Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was a prominent knight in Herefordshire during the reign of Edward III. He was a member of Parliament, sheriff, and Justice of the Peace for Hereford.
Ancestry and Childhood Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was born about 1339, the son of William Devereux of Bodenham and Anne, daughter of Sir John Barre.Evelyn Philip Shirley. Stemmata Shirleiana. (Westminster: Nichols and Sons, 1873). page 103 to 104John Duncumb. Collections Towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, part I of Volume II. (Hereford: E.G. Wright, 1812). Page 37 and 49, Broxash Hundred His great-grandfather was William Devereux, Baron Devereux of Lyonshall by his first wife, Alice de Grandison.
He was a close ally of his uncle, John Devereux, 1st Baron Devereux of Whitchurch Maund.Calendar of the Fine Rolls, Edward III, Volume 8, 1356-1368. London: Wyman and Sons. 1923. Page 384 The Baron was a friend of Edward, the Black Prince, and a member of Richard II's council of regency, and his influence promoted the career of Walter Devereux.The History of Parliament Online; Sir Walter Devereux (d. 1402), of Weobley, Herefs. Accessed 4 November 2013.
His arms were: Argent a fesse gules, in chief three torteaux.
Career An oyer and terminer commission was called on 11 Sep 1357 for a complaint by Sir Richard de Acton that Walter Devereux was among a number of individuals that broke into his park at Aily, Somersetshire, hunted and carried away a great part of the deer therein, and then killed livestock worth 10 marks.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume 10, 1354-1358. (London: Anthony Brothers, 1909). Page 616, 11 Sep 1357 Another commission was called in 1362 on a complaint by the abbot of Abbotsbury that Walter Devereux was among a number of individuals who tore up stones for metes and bounds in his lands in Tolpuddle (Dorsetshire), felled trees, broke a stank erected to store water for times of drought, carried away fish and timber, trod down and consumed with cattle his crops and grass, and so molested his bondmen there that they cannot hold his bondage.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XII, 1361-1364. (London: Hereford Times, 1912). Page 284, 1 July 1362
On coming of age, Walter Devereux, like his father, joined the retinue of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. On 4 October 1363 Devereux was granted the wardship of the lands in Bodenham of Thomas Lucy,Heir of the late William Lucy (died c1357) who held by knight’s service of the minor heir (Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, born 1 February 1352) of the late Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March (died 26 February 1360), previously held in dower by Elizabeth (died 1361), widow of William Lucy, (daughter of Thomas de la Barre) comprising annual rent of 8 marks and 2 carucates of land, for payment of 8 marks yearly to the exchequer.Public Record Office. Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, Volume III. (London: Stationery Office, 1937). Entry 766 Following the death of Thomas Lucy on 26 November 1369, Devereux was granted the wardship of his brother and heir, William de Lucy. He testified on 20 November 1374 on William Lucy's coming of age to his holding in Bodenham, Herefordshire.
Devereux was a knight by the time he was nominated on 13 February 1364 as attorney by Brother Thomas de Burley, prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland, preceptor of Dynemor, Carewy and Upledne, who was going to Ireland on the king's service.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XII, 1361-1364. (London: Hereford Times, 1912). Page 472, 13 Feb 1364 Also in 1364 the Earl of Hereford granted Bykenhull manor in Oxfordshire to Walter Devereux, and he subsequently traded the manor with the earl for Southam manor in Gloucestershire. These transfers were done without license, and following the earl's death in 1373, the king voided his claim to the manor.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume 15, 1370-1374. (London: Hereford Times, 1914). Page 409, 30 Jan 1374
On 15 May 1366 Devereux was assigned to inquire into the complaint of Gilbert and Elizabeth Giffard that the Prior of Saint Oswald's was not maintaining the chapel on Kingshome manor, Gloucestershire, that was held in the king's hand because Elizabeth was underage.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XIII, 1364-1367. (London: Hereford Times, 1912). Page 285, 15 May 1366 He was appointed Justice of the Peace for Gloucestershire on 16 May 1366,Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XIII, 1364-1367. (London: Hereford Times, 1912). Page 283, 16 May 1366 and again on 10 July 1368.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XIV, 1367-1370. (London: Hereford Times, 1913). Page 192, 10 July 1368 On 8 Aug 1368 he was appointed to investigate a complaint by Sir John de Burley that Emery le Botiller and others broke into his park at Harsfeld, Gloucestershire, hunted deer, cut down trees, and then carried them away with other goods.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XIV, 1367-1370. (London: Hereford Times, 1913). Page 196, 8 Aug 1368
Walter Devereux, as a retainer of the Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, served with him in France.Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, volume 2. H.C. Maxwell Lyte (editor). 1920. Pages 511 to 516, 22 December 1384, Westminster In May 1369 he was granted protection and appointed an attorney for 1 year while overseas in France.The Soldier in Later Medieval England website. University of Southampton. Walter Deveros. TNA C76/52, membranes 21 and 22, Devereux was with the forces John of Gaunt led to Calais, and participated in his raids into northern France. He was at the siege of Harfleur in October 1369 that had to be abandoned due to an outbreak of plague and dysentery. He fought at the Battle of the Ford of Blanchetaque on the Somme River, and returned with the army to Calais by mid-November.
