Sir William Burdet (died pre-1309) of

Lowesby Lowesby is a small parish and township situated in the district of Harborough in Leicestershire. It is 8 miles east of the county capital, Leicester, and 90 miles north of London. Geography Lowesby parish is located 500 metres above sea level i ...

in Leicestershire, England, was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the county seat of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

Career and Life

The Burdet family had been dedicated supporters of the

Order of St Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care bec ...

's English headquarters at

Burton Lazars Burton Lazars is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Burton and Dalby, in the Melton district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is south-east of Melton Mowbray, having a population of c.450 in 2015. It is the si ...

since its earliest days but relations soured in 1294 when the Order appropriated the

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

to Lowesby

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

for themselves. This was not popular with the villagers and sporadic riots broke out over the following few years. The vicar was

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

and in 1297 the churchyard was "polluted by bloodshed" by the actions of Sir William Burdet. The dispute was resolved in 1298 when William agreed to pay for the reconsecration of the church and to reconfirm his family's former grants to the Order of St Lazarus but the former good relationship was never re-established. Sir William was summoned to Parliament in London on 6 Oct 1297 shortly after the disastrous defeat at the

Battle of Stirling Bridge The Battle of Stirling Bridge ( gd, Blàr Drochaid Shruighlea) was a battle of the First War of Scottish Independence. On 11 September 1297, the forces of Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated the combined English forces of John de Warenne ...

and was mustered for service in the Scottish Wars on 24 Oct 1299. Sir William died before 8 Mar 1309 when his

Inquisition post mortem An Inquisition post mortem (abbreviated to Inq.p.m. or i.p.m., and formerly known as an escheat) (Latin, meaning "(inquisition) after death") is an English medieval or early modern record of the death, estate and heir of one of the king's tenants-in ...

was held to distribute his estate. He held lands at Branteston,

Huncote Huncote is a village and civil parish in the district of Blaby in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is just west of Narborough, and is on the Thurlaston Brook. The place-name Huncote is the etymological root of the American surnames ...

, Friseby, Galby, Loseby, Stretton and Norton in Leicestershire and at

Maidford Maidford is a civil and ecclesiastical parish in West Northamptonshire and the diocese of Peterborough situated about north-west of Towcester. The population at the 2011 census was 168. It was a centre of local Northamptonshire lace-making unti ...

, Northamptonshire.

Progeny

He had at least one son: *John Burdet (b. 1290) His lands soon passed to other members of the Burdet family. His nephew Sir

Robert Burdet The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

was a

for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * Year of birth unknown English MPs 1297 14th-century English people Anglo-Normans People from Harborough District 1309 deaths Members of the Parliament of England for Leicestershire {{13thC-England-MP-stub