Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 1.djvu/41

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ABEBGAVENNY. 19 Thomas (Fitzalau), Eaiil ok Aiu-ndel by Margaret, da. of Richard ( Widviixe), Earl Rivers. She d. s.p.m. He to., secondly, Margaret, du. of William Brent, of Charing, Kent. She was living 1615, but d. s.p.s. He m., thirdly, Mary, da. of Edward (Stafford), Duke of BtcKi.VHH.m, by Alianore, da. of Henry (I'bkcv), Karl ftp NoriTircMBKRLAXD. He m., fourthly, Mary Brooke alius ColiHAM, who had formerly been his mistress, and who survived him. He d. 1635 ( and was bur. at Biding (his heart being bar. at Mereworth), co. Kent Will dat. 4 June 1535, proved 24 Jan. 1535-6. VI. 1535. Si HsSst (Neviu.) Lord Bergavexxy, s. and h hj third wife, lie wan sum. to Pari 23 Jan. 15.T1-2 to 15 Oct. 158(3, and was one of the Peers who tried Miry. Queen of Sools, at Fotheringhay. He m,, firstly, Frances, da. of Thomas (Mansers), K Uit. of Rutland, by his second wife Eleanor, da. of Sir William Paston. Knt. She is mentioned as being among the '"noble authors-" She was bur. at Biding Sep. 1576. He to., secondly, Elizabeth, da. and coheir of Stephen Darken., of Spelmondeii, in Horsinonden, Kent, Chief Cleric of the lioyal Kitchen, by Philippa. da. of Edward Weldox, Clerk of the Greeu Cloth. He (/. s.p.m., at Comfort, in Biding, Kent, JO Feb. 15S6-7, and was ttui: 21 March, at Birliug.( a ) Admon. 9 May 1687, wherein he is Styled "Sir Henry Ncedl, Duron of Abrrgarcnny," to "Lady Elizabeth Nevill," the relict; Lady Mary Fane, the da., renouncing. His widow m. .Sir Wiiiiaru SlDLBV, Bavt., of Southfleet, Kent, and was VTE JJSS-f. EOTA8D Xevh.l, of Xewtoii St. Loo, Somerset, who (•') in the grant of livery (15S8) of the lands of Henry, late Lord Bergavenny deed., is .styled " Kdirardtis Xevill, ariii'tycr, alias dictus Edwardus Nevill, dmninus Bergavenny" and who certainty (according to the decision of 1003, and the place assigned to his son in the House of Lords) may be considered entitled to be reckoned as LoiiD Beruavenny, cousin and h. male. He was s. and h. of Sir Edward Nevill, of Addington Park, Kent fby Eleanor, Dowager Lady Sciioi'E, of Upsall, da. of Andrews [Windsor], Lord Windsor), who was third son of George 4th, and hi: (") Mary, his da. and sole h. (by his first wife), who, at the time of his death was aged 32, and the wife of Kir Thomas Fane, was unquestionably entitled to any Barony in fee possessed by her late father. She, however, by patent 25 May ltiO-i, was granted the Barony of LE DkspencER (a Barony originating by writ of 1204), of which she was a coheir [see pedigree, p. 25]. As this was a much more ancient Barony than the Barony of Bergavenny, under the writ o/1392, which was all she could claim [being neither the representative or even a descendant of any of the former holders), this practiixdly put an end to her elaini to the latter Barony. Whether or no her claim, and that of her representatives thereto, is legally barred by this, or by the subsequent proceedings of the Crown and the House of Lords, as to such Barony, is open to considerable doubt. The Barony " came with a lass " (the heir gen. of the Beauehatups of Abergavenny) to the Nevills, and ought apparently to have left them " with a lass " (the heir gen. of the Nevills), and gone to the Fanes, more especially as the subsequent proceedings of the House in giving it a precedency inferior to that of Le Despeneer (cr. by writ of 1264), shew that their Lordships held it to be a personal dignity of the Beauehanvp family, and not one attaching to the tenure of the Castle, whose owners were Barons at a much earlier period. This Lady inherited, though only by agreement with the heir of entail (confirmed by Act of Pari. 35 Eliz.), the estate of Mereworth, Kent (which had come to the Nevills through the Beauchainps and Fitzalans), and also the manor and park of Alborne, Essex. Her s. and h., Francis Fane, was, in 1624, cr. Earl of Westmoreland, in which title till J 762 (when the h. male was no longer the h. gen.) the Barony of Le Despeneer continued merged. ( b ) " In Coke's Reports (part 12, p. 70) it is stated that this Edward had summons to Pari. 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, but d. before Pari, met ; the writ is given at length, and Coke takes occasion to state that it was decided S Jac. (1610-11) that the direction and delivery of the writ did not make him a Baron or Noble until he came to Pari, and there sat according to the commandment of the writ, and hence that no hereditary dignity was cr. by the writ directed to him in consequence of his never having s «t under it. As Jlcniy Nevill, Lord Bergavenny, sat in the Pari, above referred to, it is difficult to account for Sir Edward Coke's statement."— [See " Court- hope," p. 16, note.]