William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer
William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer (also William de Mortimer or William Zouche ; † February 28, 1337 ) was an English nobleman.
origin
William la Zouche was born as William de Mortimer to Robert de Mortimer († 1287) and Joyce la Zouche († around 1289), a daughter of William la Zouche († before 1272). His father probably came from the Anglo-Norman family Mortimer , who were wealthy in the Welsh Marches , on his mother's side he was a great-great-grandson of Alan de la Zouche , the founder of the English family Zouche .
Legacy of Alan la Zouche
During the First Scottish War of Independence , William de Mortimer took part in the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 . In 1304 he was recognized as the heir of Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby , a cousin of his mother, and after his death in 1314 he inherited Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire and other estates in Cambridgeshire and Sussex . As lord of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, he changed his name to Zouche before 1316.
Military service under Edward II.
Zouche initially supported his relative Roger Mortimer of Wigmore when he was serving as Lieutenant of the King in Ireland in 1316 . However, when Mortimer rebelled against the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser in the Despenser War from 1321 , Zouche finally supported King Edward II and Despenser. On their sides he took part in the Battle of Boroughbridge in March 1322 , in which the rebels were decisively defeated. From 1324 to 1325 he served in the war of Saint-Sardos in Gascony . On December 26, 1323 he was called to Parliament by Writ of Summons and made Baron Zouche of Richard's Castle, Mortimer .
Role in the fall of Edward II.
Despite his previous support of the king, Zouche supported the invasion of Queen Isabelle in the autumn of 1326 , which led to the overthrow of the king and the Despensers. Zouche was one of the barons who appointed Eduard heir to the throne in Bristol in October 1326 as administrator. In November 1326 he took part in the pursuit of the fugitive King Edward II and Despenser in Glamorgan , Welsh . On February 15, 1327 he became the commander of the troops who besieged the Caerphilly Castle in Glamorgan , which was still held by Despenser's supporters . In return for concessions, the occupation of the castle surrendered on March 20, and Zouche became administrator of Glamorgan, before he was replaced in June 1327 by Roger Mortimer , who, as a favorite of Queen Isabelle, had become the actual ruler of England. Isabelle compensated Zouche by appointing him administrator of the royal forests south of the Trent and Constable of the Tower in the summer of 1328 .
Marriage to Eleanor de Clare
Glamorgan had been handed back to Eleanor de Clare , Despenser's widow and rightful owner of the estate, from Mortimer in April 1328 . In January 1329 Zouche kidnapped the wealthy widow from Hanley Castle in Worcestershire and married her. Zouche claimed Glamorgan, which was still administered by Mortimer, on behalf of his wife, and tried unsuccessfully to occupy Caerphilly Castle. Mortimer returned the favor. Because Zouche and Eleanore's marriage had taken place without the king's permission, the couple were arrested in May 1329. Zouche lost his offices and as a punishment for their marriage he and Eleanor were to pay the sum of £ 50,000, which was far beyond their means. In March 1330 Zouche was accused of supporting the Earl of Kent's conspiracy to free the supposedly still living Edward II from Corfe Castle . A little later, the young King Edward III fell. in a coup Roger Mortimer and his mother and took power himself. On January 20, 1331 he returned Glamorgan to Zouche and his wife. The baron John Gray objected to the marriage because he claimed an alleged engagement to Eleanor. However, he could not name any witnesses in court, so that his objection failed.
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Diplomatic Service and Inheritance Claims in Scotland
In June Zouche was one of the English negotiators who briefly participated in unsuccessful peace negotiations with a Scottish delegation in York. After the failure, the Scots led the successful Weardale Campaign , after which the English government now had to conduct serious negotiations. In March 1328 Zouche was a member of the high-ranking English delegation that led these negotiations in Edinburgh . As a descendant of his great-great-grandmother Helen, the wife of Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester and partial heir to Alan, Lord of Galloway , Zouche had inherited rights to properties in Galloway and Lothian . These possessions had been lost through the war with Scotland , but Zouche was one of the few English barons whose claims were not considered extinguished by the peace of Edinburgh and Northampton concluded on March 17, 1328 in 1328 . In contrast to the claims of other barons, Eduard III supported. But Zouche's claims do not go further. Apparently Zouche had ceded his claims to Ralph Stafford , who, unlike Zouche, supported Edward Balliol's attempt in 1332 to conquer the Scottish crown.
Marriages and offspring
In his first marriage before February 15, 1317, Zouche had Alice de Tosny , a daughter of Raoul VI. de Tosny married. She was the widow of Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick , and her marriage to Zouche was her third marriage. With her he had at least four sons and a daughter:
- Ralph la Zouche
- Robert la Zouche
- Alan la Zouche (1317-1346)
- Philip la Zouche
- Joyce la Zouche († May 4, 1372)
His first wife died shortly before January 8, 1325. Zouche's second marriage to Eleanor de Clare remained childless. After his death in February 1337, his eldest surviving son, Alan, inherited his possessions and the title of Baron Zouche. William's widow Eleanor died in July of the same year, her eldest son from her marriage to Hugh le Despenser, her son of the same name, Hugh , inherited Glamorgan.
literature
- Douglas Richardson: Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families . Kimball G. Everingham IV, 2nd Edition, Salt Lake City 2011. ISBN 1-4609-9270-9 , pp. 137-138
Web links
- William la Zouche, 1st Lord Zouche of Mortimer, on thepeerage.com , accessed July 26, 2015.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 82
- ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 158.
- ↑ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: III - Part 1b: Medieval Secular Monuments, the Later Castles from 1217 to the present , Her Maj. Stat. Office, London 2000, ISBN 1-871184-22-3 , p. 71.
- ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . Pimlico, London 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 331.
- ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 231.
- ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 47.
- ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 279.
- ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 364.
- ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 66
- ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 58
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | La Zouche, William, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mortimer, William de; Zouche, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English nobleman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 1287 |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 28, 1337 |