Individual Details
Hugh "the Younger" Le Despenser
(Ca 1290 - 29 Nov 1326)
thePeerage.com
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1
M, #1943, b. circa 1290, d. 29 November 1326
Last Edited=16 Aug 2011
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser was born circa 1290. He was the son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st and last Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp.1 He married Lady Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Joan of Acre, in 1306.1 He died on 29 November 1326, by hanging as a traitor.2 He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England.
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser also went by the nick-name of Hugh 'the Younger'.1 He was created 1st Lord le Despenser [England by writ] on 29 July 1314.1 He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath (K.B.).1 In August 1321 he was disinherited and exiled in perpetuity for his alleged misgovernment and malign influence of King Edward II.1 He was attainted. He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.3
Children of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser and Lady Eleanor de Clare
Elizabeth le Despencer+4 d. 13 Jul 1389
Sir Edward le Despenser+1 d. 30 Sep 1342
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1 b. c 1308, d. 8 Feb 1348/49
Isabel le Despenser+5 b. c 1313, d. 1375
Eleanor le Despenser b. 1315, d. 1351
Citations
[S37] BP2003 volume 1, page 1385. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 83. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
[S18] Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995). Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 130. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume I, page 243.
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From Wikipedia
Hugh Despenser the Younger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Hugh le Despenser the Younger)
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser
Blason Thomas Le Despencer.svg
Arms of Despencer: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a fret or, over all a ribbon sable
Born Hugh le Despenser
c. 1286
England
Died 24 November 1326 (aged 39–40)
Hereford, England
Cause of death Hanged, drawn and quartered for High treason
Resting place Possibly Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, England
Title 1st Lord Despenser
Known for Being a favourite of Edward II
Nationality English
Predecessor Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester
Spouse(s) Eleanor de Clare (m. 1306)
Parents Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, and Isabella de Beauchamp
Occupation Knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, and constable and keeper of various castles and lands in England and Wales
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (c. 1286[1] – 24 November 1326), also referred to as "the younger Despenser",[2] was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester (the elder Despenser), and Isabella daughter of William, 9th Earl of Warwick.[3] He rose to national prominence as royal chamberlain and a favourite of Edward II of England. A series of subsequent controversies eventually led to his being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Contents
1 Titles and possessions
2 Marriage
3 Political manoeuverings
4 Criminality
5 Relationship with Edward and Isabella
6 Trial and execution
7 Remains
8 Legacy
9 Ancestry
10 Notable descendants
11 References
12 Sources
13 Further reading
Titles and possessions
Hugh le Despenser the younger was knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, Constable of Odiham Castle, Keeper of the castle and town of Portchester, Keeper of the castle, town and barton of Bristol and, in Wales, Keeper of the castle and town of Dryslwyn, and the region of Cantref Mawr, Carmarthenshire.
Also in Wales, he was Lord of Glamorgan which gave him possession of Cardiff Castle.
He was also Keeper of the castles, manor, and lands of Brecknock, Hay, Cantref Selyf, etc., in County Brecon, and, in England of Huntington, Herefordshire.
He was given Wallingford Castle although this had previously been given to Queen Isabella for life.
Marriage
In May 1306 Hugh le Despenser the younger was knighted, and that summer he married Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 9th Lord of Clare and 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre.
Eleanor's grandfather, Edward I, owed the elder Despenser 2,000 marks (£1,000,000 at today's prices) and the marriage settled this debt, and was a reward for the elder Hugh's loyal service.
When Eleanor's brother, Gilbert, was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, she unexpectedly became one of the three co-heiresses to the rich Gloucester earldom, and in her right, Hugh inherited Glamorgan and other properties.[4] In just a few years Hugh went from a landless knight to one of the wealthiest magnates in the kingdom.
Eleanor was also the niece of the new king, Edward II of England, and this connection brought Despenser closer to the English royal court. He joined the baronial opposition to Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite (and Hugh's brother-in-law, as Gaveston was married to Eleanor's sister Margaret).
Eager for power and wealth, Despenser seized Tonbridge Castle in 1315, after his brother-in-law's death under the misapprehension that it belonged to his mother-in-law (he relinquished it on discovering that the rightful owner was the Archbishop of Canterbury).[5] In 1318 he murdered Llywelyn Bren, a Welsh hostage in his custody.
Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:
Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308–1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. At his death without issue, his nephew Edward, son of Edward (below), was created Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.
Gilbert le Despenser, (1309–1381).
Edward le Despenser, (1310–1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes;[6] father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357. His son was Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and 2nd Baron Le Despencer of the 1357 creation, who was married to a daughter of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, youngest son of Edward III, and was attainted and beheaded in 1400 for his attempts to restore Richard II, his wife's cousin, to the throne. His attainder was reversed in 1461, with the victory of Edward IV, and the barony of the first creation (1264/1295) was eventually awarded in 1604 to Dame Mary Fane, heiress of Thomas's daughter Isabel Le Despencer, who married two cousins. The barony is now held by the Viscounts Falmouth.
Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312–1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel
John le Despenser, (1311 – June 1366).
Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315–1351), nun at Sempringham Priory
Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317–1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey
Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319–1337), nun at Whatton Priory
Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.
Political manoeuverings
Hugh le Despenser the younger became royal chamberlain in 1318. As a royal courtier, Despenser manoeuvred into the affections of King Edward, displacing the previous favourite, Roger d'Amory. This was much to the dismay of the baronage as they saw him both taking their rightful places at court and being a worse version of Gaveston. By 1320 his greed was running free. He also supposedly vowed to be revenged on Roger Mortimer because Mortimer's grandfather had killed Hugh's grandfather, and once stated (though probably in jest) that he regretted he could not control the wind. By 1321 he had earned many enemies in every stratum of society, from Queen Isabella to the barons to the common people. There was even a plot to kill Despenser by sticking his wax likeness with pins.
Finally the barons prevailed upon King Edward and forced Despenser and his father into exile in August 1321. Following the exile of the Despensers, the barons who opposed them fell out among themselves, and the King summoned the two men back to England. Early in the following year, King Edward took advantage of these divisions to secure the surrender of Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer, and the defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster, the Despensers' chief opponents. The pair returned and King Edward quickly reinstated Despenser as royal favourite. His time in exile had done nothing to quell his greed, his rashness, or his ruthlessness.[citation needed] The time from the Despensers' return from exile until the end of Edward II's reign was a time of uncertainty in England. With the main baronial opposition leaderless and weak, having been defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge, and Edward willing to let them do as they pleased, the Despensers were left unchecked. They grew rich from their administration and corruption.[citation needed] This period is sometimes referred to as the "Tyranny".[citation needed] This maladministration caused hostile feeling for them and, by proxy, Edward II. Despenser repeatedly pressed King Edward to execute Mortimer, who had been held prisoner in the Tower of London, following his surrender. However, Mortimer escaped from the Tower and fled to France.
Criminality
Like his father, Hugh Despencer the Elder, was accused by a significant number of people of widespread criminality. Examples include;
Theft from Relatives - Despenser seized the Welsh lands of his wife's inheritance, ignoring the claims of his two brothers-in-law and cheated his sister-in-law Elizabeth de Clare out of Gower and Usk.
Theft - forced Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, to give up her lands,
Torture - he had Lady Baret's arms and legs broken until she went insane.
