William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
Lord Chamberlain of the Household | |
|---|---|
| In office 1461–1483 Vacant 1470–1471 | |
| Monarch | Edward IV |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Salisbury |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Lovell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c.1430 |
| Died | June 1483 Tower of London |
| Spouse | Katherine Neville |
| Children | Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings Sir William Hastings Sir Richard Hastings George Hastings Anne Hastings, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Hastings |
| Parent(s) | Sir Leonard Hastings Alice Camoys |
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
KG (c. 1431 – June 1483) was an English nobleman. A loyal follower of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, he became a close friend and one of the most important courtiers of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain. At the time of Edward's death he was one of the most powerful and richest men in England. He was executed following accusations of treason by Edward's brother and ultimate successor, Richard III
. The date of his death is disputed; early histories give 13 June, which is the traditional date.
Biography
William Hastings, born about 1430–1431, was the eldest son of Sir Leonard Hastings (c. 1396 – 20 October 1455), and his wife Alice Camoys, daughter of
Hastings succeeded his father in service to the House of York and through this service became close to his distant cousin the future Edward IV, whom he was to serve loyally all his life. He was High Sheriff of Warwickshire and High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1455.He fought alongside Edward at the
Knight of the Garter. Hastings' tenure as Master of the Mint occurred during the Great Bullion Famine and the Great Slump in England.[12][13][14]
In 1474, he was awarded royal
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Kirby Muxloe, and at Bagworth. He built extensively at Ashby, mostly making additions to the pre-existing manor house built by the de la Zouch family in the thirteenth century. His greatest achievement at Ashby was the Hastings Tower. At Kirby Muxloe Castle he began an intricate fortified house of red brick, one of the first of its kind in the county. Thanks to English Heritage
, the castles at Ashby and Kirby can still be seen, but nothing survives to indicate any construction at Bagworth.
His importance in these years is recorded in a number of sources, and was recognised by the greatest peer in the realm,
St Albans in 1461, and their infant daughter, Cecily, succeeded to the Bonville titles and estates.)[15][16][17]
Despite this matrimonial relationship with the Nevilles, when Warwick drove
English Midlands and served as one of the leading captains of the Yorkist forces at both Barnet and Tewkesbury
.
His service, loyalty and ability, along with the fall of his Neville in-laws, made Hastings even more important during the second half of Edward IV's reign. He continued to serve as Chamberlain, and was awarded the position of
Lieutenant of Calais, which made him an important player in foreign affairs, and given authority over an increasingly large section of the English Midlands. At court, he was involved in two lengthy feuds with members of Queen Elizabeth Woodville's family, most notably with her son Thomas Grey, first Marquess of Dorset. A mistress of both Grey and Hastings was Jane Shore; Grey's wife was the wealthy heiress Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, who also happened to be Hastings' stepdaughter. Shore was instrumental in bringing about the alliance between Hastings and the Woodvilles, which was formed while Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was Protector, before he took the throne as King Richard III. She was accused of carrying messages between Hastings and Edward IV's widow, Elizabeth Woodville. It was because of her role in this alliance that Shore was charged with conspiracy, along with Hastings and the Woodvilles, against the Protector's government.[18]
Death
After the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483, the Dowager Queen appointed family members to key positions and rushed to expedite the coronation of her young son
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
, whom the late king had appointed Lord Protector. Hastings, who had long been friendly with Richard and hostile to the Woodvilles, was a key figure in checking the Dowager Queen's manoeuvres. While keeping the Woodvilles in check in London, Hastings kept Richard closely informed of their proceedings and asked him to hasten to London. Richard III met up with the young king and his party as pre-arranged, who was on his way to London, with his Woodville relatives. Hastings then supported Richard's formal installation as Lord Protector and collaborated closely with him in the royal council.
Affairs changed dramatically on 13 June 1483 during a council meeting at the
high treason by conspiring against his life with the Woodvilles. The contemporary (1483) account of Dominic Mancini records Richard's claim that those who were arrested "had come with concealed weapons so that they could be the first to unleash a violent attack"; this was later confirmed in a public proclamation.[19] While the other alleged conspirators were imprisoned, Hastings was beheaded. The timing of his execution is disputed, although Charles Ross, in his biography of Richard III, argued for the traditional date of 13 June.[20]
The summary execution of the popular Hastings was controversial among contemporaries and has been interpreted differently by historians and other authors. The traditional account, harking back to authors of the Tudor period, including William Shakespeare, considered the conspiracy charge invented and merely a convenient excuse to remove Lord Hastings, who was known for his loyalty to the dead King Edward IV and his heirs, as while he remained alive he would have been too formidable an obstacle to Richard's own plans to seize the throne.[21] Others have been more open to the possibility that such a conspiracy did in fact exist and that Richard may have reacted to secure his own position.[22] Clements R. Markham argues that Hastings was executed one week after his arrest on 20 June 1483, and after a trial.[23] Several witnesses were present, hence a treason trial could have been conducted at an ad hoc Court of Chivalry convened by Richard as High Constable of England.[24]
Despite the accusation of treason, no
St George's Chapel, Windsor, next to his friend King Edward IV.[25]
In literature
He is portrayed in two of Shakespeare's plays: Henry VI, Part 3 and Richard III.
In
documentary Looking for Richard, Lord Hastings is played by actor Kevin Conway
.
