Person Page - 1267

     Elizabeth Despenser (died 10 April 1408) was an English noblewoman of the late 14th century. She should not be confused with another woman of that name, Elizabeth le Despenser, Baroness Berkeley, the daughter of Eleanor de Clare.

She was the daughter of Sir Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, by Elizabeth Burghersh, daughter and heiress of Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh.

She married Sir John Fitzalan, 2nd Lord Arundel. They had three sons:

John de Arundel, Lord Maltravers, and Lord Arundel.
Thomas Fitzalan.
Edward/Edmund Arundel.
Margaret (married to William de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros)
Sir John de Arundel, 2nd Baron Arundel, died on 14 August 1390, and was buried at Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire.

Elizabeth married secondly, apparently after 28 April 1393 (as his second wife), William la Zouche, 3rd Baron Zouche of Haryngworth (d. 13 May 1396). They had no children.

Her will requested burial at Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire.¹

     John FitzAlan, (D' Arundel) 1st Baron Arundel (c. 1348 – December 16, 1379) was a Marshal of England.

He was born in Etchingham, Sussex, England to Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster (Eleanor Plantagenet).

Betchworth CastleJohn was appointed Marshal by Richard II of England in 1377. He was summoned to Parliament 4 August 1377, by writ directed Johanni de Arundell.

On 26 July 1379[1] [2]he was given license to crenellate (i.e., permission to fortify) a stone castle on the site of an 11th century earthwork fortress in Surrey. Over the years since then the structure was rebuilt and remodelled and its remains are now known as Betchworth Castle.

Being in command of a naval expedition in aid to the Duke of Brittany, he defeated the French fleet off the coast of Cornwall.

Commanding a force with the purpose of bringing relief to the Duke of Brittany, Sir John was compelled to wait for stronger winds. During this wait he decided to take refuge in a nunnery, where his men "took no notice of the sanctity of the place and... violently assaulted and raped"[3] those they found inside. Further to this Sir John "allowed his men to ransack the countryside as they liked and to impoverish the people"[4]. When the force eventually set out to sea, carrying with them goods stolen from a nearby church and under a pronouncement of excommunication from the wronged priests, the expedition was caught in a storm. Thomas Walsingham reports that during the panic of the storm, Sir John murdered those of his men who refused to make for shore for fear of being shipwrecked upon the rocks. Subsequently, after safely arriving on an island off the Irish coast, Sir John and his boat captain were swept back into the sea and drowned[5].

He was buried in Lewes, Sussex.

He was also an ancestor of the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

On February 17, 1358, John was married to Lady Eleanor Maltravers (Mautravers) (1345 – January 10), 1404/1406, daughter of John Maltravers and Gwenthin. They had at least four children.¹ 1st Lord of Arundel.

     Countess of Arundel.

     John de Ros, 6th Baron de Ros (1365–1394). He took a prominent part in the pageantry at the coronation of the ill-advised, and ill-fated Richard II, then only years old. Following the coronation he was made a Knight of the Bath. While on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he died in Paphos, Cyprus. His body was returned and buried at Rievaulx Abbey.¹ 6th Baron de Ros.

     1st Earl of Stafford.

     John de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros (1396–1421), was an English nobleman.

He was the eldest son of William de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros and Margaret Fitzalan. His mother was a daughter of John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel and Eleanor Maltravers.

He served as a soldier of Henry V of England during the Hundred Years' War. Six years after the Battle of Agincourt, John participated in the Battle of Baugé. He was among the casualties along with his brother William de Ros, Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, the governor of Normandy and others. He was buried at the Belvoir Priory.

He was married to Margaret Despencer but no children are known to have resulted from this marriage.¹ 8th Baron de Ros.

     9th Baron de Ros.

     William de Ros, 2nd Baron de Ros (1255 - 1317) was a claimant to the crown of Scotland. He was the son of Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros.

William 2nd Baron de Ros of Hamlake, Yorkshire, was one of the claimants of the crown of Scotland, in 1292, during the reign of Edward I, and was summoned to Parliament during the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. He succeeded to the family honours and estates on the death of his mother. He was an unsuccessful competitor for the crown of Scotland, founding his claim on his descent from his great grandmother, Isabel, a bastard daughter of William I of Scotland. He was buried at Kirkham Priory.

His wife was Maud or Matilda de Vaux (b. 1275), whom he married in 1287.

Through this marriage the patronage of Penteney and Blakeney Priories in Norfolk and of Frestun in Lincolnshire, came into the De Ros family. The De Vaux family was descended from Robert De Vaux who came over from Normandy with William I of England.

Their children were Margaret de Ros and William de Ros, 3rd Baron de Ros.¹ 2nd Baron de Ros.

     Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros (c. 1213 - May 13, 1285) was an English nobleman and the first holder of the ancient title Baron de Ros.

He was grandson to Robert de Ros and Isabel Avenal, an illegitimate daughter of William I of Scotland and an elder Isabel Avenal. He was son to William de Ros (d. 1264/1265) and Lucy Fitzpiers, daughter of Reginald FitzPiers, Lord of Blewleveney.

He was summoned to Parliament in 1264, during the reign of Henry III.

He was married to Isabel d'Aubigny, rich heiress and granddaughter of William d'Aubigny. They lived at of Belvoir in Leicestershire and reportedly had eight children.

On July 3, 1257, Ros obtained from Henry III a grant of the free warren, in the lordship of Belvoir, by which the boundary was determined. In 1258, he was actively employed in Scotland, in delivering King Alexander III of Scotland out of the hands of his rebellious subjects; and at Chester, in resisting the hostile invasions of Llewelyn the Last. In the same year, he and his lady Isabel had a controversy with the Prior and Convent of Belvoir, relative to the right of presentation to the Church of Redmile (near Bottesford), which was amicably compromised by their relinquishing the patronage to the convent, for a certain compensation. In 1261 he obtained from the king the grant of a weekly market, to be held at Belvoir, on Tuesday; and of an annual fair on the feast of St John the Baptist, to continue for three days. In 1264, he was one of the insurgent barons who defeated Henry III at the battle of Lewes, and took him and the prince prisoner, confining them in Hungerford Castle. In 1264, de Ros was summoned to the parliament, which was called by the barons in the king's name. He died in 1285, and was buried at Kirkham Priory.¹ 1st Baron de Ros.

     Lord of Blewleveney.