Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford

Arms of Bohun, adopted at start of age of heraldry, c.1200: Azure, a bend argent cotised or between six lions rampant or

Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford (1176 – 1 June 1220) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman.

He was Earl of Hereford and Hereditary Constable of England from 1199 to 1220.

Lineage

He was the son of Humphrey III de Bohun and Margaret of Huntingdon, daughter of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, a son of David I of Scotland. His paternal grandmother was Margaret of Hereford, eldest daughter of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford and Constable of England. Bohun's half-sister was Constance, Duchess of Brittany; his sister by Humphrey III de Bohun and Margaret of Huntingdon was Matilda.

Earldom

The male line of Miles of Gloucester having failed, on the accession of King John of England, Bohun was created Earl of Hereford and Constable of England (1199). The lands of the family lay chiefly on the Welsh Marches, and from this date the Bohuns took a foremost place among the Marcher barons.^[1]

Henry de Bohun figured with the earls of Clare and Gloucester among the twenty-five barons who were elected by their fellows to enforce the terms of the Magna Carta in 1215, and was subsequently excommunicated by the Pope.

Marriage and Children^[2]

He married Maud de Mandeville (or Maud FitzGeoffrey), daughter of Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex. Their children were:

1. Humphrey V de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford, married Maud de Lusignan, by whom he had at least three children.
2. Henry de Bohun, who died young.
3. Ralph de Bohun.

Later career

In the civil war that followed the Magna Carta, he was also a supporter of King Louis VIII of France and was captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1217.^[1] He died while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.^[3]

References

• Cokayne, G. (ed. by V. Gibbs). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. London:1887-1896, H-457-459