His grandfather had had his lands seized and his grandmother Maud de St. Valery had been captured by forces of King John of England in 1210.
She was imprisoned, along with John's father William, in Corfe Castle and walled alive inside the dungeon.
This was probably due to John's grandfather's conflict with the monarch, open rebellion and subsequent alliance with Llewelyn the Great.
At his family's fall from Royal favour John de Braose was initially hidden on Gower and spent some time in the care of his uncle Giles de Braose, Bishop of Hereford, but finally in 1214 John and his younger brother Philip were taken into custody.
William de Braose (born about 1224; died 1291 in Findon, Sussex), his eldest son, succeeded him in the title of Lord of Bramber.