Humphrey de Bohun (1276 - 1322), earl of Essex

4th Earl of Hereford

9th Earl of Essex

Events

Date of Birth: about 1276.

This date is given by Hamilton (ODNB) and by the Complete Peerage (6:467). Humphrey is recorded at being aged 22 and more in the 1298 inquisition post mortem of his father. (CIPM Edw. I, File 92 (8))

Date of Death: 16 March 1322.

Place of Death: killed in battle at Boroughbridge.

The date and place are given by Hamilton (ODNB), by Moor (p. 108), and by the Complete Peerage (6:470).

Place of Burial: the Dominican house in York.

Relationships

Father: Humphrey de Bohun (about 1249 - 1298).

This relationship is given by Hamilton (ODNB), by Moor (p. 108), and by the Complete Peerage (6:467).

Mother: Maud de Fiennes.

This relationship is given by Hamilton (ODNB) and by the Complete Peerage (6:467).

Spouse: Elizabeth of Rhuddlan. Married 14 November 1302 at Westminster Abbey.

The date and place are given by Everett Green (3:37). The anonymous contemporary citizen of London who wrote the “Annales Londonienses de Tempore Edwardi Primi” (Stubbs 1:129) gives for the marriage the date 25 November 1302 and the place Caversham, near Reading.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Verity.)

Margaret de Bohun (September 1303 - 7 February 1306).

Humphrey de Bohun (10 September 1304 - 28 October 1304).

John de Bohun (23 November 1305 - 20 January 1336) married (1) Alice FitzAlan; married (2) Margaret Basset.

Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford (1307 - 16 October 1361).

Edward de Bohun (about 1309 - shortly before 8 November 1334) married Margaret de Ros.

William de Bohun (about 1309 - 16 September 1360) married Elizabeth de Badlesmere.

Eleanor de Bohun (about 1310 - 7 October 1363) married (1) James Butler in 1327; married (2) Sir Thomas de Dagworth in 1344.

Margaret de Bohun (3 April 1311 - 27 December 1391) married Hugh de Courtenay 11 August 1325.

Eneas de Bohun (about 1313 - 29 September 1331).

Isabel de Bohun (5 May 1316 - May 1316).

Evidence

From Dugdale (4:139-140), “Fundationis Historia, Fundatoris etiam et Benefactorum præcipuorum Genealogia, et Res Gestæ,” Num. 1 in “Cartæ ad Waldense Coenobium in agro Essexiensi spectantes”:

... cui Humfridus de Bohun, filius suus, successit in haereditatem, Elizabethae illustris regis Angliae Edwardi, filii regis Henrici, filiae in matrimonio copulatus; de quorum sobole isti processerunt Margareta primogenita sua apud Tinehmue sibi fuit nata; apud Knaresburgh, Humfidus filius suus primogenitus; apud Plesset, Johannes; apud Longmaban in Scotia, Humfridus; apud Caldecot, duo gemelli nobiles, Edwardus et Willielmus; apud ....., Eneas; et apud Quenden, quaedam filia de qua praedicta nobilis domina Elizabetha comitissa in puerperio mortua apud Walden sepulta est.

...Humfredus octavus de Bohun desponsavit Elizabetham filiam regis Edwardi filii regis Henrici tertii; de quibus sex filii et quator filiae; viz. Margareta, quae juvenis obiit, Humfredus nonus, qui etiam juvenis obiit, x. die Septembris anno Domini mccciiii. Johannes comes Hereford et Essex, constabularius Angliae, et dominus Breconiae. Humfredus decimus, comes Hereford et Essex, constabularius Angliae, et dominus Breconiae. Edwardus et Willielmus nati ad unum tempus; Alianora, Margareta secunda, Eneas, Isabella quae juvenis obiit. Elizabetha comitissa supradicta, uxor praedicta Humfridi octavi, sepeliter apud Waldene.

Humfredus octavus supradictus moriebatur apud Boroughbrigge 16 die Martii anno Domini mcccxxi. et sepelitur apud Ebor. inter Fratres Praedictores.

...Anno Domini mcccxxj. xvij. kal. Aprilis Humfredus de Boun, comes Herefordiae et Essexiae, apud Burbrigge, crudeliter interfectus est, cujus corpus Eboraci in conventu fratrum praedictorum jacet humatum.

From Dugdale (6:1:135) “Fundatorum Progenies,” Num. II in “Cartae ad Coenobium Lanthoniense spectantes; cujus origo primum in Wallia, postea vero juxta Gloucestriam translatum” :

Humfredus octavus de Bohun desponsavit Elizabetham filiam regis Edwardi filii regis Henrici tertii; de quibus sex filii et quator filiae; viz. Margareta, quae juvenis obiit, Humfredus nonus, qui etiam juvenis obiit, x. die Septembris anno Domini mccciiii. Johannes comes Hereford et Essex, constabularius Angliae, et dominus Breconiae. Humfredus decimus, comes Hereford et Essex, constabularius Angliae, et dominus Breconiae. Edwardus et Willielmus nati ad unum tempus; Alianora, Margareta secunda, Eneas, Isabella quae juvenis obiit. Elizabetha comitissa supradicta, uxor praedicta Humfridi octavi, sepeliter apud Waldene.

Humfredus octavus supradictus moriebatur apud Boroughbrigge 16 die Martii anno Domini mcccxxi. et sepelitur apud Ebor. inter Fratres Praedictores.

Turner gives a transcription of Humphrey’s will (pp. 339-349).

References

“Annales Londonienses”, Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II . ed. W. Stubbs (London:Longman & Co.; Roll series 76:1; 1882-3), Volume I, page 129. [sub 1302]

Eodem anno, die Dominica, in festo Sanctæ Katerinæ desponsata fuit domina Margareta filia regis Angliæ, comitissa Hoylandiæ et Salondiæ, domino Humfrido de Bohun comiti Herefordiæ, apud Caversham juxta Redyng.

Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59).

Diaz Pascual, Lucia. The de Bohun Dynasty: Power, Identity and Piety 1066-1399. (Ph.D. thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London: 2017).

Dugdale, William. Monasticon Anglicanum (London: 1817-1840) 6 Volumes.

Green, Mary Anne Everett. “Elizabeth the Eighth Daughter of Edward I”, Chapter I of Lives of the Princesses of England, from the Norman Conquest (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1857) Volume 3, Chapter 1 (pages 1 - 59).

Hamilton, J.S. “Bohun, Humphrey (VII) de, fourth earl of Hereford and ninth earl of Essex (c. 1276 - 1322)”, in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

“Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward I File 92 (8)” , Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 3: Edward I (1912) pp. 424-426.

Moor, Charles. Knights of Edward I (London: Harleian Society 1929-1932).

Turner, T.H. in The Archaeological Journal volume 2 (London, 1845).

Verity, Brad “The Children of Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford, Daughter of Edward I of England” in Foundations volume 6 (2014).