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SALISBURY, Earl of - See NEVILLE, Richard SAVAGE, John, kt. (d. 1495) The
eldest son of Sir John Savage, he married Katherine Stanley, the eldest
daughter of Thomas, Lord Stanley and
fought for Edward IV at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury.
After this he was knighted by Edward.
In 1482 he was made a knight
banneret by Richard of Gloucester, probably for services in the Scottish
campaign, and when Richard became king, John was made a Knight
of the Body. Despite
this, he joined Henry Tudor before the battle of Bosworth, and fought
for Henry in the battle. Sheriff
of Yorkshire in 1454, John Savile supported the Yorkists. In 1455 he
was on the Yorkist side at the 1st battle of St Albans and was Richard
of York’s Constable of Sandal castle in 1459. He fought for Edward IV
at the Battle of Towton, in the northern campaigns of 1462 and, during
Henry IV’s readeption, he stayed loyal to Edward. As a reward for his
loyalty he was given the post of Constable of Sandal castle once again
in 1471. Savile died in 1482 and is buried in the family chapel at Thornhill,
Yorkshire. The
son of the John Savile above, the younger John fought for the Yorkists
at the battles of Blore Heath, Towton, Barnet and Tewkesbury. He was,
like his father, Constable of Sandal Castle, in his case in 1480. In
1482 John joined Richard of Gloucester’s Scottish campaign. There is
a possibility that he died on this campaign, since his death occurred
the same year. Like
his father and grandfather before him a Yorkist supporter. He served
in the Scottish campaign in 1482, where he gained his knighthood. John
served as Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight in 1484 and was possibly still
there at the time of Bosworth, since there is no record that he fought
in the battle. He continued his public duties in Yorkshire under Tudor,
dying in 1504. He is buried at Thornhill in Yorkshire. John,
Lord Scrope of Bolton was a supporter and friend of the Earl of Warwick.
He fought for York at the battle of Northampton and at Towton, where
he was wounded. In 1464 he was present at the battle of Hexham. But,
as one of Warwick’s supporters he was involved in the rebellions of
1469 and later at the battle of Barnet he once more supported Warwick.
John
later undertook diplomatic missions for the Tudor King, but was never
again allowed to see his home in the north. He died in 1494 and was
buried in the Blackfriars, Thetford. The
cousin of John of Bolton, Thomas was married to Elizabeth, one of the
daughters of John Neville, Marquis Montagu. He was a supporter of Richard
of Gloucester and fought with him in the Scottish campaign of 1482.
Thomas was one of the peers present at the coronation of Richard III
and fought for Richard later at the battle of Bosworth. Like his cousin
of Bolton, he was pardoned on payment of a large fine to Henry Tudor,
but joined John shortly afterwards in the effort to raise the city of
York in support of the Earl of Lincoln in 1487. The collapse of this
attempt resulted in his imprisonment and, though he was released later,
like his cousin John he was never allowed to return home to the north.
Thomas died in 1493. Elizabeth
Shore, more commonly known as Jane, was the daughter of John Lambard,
a London Mercer. She had married another London merchant, William Shore,
but in 1476 sought an annulment of the marriage on grounds of her husband’s
impotence. Jane became the mistress of Edward IV and is commonly recognised
as the merriest and kindest of them all : petitioners to her for the
King’s favour were seldom turned away. After
Edward’s death, Jane became the mistress of both Lord Hastings and the
Marquise of Dorset and appears to have been involved in the plot to
overthrow Richard of Gloucester’s protectorate. For this offence she
was made to perform public penance, before being imprisoned in Ludgate
gaol, where her charms seem to have attracted Thomas Lynom, the King`s
solicitor. He begged permission to marry her, and Richard III`s wry
consent is recorded. The marriage took place in November 1483 and seems
to have been successful. Tudor
writers tell us that Jane died in great poverty after a long life, but
how much truth there is in the story is difficult to say. Jane is buried
in Hinxworth, with her parents. The
posthumous son of Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, who was killed
at the 1st battle of St Albans, Henry succeeded his grandfather Humphrey
as 2nd Duke after that gentleman’s death at the battle of Northampton
in 1460, and was forced to marry Katherine Woodville, one of Elizabeth
Woodville's sisters. Being under age at the time the boy had no choice.
It was to him an insult, and one for which he never forgave the Woodvilles.
He was with King Edward in the invasion of France in 1475. Buckingham
was the prime mover in persuading Richard III to take the throne, and
was so trusted by Richard that he was given many of the great offices
of State - Warden of the Cinque Ports, Constable of England,
Chief Justice and Chamberlain of North and South Wales, among them.
