Alice de la Bere

Events

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Alice was married to her first husband by 1410, but seems to have had no children with him. She is not named in her father’s 1394 will, but the will mentions that his wife may have more children by him.

Date of Death: after 1443.

Place of Death: uncertain.

Relationships

Father: Kynard de la Bere.

This relationship is given in the 1569 Visitation of Worcestershire (p. 18, p. 22) and the 1623 Visitation of Shropshire (p. 52). The de la Bere relationship is supported by a description given in the 1574 Visitation of Oxfordshire of heraldic glass once in the parish church of Deddington, Oxfordshire. Alice is not mentioned in Kinnard’s will, but it was made in 1394 several years before he died, and in it (I think) mention is made of children his wife Katherine may yet have. A reliable secondary account of the de la Beres does not seem to exist, so I give this relationship with less than complete confidence.

Mother: Katherine, widow of Sir John Pecche.

This relationship is given by Kightly. Kynard’s will names his wife Katherine and his “filez” John Pecche and Margaret Pecche.

Spouse: Sir John Beauchamp. Married about 1410.

This relationship is given in the Oxfordshire VCH (11:sub Deddington). Sir John died 27 August 1420. Sir John had previously been married to Isabel Ferrers, who was the mother of his children.

Spouse: John Blount. Married about 1422.

This relationship is given in the Oxfordshire VCH (11:sub Deddington).

Children (with John Blount):

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. If Woodger is right that Alice died before 1428, then some of the children below must be from a later marriage of John Blount’s, but the date seems to be incorrect, as John Blount’s wife is named Alice in his 1443 inquisition post mortem.)

Sir Humphrey Blount (25 November 1422 - 1 October 1477) married Elizabeth Winnington.

John Blount

Edward Blount

William Blount

Charles Blount

Isabella Blount married John Kyene.

Anne Blount married William Gayton.

Maria Blount married John Pigott.

Eleanor Blount married John Cheyney.

Margaret Blount married John Ottely.

Evidence

In the parish church of Deddington there once existed stained glass with the arms (among others) of Beauchamp, Blount, and Delabere. The description in the 1574 Visitation of Oxfordshire: John beauchamp, Knight & blounte, esq^r, & allice ther wyffe./ thes iij knelyng in armor in glas w^th the cotes of armes.

The inquisition post mortem of Alice’s first husband Sir John Beauchamp (from Mapping the Medieval Countryside):

JOHN BEAUCHAMP OF HOLT, KNIGHT

515 Writ ‡ 28 Oct. 1420. [Wymbyssh]. Teste Humphrey, duke of Gloucester.

Warwickshire. Inquisition. Coventry. 12 Nov. [Castell].

Jurors: William Rocheles ; John Gefcok ; John Phelyppes ; John Donchirche ; Roger Paulet ; John Vlfeton ; Walter Leves ; Richard Pavy ; John Bayly ; William Colet ; Roger Baylly ; and Richard Noryce.

He was seised in his demesne as of fee of the manors of Bubbenhall, Shilton, Barnacle, and Shotteswell and long before his death by a charter dated at Holt [?28 Aug.] 1410, shown to the jurors, granted them to William Mountfort of Coleshill, Robert Huggeford , Thomas Gowere and Thomas Holte . By a charter dated at Bubbenhall 12 Oct. 1410, also shown to the jurors, William, Robert, Thomas and Thomas granted the same manors to John Beauchamp of Holt, knight , and his wife Alice to hold to them and the heirs of their bodies, remainder to John's right heirs. John and Alice were seised by virtue of that charter.

The manor of Bubbenhall is held of Thomas Chaucers of the manor of Norton juxta Twycross by service of 2/3 knight's fee, annual value 100s.

The manors of Shilton and Barnacle are held of the heirs of Henry de Dine by service of 1/2 knight's fee, annual value £4.

The manor of Shotteswell is held of the earl of Warwick by service of 1/4 knight's fee, annual value 26s. 8d.

He died on 27 Aug. last. Margaret widow of John Pauncefot is his daughter and next heir, aged 20 years and more.

C 138/48/70 mm. 1-2

E 149/123/16

516 Writ ‡ 28 Oct. 1420. [Wymbyssh]. Teste Humphrey, duke of Gloucester.

Worcestershire. Inquisition. Clifton on Teme. 11 Nov. [Gower].

Jurors: John Walssh ; William Tyso ; John Tythebache ; John Holyn ; William Hopton ; John Staple ; John Pakynton ; Laurence Kynges ; John Coope ; John Smyth of Hanley Child ; John Mulleward ; and Edmund Cheyne.

He held of the king in chief in his demesne as of fee a conduit and weir in the Severn and a fishery next Ombersley called `Powereswere', annual value 3s. 4d., for 6s. 8d. yearly.

He held the manor of Holt of Richard, earl of Warwick , by knight service. The site of the manor is worth nothing yearly. There are in the manor a park, annual value of the pasture above what is used to feed the beasts, 6s. 8d., a dovecot, annual value 3s. 4d., 2 carucates each worth 20s., 22 a. meadow worth 16d. an acre, and 40 a. wood, annual value of the underwood nil this year because it was cut last year, £16 assize rents at Michaelmas, St. Andrew, the Annunciation and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in equal portions, and pleas and perquisites of court, annual value nil.

Jointly with his wife Alice, who survives, he held the manor of Hanley Child and a messuage and a carucate there by grant of William Mountfort of Coleshill, Thomas Gower and Thomas Holte , who survive, and Robert Hugford , deceased, to John Beauchamp , his wife Alice and the heirs of their bodies at Bubbenhall on 12 Oct. 1410.

The manor of Hanley Child is held of Richard, earl of Warwick , service unknown. Annual value of its site nil. There are in the manor a carucate, annual value 10s., 4 a. meadow worth 12d. an acre, 13s. 4d. assize rents at Michaelmas and the Annunciation in equal portions.

Hanley Child, a messuage, annual value 3s. 4d., and a carucate, annual value 10s.

Date of death as in 515. Margaret Beauchamp is his daughter and next heir, aged 20 years and more.

John's widow Alice and Margaret have taken the issues of the manor of Holt from Michaelmas last until the taking of this inquisition.

C 138/48/70 mm. 1-2

E 152/9/497/1

References

“Deddington” in A History of the County of Oxford (Victoria County History) Volume 11. (London, 1983).

King's College London, 2014. | Mapping the Medieval Countryside [online]. Available at http://www.inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/view/inquisition/21-515/516 [Accessed: 15/6/2022]

The Visitation of the County of Shropshire taken in the Year 1623. (Harleian Society vol. XXIX, 1889)

The Visitation of the County of Worcester made in the year 1569: with other pedigrees relating to that county from Richard Mundy’s collection. (Harleian Society vol. XXVII, 1888).

The Visitations of the County of Oxford Taken in the Years 1566, 1574, and in 1634. (Harleian Society vol. V, 1871).

Woodger, L.S. “Beauchamp, Sir John (1377 - 1420), of Holt, Worcs.” in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421. (1993)