Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/87

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ABERGAVENNY
COMPLETE PEERAGE
37

seat, precedency and pre-eminence of the Barons Le Despencer, anciently was, and is and ought to be before and above that of the Barons of Bergavenny," i.e. that a Barony cr. by writ of 1264, was entitled to the precedence of one, which, if by tenure, must have been long before that date, "for the territory of Bergavenny undoubtedly existed in the hands of tenants in chief of the Crown, before (1264) 49 Hen. III and, of persons who were certainly esteemed Barons of the Realm." (Report of the Lords Committees on the Dignity of a Peer, vol. i, p. 440.). Unless we accept the theory that this writ was incidental either (i) to a Patent (hitherto undiscovered) of this date, or (ii) to the tenure of the Castle, it must (according to all modern Peerage law) have cr. a Barony in fee, and one de novo of the date of 1604. He m. Rachel, 3rd da. of John Lennard, of Knole, near Chevening, Kent, by Elizabeth, da. of William Harman, of Ellam, in Crayford, in that co. She was bur. 15 Oct. 1616, at Birling, Kent. He d. at his house in Great St. Bartholomew's, London, 1, and was bur. 3 Dec. 1622, at Birling afsd. Will dat. 19 Jan. 1618/9 to 24 Nov. 1622, pr. 2 Dec. 1622.

IX. 1622. 9 or 2. Henry (Nevill), Lord Bergavenny, s. and h., b. before 1580. M.A. Oxford (incorp. from Cambridge) 9 July 1594. He was first sum. to the Parl. which met 12 Feb. 1623/4, and last to the "Long" Parl., which met 3 Nov. 1640. An intermediate writ, however, to the Parl. that met, 20 Jan. 1628/9, is directed (doubtless in error), "Johanni Nevill de Abergavenny." He m., 1stly, before 1601, Mary, da. of Thomas (Sackville), 1st Earl of Dorset, Lord Treasurer of England, by Cecily, da. of Sir John Baker, of Sisinghurst, Kent. He m., 2ndly, before 1616, Catharine, yst. da. of George Vaux, by Elizabeth, da. of John (Roper), 1st Lord Teynham, which George was s. and h. ap. of William, 3rd Lord Vaux of Harrowden. He was bur. 24 Dec. 1641, at Birling. His widow, who was under 12 in 1604, was bur. there 10 July 1649.
X. 1641. 10, 3, or 1. John (Nevill), Lord Bergavenny, 1st surv. s. and h. male,[1] being 1st s. by 2nd wife. He was 8 years old in 1622. He appears to have sat in Parl.,[2] his name being among those sum. 8 May (1661) 13 Car. II. He m. Elizabeth, da.

    case of Dacre, the support even of a Royal edict declaring the limitation to be to heirs male), is not to be similarly interpreted. For a list of persons sum. in the name of, and anomalously granted the precedency of, an ancient Barony to which they were not entitled by descent, see Appendix D in this volume.

  1. His elder br. (of the half blood), Sir Thomas Nevill, K.B., d. v.p., and was bur. at Birling, 7 May 1628, leaving two sons (both of whom d. unm., one in 1637 and the other in 1639) and one da., viz., Margaret, m. Thomas Brooke of Madeley, Salop, who was aged 49 in 1663, when their grandson and h. ap., Basil Brooke, was aged 4 years. See Visit, of co. Stafford, 1663. Among their numerous descendants would vest any Barony in fee possessed by Edward Nevill, sum. by writ in 1604 as Lord Bergavenny.—See pedigree, p. 41.
  2. In Dugdale's Summons it is written in this case "Abergavenny," but in the next (1685) as bergavenny.