Nicholas Devereux II of Chanston (Vowchurch) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman living during the reigns of

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

. The Devereux were a prominent knightly family along the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

during the thirteenth century, and Nicholas would play an integral role in attempts to control the

during the thirteenth century.

Ancestry

Nicholas Devereux the Younger was born about 1220, the son of Nicholas Devereux the Elder of Chanston and an unknown woman. His father was a member of the retinue of

Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath Walter de Lacy (c. 1172 – 1241) was lord of Meath in Ireland. He was also a substantial land owner in Weobley, Herefordshire, in Ludlow, Shropshire, in Ewyas Lacy in the Welsh Marches, and several lands in Normandy. He was the eldest son o ...

, and had served as his Steward of Meath.H.C. Maxwell Lyte (editor). Calendar of Patent Rolls, Volume 5. (London: Public Record Office, 1900). Page 53. 1340, November 14, Reading, membrane 24 & 25

/ref> He probably spent his youth on his fathers lands in Herefordshire.

Career

Nicholas Devereux paid 1 mark for a poneA writ in law used by the superior courts to remove cases from inferior courts. in March 1246 to remove a plea from the county court of Herefordshire to Westminster. In October 1252 Nicholas of Ebroicis filed a plea regarding 6 armed-men of Walter Kingston that had destroyed his corn in Enlatheston (Chanston). Walter Kingston failed to appear in court, and orders were issued to the Bailiff of Nicholas’ district to take into hand Walter, Balearic Dunkers and Phillip Wayne. Following the death of Arnold de Bosco, Justice of the Forest, the king appointed Peter de Neyreford and Nicholas de Rummeseye in March 1255 to inquire into trespasses in the forests, and to sell a part of the woods for the relief of the king's debts in the forests of Southampton, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucester and Hereford. In Hereford, the sheriff was instructed to have the knights, Nicholas Devereux and Henry le Rus, meet with Neyreford and Rummeseye and assist with the execution of these orders. On 4 July 1255 Sir Nicholas Devereux was ordered to the send to the king as quickly as possible the money that had been obtained from the selling of the king's woods toward the side of Nottinghamshire. If he failed to do so, the sheriff of Hereford was to compel him. Nicholas Devereux, like his cousins Sir

Walter Devereux of Bodenham and Bromwich Walter Devereux of Bodenham and Bromwich was an Anglo-Norman knight and sheriff of Herefordshire living during the reigns of Henry III of England and Edward I of England. The Devereux were a prominent family along the Welsh Marches during the th ...

and the Marcher Lord

William Devereux William Devereux was an Anglo-Norman nobleman living during the reigns of kings William I, William II, and Henry I of England. The Devereux, along with the Baskervilles and Pichards, were prominent knightly families along the Welsh marches at t ...

, supported the baronial cause during the later part of the

Second Barons' War The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of King Henry III, led initially by the king himself and later by his son, the fut ...

. It is probable that Nicholas, like his cousin William, died at the

Battle of Evesham The Battle of Evesham (4 August 1265) was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by the future King Edward I, who led the ...

on 4 August 1265. His eldest son, Hugh Devereux, was an adult at the time, and he was granted on 4 May 1266 safe conduct until midsummer for coming to the king’s court.H.C. Maxwell Lyte (editor). Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry III. (London: Mackie and Co., 1910). Volume 5, Page 593, 4 May 1266, Northampton, membrane 17

accessed 6 January 1216 Hugh probably supported the king as his inheritance was not recorded as subject to the Dictum of Kenilworth. John Devereux, Nicholas’ son by his second wife, would be required to redeem his inheritance in 1279.

Marriage

Nicholas Devereux married a woman named Isabel,F.W. Maitland. Year Books of Edward II, Volume 1, 1 & 2 Edward II, 1307-1309. (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1903). Page 75 to 77 and they had children: * Hugh Devereux of Chanston *Isabel DevereuxIsabel Devereux was alive and married in 1292 when she was involved with a writ of waste directed at her step-mother, Joan, on land that she held the reversion rights to. She is probably the wife of Walter de la Walls who was involved in another court case of John Devereux on 1 July 1289. Nicholas married a second time to a woman named JoanAlfred J. Horwood (editor). Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the First, Years XX and XXI. (London: Longmans Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1866). Pages 166 to 168 and had children: *Robert DevereuxRobert Devereux held lands in Overleye (Netherleye) in the hundred of Stretford, county Herefordshire, of the honor of Wigmore from Edmund Mortimer. He also held lands for 1 knight’s fee in Eastleche in the hundred of Brightwell’s Barrow, county Gloucester, from William Comyn. On 12 June 1302 the king’s escheator took homage from Robert Devereux for the lands he held of the king in chief following their surrender by Roger le Bigod, earl of Norfolk. He had died by 1303 when his brother, John Devereux, was shown holding Eastleche on the subsidy rolls. On 26 November 1312 there is reference to Andrew le Chaloner being held in the king’s prison of Brugge for the death of Robert Devereux. *

John Devereux, Lord of Munsley John Devereux, Lord of Munsley, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman living during the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. The Devereux were a prominent knightly family along the Welsh Marches during the thirteenth century, and played an integral role i ...

Grant Simpson and James Galbraith (Editors). Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland. Volume V (supplementary). AD 1108-1516. (Edinburgh: Scottish Record Office, 1970). Page 404

Notes

General References

* Robinson, Charles J. A History of the Castles of Herefordshire and their Lords. (Great Britain; Antony Rowe LTD, 2002). Page 125-129

Specific References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devereux, Nicholas II Anglo-Normans 1220s births Norman warriors

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

1260s deaths 13th-century English nobility