As the stepdaughter of the Lord Chamberlain, Cecily would have been no stranger to court life. No doubt Hastings regaled them with tales of the goings-on at court during his visits home and Cecily may even have visited along with her mother when the occasion arose, perhaps for the Christmas festivities or to attend the christenings of the royal children. The king and queen had ten children together between the years of 1466 and 1480. But now that that she was the wife of the king’s stepson, Cecily was moving even closer to the inner circles of the royal family. Her marriage contract to Thomas Grey was dated 18 July 1474 and their required dispensation (due to their joint descendance from one Reginald Grey), was received 5th September 1474.1 Their wedding ceremony would certainly have befitted that of the stepson of the king and no doubt both the king and queen would have attended this lavish affair. After the nuptials, Cecily would have said goodbye to her homes at Kirby and Ashby and the other Hastings properties she had resided in, as well as a fond farewell to her mother and gone to join her husband, possibly in rooms at court initially; she was fourteen or fifteen and he was around the age of nineteen.
Cecily’s grandmother, Elizabeth Bonville, whom she had been so close to as a child, had died three years previously in 1471 so had not lived to see the young girl she was so fond of reach a marriageable age. At the time of her marriage Cecily was still not quite old enough to inherit her childhood home; that would come to her just under a year later when on 12th April 1475, she was finally in receipt of her family estates. This may point to an actual birth date of around early 1459 for Cecily as she would have been sixteen when she received her inheritance. Eleven days later Thomas and Cecily received licence to enter her lands. It was now time for them to make a home for themselves and any children they may have together.2
1475 was to be a busy year for the couple and this was also the year that Thomas received the title that he would become synonymous with throughout history. Upon surrendering his earlier title of Earl of Huntingdon which he had been awarded on 14th August 1471, he was given a far greater honour when on 18th April 1475 the king bestowed upon him the title of Marquis of Dorset. Cecily as his wife would now become the Marchioness of Dorset.3
This honour perhaps illustrates that a real fondness existed between the king and his stepson. As Marquis, he now took precedence over most of the court; the title of Marquis being just one step down from Duke, and there were only seven Dukes in existence at that time, including the king’s two brothers: George, Duke of Clarence and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. As well as a new title, Thomas also received a knighthood alongside his brother, Richard Grey and his uncle, Edward Woodville. All three were made Knights of the Bath in honour of the young Prince Edward, during his investiture as Prince of Wales. Two weeks after this Thomas, or Dorset as he would become known, was also admitted to Edward’s precious Order of the Garter.4
Prince Edward, as the new Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, was sent to reside at Ludlow Castle, in the Welsh Marshes, a property owned by the Crown and away from the bustle and dangers of London. He was established here in his own household that aimed to prepare him for future kingship, and both Dorset and his brother Richard were known to have spent some of their time there with him. As his wife, Cecily may also have paid a visit to this imposing castle with her husband. Built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Teme, Ludlow Castle would also become the home of future heirs to the throne and in the next generation would house the young Arthur Tudor and his new bride Katherine of Aragon, before Arthur’s tragic death.
The spring of 1475 was also the chosen year for a new French campaign. King Edward, following in the footsteps of kings who had come before him, raised an army to cross the channel to invade France, their aim once again to conquer and reclaim French lands. On 1st of May a proclamation was made requesting ‘all the lordes and capitaignes’ to muster at Portsdown in the county of Southampton. Towards the end of the month, on the 26th May, John Lord Dynham, by letters patent dated the 15th of April, was appointed to conduct the army across the sea. The king had left London on the 4th of May and proceeded towards the coast through the county of Kent. On the 6th and 10th he was at Canterbury, and on the 20th at Sandwich, where on that day he made his Will. After a small delay, the king and his army crossed the channel on the 4th of July. In his retinue, amongst others, were his two brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, William Hastings and Dorset.
Upon landing at Calais, the king was met by his sister the Duchess of Burgundy and her husband, the Duke. Margaret had left England after her marriage to the Duke of Burgundy in 1468. The party travelled together to the castle of Guisnes and spent some time together there. The aim of the French trip had been war, but much to the disappointment of some of his army who had been geared up to fight, the expedition did not go quite as planned. Instead of being the conquering force they had set out to be, Edward accepted a pay-off from his French counterpart, King Louis. The treaty between Louis and Edward was concluded on the 13th of August whilst Edward and his men were camped out ‘in his felde beside a village called Seyntre, within Vermondose, a litell from Peronne’.5 16,000 crowns were made available to be offered in pensions to some of those in attendance, and Hastings certainly benefitted, being promised 2000 crowns a-year. Many of the other men also received money and plate that was distributed among the rest of the king’s retinue and Dorset was also no doubt one of those financially rewarded. Louis and Edward agreed that the truce would last for nine years and upon his departure Edward agreed to leave behind a few of his men as ‘hostages’, to be released once he had returned to England’s shores. The king and his men returned to England somewhat richer, but some, including the king’s younger brother, Gloucester, were disappointed not to be returning as the victors they had set out to be.
