C.P. Addition: Elizabeth Beauchamp, wife of George Neville, Lord Latimer, & Thomas Wake, Esq.

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

Complete Peerage, 7 (1929): 479-480 (sub Latimer) has a good account
of George Neville, Knt., 1st Lord Latimer,
who died 30 (or 31) Dec. 1469. Regarding his marriage to Elizabeth
Beauchamp, and her re-marriage to Thomas Wake, the following
information is provided:

"He married, before Id. Feb. 1436/7, Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress
of Richard (Beauchamp), Earl of Warwick, by his 1st wife, Elizabeth,
only child and heiress of Thomas (de Berkeley), Lord Berkeley ....
She, who was aged 22 in 1439, inherited Stowe and other lands in
Northants .... His widow [Elizabeth] married Thomas Wake, of
Blisworth, esquire, who died 20 May 1476 .... She died before 2 Oct.
1480, when most of the writs were tested." END OF QUOTE.

The source given by Complete Peerage for the approximate marriage date
of George Neville and Elizabeth Beauchamp is Calendar of Papal
Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Letters, 8 (1909):
615, which entry reads as follows:

"1436[–7]. Id. Feb.
Bologna.
(f. 293.) To George Nevile, nobleman, lord de Latymer, of the realm
of England, and Elizabeth his wife, noblewoman … ‘Sincere etc.’, i.e.
the usual briefly registered indult to have mass celebrated before
daybreak.

Ibid. To the same. Indult to have a portable altar. ‘Sincere etc.Hinc
est quod nos vestris devotis supplicationibus inclinati, ut liceat
cuilibet vestrum habere altare portatile etc. Datum…" END OF QUOTE.

The date of the two papal indults above is "Id. Feb. 1436[–7]" which
date converts to 13 Feb. 1436/7. Thus we know that George Neville and
Elizabeth Beauchamp were married before 13 Feb. 1436/7.

No date is given by Complete Peerage for the marriage of Elizabeth
Beauchamp and Thomas Wake, Esquire. The evidence cited by Complete
Peerage for this marriage is Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1476-1485, pg.
233, which is an item dated 3 Dec. 1480 which refers to "Elizabeth,
late dame Latymer, late the wife of Thomas Wake, deceased, esquire."

Elsewhere there is evidence which indicates the approximate date when
Elizabeth Beauchamp and Thomas Wake were married. Baker, History &
Antiquities of Northampton 1 (1822–30): 213 shows that "lady Elizabeth
Latimer, widow," presented to the church of Kislingbury,
Northamptonshire on 14 May 1470. So she was still a widow as late as
14 May 1470. And Bridges, History & Antiquities of Northamptonshire 2
(1791): 224 indicates that "Thomas Wake, nom. Eliz. Dom. Latimer"
presented to the church of Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire on 14 Dec.
1472.

Thus we know that Elizabeth Beauchamp and Thomas Wake, Esquire, were
married after 14 May 1470 and before 14 Dec. 1472.

As for further record of Elizabeth (Beauchamp) (Neville) Wake, I find
that she occurs in a lawsuit dated 1480 found in the new database for
the Court of Common Pleas, which database is available on the British
History Online website at the following weblink:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=118162&strquery=Elizabeth%20Latymere

An abbreviated abstract of this lawsuit reads as follows:

Court of Common Pleas, CP 40/872, rot. 135
In Easter term 1480 John Hunt, Citizen and mercer of London, sued
“Elizabeth Latymere, widow," late of Stowe Nine Churches,
Northamptonshire, alias late of Blisworth, Northamptonshire, regarding
a debt of 15 marks. The debt was evidently incurred in the parish of
St Vedast, Farringdon within ward in London, on 31 Dec. 1476.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah