John de Bourchier (alias Boussier, etc., d. c. 1329) was an English Judge of the Common Pleas and the earliest ancestor, about whose life substantial details are known, of the noble and prolific Bourchier family, which in its various branches later held the titles Barons Bourchier, Counts of Eu, Viscounts Bourchier, Earls of Essex, Barons Berners, Barons FitzWarin and Earls of Bath.
There is no evidence which confirms this family to have originated in France, and it was possibly of ancient English origin. Its name was however Latinised by scribes to de Burgo Caro, [1] "from the costly town", from a Gallicisation of the name to le Bourg Cher. [2]
Bouchier is first mentioned as deputed by Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford (1257–1331) to represent him in the parliament summoned in 1306 for the purpose of granting an aid on the occasion of the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward II (1307–1327)) receiving knighthood. In 1312 he was permitted to postpone for three years the assumption of his own knighthood, an expensive and burdensome honour, on paying a fine of 100 shillings.
In 1314–1315 his name is recorded as one of the Justices of Assize for the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and also on various commissions for the years 1317, 1319, and 1320. On 15 May 1321 he was summoned as a justice to parliament at Westminster, apparently for the first time, and on 31 May 1321 he was appointed a Justice of the Common Pleas.
In 1322 Bouchier presided over the trial of certain persons charged with making forcible entry upon the manors of Hugh le Despenser (c.1286–1326), Lord of Glamorgan, in Glamorganshire, Brecknock, and elsewhere, and in investigating a charge of malversation against certain commissioners of forfeited estates in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and trying cases of extortion by sheriffs, commissioners of array, and other officers in Essex, Hertford, and Middlesex. In the same year of 1322 he sat on a special commission for the trial of persons accused of complicity in the fabrication of miracles in the neighbourhood of the gallows on which Henry de Montfort and Henry de Wylyngton had been hanged at Bristol.
In February 1326 Bouchier was placed at the head of a commission to try a charge of poaching brought by the Bishop of London and the dean and chapter of St Paul's against a number of persons alleged to have taken a large fish, qui dicitur cete,("which is called a tuna") [3] from the manor of Walton, in violation of a charter of King Henry III. The chapter claimed the exclusive right to all large fish found on their estates, the tongue only being reserved to the king.
In the same year of 1326 he was engaged in trying cases of extortion by legal officials in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, and persons indicted before the conservators of the peace in Lincolnshire. In December of this year Bourchier was summoned to parliament for the last time. He was reappointed Justice of the Common Pleas shortly after the accession of King Edward III (1327–1377), the patent being dated 24 March 1327. The last fine was levied before him on Ascension Day 1329.
He married Helen of Colchester, daughter and heir of Walter of Colchester, by which means he inherited the estate of Stanstead, (not to be confused with the nearby parish and village of Stansted Mountfitchet) in the parish of Halstead, Essex, which adjoined an estate which he had purchased in 1312. [4] He made his seat here at Stanstead Hall, of which in 1848 only one wing was reported as surviving, then used as a farm house, situated 1 mile S.S.E. of the town of Halstead. [5] It is shown on the Ordnance Survey map as "Stanstead Hall Moated Site", with remains of an ancient chapel, adjacent to the surviving large 16th-century mansion called "Stanstead Hall", in the modern parish of Greenstead Green and Halstead Rural, lately the residence of the statesman Lord Butler of Saffron Walden(died 1982). [6] His progeny included:
He died shortly after Ascension Day 1329 as is deduced from the fact that in the following year his son and heir, Robert Bourchier, was put in possession of his estates by the king. According to Rigg (1900) he was buried in Stanstead Church, yet it is more commonly held that his burial was in St Andrew's Church, Halstead, where a pair of granite recumbent effigies are believed to represent himself and his wife. [7]
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Sir John de Benstede KB (c.1275 –1323/4) was a prominent member of the English royal household in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was Prebendary of Sandiacre from 3 February 1297 until, presumably, 1308, when he married. He was also King's Secretary, and he served variously as keeper of the Great Seal and controller of the wardrobe. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1305 to 1306, and as a royal judge from 1309 onwards.
William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu, was an English knight created by King Henry V 1st Count of Eu, in Normandy.
Events from the 1320s in England.
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Robert Bourchier, 1st Baron Bourchier was Lord Chancellor of England from 1340 to 1341, the first layman to hold the post.
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Bartholomew Bourchier, 3rd Baron Bourchier was an English baron.
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William Devereux of Frome was a member of a prominent Herefordshire family during the reign of Edward II and Edward III. He was an important retainer of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Queen Isabella, and a knight of the Bath.
Sir William de Paris was a Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire and soldier of the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Sir William Trussell was an English politician and leading rebel in Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March's rebellion against Edward II. William acted as Speaker of the House of Commons and renounced the allegiance of England to Edward II, forcing his abdication, and became King Edward III's Secretary.
Richard Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Codnor, of Codnor Castle, was an English soldier and diplomat.
Sir Henry Spigurnel was an English judge. He was summoned to parliaments of Edward I and Edward II, and was made a justice of oyer and terminer in 1300. He was sent on a mission to papal court in 1311 and interpreted the ordinances in 1312. He retired in 1327, and died the next year.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Bourchier, John de". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.