Murder - unlawfully killing a prisoner (Llweyn Bren) that was awaiting trial[7]
Piracy - during his exile he became a pirate in the English Channel, "a sea monster, lying in wait for merchants as they crossed the sea".[8]
False Imprisonment & Death Threats - he imprisoned Sir William Cokerell in the Tower of London where he was forced to pay to save his life[9]
Relationship with Edward and Isabella
Queen Isabella had a special dislike for Hugh le Despenser the younger. (Froissart wrote that "he was a sodomite.")[10] Alison Weir, in her 2005 book Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England, speculates that he had raped Isabella and that was the source of her hatred. While Isabella was in France to negotiate between her husband and the French king, she formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer and began planning an invasion. Despenser supposedly tried to bribe French courtiers to assassinate Isabella, sending barrels of silver as payment.[citation needed] Roger Mortimer and the Queen invaded England in October 1326. Their forces numbered only about 1,500 mercenaries to begin with, but the majority of the nobility rallied to them throughout October and November. By contrast, very few people were prepared to fight for Edward II, mainly because of the hatred that the Despensers had aroused. The Despensers fled West with the King, with a sizeable sum from the treasury. The escape was unsuccessful. Separated from the elder Despenser, the King and the younger Despenser were deserted by most of their followers, and were captured near Neath in mid-November. King Edward was placed in captivity and later forced to abdicate in favour of his son. The elder Despenser (the father) was hanged at Bristol on 27 October 1326, and younger Despenser (the son) was brought to trial.
Trial and execution
The execution of Hugh le Despenser the younger, from a manuscript of Jean Froissart.
Hugh le Despenser the younger tried to starve himself before his trial,[11] but he did face trial on 24 November 1326, in Hereford, before Mortimer and the Queen. In Froissart's account of the execution, Despenser was then tied firmly to a ladder, and —in full view of the crowd— had his genitals sliced off and burned in his still-conscious sight, then his entrails slowly pulled out, and, finally, his heart cut out and thrown into the fire. Froissart (or rather Jean le Bel's chronicle, on which he relied) is the only source to describe castration, where all other contemporary accounts have Despenser quartered, hanged, and beheaded.[12]
Finally, his corpse was beheaded, his body cut into four pieces, and his head mounted on the gates of London.[2] Mortimer and Isabella feasted with their chief supporters, as they watched the execution.[citation needed]
Remains
Four years later, in December 1330, his widow was given permission to gather and bury his remains at the family's Gloucestershire estate,[2] but only the head, a thigh bone and a few vertebrae were returned to her.[13]
What may be the body of Despenser was identified in February 2008 in the village of Abbey Hulton in Staffordshire, the former site of Hulton Abbey. The skeleton, which was first uncovered during archaeological work in the 1970s, appeared to be that of a victim of a drawing and quartering as it had been beheaded and chopped into several pieces with a sharp blade, suggesting a ritual killing. Furthermore, it lacked several body parts, including the ones given to Despenser's wife. Radiocarbon analysis dated the body to between 1050 and 1385, and later tests suggested it to be that of a man over 34 years old. Despenser was 40 at the time of his death. In addition, the Abbey is located on lands that belonged to Hugh Audley, Despenser's brother-in-law, at the time.[13]
Legacy
No book-length biographical study of Hugh le Despenser exists, although The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II: 1321–1326 by historian Natalie Fryde is a study of Edward's reign during the years that the Despensers' power was at its peak. Fryde pays particular attention to the subject of the Despensers' ill-gotten landholdings.[14] The numerous accusations against the younger Despenser at the time of his execution have never been the subject of close critical scrutiny, although Roy Martin Haines called them "ingenuous" and noted their propagandistic nature.[15]
Despite the crucial and disastrous role he played in the reign of Edward II, Despenser is almost a minor character in Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II (1592), where, as "Spencer", he is little more than a substitute for the dead Gaveston. In 2006, he was selected by BBC History Magazine as the 14th century's worst Briton.[16]
His image on the stained glass window of the Banqueting Hall of Cardiff Castle, shows his coat of arms inverted — a symbol of disgrace.
Ancestry
Edward II of England and Hugh Despenser the elder extorted the lands of Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln, and to make the transfers of title appear legitimate, declared Hugh the younger her "kinsman".
[show]Ancestors of Hugh Despenser the Younger
Notable descendants
Anne Neville, the queen consort of King Richard III of England, is a direct descendant of Hugh le Despenser the younger. Anne's grandmother, Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester and Warwick, was the granddaughter of Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, who in turn was the grandson of the younger Despenser.
The sixth and last queen consort to Henry VIII, Catherine Parr, also descended from the 1st Baron le Despencer, through his daughter Margaret, who married Robert de Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Chartley.[17]
The New England Protestant reformer Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson was a descendant of Hugh through his grandson Edward.[18] Through her, many Americans including Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush, can claim Hugh the younger as an ancestor.[citation needed]
References
The younger Despenser's exact birth date is unknown ("le Despencer, Baron (E, 1295 with precedency from 1264)". Cracroft's Peerage.) but was likely between 1286 and 1290; for example, the BBC gives "c. 1287" ("The Sceptred Isle".); Alison Weir (2005) writes that he was "at least three years younger" than Edward II (page 115), which indicates a birth no earlier than 1287.
Hamilton, J. S. (January 2008) [2004]. "Despenser, Hugh, the younger, first Lord Despenser (d. 1326)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7554. (subscription required)
"Despenser, Hugh le (d.1326)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Bury, J. B. (1932). The Cambridge Medieval History, VII. p. 520.
Weir, A. (December 2006) [2005]. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. Ballantine Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-345-45320-4.
http://patp.us/genealogy/bio/spencer.aspx; also said to have died at Morlaix, on the coast of Brittany.
Matthew 2004
Childs, W. (2005) [2005]. Vita Edwardi Secundi. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-19-927594-7. OCLC 229295966.
Close Rolls 1331.
According to Froissart, Despenser's penis was severed and burned in his execution as a punishment for his sodomy and heresy: this translated excerpt from Froissart's account of the execution is given, for example in: Sponsler, C. (April 2001). Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F., eds. Queering the Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures Series. University of Minnesota Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0.
Mortimer, I. (March 2006). The greatest traitor: the life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327—1330. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-312-34941-7.
Sponsler, C. (April 2001). "The King's Boyfriend Froissart's political theater of 1326". In Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F. Queering the Middle Ages. University of Minnesota. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0. OCLC 247977894.
Clout, Laura (18 February 2008). "Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II". The Daily Telegraph. p. 3.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
"'Worst' historical Britons list". BBC News. 27 December 2005.
John and John Bernard Burke. The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their descendants, sovereigns and subjects, Churton, 1848. pg xciv.
Richardson, Douglas and Kimball G. Everingham. "Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families". Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004. p. 270.
Sources
Anon. (2005). Nöel Denholm-Young and Wendy R. Childs, ed. Vita Edwardi Secundi: The life of Edward the Second. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927594-7.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
Karau, Bjørn Kristian (1999). Günstlinge am Hof Edwards II. von England – Aufstieg und Fall der Despensers [(M.A. thesis)] (PDF) (in German). Kiel: Philosophischen Fakultät, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel [Faculty of Philosophy, University of Kiel].
Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Hugh Despenser the Younger". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Mortimer, Ian (2003). The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327–1330. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06249-2.
Calendar of Close Rolls. Westminster: Parliament of England. 1224–1468.
Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-75325-9.
