Ambroise (fl. 1188–1195), crusader and historian, was a Norman, possibly from the region of Évreux. His Estoire de la guerre sainte is a unique vernacular eyewitness account of the third crusade, and perhaps 'the best source for the crusade of Richard' (...
Article
Ambroise (fl. 1188–1195), crusader and historian
Peter Damian-Grint
Article
Angle, Guichard d', earl of Huntingdon (c. 1308x15–1380), soldier
Jonathan Sumption
Angle, Guichard d', earl of Huntingdon (c. 1308x15–1380), soldier, was born in Poitou, a subject of the king of France, between c.1308 and c.1315. He was the son of Guichard (III) d'Angle and Marguerite Maubert. His family were lords of Angle-sur-l'Anglin...
Article
Arthur (supp. fl. in or before 6th cent.), legendary warrior and supposed king of Britain
O. J. Padel
Arthur (supp. fl. in or before 6th cent.), legendary warrior and supposed king of Britain, has an attested career that is entirely posthumous. From obscure beginnings in British legend, he became internationally known in the twelfth century, particularly through the success of Geoffrey of Monmouth's...
Article
Arundel [Fitzalan], Sir John (c. 1348–1379), soldier
Richard Barber
Arundel [Fitzalan], Sir John (c. 1348–1379), soldier, was the second son of Richard (II) Fitzalan, third earl of Arundel and eighth earl of Surrey (c. 1313–1376), and his wife, Eleanor (d. 1372), daughter of Henry, earl of Lancaster, and widow of John, ...
Article
Ashton [Assheton], Sir John (d. 1427), soldier and administrator
Henry Summerson
Ashton [Assheton], Sir John (d. 1427), soldier and administrator, came of a gentry family which took its name from Ashton under Lyne in Lancashire, and which had estates there, as well as at Manchester, Wardle, and Alt in that county, and at Morley...
Article
Ashton, Sir Ralph (c. 1425–1487), soldier
Rosemary Horrox
Ashton, Sir Ralph (c. 1425–1487), soldier, was the son of Sir John Ashton (d. 1427) of Ashton under Lyne and his second wife, Margaret Gray, and hence half-brother of Sir Thomas Ashton (c. 1403–c. 1460), the alchemist, who in 1439 arranged Ralph's marriage with ...
Article
Athée, Girard d' (fl. 1198–c. 1210), mercenary and administrator
Nicholas Vincent
Athée, Girard d' (fl. 1198–c. 1210), mercenary and administrator, was a native of Athée near Tours in north-west France. With hostile intent, the French chronicler Guillaume le Breton claims that he was of servile birth, but in all probability he was a minor knight or subtenant of the neighbouring lord of ...
Article
Audley, Sir James (c. 1318–1369), soldier
Michael Jones
Audley, Sir James (c. 1318–1369), soldier, was an outstanding exemplar of chivalry, and one of the heroes of the chronicler Froissart. He was the illegitimate son of Sir James Audley (d. 1334) of Stratton Audley, Oxfordshire , and Eva, daughter of Sir John Clavering...
Article
Babthorpe, Sir Robert (d. 1436), soldier and administrator
Helen Castor
Babthorpe, Sir Robert (d. 1436), soldier and administrator, rose to prominence in the service of the Lancastrian dynasty. The family came from Babthorpe, in the parish of Hemingbrough, Yorkshire. Details of his parentage are not easy to establish, but he seems to have been the son of ...
Article
Badlesmere, Sir Bartholomew (c. 1275–1322), soldier and administrator
J. R. Maddicott
revised
Badlesmere, Sir Bartholomew (c. 1275–1322), soldier and administrator, was the son and heir of Guncelin of Badlesmere (d. 1301), of Badlesmere, Kent, and an unknown mother. Like his father, who was a royal banneret and justice of Chester from 1274 to 1281, ...
Article
Barry, Robert of (d. in or after 1185), soldier
J. H. Round
revised by M. T. Flanagan
Barry, Robert of (d. in or after 1185), soldier, was the younger son of William of Barry, lord of Manorbier (Pembrokeshire), and Angharad, daughter of Gerald of Windsor, castellan of Pembroke, and Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, king of Deheubarth (south Wales)...
Article
Basset, Peter (fl. 1415–1437), soldier and historian
Anne Curry
Basset, Peter (fl. 1415–1437), soldier and historian, was co-author of an incomplete account in French of English activities in France between the capture of Harfleur in 1415 and the raising of the siege of Orléans in May 1429. Only one manuscript of this work is known, in ...
Article
Basset, Thomas (d. 1220), soldier and courtier
Nicholas Vincent
Basset, Thomas (d. 1220), soldier and courtier, was a younger son of Thomas Basset (d. c. 1182) of Headington and Adeliza Basset [see under Dunstanville, de, family], daughter of Walter de Dunstanville, lord of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. First recorded before ...
Article
Beauchamp, Thomas, eleventh earl of Warwick (1313/14–1369), soldier and magnate
Anthony Tuck
Beauchamp, Thomas, eleventh earl of Warwick (1313/14–1369), soldier and magnate, was the son and heir of Guy de Beauchamp, tenth earl of Warwick (c. 1272–1315), and his wife, Alice Tosny, widow of Thomas Leyburn.
Beauchamp was probably born some time between August 1313 and 14 February 1314, most likely the latter date. He was no more than two years old when his father died on 12 August 1315, and the earldom thus underwent a long minority at a time of political instability. The custody of the lands of the earldom was granted on 21 June 1317 to ...
Article
Beauchamp, Sir Walter (d. 1430), soldier, administrator, and speaker of the House of Commons
Henry Summerson
Beauchamp, Sir Walter (d. 1430), soldier, administrator, and speaker of the House of Commons, was probably the second son of Sir John Beauchamp of Powick, Worcestershire, and his wife, Elizabeth. First recorded in 1392 as retained by Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester...
Article
Beauchamp, William, first Baron Bergavenny (c. 1343–1411), soldier and landowner
Christine Carpenter
revised
Beauchamp, William, first Baron Bergavenny (c. 1343–1411), soldier and landowner, was the fourth son of Thomas Beauchamp, eleventh earl of Warwick (1313/14–1369), and of Katherine (d. 1369), daughter of Roger Mortimer, first earl of March.
As a younger son Beauchamp was destined for the church and attended ...
Article
Beaufort, Edmund, first duke of Somerset (c. 1406–1455), magnate and soldier
Colin Richmond
Beaufort, Edmund, first duke of Somerset (c. 1406–1455), magnate and soldier, was the younger brother of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset (1404–1444); John and Edmund were the second and third sons of John Beaufort, marquess of Dorset and of Somerset (c. 1371–1410), who was the eldest son of ...
Article
Beaufort, John, marquess of Dorset and marquess of Somerset (c. 1371–1410), soldier and administrator
G. L. Harriss
Beaufort, John, marquess of Dorset and marquess of Somerset (c. 1371–1410), soldier and administrator, was the first offspring of the liaison between John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (1340–1399), and Katherine Swynford (1350?–1403) [see Katherine, duchess of Lancaster]. He became a staunch supporter of ...
Article
Beaufort, John, duke of Somerset (1404–1444), magnate and soldier
G. L. Harriss
Beaufort, John, duke of Somerset (1404–1444), magnate and soldier, was the second son of John Beaufort, marquess of Dorset and of Somerset (d. 1410), and Margaret Holland, daughter of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent. He succeeded to the earldom of Somerset on the death of his elder brother, ...
Article
Beaufort, Thomas, duke of Exeter (1377?–1426), magnate and soldier
G. L. Harriss
Beaufort, Thomas, duke of Exeter (1377
