Other Events:

• Hereditary Title: 1387; 4th Lord Poynings [E., 1348]
• Office: March 1410/11; Privy Councillor (P.C.)
• Office: 1413; Commissioner of the peace in Surrey
• Office: 1415; Commissioner of array in Sussex

Notes:

He was summoned to the Great Council to meet at Westminster, 15 August 1401, and to another (probably 1405).

Having proved his age and done homage, he had order for livery of his lands 17 January 1403/4; and the following June, as a knight, app[ointed] attorneys before going abroad.

He was summoned to Parliament presumably from 25 August (1404) 5 Hen. IV, certainly from 21 December (1405) 7 Hen. IV to 13 January (1444/45) 23 Hen. VI.

In June 1409 he was a commissioner to raise money in Somerset.

In January 1419/20 he was a commissioner to raise loans in Sussex and Hants; in April chief supervisor of the muster of men for the fleet at Southampton, and in June chief of the escort to conduct the Duke of Bourbon, the King's prisoner, to the King in France.

In February 1420/21 he served Queen Catherine at her Coronation feast in London.

In July 1423 he fought at Cravant under the Earl of Salisbury.

In February 1423/24 he had a command in the successful expedition for the recovery of Crotoy, at the mouth of the Somme.

He sailed again from Dover in June, and took part in the Duke of Bedford's victory at Verneuil in August 1424.

In July 1437 he was summoned to the funeral of Queen Joan, widow of Henry IV, at Canterbury.

In February 1440/41 he was joint commissioner for payment of the subsidy in Sussex.

Family/Spouse: Hon. Eleanor Grey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Margaret Squery In or before June 1434. Margaret (daughter of Thomas Squery) died on 3 Nov. 1448. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Decoration: by 1423; Knighthood
• Office: 1423; Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Sussex
• Will: 20 July 1428
• Probate: 31 Oct. 1430

Notes:

In October 1428 he was taking musters near Orleans, and was killed there, 10 June 1429.

Will:
His will, dated 20 July 1428, proven 31 October 1430 (P.C.C., Luffenam 14), directs burial before the west door in Poynings churchyard, and mentions three (unnamed) children, evidently two sons and a daughter. See also a will drawn up 13 July, printed in Coll. Top. et Gen., volume iii, page 259.

Probate:
Prerogative Court of Canterbury (P.C.C.), Luffenam 14.

Family/Spouse: Joan Seamer. Joan (daughter of Henry Seamer) died in 1420; was buried in Church of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Eleanor Berkeley. Eleanor (daughter of Sir John Berkeley and Elizabeth Betteshorne) died on 1 Aug. 1455. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"... Robert's life was dominated by his struggle to acquire the Kentish manors of Tirlingham, Newington, Eastwell, and Westwood, which his father had settled on Eleanor (1428–1484), daughter of Robert's elder brother, Richard, and wife of Henry Percy, third earl of Northumberland and, by right of his wife, fifth Baron Poynings. Robert claimed these manors as heir by gavelkind. He also claimed Great Perching in Sussex. In the summer of 1450 he was one of a handful of gentry to join the Cade rebellion, apparently acting as Cade's carver and sword-bearer. He may have been motivated by another feud, this time with his stepbrother, William Crowmer (whose mother had been the fourth Lord Poynings's second wife), over the fourth Lord Poynings's moveables (Crowmer was a particular target of the rebels). Robert did not take out a pardon until 1457, in the meantime suffering outlawry and imprisonment, but this did not prevent him from sitting as MP for Sussex from October 1450 to May 1451. In 1458 he married Elizabeth (1429?–1487/8), daughter of Judge William Paston, with whom he had a son, Edward Poynings, the future lord deputy of Ireland. Robert was killed fighting for the Yorkists at the battle of St Albans on 17 February 1461."

Died:
Slain fighting for the Yorkists at the second Battle of St. Albans

Robert married Elizabeth Paston in 1458. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Hereditary Title: 2 Oct. 1446 – Feb. 1483/84; de jure suo jure (5th) Baroness Poynings [E., 1337 or 1348]

Notes:

She and her husband had licence to enter into her inheritance in November 1446.

