William
"1st Baron Bonville"
Bonville
KG
Born about in Shute, Devon, England
Ancestors 
Son of John Bonville
and Elizabeth (FitzRoger) Stukeley
Brother of
Thomas Bonville Esq, Isabell (Bonville) Champernon, Hugh Stukeley Esq. [half] and Roger Stukeley [half]
Husband of
Margaret (Grey) Bonville
— married
12 Dec 1414 [location unknown]
Husband of
Elizabeth (Courtenay) Bonville
— married
9 Oct 1427 [location unknown]
Descendants 
Father of
Elizabeth (Bonville) Tailboys, Philippa Bonville, William Bonville, Margaret (Bonville) Courtenay and John Bonville
Died
at about age 68
in 2nd Battle of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Profile last modified
| Created 6 Aug 2010
This page has been accessed 13,805 times.
Contents |
Biography
- William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville, KG (c.1392/3 – 18 February 1461) was an English nobleman, soldier, and administrator. He was a staunch Yorkist during the Wars of the Roses, and was executed following the Yorkist defeat at the Second Battle of St Albans by order of King Henry VI's Queen Consort, Margaret of Anjou. [1]
Birth
- Born: 31 (or 12) August 1412 at Shute, Devon, England.
- Baptized: 31 (or 12) August 1412 at Shute, Devon, England.
- His birth and baptism is proven by two Proof of Age inquisitions, though the two sets of witnesses gave different dates. The first inquisition was held on 9 June 1413 and the witnesses stated he had been born and baptized on 12 August 1392 at Shute. The second inquisition was held on 31 October 1413 and the witnesses stated he had been born and baptized on 31 August 1392 at Shute. [2]
Family
- The Bonvilles were an old West Country family. The date of William Bonville's birth is uncertain. Cokayne states that he was born 30 August 1393, while Richardson states that various documents indicate he was four years of age in 1397, 16 years of age in 1408, and 21 years of age in 1414. He was born at Shute, Devon, the son of Sir John Bonville (c.1371 – 21 October 1396), son and heir apparent of Sir William Bonville (c.1332 – February 1408) of Shute by his first wife, Margaret Daumarle (d. 25 May 1399), the daughter of Sir William Daumarle. [3]
- Bonville's mother was Elizabeth FitzRoger (15 August 1370–15 April 1414), the only child of John FitzRoger (d.1370–2) of Chewton, Somerset, and his wife, Alice (d. 27 March 1426). [4] [See the profile for Elizabeth FitzRoger for her five marriages.] According to Richardson, Alice's surname is unknown; however according to the peerage.com, she was Alice Cheddar. John FitzRoger (d.1370–2) was the 3rd son of Sir Henry FitzRoger (d.1352) of Chewton by Elizabeth de Holland (d. 13 July 1387), daughter of Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand, by Maud, daughter of Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby. [5]
- Bonville had a brother and two sisters of the whole blood: Thomas Bonville. Isabel Bonville, who married Sir Richard Champernoun (d. 20 January 1420) of Modbury, Devon, son of Sir Richard Champernoun by his second wife, Katherine, daughter of Sir Giles Daubeney. Philippe Bonville, who married firstly William Grenville, and secondly John Almescombe. [6]
- After his father's death, Bonville's mother, Elizabeth, married Richard Stukeley, gentleman, of Ridgewell, Essex, by whom she had two sons, Roger and Hugh, esquire, who were Bonville's brothers of the half blood. Bonville's mother died 15 April 1414. Richard Stukeley died shortly before 28 November 1441. [7]
"Henry de Champernon had a son William, and a daughter Johanna. The issue of the former became wholly extinct in John Herle, who died 24th December 1435, when Sir William Bonville, Knt., was found to be his nearest heir: viz, as son of John, son of William, son of Johanna, sister of William Champernon.[8]
Career
- As Bonville's father, Sir John Bonville, had predeceased his own father, Bonville was heir to his grandfather, Sir William Bonville, when the latter died on 14 February 1408. He was also heir to his mother, Elizabeth, at her death on 15 April 1414.
