Beatrix de Vesci

Beatrix de Vesci of Alnwick Castle, was an eleventh-century medieval noble lady of house de Vesci.^[1]

Beatrix de Vesci
Baroness of Alnwick Castle
Born	Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Died	c. 1125 Knaresborough, Yorkshire
Husband	Eustace Fitz John (1089 - 1157)
Father	Ivo de Vesci (c. 1045 – c. 1100)

Life

Daughter and sole heir of Ivo de Vesci,^[2] Builder and first Baron and his wife, Alda,^[3][4] Beatrix de Vesci was one of the richest heiresses of her time.^[5] She was the first wife of Eustace Fitz John, also known as Eustacius fitz John de Burgo, Constable of Chestershire and Knaresborough.^[6]

According to Dugdale, Beatrix had two sons, William and Geoffrey.^[7] However, it is most often said that she died during childbirth of her first and only son, William de Vesci.^[8] William de Vesci took his mother’s surname and would become the ancestor of the de Vesci baronial house.^[9][10] William served as Sheriff of Northumberland from 1157 to 1170,^[11] and Sheriff of Lancashire from 1166 to 1170.^[12]

Upon the death of Eustace Fitz John, his lands passed to his son William by consent of King Henry II.^[13]

Beatrix de Vesci's grandson, Eustace de Vesci, was one of the Surety Barons of Magna Carta.^[14]

References

1. Geldard, Ed (2009). Northumberland strongholds. London: Frances Lincoln. p. 49. ISBN 9780711229853.
2. Wurts, John (1945). Magna Carta. Philadelphia: Brookfield Publishing Company. pp. 72, 135.
3. Hull, Lisa (2008). Understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales: How to Interpret the History and Meaning of Masonry and Earthworks. McFarland & Co. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-7864-3457-2.
4. Burke, John (1837). A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British empire. London: Henry Colburn. p. 352.
5. Grainge, William (1871). The history and topography of Harrogate, and the forest of Knaresborough. London: J.R. Smith. p. 51.
6. Browning, Charles Henry (1969). Magna charta barons and their descendants; with the story of the great charter of King John. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co. p. 129.
7. Cokayne, George Edward (1959). G.H. White; R.S. Lea (eds.). The Complete Peerage Vol. XII/2 (2nd ed.). London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd. p. 276.
8. Tate, George. 1866. The history of the Borough, Castle, and Barony of Alnwick. Alnwick: H.H. Blair. 56.
9. Burke, John Bernard (1883). Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. London: Harrison. p. 555.
10. Tout, T. F.; Dalton, Paul (2004). Eustace Fitz John: Justice and Baron. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
11. Chalmers, George (1807). Caledonia: Or, an Account, Historical and Topographic, of North Britain; From the Most Ancient to the Present Times. Vol. I. London: T. Cadell, and W. Davies, Strand; and A. Constable Co., at Edinburgh. p. 532.
12. "High Sheriff of Lancashire". Geni.com. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
13. Dalton, Paul (1996). "Eustace Fitz John and the Politics of Anglo-Norman England: The Rise and Survival of a Twelfth-Century Royal Servant". Speculum. 71 (2). Speculum (Medieval Academy of America): 380. doi:10.2307/2865417. JSTOR 2865417. S2CID 155189020.
14. "Magna Carta Surety Barons". The Magna Carta. Runnymede Borough Council. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Vescy, William de". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.