Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
and
8th Baron Welles
(died 19 March 1470), was the son of
Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles
, and
Joan Willoughby, 7th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
. He was the prime mover in an uprising against
Edward IV
in 1470, although his actions were possibly orchestrated by
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
.
Family
[
edit
]
Robert Welles was the only son of
Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles
, and
Joan Willoughby
, in her own right Lady Willoughby, the only daughter and heiress of
Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
, by his first wife, Elizabeth Montagu, daughter of
John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury
.
He had an only sister,
Joan Welles, 9th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
, who married
Sir Richard Hastings
.
Career
[
edit
]
Welles was ordered to be arrested with his mother on 11 May 1461. He was a
Justice of the Peace
for
Lincolnshire
from 4 February 1467.
By 1470 discontent with Edward IV's rule had already led to open rebellion under
Robin of Redesdale
, resulting in the deaths of several senior
Yorkists
. The King pardoned the rebels, but there was continuing unrest in
Lincolnshire
. Historian Richard W. Kaeuper argues that the promotion of "parvenu Yorkist loyalists" in the area, and the King's toleration of their violent behaviour and defiance of the law provoked Sir Robert Welles and his father,
Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles
, into resistance to the regime.
[6]
Sir Robert Welles issued a series of proclamations throughout Lincolnshire, calling on men to resist the King who, he claimed, was coming to punish local people for supporting the earlier rebellion of Robin of Redesdale, in breach of the pardon he had given.
[7]
In February 1470 Sir Robert Welles attacked
Gainsborough Old Hall
, the house of
Sir Thomas Burgh
, Edward IV's
Master of Horse
.
This incident is thought by some historians to have been a plot by
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
, to provoke a reaction from Edward IV; however other historians consider it merely a 'private war'. The King summoned Sir Robert Welles' father,
Lord Welles
, and uncle,
Sir Thomas Dymoke
,
to London to account for their actions. Both took
sanctuary
at
Westminster Abbey
, from which they were lured by the promise of a pardon, which was granted on 3 March 1470. By this time Sir Robert Welles had openly declared for Warwick and
George, Duke of Clarence
, and after pardoning Lord Welles and Dymoke, the King kept them under restraint while he marched north to personally suppress the Lincolnshire rebellion.
Sir Robert Welles assumed the style 'Captain of the Commons of Lincolnshire', and on 4 March 1470 mustered forces to resist the King.
Warwick and Clarence sent letters to the King claiming they were raising armies to support him, hoping to use Sir Robert Welles to draw Edward into a trap by bringing their own armies up when the King pursued Welles. Welles pulled back his forces, but refused to lay down his arms, whereupon the King had Lord Welles and Dymoke executed at Queen's Cross in
Stamford
on 12 March 1470. Sir Robert Welles gave battle at
Empingham
at
Losecoat Field
, and was utterly defeated.
He was captured, along with documents proving the complicity of Warwick and Clarence, who were forced to flee the country.
[7]
Welles confessed his treason, naming Warwick and Clarence as the "partners and chief provokers" of the rebellion, and was beheaded on 19 March 1470 at
Doncaster
. On 25 April 1470, the King ordered the seizure of his lands.
After the executions of Sir Robert Welles, his only sister,
Joan Welles
, inherited, according to modern doctrine, the baronies of Willoughby and Welles.
Five years later, both Sir Robert Welles and his father were
attainted
. The Act of Attainder appears to have been passed by Parliament shortly after the death of Sir Robert Welles' only sister, Joan Welles, and according to some historians, its purpose was to enable Edward IV to grant Joan Welles' lands, after her death, to her former husband, 'the trusted
Yorkist
Sir Richard Hastings',
Accordingly, on 23 January 1475, the King granted Hastings a life interest in the greater part of the Welles and Willoughby estates. Moreover, Hastings was summoned to Parliament from 14 November 1482 to 9 December 1483 by writs directed
Ricardo Hastyng de Wellys
, whereby he is held to have become either Lord Hastings of Welles, or Lord Welles.
Under
Henry VII
, the attainders of Sir Robert Welles and his father, as well as the attainder of Sir Robert Welles' uncle of the half blood,
John Welles
, were all reversed by the Parliament of 1485/6. John Welles was still living, and with the reversal of his attainder became Lord Welles. Sir Richard Hastings was thus no longer recognized as Lord Welles. In compensation, however, it was enacted in the same year that Hastings should be entitled, for life, to all the lands which had belonged to Joan Welles' father. Having received this grant, until his death Hastings continued to be styled, and styled himself, Lord Willoughby, to the exclusion of
Christopher Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
, who should have inherited the title.
Marriage
[
edit
]
Sir Robert Welles married Elizabeth Bourchier (d.1470), the daughter of
John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners
, and Margery Berners, daughter and heiress of Richard Berners, esquire.
She survived him by only a few months, and was buried by his side in the church of the
Whitefriars
in
Doncaster
. She left a will dated 2 October 1470.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Kaeuper, Richard W.,
Violence in Medieval Society
, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2000, p.103.
- ^
a
b
John A. Wagner, "Welles Uprising (1470)", Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses, ABC-CLIO, 2001, p.296.
References
[
edit
]
- Burke, John (1831).
A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance
. H. Colburn & R. Bentley.
- Cokayne, G. E. (1926). H. A. Doubleday; Duncan Warrand; Lord Howard de Walden (eds.).
The Complete Peerage, or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times (Gordon to Hustpierpoint)
. Vol. 6 (2nd ed.). London: The St Catherine Press.
- Cokayne, George Edward (1959).
The Complete Peerage, edited by Geoffrey H. White
. Vol. XII, Part II. London: St. Catherine Press.
- Hicks, Michael (2004). "Welles, Leo, sixth Baron Welles (c.1406?1461)".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/28998
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource:
"Welles, Lionel de"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885?1900.
- Jones, Michael K.; Underwood, Malcolm G (1992).
The King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
9780521447942
. Retrieved
7 October
2013
.
- Musson, A.J. (2004). "Dymoke family (per. c.1340?c.1580)".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/42007
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource:
"Dymoke, John"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885?1900.
- Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1826).
Testamenta Vetusta
. Vol. I. London: Nicholas and Son. p. 310
. Retrieved
8 October
2013
.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.).
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families
. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.
ISBN
978-1449966379
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.).
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families
. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.
ISBN
978-1449966386
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.).
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families
. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.
ISBN
978-1460992708
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)