Gwenlian Woodville (Stradling) - Serious weirdness here

Started by Private User on Thursday, April 21, 2016
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Private User
4/21/2016 at 4:00 PM

The profile has "About" information for "Elizabeth, Lady Scales".

Anthony Woodville married Elizabeth, Lady Scales some time before 4 April 1461. She died on September 2, 1473.
Woodville, by now Earl Rivers, then married Mary FitzLewis, daughter of Sir Henry Fitz-Lewis and Elizabeth Beaufort, c. 1480.

The dates for "Gwenllian Stradling" and "Margaret Wydeville" are seriously hashed. IF "Gwenllian" existed and IF she married him, it must have been before 1461. A birth date of "1442" for "Gwenllian" makes this uncomfortably tight, and a birth date of "1455" for "Margaret" makes it MUCH WORSE.

There is no reliable record, anywhere, of Anthony Woodville being a child bridegroom or having a child bride - let alone getting his child bride pregnant at an absurdly young age.

It has been claimed elsewhere that what was involved was not *marriage*, but a fling that resulted in a love-child. Dating for that could be more flexible and more plausible.

Private User
4/22/2016 at 5:08 AM

If the profile is wrong then it should be corrected by the manager Daniel Robert May and locked

Private User
4/22/2016 at 7:23 AM

Didn't notice it was an MP, curated by Ben M. Angel? Poor Ben - yet another item added to his workload. :-(

Private User
4/22/2016 at 10:09 AM

Yes he is over worked poor Ben

4/22/2016 at 7:29 PM

There were more than one Gwenllian Stradling -- the family is full of mixtures of Anglo-Norman and Welsh names:

According to Wales and the Wars of the Roses, William Stradling's son, William Stradling, had a daughter Gwenllian, who had a child named Margaret by Anthony Woodville, earl Rivers. Interestingly, the page gives no notes to this -- my assumption here is that the knowledge is well enough known to historians that they don't need the reference -- it's like saying "Davy Gam fought at Agincourt" -- you don't need to reference it.

https://books.google.com/books?id=rgpEBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA44&dq=g...

4/22/2016 at 7:33 PM

Oh, and here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=UOs6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT87&dq=g...

a history of the Woodvilles.

Can't get to the note -- the ebook is only about $7.00, though.

Private User
4/22/2016 at 7:47 PM

The general report is that Gwenllian was Anthony's mistress shortly prior to his first marriage (say c. 1460), and Margaret was acknowledged by being allowed to bear his name.

Margaret was probably born before 1465, since on New Year’s Day of 1465, John Howard, who was at Edward IV’s Christmas court at Eltham with Anthony and his wife, gave “to my lord Scales child 12d.” This *could* refer to a legitimate child who died young, but since there is no other record having to do with any legitimate children, it more likely refers to Margaret.

She was married to Robert Poyntz circa 1479 - an unsourced date of Septermber 12, 1479 has been cited. They had five sons (starting c. 1480 with an Anthony) and four daughters.

She predeceased her husband, who died on November 5, 1520 and left instructions that a black gown of Margaret’s be made into armorial vestments for the chapel (now known as St. Mark’s or the Lord Mayor’s Chapel) he wished to be buried in.

No information is available regarding Gwenllian Stradling after the birth of her daughter Margaret. This could have...rather unpleasant implications.

Private User
4/22/2016 at 8:06 PM

Any references to Gwenllian as a "wife" probably originate from Victorian bluenoses who would not countenance the thought that a nobleman would engage in hanky-panky. :-D

In any case, she cannot possibly have been a *second* wife, as Lady Scales lived until 1473. A tragically short-lived first wife...? Perhaps, but it would be marrying far beneath him.

4/22/2016 at 8:25 PM

No, the histories are very clear. He had one wife, and no child by her. He had one child, by Gwenllian. It's not an obscure family. So I would take it as a given

Private User
4/23/2016 at 4:42 PM

Actually, milord Rivers *did* take a second wife, in 1480 - one Margaret Fitz-Lewis, daughter of Sir Henry Fitz-Lewis by his (probably first) wife Elizabeth Beaufort (daughter of Edmund Beaufort and Elizabeth Beauchamp, granddaughter of John Beaufort and Margaret Holland, great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford).

This appears to be the same Sir Henry Fitz-Lewis who was the second husband of Eleanor White nee Hungerford, and got involved in a Chancery suit on her behalf.

Sir Henry FitzLewis, Kt.
Sir Henry FitzLewis, of Bromford & Horndon

It is apparently NOT true that Eleanor White nee Hungerford had a Tyrrell husband in between John White and Henry Fitz-Lewis - certainly *not* the Sir William Tyrrell who was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471 (his wife Eleanor DARCY survived him).

Private User
4/23/2016 at 4:43 PM

Scratch "Margaret", her name was Elizabeth Fitz-Lewis. I have "Margaret" on the brain for some reason.

Private User
4/23/2016 at 4:51 PM

Or maybe "Mary" - getting different answers from different sources here. Some hooraw from the discussion groups: http://soc.history.medieval.narkive.com/o4kTGDUi/more-c-p-additions... (post (s) by Douglas Richardson)

Private User
4/23/2016 at 5:08 PM

Medieval England *was* a rather small world, wasn't it? :-D

4/23/2016 at 5:53 PM

Oh right, the FitzRichard. I forgot about her.

Oh, what a family.

Private User
11/26/2021 at 5:33 PM

surprise surprise!

here is Anthony's illegitimate daughter, previously married to Charles Churchill. Robert Poyntz was her 2nd husband.

Margaret Poyntz

Private User
11/26/2021 at 5:39 PM
11/26/2021 at 6:49 PM

Copying it out:

There is a William Wydeville (which became Woodville in some lines) in here. Much earlier than our period, but it might indicate another branch of the family.

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/1999-07/...

Kay
Re: Margaret Woodville
2011-12-18 19:01:07
david rayner

Thanks for the help. The illegitimate daughter of Anthony Woodville looks like the only viable ID; presumably she married Charles Churchill first, as he died in 1474 and her marriage to Pointz is dated 1478.

11/28/2021 at 10:01 PM

I’ve merged the two Margaret Woodville / Widville, please review.

Margaret Poyntz

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