Richard (Wydeville) Woodville (abt. 1387 - aft. 1441)

Born about 1387 in Northamptonshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Joan (Bedlisgate) Wydeville — married 1403 in Maidstone, Kent, England

Descendants

Died after 29 Nov 1441 after about age 54 in La Mote, Maidstone, Kent, England

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Biography

Richard (Wydeville) Woodville was born in England.

Sir Richard Woodville, of the Mote, Maidstone, Constable of the Tower, sheriff of Kent 1334, d. 1342. [Magna Charta Sureties]

Note: I am almost positive that MCS is a century early in the above text. They have Richard's daughter Elizabeth marrying Sir John Pashley, who they say was born 1406/7. If the above text were true, Sir John would have been marrying someone at least 65 years older than himself.

RICHARD WYDEVILL, esq, brother of the half-blood, succeeded to Grafton under Thomas's will (g).

In early life he was very probably in the service of Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards Henry IV.

• 1411 he was in the retinue of the King's son "Thomas of Lancaster," captain of Guînes; in
• 1419 he had a grant of the lands and lordships of Préaux, Dangu and Neuville, and in November was appointed bailiff of Gisors, Vernon, Andely and Lions;
• bailiff of Chaumont in February 1419/20
• promoted seneschal of Normandy, January 1420/1;
• March 1422/3, a commissioner to receive the surrender of Meulan;
• 1423 chamberlain to the Duke of Bedford, treasurer-general of Normandy, and captain of Caen. He was appointed, February 1424/5, during pleasure, at a time of disturbances in the City, to attend to the safe keeping of the Tower of London. In June 1427 and June 1429 he was Lieutenant of Calais, and in March 1430/1 was appointed to attend the young King's person for half a year in France; in May 1434 he was retained to serve the King in the wars in France with 20 men at arms. In July 1433, Knight of the shire, Kent; J.P., 1433-41. He was present at the Great Council meeting at Westminster in April and May 1434, at which the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester contended as to the conduct of the war in France, and, in February 1434/5, one of the commissioners to treat with the Duke of Burgundy as to the statutes of the Staple of Calais. On the death of the Duke of Bedford he was appointed Lieutenant of Calais, 1 October 1435. As the King's esquire he was appointed, 25 January 1436/7, during pleasure, constable of Rochester castle; and 1437-39, took part in various commissions in Kent. In 1437 he was sheriff of Northants, and a commissioner to raise a loan there, 1439.

He married Joan, daughter of Thomas BITTELSGATE of Knightston, co. Devon, byhis wife Joan, daughter and heir of Sir John BEAUCHAMP of Lillesdon. He died probably about December 144I. His widow was living 17 July 1448. [Complete Peerage XI:17-9, XIV:549, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

(g) He had therefore been seated at the manor of La Mote, near Maidstone - a property leased in 1428 for 50 years by Richard and his wife Joan from Archbishop Chichele.

Note (a) from his elder half brother Thomas for the year 1433 when Thomas was sheriff of Northants: It was about this time that the form Wodeville is first found. Thomas dsp 1435.

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Note: Turton's Plantagenet Ancestry has Richard's parents as Richard & Elizabeth Lyons, which is undoubtedly a mistake. CP has them as grandparents.

Sources

• S303 Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000; Magna Charta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999

• S648 Our Kingdom Come: Eileen McKinnon-Suggs updated October 10, 2004 Accessed December 2, 2005)

• S830 The Plantagenet Ancestry, by William Henry Turton, 1968

• S-1939477519 Cokayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage The St. Catherine Press Ltd., 1910-1916.

• GEDCOMS: Sir Richard Wydeville/Woodville Of La Mote & Grafton. Birth: ABT 1375 La Mote, Maidstone, Kent / ABT 1383 Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire / 1385 La Mote, Maidstone, Kent. Occupation: Sheriff of Kent. Death: aBT DEC 1441 La Mote, Maidstone, Kent #S830: #S303 Page: XI:17-9; 1441 Grafton, Northamptonshire, Age: 55-56

• Michael Hicks. Woodville (Wydeville), Richard, first Earl Rivers. Published 2004, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. oxforddnb.com.

• Cokayne, George Edward, 1825-1911, Gibbs, Vicary. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, Vol 11. Published by St Catherine Press, London, 1949. familysearch.org.

• "Grafton Regis," in A History of the County of Northampton: Volume 5, the Hundred of Cleley, ed. Philip Riden and Charles Insley (London: Victoria County History, 2002), 142-176. British History Online, accessed June 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/northants/vol5/pp142-176.

• Edward Hasted. "The town and parish of Maidstone: Town and manors," in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 4, (Canterbury: W Bristow, 1798), 260-307. British History Online, accessed June 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp260-307.