William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley (1426 – 14 February 1492) was an English peer, given the epithet "The Waste-All" by the family biographer and steward John Smyth of Nibley. He was buried at "St. Augustine's Friars, London" according to one source, but most likely in the Berkeley family foundation of St Augustine's Abbey, Bristol. William of Berkley was born to James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, and Lady Isabel Mowbray at Berkeley Castle in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, in 1426. His first marriage was in 1466 to Elizabeth West, daughter of Reginald West, 6th
Edward II of England such an easily detectable fashion. Another set of theories surround the possibility that Edward did not really die in 1327. These theories typically involve the "Fieschi Letter", sent to Edward III by an Italian priest called Manuel Fieschi, who claimed that Edward escaped Berkeley Castle in 1327 with the help of a servant and ultimately retired to become a hermit in the Holy Roman Empire. The body buried at Gloucester Cathedral was said to be that of the porter of Berkeley Castle, killed by the assassins and presented by them to Isabella as Edward's corpse to avoid punishment. The letter