John Mautravers Lord of Maltravers

  General Notes:

~Weis' Ancestral Roots . . ., 8th Edition, 59:32, Sir John Maltravers was married to Millicent (Ela) de Berkeley. He was knighted 22 May 1306, and was the son of Sir John Maltravers and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Sir Ralph de Gorges of Litton and Wraxall.¹⁶⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁹⁰⁷
John Maltravers, living from about 1290 until 1365, was son of Sir John Maltravers of Dorset, who was himself son of a John Maltravers, and a descendant of Hugh Maltravers, who held lands at Lytchett, in 1086. John Maltravers the younger was knighted on the same occasion as his father, 12 May 1306. It is said, that he was taken prisoner at Bannockburn in 1314. On 20 Oct. 1318 he was chosen knight of the shire for Dorset.

John seems to have sided with Thomas, earl of Lancaster, and was throughout his early career an intimate associate of Roger Mortimer, earl of March. In September 1321 he received a pardon for felonies committed in pursuit of the Despensers, but in the following December is described as the king's enemy [Parl. Writs, i. 192, ii. 165,172]. In the spring of 1322 he was in arms against the king, and attacked and burnt the town of Bridgnorth. He was present at the battle of Boroughbridge on 16 March, and after the execution of Earl Thomas fled over sea [ib. ii. 174 -5, 201].

It would appear that Johhn may have come back with Mortimer and the queen in October 1326, for he received restitution of his lands on 17 Feb. 1327, and on 27 March had a grant out of the lands of Hugh Despenser. On 3 April he was appointed one of the keepers of the deposed king, the other being Thomas Berkeley. Murimuth and Baker say that while Berkeley acted with humanity, Maltravers treated his prisoner with much harshness. Murimuth says that Edward was killed by order of Maltravers and Thomas Gourney, but from the circumstance that in 1330 Maltravers was condemned, not for this but for another crime, it would appear that he was not directly responsible for Edward's death. Edward was murdered on 21 Sept. 1327. Maltravers and Berkely remained in charge of the body till its burial at Gloucester on 21 Oct. [see their accounts in Archæologia, l. 223-6].

During the next few years, John Maltravers was employed on frequent commissions "of oyer and terminer," the most important occasion being in February 1329, when, with Oliver de Ingham and others, he was appointed to try those who had supported Henry, earl of Lancaster, in his intended rising at Bedford [Chron. Edwar I and II, i. 243). He was also on several occasions a justice in eyre for the forests [cf. Cal. Pat. Rolls of Edward III], and was in 1329 made keeper of the forests south of Trent. On 4 April 1329 the pardon granted to him two years previously was confirmed, in consideration of his services to Queen Isabella and the king at home and abroad. In May he accompanied the young King to France.

He was on this occasion spoken of as seneschal or steward, and next year he appears as steward of the royal household [ib. p. 517. About the same time he had a grant of the forfeited lands of John Giffard of Brimsfield. Maltravers was actively concerned in the circumstances, which led to the death of Edmund, earl of Kent, in March 1330, and was on the commission appointed for the discovery of his adherents [ib. p. 556]. On 5 June 1330 he was summoned to parliament as Baron Maltravers; he was already described as 'John Maltravers, baron,' in November 1329 [ib. p. 477]. On 24 Sept. he was appointed constable of Corfe Castle, but on the fall of Mortimer shortly afterwards, Maltravers, like the other supporters of the queen-mother and her paramour, was disgraced.

In the parliament held in November he was condemned to death as a traitor on account of his share in the death of the Earl of Kent. On 3 Dec. orders were given for his arrest, to prevent his going abroad [Fœdera, ii. 801], but he managed to escape to Germany, and lived there and elsewhere in Europe for many years [Murimuth, p. 54]. He would appear to have chiefly spent his time in Flanders, where he seems to have acquired considerable wealth and sufficient influence to make it worth the while of Philip of France to offer him a large bribe for his services. But, apparently during the troubles, which attended the death of Jacob van Artevelde, he lost all his goods and suffered much oppression.

When Edward III came to Flanders in July 1345, Maltravers met, him at Sluys, and petitioned for leave to return to England, pleading that he had been condemned unheard. In consideration of the great service he had done the king in Flanders, he was granted the royal protection on 5 Aug., and allowed to return to England [Fœdera, iii. 56; Rolls of Parl. II. 173A]. The confirmation of his pardon was delayed owing to his employment in 1346 on urgent business abroad, but the protection was renewed on 28 Dec. 1347 [Fœdera, iii. 146]. In June 1348 he was sent on a mission to the commonalties of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres [ib. iii. 162]. Final restitution of his honour and lands was not made till 8 Feb. 1352 [Rolls of Parl. ii. 243].

