MALTRAVERS, JOHN, Baron Maltravers (1290?–1365), was son of Sir John Maltravers (1266–1343?) of Lytchett Matravers, Dorset, who was himself son of John Maltravers (d. 1296), and a descendant of Hugh Maltravers, who held lands at Lytchett in 1086. The father was knighted with Edward, prince of Wales, on 12 May 1306; was a conservator of the peace for Dorset in 1307, 1308, and 1314; served in Scotland on various occasions between 1314 and 1322, and was summoned to go to Ireland in February 1317 to resist Edward Bruce, and in 1325 for service in Guienne. He was again summoned for service in Scotland in 1327 and 1331, and in 1338 had orders to guard his manors near the sea against invasion. The statement that he was ever summoned to parliament appears to be inaccurate. He died between 7 Sept. 1342 and 2 July 1344, having married (1) Alianor before 1292, and (2) Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Foliot. John was his son by his first wife. Dugdale confuses father and son.
John Maltravers the younger was born about 1290, and was knighted on the same occasion as his father, 12 May 1306. He is said to have been taken prisoner at Bannockburn in 1314. On 20 Oct. 1318 he was chosen knight of the shire for Dorset. He seems to have sided with Thomas, earl of Lancaster [see Thomas], and was throughout his early career an intimate associate of Roger Mortimer, earl of March (d. 1330) [q. v.] In September 1321 he received pardon for felonies committed in pursuit of the Despensers, but in the following December is described as the king's enemy (Part. Writs, i. 192, ii. 165, 172). In the spring of 1322 he was in arms against the king, and attacked and burnt the town of Bridgnorth. He was present at the battle of Boroughbridge on 16 March, and after the execution of Earl Thomas fled over sea (ib. ii. 174-5, 201). He would appear to have come back with Mortimer and the queen in October 1326, for he received restitution of his lands on 17 Feb. 1327, and on 27 March had a grant out of the lands of Hugh Despenser. On 3 April he was appointed one of the keepers of the deposed king, the other being Thomas Berkeley. Murimuth and Baker say that while Berkeley acted with humanity, Maltravers treated his prisoner with much harshness. Murimuth says that Edward was killed by order of Maltravers and Thomas Gourney [see under Gourney, Sir Matthew], but from the circumstance that in 1330 Maltravers was condemned, not for this but for another crime, it would appear that he was not directly responsible for Edward's death. Edward was murdered on 21 Sept. 1327. Maltravers and Berkeley remained in charge of the body till its burial at Gloucester on 21 Oct. (see their accounts in Archæologia, 1. 223-6).
During the next few years Maltravers was employed on frequent commissions of oyer and terminer, the most important occasion being in February 1329, when, with Oliver de Ingham [q. v.] and others, he was appointed to try those who had supported Henry, earl of Lancaster [see Henry], in his intended rising at Bedford (Chron. Edward I and II, i. 243). He was also on several occasions a justice in eyre for the forests (cf. Cal. Pat. Rolls of Edward III), and was in 1329 made keeper of the forests south of Trent. On 4 April 1329 the pardon granted to him two years previously was confirmed, in consideration of his services to Queen Isabella and the king at home and abroad. In May he accompanied the young king to France. He is on this occasion spoken of as seneschal or steward, and next year he appears as steward of the royal household (ib. p. 517). About the same time he had a grant of the forfeited lands of John Gifford of Brimsfield. Maltravers was actively concerned in the circumstances which led to the death of Edmund, earl of Kent [see Edmund], in March 1330, and was on the commission appointed for the discovery of his adherents (ib. p. 556). On 5 June 1330 he was summoned to parliament as Baron Maltravers; he was already described as 'John Maltravers, baron,' in November 1329 (ib. p. 477). On 24 Sept. he was appointed constable of Corfe Castle, but on the fall of Mortimer shortly afterwards, Maltravers, like the other supporters of the queen-mother and her paramour, was disgraced. In the parliament held in November he was condemned to death as a traitor on account of his share in the death of the Earl of Kent. On 3 Dec. orders were given for his arrest, to prevent his going abroad (Fœdera, ii. 801), but he managed to escape to Germany, and lived there and elsewhere in Europe for many years (Murimuth, p. 54). He would appear to have chiefly spent his time in Flanders, where he seems to have acquired considerable wealth and sufficient influence to make it worth the while of Philip of France to offer him a large bribe for his services. But, apparently during the troubles which attended the death of Jacob van Artevelde, he lost all his goods and suffered much oppression. When Edward III came to Flanders in July 1345, Maltravers