Left behind in England while her new husband travelled to France with the king, Cecily was forming grand plans to renovate her beloved old manor at Shute and make it into a home for her and her family. It may have been whilst Dorset was on campaign in France that she first travelled back to her childhood home, with plans for him to join her on his return. It is possible that she visited there during her younger years to visit Elizabeth, but it must have been with a great excitement and an optimism for the future that she made her first journey back as the Lady of the Manor. Despite the fact that she had suffered such family losses here as a young child, and that she had left it as a toddler, it clearly illustrates her genuine connection to Devon and Shute in particular. She held a real affection for her place of birth and it was to here she chose to return and start her family.
The manor house at Shute where Cecily had been born had lost none of its appeal and as she approached for the first time as its owner, Cecily cannot have failed to appreciate its beauty. Leland, recording in his itinerary in the sixteenth century, wrote of Shute: ‘I saw from an hille Shoute, a right goodly maner place, a mile of on an hille side of the Lorde Marquise of Dorsete, and by it a goodly large park’.6
Now that she had come into her inheritance, Cecily and Dorset were now vast landowners. An inventory of her lands taken in 1525 by Richard Phellyps, her surveyor, of her properties in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire records 79 ‘manors’, some of which were tenements or plots of land, comprising around 30,000 acres and with a rental amount of £1000, which equates to approximately £700,000 in today’s currency. She also owned property in several other counties as well as in London as part of her huge legacy. Much of this property was rented out but some would have been available for Cecily and Dorset to occupy7, including the nearby Wiscombe Park in Devon, which would become another of their favoured properties. But seemingly it was Shute that they wished to make their primary residence, although the couple would and did travel backwards and forwards to court and between their other houses. Medieval households of the richer classes were much more peripatetic than in later periods, and when leaving one property for another, all their household goods would be loaded up onto carts, with children and servants riding on horseback or carried in litters. This afforded families the luxury of being able to travel around the country and also allowed thorough cleaning of the properties whilst the Lord and Lady were absent.
By 1476, Cecily had certainly returned to court to witness her husband take part in the annual St George’s day ceremony at Windsor. On the day of the ceremony, which was a Sunday, the king and his knights rode together to Matins, before breakfasting together with the Dean, Bishop Beauchamp. Later they attended High Mass together. Cecily was present at the ceremony to watch her husband take his position as a new Garter knight, alongside the king and queen, and their eldest daughter – the Princess Elizabeth. Also present amongst the ladies was the Duchess of Suffolk (the king’s sister) and Anne Hastings. The ladies gathered to watch the proceedings from seats in the rood loft.8 The following day the king and knights went in procession to the chapter house and the choir where each stood in front of his stool.
Another significant event in the life of the royal family also took place that year when King Edward and his brothers arranged the reburial of Edward’s father, the Duke of York. As the Nevilles had done some thirteen years previous with the Earl of Salisbury, Edward and his brothers wanted to lay their father to rest with the dignity he deserved. Firmly now established on his throne, Edward was able to give the matter his full attention and threw his finances into this act of honouring his father and brother, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, who had been killed alongside his father. Both has been hastily buried in Pontefract after their deaths at the battle of Wakefield and the family wanted to bring their bodies home to the family mausoleum at Fotheringhay. This hugely personal and important event to the king and his family took place in July of that year, when Edward’s younger brother, Gloucester, arrived in Pontefract to escort the cortege from St John’s priory on its journey south to its final resting place. The coffins, covered in rich palls of cloth-of-gold, were placed upon carriages pulled by teams of black horses. Accompanying the solemn procession were four hundred ‘poor men’ carrying torches, their black hoods up over their heads. All along the route nightly vigils were held at each pre-arranged resting place.
