A post today about Hugh, Lord Despenser, the eldest son of Hugh Despenser the Younger and Eleanor de Clare, and grandson of Hugh Despenser the Elder, earl of Winchester. As was the case with many noble families of the Middle Ages, the Despensers were none too creative when it came to naming their children; the chancery rolls of the 1320s, when all three generations of Hugh Despensers were active, contain a few confusing references to ‘Hugh, son of Hugh le Despenser the son’. Hrrrrrm. Edward II’s last chamber journal of 1325/26 refers to Hugh by the short form Huchon, and the Anonimalle chronicle calls him Hughelyn or ‘little Hugh’, both of which I think are absolutely delightful. In this post, I’ll call him Huchon to save any confusion with his father and grandfather, and because this seems to have been how he was known by his great-uncle Edward II. I’ve also been known, along with Susan Higginbotham, to call him Hugh Despenser the Even Younger or HDEY for short.