Sir William de Bohun 1st Earl of Northampton

  General Notes:

~Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 15:30, 65:34, 97:32, Sir William de Bohun, was a Knight of the Garter, and he fought at Crecy. He was the 6^th earl of Essex. He married, as her second husband, Elizabeth de Badlesmere. They were parents of Elizabeth de Bohun who married Richard Fitz Alan. ¹⁶⁰

  Information about this person:

• Web Reference: William de Bohun from Britannia.

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
William de Bohun, 5^th and youngest son of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, by Elizabeth, widow of John, Count of Holand, and daughter of Edward I, was born about 1312. He and his elder brother Humphrey were closely associated with Edward III's seizure of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, 1330. From that time he was one of the King's most active councilors, and was busied in public affairs to the end of his life, receiving grants for his maintenance and service, Oct 1331 onwards. He was a knight by Jul 1331. In 1333 he was on service in Scotland, and again during the whole summer of 1336. On 16 Mar 1336/7 he was created, with consent of Parliament, by girding with the sword, Earl of Northampton. An income of £1,000 a year was promised him. Between Oct 1337 and Mar 1338 he was a commissioner to make a treaty with the King of France. On 12 Jun 1338 he became Constable of England. He was one of the envoys sent back by the King to the Council in England at the end of 1338, and spent 1339 in Flanders with Edward, returning with him to England 21 Feb 1339/40. On 24 Jun 1340 he took a leading part in the King's victory at Sluys, and was with him at the siege of Tournay.

William returned with the King to England in Nov. After service in Scotland in 1341, he was made the King's Lieutenant in Brittany, 20 Jul 1342. Early in Sep 1343 he was preparing to march into Scotland, to raise the siege of his castle of Lochmaben. He appears to have remained in England, Nov 1343 until the summer of 1345, when, in Jun, he sailed on another successful expedition, as the King's Lieutenant, to Brittany. He fought in the 1^st division, led by Prince Edward, at Crécy, after taking part in minor engagements; and participated in the siege of Calais. The years 1347-1349 were occupied with various negotiations, and made a member of the Knights of the Gater at the end of 1349. In Aug 1350, he took part in the victory over the Spanish fleet off Winchelsea, and in Octr was made Warden of the Scottish Marches. Admiral of the Fleet in the North, 1351-1353, and during those years, and in 1354, occupied with affairs in Scotland. He was in Artois with the King, 1355, and in Scotland Jan 1355/6. He took part in the expedition to France, 1359-60, and was one of the witnesses of the Treaty of Brétigny, 8 May 1360.

He married, licence 1335, Elizabeth, widow of Edmund de Mortimer, 1^st Lord Mortimer (died 1332], and 3^rd of the 4 sisters and coheirs of Giles de Badlesmere, 2^nd Lord Baddlesmere who had a great inheritance, as well as her Mortimer dower. She died Jun 1356. He died September 1360, and was buried in Walden Abbey, Essex.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Northampton), Vol. IX, pp. 664-667

• Background Information. ⁵³⁰
From Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants, Vol III, page 110: Sir William de Bohun, K.G., Earl of Hereford and Essex, d. sep 1360; m. 1338, as second husband, Elizabeth de Badlesmere, b. 1313, d. 1356

William married Elizabeth de Badlesmere, daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere 1st Lord of Badlesmere and Margaret de Clare, between 1335 and 1338 in Castle Badlesmere, Kent, England ¹⁴¹.^,530 (Elizabeth de Badlesmere was born in 1313 in Castle, Badlesmere, Kent, England,⁵³⁰ died in 1356 in Kent, England ⁵³⁰ and was buried in Black Friars, London, Middlesex, England.)