The title Baron Berkeley originated as a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

title and was subsequently created twice in the

Peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. There are five peerages in th ...

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

. It was first granted by writ to

Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (c. 1245– 23 July 1321), ''The Wise'', feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer, soldier and diplomat. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head ...

(1245–1321), 6th feudal Baron Berkeley, in 1295, but the title of that creation became extinct at the death of his great-great-grandson, the fifth Baron by writ, when no male heirs to the barony by writ remained, although the feudal barony continued. The next creation by writ was in 1421, for the last baron's nephew and heir

James Berkeley James Berkeley (died 1327) was Bishop of Exeter for a period of three months in 1327, a term of office cut short by his death. Origins Berkeley was a younger son of Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (1245-1321), ''The Wise'', feudal baron ...

. His son and successor William was created Viscount Berkeley in 1481, Earl of Nottingham in 1483, and Marquess of Berkeley in 1488. He had no surviving male issue, so the Marquessate and his other non-inherited titles became extinct on his death in 1491, whilst the barony passed ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...

'' to his younger brother Maurice. However William had disinherited Maurice because he considered him to have brought shame on the noble House of Berkeley by marrying beneath his status to Isabel, daughter of Philip Mead of Wraxhall, an Alderman and Mayor of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

. Instead he bequeathed the castle, lands and lordships comprising the Barony of Berkeley to

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, ...

and his heirs male, failing which to descend to William's own rightful heirs. Thus on the death of

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

in 1553, Henry VII's unmarried grandson, the Berkeley inheritance returned to the family. Therefore, Maurice and his descendants from 1492 to 1553 were ''de jure'' barons only, until the return of the title to the senior heir Henry (and indirectly to his mother Anne), becoming ''de facto'' 7th Baron in 1553. Upon his death he was succeeded by his relative George Harding. His son, the ninth Baron, was created in 1679 Earl of Berkeley and Viscount Dursley, which remained united to the barony until the death of the sixth Earl in 1882, when the earldom passed to a male heir and the barony passed to a female one, Louisa Milman. At Louisa's death, the barony went to Eva Mary Foley, upon whose death the barony fell into

abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ''abeance'' meaning "gaping") is a state of expectancy in respect of property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. ...

. The abeyance was terminated a few years later in favour of Mary Lalle Foley-Berkeley. Upon her death, the barony went to her nephew Anthony Gueterbock, who is the present holder. In 2000, he was created Baron Gueterbock for life in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great ...

. The

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

s of each baron were coined by John Smith of Nibley (d.1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys".

Feudal Barons of Berkeley

The feudal barony of Berkeley was created ''circa'' 1155, when King Henry II granted the royal castle of Berkeley to the Anglo-Saxon royal financier Robert Fitzharding under the

feudal land tenure Under the English feudal system several different forms of land tenure existed, each effectively a contract with differing rights and duties attached thereto. Such tenures could be either free-hold, signifying that they were hereditable or perpe ...

. Prior to that time Berkeley Castle had been held in fee-farm by Roger I "de Berkeley" (d.1093),Cokayne, '' The Complete Peerage'', new edition, II, p.124 a Norman nobleman, possibly a son of

Roger I of Tosny Roger I of Tosny or Roger of Hispania (died c. 1040) was a Norman nobleman of the House of Tosny who took part in the Reconquista of Iberia. Career Roger was the son of Raoul I of Tosny, seigneur de Conches. In 1013, Roger and his father Raoul ...

(died circa 1040), who acquired the surname "de Berkeley". Roger I "de Berkeley" held extensive lands in-chief of the king in 1086, as recorded by

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, including Dursley and retired as a monk to St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester in about 1091. His son Roger II (d. about 1131) and grandson Roger III (d. after 1177) also held the manor of Dursley in-chief of the king. In 1152 Roger III was deprived of the farm of Berkeley during the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud. He was later restored to Dursley, and founded the family of "Berkeley of Dursley", but Berkeley Castle was granted by barony to Robert FitzHarding, a native Englishman and royal financier of Bristol, whose family also took the name "de Berkeley". To mollify the ill-feelings of Roger of Dursley, Henry II encouraged each family to marry their respective male heirs to the eldest daughters of the other, which was successfully accomplished. The

s below were assigned by John Smith (d.1640) of Nibley, household steward of the Berkeleys and author of ''Lives of the Berkeleys'': * Robert FitzHarding, 1st feudal baron of Berkeley (d.1170/1) ''Robert the Devout''. * Maurice FitzRobert FitzHarding, 2nd feudal baron of Berkeley (c.1120–1190/1) (otherwise "Maurice I de Berkeley") ''Maurice the Make-Peace'', son, who in accordance with the wishes of King Henry II married Alice de Berkeley, eldest daughter of Roger III "de Berkeley" (d. after 1177) of Dursley. * Robert de Berkeley, 3rd feudal baron of Berkeley (c.1165–1220) ''Robert the Rebellious'', son * Thomas I de Berkeley, 4th feudal baron of Berkeley (c.1170–1243) ''Thomas the Observer or Temporiser'', brother * Maurice II de Berkeley, 5th feudal baron of Berkeley (1218–1281) ''Maurice the Resolute'', son

Barons Berkeley, by writ, First Creation (1295)

From 1295 the feudal barony continued concurrently with the barony by writ. The feudal barony continued until the

Tenures Abolition Act 1660 The Tenures Abolition Act 1660 (12 Car 2 c 24), sometimes known as the Statute of Tenures, was an Act of the Parliament of England which changed the nature of several types of feudal land tenure in England. The long title of the Act was ''An act ...

