Payne de Beauchamp and his son, Simon de Beauchamp

Barons of Bedford

I have multiple pages on the de Beauchamps on this website:

The Barons of Bedford - This Page
The de Beauchamp Family - the family name
The de Beachanps - Barons of Bedford and Emsley, Worcestershire
William de Beauchamp of Bedford - heraldry and more

The early Medieval history of Belchamp Walter cannot be understood without some reference to the Barons of Bedford and their dealings with the monachy.

I have coined the term "the first 200 years" for this period of Belchamp Walter's history. i.e. the 12th and 13th Centuries.

Castles around Bedord

Castles around Bedford

During this period Magna Carter was signed and ended in 1266 with Dictum of Kenelworth, the outcome of the 2nd Barons War.

Top

From Thomas Wright

Modified a little for readability

(The manor of Belchamp Walter was).... held by her second husband, Pegasus, or Payne de Beauchamp, baron of Bedford.

This page is part of an on-going research project on the history of Belchamp Walter and the manor of Belchamp Walter. If you have found it making a web search looking for geneological or other information on the village then please bookmark this page and return often as I am likely to make regular updates. If you delve deeper into this website you will find many other pages similar to this one.

The second husband of Rhoese (or Roese) de Vere. The first was Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st earl of Essex.

Payne de Beauchamp's son, Simon de Beauchamp, was steward of the household to King Stephen. His son and successor, William, acquired military fame by his prowess and conduct, but proving unfaithful to King Henry III his castle at Bedford was ordered to be demolished.

According to the Wikipedia entry for the castle it was destroyed in 1224.

Henry III of England besieged the castle in 1224 following a disagreement with Falkes de Breauté; the siege lasted eight weeks and involved an army of as many as 2,700 soldiers with equipment drawn from across England. After the surrender of the castle, the king ordered its destruction.

William Montchensy, of Edwardstown

1040-1125 Montchesney, Companion to William the Conqueror - I need to check these dates as this is probably an earlier Montchensy for these dates.

John de Steyngreve - 1245-1295

An alternate spelling is Sir John de Stonegrave.

Below is a copy of the text I have on my de Vere page - some of the links may be broken.

On William (de Beauchamp)'s death, in 1264, he was succeeded by the third and last brother (John de Beauchamp?); but, sometime in that year, being among the barons who rose in arms against King Henry III, he was slain at the battle of Evesham (1265), and his confiscated lands given to prince Edward, the king's eldest son.

Maud, the eldest daughter of William de Beauchamp, was married to Roger de Mowbray.

Beatrix became the wife of Thomas Fitz-Otho, and, on his death, was married to William Montchensy, of Edwardstown.
Ella, the youngest of these sisters, was married to Baldwin Wake, to whom she bore Ida, married to John de Steyngreve,
Elizabeth, the wife of John de Horbiry; and Joan, married to Michael Picket.

These co-heiresses and their husbands, or joint heirs, upon paying their compositions, in pursuance of the "Dictum of Kenelworth," J(oan) had livery of the barony of Bedford, and the great estates which belonged to them, and, in 1278, on the death of Avicia, widow of William Beauchamp, of Bedford, a partition was made between these co-heiresses.

Roger de Mowbray, the son of Maud de Mowbray (daughter of William de Beauchamp), held lands here in 1281, of the earl of Oxford; his successor was his son John (de Mowbray)
and John de Steyngreve, on his death in 1295, also had possessions here.
Isabel, his only daughter, was married to Simon de Pateshull, who, in her right, held these lands at the time of his death, in 1296.

He left a son named John, and Isabel, his widow, was married to Walter de Tey (born between circa 1250 and circa 1270).

In 1286, William de Montchensy died, holding this manor and other estates, of the inheritance of his wife Beatrix, deceased, formerly wife of Thomas Fitz-Otho. His son William was his heir.

Avicia de Beauchamp

Avicia, widow of William Beauchamp, of Bedford who died 1170. My previous link was to William de Beauchamp (of Elmley) - Worcestershire

Thomas Wright's date of 1170 - this is a hundred years earlier! could be an error. The Dictum of Kenilworth was 1266. This was the time frame of the co-heiresses - I need to check the offspring.

The relationship with de Vere

The region including Belchamp Walter was officially "held" by the de Veres. However, there seems to have been a fair amount of "Political" activity in the 200 years after Conquest.

The account given by Thomas Wright does not really give much of an insight into what was going on. To get some possible insight I think you need to look at what else was going on in the country at the time. This is probably the same situation with all parts of the country as historical events were not always recorded and a lot is now left to interpetation.

