Hugh Despenser (1291-24 November 1326) was a royal chamberlain and the lover of King Edward II of England. A series of controversies led to rebellions against Edward, and in 1326 Hugh was captured and executed.
Biography[]
Hugh Despenser was born in 1291 to Earl Hugh of Winchester and the House of Despenser. Hugh married Eleanor de Clare, and he became a courtier in the service of King Edward II of England. As a royal chamberlain, he became Edward's royal favorite, and they had a homosexual relationship together. Despenser became the source of controversy, and he was forced into exile by the nobles of England on some occasions. Edward later got him to return, and this led to a 1321 rebellion against him. The Despenser War was a royalist victory, but in 1326 the exiled marcher lord Roger Mortimer allied with Edward's wife Isabella of France and invaded England with an army of 1,500 troops. Despenser was captured when Cardiff fell in November 1326, and Despenser and Edmund FitzAlan were both hung, drawn, and quartered.
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