Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford
Encyclopedia
Humphrey de Bohun (c. 1249 – 31 December 1298), 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex, was an English
nobleman known primarily for his opposition to King Edward I
over the Confirmatio Cartarum. He was also an active participant in the Welsh Wars
and maintained for several years a private feud with the earl of Gloucester. His father, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, fought on the side of the rebellious barons in the Barons' War
. When Humphrey (V) predeceased his father, Humphrey (VI) became heir to his grandfather, Humphrey (IV). At Humphrey (IV)'s death in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford
and Essex
. He also inherited major possessions in the Welsh Marches
from his mother, Eleanor de Braose
.
Bohun's spent most of his early career reconquering Marcher lands captured by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
during the Welsh war in England. This was finally accomplished through Edward I's war in Wales
in 1277. Hereford also fought in Wales in 1282–83 and 1294–95. At the same time he also had private feuds with other Marcher lords, and his conflict with Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, eventually ended with the personal intervention of King Edward himself. Hereford's final years were marked by the opposition he and Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk
, mounted against the military and fiscal policy of Edward I. The conflict escalated to a point where civil war threatened, but was resolved when the war effort turned towards Scotland. The king signed the Confirmatio Cartarum a confirmation of Magna Carta
and Bohun and Bigod agreed to serve on the Falkirk Campaign
. Bohun died in 1298, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford
.
, most of whom carried the same name. His grandfather was Humphrey (IV) de Bohun
, who had been part of the baronial opposition of Simon de Montfort
, but later gone over to the royal side. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Lewes
in May 1264, but was restored to favour after the royalist victory at the Battle of Evesham
the next year. Humphrey (IV)'s son, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, remained loyal to the baronial side throughout the Barons' War
, and was captured at Evesham on 4 August 1265. In October that year Humphrey (V) died in captivity at Beeston Castle
in Cheshire
from injuries he had sustained in the battle.
Humphrey (V) had been excluded from succession as a result of his rebellion, but when Humphrey (IV) died in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford
and Essex
. Humphrey (VI) had already served as deputy Constable of England
under Humphrey (IV). Humphrey (IV) had reserved the honour
of Pleshey
for his younger son Henry, but the remainder of his lands went to Humphrey (VI). The inheritance Humphrey (VI) received in addition to land in Essex
and Wiltshire
from Humphrey (IV) also consisted of significant holdings in the Welsh Marches
from his mother. His mother Eleanor
was a daughter and coheir of William de Braose and his wife Eva Marshal, who in turn was the daughter and coheir of William Marshal
, regent to Henry III
.
Since Humphrey (VI) was only sixteen years old at the time of his father's death, the Braose lands were taken into the king's custody until 1270. Part of this inheritance, the Marcher lordship of Brecon
, was in the meanwhile given to the custody of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford. Humphrey technically regained his lordship from Clare in 1270, but by this time these lands had effectively been taken over by the Welsh
prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
, who had taken advantage of the previous decade's political chaos in England to extend his territory into the Marches.
was crusading; Edward did not return until 1274. Llywelyn refused to pay homage to the new king, partly because of the military actions of Bohun and other Marcher lords, which Llywelyn saw as violations of the Treaty of Montgomery
. On 12 November 1276, Hereford was present at a royal assembly where judgment was passed on Llewelyn, and in 1277, Edward I declared war on the Welsh prince. Rebellion in his own Brecon lands delayed Hereford's participation in the early days of the Welsh war. He managed, however, to both suppress the rebellion, and conquer lands further west. He then joined up with the royal army and served for a while in Anglesey, before returning to Brecon, where he received the surrender of certain Welch lords. After the campaign was over, on 2 January 1278, he received protection from King Edward to go on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
in Spain
.
