Baron le Despenser

Barony of le Despencer
Arms of Despencer, Barons le Despencer: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a fret or, over all a bend sable
Creation date	1264/1295(abeyant 1449-1604) (first creation) 1314 (second creation) 1338 (third creation) 1357 (fourth creation)
Peerage	Peerage of England
First holder	Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer or Hugh le Despencer, 1st/2nd Baron le Despencer
Extinction date	1349 (third creation)

Baron le Despencer is a title that has been created several times by writ in the Peerage of England.

Sir Hugh le Despenser I was a large landowner in Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Rutland. He was appointed High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Shropshire in 1222 and High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1226 and 1238.

The first creation was in 1295, when Hugh the elder Despenser was summoned to the Model Parliament. He was the eldest son of the sometime Justiciar Hugh le Despenser (d. 1265), son of Sir Hugh le Despenser I (above), who was summoned in 1264 to Simon de Montfort's Parliament and is sometimes considered the first baron. Hugh the younger Despenser, son of Hugh the elder, was also summoned to Parliament in 1314, during his father's lifetime, the second creation of the title. Both elder and younger Despencers were attainted and executed in 1326, extinguishing the two creations.

In 1338, Hugh le Despencer, son of Hugh the younger, was summoned to Parliament, the third creation of the title. He died without issue in 1349, and the title became extinct.

In 1357, this Hugh's nephew, Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer was summoned to Parliament, the fourth creation. His son Thomas inherited the title in 1375. Thomas was created Earl of Gloucester in 1397, and in 1398, the attainders of the elder and younger Despencers were reversed, making him (in modern law) heir to the first and second creations as well. Thomas himself was attainted in 1400 for his part in the Epiphany Rising. Upon the death of Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick in 1449, claims to his baronies passed into abeyance, so that the reversal of his attainder in 1461 had no immediate effect. In 1604, the first creation of the barony was called out of abeyance for Mary Fane, the first barony by writ of summons to so be revived. When calling it out of abeyance, the House of Lords gave it precedence as if it had been created in 1264. Her successor in the barony was the first Earl of Westmorland, and the next six earls held the barony and the earldom together. At the death of the seventh earl, the barony again fell into abeyance. The abeyance was terminated for Sir Francis Dashwood, but at his death the barony again went into abeyance. Once again, the Sovereign had to terminate the abeyance, and the same was done in favour of Sir Thomas Stapleton, Baronet. The fourteenth baron succeeded to the title of Viscount Falmouth, and the two titles have remained united since.