1297 Marriage of Princess Elizabeth and John of Holland
1301 Edward II Created Prince of Wales
1301 Baron's Letter to the Pope
Around 1270 Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford was born.
On 2nd May 1290 Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford [aged 46] and [his future wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 18] were married at Clerkenwell [Map]. She by marriage Countess Gloucester, Countess Hertford. The difference in their ages was 28 years. She the daughter of [his future father-in-law] King Edward I of England [aged 50] and Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England [aged 49]. He the son of Richard de Clare 6th Earl Gloucester 5th Earl Hertford and Maud Lacy Countess Gloucester and Hertford. They were half fifth cousins. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In the same year died1 Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester [aged 52], who had taken Joanna [aged 23], the daughter of King Edward, as his wife, and left behind a very young boy, also named Gilbert, as his tender heir, born of the same Joanna. After his death, Joanna, against the will of her father the king, within that same year, married a simple knight named Ralph de Monthermer [aged 25], a native of the bishopric of Durham, who had served as a knight under her former husband, the earl. Later, through his own bravery and skill, he rose to great prominence and was called Earl of Gloucester.
Eodem anno obiit Gilbertus comes Gloucestriæ, qui Johannam, filiam regis Edwardi, duxerat in uxorem, et puerum parvulum, Gilbertum nomine, reliquit hæredem tenerum, ex eadem Johanna procreatum. Post mortem cujus ipsa Johanna, contra voluntatem patris sui regis, infra eundem annum, simplicem sibi militem, nomine Radulphum de Montermere, de episcopatu Dunolmensi oriundum, qui viro suo comiti militaverat, sibi matrimonio copulavit; qui in posterum, per strenuitatem ipsius et industriam, in magnum crevit virum, comesque Gloucestriæ appellatus est.
Note 1. Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester died on 7th December 1295 at Monmouth Castle [Map]. He buried at Tewkesbury Abbey [Map]. He was succeeded by his four year old son Gilbert de Clare 8th Earl Gloucester 7th Earl Hertford [aged 4].
In January 1297 Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 27] and Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 24] were married in secret greatly offending her father King Edward I of England [aged 57] who had been planning to marry her to Amadeus V "Great" Savoy [aged 47] in March. Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford was imprisoned at Bristol Castle, Gloucestershire [Map]; he was released in August 1297. She the daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England.
On 8th January 1297 John Gerulfing I Count Holland [aged 13] and [his sister-in-law] Princess Elizabeth of Rhuddlan Countess Essex, Hereford and Holland [aged 14] were married at Ipswich, Suffolk [Map]. She by marriage Countess Holland. The wedding was attended by her sister Margaret Plantagenet Duchess Brabant [aged 21], her father King Edward I [aged 57], her brother Edward [aged 12] and her future second husband Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex [aged 21]. She the daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England. He the son of Floris Gerulfing V Count Holland and Beatrix Dampierre. They were half third cousin twice removed. He a great x 4 grandson of King Stephen I England.
In August 1297 Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 27] was created 1st Earl Gloucester, 1st Earl Hertford. There is some uncertainty as to whether these creations existed, or were created for life only, since they do appear to have been inherited, or whether there is confusion around his having been married to [his wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 25], the widow of the seventh Earl of the first creation Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford.
In October 1297 [his daughter] Mary Monthermer was born to Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 27] and [his wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 25]. She a granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
On 7th February 1301 [his brother-in-law] King Edward II of England [aged 16] was created Prince of Wales by his father [his father-in-law] King Edward I of England [aged 61]; the first English heir to receive the title. He was created 1st Earl Chester the same day.
