Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/316

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Bohun
308
Bohun

date between 1087 and 1100, Maud, daughter of Edward de Saresburie. Humphrey III was probably born about the end of the first decade of the twelfth century, and in some points he seems to have been confounded with his father. For example, to the father was probably due the foundation of the priory of Farleigh in Wiltshire, which is attributed to the son. The latter is also said to have served as steward or sewer to Henry I. At the beginning of Stephen's reign he was one of the witnesses of that king's laws; but in 1139, when the Empress Matilda landed, he joined her standard, and by the advice of Milo of Gloucester, earl of Hereford, his father-in-law, he fortified his stronghold of Trowbridge against the king. Yet in the next year he appears as sewer to Stephen, an office which he also held in the empress's household. He was taken prisoner at Winchester in 1141, fighting on Matilda's side.

After the accession of Henry II Humphrey de Bohun scarcely appears at all in the history of the early years of the reign. He was, however, one of the barons summoned to the council held at Clarendon in January 1164, in which were framed the celebrated constitutions, and nine years later, 1173, he stood firm by the king in the rebellion of Prince Henry, and with Richard de Lucy, the justiciar, and other loyal barons invaded Scotland to check William the Lion, who supported the prince. But the landing of Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leicester, compelled them hastily to conclude a truce and to march against the earl's forces, which they totally defeated at Fornham St. Genevieve in Suffolk, 16 or 17 Oct. In 1176 Bohun was present at the convention of Falaise, when the Scottish king recognised the supremacy of the English crown. He died 6 April 1187, and was buried at Lanthony, Gloucestershire; having married Margaret, eldest daughter of Milo of Gloucester, earl of Hereford, and constable of England (d. 1140), on the failure of whose male line those honours were carried over through the same Margaret to the house of Bohun. Humphrey's son, Humphrey IV, sometimes styled earl of Hereford and constable, predeceased him in 1182, having married Margaret, daughter of Henry, earl of Huntingdon (son of David, king of Scotland), and widow of Conan-le-Petit, earl of Brittany and Richmond (d. 1171), and leaving a son Henry [q. v.], created earl of Hereford in 1199.

[Chronicles of Benedict of Peterborough and Roger of Hoveden; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 179; Foss's Judges of England, i. 125; Upton's Itinerary of Henry II; Add. MS. 31939. f. 182.]

E. M. T.


BOHUN, HUMPHREY V de, second Earl of Hereford and first Earl of Essex (d. 1274), constable of England, succeeded his father Henry, first earl [q. v.], in 1220, and at some date after the death of William de Mandeville, his mother's brother, which took place in 1227, he was created earl of Essex. In the last-named year he joined Richard of Cornwall at Stamford, to support him in his quarrel with the king. He served the office of marshal of the household at the coronation of Queen Eleanor in 1286, and at the christening of Prince Edward in 1289 he was one of the sponsors. He was sheriff of Kent in 1289 and the two following years. He took part in Henry's French expedition of 1242, but is said to have retired with other nobles in disgust at the kind's partiality to the aliens. In 1244 he aided in the repression of a Welsh rising on the marches; but in the same year he was defeated by them in a second out break, one of the chief causes of insurrection being, it was declared, his retention of part of the inheritance of his sister-in-law Isabel, wife of David, son of Llewellyn, prince of Wales. In 1246 he joined in the letter of remonstrance from the English peers to Pope Innocent IV. He was present in the parliament of 1248, and two years later he took the cross and went to the Holy Land. Humphrey de Bohun appears as one of those who spoke in defence of Simon de Montfort in 1252, and next year he was present at the renewal of the charters and the solemn excommunication of their transgressors. In 1254 he was with the king in Gascony, but received offence from slights put upon him when performing his duties as constable. In 1257 he had the custody of part of the marches of Wales, and was employed in the Welsh war which then broke out.

When the barons formed the confederation for redress of grievances in 1268, the Earl of Hereford was of their number, and had a share in the settlement of the government under the Provisions of Oxford, being one of the original commissioners, and subsequently one of the council of fifteen. In 1260 he appears as a justice itinerant for the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford. In the divisions which soon split up the barons' confederation Humphrey de Bohun separated himself from Simon de Montfort's party, and is found in 1263 supporting the king, while his son Humphrey VI is ranged on the opposite side. In the battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264, he was taken prisoner. In the narrative of events of the ensuing year the movements of Humphrey de Bohun have been evidently confused with those of his son. It is stated that at the battle of Evesham, 4 Aug. 1266, he fought