HOUSE PEMBROKE

Aymer was half nephew to King Henry III. He was appointed Lieutenant of Scotland in 1306, at the time of Robert the Bruce’s coronation. He defeated the Scots at the Battle of Methven, however, Bruce had his revenge when he drove Pembroke out of Scotland after the Battle of Loudon Hill.

Aymer married Mary, the daughter of Guy de Chatillion, Count of St Pol. She was a granddaughter of Henry III. Upon the childless death of Aymer in 1324, she received lands in England, Ireland, Wales and France. Though young and wealthy, she never remarried; instead she dedicated her life to charity. Her foundations included a chantry at Westminster Abbey, a house of Franciscan Nuns at Denny, and Pembroke College, Cambridge. She was considered somewhat progressive for the times, petitioning the Pope for permission to enter nunneries with female attendants in 1333; and then with knights in 1334. She built private quarters at Denny Abbey to suit her preferred lifestyle and, when she died, was buried, at her request, dressed in the habit of a Minoress.