Walter Devereux (1387–1419)
Walter Devereux assumed a position in the retinue of Henry IV following the death of his father on 25 July 1402 at the Battle of Pilleth. On 13 December 1402 Sir Edmund Mortimer declared his rebellion against Henry IV, but Devereux stayed loyal to the king. He was probably present at the Battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403, and subsequently was knighted. Sir Walter Devereux was placed on a Commission of array for Herefordshire on 8 September 1403 to raise troops for the defense against the king’s enemies who have lately invaded the realm. It is probable that Devereux was present when Henry IV faced off with a combined Welsh and French force in South Wales during the summer of 1405, but no major battle occurred and the English force had dispersed by October of that year. Devereux remained an important supporter of the efforts to suppress the rebellion in Wales as Prince Henry assumed responsibility for the fight. Walter Devereux would be among 14 men below the rank of baron who would be retained for life by Prince Henry (the future Henry V).
Walter Devereux (1387–1419)
On 2 May 1417 Geoffrey Harley, Richard Hull, and John Monnington granted to John Merbury, and Agnes Crophul, his wife and the heirs of their body: Weobley Castle, and the manors of Weobley, Cotesbach, and Newbold Verdon; the manors of Arnold, Treswell, Hyde, Hemington (in Lockington), Sutton Bonington, Leake, Thrumpton, Braunstone, and the manor and vill of Market Rasen; 3 knights’ fees in Weobley, Straddle (in Vowchurch), Cusop, and Little Marcle in Herefordshire, one and a quarter knights’ fees in Bitterly and Blithelow (in Bishop's Castle) in Shropshire; 60 shillings of rent and the view of frankpledge of Skeffington in Leicestershire; the advowsons in Leicestershire of the priory of Grace Dieu; the churches of Braunstone, Skeffington, and Cotesbach; a fourth part of the church of Bosworth, the advowson of Ludlow in Shropshire; and a fourth part of a water mill in Luton and Wheathampstead (Bedfordshire). These lands would all pass together to the Devereux family following the marriage of Walter Devereux’s son to John Merbury’s daughter from a previous marriage.