26. BEAUCHAMP-MORTIMER

Sampson Tree

WALTER DE BEAUCHAMP and JOAN MORTIMER (26)

 

WALTER DE BEAUCHAMP was born into a family of influential Norman nobles. He was the son of William de Beauchamp and Avice de Salwarpe.

The Beauchamps were castellans of Worcester Castle, but made their home at the more rural Elmley Castle, west of Evesham. William de Beauchamp was also Sheriff of Worcester.

Walter was the youngest in the family, with an older brother William, and a sister born before his parents married.

He was born around 1193, in the reign of Richard I. His father was in his 60s.

Walter was not yet five when his father died. His wardship was given to William de Braose, from his grandmother’s family. This included the right to arrange his marriage, which could prove lucrative for the holder. His wardship was subsequently bought for 3000 marks by Roger Mortimer, a marcher lord from Wigmore Castle in Herefordshire. A mark was 2/3 of a pound, so the price was £2000 – a great deal of money in those days.

Walter grew up expecting that his elder brother would inherit the family estates and titles when he came of age. But the younger William died in 1211, leaving Walter as the heir at the age of 19. He would not become independent until he reached the age of 21.

In 1212, his guardian married Walter to his own daughter, Johanna Mortimer.

 

JOAN MORTIMER. In Latin documents she appears as Johanna.

She was the daughter of the marcher lord Roger Mortimer and his wife Isabel de Ferrers.

She was born around 1190, the second of the known children of Roger and Isabel.

The “marcher lords” took their name from a word meaning “boundary”. Her father spent most of his life fighting against the Welsh on the border between England and Wales.

Walter came of age in 1214. He was the 6^th Baron of Salwarpe, the Worcesteshire village his mother came from. The lordship  of this, and the title of Baron, had descended to the Beauchamps from Walter’s great-great-grandfather Urse d’Arbetot, a Norman lord who had been given the title before the Domesday Book had been drawn up.

The following year, Walter took the family’s hereditary role of Sheriff of Worcestershire.

The latter office was shortlived. English noblemen, tired of King John’s unsuccessful wars and refusal to abide by Magna Carta, rose against him in the first Barons’ War. Walter joined them, with nineteen of his knights. An army from France landed, led by Prince Louis, son of King Philip of France. He was proclaimed king by the rebel faction.

As a result, King John stripped Walter of his lands and office. But Walter switched back to the king’s side in 1216, and was reinstated to his lands, but not to the shrievalty (office Sheriff).

He was a young man of some consequence, and witnessed the re-issue of Magna Carta in 1216.

King John died that year, and the new boy-king Henry III restored Walter to the shrievalty and the castellanship of Worcester Castle. He also became Keeper of the Royal Forests in Worcestershire, as his forebears had been before him.

Nevertheless, Henry III’s ministers were well aware of the threat posed by the Beauchamps’ power. They decided to reduce the effectiveness of Worcester Castle by handing much of the bailey back to Worcester Cathedral, which had been claiming it as a traditional burial ground. Without this, the castle was no longer militarily viable.

An inquest of knights found that the northern part of Worcester Castle and the houses within it were the king’s, but the fee for the southern part belonged to Walter de Beauchamp, as Sheriff of the county.

In 1221 Walter de Beauchamp petitioned Reynold de Braose, tenant, for half the manor of Tetbury, a Cotswold town in Gloucestershire. Reynold acknowledged his right, and granted Walter £15 of land in the manor. He was to hold this in free marriage for the land that William de Braose, Walter’s grandfather, gave to his daughter Bertha at her marriage. The grant included families of villeins, bound to serve the lord of the manor. Walter acknowledged Reynold’s right to the other half of the manor.

There is some confusion over the identity of Bertha de Braose. Some sources, like the one above, have her as Walter’s grandmother, wife of William de Beauchamp. But it is more likely that this was Maud de Braose, and that Bertha was the first wife of Walter’s father, also Wiilliam de Beauchamp.

In 1225 Walter witnessed another re-issue of Magan Carta.

His wife, Joan Mortimer, died the same year. She had borne him at least one son, William.

Then or later, he married Angaret, whose surname and parentage we do not know.

Walter had inherited the role of Sheriff of Worcestershire. In only three counties was this office hereditary. He was again removed from office in 1229 by Henry III, but reinstated within a year.

The Beauchamps viewed this office, not as a responsibility, but as an asset. They used it to extract taxes for their own use. They should have paid these to the Crown, but they handed over little or none of it. No money was paid to the Crown from 1224-1228 or from 1229-1235.

Walter died on 11 Apr 1236, when he was still in his 40s.