Lionel (Welles) de Welles KG (abt. 1406 - 1461)

Born about 1406 in England

Ancestors

Husband of Joan (Waterton) Welles — married 15 Aug 1417 in Methley, Yorkshire, England

Husband of Margaret (Beauchamp) Welles — married about 20 Apr 1447 in England

Descendants

Died 29 Mar 1461 at about age 55 in Towton, Yorkshire, England

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Biography

Birth and Parents

Lionel/Leo was the son of Eudes/Eudo de Welles and Maud Greystoke.^[1][2] He was said to be 15 at his grandfather's death in 1421,^[3][4] and made proof of his coming of age in 1427^[5] pointing to a birth date of about 1406. His birth county is not known.

Marriages and Children

On 15 August 1417 Lionel married Joan/Jane/Cecily Waterton, daughter of Robert Waterton^[2][5] and his second wife Cecily Fleming, at St Oswald's, Methley, Yorkshire.^[3][4][6] Lionel had just been made her father's ward on his own father's death.^[1] They had the following children:

• Richard^[1][3][4]
• Eleanor, who married Thomas Hoo,^[7][8] James Lawrence and Hugh Hastings^[3][4][9]
• Cecily, who married Robert Willoughby^[3][4]
• Margaret, who married Thomas Dymoke and Robert Radcliffe^[3][4]
• Katherine, who married Thomas de la Launde and Robert Tempest^[3][4]

Joan Waterton is recorded as living on 18 October 1434. She died before April 1447, the date of a licence for Lionel's second marriage, to Margaret Beauchamp, widow of Oliver St John and John Beaufort (Duke of Somerset), and daughter of John Beauchamp and his second wife Edith Stourton.^{[2][3][4][10]} They had one son:

• John^{[1][3][4][11]}

Life

Lionel's father died in the lifetime of Lionel's paternal grandfather John Welles, 5th Lord Welles. This meant that when Lionel's grandfather died in 1421, Lionel was the main heir, inheriting substantial properties in Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and elsewhere, and he became 6th Lord Welles. He was given possession of his grandfather's lands on 5 December 1427.^{[2][3][4][12]}

Henry VI knighted Lionel at Leicester on 29 May 1426, immediately after he himself was knighted.^[13]

Before long he became closely associated with Henry VI. In 1430 he went with the king to France. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1434 and was a member of Henry's household by the later 1430s.^[2][3][4]

In 1436 Lionel went with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, to relieve Calais.^[1]

He held the following posts:

• 1438-1442: Lieutenant (or Chief Governor) of Ireland^{[3][4][14][15][16]}
• 1438: Privy Councillor of Ireland^[3][4]
• 1450: Trier of Petitions for Gascony and other overseas territories^[3][4]
• 1451-5: Joint Deputy at Calais^[1][2][3][4]

Lionel was summoned to Parliament from February 1432 onwards.^[2][3][4]

Lionel was one of the fallback "feoffees" (equivalent of executors) in the 1447 Will of Henry VI.^[17]

In 1450 some inhabitants of Spalding and Pinchbeck in Lincolnshire accused Lionel of sending 100 men to Spalding where they assaulted tenants, killed one inhabitant, and stole goods.^[3][4][18]

On 14 May 1457 Lionel was installed as a Knight of the Garter.^[19][20]

After the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, Lionel supported the Lancastrian cause. On 23 September 1459 he was taken prisoner in the Battle of Blore Heath. He fought in the 2nd Battle of St Albans on 17 February 1460/1.^[1][3][4]

Death

Lionel was killed during the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461.^[1][3][4] He was buried alongside his first wife at Methley, Yorkshire.^[3][4] He was attainted posthumously soon after^[21][22] and his lands were forfeited by an Act of Parliament of 4 November 1461: his widow's property rights were safeguarded the next year.^[23] Lionel's son Richard was also attainted, but quickly made peace with Edward IV, was pardoned in 1462, and within a few years gained possession of lands Lionel had held in his own right.^[1]

Lionel's Will was dated 7 October 1457.^[3][4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Michael Hicks for 'Welles, Leo [Lionel], sixth Baron Welles', print and online 2004
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, Vol. XII, part II, St Catherine Press, 1916, pp. 443-444, viewable on Familysearch
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. IV, pp. 305-310, WELLES 9
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. V, pp. 332-338, WELLES 13
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} T C Banks. Baronia Anglica Concentrate, Vol. I, printed for the author by William Harrison, 1844, pp. 450-451, Internet Archive
6. ↑ Great Britain, J.L. Kirby ed. Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. 21, 6-10 Henry V, 1418-1422, HMSO, 2002, pp. 304-307: Hathi Trust (not viewable in the United Kingdom by Michael Cayley when he revised this profile in December 2022)
7. ↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. VI, St Catherine Press, 1926, p. 564, viewable on Familysearch
8. ↑ W Bruce Bannerman (ed.). The Visitations of Sussex, Harleian Society, 1905, p. 50, Internet Archive
9. ↑ Nicholas Harris Nicolas. Testamenta Vetusta, Vol. I, Nichols and Son, 1826, pp. 272-274, Will of Thomas Hoo, Internet Archive
10. ↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. XII, part I, St Catherine Press, 1953, p. 48, viewable on Familysearch
11. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry VI, A.D. 1461-1467, HMSO, 1897, p. 427, Internet Archive
12. ↑ Calendar of the Close Rolls, Henry VI, A.D. 1422-1429, HMSO, 1933, p. 349, Hathi Trust
13. ↑ W A Shaw. The Knights of England, Vol. I, Sherratt and Hughes, 1906, p. 131, Internet Archive
14. ↑ The National Archives, ref. E 101/540/17, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
15. ↑ The National Archives, ref. SC 8/336/15873, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
16. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry VI, A.D. 1436-1441, HMSO, 1907, p. 140, Internet Archive
17. ↑ Nicholas Harris Nicolas. Testamenta Vetusta, Vol. I, p. 23, Internet Archive
18. ↑ The National Archives, ref. SC 8/117/5840, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
19. ↑ W A Shaw, The Knights of England, Vol. I, p. 13, Internet Archive
20. ↑ George Frederick Beltz. Memorials of the Most Bible Order of the Garter, William Pickering, 1841, p. clxi, Internet Archive
21. ↑ The National Archives, ref. C 140/3/32, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
22. ↑ 'Edward IV: November 1461', in Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, ed. Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry and Rosemary Horrox (Woodbridge, 2005), British History Online, accessed 5 December 2022
23. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry VI, A.D. 1461-1467, p. 184, Internet Archive

See also:

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 60, pp. 168-169, entry for 'Welles, Lionel de', Wikisource
• Wikipedia: Lionel Welles, 6th Baron Welles

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was re-reviewed for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 5 December 2022.

Leo (Welles) de Welles KG appears in trails from Gateway Ancestor Joseph Bolles to Magna Carta Surety Barons William d'Aubigny and Robert de Ros that were project-approved/badged in March 2016. The trails are set out in the Magna Carta Trails section of Thomas Bolles' profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".