Sir James Berkeley 6th Lord Berkeley

  General Notes:

James Berkeley had been brought up at the Castle as his uncle's heir who was, at the time of his death, in Dorset at the house of Sir Humphrey Stafford, whose daughter he had married. The Earl and Countess of Warwick however were at Berkeley and they immediately proceeded to set up a claim to the Castle and the whole of the manors held by the deceased lord. Availing themselves of their position they took possession of all the deeds and evidences, taking away a great many, and having copies and abstracts made of others. James of course used such means as were in his power to assert his rights, but the late lord's executors and servants adhered to Lord and Lady Warwick as the stronger party, and in the then state of the law, James was unable to prevent the Earl and Countess from receiving the rents and holding the Manor Courts for the next three years. After much litigation however, James was declared heir to his uncle's Castle and Barony of Berkeley but the Earl and Countess kept possession of the whole for some time and afterwards re-entered forcibly on the manors of Wotton, Symondshall and Coaley. By the mediation of the Bishop of Worcester an arrangement was made by which the Earl was allowed to retain those manors on permitting James to have peaceable possession of the others; this however did not last long; the Earl still pressed his claim to the whole and in 1420 laid siege to the Castle. In this extremity, the law being powerless to help him against so potent an adversary, James obtained the assistance of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, by the gift of one thousand marks and by his interest succeeded in getting licence to sue out his livery and soon after paid his relief of one hundred marks as a Baron and Peer of the realm. The Earl and Countess however continued to assert their claim, and much quarrelling took place between them and much fighting between their servants and followers whenever they met. At length the intervention of the Bishop of Worcester was again invoked and a settlement was agreed upon for their joint lives, which lasted until the death of the Earl of Warwick in 1439. On this event the feud again broke out, the three daughters and co-heiresses of the Earl of Warwick, married respectively to the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Duke of Somerset and Lord Latimer, reviving their father's and mother's claims, backed by the most powerful interest. James Lord Berkeley resisting their proceedings rather roughly, was by their contrivance committed to the Tower, but was released after a few days on entering into a bond to keep the peace. During the litigation which ensued both parties were frequently bound over to keep the peace. No settlement of the matters in dispute was come to, though they were several times referred to arbitration. In 1440 one David Woodburne being sent to Wotton by Lord Lisle, son to the earl of Shrewsbury, to serve a subpoena on lord Berkeley, the latter not only beat the unfortunate messenger but compelled him to eat and swallow the summons, wax and parchment!

In 1449 the Warwick party obtained an award in their favour but James garrisoned his Castle and prepared to resist its execution. In order the better to prosecute his cause Lady Berkeley went to London, from whence she wrote to her husband a highly interesting and characteristic letter, reporting progress and cheering him with hopes of success; concluding by asking him to send her some money for her expenses or she should be obliged to sell her horse and return to Berkeley on foot.

Both parties now had recourse to arms and many were the skirmishes between them and armed incursions upon the lands in dispute, first by one party and then by the other. Lord Berkeley attacked, sacked and almost destroyed Wotton manor house, where lady Shrewsbury then resided, in return for which her son, John Talbot, Viscount Lisle, by a surprise, broke into Berkeley Castle in 1452 and seized Lord Berkeley and his four sons, whom he kept prisoners eleven weeks and compelled to sign various deeds and bonds. During these contests the town of Berkeley was half destroyed and the Castle many times attacked, taken and re-taken.

Lord Berkeley in 1452 sustained a severe loss in the death of his wife, in prison at Gloucester, where she had been committed by the contrivance of the Countess of Shrewsbury. Her death was afterwards severely avenged by her son William at the battle of Nibley Green, where Lord Lisle, Lady Shrewsbury's grandchild and heir, was killed and her family in that line extinguished. This Lady Berkeley was James's second wife; she was the daughter of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, a lady of great virtues, devoted to her husband and children and their great stay and support in the troublesome suits in which they were involved. She was buried in the chancel of the Greyfriars church in Gloucester, which her grandson, Maurice Berkeley, afterwards repaired in memory of her.

In 1457 James Lord Berkeley married his third wife, Joan sister to John, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, an alliance with the family of his former enemy, which no doubt assisted in the settlement of the family quarrel which took place six years afterwards, by which Lord Berkeley and the Countess of Shrewsbury agreed to let their differences rest and thenceforward live in peace. This was in 1463 and thirty-six days afterwards Lord Berkeley died. He was buried in Berkeley church, beneath an alabaster tomb, highly ornamented with escutcheons and sculpture, under an arch between the chancel and the beautiful mortuary chapel which he himself had built. The tomb bears his effigy in complete armour and also a smaller but similar one to commemorate his second son James, who was slain in France serving under the celebrated John Talbot. James Lord Berkeley was the first of his family who never bore arms in the service of his country, being probably too much occupied with the unfortunate family contests. He was also thereby withheld from taking any part in the conflict for the crown between the rival houses of York and Lancaster which was then raging and the Berkeleys were almost the only great family which did not suffer in life or estate in those wars.

Smyth says that James was "an honest, humble and just lord," and that "of all his family none is found to have walked more with God in a virtuous and harmless life." ⁴⁷⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Address: Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire.

James married Lady Isabel de Mowbray, daughter of Thomas de Mowbray Duke of Norfolk and Elizabeth FitzAlan, in 1424.²² (Lady Isabel de Mowbray was born about 1396 and died on 27 Sep 1452 ²².)

James next married Joan Talbot, daughter of John Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury and Maud Neville Baroness Furnivall, in 1457.