BORN_SHORT ‎1 mar 1261 of, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England
AKA: Hugh [the elder] le Despenser
KINSHIP: Son and heir.

BIRTH: Date> 1 Mar 1260/1261.

MILITARY: Summoned for military service, 1282/1283-1322; 1322-1325.
MILITARY: At the battle of Bannockburn, 1314;
was in the Scottish Wars, 1317;
accompanied the King in his expedition against the Scots, 1322.
OFFICE: Constable of Odiham Castle, 1294; of the castles of Devizes and Marlborough, Mar 1307/1308 - Dec 1308; of the castle of Strigoil and Keeper of teh town of Chepstow, 1307/1308-1310.
OFFICE: Justice of the forests South of Trent, 1296/1297-1307, 1307/1308, 1309 till death.
OFFICE: One of the King's Council, 1297; removal from the Council, 1314/1315.
OFFICE: Keeper of the forests South of Trent, 1312-1314/1315; a commission was appointed to hear complaints against his acts of oppression as Keeper of the forests South of Trent, 1315; re-appointed Keeper of the forests South of Trent, 1324 till death.
OFFICE: Appointed and envoy to treat with the King of the Romans, 1294; with the King of France, 1295/1296; with the King of France and the King of the Romans, 1296; appointed an envoy to the Pope, 1300; to treat of peace with the King of France, 1302; to the Pope, 1305.
OFFICE: One of the proxies who swore to the treaty with the Count of Flanders, 1296/1297.
OFFICE: A Commissioner to treat with the Scots, 1305; to make peace with the Scots, 1324.
ASSIGNMENTS: Summoned to attend the King at Shrewsbury, 1283; to attend the King at Salisbury, 1296/1297.
ASSIGNMENTS: Summoned to Parliament by writs, 1295-1321/1322; 1322-1325.
ASSIGNMENTS: Summoned to Councils, 1308/1309-1317; 1323-1324/1325.
ASSIGNMENTS: Sent to set in order the affairs of Gascony, Feb 1319/1320.
ASSIGNMENTS: Sent on missions to the King of France and the Pope, Mar 1319/1320.

TITLES: Held to have become Lord le Despenser by writ, 1295 {possibly by writ to his father in 1264); created Earl of Winchester, 1322.
TITLES: Forfeiture> Upon his death, in 1326, all his honors were forfeited.

POLITICS: With the King in Gascony, 1287; in Scotland, 1300, 1303, 1304, 1306.
POLITICS: Accompanied the King to Scotland, 1296; to Flanders, 1297; to Pontoise, 1313; in his flight to Dunbar, and thence by sea to Berwick,.
POLITICS: Received instructions to threaten the clergy, 1296/1297.
POLITICS: In the quarrel about GAVASTONE, in 1308, he alone sided with the King against the Barons,who induced the King to promise to dismiss him from Court; was one of the King's deputies in the treaty with the magnates concerning the death of GAVASTONE, 1312; excluded from the peace that was arranged between the King and the discontented barons, 1313; the party of the Earl of Lancaster obtained his dismissal from Court, 1314; again excluded when peace was made with the Earl of Lancaster, 1318;
POLITICS: Took part in the Barons' Letter to the Pope, 1309.
POLITICS: Pardoned for all arrears and debts to the King, 1313.
POLITICS: On the King's flight to Wales in Oct 1326, he was dispatched to defend Bristol, which however, he surrendered on the arrival of the Queen, 26 Oct 1326.

RESIDENCE: Of Loughborough, co. Leicester {Loughborough, Leicestershire, England}.
RESIDENCE: Of Arnesby, co. Leicester {Arnesby, Leicestershire, England}.
RESIDENCE: Of Parlington, co. York {Parlington, Aberford, Yorkshire, England}.
RESIDENCE: Of Ryhall, Rutland {Ryhall, Rutland, England}.
RESIDENCE: Of Wycombe, Bucks {High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England}.
RESIDENCE: Of Compton Bassett, Wilts {Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, England}.
RESIDENCE: Of Wootton-Bassett, Wilts {Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, England}.

PROPERTY: Given the administration of the lands his father forfeited, May 1281.
PROPERTY: Had livery of his mother's lands, Aug 1281.
PROPERTY: As heir of his father's 1st cousin John le DESPENSER he had livery of the manor of Martley, co. Worcester {Martley, Worcestershire, England}.
PROPERTY: Had licence to crenellate all his dwelling houses throughout the kingdom, 1311.
PROPERTY: The barons of the Welsh Marches and their adherents ravaged the lands of the younger Despenser in Wales and those of the elder throughout the country.
PROPERTY: Was given by the King the castle, vill, manor, and honour of Denbigh, the cantreds of Rohos and Rhyfiniog, and the commote of Dinmael, 1322.
PROPERTY: Grant from William de BREWOSE, of all the land of Gower, 1324; from said William's daughter Aline (de BREWOSE) de MOWBRAY, a grant of the reversion of the castle and manor of Bramber - see 'The Complete Peerage', vol. 4 p. 266 fn. d.

PUNISHMENT: Disinherited, Exiled, Punishment Reversed> Both the elder and the younger Despensers were accused in Parliament, chiefly on account of the son's misconduct, of many misdeeds, such as accroaching to themselves royal power, counselling the King evilly, replacing good ministers by bad ones etc., Aug 1321; they were disinherited for ever, and exiled from the realm, not to return without the assent of the King and Parliament; the elder Hugh retired to the Continent and his lands were taken into the King's hand, Sep 1321; sentence on the Despensers was pronounced unlawful at a provincial council of the clergy about Jan 1321/1322; the elder Hugh accompanied the King against the contrariants, and was present at the judgement on the Earl of Lancaster, Mar 1321/1322; the proceedings against the Despensers were annulled and cancelled in the Parliament of York; the lands of the elder Hugh being restored, May 1322.
PUNISHMENT: Executed and Forfeited> Tried without being allowed to speak in his own defence; condemned to death as a traitor; his honours were forfeited; the sentence of "Exile" passed on him in 1321 being e-affirmed in Parliament, I Edw. III {1327/1328}.

DEATH: Cause> Hanged on a common gallows.

DIED_SHORT ‎before 30 may 1306
KINSHIP: 1st daughter.

DEATH: Date> Shortly before 30 May 1306.