Hugh Despenser the Younger, Favorite of Edward II, King of England

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Favorite: a person treated with special or undue favor by a king, queen, or another royal person

Hugh Despenser the Younger from the Founders ‘and Benefactors’ Book of Tewkesbury Abbey, Bodleian Library Oxford; Credit – Wikipedia

Hugh Despenser the Younger was born in England circa 1287 – 1289. He was the elder of the two sons and the eldest of the four children of Hugh Despenser the Elder, 1st Earl of Winchester and Isabel de Beauchamp, daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick and Maud FitzJohn.

Hugh had three younger siblings:

Hugh was knighted on May 22, 1306, at the Feast of the Swans, a celebration of the knighting of 267 men at Westminster Abbey.  King Edward I of England first knighted his son Edward of Caernarfon, the future King Edward II, who then knighted the 266 other men. Shortly afterward, Hugh married Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre, daughter of King Edward I and sister of King Edward II. Eleanor’s grandfather King Edward I granted her a substantial dowry of 2,000 pounds sterling.

Hugh and Eleanor had nine children:

King Edward II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Hugh’s father Hugh Despenser the Elder served King Edward I of England both in battle and as a diplomat and was created Baron Despenser and summoned to Parliament in 1295. On July 8, 1307, King Edward I died and his son succeeded him as King Edward II. Hugh Despenser the Elder was one of the few barons who remained loyal to Edward II during the controversy regarding Edward II’s favorite Piers Gaveston.

After Piers Gaveston was executed in 1312, Hugh Despenser the Elder became Edward II’s chief administrator, marking the beginning of the Despensers’ increased prominence at court. Hugh Despenser the Younger became royal chamberlain in 1318. He then maneuvered himself into the affections of King Edward II and displaced his current favorite Roger d’Amory.  While there is no doubt that there was a close and trusting relationship between King Edward II and Hugh Despenser the Younger, there is little evidence to support the suspicion that they also had a sexual relationship. Edward II was willing to let the Despensers do as they pleased, and they grew rich from their corruption.

All this caused much dismay among the nobility. Their feelings were especially negative towards Hugh the Younger. They saw him taking their rightful places at court and even worse, being the new Piers Gaveston. By 1321, Hugh the Younger had earned many enemies throughout English society, from Edward II’s wife Queen Isabella, to the nobility, to the common people. A year later, Queen Isabella became even more enraged when Edward II created Hugh the Elder Earl of Winchester. By 1323, Queen Isabella had had enough of the Despensers and left Edward II, who made an unwise decision to send Isabella and their 12-year-old son, the future King Edward III, on a diplomatic mission to her native France.

In France, Isabella became reacquainted with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Mortimer had been imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1322 for having led a revolt against King Edward II in what became known as the Despenser War. He later escaped to France with Isabella’s help. Isabella and Mortimer made plans to depose Edward II.  They gathered an army and set sail for England, landing at Harwich on September 25, 1326.  With their mercenary army, Isabella and Mortimer quickly seized power. Edward II was forced to abdicate. Isabella’s son was crowned King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king.

During the rebellion, both Hugh Despenser the Elder and Hugh Despenser the Younger were captured. Queen Isabella tried to intercede for Hugh the Elder but his enemies, notably Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, insisted that both father and son should face trial and execution. Ultimately, Hugh the Elder was denied a trial and was immediately hanged in his armor on October 27, 1326.

Execution of Hugh Despenser the Younger, from a manuscript of Jean Froissart, Credit – Wikipedia

Hugh the Younger unsuccessfully attempted to starve himself to death before his trial. He was tried on November 24, 1326, with Queen Isabella and Mortimer in attendance, and was found guilty on many charges including high treason, and sentenced to death. Hugh Despenser the Younger was executed in Hereford, England, on the same day as his trial. He was dragged naked through the streets and then hanged, drawn, and quartered. His head was mounted on the gates of London. Four years later, in December 1330, Hugh the Younger’s widow was permitted to bury his remains at the family’s Gloucestershire estate but only the head, a thighbone, and a few vertebrae were returned to her.

During archaeological work in the 1970s, the remains of a decapitated male, missing several vertebrae and a thighbone, were found in the ruins of Hulton Abbey in Abbey Hulton in Staffordshire, England. The location of the remains in the chancel suggested that they belonged to an important person. In 2004, the remains were transferred to the University of Reading, where analysis suggested that the body had been hanged, drawn, and quartered. Radiocarbon analysis dated the body to between 1050 and 1385, and later tests suggested the remains belonged to a man over 34 years old. In 2008, Dr. Mary Lewis of the University of Reading identified the remains as belonging to Hugh Despenser the Younger. Hugh Despenser the Younger was about 40-years-old at the time of his death. Hulton Abbey is located on lands that belonged to Hugh Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester, the second husband of Margaret de Clare, the sister of Hugh the Younger’s widow Eleanor de Clare. Margaret’s first husband had been Piers Gaveston so she and her sister Eleanor had very unlucky first marriages.

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Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Hugh Le Despenser. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_le_Despenser> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Eleanor De Clare. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_de_Clare> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulton_Abbey
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Hugh Despenser The Elder. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Despenser_the_Elder> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Hugh Despenser The Younger. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Despenser_the_Younger> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Edward II Of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-edward-ii-of-england/> [Accessed 17 November 2020].