Princess Eleanor of England

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Leicester

She was the youngest child of King John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. At the time of Eleanor's birth at Gloucester, King John's London was in the hands of French forces, John had been forced to sign the Magna Carta and Queen Isabella was in shame. Eleanor never met her father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old.

The only lands loyal to her brother, Henry III of England, were in the Midlands and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who protected the young king Henry, and the French were defeated.

Before William the Marshal died in 1219 Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on 23 April 1224 at New Temple Church in London. The younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on 6 April 1231, days before their seventh anniversary. There were no children of this marriage.

Eleanor had brought a dowry of 10 manors and 200 pounds per year to this marriage. According to the law of the time, widows were allowed to retain one third of the estates of the marriage. However, her brother-in-law Richard took all of the estates and sold many, including her dowry, to pay William's debts. Eleanor strove for many years to try and recover her lost property.

The widowed Eleanor swore a holy oath of chastity in the presence of Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury. Seven years later, she met Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. According to Matthew Paris, Simon was attracted to Eleanor's beauty and elegance as well as her wealth and high birth. They fell in love and married secretly on 7 January 1238 at the King's chapel in Westminster Palace. Her brother King Henry later alleged that he only allowed the marriage because Simon had seduced Eleanor. The marriage was controversial because of the oath Eleanor had sworn several years before to remain chaste. Because of this, Simon made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking papal approval for their union.

Simon and Eleanor had seven children:

Henry de Montfort (November 1238-1265)
Simon the younger de Montfort (April 1240-1271)
Amaury de Montfort, Canon of York (1242/1243-1300)
Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244-1288)
Joanna, born and died in Bordeaux between 1248 and 1251
Richard de Montfort (1252-1281)
Eleanor de Montfort Princess of Wales (1258-1282)

Simon de Montfort had the real power behind the throne, but when he tried to take the throne, he was defeated and killed with his son at the Battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at Montargis Abbey, a nunnery founded by her deceased husband's sister Amicia, who remained there as abbess. There she died on 13 April 1275, and was buried there. She was well treated by Henry, retained her incomes, and her proctors were allowed to pursue her litigation concerning the Leicester inheritance in the English courts; her will and testament were executed without hindrance.

Through her son Guy, Eleanor was an ancestor of Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV.


Buried:
Grave location and portrait:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=92166184

Eleanor married Simon V de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. Simon was born 1208, England; died 04 Aug 1265, Evesham, Worcestershire, England; was buried , Evesham Abbey, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Montfort,_Count_of_Nola

The son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England, daughter of King John of England and Isabele de Angoulême, he participated in the Battle of Evesham against the royalist forces of his uncle, King Henry III of England, and his cousin, Prince Edward. Both his father and elder brother were traumatically killed during the disastrous battle, Guy de Montfort was extremely wounded and captured.

He was held at Windsor Castle until spring 1266, when he bribed his captors and escaped to France to rejoin his exiled family. Guy and his brother, Simon the younger, wandered across Europe for several years, eventually making their way to Italy.

Guy took service with Charles of Anjou, serving as his Vicar-General in Tuscany. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Tagliacozzo and was given Nola and the title of Count by Charles of Anjou.

Guy murdered his cousin Henry of Almain while he clutched the altar at the church of San Silvestro in Viterbo, begging for mercy. "You had no mercy for my father and brothers," was Guy's reply. This murder was carried out in the presence of the Cardinals (who were conducting a papal Election), of King Philip III of France, and of King Charles of Sicily. For this crime the Montfort brothers were excommunicated, and Dante banished Guy to the river of boiling blood in the seventh circle of his Inferno (Canto XII).

Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi and Cardinal Giovanni Orsini were still in Rome and had been ordered to find a secure place of imprisonment in the territories of the Church for Guy de Montfort. Guy was stripped of his titles and took service with Charles of Anjou again, but was captured off the coast of Sicily in 1287 by the Aragonese at the Battle of the Counts. He died in a Sicilian prison.

