Walter Devereux (c1339-c1383)

Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was a prominent knight in Herefordshire during the reign of Edward III. He was a member of Parliament, sheriff, and Justice of the Peace for Hereford.

Ancestry and Childhood
Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was born about 1339, the son of William Devereux of Bodenham and Anne, daughter of Sir John Barre. His great-grandfather was William Devereux, Baron Devereux of Lyonshall by his first wife, Alice de Grandison.

He was a close ally of his cousin, John Devereux, 1st Baron Devereux of Whitchurch Maund. The Baron was a friend of the Black Prince and member of Richard II’s council of regency, and his influence promoted the career of Walter Devereux.

His arms were: Argent a fesse gules, in chief three torteaux.

Career
An oyer and terminer commission was called in 1357 for a complaint by Sir Richard de Acton that Walter Devereux was among a number of individuals that broke into his park at Aily, county Somerset, and hunted therein. Another commission was called in 1362 on a complaint by the abbot of Abbotesbury that Walter Devereux was among a number of individuals who tore up stones for metes and bounds in his lands in Tolpudele and caused other damage to his lands.

He was a knight by the time he was nominated as attorney by Brother Thomas de Burley, prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland, preceptor of Dynemor, Carewy and Upledne, who was going to Ireland on the king's service. Devereux was created justice of the peace for Gloucester in 1366, 1368, 1377, and 1380; for Hereford in December 1381, and 1382; and the Welsh marches in 1377. He also was entrusted with keeping the peace in the city of Hereford, and ensuring that its people were armed and kept ready to resist the king's enemies in 1377. Devereux served on commissions of oyer and terminer regarding complaints by Gilbert Giffard regarding the repair of a chapel in Kingshome, Gloucester in 1366, Sir John de Burley regarding a break in at his park in Harsfeld, county Gloucester, in 1368, and to determine who intruded upon the king's manors of Ribbesford and La Roke, county Worcester, in 1377. He was also on the commission of array for Hereford in 1377.

Walter Devereux was a retainer of the de Bohuns. In 1369 he was granted protection and appointed an attorney for 1 year while he was overseas in France serving in the company led by Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. At the death of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, in 1373, he was granted the custody of all castles in Wales and in the Marches of Wales, which had been held by the said Earl.

He was sometime sheriff of Somerset and Dorset. In 1376 and 1377, he held the position of sheriff of Herefordshire.

He obtained a licence for an annual fair of three days continuance in Bodenham on 12 July 1378. The days of the fair were to be those of the Assumption (15 August), the day preceding, and the day following. He also was granted a weekly market in Bodenham to occur on Tuesdays.

He was also a member of Parliament for Herefordshire in 1378, 1379, 1381, 1382, and 1383. On 8 February 1382 he was attending Parliament with his son, also named Walter, and they both were appointed to a royal commission.

In 1380 he was granted protection and appointed an attorney for 1 year while overseas in France serving in the company under Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham. During the Peasants' Revolt Walter Devereux was mandated on July 7, 1381 to issue a proclamation regarding the murder under pretext of royal authority of Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury; Robert de Hales, Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem; Chief Justice John de Cavendish; and others by the rebels. He also was empowered to forbid unlawful assemblies, and to resist and punish the insurgents. He then was placed on a commission on February 8, 1382 to arrest William de Solers who had been outlawed for not appearing before the king for disseising John ap William ap Jankin and his wife of Dorstone manor. He also was placed on the commission of February 16, 1382 entrusted with arresting the individuals responsible for disseising John de Walleford of the manor of Brocton.

Death
He died sometime about 1383.

Provided is an excerpt from Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire describing his home, and burial in the church of Bodenham Devereux: ''The manor-house, formerly called “Devereux Court” and now the “Moat,” is situated near the Church, and is a timber mansion of great antiquity. It probably formed the residence of Sir Walter Devereux who was the Sheriff, 50 and 51 Edward III, and whose monument was to be seen in the church forty years ago. Dingley (Hist. from Marble. Part I, ccxxxvi.) gives a sketch of it, from which we gather that it represented a knight in chain-armour with a sleeveless surcoat over the hawberk. The sword is on the right side and attached to a jeweled belt. The hands are crossed above the breast, on which are depicted the arms of Devereux. These are repeated at intervals on the upper plinth, where a French inscription is partially legible. Sir Walter obtained licence for a market and fair at his manor of Bodenham, and probably contributed largely to the re-building of the church, in the windows of which were to be seen the arms of Devereux and the cognizance of Richard II – the white hart lodged – together with the arms of that monarch and those of Delabere, Lucy, and Brydges. All these memorials have now perished; the alabaster slab, on which the effigy of Sir Walter was incised, was broken into fragments at the restoration of the church in 1834.''

Marriage
He married a woman named Maud and had children: Walter Devereux of Bodenham and Weobley (c. 1361), and Ann Devereux (c. 1363) who married Rosser Vaughan of Lechryd.