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Birth:          ABT 1191 of Kington, Herefordshire, England
Death:          1228 

Notes
ancestry.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Devereux
Stephen Devereux (c. 1191 – 1228) was a powerful Marcher Lord, and held Lyonshall 
Castle controlling an important approach to the border of Wales. As a key member of 
William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke retinue, he played a significant role in the 
Earl's support of King John during the First Barons' War, and during the minority of 
Henry III.
Birth and ancestry[edit]

Stephen Devereux was descended[1][a] from William Devereux, a Domesday 
Landholder in Gloucester and Hereford under Tenant-in-chief Roger de Lacy. The 
Devereux were a prominent knightly family on the Welsh marches with their power 
centered on Lyonshall Castle. Their coat of arms was: "Argent, fess and three 
roundels in chief gules."[2]

Stephen Devereux was born about 1191, the eldest of three sons of Walter Devereux
[3] and Cecilia de Longchamp. Cecilia was the daughter of Sir Hugh de Longchamp[3] 
and sister to William de Longchamp, Lord Chancellor of England. His father, Walter, 
died in 1197, and as a member of the retinue of William de Braose this probably 
occurred in France during May of 1197 at the assault on the castle at Milly-sur-
Thérain.[4] Braose was with Richard I as he campaigned to regain his territories lost 
while Richard was held captive by Leopold of Austria. Walter Devereux’s lands 
passed into the King's hands and were placed in the custody of the sheriff of 
Hereford, William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber. His sons were placed in the retinue 
of local lords for training as knights: Stephen Devereux with William Marshal, earl of 
Pembroke; Nicholas Devereux with Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath;[5][6][7][b] and 
John Devereux with William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber.[8][c] Stephen’s mother, 
Cecilia, launched into a series of legal fights to preserve her dower rights and the 
Devereux properties.[d]

Career[edit]

About 1199 Stephen Devereux was placed in the retinue of William Marshal for 
training as a knight, and over the years came ‘to be trusted for his cool-headed 
judgement’ and a member of the earl’s inner circle.[9] In spring of 1201, Philip of 
France confiscated all of England’s possessions in France, and in May of this year 
Devereux accompanied the earl of Pembroke when we went to Normandy with 100 
knights to counter a French invasion. King John abandoned Normandy in December 
1203, and they returned to England. Marshal tried to retain his Normandy estates at 
Longueville, and paid homage to King Philip for this purpose. This led to a falling out 
of favour with King John that festered over the next few years. In 1205 Stephen 
Devereux’s uncle and namesake, Stephen de Longchamp, granted him the manor of 
Frome Herbert (Halmond)[10] with John confirming it on 26 July, and this probably was 
an early attempt to subvert the loyalty of Stephen to the earl of Pembroke.

Against the king's wishes, William Marshal and Devereux traveled in early 1207 to 
Ireland to secure the earl's lands and title to Leinster. In late summer John summoned 
the earl to return to England. The Marshal held council with his wife and leading men, 
including Stephen, and all believed the summons to be a trick to allow the Justiciar of 
Ireland, Meiler FitzHenry, to seize key fortresses and drive Marshal from Ireland.[11] 
The Marshal decided to comply with the summons, but only bring with him 2 knights of 
his retinue: John Marshal and Henry Hose. The earl prepared his defenses, assigning 
John of Earley as guardian of south-west Leinster (Ossory, including county Kilkenny 
and Wexford) with Stephen Devereux to advise him, and Jordan of Sauqueville as 
guardian of north-east Leinster (Carlow, Wicklow, and Kildare).[12][13]

William Marshal arrived back in Wales in late 1207, and in his absence the king’s 
Justiciar launched assaults on his lands across Leinster.[14] In England, the earl 
arrived at court to find that the king had bought off his allies and supporters with 
lands and offices, and he was isolated and unable to find out the state of his lands in 
Ireland. The Justiciar delivered three letters in January 1208 summoning John of 
Earley, Jordan de Saqueville, and Stephen Devereux to appear before the king in 
England within 15 days, or suffer the loss of all their lands.[15][16] The three decided 
to stand fast for their lord, William Marshal, and sent to seek aid from Hugh de Lacy, 
1st Earl of Ulster, to resist the forces assaulting them.[17]

In January 1208 King John of England took the opportunity while out riding to torment 
William Marshal. He informs him that the earl’s pregnant wife was besieged in Kilkenny 
castle, and that a bloody battle had been fought there causing the death of Stephen 
Devereux and John of Earley.[18][19] The truth came out a few weeks later. Marshal’s 
forces were victorious, and this prompted a reconciliation with King John. William 
Marshal rewarded his loyal knights with lands, and Devereux received the castles of 
Balmagir and Selskar in county Wexford.[20][21][e]