. The feudal barony of Berkeley is especially important in that the barony by writ was deemed, extraordinarily, to be in effect a feudal barony (or barony by tenure), dependent on the tenure of Berkeley Castle. Thus when William Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (1426–1492), ''William the Waste-All'', alienated Berkeley Castle to the king, he effectively disinherited his younger brother from the barony by writ. * Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, 6th feudal baron of Berkeley (1245–1321) ''Thomas the Wise'', son. * Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, 7th feudal baron of Berkeley (1271–1326), ''Maurice the Magnanimous'', son. * Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley, 8th feudal baron of Berkeley (1293/6–1361) ''Thomas the Rich'', son. * Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley, 9th feudal baron of Berkeley (1320–1368) ''Maurice the Valiant'', son. * Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, 10th feudal baron of Berkeley (1353–1417) ''Thomas the Magnificent'', son, died without male progeny.

Barons Berkeley, by writ, Second Creation (1421)

* James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (c. 1394–1463), ''James the Just'', nephew and heir male. * William Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (1426–1492), ''William the Waste-All'', son. * Maurice Berkeley, ''de jure'' 3rd Baron Berkeley (1436–1506), ''Maurice the Lawyer'', brother. * Maurice Berkeley, ''de jure'' 4th Baron Berkeley (1467–1523), ''Maurice the Courtier'', son. Died without legitimate progeny. * Thomas Berkeley, ''de jure'' 5th Baron Berkeley (1472–1533), ''Thomas the Sheepmaster'', brother. * Thomas Berkeley, ''de jure'' 6th Baron Berkeley (1505–1534), ''Thomas the Hopeful'', son. * Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley (1534–1613), ''Henry the Harmless / Posthumous Henry'', posthumous son.Cokayne, '' The Complete Peerage'', new edition, II, p.138 *

George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley, KB (1601 – 10 August 1658) was a seventeenth-century English nobleman and a prominent patron of literature in his generation. Family George Berkeley, baptized 26 October 1601 at Low Leyton, Essex, was the o ...

(1601–1658), grandson. (No epithets coined after the death of John Smith (d.1640) of Nibley) * George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, 9th Baron Berkeley (1627–1698), son (created Earl of Berkeley in 1679) * Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, 10th Baron Berkeley (1649–1710) * James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley, 11th Baron Berkeley (1680–1736) * Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley, 12th Baron Berkeley (1716–1755) * Frederick Augustus Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley, 13th Baron Berkeley (1745–1810) * Thomas Moreton Fitzhardinge Berkeley, 6th Earl of Berkeley, 14th Baron Berkeley (1796–1882) * Louisa Mary Milman, 15th Baroness Berkeley (by birth: Berkeley) (1840–1899) * Eva Mary Foley, 16th Baroness Berkeley (by birth: Milman) (1875–1964) (abeyant 1964) * Mary Lalle Foley-Berkeley, 17th Baroness Berkeley (1905–1992) (abeyance terminated 1967) * Anthony Fitzhardinge Gueterbock, 18th Baron Berkeley (b. 1939), her nephew The heir apparent is his son Thomas FitzHardinge Gueterbock (b. 1969)

Earls of Berkeley (after 1882, continuing the creation of 1679)

The Earldom of Berkeley, together with the Viscountcy of Dursley, was separated from the barony in 1882, but the succession was not fully established. In 1942 both titles became extinct or dormant. * George Lennox Rawdon Berkeley, 7th Earl of Berkeley (1827–1888), son of

George Berkeley George Berkeley (; 12 March 168514 January 1753) – known as Bishop Berkeley ( Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immate ...

, who was a grandson of the 4th Earl * Randal Thomas Mowbray Berkeley, 8th Earl of Berkeley (1865–1942) (dormant 1942)

References

Sources

* George Edward Cokayne. '' The Complete Peerage. Volume 2: Bass to Canning'', ed. Gibbs, Vicary, London, 1912, pp. 118–149, Berkeley *Sanders, I.J. ''English Baronies'', Oxford, 1960, p. 13, Berkeley * Smyth, John (1567–1640). ''The Lives of the Berkeleys, Lords of the Honour, Castle and Manor of Berkeley from 1066 to 1618'', ed. Maclean, Sir John, 3 vols., Gloucester, 1883–1885 (First published c.1628) *
Vol 1, 1883

Vol 2, 1883

Vol.3, 1885
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley Baronies in the Peerage of England

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...