Person:Hugh Le Despencer (2)

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

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.

He was the son of Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (or Despenser), and Aliva Basset, sole 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).

He married Isabella de Beauchamp, daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick and Maud FitzJohn. 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. However, when he became close to Edward II his place was always with the king, which worried the barons. To that time, his highest office was justice of the forests.

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.

1. ↑ Adams, Arthur. English Ancestry of the Elkinton Family of New Jersey. The American Genealogist. (July 1945), p. 13.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Adams, Arthur. English Ancestry of the Elkinton Family of New Jersey. The American Genealogist. (July 1945), p. 14.
3.   Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester, in Wikipedia.
4.   Hugh le Despenser, 1st and last Earl of Winchester, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
5.   Sir HUGH le Despencer, son of Sir HUGH le Despencer & his wife Aline Basset (1261-executed Bristol Castle 27 Nov 1326)., in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
6.   Hugh Despencer, in Find A Grave.
7.   Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59), Volume 4 pages 262 to 266.