In 1282, war with Wales broke out again; this time it would not be simply a punitive campaign
, but a full-scale war of conquest. Initially, the king wanted to fight the war with paid forces, but the nobility insisted on the use of the feudal
summons. To men like Hereford, this was preferable, because as part of a feudal army the participants would have both a stake in the war and a justifiable claim on conquered land. In the end, although the earls won, none of them were paid for the war effort. Hereford jealously guarded his authority as hereditary Constable of England, and protested vigorously when the Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester was appointed commander of the forces in South Wales. In the post war settlement, however, neither Hereford nor Gloucester received any significant rewards of land, the way several other magnates did. Hereford fought again in Wales, in the suppression of the rebellion of 1294–95, when he again had to pacify the territory of Brecon before joining the king in the north.
Parallel with the Welsh Wars, Hereford was also struggling to assert his claims to lands in the Marches against other Marcher lords. In 1284 Edward I granted the hundred of Iscennen in Carmarthenshire
to John Giffard
. Hereford believed the land belonged to him by right of conquest, and started a campaign to win the lands back, but the king took Giffard's side. Problems also arose with the earl of Gloucester. As Gloucester's former ward, Hereford had to buy back his own right of marriage, but Gloucester claimed he had not received the full sum. There was also remaining resentment on Hereford's part for his subordination to Gloucester in the 1282–83 campaign. The conflict came to a head when Gloucester's started construction of a castle at Morlais
, which Hereford claimed was his land. In 1286, the Crown ordered Gloucester to cease, but to no avail.
It had long been established Marcher custom to solve conflicts through private warfare. Hereford's problem, however, was his relative weakness in the Marches, and now he was facing open conflict with two different enemies. He therefore decided to take the issue to the king instead, in a break with tradition. King Edward again ordered Gloucester to stop, but the earl ignored the order and initiated raids on Hereford's lands. Hostilities continued and Hereford responded, until both earls were arrested and brought before the king. The real offense was not the private warfare in itself, but the fact that the earls had not respected the king's injunction to cease. In the parliament of January 1292, Gloucester was fined 10,000 marks
and Hereford 1,000. Gloucester's liberty
of Glamorgan
was declared forfeit
, and confiscated by the crown, as was Hereford's of Brecon.
In the end the fines were never paid, and the lands were soon restored. Edward had nevertheless demonstrated an important point. After the conquest of Wales, the strategic position of the Marcher lordships was less vital to the English crown, and the liberty awarded to the Marcher lords could be curtailed. For Edward this was therefore a good opportunity to assert the royal prerogative
, and to demonstrate that it extended also into the Marches of Wales.
forfeit, and war broke out between the two countries. Edward I embarked on a wide-scale and costly project of building alliances with other princes on the Continent, and preparing an invasion. When the king, at the parliament of March 1297 in Salisbury, demanded military service from his earls, Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk
, refused in his capacity of marshal of England. The argument was that the king's subjects were not obliged to serve abroad if not in the company of the king, but Edward insisted on taking his army to Flanders
while sending his earls to Gascony
.
At the time of the Salisbury parliament, Hereford was accompanying two of the king's daughters to Brabant
, and could not be present. On his return, however, as Constable of England, he joined Bigod in July in refusing to perform feudal service. The two earls were joined in their opposition by the earls of Arundel
and Warwick
. The main reasons for the magnates' defiance was the heavy burden of taxation caused by Edward's continuous warfare in Wales, France and Scotland. In this they were also joined by Robert Winchelsey
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
, who was in the midst of a ongoing dispute with the king over clerical taxation. At one point Bohun and Bigod turned up in person at the Exchequer to protest a tax they claimed did not have the consent of the community of the realm. For Hereford there was also a personal element in the opposition to the king, after the humiliation and the affront to his liberties he had suffered over the dispute in the Marches. At a meeting just outside London
, Bohun gave an impassioned speech objecting to the king's abuse of power and demanding the restoration of ancient liberties. The grievances were summarised in a document known as the Remonstrances
.
