Henry Fitzhugh, of Ravensworth

Henry FitzHugh, 1st Baron FitzHugh.

SIR HENRY FITZHUGH, of Ravensworth, was an adherent of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. Thomas was the grandson of King Henry III. After the accession to the throne of England by his cousin, King Edward II, in 1307, Thomas became a leader of the barons in their resistance to the new king. Later, he submitted and received a pardon from the king in October 1313. He then took command of forces raised to fight the Scots. Along with Thomas, Sir Henry was also pardoned and joined the fight against the Scots.

On May 20, 1315, Henry was granted 400 marks in recompense for the expenses he had incurred when on the King's service in Scotland. He was Constable of Barnard Castle from December 15, 1315, to September 27, 1319.

On August 20, 1321, as a follower of Baron John de Moubray, Henry was involved in a rebellion against Hugh Despenser the Younger, who held lordship of Glamorgan and desired John's land in Gower. King Edward II banished the Despensers and granted pardons to John and Henry, amongst other barons who took part in the uprising.

Henry was summoned for military service from January 1299/1300 to March 27, 1335; to Councils from May 1324 to February 25, 1341/1342; and to Parliament from May 15, 1321, to November 15, 1351. At this time, he became "Lord Fitzhugh."

In May 1322 the Earl of Richmond accused Henry of having, with many followers -- -when the Earl was absent at the Parliament held in July 1321 --- besleged and taken the Earl's castle of Bowes, and having held it for a long time, doing great damage, finally leaving it without guard against the Scots.

On February 1, 1322/1323 Henry was ordered to arrest Andrew de Harcla, Earl of Carlisle, who had lately joined the Scots (or was considered to have joined them). He also was appointed a justice, in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland, to hear and determine the oppressions committed by the King's ministers and others, December 10, 1340.

Henry's first wife was Eve (or Eva) de Bulmer, the daughter of Sir John IV de Bulmere of Wilton by his wife, Tiphaine de Morwick. Eve's mother, Tiphaine, was the second daughter and co-heir of Sir Hugh de Morwike of Morwick, Northumberland.

He married his second wife, Emma de Cleseby, sometime before November 22, 1337. Emma was the daughter and heir of Sir Robert de Cleseby, of Cleasby, Clowbeck, and East Tanfield, in Richmondshire. The only known name of Emma's mother was Amabel. (Amabel may have been the widow of her first husband before April 1300, Sir Robert DE HASTANG, of Bagnall, county Stafford, and Cowton in Richmondshire, sometime Keeper of Kingston-upon-Hull, LORD HASTANG.) Emma died "sine parole" (without offspring) before October 13, 1348. [Complete Peerage V:417-9, transcribed by Dave Utzinger.]

Lord Henry Fitzhugh was engaged in the Scottish wars from the 3rd to the 8th years of the reign of King Edward II [1310-1315]. During the next six years he was constituted, owing to the minority of the Earl of Warwick (whose inheritance it was), to be governor of Barnard Castle in the bishopric of Durham. Being again employed in Scotland, he was summoned to parliament as a baron from May 15, 1321, to November 15, 1351.

In 1327, his lordship (Fitzhugh) acquitted Sir Henry Vavasour, a Knight, of a debt of 500 marks, by special instrument under his seal, upon condition that Sir Henry's son, also named Henry Vavasour, should take as his wife Annabil Fitzhugh, Henry Fitzhugh's daughter.

In the 7th, 8th, and 9th years of King Edward III's reign [1334, 1335, and 1336], Lord Fitzhugh was again in arms upon the Scottish soil. His lordship married his first wife, Eve, daughter of Sir John Bulmer, a Knight. With Eve, Lord Fitzhugh had, besides the daughter already mentioned, a son named Henry, who died "in vita Patris" (died before his father), leaving children by his wife, Joane, the daughter of Sir Richard Fourneys and the sister and heiress of William Fourneys - (1) a son, Hugh, who married Isabel (the daughter of Ralph, Lord Nevill) and died "sine parole" (without children); and (2) Henry, who survived his grandfather.

Lord Fitz-Hugh died in 1356 and was survived by his grandson, Henry Fitz-Hugh. (Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 207, FitzHugh, Barons FitzHugh.)