Robert de Bourchier, 1st Baron Bourchier, Lord Chancellor of England

From Wikipedia,

Robert Bourchier (or Boussier), 1st Baron Bourchier (died 1349) was Lord Chancellor of England, the first layman to hold the post.

Life

The eldest son of John Bourchier, a judge of common pleas, he began life in the profession of arms. He was returned as a member of parliament for the county of Essex in 1330, 1332, 1338, and 1339. In 1334 he was chief justice of the king's bench in Ireland. He was present at the battle of Cadsant in 1337. He sat in the parliament of 1340.

When on his return to England the king Edward III displaced his ministers, he committed the great seal, which had long been held by Archbishop John de Stratford and his brother Robert de Stratford, the Bishop of Chichester, alternately, to Bourchier, who thus became, on 14 December 1340, the first lay chancellor. His salary was fixed at £500, besides the usual fees. In the struggle between the king and the archbishop, Bourchier withheld the writ of summons to the ex-chancellor, interrupted his address to the bishops in the Painted Chamber, and on 27 April 1341 urged him to submit to the king. When the parliament of 1341 extorted from the king his assent to their petitions that the account of the royal officers should be audited, and that the chancellor and other great officers should be nominated in parliament, and should swear to obey the laws, Bourchier declared that he had not assented to these articles, and would not be bound by them, as they were contrary to his oath and to the laws of the realm. He nevertheless exemplified the statute, and delivered it to parliament. He resigned his office on 29 October.

He was summoned to parliament as a peer in 16 Edward III. In 1346 he accompanied the king on his expedition to France. He was in command of a large body of troops, and fought at the battle of Crecy in the first division of the army.

He married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Preyers. He founded a college at Halstead for eight priests; but it probably never housed that number, since its revenues were small. The king granted him the right of free warren, and license to crenellate his house. He died of the plague in 1349, and was buried at Halstead.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Bourchier, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

1. ID: I25189
2. Name: Robert Bourchier
3. Surname: Bourchier
4. Given Name: Robert
5. Sex: M
6. Birth: ABT 1306 in Stanstead In Halstead, Essex, England
7. Death: 1349
8. _UID: DBE984872CF40844A1DE8B976AE5789E41DE
9. Change Date: 5 Jun 2006 at 01:00:00

Father: John Bourchier b: ABT 1278 in Stanstead In Halstead, Essex, England

Mother: Helen De Colchester b: ABT 1280 in Stanstead Hall, Halstead, Essex, England

Marriage 1 Margaret Praers b: 1300 in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England

Children

  1. Has Children William De Bourchier b: ABT 1330 in Halstead, Essex, England

Robert Bourchier, 1st Lord Bourchier 1306-1349

Born: 1306

Died: 18 May 1349, died of the plague

Buried: Halstead, Essex

Parents: John Bourchier (b about 1278, d 1329) and Helen Colchester (b about 1281 Halstead)

Siblings: John Bourchier (b about 1308, d after 1370)

Spouse: Margaret Prayer (b about 1307, in Sible Headingham) daughter of Sir Thomas Prayer (of Prayers, Sible Headingham, Essex) married Anne de Essex

Offspring: John Bourchier (b 12 March 1329, Tolleshunt, Essex, d 21 May 1400) married (about 1365 Stansted, Essex) Elizabeth Coggeshall

William (b 1330, d 1375) married (1359) Eleanor de Louvaine (b 25 March 1345 Little Easton, Essex, d about 1400, probably buried in the abbey church at Beeleigh, Essex, the wall monument being removed to Little Easton after the Dissolution)

Heraldic Coat of Arms: Argent a cross engrailed gules between 4 water bougets sable

In the early 1330's Robert was a justice of Oyer Et Terminer and serverd as a knight of the shire for Essex in the Parliaments of 1329, 1330, 1332 and 1339. Robert was summoned for military service in 1324 and fought at Cadzand in 1337, probably with Hugh Audley, the Earl of Gloucester, who retained his service with the sum of £100. Robert was appointed the first lay Chancellor of England on 14 Decelmber 1340, but due to his unpopularity and being unwilling to bow to parliamentary pressure he was replaced 10 months later. Robert fought in the years 1342-3 in Brittanny and was at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 and following this the siege of Calais. On 20 November 1348 and March 1349 Robert was summoned to parliament by personal writ becoming Lord Bourchier. In 1347 and again in 1349 Robert treated with France for peace. Robert married Margaret Prayer an heiress which brought him a number of properties throughout the country.

