DESCENT OF THE QUEEN FROM JOHN OF GAUNT.
(Vol. vi., p. 432.)
I have in my possession a pedigree, compiled from original sources, which will, I believe, fully support your correspondent's opinion that the year usually assigned for the death of Joan Beaufort's first husband (1410) is inaccurate. Two entries on the Patent Rolls respectively of the 21st and 22d Richard II., as cited in the pedigree, prove that event to have taken place before Lord Neville of Raby's creation as Earl of Westmoreland; and I am inclined to think that his creation was rather a consequence of his exalted alliance than, as the later and falsely assigned date would lead one to infer, that his creation preceded his marriage by twelve or thirteen years.
Robert Ferrers son and heir of Robert, first Lord Ferrers of Wemme (second son of Robert, third Baron Ferrers of Chartley), and of Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Boteler of Wemme, was born circa 1372, being eight years old at his father's death in 1380 (Esc., 4 Ric. II., No. 25.). He married Joan Beaufort, only daughter of John Duke of Lancaster by Catharine Swynford, who became the duke's third wife, 13th January, 1396; their issue before marriage having been made legitimate by a patent read in parliament, and dated 9th February, 1397 (Pat., 20 Ric. II. p. 2. m. 6.). It might almost be inferred from the description given to Joan, Lady Ferrers, in the patent of legitimation, "dilectæ nobis nobili mulieri Johannæ Beauford, domicellæ," that her first husband was not then living. We find, however, that she had certainly become the wife of the Lord Neville before the 16th of February following, and that Lord Ferrers was then dead (Johanne qui fuist femme de Monsieur Robert Ferrers que Dieu assoile): Pat., 21 Ric. II. p. 2. m. 22.; Pat., 22 Ric. II. p. 3. m. 23. The Lord Ferrers left by her only two daughters, his coheirs, viz. Elizabeth, wife of John, sixth Baron Greystock, and Mary, wife of Ralph Neville, a younger son of Ralph, Lord Neville of Raby, by his first wife Margaret Stafford. The mistake in ascribing Lord Ferrers' death to the year 1410, has probably arisen from that being the year in which his mother died, thus recorded in the pedigrees: "Robert Ferrers, s. & h. obt vita matris," who (i.e. the mother) died 1410 (Esc., 12 Hen. IV., No. 21.). His widow remarried Ralph, Lord Neville of Raby, fourth baron, who was created Earl of Westmoreland, 29th September, 1397[[1]],
and died 1425. The Countess of Westmoreland died 13th November, 1440.
As regards the Queen's descent from John, Duke of Lancaster, in the strictly legitimate line, I may wish to say a word at another time. Allow me now, with reference to the same pedigree, to append a Query to this Reply: Can any of your learned genealogical readers direct me to the authority which may have induced Miss A. Strickland, in her amusing Memoirs of the Lives of the English Queens, to give so strenuous a denial of Henry VIII.'s queen, Jane Seymour's claim to a royal lineage? Miss Strickland writes:
"Through Margaret Wentworth, the mother of Jane Seymour, a descent from the blood-royal of England was claimed, from an intermarriage with a Wentworth and a daughter of Hotspur and Lady Elizabeth Mortimer, grand-daughter to Lionel, duke of Clarence. This Lady Percy is stated by all ancient heralds to have died childless. Few persons, however, dared dispute a pedigree with Henry VIII.," &c.—Lives of the Queens of England, by Agnes Strickland, vol. iv. p. 300.
This is a question, I conceive, of sufficient historical importance to receive a fuller investigation, and fairly to be determined, if possible.