This makes it all the more remarkable that, just four months after Richard’s
Coronation, Buckingham raised a rebellion against him. The
fact that Richard had placed the Lancastrian arch-plotter, John Morton,
Bishop of Ely, in his custody may have had some bearing on the matter,
but what were Buckingham’s motives? Ostensibly, he was to help put Henry
Tudor on the throne, but the fact is, however, that Buckingham’s own
claim was much stronger than Henry’s. He was a descendant of Edward
III’s youngest son, Thomas of Gloucester, and there was no doubt about
his legitimacy or that of his forbears! Could he have been using
the uprising as a stepping stone for his own bid for the ultimate prize?
Whatever the truth of the matter, the revolt failed miserably, and Henry
was executed at Salisbury, his request for a final audience with Richard
being coldly denied. He was buried at Britford in Wiltshire. The
grandson of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, fifth son of Edward III, through
his mother, Thomas’s daughter, Humphrey married Anne Neville, sister
of Cecily, Duchess of York. He was created Earl of Buckingham in 1438,
and Duke in 1444. A
staunch Lancastrian, he commanded the Lancastrian army for Henry VI
at the1st battle of St Albans where he was wounded in the face in the
course of the battle. During the next five years, Humphrey held many
offices for the Lancastrian King, the most prominent of these being
Warden of the Cinque Ports. When the Yorkists returned from exile in
1460, Humphrey was again given command of Henry’s forces at the battle
of Northampton, where he lost his life.
Humphrey was buried in Pleshey, Essex. The
younger brother of Humphrey Stafford, above, this Humphrey was, to confuse
the issue still further, a Yorkist supporter. He fought for the Yorkists
at the 2nd battle of St Albans, where he was wounded, and at the battle
of Towton. He was a Knight of the Body to Edward IV. Given
the task of bringing support to the King against the rebels in 1469,
he managed to fall out with his co-commander, William Herbert, Earl
of Pembroke, and failed to support Pembroke at the start of the battle
of Edgecote. His late arrival on the scene failed to prevent a defeat.
He was captured after the battle and executed at Bridgewater. He was
buried in Glastonbury Abbey. The
eldest son of Thomas, Lord Stanley and the Eleanor Neville who was the
sister of the Earl of Warwick, George was present in King Edward`s invasion
of France in 1475 and was held hostage by Richard III for his father’s
good behaviour at the time of the battle of Bosworth.
Since Lord Stanley refused to give unequivocal assurance of this
support and continued to sit between the armies of both Richard and
Tudor on the battlefield, Strange’s execution was ordered at the outset
of the battle, but never carried out. After Tudor`s victory, George
escaped with his life and fought for his step-brother, the new king,
at the battle of Stoke Field. George died by poison “at an ungodly banquet”,
and was buried beside his mother in St James, Garlickhithe, London. The
great fence sitter and survivor of the Wars of the Roses, Thomas Stanley
was impeached in 1459 for failing to fight at the battle of Blore Heath,
when he halted his troops six miles from the battlefield. He contrived
to make his peace with Edward IV after the battle of Northampton, even
though he fought on the opposing side. Stanley’s
relationship with Richard of Gloucester was defined in 1470, when Gloucester
surprised him in Cheshire with a large force of men, which was possibly
for the rebellious Warwick’s use. Richard scattered this force and made
quite sure that Edward was aware of Stanley’s activities, though when
Stanley appeared in court later to defend himself against the charge,
King Edward gave him the benefit of the doubt. Richard’s warning, however,
did not go unheeded. Stanley
served with the invasion force in France in 1475, and despite his personal
dislike of Gloucester, served with Richard in the Scottish campaign
of 1482. After Edward IV’s death, he was suspected of being involved
in the plot to remove Richard of Gloucester from his role as Protector.
For this Richard merely placed him under house arrest for a while. If
Stanley had shared Hasting`s fate, perhaps Richard’s future would have
been much more secure. At
the battle of Bosworth, Stanley placed his considerable force between
both opposing armies, and though he did not actually move against Richard
himself, he permitted his brother Sir William to intervene crucially
on Henry’s side. After Bosworth, as Henry Tudor’s stepfather, he was
raised to the rank of Earl of Derby. He died in 1504 and is buried at Ormskirk.
The
younger brother of Thomas, Lord Stanley, he fought for the Yorkists
at the battles of Blore Heath and Towton, and at the later battles at
Hedgeley Moor and Hexham. In 1471 he was present at the battles of Barnet
and Tewkesbury and served with Edward IV in France in 1475. Although
he was a Knight of the Body to Richard III, he betrayed his King at
the battle of Bosworth, his intervention on the side of Henry Tudor
swinging the battle in Tudor’s favour.
In 1495, Sir William was accused of supporting the Perkin Warbeck
conspiracy and this was used as an excuse by Henry VII
for his execution. The
second husband of Anne, Duchess of Exeter, who was a daughter of Richard
of York, he fought on the Yorkist side at the battles of Barnet and
Tewkesbury. Thomas had a lucky escape from justice in 1465 when he was
arrested for brawling in the Palace of Westminster and sentenced to
have his hand cut off. Edward IV granted a pardon to his brother-in-law.