By the summer of 1208, William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, had fallen out of 
favor with King John and fled to his friend, the earl of Pembroke, in Ireland.[22] The 
king’s men seized Braose's lands, and tracked him to Leinster. Marshal denied 
knowledge of the charges against Braose, and refused to turn him over claiming he 
was under the protection of his hospitality.[23] Braose was escorted to Meath where 
he took sanctuary with Walter de Lacy. John seized Braose’s lands, and replaced him 
as sheriff of Hereford with his mercenary commanders. Among these lands were the 
estates of the under-age Stephen Devereux including his castle at Lyonshall, 
Hereford. This at first was given over to Walter de Lacy, but on discovering that 
Braose was in Meath, the king seized the de Lacy lands in Ireland, and placed 
Lyonshall in the hands of Miles Pichard.[24][25][26] John raised a great army to bring 
to Ireland, and William Marshal rushed to England to renew his submission and vow no 
further support for de Braose.[24] John’s force landed in Waterford, and marched 
north. Walter de Lacy submitted, but his brother Hugh de Lacy resisted and was 
defeated. Hugh de Lacy fled to Scotland, and William de Braose fled to France and 
died.[24] William Marshal was again in disfavor, and the king’s wrath fell also on his 
followers. John of Earley, Jordan of Saqueville, and Geoffrey of Saqueville were 
imprisoned,[27] and Devereux found all his estates back in the king’s hands.

The next year brought uprisings in Wales, and increasing unrest among England’s 
barons at the poor rule of King John. Marshal seized this opportunity to make a 
gesture of support for the king,[28] prompting the release of the earl’s men and 
restoration of Stephen Devereux’s estates. As John’s popularity plummeted, Marshal 
and his knights bolstered the king’s forces helping to stabilize the situation.[29] 
Stephen is rewarded with the pardon of 4 marks of scutage by King John in 1211, and 
two fees held of the Bishops of Worcester and Winchester in 1214. Walter de Lacy 
released ½ knight’s fee in the manor of Haymond’s Frome (Frome Halmond) to Stephen 
d’Ebroicis.[f]

Stephen Devereux participated in the King’s expedition to Poitou in France during the 
first part of 1214, and is present for the conquest of Anjou and the final withdrawal 
following the Battle of Bouvines. His reward included instructions to the royal forester, 
Hugh de Neville, to measure 40 acres at his manor of Crowle in the royal forest of 
Feckenham for assarting (clearance for agriculture) in accord with the license the King 
had granted Stephen. The Pipe Roll of Michaelmas 1214 recorded Stephen Devereux 
as owing 6 dogs for obtaining an order from the king.[30] On 2 August 1222 a writ was 
sent to the sheriff of Worcestershire involving Crowle. The order showed that Crowle 
had been given to the Prior of Wormsley by Stephen, but his original grant was being 
called into question. In 1224 Stephen’s position was strong enough to point out to the 
government that the 40 acres of assart granted him at Crowle were to be placed 
outside the regard, and they were for the three years.[g]

Stephen also served with William le Gros as the Marshall’s attorney in a suit in 1214 
involving the Abbey of Abingdon and Faringdon.[31] With John’s failures in France, 
unrest swept England again, and the first Barons’ War broke out.[32] William Marshall 
and Stephen Devereux stood firm with the King, and were deeply involved in the 
negotiations resulting in the Magna Carta,[33] which John signed at Runnymede on 15 
June 1215. On 4 July 1215 King John wrote in a royal writ describing Stephen as ‘our 
dear and faithful’ when ordering a quittance of an annual render to Hereford Castle of 
32 gallons of honey from Devereux’s manor of Ballingham.[34] Stephen Devereux was 
further rewarded with many holdings forfeited by the rebels: Ballingham and Clehonger 
in Herefordshire (27 Jan 1216),[h] L20 of land in Stanton, Worcestershire (30 July 
1216),[i] and lands at Rotherwas (1219).[j]