The pedigree shows the following descent:—Lionel Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, third son of King Edward III. and Philippa of Hainault, left by Elizabeth de Burgh (daughter of William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, and Maud Plantagenet, second daughter of Henry, third Earl of Lancaster) an only child, Philippa, married to Edmund Mortimer, third Earl of March (Esc., 5 Ric. II., No. 43.). The eldest daughter of Philippa Plantagenet by the Earl of March was Elizabeth Mortimer, who married the renowned Hotspur, Henry Lord Percy, son and heir apparent of Henry Lord Percy, created Earl of Northumberland, 16th July, 1377, K. G. Hotspur was slain at the battle of Shrewsbury, 7th September, 1403, v.p. His widow experienced the revengeful persecution of King Henry (Rymer, viii. 334., Oct. 8, 1403), and died, leaving by her said husband one son, Henry, who became second Earl of Northumberland, and an only daughter, Elizabeth de Percy, who married firstly, John, seventh Lord Clifford of Westmoreland, who died 13th March, 1422 (Esc., 10 Henry V., No. 37.), and secondly, Ralph Neville, second Earl of Westmoreland (Esc., 15 Hen. VI., No. 55.), by whom she left an only child, Sir John Neville, Knight, who died during his father's lifetime, 20th March, 1451, s.p. (Will proved 30th March, 1451.) Lady Elizabeth de Percy, who died in October, 1436, left by her first husband, the Lord Clifford, three children: Thomas, eighth Lord Clifford; Henry, her second son; and an only daughter, Mary, who became the wife of Sir Philip Wentworth, Knight. The Lady Mary Clifford, who must have been born before 1422 (her father having died in that year), was probably only a few years older than her husband Sir Philip, the issue of a marriage which took place in June, 1 Henry VI., 1423 (Cott. MSS. Cleop., F. iv. f. 15.); she was buried in the church of the Friars Minor at Ipswich, where her mother-in-law directed a marble to be laid over her body. Sir Philip's father, Roger Wentworth, Esq. (second son of John Wentworth of North Elmsal, a scion of the house of Wentworth of the North), had married in 1423 Margery Lady de Roos, widow of John Lord de Roos, sole daughter and heiress of Elizabeth de Tibetot, or Tiptoft (third daughter and co-heir of Robert, Lord de Tibetot), and of Sir Philip le Despenser Chivaler (Esc., 18 Edw. IV., No. 35.). By this marriage came, first, Sir Philip Wentworth, Knight, born circa 1424, and married when about
twenty-three years of age, in 1447; he was slain in 1461, and attainted of high treason in the parliament held 1 Edw. IV.; second, Henry Wentworth of Codham, in the county of Essex; third, Thomas Wentworth Chaplain; and fourth, Agnes, wife of Sir Robert Constable of Flamborough (Harl. MSS., 1560. 1449-1484, and will of Margery, Lady de Roos, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 28th May, 1478). Sir Philip, about the year 1447, as before stated, married the Lady Mary Clifford (Harl. MSS., 154. and 1484.), sister of Thomas Lord Clifford, who was slain at the battle of St. Alban's in 1454, and aunt of the Lord Clifford who stabbed the youthful Edmund Plantagenet at the battle of Wakefield, and was himself slain and attainted in parliament, 1st Edward IV. 1461. The issue of this marriage was Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, in the county of Suffolk, Knight, his son and heir (will of Margery, Lady de Roos, proved as above), born circa 1448, being thirty years of age at his grandmother's death in 1478 (Esc., 18 Edward IV., No. 35.), and died in 1500. His will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 27th February, 1501. Sir Henry, son of Sir Philip, was restored in blood by an act of parliament passed in the 4th of Edward IV. (Parliament Rolls, v. 548.), and having married Anne, daughter of Sir John Say, Knight (Rot. Pat., 1 Ric. II., p. 2., No. 86., 20th February, 1484), left by her several children, viz. Sir Richard Wentworth, Knight, son and heir, Edward Wentworth, and four daughters, the second of whom, Margery, was married to Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall, in the county of Wilts, Knight (Harl. MSS., 1449-1484. 1560., &c.), of which marriage, among other children, were born Sir Edward Seymour, created Duke of Somerset, and Jane, third wife of King Henry VIII., mother of Edward VI.
Wm. Hardy.
