Lord Bonville of Chuton was the governor
of Exeter Castle The gatehouse, dating to 1068, is among the very earliest stone-built features of
castle architecture in Britain.
Nicholas de Bonville was styled also "of Shute", by right of his wife Elizabeth de Pyne, of whom and her dower a few words. The first recorded owners of Shute, and from whom it received its name, were Sir Lucas and Sir Peter de Schete, who held it early in the reign of Henry III. From them it passed to Sir Robert and Sir Thomas de Pyne the "antient progeny" of Pyne in east Devon. Sir Thomas, who was Sheriff of Devon, at his death left two daughters coheiressess. One of these distaffs, Matilda (otherwise Hawise), wedded Nicholas de Bonville of Wiscombe, to whom she brought Shute as her portion. "In this place (Shute) the famylye of Bonvill made their pricipall dwellinge, which had divers lands within Shute, namely Sir Nicholas Bonvill (his grandfather) had Leggeshayes and other lands their, his dwellinge beinge at yt tyme at Wiscpmbe". The policy of this marriage is therefore apparent. Himself and wife appear to have both died the same year, 23 Edward I (1295). They left a son and heir named Nicholas
Sir Nicholas Bonville of Shute and Wiscombe married Johanna, daughter of Sir henry Champernon of Clyst-champernon (who died in 1320) by his wife Johanna, daughter of Henry Bodrugan. He was two years old only at his father's death, but the date of his own decease does not appear. There were four children, of whom Sir William was the eldest son and successor. Their daughter Isabel married Sir Roger de Nonant of Broad-Clyst and the last of that name; they had two daughters, Alice who married John beauchamp of Ryme, and Eleanor. The beautiful monument with effigy in Broad-Clyst church is supposed to represent this knight, who reclines in a recess on the south side of the chancel, and is clad in plate armor with bascinet, mail-gorget, surcoat and ornamented baudrick. The feet rest on a lion, the head on a tilting helmet, and angels are at the shoulders. A richly foliated canopy of screen-like character fronts the figure on the side toward the church.
Sir William Bonville, of Shute, "a very sweet and noble seat, adorned in those days with a fair park and large demesnes", the first prominent representative of this family, and who added greatly to its social status, was a wealthy and munificent man. He married first Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Sir William d'Aumarle of Woodbury, Devon, who died in 1361, by his wife Agnes de Meriet, daughter of George de Meriet, of Merriot, Somerset. By her he had four sons and two daughters. She died on 13th May 1399.
Early in the succeeding century Sir William married secondly Alice (whose surname has not been recovered), widow of Sir John Rodney, who died in 1400. Sir John Rodney was her fifth spouse, for she had wedded three husbands previous to Sir Rodney. Firstly, John FitzRoger, lord of the manor of Chewton-Mendip, by whom she had a daughter Elizabeth, who married John Bonville, her last husbands eldest son by his first wife; secondly, she married Sir Edmund de Clyvedon, who died in 1375; and thirdly she married Sir Ralph Carminow, who deceased in 1386. Sir Ralph is said to have been "by a brase of Greyhounds pulled over a Cliff and died". Lady Alice Bonville survived all her husbands nearly twenty years, and died 27 March, 1426.
A glance at the numerous ventures of this much-married lady will give the uninitiated in the study of genealogy some idea of the difficulties which beset it, in sifting, tracing, and separating the tangle of relationship that wove together the leading families of the west during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was the custom to marry very early in life, often at fifteen or sixteen, and that short widowhoods and remarriage almost invariantly followed decease on either side, and not uncommonly resulting further also, in the children of the previous marriages matching together, a "matter of mere attorneyship", probably in many cases entered into to consolidate the family estates.
Of Sir William's sons, Richard the eldest died without issue before 1397. John the second son became his father's heir and successor. Sir William who was Sheriff of Devon died on 14 feb 1408 and was buried before the great Cross in the choir of Newenham Abbey Church. Beside him was afterward laid Alice his second wife.
Source: "Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West" by W.H.Hamilton Rogers and Roscoe Gibbs
He was the son of John Bonville and Elizabeth FitzRoger. He married, firstly, Margaret Grey, daughter of Reynold Grey, 3rd Lord Grey (of Ruthin) and Margaret de Ros, before June 1414. He married, secondly, Elizabeth Courtenay, daughter of Sir Edward de Courtenay, 3rd Earl of Devon and Maud de Camoys. On 15 April 1414 he succeeded his mother. He was invested as a Knight before 1417. In 1422 he was made Sheriff of Devonshire, and three years afterwards, had livery of the manor of Meryet (Merriott), Somerset. Moreover, in 1442 he was retained to serve the king for one whole year in his wars with France, providing twenty men at arms and six hundred archers. In reward for his services he was made Seneschall of the Duchy of Aquitaine, and in 1449 was summoned to parliament amongst the barons, under the title of Lord Bonville of Chuton, and afterwards became governor of Exeter Castle for life.
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Lord Bonville's daughter Margaret married Sir William Courtenay, but, notwithstanding this close connection, a feud sprang up between the two families on account of the civil wars of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, which caused such fearful, bloodshed and social disorganization. Bonville espoused the cause of York, and Courtenay that of the opposite party, and so strong became the antagonistic feeling that encounters between the principal personages and their retainers were of a frequent and violent character.
