William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG (c. 1431 – 13 June 1483) 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. He was executed on the charge of treason by Edward's brother and ultimate successor, Richard III.
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[edit] Life
Hastings' father was Sir Leonard Hastings, a member of the English gentry who moved his seat to Leicestershire from Yorkshire where the family had long been established. His mother was Alice Camoys, daughter of the Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys, by his second wife Lady Elizabeth Mortimer, widow of Henry "Hotspur" Percy and daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster, daughter of Lionel of Antwerp, second son of Edward III of England.
Hastings succeeded his father in service to the House of York and through this service became close to his distant cousin the future Edward IV, whom he was to serve loyally all his life. He was High Sheriff of Warwickshire and High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1455.
He fought with Edward at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross and was present at the proclamation of Edward as king in London on 4 March 1461 and then when the new king secured his crown at the Battle of Towton shortly thereafter. He was knighted on the field of battle. With the establishment of the Yorkist regime, Hastings became one of the key figures in the realm, most importantly as Lord Chamberlain, an office he held for the duration of the reign and which made him one of the most important means of access to the king. He was also created Baron Hastings, a title reinforced by grants of land and office, primarily in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. In 1462 he was invested as a Knight of the Garter. In 1474, he was awarded royal licence to fortify three houses in Leicestershire, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Kirby, and at Bagworth.
His importance in these years is recorded in a number of sources and was recognized by the greatest peer in the realm, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who gave Hastings his widowed sister Katherine Neville, Baroness Hastings in marriage. Katherine's first husband William Bonville, 6th Baron of Harington had been killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 31 December 1460, leaving her with a six-month old daughter, Cecily Bonville, who succeeded to the Bonville titles and estates. Hastings and Katharine had three surviving sons, including Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings who married Margaret Hungerford, heiress, and a daughter Anne Hastings, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1471–1520), who married George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury (1468–1538).
Despite this matrimonial relationship with the Nevilles, when Warwick drove Edward IV into exile in 1470, Hastings went with Edward and accompanied the king back the following spring. Hastings raised troops for Edward in the English Midlands and served as one of the captains of the Yorkist forces at both Barnet and Tewkesbury.
His service, loyalty and ability, along with the fall of his Neville in-laws, meant that Hastings was an even more important figure during the second half of Edward IV's reign. He continued to serve as chamberlain and was also appointed to be lieutenant of Calais, which made him an important player in foreign affairs, and he was given authority over an increasingly large section of the English Midlands. At court, he was involved in two lengthy feuds with members of Queen Elizabeth Woodville's family, most notably with her son Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset.
After the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483, Hastings proved a key figure in checking the dowager queen's attempt to monopolize political power for her family by appointing family members of key positions and rushing the coronation of her young son, Edward V as king, thereby circumventing Richard, Duke of Gloucester, whom the late king had appointed Lord Protector. Hastings, while keeping the Woodville's action at check in London, informed Richard of the proceedings and asked him to hasten to London. Richard intercepted the young king, who also was on his way to London, whom his Woodville relatives. Hastings then supported Richard's formal installation as Lord Protector and collaborated with him in the royal council.
Affairs changed dramatically on 13 June 1483 during a council meeting at the Tower of London: Richard, supported by the Duke of Buckingham, accused Hastings and other council members, of having conspired against his life with the Woodvilles, with Hastings's mistress Jane Shore (formerly also mistress to Edward IV and Dorset), acting as a go-between. While other alleged conspirators were imprisoned, Hastings was immediately beheaded in the courtyard.
The execution of the popular Hastings was controversial among contemporaries and has been interpreted differently by historians and other authors: while the traditional account, harking back to authors of the Tudor period including William Shakespeare, considered the conspiracy charge invented and merely a ploy to remove Hastings, who was too formidable an obstacle to Richard's royal ambitions,[1] others have been more open to the possibility of such a conspiracy and that Richard merely reacted to secure his position.[2] Some authors conceded the possibility of a conspiracy, but think it the result of Richard's grasp for the throne.
Richard did not issue an attainder against Hastings and his family. Hence his wife and sons were allowed to inherit his lands and properties; Hastings himself was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, next to Edward IV.
[edit] In literature
He is portrayed in Shakespeare's play, Richard III.
[edit] Further reading
- Seward, Desmond. A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses (Robinson, 1995)
- Ross, Charles. Edward IV (Berkeley, 1974)
- Ross, Charles. Richard III (1981)
- Carpenter, Christine. The Wars of the Roses (Cambridge, 1997)
- Horrox, Rosemary. Richard III : a study of service (Cambridge, 1989)
- Dunham, William Huse. Lord Hastings' indentured retainers, 1461-1483 (New Haven, 1955)
- Kendall, Paul Murray, Richard III, London, Allen & Unwin (1955)
He is also a character in the historical fiction novel Pilliars of the Earth by Ken Follet.
[edit] References
- ^ For instance, Alison Weir, The Princes in the Tower, London: Random House, 1992.
- ^ For instance, Paul Murray Kendall, Richard III.
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by new creation |
Baron Hastings 1461–1483 |
Succeeded by Edward Hastings |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury |
Lord Chamberlain 1461-1470 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by |
Lord Chamberlain 1471-1483 |
Succeeded by Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell |
