Research Notes:

son and heir

Knight of the Shire for Herefordshire, Sheriff of Herefordshire 1375-6, 1382, 1401, Constable of Builth Castle, and, in right of his wife, of Weobley and Hyde, Herefordshire, Braunston, Cotesbach, Hemington (in Lockington) and Newbold Verdon Leicestershire, Market Rasen Lincolnshire, Sutton Bonnington, Arnold and Tiercewell Nottinghamshire etc..

In 1378 he was granted a weekly market and annual fair to be held at his manor of Bodenham, Herefordshire. He was wounded at the Battle of Pilleth 17 Jun 1401, and died three days later. ¹

Sir Walter Devereux, to whom Richard II committed the forests and castles of the Earl of Hereford 1387; and was killed fighting against Owen Glendower 1403, leaving [Walter], with four younger sons (Richard, John, Stephen, Roger) and a daughter (Joan, married Thomas Swynford). [Burke's Peerage]

---------------------------------

Offices Held

Constable of Builth castle, Rad. 8 Feb. 1382-c.1394.

Commr. of arrest, Herefs. Feb. 1382, Salop Feb. 1382, Herefs. Apr. 1401; inquiry Feb. 1385 (murder), Feb. 1391 (alienation of Eaton Tregoes), Aug. 1401 (murder); array Apr. 1385, Mar. 1392, Dec. 1399; to resist the Welsh rebels and relieve Abergavenny May 1401; make proclamation of Henry IV’s intention to govern well, Herefs. May 1402.

J.p. Herefs. 9 Nov. 1385-99, 16 May 1401-d.

Sheriff, Herefs. 16 May-8 Nov. 1401.

Biography

Walter’s father and namesake was a retainer of the de Bohuns and sometime sheriff of Somerset and Dorset and of Herefordshire, as well as being an MP and j.p. for the latter county. They were closely related to John, Lord Devereux, a friend of the Black Prince and member of Richard II’s council of regency, who may, indeed, have been our Walter’s uncle. It was perhaps due to the latter’s influence that Walter began his career in the royal household, and he was a King’s esquire by the time of his first mention in the records on 8 Feb. 1382. On that day he and his father (who was then attending Parliament) were appointed to a royal commission, and at the same time he alone was granted the keeping of Builth castle during the minority of its owner, Roger Mortimer, earl of March. By that autumn Devereux had made a valuable marriage, namely to Agnes (then aged 11), grand daughter and heir of Sir John Crophill, who enfeoffed the couple of the manor of Newbold Verdon, Leicestershire. In June 1383 Crophill died, and two months later Walter received custody of his estates (except those held by the widow in dower) during Agnes’s minority. Agnes came of age in September 1385 when (the widow being now dead) Devereux took full possession of the lands jure uxoris. They included the manor of Sutton Bonnington and lands at Arnold, Nottinghamshire, the manors of Cotesbach, Braunston and Hemington, Leicestershire, an estate at Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and the manor of Weobley, Herefordshire, which last became his principal residence. In March 1383 he was a surety when John Burley and others took out a royal lease on certain Mortimer lands in Herefordshire and Brecon.

As a King’s esquire, Walter served on Richard II’s expedition to Scotland in the summer of 1385. However, despite his membership of the royal household, he apparently did not side with the King during the political crisis of 1387-8. At any rate, he was appointed in March 1388 to administer to the notables of Herefordshire the oath of loyalty to the Lords Appellant. He may well have been following the lead of his presumed uncle, John, Lord Devereux, a prominent supporter of the opposition party and a member of their commission of government. Whether Walter remained at Court after this is unknown, but (having been knighted by 1391) he certainly accompanied Richard II to Ireland in September 1394, when he nominated Roger Wigmore and Thomas Oldcastle as his attorneys.

Apart from his commissions, comparatively little is known of Sir Walter’s later life. His single return to Parliament occurred in 1401, and it was only later that year, in May, that he was appointed as sheriff. By this time, the Welsh revolt under Glendower had broken out, and that same month Devereux was among those ordered to help raise the siege of Abergavenny. In the following year he joined Sir Edmund Mortimer’s expedition into Radnorshire, which culminated in a disastrous English defeat at the battle of Pilleth on 22 June. There Sir Walter was mortally wounded, and he died three days later. His heir was his son, another Walter (c.1387-1420), through whom he was the grandfather of Sir Walter Devereux (1411-59) and great-grandfather of Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers of Chartley (1432-85). His widow Agnes remarried, her second husband being John Parr and her third John Merbury, whose daughter by a former marriage married her grandson. ²

---------------------------------

4 Nov 1382, Westminster

Licence, for 20 marks paid to the king by Walter Devereux and Agnes his wife, for John Crophull, knight, to enfeoff them, in tail male, with remainder to himself and his heirs, of the manor of Neubold Verdon, co. Leicester, held in chief, excepting a stew, 60s. rent in Navenby and a plot of wood called 'Gerardeswode' in the said manor.

Calendar of Patent Rolls, Ric. II, vol. 2, p. 232

---------------------------------

21 Aug 1383, Westminster

Commitment to Walter Deveroys,—by mainprise of Roger Crophull of the county of Hereford and Thomas Melton of the county of Leicester,—of the keeping of all the lands late of John Crophull, knight, tenant of the king in chief, except the manors of Hemyngton and Braunston, co. Leicester, and Bunyton, co. Nottingham, to hold the same from the time of the death of the said John until the lawful age of Agnes, his kinswoman and heir, rendering the extent of the said lands yearly at the Exchequer; provided always that he keep and maintain the manors, buildings, houses, gardens, woods and enclosures pertaining to the lands, without waste and destruction, and do and support all charges incumbent thereon.

Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. x, p. 2

20 Sep 1383, Westminster

To William Sallowe escheator in Notynghamshire. Order to take of Joan who was wife of John de Crophulle knight an oath etc. and, in presence of Walter Devereux who has taken to wife Agnes daughter of Thomas de Crophulle cousin and heir of the said John, a minor in the king's wardship, and of Roger Crophulle to whom the king has committed the wardship of certain lands of the deceased, to assign dower to the said Joan....

Calendar of Close Rolls, 7 Ric. II, p. 324

---------------------------------

12 Sep 1385, Westminster

To John Coueley escheator in Herefordshire. Order to give Walter Deveros and Agnes his wife, being daughter of Thomas Crophulle son of John Crophulle knight and cousin and heir of her grandfather, seisin of her grandfather's lands; as the said Walter has proved her age before the escheator, and the king has taken his fealty....

Calendar of Close Rolls, 9 Ric. II, p. 33

---------------------------------

24 Apr 1403, Westminster

Order to the escheator in the county of Hereford to take into the king's hand and keep safely until further order all the lands in his bailiwick whereof Walter Devereux, 'chivaler,' held of the king in chief.... and to make inquisition touching his lands and heir.

Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. xii, p. 219