William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington (1442 – 30 December 1460) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

who was a loyal adherent of the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of Yor ...

during the dynastic conflict in England in the 15th century now known as the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

. He was slain and left dead on the field during the Yorkist defeat at the

Battle of Wakefield The Battle of Wakefield took place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were an army led by nobles loyal to the captive King Henry VI o ...

, leaving his baby daughter, Cecily Bonville heiress to his barony.

Family

William was born in

Chewton Mendip Chewton Mendip is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. It is situated north of Wells, south of Bath and Bristol on the A39 very close to the A37. The village is in a valley on the Mendip Hills and is the so ...

Somerset, England ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

to William Bonville and Elizabeth Harington. His paternal grandparents were

William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (12 or 31 August 1392 – 18 February 1461), was an English nobleman and an important, powerful landowner in south-west England during the Late Middle Ages. Bonville's father died before Bonville reached ...

and Margaret Grey. His maternal grandparents were William Harington, 5th Baron Harington of Aldingham (c. 1394 - 1458) and Margaret Hill daughter of Sir John Hill, Justice of the King's Bench. In 1458, he succeeded his grandfather as the 6th

Baron Harington Baron Harington, of Aldingham, was a title in the Peerage of England. On 30 December 1324 John Harington was summoned to parliament. On the death of the 5th baron in 1458, the barony was inherited by the heir to the barony of Bonville, with wh ...

of Aldingham by right of his mother, who had died in her father's lifetime.

Marriage and death

The same year in which he gained his title, William married Lady Katherine Neville, a younger sister of military commander

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

, known as ''Warwick the Kingmaker''. They had one child, Cecily Bonville. The Bonvilles were loyal adherents of the House of York. William Bonville, 6th Baron Harrington was among the many Yorkists who were slain and left dead on the field during the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460.Roskell. ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421''. Vol. 2, (1992): pp. 284–288 (biog. of Sir William Bonville II): “After witnessing the deaths of both his son and grandson at the débâcle at Wakefield on 30 Dec. (when York, too, was killed). . . .” His widow, Katherine married secondly William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, another Yorkist nobleman, by whom she had six more children. Cecily succeeded to William's barony, becoming the 7th Baroness Harington of Aldingham ''suo jure'', on his death.

References

Bibliography

*Roskell, J.S. ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421''. Vol. 2. (Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1993). *Seward, Desmond. ''A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses''. (London: Constable and Robin, 2007). *Jones, Dan. ''The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors''. (London: Faber & Faber, 2014). {{DEFAULTSORT:Harington, William Bonville, 6th Baron 1442 births 1460 deaths

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

People of the Wars of the Roses Barons Harington