Sir John Maltravers b 1290

John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers (1290?–1365) was an English nobleman and soldier.

From Wikipedia

He was son of Sir John Maltravers (1266–1343?) of Lytchett Matravers, Dorset, by his first wife Alianor. Born about 1290 hewas knighted, as was his father, with Edward, Prince of Wales, on 12 May 1306. He is said to have been taken prisoner at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Maltravers was actively concerned in the death of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, in March 1330, and was on the commission appointed to track down his adherents. On 5 June 1330 he was summoned to parliament as Baron Maltravers; he was described as a baron by November 1329. On 24 September he was appointed constable of Corfe Castle, but on the fall of Mortimer shortly afterwards, Maltravers, like the other supporters of Isabella, was disgraced. In the parliament held in November he was condemned to death as a traitor on account of his share in the death of the Earl of Kent. On 3 December orders were given for his arrest, to prevent his going abroad, but he managed to escape to Germany.

Married

  1. Ela or Eva, (Millicent) daughter of Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, and sister of the keeper of Edward II
  2. Agnes, daughter of Sir William Bereford. She previously married both Sir John de Argentine (d. 1318) and Sir John de Nerford (d. 1329).

only child, by his 1st wife

  1. Sir John MAUTRAVERS Knight was born 1317 and died 22 Jan 1349. Married Gwenthlian

The confirmation of Maltravers’s pardon was delayed because in 1346 he was on business abroad, but the protection was renewed at the end of 1347 . In June 1348 he was sent to Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres. Final restitution of his honour and lands was made on 8 February 1352. He was governor of the Channel Islands in 1351. He re-founded in 1351 the hospital of Bowes at St. Peter’s Port in Guernsey.

Maltravers died on 16 February 1365, and was buried at Lytchett.

offices

Knight of Lytchett Mautravers, Witchampton, Maltravers in Loders, Dorset. Of Somerford Mautravers, Hill Deverill, Wiltshire. Knight of the Shire for Dorset, Constable of Corfe and Carmarthen Castles, Steward of the King’s household, Keeper of the Forest south of Trent, Justice in the eyre of the forests of Berks, Keeper of the Channel Islands.

biographical notes

Maltravers is an alternate spelling of Mautravers.

John was also called Baron Maltravers.

At the Feast of the Swan on 22 May 1306, King Edward I knighted his son (who would become King Edward II) at Westminster Abbey, after which the young prince himself knighted the other 260 men who were accorded the accolade at the same time, including John. And “all given splendid robes (of purple satin, fine linen and robes sewn with the finest gold) and Westminster Abbey rang with the clamour of trumpets and shouts of joy.” At the feast following, King Edward had two swans brought in, swearing ‘before God and the swans’ to ‘avenge the death John Comyn of Badenock and to fight the infidels in the Holy Land.

On 24 June 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, Stirling, Scotland, John was made a prisoner.

John witnessed the brutal death of King Edward II (by a hot poker inserted into his rectum) 21 September 1327 at Berkeley Castle, Gloucester, Gloucestershire. John was following the instructions from Queen Isabel, estranged wife of King Edward, that no marks be made on his body. “The part which this nobleman is said to have taken in the murder of King Edward II is to well known to need recitation here–enough, that the wretched monarch was removed from the custody of Lord Berkeley, who had treated him with some degree of humanity, and placed under Lord Maltravers and Sir Thomas Gournay, and that while in their charge the king was killed in a most cruel manner at Berkeley Castle. According to the judgment of the House of Peers, Mortimer commanded Gournay and Ogle to perpetrate the deed, and, as Maltravers was condemned by the same Parliament which condemned the king’s murderers, it was for a different crime, it forms a presumption that he was innocent of this (Lingard).”

On 5 June 1330, John married Agnes de Bereford (successor to our ancestor Millicent), daughter of William de Bereford.

John fled into Germany, where he remained for several years, having had judgment of death passed upon him in England for the murder of the Earl of Kent (not for that of King Edward II), circa 5 November 1330. He was granted, by King Edward III, then in Flanders, safe passage back to England to abide the decision of Parliament. He was given a full and free pardon by parliament in 1351/52. He was additionally constituted by King Edward III as governor of the Isles of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sarke after 1351/52.

Links

John Maltravers Birth 1290 Dorset, England Death 16 Feb 1364 (aged 73–74) Dorset, England Burial St. Mary’s Churchyard Lytchett Matravers, Purbeck District, Dorset, England Memorial ID 67653629

Family Members Spouse

Agnes de Bereford Mautravers 1297–1375

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Immediate Family

last edited by John Black on October 27, 2020