14 ABERGAVENNY. XVIII. 1391. 1. *Wmum Beauchamp, cousin (i.e. s. of a sister of Barons ^' le S rimt l mo t ;uer (") ) °& *' 10 ' nsi °W*8r (l>iit in no way connected with , «r -i any of the former owners previous to the marriage of his maternal
- ' aunt with the then Lord) sue. to the Castle or Honour of Abergavenny
I. 1392. by virtue of an entail, 15 April (1872), 46 Ed. Ill, made by John, Earl of Pembroke, father of the last Earl. He was fourth son of Thomas, Earl op Warwick, (one of the founders of the Order of the Garter) by Katharine, da. of Roger (Mohti>ikii Earl of March. He served under the gallant Chaudos, and subsequently, in the wars with France, with great distinction, and in 1375 (or 1376) was, by Ed. Ill, nominated K.Q-. In 12S3 he was Captain of Calais. Having sue., as above mentioned, to the lands of Abergavenny, ha was sum. to Pari., 1392-1408, as a Baron [LORD BERGAVENNY, or" BEAT- CHAMP OF BERGAVENNY ( b )] by writ [1392] directed to him as "William Beauchamp dc Beiyarenny." In 1399 he was appointed Justiciary of South Wales and Governor of Pembroke. By deed, 20 Feb. (1395-0) 19 Ric. II, he entailed the Castle, &c, of Abergavenny on himself and his wife, and their issue male, with rem. to (his br.) Thomas, Earl of Warwick, and his heirs male for ever. He m. Joane, sister and eventually (1415) coheir to Thomas (Fit/alas), Earl op Arundf.i,, da. of Richard, Earl op Arundel, by Elizabeth, da. of William (Bones), Earl of NORTHAMPTON. He d. 8 May (1411) 12 Hen. IV. Inq. post mortem 5 June 1411, at Hereford. Will dat. 25 April 1408, in which he directs to be bur. at the Black Friars, Hereford. (See "Test. Vet.," p. 171.) His widow, who was b. 1375, held the Castle and Honour of Abergavenny iu dower till her death. Shed. 14 Nov. 1435. Her will dat. 10 Jan. 1434-5, pr. 19 Nov. 1435. (See " Test. Vet.," p. 224.) In it she directs to be bur. by her husband. Inq. post mortem at Guildhall, London, 15 Dec. 1435. ( a ) His precise relationship to the Earls of Pembroke is that his mother's sister, Lady Agnes Mortimer (wife of Laurence, Lord Hastings, cr. Earl of Pembroke), was mother of John, Earl of Pembroke (who, in 1372, executed in his favour the deed of entail), and grandmother of the last Earl, who d., s.p., in 1391. ( b ) The following note by Sir N. Harris Nicolas states that " Much doubt exists in his mind whether, until the Writ of Summons of the 29th Henry VI. to F.dward Nevill, as 'Domino de Bergavenny,' the proper designation of the previous barons was not that of their family name. The first possessor of that territory after Writs of Summons were regularly issued was John de Hastings, who d. 0 Edw. II. and was sue. by his s. John de Hastings, who d. 18 Edw. II.; to these personages nearly thirty Writs of Summons were directed, and in no instance, in this number, does the word 1 Bergavenny ' occur, in addition to which the said John de Hastings was entitled to Summons to Pari, as s. and h. of his father Henry, Lord Hastings, a Baron of great note, and the barony in which they sat passed away upon the death of the last Earl of Pembroke, and was separated from the tenure of Bergavenny. From the creation of the 1st Earl of Pembroke till the death of the Lost, no inference on the subject is to be drawn, until the Writ of Summons to William Beauchamp 10 Ric. II. who was sum. as 'Willielmo Beauchamp de Bergavenny.' This William Beauchamp not being related to the preceding Barons, and being summoned as 1 de Bergavenny,' certainly affords at the first view strong grounds for the generally received opinion that he was sum. as Lord Bergavenny, by tenure of that Castle. On looking attentively into the point, however, a conclusion equally strong may be drawn, that it was merely an addition used to distinguish him from 'John de Beauchamp de Kydderminster.' In the previous reign, a John de Beauchamp was sum. as ' de Somerset,' and another John de Beauchamp, a younger son of Guy Earl of Warwick, as ' de Warwyck ;' and before, contemporarj 7 with, and after this William de Beauchamp ' de Bergavenny ' numerous Barons were named in Writs of Summons with the addition of their place of residence, without such ever being Bupposed to be the title of their Baronies : as, therefore, iu the only instances which occur of Writs of Summons being issued to the possessor of the Castle of Bergavenny, previous to that to William de Beauchamp, in the 16th Ric. II. they were never designated as ' de Bergavenny,' — and as examples of such additions were exceedingly frequent, without any similar inference being deduced from them,— there does not appear any greater cause for supposing that the designation in question was intended to express the title of the Barony, than there is for concluding such to have been the case either in the instances of John de Beauchamp ' de Somerset,' ' de VVarwyk,' or in
