1st Baron Bonville
Knight of the Garter, English Nobleman, soldier, and administrator
Executed at the Second Battle of St Albans, beheaded
Bonville remained outwardly loyal to Henry VI: he swore allegiance to the King at the Coventry Parliament of 1459, and in the following February he was appointed to a commission to raise the shires of Somerset, Cornwall and Devon against the attainted Yorkists. Yet he finally revealed his true colours by appearing on the Yorkist side at the battle of Northampton in July 1460. After witnessing the deaths of both his son and grandson at the débâcle at Wakefield on 30 Dec. (when York, too, was killed) he joined the earl of Warwick in London, where, in a chapter held on 8 Feb. 1461, the two of them were elected Knights of the Garter. The futility of their elevation to the ranks of the military élite was soon made evident: nine days later they were defeated by the queen’s forces in the second battle of St. Albans. Like Sir Thomas Kyriel†, Bonville did not flee after the engagement because the King promised that their lives would be spared, but both men were none the less executed on Queen Margaret’s orders on 18 Feb. Bonville, described by Bishop Neville, Warwick’s brother, as a ‘strenuous cavalier’, was then 68 years old. His widow was assigned a large dower by Edward IV and survived until 1471.
Secondly Bonville married, before 9 October 1427, to Elizabeth Courtenay (d. 18 October 1471), the widow of John Harington, 4th Baron Harington (d. 11 February 1418), and daughter of Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (died 5 December 1419). They had no issue.
Knight of the Garter, English Nobleman, soldier, and administrator
Executed at the Second Battle of St Albans, beheaded
Bonville remained outwardly loyal to Henry VI: he swore allegiance to the King at the Coventry Parliament of 1459, and in the following February he was appointed to a commission to raise the shires of Somerset, Cornwall and Devon against the attainted Yorkists. Yet he finally revealed his true colours by appearing on the Yorkist side at the battle of Northampton in July 1460. After witnessing the deaths of both his son and grandson at the débâcle at Wakefield on 30 Dec. (when York, too, was killed) he joined the earl of Warwick in London, where, in a chapter held on 8 Feb. 1461, the two of them were elected Knights of the Garter. The futility of their elevation to the ranks of the military élite was soon made evident: nine days later they were defeated by the queen’s forces in the second battle of St. Albans. Like Sir Thomas Kyriel†, Bonville did not flee after the engagement because the King promised that their lives would be spared, but both men were none the less executed on Queen Margaret’s orders on 18 Feb. Bonville, described by Bishop Neville, Warwick’s brother, as a ‘strenuous cavalier’, was then 68 years old. His widow was assigned a large dower by Edward IV and survived until 1471.
Secondly Bonville married, before 9 October 1427, to Elizabeth Courtenay (d. 18 October 1471), the widow of John Harington, 4th Baron Harington (d. 11 February 1418), and daughter of Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (died 5 December 1419). They had no issue.
1st Baron Bonville
Knight of the Garter, English Nobleman, soldier, and administrator
Executed at the Second Battle of St Albans, beheaded
Bonville remained outwardly loyal to Henry VI: he swore allegiance to the King at the Coventry Parliament of 1459, and in the following February he was appointed to a commission to raise the shires of Somerset, Cornwall and Devon against the attainted Yorkists. Yet he finally revealed his true colours by appearing on the Yorkist side at the battle of Northampton in July 1460. After witnessing the deaths of both his son and grandson at the débâcle at Wakefield on 30 Dec. (when York, too, was killed) he joined the earl of Warwick in London, where, in a chapter held on 8 Feb. 1461, the two of them were elected Knights of the Garter. The futility of their elevation to the ranks of the military élite was soon made evident: nine days later they were defeated by the queen’s forces in the second battle of St. Albans. Like Sir Thomas Kyriel†, Bonville did not flee after the engagement because the King promised that their lives would be spared, but both men were none the less executed on Queen Margaret’s orders on 18 Feb. Bonville, described by Bishop Neville, Warwick’s brother, as a ‘strenuous cavalier’, was then 68 years old. His widow was assigned a large dower by Edward IV and survived until 1471.
Secondly Bonville married, before 9 October 1427, to Elizabeth Courtenay (d. 18 October 1471), the widow of John Harington, 4th Baron Harington (d. 11 February 1418), and daughter of Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (died 5 December 1419). They had no issue.
Knight of the Garter, English Nobleman, soldier, and administrator
Executed at the Second Battle of St Albans, beheaded
Bonville remained outwardly loyal to Henry VI: he swore allegiance to the King at the Coventry Parliament of 1459, and in the following February he was appointed to a commission to raise the shires of Somerset, Cornwall and Devon against the attainted Yorkists. Yet he finally revealed his true colours by appearing on the Yorkist side at the battle of Northampton in July 1460. After witnessing the deaths of both his son and grandson at the débâcle at Wakefield on 30 Dec. (when York, too, was killed) he joined the earl of Warwick in London, where, in a chapter held on 8 Feb. 1461, the two of them were elected Knights of the Garter. The futility of their elevation to the ranks of the military élite was soon made evident: nine days later they were defeated by the queen’s forces in the second battle of St. Albans. Like Sir Thomas Kyriel†, Bonville did not flee after the engagement because the King promised that their lives would be spared, but both men were none the less executed on Queen Margaret’s orders on 18 Feb. Bonville, described by Bishop Neville, Warwick’s brother, as a ‘strenuous cavalier’, was then 68 years old. His widow was assigned a large dower by Edward IV and survived until 1471.
Secondly Bonville married, before 9 October 1427, to Elizabeth Courtenay (d. 18 October 1471), the widow of John Harington, 4th Baron Harington (d. 11 February 1418), and daughter of Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (died 5 December 1419). They had no issue.
Family Members
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