Person Page - 1324

     Sir Henry Neville (c. 1562 - July 10, 1615) was an English politician, diplomat, courtier and distant relative of William Shakespeare.[1][2] In 2005, he was put forward as a candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare's works.

Neville was the first born child of Sir Henry Neville Senior (d. 1593) and Elizabeth Gresham and the great-great-grandson of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland. Joan was daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was in turn a son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.

Henry grew up at Billingbear House, was educated at Merton College, Oxford and sat in Parliament as the member for New Windsor, Sussex, Liskeard, Kent, Lewes and Berkshire.

In 1599, Neville was appointed Ambassador to France and attended the Court of Henri IV. Although knighted for his services in France, he was unhappy with the way he was treated by the French and in 1600, complaining of deafness, he asked to be recalled to the Kingdom of England.

After his return he became involved with the plot of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was stripped of his position and fined £5,000, which he agreed to pay in annual instalments of £1,000. After the death of Elizabeth I of England and the accession of James I a Royal Warrant was issued for his release.

After his release, he played a greater role in the political life of Great Britain and earned the antagonism of King James by advocating the King surrender to the demands of the House of Commons. It was this action that, on the death of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, lost him the possibility of becoming the Secretary of State. Although offered the position of Treasurer of the Chamber he turned it down.

Neville died in 1615 and was buried at the church of St Lawrence in Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire, England.¹

     Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (c. 1379 – 13 November 1440), was the third or fourth child (and only daughter) of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford. She was born at the Château de Beaufort in Champagne, France (whence the Beaufort children derive their surname). In 1391, at the age of twelve, Joan married Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wemme, and they had two daughters before he died about 1395. Along with her three brothers, Joan had been privately declared legitimate by their cousin Richard II of England in 1390, but for various reasons their father secured another such declaration from Parliament in January 1397. Joan was already an adult when she was legitimized by the marriage of her mother and father with papal approval. The Beauforts were later barred from inheriting the throne by a clause inserted into the legitimation act by their half-brother, Henry IV of England. Soon after this declaration, on 3 February 1397, when she was eighteen, Joan married Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, who had also been married once before.

When Ralph de Neville died in 1425, his lands and titles should, by law of rights, have passed on to his eldest surviving son from his first marriage, another Ralph de Neville. Instead, while the title of Earl of Westmorland and several manors were passed to Ralph, the bulk of his rich estate went to his wife, Joan Beaufort. Although this may have been done to ensure that his widow was well provided for; by doing this, Ralph essentially split his family into two, and the result was years of bitter conflict between Joan and her stepchildren, who fiercely contested her acquisition of their father's lands. Joan however, with her royal blood and connections, was far too powerful to be called to account, and the senior branch of the Nevilles received little redress for their grievances. Inevitably, when Joan died, the lands would be inherited by her own children.

Joan died on 13 November 1440 at Howden in Yorkshire. Rather than be buried with her husband Ralph (who was buried with his first wife) she was entombed next to her mother in the magnificent sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral. Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates — full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides — but those were damaged or destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War. A 1640 drawing of them survives, showing what the tombs looked like when they were intact, and side-by-side instead of end-to-end, as they are now.

Joan Beaufort was the grandmother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, whom Henry VII defeated to take the throne. (Henry then married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and their son became Henry VIII of England). She was also the grandmother of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick 'the Kingmaker'.

Joan Beaufort and Ralph Neville had fourteen children.¹

     John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Aquitaine (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He got his name "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent (in today's Belgium), then Gaunt in English. John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority reign of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing periods of political strife, but was not thought to have been among the opponents of the King.

John of Gaunt's legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters, included Kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. His legitimate descendants also included his daughters Philippa of Lancaster, Queen consort of John I of Portugal and mother of King Duarte of Portugal. John was also the father of Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter, the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter through his first wife, Blanche; and by his second wife, Constance, John was the father of Katherine of Lancaster, Queen consort of Henry III of Castile, granddaughter of Peter of Castile and mother of John II of Castile.

