) de Bohun I is said to have been a kinsman and a companion in arms of William the Conqueror. He was styled as "Humphrey with the Beard." He was in possession of the lordship of Taterford in Norfolk. This family originated from Bohon in the arrondissement of St. Lo in the Cotentin, Normandy, where there still exists St. Andre and St. Georges de Bohon. The mound of the old castle is still visible. Humphrey is reported in the chronicles of Wace as the companion of the Conqueror at Senlac. He is reputed to have been a near kinsman of Duke William, but how or in what degree is unknown. The fact remains that the witnesses to the Benedictine priory at St George's in 1092, were all members of King William's immediate family or branches thereof. Humphrey was married three times, the names of his wives being unknown. He died prior to 1113, leaving three sons as follows:
- 1. Robert de Bohun, who died unmarried.
- 2. Richard de Meri, sire de Bohun, 1070 to 1113, whose daughter and heir carried his Norman barony to Engeler and Angevin. From him descended also in the female line the Bohuns of Midhurst in Sussex.
- 3. Humphrey II See below. From him there was a long line of nobility, as from him descended the Earls of Hereford, Sussex, and Northampton, the former of whom were hereditary constables of England. Marriage through the female lines were made with Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, son of King Edware III., and with Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and subsequently King Henry IV (Crispin & Macary, "Falaise Rolls").
2. Humphrey de Bohun II., the Great succeeded his father as lord of Taterford. By order of King William Rufus he married Maud of Evereux, daughter of Edward de Evereux (de Saresbury), progenitor of the ancient Earls of Salisbury, through which marriage he acquired large estates in Wiltshire. He was Sheriff of Wiltshire and Bearer of the Royal Standard in 1120 in the battle of Benneville in Normandy. Humphrey and his wife had the following children:
- 1. Maud Bohun.
- 2. Humphrey de Bohun III See below.
- 3. Humphrey de Bohun III was an Anglo-Norman warrior. He was Steward and Sewer to King Henry I., and he supported King Henry in the rebellion of 1173. He married Margery of Gloucester, daughter of Milo of Gloucester, who was the Earl of Hereford and Lord High Constable of England, whose charter was the earliest of express creation, the patent being dated in 1140. She was also the sister and co-heiress of Mabel, last Earl of Hereford, of that family. At the instigation of Milo, his father-in-law, he espoused the cause of the Empress Maud and her son, against King Stephen, and so faithfully maintained his allegiance that the empress, by her special charter, granted him the office of Steward and Sewer, both in Normandy and in England. In the 20th year of Henry II., this Humphrey accompanied Richard de Lacy, Justice of England, into Scotland, with a powerful army to waste that country; and was one of the witnesses to the accord made by King William of Scotland and King Henry II. as to the subjection of that kingdom to the crown of England. He died on April 6, 1187, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey.
- 4. Humphrey de Bohun IV, created Earl of Hereford, was also the hereditary Constable of England, in the right of his mother, if the chronicles of Lanthony are correct.. He married Margaret of Huntingdon, or Margaret of Scotland, daughter of Henry, Prince of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon (son of St. David I, King of Scotland), and his wife, Ada Warren, daughter of William de Warren, Earl of Surrey, and his wife, Isabel Vermandois, and sister of William, King of the Scots, and widow of Conan le Petit, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond. Humphrey was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry.
