Eleanor de Braose


Eleanor de Braose was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman in Great Britain, and a wealthy co-heiress of her father, who was the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and of her mother, Eva Marshal, a co-heiress of the Earls of Pembroke. Her husband was Humphrey de Bohun, heir of the 2nd Earl of Hereford, by whom she had children, including Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford.

Family

Eleanor was born in about 1228. She was the youngest of four daughters and a co-heiress of the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and Eva Marshal, both of whom held considerable lordships and domains in the Welsh Marches and Ireland. Eva was one of the daughters of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke by Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, "Strongbow". Eleanor's three sisters were Isabella de Braose, Maud de Braose, Baroness Mortimer, and Eva de Braose, wife of William de Cantelou.
While Eleanor was a young girl, her father - known to the Welsh as Gwilym Ddu - was hanged on the orders of Llewelyn the Great, Prince of Wales for alleged adultery with Llewelyn's wife, Joan, Lady of Wales. Following the execution, her mother held de Braose lands and castles in her own right.

Marriage and issue

On an unknown date after August 1241, Eleanor became the first wife of Humphrey de Bohun, the son of Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford and Maud de Lusignan. The marriage took place after the death of Humphrey's mother, Maud.
Humphrey and Eleanor had the following children:
Eleanor died in 1251, and was buried at Llanthony Secunda Priory. She passed on her considerable possessions in the Welsh Marches to her eldest son Humphrey. Her husband survived her, married Joan de Quincy, and died in 1265.