Hello All,
The identity of Iseult or Isolde, wife of Sir Hugh de Audley (d.
before 1 Apr 1325) has been a point of discussion on the newsgroup for
over a decade, and elsewhere for quite a bit longer [1]. In most
instances she is shown in print and online webpages as a daughter or
sister of Edmund de Mortimer of Wigmore, primarily based on aspects of
the tenure of Arley, co. Stafford [2].
The VCH account of Upper Arley states in part that the manor of
Upper Arley passed in 1336 to William de Bohun, earl of Northampton in
connection with his marriage to a Mortimer widow. It is interesting
that this account states that the weirs and other land at Le Boure in
Arley, a separate holding in the parish, passed under the terms of the
will of Iseult to William de Bohun. This is supported by an entry in
the Calendar of the Fine Rolls dated at Berkhampstead, 16 April 1339,
recording the “Ratification of the grant made by letters patent of
Roger ' of the Fold ' of the county of Gloucester, executor of the
will of Iseult Daudele, to the king's kinsman, William de Bohun, earl
of Northampton, and Elizabeth his wife of the keeping of the weirs in
the water of Severn and of the fords.. “ [3].
What connection there may have been between Iseult and William de
Bohun cannot be determined from what little detail is provided
concerning her testament. However, there is another piece of evidence
that indicates there was a familial relationship. Iseult’s younger
son, Hugh de Audley (d. 1347), is perhaps best known for two reasons.
He married Margaret de Clare, one of the sisters and coheirs of
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford (d.s.p. 1314) and
subsequently was created Earl of Gloucester on 16 March 1336/7. The
second reason for widespread interest in Hugh is due to his widespread
progeny, due to his daughter and heir Margaret’s marriage to Ralph de
Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford. Of immediate interest, however, is
Hugh’s seal which was affixed to a document dated 1344: Birch
describes the crest as follows:
“Crest, on a helmet with grating closed, and mantling
crusilly, out of a ducal coronet a swan’s head and wings erect. “ [4]
The arms of the Audley family are well known, usually described
as “fretty”, or sometimes “fretty, for a fret” [5]. The adoption of
the Clare chevrons by Hugh prior to 1344 is not atypical, given that
his earldom and his wife’s share of the Clare inheritance accounted
for the bulk of his landed wealth and social standing. As to Hugh de
Audley’s adoption of the Swan crest, during the 14th century the
heraldic seals displaying a Swan crest was otherwise limited to two
well-known but related families: the Bohun Earls of Hereford and
Essex, and the Tonys of Flamstead, co. Herts. and their descendants,
the Beauchamp Earls of Warwick [6]. As there was no Clare descent
from these families or any evidence of the use of the Swan in their
heraldry, or that of the Audleys before this generation, the
appearance is that Hugh de Audley adopted the Swan crest in honour of
his maternal ancestry.
The use of the Swan crest would appear to disprove the theory
that Hugh’s mother was a Mortimer. It does leave unanswered serious
questions as to why Edmund de Mortimer would have provided Iseult and
her 1st husband Walter de Balun with the manor of Upper Arley. If
Iseult were the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun and Eleanor de Braose,
she would have been a first cousin of Edmund de Mortimer: this makes
his provision of Arley in support of Iseult’s marriage believable,
although still in need of a detailed explanation.
There is slight indirect evidence in support of this suggestion.
Sir James de Audley, nephew of Earl Hugh, was desperately wounded at
the Battle of Poitiers (1356), and “sent for his brother sir Peter de
Audeley, sir Bartholomew Burghershe, sir Stephen Cosington, the lord
Willoughby, and sir Ralph de Ferrers, who, he says, were of his blood
and lineage” [7]. As shown in the following chart, the relationships
with Sir Peter de Audley and Sir Ralph de Ferrers are uncomplicated;
Sir Bartholomew de Burghersh was either the 2nd cousin 1x removed of
Sir James de Audley as shown (via Bohun), or similarly related through
his Mortimer ancestry if the ‘traditional’ parentage of Iseult is
correct. However, as the Mortimer ancestry assigned to Iseult
provides no known relationship to Sir John de Willoughby, it seems
more likely that Iseult was a Bohun, and not a Mortimer [8].
The seal of Hugh de Audley, Earl of Gloucester discussed above
appears to make Iseult a Bohun. A Tony ancestry would provide a
single additional generation between Iseult and Humphrey de Bohun,
Earl of Hereford and Essex (d. 1275), but would cause consanguinity
between Hugh, 2nd Earl of Stafford and his wife Philippa de Beauchamp
for which no dispensation is known. Should anyone have any further
documentation on the matter, or have comment or criticism regarding
the proposed resolution to Iseult’s ancestry, I would be glad to hear
of it.
