Eleanor Neville

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Eleanor Neville
• Birth: Abt 1397, Raby Castle, Durham, England
• Birth: 1401, Raby Castle, Durham, England
• Birth: 1407, Raby Castle, Durham, England
• Death: 1440, Moreton Corbet, Shropshire, England
• Death: 1463, England

Eleanor married Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland on 7 Oct 1414 in Berwick, Wiltshire, England. Henry (son of Henry "Hotspur" Percy, Baron Percy and Elizabeth Mortimer) was born on 3 Feb 1392 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England; died on 22 May 1455 in Battle of St. Albans, Herefordshire, England; was buried in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thomas Percy, 1st Baron Egremont was born on 29 Nov 1422 in Leconfield, Yorkshire, England; died on 11 Jul 1460 in Battle of Northampton, England; was buried in St Albans, St Albans District, Hertfordshire, England.
2. Bishop of Carlisle William Percy was born about 1428; died in 1462.
3. 3rd Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy was born on 25 Jul 1421 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England; died on 29 Mar 1461 in Battle of Towton, Yorkshire, England; was buried in York, North Yorkshire, England.
4. Richard Percy was born in 1425 in Leconfield, Yorkshire; died on 29 Mar 1461.
5. George Percy was born on 24 Jul 1424 in Leconfield, East Riding of Yorkshire, England; died in 1474; was buried in Beverley, Yorkshire, England.
6. Ralph Percy

Family/Spouse: Richard le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh. Richard (son of Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Constance "of York" Plantagenet) was born on 30 Nov 1396 in Elmley, Worcestershire, England; died on 7 Oct 1414 in Merton, Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Knight of the Garter; active on the border with Scotish affairs; strong supporter of Henry IV; life tenant of the Honor of Richmond after 1399; took no part in the French wars of Henry V but was one of his executors and a member of the Council of Regency for Henry VI; father of 23 children by two wives.

Ralph married Joan Beaufort on 29 Nov 1396 in Beaufort, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France. Joan (daughter of John "of Gaunt" Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster and Katherine de Roët) was born on 1 May 1375 in Beaufort Castle, Goudet, Haute-Loire, Auvergne, France; died on 13 Nov 1440 in Howden, Yorkshire, England; was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sir John Nevill, 3rd Baron Nevill of Raby, summoned to Parliament from 1368-1388. Knight of the Garter. This nobleman was carried by his father to witness the Battle of Durham, being then scarcely five years old. He received the honour of Knighthood when in arms before the barriers of Paris. In 44th of Edward III (1370) he was again in wars with France and then constituted Admiral of the King's Fleet from the mouth of the Thames northward. During the remainder of Edward III's reign he was constantly in active service either in Scotland or France. In 2nd of Richard II (1379) he was constituted Lieutenant of Aquitiane in France and Seneschal of Bordeaux. His lordship was a Knight of the Garter. He married Maud, daughter of Henry, Lord Percy. He married 2nd Elizabeth, daughter of William, Lord Latimer. He died at New Castle October 17, 1388, and was buried in the south side of the nave of Durham Cathedral. He was succeeded by his son, Ralph .
Sources: Collins' English Peerage, Vol. 5, pp. 151-162.
Edmondson's Baronagium Genealogicum, Vol. 4, p. 350.
Cokayne's Complete Peerage, Vol. 1, pp. 24-31.
Berry's Visitation of Hants (Hampshire), p. 209.
Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerage, pp. 392-394.
American Families Genealogic and Heraldic, Vol. 9, p. 94.
History and Lineage Book of Daughters of American Colonists in Missouri, compiled by Mellcene Thurman Smith, pp. 356-358.

John married Maude de Percy about 1362. Maude (daughter of 2nd Baron Percy Henry de Percy and Lady Alnwick Idonea de Clifford) was born about 1335 in Warkworth Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, England; died before 18 Feb 1378 in Durham, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was a Knight of the Order of the Garter. He was Prince of England, in 1342 he was Earl of Richmond, in 1361 he was Earl of Lancaster, and, in 1362 he was Earl of Derby, Earl of Leicester and Earl of Lincoln. Also he was Titular King of Castile and Leon and Duke of Aquitane. In 1377, he became Earl Palatinate.

Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Richmond, Earl of Derby, Earl of Lincoln, Duke of Aquitaine, Lord of Beaufort and Nogent, Rey de Castilla y Leon, Seigneur de Bergerac et Roche-sur-Yon, Knight of the Garter.

He virtually ran England during his Father's declining years. He was one of the wealthiest men in the realm. --- He had wealth and power over the lives of others of a type we find it hard to even imagine today. His progeny became rich and powerful in his train. Perhaps he mused that he would go down in History as Duke of Lancaster, honored, feared, magnificent and respected. And yet, because William Shakespeare [1564-1616], 200 years after the Duke of Lancaster's death --- writes a play called Richard II [1595-1596] and calls him John of Gaunt, an infant nickname that John enjoyed until the age of three, and not thereafter --- this sobriquet --- corrupted from his birthplace in Ghent, Flanders, Netherlands --- sticks to him forever. Ghent is now in Belgium. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Rey de Castilla y Leon has been dead for almost 600 years --- but Shakespeare's christening wins the historical palm and is the name he sleeps with for the eons. Scribblers are often powerful beyond belief. -- Spencer Hines

He was only able to marry her after Constanza's death, at which time her children by him were retro-actively legitimated. -- Brant Gibbard

The four original Beauforts were born to Katherine Roet Swynford and John of Gaunt while John's second wife was still alive. On her death in 1394 John married Katherine, and in 1397 Richard II, as a favour to John of Gaunt and in order to neutralize John's son Derby (later King Henry IV) legitimatized the children who had been born out of wedlock. Richard's Act of Parliament did not bar the Beauforts or their descendants from the throne. But Henry IV later wrote in, between the lines of the document, a clause excluding the Beauforts from the succession. This interlineation was, bluntly, a forgery of an Act of Parliament, and Henry VII's sccession confounded it. -- from Kings & Queens of England & Scotland (by Allen Andrews, Marshall Cavendish, London 1985)

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399), English soldier and statesman, the fourth son of King Edward III of England, and brother of Edward, the Black Prince. John was born in March 1340 in Ghent (M.E., Gaunt), now in Belgium. In 1359 he married Blanche, daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster; when Henry died, John became duke.

John of Gaunt played an important part in the wars of the period between England and France and between England and Spain. He commanded a division of the English army, led by the Black Prince, that defeated the army of Henry (later Henry II, king of Castile and Leon) at N jerera in 1367. As a result of his second marriage, to Constance, daughter of Peter the Cruel (king of Castile and Leon), John laid claim to the throne ofofof Castile. . During the Hundred Years' War, he aided (1370-1371) the Black Prince against France and established English rule over most of southern France. After a severe illness forced the return of the Black Prince to England, John took command of the English armies; by 1380 he had lost much of the territory the English had previously won. In 1386 John invaded Castile, but was defeated by John I, king of Castile and Leon. John of Gaunt gave up his claim to Castile and Leon in 1387, whe when his daughter married d Henry, later Henry III, king of Castile and Leon.

John of Gaunt was also prominent in English affairs. Together with Alice Perrers, his father's mistress, John dominated the English government. He was opposed by Parliament and by the Black Prince. In 1376 Parliament banished Alice Perrers and curtailed John's powers. The death of the Black Prince that year and the dissolution of Parliament, however, enabled John to regain his power. In 1377, on the death of Edward III and the accession of Richard II (John's nephew and son of the Black Prince), John gave up his control of the government and thereafter played the role of peacemaker; he also supported the king, by whom he was made (1390) duke of Aquitaine. In 1396, after the death of his second wife, John married his mistress Catherine Swynford, and Richard legitimized their children the following year. Saddened by the exile (1398) of his son, Henry of Lancaster (later King Henry IV of England), John died on February 3 of the following year.