On 2nd April 1342 Edward III granted Robert Bourchier a license to found a chapelry of Seculars in Halstead and endow them with land and the advowson of the church of Sible Headingham.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bourchier

1. ID: I25189
2. Name: Robert Bourchier
3. Surname: Bourchier
4. Given Name: Robert
5. Sex: M
6. Birth: ABT 1306 in Stanstead In Halstead, Essex, England
7. Death: 1349
8. _UID: DBE984872CF40844A1DE8B976AE5789E41DE
9. Change Date: 5 Jun 2006 at 01:00:00

Father: John Bourchier b: ABT 1278 in Stanstead In Halstead, Essex, England

Mother: Helen De Colchester b: ABT 1280 in Stanstead Hall, Halstead, Essex, England

Marriage 1 Margaret Praers b: 1300 in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England

Children

  1. Has Children William De Bourchier b: ABT 1330 in Halstead, Essex, England

Robert Bourchier, 1st Lord Bourchier 1306-1349

Born: 1306

Died: 18 May 1349, died of the plague

Buried: Halstead, Essex

Parents: John Bourchier (b about 1278, d 1329) and Helen Colchester (b about 1281 Halstead)

Siblings: John Bourchier (b about 1308, d after 1370)

Spouse: Margaret Prayer (b about 1307, in Sible Headingham) daughter of Sir Thomas Prayer (of Prayers, Sible Headingham, Essex) married Anne de Essex

Offspring: John Bourchier (b 12 March 1329, Tolleshunt, Essex, d 21 May 1400) married (about 1365 Stansted, Essex) Elizabeth Coggeshall

William (b 1330, d 1375) married (1359) Eleanor de Louvaine (b 25 March 1345 Little Easton, Essex, d about 1400, probably buried in the abbey church at Beeleigh, Essex, the wall monument being removed to Little Easton after the Dissolution)

Heraldic Coat of Arms: Argent a cross engrailed gules between 4 water bougets sable

In the early 1330's Robert was a justice of Oyer Et Terminer and serverd as a knight of the shire for Essex in the Parliaments of 1329, 1330, 1332 and 1339. Robert was summoned for military service in 1324 and fought at Cadzand in 1337, probably with Hugh Audley, the Earl of Gloucester, who retained his service with the sum of £100. Robert was appointed the first lay Chancellor of England on 14 Decelmber 1340, but due to his unpopularity and being unwilling to bow to parliamentary pressure he was replaced 10 months later. Robert fought in the years 1342-3 in Brittanny and was at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 and following this the siege of Calais. On 20 November 1348 and March 1349 Robert was summoned to parliament by personal writ becoming Lord Bourchier. In 1347 and again in 1349 Robert treated with France for peace. Robert married Margaret Prayer an heiress which brought him a number of properties throughout the country.

On 2nd April 1342 Edward III granted Robert Bourchier a license to found a chapelry of Seculars in Halstead and endow them with land and the advowson of the church of Sible Headingham.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bourchier

The Bourchier Monuments in St Andrew’s Church, Halstead (Essex)

http://www.churchmonumentssociety.org/Monument%20of%20the%20Month%2...

St Andrew’s chapel in the south aisle of the church contains the freestone effigies of a knight and lady installed beneath a tall, heraldic canopy with matching ‘tomb-chest’ panels. The canopy, described by Pevsner as ‘of a chaste, rather frigid design’, has a row of seven pendant shields above the arch, an upper register of small shields around the cornice, and singles set in the arch spandrels. The canopy and ‘tomb-chest’ are executed in chalk (commonly called clunch), a relatively soft stone, and the heraldic content is lost except for the single, large shields on the east and west sides of the canopy. Both display a cross engrailed between four water-bouchets (buckets), for Bourchier. The north-east ‘tomb-chest’ panel contains an angel and shell, the latter thought to be a rebus for the Coggeshall family. In the absence of an epitaph and further heraldry, the juxtaposition of the shell and Bourchier arms is the basis of the traditional identification of the effigies as those of John Bourchier, second Lord Bourchier (d. 1400), and his wife, Elizabeth Coggeshall.

John Bourchier was the son of Robert, Lord Bourchier (d. 1349), a confidant of Edward III who fought at Crécy (1346) and was the first lay Lord Chancellor of England (1340-1). John served in France during the 1350s and 60s, was captive from 1372 to1378, and later made governor of Flanders (1384) and Knight of the Garter (1399). In 1341 Robert received a licence to found a college in the town of Halstead of eight chaplains, and to secure land and rent worth 20 marks p.a. ‘out of the abundance of the king’s affections’. In 1412 a licence was granted to Robert de Clifford, bishop of London and several local landowners to found a college of five chaplains in Halstead church to pray for the souls of Robert and John Bourchier and their wives, called ‘Bourghchiereschantrie’. The college was to be endowed with 702 acres of land, 71 acres of pasture, 57 acres of wood, 29 acres of meadow, rental income of £5 13s. 6d. a year, and the living of the nearby church of Sible Hedingham in the manor of the first lord’s wife, Margaret Preyers.