Alan LaZouche, 24th Great-Grandfather

May 21, 2014 — 3 Comments

La Zouche COA

Rockingham Castle

My 24th great-grandfather was loyal to Henry III, and later Edward I of England.  As usual, the royal association brought both positive and negative aspects:

Alan la Zouche (born about 1203) was summoned to accompany King Henry III to France in the 26th year of Henry’s reign. (Henry III was king from 1216 to 1272.) Within the next ten years, the whole county of Chester and all of North Wales were placed under Alan’s government. In the 45th year of Henry’s reign, Alan In the 45th year of the same reign he obtained a charter for a weekly market at Ashby-La-Zouche, in Leicestershire, and for two fairs in the year at Swavesey. At about the same time, Alan was made warden of the forests south of Trent and sheriff of Northamptonshire. In the 46th year of Henry’s reign, Alan was made Justice Iternerant for the counties of Southamptom, Buckingham, and Northampton. In the next three years, he was made Constable of the Tower of London, and Governor of the castle at Northampton. In 1268, he was violently attacked in Westminster Hall by John, Earl of Warren and Surrey, who had a dispute with Alan about some land. Alan’s son Roger was with him at the time, and Alan was severely wounded.
Alan’s son, Sir Roger la Zouche, was the Lord of Ashby. He married Ela Longespee, who was the daughter of Emmeline de Ridelisford and Sir Stephen Longespee.
Stephen Logespee was Justiciar of Ireland (something like a Prime Minister) and Seneschal of Gascony (a Seneschal was the Lord’s representative in the administration of an estate who would preside at courts, audit account,s conduct investigations, etc.).
Roger’s son Alan la Zouche (born about 1267) was the First Baron la Zouche of Ashby. Alan was governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England. Alan La Zouche died without any sons shortly before at the age of 46, and his barony fell into abeyance among his daughters.
Alan was in Gascony with King Edward I of England in October 1288, when he was one of the hostages given by the king to Alfonso of Aragon for the fulfillment of certain agreements. He was in Scotland in the King’s service in June of 1291. In April 1294 he had a writ of protection from the King when he travelled overseas with the King’s daughter, Eleanor of Bar. He served in Gascony in 1295 and 1296, and was present at the action around Bordeaux on March 28, 1296, when his standard bearer was captured by the French. In 1297 he was summoned for service in Flanders, and attended Councils in Rochester and London in that year.
Alan was summoned for service against the Scots in 1297-1313. He fought in the Vanguard at the Battle of Falkirk on July 22, 1298. King Edward’s army at that battle consisted of 12,000 infantry, including 10,000 Welsh, and 2,000 cavalry. William Wallace, the Scottish leader accepted battle in a withdrawn defensive position. Wallace had few cavalry and few archers; but his solid “schiltrons” (circles) of spearmen were almost invincible. The armoured cavalry of the English vanguard were hurled back with severe losses. Edward brought up his Welsh archers in the intervals between the horsemen of the second line, concentrating their arrows on specific points in the Scottish schiltrons. It was into these gaps that the English knights forced their way, and once the Scottish order was broken the spearmen were quickly massacred. Alan was at the siege of Caerlaverock in July 1300. His part was described in Nicholas’ Siege of Carlaverock:
Aleyn de la Souche tresor Signiioit ke fust brians
Sa rouge baniere a besans
Car bienscai ki a dependu Tresor plus ke en burce pendu
He was summoned to Edward II’s coronation on January 18, 1307/08. In December of that year he had a protection to go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He was the Constable of Rockingham Castle and the Keeper of the forests between the bridges of Oxford and Stamford.

