William de Braose (c. 1260–1326) was the second Baron Braose, as well as Lord of Gower and Lord of Bramber. He was held as a hostage after being captured in 1264 during the Second Barons' War and records of some of his childhood expenses survive from his time as a hostage. He first entered royal service in 1286 and, in 1291, he succeeded his father as baron. He continued in royal military service, serving in Scotland as well as in Wales. Protracted disputes over his lands embroiled him throughout his life and at the end of his life helped spark a revolt against King Edward II of England's favourites, the Despensers. He married twice, and his heirs were his daughter Aline and his grandson John de Bohun.
Contents
Family and early life
Braose was the son of William de Braose, 1st Baron Braose and his first wife, Aline, daughter of Thomas de Multon. He was likely born around 1260, as his age was given as about 46 in 1307. Other events prove that he was born prior to 1264, as he was captured in that year. This came about during the Second Barons' War (1264–1267) during the reign of King Henry III of England, as the elder Braose had sided with the king during Simon de Montfort's rebellion. The younger Braose was a hostage in the custody of Montfort's wife, Eleanor. Her household accounts include expenses related to the younger William's care.
Sometime around 1285, Braose confirmed grants of land by his ancestors to the religious house of Sele Priory. In 1286 Braose was in the king's service, for unspecified duties overseas. It is possible that these included accompanying the king, Edward I, to Paris where Edward performed homage to the new French king, Philip IV, for Edward's French lands. Braose played a significant role in King Edward's Welsh wars. In the winter of 1287–8 he commanded the force blockading Emlyn castle. His men also provided the escort for the transport of a huge siege engine from Dryslwyn to Emlyn. The arrival of the engine, with 480 great stones as ammunition, persuaded the defenders of the castle to surrender peaceably.
Marcher Baron
The younger Braose succeeded his father before 1 March 1291, when he did homage for his father's lands. He received custody of his father's lands on 2 March 1291, which had been placed into the custody of Robert de Tibetot on 12 January 1291. He was summoned a number of times to Parliament from 1291 until 1322 as Baron Braose. He was the second Baron Braose, as well as Lord of Gower and Lord of Bramber.
After his father's death, Braose continued to serve Edward. He contributed both money and personal military service in Edward's wars in Wales, Scotland, and France. He saw service in Gascony in 1294. In 1297 he took part in a military campaign in Flanders. As a reward for his service in Flanders, he received the wardship of John de Mowbray, who Braose eventually married to his daughter Aline. From 1298 to 1306 he was involved in the Scottish wars, and was at the Battle of Falkirk on 22 July 1298. Besides the military service, he served the king in 1301 by signing a letter from the leading barons of England to Pope Boniface VIII in which the barons decried papal interference in the royal rights of England.
Braose captured the Welsh rebel William Cragh in 1290, whose miraculous resurrection after being hanged was attributed to Thomas de Cantilupe. This led in 1307 to Braose giving testimony to papal commissioners inquiring into the events surrounding Cragh's hanging and whether or not it would support the canonisation of Cantilupe.
It was most likely Braose who commissioned a condensed copy of the Domesday Book, now in the Public Record Office as manuscript E164/1. This copy has a marginal notation of "Br" next to the estates owned by Braose's ancestor, the first William de Braose.
Braose was embroiled in a dispute over his lordship of Gower in 1299 when the Bishop of Llandaff, John de Monmouth, brought a case against Braose to the king. Although the case was adjudicated in 1302, the resulting decision was overturned. In 1304 Braose secured King Edward's confirmation of earlier grants and charters granting Braose special rights and liberties in Gower. He managed this because he was serving the king in Scotland at the time, and thus had easy access to the king. In 1305, however, Braose miscalculated and insulted a royal judge, using "gross and contumelious words" to describe the royal official. This episode caused the case of Gower to be reopened in 1306, and Braose was only able to settle the issue again by the grant of rights to his men in Swansea and Gower.
Marriage, death, and legacy
The name of Braose's first wife was Agnes, but her family is not known. His second wife was Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Raymund de Sully. He had two daughters with his first wife, but no children with his second wife, who outlived him. It appears that there was a son named William, who was the subject of a military summons from King Edward in 1311, but nothing further is mentioned of him after 1315. In 1316 a settlement of William the father's estates made no mention of this son, making it likely that the son died before this date.
Braose died not long before 1 May 1326 and his heirs were his daughter Aline and his grandson John de Bohun. Aline, the elder daughter, married John de Mowbray and Richard de Peschale. The second daughter, Joan, married James de Bohun and Richard Foliot, son of Jordan Foliot. Mowbray received the lands of Gower and Bramber before Braose's death.
Braose was known as a man often in debt and as being unable to manage his finances effectively. Thomas Walsingham stated in his chronicle that Braose was "very rich by descent but a dissipater of the property left to him".