Margaret de Badlesmere, Baroness Badlesmere ( de Clare; 1 April 1287 – 22 October 1333/January 1334, disputed) was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman, suo jure heiress, and the wife of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere.Costain, Thomas B. (1958). The Three Edwards. pp.193–195.
She was jailed at the Tower of London for a year, from November 1321 to November 1322, on account of having refused admittance and then ordering arrows to be fired on Isabella of France, Queen consort of Edward II of England and her group. Before Margaret had instructed her archers to fire upon Isabella and her escort, she had refused the Queen admittance to Leeds Castle, Kent, where her husband, Baron Badlesmere, held the post of governor, but which was legally the property of Queen Isabella as part of the latter's dower. Margaret surrendered the castle on 31 October 1321, after it was besieged by the King's forces using ballistas. Edward's capture of Leeds Castle was the catalyst that led to the Despenser War in the Welsh Marches and the north of England. Margaret became the first recorded female prisoner in the Tower's history.
Upon her release from the Tower, Margaret entered a religious life at the convent house of the Minorite Sisters outside Aldgate. King Edward granted her a stipend to pay for her maintenance.
Background
Margaret was born at Bunratty Castle in County Clare, Ireland, circa 1 April 1287, the youngest child of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond and Juliana FitzGerald of Offaly, and was a granddaughter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester. She had two brothers, Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Thomond, and Richard de Clare, 1st Lord Clare, Lord of Thomond, who was killed at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea in 1318;The Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p.247. and an elder sister, Maud, whose first husband was Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford. Margaret had an illegitimate half-brother, Richard.
Her parents resided in both Ireland and England throughout their marriage;Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland 1252–1284, No. 2210 it has not been established where Juliana was residing at the time of Margaret's birth, although the date is known.
Her father died on 29 August 1287, when Margaret was almost five months of age. His cause of death has not been ascertained by historians. Her mother married her second husband, Nicholas Avenel, sometime afterwards, but the exact date of this marriage is not known. Between 11 December 1291 and 16 February 1292, Margaret acquired another stepfather when her mother married her third husband, Adam de Cretynges.
Inheritance A series of inquisitions post mortem, held in response to writs issued on 10 April 1321, established that Margaret, the wife of Bartholomew de Badlesmere and Maud, wife of Sir Robert de Welle (sisters of Richard de Clare and both aged 30 years and above) were the next heirs of Richard's son Thomas.Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, 1st series, Vol. 4, No. 275. Thomas' estate included the stewardship of the Forest of Essex, the town and castle at Thomond and numerous other properties in Ireland.
First marriage She married firstly before the year 1303, Gilbert de Umfraville, son of Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, and Elizabeth Comyn. Upon their marriage, the Earl of Angus granted Gilbert and Margaret the manors of Hambleton and Market Overton; however, when Gilbert died childless prior to 1307, the manors passed to Margaret.
Second marriage On an unrecorded date earlier than 30 June 1308, when the couple were jointly granted the manor of Bourne, Sussex,Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward II, 1307–1313, page 83. Margaret married Bartholomew de Badlesmere, an English soldier and court official who was afterwards created 1st Baron Badlesmere by writ of summons. He had held the post of Governor of Bristol Castle since 1307, and during his life accumulated many remunerative grants and offices. It is feasible that Margaret's marriage to Badlesmere had been arranged by her brother-in-law, Baron Clifford; Badlesmere having been one of Clifford's retainers during the Scottish Wars. Clifford was later killed at the Battle of Bannockburn, where Badlesmere also fought.
Margaret was styled as Baroness Badlesmere on 26 October 1309 (the date her husband was by writ summoned to Parliament by the title of Baron Badlesmere) and henceforth known by that title.The Complete Peerage, Vol. I, page 372.
When Margaret was staying at Cheshunt Manor in Hertfordshire in 1319, she was taken hostage by a group of sixty people, both men and women, who took her and the servants hostage.Cat. Pat. Rolls. 1317–1321, p.473 Her captors demanded a ransom of £100 for her release. She was held prisoner for one night before being rescued the following day by the King's favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger. Hugh was married to Margaret's first cousin, Eleanor de Clare, eldest daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester and Joan of Acre, hence Edward II's niece. The King ordered the arrest and imprisonment of twenty of Margaret's kidnappers; they all, however, were eventually pardoned.
Issue The five children of Margaret and Baron Badlesmere were: Margery de Badlesmere (1308/1309 – 18 October 1363), married before 25 November 1316 William de Ros, 2nd Baron de Ros of Helmsley, by whom she had six children. Maud de Badlesmere (1310 – 24 May 1366), married firstly, Robert FitzPayn; secondly, John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, by whom she had seven children. Elizabeth de Badlesmere (1313 – 8 June 1356), married firstly in 1316, when she was aged three, Sir Edmund Mortimer, eldest son of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville, but she did not start living with him until in her teens; following Mortimer's death she married secondly in 1335, William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton. She had children by both marriages. Giles de Badlesmere, 2nd Baron Badlesmere (18 October 1314 – 7 June 1338), married Elizabeth Montagu, but did not have any children by her. Margaret de Badlesmere (born 1315), married Sir John Tiptoft, 2nd Lord Tiptoft, by whom she had one son, Robert Tiptoft.