- 5. Henry de Bohun II, the Surety, was born before 1177 (1176?). He became the 1st Earl of Hereford of this family, being so created by King John, dated April 28, 1199; but the office of Lord High Constable of England he inherited from his father. He was one of the leaders of the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Charta, and he was one of the twenty-five sureties, in 1215. He had his lands sequestered, but they were restored at the signing of the Magna Charta, at Runnemede. He was subsequently excommunicated by the Pope, and did not return to his allegiance on the death of King John, but was one of the commanders in the army of Louis le Dauphin, at the battle of Lincoln. He was taken prisoner by William Marshal at the battle of Lincoln, in the 1st year of Henry III. After this defeat he joined Saire de Quincy, and other Magna Charta barons in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in June, 1220. His body was brought home and buried in the chapter-house of Llanthony Abbey, in Gloucestershire. He was also Sheriff of Kent. He married Maud Fitz Geoffrey, Countess of Essex, daughter of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, 4th Earl of Essex, and his first wife, Beatrix Saye, only daughter of William de Saye, eldest son of Lord William de Saye and his wife, Beatrix Mandeville. Geoffrey FitzPiers, also Baron of Mandeville, died in 1212. Maud was eventually heiress of her brother, William de Mandeville, last Earl of Essex of that family, by whom he acquired the honor of Essex and other extensive lordships. See elsewhere in Volume II. for the ancestral lineage of the Saye Line. Henry and his wife had the following children:
  - 1. Henry de Bohun, died young.
  - 2. Humphrey de Bohun V See below.
  - 3. Ralph de Bohun.
  - 4. Margery Bohun was married as the 1st wife to Waleran de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick. He married (2) Alice Harcourt, daughter of John de Harcourt.
    
    He died on June 1, 1220, while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey.
- 6. Humphrey de Bohun V. was born in 1208. He succeeded his father as Earl of Hereford, and possessing the honor of Essex through his mother, was created Earl of that county by King Henry III., at whose marriage he performed the office of marshal in the king's house, and in three years afterwards in the year 1239, was one of the godfathers at the font, for Edward, eldest son of the king, there being no less than nine sponsors on the occasion, five temporal and four spiritual lords. He was Lord High Constable of England. In 1250 he took up the cross and proceeded to the Holy Land. In three years afterwards, he was present, with other peers, when that formal curse was denounced in Westminster Hall, with bell, book, and candle, against the violators of the Magna Charta; in which year he founded the church of the Fryers Augustines, in Broad-street, within the city of London. In the great contest between the king and the barons, he fought for the latter at Evesham, where he was taken prisoner, but he did not long continue in bondage, for we find him soon after again in favor, and receiving new grants from the crown. He died in 1275, having married (1) Maud of Eu (or of Lusignan), daughter of Ralph (Raoul I.) of Lusignan, Count of Eu, by Yolande his wife, daughter of Robert, Count of Dreux, Earl of Ewe, and they had the following children:
  - 1. Humphrey de Bohun VI See below.
  - 2. Maud Bohun, married (1) Anselme Marshall (Mareschall), Earl of Pembroke, and (2) Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester.
  - 3. Alice Bohun, married Roger Thony.
  - 4. _____ Bohun, daughter No. 3, married _______ Quincy.
    
    He married (2) Maud of Avenbury. He died September 24, 1275.
- 7. Humphrey de Bohun VI, the eldest son, was 2nd Earl of Hereford and Essex. He was a very distinguished person among the rebellious barons, in the reign of King Henry III. In 1257 he was among those who assisted his father to keep the marches between Montgomery and the lands of the Earl of Gloucester, and in 1263 was ordered to join his father at Hereford to defend the lands and fortify the castles on the marches against Llewellyn. He joined the barons against the king, and on July 23, 1264 had custody of the castle of Winchester, which he was ordered to surrender on June 3, 1265. In the 47th year of that monarch he was excommunicated, with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and others, for plundering various churches and committing sacrilege. He was afterwards one of the commanders at the battle of Lewes, where the king was made prisoner, and was constituted Governor of Goodrich and Winchester Castles. In the year following he commanded the infantry at the battle of Evesham, where he fell into the hands of the royalists, and was sent prisoner to Beeston Castle in Cheshire, where he soon afterwards on October 27, 1265, died during his father's lifetime, leaving a son, Humphrey, by his wife, Eleanor (Alianore) Braose, daughter and co-heir of William de Braose, of Brecknock, Lord of Abergavenny, and co-heir of her mother Eve (Eva) Marshal, one of the five daughters and co-heirs of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and sister of William Marshal, Surety to the Magna Charta. He was succeeded by his son, Humphrey.
