John Beke, 1st Baron Beke

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

John Beke, 1st Baron Beke (d.1303/4) of Eresby in the parish of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, was a baron.

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

• GEC Complete Peerage, Vol.1, p. 89, "Beke"
• 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