William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146-1219) was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman, he served four English kings, Henry II (whose eldest son, Henry, predeceased him), Richard I, John and Henry III. His eldest son commissioned a record of his father’s life: “L’ Historie de Guillaume le Maréchal“. He was sent to Normandy to train as a knight in 1159. Knighted in 1166, he spent his younger years as a knight errant and was reportedly unbeaten in the tiltyard. When Young Henry died in 1183 Marshal travelled to the Holy Land to take Young Henry’s cross to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Until Henry II’s death in 1188, William Marshal served as his knight, his counsellor, and his ambassador. On Henry II’s death Richard I recognized Marshal as a brother and equal in chivalry. Fulfilling the promise made by his father, Richard gave Marshal the heiress Isabel de Clare and all her lands in marriage in 1189. Thus, he became Earl of Pembroke through marriage to the 17-year-old daughter of the immensely powerful Richard de Clare (‘Strongbow‘). This was the second creation of the Pembroke Earldom. Marshal was included in the Regency of the Kingdom when Richard I departed on the 3rd Crusade in 1190. He supported King John’s ascent to the throne in 1199. In 1216, he was appointed protector for the nine-year-old Henry III, and regent of the kingdom.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (1208 – 1265), was an Anglo-French nobleman who, with the approval of King Henry III, effectively purchased back the title and estates of the earldom of Leicester in England that the King had given to the Earl of Chester. The Earl was about to return them to the King when de Montford purchased them instead – at a cost that left him financially strained for the remainder of his life. From a strong relationship with King Henry based on his military capability, his flagrant use of the King to derive financial benefit – including his false declaration that the King was his guarantor – led them to split, but not before he had married the King’s sister Eleanor and, through her, gained ownership of Kenilworth Castle. He subsequently led the rebellion against King Henry during the Second Barons’ War of 1263 – 64 which culminated in the Battle of Lewis in May 1264 when the King and his son, Edward, were captured. Edward managed to escape shortly thereafter but Simon became de facto ruler of England. During his rule, Montfort called two famous parliaments. The first stripped the King of unlimited authority, while the second included ordinary citizens from the towns. For this reason, Montfort is regarded today as one of the progenitors of modern parliamentary democracy. After a rule of just over a year, Montfort was killed by forces loyal to the King at the Battle of Evesham in 1265 where the King was rescued by a force led by his son Edward (later Edward I).
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Humphrey de Bohun (1249 – 1298), inherited the earldoms of Hereford and Essex in 1275 together with possessions in the Welsh Marches from his mother, Eleanor de Braose. His early years were concerned with trying to recover Marcher lands captured by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. This was finally accomplished through Edward I’s war in Wales in 1277. He also had a long-lasting private feud with the earl of Gloucester, first over a debt and then over a castle Gloucester started constructing on land De Bohun claimed was his. Eventually King Edward I intervened and ordered the feud to cease. In 1294 the King of France declared the English Duchy of Aquitaine forfeit. King Edward mobilised and demanded military service from his earls at the parliament in Salisbury in 1297. Together with The Earl Marshal of England, the Earl of Norfolk he refused on the basis that he should not be obliged to serve abroad except in the company of the King. The underlying problem was the heavy taxation demanded by the King for his prosecution of simultaneous wars in Wales and France. Bohun stood with Norfolk and as more barons came to oppose the King another civil war seemed apparent when the Scots inflicted a heavy defeat at Stirling Bridge. With general support to protect the North Edward agreed to confirm Magna Carta in Confirmatio Cantorum (Confirmation of the Charters). The earls consequently consented to serve with the king in Scotland and Bohun fought with the King at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. But suspecting the King was backsliding on his Confirmation he then withdrew forcing the King to terminate the campaign.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Hugh le Despenser’s father, the first baron Despenser, was killed with Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265 when Hugh was just 3 years old. Summoned to parliament in 1295 he then married Isabel, daughter of William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick but was then fined 2,000 marks for failing to secure the consent of King Edward I, a sum later remitted. From a rather ordinary, if privileged background, Hugh sprang to attention when he became a loyal supporter of King Edward I’s son, Edward (soon to be Edward II)’s favourite, Piers Gaveston. Gaveston had been appointed to his son’s household by the King, but the rest of the household and the barons took strong exception to the man and his influence over young Edward. He was exiled twice and brought back at Edward II’s request each time. But the resentment grew – and began to affect the Despenser’s, father and son. There is some confusion about whether Hugh’s son or Gaveston were involved in a homosexual relationship with King Edward II – or indeed if either of them was! But the guilt-by-association of the Despensers, father and son, only increased as Gaveston’s influence increased. Gaveston was exiled a third time, captured and executed for ‘breach of the ordinances’. Hugh senior became Edward’s chief administrator, but the resentment of the barons and their own corruption resulted in expulsion of father and son. The rebellion of Queen Isabella and her lover, Mortimer against her husband Edward resulted in the capture and swift and bloody execution of father and son with father’s head sent for display to Winchester.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
