The feudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp or honour of Hatch Beauchamp was an English feudal barony with its caput at the manor of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset. The site of the mediaeval manor house, to the immediate south of the ancient parish church of St John the Baptist, is today occupied by Hatch Court, a grade I listed mansion built in about 1755 in the Palladian style.
Nomenclature The Saxon word Hache signifies "gateway" and it is believed Hatch in Somerset formed the gateway to the royal hunting forest of Neroche. The small River Rag, which flows through Hache, was the northern boundary of the forest.Cookson
Descent
Saxon era Hache was held from King Edward the Confessor (died 1066) by the Saxons Godric, Godwin and Bollo, as stated in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Norman era
Robert, Count of Mortain The Domesday Book of 1086 records Hache as one of the many holdings in-chief of Robert, Count of Mortain (c. 1031 – 1090), the half-brother of King William the Conqueror, whose tenant there was Robert Fitz Ivo, known as "Robert the Constable". On the rebellion of the Count of Mortain against King William's younger son and successor to the English throne, his lands escheated to the crown, and were soon thereafter re-granted to the de Beauchamp family from Normandy.
de Beauchamp The early history of the de Beauchamp family of Hatch is "by no means clear".Sanders, p.51 Robert I de Beauchamp (fl. 1092) in 1092 witnessed a charter. Robert II de Beauchamp (fl. 1158) witnessed a Somerset charter c. 1150, and is again recorded in the Somerset Pipe Roll in 1158. He was possibly the "Robert de Beauchamp" who was Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset between 1176 and 1181.Sanders, p.51, note 4 In the Cartae Baronum return of 1166 a certain Robert de Beauchamp certified that he held of the King in-chief, 17 knights' fees, referred to as the "honour of Robert Beauchamp in Somerset and Dorset", 2 held in demesne and 15 sub-enfeoffed to tenants.Sanders, p.51, note 3 Robert III de Beauchamp (died 1195) witnessed a charter in 1185. He left no male progeny, only a daughter and sole heiress, who was the wife of Simon de Vautort (died 1199), of which name were the feudal barons of Trematon in Cornwall.Sanders, pp.91-2
de Vautort ("de Beauchamp")
Robert de Vautort/IV "de Beauchamp" (c. 1191 – 1251) Robert de Vautort (c. 1191 – 1251), alias "Robert IV de Beauchamp", son and heir of Simon de Vautort (died 1199) by his wife the heiress of de Beauchamp. He was aged about 8 at his father's death and became a ward of King John, who granted the wardship to his chamberlain Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (died 1243). He adopted the surname "de Beauchamp" in lieu of his patronymic, and on reaching his majority of 21 he became seized of the Honour of Beauchamp.
Robert V de Beauchamp (died 1264) Robert V de Beauchamp (died 1264), son and heir, was summoned on many occasions by King Henry III to perform the military service required by his feudal tenure per baroniam, in Scotland and Wales. he married Alice de Mohun, daughter of Reginald II de Mohun (1206–1258), of Dunster Castle in Somerset, feudal baron of Dunster.Sanders, p.51, note 5
John I de Beauchamp (died 1283) John I de Beauchamp (died 1283), son and heir, who married Cecily de Vivonne/de Forz (died 1320), one of the four daughters and co-heiresses of William de Vivonne/de Forz (died 1259), who held a one-half moiety of the feudal barony of Curry Mallet in Somerset.Sanders, pp.38-9 Cecily thus inherited a one-eighth share of the barony of Curry Malet. He served as Governor of Carmarthen Castle and of Cardigan Castle, both in Wales. John built a manor house at his other seat of Stoke-sub-Hamdon. His landholdings included the manors of Marston Magna and Shepton Malet in Somerset. He was summoned to join the king's army at Worcester with horse and arms to combat the rebellious Prince Llywelyn (died 1240) of Wales. He died at Hatch, Somerset on 24 October 1283 and was buried in the Chapel of St. Nicholas in the church of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset on 31 October 1283.
John II de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp (1274–1336) John II de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp (1274–1336), son and heir, received in 1333 from King Edward III a royal licence to crenellate his mansion at Hatch. He served as Governor of Bridgwater Castle in Somerset and fought in the Scottish wars. He received regular writs to attend the king in Parliament, by which in 1299 he was created a baron by writ under the title "Baron Beauchamp de Somerset".
John III de Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp (1306–1343) John III de Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp (1306–1343), son and heir, who fought in the wars in France and attended Parliament from 1337 to 1342. In 1301 he was granted a royal licence to hold weekly markets on Thursdays and also a fair within the manor of Hatch Beauchamp.Collinson, p.45
John IV de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp (1330–1361) John IV de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp (1330–1361), son and heir. He married Lady Alice Beauchamp, daughter of Sir Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick (who was of no apparent kinship)Based on the different armorials borne by each family, per: Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086–1327, Oxford, 1960, p.51, note 2) by his wife Katherine Mortimer. The marriage was without progeny and thus the barony by writ became abeyant. The co-heiresses to the feudal barony of Hatch and its lands were his three aunts, the most richly endowed of whom was Cecily de Beauchamp (c. 1321 – 1394), wife of Roger Seymour, of whose share the capital manor of Hatch formed a part.