Following the death of Humphrey de Bohun on 10 January 1373, Walter Devereux was shown holding 1 fee in Bodenham at his inquiry post-mortem. Devereux was granted the custody of all castles and keeping of all the forests, chases, and parks in Wales and the Marches, which had been held by the said Earl, while they remained in the king's hands.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume 15, 1370-1374. (London: Hereford Times, 1914). Page 261, 9 March 1373John Duncumb et al. Collections towards the history and antiquities of the county of Hereford. In continuation of Duncumb’s History. Hundred of Huntington. (Hereford: Jakeman & Carver, High Town, 1897). Page 58, Parish of Huntington On 16 July Walter Devereux; John ap Rees, and Richard Sergeant were appointed to collect for one year the issues and profits of all castles, lordships and lands in England and the Welsh Marches of the earl of Hereford to be used for the payment of the debts of both Humphrey de Bohun and his father, William de Bohun, earl of Northampton.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume 15, 1370-1374. (London: Hereford Times, 1914). Page 391, 16 July 1373
He was sometime sheriff of Somerset and Dorset. On 4 October 1375 Walter Devereux was appointed sheriff of Herefordshire.John Duncumb. Collections Towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, volume 1. (Hereford: E.G. Wright, 1804) Page 139, 152 Devereux transferred his affinity to Thomas of Woodstock at this time following his marriage to Humphrey de Bohun's eldest daughter, Eleanor, in 1376.
Following the death of his father, William Devereux, in January 1377, Walter Devereux inherited the family lands. On 3 March 1377 he was granted the wardship of Sir Simon de Burley along with his cousin John Devereux, and John Joyce while they were in the king's hands, and was appointed to investigate who was encroaching on this holding.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XVI, 1374-1377. (London: Hereford Times, 1916). 24 Mar 1377
On 8 March 1377 he was appointed Justice of the Peace,Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XVI, 1374–1377. (London: Hereford Times, 1916). Page 490, 8 Mar 1377 and assigned on 29 April 1377 to raise troops in Herefordshire to repel an anticipated invasion.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XVI, 1374–1377. (London: Hereford Times, 1916). Page 499, 29 Apr 1377 On 12 May 1377 Walter Devereux was assigned to make inquisitions by oath of the men of the lordships of Brecombe, Haye, Huntington and Caldecotes in Wales touching all seditions, oppressions, champerties, ambidextries, falsities and deceptions, damages, grievances and excesses perpetrated there; as well in forests, stews, waters, assarts and purprestures as elsewhere; and touching all wards, marriages, reliefs, escheats, lands and other profits and emoluments pertaining to the king which have been concealed, withdrawn or occupied; also to make due restitution of the latter, and to hear and determine the premises at the suit of the king or others; and commission to them to be justices to take hearings in all personal pleas, as well of accounts, errors and attaints, as all others, and to correct what has been wrongly done therein and punish delinquents.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, Volume XVI, 1374–1377. (London: Hereford Times, 1916). Page 496, 12 May 1377 Devereux was again appointed on 2 July 1377 as Justice of the Peace for Herefordshire.,Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II, Volume I, 1377–1381. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1895). Page 45, 2 July 1377 and on 20 July, following the death of Edward III and ascension of Richard II, he was also among those assigned as keepers of the city of Hereford. They were instructed to stay upon its sage custody and for conservation of the peace therein, with full power to see that all men of the city and suburbs, according to their condition and means, are suitably armed, arrayed, and kept ready to resist the king's enemies, compelling them if need be, by distress or imprisonment.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard II, Volume I, 1377–1381. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1895). Page 5, 20 July 1377
He obtained a license for an annual fair of three days continuance in Bodenham on 12 July 1378. The days of the fair were to be those of the Assumption (15 August), the day preceding, and the day following.Amy License. Anne Neville. (Gloucestershire: Amberley, 2013) He also was granted a weekly market in Bodenham to occur on Tuesdays. Devereux also represented Herefordshire in the Parliament of October 1378.Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, Volume 1. H.C. Maxwell (editor). 1914. 16 November 1378, Gloucester, membrane 22dUK National Archives Petitioners: Walter Devereux; John (Clefford) Clifford; Robert de Whyteney (Whitney), sheriff of Herefordshire. Reference: SC 8/107/5303. Description: Datable by reference to Whyteney as sheriff of Herefordshire (November 1377 – November 1378): see Rees, Petitions Relating to Wales, pp. 166–7. Devereux was knight of the shire for Herefordshire in the parliament of October 1378, and April 1379.Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, volume 1. H. C. Maxwell (editor). 1914. 27 May 1379, Gloucester, membrane 3d On 8 Aug 1379 Walter Devereux was instructed to investigate a report that the tax assessors of the king's subsidy in Herefordshire had failed to collect the full amount due, and to insure that any errors are corrected.