-- MERGED NOTE ------------
thePeerage.com
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1
M, #1943, b. circa 1290, d. 29 November 1326
Last Edited=16 Aug 2011
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser was born circa 1290. He was the son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st and last Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp.1 He married Lady Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Joan of Acre, in 1306.1 He died on 29 November 1326, by hanging as a traitor.2 He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England.
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser also went by the nick-name of Hugh 'the Younger'.1 He was created 1st Lord le Despenser [England by writ] on 29 July 1314.1 He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath (K.B.).1 In August 1321 he was disinherited and exiled in perpetuity for his alleged misgovernment and malign influence of King Edward II.1 He was attainted. He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.3
Children of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser and Lady Eleanor de Clare
Elizabeth le Despencer+4 d. 13 Jul 1389
Sir Edward le Despenser+1 d. 30 Sep 1342
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1 b. c 1308, d. 8 Feb 1348/49
Isabel le Despenser+5 b. c 1313, d. 1375
Eleanor le Despenser b. 1315, d. 1351
Citations
[S37] BP2003 volume 1, page 1385. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 83. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
[S18] Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995). Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 130. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume I, page 243.
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From Wikipedia
Hugh Despenser the Younger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Hugh le Despenser the Younger)
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser
Blason Thomas Le Despencer.svg
Arms of Despencer: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a fret or, over all a ribbon sable
Born Hugh le Despenser
c. 1286
England
Died 24 November 1326 (aged 39–40)
Hereford, England
Cause of death Hanged, drawn and quartered for High treason
Resting place Possibly Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, England
Title 1st Lord Despenser
Known for Being a favourite of Edward II
Nationality English
Predecessor Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester
Spouse(s) Eleanor de Clare (m. 1306)
Parents Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, and Isabella de Beauchamp
Occupation Knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, and constable and keeper of various castles and lands in England and Wales
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (c. 1286[1] – 24 November 1326), also referred to as "the younger Despenser",[2] was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester (the elder Despenser), and Isabella daughter of William, 9th Earl of Warwick.[3] He rose to national prominence as royal chamberlain and a favourite of Edward II of England. A series of subsequent controversies eventually led to his being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Contents
1 Titles and possessions
2 Marriage
3 Political manoeuverings
4 Criminality
5 Relationship with Edward and Isabella
6 Trial and execution
7 Remains
8 Legacy
9 Ancestry
10 Notable descendants
11 References
12 Sources
13 Further reading
Titles and possessions
Hugh le Despenser the younger was knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, Constable of Odiham Castle, Keeper of the castle and town of Portchester, Keeper of the castle, town and barton of Bristol and, in Wales, Keeper of the castle and town of Dryslwyn, and the region of Cantref Mawr, Carmarthenshire.
Also in Wales, he was Lord of Glamorgan which gave him possession of Cardiff Castle.
He was also Keeper of the castles, manor, and lands of Brecknock, Hay, Cantref Selyf, etc., in County Brecon, and, in England of Huntington, Herefordshire.
He was given Wallingford Castle although this had previously been given to Queen Isabella for life.
Marriage
In May 1306 Hugh le Despenser the younger was knighted, and that summer he married Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 9th Lord of Clare and 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre.
Eleanor's grandfather, Edward I, owed the elder Despenser 2,000 marks (£1,000,000 at today's prices) and the marriage settled this debt, and was a reward for the elder Hugh's loyal service.
When Eleanor's brother, Gilbert, was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, she unexpectedly became one of the three co-heiresses to the rich Gloucester earldom, and in her right, Hugh inherited Glamorgan and other properties.[4] In just a few years Hugh went from a landless knight to one of the wealthiest magnates in the kingdom.
Eleanor was also the niece of the new king, Edward II of England, and this connection brought Despenser closer to the English royal court. He joined the baronial opposition to Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite (and Hugh's brother-in-law, as Gaveston was married to Eleanor's sister Margaret).
Eager for power and wealth, Despenser seized Tonbridge Castle in 1315, after his brother-in-law's death under the misapprehension that it belonged to his mother-in-law (he relinquished it on discovering that the rightful owner was the Archbishop of Canterbury).[5] In 1318 he murdered Llywelyn Bren, a Welsh hostage in his custody.
Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:
Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308–1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. At his death without issue, his nephew Edward, son of Edward (below), was created Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.
Gilbert le Despenser, (1309–1381).
Edward le Despenser, (1310–1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes;[6] father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357. His son was Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and 2nd Baron Le Despencer of the 1357 creation, who was married to a daughter of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, youngest son of Edward III, and was attainted and beheaded in 1400 for his attempts to restore Richard II, his wife's cousin, to the throne. His attainder was reversed in 1461, with the victory of Edward IV, and the barony of the first creation (1264/1295) was eventually awarded in 1604 to Dame Mary Fane, heiress of Thomas's daughter Isabel Le Despencer, who married two cousins. The barony is now held by the Viscounts Falmouth.
Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312–1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel
John le Despenser, (1311 – June 1366).
Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315–1351), nun at Sempringham Priory
Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317–1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey
Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319–1337), nun at Whatton Priory
Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.
Political manoeuverings
Hugh le Despenser the younger became royal chamberlain in 1318. As a royal courtier, Despenser manoeuvred into the affections of King Edward, displacing the previous favourite, Roger d'Amory. This was much to the dismay of the baronage as they saw him both taking their rightful places at court and being a worse version of Gaveston. By 1320 his greed was running free. He also supposedly vowed to be revenged on Roger Mortimer because Mortimer's grandfather had killed Hugh's grandfather, and once stated (though probably in jest) that he regretted he could not control the wind. By 1321 he had earned many enemies in every stratum of society, from Queen Isabella to the barons to the common people. There was even a plot to kill Despenser by sticking his wax likeness with pins.
Finally the barons prevailed upon King Edward and forced Despenser and his father into exile in August 1321. Following the exile of the Despensers, the barons who opposed them fell out among themselves, and the King summoned the two men back to England. Early in the following year, King Edward took advantage of these divisions to secure the surrender of Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer, and the defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster, the Despensers' chief opponents. The pair returned and King Edward quickly reinstated Despenser as royal favourite. His time in exile had done nothing to quell his greed, his rashness, or his ruthlessness.[citation needed] The time from the Despensers' return from exile until the end of Edward II's reign was a time of uncertainty in England. With the main baronial opposition leaderless and weak, having been defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge, and Edward willing to let them do as they pleased, the Despensers were left unchecked. They grew rich from their administration and corruption.[citation needed] This period is sometimes referred to as the "Tyranny".[citation needed] This maladministration caused hostile feeling for them and, by proxy, Edward II. Despenser repeatedly pressed King Edward to execute Mortimer, who had been held prisoner in the Tower of London, following his surrender. However, Mortimer escaped from the Tower and fled to France.
Criminality
Like his father, Hugh Despencer the Elder, was accused by a significant number of people of widespread criminality. Examples include;
Theft from Relatives - Despenser seized the Welsh lands of his wife's inheritance, ignoring the claims of his two brothers-in-law and cheated his sister-in-law Elizabeth de Clare out of Gower and Usk.
Theft - forced Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, to give up her lands,
Torture - he had Lady Baret's arms and legs broken until she went insane.
