Sir Hugh le Despenser, Knight, 1st Earl of Winchester

Sir Hugh le Despenser, Knight, 1st Earl of Winchester

Male 1261 - 1326  (65 years)

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  • Name Hugh le Despenser 
    Title Sir 
    Suffix Knight, 1st Earl of Winchester 
    Birth 1 Mar 1261  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Death 27 Oct 1326  Bristol, Gloucestershire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    • ...was hanged immediately in his armour at Bristol on 27 October 1326. He was then beheaded and his body cut into pieces for the dogs. His head was sent for display to Winchester, which had supported the king.
    Person ID I46257  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 1 Oct 2016 

    Family Isabella Beauchamp,   b. ~ 1263, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 30 May 1306 (Age ~ 43 years) 
    Marriage Y  [1, 2
    Children 
     1. Sir Hugh le Despenser, IV, Knight, Baron Despenser,   b. ~ 1286, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Nov 1326, Hereford, Herefordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 40 years)
     2. Aline le Despencer,   b. (England) Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. Isabel le Despencer,   b. (England) Find all individuals with events at this location
     4. Elizabeth le Despenser,   b. 0___ 1297, Barton, Gloucestershire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 0___ 1370 (Age ~ 73 years)
     5. Sir Philip le Despenser, of Goxhill,   b. (Gloucestershire) England Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F16933  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 27 Oct 1326 - Bristol, Gloucestershire, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Sir Hugh le Despenser (1 March 1261 - 27 October 1326)
    Sir Hugh le Despenser (1 March 1261 - 27 October 1326)
    sometimes referred to as "the Elder Despenser", was for a time the chief adviser to King Edward II of England.

    ...was hanged immediately in his armour at Bristol on 27 October 1326. He was then beheaded and his body cut into pieces for the dogs. His head was sent for display to Winchester, which had supported the king.

  • Notes 
    • Hugh le Despenser (1 March 1261 – 27 October 1326), sometimes referred to as "the Elder Despenser", was for a time the chief adviser to King Edward II of England.[1]

      Ancestry

      He was the son of Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (or Despenser), and Aline Basset, only daughter and heiress of Philip Basset. His father was killed at the Battle of Evesham when Hugh was just a boy, but Hugh's patrimony was saved through the influence of his maternal grandfather (who had been loyal to the king).[2] He married Isabella de Beauchamp, daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick and Maud FitzJohn.

      Life

      He served Edward I on numerous occasions in battle and in diplomacy and was created a baron by writ of summons to Parliament in 1295. His son, Hugh Despenser the Younger, became a favourite of Edward II, in what is believed to be a homosexual relationship. [3] Hugh the Elder was loyal to his son and the King, which worried the barons. To that time, his highest office was justice of the forests.[4]

      He was one of the few barons to remain loyal to Edward during the controversy regarding Piers Gaveston. Despenser became Edward's loyal servant and chief administrator after Gaveston was executed in 1312, but the jealousy of other barons - and, more importantly, his own corruption and unjust behaviour - led to his being exiled along with his son Hugh Despenser the younger in 1321, when Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent replaced him as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

      Edward found it difficult to manage without them, and recalled them to England a year later, an action which enraged the queen, Isabella, the more so when Despenser was created Earl of Winchester in 1322. Although not as bad as his son, Despencer the Elder was accused by a significant number of people of widespread criminality during the next few years, often involving false accusations of trespass or theft and the extortion of money or land.

      Death

      When Isabella, Queen of England, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, led a rebellion against her husband Edward, they captured both Despensers—first the elder, later the younger. Queen Isabella interceded for Hugh the elder, but his enemies, notably Roger Mortimer and Henry, Earl of Lancaster, insisted both father and son should face trial and execution.

      The elder Despenser was hanged immediately in his armour at Bristol on 27 October 1326. He was then beheaded and his body cut into pieces for the dogs. His head was sent for display to Winchester, which had supported the king.[5]

      Pardons were issued to thousands of people who had been falsely accused by Despencer following his death.

      Family

      Hugh and his wife, Isabella, had also two daughters, Aline (c. - 1353) and Isabel (d. 1334). Isabel married, as his second wife, John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings and had issue. Shouldn't it say "Isabel married, as her second husband, (not wife) John Hastings......etc.

      Notes

      Jump up ^ "Despenser, Hugh le (1262-1326)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
      Jump up ^ Fryde 28
      Jump up ^ "Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
      Jump up ^ Gwilym Dodd, Anthony Musson, The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives, pp. 214-217.
      Jump up ^ Rev. John Milner, History of Antiquities of Winchester, p. 213.

      References

      Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 72-31, 74-31, 74A-31, 93A-29
      Fryde, Natalie (1979). The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326. ISBN 0-521-54806-3.
      Karau, Bjčorn: Gčunstlinge am Hof Edwards II. von England - Aufstieg und Fall der Despensers, MA-Thesis, Kiel 1999. (Free Download: http://www.despensers.de/download.htm)
      Wikisource link to Despenser, Hugh le (1262-1326) (DNB00). Wikisource.
      Hunt, William (1888). "Hugh Despenser". Dictionary of National Biography. 14.

      end [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S8630] "Isabella de Beauchamp, Lady Kidwelly, Lady Despenser (born c. 1263 - died before 30 May 1306)", biography, abstracted N.

    2. [S9771] "Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester" biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_le_Despenser,_1st_Earl_of_Winc.