Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com
The Smythe monument Elford Church. Photo Aidan McRae Thomson
Of the four sons of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, only two, Richard Earl of Warwick and John Marquis of Montagu had children. Warwick, who would go on to become known as the ‘Kingmaker’, had two daughters, while John who married Isabel Ingoldesthorpe/Ingaldesthorpe (d.20 May 1476) on the 25 April 1457 would have five daughters and two sons. While the Kingmaker’s two daughters are well known being of course Isobel and Anne Neville, wives to brothers George Duke of Clarence and Richard III respectively, John’s children are rather less famous. All were to lose their fathers violently at the Battle of Barnet 14 April 1471. I will not be going into the careers of their fathers here but concentrate on John Neville’s seven children.
GEORGE NEVILLE born c.1465 died 4 May 1483. Betrothed to Edward IV’s three year old daughter Elizabeth, 5 Jan. 1470, when he was created duke of Bedford. Not only his father’s heir but also the heir male of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick. However although neither his father or uncle had been attainted, George did not inherit the Neville lands and in 1478 lost his dukedom on the grounds that he could not support the estate – this point is debatable – see Prof M A Hicks’ article What might have been: George Neville, Duke of Bedford 1465-83 – as well as all other dignities (1). Little is known of him after this shabby treatment by Edward IV, except that Richard Duke of Gloucester, his cousin, was on March 9 1480 granted the wardship and the marriage of George (2). George who died 4 May 1483 was buried at Sheriff Hutton.
Church of St Helen and the Holy Cross, Sheriff Hutton. Resting place of George Neville Duke of Bedford. Photo British Listed Buildings. Photographer unknown.
JOHN NEVILLE: Died in infancy 1460, and was buried at Sawston, Cambridgeshire.
ANNE NEVILLE d.1486. Anne became the third wife of Sir William Stonor in the autumn of 1481 and the only wife to give him children, a son and daughter. The most advantageous of Sir William’s marriages for Anne had the blood of the old nobility of England coursing through her veins. The marriage became even more advantageous when on the early of death of her brother George in 1483, Anne became a great heiress. Hopefully love grew between the couple, as it often did between these marriages that were made for status rather than affection and the charming letter she wrote on the 27 February 1482 quite soon after her marriage to her husband would indicate that it did. Written from Taunton Castle, where she was staying with Thomas Grey Marquis of Dorset and his wife Cicely Bonville, the letter read:
‘Syr, I recomaund me unto you in my most heartily wise, right joyfull to here of your helthe: liketh you to knowe, at the writyng of this bill I was in good helthe, thynkyng long sith I saw you, and if I had knowen that I shold hav ben this long tyme from you I wold have be moche lother then I was to have comyn in this ferre Countrey. But I trust it shall not be long or I shall see you here, and else I wold be sorye on good feth….. And I beseche oure blessed lord preserve you’ Your new wyf Anne Stonor (3).
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murreyandblue 
Now THAT is a Tombstone! Not the harsh, stark and brutal thing they stuck Richard under! After six years I still feel incredibly angry that they have done that to him, in a Victorian Gothic church, with Victorian Gothic panelling and “furniture” all around, the authorities have done all they can to show their opinion that “This man was probably a vile sinner” They said at the time “We don’t want a Gothic pastiche” – but that would have been far more in keeping with the surroundings. Yet they are very happy to accept the tourism and financial spin-offs. Unfortunately, the current powers that be in that place seem to want everything utterly modern – witness the new Bishop’s Chair (a Circus Joke surely!) and the appalling Box Thing they are building on the south side of the Cathedral.
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