Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer

Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (also called Despenser) (c. 24 March 1335 or 1336 – 11 November 1375) was the son of another Edward le Despencer and Anne, the sister of Henry, Lord Ferrers of Groby.

Le Despencer went with Edward the Black Prince to France, and was present at the Battle of Poitiers. In recognition of his conduct in the French wars, he was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1357. At the same time, he also became a Knight of the Garter.

Edward married Elizabeth de Burghersh, daughter of Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh. They had the following children:

*Thomas, who succeeded his father to the barony.
*Hugh
*Cicely
*Elizabeth, who married firstly John Arundel, and then Hugh, Lord Zouch
*Anne, who married firstly to Hugh Hastings, and then Thomas, Lord Morley
*Margaret, who married Robert, Lord Ferrers of Chartley.

He was a friend and patron of Jean Froissart [William Caferro, "John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth-Century Italy" (2006), p. 134.] .

References

*Burke, Sir Bernard. "Despencer-Barons Despencer, Earl of Gloucester." "A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, of the British Empire." London: Wm Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1962. (p. 167).
*Burke, John. "A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, Extinct, Dormant, and in Abeyance." London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831. (pp. 173-4) [http://books.google.com/books?id=aB0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA173&dq=Despencer-Barons+Despencer,+Earl+of+Gloucester&lr=&as_brr=1&ei=nwI7SO3pJ4LIigGO2sHnCA#PPA173,M1 googlebooks] Retrieved May 26, 2008
*Weis, Frederick Lewis, Walter Lee Sheppard, David Faris, and Frederick Lewis Weis. "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700: The Lineage of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and Some of Their Descendants." (7th Ed.) Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1992. (pp. 73-74, Lines: 70-35, 70-36, 74-34, 212-34.) [http://books.google.com/books?id=XLqEWwa7fT8C&printsec=titlepage&dq=Ancestral+Roots+of+Certain+American+Colonists+Who+Came+to+America+Before&source=gbs_toc_s&cad=1#PPA73,M1 googlebooks] Retrieved May 26, 2008

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