Neither party showed any inclination to back down, and the nation seemed on the brink of another civil war. Just as the conflict was coming to a head, however, external events intervened to settle it. In September 1297, the English suffered a heavy defeat to the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge
. The Scottish victory exposed the north of England to Scottish raids led by William Wallace
. The war with Scotland received wider support from the English magnates, now that their own homeland was threatened, than did the war in France to protect the king's continental possessions. Edward abandoned his campaign in France and negotiated a truce with the French king. He agreed to confirm Magna Carta
in the so-called Confirmatio Cartarum (Confirmation of the Charters). The earls consequently consented to serve with the king in Scotland, and Hereford was in the army that won a decisive victory over the Scots in the Battle of Falkirk
in 1298. Hereford, not satisfied that the king had upheld the charter, withdrew after the battle, forcing Edward to abandon the campaign.
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In 1275 Bohun married Maud de Fiennes, daughter of Enguerrand de Fiennes, chevalier, seigneur of Fiennes, by his 2nd wife, Isabel (kinswoman of Queen Eleanor of Provence). She predeceased him, and was buried at Walden Priory
in Essex. Hereford himself died at Pleshey Castle
on 31 December 1298, and was buried at Walden alongside his wife. They had one son, also named Humphrey
, born around 1276. The son was given possession of his father's lands and titles on 16 February 1299. The young Humphrey also inherited his father's title of Constable of England.
A common theme in Humphrey de Bohun's actions was his fierce protection of what he regarded as his feudal privileges. His career was marked by turbulence and political strife, particularly in the Marches of Wales, but eventually he left a legacy of consolidated possessions there. In 1297, at the height of the conflict between Edward I and rebellious barons, the king had actively tried to undermine Hereford's authority in the Marches, but failed due to the good relations the earl enjoyed with the local men.
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England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
nobleman known primarily for his opposition to King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
over the Confirmatio Cartarum. He was also an active participant in the Welsh Wars
Wales in the Late Middle Ages
Wales in the Late Middle Ages covers the period from the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in late 1282 to the incorporation of Wales into the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542.-Death of Llywelyn:...
and maintained for several years a private feud with the earl of Gloucester. His father, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, fought on the side of the rebellious barons in the Barons' War
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...
. When Humphrey (V) predeceased his father, Humphrey (VI) became heir to his grandfather, Humphrey (IV). At Humphrey (IV)'s death in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford
Earl of Hereford
The title of Earl of Hereford was created six times in the Peerage of England. See also Duke of Hereford, Viscount Hereford. Dates indicate the years the person held the title for.-Earls of Hereford, First Creation :*Swegen Godwinson...
and Essex
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...
. He also inherited major possessions in the Welsh Marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
from his mother, Eleanor de Braose
Eleanor de Braose
Eleanor de Braose was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father, who was the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and of her mother, Eva Marshal, a co-heiress of the Earls of Pembroke...
.
Bohun's spent most of his early career reconquering Marcher lands captured by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
Llywelyn the Last
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf , sometimes rendered as Llywelyn II, was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England....
during the Welsh war in England. This was finally accomplished through Edward I's war in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
in 1277. Hereford also fought in Wales in 1282–83 and 1294–95. At the same time he also had private feuds with other Marcher lords, and his conflict with Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, eventually ended with the personal intervention of King Edward himself. Hereford's final years were marked by the opposition he and Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod was 5th Earl of Norfolk.He was the son of Hugh Bigod , and succeeded his uncle, Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk as earl in 1270....
, mounted against the military and fiscal policy of Edward I. The conflict escalated to a point where civil war threatened, but was resolved when the war effort turned towards Scotland. The king signed the Confirmatio Cartarum a confirmation of Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
and Bohun and Bigod agreed to serve on the Falkirk Campaign
Battle of Falkirk (1298)
The Battle of Falkirk, which took place on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence...
. Bohun died in 1298, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford
Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford
Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford was a member of a powerful Anglo-Norman family of the Welsh Marches and was one of the Ordainers who opposed Edward II's excesses.-Family background :...
.