The cortege arrived at the churchyard in Fotheringhay at midday on 29th July, to be greeted by Edward dressed in a blue robe, the royal colour of mourning, flanked by his two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, the latter who had ridden ahead for the last part of the journey so he could be there with his brothers to meet the procession. Many of their closest friends and family were present to repay their respects. Dorset certainly was and it is likely that Cecily may very well have been there with him. The funeral service was held the following day, followed by a lavish feast where up to two thousand guests dined in canvas pavilions erected especially for the occasion in neighbouring fields.9
Perhaps then returning to Shute manor, Cecily and Dorset began their extensive alterations to the manor house. Rather than change the existing building, the couple planned to build a new mansion house onto the north side of the old manor. This task would take them several years and their new extension included, amongst other things, an oratory, and a beautifully designed solar with mullioned windows overlooking formal gardens and the Devonshire countryside to the south-east. The solar offered the utmost privacy, with the only entrance into the room from a hexagonal old turret. This solar would become the private apartment for the Dorsets when they were in residence.
A year later, in 1477, Cecily gave birth to a son whom they named Thomas after his father. He was born at Shute in 1477 and his birth was considered notable enough to be mentioned by John Paston in a letter written on 23rd June 1477: ‘Tydyngs butt that yisterdaye my Lady Marqueys off Dorset, whych is my Lady Hastyngs dowtr, hadyd chylde a sone’.10
Things seemed to be going well for the young married couple. The birth of a son and heir would have been an occasion for celebration, and they would have had great optimism for more sons to follow. The troubles in England also seemed to be fading into the past. By the mid-1470s, the wars of the 1460s and the temporary hiatus in Edward’s reign in early 1470/1 were disappearing into the annals of history. By 1477 Edward was now seemingly secure on the throne of England and the king and queen also had a growing family, providing Dorset with five half-sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, Cecily, Margaret and Anne and two half-brothers, Edward and Richard.
With Warwick dead, Edward’s wayward brother Clarence had come back into the fold. Settling into family life with his wife, Isabel, they now had two young children and he spent more of his time away from court and with his young family. The brother’s show of unity at the reburial of their father portrayed a sign of harmony – that all was well. But behind the scenes trouble was once again looming. In late 1476 Clarence’s wife, Isabel, died shortly after giving birth. The grieving Duke, looking for someone to blame, cited witchcraft, accusing one of his wife’s servants, Ankarette Twynyho of poisoning his wife. Much to the horror of her family, Clarence had her arrested and summarily executed immediately after a trial, during which he heavily influenced the jurors to pronounce a guilty verdict. Her family complained to the king and Edward once again attempted to reel in his unruly brother.
But Clarence’s destructive behaviour only accelerated. In a move perhaps designed to antagonise the king, Clarence began to seek a new wife; his bride of choice was Mary of Burgundy, the stepdaughter of his sister, Margaret. Edward once again refused to allow his brother to get his way and Clarence received the news with ill grace and left court, refusing to dine with the king and queen, whilst making bizarre accusations that the queen’s family were trying to poison him.
The disruptive chain of events continued when three men were arrested, accused of plotting Edward’s death. One of the accused was a close associate of Clarence, and all three were found guilty at trial, with two out of the three being executed for treason. This should have been a warning to Clarence, but he ignored it. Instead, he aligned himself with a notorious Lancastrian preacher and burst into Parliament to protest the innocence of the condemned men, whilst at the same time taking verbal pot-shots at the king and disrespecting the queen and her family. Edward could not let this continue and in the summer of 1477 found himself with little choice but to arrest his troublesome brother.
Clarence was put on trial for treason and Edward elected to personally question his brother. With the two pitted against each other the Croyland Chronicle reported that ‘no one spoke against the Duke but the king, and no one answered but the Duke’. Clarence was convicted and despite desperate pleas for clemency by their mother, on 18th February 1478, George Duke of Clarence, was put to death in the most infamous of executions, reportedly having been given the freedom of choosing his own manner of death, he elected to be drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine.
These were dramatic events as they played out and although the king perhaps had little choice in the actions he took, it was an ugly chapter in his reign and one that undeniably must have caused waves between the king’s relatives and friends. Their younger brother, Richard of Gloucester, one of, if not the most loyal supporters of the king was said to be hugely upset at this turn of events and appeared less at court in the following months and years. Dorset, however, did well out of Clarence’s death. He received stewardships that had once belonged to Clarence and two years later, in 1480, he was granted the wardship and marriage of the Duke’s son, Edward, the new young Earl of Warwick, for which he paid £2000. This allowed him to profit from the Earl’s lands until he came of age. If the Earl died, Dorset would also be guaranteed the wardship and marriage of Margaret, Clarence and Isabel’s daughter, who would have inherited the Warwick estates upon the death of her brother.
The young Earl of Warwick would have been taken to live with the Dorsets and during the next few years, their own family would also grow. No exact birth dates have been recorded for their children, but by the time of the young Earl of Warwick’s arrival in 1480, they had likely had their second son, another boy whom they named Richard (perhaps as a tribute to Richard Grey, Dorset’s brother). Occupied with the renovations at Shute, and two young children in the nursery and a young ward to look after, Cecily and Dorset had their hands full.