- 8. Humphrey de Bohun VII. was born circa 1249. He succeeded his grandfather as the 3rd Earl of Hereford and the 2nd Earl of Essex and Lord High Constable. He is said to have inherited the high and daring spirit of his predecessors, often strenuously opposed to the measures of the court, and was often therefore in disgrace, but he appears at the close of his career to have regained royal favor, for we find him attending the king into Scotland in 1298 when that monarch (Edward I.) obtained a great victory near Roxburgh. He married Maud Fiennes, daughter of Ingelram (Enguerrand) de Fiennes, Seigneur de Fiennes in Guisnes, by _______, daughter of Jacques, Seigneur de Conte, Bailleul, and Moriammez in Hainault, and granddaughter of William de Fiennes, by Agnes de Dammartin, daughter of Alberic, Count of Dammartin. Simon de Dammartin, Count of Aumale, by his wife Marie, Countess of Ponthieu and Aumale, was father of Jeanne, Countess of Ponthieu and Aumale, who married King Ferdinand III. of Castile. Maud died before her husband and was buried at Walden. He was associated with Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and other barons in their opposition to what was considered to be unfair taxation by King Edward I. He died in Pleshey (Boroughbridge), in 1297, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey.
- 9. Humphrey de Bohun VIII was born circa 1276. He was the 4th Earl of Hereford and the 3rd Earl of Essex. He was also the Lord High Constable of England. He married November 14, 1302, at Westminster, Princess Elizabeth Plantaganet, widow of John, Count of Holland and Zealand, and daughter of King Edward I. of England and Eleanor of Castile, daughter of King Ferdinand III. of Leon and Castile in Spain. In the 30th year of King Edward I., he gave and granted unto the king, by formal conversance, the inheritance of all his lands and lordships, as also of his earldoms of Hereford and Essex, and the constableship of England, which, upon his marriage with Elizabeth Plantaganet, widow of John, Earl of Holland, and daughter of the king, were regranted to him, and entailed upon his issue lawfully begotten by that lady; in default thereof, and from and after the death of himself and his wife, then the lordship Plassets, and certain other lordships in Essex, and elsewhere. together with the constableship, should remain wholly to the king and his heirs for ever. In the 34th year of the same reign he had a grant similarly entailed of the whole territory of Annadale, in Scotland. After this he was in the wars of Scotland and was taken prisoner, in the 7th year of King Edward II. (1313-1314), at the disastrous battle (to the English) of Stryvelin. But he was exchanged for the wife of Robert Bruce, who had long been captive in England. From this period we find him constantly engaged in the service of the crown, until the 14th year of the king's reign, when Edward learning that the earl was raising forces in the marches of Wales, against Hugh Despencer the Younger, sent him a peremptory command to forbear, which he not only refused obeying, but forthwith joined Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in the great insurrection then incited by that nobleman, for the redress of certain grievances, and the banishment of the Spencers. In this proceeding, however, he eventually lost his life, being run through the body by a soldier at the battle of Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, where his party received so signal a defeat on March 16, 1321. He joined the barons in opposition to Edward's favorites, Piers de Gaveston and the Despencers. He assisted in the execution of Piers de Gaveston in 1312, for which he was pardoned in 1313. He fought at Bannockburn and was taken prisoner at Bethwell on June 24, 1314, where he had retreated, having been betrayed by the Governor, Sir Walter Gilbertson. He was then exchanged for Elizabeth, wife of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, who had been a prisoner for some time. On February 11, 1315 or 1316 he was appointed captain of all the forces against Llewellyn Bran in the land of Glamorgan. Summoned to attend the Council at Gloucester, he sent word that he would not do so while Hugh Despencer, the younger, was in the king's comtive. He was then ordered to attend at Oxford, and preparing to attack the said Despencer was ordered on May 1, 1321, to abstain, but during May and June the lands of Despencer were ravaged. In accordance with an agreement in parliament, he received a pardon August 20, 1321. Bohun was killed at Boroughbridge on March 16, 1321 or 1322 when endeavoring to force the bridge. He was buried in the church of the Friars Preachers at York. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had the following children:
  - 1. John de Bohun, successor to his father, as Earl of Hereford, Earl of Essex, and Lord High Constable. He was elected as a Knight of the Bath in the 20th year of Edward II., having, by special command of Price Edward, the robes for that solemnity out of the royal wardrobe, as for an earl. He served in the Scottish wars, being in an infirm state of health, was allowed in the 4th year of Edward III. to depute his brother Edward to execute the duties of constable. He married (1) Alice Fitz Alan, daughter of Edmund Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel, and (2) Margaret Basset, daughter of Ralph Basset, Lord Basset, of Drayton, but had no issue. He died in 1335, when all his honors and estates devolved upon his next brother, Humphrey de Bohun IX.
