Person Page - 1344

     James I the Conqueror (Catalan: Jaume el Conqueridor, Aragonese: Chaime lo Conqueridor, Spanish: Jaime el Conquistador, Occitan: Jacme lo Conquistaire; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was the King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276. His long reign saw the expansion of the Crown of Aragon on all sides: into Valencia to the south, Languedoc to the north, and the Balearic Islands to the east. By a treaty with Louis IX of France, he wrested the county of Barcelona from nominal French suzerainty and integrated it into his crown. His part in the Reconquista was similar in Mediterranean Spain to that of his contemporary Ferdinand III of Castile in Andalusia.

As a legislator and organiser, he occupies a significant place among the Spanish kings. James compiled the Libre del Consulat de Mar,[1] which governed maritime trade and helped establish Aragonese supremacy in the western Mediterranean. He was an important figure in the development of Catalan, sponsoring Catalan literature and writing a quasi-autobiographical chronicle of his reign: the Llibre dels fets.¹

     Violant of Hungary (Esztergom, Kingdom of Hungary, c. 1216 – 1253) was Queen consort of James I of Aragon. She is also called Jolánta in Hungarian, Iolanda or Violant d'Hongria in Catalan and Yolanda or Violante de Hungría in Spanish.

Violant was a daughter of Andrew II of Hungary and Violant of Courtenay. Her paternal grandparents were Béla III of Hungary and his first wife Agnes of Antioch. Her maternal grandparents were Peter II of Courtenay and his second wife Yolanda of Flanders.

Violant was a half-sister of Anne Marie, Empress of Bulgaria, Béla IV of Hungary, Saint Elisabeth of Hungary and Coloman of Lodomeria.

Violant's mother died in 1233, when Violant was seventeen years old. Her father remarried, to Beatrice d'Este, they had a son called Stephen.

Violant married James I in 1235, being his second wife. By the marriage, Violant became Queen Consort of Aragon. James already had one son, Alfonso by his first marriage to Eleanor of Castile. James however divorced Eleanor and decided to remarry, he chose Violant.[1][2]

James and Violant had ten children.¹

     Marie of Brabant (French: Marie de Brabant; 13 May 1254 – 10 January 1321) was Queen consort of France.

Marie was born in Leuven, Brabant. She was a daughter of Henry III, Duke of Brabant, and Adelaide of Burgundy, daughter of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy.

Marie's paternal grandparents were Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and his wife Marie of Hohenstaufen. Her maternal grandparents were Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, and his first wife Yolande of Dreux. Marie's siblings included Henry IV, Duke of Brabant, and John I, Duke of Brabant.

Marie married on 24 June 1275, to Philip III of France. This was Philip's second marriage, after the death of his first wife, Isabella of Aragon. Isabella had already given birth to three surviving sons: Louis, Philip and Charles.

Philip was under the strong influence of his mother, the dowager Queen of France, Margaret of Provence and his minion, surgeon and chamberlain (Chambellan) Pierre de La Broce (or Pierre de Brosse). Not being French, Marie stood out at the French court.

In 1276, Philip's son and heir, Louis died, under suspicious circumstances. Marie was suspected of ordering him to be poisoned. La Brosse, who was also suspected, was imprisoned and later executed for the murder. Margaret suspected Marie of ordering the death of Louis and Philip did seem to agree more with his mother than his wife.

After the death of Philip III in 1285, Marie lost her political influence, and dedicated her life to her three children. Her stepson, Philip was crowned king of France, as Philip IV, on 6 January 1286 in Reims. Marie lived right through Philip IV's reign and she had outlived all three children.¹

     Charles IV (Czech: Karel IV., German: Karl IV, Latin: Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378), born Wenceslaus (Václav), was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and Holy Roman Emperor.

He was the eldest son and heir of John the Blind, who died on 26 August 1346, thus Charles inherited the County of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of Bohemia. On 2 September 1347 Charles was crowned as the king of Bohemia.

On 11 July 1346 Prince-electors had elected him King of the Romans (rex Romanorum) in opposition to Emperor Louis IV. Charles was crowned on 26 November 1346 in Bonn. After his opponent had died, he was re-elected in 1349 (17 June) and crowned (25 July) King of the Romans. In 1355 he was also crowned King of Italy on 6 January and Holy Roman Emperor on 5 April. With his coronation as King of Burgundy, delayed until 4 June 1365, he became the personal ruler of all the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire.¹ Holy Roman Emperor.

     Henry V (1386–87[1][2] – 31 August 1422) was King of England from 1413 until his death. From an unassuming start, his military successes in the Hundred Years' War, culminating with his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt, saw him come close to uniting the realms of England and France under his rule.