Before 9th March 1301 seven Earls and 96 Barons signed a letter to the Pope refuting the Pope's claim that Scotland was subject to the Pope's feudal overlordship. The letter was never sent. Those who signed include: John Warenne 6th Earl of Surrey [aged 70], Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln [aged 23], Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 31], Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex [aged 25], Roger Bigod 5th Earl Norfolk [aged 56], Richard Fitzalan 1st or 8th Earl of Arundel [aged 34], Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick [aged 29], Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke [aged 26], William Leybourne 1st Baron Leybourne [aged 59], Henry Plantagenet 3rd Earl of Leicester 3rd Earl Lancaster [aged 20], William Latimer 1st Baron Latimer of Corby [aged 58], Edmund Hastings, John Hastings 2nd Baron Hastings 14th Baron Abergavenny [aged 14], Edmund Mortimer 2nd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore [aged 50], Fulk Fitzwarin 2nd Baron Fitzwarin [aged 16], Henry Percy 9th and 1st Baron Percy [aged 27], Robert Fitzwalter 1st Baron Fitzwalter [aged 54], John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Somerset [aged 26], William de Braose 2nd Baron de Braose 10th Baron Bramber [aged 41], John Botetort 1st Baron Botetort [aged 36], Reginald Grey 1st Baron Grey of Wilton [aged 61], John Moels 1st Baron Moels [aged 32], Thomas Berkeley 6th and 1st Baron Berkeley [aged 55], Robert de Vere 5th Earl of Oxford, John Strange 1st Baron Strange Knockin [aged 48], Thomas Multon 1st Baron Multon [aged 25], Robert Clifford 1st Baron Clifford [aged 26], Walter Beauchamp [aged 58], Alan Zouche 1st Baron Zouche Ashby [aged 33], John Segrave 2nd Baron Segrave [aged 45], William Ferrers 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby [aged 29], Simon Montagu 1st Baron Montagu [aged 51], Piers Mauley, Ralph Neville 1st Baron Neville of Raby [aged 38], John Mohun 1st Baron Dunster [aged 32], Roger Scales 1st Baron Scales, Thomas Furnival 1st Baron Furnivall [aged 41], Hugh Bardolf 1st Baron Bardolf [aged 41], Gilbert Talbot 1st Baron Talbot [aged 24], William Deincourt 2nd Baron Deincourt, Edmund Stafford 1st Baron Stafford [aged 28], Walter Fauconberg 1st Baron Fauconberg [aged 81].
On 4th October 1301 [his son] Thomas Monthermer 2nd Baron Monthermer was born to Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 31] and [his wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 29] at Ham Stoke, Wiltshire. He a grandson of King Edward I of England. He married before 1340 Margaret Brewes Baroness Monthermer, daughter of Peter Brewes Count Flanders, and had issue.
On 14th November 1302 Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex [aged 26] and [his sister-in-law] Princess Elizabeth of Rhuddlan Countess Essex, Hereford and Holland [aged 20] were married. She by marriage Countess Essex, Countess Hereford. Westminster Abbey [Map]. She the daughter of [his father-in-law] King Edward I of England [aged 63] and Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England. He the son of Humphrey Bohun 3rd Earl Hereford 2nd Earl Essex and Maud Fiennes Countess Essex and Hereford. They were third cousins.
In 1304 [his son] Edward Monthermer was born to Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 34] and [his wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 31]. He a grandson of King Edward I of England.
After 14th July 1306 [his future brother-in-law] Hugh "Younger" Despencer 1st Baron Despencer [aged 20] and [his step-daughter] Eleanor Clare Baroness Zouche Mortimer [aged 13] were married. She the daughter of Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford and [his wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 34]. He the son of [his future father-in-law] Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester [aged 45] and Isabella Beauchamp. They were third cousin once removed. He a great x 5 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England. She a granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. [November 1306] The wife [Christina Bruce [aged 33]] of Christopher , the king placed in the monastery of Sixhills [Map] in Lindsey, and the daughter [Marjorie Bruce [aged 10]] of the new king he placed in the monastery of Watton [Map]. The lord king gave to Lord Edmund de Mauley [aged 25] the manor of Seaton in Whitby Strand, which had belonged to Christopher, and other lands he had held in Northumberland the king gave to Lord William le Latimer [aged 30]. The lands of the new king the lord king divided among his magnates in this way: he gave the Valley of Annandale to the Earl of Hereford, who had married the daughter of the king of England; Ayr and Ayrshire he gave to Lord Robert de Clifford (saving, however, the right of the church of Durham); Tothenham, Tothenhamschire, and the manor of Wrothell in the southern parts he gave to other magnates. The earldom of Carrick, which the new king had held by maternal inheritance, the king of England gave to Lord Henry de Percy; and the earldom of Atholl he gave to the Earl of Gloucester [aged 36], who had married the king's daughter after the death of Gilbert de Clare, the former earl of Gloucester. Thus he bore the title of earl by right of his wife, not by inheritance, for he had been a mere and unremarkable knight when he married her, by the name of Ralph Monthermer.
