Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}

Bef 1404 - 1483  (~ 79 years)

• Name	Henry Bourchier
  Suffix	Earl of Essex
  Born	Bef 1404
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1st earl: 1461. Lord Treasurer 3 times. Yorkist. KG 171: 1452, S 13.
  Died	4 Apr 1483
  Buried	Memorial Inscription, Bylegh Abbey, Maldon, then, Little Easton, Essex, England
  Notes	From St. John Hope's "Garter Stall Plates", plate LXI, pub 1901: Arms: Quarterly: 1 & 4: Silver a cross engrailed gules and four water bougets sable (Bourchier) 2 & 3: Gules billety andf a feww gold (Lovain) Crest: On a torse sable and vert a soldan's head with sable hair and beard with a cap gules encircled by a gold crown and turned up silver thereon water-bougets sable. _________________________________________________________ Bourchier, Henry, Earl of Essex d. 1483 Name: Bourchier, Henry Title: Earl of Essex Dates: d. 1483 Active Date: 1463 Gender: Male Place of Burial: Bylegh Spouse: Isabel, daughter of Richard, Earl of Cambridge Sources: Polydore Vergil's Hist. Angl. 1299, ed. 1603; Paston Letters, ed... Contributor: W. H. (William Hunt) Article Bourchier, Henry, Earl of Essex d. 1483, was the son of Sir William Bourchier, Earl of Ewe or Eu, and of Anne, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, and widow of Edmund, Earl of Stafford. He was therefore great-grandson of Robert Bourchier (q.v.), chancellor to Edward III, brother of Thomas (q.v.), archbishop of Canterbury, and of Anne, wife of John, Duke of Norfolk, and half-brother of Humfrey, Duke of Buckingham. Early in the reign of Henry VI he served in the French war, going to Calais in 1430 with the King and the Duke of York. He succeeded his father as Earl of Ewe, and was once summoned to parliament by that title. In 1435 he succeeded to the Barony of Bourchier. He served in France under the Duke of York, was appointed lieutenant-general in 1440, and in 1443 was captain of Crotoy in Picardy. He was summoned to parliament as Viscount Bourchier in 1446. He married Isabel, daughter of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, and aunt of Edward IV. In 1451 he served on the commission of oyer and terminer for Kent and Sussex. The battle of St. Albans made the Duke of York and his party the masters of the king, and on 29 May 1455 Henry appointed Bourchier, the duke's brother-in-law, treasurer of the kingdom. Bourchier held office until 5 Oct. 1456, and was then succeeded by the Earl of Shrewsbury_a change that `perhaps indicates that the mediating policy of the Duke of Buckingham was exchanged for a more determined one' (Stubbs, Const. Hist. iii. 176); for up to this time the Bourchiers, in spite of their close connection with the house of York, held a kind of middle place between the two parties, and, though the queen's party came into power into February, continued to hold office in what may be called the Lancastrian government. His and his brother's sudden discharge from office was put down to the queen's influence (Paston Letters, i. 408). In 1460 Bourchier was with the Earls of March and Warwick at the battle of Northampton, and was therefore by that time a declared partisan of the duke. On the accession of his nephew, Edward IV, he was created Earl of Essex (30 June 1461); he was made treasurer for the second time, and held office for a year. He received from the King the Castle of Werk and the honour of Tindall, in Northumberland, together with many other estates in different counties. In 1471 the Earl was again made treasurer, and retained his office during the rest of his life. When, on 28 May 1473, John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, landed at St. Osyth's, Essex and others rode against him and compelled him to re-embark (Paston Letters, iii. 92). In this year also he was for about a month keeper of the great seal during the vacancy of the chancellorship. Essex died 4 April 1483, and was buried at Bylegh. He had a large family. His eldest son, William, who married Anne Woodville, died during his lifetime, and he was therefore succeeded by his grandson, Henry (q.v.). His second son, Sir Henry Bourchier, married the daughter and heiress of Lord Scales; the third son, Humfrey, Lord Cromwell, died in the battle of Barnet; the fourth son, Sir John, married the niece and heiress of Lord Ferrers of Groby. He had four other children. Sources Polydore Vergil's Hist. Angl. 1299, ed. 1603; Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner; Will. Worcester; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 129; Stubbs's Constitutional History, iii. 176; Foss's Judges of England, iv. 423. Contributor: W. H. published 1885
  Person ID	I1750046557	Red1st
  Last Modified	23 Sep 2008

  
  

  Father	William Bourchier, Count of Eu,   b. Bef 1374, Little Easton, Essex, England ,   d. 28 May 1420, Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France  (Age ~ 46 years)
  Mother	Anne of Gloucester,   b. Apr 1383,   d. 16 Oct 1438  (Age ~ 55 years)
  Married	1404  [6, 7]
  Family ID	F672618523	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Isabel, of York,   d. 2 Oct 1484
  Married	Bef 25 Apr 1426  [8]
  Children	+ 1. Sir William Bourchier,   d. Aft 12 Feb 1483   2. Sir Henry Bourchier,   d. 1458, Ludlow, Shropshire, England + 3. Sir Humphrey Bourchier, Lord Cromwell,   d. 14 Apr 1471, Barnet Field, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire, England   4. Sir John Bourchier,   d. Bef Nov 1495   5. Thomas Bourchier,   d. 26 Oct 1491
  Family ID	F672618527	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Buried - - Memorial Inscription, Bylegh Abbey, Maldon, then, Little Easton, Essex, England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S25458533608] The Order of the Garter, its Knights and Stall Plates, Grace Holmes, (Windsor Castle, pub 1984), p. 35. [S25458533589] Dictionary of National Biography, 1st Ed., Ed: Leslie Stephen et al, (Oxford University Press, 1885 to 1900, c. 50 Vols), His own article. [S25458533593] Complete Peerage, G E Cockayne et al, (St. Catherine Press, 29 Great Queen St, Kingsway, London 1910 on), Berners art, Vol II, p. 153 seq. [S25458533593] Complete Peerage, G E Cockayne et al, (St. Catherine Press, 29 Great Queen St, Kingsway, London 1910 on), Essex article, Vol V, pp. 137-8. [S25458533684] Tim Powys-Lybbe. [S25458533589] Dictionary of National Biography, 1st Ed., Ed: Leslie Stephen et al, (Oxford University Press, 1885 to 1900, c. 50 Vols), Her father's article. [S25458533593] Complete Peerage, G E Cockayne et al, (St. Catherine Press, 29 Great Queen St, Kingsway, London 1910 on), Eu article, Vol V, p. 177. [S25458533593] Complete Peerage, G E Cockayne et al, (St. Catherine Press, 29 Great Queen St, Kingsway, London 1910 on), Essex article, Vol V, p. 138.