George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny

George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny KG, PC (c.1469 – 1535), the family name often written Neville, was an English nobleman and courtier who held the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

The Lord Bergavenny
George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny, by Hans Holbein the Younger (collection of the Earls of Pembroke)
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
In office
1534–1534
Preceded bySir Edward Poyning
Succeeded bySir Edward Guilford
Personal details
Bornc.1469
DiedJune 1535[1] (about 66)
Resting placeBirling, Kent
Spouse(s)Joan FitzAlan
Margaret Brent
Mary Stafford
Mary Brooke
ChildrenHenry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny
John Nevill
Thomas Nevill
Elizabeth Nevill
Jane Nevill
Mary Nevill
Katherine Nevill
Margaret Nevill
Dorothy Nevill
Ursula Nevill
daughter whose name is unknown
Parents
Miniature by Hans Holbein the Younger (Duke of Buccleuch collection)

Origins

edit

He was the son of George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny (died 20 September 1492) and his first wife, Margaret (died 28 September 1485), daughter of Hugh Fenn, Under-Treasurer of England.[2]

His younger brother Sir Thomas Nevill was a trusted councillor of King Henry VIII and Speaker of the House of Commons. His youngest brother, the courtier Sir Edward Nevill, was executed by Henry in 1538 for treason.

Career

edit

As a second cousin of the new Queen, Anne Nevill, he attended the coronation of King Richard III in 1483 when, despite his young age, he was knighted. Having succeeded to his father's peerage and estates in 1492,[1] he achieved prominence fighting against the Cornish rebels in 1497 at the Battle of Blackheath.[3] In 1497 he took his place in the House of Lords and became involved in national affairs, being appointed to the privy council and in regular attendance at court. However, in 1506 he fell into serious trouble for keeping an illegal private army, being fined the immense amount of £100,000 and subjected to a travel ban. When Henry VIII became king in 1509, the fine was cancelled and a pardon granted. By 1512, he was back on the council and in 1513 was elected to the Order of the Garter. In that year he served in the expedition to capture Tournai and then to relieve Guînes.[1]

At the coronation of Henry VIII, he held the office of Chief Larderer[4] and in 1512 he was granted the castle and lands of Abergavenny.[5] He was a keen jouster and accompanied both King Henry VII and King Henry VIII on state occasions, including the meetings in 1520 with King Francis I of France at the Field of Cloth of Gold and with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, at Gravelines.[1]

The trial and execution in 1521 of his father-in-law Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, led to his own imprisonment for a year in the Tower of London. After admitting he had concealed the duke's treason, he was stripped of all his offices, fined 10,000 marks and had to sell his house to the king. He was then pardoned, being allowed to continue serving at court, in Parliament and in war, but regarded with suspicion. In 1530 he signed the petition asking Pope Clement VII to dissolve Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and was allowed to buy back his house.[1] At the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533, he once again was Chief Larderer and was allowed to officiate.[3]

On 4 June 1535, he made his will at Eridge in Sussex and died on 13 or 14 June.[1] He was buried at Birling, Kent,[6] with his heart interred at Mereworth.[6]

Marriages and children

edit

He first married Joan (died 14 November 1508), the daughter of Thomas FitzAlan, 17th Earl of Arundel, and his wife Margaret, the second daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and younger sister of Queen Elizabeth, wife of King Edward IV. According to Hawkyard, the marriage was childless; however according to Cokayne, Richardson and Cracroft, there were one or two daughters:[7][6][8][9][10]

He married secondly, before 5 September 1513, Margaret, daughter of William Brent of Charing in Kent, without any children.[8][10]

He married thirdly, about June 1519, Mary, youngest daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, and his wife Eleanor Percy, with whom he had three sons and five daughters:[12]

Mary, Catherine, Margaret and Dorothy were married to heirs, whose wardships their father had acquired.[14]

He married fourthly his mistress Mary Brooke, the aunt of his son-in-law William Brooke, who was pregnant at his death.[1] with a daughter whose name is unknown.[15] Mary was the daughter of Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham, and his first wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Heydon, of Baconsthorpe, and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, of Hever. This made her a second cousin of Queen Anne Boleyn.[10]

Arms

edit

Ancestry

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Hawkyard, Alasdair (January 2008). "Nevill, George, third Baron Bergavenny (c.1469–1535)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19935. Retrieved 16 March 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Subscription or UK public library membership needed
  2. ^ Burke 1832, pp. 8–9.
  3. ^ a b Cokayne 1910, p. 31.
  4. ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 17.
  5. ^ Cokayne 1910, p. 32.
  6. ^ a b c Cokayne 1910, p. 33.
  7. ^ Hawkyard 2004.
  8. ^ a b c Cokayne 1916, p. 105.
  9. ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 37–8, 170.
  10. ^ a b c Cracroft, archived from the original on 6 May 2012, retrieved 16 March 2017
  11. ^ Richardson III 2011, pp. 377.
  12. ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 170–1.
  13. ^ McKeen 1986, p. 700.
  14. ^ "East Sussex Archive ABE/20T/1". Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  15. ^ Richardson I 2011, p. 170.
  16. ^ Blazon per Debrett's Peerage, 1968, "Marquess of Abergavenny", with extra details of rose as stated for the Nevill Barons Braybrooke

References

edit
  • Burke, John (1832). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. I. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  • Cokayne, George Edward (1910). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs. Vol. I. London: St. Catherine Press.
  • Cokayne, George Edward (1916). The Complete Peerage, edited by the Honourable Vicary Gibbs. Vol. IV. London: St. Catherine Press.
  • Hawkyard, Alasdair (2004). "Neville, George, third Baron Bergavenny (c.1469–1535)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19935. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • McKeen, David (1986). A Memory of Honour; The Life of William Brooke, Lord Cobham. Vol. I. Salzburg: Universitat Salzburg. p. 700.
  • Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966379.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966393.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
1534
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Baron Bergavenny
1492–1535
Succeeded by