Berkeley family Berkeley family The Berkeley family is an aristocratic English family, nearly unique in English history in that it has to this day an unbroken male line of descent from a noble Saxon ancestor before the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and also retains possession of much of the lands it held from the 11th and 12th centuries, centred on Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, which still belongs to the family. The Berkeley family descends in the male line from Robert Fitzharding (d.1170), 1st feudal baron of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, reputedly the son of Harding of Bristol, the son of Eadnoth the
Edward II of England move was highly unpopular. Isabella and Mortimer both amassed, and spent, great wealth, and criticism of them mounted. Relations between Mortimer and the young Edward III became strained and in 1330 the King conducted a "coup d'état" at Nottingham Castle. He arrested Mortimer and then executed him on fourteen charges of treason, including the murder of Edward II. Edward III's government sought to blame Mortimer for all of the recent problems, effectively politically rehabilitating the late King. The King spared Isabella, giving her a generous allowance, and she soon returned to public life. Edward's body was embalmed at Berkeley Castle,