John de Bourchier

Drawing circa 1890 of granite double effigy in St Andrew's Church, Halstead, believed to represent John de Bourchier (d. circa 1329) of Stanstead Hall, Halstead and his wife Helen of Colchester
Canting arms of Bourchier: Argent, a cross engrailed gules between four water bougets sable

John de Bourchier (d.circa 1330) (alias Boussier, etc.,) 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.

Origins

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]

Early career

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 1314–15 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.

Judicial career

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 1332 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 1325-6 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 1325–6 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 1326-7. The last fine was levied before him on Ascension Day 1329.

Marriage & progeny

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(d.1982).[6][7] His progeny included:

Death & burial

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.[8]

Sources

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ History of Parliament biography of Sir William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu (c.1374–1420)
  2. ↑ Burgus is a mediaeval Latin version of the Germanic burgs, a stronghold, castle, etc. (Larousse Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise)
  3. ↑ (or dolphin or whale)(Cassell's Latin Dictionary)
  4. ↑ Rigg
  5. ↑ White's Directory of Essex, 1848
  6. ↑ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-115975-stanstead-hall-greenstead-green-and-hals
  7. ↑ See : "The mansion is a mile and a half south-east from the church. In 1553, a survey was taken of this noble baronial seat, which describes it as a quadrangular building of brick, inclosing a court, and surrounded by a moat forty-four poles in circumference. The gate-house was on the southern front, two stories high, embattled; flanked with large projecting turrets. On one side was the porter's lodge, and on the other the dungeon, or prison, underground. The court, on the east, had five rooms on the ground floor, and six above, having, in each, two fire-places. A large chapel formed the north side of the court. The whole building was of great extent, and surrounded by a park, four miles in circumference, extending to the parsonage bridge, at Halstead, and containing seven hundred and eighty-seven acres of land. It would support five hundred deer, forty horses, and twelve cows; and had, at the time of the survey, a thousand deer. It had also several large ponds and a pool, the fishery of which was then valued at £10 a year: there were also growing in this park, three thousand, six hundred and twenty oaks, of a hundred years' growth, and one hundred ashes, all timber. Nothing now remains of the ancient building, except some part of the kitchen and offices, converted into a farm-house. (Wright, 1836)"
  8. ↑ Chancellor, Frederic, The Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex, Chelmsford, 1890

 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.