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Family Subtree Diagram : Descendants of Margaret de Beauchamp (1404)

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not see a GRAPHIC IMAGE of a family tree here but are seeing this text instead then it is most probably because the web server is not correctly configured to serve svg pages correctly. see http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/SVG:Server_Configuration for information on how to correctly configure a web server for svg files. ? Parent Parent Parent Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Parent Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Biological Child Biological Child Biological Child Parent Biological Child Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Parent Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Biological Child Parent Parent Biological Child Parent Biological Child Biological Child Parent (a child) (a child) Marriage (four children) (a child) (two children) (two children) (a child) (four children) (a child) (a child) (a child) (a child) 1404 - 1467 Margaret de Beauchamp 63 63 1442 - 1483 King of England Edward IV Plantagenet 40 40 Edward IV (1442-1483), king of England (1461-1470; 1471-1483), who established the house of York on the English throne. Edward was born in Rouen, France, the eldest son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York. During the Wars of the Roses, Edward was driven from England by King Henry VI, of the house of Lancaster. Edward became head of the house of York in 1460. He defeated the Lancastrians in the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in 1461 and was acclaimed king. In 1470 the Lancastrians and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, drove Edward from the throne and into exile. Henry VI again became king of England. Edward returned to England in 1471, raised a large army, and won decisive victories over his enemies. Thereafter the crown was securely in his possession.

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All rights reserved.Earl of March

Edward IV ascended to the throne in 1461 finally achieving the goal of seating a member of the York family pushed forth by his father, Richard, duke of York, for the entire decade of the 1450s. He fought alongside his father at the battle at Ludford after which Edward fled to Calais with the earl of Warwick and the earl of Salisbury. Edward defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimor's Cross and was proclaimed king in March 1461. In 1464 he married Elizabeth Woodville which became the root of many future troubles. Unable to muster enough forces to confront a set of Lancastrian armies (one of which was led by Richard Neville, earl of Warwick), Edward fled to Holland in September 1470. The next year he returned and defeated the Lancastrian forces at the battle of Tewkesbury. That same year he had Henry VI executed. Upon his death in 1483, his legacies include two young sons, Edward V and Richard, both of which would be murdered in the Tower of London that year.
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Edward IV of England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward IV (April 28, 1442 ? April 9, 1483) was King of England from March 4, 1461 to April 9, 1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470?1471.

Biography
Edward of York was born on April 28, 1442, at Rouen in France, the second son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (a leading claimant to the throne of England) and Cecily Neville. He was the eldest of the four sons who survived to adulthood. York's challenge to the ruling family marked the beginning of the conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. When his father was killed in 1460, at the Battle of Wakefield, pressing his claim against the Lancastrian king, Henry VI of England, Edward inherited his claim.

With the support of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick ("The Kingmaker"), Edward, already showing great promise as a leader of men, defeated the Lancastrians in a succession of battles. While Henry and his militant queen, Margaret of Anjou, were campaigning in the north, Warwick gained control of the capital and had Edward declared king in London in 1461. Edward strengthened his claim with a decisive victory at the Battle of Towton in the same year, in the course of which the Lancastrian army was virtually wiped out.

Edward was tall, strong, handsome, affable (even with subjects), generous, and popular. Warwick, believing that he could continue to rule through him, pressed him to enter into a marital alliance with a major European power. Edward, who had appeared to go along with the wishes of his mentor, then alienated Warwick by secretly marrying a widow, Elizabeth Woodville (possibly, as speculated by contemporary rumour, having previously married another widow, Lady Eleanor Talbot, even more secretly). Elizabeth had a large group of relatively poor but very ambitious, and until the Battle of Towton, Lancastrian relations. While it is true that these relations did dominate the marriage market and were given numerous titles, they were given little land which was the true source of power and thus were not a threat to Warwick's own power. However, Warwick resented the influence they had over the King and was angry at the emergence of a rival group for the King's favour, so with the aid of Edward's disaffected younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, the Earl led an army against Edward.

The main part of the king's army (without Edward) was defeated at the Battle of Edgecote Moor, and Edward was subsequently captured at Olney. Warwick's forces did capture Edward's father-in-law Richard Wydeville and brother-in-law John Wydeville after the battle at Chepstow and had them beheaded at Kenilworth on August 12, 1469 on false charges.

