James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley
James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley, 2nd Baron Tuchet of Heleigh Castle was an English peer.
James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley, son of Elizabeth Stafford and her husband John Tuchet, 4th Baron Audley, was a distinguished veteran of the Hundred Years' War. In the opening phase of the Wars of the Roses he raised troops from his estates in Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire and commanded the Lancastrian force that moved to block the Yorkist Earl of Salisbury's route to Ludlow where he intended linking up with the rest of the Yorkist army.
The two forces clashed in the Battle of Blore Heath on 23 September 1459 and Audley was killed by Sir Roger Kynaston of Stocks near Ellesmere . Audley's Cross still stands on the battlefield marking the spot where he died.
Audley was buried in Darley Abbey, north of Derby, about away from Blore Heath. The Abbey no longer stands, so his final resting place is no longer marked.
Marriages and children
Audley married twice:- Firstly, having obtained a marriage licence dated 24 February 1415, to Margaret de Ros, daughter of Margaret FitzAlan and her husband William de Ros, 6th Baron de Ros. They were granted a Papal Dispensation for being related in the 3rd and 4th degrees of kindred. Together they had three children:
- *John Tuchet, 6th Baron Audley, son and heir.
- *Elizabeth Touchet, who married Edward Brooke, 6th Baron Cobham.
- *Anne Touchet, who married Sir Thomas Dutton, who died at the Battle of Blore Heath along with his father-in-law.
- Secondly, having obtained a marriage licence on 14 September 1430, he married Eleanor de Holland, an illegitimate daughter of Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent and his mistress Constance of York, daughter of Infanta Isabella of Castile and Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York. They too were granted a Papal Dispensation, as they were related in the 3rd and 3rd degrees of affinity. With Eleanor de Holland he had a further seven children as follows:
- *Sir Humphrey Touchet, who married Elizabeth Courtenay, widow of Sir James Luttrell of Dunster Castle in Somerset, feudal baron of Dunster, and a daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham in Devon. Like his father, he supported the House of Lancaster. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Tewkesbury and tried before Richard, Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Norfolk. Executed with other Lancastrian leaders in the Market Square he was buried under the pavement in the Chapel of St Nicolas, in the Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin.
- *Thomas Touchet, who married a certain Catherine.
- *Edmund Audley, who served successively Bishop of Rochester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of Salisbury.
- *Margaret Touchet, who at some time before 12 January 1459 married Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Tankerville, son of Sir Henry Grey, 2nd Earl of Tankerville and Antigone Plantagenet.
- *Constance Touchet, who in 1464 married Sir Robert Whitney, an active participant in the Wars of the Roses, son of Eustace Whitney and Jennet Trussell and widower of Alice Vaughn, daughter of Thomas Vaughn.
- *Eleanor Touchet, who married Humphrey Grey, son of Sir Henry Grey, 2nd Earl of Tankerville and Antigone Plantagenet, in 1460.
- *Anne Touchet, who married Sir Richard Delabere.