Stamboom Borgsteede » Humphrey de Bohun , Earl of Hereford & Essex (± 1276-1322)

Persoonlijke gegevens Humphrey de Bohun , Earl of Hereford & Essex 

• Alternatieve naam: Humphrey IX Bohun , Earl van Hereford
• Hij is geboren rond 1276 in Pleshey, Chelmsford, Essex, England, United Kingdom.Bronnen 3, 5
• Titel: Earl van Hereford en Essex
• Hij is overleden (Battle of Boroughbridge) op 16 maart 1322 in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom.Bronnen 3, 6, 7
• Hij is begraven (Church of the Friars Preachers) in York, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom.Bronnen 6, 7
• De biologische ouders zijn Humphrey de Bohun en Maud de Fiennes
• Deze gegevens zijn voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 4 mei 2024.

Gezin van Humphrey de Bohun , Earl of Hereford & Essex

Hij is getrouwd met Elizabeth of Rhuddlan.

Zij zijn getrouwd op 14 november 1302 te Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England, United Kingdom.Bron 8

Kind(eren):

1. William de Bohun  ± 1312-1360 

Notities over Humphrey de Bohun , Earl of Hereford & Essex

Humphrey VIII de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford (1276 - March 16, 1321/1322) was a member of an important Norman family of the Welsh Marches and was considered one of the most remarkable men of his time.

Lineage

Humphrey de Bohun's birth year is uncertain and several contemporary sources indicated that it may have been 1275. His father was Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and his mother was Maud de Fiennes, daughter of Enguerrand II de Fiennes. He was born at Pleshey Castle located in Essex, England. The castle is nothing more than an earthwork ruin now.

For an outstanding examination of the de Bohun family background, there is no better authority than Le Melletier, see below. It was privately printed and the book contains no copyright information and no address for the printer. Portions of it have been reprinted on the Internet in French, but a partial English translation formerly on the Web is no longer available. Researchers may wish to contact this person, who owns the book, at email address medieval_student@@earthlink.net.

High Offices and Reformist Activities

Humphrey de Bohun VIII succeeded his father as Earl of Hereford and Earl of Essex, and Constable of England (later called Lord High Constable). Humphrey held the title of Bearer of the Swan Badge, a heraldic device passed down in the de Bohun family. This device, however, did not appear on their coat of arms, (az, a bend ar cotised or, between 6 lioncels or) nor their crest (gu, doubled erm, a lion gardant crowned).

Like his father, grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, this Humphrey de Bohun was careful to insist that the king obey Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus, and the other baronially-established safeguards against monarchic tyranny. He participated in two important reform movements--and gave his life fighting for the second one.

The first occurred during the period of Piers Gavaston's pernicious influence on young King Edward II. Before and during the 1310 Parliament, many earls and barons, calling themselves Lords Ordainers, formed a committee to write legal rules ("Ordinances") forbidding excessive gift-giving to royal favorites and curbing other spendthrift habits of the king. Another problem the Ordainers had to address was restraining Edward II's desire to exercise unchecked executive power. This was made manifest in Gavaston's refusal to obey earlier legally-authorized exile mandates. Because Edward believed that a king had absolute power and could make and break law at will, the favorite kept returning at his invitation.

The Ordinances, completed in February 1311, mentioned Gavaston by name and stated that he must be exiled permanently on peril of death should he return. Humphrey de Bohun was one of the leading Ordainers, helped to formulate the Ordinances, and was present when they were forced on Edward II at the Parliament of 1311 where Gavaston was exiled. When he again disobeyed and returned to England early in 1312, Hereford was one of several earls and barons who authorized militant northern barons, under the command of the Ordainer Earl of Pembroke, to take Gavaston prisoner but from the other Ordainers' standpoint Pembroke made too many lenient promises. The Earl of Warwick stole Gavaston from Pembroke, imprisoned him in Warwick Castle, and called the earls and barons together to try the upstart who was, thanks to the king, now Earl of Cornwall. In June 1312 Humphrey de Bohun met with the others and a Justice of the King's Bench at Warwick Castle, where they tried and condemned Gavaston. They brought him a few miles north to the Earl of Lancaster's land, where, as an earl, he was executed by beheading. All the Ordainers were in grave danger following that event, although it appears to have been legally justified under the Ordinances--which Edward, by fiat, declared null and void. Civil war threatened, de Bohun fortified his castles in England and Brecknock, Wales. The danger dissipated after a few months but Edward II never forgave him or the Earl of Lancaster (Warwick died in 1315) and Edward's rule became all the more oppressive and erratic.

