The abbey church of St Mary at Tewkesbury, seven miles north of Gloucester, is the burial place of one of the fourteenth century's most reviled families, the Despensers. From the twelfth century, successive Clare earls of Gloucester were laid to rest in the choir of Tewkesbury, establishing it as a mausoleum of some importance. Following in their wake, six generations of the Despenser family were buried in the abbey, and lavish improvements – modelled on the changes made by Henry III at Westminster – were made in an extravagant attempt to emulate the work of the previous patronal family. This article looks at the Despensers' patronage of the abbey and the evidence of their spirituality, devotion and piety (and showmanship) over six generations, and suggests that by using a more informed chronology than has been employed previously, specific motivation for secular patronage can be identified. It argues that Tewkesbury Abbey served the Despensers in two capacities. First, it was their spiritual home, a place for worship, devotion and burial; other magnate families acted similarly, the Beauchamps at Warwick, the FitzAlans at Arundel, and the de Veres at Colne Priory (Essex) affording striking examples. But, second, in an age of display, when an upwardly mobile family needed to ‘market’ themselves to the crown, Tewkesbury was also a place in which the Despensers drew attention to their illustrious heritage-by-marriage. Throughout the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, they made extensive alterations to the fabric of the building, and their continuing endowment made Tewkesbury one of the richest and most gloriously decorated of all Benedictine abbeys.