Birth:
Abbaye De St Bavon, Ghent, Flandre Orientale, Belgium

John married Katherine de Roët on 13 Jan 1396 in Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire, England. Katherine (daughter of Paon de Roët) was born on 25 Nov 1350 in Hainault, Belgium; died on 10 May 1403 in Lincolnshire, England; was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Katherine Swynford

Notes:

Governess to the Duke's daughter by his first wife, became John's mistress in 1388. All their children were before they were married. They were legitimated later by the Pope.

Notes:

Ralph de Nevill, 2nd baron, was summoned to parliament from 20 November, 1331, to 20 January, 1336. This nobleman, in the time of his father, was retained by indenture to serve the Lord Henry de Percy for life, in peace and war, against all men except the king, with twenty men-at-arms, whereof five to be knights receiving Â100 sterling per annum. Theeeeee disputee with ttthhhe prior of Durham, regarding the presentation of the stag was revived and finally set to rest in the abandonment of his claim by this Lord Nevill. The matter is thus detailed by Dugdale: "In this year likewise, doing his fealty to William, prior of Durham, upon Lammas Day, for the manor of Raby, he told him, 'that he would offer the stag as his ancestors had done; saving that, whereas his father required that the prior's servants should be set aside at that time and his own serve in their stead, he would be content that his should attend together with those of the prior's; and, whereas his father insisted that his servants should only be admitted at dinner, he stood upon it that his should be there entertained the whole day and likewise the morrow at breakfast.' Whereupon the prior made answer, 'that none of his ancestors were ever so admitted and that he would rather quit the stag than suffer any new custom to the prejudice of their church.' But, to this Ralph replied, 'that he would perform the whole service or none and put the trial of his right upon the country.' The prior, therefore, knowing him to be so powerful and that the country could not displease him, declined the offer; howbeit, at length, to gain his favour, in regard he had no small interest at court and might do him a kindness or a displeasure, was content for that one time he should perform it as he pleased so that it might not be drawn into example afterwards; and, to the purpose proposed, that indentures should be made betwixt them. Whereupon the Lord Nevill brought but few with him and those more for the honour of the prior than a burthen; and so, shortly after dinner, took his leave, but left one of his servants to lodge there all night and to take his breakfast there on the next day; 'protesting that, being both a son and tenant to the church, he would not be burthensome to it, in respect it would be no advantage to himself but might much damnifie him if he should bring with him as great a train as he would, saying, 'what doth a breakfast signify to me? nothing. And likewise, that if the prior would shew that he had no right to what he so claimed, he would freely recede therefrom; and if he had a right, he would accept a composition for it rather than be burthensome to the convent; but if they should put him to get his right by law, then he would not abate anything thereof.' Whereupon inquiry being made amongst the eldest monks of the house, they affirmed that, being of eight years standing when his father was before repulsed, they had often seen the stag offered, and that he never staid dinner but when the prior invited him, and some ancient men of the country testified as much; also, that so soon as the stag was brought, they carried him to the kitchen, and those who brought him were taken into the hall to breakfast, as they that bring their rents used to be.

"Moreover, when it happened any of the Lords Nevill to be desired to stay dinner with the prior, his cook was admitted into the kitchen to prepare a dish for him; so, likewise, another servant in the cellar to choose his drink; and in like manner, some other at the gate who knew his servants and followers, merely to let them in and keep out others who, under pretence of being servants, might then intrude. But this was only done by the prior, as out of courtesy and respect, and not at all out of right."

In the 7th Edward III [1314], Lord Nevill was one of the commissioners sent into Scotland, there to see that the covenants between Edward de Baliol, King of Scots, and his royal master were ratified by the parliament of that kingdom; and the next year he was joined with Henry de Percy in the wardenship of the marches of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. He had, subsequently, other high and confidential employments and was constantly engaged in the wars of Scotland and France. His lordship m. Alice, dau. of of Sir Hugh de Audley, and by her (who m 2ndly, Ralph, Lord Greystock, and d. 1374) had issue, John, Thomas, Robert, Alexander, Ralph, Euphemia, Catherine, Margaret, Isabel, and Eleanor.