- Bonville was knighted before 1417 during Henry V's campaigns in France. He was Knight of the Shire for Somerset in 1421, and for Devon in 1422, 1425 and 1427. In 1423 he was appointed High Sheriff of Devon. He was Seneschal of Aquitaine at various times from 1442 to 1453, and Governor of Exeter Castle from 1453–61. In 1443 Bonville was retained to serve the King for a one-year term, and in 1449 he was retained to serve the King at sea. He was summoned to Parliament from 10 March 1449 to 30 July 1460 by writs directed, for the most part, Willelmo Bonville domino Bonville et de Chuton, by which he is held to have become Lord Bonville. [9] On 8 February 1461 he was nominated to the Order of the Garter.[10]
- In 1441 riots resulted from a dispute over the Duchy of Cornwall between Bonville and Thomas Courtenay, 13th Earl of Devon, and in 1453 the two were involved in a fight at Clyst Heath in Clyst St Mary, Devon, which resulted in injury to a number of persons. [11] See the Yeo Society website for details of the feud between the Courtenays and the Bonvilles.
- According to Richardson, Bonville was to all outward appearances loyal to King Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses until he joined the Yorkist side at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460. Sir William, Lord Bonville, witnessed his son William Bonville and his grandson, William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington, being beheaded after their capture at the Battle of Wakefield on 31 December 1460. [12]
- Less than two months later the Yorkists suffered another defeat at the Second Battle of St Albans, where Lord Bonville and another Yorkist, Sir Thomas Kyriel, were taken prisoner by the victorious Lancastrians. The two men had kept guard over King Henry VI during the battle to see that he came to no harm. The King had been held in captivity by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and brought in the train of the latter's army, but was abandoned on the battlefield. In return for their gallantry the King promised the two men immunity. Disregarding the King's promise of immunity, she gave orders for the beheading of Lord Bonville and Sir Thomas Kyriel the next day, 18 February 1461, despite the King's pleas for mercy. [13] Queen Margaret, who was present at the battle, remembered that Lord Bonville had been one of the men who had held King Henry in custody after the Battle of Northampton in July 1460, and wanted revenge. It is alleged that she put the men on trial and had her seven-year old son, Prince Edward, preside as judge. "Fair son", Margaret inquired, "what death shall these knights die?" The boy allegedly replied that they were to have their heads cut off, an act which was swiftly carried out,
- Bonville was not attainted, as within three weeks of his death King Edward IV came to the throne. Bonville's widow, Elizabeth, was assigned a substantial dower in recognition of his services to the Yorkist cause. [citation needed]
- After Bonville's death the title passed suo jure to his great-granddaughter, Cecily Bonville, the seven-and-a-half-month old daughter of his grandson, William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington, who had already succeeded suo jure to the barony of Harington following the death of her father at Wakefield in December 1460. In the space of little more than six weeks Cecily Bonville thus became the wealthiest heiress in England, having inherited the vast Bonville and Harington estates. She would go on to marry, on 18 July 1474, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, the eldest son of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of the Yorkist King Edward IV, by her first marriage to Sir John Grey of Groby. [14]
- Sir William Bonville's principal residence was at the manor of Chewton Mendip, Somerset. He was also lord of the manors of Sponton (or Spaunton) and Hutton Bonville in Yorkshire. [citation needed]
Marriages
: Sir William Bonville, K.G., Lord Bonville, married firstly, by contract dated 12 December 1414, Margaret Grey,[15] the eldest daughter of the Marcher Lord Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, and Margaret de Ros, daughter of Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros, by whom he had one son and two daughters: [16]
- By his mistress, Elizabeth Kirkby (or "Kirby"[28]), Sir William Bonville, K.G., had an illegitimate son, John Bonville of Ivybridge, [17] who according to the Devon historian Sir William Pole (d.1635)[29] married the daughter of William Denys, second son of Sir Gilbert Denys (d.1422) of Glamorgan, Wales and Siston, Gloucestershire.