Warwick then attempted to rule in Edward's name, but the nobility, many of whom owed their preferments to the king, were restive. With the emergence of a rebellion, Warwick was forced to release Edward. Edward did not seek to destroy either Warwick or Clarence, instead seeking reconciliation with them. However, shortly afterwards Warwick and Clarence rebelled again. After a failed rebellion in 1470, Warwick and Clarence were forced to flee to France. There, they made an alliance with the wife of Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, and he agreed to restore Henry VI in return for French support in an invasion which took place in 1470. This time, Edward was forced to flee when he learned Warwick's brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu, had also switched to the Lancastrian side, making his military position untenable.

Henry VI was briefly restored to the throne in an act known as the Readeption of Henry VI, and Edward took refuge in Burgundy. The rulers of Burgundy were his brother-in-law Charles, Duke of Burgundy and his sister Margaret of Burgundy. Despite the fact that Charles was initially unwilling to help Edward, the French declared war on Burgundy and so Charles decided to give his aid to Edward, and from there he raised an army to win back his kingdom.

When he returned to England with a relatively small force he avoided capture by potentially hostile forces by stating his claim, just as Henry Bolingbroke had done seventy years earlier, that he merely desired to reclaim his dukedom. The city of York however closed its gates to him, but as he marched southwards he began to gather support, and Clarence (who had realised that his fortunes would be better off as brother to a king than under Henry VI) reunited with him. Edward defeated Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. With Warwick dead, he eliminated the remaining Lancastrian resistance at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. The Lancastrian heir, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, was killed either on the battlefield or shortly afterwards, and a few days later, on the night that Edward re-entered London, Henry VI, who was being held prisoner, was murdered in order to completely remove the Lancastrian opposition.

Edward's two younger brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III of England) were married to Isabella Neville and Anne Neville. They were both daughters of Warwick by Anne Beauchamp and rival heirs to the considerable inheritance of their still-living mother. Clarence and Gloucester were at loggerheads for much of the rest of his reign. Clarence was eventually found guilty of plotting against Edward and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was "privately executed" (later tradition states he drowned in a vat of Malmsey wine) on February 18, 1478.

Edward did not face any further rebellions after his restoration, as the Lancastrian line had virtually been extinguished, and the only rival left was Henry Tudor, who was living in exile. Edward declared war on France in 1475, and came to terms with the Treaty of Picquigny which provided him with an immediate payment of 75,000 crowns and a yearly pension thereafter of 50,000 crowns. Edward backed an attempt by Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, brother of the Scottish king James III to take the throne in 1482, and despite the fact that when Gloucester invaded he was able to capture Edinburgh and James III, Albany reneged on his agreement with Edward, and Gloucester decided to withdraw from his position of strength in Edinburgh. However, Gloucester did acquire the recovery of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Edward fell ill at Easter 1483, but lingered on long enough to add some codicils to his will, the most important being his naming of his brother Gloucester as Protector after his death. He died on 9 April 1483 and is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V of England. Although his son was quickly barred from the throne and succeeded by Richard of Gloucester, Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, later became the Queen consort of Henry VII of England. Elizabeth's son was Henry VIII of England making Edward his maternal grandfather.

Children
He had ten legitimate children by Elizabeth Woodville, though only seven survived him:

Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of Henry VII of England (February 11, 1466 ? February 11, 1503).
Mary of York (August 11, 1467 ? May 23, 1482).
Cecily of York (March 20, 1469 ? August 24, 1507), married first John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles and second, Thomas Kymbe
Edward V (November 4, 1470 ? 1483?)
Margaret of York (April 10, 1472 ? December 11, 1472)
Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (August 17, 1473 ? 1483?).
Anne of York (November 2, 1475 ? November 23, 1511, married Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.
George Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford (March, 1477 ? March, 1479).
Catherine of York (August 14, 1479 ? November 15, 1527), married William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon.
Bridget of York (November 10, 1480 ? 1517), became a nun
Under an act of Parliament called Titulus Regius, passed to justify the accession of Richard III, all of Edward's children by Elizabeth Woodville were declared illegitimate on the grounds that Edward had been contracted to marry another woman prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. This declaration claimed Lady Eleanor Boteler (a young widow, daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury) and Edward had been precontracted; both parties were dead by this time, but there was a witness. The declaration was repealed shortly after King Henry VII assumed the throne; it illegimitated Elizabeth of York, who was to be his queen.

