Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/421

 of the time of Henry III, and 'the elder Hugh, as an old servant of Edward I, may have preserved some traditions of his constructive policy.' The proceedings of this parliament are marked by a distinctly constitutional spirit, by an endeavour to establish an accord between the crown and the people as a counterpoise to the power of the nobles, and this can scarcely fail to have been the work of the king's favourites (, Const. Hist. ii. 361). They were now all powerful, and put no bounds to their greediness. Grants were made to them in extraordinary profusion. The Queen hated them, and when some difficulty arose with France she gladly left the kingdom on an embassy to her brother Charles IV. There was some talk of war between the two countries, and Edward spoke of leading an expedition in person. To this, however, Despenser would not consent, for he knew that if he was deprived of the support of the king's presence he would not be able to stand against his enemies, and Edward, who was now wholly under the dominion of the two favourites, grave up the idea. When the queen was summoned to return to England, she declared that she would not do so as long as Despenser was in power, and a plot was made in France to overthrow him and his son. He declared his innocence towards her before the magnates, and a letter was sent to her by the bishops informing her that he had done so, and urging her to return. She refused, and by Despenser's advice the king outlawed her and his son, who was with her. The queen landed in England with an armed force in September 1326, and put out a proclamation against the favourites. Edward retreated before her, and from Chepstow sent Despenser to secure the town and castle of Bristol. The queen marched by Gloucester to Berkeley, where she restored the castle which had been seized by the Despensers to its rightful owner, Thomas, lord Berkeley. Thence she advanced against Bristol. The town was on her side, and the earl, unable to hold it against her, surrendered at once. The next day, 27 Oct., he was sentenced, and was forthwith put to death as a traitor on a common gallows outside the town amidst the shouts of the Bristol people. His head was sent to Winchester. He was put to death at the age of sixty-four.

 DESPENSER, HUGH LE, the younger (d. 1326), baron, son of the elder [q.v.], received knighthood with the Prince of Wales at Easter 1306, and about 1309 married Eleanor, daughter of Gilbert of Clare, earl of Gloucester, and sister and co-heiress of the next Earl Gilbert. During the early years of the reign of Edward II he evidently belonged to Lancaster's party, for in 1313, with the consent of the prelates and others, he was made the king's chamberlain in the place of Gaveston, because the barons knew that Edward hated him (, ii. 299). He was ordered to march with his father to Scotland, and on his return the next year was summoned to Parliament as 'Hugo le Despencer, junior.' He served in Scotland in 1317, and in 1319 was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the Scots. Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, his brother-in-law, was slain at Bannockburn in 1314, and in 1317 his inheritance was divided between the husbands of his three sisters: Despenser, who had married the eldest, and who was accordingly sometimes called Earl of Gloucester, Hugh of Audley, and Roger d'Amory. It was probably the ill-feeling that arose about this division that caused Despenser to desert the baronial party and attach himself to the king, for as late as 1318, when the barons were all powerful, he was continued in office, and was appointed by parliament a member of the permanent council (, Introduction to Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, liv.) At all events from soon after the date of the partition of the Gloucester inheritance he appears to have taken the place of Gaveston in the king's favour, and to have begun to work with his father. He obtained nearly the whole of Glamorgan as his share, and set himself to add to his possessions at the cost of his neighbours. He surprised and held Newport, which belonged to Audley, and it was known that he was begging the king to resume certain grants made to Roger of Mortimer, hoping to get hold of them also. As the Mortimers at Wigmore and Chirk 'ruled the northern marches almost as independent princes' (, Const. Hist. ii. 386), Despenser, by his own greediness, laid the foundation of a confederacy that was strong enough to crush him should opportunity offer. The grudge against him broke out into open quarrel in 1320. John Mowbray entered on certain lands in Gower, which came to him in right of his wife, the daughter and heiress of William of Braose, without obtaining the