Thomas de Morley, 4th Baron Morley, KG (c. 1354 – 24 September 1416) was a baron in the

Peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. From that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were closed to new creations, and new peers were created in a single Peerag ...

, Lord of Morley, Hingham,

Hockering Hockering is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Hockering is located east of Dereham and north-west of Norwich, along the A47. History Hockering's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English fo ...

, &c., in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, ''de jure'' Lord Marshall, hereditary

Earl Marshal of Ireland Marshal of Ireland or Earl Marshal of Ireland is a hereditary title originally awarded to William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke in the Lordship of Ireland, which descended to Baron Morley. The title of Marshal, like that of Baron Morley, has been ...

, and a Privy Councillor. He was summoned to parliament from 20 October 1379 to 3 September 1416. Thomas Morley was the second but eldest surviving son and heir of Sir William de Morley, 3rd Baron Morley (d. 30 April 1379) by his spouse Lady Cecily Bardolf (d. 23 November 1386), daughter of

Thomas Bardolf, 2nd Baron Bardolf Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

. In 1375 he was a

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

serving in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in the expedition of the

Duke of Brittany This is a list of rulers of Brittany. In different epochs the rulers of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary right. Hereditary ...

and

Earl of Cambridge The title of Earl of Cambridge was created several times in the Peerage of England, and since 1362 the title has been closely associated with the Royal family (see also Duke of Cambridge, Marquess of Cambridge). The first Earl of the fourth cre ...

. In 1386, upon rumours of an intended invasion, he was, as Lord Morley, the Chief Commissioner ordered to survey

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

and make provisions for its defence. In 1391 Lord Morley received permission to go on

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. In 1399 he accompanied King

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

on his disastrous journey to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In July 1415 he set out with King

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

on the expedition which culminated in the great victory of the

Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; ) 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 victory of the vastly outnumbered English troops agains ...

, but it does not appear, however, that he fought in the battle. In 1416 he was Lieutenant and Captain-General of forces assembled to proceed to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Lord Morley died later that year at

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

, where he was lodging at the house of a merchant, After a service at the Church of Notre Dame in Calais, at which both King Henry V and

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1437. He was elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) in 1410, and was also King of Bohemia from 1419, as well as prince-elect ...

, were present, his body was returned to England and buried in the Austin Friars Church at

Norwich, Norfolk Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norw ...

. Lord Morley married three times: * (1) before 3 April 1374, Joan de Hastings (

, 1357 - before 1380), daughter of Sir Hugh de Hastings, Knt. (died c. 1369), by Margaret de Everingham, daughter of Adam de Everingham 2nd Baron Everingham, by whom Lord Morley had one son, Sir Robert de Morley, Knt. (circa 1375 - before 12 November 1403), ''d.v.p.'', who married before August 1394 Isabel de Molines and had

Thomas de Morley, 5th Baron Morley Thomas Morley, 5th Baron Morley (1393–1435) was an English landowner, soldier, administrator and politician. Origins Born about 1394, he was the son of Robert Morley (died before 1403) and his wife Isabel, said to be the daughter of Sir Will ...

. She is buried in the Church of the White Friars,

. * (2) before 10 June 1380, Elizabeth (surname unknown). * (3) before 21 October 1390 (date of

Papal dispensation In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of the law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often caused by rigor ...

), AnnePlea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40 / 629
5th entry, plaintiff in Suffolk; Year: 1418 le Despencer, daughter of

Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer Edward le Despenser, 1st Baron Despenser (24 March 1336, Essendine – 11 November 1375) was the son of another Edward le Despenser and Anne Ferrers, sister of Henry, Lord Ferrers of Groby. He succeeded as Lord of Glamorgan in 1349. Le Despence ...

and Lady Elizabeth Burghersh and widow of Sir Hugh de Hastings, Knt., (d.1386), of Elsing, Norfolk. She died 30 October 1426, and was buried in the Church of the

Austin friars Austin Friars is a coeducational private day school located in Carlisle, England. The Senior School provides secondary education for 350 boys and girls aged 11–18. There are 150 children aged 4–11 in the Junior School and the Nursery has pl ...

, Norwich. By Lord Morley, she had no issue.

References

* Burke, Sir Bernard,

Ulster King of Arms Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is the provincial King of Arms at the College of Arms with jurisdiction over England north of the Trent and Northern Ireland. The two offices of Norroy and Ulster were formerly separate. Norroy King of Arms is th ...

, ''Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire'', London, 1883, p. 382. * ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Compact Edition,

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, 1975. * Richardson, Douglas, ''Plantagenet Ancestry'',

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Md., 2004, pps: 288 and 517.
Petition to exercise the office of Earl Marshal of Ireland by deputy, Rotuli Parliamentorum vol iii, P 130, no16 - 1381 & 1382, 5 Richard III
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Thomas de Morley, 4th Baron 1350s births 1416 deaths 14th-century English people 15th-century English people Members of the Privy Council of England Burials at Austin Friars, Norwich Barons Morley