Murder - unlawfully killing a prisoner (Llweyn Bren) that was awaiting trial[7]
Piracy - during his exile he became a pirate in the English Channel, "a sea monster, lying in wait for merchants as they crossed the sea".[8]
False Imprisonment & Death Threats - he imprisoned Sir William Cokerell in the Tower of London where he was forced to pay to save his life[9]
Relationship with Edward and Isabella
Queen Isabella had a special dislike for Hugh le Despenser the younger. (Froissart wrote that "he was a sodomite.")[10] Alison Weir, in her 2005 book Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England, speculates that he had raped Isabella and that was the source of her hatred. While Isabella was in France to negotiate between her husband and the French king, she formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer and began planning an invasion. Despenser supposedly tried to bribe French courtiers to assassinate Isabella, sending barrels of silver as payment.[citation needed] Roger Mortimer and the Queen invaded England in October 1326. Their forces numbered only about 1,500 mercenaries to begin with, but the majority of the nobility rallied to them throughout October and November. By contrast, very few people were prepared to fight for Edward II, mainly because of the hatred that the Despensers had aroused. The Despensers fled West with the King, with a sizeable sum from the treasury. The escape was unsuccessful. Separated from the elder Despenser, the King and the younger Despenser were deserted by most of their followers, and were captured near Neath in mid-November. King Edward was placed in captivity and later forced to abdicate in favour of his son. The elder Despenser (the father) was hanged at Bristol on 27 October 1326, and younger Despenser (the son) was brought to trial.
Trial and execution
The execution of Hugh le Despenser the younger, from a manuscript of Jean Froissart.
Hugh le Despenser the younger tried to starve himself before his trial,[11] but he did face trial on 24 November 1326, in Hereford, before Mortimer and the Queen. In Froissart's account of the execution, Despenser was then tied firmly to a ladder, and —in full view of the crowd— had his genitals sliced off and burned in his still-conscious sight, then his entrails slowly pulled out, and, finally, his heart cut out and thrown into the fire. Froissart (or rather Jean le Bel's chronicle, on which he relied) is the only source to describe castration, where all other contemporary accounts have Despenser quartered, hanged, and beheaded.[12]
Finally, his corpse was beheaded, his body cut into four pieces, and his head mounted on the gates of London.[2] Mortimer and Isabella feasted with their chief supporters, as they watched the execution.[citation needed]
Remains
Four years later, in December 1330, his widow was given permission to gather and bury his remains at the family's Gloucestershire estate,[2] but only the head, a thigh bone and a few vertebrae were returned to her.[13]
What may be the body of Despenser was identified in February 2008 in the village of Abbey Hulton in Staffordshire, the former site of Hulton Abbey. The skeleton, which was first uncovered during archaeological work in the 1970s, appeared to be that of a victim of a drawing and quartering as it had been beheaded and chopped into several pieces with a sharp blade, suggesting a ritual killing. Furthermore, it lacked several body parts, including the ones given to Despenser's wife. Radiocarbon analysis dated the body to between 1050 and 1385, and later tests suggested it to be that of a man over 34 years old. Despenser was 40 at the time of his death. In addition, the Abbey is located on lands that belonged to Hugh Audley, Despenser's brother-in-law, at the time.[13]
Legacy
No book-length biographical study of Hugh le Despenser exists, although The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II: 1321–1326 by historian Natalie Fryde is a study of Edward's reign during the years that the Despensers' power was at its peak. Fryde pays particular attention to the subject of the Despensers' ill-gotten landholdings.[14] The numerous accusations against the younger Despenser at the time of his execution have never been the subject of close critical scrutiny, although Roy Martin Haines called them "ingenuous" and noted their propagandistic nature.[15]
Despite the crucial and disastrous role he played in the reign of Edward II, Despenser is almost a minor character in Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II (1592), where, as "Spencer", he is little more than a substitute for the dead Gaveston. In 2006, he was selected by BBC History Magazine as the 14th century's worst Briton.[16]
His image on the stained glass window of the Banqueting Hall of Cardiff Castle, shows his coat of arms inverted — a symbol of disgrace.
Ancestry
Edward II of England and Hugh Despenser the elder extorted the lands of Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln, and to make the transfers of title appear legitimate, declared Hugh the younger her "kinsman".
[show]Ancestors of Hugh Despenser the Younger
Notable descendants
Anne Neville, the queen consort of King Richard III of England, is a direct descendant of Hugh le Despenser the younger. Anne's grandmother, Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester and Warwick, was the granddaughter of Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, who in turn was the grandson of the younger Despenser.
The sixth and last queen consort to Henry VIII, Catherine Parr, also descended from the 1st Baron le Despencer, through his daughter Margaret, who married Robert de Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Chartley.[17]
The New England Protestant reformer Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson was a descendant of Hugh through his grandson Edward.[18] Through her, many Americans including Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush, can claim Hugh the younger as an ancestor.[citation needed]
References
The younger Despenser's exact birth date is unknown ("le Despencer, Baron (E, 1295 with precedency from 1264)". Cracroft's Peerage.) but was likely between 1286 and 1290; for example, the BBC gives "c. 1287" ("The Sceptred Isle".); Alison Weir (2005) writes that he was "at least three years younger" than Edward II (page 115), which indicates a birth no earlier than 1287.
Hamilton, J. S. (January 2008) [2004]. "Despenser, Hugh, the younger, first Lord Despenser (d. 1326)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7554. (subscription required)
"Despenser, Hugh le (d.1326)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Bury, J. B. (1932). The Cambridge Medieval History, VII. p. 520.
Weir, A. (December 2006) [2005]. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. Ballantine Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-345-45320-4.
http://patp.us/genealogy/bio/spencer.aspx; also said to have died at Morlaix, on the coast of Brittany.
Matthew 2004
Childs, W. (2005) [2005]. Vita Edwardi Secundi. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-19-927594-7. OCLC 229295966.
Close Rolls 1331.
According to Froissart, Despenser's penis was severed and burned in his execution as a punishment for his sodomy and heresy: this translated excerpt from Froissart's account of the execution is given, for example in: Sponsler, C. (April 2001). Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F., eds. Queering the Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures Series. University of Minnesota Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0.
Mortimer, I. (March 2006). The greatest traitor: the life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327—1330. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-312-34941-7.
Sponsler, C. (April 2001). "The King's Boyfriend Froissart's political theater of 1326". In Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F. Queering the Middle Ages. University of Minnesota. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0. OCLC 247977894.
Clout, Laura (18 February 2008). "Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II". The Daily Telegraph. p. 3.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
"'Worst' historical Britons list". BBC News. 27 December 2005.
John and John Bernard Burke. The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their descendants, sovereigns and subjects, Churton, 1848. pg xciv.
Richardson, Douglas and Kimball G. Everingham. "Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families". Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004. p. 270.
Sources
Anon. (2005). Nöel Denholm-Young and Wendy R. Childs, ed. Vita Edwardi Secundi: The life of Edward the Second. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927594-7.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
Karau, Bjørn Kristian (1999). Günstlinge am Hof Edwards II. von England – Aufstieg und Fall der Despensers [(M.A. thesis)] (PDF) (in German). Kiel: Philosophischen Fakultät, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel [Faculty of Philosophy, University of Kiel].
Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Hugh Despenser the Younger". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Mortimer, Ian (2003). The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327–1330. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06249-2.
Calendar of Close Rolls. Westminster: Parliament of England. 1224–1468.
Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-75325-9.
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1
M, #1943, b. circa 1290, d. 29 November 1326
Last Edited=16 Aug 2011
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser was born circa 1290. He was the son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st and last Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp.1 He married Lady Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Joan of Acre, in 1306.1 He died on 29 November 1326, by hanging as a traitor.2 He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England.
