Stephen Devereux of Bodenham and Burghope

Stephen Devereux of Bodenham and Burghope was a member of a prominent knightly family in Herefordshire during the reigns of Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III. He gave rise to the Earls of Essex and Viscounts of Hereford.

Ancestry and Childhood

Stephen Devereux^[1] was born about 1290,^{[lower-alpha 1]} the son of Walter Devereux of Bodenham^[2][3] and his wife, Margery de Braose.^[3] His grandmother, Alice Grandison, died shortly after the birth of his father, and his grandfather married a second time to Lucy Burnell.^[1] She gave birth to his half-uncle, John Devereux of Frome,^[1] whose descendants would later contend with Stephen over control of their patrimony.^{[lower-alpha 2]} His grandfather spent his life struggling to regain control of the lands forfeited by Stephen’s great-grandfather who had died in rebellion at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and were subject to the Dictum of Kenilworth. Stephen Devereux’s coat of arms was the same as his father: argent a fesse gules, in chief three torteaux.

Marriage

He married a woman named Cicely^[1] around 1308. They had children:

• Walter Devereux of Bodenham. He was born in 1309,^[4] and was in the retinue of the king when Edward III invaded France in 1346. He was present at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346.^[5] As a retainer of William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton, he probably fought in the second division.^[6] On November 10, 1351, Devereux received a commission with Thomas de Cary, sheriff of Somerset and Dorset, to arrest Nicholas de Poyntz and his servants.^[7] He has no record of children and died about 1359.
• William Devereux of Bodenham^[1][3] about 1315.

Career

Upon the death of his father, Walter Devereux, in 1305 Stephen Devereux inherited the ancestral Devereux lands of Bodenham and Burghope.^[8] Large parts of Bodenham had been in the possession of his family since the Domesday Survey when they were held by a William Devereux. Burghope had been held by the Longchamp family,^[9] and probably came into the possession of the Devereux’s through the marriage of Walter Devereux with Cecilia de Longchamp as did other lands at Frome Herbert (Halmond) in 1205.^[10]

He was a retainer of the de Bohun's, and his family had been drawn into the private war between Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, and Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester in 1291.^[11] It is probable that de Bohun’s defiant actions in support of baronial rights may have contributed to an unfavorable disposition by King Edward I towards the Devereux family.

Stephen’s grandfather, Baron Devereux of Lyonshall, to meet debts incurred in the service of the King in Gascony, was forced to grant in 1299 his castle of Lyonshall to Roger, 1st Baron de la Warr. Within the year de la Warr transferred it to Walter de Langton, Bishop of Coventry, and in 1300 the Baron is shown granting Lyonshall now to the Bishop for life. In 1300/1301 Langton in turn placed Lyonshall in the possession of William Touchet who began styling himself as Lord of Lyonshall.

Upon the death of his father, Walter Devereux, Stephen forcibly disseized William Touchet from the castle in 1305. In 1306 the Touchet’s requested 30 pounds compensation for damages and losses caused by the attacks executed by Stephen Devereux and 4 others.^[12] As Stephen was under-age, his guardian (and uncle, John Devereux of Frome) brought suit against William Touchet demanding the return of Lyonshall as the transfer violated Stephen's rights of reversion as heir of Walter Devereux, son of William Devereux and his first wife, Alice Grandison. Stephen was granted the right to be heard despite being under-age, as the potential damage was occurring while he was under-age. Stephen's suit was denied based on the terms of the recovery of Lyonshall under the dictum of Kenilworth. It had been granted to William Devereux and his second wife, Lucy Burnell, for the term of their two lives, and after their decease reversion to Stephen's father, Walter Devereux, and his heirs. As they both were alive and tenants-for-life, any action on behalf of Stephen was not supported by common law or Statute (which only gave right of recovery for alienation by a tenant-in dower). Stephen Devereux yielded control of Lyonshall in 1310.^[13][14] Walter de Langton had fallen out of favor, and was stripped of his lands and imprisoned. Batholomew de Badlesmere gained the rights to Lyonshall and enfeoffed William Touchet again in 1312.

Stephen Devereux’s alignment with Humphrey de Bohun during the killing of Edward II’s first favorite, Piers Gaveston, probably contributed to the failure of the family to retain their Barony upon the death of Stephen’s grandfather in 1314. As later the Despenser War played out, de Bohun was killed at the Battle of Boroughbridge on 16 March 1322. Stephen Devereux was called in 1323 for a jury in Hereford to judge Adam Orleton, Bishop of Hereford’s complicity in the rebellion of Roger de Mortimer during this time, and his brother, John Devereux of Manne, was among the men testifying against Orleton.^[15] Although Stephen was also in the party opposing the king's favorites, the Devereux of Bodenham bore a grudge against Mortimer that had its roots in his being granted their lands under the Dictum of Kenilworth described above. This placed Stephen Devereux further at odds with the Devereux’s of Frome. His half-uncle, John Devereux, had become associated with Henry Mortimer of Chelmarsh prior to his death in 1310, and John’s widow, Constance Burnell, had married Henry Mortimer as her second husband. Stephen Devereux’s cousin, William Devereux of Frome, would be connected to his stepfather’s family from this time forward.

The Despencer War also caught up with William Touchet who was executed along with Bartholomew de Badlesmere in 1322 following the Battle of Boroughbridge. His death brought Lyonshall Castle back into the King’s hands.^[16] Stephen’s cousin, William Devereux of Frome, made his first claim to usurp control of Lyonshall at this time,^[17] but Edward II refused to restore it to either line of the Devereux family and granted it to John de Felton in 1326. The invasion of England by Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella shifted power to the Mortimers and the King was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Edward III. William Devereux of Frome, took this opportunity to forcibly disseise Felton of the castle.^[18][19] He held it until Edward III reached majority in 1331, and had Mortimer executed. Without Mortimer support, William Devereux’s petition^[20] was denied and Lyonshall relinquished back to the crown. Edward III bestowed it back on the Badlesmere heir, Giles de Badlesmere. Upon Giles death, William Devereux's son, another William Devereux of Frome would make one last attempt to gain the castle by filing suit in 1340 against John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford who had gained possession by right of his wife, but was again denied.

Like his cousin, Stephen Devereux lacked enough royal favor to regain Lyonshall, but remained a loyal supporter of Edward III and a retainer of the de Bohuns for the rest of his life. William and Edward de Bohun participated in the coup against Roger Mortimer that freed Edward III from his control.^[21] The king later rewarded the family by creating William de Bohun Earl of Northampton. The influence of the de Bohuns facilitated the placement of Devereux's nephew, John, in the company of Prince Edward.

Stephen witnessed land transactions in Whitchurch Maund in 1335 along with his brother, John Devereux of Manne.^[22] In 1340, he had gained enough royal trust to be assigned the task of collecting the ninth granted by Parliament to pay for the King’s military actions on the continent.^[23] On 20 July 1348, Stephen was again appointed to collect from Hereford the first of three years of the tenth and fifteenth granted by Parliament to the king. The appointment was renewed on 16 July 1349, but Stephen Devereux must have become ill or infirmed shortly after as another was appointed in his place on 26 September 1349.^[24] When he died in 1350,^[1] he had laid the groundworks for the advancement of his descendents. His nephew, John Devereux of Whitchurch Maund, would rise through his close relationship with the Black Prince to finally regain the barony and Lyonshall Castle.

References

Notes