Earl Henry De Bohun HEREFORD, II

   Other names for Henry were HEREFORD 1st Earl and Sr.

   Ancestral File Number: 8XJS-8J. User ID: 18909728.

   General Notes:

1st Earl of HEREFORD 1200-1220.

One of the Barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta and appointed to
oversee its observance.

BOOKS
A History of the Plantagenets,Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, 1949, Doubleday & Co, p251:
"As [King John] drew near the appointed place [at Runnymede], the sound of cheering reached their ears, mingled with the neighing of horses and the loud, clear blast of trumpets. Coming into sight of the shore opposite the island, they saw it was filled with armed horsemen, the sun shining on helmets and breastplates and on lances held erect to display the proudest pennons in England: the colors of Bigod, of Bohun, of Percy, of Lacey, and Mowbray, and De Vere. The reined in suddenly, his face red with mortification. Here for the first time he saw with his own eyes the tangible evedince of the unanimity of the barons in opposition to him. Theyhad refused to follow him on his continental forays. It had taken hatred of him to bring them out thus in full force!"
"Every proud name in England was represented in the army behind them [at Runnymeade]. Henry de Bohun was there, which would have amazed his ancestor, Humphrey With-the-Beard, who had been one of the stanchest supporters of the Conqueror..."
"Most of the men at Runnymede had Norman names, but few if any of them lacked English blood. Few of them owned land inNormandy, few had crossed the Channel. Their thoughts were all of England. They swore Saxon oaths, they worshiped at Saxon shrines. And their concern that day was to compel the granting of a code of laws based on those of the Saxons and modeled on a charter which had been drawn up more than a century before on the insistence of a lovely Saxon princess.
"The negotiations were conducted on Charter Island where a fine pavilion had been raised for the purpose...[The King] agreed tothe general content of the document, the forty-eight articles and the `Forma Securitatis', before the end of the day. It is not rue, however, as has often been assumed, that it was written and signed there and then. It took four days of hard work on the part of Saire de Quincy and Stephen Langron to draft it to the satisfaction of all..
"The leaders had not expected the negotiations to last so long and certain difficulties arose...At the opening it was a matter of pride for thebarons to keep in their saddle in heavy steel under the blazing sun while their leaders sat around in the cool blue-and-gold pavilion and debated with the obese and glowering King of the realm. The second day it became tiresome. The knights dismounted, took from their heads the heavy steel covering called the `chapel-de-fer', bawled to their squires to slosh them with cold water, and demanding to know among themselves what this cullionly King was doing. The third day many of them had discarded steel and were attired in coats of `cuir- bouilli', a variety of leather which had been boiled in water until it had almost the resistance of metal but was both lighter and cooler. Some had even come out from their stifling tents without the awkward thigh coverings which made walking so difficult.
"On the fourth day it was supected that nothing in the way of armor would have been found if the rich brocaded surcoats of the knights had been stripped off.
"It mighthave been hard to hold them all through four days of talk, in which they had no part, if the leaders had not been wise enough to arrange for a victory tournament to be held at Stamford after the signing of the Charter."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain, 1951, Doubleday & Co, p53:
"After the regent [William Marshal] died the people about the King split into two camps. On one side were the Englishmen, Stephen Langton, Hubert de Burgh, the Earl of Chester, Philip d'Aubigny, the family of the marshal, the heroes of Runnymede. The latter, sad to relate, were now beginning to follow the marshal into the shades. Saire de Quincey died in 1219, and others in quick succession thereafter, Robert de Vere, William Mowbray, the earls of Hertford, Hereford, and Norfolk. Robert Fitz-Walter, at peace with the state but not happy, went off to the Crusades.
"In the other camp were those who had come into the kingdom at John's invitation, most of them men of great ability and of a fierce ambition. They had no sese of patriotism, these Normans and Poitevins, save to their own purses and their desire for power. At the head of the foreign faction was, of course, Peter des Roches..."

The Later Middle Ages 1272-1485, George Holmes, 1962, Norton Library of England p25: "...Lay society was crowned by a group of about a dozen or fifteen earls. Some were of royal blood...others members of ancient families descending from the Anglo-Norman aristocracy, like the de Vere earls of Oxford and the Bohuns of Hereford..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol II, p121, Bohun: "Name of an English family with lands on the Welsh marches, prominentin the 13th and 14th centuries. Arriving from Normandy in the 11th century, the family prospered during the 12th when a member held the office of constable. Henry (died 1220) was created Earl of Hereford in 1200, and later various other membersof the family acquired the Earldoms of Essex and Northampton. Humphrey Bohun (died 1373) held all three earldoms conjointly, but his death without male issue ended his line."

The New Columbia Encyclopedia 1975 p323 Bohun Henry De 1st Earl ofHereford: "1176-1220, English nobleman. Although King John granted him the marcher lordship of Hereford in 1199, Henry was one of the barons who forced the king to accept the Magna Carta in 1215 and one of those appointed to oversee its observance. He fought against the king in the ensuing civil war. He died on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8XJS-8J Born Bef 1177 Warwick Died 1 Jun 1220 Mar Maud FITZGEOFFREY, and 8HRW-GS Born Bef 1176 Mar Maud FITZPIERS?.

   Marriage Information:

Henry married Maud De Mandeville FITZ GEOFFREY, daughter of Geoffrey FITZ PIERS and Beatrice De SAYE, in , , England. (Maud De Mandeville FITZ GEOFFREY was born about 1177 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England and died on 27 Aug 1236 in , , England.)