Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell
Encyclopedia
Francis Lovell, 9th Baron Lovell, 6th Baron Holand, later 1st Viscount Lovell (1454 - after 1488) was an English nobleman. He probably knew the later King Richard III of England
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

 from a young age, and was to become his lifelong friend and staunch ally.

Early life

Francis was the son of John Lovell, 8th Baron Lovell and Joan Beaumont, daughter of John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont
Baron Beaumont
The title of Baron Beaumont is an ancient one in the Peerage of England, created in 1309 for a younger part of the de Brienne-family. The sixth Baron Beaumont was created Viscount Beaumont in 1432; after the death of the 2nd Viscount both titles fell into abeyance...

. When his father died, the nine-year old Francis inherited the titles of Baron Lovell and Baron Holand
Baron Holand
Baron Holand is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created twice, in 1314 and 1353. The first creation was extinguished by attainder and the second is in abeyance.-Barons Holand, First Creation :*Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand...

. He became a ward
Ward (law)
In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...

 of Edward IV of England
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...

, who gave him into the charge of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
Richard Neville KG, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick and suo jure 6th Earl of Salisbury and 8th and 5th Baron Montacute , known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander...

, where Edward's youngest brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

 also spent some time. It was there that the two young men first formed their close association.

In 1466, he married Anne FitzHugh, daughter of Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh
Baron FitzHugh
The title Baron FitzHugh of Ravensworth was created in the Peerage of England in 1321, for Henry FitzHugh. The title passed through the male line until the death of the seventh baron in 1513 when it became abeyant between his great-aunts Alice, Lady Fiennes and Elizabeth, Lady Parr, and their...

. Fitz Hugh had married the Earl of Warwick's sister Alice Neville
Alice Neville
Alice Neville , Baroness FitzHugh of Ravensworth, was the wife of Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh. She is best known for being the great-grandmother of Queen consort Catherine Parr and her siblings, Anne and William, as well as one of the sisters of Warwick the 'Kingmaker'. Her family was one of...

 and supported Warwick's rebellion against Edward IV in 1470. As the pardon issued to Henry, Lord Fitzhugh includes Francis Lovell it can be assumed that Francis lived with his father-in-law at this time. When Edward IV had re-established his rule in 1471, he granted the wardship of Francis Lovell, who was still underage, to his sister Elizabeth
Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk
Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk was the sixth child and third daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville....

 and her husband John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, KG , known as "the Trimming Duke". He was the son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Alice Chaucer, daughter of Thomas Chaucer.-Life:...

.

Upon the death of his paternal grandmother Alice Deincourt in 1474 he inherited a large estate, including the lands of the baronies of Deincourt, Grey of Rotherfield
Baron Grey of Rotherfield
The title of Baron Grey of Rotherfield was created once in the Peerage of England. On 25 August 1338 Sir John de Grey was summoned to parliament, who was invested as Knight, Order of the Garter ten years later...

, and the feudal barony of Bedale
Bedale
Bedale is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Leeds, southwest of Middlesbrough, and south west of the county town of Northallerton...

. He was now one of the wealthiest barons in England not holding an earldom or dukedom.

Follower of Richard III

Lovell became a follower of his friend, Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

, to whom he was also linked through their respective marriages: his wife, Anne FitzHugh was the first cousin of Richard's wife Anne Neville
Anne Neville
Lady Anne Neville was Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward of Westminster and Queen of England as the consort of King Richard III. She held the latter title for less than two years, from 26 June 1483 until her death in March 1485...

. Lovell served as under Richard in the expedition to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 in 1480, and was knighted by Richard for it, the same year. After the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483 he became one of his patron’s strongest supporters. He had been created a viscount
Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...

 on 4 January 1483, and while still Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

 Richard made him Chief Butler and constable of Wallingford Castle
Wallingford Castle
Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire , adjacent to the River Thames...

.

Richard acceded to the throne on 26 June 1483; at his coronation on 6 July 1483, Francis Lovell bore the third sword of state. Lovell was promoted to the office of Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....

, replacing the late William Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG was an English nobleman. A follower of the House of York, he became a close friend and the most important courtier of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain...

, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1483. Lovell helped in the suppression of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG played a major role in Richard III of England's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower...

’s rebellion (1483).

In July 1484, William Collingbourne
William Collingbourne
William Collingbourne was an English landowner and administrator. He was an opponent of King Richard III - corresponding with his enemies and penning a famous lampoon - and was eventually executed for treason.-Family background and marriage:...

, a Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...

 agent, tacked up a lampooning poem to St. Paul's Cathedral, which mentions Lovell, whose family's heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

 symbol was a silver wolf., among the three aides to King Richard, whose emblem was a white boar:
The poem was interpolated into Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

's film Richard III
Richard III (1955 film)
Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...

, a screen adaptation of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's play.

Bosworth and aftermath

In June 1485, Lovell was appointed to guard the south coast to prevent the landing of Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

. However, Henry Tudor landed near Milford Haven avoiding the stronger defenses of the English south coast. While no chronicle account of the battle mentions Lovell, it seems certain that he fought for Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth Field was the penultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians...

 (22 August 1485). Two reports written in the immediate aftermath of the battle list him as among the fallen. After the battle, Lovell fled to sanctuary at Colchester and from there escaped the following year to organise a revolt
Stafford and Lovell Rebellion
The Stafford and Lovell rebellion was the first armed uprising against Henry VII after he won the crown at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The uprising was led by Viscount Lovell and the Stafford brothers, Humphrey and Thomas, and occurred during Eastertime 1486.-Rebellion:The conspirators against...

 in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 that attempted to seize Henry VII. After the failure of this plot, Lovell first joined fellow rebels at Furness Falls and later fled to Margaret of York
Margaret of York
Margaret of York – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of...

 in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

.

As a chief leader of the Yorkist party, Lovell took a prominent part in Lambert Simnel
Lambert Simnel
Lambert Simnel was a pretender to the throne of England. His claim to be the Earl of Warwick in 1487 threatened the newly established reign of King Henry VII .-Early life:...

’s enterprise. With John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, he accompanied the pretender to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and fought for him at the Battle of Stoke Field
Battle of Stoke Field
The Battle of Stoke Field may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was to be the last engagement in which a Lancastrian king faced an army of Yorkist supporters, under the pretender Lambert Simnel...

 on 16 June 1487. He was seen escaping from the battle and seems to have eventually fled to Scotland, where on 19 June 1488 James IV
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

 issued a safe conduct to him. There is no further information about Lovell's fate.

Francis Lovell's wife, Anne Fitzhugh, was granted an annuity of £20 in 1489. She was still alive in 1495; the date of her death is not known.

Later reports about his death

Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...

 relates that according to one report he lived long after in a cave or vault (History of Henry VII, p. 37, ed. Joseph Rawson Lumby).

More than 200 years later, in 1708, the skeleton of a man was found in a secret chamber in the family mansion at Minster Lovell
Minster Lovell
Minster Lovell is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush about west of Witney in Oxfordshire.Minster Lovell village has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New Minster. Old Minster includes St. Kenelm's Parish Church, Minster Lovell Hall and the Old Swan Inn and Minster Mill Hotel...

 in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

 and it was supposed that Lovell had hidden himself there and died of starvation. While this story is very picturesque, it seems unlikely to be true. Francis Lovell had hardly spent any time at Minster Lovell and would not have a faithful servant there who would hide him for years. Additionally, the manor had been granted to Jasper Tudor, Henry Tudor's uncle, and was therefore hardly an appropriate hiding place for Francis Lovell.
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