Edward had numerous mistresses, the most well-known of whom is Jane Shore (whose name in actuality was Elizabeth).

He reportedly had several illegitimate children:

By Lady Eleanor Talbot
Edward de Wigmore (d. 1468). Reportedly died as an infant along with his mother.
By Elizabeth Lucy or Elizabeth Waite.
Elizabeth Plantagenet. Born circa 1464, married Sir Thomas Lumley in 1477..
Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (1460s/1470s ? March 3, 1542).
By unknown mother. Recent speculations suggests them as children by Lucy or Waite.
Grace Plantagenet. She is known to have been present at the funeral of her stepmother Elizabeth Woodville in 1492.
Mary Plantagenet, married Henry Harman of Ellam, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Harman and widower of Agness.
A daughter said to have been the first wife of John Tuchet, 6th Baron Audley.
Perkin Warbeck, an impostor claimant to the English throne, reportedly resembled Edward. There is unconfirmed speculation that Warbeck could be another illegitimate son to Edward.

Was Edward illegitimate?
Evidence of Edward's illegitimacy remain subjective and disputed amongst modern historians. Despite some concerns raised by some scholars, it was, and still essentially is, generally accepted that the issue was raised as propaganda to support Richard III.

In his time, it was noted that Edward IV resembled his father little. Questions about his paternity were raised during Edward's own reign, for example by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick in 1469, and repeated by Edward's brother, George, shortly before his execution in 1478, but with no evidence; it must be noted that in propaganda wars, such as these, many statements were used that perhaps had no basis in truth (for example, Henry VI's heir, Edward of Westminster, was purported to have been a bastard of Margaret of Anjou and the Duke of Somerset's). It was suggested that the real father may have been an archer called Blaybourne.

Prior to his succession, on June 22, 1483, Richard III declared that Edward was illegitimate, and three days later the matter was addressed by parliament. In Titulus Regius (the text of which is believed to come word-for-word from the petition presented by Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham to the assembly which met on June 25, 1483, to decide on the future of the monarchy). It describes Richard III as "the undoubted son and heir" of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and "born in this land" -- an oblique reference to his brother's birth at Rouen and baptism in circumstances which could have been considered questionable. Dominic Mancini says that Cecily Neville, mother of both Edward IV and Richard III, was herself the basis for the story: When she found out about Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, in 1464, "Proud Cis" flew into a rage. Mancini reported that the Duchess, in her anger, offered to declare him a bastard. However, this is not supported in contemporary sources, but is most likely reflective of contemporary opinion. According to Polydore Vergil, Duchess Cecily, "being falsely accused of adultery, complained afterwards in sundry places to right many noble men, whereof some yet live, of that great injury which her son Richard had done her." If she had indeed complained--as would befit a high-ranking lady of renowned piety, as she had been regarded--these petitions may have had some effect: the allegations were dropped and never again pursued.

Historical novelist Sharon Kay Penman believes paid propagandists for Henry Tudor, after he became Henry VII (and King Richard was dead), concocted out of whole cloth the story that Richard III had said his brother Edward was illegitimate: "Tudor's official historian, Polydore Vergil, . . . contend[ed] that Richard based his claim to the crown upon his brother Edward's illegitimacy. This was, of course, an out-and-out lie." Richard III's claim to the throne is generally believed to be based upon his claim that Edward IV's children were illegitimate.

The matter is also raised in William Shakespeare's Richard III, in the following lines from Act 3 Scene 5:

Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that unsatiate Edward, noble York
My princely father then had wars in France
And, by just computation of the time,
Found that the issue was not his begot

It is to be noted, however, that many of Shakespeare's issues were for the sake of drama, including that of his perception of Richard III himself--that immortalized image of Richard as the "crook-backed monster."