One particular quarrel is recorded by most of the chroniclers. Its immediate cause is said to have been a dog, and the parties were Sir William Bonville, who then resided at his seat at Wiscombe, Southleigh, and Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. Westcott says that it could "by no mediation of friends be qualified or appeased until it was valiantly tried by a duel on Clist Heath, near Exeter, which was manfully performed by both parties. And after they had well tried one another's strength and valour they at last lovingly agreed and embraced each other, and ever after there was a great love and amity between them." It is far more probable, however, that Holinshed and others are right in saying that several men on both sides were slain, and that Lord Bonville prevailed and went to Exeter and "had the gates opened to him."
The feuds of these noblemen were the source of general alarm. An interesting reference is made to them in one of the Paston letters, written on October 28, 1455. The writer, James Gresham, says that "on Thursday at nyght last passed the Erll of Denshyre's sone and heir come with Ix. men of armes to Radforde's place, which was of counseil with my Lord Bonvyle, and they sette an hous on fire at Radford's gate, and cryed and made an noyse as though they had be sorry for the fyer, and by that cause Radfords men set open the gats and yede owt to se the fyer." Thereupon, "th' evill sonne forseid" walked into the house, and, under promise of safety, induced Radford [an aged man] to "come doun of his chambre" and speak with "the seid Erll sone." But "his ye robbe his chambre, rifled his huches" [chests or coffres upon legs], and, loading the robbed man's horse with the plunder, carried it bodily away. "The erll sone" then compelled the old man to walk with his party under pretence of having an interview with the Earl - "my lorde my fadir." When they had gone "a flyte shote [that is, the distance of a light-arrow shot] or more from his place," he was brutally attacked by nine of the men, who "smot hym on the hed," felled him to the ground, and one of them "kyt his throte."
On November 13, 1455, at the re-assembling of parliament after prorogation, one of the first things done was, that the Commons, "by the mouthe of Burley, accompanyed with notable nombre of the Communes, in the name of all the Communes," prayed that there might be appointed "suche an hable persone as shuld mowe entende to the defence and protection of the saide lande, and this to be doon as sone as it myght be, and they to have knowlege therof," so that they might send word down into the country "who shuld be Protectour and Defensour of this lande, and to whom they shuld mowe have recours to sue for remedie of injuries and wronges done to theym. And also where there been grete and grevous riotes doon in the Weste Countrey betwene th' Ele of Devonshire and the Lord Bonvile, by the whiche som men have be murdred, some robbed, and children and wymen taken,- it is thought that if such Protectour and Defensour were had, that suche riotes and injuries shuld be souner punysshed, justice largely ministred, and the lawe more duely to procede." For, as the same petitioners, in repeating their request on November 15, said, "there.must be a persone to whom the people of this lande may have recours to sue for remedy of their injuries."
The King (Henry V.) was taken prisoner at the battle of Northampton, in 1460, and Lord Bonville was selected as one of those to whom his custody was committed. But the tables were turned by the second battle of St. Alban's, on February 17 in the following year, when the rest of the lords "entrusted with the like custody of the king fled away to their party." Bonville would also have "withdrawn himself had not the king assured him that he should receive no bodily hurt. But such was the indignation of the Queen, the Duke of Exeter, and the Earl of Devon [his old enemy], that they rested not till they had taken off his head." And not only was the Lord Bonville a victim to the unnatural wars, but both his son and his grandson were killed at the battle of Wakefield. The males being thus extinct, the heirship of Bonville descended to Cicily, great-granddaughter of the beheaded Lord William and ten years old at his death.
In this lady is centred considerable interest, not only with reference to her own family but to the general history of England, as I shall presently show. Her grandfather - killed at Wakefield, as stated - married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Lord Harrington, and her father, commonly called William Lord Harrington, killed also at Wakefield, married Catherine, daughter of William Neville, Earl of Salisbury. The baronies of Bonville and Harrington were thus united, and another powerful union was effected by the marriage of Cicily Bonville with Sir Thomas Grey, created Marquis of Dorset in 1474-5. The mother of Sir Thomas was Elizabeth Woodville, whose first husband, Sir John Grey, was killed in the battle of St. Albans. She was the daughter of Richard Woodville, created Earl Rivers, and by her second marriage became queen of King Edward IV. Cicily Bonville's second husband was Henry Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, who "enjoyed "Shute along with the rest of the lady's property. Her grandson by Sir Thomas Grey, Henry Marquis of Dorset, was in 1550-1 created Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife was Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary Queen of France. The interest culminates in the fact that one of the three daughters, the issue of this union, was the illustrious Lady Jane Grey, whose melancholy history is familiar to every reader.
Source: THE BOOK OF THE AXE, by George Pttlman 1875
The Bonville and Harington families were united in their son William, 6th Lord Harington and Bonville, born 1442, who in 1458 married Katherine the 5th daughter of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury. Their first child, Cecily, was only 6 months old when her father, William the 6th Lord Harington, and his father, were executed on 31 December 1460. Cecily therefore inherited all the extensive estates of the Harington and Bonvilles as baroness Harington and Bonville, among which was the manor of Knowstone Beaupel.