Dear Newsgroup ~
Complete Peerage 6 (1926): 462–463 (sub Hereford) includes a good account of Sir Humphrey de Bohun the younger [died 1265], son and heir apparent of Sir Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex [died 1275]. This account gives the following information about Sir Humphrey the younger’s first marriage to Eleanor de Brewes:
“He married, 1stly, Eleanor, daughter and coheir of William de Briouze, of Brecknock, &c., lord of Abergavenny, by Eve, daughter and (in her issue) coheir of William (Marshal), Earl of Pembroke. She was buried at Llanthony by Gloucester.” END OF QUOTE.
As we can see, Complete Peerage gives no death date for Eleanor. It simply states that she was buried at Llanthony by Gloucester.
In footnote “n” on page 463-464, Complete Peerage implies that Eleanor, wife of Humphrey de Bohun, was living 24 Feb. 1251/2, when a commission was appointed “for the partition of the lands of William de Briouze to his three daughters and coheirs. (Cal. Patent Rolls).”
The record referenced in Patent Rolls can be found in Cal. of Patent Rolls, 1247–1258 (1908): 156. It reads as follows:
24 Feb. 1252. Commission to the Abbot of Persore [Pershore], the Prior of Hurle [Hurley], and Walerand le Tieis to extend all the lands late of William de Brause, father of Maud wife of Roger de Mortuomari, Eve wife of William de Cantilupo and Eleanor wife of Humphrey de Boun, and to make a partition thereof according to the form of the concord made between them before the king.” END OF QUOTE.
The above record definitely proves that Eleanor, wife of Humphrey de Bohun, was living 24 February 1252.
Elsewhere I find there is an interesting article on the Bohun family by John Spence entitled “The Identity of Rauf de Boun, Author of Petit Bruit,” published in Reading Medieval Studies 31 (2005): 57–76. This article may be read at the following weblink:
https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2005-03_J._Spence,_The_Identity_of_Rauf_de_Boun,_Author_of_the_Petit_Bruit.pdf
In footnote 21 on page 71, the author states the following regarding the death date of Eleanor de Brewes, wife of Humphrey de Bohun:
“Eleanor was alive on 5 June 1252 (Calendar of Close Rolls , 1251 - 1253 , London , HMSO , 1927 , pp . 221 - 3), but had died before 7 December 1264 , when Joan [Humphrey’s 2nd wife] is first mentioned as Humphrey ' s wife (Calendar of Close Rolls , 1264-1268, London, HMSO, 137, p. 5).” END OF QUOTE.
The record cited by Mr. Spence in the Close Rolls is actually dated 2 June 1252, and, for some reason was later “corrected” to 13 July. In this record, Eleanor is specifically mentioned as the wife of Humphrey de Bohun. That 2 June 1252 was the original date of this record seems clear due to the fact this document is wedged between other documents dated 5 June 1252.
Recently I came across a further contemporary record in a lawsuit in the Court of King's Bench dated 25 June 1252. This lawsuit involves Humphrey de Bohun and the other Brewes co-heirs. Eleanor’s sisters are listed in the lawsuit with their husbands. But Humphrey is listed without Eleanor. This would typically be a clear signal that Eleanor was then dead.
This lawsuit can be viewed at the following weblink:
Court of the King’s Bench, KB26/147A, image 12d (available at
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H3/KB26_147A/0012d.htm).
The lawsuit is immediately followed by the following notation:
Ide dies datus est Will'o de Ebroicis p' att[ornate] suu[m]' in banco. Et testatus q’d Alyenora que fuit Humfr' de Boun mortua est."
The above can be translated to read as follows:
“The same day [25 June 1252] was given to William de Ebroicis [Devereux] [appearing] by his attorney in the Bench And he attests that Eleanor, wife of Humphrey de Bohun, is dead. “
Thus it would appear that Eleanor de Brewes, wife of Humphrey de Bohun, was living 24 Feb. 1252 (Patent Rolls) and 2 June 1252 [as per Close Rolls cited above], and that she died shortly before 25 June 1252.
Other modern secondary sources have been checked. One source states Eleanor “probably” died in 1251. Others just say she died 1251. Obviously they are wrong.
For interest’s sake, the following is a list of the 17th Century New World immigrants that descend from Sir Humphrey de Bohun and his wife, Eleanor de Brewes:
Robert Abell, Dannett Abney, Elizabeth Alsop, William Asfordby, Anne Baynton, Marmaduke Beckwith, Dorothy Beresford, Essex Beville, William Bladen, George & Nehemiah Blakiston, Thomas Booth, Elizabeth Bosvile, Mary Bourchier, George, Giles & Robert Brent, Edward Bromfield, Stephen Bull, Charles Calvert, Edward Carleton, Kenelm Cheseldine, Grace Chetwode, Jeremy Clarke, James & Norton Claypoole, St. Leger Codd, Henry Corbin, Elizabeth & Thomas Coytemore, William Crymes, Francis Dade, Humphrey Davie, Frances, Jane & Katherine Deighton, Edward Digges, Margaret Domville, Rowland Ellis, William Farrer, John Fenwick, John Fisher, Henry Fleete, Edward Foliot, Thomas Gerard, Thomas Greene, Muriel Gurdon, Warham Horsmanden, Anne Humphrey, Daniel & John Humphrey, Edmund Jennings, Edmund, Edward, Matthew & Richard Kempe, Mary Launce, Thomas Ligon, Nathaniel Littleton, Thomas Lloyd, Henry, Jane, Nicholas, & Vincent Lowe, Percival Lowell, Gabriel, Roger & Sarah Ludlow, Thomas Lunsford, Anne, Elizabeth & John Mansfield, Oliver Manwaring, Anne & Katherine Marbury, Anne Mauleverer, John and Margaret Nelson, Philip & Thomas Nelson, Elizabeth, Joshua, & Rebecca Owen, Thomas Owsley, John Oxenbridge, Richard Palgrave, Richard Parker, Herbert Pelham, William & Elizabeth Pole, Henry & William Randolph, George Reade, Thomas Rudyard, Katherine Saint Leger, Richard Saltonstall, William Skepper, Diana & Grey Skipwith, Mary Johanna Somerset, John Stockman, Samuel & William Torrey, Margaret Touteville, John West, Mary Wolseley, Frances & Sarah Woodward, Hawte Wyatt, Amy Wyllys.
Do you descend from Sir Humphrey de Bohun and his wife, Eleanor de Brewes? If so, I’d very much appreciate seeing your line of descent posted here on the newsroup.
Douglas Richardson, Historian and Genealogist