Berkeley family (.. continued)

Alice founded the religious house called Magdalen's, near Bristol, and was its patroness; dying in March 12, 1170-71, she was buried beside her husband, between the stalls of the Abbot and the Prior. He founded the Abbey of St. Augustine's in Bristol, and was buried in the quire thereof.

Robert FitzHarding was conferred, for his attachment to the Empress Maud, the lordship of Berkeley and Berkeley-Hernesse, the confiscated possessions of the above Roger de Berkeley, the adherent to King Stephen; but, to reconcile the parties, King Henry, who had restored to Roger his manor and castle of Dursley, caused an agreement to be concluded between them that the heiress of the ousted lord should be given in marriage to the heir of the new baron; and thus passed the feudal castle of Berkeley to another chief, Maurice, who assumed the surname of Berkeley and became the feudal lord of Berkeley upon the death of his brother, Henry.

He was the first of his family to dwell in the Berkeley Castle. He fortified the castle and founded two hospitals, one at Lowring between Berkeley and Dursley, and that at Longbridge to the north of Berkeley, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Maurice died on June 16, 1189, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert, who, in the turbulent times of King John, forfeited his castle and lands by his participation in the rebellious proceedings of the barons, but upon submission, and paying the king a fine of 1,000 pounds had livery of his lands, and had all restored except the castle and town of Berkeley, in the 1st year of King Henry III. He died without issue and was succeeded by his brother, Thomas.

Thomas de Berkeley was born in 1170. In the 8th year of Henry III. (1223-24), upon giving his two nephews as pledges for his fidelity, he had restitution of Berkeley Castle in 1223. He married, circa 1217, Joan, daughter of Ralph de Somery, Lord of Campden, co., Gloucester, and niece of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. Thomas died on November 29, 1243, aged seventy-three, and was buried in the south aisle of St. Augustine's abbey. Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son, Maurice.

Maurice de Berkeley, paying 100 pounds had livery of his inheritance, accompanied his father in the wars of France, in the 41st year of Henry III., and was in the expedition with Prince Edward against the Welsh. In the 42nd, 43rd, 44th, and 47th year of Henry III., he was summoned to attend to the king against Llewellyn ap Griffith, Prince of Wales, then in arms. He appears to have joined the insurrectionary lords, for which his lands were seized by the crown. He married in 1240 Isabel, daughter of Maurice de Credonia, alias Creoun, a great baron in Lincolnshire, and his wife Isabel, sister of William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke (uterine sister and brother of Henry III.). He died seized of his barony of Berkeley, April 4, 1281, and was buried in the north aisle of St. Augustine's abbey in Bristol. He and his wife had four sons and one daughter.

Thomas de Berkeley, 2nd oldest son, 1st Lord Berkeley, known as "The Wise", was born at Berkeley Castle in 1245, was a very wise and provident person, keeping exact accounts with all his bailiffs and stewards. He had 200 attendants in his family, of knights, esquires, yeomen, grooms, and pages, besides husbandmen. He was with the king at the siege of Kenilworth Castle, October, 1266, and afterwards in the Welsh wars, for which service he had a special grant, in the time of King Edwards I., for hunting with his own dogs in the king's forest of Mendip and chase of Kingswood. In short, he was in most of the battles fought in Wales, Scotland, and France. He participated in the victory of Falkirk and the siege of Caerlaverock, won July 23, 1298, and he was taken prisoner at the battle of Bannockburn in June 1314, and paid a large sum for his ransom. He was summoned to parliament as a Baron from June 24, 1295, to May 15, 1321. He was ambassador to Rome; one of the commissioners to treat of peace between England and France; and Constable of England. He married circa 1267 Joane (Jane), daughter of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester. Thomas died July 23, 1321, and was buried at St. Augustine's abbey. His wife, Jane, died March 19, 1309.

Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Lord Berkeley, the eldest son, known as "The Magnanimous," said to be born in April 1281 (must have been 1271, otherwise his son was born when he was only 12 years of age!) and died on May 31, 1326, having married in 1289 (1), both being very young, Eva (Eve), daughter of Eudo (Eudes) le Zouche, a descendant of Saire de Quincy, sister of Willard Lord Zouche of Harringworth; (2) Isabel Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and his first wife, Alice le Brun. He received, in his father's lifetime, summons to parliament from August 6, 1308 to May 15, 1321. In 1312, he was made Governor of Gloucester and, in 1314, Governor of the town and castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed. He distinguished himself in the Scottish wars from 1295 to 1318, and was present at the siege of Carlaverock in July 1300. In 1315, he was constituted Justice of South Wales and had custody of all the castles there. In 1319, by the title of the king's beloved kinsman, he was made steward of the duchy of Aquitaine; but in 1321, joining Thomas Plantaganet, Earl of Lancaster, he was committed prisoner to Wallingford Castle, where he died December 5, 1326.

Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Lord Berkeley, known as "The Rich," was born in 1293. In 1327 he was made joint custodian of the deposed King Edward II, whom he received at Berkeley Castle, but being commanded to deliver over the government to his fellow custodians, Lord Maltravers and Sir Thomas Gournay, he left there to go to Bradley "with heavy cheere perceiving what violence was intended." As an accessory to the murder of the deposed king, he was tried by a jury of 12 knights in the 4th year of King Edward III., but was honorably acquitted. He married about 1320 (1) Margaret Mortimer, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, and in 1347, (2) Catherine, widow of Peter le Veel, of Tortworth, co. Gloucester, and daughter of John Cliveton, of Charfield. This lord having adhered to the interests of the Queen, Mortimer, and Prince Edward, afterwards the third of that name, furnished "the only precedent," says Smith, "of a peer being tried by knights, as the peers would have been both judges and jurors." He first assumed a miter for his crest. He was summoned to parliament from June 14, 1329 to November 20, 1360. Thomas de Berkeley died October 27, 1361, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Maurice, of the first marriage.

Scottish branch of the Berkeley (Barclay) family

Roger de Berkeley, the first architect of Berkeley Castle, protègé and either brother-in-law or nephew of Earl William fitz Osbern, m Rissa dtr of Agnes, Countess of Ponthieu, by Robert de Montgomery, elder brother of Roger Arundel and sister of William Talvas, Count of Ponthieu, (whose son Robert went to Scotland with Walter fitz Alan, founder of the Stewarts, acquired the barony of Eaglesham and founded the Scottish line of Montgomery), and had an eldest son, Roger de Berkeley, who continued the building of Berkeley Castle, and at least one other son, John de Berkeley, who went north with Queen Maud.

John de Berkeley had an eldest son, Sir Walter de Berkeley, who m Eva, dtr of Ughtred of Galloway by Gunnilda of Allerdale (granddaughter of Gospatrick, Earl of Northumberland). His dtr Margaret m Sir Alexander de Seton. At this time there appear to be several Berkeleys well established, all of which w ould be either brothers, sons or nephews of John de Berkeley. Various charters give their names as Walter, William, Humphrey, Robert, Theobald and Richard, and the first two of these held the office of Great Chamberlain of Scotland.

While the continuity of the family is illustrated by the succession of their estates, and of their arms, the exact link between the John de Berkeley who went north with Maud, and the succeeding Chiefs of the Name of Barclay, is yet to be determined with certainty. The Gartly line was reasonably well documented down to the 17th century, and the Barclays of Mathers and Urie, of which the founders of Barclays Bank are cadets, down to the present day. On the expiry of the Gartly line the representation of the family passed to the Barclays of Tollie, and the Chief of the Name, Peter Charles Barclay of Towie Barclay and of that Ilk, matriculated his arms in 1971.