Family background and inheritance
Humphrey (VI) de Bohun was part of a line of Anglo-Norman aristocrats going back to the Norman ConquestNorman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, most of whom carried the same name. His grandfather was Humphrey (IV) de Bohun
Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford
Humphrey de Bohun was 2nd Earl of Hereford and 1st Earl of Essex, as well as Constable of England. He was the son of Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford and Maud of Essex.- Career :...
, who had been part of the baronial opposition of Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...
, but later gone over to the royal side. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Lewes
Battle of Lewes
The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264...
in May 1264, but was restored to favour after the royalist victory at the Battle of Evesham
Battle of Evesham
The Battle of Evesham was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by Prince Edward – later King Edward I – who led the forces of his father, King Henry III...
the next year. Humphrey (IV)'s son, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, remained loyal to the baronial side throughout the Barons' War
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...
, and was captured at Evesham on 4 August 1265. In October that year Humphrey (V) died in captivity at Beeston Castle
Beeston Castle
Beeston Castle is a former Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, England , perched on a rocky sandstone crag above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, , on his return from the Crusades...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
from injuries he had sustained in the battle.
Humphrey (V) had been excluded from succession as a result of his rebellion, but when Humphrey (IV) died in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford
Earl of Hereford
The title of Earl of Hereford was created six times in the Peerage of England. See also Duke of Hereford, Viscount Hereford. Dates indicate the years the person held the title for.-Earls of Hereford, First Creation :*Swegen Godwinson...
and Essex
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...
. Humphrey (VI) had already served as deputy Constable of England
Lord High Constable of England
The Lord High Constable of England is the seventh of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Great Chamberlain and above the Earl Marshal. His office is now called out of abeyance only for coronations. The Lord High Constable was originally the commander of the royal armies and the...
under Humphrey (IV). Humphrey (IV) had reserved the honour
Honour (land)
In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...
of Pleshey
Pleshey
The village of Pleshey lies in Essex, England, just to the northwest of Chelmsford.William the Conqueror gave Pleshey, in the parish of High Easter to Geoffrey de Mandeville in appreciation of his services; Mandeville was one of William's battle commanders at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...
for his younger son Henry, but the remainder of his lands went to Humphrey (VI). The inheritance Humphrey (VI) received in addition to land in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
and Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
from Humphrey (IV) also consisted of significant holdings in the Welsh Marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
from his mother. His mother Eleanor
Eleanor de Braose
Eleanor de Braose was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father, who was the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and of her mother, Eva Marshal, a co-heiress of the Earls of Pembroke...
was a daughter and coheir of William de Braose and his wife Eva Marshal, who in turn was the daughter and coheir of William Marshal
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...
, regent to Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
.
Since Humphrey (VI) was only sixteen years old at the time of his father's death, the Braose lands were taken into the king's custody until 1270. Part of this inheritance, the Marcher lordship of Brecon
Brecon
Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...
, was in the meanwhile given to the custody of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford. Humphrey technically regained his lordship from Clare in 1270, but by this time these lands had effectively been taken over by the Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
Llywelyn the Last
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf , sometimes rendered as Llywelyn II, was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England....
, who had taken advantage of the previous decade's political chaos in England to extend his territory into the Marches.
Welsh Wars
Over the next years, much of Hereford's focus was on reconquering his lost lands in the Marches, primarily through private warfare against Llywelyn. Henry III died in 1272, while his son now Edward IEdward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
was crusading; Edward did not return until 1274. Llywelyn refused to pay homage to the new king, partly because of the military actions of Bohun and other Marcher lords, which Llywelyn saw as violations of the Treaty of Montgomery
Treaty of Montgomery
By means of the Treaty of Montgomery , Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was acknowledged as Prince of Wales by the English king Henry III, the only time in history that an English ruler would recognise the right of a ruler of Gwynedd over Wales...