John Maltravers was governor of the Channel Islands in 1351. He died on 16 Feb. 1365, and was buried at Lytchett. Maltravers married, as his first wife, Ela or Eva, daughter of Maurice, lord Berkeley, and sister of the keeper of Edward II, and second, Agnes, daughter of Sir William Bereford. Maltravers's second wife had previously married both Sir John de Argentine (d. 1318) and Sir John Nerford (d. 1329). She died after 1374, and was buried at Greyfriars, London [Coll. Top. et Gen.].

By his first wife John Maltravers had a son also named John, who died 13 Oct. 1350 [1360 according to Nicolas], leaving by his wife Wensliana a son Henry and two daughters, Joan and Eleanor. Henry Maltravers died before his grandfather, at whose death the barony fell into abeyance, between his granddaughters, Joan, who was twice married but left no children, and Eleanor, who married John Fitz Alan, second son of Richard, third earl of Arundel.

[Sources given by author: Murimuth's Chronicles (Rolls Ser.); Baker's Chronicle, ed. E. M. Thompson; Rolls of Parliament; Parliamentary Writs; Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1327-30; Rymer's Fœdera Record edit.); Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 101; Hutchin's Dorset, ii. 315-21; Collectanea Top. et. Gen. v. 150-4; Nicolas's Historic Peerage, pp. 308-9, ed. Courthope.]

~ Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, Dictionary of National Birography, Vol. XII, pp. 891-902

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
John Maltravers, had escaped from England, after he took part in the attack upon and burning of Bridgnorth, and later fought for the Earl of Lancaster at Boroughbridge. He escaped capture, but his estates were seized and he escaped overseas. He returned with Queen Isabel and Roger de Mortimer in Sep 1326, and soon rose in high favor. He recived in March/April 1327 Winter borne Htton and other manors for his services to Queen Isabel and the King while abroad and at home.

He was summoned to Parliament on 25 January 1329/30 and 23 October 1330, by writs directed Johanni de Mautravers Juniori. He was summoned again on 15 November 1350. In February 1329/30 he was appointed joint commissioner to inquire of felonies, &c., in London. Early in 1330 Edmund, Earl of Kent, being persuaded that his brother Edward II was still alive, entrusted letters addressed to him to Mautravers, who delivered them to Roger de Mortimer, which led to the arrest, confession, condemnation, and execution of the Earl a few weeks later.

The part he had played in bringing about the judicial murder of the King's uncle served Mautravers ill when Mortimer fell from power in October. Mautravers was condemned in the Parliament which met 26 November 1330, and was sentenced to hanging and beheading; a reward of 1,000 marks was offered for taking him alive, and a price of £500 placed on his head, and his lands and offices were forfeited. He escaped by way of Cornwall to Germany, where he lived in obscurity for several years. In 1334 he offered to make a confession, and William de Montagu was sent to interview him.

In 1339 he received a grant of £100 per annum, presumably in consideration of his scheming with Jacob van Arteveldt to bring Flanders to the King's side in the coming war with France; and in February 1341/2 his wife Agnes had licence to stay with him in Flanders, apparently on the King's service. In October 1343 he was commissioned to obtain justice from Flemish burgomasters and others for certain merchants of England wrongfully imprisoned in Flanders, contrary to the proclamation.

In May and June 1344 he and his son John appear to have been in Ireland on the King's service. For some time past the way had been prepared for his reconciliation with the King, and when Edward III arrived at the Swine in Flanders in July 1345 to meet Jacob van Arteveldt, Mautravers humbly submitted himself, and asked for a trial, as he had been condemned unheard. The King accordingly granted him a safe conduct in August, so that he might appear at the coming Parliament, doing this in consideration of the good place Mautravers had held for the King in Flanders and elsewhere, thereby losing all his goods in the cause and being unable to stay safely in that country.

In October he was sent on an embassy to Ghent. In June 1348 he was sent on another mission to that city, and, as John Mautravers, the father, was appointed Keeper of the Channel Islands. In September 135o he and his wife had licence to cross the seas on a pilgrimage to Rome. On 20 June 1351 his outlawry was annulled, and he was fully restored 8 February 1351/2. He died 16 Feb 1363/4, and was burried at Lytchett Mautravers.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Mautravers), Vol. VIII, p. 851-585

John married Millicent de Berkeley, daughter of Sir Maurice de Berkeley and Eva la Zouche.¹⁴¹ (Millicent de Berkeley died after 1322 in England ¹⁶⁰.)