As the king worked to reverse the Magna Carta, England again plunged into civil war. 
The earl of Pembroke and Stephen Devereux remained faithful to the King, but at the 
time of John’s death on 18 October 1216 two thirds of England was in open rebellion
[35] and a French army had landed at Sandwich, county Kent, to support the claim of 
their Prince (who became Louis VIII of France) to the throne.[36] As William Marshal 
attended to the burial of John, he sent his men to secure John’s son, Henry III. On 28 
October 1216 the earl had a heated debate with his mesnie including Stephen 
Devereux, and the decision was to support Henry’s claim to the throne.[37] William 
Marshal was appointed Guardian of the Realm, and Devereux was placed on the 
regency council entrusted with protecting the king during his minority. Moving quickly 
the royalists regained the initiative, and support began to flow back to Henry. Stephen 
Devereux was probably with the Earl of Pembroke at the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 
1217 when the baronial rebels were soundly defeated. The French claimant, Prince 
Louis, was forced to break off his siege of Dover,[38] and following the destruction of 
his reinforcements at the naval battle of Sandwich on 24 August 1217, abandoned 
England and his claim to the throne.[39]

Over the next year Devereux was actively assisting Marshal in bringing order to the 
realm, and was among the earl’s knights to stand vigil as the earl of Pembroke’s 
health failed. Stephen was one of the earl’s retinue given a fine, fur trimmed scarlet 
robe as a token of his esteem.[40] It was to Stephen Devereux that William Marshal 
had entrusted 2 lengths of silken cloth obtained in Jerusalem, and now sent for to use 
as his funeral shroud.[40][41] William Marshal died on 14 May 1219, and was laid to 
rest in the Temple Church in London.[42]

In June 1219 Stephen Devereux was assigned as inquisitor along with William 
Cantilupe Senior, Walter Muscegros, Gilbert Talbot, and Hugh Rigal (clerk) with 
instructions to travel through Hereford County reviewing the use of land, and insuring 
that all was being done by grant of the king.[43] Also he was appointed a forest 
commissioner for the Eyre in Hereford. The following year Stephen was appointed a 
justice of gaol delivery for Hereford[k]

During 1219 Devereux confirmed the grant of his father and himself of the whole 
church of Lyonshall to the canons of Pyon, and expressed his regret that the urgency 
of his affairs prevented him from tendering his gift in person.[44] To secure his 
position in Hereford, Stephen Devereux accepted a grant from Gilbert de Lacy of 12 
virgates of land in the manor of Staunton-on-Wye (part of the honor of Weobley also 
held by the Pichard’s) for which Stephen “should be in my familia” or military retinue. 
As a supporter now of de Lacy, both Walter and Gilbert de Lacy witnessed and 
confirmed Stephen’s further extensive grants to Wormsley Priory about 1220,[45][l] 
which were valued at 83 pounds 10 shillings 2 pence annually.[46] The majority of the 
lands were located near Kings Pyon about 7.5 miles south-east of Lyonshall. Stephen 
granted the mill at Lyonshall with the raw materials to support it from his manor; pigs 
from the woods of Lyonshall; land in that area and in Halmond’s Frome near their mill; 
a portion of the annual rents of Lyonshall, Frome, and Stokes; pasture in his manner of 
Cheddrehole; and salt from his manor at Crowle.[m] In this grant there is also mention 
of his wife, Isabel, and mother, ‘the widow Cecilia’ (who was holding some of the 
lands involved in the grant).[47] On 20 February 1223 Prior Ralph of Wormsley 
promised not to alienate or sell any of the lands or possessions which they held of the 
gift of Stephen Devereux without his assent.[48]

In 1221 Stephen had a dispute with the Canon of Hereford, M. William de Ria, over a 
weir in the River Wye in Hereford.[49][50] This extended into October of 1222 when 
Stephen was also involved in further litigation against William, Archdeacon of 
Hereford. Devereux had further litigation in August 1221 against Isabel, Aldith, and 
Cecily, daughters of Simon Bocha, in a plea of assize of mort d’ancestor by Gerard le 
Pele.[51] Also in October 1221 Stephen Devereux was in court over a plea of land in 
Gloucester with the Master of the Knight's Templar of England.[52]

In 1223 he participated in a military expedition again the Welsh. For this service he 
had scutage of all his tenants in the counties of Gloucester and Hereford, who held of 
him by military service. On 27 April 1223 from the Court at St. Albans an order to the 
sheriffs of Essex and Hertfordshire to cause the demand that the King makes from 
Stephen d’Evreux by summons of the Exchequer for several scutages from his land of 
Trumpington to be placed in respite until upon his next account. In 1225 he helped 
escort the collected fifteenth for that year from Hereford to Gloucester, and on 4 June 
1227 he was granted a weekly market and yearly fair at Lyonshall in perpetuity.[53]

Finally, in 1227 the 2nd Earl of Pembroke, William fitzWilliam Marshal, solidified their 
alliance with the grant to Devereux of Wilby Manor in Norfolk. The King confirmed this 
on 4 June 1227.[n] Stephen Devereux had previously purchased part of a carucate of 
land from Walter Giffard at Banham, part of Wilby, and the rest of the manor had been 
sold to the Marshalls.[54] Devereux was granted a fair and market at Banham on St. 
Barnabas' day (June 11).

