Plantagenet Ancestry
Here are a few extracts from Douglas Richardson's Plantagenet Ancestry. Of particular
interest is the discussion on whether Sir John de Botetourt was the bastard son of Edward I.
The dismissal of the entry in a genealogical table from the Hailes Abbey Chronicals.
I need to develop citing references
In addition to the mystery of Sir John's place in history the connection to Belchamp Walter and the
church of St. Mary's is also not explained. Why is there a chantry to him in the Nave? and is there
a connection to Robert de Lisle. Robert de Lisle, the "pious baron" (1288-1344), who was contemporary
with Botetourt
and was married to a de Beauchamp. Robert de Lisle was the owner of the psalter that I believe was
used as inspiration for the medieval wall paintings in St. Mary's.
../robert_de_lisle.html
Plantagenet Ancestry is available on archive.org to borrow. You can't print this loan and you
can't easily copy and paste from it, however:
Hailes Abbey Chronicals
The Botetourt arms
"
DeWindt Royal Justice & the Medieval English Countryside 2 (1981):
562. Ellis Cat.
Seals in the P.R.O. 2 (1981): 15 (seal of John Botetourt dated 1315 -
Hung from a hook, between two wyverns, a shield of arms: a saltire engrailed. Legend: ...
[SIGILL...IS:BOUTETOURTE. Very clear impression, edge partly lost.).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Justice-Medieval-Countryside-Dewindt-Pontifica/dp/088844057X
The Kings Bastard - Chris Given-Wilson, Alice Curteis
"
Fryde Studies in Medieval Trade & Finance (1983):
6. Given-Wilson & Curteis Royal Bastards of Medieval England (1984):
135-136
("There a tradition that Sir John Botetourt, one of the knight's of Edward I's household, was really
the king's bastard, and it is true that Botetourt's origins are mysterious; he styled himself
Lord of Mendlesham (Suffolk) and other members of the Botetourt family held property in East Anglia,
but there is no clear information as to who his parents were. [He] pursued a long and activie
military career until shortly before his death in 1324.").
https://www.routledge.com/The-Royal-Bastards-of-Medieval-England/Given-Wilson-Curteis/p/book/9781032635217
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"
Prestwich "Royal Patronage under Edward I" (13th Cent. England 1) (1986): 46
("The accounts of dona suggest that Edward I was rather less generous than his son.
John Botetourt was not rewarded for his services as admiral with a gift of £500 by Edward I,
as he was by Edward II.").
"
Byerly & Byerly Recs. of the Wardrobe & Household 1286-1289 (1986):
258 (Book of Private Prests: "xv die Octobris domino Johanni Boteturte de prestito per manus
Roberti fratris sui et Terrici scutiferi sui querentium pecuniam illam ad opus suum apud Queninton'
percipiente thesaurario, lxvj. li. xiij s. iiij d. sterlingorum.").
TAG 63 (1988): 145-153; 65 (1990): 24-32.
Records of the Wardrobe and Household 1286-1289. Byerly,Benjamin F.and Byerly,Catherine Ridder.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Records-Wardrobe-Household-1286-1289-Byerly-Benjamin/22870335183/bd
"
Waugh Lordship of England (1988): 213. Leese Blood Royal (1996):
134 (incorrectly identifies John Botetourt as illegitimate son of King Edward I of England).
"
Prestwich Armies & Warfare in the Middle Ages (1996):
43, 55 ("Evidence from tournament rolls in the early fourteenth century shows that the average age of
the participants was just over thirty, with the oldest being in their fifties.
War was not an occupation solely for the young."), 73, 124, 168, 276, 280, 291. VCH Gloucester 5 (1996):
413-415.
"
Brault Rolls of Arms Edward 12 (1997): 65 (arms of John Botetourt: Or, a saltire indented sable;
he "sealed with a pierced cinquefoil, each leaf charged with a saltire indented in
1297, 1301, 1307, 1310, 1315; his wife Maud impaled these arms, 1310 and 1327").
Hailes Abbey chronicle
"
Prestwich Edward I (1997): 131-132 ("Edward [1] appears to have been remarkably faithful to his
queens...
there is the curious inclusion of John Botetourt in a genealogical table in a Hailes Abbey chronicle.
His name appears to be written over an erasure, and there is nothing in Botetourt's career to
suggest that he was an illegitimate son of the king. He first appeared in royal service as a falconer,
but rose to high rank, becoming a banneret in 1298. He was of East Anglian gentry origin, and became lord of
Mendlesham through marriage. It is possible that the scribe intended to put the name of Edward's daughter
Elizabeth's husband where Botetourt's now features.
This evidence places no more than a question mark against Edward's fidelity. Edward's grandfather John
and his great-grandfather Henry II
had not been faithful husbands, but attitudes and expectations changed in the thirteenth century.
Henry III's reputation had been impeccable, as of course had that of Louis IX.
It would have been surprising had Edward not followed the precedent set by two kings whom he greatly admired.
In general terms, the Hailes chronicle is a reliable source, but in the absence of any corroborative evidence,
it is difficult to credit the evidence of this genealogical table.
It is worth noting that Edward II's bastard son was duly acknowledged as such in a royal record,
there is no such evidence in the case of John Botetourt"
Edward I - by Michael Prestwich -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edward-I-Michael-Prestwich/dp/0300071574
"
Rodger Safeguard of the Sea (1998): 86, 131- 132.
VCH Cambridge 10 (2002): 136-143.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safeguard-Sea-History-Britain-660-1649/dp/0140297243
"
Prestwich Three Edwards: War & State in England 1272-1377 (2003): 62, 75, 263.
Barrow Robert Bruce & Scotland (2005): 185, 212, 221. National Archives, SC 8/90/4483
(petition dated c.1327 from Maud Bouteteurt to king and council, requesting a writ to the escheator to remove his hand from the manor of Iselhampstead
[Chenies],
Buckinghamshire which is part of her inheritance, but which Hugh le Despenser the younge
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