Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester

Hugh le Despenser the Elder (1261–1326) served Edward I and was made a baron in 1295. Loyal to Edward II in the Piers Gaveston crisis, he became the king's chief administrator after Gaveston's execution in 1312.

Hatred of him and his son Hugh the Younger drove both into exile in 1321, but Edward recalled them and made the elder Despenser Earl of Winchester in 1322. When Isabella and Roger Mortimer invaded in 1326, he was captured at Bristol and hanged in his armour on 27 October.