In Tuscany, he married an Italian noblewoman, Margherita Aldobrandesca, the Lady of Sovana, heiress of a branch of the Aldobrandeschi family, whose lands stretched from the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea to the borders of Acquapendente. With her he had two daughters: Anastasia, who married Romano Orsini, and Tomasina, who married Pietro di Vico.

Among his direct descendants through his daughter, Anastasia are late 15th century Kings of Naples, England's Queen-Consort Elizabeth Woodville, 16th century rulers of Poland, Dukes of Ferrera, and Dukes of Guise.

Guy married Margherita Aldobrandeschi, Countess of Sovana and Pitigliano. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_de_Montfort

She was eldest daughter of Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, himself the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and was an Italian noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. She held the title suo jure Countess of Nola after her father's death in 1291. She also held the titles of Dame de Chailly and Dame de Longjumeau in her own right.

Her father fled England in 1266 after escaping from prison where they had been held following the Battle of Evesham in 1265, where his father and eldest brother, Henry were slain, and he had been captured. Guy eventually arrived in Italy and entered the service of Charles of Anjou who made him Count of Nola and Vicar-general of Tuscany. On 10 August 1270, he married Margherita Aldobrandeschi at Viterbo. Less than a year later, in March 1271, he murdered his cousin Henry of Almain inside San Silvestro church, an act which led to his being excommunicated and stripped of his titles.

He once again took up service with Charles of Anjou and was later captured off the coast of Sicily in 1287 by the Aragonese after the Battle of the Counts. He died in a Sicilian prison in 1291.

Upon his death, Anastasia became the Countess of Nola in her own right. In an effort to retain her lands, Anastasia's mother Margherita Aldobrandeschi married four more times after Guy's death. Her four additional husbands were: Orsello Orsini, Loffredo Caetani, her cousin Guido Aldobrandeschi di Santa Fiora, and Nello de' Pannocchieschi.

Anastasia married Romano Orsini (1268-1327), Senator of Rome and son of Gentile II Orsini, Senator of Rome and Claricia de Ruffo. The marriage had been arranged by Cardinal Napoleon Orsini, who was her mother's guardian. Anastasia, being Margherita's eldest daughter and heiress, eventually brought the rich Aldobrandeschi and Sovana inheritances into the Orsini family.

Together Romano and Anastasia had at least three children:

Roberto Orsini, Count of Nola (1295- 15 January 1345), married Sueva del Balzo, the daughter of Hugues del Balzo, Count of Soleto and Seneschal of Naples, and Jacopa della Marra. Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of Edward IV of England was a descendant of Roberto and Sueva.

Guido Orsini, Count of Pitigliano (died after 1348), married Agostina della Gherardesca, by whom he had children.

Giovanna Orsini, married in 1334 Nicolo Caetani by whom she had children.

Anastasia died on an unknown date, which occurred sometime before her eldest son, Roberto's death on 15 January 1345 as he had succeeded her as Count of Nola. Her husband Romano died in 1327.

Anastasia married Romano (Romanello) Orsini, Royal Vicar of Rome, Count of Soana. Romano (son of Gentile II Orsini, Great Justicer of the Kingdom of Naples and Clarice/Clarissa Ruffo) was born 1268, Italy; died 1327, Italy. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orsini_family

The Orsini family is an Italian noble family; it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome.

Romano (1268-1327), called Romanello, was Royal Vicar of Rome in 1326, and inherited the countship of Soana through his marriage with Anastasia de Montfort, Countess of Nola.

Roberto (1295-1345), married Sibilla del Balzo, daughter of the Great Senechal of the Kingdom of Naples. Among his sons, Giacomo (died 13 August 1379; Dean of Salisbury, Archdeacon of Leicester and Archdeacon of Durham) was created cardinal by Gregory XI in 1371, while Nicola (August 27, 1331-February 14, 1399) obtained the counties of Ariano and Celano. The latter was also Senator of Rome and enlarged the family territories in Lazio and Tuscany.

Roberto married Sibilla del Balzo, de Baux. (daughter of Hugh de Baux, Great Senechal of the Kingdom of Naples) [Group Sheet]