Person Page - 1362

     John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke KG (Sutton Valence, 29 August 1347 – 16 April 1375), was an English nobleman and soldier who also held the title Baron Abergavenny. He was the posthumous son of Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Agnes Mortimer.

He was married on 19 May 1359 in Reading to Margaret Plantagenet (d. 1361), daughter of Edward III of England. The couple had no children.

He afterwards married, in July 1368, Anne Manny, daughter of Sir Walter Manny, by whom he had a son.

Pembroke fought in the Castilian campaign of his former brother-in-law, Edward the Black Prince, in 1367.

He was created a Knight of the Garter in 1369. He was almost captured on a raid into Poitou that year, having refused to share command with Sir John Chandos, but Chandos heard of his plight and rescued him.

In 1370, he fought with distinction at the sack of Limoges by the Black Prince.

He was surprised by a Castilian fleet and sharply defeated at the Battle of La Rochelle (22 June 1372), his fleet being sunk or captured. He was taken prisoner and carried to Santander, and died in captivity in Picardy.

He was succeeded by his son, John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, who had been born to Anne a few months after his capture.¹

     Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (16 March 1338/1339 – 1401) was an English medieval nobleman, and one of the primary opponents of Richard II.

He was the son of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick and Katherine Mortimer, a daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and succeeded his father in 1369. He married Margaret Ferrers, daughter of Sir William Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Groby and Margaret d'Ufford, daughter of Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk.

The Earl accompanied John of Gaunt in campaigns in France in 1373, and around that time was made a Knight of the Garter. In the parliaments of 1376 and 1377 he was one of those appointed to supervise reform of King Richard II's government. When these were not as effective as hoped, Beauchamp was made Governor over the King. He brought a large contingent of soldiers and archers to King Richard's Scottish campaign of 1385.

In 1387 he was one of the Lords Appellant, who endeavored to separate Richard from his favorites. After Richard regained power, Beauchamp retired to his estates, but was charged with high treason in 1397, supposedly as a part of the Earl of Arundel's alleged conspiracy. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London (in what is now known as the "Beauchamp Tower"), pleaded guilty and threw himself on the mercy of the king. He forfeited his estates and titles, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the Isle of Man. The next year, however, he was moved back to the Tower, until he was released in August 1399 after Henry Bolingbroke's initial victories over king Richard II.

After Bolingbroke deposed Richard and became king as Henry IV, Beauchamp was restored to his titles and estates. He was one of those who urged the new King to execute Richard, and accompanied King Henry against the rebellion of 1400.

Beauchamp died in 1401 (sources differ as to whether on 8 April or 8 August).

He died on 8 April: 'Calendar Inquisitions Post Mortem' ed. JL Kirkby, XVIII, pp.159-167 (HMSO, 1987).

He was succeeded by his son Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick.¹

     Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk (10 August 1298 – 4 November 1369) was born in Thurston, Suffolk, England to Robert d'Ufford and Cecily de Valoines. On 13 November 1334 he married Margaret de Norwich, daughter of Sir Walter Norwich and Catherine de Hedersete. They had four children. He was made Earl of Suffolk in 1337.

Children:
Lady Catharine d'Ufford (born c. 1317) married Sir Robert de Scales, 3rd Baron Scales[1]
Lady Cecily d'Ufford (born c. 1327 – died before 29 March 1372 she married John Willoughby
Lady Margaret d'Ufford (born c. 1330 – died before 25 May 1368) she married Sir William Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Groby
William d'Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (1339 – 1382) married Lady Joan de Montacute.¹

     Henry de Beaumont, 5th Earl of Warwick (1192 – 10 October 1229), Earl of Warwick, Baron of Hocknorton and Hedenton, was the son of Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick and Margaret, daughter of Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford and Maud of Essex. He was also known as Henry de Newburg.

When Henry was twelve his father died and he was committed to the care of Thomas Basset of Headington, Oxon. It was during this time that the King had seized his estates at Gower in South Wales and gave them to William de Braose. This led to constant disputes between succeeding Earls and the Braose family. When he matured, he joined the court of King John's side and commanded the Royal Army. He fought for Henry III at the sieges of Montsorel and Biham and at the storming of Lincoln. In 1213 he paid two hundred and four marks eight shillings scutage towards the cost of the war in Wales, and the following year contributed forty two marks to that in Poictou.

