10 Jul Lordship Title of Bletsoe ID13291
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Osbert de Broilg held Bletsoe Manor of Hugh de Beauchamp in 1086, and there is evidence that his descendants in the direct line continued to hold in Bletsoe for upwards of a hundred years. An undated document of the early 13th century records a grant by Robert de Broi son of Walter de Broi of land in Bletsoe to the Hospital of Holy Trinity, Northampton, and in 1219 Robert de Broy and Walter de Patishull (who had married Margery daughter of Robert) were disputing with the master of the same hospital about the advowson of Bletsoe Church. Bletsoe Manor next passed to Simon de Patishull, son of Walter and Margery, who between 1247 and 1253 quitclaimed land in Bletsoe to John de Berdefeud and others. His grandson, also Simon de Patishull, died in 1295, having previously enfeoffed Agnes de Patishull, probably his daughter, and her husband John de Pabenham of the manor for their lives. On the death of Agnes in 1313 Bletsoe passed to John son of Simon de Patishull, who the same year secured recognition of his right to Bletsoe by fine. He held the manor till his death in 1349, when he was succeeded by his son William, who in 1359 left four sisters as co-heirs, of whom Sibyl wife of Roger de Beauchamp received Bletsoe Manor. Roger de Beauchamp held the manor till his death in 1379–80, when his son Roger Beauchamp succeeded to Bletsoe, being followed in 1406 by his son John. This John died in 1412, leaving a son John, who was still under age at his death in 1420–1, when Bletsoe Manor and advowson passed to his sister and heir Margaret, then aged eleven. She married as her first husband Sir Oliver St. John, and secondly John Beaufort Duke of Somerset, by whom she became mother of Lady Margaret Beaufort and grandmother of Henry VII. She died in 1482–3, when Bletsoe passed to John St. John, her son by her first husband. He died in 1525 seised of Bletsoe Manor, which then became the property of John St. John, his son and heir. Oliver St. John, son of the last-named John, was created Lord St. John in 1559, and was one of the peers who sat in judgement on Thomas Duke of Norfolk in 1572. He married Agnes granddaughter and heir of Sir Michael Fisher of Elstow, from whom she inherited considerable estates in this county. He died in 1581–2, and Bletsoe Manor passed to his son John second Lord St. John. He died without male issue surviving in 1596–7, when the title and estate devolved on his brother Oliver, on whose death in 1618 Oliver his son succeeded to the family title and estates. The following year he entertained James I at Bletsoe, and on 2 December 1624 he was created Earl of Bolingbroke. In 1640 he signed the petition of the twelve peers attributing the evils of the day to the lack of Parliaments and urging Charles I to summon one. He subsequently identified himself with the Parliamentary cause, being appointed lieutenant of the county in 1642–3, and taking the Covenant in the same year. His eldest son Oliver also fought on the Parliamentary side, and died in 1642 from wounds received at the battle of Edgehill. Clarendon, speaking of his death, says: 'Of the Parliamentary party that perished the Lord St. John of Bletzo and Charles Essex were of the best quality … he (i.e. Lord St. John) got himself so well-beloved by the reputation of courtesy and civility which he expressed towards all men, that, though his parts of understanding were very ordinary at best, and his course of life licentious and very much depraved, he got credit enough, by engaging the principal gentlemen of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire to be bound for him, to contract a debt of fifty or sixty thousand pounds.' Oliver Earl of Bolingbroke died in 1646, and was succeeded by his grandson Oliver, son of Sir Paulet St. John, K.B. He died in 1687–8 without issue, and his title and estates passed to his brother and heir Paulet St. John, third Earl of Bolingbroke and sixth Lord St. John. He died unmarried in 1711, when the earldom of Bolingbroke became extinct, but the barony of St. John devolved on his cousin and heir male Paulet, to whom also the Bedfordshire property passed. He died whilst still an infant in 1714, when he was followed successively by his three uncles: William, ninth baron, who died unmarried in 1720; Rowland, tenth baron, who also died unmarried in 1722; and John, eleventh baron, who died in 1757. John, son and heir of the last-named baron, then succeeded to the title and Bedfordshire property, which he held till his death in 1767. His son Henry Beauchamp, who married Emma daughter of Samuel Whitbread, died in 1805 without male issue, whereupon Bletsoe Manor passed to his brother St. Andrew, who had at this date represented the county in Parliament for twenty-five years. He was a political adherent of Mr. Fox, who was also a great personal friend, and with whom he passed much of his time. He died in 1817, and lies buried in the family vault in Bletsoe Church. His son St. Andrew Beauchamp, fifteenth baron, was only six years old at his father's death, and died in 1874 at Melchbourne Park, where the family had had their seat for many generations. St. Andrew St. John, his son and heir, died in 1887 without male issue, when the title and estate devolved on his brother Beauchamp Moubray, seventeenth Lord St. John of Bletsoe, the present holder.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes