Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley

Who was Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley?

Maurice Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, sometimes termed The Magnanimous, was an English baron and rebel.

Born at Berkeley in the English county of Gloucestershire, he was the son of Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, and Joan de Ferrers. He was involved in the Scottish Wars from about 1295 to 1318. He acceded on 16 August 1308, was Governor of Gloucester 1312, Governor of Berwick-on-Tweed from 1314 which he lost to the Scots under the 1317 Capture of Berwick, Steward of the Duchy of Aquitaine 1319 and Justiciar of South Wales 1316. With the Earl of Lancaster, he rebelled against King Edward II, for which he was imprisoned in Wallingford Castle in Berkshire, where he died on 31 May 1326 and was eventually buried at St Augustine's Abbey in Bristol.

He married: 1. Eva la Zouche, daughter of Eudo La Zouche and Millicent de Cauntelo in 1289, with children:

Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley, born c. 1296

Sir Maurice de Berkeley, of Uley, Gloucester. Killed at the Siege of Calais in 1347. Acquired Stoke Gifford in 1337, and founded the line of Berkeley of Stoke Gifford.