The Bowles of Monmouthshire, Wales
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 The
Norman English occupied Wales in 1070 but they held it for many
years by force of arms against a constant threat from the
Welsh. Their stronghold was at Chepstow Castle which was held
by a succession of Earls whose knights occupied smaller castles in
the surrounding areas to maintain local order and to give early
warning of any Welsh uprising.
The
Bowles first appear on record in this area in 1382 when Sir Thomas Bowles,
Knight is mentioned as a jurist at an inquisition at Magor. At
that time he was of Porth Sgiwed (Portskewett near Caldicot) which
doesn't seem to have been the site of a castle.
That would imply that at that time he was a knight of nearby Caldicot
Castle which at that time was held by King Richard II's uncle Thomas
of Woodstock. Being a knight in this period wasn't just an
honorary title. In the 1380's the defences of Caldicot were
strengthened including the addition of a new gatehouse and
drawbridge
 This
story actually begins with the St
Maur
family who held Penhow Castle for the Earl at Chepstow Castle from at least 1129.
ref.
ref.
By 1382 the younger lines of the St Maur family had moved on to Wiltshire
(there are also definite linkages between these Bowles in
Monmouthshire and The Bowles
of Wiltshire) where they would become the powerful Seymour
family. The senior line at Penhow found itself with no male heir
but the lone daughter,
Isabella Seymour, had married John Bowles
bringing with her Penhow Castle and a vast increase in the family's fortunes.
At that time Chepstow Castle was held by Margaret, Duchess of
Norfolk, daughter and sole heir of Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of
Norfolk and the eldest son of King Edward I.
Excerpt from the Penhow Castle page on the Castles of Wales page:  The
Bowles of Penhow adopted the arms of the Seymour family, the simple
paired wings of the hunting lure, and in 1438 Thomas Bowles, John's
grandson, led a small force of men from Penhow all the way to
Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Scottish border to assist in the siege of
the town. The siege was part of the complicated politics of the War
of the Roses. For his services, Thomas Bowels was knighted by the
Duke of Gloucester and returned to Penhow with a substantial
pension. He then married Maud, daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan of
nearby Pencoed Castle. His arms, the paired wings, and hers, the
griffin or dragon of the Morgans, are carved in stone on the outside
of one of the windows of the great hall. Sir Thomas's son produced
an only daughter, Maria, who married Sir George Somerset, brother of
the 2nd earl of Worcester, Lord of Raglan Castle.
This
grand estate in Wales then passed out of the Bowles family.
ref. However, the younger male lines continue on in
the area even today. The Bowles spelling actually became common only in later years.
In these earlier records Bouliers, Bowlays, Bollys etc. are seen.
One of the consistent themes here is that these Bowles were knights
of royal households.
Some SpeculationI prefer evidence to speculation but there is so little transcribed matter available for this period and from central Canada here I have no chance to do the research with the original documents in the archives of Britain and Wales so the following possibility may never be considered unless I allow myself some speculation here. In the 1200's two de Buelles brothers held very high positions as household knights of Henry III. They were likely members of the de Buelles family of Bedfordshire who are believed to have been descendants of knights from the village of Bouelles in Normandy, who had accompanied their Lord Hugh de Gournay, one of the most powerful Lords under William the Conqueror in his invasion of England in 1066 and who I believe were ancestors of many of today's Bowles. In 1233 Henry III appointed his knight William de Boeles to have the custody and the income of the castles of Montgomery and Sneath on the Welsh border. Montgomery Castle was one of the line of castles which started with Chepstow Castle and ran along the Welsh Marches, a disputed area along the Wales/England border. The Welsh Lord Llewellyn the Great did attack the this line of defences in 1233 but had to withdraw. In 1241 Hugh de Boelles (William's brother) appears in the close and pipe rolls as serving the King in Wales. In 1257 a Richard de Bueles was guaranteed protection of his lands while he was on the King’s son Edward’s service in Wales. A John Bole was holding Camrose Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1287 (Bole is from a later transcription and likely not the original spelling of the name). He was possibly the same knight for whom a Letter of Respite of Debts was issued to the Sheriff of Bedfordshire for a John de Boeles when he set out for Scotland with King Edward I‘s army, in 1300 a John de Boeles was one of Hugh le Despenser's knights and in 1303 one of the same name served with the Prince of Wales and in 1308 is mentioned as being of Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire. They usually appear with the surnames as spelled above but sometimes as Bowles probably due to transcribers trying to be overly helpful by modernizing the names in the old documents for the benefit of modern researchers. With a military tradition at such a high level the de Boeles of Bedfordshire family would be a likely source for Sir Thomas Bowles of Portskewett another knight of the royal household.The Bowles of Penhow Family TreeSir Thomas Bowles, Knight of Porth Sqiwed b. ~ 1330 d. aft. 1382 1. John Bowles, Lord of Porth Sgiwed (Portskewett near Caldicot) b. ~ 1370 d. aft 1423 m. Isabella Seymour (b. ~ 1370; father: Roger Seymour (St. Maur)) 1.1 Ralph Bowles (of Monmouthshire) b. ~ 1400 d. aft. 1439 m. Joan 1.1.1 Sir Thomas Bowles, Knight of Pen-hw (Penhow) , Monmouthshire b. ~ 1430 d. 1511 (a Baron of the Exchequer) m. Mawd Morgan (b. ~ 1470; father: Sir Thomas ap Morgan of Pen-coed, Llanfarthin) 1.1.1.1 Jane Bowles b. ~ 1470 d. aft. 1511 m.(1) Edmund Vanne of Glamorganshire, Wales children: William, Thomas, Jane, Alice, Lewys, John, Mary Vanne m.(2) Lewys ap Thomas child: Thomas Lewis 1.1.1.2 Margred Bowles b. ~ 1470 m. John Moore children: Anne, Richard, Florence Moore 1.1.1.3 Sir Thomas Bowles, Knight b. ~ 1470 d. aft 1511 m.(1) Alice Wogan (Henry) of Prendergast, Pembrokeshire, Wales m.(2) Jane Vaughan of Monmouthshire 1.1.1.3.1 Mawd (Maria) Bowles b. ~ 1500 of Pen-hw, Monmouthshire m. Sir George Somerset, Knight 1.1.1.4 Joan (Jane the younger) Bowles b. ~ 1500 d. aft. 1562 m. Sir Edward Aston, Knight of
Tixall, co. Staffordshire
1.1.1.4.1 Giles Aston (must have d. young)
1.1.1.4.2 Sir Walter Aston
b. Oct. 8, 1530 Tixall, co. Staffordshire (son and heir)
m. Elizabeth Leveson bef. Apr. 8, 1545 (James, a London merchant;
Margaret Offley of Chester)
1.1.1.4.2.1 Sir Edward Aston of Tixall, co. Staff. and Wanlip,
co. Leicester
m. Anne Lucy (Sir Thomas of Charlecote, co. Warwick) (MP for
Staffordshire 1553, knighted by Duke of Norfolk after the Siege of
Leith, Sheriff of Staffordshire 1570-71, 1580-81)
1.1.1.4.2.1.1 Sir Walter Aston (1st Lord Aston of Forfar)
1.1.1.4.2.1.2 Edward Aston of the Jewel Office m. Anne Sadleir
1.1.1.4.2.1.3 Thomas Aston of the Inner Temple
1.1.1.4.2.1.4 Joyce Aston m. Sir Martin Culpepper of Deane,
co. Oxford
Sir Edward d. Apr. 2, 1589
1.1.1.4.2.2 several more children (Cracrofts
Peerage: Aston of Forfar)
1.1.1.4.3 Leonard Aston
1.1.1.4.4 Anthony Aston
1.1.1.4.5 Katherine Aston m.
Sir William Gesley
1.1.1.4.6 Mary Aston m. Sir
Simon Harcourt
1.1.1.4.7 Anne Aston
1.1.1.4.8 Frances Needham
Aston
Joan d. Sept. 22, 1562
Sir Edward d. ~ 1568
1.1.1.5 Walter Bowles of
Matharn, Monmouthshire b. ~ 1500
m. ?
 (Walter
Boules of Westfield, Pembrokeshire in 1536 ref)
1.1.1.5.1 Margred (Margaret)
Bowles b. ~ 1526
m. Roger Martin of Long Melford,
Suffolk
Roger bur. Apr. 16, 1578 Long
Melford
Margred bur. Aug. 7, 1615
1.1.1.5.1 possibly Thomas Bowles (Lewis Bowles mentions his
nephew Thomas Bowles in his Will; if a full nephew, he would only
fit here)
Walter d. aft. 1535
1.1.1.6 Lewys Bowles b. ~
1500
m. (1) ?
m. (2) Elsbeth (Elizabeth) Bowen of Fishweir,
Sain Hilari, Glamorganshire, Wales
1.1.1.6.1 Thomas Bowles (of Pen-hw and Middle Temple, London)
b. ~ 1545 d. 1580
(Will dated Aug. 27, 1580; proven
Feb. 1, 1581; no children mentioned)
1.1.1.6.2 Catrin Bowles b. ~
1530 d. aft. 1580
1.1.1.6.3 Margred Bowles b. ~
1530 m. Haberdeyn d. aft. 1580
1.1.1.6.4 Jane Bowles b. ~
1530 d. aft. 1580
m. Edmond Maddock
of Todenham, Glos., Gent.
children: Angelina, Catherine,
Hester
 Lewis d. 1552 (Will dated Jan. 18, 1551, Proven May 2, 1552)
text
(note: his Will refers to a nephew
Thomas Bowles but otherwise we have no record of him; possibly that
was his brother Walter's son as his eldest brother Sir Thomas was
known to have had no male heir)
Elizabeth m.(2) Richard Batharne ca. 1553
1. Roger Batharne b. ca. 1555
2. Anne Batharne
Richard d. bef. 1580
1.1.1.7 Alice Bowles b. ~ 1500 unm. in 1580 d. aft. 1580
 Thomas Bowles d. 1511 (Will dated Oct. 1511, proved Dec. 1511)
text
Primary References:
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