Uxorem vero Christofori posuit rex in monasterio de Thyxsel in Lindesay, et filiam novi regis posuit in monasterio de Watton. Deditque dominus rex domino Eadmundo de Malo-lacu manerium de Seton in Wytebystrand, quod erat Christofori, et alias suas terras quas habuit in Northumberland dedit rex domino Willelmo le Latymer. Terras vero novi regis dispersit dominus rex inter magnates suos hoc modo; dedit enim Vallem Anandiæ comiti de Herford, qui filiam regis Angliæ duxerat in uxorem; Hert vero et Herternes dedit domino Roberto de Clifforde, salvo tamen jure ecclesiæ Dunolmensis; Thotenham et Thotenhamschyre et manerium de Wrothell in partibus australibus dedit aliis magnatibus suis; comitatum vero de Karrik, quem ex hæreditate materna habuerat ipse novus rex, dedit rex Angliæ domino Henrico de Percy; comitatum autem de Asechel dedit rex comiti Gloucestriæ, qui filiam regis post mortem Gilberti de Clare quondam comitis Gloucestriæ, duxerat; sicque nomen comitis habebat ab uxore, non ab hæreditate, fuerat enim miles simplex et segnis quando eam duxerat, nomine Radulphus Monhermer.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough
A canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: 'In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed.'
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On 23rd April 1307 [his wife] Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford [aged 35] died at Clare, Suffolk [Map].
Scalaronica. [10th May 1307]. Hearing of this, Aymer de Valence marched against him, when the said Robert de Brus encountered the said Aymer de Valence at Loudoun, and defeated him, and pursued him to the castle of Ayr;1 and on the third day [after] the said Robert de Brus defeated Rafe de Monthermer [aged 37], who was called Earl of Gloucester because [his former wife] Joan [deceased] the King's daughter and Countess of Gloucester had taken him for husband out of love [for him].
Note 1. Battle of Loudoun Hill, May 1307.
On 4th March 1309 Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 39] was created 1st Baron Monthermer by writ of summons.
Before 1310 John Hastings 13th Baron Abergavenny 1st Baron Hastings [aged 47] and [his future wife] Isabel Despencer Baroness Hastings and Bergavenny were married. She by marriage Baroness Hastings, Baroness Abergavenny Feudal Creation. She the daughter of [his future father-in-law] Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester [aged 48] and Isabella Beauchamp. They were third cousin once removed. He a great x 5 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England. She a great x 5 granddaughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.
Around 1313 Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 43] and Isabel Despencer Baroness Hastings and Bergavenny were married. She the daughter of Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester [aged 51] and Isabella Beauchamp.
In 1324 Eleanor of Woodstock Plantagenet [aged 5] was placed into the care of her cousin [his former step-daughter] Eleanor Clare Baroness Zouche Mortimer [aged 31]. She was subsequently placed into the care of Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 54] (he had formerly been married to her aunt [his former wife] Joan of Acre and Isabel Despencer Baroness Hastings and Bergavenny with her younger sister Joan of the Tower [aged 2] at Pleshey Castle [Map].
On 5th April 1325 Ralph Monthermer 1st Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [aged 55] died. Earl Gloucester, Earl Hertford extinct. His son Thomas [aged 23] succeeded 2nd Baron Monthermer.
In 1334 [his former wife] Isabel Despencer Baroness Hastings and Bergavenny died.
John of Fordun's Chronicle. 114. King Robert accused before the King of England by John Comyn
As the said John's accusations were repeated, at length, one night, while the wine glittered in the bowl, and that king was hastening to sit down with his secretaries, he talked over Robert's death in earnest, - and shortly determined that he would deprive him of life on the morrow. But when the Earl of Gloucester, who was Robert's true and tried friend in his utmost need, heard of this, he hastily, that same night, sent the aforesaid Robert, by his keeper of the wardrobe, twelve pence and a pair of spurs. So the keeper of the wardrobe, who guessed his lord's wishes, presented these things to Robert, from his lord, and added these words: "My lord sends these to you, in return for what he, on his side, got from you yesterday." Robert understood, from the tokens offered him, that he was threatened by the danger of death; so he discreetly gave the pence to the keeper of the wardrobe, and forthwith sent him back to the Earl with greeting in answer, and with thanks.
Then, when twilight came on, that night, after having ostentatiously ordered his servants to meet him at Carlisle [Map], with his trappings, on the evening of the following day, he straightway hastened towards Scotland, without delay, and never stopped travelling, day or night, until he was safe from the aforesaid king's spite. Tor he was under the guidance of One of whom it is written: - "There is no wisdom, no foresight, no understanding against the Lord, who knoweth how to snatch the good from trial, and mercifully to deliver from danger those that trust in Him.".