- Sir William Bonville, K.G., Lord Bonville, married secondly, before 9 October 1427, Elizabeth Courtenay (d. 18 October 1471), the widow of John Harington, 4th Baron Harington (d. 11 February 1418), and daughter of Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (d. 5 December 1419), by Maud Camoys, the daughter of Sir John de Camoys of Gressenhall, Norfolk by his second wife, Elizabeth le Latimer, the daughter of William le Latimer, 3rd Lord Latimer. They had no issue. [18]
Children
- Children of Sir William Bonville, K.G., Lord Bonville, by Margaret Grey: [19]
- Sir William's son William Bonville, esquire, (died 30 December 1460), married Elizabeth Harington, by whom he had one son, William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington of Aldingham, who married Lady Katherine Neville. They were the parents of Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville.
- Sir William's daughter Elizabeth Bonville (died 14 February 1491), who married Sir William Tailboys (c.1416-19 – 26 May 1464), de jure Baron Kyme, by whom she had two sons, Thomas Tailboys and Sir Robert Tailboys (d. 30 January 1495).
Sources
- ↑ William Bonneville
- ↑ Great Britain, J.L. Kirby ed. Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. 20, 1-6 Henry V:1413-1418. (London, 1995):Inq. #130-131. British History Online LINK
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 254 #9 - 255
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 254 - 255
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 253
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 254
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 254 - 255
- ↑ Sir John Maclean, The Parochial and Family History of the Deanery of Trigg Minor, vol. 1 (1873), p. 549, citing the Inquisition post mortem of John Herle.
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 255 - 256
- ↑ Beltz, George F. Memorials of the Order of the Garter. London: W. Pickering (1841), p. clxii.
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 254 - 256
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 256 - 257
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 256
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 258
- ↑ 'Close Rolls, Henry V: December 1414', in Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry V: Volume 1, 1413-1419, ed. A E Stamp (London, 1929), pp. 195-200. British History Online Also p. 199 at Hathi Trust [accessed 11 April 2021].
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 255
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 255
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 256
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. I, page 256 - 257
- ↑ Proceedings in the Court of the Star Chamber in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. (Somerset Record Society Vol. XXVII 1911) Internet Archive pp. 50-55 Courtney v. Courteney 1487-1512
- ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families Vol. II, page 30
- Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. I p. 434
- ROYAL ANCESTRY by Douglas Richardson Vol. III page 128
- http://www.thepeerage.com/p935.htm#i9343
- See also:
- Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, (2011), Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, Royal Ancestry series, 2nd edition, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2011), volume I, page 255, #10 - page 257.
- William Bonneville, database online, Wikipedia (accessed 17 Jan 2015), Creative Commons License
- "Bonville-Courteney Feud" (Wikipedia article)
- The History of Parliament, BONVILLE, Sir William II (1392-1461), of Chewton-Mendip, Som. and Shute, Devon.