The second reforming episode took place in 1321-1322, and grew out of Edward's continued resentment of those involved in the execution of Gavaston ("murder" from his point of view), along with the rise of another greedy royal favorite, Hugh Despenser the Younger. After many years as a member of the moderate Middle Party, Humphrey de Bohun, out of self defense, was forced into opposing Hugh Despenser Jr. and his father because of their illegal but royally-authorized land grabs in the March of Wales. This time the rebels took the name of Contrariants, rode to Parliament wearing white armbands and followed by armies, and until early 1322 their reforms were popular and appeared to have won the day, exiling both Despensers and curbing Edward's tyrannies. However, a series of unfortunate events permitted royalist propaganda to prevail. Although the subsequent brief civil war is often called the "Thomas of Lancaster War" in actuality the incompetent Earl of Lancaster was at best useless. His indecision and lack of wisdom did great damage to the cause. When the Contrariants fled north they had to bring Lancaster along virtually as a hostage because he kept trying to run away. De Bohun was the actual leader of the rebel army, but because of earlier mistakes made by Lancaster their cause stood no chance of success. The rebels may have been trying to flee north to Scotland and Robert Bruce's assistance, but were halted by loyalist troops at the wooden bridge at Boroughbridger, Yorks., where Humphrey de Bohun, leading an attempt to storm the bridge, met his death on March 16, 1322. Humphrey de Bohun may have contributed to the failure of the reformers' aims. There is evidence that he suffered for some years, especially after his countess's death in 1316, from clinical depression. (See Conway-Davies, 115, footnote 2, from a contemporary chronicler's account of Humphrey de Bohun, Cotton MS. Nero C. iii, f. 181, "De ce qe vous auez entendu qe le counte de Hereford est moreis pensifs qil ne soleit." "There were some. . . [fine] qualities about the earl of Hereford, and he was certainly a bold and able warrior, though gloomy and thoughtful.")

Marriage to the King's Daughter

His marriage to Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (Elizabeth Plantagenet), daughter of King Edward I of England and his first Queen consort Eleanor of Castile, on November 14, 1302, at Westminster gained him the lands of Berkshire.

Children

Elizabeth gave her husband Humphrey an unknown number of children, most probably ten.

* NOTE: The birth and death year of Isabel are known because her mother died either that same day or within a few days. The exact date is not known. Otherwise none of the birth dates of these children is known, not even the year, perhaps because the Earl's family records were stolen and lost during the robbery of his storehouse in Lanthony Abbey while he was rebelling against Edward II. Beware EXACT dates appearing in the genealogies of Medieval baronial families, which are often fictions of genealogists, repeated over and over. Always corroborate them from Cokayne's Peerage or another reliable source. The latest edit removes all exact birth dates formerly listed, since they were misleading or obviously wrong.
* Until the earl's death the boys of the family, possibly the girls, were given a classical education under the tutelage of a Sicilian Greek, Master "Digines" (Diogenes), who may have been Humphrey de Bohun's boyhood tutor. He was evidently well-educated, a book collector and scholar, interests his son Humphrey and daughter Margaret (Courtenay) inherited.

1. Hugh de Bohun? PROBABLY DID NOT EXIST. This name appears only in one Medieval source which gives Bohun names (see Flores Historiarum) and was a copyist error for "Humphrey". It was never used by the main branch of the Bohuns in England. (Le Melletier, q.v., 16-17, 38-45, 138, in his comprehensive research into this family, cites no one named Hugh Bohun.) Before Isabel's birth and her own death, the countess did lose two infants to miscarriage, stillbirth or failure to thrive. Date unknown, but after 1302 since she and Humphrey did not marry until late in 1302. Mary or Margaret (the first-born Margaret) and the first-born Humphrey were lost in infancy and are buried in the same sarcophagus in Westminster Abbey. Since fraternal twins were known in the Castilian royal family of Elizabeth Bohun, who gave birth to a pair who lived to manhood, Mary (Margaret?) and Humphrey, see next names, may have been twins, but that is uncertain. The name of a possible lost third child, if any, is unknown--and unlikely.
2. Humphrey de Bohun (birth and death dates unknown. Buried in Westminster Abbey with Mary or Margaret) Infant.
3. Mary or Margaret de Bohun (birth and death dates unknown. Buried in Westminster Abbey with Humphrey) Infant.
4. John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (About 1307 – 1336) Married Alice, dau of Earl of Arundel, and Margaret, dau of Lord Basset. Brief career, said to have been infirm.
5. Humphrey de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford (About 1309 to 1311 – 1361). Never married. Appears to have been a deeply devout intellectual, possibly infirm in later years.
6. Margaret de Bohun (About 1308-1310 – 1391), married Hugh Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon Gave birth to about 16 to 18 children (including an Archbishop, a sea commander and pirate, and more than one Knight of the Garter) and died in her eighties.
7. William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton (About 1310-1312 –1360). Twin of Edward. Married Elizabeth de Badlesmere. Skilled diplomat and greatest commander of early years of the Hundred Years War; never lost a campaign or a battle, responsible for England's winning longbow tactics.
8. Edward de Bohun (About 1310-1312 –1334). Twin of William. Married Margaret, dau of Lord Ros, d.s.p. A close friend of young Edward III, died a heroic death attempting to rescue a drowning man-at-arms from a Scottish river while on campaign.
9. Eleanor de Bohun (birth date unknown, could have been as late as 1314 or 15 – 1363) See Cokayne, Peerage, "Dagworth" article, p. 28, footnote j.: "She was younger than her sister, Margaret, Countess of Devon (Parl. Rolls. vol. iv., p. 268), not older, as stated by genealogists."), married James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond and Thomas Dagworth, 1st Baron Dagworth. Ancestress of Butler Dukes & Earls of Ormond and of Queen Elizabeth I, whose mother Anne Boleyn was half Butler of Ormond.
10. Eneas de Bohun, (Birth date unknown, died after 1322, when he's mentioned in his father's will). Nothing known of him. Name may reflect his father's classical education or the Earl's Welsh connections; could be either.
11. Isabel de Bohun (b. May ?, 1316). Elizabeth died in childbirth, and this child died on that day or very soon after. Buried with her mother in Waltham Abbey, Essex.

