Henry IV (1407-1408):
<<
THIS Edmond erle of Kent was in suche fauour with kyng Henry that he not
alonely aduanced and promoted him to highe offices and great preheminences,
but also by his meane and no small coste obteigned for him the eldest
doughter and one of the heires of the Lord Barnabo of Millaine brother to
Lord Galeace whose so'ne also called Galiace murderyng his vncle Barnabo
made himselfe first duke of Millaine, for which mariage Lord Barnabo paied
to him an hundred M. Duccattes at the churche of saint Marie Oueryes in
Southwarke at the day of the solempnite, by doen Alpho's de Caniola. This
Lucie after the death of her husband by whom she had no issue, was moued by
the kyng to mary with his bastard brother the Earle of Dorcet a man very
aged and il visaged, whose person nether satisfied her fantasy nor whose
face pleased her appetite, wherfore she preferryng her own mind more then
the kynges desire, delityng in hym the whiche shoulde more satisfie her
wanton pleasure then gayne her any profite, for very loue toke to husband
Henry Mortimer a goodly youg Esquyer and a bewtifull Bacheler. For which
cause the kyng was not onely with her displeased but also for mariyng
withoute his licence he seassed and fined her at a great some of money,
which fine kyng Henry the .v. bothe released and pardoned and also made him
knight and promited hym to great offices both in England and Normandye,
whiche sir Henry had issue by this Lady, Anne maried to sir Ihon Awbemond
mother to Elizabeth Chandos mother to Phillis maried to sir Dauie Halle
capitayne of Caen, she had also issue Mary maried to Ihon Cheddur and Luce
espoused to sir Ihon Cressy.
(Hall's Chronicle, 1550 ed., Henry IV chapter, fol. 29r; Ellis ed., 1809, p.
40; facsimile page at
http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/pr ... osition=65)
The marriage, on 24 January 1406/7, of Lucy, 10th [sic] and youngest
daughter of Barnabo Visconti, lord of Milan, to Edmund (de Holand), Earl of
Kent, (1382/3-1408) and Lucy's later history (she d. 1424) are covered in
some detail by Complete Peerage, vol. 7, p. 161ff.
But there is no hint in the CP account (or in the new DNB entry for Edmund)
of a later marriage, or a royal attempt to marry her to an earl of Dorset.
Presumably the earl that's meant is Thomas Beaufort - his elder brother John
Beaufort (d. 1409/10) had been created Marquess of Dorset in 1397, but was
married in the same year, and was survived by his wife.
Thomas Beaufort (who d. 1426) was married by 1403/4 to Margaret Neville, who
was still alive in 1413 but died before him. So a marriage could possibly
have been sought by him in the period 1413-1424 (though at this time he
would have been aged 50 at the most). He was created Duke of Exeter in 1416.
Can anyone shed any light on this story, or on the genealogy of any of the
other people mentioned? Sir David Hall is known to have died after the
Battle of Wakefield in 1460, and there is a suggestion that he was related
to the chronicler, but otherwise I'm at a loss to explain Hall's account.
Chris Phillips