Bruton branch of the Berkeley family

Sir Maurice Berkeley (by 1514–81) of Bruton in Somerset, was an English politician who rose rapidly in the Tudor court. He came from a cadet branch of the great Berkeley family of Berkeley Castle, but in his career his initial advantage was his mother's second marriage to Sir John FitzJames, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1526–1539, which by 1538 had brought him into the household of Thomas Cromwell, from which he passed into the royal household by 1539.

He built a house on the site of Bruton Priory, a spoil of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, incorporating some of the buildings, but this was demolished in 1786. Sir Maurice's impressive Renaissance tomb, shared with his two wives, is retained in the later chancel of Church of St Mary, Bruton, Somerset. His Bruton branch of the Berkeley family produced a number of notable figures until the 18th century, including five Barons Berkeley of Stratton (extinct in 1773), and four Viscount Fitzhardinges (extinct in 1712), as well as William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia. Berkeley Square in London derives its name from this branch.

He was a younger son of Richard Berkeley of Stoke, a descendant of Sir Maurice de Berkeley (1298–1347), of Uley, Gloucester, younger son of Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (d. 1326, see Baron Berkeley). This Sir Maurice, before being killed at the Siege of Calais in 1347, had acquired Stoke Gifford in 1337, and founded the line of Berkeley of Stoke Gifford. The branch's relation to the main Berkeley line was renewed by a marriage between the elder brother of the Tudor Sir Maurice and his remote cousin the daughter of the Baron Berkeley at the time.

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