Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester

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Coat of arms of Thomas le Despenser as the Earl of Gloucester

Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester KG (born September 22, 1373 , † January 13, 1400 in Bristol ) was an English nobleman and rebel.

Origin and youth

Thomas le Despenser was the only surviving son of Edward le Despenser, 1st Baron Despenser and Elizabeth Burghersh. His father died already in 1375, so that he became a royal ward until 1394. Thomas inherited the title of Baron le Despenser , but when he was a minor his estates, especially Glamorgan in the Welsh Marches , were administered by the Crown. The right to marry him was given to Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge , an uncle of the king. Before 1384 he married Constance Langley , the only daughter of his guardian and his wife Isabella of Castile . Despenser grew up in the royal court and became a close friend of the young King Richard II. In 1389 he served under Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel , the Admiral of England, and in 1391 he accompanied Thomas of Woodstock, the younger brother of his father-in-law and the youngest Uncle of the king when he embarked on a crusade in the Baltic States . However, their expedition failed. They had to turn around before Norway and return to England. In 1394 Despenser came of age and inherited his father's lands.

Courtier at the royal court

His brother-in-law Edward, Earl of Rutland , the eldest son of Edmund of Langley, soon gained great influence over the king. As a brother-in-law of Rutland, Despenser belonged to the group of young nobles whose support the king was able to carry out his coup d'état in July 1397 and end the co-rule of the Lords Appellant . As the Parliament on 21 September 1397 Westminster met, Despenser was among the eight courtiers Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, Richard FitzAlan, 11. Earl of Arundel and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick , the three leading lords appellant, accused of treason. As a reward for his support, the King made him Earl of Gloucester on September 29th . This title was chosen because his great-grandmother Eleanor was the eldest sister and co-heiress of Gilbert de Clare , the last Earl of Gloucester of the Clare family . In addition, he received large parts of the confiscated possessions of the king's opponents, including Elmley Castle , six estates in Worcestershire and the Elfael reign in the Welsh Marches . He was also appointed lifelong constable of Gloucester Castle and overseer of the Forest of Dean . During the Shrewsbury Parliament held in January 1398 , he managed to get his great-grandfather, Hugh le Despenser , executed as a traitor, rehabilitated. In 1399 Despenser was accepted into the Order of the Garter.

Thomas le Despenser (left) meets the Irish King Art Mór mac Murchadha. Illustration from the medieval chronicle Histoire du roy d'Angleterre Richard II by Jean Creton

Role during the fall of Richard II.

Despenser continued to support the autocratic rule of the king. During King Richard II's second campaign in Ireland in 1399, he was one of the deputy commanders of the army and commanded the rearguard. He was entrusted with negotiating with Art Mór mac Murchadha, the Irish King of Leinster , but could not get him to submit. The landing in England of Henry Bolingbroke , one of the king's exiled opponents, forced the king to abandon his Irish campaign. After landing in Pembroke on July 22, 1399 , he instructed Despenser to raise Glamorgan troops in his rule, but the residents of Glamorgan did not heed their lord's call. When King Richard II met with Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland at Conwy Castle , the king demanded that his opponents guarantee the safety of Despenser and seven other members of his retinue. However, like the other courtiers, Despenser soon left the king when he realized that his reign was coming to an end. He was one of the seven commissioners who proclaimed the condemnation and removal of the king on September 30th, while Henry Bolingbroke became Henry IV's new king.

Accusation, rebellion and death

During the first parliament during the reign of King Henry IV, Despenser and four other barons had to answer for his indictment of the Lords Appellant in 1397. He denied any responsibility for Gloucester's death in Calais . He was finally declared on November 3 of his title Earl of Gloucester forfeited, briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London and lost the offices and lands he had received in 1397. He initially wanted to leave England and join a crusade of the Teutonic Order or the Knights of St. John against Rhodes , but in January 1400 he joined the revolt of the Earls of Kent , Huntingdon and Salisbury , who overthrow King Henry IV and King Richard II again wanted to sit on the throne. The attempt of the conspirators to seize and kill the king at Windsor Castle failed completely. They fled to Cirencester , where Despenser barely escaped capture by the angry population and fled on to Glamorgan. From Cardiff he tried to flee abroad by ship, but the captain took him instead to Bristol , where he was seized and beheaded as a traitor . He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey .

As one of King Richard II's leading courtiers, Despenser was extremely unpopular with the population. This unpopularity was shown not only by the behavior of the population in Glamorgan in 1399, but also by the rumor that he allegedly poisoned Humphrey of Buckingham, the young son of Gloucester, shortly before King Richard II's overthrow in August 1399.

progeny

From his marriage to Constance Langley he had three children, including:

The parliament declared his title Baron le Despenser to have expired because of his rebellion in 1400, and his property was confiscated by the Crown. His widow Constance was given back his property in 1401.

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personal data
SURNAME Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thomas le Despenser, 2nd Baron Despenser; Thomas le Despencer; Gloucester, Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of; Thomas Despenser
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman and rebel
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1373
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 1400
Place of death Bristol