One could say that this period was one of the most formative in English history as it was the time of Magna Carter and as others have observered the basis of Law and Human Rights were formative.

The Beauchamps, Barons of Bedford

As a result of searching for the supporting documentation for de Beauchamp I found an archive from the Bedford Historical Record Society, Volume I. (1912)

There is no evidence of the presence in England of any Beauchamp earlier than Domesday Book; and the only Beauchamp there mentioned by name is Hugh de Beauchamp of Bedford. But the Walter named as a subtenant of some property in Worcestershire, under Urse d'Abitot and others, may be identified, almost certainly, with the Walter de Beauchamp who married Urse's daughter (fn 1) and succeeded to his great estates, as also to the title and some of the lands of Urse's brother, Robert the Dispenser. (fn 2) No evidence of any relationship between Walter and Hugh has been adduced as yet.

Of the origin of the founder of the family nothing appears to be known. His name — de Bello Campo, Belcamp, or Beau Champ — is evidently taken from one of the several places of that name, the " Fair Field," in Normandy or Picardy. Mr. Round ingeniously suggests that it is to be sought in the Calvados.^

The Roman figures after the names of the Beauchamps refer to their position in the family table at the end of this memoir. The B. (standing for Bedford), is added after the figure, in order for the future to distinguish them from their contemporaries, the Beauchamps of Eaton Socon, who often bore the same fore-names ; that family, it is hoped, will form the subject of a future article by the present writers.

HUGH DE BEAUCHAMP (1. B.) was the founder of the line. He appears at Domesday (1086) as holding some 43 manors; these lay almost wholly in Beds. ; he had, however, a fifteen-hide manor at Linslade, a four-hide manor at Lathbury, and a small holding in Soulbury, all in Bucks. ; as well as the six-hide manor of Bengeo, co. Herts. ; the fourhide manor of Hunsdon,^ in Herts., was also "of his fee." The method by which he acquired the Bedfordshire lands has been discussed in the " Notes on Domesday " below. Ralf Taillebois, who there is suggested to have been Hugh's father-in-law, seems to have been succeeded by Hugh in his pubHc capacity of Sheriff, as well as in his lands. Ralf had been Sheriff of Bedfordshire before 1086,^ but had died before that date^ ; the inference that Hugh succeeded him as Sheriff is strongly supported by two precepts of WilHam the Conqueror.^ The first of these is addressed to Ralf Taillebois and Peter de Valognes "and all faithful servants French and EngHsh in whose Sheriffwicks (vicecomitatibus) or bailiwicks (ministris)," etc. The second is addressed to Peter de Valognes and Hugh de Beauchamp "and all my sheriffs." From other sources we know that Peter de Valognes was Sheriff of Essex and Herts. in 1086, and that Ralf Taillebois was Sheriff of Beds, before that date ; the inference is that Hugh de Beauchamp replaced Ralf in his office. Hugh witnessed a charter of WilHam H.® and another of 1080.^ But there is evidence that Hugh lived on into the reign of Henry I. ; by a charter preserved in the Newnham Cartulary,^" is recorded that the King gave Stanbridge [co. Beds.] to his Queen Matilda, and that she gave it with his consent to Hugh de Beauchamp; this charter must have been given between Matilda's marriage (1100) and her death (1118)

mauriceboddy.org.uk

I think that my initial confusion about the de Beauchamps could be unraveled here.

Also the Falkes de Bréauté and Bedford Castle is making more sense with respect to William Mauduit

Background to this page

Having seen this page found by those making an Internet search I have decided to add a bit more context.

April 2022 - a visit to this page led to some of the links and formatting above being fixed.

Also added "sticky" buttons to aid navigation, along with the list style enhancements.

Multiple pages

As with other topics on this website I started off with a single page on a particular aspect of my history research and as I have found more I have often started new pages. I now find that this is confusing. Not only for the visitor to this website that may have found one of thge pages and then possibly missed information that they were looking for. I have the same problem and I have tried to add a list of other pages at the top of pages where this occurs.

There are more than one place that has this phenomina and I will address them as I come across them. The ones that I am aware of are:

The main history of Belchamp Walter Page - for this I have a re-direction on the server
The de Beauchamps - This Page
The de Botetourts - the two Sir Johns and their relation to the village
The de Vere Family - Castle Hedingham and their place in English history vis-à-vis the Norman Conquest
Lovejoy pages

Barons of Bedford

Links