William de Beauchamp Baron of Bedford

  General Notes:

~Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 122A:28-29 Ida Longespee, daughter of Ela the Countess of Salisbury and William Longspee (the Natural son of Henry II), married, as her first husband, Ralph de Somery, and married as her second husband, William de Beauchamp. William Beauchamp held the Barony of Bedford, co Bedfordshire, Baron of the Exchequer, and Sheriff of Bedord and Buks, son of Simon de Beauchamp by his wife, Isabella. ¹⁶⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁵⁹⁹
William de Beauchamp, knight, baron of Bedford, Baron of Eschequer, Sheriff o Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, hereeditary Grand Almoner at the coronation of King Henry III, and son and heir to Simon de Beauchamp and his wife Isabel. Sir William was born about 1186. He married Ida Longespée the daughter of William Longespée and Ela of Salisbury, and granddaughter of Henry II, the King of England and his mistress named Ida. Ida and William had three sons, Simon, Knight, William,Knight, and John. They also had four daughters, Joan, who became a nun, Maud, Beatrice and Ela.

Sir William took part in King John's expedition to Poitou in 1214 and joined with the barons who rebelled against King John in 1215, for which he was excummunicated. He was taken prioner at Lincoln by royal forces in May 1217, but made peace with King John by the end of the year. In 1244-45, he was with the army in Wales. He died shortly after 28 Dec 1260.

~Richardson's Plantagenet Ancestry . . ., p. 528

• Background Information. ¹²⁰⁰
In 1160-1 Simon was still under the guardianship of his mother Rohese [Pipe R. 7 Hen. II (Pipe Roll Soc.)] ; he is mentioned as one of the knights of Ramsey Abbey in 1184, [Cart. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 48] and between 1194 and 1199 his name appears in various suits against the Abbot of Ramsey, the Prior of Leighton and others. [Rot. Cu. Reg. (Rec. Com.), i, 111; ii, 7, 12, 89, &c] By 1210 he had been succeeded by his son William, who was then declared to hold forty-five knights' fees. [Red Bk. of Exch. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 538] In 1215 after the siege of Northampton Castle was raised the barons, representing the progressive party against John, marched to Bedford Castle, where they were received with respect by William de Beauchamp, who thus allied himself with their cause. (fn. 23) ) On hearing of this Falkes de Breauté, a foreign mercenary and favourite of King John, descended on the castle during the temporary absence of William and demanded its surrender. The garrison held out for seven days, when, help failing to arrive, they were obliged to yield the castle to Falkes, to whom it was granted by the king, together with the hand of the noble lady Margaret Rivers in marriage. [Matth. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 638, &c]

William de Beauchamp died in 1260, [Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 215] when the barony would appear to have passed to his eldest son Simon, who must have died very shortly after, leaving a daughter Joan. [Cf. Cal. Close, 1302\endash 7, p. 265] She does not appear to have survived her father long, and the barony next passed to his brother William de Beauchamp. He died in 1262, [Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 219; Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Hen. III, no. 13] and his brother John de Beauchamp, the last feudal Baron of Bedford, died in 1265 fighting against the king at Evesham. [Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 171, 174] The barony was now subdivided between the three sisters and co-heirs of the two last barons - Maud wife of Roger de Moubray, Beatrice wife of Thomas Fitz Otho and Ela wife of Baldwin Wake.

~V.C.H., A History of the County of Bedford, Vol. III, pp 9-15

William married Ida Longespée, daughter of William "Long Sword" Longespée 3rd Earl of Salisbury and Ela de Salisbury.¹⁶⁰ (Ida Longespée was born about 1210 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, .)