Henry FitzHugh, 3rd Baron FitzHugh


Henry FitzHugh, 3rd Baron FitzHugh KG of Ravensworth Castle in North Yorkshire, was an administrator and diplomat who served under Kings Henry IV and Henry V.

Origins

FitzHugh was the first son of Hugh FitzHugh, 2nd Baron FitzHugh, by his wife Joan Scrope, daughter of Henry Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Masham.

Royal service

He was summoned by writ to parliament in 1388, and became active in public affairs following the succession of Henry IV to the throne. He was engaged in Anglo-Scottish diplomacy and took part in the Battle of Humbleton Hill in 1402 and in the negotiation of the surrender of his uncle, Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, in 1405. In 1406 he travelled to Denmark as part of the escort of Princess Philippa, daughter of King Henry IV, for her marriage to Eric of Pomerania, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
At the coronation of King Henry V in 1413, FitzHugh served as Lord Constable. During the reign of Henry V, he served as Chamberlain of the Household, and as Treasurer of England. He participated in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and subsequent diplomacy with the French, which led to the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. He travelled with the king to France, and escorted the king's remains back to England following his death in 1422. He was an executor of Henry's will and was a feoffee of various lands in the will.
He was appointed a Knight of the Garter in about 1409.

Religious foundations

During his travels to the Scandinavian Peninsula in 1406, he visited the Bridgettine Vadstena Abbey in Sweden, where he volunteered to help establish a Bridgettine community in England, and to donate for that purpose his manor of Cherry Hinton in Cambridgeshire. The result was Syon Monastery, established by Henry V in 1415 at Twickenham, Middlesex. He attended the Council of Constance in 1415.

Marriage and children

He married Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Sir Robert de Grey by his wife Lora St Quentin. In the next generation the FitzHugh family thenceforth quartered the arms of Marmion and St Quentin, as shown later in the arms of Queen Catherine Parr and later still by Herbert, Earls of Pembroke, visible in Wilton House. By his wife he had eight sons and six daughters, including:
He died on 11 January 1425 and was buried in Jervaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, as he requested.