Footnote 1:[(return)]
There is amongst the Records of the Duchy of Lancaster an interesting grant from John, Duke of Lancaster, to his daughter Joan Beaufort, very soon after her marriage with Lord Neville of Raby. This document, of which the following is a translation, proves that Robert Ferrers died before 16th February, 1397.
"John, son of the king of England, Duke of Guienne and of Lancaster, Earl of Derby, of Lincoln, and of Leicester, Steward of England, to all who these our letters shall see or hear, greeting. Know ye that, of our especial grace, and forasmuch as our very loved son, the Lord de Neville, and our very loved daughter, Joan, his wife (sa compaigne), who was the wife (femme) of Monsieur Robert Ferrers (whom God assoyl), have surrendered into our Chancery, to be cancelled, our other letters patent, whereby we formerly did grant unto the said Monsieur Robert and our aforesaid daughter 400 marks a-year, to be received annually, for the term of their two lives, out of the issues of our lands and lordships of our honour of Pontefract, payable, &c., as in our said other letters more fully it is contained: we, willing that our abovesaid son, the Lord de Neville, and our aforesaid daughter, his wife (sa compaigne), shall have of us, for the term of their two lives, 500 marks a-year, or other thing to the value thereof, have granted by these presents to the same, our son and daughter, all those our lordships, lands, and tenements in Easingwold and Huby, and our three wapentakes of Hang, Hallikeld, and Gilling, the which Monsieur John Marmyon (whom God assoyl) held of us in the county of York: to have and to hold our abovesaid lordships, tenements, and wapentakes, with their appurtenances, to our said son and daughter, for the term of their two lives, and the life of the survivor of them, in compensation for 100l. a-year, part of the abovesaid 500 marks yearly. And also, we have granted by these presents to the same, our son and daughter, the manor of Lydell, with appurtenances, to have and to hold for their lives, and the life of the survivor, in compensation for 40 marks a-year of the abovesaid 500 marks yearly, during the wars or truces between our lord the king and his adversary of Scotland: so, nevertheless, that if peace be made between our same lord the king and his said adversary of Scotland, and on that account the said manor of Lydell, with the appurtenances, shall be found lawfully to be of greater and better yearly value than the said 40 marks a-year, then our said son and daughter shall answer to us, during such peace as aforesaid, for the surplusage of the value of the said manor, beyond the said 40 marks a-year, and the yearly reprises of the said manor. And in full satisfaction of the aforesaid 500 marks a-year we have granted to our abovesaid son and daughter 206l. 13s. 4d. yearly, to be received out of the issues of our honours of Pontefract and Pickering, by the hands of our receiver there for the time being. In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Given under our seal, at London, on the 16th day of February, in the twentieth year of the reign of our most dread sovereign lord King Richard the Second after the Conquest" (A.D. 1397).
The above grant was confirmed on the 10th of September, in the twenty-second of Richard the Second, 1398, by the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Henry of Lancaster, Duke of Hereford, a few weeks only before the duke's banishment, in the following words: "We, willing to perform and accomplish the good will and desires of our said very honoured lord and father, and in the confidence which we have in our said very loved brother, now Earl of Westmoreland, that he will be a good and natural son to our said very dread lord and father, and that he will be to us in time to come a good and natural brother, and also because of the great affection which we bear towards our said very loved sister, the countess his wife (sa compaigne), do, for us and our heirs, as far as in us lies, ratify and confirm to our said brother and sister the aforesaid letters patent, &c. Given under our seal, at London, on the 10th day of September, in the twenty-second year of the reign of our most dread lord King Richard the Second after the Conquest."
King Henry the Fifth, on his accession, by a patent under the seal of the duchy of Lancaster, dated at Westminster, on the 1st of July, in the first year of his reign, confirmed the above letters "to the aforesaid earl and Joan his wife;" and King Henry the Sixth in like manner confirmed his father's patent on the 13th of July, in the second year of his reign.—Regist. Ducat. Lanc. temp. Hen. VI., p. 2. fol. 41.