General Notes

(Research):Note:
In 1357 Edward III conferred the Earldom of Northampton o
n his cousin and leading adviser William de Bohun, younges
t son by a daughter of Edward I of Humphrey de Bohun, Ear
l of Hertford and Essex. The new Earl was occupied in fight
ing the Scots in the north of England, of which he became C
onstable in 1338, and the French in the opening stages of t
he Hundred Years War. William's son Humphrey succeeded hi
m but died without male issue in Jan 1372/3, when the Earld
om expired. [Burke's
Peerage, Northampton, Earldom & Marquessate, p. 2108]
Note:
William, a personage of great eminence in the turbulent tim
es in which he lived and one of the gallant heros of Cressy
. In the parliament held at London in the 11th Edward III [
1338], upon the advancement of the Black Prince to the duke
dom of Cornwall, he was created Earl of Northampton (17 Mar
ch, 1337), and from that period his lordship appears the co
nstant companion in arms of the martial Edward, and his ill
ustrious son. At Cressy he was in the second battalia of th
e English army, and he was frequently engaged in the subseq
uent wars of France and Scotland. He was entrusted at diffe
rent periods with the most important offices, such as ambas
sador to treat of peace with hostile powers, commissioner t
o levy troops, &c., and he was finally honoured with the Ga
rter. His lordship m. Elizabeth, dau. of Bartholomew de Bad
lesmere, one of the co-heirs of her brother Giles, and wido
w of Edmund de Mortimer, by whom he had issue, Humphrey, 2n
d Earl of Northampton, of whom hereafter, as successor to h
is uncle in the earldom of Hereford and Essex and constable
ship of England; and Elizabeth, m. to Richard FitzAlan, 10t
h Earl of Arundel. He d. in 1360. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dorma
nt and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p
. 57-58, Bohun, Earls of Hereford, Earls of Essex, Earls o
f Northampton, and High Constables of England]