(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. ob^t _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], {42} 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 {43} 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.