John of Gaunt, Shakespeare’s ‘time honoured Lancaster’, was the fourth son of King Edward III. Gaunt is an anglicized version of his birthplace of Ghent the accepted form of his name arising from its use in Shakespeare’s Richard II. he exercised a moderating influence in the political and constitutional struggles of the reign of his nephew Richard II. He was the immediate ancestor of the three 15th-century Lancastrian monarchs, Henry IV, V, and VI. Through his first wife Blanche he acquired the duchy of Lancaster and the vast Lancastrian estates in England and Wales. He fought in the Hundred Years’ War (1337 – 1453) against France. He formed an alliance with John Wycliffe. Despite his unpopularity, he maintained his position when his nephew, Richard II aged 10, acceded in 1377. In 1386 John departed for Spain to pursue his claim to the kingship of Castile and Leon but it was a military failure. Meanwhile, in England, war had nearly broken out between the followers of King Richard II and the followers of Gloucester. John returned in 1389 and resumed his role as peacemaker. His wife Constance died in 1394, and two years later he married his mistress, Catherine Swynford. In 1397 he obtained legitimization of the four children born to her before their marriage. This family, the Beauforts, played an important part in 15th-century politics. When John died in 1399, Richard II confiscated the Lancastrian estates, thereby preventing them from passing to John’s son, Henry Bolingbroke. Henry then deposed Richard and in September 1399 ascended the throne as King Henry IV.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Robert was the only son of Thomas, 8th earl of Oxford. He became 9th Earl in 1371, and married Philippa, daughter of the Earl of Bedford, a son-in-law of Edward III, quickly becoming close to Richard II. Already great chamberlain of England, he was made a member of the privy council and a Knight of the Garter. While castles and lands were bestowed upon him he was constantly in the company of the young king. In 1385 Richard asked his friend to govern Ireland, and he was given extensive rights and created Marquess of Dublin. Meanwhile the discontent felt at Richard’s incompetence and extravagance was increasing, one cause being the king’s partiality for Oxford. His divorce from Philippa, and marriage to a Bohemian lady increased the ire of the nobles against him. The king, indifferent to the gathering storm, created Vere Duke of Ireland in October 1386, and gave him still more extensive powers there, and so matters reached a climax. Richard was deprived of his authority for a short time, and Oxford was ordered in vain to proceed to Ireland. He was then accused by the Duke of Gloucester. Robert sped north and gathered an army to defend his royal master and himself. At Radcot Bridge in Oxfordshire his men fled. Oxford escaped to Holland. He was found guilty of treason in absentia and condemned to death but, with another exile, the Duke of Suffolk, he lived in Paris until Anglo French treaty in June 1389, when he took refuge at Louvain. Killed by a boar whilst hunting he left no children. In 1395 the King ordered his body back to England, and he was buried in the priory at Earl’s Colne, Essex.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Henry Percy (1364-1403) was knighted by King Edward III in 1377, together with the future Kings Richard II and Henry IV. After a visit to Ireland in 1385 he accompanied Richard II on an expedition into Scotland where his zeal in border warfare won him the name of Hotspur from the Scots. In 1386 he fought in France in appreciation for which he was made Knight of the Garter in 1388. He commanded the English forces against the 2nd Earl of Douglas at the Battle of Otterburn on 10 August 1388, where he was captured, but soon released for a fee of 7000 marks. Percy’s reputation grew. He went on diplomatic mission to Cyprus in 1393 and was appointed deputy to John of Gaunt in the Duchy of Aquitaine. His service brought royal favour but the Percies still decided to support Henry Bolingbroke in his rebellion against Richard II. Percy and his father joined Henry’s forces at Doncaster in 1399. After King Richard’s deposition, Percy and his father were ‘lavishly rewarded’ with lands and offices. In Wales he was under pressure from the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. In March 1402, Henry IV appointed Percy royal lieutenant in north Wales, and in 1402, Percy, his father, and the Earl of Dunbar and March were victorious against a Scottish force at the Battle of Homildon Hill. Among others, they captured the 4th Earl of Douglas. But all was not well and the Percy’s had strong grievances against the King so took up arms against him in 1403 in collusion with Glyndŵr. On 21st July 1403 Percy met the King’s much larger force at the Battle of Shrewsbury where he was killed and his army fled.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Known to the world as Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff (most particularly from Henry IV Parts I and II) it is believed Shakespeare originally named the character John Oldcastle, but that a descendant complained at the use of the name and Shakespeare changed it accordingly. The fact that a descendant might have complained is hardly surprising because Oldcastle’s reputation was not good. He was, according to John Bayle, writing in 1544: ‘. . .that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that grey iniquity . . .’ Whether in fact he was regarded as a baron is a matter of some doubt. Sir John was a Lollard, suspected when it was discovered that a chaplain in a church on his estate was preaching the tenets of Lollardy. Lollardy was a pre-Protestant religious movement from the mid-14th century to the English Reformation initially led by John Wycliffe, a Roman Catholic theologian dismissed from Oxford University in 1381 for criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lollards’ demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity. It became clear Oldcastle was a devotee and he was arrested in 1413, tried and found guilty of heresy for which he would have been executed but for the intervention of the King who put him in the tower for forty days so that he might consider his position. He somehow managed to escape, but was found 4 years later in Wales, brought before Parliament, condemned as an outlawed traitor and a convicted heretic and on the same day ‘hung and burnt hanging’ at St Giles’ Fields, London.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
