Marriage
In May 1306 Hugh Despenser the younger was knighted, and that summer he married Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 9th Lord of Clare and 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre.
Eleanor's grandfather, Edward I, owed the elder Despenser 2,000 marks (£526 thousand at today's prices) and the marriage settled this debt, and was a reward for the elder Hugh's loyal service.
When Eleanor's brother, Gilbert, was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, she unexpectedly became one of the three co-heiresses to the rich Gloucester earldom, and in her right Hugh inherited Glamorgan and other properties. In just a few short years Hugh went from a landless knight to one of the wealthiest magnates in the kingdom.
Eleanor was also the niece of the new king, Edward II of England, and this connection brought Despenser closer to the English royal court. He joined the baronial opposition to Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite (and Hugh's brother-in-law, as Gaveston was married to Eleanor's sister Margaret).
Eager for power and wealth, Despenser seized Tonbridge Castle in 1315, after his brother-in-law's death under the misapprehension that it belonged to his mother-in-law (he relinquished it on discovering that the rightful owner was the Archbishop of Canterbury). In 1318 he murdered Llywelyn Bren, a Welsh hostage in his custody.
Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:
- Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308–1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. At his death without issue, his nephew Edward, son of Edward (below), was created Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.
- Gilbert le Despenser, (1309–1381).
- Edward le Despenser, (1310–1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes; father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357. His son was Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and 2nd Baron Le Despencer of the 1357 creation, who was married to a daughter of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, youngest son of Edward III, and was attainted and beheaded in 1400 for his attempts to restore Richard II, his wife's cousin, to the throne. His attainder was reversed in 1461, with the victory of Edward IV, and the barony of the first creation (1264/1295) was eventually awarded in 1604 to Dame Mary Fane, heiress of Thomas's daughter Isabel Le Despencer, who married two cousins. The barony is now held by the Viscounts Falmouth.
- Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312–1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel
- John le Despenser, (1311 – June 1366).
- Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315–1351), nun at Sempringham Priory
- Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317–1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey
- Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319–1337), nun at Whatton Priory
- Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.
Read more about this topic: Hugh Despenser The Younger
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“For the longest time, marriage has had a guilty conscience about itself. Should we believe it?—Yes, we should believe it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Only one marriage I regret. I remember after I got that marriage license I went across from the license bureau to a bar for a drink. The bartender said, “What will you have, sir?” And I said, “A glass of hemlock.””
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)