General Notes

John de Verdun, b. c 1226, d. 21 Oct 1274, son of Theobald le Boteler and Rohese de Verdun.  [Magna Charta Sureties]

Tenant-in-chief in Ireland.

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JOHN DE VERDUN, 2nd son of Theobald BUTLER, or LE BOTILLER (who died 19 July 1230, in Poitou), being 1st son by his 2nd wife, Rohese,[a] daughter and heir of Nicholas DE VERDUN, of Alton, Staffs, &c., was born about 1226. In May--June 1244 he was to be given his wife's share of the lands of her grandfather, Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath; and on 3 May 1247 he was to have seizin of his mother's lands. He was granted protection, May 1248, to go to Ireland, which he visited many times during his life; was given quittance of common summons in many counties, during 1254-72, and was appointed one of the Justices in eyre for cos. Salop, Stafford, Warwick, Leicester and Lincoln, December 1259. He had further protections to go to Gascony, May 1253, and for service in Wales, August 1257, where he was Constable of the army which mustered at Chester; was ordered to defend the Marches against the Welsh in January 1259/60; and was summoned to London to aid the King, April 1260, and to Windsor, for the same reason, October 1263. Later in that year he was among the Royalists who promised to observe the award of Louis of France touching the Provisions of Oxford. During the conflict between Simon de Montfort and the Crown John followed the King. In August 1265, after the Royal victory at Evesham, he was Keeper of Odiharn Castle, Hants; in October following he wrote, with others, to report to the King the surrender of London; and in February 1265/6 he was appointed to protect Worcestershire from the attacks of the rebels in Kenilworth Castle. In August 1270 he accompanied the Lord Edward on his Crusade; and witnessed a charter granted by him in Sicily, 15 January 1270/1. He established the Franciscan priory at Dundalk, co. Louth.

He married, 1stly, before 14 May 1244, Margery, 1st daughter of Gilbert DE LACY, of Ewyas Lacy, co. Hereford, by Isabel, daughter of Hugh (LE BIGOD), EARL OF NORFOLK, which Gilbert (who died v.p. between 12 August and 25 December 1230) was son and heir ap. of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath (who died s.p.m.s. shortly before 24 February 1240/1), to whom Margery was coheir. He married, 2ndly, before 1267, Eleanor (f). He is said to have died 21 October 1274. His widow was living, 10 June 1278.  [Complete Peerage XII/2:246-8, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

[a] Besides Alton her great inheritance in England and Ireland included Brandon Castle, co. Warwick, Belton, co. Leicester, and Farnham Royal, Bucks, which manor was held by the service of finding a glove for the King's hand on the day of his Coronation.

(f) Presumably his son Humphrey, b. on the vigil of Pentecost 1267, was by the 2nd wife.  Nothing is known of Eleanor's parentage but she may have been a Bohun.  A seal, said to be hers, bears the Bohun and Verdun arms and the name of her son, Humphrey, may be significant.