John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers (1290?–1364) was an English nobleman and soldier.
Early life
He was son of Sir John Maltravers (1266–1343?) of
Lytchett Matravers,
Dorset, born by his first wife Eleanor, about 1290. He was knighted, as was his father, with
Edward, Prince of Wales, on 22 May 1306. He is said to have been taken prisoner at the
battle of Bannockburn
The Battle of Bannockburn ( gd, Blàr Allt nam Bànag or ) fought on June 23–24, 1314, was a victory of the army of King of Scots Robert the Bruce over the army of King Edward II of England in the First War of Scottish Independence. It was ...
in 1314.
On 20 October 1318 Maltravers was chosen knight of the shire for Dorset. He seems to have sided with
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster against the king Edward II, and was in his early life a close associate of
Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. In August 1321 he received pardon for felonies committed in pursuit of the Despensers, but in the following December is described as the king's enemy. In January 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
Earl Winty Thomas III (born May 7, 1989) is an American former football free safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. During his time with the Sea ...
went overseas.
Custodian of Edward II
Maltravers appears to have come back with Mortimer and
Isabella of France in October 1326, receiving restitution of his lands in 1327, with a grant out of the lands of Hugh Despenser. On 3 April he was appointed one of the keepers of the deposed king
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
, the other being his brother-in-law
Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley.
Adam Murimuth says that Edward was killed by order of Maltravers and Thomas Gourney, but later scholars doubt this. Maltravers and Berkeley remained in charge of the body until its burial at Gloucester on 21 October.
During the next few years Maltravers was employed on commissions of ''
oyer and terminer''. In that of February 1329, 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. He was also on several occasions a
justice in eyre
In English law, the justices in eyre were the highest magistrates, and presided over the ''court of justice-seat'', a triennial court held to punish offenders against the forest law and enquire into the state of the forest and its officers ('' eyr ...
for the forests, and was in 1329 made keeper of the forests south of Trent. On 4 April 1329 the pardon granted to him two years earlier was confirmed, in consideration of his services to Isabella and the king at home and abroad. In May he accompanied the young king
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
to France; and the next year was steward of the royal household.
Exile
Maltravers was actively concerned in the death of
Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, in March 1330, and was on the commission appointed to track down his adherents. On 5 June 1330 he was summoned to parliament as Baron Maltravers; he was described as a baron by November 1329. On 24 September he was appointed constable of
Corfe Castle, but on the fall of Mortimer shortly afterwards, Maltravers, like the other supporters of Isabella, 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 December orders were given for his arrest, to prevent his going abroad, but he managed to escape to Germany.
In Flanders Maltravers built up a fortune; but, during the troubles after the death of
Jacob van Artevelde, he lost it. When Edward III came to Flanders in July 1345, Maltravers met him at the Swyn estuary, and petitioned for leave to return to England, pleading that he had been condemned unheard. In consideration of services he had done the king in Flanders, he was granted the royal protection on 5 August, and allowed to return to England.
Later life
The confirmation of Maltravers's pardon was delayed because in 1346 he was on business abroad, but the protection was renewed at the end of 1347. In June 1348 he was sent to
Ghent,
Bruges, and
Ypres. Final restitution of his honour and lands was made on 8 February 1352. He was governor of the
Channel Islands in 1351. He re-founded in 1351 the hospital of Bowes at
St. Peter's Port
St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958.
St. ...
in
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
. Maltravers died on 16 February 1364, and was buried at Lytchett.
Marriages and children
He married twice:
*Firstly to Milicent de Berkeley, a daughter of
Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, and a sister of Thomas de Berkeley, one of the gaolers of King Edward II. By Milicent he had issue including:
**John Maltravers (d.13 October 1350/60)
[1360 according to Nicolas] who married a certain Wensliana, by whom he had issue:
***Henry Maltravers, who died before his grandfather, on whose death the barony fell into abeyance between his two sisters.
***Joan Maltravers, who was twice married but left no children;
***
Eleanor Maltravers, 2nd Baroness Maltravers, who married John Fitzalan, second son of
Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel. Her grandson
John FitzAlan, 6th Earl of Arundel (1385–1421) succeeded as sixth Earl of Arundel in 1415, and Thomas Fitzalan, son and heir of
William FitzAlan, 9th or 16th Earl of Arundel (1417–1487), sat in parliament during his father's life, from 1471 to 1488, as
Baron Maltravers. Mary FitzAlan, daughter of
Henry FitzAlan, 12th or 19th Earl of Arundel (1512–1580) carried the title to
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1536-1572). In 1628 the barony of Maltravers was by
Act of Parliament annexed to the Earldom of Arundel, and thus the title is still held today by the Duke of Norfolk.
*Secondly he married Agnes Bereford (d.post 1374), a daughter of Sir William Bereford, and widow successively of Sir John de Argentine (d. 1318) and Sir John de Nerford (d. 1329). She was buried at the
Greyfriars, London.
In fiction
Maltravers is a supporting character in ''
Les Rois maudits'' (''The Accursed Kings''), a series of French
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
s by
Maurice Druon. He was portrayed by André Mathis in the 1972
French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by Reus Alexandru in the 2005 adaptation.
References
Further reading
*Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge, biography of "Maltravers, John", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 3
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maltravers, John
1290 births
1364 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Barons Maltravers
Seigneurs of Samarès
People knighted at the Feast of the Swans
Peers created by Edward III
14th-century English people