In late 1477, early 1478, Dorset had once again returned to London for the wedding of his young half-brother, Richard, the king and queen’s second son, to Anne Mowbray, the only daughter of John Duke of Norfolk. The young prince was just four years old and his bride to be only five or six. Like Cecily, Anne Mowbray was the sole heiress of a vast inheritance that came to her upon the death of her father. The marriage took place on Thursday 15th January 1478 in Saint Stephen’s chapel, in the palace of Westminster. The occasion was another cause for celebration for the royal family and the festivities had been weeks in the planning.
On 10th December 1477, a few weeks before the wedding, a proclamation had been made by six gentleman challengers, announcing a grand joust to follow the wedding celebrations. The announcements detailing the jousts were placed in three spots around London, the first, at the gate of the King’s Palace (presumably Westminster), the second in Cheapside and the third upon London Bridge. Amongst the challengers were Dorset, his brother Richard Grey and Sir Edward Woodville (the queen’s brother).
The wedding rehearsals took place on the 14th January in the king’s chamber at Westminster, in the presence of ‘many great estates and degrees, Dukes and earles, and barons, and with great abundance of ladies and gentlewomen’.11 Cecily may well have been part of this group of ladies. The following day, 15th January, Anne was led out of the queen’s chamber at Westminster, through the king’s great chamber and into the White Hall, before entering St Stephen’s chapel. The chapel had been richly decorated for the occasion and under a canopy made of cloth of gold, the king, the queen, and the little prince stood waiting to receive her. Also waiting there was the king’s mother and the three eldest York Princesses – Elizabeth, Mary and Cecily. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Norwich and the ceremony was followed by spices and wine, as was the custom.
After the ceremony, the wedding party proceeded to the grand feast, which was attended by the Duchess of Norfolk, Anne’s mother, and many other members of the nobility. Dorset was seated at the first side table, and presumably Cecily was with him, although not necessarily seated by him. So many people had been invited to the celebrations that the recorder of the event wrote that the ‘presse was soe great that I might not see to write the names of them that served; the abundance of the noble people were so innumerable’.12
A week later, the planned jousts in celebration of the newly married couple took place at Westminster. Dorset was the first to enter the lists, although the grandest entrance was made by Anthony, Earl Rivers, the queen’s brother, who appeared in the house of a Hermit, which was walled and covered with black velvet. In stark contrast, the Earl was appropriately dressed in the habit of a White Hermit. As he exited the hermitage, his servants pulled the habit from him as rehearsed and he proceeded on his horse to enter the tournaments. Dorset it seems was evenly matched in the jousting against Sir William Trussell, with both parties breaking two spears each out of their six courses.
Spectators of the jousts included the king and queen and their children, as well as many other Dukes, earls, ladies and gentlewomen. The Ambassadors of France, Scotland, Burgoyne, and Almaine were also in attendance. Cecily once again was highly likely to have been one of the ladies. Once the jousting had ending, Anne Mowbray, the Princess of the feast withdrew ‘with all estates of ladyes and gentlewomen, to the king’s great chamber in Westminster, where there her Minstrells, and all ladyes, and gentlewomen, lords, knights, and esquires, to dancinge; and soe passed the tyme for a space’.13
Cecily and Dorset were back at court once again in 1480 at the christening of what was, unbeknownst to them, the king and queen’s last child. Princess Bridget was born on 10th November 1480 at the palace of Eltham and the christening was held the next day. As was the custom the king and queen did not attend the christening, so it was left to family members to accompany the new-born to her first official engagement. Dorset, as the new infant’s half-brother, assisted the Countess of Richmond, Margaret Beaufort, in carrying the Princess into the chapel. Her paternal grandmother, Cecily Neville and Bridget’s eldest sister, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth of York, were godmothers at the baptismal font and one of the queen’s sisters, Margaret (Lady Maltravers), was also honoured as godmother to the confirmation.
In the twentieth year of the reign of King Edward IV on St. Martin’s Eve was born the Lady Bridget, and christened on the morning of St. Martin’s Day in the Chapel of Eltham, by the Bishop of Chichester in order as ensueth:
First a hundred torches borne by knights, esquires, and other honest persons.
The Lord Maltravers, bearing the basin, having a towel about his neck.
The Earl of Northumberland bearing a taper not lit.
The Earl of Lincoln the salt.
The canopy borne by three knights and a baron.
My lady Maltravers did bear a rich crysom pinned over her left breast.