. On 12 November 1276, Hereford was present at a royal assembly where judgment was passed on Llewelyn, and in 1277, Edward I declared war on the Welsh prince. Rebellion in his own Brecon lands delayed Hereford's participation in the early days of the Welsh war. He managed, however, to both suppress the rebellion, and conquer lands further west. He then joined up with the royal army and served for a while in Anglesey, before returning to Brecon, where he received the surrender of certain Welch lords. After the campaign was over, on 2 January 1278, he received protection from King Edward to go on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
In 1282, war with Wales broke out again; this time it would not be simply a punitive campaign
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
, but a full-scale war of conquest. Initially, the king wanted to fight the war with paid forces, but the nobility insisted on the use of the feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
summons. To men like Hereford, this was preferable, because as part of a feudal army the participants would have both a stake in the war and a justifiable claim on conquered land. In the end, although the earls won, none of them were paid for the war effort. Hereford jealously guarded his authority as hereditary Constable of England, and protested vigorously when the Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester was appointed commander of the forces in South Wales. In the post war settlement, however, neither Hereford nor Gloucester received any significant rewards of land, the way several other magnates did. Hereford fought again in Wales, in the suppression of the rebellion of 1294–95, when he again had to pacify the territory of Brecon before joining the king in the north.
Private war in the Marches
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
to John Giffard
John Giffard
John Giffard , baron Giffard of Brimsfield, was an English nobleman prominent in the Second Barons' War and in Wales. His initial gift of land in Oxford led to the foundation of Gloucester College, Oxford.-Involvement in military actions:...
. Hereford believed the land belonged to him by right of conquest, and started a campaign to win the lands back, but the king took Giffard's side. Problems also arose with the earl of Gloucester. As Gloucester's former ward, Hereford had to buy back his own right of marriage, but Gloucester claimed he had not received the full sum. There was also remaining resentment on Hereford's part for his subordination to Gloucester in the 1282–83 campaign. The conflict came to a head when Gloucester's started construction of a castle at Morlais
Morlais Castle
Morlais Castle is a 13th century castle located above the Taff Gorge near the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.Not much remains today of the castle first begun by Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester on land claimed by Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford...
, which Hereford claimed was his land. In 1286, the Crown ordered Gloucester to cease, but to no avail.
It had long been established Marcher custom to solve conflicts through private warfare. Hereford's problem, however, was his relative weakness in the Marches, and now he was facing open conflict with two different enemies. He therefore decided to take the issue to the king instead, in a break with tradition. King Edward again ordered Gloucester to stop, but the earl ignored the order and initiated raids on Hereford's lands. Hostilities continued and Hereford responded, until both earls were arrested and brought before the king. The real offense was not the private warfare in itself, but the fact that the earls had not respected the king's injunction to cease. In the parliament of January 1292, Gloucester was fined 10,000 marks
Mark (money)
Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...
and Hereford 1,000. Gloucester's liberty
Liberty (division)
Originating in the Middle Ages, a liberty was traditionally defined as an area in which regalian rights were revoked and where land was held by a mesne lord...
of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
was declared forfeit
Asset forfeiture
Asset forfeiture is confiscation, by the State, of assets which are either the alleged proceeds of crime or the alleged instrumentalities of crime, and more recently, alleged terrorism. Instrumentalities of crime are property that was allegedly used to facilitate crime, for example cars...
, and confiscated by the crown, as was Hereford's of Brecon.
In the end the fines were never paid, and the lands were soon restored. Edward had nevertheless demonstrated an important point. After the conquest of Wales, the strategic position of the Marcher lordships was less vital to the English crown, and the liberty awarded to the Marcher lords could be curtailed. For Edward this was therefore a good opportunity to assert the royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
, and to demonstrate that it extended also into the Marches of Wales.
Opposition to Edward I
In 1294 the French king declared the English duchy of AquitaineDuke of Aquitaine
The Duke of Aquitaine ruled the historical region of Aquitaine under the supremacy of Frankish, English and later French kings....
forfeit, and war broke out between the two countries. Edward I embarked on a wide-scale and costly project of building alliances with other princes on the Continent, and preparing an invasion. When the king, at the parliament of March 1297 in Salisbury, demanded military service from his earls, Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod was 5th Earl of Norfolk.He was the son of Hugh Bigod , and succeeded his uncle, Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk as earl in 1270....
