Sir Hugh le Despenser Knight, 1st Baron le Despenser

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Sir Hugh le Despenser was the son and heir of Sir Hugh le Despenser who died between 23 Feb and 30 May 1238. The younger Sir Hugh was born in or before 1223. Sir Hugh, the younger, had a respite of knighthood, 22 Jul 1244, and on 7 Nov 1255, he was appointed Constable of Horston Castle for five years from the preceding Michaelmas. He accompanied, in Apr 1257, Richard, Earl of Cornwall to Aachen for Earl Richard's coronation, 17 May, as king of the Romans. At the Parliament of Oxford, Jun 1258, he was one of the twelve elected by the Barons to redress grievances, and also one of the twelve elected to treat with the King's Council in Parliament.

Sir Hugh le Despenser was appointed Justiciar of England and Constable of the Tower of London, sometime around 16 Jul 1263, by the Barons, with the assent of the King. In Mar 1264, when constable of the Tower, he led rioters who sacked the mansion at Iseworth of the King of the Romans. He was at the battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264. He was later appointed by the counsel of the Barons, Constable of the Castles of Devizes and Oxford, 12 July, of Orford Castle, 18 July, and of Nottingham Castle, 15 Dec 1264. He was also appointed an arbiter to consider the peace between the King and the Barons, 11 Sep 1264. He was summoned for Military Service against the Welsh, 14 Mar 1257/8 and 25 May 1263, by writs directed Hugoni le Despenser, and to Parliament, 24 Dec 1264, by writ directed to Hugoni le Despenser Justic' Anglie. He again was appointed arbiter, this time between the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester, May 1265.

Sir Hugh le Despenser married, in or before 1260, Aline, daughter and heir of Sir Phillip Basset of Wycome, Bucks, by his wife, Hawise, daughter of Sir Matthew de Lovaine, of Little Easton, Essex. Sir Hugh le Despenser joined the Earl of Leicester in his last campaign, and with him was slain at the battle of Evesham, 4 Aug 1265. He was buried in Evesham Abbey. Aline married for a second time, as the 1^st wife of Roger le Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, Marshal of England, and she died shortly before 11 Apr 1281.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, (Despenser), p. 259-261

Hugh married Aline Basset Countess of Norfolk, daughter of Sir Philip Basset and Hawise de Louvain.¹⁴¹ (Aline Basset Countess of Norfolk was born in 1245 in Wooton Basset, Wiltshire, England and died shortly before 11 Apr 1281 in England ¹⁴¹.)