More C.P. Additions: Mary Fitz Lewis, wife of Anthony Wydeville, Earl Rivers, and Sir George Neville
Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Complete Peerage, 11 (1949): 22-24 has an account of Anthony
Wydeville, K.G., 2nd Earl Rivers, 8th Lord Scales, who was the brother-
in-law of King Edward IV of England. Earl Anthony was beheaded at
Pontefract, Yorkshire 25 June 1483, on orders of King Edward IV's
brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (afterwards King Richard III).
At his death, Earl Anthony left a young widow, Mary Fitz Lewis, who is
stated by Complete Peerage to have married Sir George Neville. No
date is given for Mary Fitz Lewis' marriage to Sir George Neville, nor
are any particulars provided regarding her subsequent life, saving
that she is alleged to have had a daughter and heiress, Anne Neville,
who married Sir John Markham.
The above information regarding Mary Fitz Lewis' 2nd marriage appears
to be drawn from Morant's History & Antiquities of Essex which states:
"[Sir Henry Fitz-Lewis] married .... Mary, second sister and coheir of
Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset, and had by her Mary his daughter and
heir, married first to Antony Woodville Earl Rivers, by whom she had
no issue; afterwards to Sir John Nevill, a natural son of the Earl of
Westmoreland, and had by him Anne, wife of Sir John Markham."
[Reference: Morant, Hist. & Antiqs. of Essex 1 (1768): 213].
The above account includes at least three errors. Sir Henry Fitz
Lewis' first wife was named Elizabeth, not Mary, Beaufort, as will be
shown by a contemporary record cited below. Mary Fitz Lewis' second
husband was named Sir George Neville, not Sir John Neville. And, Sir
George Neville was the bastard son of Sir Thomas Neville, not the Earl
of Westmorland.
Mary Fitz Lewis' second marriage to Sir George Neville the Bastard is
indicated by two pieces of evidence. First, there is a contemporary
pedigree of the Beaufort family published in Collectanea Top. & Gen.,
1 (1834): 308-309, which source reads as follows:
"[Mary Fitz Lewis], first wedded to the Earl of Rivers; after to Sir
George Neville the bastard." END OF QUOTE.
Second, Mary Fitz Lewis, Countess Rivers, married (2nd) Sir George
Neville before Trinity Term 1488, which is proven by an Essex fine of
that date, which fine involves part of Countess Rivers' inheritance in
that county:
"Trin[ity] [1488]. Richard Lee, esquire, William Sutton, clerk, John
Fogg, esquire, Richard Wytton, clerk, and William Carkeke, pl., George
Nevyll, knight, and Mary his wife, countess Ryvers, daughter and heir
of Henry Lewes, knight, def. The manor of Bardefeld, [Essex] and 14
messuages, 320 acres of land, 12 acres of meadow and 4l. rent in
Northbemflete, Vannge, Nevynden, Wykford, Pytsay, and Dowenham. Def
quitclaimed to pl. and the heirs of Richard Lee. Cons.
300l." [Reference: Feet of Fines for Essex 4 (1964): 89].
Next, in 1492 it was determined that Edmund Roos, 10th Lord Roos of
Helmsley, was not of sufficient discretion to guide himself, and
custody was therefore granted to his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Lovel,
with the farm of the lands for his life, after Edmund's death, and
reversion to the Crown [Reference: Complete Peerage, 11 (1949):
106-107 (sub Ros)]. As part of the the Act of Parliament which
granted custody of Lord Roos to Sir Thomas Lovel, provision was made
for the remaining heirs of Lord Roos' grandmother, Eleanor Beauchamp,
wife successively of Thomas Roos, 8th Lord Roos, and Edmund Beaufort,
2nd Duke of Somerset. Duchess Eleanor's heirs living in 1492 are
named as follows in the Act of Parliament dated that year:
"Edward, Duke of Bokyngham, son to Henry late Duke of Bokyngham, son
to Margarete Countess of Stafford, doughter to Alianore late Duches of
Somerset, Robert Spencer Knyght, and Alianore his Wyfe, Countesse of
Wilteshire, another of the doughters of the said Duchess, Mary
Countesse Ryvers, doughter to Elizabeth, another doughter of the said
Duches, Thomas Burgh Knyght, and Edward Burgh Knyght, son to
Margarete, another of the doughters of the said Duches, William Paston
Squier, Agneys Paston, Elizabeth Paston, doughters of Anne, another of
the doughters of the said Duches, and Richard Frye Squier, and Jane
his Wyfe, another doughter of the same Duches, and to the heyres of
every of them." [Reference: Strachey, Rotuli Parliamentorum 6 (1777):
452-454].