A wealthy wool merchant in Kingston-upon-Hull, and Member of Parliament for that borough, William’s great grandfather was a self-styled Yeoman. Rich enough to be able to end to King Edward III he so advanced the fortunes of the family that he was created Earl of Suffolk. William’s father, Michael fell from grace and wealth through his association with King Richard II and when accused of treason fled to Paris where he died in 1389. His son, Michael was restored in blood but fell at the Battle of Harfleur and his eldest son at Agincourt in 1415. Thus William, the second son, became Earl of Suffolk aged 19. For the next 15 years he was continually involved in the 100 Years War in France. He was eventually captured by Jeanne d’Arc and the Duke d’Alençon at Jargeau and ransomed for £20,000. He then spent years helping the King seek peace in France, but in doing so acquired the enmity of the powerful Duke of Gloucester. Suffolk arranged the King’s marriage with Margaret of Anjou against Gloucester’s wishes. When Gloucester, the great benefactor of Oxford University, died, it was suspected that William was somehow to blame. From this great height, the fall was swift and bloody for his enemies now included the Duke of York. The Commons proffered charges and he was banished for 5 years. En route to France to serve his banishment he was intercepted and executed on board.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
One of the Yorkist leaders in the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428-1471) was instrumental in the accession of two kings, a fact which later earned him his epithet of “Kingmaker” to later generations. The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two English rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: The House of Lancaster (associated with a red rose), and the House of York (whose symbol was a white rose). Through fortunes of marriage and inheritance, Warwick emerged in the 1450s at the centre of English politics. Originally a supporter of King Henry VI, a territorial dispute with the Duke of Somerset led him to collaborate with Richard, Duke of York, in opposing the king. From this conflict he gained the strategically valuable post of Captain of Calais, a position that benefited him greatly in the years to come. The political conflict later turned into full-scale rebellion, where in battle York was slain, as was Warwick’s father Salisbury. York’s son, however, later triumphed with Warwick’s assistance, and was crowned King Edward IV. Edward initially ruled with Warwick’s support, but the two later fell out over foreign policy and the king’s choice of Elizabeth Woodville as his wife. After a failed plot to crown Edward’s brother, George, Duke of Clarence, Warwick instead restored Henry VI to the throne. The triumph was short-lived however: on 14 April 1471 Warwick was defeated by Edward at the Battle of Barnet and killed.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Rivers was a minor English nobleman who married (way above his station) the widowed Duchess of Bedford, Jacquetta, daughter of Peter of Luxembourg. They had met when Wydeville was in service to the Duke. Close to the Royal Court, Jacquetta’s (and so Wydeville’s) influence increased further when Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou whose uncle was Jacquetta’s brother-in-law. The Wydeville (Rivers) marriage produced a reportedly beautiful daughter, Elizabeth, who married Sir John Grey shortly before he was killed at the battle of St. Albans in 1461, the same year King Edward IV seized the crown. 3 years later the King happened to stay in a castle where Elizabeth was also staying. They married secretly much to the embarrassment and annoyance of the Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker) who was trying to negotiate a peace with France with the intention of using a suitable marriage for the purpose. The consequence of the marriage was that as the father of Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville, Rivers became the maternal grandfather of Edward V, maternal great-grandfather of Henry VIII and great, great, great, great grandmother of James I of England and James VI of Scotland. He is also a direct ancestor of British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill. The King loaded the Rivers’ with honours and titles so that eventually Warwick exacted his revenge when Rivers was taken at the Battle of Edgecote, 1469, delivered to Warwick and executed without trial.
A more detailed history of the Knight and his armorial detail is decribed below.
Upon the death of Edward IV in 1483, Buckingham became the great protagonist of the king’s younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Buckingham played a large part in the moves that preceded the proclamation of Richard as King. He helped Gloucester intercept Lord Rivers who had custody of the young King Edward V and his brother the Duke of York aged 12 and 9 respectively. He brought them to London, where they disappeared. It is not known to this day whether responsibility for their murder at the Tower of London (2 small coffins were found interred there in 1674 and reinterred at Westminster Abbey) lay with King Richard III or the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham suggested (on dubious grounds) that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth of Wydeville was null and their children (the Princes) therefore bastards. Parliament accepted the theory and offered Richard the Crown in 1472. In one of the great mysteries of English history, despite his high position and obvious trust and support from the King, Buckingham became disaffected with Richard. This was possibly thanks to Bishop Morton who, a virulent anti-Yorkist, was his prisoner at Brecknock Castle. Buckingham then joined with Henry Tudor and Tudor’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, leading an unsuccessful rebellion in his name. Buckingham was executed for treason by Richard in the courtyard by Salisbury market-place in 1483. 2 years later the King was killed at Bosworth Field – an event ending the Plantagenet dynasty and the mediaeval era. [King Richard’s body was found in a car park in 2012 and reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in 2015].
A more detailed history of the Knight is decribed below.
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