Evidence of illegitimacy
In 2003, historian Dr Michael Jones revealed in a Channel 4 documentary (first broadcast January 3, 2004) previously overlooked evidence from Rouen Cathedral, France, discovered while researching the Hundred Years' War. In the cathedral register, an entry in 1441 records that the clergy were paid for a sermon for the safety of the Duke of York, going to Pontoise (near Paris) on campaign. He would have been on campaign from July 14 to August 21, 1441, several days' march from Rouen.

If a child with a claim to the throne was born small or sickly it would normally have been recorded, and there is apparently no such record; consequently, proponents of the theory of illegitimacy claim it is likely that Edward was not born prematurely. By calculating back from Edward's birth on April 28, it seems apparent that Richard was not present at the time of Edward's conception around the first week of August 1441.

Additionally, the cathedral records reveal that Edward's christening took place in private in a side chapel, whereas for the christening of Richard's second son the whole cathedral was used for a huge celebration, again suggesting to proponents of the theory that Edward was indeed illegitimate, although in spite of this, the Duke never disclaimed his paternity of his wife's eldest son.

Some historians have raised the criticism that it is logistically possible for Richard Duke of York to have returned briefly from battle to Rouen because often military leaders led their forces from the rear.

Dr Jones argues that, if it were true that Edward IV was illegitimate, this would have invalidated his claim to the throne of England thus rendering the existing royal family path as illegitimate. Dr Jones argues that tracing through Edward's younger brother, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (whom Jones argues was the legitimate heir), the current heir would be Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun who resides in Australia as a rice researcher. However, since King Henry VII claimed the throne of England through right of conquest, it can be argued that Michael Abney-Hastings is no more legitimate to the throne than the blood line of the Saxon kings of England who would have continued if William the Conqueror had not taken over. Furthermore, under English law, the child of a married woman is automatically considered the child of her husband unless he is disclaimed at birth. Since Richard did not do this, Edward remained his legal son and heir, whether or not he was actually Richard's biological son.

Author Alexander Canduci also argues that George, Duke of Clarence and his heirs could not have succeeded to the throne of England, principally as they were barred from the throne by Parliament under a Bill of Attainder, and only another Act of Parliament could ever rescind this. Indeed, it was only this exclusion of George's descendants that allowed Richard III to ascend the throne, and after the death of his son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, Richard considered his nephew John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, to be his heir, again excluding the Clarence branch. In the absence of an Act reversing the attainder, the Plantagenet-Hastings line were in the same situation as the male Stuart line after the overthrow of James II of England with no legal avenue to the throne short of conquest. Supporters of the Hastings claim counter-argue that as Edward IV was not the legitimate king, the attainder passed by his Parliament and given the Royal Assent by him had no legal validity.
1421 - 1492 Marshal of Calais Humphrey de Talbot 71 71 1426 Joan Cheddar 1473 - 1483 Duke of York Richard Plantagenet 10 10 Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York and 1st Duke of Norfolk (17 August 1473 ? 1483?) was the sixth child and second son of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. He was born in Shrewsbury. He was a younger brother of Elizabeth of York, Mary of York, Cecily of York, Edward V of England and Margaret Plantagenet (Princess of York). He was also an older brother of Anne of York, George Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford, Catherine of York and Bridget of York.

He was created Duke of York in 1474. From this time on, it became a tradition for the second son of the English sovereign to be Duke of York. On 15 January 1478, when he was about 4 years old, he married the 5-year-old Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, who had inherited the vast Mowbray estates in 1476. Because York's father-in-law's dukedom had become extinct when Anne could not inherit it, he was created Duke of Norfolk in 1481.

His father died on 9 April 1483. Thus his brother Edward, Prince of Wales, became King of England and was acclaimed as such, and Richard his Heir Presumptive. This was not to last. Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, testified that Edward IV had agreed to marry Lady Eleanor Talbot in 1461. Lady Eleanor was still alive when Edward married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464. The Regency council under Richard Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Gloucester, concluded that this was a case of bigamy, invalidating the second marriage and the legitimacy of all children of Edward IV by this marriage. Under Richard's influence, both Edward and Richard were declared illegitimate and removed from the line of succession on 25 June 1483. The Duke of Gloucester, as a surviving younger brother of Edward IV, became King Richard III.

