Elizabeth de Baddlesmere

  General Notes:

Elizabeth was born at Castle Badlesmere, Kent, England in 1313 to Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere and Margaret de Clare. She was the third of four daughters. She had one younger brother Giles de Badlesmere, 2nd Baron Badlesmere (18 October 1314- 7 June 1338) who married Elizabeth Montagu, by whom he had four daughters.
Her paternal grandparents were Guncelin de Badlesmere and Joan FitzBernard. Her maternal grandparents were Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond and Juliana FitzGerald of Offaly.

Elizabeth's father was hanged on 14 April 1322 for treason against King Edward II of England, and her mother imprisoned in the Tower of London until 3 November 1322. She had been arrested the previous October for refusing Queen Isabella admittance to Leeds Castle, where Lord Badlesmere held the post of castellan.

In 1328, Elizabeth's brother Giles obtained a reversal of his father's attainder, and he succeeded to the barony as the 2nd Baron Badlesmere. Elizabeth, along with her three sisters, was a co-heiress of Giles who had no male issue. Upon his death in 1338, the barony fell fell into abeyance. The Badlesmere estates were divided among the four sisters.

Elizabeth married William de Bohun - 1st Earl of Northampton, son of Humphrey de Bohun - 4th Earl of Hereford and Elizabeth Plantagenet, in 1335. (William de Bohun - 1st Earl of Northampton was born about 1311 in Caldecot, Northamptonshire and died on 16 Sep 1360.)

  Marriage Notes:

On 27 June 1316, when she was just three years old, Elizabeth married her first husband Sir Edmund Mortimer (1310- 16 December 1331)[2] son of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Geneville. The marriage produced two sons:
Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March (11 November 1328 Ludlow Castle- 26 February 1360), married Philippa Montacute, daughter of William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Catherine Grandison, by whom he had issue, including Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March).

John Mortimer (died young)

In 1335, just over three years after the death of Edmund Mortimer, Elizabeth married secondly William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton (1312- 1360), fifth son of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Elizabeth of Rhuddlan. He was a renowned military commander and diplomat.

A papal dispensation was required for their marriage as de Bohun and her first huband, Sir Edmund Mortimer were related in the third and fourth degrees of consanguinity by dint of their common descent from Enguerrand de Fiennes, Seigneur de Fiennes.

By her second marriage, Elizabeth had two more children:

Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford 6th Earl of Essex, 2nd Earl of Northampton (24 March 1342- 16 January 1373), after 9 September 1359, married Joan Fitzalan, by whom he had two daughters, Eleanor de Bohun Duchess of Gloucester, and Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry of Bolingbroke (who later reigned as King Henry IV).
Elizabeth de Bohun (c.1350- 3 April 1385), on 28 September 1359, married Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel, by whom she had seven children including Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, Elizabeth FitzAlan and Lady Joan FitzAlan, Baroness Bergavenny.