Eleanor Percy, Duchess of Buckingham

Eleanor Percy, Duchess of Buckingham (ca. 1474 – 13 February, 1530), also Alianore, was a daughter of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland by his wife Maud Herbert, herself a daughter of the first Earl of Pembroke. She married Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded in 1521 on false charges of plotting to overthrow the king, Henry VIII. As a result, the Buckingham title and estates were forfeited, and her children lost their inheritance.

Biography

She was born about 1474 in Leconfield, Yorkshire. On 14 December, 1490, at about sixteen years of age, Eleanor married Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, who was five years old when his father, the rebellious 2nd Duke of Buckingham, was attainted and executed for high treason. Edward Stafford's mother, Catherine Woodville, went on to marry the first Duke of Bedford and then to Richard Wingfield. Two years after his father's execution, when Henry VII ascended the throne, the attainder was reversed, and the title and estates of Edward's father were restored to him. At seven, Edward became the third Duke of Buckingham and also the ward of King Henry VII's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort.

After Edward's death, Eleanor remarried to John Audley. Her second marriage was childless.

Children

Eleanor bore her husband, Edward Stafford, five children:

1. Mary (b. abt. 1495), married George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny.
2. Elizabeth (b. abt. 1497), married Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.
3. Catherine (b. abt. 1499 – 14 May, 1555), married Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland.
4. Henry (18 September, 1501 – 30 April, 1563), 1st Baron Stafford, married Ursula Pole, daughter of Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury.
5. Margaret (b. abt. 1511 – 25 May, 1537), married firstly to William Cheney and secondly to John Bulmer.

Ancestry

Eleanor Percy, Duchess of Buckingham's ancestors in three generations

Eleanor Percy, Duchess of Buckingham	Father: Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland	Paternal Grandfather: Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland	Paternal Great-grandfather: Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Eleanor Neville, Countess of Northumberland
		Paternal Grandmother: Eleanor Poynings, Countess of Northumberland	Paternal Great-grandfather: Sir Richard Poynings
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Eleanor Berkeley, Countess of Arundel
	Mother: Maud Herbert, Countess of Northumberland	Maternal Grandfather: William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke	Maternal Great-grandfather: Sir William ap Thomas
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam
		Maternal Grandmother: Anne Devereux, Countess of Pembroke	Maternal Great-grandfather: Walter Devereux, Lord Chancellor of Ireland
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Elizabeth Merbury

References

• thepeerage.com Accessed November 21, 2007
• tudorplace.com.ar Accessed November 21, 2007
• familysearch.org Accessed November 21, 2007