By his marriage to Anne, he had one daughter, also an Anne, who became
the ancestress of the Dukes of Rutland. Thomas
joined the Buckingham rebellion against Richard III in 1483 and
was one of those captured, arrested and executed for treason.
He is buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with his wife. Educated
at Oxford, Robert Stillington became in turn Chancellor of Wells, Archdeacon
of Taunton and Privy Seal. He was translated to the Bishopric of Bath
and Wells in 1465. For three years, 1467-1470, he was Chancellor of
England and used by Edward IV during those years as a diplomat. It
was Robert Stillington who announced to the Privy Council after Edward’s
death, that the King`s marriage was illegal and, since Stillington was
arrested at the time of George of Clarence’s imprisonment, there may
be grounds for believing that George was also aware of this. This can
only be a matter for conjecture. It is believed that Stillington had
some form of proof, but whatever that proof was it no longer exists,
as far as is known. After
the battle of Bosworth, with Henry VII wishing to strengthen his claim
to the throne through marriage to Edward`s daughter Elizabeth of York,
Stillington was imprisoned and silenced. This control of the bishop
continued in one form or another for the rest of his life. He died in
1491 and was buried in Wells Cathedral. Years later, during the religious
upheaval following the Reformation, some unscrupulous person bought
the tomb, the materials were taken and the remains thrown out. Married
to Elizabeth Darcy, Sir James was an indentured retainer of Richard
Neville, Earl of Salisbury. He fought at the battle of 1st St Albans
in 1455, Blore Heath in 1459, Wakefield in 1460, when he was reported
as killed, and Towton in 1461. In 1461 he was Speaker of the House and
Joint Commissioner for Yorkshire. He died in 1480. Son
of Sir Richard (below), and grandson of Sir James (above), he married
Alice, the daughter of Thomas, Lord Scrope of Masham. Like his father
and his grandfather before him he was a Yorkist supporter. He served
with Richard of Gloucester in the Scottish campaign where he was knighted
by Richard, was Commissioner of Array for Yorkshire in 1484 and fought
for Richard III at the battle of Bosworth. Son
of Sir James he married, as his first wife, Elizabeth, the daughter
and co-heiress of William, Lord Fauconberg, Earl of Kent. Like his father
he was a supporter of Richard of Gloucester and the Yorkists. In 1461
he was present at the battle of Towton and was Joint Commissioner of
Array for Yorkshire, an office he held again in 1481. Sir Richard served
in Richard of Gloucester’s Scottish campaign, and after Richard became
King he was appointed a Knight of the Body. Sir Richard fought for his
King at the battle of Bosworth and survived until. He was buried in Mount Grace Priory. The
son of John, he married Ann, one of the daughters of Lord Hastings.
Both his parents being dead by 1476, George was under the care of Queen
Elizabeth Woodville, the Bishop of Salisbury and Lord Dudley. The Earl
was one of those in attendance on Richard III at his meeting with the
Scots commissioners in September 1484. At the age of just 17 he fought
with Richard III at the battle of Bosworth, where he was captured.
He
made his peace with Henry VII, and fought for that king at the battle
of Stoke Field in 1487. George held many posts under Henry VII. He carried
the sword curtana at Henry’s coronation and was present at the wedding
of Henry and Elizabeth of York. George died in 1538 and was buried in
Sheffield cathedral. The
brother of Lady Eleanor Butler, he was prominent just before the Wars
of the Roses, holding the posts of Hereditary Steward of Ireland, Chancellor
of Ireland, Captain to guard the Sea and Treasurer of England, amongst
others. A Lancastrian supporter, Talbot was present at the battle of
Northampton in 1460 where he was killed. He was buried in Worksop Priory. Another
of Richard III’s trusted Knights of the Body, Sir Percival carried Richard’s
banner at the battle of Bosworth, and courageously continued to hold
it aloft even after his legs had been hacked from under him. He died
with his king on the field. The leading magnate of South Wales in 1485, Rhys held the castles of Dinefawr, Carmarthen, Carew and Newcastle Emlyn for the Crown. Deviously, he came to an agreement with Henry Tudor that he would be given the Lieutenancy of South Wales in exchange for help in defeating Richard III at the coming battle. Rhys agreed to travel secretly through Wales by a different route from Tudor’s army so as not to arouse suspicions of treachery, then meet up with Henry’s force in Shrewsbury. He kept his word on this occasion, and joining Henry in Shrewsbury with a force of 4,000 of his own men, travelled to Bosworth and fought on Henry’s side. According to Welsh tradition, he was one of those who hacked King Richard down on the battlefield - one of the several to boast of this dubious distinction. He was an experienced commander, having been educated and trained as a soldier at the Burgundian court, and Tudor was duly grateful to “father Rhys ” at this time and throughout his reign.
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