  - 2. Humphrey de Bohun IX., successor to his brother as Earl of Hereford, Earl of Essex, and Lord High Constable, and Knight of the Garter. He was one of the great lords that assisted, in the 15th year of Edward III., at the celebrated feast and justs which the king then held at London in honor of the Countess of Salisbury, and, in the 20th year of the same monarch, attended the king to the relief of Aguilon, then besieged by the French. He was never married, and dying in 1361, his honors and estates reverted to his nephew, Humphrey.
  - 3. Edward de Bohun, successive primogeniturely to the honors.
  - 4. William de Bohun. See below.
  - 6. Alianore Bohun, married (1) James Butler, Earl of Ormonde, and (2) Sir Thomas Dagworth, Lord Dagworth.
  - 7. Margaret Bohun, married Hugh Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devon.
- 10. William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, was born about 1312. He was a personage of great eminence in the turbulent times in which he lived, and one of the gallant heroes of Cressy. In the parliament held at London, in the 11th year of Edward III., upon the advancement of the Black Prince to the dukedom of Cornwall, he was elected Earl of Northampton, on March 17, 1337, and from that period he appears the constant companion in arms of the martial Edward, and his illustrious son. At Cressy he was in the second battalia of the English army, and he was frequently engaged in the subsequent wars of France and Scotland. He was entrusted at different periods with the most important offices, such as ambassador to treat of peace with hostile powers, commissioner to levy troops, etc., and he was finally elected as a Knight of the Garter. He married Elizabeth Badlesmere, daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere and his wife Margaret Clare. Elizabeth was one of the co-heirs of her brother Giles de Badlesmere, and widow of Edmund de Mortimer. They had the following children:
  - 1. Humphrey de Bohun X., succeeded his uncle, Humphrey de Bohun IX, as 2nd Earl of Northampton, when only a minor, under the guardianship of Richard, Earl of Arundel. He did not, however, long enjoy this great accumulation of wealth and honor, for he died in 1372, in the thirty-second year of his age, leaving by his wife Joane Fitz Alan, daughter of his late guardian, the Earl of Arundel, two daughters, his co-heirs, as follows:
    - 1. Eleanor (Alianore) Bohun, married Thomas Plantaganet, of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Buckingham, 6th son of King Edward III.
    - 2. Mary Bohun, married Henry, Earl of Derby (son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster), created Duke of Hereford, who afterwards ascended the throne as King Henry IV.
      
      Upon the decease of Humphrey de Bohun X., the Earldom of Hereford expired; but his son-in-law, the Earl of Derby was subsequently created in 1397 Duke of Hereford, prior, of course, to his becoming King of England, while the lordships of Essex and Northampton, and the constableship fell to his other son-in-law, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earldoms of Essex and Northampton became extinct.
  - 2. Elizabeth Bohun. See below.
    
    William died in September 30, 1360.
- 11. Elizabeth Bohun married Richard Fitz Alan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Earl of Surrey, son of Richard Fitz Alan and his wife, Eleanor Plantaganet, great grand-daughter of King Henry III.
  
  See the continuation of this lineage in the Fitz Alan Line in Volume II.

[Contents] [Next] [Previous] [Top] [Home] [Mail]