The great rise and great fall of the family offers plenty of drama and
intrigue. Companion title to 'Hugh Despenser the Younger' (Pen & Sword,
2018).
The Despensers were a baronial English family who rose to great
prominence in the reign of Edward II (1307-27) when Hugh Despenser the
Younger became the king's chamberlain, favorite and perhaps lover. He
and his father Hugh the Elder wielded great influence, and Hugh the
Younger's greed and tyranny brought down a king for the first time in
English history and almost destroyed his own family. Rise and Fall of a
Medieval Family tells the story of the ups and downs of this
fascinating family from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, when
three Despenser lords were beheaded and two fell in battle. We begin
with Hugh the justiciar, who died rebelling against King Henry III and
his son in 1265, and end with Thomas Despenser, summarily beheaded in
1400 after attempting to free a deposed Richard II, and Thomas's
posthumous daughter Isabella, a countess twice over and the grandmother
of Richard III's queen.
From the medieval version of Prime Ministers to the (possible) lovers of
monarchs, the aristocratic Despenser family wielded great power in
medieval England. Drawing on the popular intrigue and infamy of the
Despenser clan, Kathryn Warner's book traces the lives of the most
notorious, powerful and influential members of this patrician family
over a 200-year span.