The Duke of York was sent to the Tower of London by King Richard in mid-1483. What happened to him and his brother?the Princes in the Tower?after that has been the subject of much speculation and debate. The view of most professional historians is that they were murdered not long afterwards on Richard's orders, but various alternative views have been put forward. In the 1490s, Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, but he is generally considered to have been an imposter, and was labelled thus by the Tudor regime. The skeletons of two children discovered in a chest in the Tower in 1674, they were presumed to be the princes, but the evidence is not conclusive (by modern investigative standards).
1466 - 1468 Edward Plantagenet de Wigmore 2 2 1444 - 1468 Eleanor de Talbot 24 24 Lady Eleanor Talbot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lady Eleanor Talbot (died 30 June, 1468) was a daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. Her alleged pre-contract of marriage with King Edward IV of England was of great significance to the final fate of the Plantagenet dynasty and outcome of the Wars of the Roses.

In about 1450, Eleanor married Sir Thomas Butler, son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley. When Thomas died some time before March 1461, Eleanor's father-in-law took back one of the two manors he had settled on her and her husband when they married. Lord Sudeley did not have a licence for the transfer of title. King Edward IV, who became king at around this time, seized both properties.

Edward already had a reputation for womanizing. When Lady Eleanor went to ask him for the return of her property, it was said that Edward tried to persuade her to sleep with him, and when she refused, that he promised to marry her?however there is no evidence of this. In 1464 Edward secretly married Lady Elizabeth Woodville; it was later suggested that one reason this marriage was not announced was the danger that Eleanor would come forward with her claim of an earlier marriage to the king?there is no evidence of this,either. (Indeed, Edward's marriage to Woodville was kept secret possibly because he feared criticism from his advisers, such as Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick).

At this time George, Duke of Clarence was on the verge of open rebellion against his elder brother; thus, Edward had him thrown into the Tower of London. Clarence was tried before Parliament (with Edward himself as his accuser) in January 1478, convicted of treason, and sentenced to be executed.

After Edward's death, a certain priest came forward and testified to having carried out the ceremony between Edward and Lady Eleanor. He offered this evidence to Richard, Duke of Gloucester ?the future Richard III? which enabled Richard to persuade Parliament to pass an act whereby the boy king-apparent, Edward V, was deposed of the throne ? in favor of Richard, furthermore. According to the French political analyst, Philippe de Commines ?the only person who identifies him? this priest was Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Stillington had risen high in Edward IV's favour, but it seems he had been briefly imprisoned in the Tower at the same time as Clarence.

When Henry VII of England came to the throne, he ordered all copies of the Titulus Regius ?the acts deposing Edward V? be destroyed.

After Richard's death, Tudor historians named Elizabeth Lucy (also known as Elizabeth Wayte) as the woman Stillington testified he had married to Edward. Elizabeth Lucy was probably the mother of Edward IV's bastard son, Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle. This threw further doubt on the case.

Lady Eleanor Butler died in a convent in June 1468 and was buried in the Church of the White Carmelites, Norwich, England.
1446 Elizabeth Talbot 1444 - 1486 4th Duke of Norfolk John Mowbray 42 42 John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (18 October 1444 ? 14 January 1476), was the only son of John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and Eleanor Bourchier. His maternal grandparents were William Bourchier, Count of Eu and Anne of Gloucester.

In 1451 the earldom of Surrey was revived for him. Mowbray was descended from a sister of the last earl of the previous creation.

In 1461 he succeeded his father as duke of Norfolk, and continued his father's efforts to possess Caister Castle, finally taking it in September 1469 after a siege.

He was married to Elizabeth Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and his second wife Lady Margaret Beauchamp. They had only one child, Anne Mowbray and so the dukedom became extinct upon his death. Anne was only 3 years old when her father died. She then inherited his extensive lands and wealth.
1472 - 1481 Duchess of Norfolk Anne Mowbray 8 8 Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, later Duchess of York and Duchess of Norfolk (10 December 1472 ? 19 November (?) 1481) was the child bride of Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower. She died at the age of eight.

She was born at Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, the only (surviving) child of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk and Elizabeth Talbot. Her maternal grandparents were John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and his second wife Lady Margaret Beauchamp.

