Hugh le Despenser the Younger
d. 1326
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About
Hugh le Despenser the younger, favourite and ruler-in-all-but-name of Edward II, was hanged from a fifty-foot gallows at Hereford in November 1326 before a crowd that treated it as a festival. He had married Eleanor de Clare, the king's niece, at Westminster in 1306, and through her this line carries the de Clare inheritance. By a symmetry the tree only revealed later, both Hugh and his sister Elizabeth are direct ancestors here, by entirely separate roads.
Research notes
✓ HUGH LE DESPENSER THE YOUNGER (executed Hereford 24 Nov 1326), royal favourite of Edward II; son of HUGH LE DESPENSER, EARL OF WINCHESTER, by ISABEL DE BEAUCHAMP (both ALREADY IN TREE - wired as their child, a CONVERGENCE; his sister Elizabeth le Despenser m. Ralph de Camoys is our existing Camoys-line ancestress, so brother and sister are now BOTH direct ancestors by different lines). M. (Westminster, May 1306) ELEANOR DE CLARE. Sources: CP IV (Despenser). Direct ancestor. Added 8 Aug 2026 (the Raleigh royal door - consolation wave after the St Leger door closed; full write-up in RANKED LEADS addendum).