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DE BURGHERSH Bartholomew ("the Elder")
Birth:          ABT 1290 
Death:          3 Aug 1355 Dover, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_de_Burghersh,_1st_Baron_Burghersh
Bartholomew de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh (died 3 August 1355, Dover), English 
nobleman and soldier, was a younger son of Robert de Burghersh, 1st Baron 
Burghersh and Maud de Badlesmere, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron 
Badlesmere.
Life[edit]

He was the second (or perhaps the third) son of Robert de Burghersh, 1st Baron 
Burghersh, and succeeded to his father's title and estates on the death of his elder 
brother Stephen. He was the nephew on his mother’s side and namesake of 
Bartholomew, lord Badlesmere, one of the most powerful of the barons.[1] He married 
Elizabeth, one of the three coheiresses of Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Baron Verdon and 
his first wife Maud Mortimer (c.1289-18 September 1312), an alliance by which 
Burghersh increased his wealth and power.

Lord Badlesmere was a bitter enemy of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and Burghersh can 
be found taking an active 1316; in the unhappy contests of parties in Edward II’s 
reign as an adherent of his uncle, whom in 1317 he accompanied in an expedition to 
Scotland. In October 1321, when Leeds Castle, Kent-the gates of which had been 
shut against Queen Isabella by Lady Badlesmere – surrendered to Edward, who had 
with unwonted spirit raised a force of thirty thousand men to avenge the insult offered 
to his wife, Burghersh, who was one of the garrison, was taken prisoner and 
incarcerated in the Tower of London. This imprisonment was probably the means of 
saving him from the fate of his uncle after the disastrous battle of Boroughbridge.[1]

He was spared to aid in the overthrow of his unfortunate sovereign. On the landing of 
Isabella, on 24 September 1326, his brother Henry Burghersh, the bishop of Lincoln, 
hastened to join her, and with Orlton, bishop of Hereford, took the initiative in the 
measures which speedily led to Edward's deposition and murder.[1]

The important posts of constable of Dover Castle and warden of the Cinque Ports, 
which had been held by his father, were given to Burghersh, and he held both offices, 
with but slight intermission, to his death. In the unsettled relations between England 
and France, which lasted through the greater part of Edward IlI's reign, the 
responsibility devolving on the holder of these offices, which implied the command of 
the chief channel of communication between the two countries, was of the highest 
moment, and it evidences the confidence reposed in Burghersh that he should have 
held them almost continuously during so important an epoch.[1]

The commission, even originally in the name of Edward II, out really proceeding from 
the party conspiring only too successfully against him, was renewed by his son in the 
first year of his reign. The first royal missive to him in this capacity, contained in 
Rymer, is an order to have sixty does taken from the king's park of Braboume, and 
salted for the use of the parliament about to meet at Westminster. This is followed by 
an order to use his authority to put a stop to predatory incursions on the French coast. 
Burghersh evidently very speedily obtained the complete confidence of the young 
king, which he retained uninterruptedly to the end of his life.[1]

His services were rewarded by large grants of land and manorial privileges, escheated 
to the crown, or in some other way falling to the sovereign to dispose of. The King 
despatched him repeatedly on diplomatic errands. In 1329, he was sent to Philip of 
France to explain the reasons for the delay in the rendering of his homage, and in the 
same year as an ambassador to the pope, to plead for pecuniary aid from the revenues 
of the English church, a tenth of which was granted to the king for four years. Rymer 
contains a series of royal orders issued to him in his capacity of constable of Dover 
relating to prohibitions or licenses to cross the sea when the peace of the country was 
threatened, and to make arrangements for the passage of the king and other 
distinguished persons.[1]

He was entrusted with other offices calling for vigour of action and practical wisdom. 
In 1337, on the assumption by Edward of the title of king of France, he was made 
admiral of the fleet from the mouth of the Thames westward. He was also appointed 
Seneschal of Ponthieu, Constable of the Tower of London, and Lord Chamberlain of 
the Household, in which capacity his presence is often recorded at delivery the great 
seal. In one of Edward's grievous straits for money, he was entrusted with the pawning 
of the crown and other jewels. As Keeper of the king's forest to the south of the Trent 
in 1341 he was commissioned to provide timber for the construction of engines of war 
and 'hourdes' or wooden stages for the defenders of castle walls. As a good and 
experienced soldier he was continually in attendance on the king in his Scotch and 
French wars, taking part in the Battle of Crécy, 26 August 1346.[1]

The confidence reposed in Burghersh as a diplomatic agent was equally great. He was 
frequently sent as may be seen in Rymer — often in company with Bishop William 
Bateman of Norwich — to treat with the pope at Avignon, with Philip of Valois with the 
counts of Brahant and Flanders, and other leading powers, on the traces and 
armistices so repeatedly made and broken, and to arrange the often promised but long 
deferred final peace between the two contending nations. As characteristic of the 
age, it is curious to find that under an excess of religious zeal, Burghersh, before the 
breaking out of the war with France when the return was comparatively quiet, had laid 
aside his arms and assumed the cross. Edward, unable to dispense with the services 
of so valuable a helper, when starting for Gascony in 1377, petitioned the pope to 
release him from his vow. Two years after Crecy we find him again taking part in the 
French wars, and despatched to Avignon to treat with the pope for a firm and lasting 
peace between the two countries. The next year (1349) he accompanied the earl of 
Lancaster to Gascony, to suppress the rebellion there. In 1355, when Edward was 
leaving England for a fresh invasion of France, Burghersh was appointed one of the 
guardians of the realm, but died at the beginning of August of that year.[1]

He was buried in the chantry of St. Catherine, which he had founded in Lincoln 
minster for the soul of his brother Henry, bishop of Lincoln, and their father, Robert 
Burghersh. Monuments to all three, with effigies of the two brothers, are still to be 
seen.[1]

Family[edit]
Henry de Burghersh (died November 1348), married Isabel St John, daughter of Hugh 
St John, 2nd Baron St John of Basing but left no issue
Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh (died 1369), married Cecily de 
Weyland
Thomas de Burghersh
Joan de Burghersh, married John Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun
Margaret de Burghersh, supposedly[who?] married Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th 
Earl of Kildare. But according to a later usually[clarification needed] reference 
source,[2] the fourth Earl of Kildare was present with Edward III in 1347 at the siege 
and capture of Calais (Clyn, Annals, p. 34). He was then knighted by the king, and 
married to a daughter of Sir Bartholemew Burghersh (Grace, Annals, p. 146). She next 
is identified[clarification needed] as Elizabeth Burghersh, the mother of his four sons, 
including Gerald, the 5th Earl, and John, the 6th Earl.[2] So it could be Margaret's 
niece Elizabeth, daughter of Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh, who 
purportedly married after August 1347 although unlikely due to known dates of 
events.[clarification needed]

He was succeeded as Baron Burghersh by his son Bartholomew.

Parents
DE BURGHERSH Robert (ABT 1254 - 1306)
DE BADLESMERE Margaret (ABT 1265 - 1306)

Siblings
DE BURGHERSH Bartholomew ("the Elder") (ABT 1290 - 3 Aug 1355)

Marriage To DE VERDUN Elizabeth (1303 - ) m. Notes Parents DE VERDUN Theobald (8 Sep 1278 - 27 Jul 1316) DE MORTIMER Matilda (Maud) (ABT 1286 - 18 Sep 1312) Children by DE VERDUN Elizabeth 1303 -
DE BURGHERSH Bartholomew (ABT 1320 - 5 Apr 1369)
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