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John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (23 November 1306 – 20 January 1336) was born in
St Clement's, Oxford
St Clement's is a district in Oxford, England, on the east bank of the River Cherwell. "St Clement's" is usually taken to describe a small triangular area from The Plain bounded by the Cherwell in the West, Cowley Road in the East. to the foot ...
to
Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford
Humphrey (VII) de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford (1276 – 16 March 1322) 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
Humphrey de Bohun's ...
and
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (7 August 1282 – 5 May 1316) was the eighth and youngest daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile. Of all of her siblings, she was closest to her younger brother King Edward II, as they were only ...
, a daughter of
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...
.
After his father's death at the
Battle of Boroughbridge
The Battle of Boroughbridge was fought on 16 March 1322 in England between a group of rebellious barons and the forces of King Edward II, near Boroughbridge, north-west of York. The culmination of a long period of antagonism between the King a ...
, the family lands were forfeited. It was not until after the fall of the Despensers that John was permitted to succeed to his inherited position as Earl of Hereford and Essex, hereditary
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. This office is now called out of abeyance only for coronations. The Lord High Constable w ...
, and
Lord of Brecknock.
Marriages
He married firstly, in 1325, to Alice FitzAlan (died 1326), daughter of
Edmund FitzAlan, 2nd Earl of Arundel
Edmund Fitzalan, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1 May 128517 November 1326) was an English nobleman prominent in the conflict between King Edward II and his barons. His father, Richard Fitzalan, 1st Earl of Arundel, died in 1302, while Edmund was still a ...
, and secondly to Margaret Basset (died 1355). After the marriage, it was discovered that the couple were related to the fourth degree of
consanguinity
Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor).
Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...
and they were forced to live apart. An appeal to
Pope John XXII resulted on 19 February 1331 in a papal commission to the bishops of Lichfield and London to hold an enquiry into the case. However,
Roger Northburgh
Roger Northburgh (died 1358) was a cleric, administrator and politician who was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1321 until his death. His was a stormy career as he was inevitably involved in many of the conflicts of his time: military, dyna ...
, the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, failed to act and the case was still pending when the Pope issued a further demand for an enquiry in 1334.
Death
He did not play much of a public role, despite his high titles and offices, most likely because he had some sort of incapacity.
His younger brothers were often deputed to fulfil his duties as Constable. He died at
Kirkby Thore
Kirkby Thore is a small village and civil parish in Cumbria, England (), in the historic county of Westmorland. It is close to the Lake District national park and the Cumbrian Pennines. It includes the areas of Bridge End, in the southwest by t ...
,
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
and was interred in
Stratford Langthorne Abbey
Stratford Langthorne Abbey, or the Abbey of St Mary's, Stratford Langthorne was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1135 at Stratford Langthorne — then Essex but now Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. The Abbey, also known as West H ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Notes
1306 births
1336 deaths
04
03
People from Oxford
14th-century English people
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
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