General Notes

Alan la Zouche; undertook military service Gascony 1242-3, Justice of Chester and the four cantrefs (administrative districts, precursors of counties) of North Wales 1250 and as Deputy under Prince Edward (later Edward II) Feb 1253/4 [sic. Edward II was born 1284, must have been Edward I], Justiciar of Ireland 1256-58, Justice of the Forest South of Trent and Constable of Rockingham Castle 1261-64, Constable of Northampton Castle 1261-63 and Feb-June 1267, Sheriff of Northants 1261-64, Warden of the City and Constable of the Tower of London 1267-68; m. by 1242 Ellen/Helen (d. by 20 Aug 1296), 3rd daughter of 2nd Earl of Winchester of the Feb 1206/7 creation and d. 10 Aug 1270 of injuries inflicted by the 7th Earl of Surrey of the 1088 creation, the said Earl being one of the parties to a lawsuit in which Alan was involved, leaving [Roger] with four younger sons.  [Burke's Peerage]

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

Sir Alan la Zouche (son of Roger), d. 12 Aug 1270, Lord Zouche of Ashby la Zouche, co. Leicester, Constable of the Tower of London, and a descendant of the Counts of Porhoet in Brittany.  [Magna Charta Sureties]

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

Sir Alan la Zouche in the 26th Henry III [1242] had a military summons to attend the king into France, and in ten years afterwards had the whole county of Chester and all North Wales placed under his government. In the 45th of the same reign [1272] he obtained a charter for a weekly market at Ashby-la-Zouche, in Leicestershire, and for two fairs in the year at Swavesey. About the same time he was constituted warden of all the king's forests south of Trent, as also sheriff of Northamptonshire. In the 46th he was made justice itinerant for the cos. Southampton, Buckingham, and Northampton; and upon the arbitration made by Lewis, King of France, between Henry III and the barons, he was one of the sureties oh behalf of the king. In three years afterwards he was constituted constable of the Tower of London and governor of the castle at Northampton. Sir Alan Zouche was violently assaulted in Westminster Hall in 1268 by John, Earl of Warren and Surrey upon occasion of a dispute between the regarding some landed property, and with his son, Roger, who happened to be with him, severely wounded. He m. Elena, dau. and heir of Roger de Quinci, Earl of Winchester, and by her (who d. 1296] had issue, Roger, his successor, and Eudo, from whom the Zouches, Barons Zouche, of Harynworth derive. Alan le Zouche d. in 1269 and was s. by his elder son, Roger. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 598, Zouche, Baron Zouche, of Ashby, co. Leicester]

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

ALAN LA ZOUCHE, son and heir, was to have seisin of his lands, having done homage, 16 June 1238. He took part in the capture of William Marsh, June 1242; served in Gascony, 1242-43; was granted a weekly market and yearly fair at Swavesey, 26 June 1244, and at Ashby, 4 May 1261; Justice of Chester and of the four cantreds in North Wales, 2 July 1250, continuing as Deputy under Prince Edward, February 1253/4-October 1255; Commissioner to mediate between Llewelin, Prince of North Wales, and his brother David, 31 January 1253/4. Having gone to Ireland in the service of Prince Edward early in 1256, he was Justiciar of Ireland from before 27 June 1256 till shortly before 21 October1258. During the Barons' Wars he stood firmly for the King. He was among the tenants summoned to London cum serviciis que nobis debent, Easter 1260, and again cum equis et armis, February 1260/1; was granted a pension of 50 marks a year, 4 April 1261; Justice of the Forest South of Trent and Constable of Rockingham Castle, 12 June 1261-64; Constable of Northampton Castle, 12 June 1261-July 1263, and again, 28 February-June 1267; Sheriff of Northants, 9 July 1261-64; was sent hurriedly to defend the march of Wales against Llewelin, December 1262; was one of the King's supporters who, at Windsor, 16 December 1263, declared themselves willing to accept the arbitration of the King of France; and was appointed Keeper of cos. Devon, Somerset and Dorset, 24 December 1263. According to some accounts he was taken prisoner by Sir John Giffard at the battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264, but escaped and was recaptured in the garb of a monk. He was one of the 12 Commissioners, appointed 31 August, who were responsible for the Dictum of Kenilworth, 31 October 1266; and he was Warden of the City and Constable of the Tower of London, 23 or 25 June 1267-April 1268. He married, before 1242, Helen, or Ellen, 3rd daughter and coheir of Roger (DE QUENCY), 2nd EARL OF WINCHESTER, CONSTABLE OF SCOTLAND, by his 1st wife, Helen, 2nd but 1st surviving daughter and coheir of Alan, LORD OF GALLOWAY, CONSTABLE OF SCOTLAND. In the course of a lawsuit with John (de Warenne), Earl of Surrey, he and his son Roger were violently assaulted by the Earl before the Justices in Westminster Hall on the Octave of St. John (1 July) 1270, whereby he received wounds of which he died, 10 August following. His widow, who received Brackley in her pourparty and was patron of the Hospital there, was summoned to send her service to Wales in 1277 and 1282. She died shortly before 20 August 1296.
[Complete Peerage XII/2:932-4, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]