WALTER DE HUNGERFORD AND MAUD DE HEYTESBURY

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Story of the two children of Walter de Hungerford and Maud de Heytesbury:

Two 14th century brothers, Sir Robert and Sir Walter, were prosperous farmers who held a number of local government offices in Wiltshire and represented their county in Parliament for twenty years. Through several fortuitous marriages and political connections with the Lancastrian branch of the Plantagenet rulers, the family rapidly acquired sufficient lands, honors and political positions to be classed with the most powerful families in all England.

The wealth of this family supported several major branches, and survived the political upheavals of the 16th century. A considerable portion of their property passed to the Earls of Huntington through Lady Mary Hungerford of Salisbury in the mid-1500's.

In the late 17th century, the last male heir of the senior branch of the family gambled away his vast holdings, including the family seat at Farleigh-Hungerford in Somerset, which had been held, lost and regained several times between 1369 and its final sale in 1686.  

Sources:
New England Historical & Genealogical Society
Norline Thomas
The Hungerford Association
Richard Hungerford Jr.
www.geocities.com/heartland/5616/farimerc.htm

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