The above record proves that Mary Fitz Lewis, Countess Rivers, was
living in 1492, and also that her mother was Elizabeth (not Mary)
Beaufort, daughter of Eleanor, Duchess of Somerset. It is not known
why Complete Peerage overlooked the 1492 Act of Parliament in its
treatment of Countess Rivers, as it is mentioned elsewhere in the same
volume of Complete Peerage under its account of the Roos family.
As for the further history of Mary Fitz Lewis' 2nd husband, Sir George
Neville, my file notes indicate that he was an illegitimate son of Sir
Thomas Neville (not the Earl of Westmorland as stated by Morant), and
that he was an Esquire of the Body to King Richard III. In 1492 Sir
George Neville was living on the Continent in exile, when he and other
English exiles and outlaws offered their services to the pretender
Perkin Warbeck who was then in France [References: Shelley, The
Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1857): 155; Bacon, Hist. of the Reign of
King Henry the Seventh (1996): 117]. The historian Fisher likewise
records that Sir George Neville "the Bastard" was living on the
Continent as a Yorkist exile in 1499. In 1501 Fisher adds that King
Henry VII issued Neville a pardon in hopes of tempting him back to
allegiance; he, however, declined Henry's offer to remit fines and
grant an amnesty [Reference: Fisher, Hist. of England (1906): 88-89,
91]. In 1503 there was some mysterious intrigue involving a secret
mission to Sir George Neville the bastard at Aachen and the carrying
off of an infant called James Ormond "which shuldbe a great Inheretor
& nexte unto the Crowne." [Reference: Mackie, The Earlier Tudors,
1485-1558 (1952): 169, 685 (modern index identifies Sir George Neville
as the bastard son of Thomas Neville)]. The same year the king heard
that Sir George Neville was not yet banished from Maestricht
[Reference: Gairdner, Letters & Papers Ill. of the Reigns of Richard
III & Henry VII 1 (Rolls Ser. 24) (1861): 220-225].
There is reportedly an article discussing the 1503 intrigue involving
Sir George Neville the Bastard in an article by I.S. Leadam entitled
"An Unknown Conspiracy against Henry VII," which was published in
Transactions of the. Royal Hist. Society n.s. 16 (1902): 133-158; n.s.
18 (1904). I haven't yet seen this article. If anyone has access to
the article and can supply the particulars regarding Sir George
Neville, I'd appreciate hearing from them.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Douglas Richardson
Reviewing my file notes, I see that Mary Fitz Lewis, Countess Rivers,
was stated to be dead at Michaelmas term, 1514, when a Beaufort family
lawsuit recorded that her mother, Elizabeth Beaufort's living heir and
representative was John Markham (that is, Mary Fitz Lewis' son-in-law
or grandson) [Reference: Baker, Reports of Cases by John Caryll 2
(Selden Soc. 116(2)) (2000): 650-653].
Based on the evidence presented in the previous post and this
additional new information, it appears that Mary, Countess Rivers, was
living in 1492 (as per an Act of Parliament), and that she died
sometime in or before Michaelmas term, 1514 (date of the lawsuit cited
above). Michaelmas term ran from 6 October to 1 December 1514. Thus,
Mary Fitz Lewis, Countess Rivers, was dead sometime before 1 December
1514.
The above mentioned lawsuit helps confirm the statement found in
Morant that Mary, Countess Rivers' daughter and heiress, Anne Neville,
married Sir John Markham. Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire, 1
(1790): 343 similarly states that Anne, daughter of Sir George
Neville, was the wife of Sir John Markham. Thoroton specifically
refers to Anne Neville as"kinswoman" to Lady Margaret Beaufort,
Countess of Richmond, mother of King Henry VII, which Lady Margaret
apparently helped arrange Anne Neville's marriage to Sir John
Markham. Anne Neville's grandmother, Elizabeth (Beaufort) Fitz Lewis
was a first cousin to Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, which
explains the kinship noted between the two women.