John of Gaunt fathered five children outside marriage, one early in life by one of his mother's ladies-in-waiting, and four, surnamed "Beaufort", by Katherine Swynford, Gaunt's long-term mistress and eventual third wife. The Beaufort children, three sons and a daughter, were legitimized by royal and papal decrees after John married Katherine in 1396. Descendants of the marriage to Katherine Swynford included their son Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester and eventually Cardinal; their granddaughter Cecily Neville, mother to Kings Edward IV and Richard III; and their great-great-grandson Henry Tudor, who became King of England after the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and established the House of Tudor.

When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates were declared forfeit to the crown, as King Richard II had exiled John's son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke, in 1398. Bolingbroke and Richard II were first cousins; John of Gaunt and Richard II's father Edward (The Black Prince) were brothers. Bolingbroke returned from exile to reclaim his confiscated inheritance and deposed the unpopular Richard. Bolingbroke then reigned as King Henry IV of England (1399–1413), the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the throne of England.

John of Gaunt was buried alongside his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, in the nave of Old St. Paul's Cathedral in an alabaster tomb designed by Henry Yevele (similar to that of his son in Canterbury Cathedral).¹

     Katherine Swynford (also spelled Synford), née (de) Roet (also spelled (de) Rouet, (de) Roët, or (de) Roelt) (25 November 1350 – 10 May 1403), was the daughter of Payne (or Paen/Paon) de Roet, a Flemish herald from Hainault who was knighted just before his death in battle. Katherine became the third wife of the English prince John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and their descendants were the Beaufort family, which played a major role in the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII, who became King of England in 1485, derived his claim to the throne from his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was a great-granddaughter of Katherine Swynford.

Paon (probably christened Gilles) de Roet's children included Katherine, her sister Philippa, a son, Walter, and the eldest sister, Isabel de Roet, (who died Canoness of the convent of St. Waudru's, Mons, c. 1366). Katherine is generally held to have been his youngest child, although, based on her review of the fragmentary evidence, Weir[2] argues that Philippa was her junior, and further that they were his children by his second wife. De Roet came to England around 1327 with Philippa of Hainault, at the time of her marriage to Edward III, and remained in her retinue. He returned to Hainault, probably by 1349, and Katherine was born the following year. Her birth date is assumed to be 25 November, as that is the feast day of her patron, St. Catherine of Alexandria. The family returned to England in 1351, and it is likely that Katherine remained there during her father's continued travels.

Katherine married Hugh Swynford (1340–1372), a knight from the manor of Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire. Although their marriage is usually held to have taken place in 1366, when Katherine was 15 or 16, Weir argues that the evidence points to no later than 1362[2]; twelve years was a marriageable age at the time. She bore him at least two children: Thomas (21 September 1368 – 1432), Blanche (born 1 May 1367), and likely the Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369) who was nominated a nun at the prestigious Barking Abbey by the command of Richard II in 1377. There may have also been a third daughter named Dorothy. Katherine then became attached to the household of John of Gaunt, as governess to his two daughters Philippa of Lancaster and Elizabeth Plantagenet (the sisters of the future Henry IV) by John's first wife Blanche. Some time before 1373, she became his mistress. Katherine's sister Philippa, a member of the household of Queen Philippa, married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, whose poem The Book of the Duchess commemorated Blanche's death in 1369.

Two years following the death of his second wife Infanta Constance of Castile, John and Katherine married on 13 January 1396 in Lincoln Cathedral, three years before he died. The four children Katherine had borne John of Gaunt had been given the surname "Beaufort" and were already adults when they were legitimized by this marriage with approval by King Richard and the Pope. The Beauforts were later barred from inheriting the throne by a clause inserted into the legitimation act by their half-brother, Henry IV.

Katherine survived John by only four years, dying on 10 May 1403. She was then dowager Duchess of Lancaster. Her tomb, and that of her daughter Joan Beaufort, are under a carved-stone canopy in the sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral. Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates — full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides — but those were damaged or destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War.

