The Lordship of Powys (Part 2)

Owain de la Pole‘s daughter, Hawise (1290-1349), eventually inherited the Lordship, her brother having died. She was known as Hawise Gadarn, which means in English ‘the Hardy’. Hawise married John Charlton (or Cherleton) a knight from a relatively minor Shropshire family who had acquired the favour of Edward I.

In 1313 Edward II sent John a personal summons to Parliament which had the effect of creating him the first Lord Charlton of Powys. The family then settled down to rule Powys for several generations.

Perhaps the most interesting Charlton is the last, Edward. Edward was not initially destined to be Lord of Powys as he had an elder brother, John. John married Alice Fitzalan, daughter of that Earl of Arundel who was executed in 1397, but they had no children together which meant that Edward was his brother’s heir.

It was as plain Sir Edward Charlton that he made a very advantageous marriage to Alianore Holland, Countess of March and Ulster, not many months after her first husband’s death in Ireland. Alianore was one of the richest women in the Kingdom of England, if not the richest, and had an enormous dower that included the castles of Usk and Carleon. She was also (half-blood) niece to King Richard II and mother of the lawful heir to the throne, as established by the Parliament of 1386. If this was not enough, in 1399 Richard II appointed her as Governess to his little Queen, Isabella of Valois, having sacked her French predecessor, the Dame de Courcy. (Alianore was the great-grandmother of Edward IV and Richard III.)

If the chronicler, Adam of Usk, is to be believed, Edward and Alianore intended to resist Henry Bolingbroke‘s invasion and fortified Usk Castle against him. Henry was just about to march on them when he, Adam, hurried to Usk and persuaded them to submit.

Whether the resistance of Usk Castle would have changed history we can never know. It might have delayed Henry for a time, and perhaps made his march to Chester a more difficult proposition. The most likely outcome, however, would have been the execution of Edward Charlton and perhaps his garrison.

Usk points out that Edward Charlton could be a severe master. He claims that Edward had the Seneschal of Usk executed for improper involvement with a local prioress. (An example of what a marcher lord could do if he so wished.)

In 1401, John Charlton passed away, and Edward succeeded as Lord of Powys. By this time, of course, the Glyndwr Rising was in full swing and Powys was very much in the front line. In 1404 matters had grown so grim that Charlton was obliged to gain permission to make a local truce with Owain.

It would be interesting to know whether Charlton and Alianore had any knowledge of, or involvement in, Lady Despenser‘s plot to take Alianore’s young sons (Edmund Earl of March and Roger Mortimer) to Glyndwr early in 1405. Equally, it would interesting to know whether, following Alianore’s death that year, Charlton retained control of her daughters and was in any way involved in the marriage of the elder, Anne, to Richard of Conisbrough.

In any event, Charlton seems to have passed as a loyal Lancastrian, and the ebbing of Owain’s revolt may have turned him that way. Once Owain was beaten, it made sense for the Lord of Powys to stay on the winning side. He was instrumental in the capture of the Lollard rebel Sir John Oldcastle in 1417 and he rewarded the men responsible. He himself passed away in 1421.

His second wife was Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of Sir John Berkeley of Beverston, a cousin of Thomas, Lord Berkeley. She does not appear to have had children with Edward but later married Lord Dudley and had a son.

By his first wife, Alianore Holland, Edward had two daughters, Joan, who married Sir John Grey of Heton, and Joyce, who married John, Lord Tiptoft. Her son was ‘Butcher’ Tiptoft, the Earl of Worcester, besides whom she had two daughters.

The Lordship of Powys was split between the descendants of Joan and Joyce and the old peerage has never been called out of abeyance. Later earls of Powis were a new creation in the peerage.