Alan LaZouche (1203 – 1270)
is my 24th great grandfather
Roger LaZouche (1242 – 1285)
son of Alan LaZouche
Alan laZOUCHE (1267 – 1314)
son of Roger LaZouche
Maude LaZouche (1290 – 1349)
daughter of Alan laZOUCHE
Sir Thomas de Holand Wake Kent (1314 – 1360)
son of Maude LaZouche
Sir Thomas Holand Knight deHolland (1350 – 1397)
son of Sir Thomas de Holand Wake Kent
Margaret DeHoland (1385 – 1439)
daughter of Sir Thomas Holand Knight deHolland
Joan Beaufort (1407 – 1445)
daughter of Margaret DeHoland
Joan Stewart (1428 – 1486)
daughter of Joan Beaufort
John Gordon (1450 – 1517)
son of Joan Stewart
Robert Lord Gordon (1475 – 1525)
son of John Gordon
Catherine Gordon (1497 – 1537)
daughter of Robert Lord Gordon
Lady Elizabeth Ashton (1524 – 1588)
daughter of Catherine Gordon
Capt Roger Dudley (1535 – 1585)
son of Lady Elizabeth Ashton
Gov Thomas Dudley (1576 – 1653)
son of Capt Roger Dudley
Anne Dudley (1612 – 1672)
daughter of Gov Thomas Dudley
John Bradstreet (1652 – 1718)
son of Anne Dudley
Mercy Bradstreet (1689 – 1725)
daughter of John Bradstreet
Caleb Hazen (1720 – 1777)
son of Mercy Bradstreet
Mercy Hazen (1747 – 1819)
daughter of Caleb Hazen
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Mercy Hazen
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Alan II (grandson of the first Baron Zouche) was justice of Chester and justice of Ireland under Henry III of England. He was loyal to the king during the struggle with the baroons, fought at the Battle of Lewes and helped to arrange the peace of Kenilworth. As a result of a quarrel over some lands with John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, he was seriously injured in Westminster Hall by the Earl and his retainers, and died on August 10, 1270.

The de la Zouche family descended from Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby, sometimes called Alan de Porhoët and Alan la Coche (c. 1136–1190), aBreton who settled in England durin g the reign of Henry II. He was the son of Vicomte Geoffrey I de Porhoët and Hawisa of Brittany. He married Adeline (Alice) de Belmeis, daughter of Phillip de Belmeis and Maud la Meschine and died at North Melton in Devon. He obtained Ashby in Leicestershire (called after himAshby-de-la-Zouch) by his marriage. His son was Roger la Zouche (~1175- bef 14 May 1238). Roger La Zouche became the father of Alan la Zouche (1205-1270) and Eudo La Zouche. [1]

Alan was justice of Chester and justice of Ireland under Henry III of England. He was loyal to the king during the struggle with the barons, fought at the Battle of Lewes and helped to arrange the peace of Kenilworth. As the result of a quarrel over some lands with John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, he was seriously injured in Westminster Hall by the earl and his retainers, and died on August 10,1270 .

E udo La Zouche married Millicent de Cantilou. [2]

Alan’s grandson, Alan la Zouche, was summoned to Parliament on February 6,1299 as Baron la Zouche of Ashby. He was governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest. However, this barony fell into abeyance on his death in 1314.

Another grandson of Alan de la Zouche was William la Zouche, Lord ofHaryngworth, who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Zouche, of Haryngworth, on August 16, 1308 . His great-great-great-grandson, the fifth Baron, married Alice Seymour, 6th Baroness St Maur, and assumed this peerage in her right. Their son succeeded to both titles. On the death in 1625 of the eleventh and twelfth Baron, the peerages fell into abeyance between the latter’s daughters Hon. Elizabeth and Hon. Mary. However, in 1815 the Barony of Zouche was called out of abeyance in favour of Sir Cecil Bishopp, 8th Baronet, of Parham (see Bishopp Baronets of Parham), who became the twelfth Baron Zouche. Through his mother he was a descendant of the aforementioned Hon. Elizabeth. The Barony of St Maur, however, remains in abeyance to this day. On his death in 1828 he was succeeded in the Baronetcy by a cousin, while the Barony of Zouche once again fell into abeyance, this time between his two daughters Hon. Harriet Anne Curzon and Lady Katherine Isabella Brooke-Pechell. The abeyance was terminated the following year in favour of Hon. Harriet Anne, who became the thirteenth Baroness. Known as Baroness de la Zouch, she was the wife of Hon. Robert Curzon, younger son of Assheton Curzon, 1st Viscount Curzon. Her son was the fourteenth Baron. On his death the title passed to his son, the fifteenth Baron, and then to the latter’s sister, the sixteenth Baroness. She never married and was succeeded by her cousin, the seventeenth Baroness, the granddaughter of a younger son of the thirteenth Baroness. She was succeeded by her grandson, the eighteenth and present Baron, who had already succeeded his father as 12th Baronet in 1944.

Another grandchild of the original Alan de la Zouche, Joyce la Zouche, married Robert Mortimer of Richard’s Castle; one of their younger sons, William la Zouche, took the name of la Zouche and bought Ashby-de-la-Zouch from Alan in 1304, the latter to hold it until his death (1314). On December 26, 1323 , he was created, by writ, Baron Zouche of Mortimer. This peerage became abeyant in 1406.