The death of her father in 1476 left Anne a wealthy heiress. On 15 January 1478, she was married in St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, to Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, the 4-year-old son of Edward IV of England and Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. Anne died at Greenwich in London, nearly two years before her husband disappeared into the Tower of London with his older brother Edward V of England, and she was entombed in a lead coffin in the Chapel of St. Erasmus of Formiae in Westminster Abbey. When that chapel was demolished in about 1502 to make way for the Henry VII Lady Chapel, Anne's coffin was moved to a vault under the Abbey of the Minoresses, run by nuns of the Order of Poor Ladies. Her coffin eventually disappeared.

In December 1964, construction workers in Stepney accidentally dug into the vault and found Anne's coffin. It was opened, and her remains were analyzed by scientists and then entombed in Westminster Abbey in May 1965. Her red hair was still on her skull and her shroud still wrapped around her. Westminster Abbey is also the alleged resting place of her husband Richard Duke of York.

Upon her death, her heirs normally would have been her cousins William, Viscount Berkeley and John, Lord Howard, but by an act of Parliament in January 1483 the rights were given to her husband Richard, with reversion to his descendants, and, failing that, to the descendants of his father King Edward.   This action may be a motivation for Lord Howard's support of the accession of Richard III. He was created Duke of Norfolk and given his half of the Mowbray estates after Richard's coronation.
1423 Lewis de Talbot 1384 - 1453 Earl of Shrewsbury Sir John de Talbot 69 69 John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (1384/1390 ? 17 July 1453) was an important English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, as well as the only Lancastrian Constable of France.

Family
He was second son of Richard, 4th Baron Talbot, by Ankaret, heiress of the last Lord Strange of Blackmere.

First Marriage
Talbot was married before 12 March 1407 to Maud Nevill, daughter and heiress of Thomas Nevill, 5th Baron Furnivall, the son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby. He was summoned to Parliament in her right from 1409.

The couple had four children:

Lady Joan Talbot
John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury (c. 1413 ? 11 July 1460)
Sir Christopher Talbot (d. 10 July 1460)
Hon. Thomas Talbot (died before his father in Bordeaux)
In 1421 by the death of his niece he acquired the Baronies of Talbot and Strange. His first wife died in about 1423

] Second Marriage
On September 6, 1425, he married Lady Margaret Beauchamp, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and Elizabeth de Berkeley. They had at six children:

John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle (c. 1426 ? 17 July 1453)
Sir Humphrey Talbot (before 1453 ? c. 1492)
Lady Joan Talbot
Lady Elizabeth Talbot (before 1453). She married John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk.
Sir Lewis Talbot
Lady Eleanor Talbot (d. 1468) married to Sir Thomas Butler and mistress to King Edward IV.

Early career
From 1404 to 1413 he served with his elder brother Gilbert in the Welsh war or the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr. Then for five years from February 1414 he was lieutenant of Ireland, where he held the honour of Wexford. He did some fighting, and had a sharp quarrel with the Earl of Ormonde. Complaints were made against him both for harsh government in Ireland and for violence in Herefordshire. From 1420 to 1424 he served in France. In 1425, he was lieutenant again for a short time in Ireland.

Service in France
So far his career was that of a turbulent Marcher Lord, employed in posts where a rough hand was useful. In 1427 he went again to France, where he fought with distinction in Maine and at the Siege of Orléans. He fought at the Battle of Patay where he was captured and held prisoner for four years.

He was released in exchange for the French leader Jean Poton de Xaintrailles. Talbot was a daring and aggressive soldier, perhaps the most audacious Captain of the Age. He and his forces acted as a kind of fire brigade ever ready to retake a town and to meet a French advance. His trademark was rapid aggressive attacks. In January 1436 he led a small force including Kyriell and routed La Hire and Xaintrailles at Ry near Rouen. The following year at Crotoy, after a daring passage of the Somme, he put a numerous Burgundian force to flight. In December 1439, following a surprise flank attack on their camp, he dispersed the 6000 strong army of the Constable Richemont, and the following year he retook Harfleur. In 1441 he pursued the French army 4 times over the Seine and Oise rivers in an unavailing attempt to bring it to battle.