The heirs of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt are significant in British history. Their son John was a great-grandfather of Henry VII, who established the Tudor dynasty and based his claim to the throne on the lineage of his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. John (the son) was also the father of Joan, who married the Scots King James I, and thus was an ancestress of the House of Stuart[3]. John and Katherine's daughter Joan Beaufort was the grandmother of the English kings Edward IV and Richard III, whom Henry VII defeated to take the throne; Henry's claim was strengthened by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. John of Gaunt's son — Katherine's stepson — became Henry IV by deposing Richard II (who was imprisoned and died shortly thereafter, in Pontefract Castle, where Katherine's son Thomas Swynford was constable, and was said to have starved Richard to death for his stepbrother). His daughter by Constance, Catherine (or Catalina), was the great-grandmother of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII and mother of Mary I of England.¹

     Thomas Maria Wingfield of Stonley Priory. A Member of Parliament. He married first widow Mrs. Margaret Sabyn and secondly Margaret Kerrye.¹

     4th Baron Strange of Blackmere.

     4th Baron Talbot.

     Roger de Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March (c.1328 – 26 February 1360) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War.

He was the son of Sir Edmund de Mortimer (died 1332) and Elizabeth de Badlesmere. His paternal grandparents were Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Geneville (1286–1356), daughter of Piers de Geneville and Jeanne of Lusignan.

The Mortimer family lands and titles were lost after the first Earl of March's revolt and death by hanging in 1330, which was followed the next year by the death of Roger's father. Roger thus grew up with uncertain prospects, and re-acquired the family honours only gradually.

Around 1342, he received back Radnor, and the next year the old family baronial seat at Wigmore, Herefordshire.

As a young man he distinguished himself in the wars in France, fighting at Crécy and elsewhere in the campaign of 1347. Afterwards he was given livery of the rest of his lands, was one of the original Knights of the Garter, and was summoned to parliament as a baron in 1348.

In 1354, the sentence passed against Mortimer's treacherous grandfather, the first earl, was reversed, and the next year he was summoned to parliament as Earl of March. Also in 1355 he received a number of important appointments, including Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, and accompanied Edward III's expedition to France.

Around this time his grandmother, Joan de Geneville, widow of the first earl, died, and Roger inherited her large estate, including Ludlow Castle, which was thereafter the Mortimer family seat and power base.

In the following years he became a member of the Royal Council, and was appointed Constable at the castles of Montgomery, Bridgnorth in Shropshire, and Corfe in Dorset.

In 1359, and continuing into 1360, he was Constable of Edward III's invasion of France, fighting in the failed siege of Reims and capturing Auxerre. The English forces then moved into Burgundy, where Roger died suddenly at Rouvray near Avallon.

Roger married Philippa Montacute, daughter of William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury and had by her three children.¹

     Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (25 April 1287 – 29 November 1330), an English nobleman, was for three years de facto ruler of England, after leading a successful rebellion against Edward II. He was himself overthrown by Edward's son, Edward III. Mortimer was also the lover of Edward II's wife, Isabella of France, who assisted him in the deposition of her husband.

Mortimer, grandson of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer, was born at Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire, England, the firstborn of Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer and his wife, Margaret de Fiennes. His father Edmund Mortimer had been a second son, intended for minor orders and a clerical career, but on the sudden death of his elder brother Ralph, Edmund was recalled from Oxford University and installed as heir.

As a boy, Roger was probably sent to be fostered in the household of his formidable uncle, Roger Mortimer de Chirk.[citation needed] It was this uncle who had carried the severed head of Llywelyn the Last of Wales to King Edward I in 1282.

Like many noble children of his time, Roger was betrothed young, to Joan de Geneville, the daughter of a neighbouring lord. They were married in 1301, and immediately began a family.

