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
Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville worse privations having been locked up inside various religious houses with even less money at their disposal. Joan was transferred from Skipton to Pontefract Castle in July 1326. Mortimer and Isabella landed in England two months later in September 1326, and they joined forces with Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster. On 16 November, King Edward was taken prisoner and eventually murdered at Berkeley Castle, presumably by Mortimer's hired assassins. From 1327 to 1330, Mortimer and Isabella jointly held the Office of Regent for her son, King Edward III who was duly crowned following his father's death. Mortimer was made constable