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Pidgeon Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 15 December 2011 ii iii ABSTRACT Who were the Wydeviles? The family arrived with the Conqueror in 1066. As followers in the Conqueror’s army the Wydeviles rose through service with the Mowbray family. If we accept the definition given by Crouch and Turner for a brief period of time the Wydeviles qualified as barons in the twelfth century. This position was not maintained. By the thirteenth century the family had split into two distinct branches. The senior line settled in Yorkshire while the junior branch settled in Northamptonshire. The junior branch of the family gradually rose to prominence in the county through service as escheator, sheriff and knight of the shire. These roles enabled them to meet and work with men who had influence at court. The Wydevile that gave the family their entrée into royal service was Richard (ii), appointed steward to King Edward III’s daughter Isabella and then as steward at the king’s castle of Moor End. His son John (iii) maintained a similar pattern of service within the county and managed to negotiate the difficult years of Richard II’s reign and the usurpation of Henry IV without diminishing the family standing within the county. It was his sons who were to work closely with the royal family. Thomas and Richard (iii) served the Lancastrian royal princes loyally. Richard (iii)’s position led to a knighthood for his son Richard, so that by 1426 the family were at the highest level of the gentry, just below the aristocracy. Accused of being an ignoble family their status is traced from 1066 to the early fifteenth century. In 1448 Sir Richard Wydevile brought the family into the ranks of the nobility through an advantageous marriage. His secret marriage to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, widow of the duke of Bedford made him a member of the royal family, albeit a minor member. This connection led to his creation as lord Rivers in 1448. Rivers continued the family tradition of loyal service to the crown. His service in France and in England enabled him to find suitable marriages for three of his children by 1460/61 into baronial families. Like his great-grandfather Richard (ii), he managed to negotiate a change in king, moving smoothly from service to the Lancastrians to service with the Yorkists under Edward IV. In 1464 his daughter Elizabeth secretly married King Edward IV. It was this second secret marriage that led to the assault on the Wydeviles’ reputation and questioned their status. The political instability of the period required scapegoats each time a king was overthrown. The propaganda this generated is traced to establish if there is any truth in the charges of greed and covetousness made against the Wydeviles. iv v Contents Introduction 1 Part 1. A question of status 7 (1) Domesday to the Thirteenth century 7 (i) Origins: The evidence of Domesday 7 (ii) The twelfth century 11 (iii) The thirteenth century 23 (2) The fourteenth century 35 (i) John (ii) Wydevile of Northamptonshire (fl.1314-40) 39 (ii) Richard (ii) Wydevile of Grafton (c.1310-c.1378) 49 (iii) John (iii) Wydevile (c.1340-c.1397/8) 67 (3) The early fifteenth century 83 (i) Thomas Wydevile (d.1437/8) 83 (ii) Richard (iii) Wydevile (c.1381/2-1441/2) 107 Part 2. Marriage and reputation 143 (1) Sir Richard and Jacquetta: ‘Made by maryage’? 143 (i) Chronicle accounts of the marriage of Richard and Jacquetta 149 (ii) Sir Richard’s career in the 1440s and 1450s 157 (iii) Sandwich 1460: The earliest personal attack on the Wydeviles 169 (iv) 1461-64 Reconciliation with the Yorkist Regime 177 (2) A Wydevile Queen: A second clandestine marriage 183 (i) Chronicles and records for the period 1464-1469 183 (ii) Chronicles and records for the period 1470-1482 221 (iii) Chronicles and records for the period 1483-1499 229 (3) The Tudors: Rehabilitation? 