Barbara Stevenson:
Bartholomew de Badlesmere in the life time of his father received command to
attend the king at Portsmouth, upon the 1st day of September, with horse and
arms to embark with him for Gascony, and in the year that he succeeded to his
paternal property was in the wars of Scotland. He was afterwards in the retinue
of Robert de Clifford in the Welsh wars, and in the first year of King Edward
I. was appointed the Governor of the castle of Bristol. In two years afterwards
he was summoned to parliament as Badlesmere, and had a grant from the king,
through the special influence of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and
Hereford, and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, of the castle and manor of
Chelham, in Kent, for his own and his wife's life, which castle had been
possessed by Alexander de Baliol in the right of his wife Isabel, and ought to
have been escheated to the crown on the decease of the said Alexander, by
reason of the felony of John de .Straboli, Earl of Athol (Isabel's son and
heir), who was hanged. In the 5th year of King Edward II., Lord Badlesmere was
constituted Governor of the castle of Ledes, and obtained at the same time
grants of divers extensive manors. In the next year but one, he was deputed ,
with Otto de Grandison and others, ambassador to the court of Rome, and the
next year, upon the death of Robert de Clifford, he obtained a grant of the
custody of the castle of Skyton in Yorkshire, as of all other castles in that
county and Westmoreland, whereof the said Robert died possessed, to hold during
the minority of Roger de Clifford, his son and heir. He was further indebted to
the crown for numerous charters for fairs throughout his extensive manors; and
he held the high office of steward of the household for a great number of
years; but notwithstanding his thus basking in the sunshine of royal favor, his
allegiance was not trustworthy, for joining the banner of Thomas, Earl of
Lancaster, and other discontented nobles of that period, he went into Kent
without the king's permission; where, being well received, he put himself at
the head of some soldiers from his castle at Ledes, and thence proceeded to
Canterbury, with 19 knights, having linen jackets under their surcoats, all his
esquires being in plate armor, and thus repaired to the shrine of St. Thomas,
to the amazement of the good citizens. While Lord Badlesmere remained at
Canterbury, John de Crumwell and his wife sought his lordship's aid, and ,
pledging himself to afford it, he hastened to Oxford, where the barons of his
party had been then assembled. In the meantime the King being apprised of the
baron's proceedings, dispatched the Queen to Ledes, and upon admission being
denied her, the castle was regularly invested by Adomere de Valence, Earl of
Pembroke, and John de Britannia, Earl of Richmond, to whom it eventually
surrendered, when Lord Badlesmere's wife, young son, and daughters, all falling
into the hands of the besiegers, were sent prisoners to the Tower of London.
The Baron and his accomplices afterwards were pursued by Edmund, Earl of Kent,
and John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, and being defated and taken prisoners at
the battle of Boroughbridge, his lordship was hanged, drawn, and quartered at
Canterbury, and his head set upon a pole at Burgate. At the time of the baron's
execution upwards of ninety lords, knights, and others concerned in the same
insurrection, suffered a similar fate in various parts of the kingdom. He
married Margaret Clare, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Thomas de
Clare, 3rd son of Thomas de Clare, 2nd son of Richard de Clare, Earl of
Gloucester. His widow continued as a prisoner in the Tower, until, through the
influence of William Roos, Lord Roos, of Hamlake, and others, she obtained her
freedom. Whereupon she went to the nunnery outside of Adgate, in the suburbs of
London. She had 2-shillings a day for her maintenance, to be paid by the
sherriff of Essex; she subsequently, however, obtained a large proportion of
the deceased lords' manors as her dowry