The siege of Leeds Castle
Margaret's husband, Baron Badlesmere was appointed Governor of the Royal Castle of Leeds in Kent in the fifth year of Edward II's reign (1312).Parishes- Badlesmere|British History Online. Retrieved 8-11-10 In October 1321, nine years after he assumed office, queen consort Isabella went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. She decided to interrupt her journey by stopping at Leeds Castle which legally belonged to her, as the fortress and its demesne were part of her dower to be retained in widowhood.Costain, Thomas B. (1958). The Three Edwards, pp. 193–95 Badlesmere, who by then had become disaffected with King Edward and had joined the swelling ranks of his opponents, was away at a meeting of the Contrariants near Oxford at the time and had left Margaret in charge of the castle.
Shortly before, Baron Badlesmere had deposited all of his treasure and goods inside Leeds Castle for safekeeping.Parishes – Leeds|British History Online. Retrieved 22-11-10
Due to her strong dislike of Isabella as well as her own feisty character,Costain, pp.193–95Margaret's paternal grandmother, Maud de Lacy, was known as the most litigious woman in the 13th century. [Reference: Linda Elizabeth Mitchell. Portraits of Medieval Women: Family, Marriage and Politics in England 1225–1350] Margaret refused the Queen admittance.Haines, p.132 It was suggested by Francis Lancellott that Margaret's antipathy towards Queen Isabella had its origins in about 1317 when she had asked Isabella to use her influence on behalf of a friend who was seeking an appointment in the Exchequer Office. When Isabella refused her request, for reasons unknown, henceforth Margaret became the Queen's enemy.Lancellott, Francis (1858). The Queens of England and Their Times. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p.183. Margaret allegedly told Isabella's marshal, whom she met on the lowered drawbridge, that "the Queen must seek some other lodging, for I would not admit anyone within the castle without an order from my lord [Baron Badlesmere]".Strickland, Agnes (1840). Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest: With Anecdotes of the Courts: First Published From Official Records and Other Authentic Documents, Private as Well as Public. Volume II. p.201. After issuing her message, the Queen, having ignored Margaret's directive, approached the outer barbicanCostain, p.193Poyser, Arthur T. (2009). The Tower of London. BiblioLife. pp.27–28 in an attempt to enter the castle by force.Parishes – Leeds|British History Online. Retrieved 16-11-10 Margaret subsequently ordered her archers to loose their arrows upon Isabella's group from the battlements.
The unexpected, lethal volley of arrows, which killed six of the royal escort, compelled Isabella to make a hasty retreat from the castle and to seek alternative accommodation for the night.Strickland, p.201 Historian Paul C. Doherty suggests that the pilgrimage was a ruse on the part of the King and Queen to create a casus belli. Edward would have known beforehand that Baron Badlesmere was with the Contrariants and had left Leeds Castle in the hands of the hostile Baroness Badlesmere; therefore he had given instructions for Isabella to stop at Leeds, aware she would likely be refused admittance. Using the insult against the Queen as a banner, he would then be able to gather the moderate nobles and outraged populace to his side as a means of crushing the Contrariants.Doherty, Paul C. (2003). Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II. London: Robinson. pp.70–71 .
When Edward heard of the brutal reception his consort was given by Margaret, he was outraged and personally mustered a sizeable force of men "aged between sixteen and sixty", including at least six earls,Costain, p.194 to join him in a military expedition which he promptly led against Margaret and her garrison at Leeds Castle to avenge the grievous insult delivered to the Queen by one of his subjects. Following a relentless assault of the fortress, which persisted for more than five daysAccording to Edward II's biographer, Roy Martin Haines, the siege lasted 15 days. [Reference: Haines, p.132] and with the King's troops using ballistas, Margaret surrendered at curfew on 31 October having received a "promise of mercy" from Edward.Haines, Roy Martin (2003). King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, his life, his reign, and its aftermath, 1284–1330. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press. p. 132
Throughout the siege, Margaret had expected the Earl of Lancaster to arrive with his soldiery to relieve her, but he refused as he was related to Isabella;Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster was the uterine half-uncle of Queen Isabella, being the son of her maternal grandmother Blanche of Artois by the latter's second marriage to Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster. nor had any of the other Contrariants or the Marcher LordsMargaret's daughter, Elizabeth was married to Edmund Mortimer, eldest son of the powerful Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer, the future 1st Earl of March come to her assistance, which left her to defend the castle with merely her husband's nephew, Bartholomew de Burghersh, and the garrison troops. Baron Badlesmere, although supportive of Margaret's conduct, had only managed to despatch some knights from Witney to augment the garrison troops in the defence of Leeds.