Maurice de Berkeley Maurice de Berkeley Sir Maurice de Berkeley "the Resolute" (1218 - 4 April 1281), 5th (feudal) Baron de Berkeley, was an English soldier and rebel, residing at Berkeley Castle in the English county of Gloucestershire. Maurice was born in 1218 to Thomas de Berkeley and Joan de Somery. He married Isabel FitzRoy, the daughter of Richard FitzRoy, Baron of Chilham (an illegitimate son of King John of England) and Rose de Douvres, sometime before 12 July 1247. Berkeley fought in the French Wars and was invested as a knight before 1242. He inherited the title of Baron de Berkeley in
Berkeley Castle Hugh Despenser, the favourite of Edward II. Then in 1327, Edward was deposed by his wife Queen Isabella and her ally Roger Mortimer, and placed in the joint custody of Mortimer’s son-in-law, Thomas de Berkeley, and de Berkeley‘s brother-in-law, John Maltravers. They brought Edward to Berkeley Castle, and held him there for five months from April to September. During that time a band of Edward's supporters attacked, entered the castle and rescued him, only for him to be recaptured soon afterwards. It is possible that his captors then moved him around between several castles to make further rescue more difficult,