Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley (c. 1320 – 8 June 1368), The Valiant, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, was an English peer. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley (died 1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys".
He was the eldest son and heir of Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley by his wife Lady Margaret Mortimer.[1]
In the early 1340s he was one of the English knights who joined the forces of Alfonso XI of Castile in his crusade against the Moorish kingdom of Algeciras. He was subsequently retained by the Black Prince and in 1355 joined his campaign in France.[2] Wounded and captured at Poitiers,[3] it took him over three years to raise the money for his ransom. Ill health apparently prevented his taking an active role in public life, following his return to England.
In August 1338 Berkeley married Elizabeth le Despenser, daughter of Hugh Despenser the younger by his wife Eleanor de Clare. By Elizabeth he had four sons and three daughters: