de Botetourt Parentage

There is debate amongst many historians about who is the actual father of Sir John de Botetourt. It was thought that he could have been the illegitimate son of Edward I. This has been discounted as not being the case even though there was an entry in a genealogical table in the Hailes Abbey Chronicals.

In his book "Edward I", Michael Prestwich suggests a reason for this entry in the table and a possible reason why it may have been changed. He also speculates on the morality of Edward I and that there is nothing to suggest that he would have had a mistress. He was married to Eleanor of Castile

In keeping with a lot of historical record statements are often not fully checked and we now have a mixture of information from Wikipedia and the LDS Database

Prestwich says: "It is possible that the scribe intended to put the name of Edward's daughter Elizabeth's husband where Botetourt's now features".

The Wikipedia page for Elizabeth says: "She married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and 3rd Earl of Essex. The first marriage was childless; by Bohun, Elizabeth had ten children."

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John I, Count of Holland was betrothed to Princes Elizabeth. He could have been the John that was originally written in the genealogical table in the Hailes Abbey Chronicals. They were only married for 5 years, presuming that he was around up to the marriage to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford in 1302.

This date is too early for a confusion between the two Johns in my opinion. However, the 2nd marriage to Humphrey de Bohum, , 4th Earl of Hereford and 3rd Earl of Essex, could have been significantin the fact that it introduces the

John I, Count of Holland

John I (1284 – 10 November 1299) was Count of Holland and Zeeland as son of Count Floris V. John inherited the county in 1296 after the murder of his father.[1]

Shortly after his birth, after negotiations between Floris and King Edward I of England in April 1285,[2] he was betrothed to Elizabeth, a daughter of Edward and Eleanor of Castile. Soon after this the infant John was sent to England to be raised and educated there at Edward's court.[3] In 1296, after the murder of John's father Count Floris V, King Edward invited a number of nobles from Holland with English sympathies, amongst whom were John III, Lord of Renesse, and Wolfert I van Borselen.[4]

Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford

Humphrey de Bohun died at the Battle of Boroughbridge 1322. He fought for the rebel Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, against Edward II. John de Botetourt was on the rebels side and although they were defeated his life was spared only being fined £1,000 (a lot of money then!).

Humphrey (VII) de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford (1276 – 12 March 1322) was a member of a powerful Anglo-Norman family of the Welsh Marches and was one of the Ordainers who opposed Edward II's excesses.

The link below refers to F.N. Craig, The American Genealogist. I can't see the "supporting evidence" or the "direct evidence".

I am guessing that Stewart Baldwin is associated with medievalgenealogy.org.uk? ... and who are geneajourney.com? Actually, Stewart Baldwin (FASG) is associated with The American Society of Genealogists

Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 2: Botetourt

BOTETOURT
Volume 2, page 233 (as modified by volume 14):
JOHN DE BOTETOURT [d. 1324] bastard s. of Edward I [Hailes Chron., in BM Cott. MS. Cleopatra, D III, f. 51, ex. inform. A.R. Wagner], was a distinguished soldier ...

Originally, volume 2 said that John's parentage was unknown.

Stewart Baldwin, and later others, referred to the work of F.N. Craig, The American Genealogist, vol. 63, pp. 145-153 (1988), arguing that a pedigree in the Hailes Abbey Chronicle is incorrect in making him a son of Edward I, and that he was probably the son of Guy de Botetourt (living 1274, 1316), by his wife Ada. Douglas Richardson produced some supporting evidence for this suggestion.

Douglas Richardson subsequently provided direct evidence that John was the son of Guy de Botetourt. In a Norfolk assize in 1326 a free tenement in Wood Rising, claimed by Master Thomas Butetourte, was stated to be part of the lands and tenements formerly of Guy Butetourte, to which Guy's son John Butetourte had remised and quitclaimed his right to John de Wysham and his heirs. Maud, who was the wife of John Butetourte, was among the defendants [JUST 1/1393A, rot. 17].

[This question was discussed by Stewart Baldwin in March 1998, and by Douglas Richardson in October 2002. The evidence of John's parentage was provided by Douglas Richardson in September 2018. Item last updated: 14 December 2018.]

F.N. Craig, The American Genealogist, vol. 63, pp. 145-153 (1988)has yet to be located by this website.

de Botetourt Parentage

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