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser also went by the nick-name of Hugh 'the Younger'.1 He was created 1st Lord le Despenser [England by writ] on 29 July 1314.1 He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath (K.B.).1 In August 1321 he was disinherited and exiled in perpetuity for his alleged misgovernment and malign influence of King Edward II.1 He was attainted. He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.3
Children of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser and Lady Eleanor de Clare
Elizabeth le Despencer+4 d. 13 Jul 1389
Sir Edward le Despenser+1 d. 30 Sep 1342
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1 b. c 1308, d. 8 Feb 1348/49
Isabel le Despenser+5 b. c 1313, d. 1375
Eleanor le Despenser b. 1315, d. 1351
Citations
[S37] BP2003 volume 1, page 1385. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 83. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
[S18] Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995). Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 130. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume I, page 243.
***************
From Wikipedia
Hugh Despenser the Younger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Hugh le Despenser the Younger)
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser
Blason Thomas Le Despencer.svg
Arms of Despencer: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a fret or, over all a ribbon sable
Born Hugh le Despenser
c. 1286
England
Died 24 November 1326 (aged 39–40)
Hereford, England
Cause of death Hanged, drawn and quartered for High treason
Resting place Possibly Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, England
Title 1st Lord Despenser
Known for Being a favourite of Edward II
Nationality English
Predecessor Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester
Spouse(s) Eleanor de Clare (m. 1306)
Parents Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, and Isabella de Beauchamp
Occupation Knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, and constable and keeper of various castles and lands in England and Wales
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (c. 1286[1] – 24 November 1326), also referred to as "the younger Despenser",[2] was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester (the elder Despenser), and Isabella daughter of William, 9th Earl of Warwick.[3] He rose to national prominence as royal chamberlain and a favourite of Edward II of England. A series of subsequent controversies eventually led to his being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Contents
1 Titles and possessions
2 Marriage
3 Political manoeuverings
4 Criminality
5 Relationship with Edward and Isabella
6 Trial and execution
7 Remains
8 Legacy
9 Ancestry
10 Notable descendants
11 References
12 Sources
13 Further reading
Titles and possessions
Hugh le Despenser the younger was knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, Constable of Odiham Castle, Keeper of the castle and town of Portchester, Keeper of the castle, town and barton of Bristol and, in Wales, Keeper of the castle and town of Dryslwyn, and the region of Cantref Mawr, Carmarthenshire.
Also in Wales, he was Lord of Glamorgan which gave him possession of Cardiff Castle.
He was also Keeper of the castles, manor, and lands of Brecknock, Hay, Cantref Selyf, etc., in County Brecon, and, in England of Huntington, Herefordshire.
He was given Wallingford Castle although this had previously been given to Queen Isabella for life.
Marriage
In May 1306 Hugh le Despenser the younger was knighted, and that summer he married Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 9th Lord of Clare and 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre.
Eleanor's grandfather, Edward I, owed the elder Despenser 2,000 marks (£1,000,000 at today's prices) and the marriage settled this debt, and was a reward for the elder Hugh's loyal service.
When Eleanor's brother, Gilbert, was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, she unexpectedly became one of the three co-heiresses to the rich Gloucester earldom, and in her right, Hugh inherited Glamorgan and other properties.[4] In just a few years Hugh went from a landless knight to one of the wealthiest magnates in the kingdom.
Eleanor was also the niece of the new king, Edward II of England, and this connection brought Despenser closer to the English royal court. He joined the baronial opposition to Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite (and Hugh's brother-in-law, as Gaveston was married to Eleanor's sister Margaret).
Eager for power and wealth, Despenser seized Tonbridge Castle in 1315, after his brother-in-law's death under the misapprehension that it belonged to his mother-in-law (he relinquished it on discovering that the rightful owner was the Archbishop of Canterbury).[5] In 1318 he murdered Llywelyn Bren, a Welsh hostage in his custody.
Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:
Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308–1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. At his death without issue, his nephew Edward, son of Edward (below), was created Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.
Gilbert le Despenser, (1309–1381).
Edward le Despenser, (1310–1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes;[6] father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357. His son was Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and 2nd Baron Le Despencer of the 1357 creation, who was married to a daughter of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, youngest son of Edward III, and was attainted and beheaded in 1400 for his attempts to restore Richard II, his wife's cousin, to the throne. His attainder was reversed in 1461, with the victory of Edward IV, and the barony of the first creation (1264/1295) was eventually awarded in 1604 to Dame Mary Fane, heiress of Thomas's daughter Isabel Le Despencer, who married two cousins. The barony is now held by the Viscounts Falmouth.
Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312–1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel
John le Despenser, (1311 – June 1366).
Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315–1351), nun at Sempringham Priory
Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317–1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey
Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319–1337), nun at Whatton Priory
Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.
Political manoeuverings
Hugh le Despenser the younger became royal chamberlain in 1318. As a royal courtier, Despenser manoeuvred into the affections of King Edward, displacing the previous favourite, Roger d'Amory. This was much to the dismay of the baronage as they saw him both taking their rightful places at court and being a worse version of Gaveston. By 1320 his greed was running free. He also supposedly vowed to be revenged on Roger Mortimer because Mortimer's grandfather had killed Hugh's grandfather, and once stated (though probably in jest) that he regretted he could not control the wind. By 1321 he had earned many enemies in every stratum of society, from Queen Isabella to the barons to the common people. There was even a plot to kill Despenser by sticking his wax likeness with pins.
Finally the barons prevailed upon King Edward and forced Despenser and his father into exile in August 1321. Following the exile of the Despensers, the barons who opposed them fell out among themselves, and the King summoned the two men back to England. Early in the following year, King Edward took advantage of these divisions to secure the surrender of Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer, and the defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster, the Despensers' chief opponents. The pair returned and King Edward quickly reinstated Despenser as royal favourite. His time in exile had done nothing to quell his greed, his rashness, or his ruthlessness.[citation needed] The time from the Despensers' return from exile until the end of Edward II's reign was a time of uncertainty in England. With the main baronial opposition leaderless and weak, having been defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge, and Edward willing to let them do as they pleased, the Despensers were left unchecked. They grew rich from their administration and corruption.[citation needed] This period is sometimes referred to as the "Tyranny".[citation needed] This maladministration caused hostile feeling for them and, by proxy, Edward II. Despenser repeatedly pressed King Edward to execute Mortimer, who had been held prisoner in the Tower of London, following his surrender. However, Mortimer escaped from the Tower and fled to France.
Criminality
Like his father, Hugh Despencer the Elder, was accused by a significant number of people of widespread criminality. Examples include;
Theft from Relatives - Despenser seized the Welsh lands of his wife's inheritance, ignoring the claims of his two brothers-in-law and cheated his sister-in-law Elizabeth de Clare out of Gower and Usk.
Theft - forced Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, to give up her lands,
Torture - he had Lady Baret's arms and legs broken until she went insane.