Cheers,
John
[NB: the following chart is conjectural, and
intended for discussion purposes]
Beatrice = Geoffrey fitz Piers = Aveline de
de Say I Earl of Essex I Clare
I I___________
I I
Henry de Bohun = Maud Sir Reynold = Hawise
E of Essex I de Mohun I
____________I ______________ I
I I I I
Humphrey Eleanor Margaret Isabel
E of Essex &c. de Quincy de Quincy = Edmund
= Maud d’Eu = Alan la = William de Deincourt
I Zouche Ferrers I
I I I I
Humphrey Margery William Margaret
dvp 1265 = Robert of Groby = Robert de
= Eleanor fitz Roger = Anne Willoughby
de Braose I____ Durward I
__I_ _ _ _ _ I I____ I
I I I I I
Margery Iseult John de Sir William John de
= Theobald = Hugh de Clavering de Ferrers Willoughby
de Verdun Audley I______ d. 1325 d. 1349
I ___I_______ I I I
I I I I I I
Theobald Hugh de James ~ Eva Sir Ralph Sir John de
de Verdun Audley I de Ferrers Willoughby
= Maud de E of I <P> <P>
Mortimer Gloucester I
I ___I_______________
I I I
Elizabeth Sir James Sir Peter
= Bartholomew de Audley de Audley
de Burghersh <P> <P>
I
I
Sir Bartholomew
de Burghersh
<P>
Notes
[1] See SGM threads, <Iseult, wife of Hugh de Audley, the elder> (Jan
2002), <Iseult de Mortimer, wife of Walter de Balun and Hugh de
Audley> (Mar 2006) and numerous others in between.
[2] The best example of this, so to speak, is the History of the
County of Worcester (Victoria County History series, 1913). Vol. 3,
pp. 5-10 of this work covers the parish of Upper Arley due to the
transfer of the parish from Staffordshire in 1895: this account calls
Iseult the daughter of Edmund de Mortimer. URL:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43079
[3] Calendar of the Fine Rolls (London: published for His Majesty’s
Stationery Office, 1915), Vol. V, p. 127.
[4] W. de Gray Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of
Manuscripts of the British Museum (London: Longmans and Co., 1892),
Vol. II, p. 445, no. 7022. The full description provided by Birch:
“ Hugh de Audele, or Daudele,
2nd Baron, Earl of Gloucester. A.D. 1337-1347.
7022. [A.D. 1344.] Cast in red composition from fine
impression. 1 ¼ in. [xlii. 79.]
A shield of arms, couche: three chevrons, for CLARE. The
Earl married Margaret de Clare, sister and coheiress of
Gilbert de Clare, 8th and last Earl. Crest, on a helmet
with grating closed, and mantling crusilly, out of a ducal
coronet a swan’s head and wings erect. Within a carved
Gothic panel.
SIGILLVM * HVGONIS * DE * AVDELE * “
[5] Birch, ibid., pp. 444-446.
[6] Early instances of the use of the Swan are provided by Scott-
Ellis, in particular his depiction and description of the counter-seal
of Humphrey, Earl of Hereford and Essex (d. 1322) as “The shield of
Bohun, hung by a loop enclosing the Bohun swan “ [T. E. Scott-Ellis,
Baron Howard de Walden, Some Feudal Lords and their Seals, MCCCI
(London: De Walden Library, 1904), pp. xxvii, 11]. The seal of Robert
de Tony, displaying swans and ‘talbots’ around the arms, is also shown
and described by Scott-Ellis [p. 115]. For some discussion of the
Swan crest and its use by the Bohun, Tony and Beauchamp families, see
Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Esq., The Siege of Carlaverock in the XXVIII
Edward I, A.D. MCCC (London: J. B. Nichols, 1828), pp. 369-370, and
in particular Anthony R. Wagner, The Swan Badge and the Swan Knight,
Archaeologia (1959), vol. XCVII, pp. 127-138.
[7] George Frederick Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter
(London: William Pickering, 1841), p. 80, citing the chronicle of Jean
Froissart. Following is the relevant French text of Froissart as
rendered in Siméon Luce, ed., Chroniques de J. Froissart (Paris: Jules
Renouard, 1874), vol. V, pp. 61-62:
‘ § 396. Quant messires James d’Audelée fu arrière raportés en
littière en son logeis,.. quant il manda monsigneur Piere d’Audelée
son frère, messire Betremieu de Brues, messire Estievene de Gonsenton,
le signeur de Willebi et monsigneur Raoul de Ferrières: cil estoient
de son sanch et de son linage. ‘
[8] The ancestry of Margaret Deincourt, wife of Robert de
Willoughby, was discussed on the newsgroup in 2002 by Cris Nash, Rosie
Bevan, Chris Phillips, and Douglas Richardson, among others
(<Deincourt uncertainties>). Given that Reynold de Mohun’s Ferrers
wife has been shown to have had no surviving descendants beyond 1324,
it appears that she must have been among the issue of Reynold’s wife
Hawise, daughter of Geoffrey fitz Piers, Earl of Essex (a Bohun
ancestor).