HUMPHREY DE BOHUN (VIII), fourth EARL OF HEREFORD, and third EARL OF ESSEX (1276-1322), constable of England, was son of Humphrey (VII), third earl of Hereford. He was born in 1276. In 1291 he appears among the barons who addressed the letter of protest to the pope from the parliament of Lincoln. In 1302 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I, and widow of John, earl of Holland, and on the occasion made surrender to the crown of all his lands and title, receiving them back in tail.

In a great tournament held at Fulham in 1305 he took a leading part, and again in 1307 he was present at another passage of arms at Wallingford, held against the king's favourite, Piers Gaveston. In 1308 he was sent north, in company with the Earl of Gloucester [Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl], to oppose Robert Bruce. The next year he joined with other barons in a letter of remonstrance addressed to the pope. In 1310 Humphrey de Bohun was one of the twenty one ordainers appointed on 20 March to reform the government and the king's household. The ordinances which they presented were finally accepted in October 1311; but three months later, January 1312, the king recalled his banished favourite, Gaveston. Immediately Thomas, earl of Lancaster and the confederate barons, including Hereford, took up arms and besieged Gaveston in Scarborough. On 19 May Gaveston surrendered, and was shortly afterwards beheaded by Lancaster's party at Blacklow Hill. Edward was powerless to punish the rebellious lords; negotiations for a peace were opened, and in October 1313 the earls and their followers were pardoned. In 1314 the war with Scotland was renewed, and the battle of Bannockburn was fought on 24 June. Here Gloucester was slain and Hereford taken prisoner. He was exchanged for the wife of Robert Bruce, who had long been a captive in England.

The jealousy of the barons was now moved by the growing power of the two Despensers, father and son [see Hugh le Despenser, the Younger]. At a parliament held at York, September 1314, Edward was called upon to confirm the ordinances of 1311, and the elder Despenser was removed from the council. In 1315 Hereford was engaged upon the Welsh border, and was successful in quelling a rising. The factions which now sprang up among the barons threatened to bring about a state of civil war, when the movements of Robert Bruce, who had advanced south and captured Berwick, 2 April 1318, compelled the different parties to submit to a reconciliation. A general pardon was granted to Lancaster and his followers, and a new council was appointed August 1318. Of this council Hereford was a member, and he also took part in the military operations against Scotland, which, however, were hampered by Lancaster's perverse refusal to assist. A truce was concluded in 1319.

The feeling against the Despensers now broke out in open revolt. Bohun and Roger Mortimer, the principal lords on the Welsh border, prepared to attack Hugh le Despenser the younger, who held Glamorgan, in the autumn of 1320. Early in the next year the king issued writs forbidding unlawful assemblies; and a parliament was summoned to meet at Westminster on 15 July 1321. Bohun appeared in London at the head of an armed force, and took the lead in denouncing the favourites, who were sentenced to forfeiture and exile. But in October the king appeared in the field, and with unwonted vigour attacked his enemies in detail. They were driven north, and at the battle of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire, 16 March 1322, they were totally defeated. Hereford was among the slain, and was buried in the church the Friars Preachers of York.

By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I, Humphrey de Bohun had six sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his second son, John, who, dying in 1335, was followed by his brother Humphrey IX, as sixth earl. In 1361 Humphrey X, earl of Northampton, succeeded, being the son of William de Bohun, another son of the earl of Hereford. With Humphrey X the title became extinct in 1372, but was revived as a dukedom in 1397, in the person of Henry Bolingbroke [afterwards Henry IV], who married Mary, daughter and coheir of the last earl.


E. Maunde Thompson

      Source:

      Thompson, E. Maunde. "Humphrey de Bohun, Fourth Earl of Hereford."
      Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. V. Leslie Stephen, Ed.
      New York: Macmillan and Co., 1886. 309-10.

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