John Beke, 1st Baron Beke

John Beke, 1st Baron Beke (died 1303/04) of Eresby in the parish of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, was a baron.

Arms of Beke: Gules, a cross recerclée argent. The arms are also shown as a cross moline

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of Walter II Beke, of Eresby, by his wife Eve de Grey, a niece of Walter de Gray (d.1255), Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor. Walter II was a son of Henry Beke, "weak of understanding", who nevertheless "found a well born and richly dowered bride", Alice de Multon, sister of Thomas de Multon. Henry Beke was a son of Walter I Beke (fl.12th.c), a prominent Anglo-Flemish landholder, by his wife Agnes FitzPinco, daughter and heiress of Hugh FitzPinco, lord of the manor of Eresby.

John Beke died in 1303/04, "when any Barony created by the writ of 1295 would be held, by modern doctrine, to have fallen into abeyance."

Sources

• Cokayne, G. E. (1910). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct or dormant (Ab-Adam to Basing). Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). London: The St Catherine Press. p. 89.
• Beke, T., FSA, Observations on the Pedigree of the Family of Beke of Eresby, in the County of Lincoln, published in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, Vol.4, pp. 331–345