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William de Berkeley 7th Baron Berkely.
1 _UID 653C04423EDCFB4EB47529BAAA46FA17573E
William de Berkeley, 7th Lord Berkeley (by right 2nd Lord Berkeley), Knight, had been, when a boy, in the retinue of Henry Beaufort, Cardinal Bishop of Winchester. He having a dispute with Thomas Talbot, Viscount Lisle, regarding some landed property, the contest ran so high, that they encountered, with their respective followers, at Wooton-under-Edge, in 1469, when Lord Lisle was mortally wounded by an arrow shot through his mouth. In the next year when the Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick took up arms against the king, we find Lord Berkeley commanded, with Maurice Berkeley, of Beverstone, to muster and array all fitting to bear arms in the county of Gloucester; and so great a regard had King Edward IV, for his lordship that he created him Viscount Berkeley, on April 21, 1481, with a grant of 100 marks per year, payable out of the customs of the port of Bristol, for life. The viscount was advanced to the Earldom of Nottingham (a dignity enjoyed by his ancestors, the Mowbrays), by King Richard III., on June 28, 1483; but his lordship afterwards espousing the cause of the Earl of Richmond, upon the accession of that nobleman to the throne, as King Henry VII., was constituted in 1485-giving for this purpose "all his part and purpart of 27 manors in Wales and the marches adjoining Shropshire" -Earl Marshal of England, with limitations of that great office to the heirs male of his body; and created on January 28, 1489-90, Marquess of Berkeley. He married (1) Elizabeth West, daughter of Reginald West, Lord de la Warre, from whom he was divorced without having issue; (2) Jane Strangwayes, widow of William Willoughby, Knight, and daughter of Thomas Strangways, Knight, by whom he had Thomas and Catherine, who both died young; and (3) Anne Fiennes, daughter of John Fiennes, Lord Dacre, but had no issue. The marquess d.s.p. on February 14, 1492, when all the honors acquired by himself became extinct, while the barony and castle of Berkeley, with his lordship's other estates, should have devolved upon his brother Maurice - from whom the title has descended to the present time - but for a settlement made by the deceased nobleman (who seems to have been offended with his brother for marrying lowly) of the castle of Berkeley upon King Henry VII. and the heirs male of that monarch's body, which castle and lands were thus alienated until the decease of King Edward VI., the last male descendant of Henry VII., when they were returned to the house of Berkeley, and have since been enjoyed by that family. |
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Thomas de Berkeley.
1 _UID F488DD6B1E66474F94723A62897E9A31521B
Thomas de Berkeley, seated at Dursley, co. Gloucester, died in 1484. he married Margaret, daughter of Richard Guy, Esq., of Minsterworth, in the same shire, and had Richard de Berkeley, of Dursley, husband of Margaret Dyer. This lineage continues for 13 generations of male descendants to the present -day Berkeleys who own the Berkeley Castle in 1993, Robert John Grantley Berkeley and his wife, Georgine. They had two sons, Robert Charles, born in 1968, and Henry John, born in 1969. |
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