Marriage[edit]

About 1208 William Marshal directed his attention to arranging marriage alliances for 
his children.[20] He did the same for his foster son in 1209, when he arranged 
Stephen Devereux’s marriage to Isabel de Cantilupe,[3][55] daughter of William de 
Catilupe Sheriff of Herefordshire and his wife, Mazilia Braci. She was also the aunt of 
Thomas de Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford. They would go on to have children:
Unknown Daughter (born ~1213)[56][o]
Margaret Devereux (born ~1216). She married Alexander Redmond of The Hall.[57][p]
William (born 1219) who was his heir,[58][59] and probably named in honor of William 
Marshal who died this year.[60]
Philip Devereux, knight of Balmagir (born ~1221)[61][q]

Following Stephen Devereux's death Isabel Cantilupe married a second time to 
Richard Penebruge, and survived him as well.[3]

Principal landholdings[edit]

Stephen Devereux's principal seat was at Lyonshall Castle in Hereford. His manors 
included Ballingham, Frome Halmond (Herbert), Stoke Lacy, Holme Lacy, La Fenne 
(Bodenham), and Whitchurch maund in Herefordshire; Cheddrehole (Cheddar) in 
Somerset; Lower Hayton in Salop; and Wilby in Norfolk. Additional lands included 
Clehonger, and Staunton-on-Wye in Herefordshire; Crowle in the Royal Forest of 
Feckham, and Staunton in Worcester; Guiting and Oxenhall in Gloucestershire; and 
Trumpington in Cambridgeshire. Oxenhall,[62] Trumpington,[63] Frome Halmond and 
Whitchurch maund were held by Isabel de Cantilupe in dower until her death.

Death[edit]

Stephen Devereux died on 17 Mar 1228. His wife, Isabel survived him, and married a 
second time to Ralph de Penbrugge[3] (between 1230 and 1242). On 17 March 1228 
from the Court at Windsor a writ concerning lands to be taken into the King’s hand. 
Order to the sheriff of Herefordshire that, immediately after having viewed these 
letters, he is to take into the King’s hand the land that Stephen d’Evreux held of the 
King in chief near to Gillow and all other lands that he held in his bailiwick, and to 
keep them safely until the King is certain to whom the custody of the aforesaid lands 
pertains, whether to the King or to another.

In March of 1228 the King issued a writ instructing the sheriff of Hereford to release 
the lands of Isabel Cantilupe’s dower that had been taken into his hands by the order 
of the king on Stephen’s death. On 21 February 1244, the king provided a further writ 
specifically restoring to her the manor of Frome Herbert (Frome Halmond), which was 
held in dower as part of the barony of Walter de Lacy. On 3 April 1228 the king further 
clarified that the sheriff was to take into his possession certain lands that Stephen 
held by fee of Gilbert de Lacy.

In 1242, Isabel Devereux held in Magene Album (Whitchurch maund in the parish of 
Bodenham) of the Honor of Weobley 2 hides from Roger Pichard by knight’s service in 
the Hundred of Brokesesse in Hereford.[25] On 21 February 1244 his widow, gave to 
the Hospital of St. Ethelbert for the souls of herself and her two husbands "unam 
ladum bladi" at the Feast of St. Andrew during her life to be received at her house in 
Frome. This Deed has a seal of white wax with the arms of Devereux and around it 
"Sigillum Isabell +" and was witnessed by Hugh de Kilpeck, John de Ebroicis, and 
Richard de Chandos. The arms of Devereux was described as "a fess and in chief 
three torteauxes."[64]

Parents
D'EVEREUX Walter (1173 - ABT 1197)
DE LONGCHAMP Cecelia ()

Siblings
D'EVEREUX Stephen (ABT 1191 - 1228)

Marriage To DE CANTILUPE Isabel (ABT 1190 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
DE CANTILUPE William (ABT 1159 - 7 Apr 1239)
BRACI Marcelin (Mazilia) (ABT 1160 - )

Children by DE CANTILUPE Isabel ABT 1190 - 
D'EVEREUX William (ABT 1219 - 4 Aug 1265)

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