The English Achilles
He was appointed in 1445 by Henry VI of England (as king of France) as Constable of France. Taken hostage at Rouen in 1449 he promised never to wear armour against the French King again, and he was true to his word. He was defeated and killed in 1453 at the Battle of Castillon near Bordeaux, which effectively ended English rule in the duchy of Gascony, a principal cause of the Hundred Years' War. His heart was buried in the doorway of St Alkmund's Church, Whitchurch, Shropshire.[1]

The victorious French generals raised a monument to Talbot on the field called Notre Dame de Talbot. And the French Chroniclers paid him handsome tribute:

"Such was the end of this famous and renowned English leader who for so long had been one of the most formidable thorns in the side of the French, who regarded him with terror and dismay" - Matthew d'Escourcy

Although Talbot is generally remembered as a great soldier, some have raised doubts as to his generalship. In particular, charges of rashness have been raised against him. Speed and aggression are key elements in granting success in medieval war, and Talbot's numerical inferiority necessitated surprise. Furthermore, he was often in the position of trying to force battle on unwilling opponents. At his defeat at Patay in 1429 he was advised not to fight there by Sir John Fastolf, who was subsequently blamed for the debacle, but the French, inspired by Joan of Arc, showed unprecedented fighting spirit - usually they approached an English position with great circumspection. The charge of rashness is perhaps more justifiable at Castillon where Talbot, misled by false reports of a French retreat, attacked their entrenched camp frontally - facing wheel to wheel artillery and a 6 to 1 inferiority in numbers.

He is portrayed heroically in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part I: "Valiant Lord Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Created, for his rare success in arms"

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* _FA2: Lord Strange of Blackmere, Earl of Salop, Earl of Waterford.
* _FA3: 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. K.G. 5 4
* _FA4: Summoned to Parliament as Lord Furnival from 26 Oct 1409.
* _FA5: 1421 Acceded to baronies of Strange & of Talbot upon death of niece Ankaret Talbot. 5
* _FA6: Fought in the French wars from 1424. 5
* _FA7: 20 MAY 1442 Created Earl of Shrewsbury for his services in the war. 5
* _FA8: App't King's Lieutenant of Ireland (being Lord of the honour of Wexford). 5
* _FA9: Created Earl of Waterford 17 Jul 1446. 5
* _FA10: Slain, age 70, in an attack on the French at Castillon on the Dordogne. 5
* _FA11: Buried, with monumental inscription, at St. Alkmund's, Whitchurch, Salop. 5* _FA2: Lord Strange of Blackmere, Earl of Salop, Earl of Waterford.
* _FA3: 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. K.G. 5 4
* _FA4: Summoned to Parliament as Lord Furnival from 26 Oct 1409.
* _FA5: 1421 Acceded to baronies of Strange & of Talbot upon death of niece Ankaret Talbot. 5
* _FA6: Fought in the French wars from 1424. 5
* _FA7: 20 MAY 1442 Created Earl of Shrewsbury for his services in the war. 5
* _FA8: App't King's Lieutenant of Ireland (being Lord of the honour of Wexford). 5
* _FA9: Created Earl of Waterford 17 Jul 1446. 5
* _FA10: Slain, age 70, in an attack on the French at Castillon on the Dordogne. 5
* _FA11: Buried, with monumental inscription, at St. Alkmund's, Whitchurch, Salop. 5
1426 - 1453 Viscount de Lisle John de Talbot 27 27 1486 Murial Howard 1496 - 1539 Marquis of Exeter Henry De Courtenay 43 43 1480 - 1504 Viscount d'Lisle John De Grey 24 24 1438 - 1492 1st Viscount d'Lisle Edward De Grey 54 54 1452 Elizabeth de Talbot 1450 Viscount d'Lisle Thomas de Talbot 1474 Anne De Grey 1476 Elizabeth De Grey 1505 Elizabeth De Grey 1483 Margaret De Grey 1464 Mary Champernoun 1460 Sir Humphrey de Talbot 1440 - 1490 Ethelreda Cotton 50 50 1535 - 1567 Marion Seton 32 32 1554 Margaret Douglas 1552 - 1578 5th Earl of Menteith William Graham 26 26 1525 - 1565 4th Earl of Menteith John Graham 40 40 1495 - 1544 3rd Earl of Menteith William Graham 49 49 1505 Margaret Mowbray 1482 - 1532 Sir John Mowbray 50 50 1573 - 1626 6th Earl of Menteith John Graham 53 53
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