General Notes

Thomas de Berkeley, feudal Lord of Berkeley and 1st Baron Berkeley so created by writ of summons to Parliament 24 June 1295; V-Constable England 1297, present at the victory over the Scots of Falkirk 22 July 1298 and at Siege of Carlaverock July 1300, taken prisoner at Scottish victory of Bannockburn 24 June 1314, Commissioner to examine claims to the crown of Scotland June 1292.  [Burke's Peerage]

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Sir Thomas de Berkeley, b. 1245, d. 23 July 1321, son of Maurice de Berkeley, b. 1218, d. 1281, and Isabel, daughter of Richard Fitz Roy, bastard son of King John of England.  [Magna Charta Sureties]

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BARONY of BERKELEY (I)

THOMAS DE BERKELEY, feudal LORD OF BERKELEY, 2nd, but 1st surviving son and heir (c), who "may bee called Thomas the Wise." He was born at Berkeley 1245, was at the battle of Evesham when under age, and was for nearly every year for the last 50 years of his life "employed either against the Welsh., the Scots, or the French." He was summoned to attend the King at Shrewsbury 28 June 1283 by writ directed 'Thome de Berkel', which writ was actually treated in the Mowbray case (1877) as one which created an hereditary Peerage. On 24 June 1295, he was summoned to Parliament by writ directed Thome de Berkelegh', whereby he may be held to have become LORD BERKELEY. He continued to be so summoned till 15 May 1321. He was made Vice-Constable of England in 1297, was at the bloody battle and defeat of the Scots at Falkirk 22 July 1298, the siege of Carlaverock in July 1300, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Bannockburn, 24 June 1314, paying a large sum for his ransom. He was likewise on the Commission to examine the claims to the Crown of Scotland, June 1292; was on an Embassy to France, January 1296, and to Pope Clement V, in July 1307. He married, in 1267, Joan, da. of William (DE FERRERS), EARL OF DERBY, by his 2nd wife, Margaret, daughter and coheir of Roger (DE QUINCI), EARL OF WINCHESTER. She died in March 1309/10, and was buried at St. Augustine's, Bristol. He died 23 July 1321, at Berkeley, aged about 76.  [Complete Peerage II:127-8, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

(c) Maurice, his elder brother, was killed in a tournament at Kenilworth, vp in 1279.

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Thomas de Berkeley, b. at Berkeley in 1245, was summoned to parliament by writ as a baron from 23 June 1295 to 15 May 1321. This nobleman was of great eminence in the reigns of Edward I and and Edward II, being in the French, Welsh, and Scottish wars of those periods, particularly at the celebrated siege of Caerlaverock. He was involved, however, at the close of his life in the treason of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. His lordship m. circa 1267 Jane, dau. of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, and dying July 23, 1321 (his wife d. 19 Mar 1309], left issue,

I. Maurice, 2nd baron
II. Thomas, ancestor of the Berkeleys of Wymondham, co. Leicester, extinct in Sir Henry Berkeley, living 1622.
III. John, d. s. p. 10th Edward II [c. 1317]
IV. James, a bishop
I. Isabel, d. unm.
II. Margaret, d. unm.

[Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 44, Berkeley, Viscount Berkeley, Earl of Nottingham, and Marquess of Berkeley]