Children
Roger La ZOUCHE
Helene La ZOUCHE ROHAN-PORHOET
Eudo (Eon) La ZOUCHE
William La ZOUCHE
Alan La ZOUCHE
Oliver La ZOUCHE
Margery (Mary) La ZOUCHE BARONESS FITZROGER
Henry La ZOUCHE
Alice La ZOUCHE
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Alan la Zouche (1205–1270)Alan la Zouche (or de la, also
Zouch) Baron Zouche (d. 1270) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and soldier.
Background
He was the son of Roger de la Zouch and the grandson of
Alan de la Zouch. This elder Alan, the first of the family to be established in
England, was a younger son of ‘Galfridus vicecomes,’ that is, in all probability of Geoffrey, viscount of Porhoet in
Brittany (d. 1141); his elder brother, Eudes de Porhoet, was for a few years count of Brittany, but with a disputed title, and his uncle, also named Alan, was founder of the viscounty of
Rohan. Under
Henry II Alan de Porhoet, or de la Zouch, established himself in England, and married Adeliza or Alice de Belmeis, sole heiress of the house of Belmeis [cf. Belmeis, Richard de], her inheritance including
Tong Castle in
Shropshire, Ashby (afterwards called
Ashby-de-la-Zouch) in
Leicestershire,
North Molton in
Devonshire, and other lands in
Cambridgeshire and elsewhere. As her husband, Alan de la Zouch became an important personage at Henry II's court. Their sons, William de la Zouch (d. 1199) and Roger de la Zouch (d. 1238?), succeeded in turn to these estates. Roger's Breton connection was almost fatal to him in 1204, but he managed to regain John's favour, and devoted himself to that king to the last. In the first year of Henry III's reign he was rewarded by receiving grants of the forfeited estates of his kinsmen, the viscounts of Rohan. He died before 3 November 1238.
Early service
On 15 June 1242 Alan was summoned to attend the king Henry III with horses and arms in
Gascony. He was at
La Sauve in October, at Bordeaux in March and April 1243, and at
La Réole in November. Before 6 August 1250 Zouch was appointed justice of
Chester and of the four
cantreds in
North Wales.
Matthew Paris says that he got this office by outbidding his predecessor,
John de Grey. He offered to pay a ferm of twelve hundred marks instead of five hundred. Zouch boasted that
Wales was nearly all reduced to obedience to the
English laws, but his high-handed acts provoked royal interference and censure. He continued in office as the
Lord Edward's deputy after the king's grant of Chester and Wales to his eldest son.
In Ireland
Ireland had been among the lands which Edward had received from Henry III in 1254. In the spring of 1256 Zouch was sent to there on the service of the Lord Edward, and soon afterwards he was appointed justice of Ireland under Edward, his first official mandate being dated 27 June 1256. In 1257 he was still in Ireland. On 28 June 1258 he received a mandate from the king, now under the control of the
barons, not to admit any justice or other officer appointed by Edward to Ireland unless the appointment had the consent of the king and the barons. However, he ceased to hold office soon after this,
Stephen Longespee being found acting as justice in October 1258.
Loyalist
During the
barons' wars Zouch adhered to the king. He was on 9 July 1261 appointed sheriff of
Northamptonshire, receiving in October a letter from the king urging him to keep his office despite any baronial interlopers. He remained sheriff until 1264, and sometimes ignored the provisions of
Magna Carta by acting as justice itinerant in his own shire and also in
Buckinghamshire and
Hampshire. In 1261 he was also made justice of the forests south of
Trent, and in 1263 king's
seneschal. In April 1262 he held forest pleas at
Worcester.
On 12 December 1263 he was one of the royalist barons who agreed to submit all points of dispute to the arbitration of
Louis IX. According to some accounts he was taken prisoner early in the
battle of Lewes by
John Giffard. He escaped almost immediately and took refuge in
Lewes Priory, where he is said to have been found after the fight disguised as a monk.
In the summer of 1266 he was one of the committee of twelve arbitrators appointed to arrange the terms of the surrender of
Kenilworth Castle. On 23 June 1267, after the peace between Henry III and
Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, he was appointed warden of
London and
constable of the Tower. He continued in office until
Michaelmas, whereupon his tenure was prolonged until
Easter 1268.
In 1270 Zouch had a suit against
Earl Warenne with regard to a certain estate. On 19 June the trial was proceeding before the justices in banco at
Westminster Hall, and Zouch seemed likely to win the case. He was murderously attacked by Earl Warenne and his followers. Roger, his son, was wounded and driven from the hall; Alan himself was seriously injured and left on the spot. He was still surviving when, on 4 August, Warenne made his peace with the crown and agreed to pay a substantial compensation to the injured Zouches. He died on 10 August, and on 20 October his son Roger received
seisin of his estate.
Legacy
Zouch was a benefactor of the
Knights Templars, to whom he gave lands at
Sibford, and to the Belmeis family foundation of
Buildwas Abbey, after having carried on protracted
lawsuits with that house.
Family
Zouch married Elena (d. 1296), one of the daughters and coheirs of
Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester [see under Qunicy, Saer de], and in 1267 succeeded to her share of the Quincy estates. Their eldest son, Roger de la Zouch, married Ela, daughter of Emelina, countess of Ulster, was summoned to
parliament, and died in 1285, being succeeded by his son Alan, then aged 18, who died in 1314, being also summoned to parliament between 1297 and his death. He left three daughters as his coheirs. The youngest, Elizabeth, was a
nun. The elder ones were Eleanor, who married (1) Nicholas Seymour, and (2) Alan de Charlton; and Maud, who married
Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand. Between the descendants of these two ladies the estates were divided. A younger son of the elder Alan and Elena de Quincy was Eudes or Ivo, the alleged ancestor of the Zouches of Harringworth [see Zouche, Edward la].
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