The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, it has the largest Romanesque crossing tower in Europe.
Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, 8th Earl of Surrey was an English nobleman and medieval military leader and distinguished admiral. Arundel was one of the wealthiest nobles, and most loyal noble retainer of the chivalric code that governed the reign of Edward III of England.
John Ros, 7th Baron Ros of Helmsley was an English nobleman.
In English law, the justices in eyre were the highest magistrates, and presided over the court of justice-seat, a triennial court held to punish offenders against the forest law and enquire into the state of the forest and its officers.
John Fitzalan, 1st Baron Arundel, also known as Sir John Arundel, was an English soldier.
Eleanor de Clare, suo jure 6th Lady of Glamorgan was a powerful Anglo-Welsh noblewoman who married Hugh Despenser the Younger, the future favourite of Edward II of England, and was a granddaughter of Edward I of England. With her sisters, Elizabeth de Clare and Margaret de Clare, she inherited her father's estates after the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hereford at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. She was born in 1292 at Caerphilly Castle in Glamorgan, Wales and was the eldest daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 5th Lord of Glamorgan and Princess Joan of Acre.
Eleanor Maltravers, or Mautravers, was an English noblewoman. The granddaughter and eventual heiress of the first Baron Maltravers, she married two barons in succession and passed her grandfather's title to her grandson.
John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, 2nd Baron Maltraversjure matris, also called John de Arundel, of Buckland, Surrey, was the son and heir of John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel by his wife Eleanor Maltravers, the grand-daughter and eventual heiress of John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers.
Sir Thomas FitzAlan of Betchworth Castle in Surrey was a medieval English knight.
Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, KB was an English peer.
Edward le Despenser, 1st Baron Despenser was the son of another Edward le Despenser and Anne Ferrers, sister of Henry, Lord Ferrers of Groby. He succeeded as Lord of Glamorgan in 1349.
The Lordship of Glamorgan was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships. The seat was Cardiff Castle. It was established by the conquest of Glamorgan from its native Welsh ruler, by the Anglo-Norman nobleman Robert FitzHamon, feudal baron of Gloucester, and his legendary followers the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan. The Anglo-Norman Lord of Glamorgan, like all Marcher lords, ruled his lands directly by his own law: thus he could, amongst other things, declare war, raise taxes, establish courts and markets and build castles as he wished, without reference to the Crown. These privileges were only lost under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542. Though possessing many castles, the main seat of the Lordship was Cardiff Castle.
Elizabeth Despencer, 3rd Baroness Burghersh was an English noblewoman born to Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh and Cicely, de Weyland.
Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel was an English noblewoman and heir apparent to the Earldom of Surrey. In 1305, she married Edmund FitzAlan, 2nd Earl of Arundel.
Joan FitzAlan, Countess of Hereford, Countess of Essex and Countess of Northampton was the wife of the 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex and 2nd Earl of Northampton. She was the mother of Mary de Bohun, the first wife of Henry of Bolingbroke who later reigned as King Henry IV, and Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester. She was the maternal grandmother of King Henry V.
Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick was a wealthy English heiress and the second wife of Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, an English nobleman in the reign of kings Edward I and Edward II. He was one of the principal opponents of Piers Gaveston, a favourite of Edward II. Alice married three times; Guy was her second husband.
Robert de Ferrers, 5th Baron Ferrers of Chartley was the son of John de Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Chartley and Elizabeth de Stafford, a daughter of Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford and Margaret de Audley.
Despencer or Despenser is an occupational surname referring to the medieval court office of steward, most commonly associated with Norman-English barons of the 13th- and 14th-centuries and their descendants. Notable people with this surname include:
Henry Percy, 9th Baron Percy of Topcliffe, 2nd Baron Percy of Alnwick was the son of Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Alnwick, and Eleanor Fitzalan, daughter of Sir Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel, and sister of Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel.
Theobald de Verdun (1278–1316) was the second and eldest surviving son of Theobald de Verdun, 1st Baron Verdun, of Alton, Staffordshire, and his wife Margery de Bohun. The elder Theobald was the son of John de Verdon, otherwise Le Botiller, of Alton, Staffordshire, who was killed in Ireland in 1278. John, in turn, was the son of Theobald le Botiller and Roesia de Verdun. Roesia was the daughter of Nicholas de Verdun, who was the son of Bertram III de Verdun. When King Henry II of England invaded Ireland in 1171, this Bertram was appointed Seneschal for the undertaking, that is to say, he was responsible for provisions and stores. The Verdun family became major landowners in Ireland, especially in County Louth and County Meath.