Seymour
The Seymour family (anciently de St. Maur) of Hatch is earliest recorded seated at Penhow Castle in Glamorgan in the 12th century. The parish church of Penhow is dedicated to St Maur. It should however be differentiated from the Anglo-Norman "baronial family" named St Maur, created Baron St Maur by writ in 1314, who bore different armorials (Argent, two chevrons gules) and which originated at the manor of St. Maur, near Avranches, in Normandy.Battle Abbey Roll. quoting "The Norman People"
The ancestor of the "baronial St Maurs" was Wido de St Maur (died pre-1086) who came to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066, whose son William FitzWido is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a substantial tenant of Geoffrey Bishop of Coutances, and who held a feudal barony with lands in Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucester, with ten manors in Somersetshire (of which Portishead was one). He made conquests in Wales in about 1090, which his family afterwards held.
No conclusive evidence exists to confirm the "baronial St Maurs" and the "Seymours of Hatch" as derived from a common stock, however Camden believed this to be most probable.Battle Abbey Roll The two families adopted different arms at the start of the age of heraldry, c. 1200 – 1215, with the "baronial St Maurs" bearing: Argent, two chevrons gules. Certainly the "baronial St Maurs" died out in the male line in 1409 when their heir became Baron Zouche of Haryngworth, namely William la Zouche, 5th Baron Zouche (c. 1402 – 1462), whose son was William la Zouche, 6th Baron Zouche, 7th Baron St Maur (c. 1432 – 1468/9). One of the heirs of the St Maur/Zouche family was the Bampfield family of Poltimore in Devon (later Baron Poltimore) which inherited the Devon manor of North Molton from the Zouche family.The monument in North Molton Church to Sir Amyas Bampfylde (1560–1626) displays an escutcheon quartering Zouche and St Maur (Argent, two chevrons gules a label of three points vert)
Sir Roger I Seymour (1314 – c. 1361) Sir Roger I Seymour (alias St. Maur) (1314-pre-1361), born at Even Swindon, Wiltshire, husband of Cecily de Beauchamp (died 1393Loades), heiress of Hatch Beauchamp. Cecily de Beauchamp inherited the manors of Hatch Beauchamp, Shepton Beauchamp, Merryfield, Ilton or 'Murifield', and one third of the manor of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, the manors of Boultbery and Haberton, Devon, of Dorton, Buckinghamshire, and of Little Haw, Suffolk. She survived her husband and remarried secondly on 14 September 1368 to Sir Gilbert Turberville of Coity Castle, Glamorgan.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, p. 50.Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), p. 76.
Sir William Seymour (c. 1342 – 1391) Sir William Seymour (c. 1342 – 1391). He served under the Black Prince in Gascogny in 1362. He resided mainly at his manor of Undy (alias Woundy), near Caldicot in Monmouthshire. He married Margaret de Blackburn, daughter of Simon de Blackburn.Loades, Chapter 1
Roger II Seymour (c. 1367/70 – 1420) Roger II Seymour (c. 1367/70 – 1420), who married Maud Esturmy (alias Esturmi, etc.), a daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Esturmy (died 1427), of Wolfhall in Wiltshire,Loader Speaker of the House of Commons and hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest in Wiltshire. Following his wife's inheritance, he moved his principal seat from Undy to Wolfhall.
Sir John Seymour (c. 1395/1402 – 1464) Sir John Seymour(c. 1395/1402 – 1464), son and heir, of Wulfhall in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, and of Hatch Beauchamp. He served as Member of Parliament for Ludgershall in 1422 and Knight of the Shire for Wiltshire in 1435, 1439, and 1445 J. S. Roskell, The Commons in the Parliament of 1422 (Manchester University Press), p. 126 (see footnotes) He was also High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1431–1432, having previously served as High Sheriff of Hampshire. He married Isabel William (alias Williams) (died 1486), daughter of Mark William, (alias William MacWilliam or Williams of Gloucestershire), a merchant and Mayor of Bristol,
John Seymour (died 1491) John Seymour (died 1491), grandson and heir, son of John Seymour (1425–1463) who pre-deceased his father. His first wife was Elizabeth Darrell (born c. 1451), daughter of Sir George Darrell (died c. 1474) of Littlecote, Wiltshire, by his wife Margaret Stourton (born c. 1433), a daughter of John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton and of Margery or Marjory Wadham, daughter of Sir John Wadham.
Sir John Seymour (1474–1536) Sir John Seymour (1474–1536), eldest son from 1st marriage, knighted in 1497 after the Battle of Deptford Bridge, the father of Queen Jane Seymour (1508–1537), 3rd wife of King Henry VIII.
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1500 – 1552)
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, KG, (c. 1500 – 1552), eldest son and heir, uncle of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Lord Protector of England (1547–49). in 1536 on his sister's marriage to King Henry VIII, he was created Viscount Beauchamp of Hache and in 1537 was created by the same king Earl of Hertford. He received his dukedom together with the subsidiary title Baron Seymour on the accession of his nephew to the throne in 1547. In 1531 he had served as Sheriff of Somerset and during this time he probably resided at Hache Court. The Duke was executed in 1552 for felony on the order of his nephew King Edward VI, and was attainted by Parliament shortly thereafter when all his titles were forfeited.
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539–1621)