Family
Hastings married, before 6 February 1462,Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as "Warwick the Kingmaker," and widow of William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington, slain at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460, by whom he had had four sons and two daughters:[15][16][17]
- Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings, who married Mary Hungerford.[26][27]
- Sir William Hastings.[16]
- Sir Richard Hastings, who married, and had two daughters and coheirs, Elizabeth Hastings, who married John Beaumont of Gracedieu, Leicestershire, Master of the Rolls, and Mary Hastings, who married Thomas Saunders of Harringworth, Northamptonshire.[16][28]
- George Hastings.[16]
- Anne Hastings, who married her father's ward, George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury.[16]
- Elizabeth Hastings.[16]
Notes
- Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys, and his first wife, Elizabeth Louches, the daughter and heiress of William Louches.[1][2]Sir Leonard Hastings had three other sons and three daughters:[2][3][4]
- Richard de Welles, 7th Baron Welles, by his first wife, Joan Willoughby, only daughter of Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and secondly Joan Romondbye (d. 20 March 1505), widow of Richard Pigot, (died c. 15 April 1483), Serjeant-at-law.[5][6][7][8][9]
- Sir Ralph Hastings (d.1495) of Harrowden, Northamptonshire, who married Amy Tattershall, daughter and heiress of John Tattershall, esquire, of Woolwich, Kent, and Wanstead, Essex, by whom he had six daughters.[5][10]
- Thomas Hastings.
- Elizabeth Hastings (c.1450 – 1508), who married, before 1465, Sir John Donne (1450–1503) of Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, third son of Griffith Donne of Kidwelly by Janet, daughter of Sir John Scudamore, and by him had two sons, Sir Edward Donne (c.1482 – 1552) and Sir Griffith Donne (c.1487 – 1543), and two daughters, Anne Donne (c.1471 – c. 1507), who was the first wife of Sir William Rede of Boarstall, Buckinghamshire, and Margaret Donne (born c.1480), who married Edward Trussell (c.1478 – 16 June 1499) of Elmesthorpe, and was the mother of Elizabeth Trussell (1496–1527), wife of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford.[11]
- Anne Hastings, who married Thomas Ferrers, esquire.[5]
- Joan Hastings, who married John Brokesby, esquire.[5]
References
- ^ a b Richardson I 2011, pp. 398–9.
- ^ a b c Richardson II 2011, pp. 369–71.
- ^ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 306–7.
- ^ Acheson 1992, p. 234.
- ^ a b c d Richardson II 2011, p. 369.
- ^ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 307–8.
- ^ Burke 1831, p. 562.
- ^ Cokayne 1959, p. 447.
- ^ Cokayne 1959, p. 668.
- ^ Nicolas 1836, p. 421.
- ^ Richardson II 2011, p. 370.
- ASIN B0000CIHG7.
- ISBN 978-0708313510.
- ISBN 978-1598842517.
- ^ a b Horrox 2004.
- ^ a b c d e f g Richardson II 2011, p. 371.
- ^ a b Nicolas 1826, pp. 368–75.
- ^ Kendall, p. 248.
- ISBN 978-0-9576840-6-5.
- ISBN 0-520-04589-0.
- ^ For instance, Alison Weir, The Princes in the Tower, London: Random House, 1992.
- ^ For instance, Paul Murray Kendall, Richard III.
- ^ Clements R. Markham Richard III, pp. 214–216.
- ISBN 978-0-9576840-4-1.
- ^ a b Cokayne 1926, p. 373.
- ^ Richardson II 2011, pp. 371–2.
- ^ Cokayne 1926, p. 374.
- ^ Nicolas 1826, p. 373.
Sources
- Acheson, Eric (1992). A Gentry Community; Leicestershire in the Fifteenth Century, c.1422-c.1485. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521524988. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- Burke, John (1831). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland and Scotland, Extinct, Dormant and in Abeyance. London: Henry Colburn. p. 562. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- Cokayne, George Edward (1926). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs. Vol. VI. London: St. Catherine Press.
- Cokayne, George Edward (1959). The Complete Peerage, edited by Geoffrey H. White. Vol. XII, Part II. London: St. Catherine Press.
- Horrox, Rosemary (2004). "Hastings, William, first Baron Hastings (c.1430–1483)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12588. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1826). Testamenta Vetusta. Vol. I. London: Nicholas and Son. pp. 368–75. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1836). Testamenta Vetusta. Vol. II. London: Nicholas and Son. p. 421. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1-4499-6637-9.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1-4499-6638-6.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1-4609-9270-8.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
Further reading
Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings.
- Brondarbit, Alexander. Political Power-Brokers and the Yorkist State, 1461-1485 (Woodbridge, 2020)
- Carpenter, Christine. The Wars of the Roses (Cambridge, 1997)
- Craig, John (1953). The Mint: A History of the London Mint from A.D. 287 to 1948. ASIN B0000CIHG7.
- Dunham, William Huse. Lord Hastings' indentured retainers, 1461–1483 (New Haven, 1955)
- Hancock, Peter A. – Richard III and the Murder in the Tower (2009)
- Horrox, Rosemary. Richard III : a study of service (Cambridge, 1989)
- Kendall, Paul Murray, Richard III, London, Allen & Unwin (1955)
- Ross, Charles. Edward IV (Berkeley, 1974)
- Ross, Charles. Richard III (1981)
- Seward, Desmond. A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses (Robinson, 1995)
- Wolffe, B.P. (1 October 1974). "When and why did Hastings lose his head?". JSTOR 566401.
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