Murder - unlawfully killing a prisoner (Llweyn Bren) that was awaiting trial[7]
Piracy - during his exile he became a pirate in the English Channel, "a sea monster, lying in wait for merchants as they crossed the sea".[8]
False Imprisonment & Death Threats - he imprisoned Sir William Cokerell in the Tower of London where he was forced to pay to save his life[9]
Relationship with Edward and Isabella
Queen Isabella had a special dislike for Hugh le Despenser the younger. (Froissart wrote that "he was a sodomite.")[10] Alison Weir, in her 2005 book Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England, speculates that he had raped Isabella and that was the source of her hatred. While Isabella was in France to negotiate between her husband and the French king, she formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer and began planning an invasion. Despenser supposedly tried to bribe French courtiers to assassinate Isabella, sending barrels of silver as payment.[citation needed] Roger Mortimer and the Queen invaded England in October 1326. Their forces numbered only about 1,500 mercenaries to begin with, but the majority of the nobility rallied to them throughout October and November. By contrast, very few people were prepared to fight for Edward II, mainly because of the hatred that the Despensers had aroused. The Despensers fled West with the King, with a sizeable sum from the treasury. The escape was unsuccessful. Separated from the elder Despenser, the King and the younger Despenser were deserted by most of their followers, and were captured near Neath in mid-November. King Edward was placed in captivity and later forced to abdicate in favour of his son. The elder Despenser (the father) was hanged at Bristol on 27 October 1326, and younger Despenser (the son) was brought to trial.
Trial and execution
The execution of Hugh le Despenser the younger, from a manuscript of Jean Froissart.
Hugh le Despenser the younger tried to starve himself before his trial,[11] but he did face trial on 24 November 1326, in Hereford, before Mortimer and the Queen. In Froissart's account of the execution, Despenser was then tied firmly to a ladder, and —in full view of the crowd— had his genitals sliced off and burned in his still-conscious sight, then his entrails slowly pulled out, and, finally, his heart cut out and thrown into the fire. Froissart (or rather Jean le Bel's chronicle, on which he relied) is the only source to describe castration, where all other contemporary accounts have Despenser quartered, hanged, and beheaded.[12]
Finally, his corpse was beheaded, his body cut into four pieces, and his head mounted on the gates of London.[2] Mortimer and Isabella feasted with their chief supporters, as they watched the execution.[citation needed]
Remains
Four years later, in December 1330, his widow was given permission to gather and bury his remains at the family's Gloucestershire estate,[2] but only the head, a thigh bone and a few vertebrae were returned to her.[13]
What may be the body of Despenser was identified in February 2008 in the village of Abbey Hulton in Staffordshire, the former site of Hulton Abbey. The skeleton, which was first uncovered during archaeological work in the 1970s, appeared to be that of a victim of a drawing and quartering as it had been beheaded and chopped into several pieces with a sharp blade, suggesting a ritual killing. Furthermore, it lacked several body parts, including the ones given to Despenser's wife. Radiocarbon analysis dated the body to between 1050 and 1385, and later tests suggested it to be that of a man over 34 years old. Despenser was 40 at the time of his death. In addition, the Abbey is located on lands that belonged to Hugh Audley, Despenser's brother-in-law, at the time.[13]
Legacy
No book-length biographical study of Hugh le Despenser exists, although The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II: 1321–1326 by historian Natalie Fryde is a study of Edward's reign during the years that the Despensers' power was at its peak. Fryde pays particular attention to the subject of the Despensers' ill-gotten landholdings.[14] The numerous accusations against the younger Despenser at the time of his execution have never been the subject of close critical scrutiny, although Roy Martin Haines called them "ingenuous" and noted their propagandistic nature.[15]
Despite the crucial and disastrous role he played in the reign of Edward II, Despenser is almost a minor character in Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II (1592), where, as "Spencer", he is little more than a substitute for the dead Gaveston. In 2006, he was selected by BBC History Magazine as the 14th century's worst Briton.[16]
His image on the stained glass window of the Banqueting Hall of Cardiff Castle, shows his coat of arms inverted — a symbol of disgrace.
Ancestry
Edward II of England and Hugh Despenser the elder extorted the lands of Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln, and to make the transfers of title appear legitimate, declared Hugh the younger her "kinsman".
[show]Ancestors of Hugh Despenser the Younger
Notable descendants
Anne Neville, the queen consort of King Richard III of England, is a direct descendant of Hugh le Despenser the younger. Anne's grandmother, Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester and Warwick, was the granddaughter of Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, who in turn was the grandson of the younger Despenser.
The sixth and last queen consort to Henry VIII, Catherine Parr, also descended from the 1st Baron le Despencer, through his daughter Margaret, who married Robert de Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Chartley.[17]
The New England Protestant reformer Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson was a descendant of Hugh through his grandson Edward.[18] Through her, many Americans including Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush, can claim Hugh the younger as an ancestor.[citation needed]
References
The younger Despenser's exact birth date is unknown ("le Despencer, Baron (E, 1295 with precedency from 1264)". Cracroft's Peerage.) but was likely between 1286 and 1290; for example, the BBC gives "c. 1287" ("The Sceptred Isle".); Alison Weir (2005) writes that he was "at least three years younger" than Edward II (page 115), which indicates a birth no earlier than 1287.
Hamilton, J. S. (January 2008) [2004]. "Despenser, Hugh, the younger, first Lord Despenser (d. 1326)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7554. (subscription required)
"Despenser, Hugh le (d.1326)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Bury, J. B. (1932). The Cambridge Medieval History, VII. p. 520.
Weir, A. (December 2006) [2005]. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. Ballantine Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-345-45320-4.
http://patp.us/genealogy/bio/spencer.aspx; also said to have died at Morlaix, on the coast of Brittany.
Matthew 2004
Childs, W. (2005) [2005]. Vita Edwardi Secundi. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-19-927594-7. OCLC 229295966.
Close Rolls 1331.
According to Froissart, Despenser's penis was severed and burned in his execution as a punishment for his sodomy and heresy: this translated excerpt from Froissart's account of the execution is given, for example in: Sponsler, C. (April 2001). Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F., eds. Queering the Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures Series. University of Minnesota Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0.
Mortimer, I. (March 2006). The greatest traitor: the life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327—1330. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-312-34941-7.
Sponsler, C. (April 2001). "The King's Boyfriend Froissart's political theater of 1326". In Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F. Queering the Middle Ages. University of Minnesota. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0. OCLC 247977894.
Clout, Laura (18 February 2008). "Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II". The Daily Telegraph. p. 3.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
"'Worst' historical Britons list". BBC News. 27 December 2005.
John and John Bernard Burke. The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their descendants, sovereigns and subjects, Churton, 1848. pg xciv.
Richardson, Douglas and Kimball G. Everingham. "Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families". Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004. p. 270.
Sources
Anon. (2005). Nöel Denholm-Young and Wendy R. Childs, ed. Vita Edwardi Secundi: The life of Edward the Second. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927594-7.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
Karau, Bjørn Kristian (1999). Günstlinge am Hof Edwards II. von England – Aufstieg und Fall der Despensers [(M.A. thesis)] (PDF) (in German). Kiel: Philosophischen Fakultät, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel [Faculty of Philosophy, University of Kiel].
Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Hugh Despenser the Younger". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Mortimer, Ian (2003). The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327–1330. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06249-2.
Calendar of Close Rolls. Westminster: Parliament of England. 1224–1468.
Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-75325-9.
-- MERGED NOTE ------------
thePeerage.com
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1
M, #1943, b. circa 1290, d. 29 November 1326
Last Edited=16 Aug 2011
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser was born circa 1290. He was the son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st and last Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp.1 He married Lady Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Joan of Acre, in 1306.1 He died on 29 November 1326, by hanging as a traitor.2 He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England.