, refused in his capacity of marshal of England. The argument was that the king's subjects were not obliged to serve abroad if not in the company of the king, but Edward insisted on taking his army to Flanders
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....
while sending his earls to Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
.
At the time of the Salisbury parliament, Hereford was accompanying two of the king's daughters to Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
, and could not be present. On his return, however, as Constable of England, he joined Bigod in July in refusing to perform feudal service. The two earls were joined in their opposition by the earls of Arundel
Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel
Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel was an English Norman medieval nobleman.- Lineage :...
and Warwick
William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick
William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick was an English nobleman and soldier, described as a “vigorous and innovative military commander”...
. The main reasons for the magnates' defiance was the heavy burden of taxation caused by Edward's continuous warfare in Wales, France and Scotland. In this they were also joined by Robert Winchelsey
Robert Winchelsey
Robert Winchelsey was an English Christian theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the universities of Paris and Oxford, and later taught at both. Influenced by Thomas Aquinas, he was a scholastic theologian...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, who was in the midst of a ongoing dispute with the king over clerical taxation. At one point Bohun and Bigod turned up in person at the Exchequer to protest a tax they claimed did not have the consent of the community of the realm. For Hereford there was also a personal element in the opposition to the king, after the humiliation and the affront to his liberties he had suffered over the dispute in the Marches. At a meeting just outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Bohun gave an impassioned speech objecting to the king's abuse of power and demanding the restoration of ancient liberties. The grievances were summarised in a document known as the Remonstrances
Remonstrances
The Remonstrances were a set of complaints presented by a group of nobles in 1297, against the government of King Edward I of England...
.
Neither party showed any inclination to back down, and the nation seemed on the brink of another civil war. Just as the conflict was coming to a head, however, external events intervened to settle it. In September 1297, the English suffered a heavy defeat to the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge
Battle of Stirling Bridge
The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a battle of the First War of Scottish Independence. On 11 September 1297, the forces of Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated the combined English forces of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and Hugh de Cressingham near Stirling, on the River Forth.-The main...
. The Scottish victory exposed the north of England to Scottish raids led by William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
. The war with Scotland received wider support from the English magnates, now that their own homeland was threatened, than did the war in France to protect the king's continental possessions. Edward abandoned his campaign in France and negotiated a truce with the French king. He agreed to confirm Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
in the so-called Confirmatio Cartarum (Confirmation of the Charters). The earls consequently consented to serve with the king in Scotland, and Hereford was in the army that won a decisive victory over the Scots in the Battle of Falkirk
Battle of Falkirk (1298)
The Battle of Falkirk, which took place on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence...
in 1298. Hereford, not satisfied that the king had upheld the charter, withdrew after the battle, forcing Edward to abandon the campaign.
Death and family
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...
in Essex. Hereford himself died at Pleshey Castle
Pleshey
The village of Pleshey lies in Essex, England, just to the northwest of Chelmsford.William the Conqueror gave Pleshey, in the parish of High Easter to Geoffrey de Mandeville in appreciation of his services; Mandeville was one of William's battle commanders at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...
on 31 December 1298, and was buried at Walden alongside his wife. They had one son, also named Humphrey
Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford
Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford was a member of a powerful Anglo-Norman family of the Welsh Marches and was one of the Ordainers who opposed Edward II's excesses.-Family background :...
, born around 1276. The son was given possession of his father's lands and titles on 16 February 1299. The young Humphrey also inherited his father's title of Constable of England.
A common theme in Humphrey de Bohun's actions was his fierce protection of what he regarded as his feudal privileges. His career was marked by turbulence and political strife, particularly in the Marches of Wales, but eventually he left a legacy of consolidated possessions there. In 1297, at the height of the conflict between Edward I and rebellious barons, the king had actively tried to undermine Hereford's authority in the Marches, but failed due to the good relations the earl enjoyed with the local men.
Further reading
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