He married firstly Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Henry D'Oili, Baron Hocknorton and Lord of the Manor of Lidney; the latter was a great-nephew of Robert D'Oili, the builder of Oxford Castle. Henry married secondly Philippa, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Basset, Lord of Hedenton. She married secondly Richard Siward, but divorced him in 1242. He had children:

Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick, his heir.
Margaret de Newburg, Countess of Warwick, married twice:
John Marshal;
John du Plessis, 7th Earl of Warwick.
Alice de Newburg, married Hugo de Bastenbrege, Lord of Montfort.¹

     Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c. 1007 – August 5, 1063) was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast. Called King of the Britons in the Annals of Ulster and Brut y Tywysogion, he was great-great-grandson to Hywel Dda and King Anarawd ap Rhodri of Gwynedd.

Gruffydd was the elder of two sons of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, who had been able to rule both Gwynedd and Powys. On Llywelyn's death in 1023, a member of the Aberffraw dynasty, Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig, became ruler of Gwynedd. According to an early story Gruffydd had been a lazy youth, but one New Year's Eve, he was driven out of the house by his exasperated sister. Leaning against the wall of another house, he heard a cook who was boiling pieces of beef in a cauldron complain that there was one piece of meat which kept coming to the top of the cauldron, however often it was thrust down. Gruffydd took the comment to apply to himself, and began his rise to power in Powys.

In 1039 Iago ab Idwal was killed by his own men (his son Cynan ap Iago, who may have been as young as four, was taken into exile in Dublin) and Gruffydd, already the usurper-king of Powys, was able to become king of Gwynedd. Soon after gaining power he surprised a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes near Welshpool and totally defeated it, killing its leader, Edwin, the brother of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He then attacked the neighbouring principality of Deheubarth which was now ruled by Hywel ab Edwin. Gruffydd defeated Hywel in a battle at Pencader in 1041 and carried off Hywel's wife. Gruffydd seems to have been able to drive Hywel out of Deheubarth in about 1043, for in 1044 Hywel is recorded as returning with a Danish fleet to the mouth of the River Tywi to try to reclaim his kingdom. Gruffydd however defeated and killed him in a close fought fight.

Gruffydd ap Rhydderch of Gwent was able to expel Gruffydd ap Llywelyn from Deheubarth in 1047 and became king of Deheubarth himself after the nobles of Ystrad Tywi had attacked and killed 140 of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's household guard. He was able to resist several attacks by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in the following years. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was active on the Welsh border in 1052, when he attacked Herefordshire and defeated a mixed force of Normans and English near Leominster.

In 1055 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn killed his rival Gruffydd ap Rhydderch in battle and recaptured Deheubarth. Gruffydd now allied himself with Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric of Mercia, who had been deprived of his earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson and his brothers. They marched on Hereford and were opposed by a force led by the Earl of Hereford, Ralph the Timid. This force was mounted and armed in the Norman fashion, but on October 24 Gruffydd defeated it. He then sacked the city and destroyed its Norman castle. Earl Harold was given the task of counter attacking, and seems to have built a fortification at Longtown in Herefordshire before refortifying Hereford. Shortly afterwards Ælfgar was restored to his earldom and a peace treaty concluded.

Around this time Gruffydd was also able to seize Morgannwg and Gwent, along with extensive territories along the border with England. In 1056, he won another victory over an English army near Glasbury. Now a true King of Wales, he claimed sovereignty over the whole of Wales - a claim which was recognised by the English[citation needed]. Historian John Davies states that Gruffydd was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor."[1]¹

     Walter de Gloucester (also Walter FitzRoger or Walter de Pitres) (1065 - 1129) was an early Norman official of the King of England during the early years of the Norman conquest of the South Welsh Marches.

He was the only son of Roger de Pitres and his wife, Eunice de Balun.

Walter de Gloucester was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire and lived in Gloucester Castle of which he was constable, making improvements to this early fortification.

He was married to Bertha, a relative of Hamelin de Balun. They were the parents of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford and a daughter, Maud, who married a Roger Fitz Pons.¹