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser also went by the nick-name of Hugh 'the Younger'.1 He was created 1st Lord le Despenser [England by writ] on 29 July 1314.1 He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath (K.B.).1 In August 1321 he was disinherited and exiled in perpetuity for his alleged misgovernment and malign influence of King Edward II.1 He was attainted. He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.3
Children of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser and Lady Eleanor de Clare
Elizabeth le Despencer+4 d. 13 Jul 1389
Sir Edward le Despenser+1 d. 30 Sep 1342
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord le Despenser1 b. c 1308, d. 8 Feb 1348/49
Isabel le Despenser+5 b. c 1313, d. 1375
Eleanor le Despenser b. 1315, d. 1351
Citations
[S37] BP2003 volume 1, page 1385. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 83. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
[S18] Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995). Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 130. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume I, page 243.
***************
From Wikipedia
Hugh Despenser the Younger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Hugh le Despenser the Younger)
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser
Blason Thomas Le Despencer.svg
Arms of Despencer: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a fret or, over all a ribbon sable
Born Hugh le Despenser
c. 1286
England
Died 24 November 1326 (aged 39–40)
Hereford, England
Cause of death Hanged, drawn and quartered for High treason
Resting place Possibly Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, England
Title 1st Lord Despenser
Known for Being a favourite of Edward II
Nationality English
Predecessor Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester
Spouse(s) Eleanor de Clare (m. 1306)
Parents Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, and Isabella de Beauchamp
Occupation Knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, and constable and keeper of various castles and lands in England and Wales
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (c. 1286[1] – 24 November 1326), also referred to as "the younger Despenser",[2] was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester (the elder Despenser), and Isabella daughter of William, 9th Earl of Warwick.[3] He rose to national prominence as royal chamberlain and a favourite of Edward II of England. A series of subsequent controversies eventually led to his being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Contents
1 Titles and possessions
2 Marriage
3 Political manoeuverings
4 Criminality
5 Relationship with Edward and Isabella
6 Trial and execution
7 Remains
8 Legacy
9 Ancestry
10 Notable descendants
11 References
12 Sources
13 Further reading
Titles and possessions
Hugh le Despenser the younger was knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, King's Chamberlain, Constable of Odiham Castle, Keeper of the castle and town of Portchester, Keeper of the castle, town and barton of Bristol and, in Wales, Keeper of the castle and town of Dryslwyn, and the region of Cantref Mawr, Carmarthenshire.
Also in Wales, he was Lord of Glamorgan which gave him possession of Cardiff Castle.
He was also Keeper of the castles, manor, and lands of Brecknock, Hay, Cantref Selyf, etc., in County Brecon, and, in England of Huntington, Herefordshire.
He was given Wallingford Castle although this had previously been given to Queen Isabella for life.
Marriage
In May 1306 Hugh le Despenser the younger was knighted, and that summer he married Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 9th Lord of Clare and 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre.
Eleanor's grandfather, Edward I, owed the elder Despenser 2,000 marks (£1,000,000 at today's prices) and the marriage settled this debt, and was a reward for the elder Hugh's loyal service.
When Eleanor's brother, Gilbert, was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, she unexpectedly became one of the three co-heiresses to the rich Gloucester earldom, and in her right, Hugh inherited Glamorgan and other properties.[4] In just a few years Hugh went from a landless knight to one of the wealthiest magnates in the kingdom.
Eleanor was also the niece of the new king, Edward II of England, and this connection brought Despenser closer to the English royal court. He joined the baronial opposition to Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite (and Hugh's brother-in-law, as Gaveston was married to Eleanor's sister Margaret).
Eager for power and wealth, Despenser seized Tonbridge Castle in 1315, after his brother-in-law's death under the misapprehension that it belonged to his mother-in-law (he relinquished it on discovering that the rightful owner was the Archbishop of Canterbury).[5] In 1318 he murdered Llywelyn Bren, a Welsh hostage in his custody.
Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:
Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308–1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. At his death without issue, his nephew Edward, son of Edward (below), was created Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.
Gilbert le Despenser, (1309–1381).
Edward le Despenser, (1310–1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes;[6] father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357. His son was Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and 2nd Baron Le Despencer of the 1357 creation, who was married to a daughter of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, youngest son of Edward III, and was attainted and beheaded in 1400 for his attempts to restore Richard II, his wife's cousin, to the throne. His attainder was reversed in 1461, with the victory of Edward IV, and the barony of the first creation (1264/1295) was eventually awarded in 1604 to Dame Mary Fane, heiress of Thomas's daughter Isabel Le Despencer, who married two cousins. The barony is now held by the Viscounts Falmouth.
Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312–1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel
John le Despenser, (1311 – June 1366).
Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315–1351), nun at Sempringham Priory
Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317–1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey
Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319–1337), nun at Whatton Priory
Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.
Political manoeuverings
Hugh le Despenser the younger became royal chamberlain in 1318. As a royal courtier, Despenser manoeuvred into the affections of King Edward, displacing the previous favourite, Roger d'Amory. This was much to the dismay of the baronage as they saw him both taking their rightful places at court and being a worse version of Gaveston. By 1320 his greed was running free. He also supposedly vowed to be revenged on Roger Mortimer because Mortimer's grandfather had killed Hugh's grandfather, and once stated (though probably in jest) that he regretted he could not control the wind. By 1321 he had earned many enemies in every stratum of society, from Queen Isabella to the barons to the common people. There was even a plot to kill Despenser by sticking his wax likeness with pins.
Finally the barons prevailed upon King Edward and forced Despenser and his father into exile in August 1321. Following the exile of the Despensers, the barons who opposed them fell out among themselves, and the King summoned the two men back to England. Early in the following year, King Edward took advantage of these divisions to secure the surrender of Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer, and the defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster, the Despensers' chief opponents. The pair returned and King Edward quickly reinstated Despenser as royal favourite. His time in exile had done nothing to quell his greed, his rashness, or his ruthlessness.[citation needed] The time from the Despensers' return from exile until the end of Edward II's reign was a time of uncertainty in England. With the main baronial opposition leaderless and weak, having been defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge, and Edward willing to let them do as they pleased, the Despensers were left unchecked. They grew rich from their administration and corruption.[citation needed] This period is sometimes referred to as the "Tyranny".[citation needed] This maladministration caused hostile feeling for them and, by proxy, Edward II. Despenser repeatedly pressed King Edward to execute Mortimer, who had been held prisoner in the Tower of London, following his surrender. However, Mortimer escaped from the Tower and fled to France.
Criminality
Like his father, Hugh Despencer the Elder, was accused by a significant number of people of widespread criminality. Examples include;
Theft from Relatives - Despenser seized the Welsh lands of his wife's inheritance, ignoring the claims of his two brothers-in-law and cheated his sister-in-law Elizabeth de Clare out of Gower and Usk.
Theft - forced Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, to give up her lands,
Torture - he had Lady Baret's arms and legs broken until she went insane.