He d. in 1367 and was buried in the church of Durham, on the south side thereof, being the first layman that had sepulture there, which favour he obtained from the prior and convent for a vestment of red velvet, richly embroidered with gold silk, great pearls, and images of the saints standing in tabernacles by him given to St Cuthbert. His body being brought in a chariot drawn by seven horses to the boundary of the churchyard and thence conveyed upon the shoulders of knights into the middle of the church where the abbot of St. Mary's in York (by reason of the bishop's absence and impotency of the dean), performed the office of the dead, and celebrated the morrow mass, at which were offered eight horses, viz., four for the war, with four men armed, and all their harness and habiliments; and four others for peace; as also three cloths of gold, of blue colour, interwoven with flowers. Four of those horses were redeemed after the funeral by Sir John, his son and heir, for 100 marks. His lordship was s. by his eldest son, Sir John de Nevill. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 393, Nevill, Barons Nevill, of Raby, Earls of Westmoreland]

Sources for Clavering, Neville and FitzRandolph:
FitzRandolph Traditions: A Story of a Thousand Years. Published 1907 by
L. F. V. FitzRandolph, life member N. J. Historical Society, pp. 21, 22, 23, 24,
25, 26, 29, 31; Chapter 9, pp. 117-121, Review of the Descent from Rolf, the
Norman and Dane.
Edmondson's Baronagium Genealogical, Vol. 4, pp. 350-351.
Burke's Genealogical History of the Dorman Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct
Peerages of Great Britain, pp. 393-396.
Browning's Magna Carta Barons and their Descendants, pp. 87-90, 98-9.
Wurts' Magna Charta, pp. 569-70.

Ralph married Alice d'Audley on 14 Jan 1324 in Hadley, Staffordshire, England. Alice (daughter of Lord Audley Hugh (Alditheley) d'Audley and Isolda de Mortimer) was born in 1300 in Hadley, Staffordshire, England; died on 11 Jan 1374 in Greystoke, Northumberland, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Lady Alnwick Idonea de Clifford. Idonea (daughter of Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford and Matilda (Maud) de Clare) was born about 1300 in Appleby Castle, Westmorland, England; died on 24 Aug 1365 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England; was buried in Beverly Minister, Beverly, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: Abt 1300, Clifford Castle, Herefordshire

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 20 Nov 1312

Edward married of Hainault Philippa d'Avesnes on 24 Jan 1327 in York Minster, Deangate, Yorkshire, England. Philippa (daughter of William I "The Good" d'Avesnes, Count of Hainaut and Jeanne de Valois) was born on 24 Jun 1314 in Le Quesnoy, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 15 Aug 1369 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Philippa of Hainault

Notes:

Walter of Stapeldon was bishop of Exeter, and in 1319 served on an English diplomatic mission to the Low Countries to negotiate a naval agreement. As part of their responsibilities, the emissaries also visited Hainaut and gave Philippa the once-over. It is interesting that she was even then being considered as a possible future queen of England, nearly a full decade before Queen Isabella finally closed the negotiations.

A document from their trip gives a fairly full physical description of the young girl: she was well built, without any obvious deformity; good hair, neither light nor dark; neat head, with a somewhat bulbous forehead (considered a sign of beauty); her eyes were dark brown, almost black, and fairly close together (NOT a good sign). Her nose was all right, except the tip was a bit broad and the nostrils a tad large. The lips were full, especially the lower one. Her teeth were good, some whiter than others, and the lower row was noticeably irregular while the upper row protruded just a bit--not too much. Her skin was brownish, not the translucent white of a romance heroine. She resembled her father a good deal (a good sign as it suggested she was more masculine and might well have more sons than daughters), both parents were very fond of her, and all the courtiers of Hainaut thought well of her too, as far as the envoys were able to determine.

According to her mother, Philippa would have her ninth birthday at the next feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist (24 June), which puts her birth on or near that day in the year 1310. She was thus about two and one-half years older than her future husband, and would have been about 45 when she bore her last child Thomas in 1355. -- John Carmi Parsons (edited)