C.P. Additions/Corrections: Sir John Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt [died 1386] and Joyce la Zouche

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Dear Newsgroup ~

Complete Peerage 2 (1912): 235 (sub Botetourt) includes a somewhat limited account of Sir John Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt [died 1386]. The following information is given by Complete Peerage concerning his marriages:

"He married, 1stly, Maud, daughter of John de Grey [1st Lord Grey of Rotherfield]. He married, 2ndly, before 31 May 1347, Joyce, daughter of William Zouche, formerly Mortimer [Lord Zouche of Mortimer]. She was living 4 May 1372. He left issue by both wives. He died 1385, and was buried at Halesowen, when any Barony which may be held to have been created by writ, became dormant, but the right thereto, according to modern doctrine, would appear to have devolved, as under." END OF QUOTE

As we can see above, Complete Peerage states John Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt [died 1386] married (1st) Maud de Grey, daughter of John de Grey, 1st Lord Grey of Rotherfield. Maud was actually was the wife of Lord Botetourt's son and heir apparent, John Botetourt the younger. The younger John Botetourt and Maud de Grey were married before 20 October 1358 (date of fine). See the abstract of a fine below involving this couple. For an earlier discussion of this problem, please see the newsgroup archives and Chris Phillips' helpful work entitled "Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage" found at his website: www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk.

Following the younger John Botetourt's death without issue 21 Sept. 1369 in parts beyond the seas, his widow, Maud, married (2nd) before 13 June 1374 Thomas Harcourt (or Harecourt), Knt., of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire [Reference: C.Cl.R. 1374–1377 (1916): 29–30]. In 1375 Thomas and Maud his wife sued John Buttetourt, Knt., in the Court of Common Pleas regarding a debt of £40 [Reference: Court of Common Pleas, CP40/460, image 999f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT4/E3/CP40no460/aCP40no460fronts/IMG_0999.htm)]. Maud de Grey died 29 Jan. 1394, and was buried in an altar tomb at Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire.

Inasofar as the date of the elder John Botetourt's marriage to his known wife, Joyce la Zouche, this marriage took place before Easter term 1341, in which term and year Alice widow of Robert de Aspale, Knt., sued John Butetourt and Joyce his wife in the Court of Common Pleas in a Staffordshire plea regarding dower.

Reference: Court of Common Pleas, CP40/326, image 120f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/E3/CP40no326/aCP40no326fronts/IMG_0120.htm).

Insofar as death dates for John Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt, and his wife, Joyce la Zouche, are concerned, my file notes indicate that Joyce was living in 1375/6. Sir John Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt, died 4 April 1386, and was buried at Halesowen Abbey, Worcestershire. He left a will dated 24 June 1385.

For a transcript of Lord Botetourt's will, see Nash, Collections for the History of Worcestershire, 2 (1782): Appendix, xlii (will of John Buttetourte, lord of Weolegh dated 1385).

As noted above, Complete Peerage refers to Joyce la Zouche's father as "William Zouche, formerly Mortimer." Joyce's father, however, most commonly occurs in contemporary records as “William la Zouche Mortimer," which is the style I prefer to use for him. See, for example, Horwood, Year Books of Edward III: Years XI & XII (Roll Ser. 31(6)) (1883): 346–349; Year Books of Edward III, Years XIV & XV (Rolls Ser. 31(10)) (1889): 122–125; Genealogist n.s. 8 (1892): 36; C.P.R. 1334–1338 (1895): 164; Papal Regs.: Letters 2 (1895): 394; Ralph of Shrewsbury, Reg. of Ralph of Shrewsbury Bishop of Bath & Wells 1 (Somerset Rec. Soc. 9) (1896): 275, 338; Wrottesley, Crécy & Calais (1898): 100; List of Foreign Accounts (Lists & Indexes XI) (1900): 218; Year Books of Edward III, Years XVIII & XIX (Rolls Ser. 31(17)) (1905): 302–313; Year Books of Edward III, Year XIX (Rolls Ser. 31(18)) (1906): 92–95; Court of Common Pleas, CP40/300, image 59 (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/E3/CP40no300/bCP40no300dorses/IMG_0059.htm).

For instances of the style “William la Zouche de Mortimer,” see National Archives, SC 8/179/8915 (available at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk); Court of Common Pleas, CP40/300, image 442 (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/E3/CP40no300/bCP40no300dorses/IMG_0442.htm).

For an instance of him styled “William la Souche of Assheby” in 1328, see National Archives, CP 25/1/205/21, #15 [abstract of fine at http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/index.html].

For an instance of him styled “William la Zouche of Assheby” in lawsuits dated 1332, see Court of Common Pleas, CP40/290, image 50f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/E3/CP40no290/aCP40no290fronts/IMG_0050.htm); Court of Common Pleas, CP40/290, image 17d (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/E3/CP40no290/bCP40no290dorses/IMG_0017.htm).

For instances of simpler styles “William la Zouche,” “William la Souche,” and “William de la Zouche,” see Crowley, Wiltshire Tax List of 1332 (Wiltshire Rec. Soc. 45) (1989): 17, 112; Court of Common Pleas, CP40/295, image 24f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/E3/CP40no295/aCP40no295fronts/IMG_0024.htm).

William la Zouche Mortimer also was known as "lord of Glamorgan and Morgannwg" by virtue of his 2nd marriage to Eleanor de Clare, widow of Hugh le Despenser, 2nd Lord Despenser. See Rpts. & Trans. of Cardiff Naturalists’ Soc. 52 (1919): 17–51, available at the following weblink:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Reports_and_Transactions/boI1AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22William%20la%20Zouche%22

For further particulars regarding the Botetourt family and their descendants, please see my book, Royal Ancestry (5 volume set), published in 2013.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Historian and Genealogist

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Source: Chris Phillips' website, www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk.

http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/fines/abstracts/CP_25_1_20_94.shtml#16

CP 25/1/20/94, number 16.
Link: Image of document at AALT
County: Buckinghamshire.
Place: Westminster.
Date: Three weeks from St Michael, 32 Edward III [20 October 1358].

Parties: John, son of John Buttetourt', and Maud, daughter of John de Grey of Retherfeld', querents, and John Buttetourt' of Weleye, knight, and Joyce, his wife, deforciants.

Property: The manors of Woketon' and Parua Lyneford' and the advowson of the church of the manor of Woketon'.

Action: Plea of covenant.

Agreement: John Buttetourt' and Joyce have granted to John, son of John, and Maud the manors and advowson and have rendered them to them in the court, to hold to John, son of John, and Maud and the heirs of their bodies, to wit, the manor of Parua [Lyneford'] of the lord king and his heirs and the manor of Woketon' and the advowson of John Buttetourt' and Joyce and the heirs of John, for ever, rendering yearly 1 rose at the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, and doing to the chief lords all other services, in respect of the manor of Woketon' and the advowson. In default of such heirs, reversion to John Buttetourt' and Joyce and the heirs of John, quit of the other heirs of John, son of John, and Maud, to hold, to wit, [the manor of Parua Lyne]ford' of the lord king and his heirs and the manor of Woketon' and the advowson of the chief lords, for ever.

Warranty: Warranty.

For this: John, son of John, and Maud have given them 100 marks of silver.
Note: This agreement, as regards the manor of Parua Lyneford', was made by the command of the lord king.

Standardised forms of names. (These are tentative suggestions, intended only as a finding aid.)

Persons: John Botetourt, John de Grey, Maud de Grey, Joyce Botetourt

Places: Rotherfield Greys (in Oxfordshire), Weoley (in Northfield, Worcestershire), Woughton on the Green, Little Linford