Murder - unlawfully killing a prisoner (Llweyn Bren) that was awaiting trial[7]
Piracy - during his exile he became a pirate in the English Channel, "a sea monster, lying in wait for merchants as they crossed the sea".[8]
False Imprisonment & Death Threats - he imprisoned Sir William Cokerell in the Tower of London where he was forced to pay to save his life[9]
Relationship with Edward and Isabella
Queen Isabella had a special dislike for Hugh le Despenser the younger. (Froissart wrote that "he was a sodomite.")[10] Alison Weir, in her 2005 book Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England, speculates that he had raped Isabella and that was the source of her hatred. While Isabella was in France to negotiate between her husband and the French king, she formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer and began planning an invasion. Despenser supposedly tried to bribe French courtiers to assassinate Isabella, sending barrels of silver as payment.[citation needed] Roger Mortimer and the Queen invaded England in October 1326. Their forces numbered only about 1,500 mercenaries to begin with, but the majority of the nobility rallied to them throughout October and November. By contrast, very few people were prepared to fight for Edward II, mainly because of the hatred that the Despensers had aroused. The Despensers fled West with the King, with a sizeable sum from the treasury. The escape was unsuccessful. Separated from the elder Despenser, the King and the younger Despenser were deserted by most of their followers, and were captured near Neath in mid-November. King Edward was placed in captivity and later forced to abdicate in favour of his son. The elder Despenser (the father) was hanged at Bristol on 27 October 1326, and younger Despenser (the son) was brought to trial.
Trial and execution
The execution of Hugh le Despenser the younger, from a manuscript of Jean Froissart.
Hugh le Despenser the younger tried to starve himself before his trial,[11] but he did face trial on 24 November 1326, in Hereford, before Mortimer and the Queen. In Froissart's account of the execution, Despenser was then tied firmly to a ladder, and —in full view of the crowd— had his genitals sliced off and burned in his still-conscious sight, then his entrails slowly pulled out, and, finally, his heart cut out and thrown into the fire. Froissart (or rather Jean le Bel's chronicle, on which he relied) is the only source to describe castration, where all other contemporary accounts have Despenser quartered, hanged, and beheaded.[12]
Finally, his corpse was beheaded, his body cut into four pieces, and his head mounted on the gates of London.[2] Mortimer and Isabella feasted with their chief supporters, as they watched the execution.[citation needed]
Remains
Four years later, in December 1330, his widow was given permission to gather and bury his remains at the family's Gloucestershire estate,[2] but only the head, a thigh bone and a few vertebrae were returned to her.[13]
What may be the body of Despenser was identified in February 2008 in the village of Abbey Hulton in Staffordshire, the former site of Hulton Abbey. The skeleton, which was first uncovered during archaeological work in the 1970s, appeared to be that of a victim of a drawing and quartering as it had been beheaded and chopped into several pieces with a sharp blade, suggesting a ritual killing. Furthermore, it lacked several body parts, including the ones given to Despenser's wife. Radiocarbon analysis dated the body to between 1050 and 1385, and later tests suggested it to be that of a man over 34 years old. Despenser was 40 at the time of his death. In addition, the Abbey is located on lands that belonged to Hugh Audley, Despenser's brother-in-law, at the time.[13]
Legacy
No book-length biographical study of Hugh le Despenser exists, although The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II: 1321–1326 by historian Natalie Fryde is a study of Edward's reign during the years that the Despensers' power was at its peak. Fryde pays particular attention to the subject of the Despensers' ill-gotten landholdings.[14] The numerous accusations against the younger Despenser at the time of his execution have never been the subject of close critical scrutiny, although Roy Martin Haines called them "ingenuous" and noted their propagandistic nature.[15]
Despite the crucial and disastrous role he played in the reign of Edward II, Despenser is almost a minor character in Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II (1592), where, as "Spencer", he is little more than a substitute for the dead Gaveston. In 2006, he was selected by BBC History Magazine as the 14th century's worst Briton.[16]
His image on the stained glass window of the Banqueting Hall of Cardiff Castle, shows his coat of arms inverted — a symbol of disgrace.
Ancestry
Edward II of England and Hugh Despenser the elder extorted the lands of Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln, and to make the transfers of title appear legitimate, declared Hugh the younger her "kinsman".
[show]Ancestors of Hugh Despenser the Younger
Notable descendants
Anne Neville, the queen consort of King Richard III of England, is a direct descendant of Hugh le Despenser the younger. Anne's grandmother, Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester and Warwick, was the granddaughter of Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, who in turn was the grandson of the younger Despenser.
The sixth and last queen consort to Henry VIII, Catherine Parr, also descended from the 1st Baron le Despencer, through his daughter Margaret, who married Robert de Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Chartley.[17]
The New England Protestant reformer Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson was a descendant of Hugh through his grandson Edward.[18] Through her, many Americans including Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush, can claim Hugh the younger as an ancestor.[citation needed]
References
The younger Despenser's exact birth date is unknown ("le Despencer, Baron (E, 1295 with precedency from 1264)". Cracroft's Peerage.) but was likely between 1286 and 1290; for example, the BBC gives "c. 1287" ("The Sceptred Isle".); Alison Weir (2005) writes that he was "at least three years younger" than Edward II (page 115), which indicates a birth no earlier than 1287.
Hamilton, J. S. (January 2008) [2004]. "Despenser, Hugh, the younger, first Lord Despenser (d. 1326)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7554. (subscription required)
"Despenser, Hugh le (d.1326)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Bury, J. B. (1932). The Cambridge Medieval History, VII. p. 520.
Weir, A. (December 2006) [2005]. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. Ballantine Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-345-45320-4.
http://patp.us/genealogy/bio/spencer.aspx; also said to have died at Morlaix, on the coast of Brittany.
Matthew 2004
Childs, W. (2005) [2005]. Vita Edwardi Secundi. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-19-927594-7. OCLC 229295966.
Close Rolls 1331.
According to Froissart, Despenser's penis was severed and burned in his execution as a punishment for his sodomy and heresy: this translated excerpt from Froissart's account of the execution is given, for example in: Sponsler, C. (April 2001). Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F., eds. Queering the Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures Series. University of Minnesota Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0.
Mortimer, I. (March 2006). The greatest traitor: the life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327—1330. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-312-34941-7.
Sponsler, C. (April 2001). "The King's Boyfriend Froissart's political theater of 1326". In Burger, G.; Kruger, S. F. Queering the Middle Ages. University of Minnesota. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8166-3404-0. OCLC 247977894.
Clout, Laura (18 February 2008). "Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II". The Daily Telegraph. p. 3.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
"'Worst' historical Britons list". BBC News. 27 December 2005.
John and John Bernard Burke. The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their descendants, sovereigns and subjects, Churton, 1848. pg xciv.
Richardson, Douglas and Kimball G. Everingham. "Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families". Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004. p. 270.
Sources
Anon. (2005). Nöel Denholm-Young and Wendy R. Childs, ed. Vita Edwardi Secundi: The life of Edward the Second. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927594-7.
Fryde, Natalie (1979). The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.
Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, His Life, His Reign, and its Aftermath, 1284–1330. Montréal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2432-0.
Karau, Bjørn Kristian (1999). Günstlinge am Hof Edwards II. von England – Aufstieg und Fall der Despensers [(M.A. thesis)] (PDF) (in German). Kiel: Philosophischen Fakultät, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel [Faculty of Philosophy, University of Kiel].
Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Hugh Despenser the Younger". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Mortimer, Ian (2003). The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327–1330. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06249-2.
Calendar of Close Rolls. Westminster: Parliament of England. 1224–1468.
Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-75325-9.
Events
| Birth | Ca 1290 | ||||
| Title (Nobility) | 29 Jul 1314 | 1st Lord Despenser | |||
| Death | 29 Nov 1326 | Hanged, drawn and quartered |
Families
| Spouse | Eleanor de Clare (1292 - 1337) |
| Child | Edward Le Despenser (1310 - 1342) |
| Father | Hugh Le Despenser (1261 - 1326) |
| Mother | Isabella de Beauchamp ( - 1306) |