Through his marriage with Joan de Geneville, Roger not only acquired increased possessions in the Welsh Marches, including the important Ludlow Castle, which became the chief stronghold of the Mortimers, but also extensive estates and influence in Ireland. However, Joan de Geneville was not an "heiress" at the time of her marriage. Her grandfather, Geoffrey de Geneville, at the age of eighty in 1308, conveyed most, but not all, of his Irish lordships to Roger Mortimer, and then retired, notably alive: he finally died in 1314. During his lifetime Geoffrey also conveyed much of the remainder of his legacy, such as Kenlys, to his younger son (the older son Piers having died in 1292), Simon de Geneville, who had meanwhile become Baron of Culmullin through marriage to Joanna FitzLeon. Roger Mortimer therefore succeeded to the lordship of Trim, County Meath (which later reverted to the Crown). He did not succeed, however, to the Lordship of Fingal.[1]¹

     Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville, Countess of March (2 February 1286 – 19 October 1356), was one of the wealthiest heiresses in the Welsh Marches and County Meath, Ireland. She was the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, lover of Isabella of France, Queen consort of King Edward II of England. She succeeded to the title of suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville on 21 October 1314 upon the death of her grandfather, Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville.[1]

Joan was born on 2 February 1286 at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire.[2] She was the eldest child of Sir Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow, and Jeanne of Lusignan. She had two younger sisters, Matilda and Beatrice who both became nuns at Aconbury Priory.[3]She also had two half-sisters from her mother's first marriage to Bernard IV, Sire d'Albret. They were Mathe, Dame d'Albret (died 1283), and Isabelle, Dame d'Albret (died 1 December 1294), wife of Bernard VI, Count of Armagnac.

Her paternal grandparents were Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, Seigneur de Vaucouleurs, 1st Baron Geneville, Justiciar of Ireland (c.1226- 21 October 1314) and Maud de Lacy (1230- 11 April 1304), daughter of Gilbert de Lacy (c.1202- 25 December 1230) and Isabel Bigod (c.1212- 1250). Her maternal grandparents were Hugh XII of Lusignan, Seigneur de Lusignan, Couhe, et de Peyrat, Count of La Marche and of Angouleme, and Jeanne de Fougères, Dame de Fougères. Her maternal aunt was Yolanda of Lusignan, the suo jure Countess of La Marche.

When her father died in Ireland shortly before June 1292, Joan became one of the wealthiest and most eligible heiresses in the Welsh Marches, with estates that included the town and castle of Ludlow, and much land in Shropshire,as well as a generous portion of County Meath in Ireland.[4]. She was due to inherit these upon the death of her grandfather, but in 1308, Baron Geneville conveyed most of his Irish estates to Joan and her husband Roger Mortimer. They took seizen of Meath at the end of the year. The baron died on 21 October 1314 at the House of the Friars Preachers at Trim, and Joan subsequently succeeded him, becoming the suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville.

In 1301, Joan married Roger Mortimer, (25 April 1287- 29 November 1330), the son of Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Wigmore and Margaret de Fiennes. He was on the Council of Ordainers, which was commissioned with the purpose to restrict the power of King Edward II and reform his household.[5]

Together Roger and Joan had twelve children.

Joan's numerous direct descendants include the current British Royal Family, and Sarah Ferguson; she was also the ancestress of Sir Winston Churchill, George Washington, Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary Boleyn.¹

     Philippa de Mohun was the wife of Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, making her the Duchess of York from her husband's accession to the dukedom in 1402 to his death in 1415. Philippa's birthdate is unknown, though it is believed to have been prior to 1376. She was the daughter of John de Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun, and Joan Burghersh.

Philippa de Mohun was a twice-widowed noblewoman who, prior to her marriage to the Duke of York, had been married to Walter FitzWalter (d. 26 September 1386) and Sir John Golafre (d. 18 November 1396). She had one son, Walter (d. 1432), from her first marriage. Following her last marriage she was known as the Duchess of York, and was styled as Lady of the Isle of Wight on 10 December 1415. She died on 17 July 1431 at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, England and was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, England.¹

     John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (23 April 1408 – 26 February 1462) was the son of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford. A minor at his father's death in 1417, he came to the earldom in 1429. His wife was Elizabeth Howard, a first cousin of the 1st Duke of Norfolk.