Scotland

Humphrey was one of several earls and barons under Edward I who laid siege to Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland in 1300 and later took part in many campaigns in Scotland. He also loved tourneying and gained a reputation as an "elegant" fop. In one of the campaigns in Scotland Humphrey evidently grew bored and departed England for a tournament along with Piers Gavaston and other young barons and knights. On return all of them fell under Edward I's wrath for desertion, but were forgiven. Probably Gavaston's friend Prince Edward (future Edward II) had given them permission to depart.

Later Humphrey became one of Gavaston's and Edward II's bitterest opponents. He would also have been assocating with young Robert Bruce during the early campaigns in Scotland, since Bruce, like many other Scots and Border men, moved back and forth from English allegiance to Scottish. (NOTE: Robert Bruce, King Robert I of Scotland, is closely connected to de Bohun. Between the time that he swore his last fealty to Edward I in 1302 and his defection four years later, Bruce stayed for the most part in Annandale, rebuilding his castle of Lochmaben in stone, making use of its natural moat. Rebelling and taking the crown of Scotland in February, 1306, Bruce was forced to fight a war against England which went poorly for him at first, while Edward I still lived. After nearly all his family were killed or captured he had to flee to the isle of Rathlin, Ireland. His properties in England and Scotland were confiscated.)

Humphrey de Bohun received many of Robert Bruce's forfeited properties. It is unknown whether Humphrey was a long-time friend or enemy of Robert Bruce, but they were nearly the same age and the lands of the two families in Essex and Middlesex lay very close to each other. After Bruce's self-exile, de Bohun took Lochmaben and Edward I awarded him Annandale and the castle. During this period of chaos Bruce's queen, Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Ulster, was captured by Edward I and taken prisoner, and Hereford and his wife Elizabeth later became her custodians. She was exchanged for Humphrey after Bannockburn in 1314. Lochmaben was from time to time retaken by the Scots but remained in the de Bohun family for many years, in the hands of Humphrey's son William, Earl of Northampton, who held and defended it until his death in 1360.

Battle of Bannockburn

At the Battle of Bannockburn (June 23-24, 1314), Humphrey de Bohun should have been given command of the army because that was his responsibility as Constable of England. However, since the execution of Piers Gavaston in 1312 Humphrey had been out of favor with Edward II, who gave the Constableship for the 1314 campaign to the youthful and inexperienced Earl of Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare. Nevertheless, on the first day, de Bohun insisted on being one of the first to lead the cavalry charge. In the melee and cavalry rout between the Bannock Burn and the Scots' camp he was not injured although his rash young nephew Henry de Bohun, who could have been no older than about 22, charged alone at Robert Bruce and was killed by Bruce's axe.

On the second day Gloucester was killed at the start of battle. Hereford fought throughout the day, leading a large company of Welsh and English knights and archers. The archers had success at breaking up the Scots "schiltrons" until they were overrun by the Scots cavalry. When the battle was lost de Bohun retreated with the Earl of Angus and several other barons, knights and men to Bothwell Castle, seeking a safe haven. However, all the refugees who entered the castle were taken prisoner by its formerly English governor who, like many Border knights, declared for Scotland as soon as word came of Bruce's victory. Humphrey de Bohun was ransomed by Edward II, his brother-in-law, on the pleading of his wife Elizabeth. This was one of the most interesting ransoms in English history. The Earl was traded for Bruce's queen and daughter, two bishops, Isabel MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, who for years had been locked in a cage outside a castle, and other important Scots captives in England.

Gory Death in Yorkshire?

Although the details have been called into question by a few historians, Humphrey was killed while fighting Andrew de Harclay, at the Battle of Boroughbridge and his death may have been particularly gory. As recounted in The Greatest Traitor by Ian Mortimer, page 124:

"[The 4th Earl of] Hereford led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."

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