Eleanor DE BRAOSE (1228?-1251)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note

Eleanor de Braose (c. 1228–1251) was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father, who was the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and her mother, Eva Marshal, a granddaughter of Strongbow. Her husband was Humphrey de Bohun, by whom she had three children, including Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford.

Eleanor was born in Brecknock, Breconshire, Wales in about 1228. She was the youngest daughter and co-heiress of the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and Eva Marshal, both of whom held considerable lordships and domains in the Welsh Marches and Ireland. She had three older sisters, Isabella de Braose, Maud de Braose, Baroness Wigmore, and Eve de Braose, wife of William de Cantelou. A manuscript which narrates the descent of the founders of Llanthony Abbey names Isabella, Matildis, Eve et Alianore as the four daughters of Willielmis de Brews quartus and his wife Evam filiam domini Willielmis Mareschalli.[1] The document clearly shows that Eleanor was the youngest of the four girls.

Her paternal grandparents were Reginald de Braose and Grecia de Briwere, and her maternal grandparents were William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Strongbow and Aoife of Leinster.

When Eleanor was about two years old, her father - known to the Welsh as Gwilym Ddu (Black William) - was hanged on the orders of Llewelyn the Great, Prince of Wales for alleged adultery with Llewelyn's wife, Joan, Lady of Wales. Following the execution, her mother held de Braose lands and castles in her own right.

On an unknown date after August 1241, at Brecknock, Breconshire, Eleanor became the first wife[2] of Humphrey de Bohun, the son of Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford and Maud de Lusignan. The marriage took place after the death of Humphrey's mother, Maud.

Together Humphrey and Eleanor had three children:

Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford (c.1249- 31 December 1298), married Maud de Fiennes, daughter of Enguerrand II de Fiennes and Isabelle de Conde, by whom he had issue, including Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.

Gilbert de Bohun, married Margaret whose surname is not known and by whom he had issue. His brother granted him Eleanor's lands in Ireland.[3]

Alianore de Bohun (died 20 February 1314, buried Walden Abbey). She married Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby on 26 June 1269 and they had two children.

Eleanor died in 1251 and was buried at Llanthony Secunda Priory. A manuscript names Elinor of Brewis, Ladi and heire of the land of Bricon among those buried at the priory of Llanthony.[4] She passed on her considerable possessions in the Welsh Marches to her eldest son Humphrey.

Her husband married secondly Joan de Quincy, by whom he had a son, John de Bohun of Haresfield. He died on 31 October 1265.

NOTES:

1 Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, England, Earls Created 1067-1127, Hereford

2 Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, England, Earls Created1067-1127, Hereford

3 Cawley, Medieval Lands, England, Earls Created 1067-1127, Hereford

4 Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, England, Earls Created 1067-1127, Hereford

SOURCES:

Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, England, Earls Created 1067-1127, Hereford'

Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Untitled English Nobility, Briouse³

Sources