Earl Ralph De Monthermer GLOUCESTER

   Other names for Ralph were MONTHERMER Baron and GLOUCESTER Earl.

   Ancestral File Number: 8XJD-0H.

   General Notes:

1st Baron of MONTHERMER, Earl of GLOUCESTER.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, 1990: "Joan of Acre, Mar =2 Ralph De Monthermer, Died 1325.

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III, The Three Edwards, Thomas B Costain, 1958, Doubleday & Co
p44: "Joanna was but twenty-three when the old Earl of Gloucester died. After being a widow a year, she secretly married a completely unknown squire in her late husband's retinue, Ralph de Monthermer. Through this marriage he came possessed in his own right of the earldoms of Gloucester and Hertford. The fact that a royal princess had dared to marry this obscure fellow became a `cause celebre' which for a time separated her from the affection of her father. It proved to be a happy marriage, however, leading ultimately to a firm friendship between the new son-in-law and Edward."

The Political History of England 1216-1377, Vol III, T F Tout, AMS Press, 1905,
p223: "...The heavy hand of Edward fell upon earls as well as upon bish- ops...The old leaders of opposition were dead or powerless. Ralph of Monthermer, the simple north-country knight who had won the hand of Joan of Acre, ruled over the Gloucester-Glamorgan inheritance on belf of his wife and Edward's little grandson, Gilbert of Clare..."
p241: "...[1308] Only Hugh Despenser and a few lawyers adhered to the favourite [Gaveston]. Gloucester did not like to take an active part against his brother-in-law, but his stepfather, Monthermer, was conspicuous among the enemies of the Gascon..."
p264: "...The earls resolved that the question of an expedition was to be postponed until the next parliament, on the ground that it was imprudent to take action until Hereford and the other captives had been released...But the victor of Bannockburn showed surprising moderation. He suffered the bodies of Gloucester and the slain barons to be buried among their ancesteors, and released Gloucester's father-in-law, Monthermer, without ransom, declaring that the thing in the world which he most desired was to live in peace with the English. He welcomed an exchange of prisoners, by which his wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, his sister, his daughter, and the Bishop of Glasgow were restored to Scotland. The release of Hereford soon added to the king's troubles..."

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, 1975, Alfred Knopf
p70: "Ralph de Monthermer, mar Joan (2), died 1305..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8XJD-0H, 8WKN-QF, 922B-JR, and 9FV9-3M.

   Marriage Information:

Ralph married Duchess Joan Acre GLOUCESTER, daughter of King Edward ENGLAND, I and Queen Eleanor Castile ENGLAND, in Jan 1296-1297 in Akko, Hazafon, Israel. (Duchess Joan Acre GLOUCESTER was born in 1272 in Acre, Jerusalem, Palestine, died on 23 Apr 1307 in Clare, Suffolk, England and was buried on 26 Apr 1307 in Church, Priory, Austin Friars, Clare, Suffolk, England.)