William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu (137428 May 1420), was an English knight created by King Henry V 1st

Count of Eu Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

, in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Origins

He was born in 1374, the son of Sir William Bourchier (d.1375), (the younger son of

Robert Bourchier, 1st Baron Bourchier Robert Bourchier (or Boussier), 1st Baron Bourchier (d. August 20, 1349) was Lord Chancellor of England, the first layman to hold the post. Family Robert Bourchier was the eldest son of John de Bourchier (d.''circa'' 1330) (''alias'' Boucher, B ...

(d.1349), of

Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011 Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

) by his wife Eleanor de Louvain (27 March 1345 – 5 October 1397), daughter and heiress of Sir John de Louvain (d.1347) (''alias'' Lovayne etc.),

feudal baron A feudal baron is a vassal holding a heritable fief called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European feudalism, feudal baronies have largely been ...

Little Easton Little Easton is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. The village is situated approximately east from the town of Bishop's Stortford, and north-west from the county town of Chelmsford. Little Easton parish is defined at the west by th ...

in Essex. The arms of Louvain were: ''Gules billety or a fess of the last'', often shown with varying number of billets and on occasion with a ''fess argent'', for example in stained glass at

Hengrave Hall Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusants. Architecture Work on the hou ...

, Suffolk: ''Gules, a fess argent, between fourteen billets or''. Eleanor was descended from Godfrey de Louvain (d.1226), feudal baron of

, son of

Godfrey III, Count of Louvain Godfrey III ( nl, Godfried; c. 1142 – 21 August 1190) was count of Louvain (or Leuven), landgrave of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, and duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VIII) from 1142 to his death. Origins He was the son of Godfrey II and ...

(1142–1190), by his 2nd marriage, and half-brother of

Henry I, Duke of Brabant Henry I ( nl, Hendrik, french: Henri; c. 1165 – 5 September 1235), named "The Courageous", was a member of the House of Reginar and first duke of Brabant from 1183/84 until his death. Early life Henry was possibly born in Leuven (Louvain) ...

(1165–1235). His inheritance from his mother's Louvain lands included the Suffolk manors of Bildeston, Hopton, Shelland and "Lovaynes" in Drinkstone, and in Essex

Broxted Broxted is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, in the county of Essex, England. It is situated north-east from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire and north-west from the county town of Chelmsford. The parish includes the ham ...

and

Aythorpe Roding __NOTOC__ Aythorpe Roding is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is included in the eight hamlets and villages called The Rodings. Aythorpe Roding is northwest from the county town of Chelmsford ...

Career

He fought at the

Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; french: Azincourt ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected English victory against the numerica ...

in 1415. In 1417 he was in the retinue of King Henry V during his second expedition to France, and played a significant role in the capture of

. In 1419 he was appointed Captain of

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...

and was granted powers to receive the submission of the town and Comté of Eu. The French count of Eu had refused to pay homage to the conquering English king and thus had been held prisoner in England since Agincourt. In June 1419 King Henry V awarded six captured French comtés to certain of his more significant English supporters, and the Comté of Eu was granted to William Bourchier, thus making him 1st Count of Eu.

Marriage and children

BourchierImpaling_ThomasOfWoodstock_TawstockChurch

He married

Anne of Gloucester Anne of Gloucester, Countess of Stafford (30 April 1383 – 16 October 1438) was the eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III), by h ...

, Countess of Stafford, the daughter of the Plantagenet prince,

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (7 January 13558 or 9 September 1397) was the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Early life Thomas was born on 7 January 1355 at Woodstock ...

(1355–1397) (youngest son of 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 ...

) by his wife

Eleanor de Bohun Eleanor de Bohun ( – 3 October 1399) was the elder daughter and co-heiress (with her sister, Mary de Bohun), of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (1341–1373) and Joan Fitzalan, a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel a ...

elder daughter and coheiress of

Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex, 2nd Earl of Northampton, KG (March 25, 1342–January 16, 1373) was the son of William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton, and Elizabeth de Badlesmere, and grandson of Humphrey de Bohun, ...

(1341–1373), Earl of Essex and Northampton. The

Wrey baronets The Wrey Baronetcy, of Trebitch (modern: Trebeigh Manor, St Ive, 4 miles NE of Liskeard) in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 30 June 1628 for William Wrey (d.1636), 2nd son of John Wrey (die ...

who were the heirs of the Bourchier Earls of Bath quartered the arms of Wrey with those of Bourchier, the

Royal Arms of England The royal arms of England are the Coat of arms, arms first adopted in a fixed form at the start of the age of heraldry (circa 1200) as Armorial of the House of Plantagenet, personal arms by the House of Plantagenet, Plantagenet kings who ruled ...

and Bohun. They had the following children: * Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex (1404 – 4 April 1483), eldest son * William Bourchier, (25 October 1415 – 1474), ''

jure uxoris ''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title ''suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could becom ...

'' 9th Baron FitzWarin, 2nd son. * John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners (c. 1416 – 16 May 1474), 3rd son * Thomas Bourchier, (c. 1418 – 30 March 1486),

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

and a cardinal, 4th son * Eleanor Bourchier, (c. 1417 – November, 1474), wife of

John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal (12 September 14156 November 1461) was a fifteenth-century English magnate who, despite having a relatively short political career, played a significant role in the early years of the Wars of ...

Death and burial

He died at Troyes, France on 28 May 1420 and was buried at

Llanthony Secunda Priory Llanthony Secunda Priory was a house of Augustinian canons in the parish of Hempsted, Gloucestershire, England, situated about 1/2 a mile south-west of Gloucester Castle in the City of Gloucester. It was founded in 1136 by Miles de Gloucester, 1st ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, p.35

The de Bohun family were patrons of Llanthony Secunda Priory, near Gloucester Castle, founded by their ancestor

Miles of Gloucester Miles FitzWalter of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford (died 24 December 1143) (''alias'' Miles of GloucesterSanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.7) was a great magnate based in the west of ...

in 1136 as a secondary house to

Llanthony Priory Llanthony Priory ( cy, Priordy Llanddewi Nant Hodni) is a partly ruined former Augustinian priory in the secluded Vale of Ewyas, a steep-sided once-glaciated valley within the Black Mountains area of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Monmou ...

in Monmouthshire.

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel , collapsed=yes , align=center , boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; , boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; , boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; , boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; , boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; , 1= 1. William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu , 2= 2. Sir William Bourchier , 3= 3. Alianore de Lovayne , 4= 4.

, 5= 5. Margaret Prayers , 6= 6. Sir John de Louvaine , 7= 7. Margaret Weston , 8= 8. John de Bourchier , 9= 9. Helen Colchester , 10= 10. Thomas Prayers , 11= 11. Margaret de Essex , 12= 12. Thomas de Louvaine , 13= 13. Joan de Basing , 14= 14. Sir Thomas Weston , 15= 15. ?? , 18= 18. Walter of Colchester , 19= 19. Joan/Helen de Mountchensy , 22= 22. Hugh of Essex , 23= 23. ??

Sources

Woodger, L.S., biography of Sir William Bourchier, published in The History of Parliament: House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe, 1993

External links

References

Bourchier, William, Count of Eu Bourchier, William, Count of Eu Bourchier, William, Count of Eu Bourchier, William, Count of Eu Norman warriors William, Count of Eu Burials at Llanthony Secunda Priory, Gloucester 15th-century English people 15th-century French people Medieval French military personnel