Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley Thomas de Berkeley (c. 1293 or 1296 – 27 October 1361), "The Rich", feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley (d.1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys". He was the eldest son and heir of Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley by his wife Eve la Zouche. In 1327 he was made joint custodian of the deposed
Berkeley family Berkeley and of Robert Fitzharding either adopted, or continued the use of, the surname "de Berkeley", the former retaining the truncated feudal barony of Dursley, the latter establishing his line as feudal barons of Berkeley Castle. Both lines of Berkeleys therefore originated as cousins, but it was the line of the feudal barons of Berkeley, descended from Fitzharding in the male line, which was by far the more powerful and which would play the more prominent role in British history in the next several centuries. The Scottish Clan Barclay may or may not be descended from the family; however, the