Henry was born in the tower above the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle, son of Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, and sixteen-year-old Mary de Bohun. Two dates are suggested: 9 August or 16 September, in either 1386 or 1387.[1][2] At the time of his birth during the reign of Richard II, Henry was not in line to succeed to the throne, preceded by the king and possibly another collateral line of heirs.

Upon the exile of Henry's father in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge and treated him kindly. The young Henry accompanied King Richard to Ireland, and while in the royal service, he visited the castle at Trim in Meath, the ancient meeting place of the Irish Parliament. In 1399, the Lancastrian usurpation brought Henry's father to the throne and Henry was recalled from Ireland into prominence as heir to the kingdom of England. He was created Prince of Wales at his father's coronation. He was created Duke of Lancaster on 10 November 1399, the third person to hold the title that year. His other titles were Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, and Duke of Aquitaine. A contemporary record notes that during that year Henry spent time at The Queen's College, Oxford, under the care of his uncle Henry Beaufort, the Chancellor of the university.[3]

From October 1401, the administration was conducted in his name.[citation needed] Less than three years later, Henry was in command of part of the English forces—he led his own army into Wales against Owain Glyndwr and joined forces with his father to fight Harry Hotspur at Shrewsbury in 1403.[4] It was there that the sixteen-year-old prince was almost killed by an arrow which became stuck in his face. An ordinary soldier might have died from such a wound, but Henry had the benefit of the best possible care. Over a period of several days John Bradmore, the royal physician, treated the wound with honey to act as an antiseptic, crafted a special tool to screw into the broken arrow shaft and thus extract the arrow without doing further damage, and then flushed the wound with alcohol. The operation was successful, but it left Henry with permanent scars which would serve as evidence of his experience in battle.[5]¹

     Thomas Nevill was Speaker of the House of Commons of England between February 1515 - December 1515.¹

     1st Baron Montagu. Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu (c. 1492 – 9 January 1539) was most famous as one of the peers in the trial of Anne Boleyn. He was the oldest son of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury (godmother to Lady Mary Tudor) and Sir Richard Pole. His brother, Reginald Cardinal Pole, became the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Mary I.

In May 1510, Henry married Lady Jane Neville, daughter of George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny and Margaret Fenne. They had the following children:

Catherine Pole (born before 1520 – 23 September 1576) married Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon.
Thomas Pole (d. 1526), married Elizabeth Wingfield.
Henry Pole (1521-1542), married Margaret Neville.
Winifred Pole (b.1525), married firstly Thomas Hastings, son of George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, and secondly, Thomas Barrington of Barrington Hall. By Thomas Winifred had the following children: Catherine married 1584 to William Bourchier, great-grandson of John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners; a son of Catherine and William was Sir John Bourchier a regicide of King Charles I of England; Sir Francis Barrington; John Barrington.
In November 1538, Henry along with his wife, his wife's brother Edward Neville and other relatives were arrested on a charge of treason by King Henry VIII, though Thomas Cromwell had previously written that they had "little offended save that he is of their kin." Reginald Pole was not among them, as he was in exile at the time, due to his opposition of King Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. They were committed to the Tower of London, and on 9 January 1539 with the exception of Geoffrey Pole, Henry's brother, they were beheaded (Neville had been beheaded earlier on 8 December 1538). Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter was also arrested along with his wife and 11-year old son (his wife would be released two years later while their son spent 15 years in the Tower until his release by Queen Mary on 3 August 1553). Ten days after Henry's arrest, his mother, the Countess Margaret of Salisbury, was also arrested and questioned by William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton, and Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely. They reported to Thomas Cromwell that although they had "travailed with her" for many hours she would "nothing utter", and they were forced to conclude that either her sons had not made her a sharer in their "treason", or else she was "the most arrant traitress that ever lived." She was not to live long. On 27 May 1541 she too was beheaded in the Tower of London.

In essence the execution of the Pole family was the continuation by Henry VIII of his father's programme of eliminating possible contenders for the throne. Margaret Pole was the last Plantagenet remaining alive after the battles and aftermath of the Wars of the Roses: this direct female-line descent from the previous ruling dynasty, combined with the family's firm Catholic allegiance, made her and her sons a grave potential threat to Tudor rule.¹

     7th Baron Bergavenny. Edward Nevill, de facto 7th Baron Bergavenny (c. 1526 – 10 February 1588) was a de facto English peer.

The son of Sir Edward Nevill, he was considered to have succeeded to the Barony upon the death of Henry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny, his first cousin, although by modern doctrine he did not hold that title.

He married (1) Katherine Brome, with whom he had the following children:

Edward Nevill, 8th Baron Bergavenny (c.1550–1622)
Francis Nevill
George Nevill
Henry Nevill
Margaret Nevill
Grisel Nevill
Mary Nevill
He married (2) Grisold Hughes.¹