241 (i) A second Wydevile queen 243 (ii) The chronicle of Robert Fabyan and the Great Chronicle of London 249 (iii) Polydore Vergil - Henry VII’s historian 253 Conclusion 261 vi Appendices 1. Will of Thomas Wydevile 273 2. The purchase of the Mote, Maidstone 277 3. The purchase of Grafton 279 4. Wivill/Wydevile landholding 281 5. Yorkist manifestoes 287 6. Two poems relating to Elizabeth Wydevile 293 7. Children of earl Rivers and Jacquetta, duchess of Bedford 295 On CD Rom Inside back cover 8. Data for the eleventh – thirteenth centuries 9. Data for the fourteenth century 10. Data for the fifteenth century 11. Concordance of chronicles 1400 – 1535 Bibliography 299 vii List of figures Fig. 1. Map of Normandy 8 Fig. 2. Mowbray/d’Aubigny genealogy 12 Fig. 3. The Early Wiviles/Wydeviles genealogy 13 Fig. 4. Wyvile land holdings in Yorkshire 15 Fig. 5. Wyvile/Wydevile land holdings in Northamptonshire, 11 th & 12 th centuries 19 Fig. 6. Suggested genealogy of the Yorkshire Wiviles 26 Fig. 7. Suggested genealogy of the Northampsonshire Wydeviles 28 Fig. 8. Suggested relationship between Thomas, William and Richard Wydevile 30 Fig. 9. Wivile/Wydevile land holdings in Northamptonshire, 13 th century 34 Fig. 10. Suggested descent from William ‘steward’ 38 Fig. 11. Passenham family genealogy 41 Fig. 12. Wydevile descent from the 14 th century 45 Fig. 13. Lyons family genealogy 50 Fig. 14. Claimants to the manor of Wydehamond 58 Fig. 15. Frembaud family genealogy 68 Fig. 16. Descent from John (iii) Wydevile 77 Fig. 17. Tomb of John (iii) Wydevile, St Mary the Virgin, Grafton 79 Fig. 18. Ragon family genealogy 81 Fig. 19. Wyvile/Wydevile land holdings in Northamptonshire, 14 th century 82 Fig. 20. Hillary family genealogy 92 Fig. 21. Brass of Thomas Wydevile and wives, St Owens church, Bromham 102 Fig. 22. Brass of Thomas Wydevile – heraldry 103 Fig. 23. Brass of Thomas Wydevile – detail of livery collar 103 Fig. 24. Map showing the landsholdings of Thomas Wydevile in Northamptonshire 105 Fig. 25. Drawing of Richard Wydevile’s tomb All Saints, Maidstone 130 Fig. 26. Genealogy of Joan Bittlesgate 131 Fig. 27. Tomb of William Philip, baron Bardolf and his wife Joan 134 Fig. 28. Wydevile genealogy according to Baker 140-1 Fig. 29. Genealogy of the Grey family 181 Fig. 30. Genealogy of the Le Strange family 182 viii Fig. 31. Genealogy of the Bourchier Family 182 Fig. 32. Jacquetta’s coat of arms 192 Fig. 33. Garter plate of Richard Wydevile, Lord Rivers 192 Fig. 34. Illustration of Antony Wydevile’s coat of arms 192 Fig. 35. Gatehouse, Merton College, Oxford 201 Fig. 36. Stained glass window Little Malvern priory, Edward IV and family 201 Fig. 37. Stained glass window Little Malvern priory, detail 202 ix List of tables 1. Richard (ii) Wydevile: Appointment as escheator 56 2. Richard (ii) Wydevile: Appointment as sheriff 59 3. Richard (ii) Wydevile: Knight of the shire 59 4. John (iii) Wydevile: Appointment as escheator 70 5. John (iii) Wydevile: Appointment as sheriff 71 6. John (iii) Wydevile: Knight of the shire 71 7. Thomas Wydevile: Appointment as sheriff 86 8. Thomas Wydevile: Knight of the shire 87 9. Thomas Wydevile: Appointment as escheator 87 x xi List of accompanying materials CD Rom containing appendices 8-11 xii xiii DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Lynda J. Pidgeon declare that the thesis entitled The Wydeviles 1066-1503 A Re-Assessment and the work presented in the thesis are both my own, and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: this work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; I have acknowledged all main sources of help; where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; none of this work has been published before submission. Signed: ………………………………….. Date:………… xiv xv Acknowledgements Firstly thanks are due to my supervisor Professor Anne Curry for seeing me through the lengthy process of my PhD, for advice and chats and help with references and translations, which have helped to improve my thesis, Dr Lesley Boatwright for help with Latin translations, Dr Livia Visser-Fuchs for advice on Wavrin’s Chronicle, Dr Barry Lewis for information on Welsh poems of the period and their translation into English and Dr Remy Ambühl for information on French prisoners and sight of a chapter from his as yet unpublished book.