A staunch Lancastrian, he remained loyal to Henry VI during the early phases of the Wars of the Roses. At the accession of Edward IV, de Vere and his oldest son Aubrey were arrested and executed by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester and Constable of England. Due to Edward's policy of conciliation, however, John's son by the same name was allowed to succeed as John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford in 1464. His daughter Joane or Jane was the maternal grandmother of Gertrude Tyrell.¹

     John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford (8 September 1442 – 10 March 1513) was one of the principal Lancastrian commanders during the English Wars of the Roses.

Early in the reign of Edward IV, Oxford's father, the 12th Earl, and his elder brother were executed for plotting against the king (1462). However, Edward was pursuing a policy of conciliation with Lancastrian families, and de Vere was allowed to succeed to his father's estates and titles. He was allowed to assume his family's traditional role as Lord High Chamberlain, officiating in that capacity at the coronation of Edward's queen, Elizabeth Woodville, in 1465. Around the same time he married Margaret Neville, daughter of Alice Montagu, Countess of Salisbury, and sister of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

In 1468 Oxford was caught in a plot against the king. He spent a short time in the Tower of London, but was released and pardoned early in 1469. He probably avoided execution due to the influence of his brother-in-law. Oxford was very likely quietly involved in Warwick's schemes against Edward in 1469 and 1470. In the latter year he fled to Margaret of Anjou's court in exile in France. Given his position as the leader of a steadfast Lancastrian family and also as Warwick's brother-in-law, Oxford negotiated the switch of Warwick to the Lancastrian side. He returned to England when Henry VI was restored in 1470. Oxford was appointed Constable of England.

Oxford was one of the Lancastrian commanders at the Battle of Barnet (1471). After this defeat, and the death of Warwick, he fled again, this time to Scotland and then to France. With a little aid from Louis XI of France he took to piracy against English ships and the occasional raid on the coast. Then came the most puzzling incident of Oxford's career. In 1473 he seized St Michael's Mount, a small rocky island off the coast of Cornwall. His motives are not clear. Most likely, this was to be the prelude to an invasion of England intending to depose Edward and put his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, on the throne. No invasion or help came, and in early 1474 he surrendered. Oxford was imprisoned in the fortress of Hammes, near Calais.

Three years later, Oxford leapt off the walls of Hammes into the chin-deep moat. Whether he meant to escape or to kill himself is not known; he accomplished neither. He remained imprisoned there until 1484, when he persuaded the captain of Hammes, Sir James Blount to escape with him to the court in exile of Henry Tudor (later Henry VII of England). It is said that Henry was "ravished with joy incredible" at this event. As by far the most experienced Lancastrian, Oxford was the real commander at the Battle of Bosworth Field, though Henry was theoretically in charge. Oxford commanded the centre, and held off the downhill charge of the Duke of Norfolk at the beginning of the battle. To celebrate the Tudor victory at Bosworth, he commissioned the building of St. Peter and St. Paul, Lavenham.

Oxford was now restored to his estates and titles, and was also appointed Lord High Admiral and Constable of the Tower. His fighting days were not quite over. Two Yorkist pretenders invaded England in the early years of Henry's reign. Oxford commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Stoke Field (the only part of the royalist army that actually had to fight), and was then commander in chief at the Battle of Blackheath.

Oxford was succeeded as Earl by his nephew.¹

     Philippa de Beauchamp (before 1344- 6 April 1386) was the daughter of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick and Katherine Mortimer.

On or before 1 March 1350 she married Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford, son of Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford and Margaret Audley, Baroness Audley.

Philippa and Hugh had nine children.¹

     Lady Eleanor Neville (d.1472) was the 2nd daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland (d.1425) by his 2nd wife, Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his 3rd wife, Katharine Swynford.

She was married first to Richard le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh, (a grandson of Gaunt's younger brother Edmund of York), and after his early death without issue, she married Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (killed at the first battle of St Albans, 1455).

Eleanor and Henry had 10 children, including:

Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (25 July 1421 - 29 March 1461, Battle of Towton).
Lady Katherine Percy. She married Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent
Thomas Percy, 1st Baron Egremont (29 November 1422, Leconfield, Yorkshire - 10 July 1460 Battle of Northampton, England)
Sir Ralph Percy (d. 25 April 1464, Battle of Hedgeley Moor).¹