General Notes

Maurice de Berkeley strengthened his tenure of Berkeley Castle by marrying, at the instigation of Henry II, Alice, dau. and heiress of the ousted lord, Roger de Berkeley, of Dursley. By this lady he had six sons, and was s. by the eldest, Maurice de Berkeley. [John Burke, History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I., R. Bentley, London, 1834-1838, p. 469, Berkeley, of Spetchley]

--------------------------

HOLDERS of the CASTLE of BERKELEY (V)

MAURICE FlTZ ROBERT FITZ HARDING, otherwise DE BERKELEY, feudal LORD OF BERKELEY, son and heir, who "may bee called Maurice the Make Peace, born about 1120, in Bristol, received (at the same date as his father) a confirmation of the grant of Berkeley from Henry II, in 1155, and again 30 October 1189 from Queen Eleanor, Regent to her son Richard I. In 1190 he was Justice Itinerant in co. Gloucester. He enlarged the Castle of Berkeley, which thenceforth became the chief seat of, and gave the name to, the family. He married, in 1153 or 1154, at Bristol, Alice, 1st daughter (but not heir or coheir) of his dispossessed predecessor, Roger DE BERKELEY, feudal Lord of Dursley (formerly "fermer" of Berkeley), with whom he had the manor of Slimbridge, as by agreement between their respective fathers. He died 16 June 1190, and was buried in the church of Brentford, Middlesex. His widow died at an " extreame old age."  [Complete Peerage II:126, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

--------------------------

Maurice de Berkeley (son of Robert FitzHardinge, upon whom, for his attachment to the Empress Maud, had been conferred the lordship of Berkeley and Berkeley Hernesse, the confiscated possessions of Roger de Berkeley, the adherent of King Stephen; but, to reconcile the parties, King Henry, who had restored to Roger his manor and castle of Dursley, caused an agreement to be concluded between them that the heiress of the ousted lord should be given to marriage to the heir of the new baron; and thus passed the feudal castle of Berkeley to another chief; which Maurice de Berkeley became feudal lord of Berkeley upon the decease of his brother, Henry, and dying in 1189, left six sons, and was s. by the eldest, Robert de Berkeley. [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]