to 26th August 1408. He was the fourth son of Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and died in 1410, on the day of the Seven Sleepers. Joane died 14th Henry VI, leaving issue a son and heir, Richard, and two daughters, Joane and Elizabeth.

Richard Beauchamp, Lord Abergavenny, and Lord of the moiety of Bromfield and Iâl, was aged fourteen at the time of his father's death. In the 4th Henry V (1422), upon the death of Constance, widow of Thomas, late Lord Le Despencer, he had livery of those lands lying in the counties of Cornwall and Devon, which she held in dower for her term of life; and the same year, being retained to serve the king in his wars in France, received four hundred and seventy-seven pounds in hand, for the better support of himself in that employment. After which, continuing for the most part there, and meriting well for his fidelity and valour, he was advanced to the title of Earl of Worcester, in the eighth year of that king, 1426; and the next year following, in consideration of his special services in those wars, he obtained a grant from the king of all the lands, castles, and lordships which formerly belonged to Sir Gilbert de Umfraville, knight, as well within the Duchy of Normandy as any other place which the king had conquered, viz., all those which, before the king's coming to Tangrec, did belong to the lord of Tretteville, to hold to himself, and the heirs male of his body, paying yearly to the king, his heirs and successors, a coat of mail of pure calibre, at the feast of St. John the Baptist.

In 1442, Richard Roydon, of Kent, the ancestor of the Roydons of Is y Coed, is said to have come into Bromfield with the Commissioners of Lord Abergavenny, lord of the moiety of Bromfield, 20th Henry VI.1

Still attending the Court, the earl was at length unhappily wounded in his side at Mewtonbury, in France, by a stone from a sling, which putting a period to his life in 1421, he was buried at Dewsbury, at the end of the choir, near to the chapel of the famous Robert FitzHamon, and the male line again becomes extinct.

1 Pennant's Tour, vol. i, p. 290.

He married Isabel, sister and heir of Richard, eighth Lord Le De Spencer, son and heir of Thomas, Lord Le Despencer. By this lady he had issue one only daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, born at Hanley Castle, co. Worcester, 16th December 1415, who married Sir Edward Neville, K.G., fourth surviving son of Ralph, first Earl of Westmoreland, who, thus becoming possessed of the castle and lands of Abergavenny, was summoned to Parliament as Lord Abergavenny, from 5th September 1450 (29th Henry VI), to 19th August 1472 (12 Edw. IV; gules, on a saltier argent, a rose of the field, barbed and seeded ppr. By this marriage, Elizabeth had issue, two sons, Richard Neville, who died s. p. in his father's lifetime; and Sir George Neville, who succeeded his father as Lord Abergavenny, and lord of the moiety of Bromfield. He was knighted at the celebrated battle of Tewkesbury, 9th May 1471, and died 20th September 1492. He married Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Hugh Fenne, knight, Treasurer of England, by whom he had, besides other issue, two sons-1, Sir George Neville, Lord Abergavenny. He was created a Knight of the Bath in the reign of Henry V; was distinguished against the Cornish rebels temp. Henry VII; and became the companion in arms of Henry VIII in his French wars. By the last monarch he was made a Knight of the Garter, and obtained many high and important commands, and was summoned to Parliament in the twenty-first of the king's reign, as George Neville de Bergavenny, Chivaler. He died 27th Henry VIII, 1536, and was succeeded by his eldest son (Henry) by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. For an account of his descendants, see Burke's Peerage.

2. Sir Edward Nevill, of Adlington Park, in Kent, who was a military man of high reputation and a knight banneret in the time of Henry VIII. He was, together with his father, Lord of the Moiety of Bromfield, in 7th Edw. IV, 1468 (see p. 399). He was eventually, however, attainted and beheaded on the charge "of devising to maintain, promote, and advance one Reginald Pole,

late Dean of Exeter, enemy of the king, beyond the sea, and to deprive the king". Sir Edward married Eleanor, daughter of Andrew, Lord Windsor, and relict of Ralph, Lord Scrope, of Upsal, by whom he had two sons: 1, Edward, Lord Abergavenny, ancestor of the present Marquess of Abergavenny; and 2, Henry, ancestor of the Nevilles, Lords Braybrooke. On the attainder and execution of Sir Edward, the last remaining moiety of Bromfield reverted to the crown. (See pp. 389, 390.)

In 1485, Henry VII commenced his reign, and we find that the lordships of Bromfield, Chirk, and Iâl were then in the crown, for Henry, in the fifth year of his reign (1490), granted them, with the Castles of Holt and Chirk, to Sir William Stanley, knight, who had saved his life at the battle of Bosworth. Sir William was the second son of Sir Thomas Stanley, K.G., who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Stanley, 20th January 1456 (34th Henry VI). This Sir William Stanley, of Holt Castle, was the richest subject in the kingdom, having no less than 40,000 marks in ready money, and £3,000 a year. He thoroughly repaired Chirk Castle. Subsequently, however, Sir William was beheaded for his participation in the rebellion of Perkin Warbeck. On his execution, Henry not only resumed the lordships, but seized on his vast effects, and found in Holt Castle 40,000 marks, besides plate, jewels, household goods, and cattle on the ground. He died unmarried, and was, as before stated, the second son of Thomas, the first Lord Stanley, by Joan his wife, daughter and co-heir of Sir Robert Goushill, of Heveringham, Co. Nottingham, knight, by Elizabeth, his wife, relict of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and daughter and co-heir of Richard Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundell. (Refer to pp. 389, 390.)

HENRY VIII.

On the 22nd of April 1509, Henry VIII commenced his reign, and among the State letters and papers, foreign and domestic, we find the following appointments made by the king's letters patent.