Eleanor married Henry (Percy), 3rd Earl of Northumberland On or before 25 June 1435. Henry (son of Henry (Percy), 2nd Earl of Northumberland and Lady Eleanor Neville) was born on 25 July 1421; died on 29 March 1461 in Towton, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Born in the Autumn of 1459, probably at his father's house in Southwark.

Other Events:

• Office: 24 June 1470; Warden of the East and Middle Marches
• Office: 1474; Privy Councillor (P.C.)
• Office: 14 Aug. 1474; Sheriff of Northumberland
• Decoration: 18 Aug. 1474; Knight of the Order of the Garter (K.G.)
• Will: 27 July 1485
• Office: 30 Nov. 1483 – 22 Aug. 1485; Lord Great Chamberlain of England
• Hereditary Title: 25 March 1470 – 28 April 1489; 4th Earl of Northumberland [E., 1377 or 1416]
• Hereditary Title: Feb. 1483/84 – 28 April 1489; Lord Poynings [E., 1337]
• Probate: 9 Aug. 1491

Notes:

When the Earldom of Northumberland was granted to "Sir John Neville of Montagu, Knight," in May 1464, Percy was committed to the Fleet prison, and removed, after September 1465, to the Tower, whence he was discharged 27 October 1469, having done fealty to Edward IV.

In 1467–8 he was in the charge of the Earl of Pembroke, and living in his house.

Following his discharge from the Tower, he appears to have remained in touch with the King until the Earldom was restored to him at York, 25 March 1470.

The following day, as Sir Henry Percy, Kt., he had a grant of the custody of his father's forfeited estates in Yorkshire, Cumberland, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and London. Neville had surrendered his grant so far as it concerned Northumberland, by the King's command, 22 February.

The Earl recovered possession as from 2 March 1469/70 (possibly the date of his coming of age), by the Act reversing his father's attainder, 1472.

He attended a Council at Canterbury in June 1470.

On 24 June 1470, as Henry Percy, son of the late Earl, he was constituted Warden of the East and Middle Marches towards Scotland, three months before Edward IV's flight. He was so constituted by patent dated 17 July; a patent of the following day calls him Earl of Northumberland.

He retained the Wardenship under successive Kings till his death.

He held numerous other official appointments in the North—e.g. Commissioner to treat with the Scots, 1471–73, 1483, 1484, 1488; of array in the Northern counties, 1472; Justice of the Forests North of Trent and constable of Bamborough Castle, 5 June 1471; constable of Dunstanborough and Knaresborough Castles; constable and porter of the castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 5 March 1473/74. By Henry VII he was made bailiff of Tyndale, Northumberland, in 1486.

On his return in 1471, Edward IV, landing in the North, produced a letter, as of summons, from the restored Earl, which eased his progress towards recapture of the throne.

In 1475 he took part in Edward IV's expedition to France.

He was in command at the capture of Berwick, 1482, and made Governor thereof, 1483. His prowess was commended by the Commons in Parliament.

He bore the sword Curtana at the Coronation of Richard III, 7 July 1483.

He deserted Richard III on Bosworth Field.

Office:
"The Earl was made sheriff of Northumberland for life, 14 Aug. 1474, and (by Henry VII) during pleasure, 12 Feb. 1487/8."

Hereditary Title:
"The death of his mother, in Feb. 1483/4, made him, according to modern doctrine, Lord Poynings [1337]."

Died:
"Being employed to levy in the North an unpopular tax and to inquire into disturbances in the city of York, he was murdered by the rabble at his manor house, Cock Lodge, near Topcliffe, Yorks, 28 Apr. 1489, aged about 40 ..."

Henry married Lady Maud Herbert circa 1476. Maud (daughter of William (Herbert), 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Devereux) died before 27 July 1485; was buried in Beverley Minster, Beverley, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]