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B > Bonville > William Bonville KG
Categories: Knights Companion of the Garter, Henry VI creation
"These ties were to be strengthened by the marriage of Bonvilles son and heir, William, to Lord Haringtons only child, and of two of his daughters, Philippa and Margaret, respectively to William Grenville (a grandson of Sir Hugh Courtenay of Haccombe) and William Courtenay (son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, Bonvilles friend and fellow MP of 1427, and grandson of Walter Hungerford). Bonvilles third daughter, Elizabeth, married outside these related families, her husband being Sir William Tailboys de jure Lord Kyme."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=WF4OAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
The primary piece of evidence that suggests that Philippa was the sister of Sir William Bonville, 1st Lord Bonville is the Grenville pedigree recorded in the 1620 Visitation of the County of Cornwall given to the heralds by Sir Bernard Grenville in the year 1620. The marriage between William Grenville, Esq. and his second wife, Philippa Bonville, most likely occurred between 1428 and 1431. All we know is that William Grenvilles first wife, Thomazine Cole, was still alive and his wife on 12 May 1427. Thomazine Cole could have lived a couple years after that date until 1429/1430. Most estimates of birth for the first born son of William Grenville, Esq. and Philippa are in 1430/1431 (see Weis, Frederick Lewis. The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215, fifth ed. (1999): p. 30 [Line 22-11] (author states, "THOMAS GRENVILLE, ESQ., b. say 1430, d. c. 1483 ). So, it would appear that William and Philippa most likely married during the time frame of 1428-1431. Either way, this marriage event would still have occurred roughly 200 years before the Grenville pedigree was recorded in the 1620 Visitation of Cornwall.
The youngest daughter of William Grenville Esq. and Philippa Bonville was Ellen Grenville (born c. 1437/1438), who married her first husband, William Yeo, in c. 1453/1454. Ellen Grenville gave birth to her eldest child, Robert Yeo, in 1455. Based on these life events of Philippas youngest child, Ellen (Grenville) Yeo, we can say that it's improbable that Ellen's mother, Philippa Bonville, was born in or before 1396. If that were the case, then it would make Philippa (an upper class/aristocratic woman) marry her first husband, William Grenville, Esq., in her early-mid 30s (married between 1428 and 1431), give birth to her first child (Sir Thomas Grenville I, born 1430/1) in her mid 30s, and then give birth to her last known child (Ellin Grenville, born c. 1437/8) at about 42 years of age all during the early 15th century.
We can conclude this improbability of Philippa being born in or before 1396 because during the early 15th century, upper class/aristocratic women were married in their mid-teens to early 20s (sometimes betrothed as a child, under the age of 12), (e.g. Elizabeth Fitz-Roger (Philippa's paternal grandmother), was born 15 Aug 1370 and married Sir John Bonville by 18 Oct. 1377), and their peak childbearing years were between the ages of 20 and 24.
[Famed medieval historian Dr. Ian Mortimer has published articles in the scholarly press on subjects ranging from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. In his book, The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, he states: girls married around age 12 but didn't co-habitate until age 14. They were expected to have 6 children by age 25.]
Philippa Bonville (an upper class/aristocratic woman) marrying for the first time in her early-mid 30s, giving birth to Sir Thomas Grenville I in her mid 30s, and then giving birth to Ellen Grenville in Philippa's early 40s is unheard of in the early 15th century and highly unlikely. Philippa Bonville (born c. 1415/6) marrying for the first time in her early-late teens, giving birth to her first known child in her mid-late teens, and then giving birth to her last known child in her early 20s is a much more likely scenario and is probably what really happened!
The 1620 Visitation of Cornwall (Grenville ped.) has been proven to be filled with errors in multiple generations. The same error found in the Thos. Grenvile fil. et haeres = Elizab. Sist' to Sr Theobald de Gorges Kt. generation [see Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descent of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States, (2008): p. 524 [Gen: 14] (author places Elizabeth Gorges as the daughter of Sir Theobald Gorges and Jane Hankford).], is the same error found in the Willm Grenvile Brother and hey. to Sr John temp. H. IV. - Philip sist to the Lo. Bondvile. generation [see Roskell, J.S. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 13861421, v. 2, (1992): pp. 284288 (biog. of Sir William Bonville II): "These ties were to be strengthened by the marriage of Bonville's son and heir, William, to Lord Harrington's only child, and of two of his daughters, Philippa and Margaret, respectively to William Grenville ... and William Courtenay ..." (author identifies Philippa Bonville, wife of William Grenville, as the daughter of William Bonville, first Lord Bonville and Margaret Grey).]. Where the visitation states that both Grenville wives were the sisters of the men mentioned, the chronology would assuredly suggest they were actually the daughters!