James Berkeley (1394 - 1463)

Biography

James Berkeley was born in Wales.

James Berkeley was born at Raglan, Monmouthshire about 1394 to Sir James Berkeley and his wife Elizabeth Bluet. He married four times, having children only by his third wife, Isabel Mowbray. In 1417, he inherited Berkeley Castle and the title Lord Berkeley from his uncle, Thomas Berkeley. Sir James Berkeley, 6th Lord Berkeley, died at Berkeley Castle in November 1463 and was buried at Berkeley.^[1]

Titles

• 6th Lord Berkeley^[1]
  • 6th Lord Berkeley, James de Berkeley "The Just"^[2]
• 1st Baron Berkeley^[3][4]

Family

James married first, by contract dated April 19, 1410, a daughter of John St. John. They had no children.^[1]

He also had no children from his second marriage, in 1415, to a daughter of Humphrey Stafford, Knt., and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of John Mautravers.^[1]

In 1423/4, Sir James Berkeley married (3rd) Isabel Mowbray, widow of Sir Henry Ferrers (living c. 1419), daughter of Thomas Mowbray, K.G., by Elizabeth, daughter of Richard de Arundel, K.G.^[5] They had four sons and four daughters:^[1]

• William Berkeley, K.B. [Marquess of Berkeley...Viscount Berkeley]
• Maurice Berkeley, Knt. [Lord Berkeley], born about 1435 (aged 56 in 1492), in 1465 m Isabel Meade (or Mede), daughter of Philip Meade, Esq.
• James Berkeley, Esq.
• Thomas Berkeley, Esq.
• Isabel
• Margaret
• Elizabeth, wife of William Burdet, Esq.
• Alice, wife of Richard Arthur, Esq.

• Isabel, Lady Berkeley died on September 27, 1452 while imprisoned at Gloucester Castle. Sir James died at Berkeley Castle in November 1463.^[1]

Sir James Berkeley's fourth wife (by settlement dated July 25, 1457)^[6] was Joan Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, K.G., and his second wife Margaret, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, K.G., K.B., Earl of Warwick, Lord Despenser and Lisle.^[1] They had no children.^[7]

Death

• Sir James Berkeley died at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England in November, 1463.^[1]

Burial

from "Berkeley Family Monuments," St Mary's, Berkeley, Glouchester:

• James I, 11th Lord Berkeley, 1463, and son.

The tomb is in the opening between the mausoleum and chancel.

1. Military. Two knights in armour, father and son. 2. Recumbent. 3. The tomb and figures are of alabaster, the canopy of freestone.

4. The father life-size, 6 ft. 2 in.; the son smaller, 4 ft.10 in. There are a few other instances known of two men on the same tomb, and it is thought that the difference in age of the father and son is shown by the relative size of the figures. (see the source webpage for additional description)
...
9.There is no inscription.
...
Known to be James I, 11th Lord Berkeley, died 1463, aged 69, and James Berkeley, his second son, died July 1452.

15. James i, 11th Lord Berkeley, was nephew of Thomas iv, and succeeded in 1417 to the property, only after much dispute, being then about 23 years old. Till his death in 1463 he was occupied in a continuous series of disputes about the ownership of lands, which kept him in poverty and prevented him entering any military employment. He was thrice married, and by his second wife Isabel, eldest daughter of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, had four sons and three daughters. He died in November 1463, aged 69 years. James, his second son, was slain in France in July 1452, aged about 20 years and unmarried. His place of burial is unknown.

Note on Raglan

Some trees show that James, son of James Berkeley and Elizabeth Bluet, was born in Raglan Castle. However, it is more likely that he was born at Raglan Manor, which was built by his mother's family; Elizabeth was "daughter and heiress of John Bluet, Knt., of Raglan, Monmouthshire,... by Katherine Wogan (or Gwrgan)"^[1]

Raglan Castle was begun by William ap Thomas, his mother Elizabeth's second husband, whom she married after his father's death in 1405.

• "Raglan manor, attained through marriage through heiress Elizabeth Bluet, was greatly expanded by William [ap Thomas] and his son, William Herbert, into the well-fortified Raglan Castle, one of the finest late medieval Welsh castles."^[8]

• "The local manor was held by the Bloet family from the late 12th-century until the late 14th-century and the family built a manor house somewhere on the site during this period, surrounded by a park."^[9][10]

• "The current Raglan Castle was begun by Sir William ap Thomas, the lesser son of a minor Welsh family [who] married first Elizabeth [Bluet, widow of James Berkeley], a wealthy heiress.... In 1432 William purchased the manor of Raglan, where he had already been staying as a tenant, ... and commenced a programme of building work that established the basic shape of the castle as seen today, although most of it—with the exception of the South Gate and the Great Tower—was later built over."^[9]

• • (substitute "Manor" for "Castle" and this statement is in agreement with the preceding information): "[William ap Thomas] was able to buy Raglan Castle [from] Lord Berkeley, [his] first wife's son, the deed, which remains among the Beaufort muniments, refuting the pedigree-maker's statement that he inherited the castle as heir of his mother Maude daughter of Sir John Morley."^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry (2011), volume I, page 181 #9. James Berkeley, Knt., 6th Lord Berkeley; p 184 (son) #10. Maurice Berkeley, Knt.; p 180 (father) #8. James Berkeley, Knt., of Little Marshfield, Gloucestershire, and, in right of his wife, of Raglan, Monmouthshire, Daglingworth, Gloucestershire, Thruxton, Herefordshire, Stradewy [present day Llanfihangel-Ystrad], Cardiganshire, etc., Governor of Tretower Castle.
2. ↑ Consolidated Coningsby.GED imported on 11 March 2011.
3. ↑ Wikipedia: James Berkeley
4. ↑ James Berkeley, "thepeerage" (website, compiled by Darryl Lundy, Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand; accessed 2 February 2018)
5. ↑ Sources: Medieval Lands (Henry Ferrers) and Richardson (#MCA1)
6. ↑ Jeayes I H (1892) Descriptive catalogue of the charters and muniments in the possession of the Rt. Hon. Lord Fitzhardinge at Berkeley Castle, p187.
7. ↑ Sir Bernard Burke, A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct ... (p 44)
8. ↑ Wikipedia: William ap Thomas
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Wikipedia: Raglan Castle
10. ↑ Wikipedia citation: Kenyon, John (2003) Raglan Castle. Cardiff, Wales: Cadw. ISBN 1-85760-169-6 (p 2-3)
11. ↑ from profile for William ap Thomas, citation: "Entered by Dallas Riedesel"

• Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011. See also WikiTree's source page for Magna Carta Ancestry.
• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013, Vol I, p 337; Vol II, page 618; Vol III, page 158.
• Wikipedia:
  • James Berkeley
  • Berkeley Castle
  • Raglan Castle
  • Raglan, Monmouthshire

• See also:

• Map on this page, showing Brecon, Carmarthen, Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol, Newport, Abergavenny, Hereford, Tewkesbury and Gloucester. (Note: Link was updated 16 January 2021. Click the [view larger map] from that page, then pull back a bit... click the minus sign & move the map around. For me, I lost Raglan between the 3rd & 4th click, and I never did find Tewkesbury on the larger map).
• Map on this page showing Raglan Castle (there is also a virtual tour - see this page - and other links). accessed 16 January 2021
• Raglan Castle