The Countess of Richmond did bear the princess.
My lord Marquess Dorset assisted her.
My lady the king’s mother, and my lady Elizabeth, were godmothers at the font.
And when the said princess was christened, a squire held the basins to the gossips [the godmothers], and even by the font my Lady Maltravers was godmother to the confirmation.
Cecily Dorset would almost certainly have been there alongside her husband, unless of course she too was in confinement around this time. Their sons, Thomas and Richard, were followed by another brother, John and their first daughter, Eleanor, who were both born sometime before 1481. As well as the ever-expanding nursery, the Dorset household would also have consisted of around 50-100 servants including Cecily’s lady attendants, the children’s nurses, a chaplain, and stewards. Another young ward had also joined the household by this point, a young girl named Joan Durnford. Joan was the heiress of the Durnford family, a powerful Devon family who owned vast amounts of land around Plymouth and Stonehouse, and who would in her later years marry Sir Piers Edgecumbe in 1493, joining her fortunes with that of the large Edgecumbe estates.14
Although Dorset was riding high in the esteem of the king and the couple were very much part of court life, little is heard directly of Cecily in the few years after her marriage. Presumably, she spent much of her time at Shute, supervising the renovations and raising her ever-growing family. We can, however, catch a glimpse of Cecily in the spring of 1482 when she spent some time with her cousin Anne at Taunton.
Her cousin Anne was the daughter of John Neville, the Marquis of Montagu and the third wife of Sir William Stonor. Letters detailing the life and activities of the Stonor family up to 1483 (at which date Sir John was attainted and his papers seized and held by the crown) are still extant today and held in the National Archives. They offer an intriguing glimpse into life in the 13th to 15th centuries.
Anne was newly married to William, when on 27th February 1482 she wrote to him from Taunton.
Syr, I recomaund me unto you in my most h[ert]y wise, right joyfull to here of yowre helthe: liketh you to knowe, at þe writyng of þis bill I was in good helthe, thynkyng long sith I saw you, and if I had knowen þat I shold hav ben this long tyme from you I wold have be moche lother then I was to have comyn into this ferre Countrey. But I trust it shall not be long or I shall see you here, and else I wold be sorye on good feith. Syr, I am moche byholdyng to my lady, for she maketh right moche of me, and to all the company, officers and other. I have early trust uppon your comyng unto þe tyme of thassise, and else I wold have send Herry Tye to you long or þis tyme. I have delyvered a bill to Herry Tye of suche gownes as I wold have for þis Ester. And I beseche oure blessed lord preserve you. From the Castell of Taunton þe xxvij day of Februarer.
Your new wyf Anne Stonor15
The ‘my lady’ she refers to is Cecily and the two women were in each other’s company at Taunton Castle, a residence that was part of Cecily’s inheritance. The castle had been originally built by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester in the 12th century and Lord William Bonville had been besieged in his castle of Taunton in 1449 by the Earl of Devon. The manor and castle of Taunton came to his widow Elizabeth after his death and therefore formed part of Cecily’s inheritance.16
Later in May the two ladies moved on to Dartington Castle. On 15th May, just before the ladies were set to depart, a Stonor family servant, John Payne, wrote to his master, informing him the women were now leaving for Dartington ‘for my lady and all the household shall hastily to Dartington, and here remain a season’. He signs the letter ‘One of your servants, John Payne, with My Lord Marquis’, so it seems Dorset may well have been with the ladies at the time.
The manor of Dartington, where the ladies were hastily departing to, belonged to the Crown. Gifted by King Richard II to his half-brother, John Holland Duke of Exeter, who resided at Dartington and is said to have built most of the mansion and the great hall. It passed down through the family to Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, who married the king’s sister, Anne of York. Exeter hated his father-in-law the Duke of York and his marriage was an unhappy one. He sided with the Lancastrians during the troubles, fleeing into exile with Margaret of Anjou. Anne of York divorced him, and he was attainted by Edward IV, with the manor reverting to the crown.17
From these letters we can see that even after her marriage into the royal circles, Cecily still maintained relationships with her mother’s side of the family. Cecily may well have been pregnant during some of this time period as following on from Eleanor’s birth which may even have fallen in 1482, a fourth son, Anthony, had joined their ever-growing brood by 1483. Cecily would have been living the life of a typical high-born lady of her time. With fairly regular pregnancies, perhaps we can read into that that she enjoyed a close relationship with her husband and with hope and optimism for the future, and a broader peace in the land, life was seemingly going well. But then in 1483 everything changed, when King Edward died, and the country was once again thrown into turmoil.