Descendants of Eleanor de Clare, lady of Tewkesbury & Glamorgan
Brad Verity
24 Nov 1326 and ELEANOR (ALAINOR) (DE) CLARE':
"Here Ms. Underhill includes a footnote that reads "The problem with
this last entry, dated October 6, 1338, is that it refers to Joan and
Eleanor, daughters of 'Hugh Despenser the elder'. Hugh Despenser III
had been rehabilitated by 1338, so perhaps the 'elder' refers to his
father, not his grandfather, who was designated 'the elder' in the
1320s.""
There seems to have been confusion on the part of the Chancery clerks
as to which daughters of Hugh the Younger were sent to which
nunneries. Eleanor was ordered to Semplingham Priory in Lincoln, a
Gilbertine convent, while her younger sister Margaret was sent to
Watton, a sister-priory of Semplingham.
Underhill has Joan le Despenser dead in 1351, probably due to the
Chancery entry:
From Close Rolls: "15 Feb. 1351, Westminster. To the sheriff of
Lincoln for the present or the future. Order to pay to Eleanor,
daughter of Hugh le Despenser the elder, what is in arrear to her of
20l. yearly of the issues of the county of Lincoln, and to pay her
that sum yearly henceforth for her life, notwithstanding that Joan her
sister is dead, as on 26 June in the 11th year of the reign the king
granted to Eleanor and to Joan, Hugh's daughters, nuns of the house of
Sempyngham, 20l. to be received yearly for their lives of the said
issues, in aid of their maintenance and clothing in recompense for
20l. which they used to receive yearly of the manor of Loughteburgh.
By K. and pet. of parliament, on the information of John de Wynwyk.
Et erat patens."
The problem is Joan was not dead in Feb. 1351 - she did not die until
15 November 1384, and she was a nun at Shaftesbury Abbey, a
Benedictine (not Gilbertine) convent in Dorset (not Lincoln).
So what probably happened is the Chancery mixed up the sisters' names,
substituting 'Joan' for 'Margaret'. As Margaret died in 1337/8,
according to Underhill, this would explain the discrepancy.
I wrote, on 5-26-2003:
"Since Sir Gilbert le Despenser's 1381 IPM has his great-nephew Thomas
le Despenser as his next closest heir, Gilbert's son John must have
died before his father. He may be the John le Despenser who died
shortly before 10 June 1366, when a writ was issued to the escheator
of Southampton to take his lands into the king's hand."
Actually, there is a Norfolk IPM for Gilbert's son John le Despenser.
John died on "Thursday after the Assumption last [16 August 1375],
being a minor aged 14 years."
"As for the list of Eleanor's Despenser children, T.B. Pugh overlooked
the daughters Margaret and Elizabeth, and added an additional son,
John le Despenser. As he didn't cite a specific source for this list
of Despensers, I'm not sure what to think of third son John le
Despenser, who is not mentioned at all by historian Natalie Fryde in
"The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II" or historian Frances Underhill in
"For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare".
Perhaps Sir Gilbert le Despenser's son John became mistaken somehow as
a son of Hugh Despenser the Younger."
Actually, it turns out that historian T.B. Pugh was correct - Hugh the
Younger did have a son, John le Despenser, as the following Chancery
Roll entry shows:
From Close Rolls: "9 Sept. 1351, Westminster. To Saier de Rocheford,
escheator in the county of Lincoln. Order to deliver to John le
Despenser, brother of Hugh le Despenser, a messuage, 8 carucates of
land and 20s. rent in Carleton in the Moreland, as the king has
learned by inquisition taken by the escheator that Richard Blundel at
his death held the premises for life of Hugh's grant, with remainder
for John for his life, and that the said messuage, land and rent are
held in chief as of the honour of Albemarle, in the king's hand, by
fealty, and the king has taken John's fealty for the messuage, land
and rent."
It may be this John le Despenser who died in June 1366.
A quick revision of the children of Hugh le Despenser the Younger and
Eleanor de Clare, with 4 sons and 5 daus:
1) Hugh le Despenser, lord of Glamorgan, b. abt. 1308/9, dsp 8 Feb.
1349
2) Sir Edward le Despenser, b. before 1315, d. 30 Sep. 1342. Had 4
sons:
A)Edward le Despenser, lord of Glamorgan, b. 24 Mar. 1336, d. 11 Nov.
1375.
B)Sir Thomas le Despenser, of Essenden, Rutland, b. 1337/8, dsp. Feb.
1381.
C)Sir Hugh le Despenser, of Solihull, Warwick, b. 1339/40, d. at
Padua, Italy March 1374; m. (contract 24 Feb. 1352), Alice, daughter
of John de Hothum, of Kilkenny Castle, Ireland, son of Sir Peter de
Hothum. She m. 2nd, Sir John Trussell, and d. 6 Oct. 1379. They had
1 son & 1 dau.
D)Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, b. 1341/2, dunm. 23 Aug.
1406.
3) John le Despenser, alive in 1351, may have died June 1366.
4) Sir Gilbert le Despenser, b. before July 1321, m. before 1360,
Ella, sister and co-heiress of John de Calverley, of Calverley, co.
Norfolk. She was dead before Dec. 1361 (when her brother died). Sir
Gilbert died 23 April 1381. Had 1 son:
A) John le Despenser, b. 1360/1, d. a minor 16 Aug. 1375
1) Isabel le Despenser, b. about 1312, d. after 1351/2, m. 9 Feb. 1321
(annulled Dec. 1344), Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel. They had 1
son.
2) Joan le Despenser, dispensation in 1323 to marry John, son & heir
of Thomas, Earl of Kildare; became a nun at Shaftesbury Abbey, Dorset,
d. 15 Nov. 1384.
3) Eleanor le Despenser, contracted to marry in 1325, Laurence
Hastings, one of the heirs of the Earl of Pembroke; became a nun at
Semplingham Priory, Lincoln 1327; d. after 1360.
4) Margaret le Despenser, became a nun at Watton Priory 1327, d. 1337.
5) Elizabeth le Despenser, b. about 1325/6, contracted in Aug. 1338 to
marry Maurice, Lord Berkeley; d. 13 July 1389. They had 4 sons and 3
daus.
Cheers, ----Brad