Person:William Cary (6)

Biography

Sir William Cary was born on 12 August, 1437. He was the son and heir of Philip Cary, of Cockington in Devon.

« Philip Cary of Cockington (1400?-1437), of the ninth generation, has left a brief record. He appears in history only for a moment as knight of the shire for Devon in the Parliament of 1433. There was a Cary admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1423; he may have been that one. He was a contemporary of Jeanne d'Arc and in Parliament voted confidence in the Duke of Bedford who had approved the sentence by which the Pucelle was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. During 1422 Philip Cary married Cristina, daughter and ultimately heiress of William Orchard, of the Somerset family of that ilk, and died on "Sunday, the feast of S. Tecla the Virgin," 1437,* leaving a son and heir who was to achieve the second attainder in the family. »

[* Inq. p.m., 16 Hen. VI, c. 53. In the Visitation of 1620 he is entered as "Sir Philip Cary, Knight," but this is not borne out by the record of the inquisition on his death, which describes him simply as armiger.]

The quotation above comes from the 'Devon Carys', Volume I,^S1 by Fairfax Harrison (1869-1938) - at the end of its Chapter VI (pp.119-121). And he devotes the whole of the next Chapter VII (pp.122-143) to the life of Sir William Cary (1437-1471), of Cockington. Following are some excerpts from that chapter, without the footnotes (except for four). I have have added some notes or comments in italics.

« Sir William Cary of Cockington (1437-1471), son of Philip Cary, is the first of his family who has left exact evidence of the date of his birth, and for good measure there are three proofs that he was born on August 12, 1437.* [* Inq. p.m., 16 Hen. VI (1438), c. 53, on the death of his father; 27 Hen. VI (1448), c. 23, on the death of his grandfather's widow; and 35 Hen. VI (1458), c. 30, when he himself came of age.] ...

At some time prior to his majority he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Paulet of Hinton St. George, co. Somerset, and there at his maternal grandfather's house his eldest son was born. His wife may have died in childbirth, but at all events she was dead in 1458, when it appears that William Cary had already married his second wife Alice daughter of Sir Baldwin Fulford of Fulford Magna, and Elizabeth Bosun, his wife. He was knighted also soon after his majority, for there still exists a lease dated October 2, 1462, in which he is described as "Sir William Cary, Knight," and so he appears henceforth in all documents in which he is named.

It is evident that he was already launched on the stormy sea of politics which was to bear him to his ruin. He risked his all for the House of Lancaster at the very beginning of the Wars of the Roses. ...

––[ Here Fairfax Harrison goes into his motives for doing so. ]

... But whatever the motive, when civil war came we find Sir William Cary an active liegeman of the Red Rose.

Margaret of Anjou came to England and was crowned queen of Henry VI in 1445. At an early age—how early we do not know—William Cary became a member of her household. Perhaps he was a page. His introduction to court was apparently due to the patronage of Edmund Beaufort, second Duke of Somerset, the nearest male relative of Henry VI and head of the junior branch of the House of Lancaster, whom we meet in the Temple Garden at the famous quarrel with Richard Plantagenet, in which the red and the white roses were plucked as symbols of the parties in the civil wars then imminent."

And so William Cary grew from boyhood to maturity in the very midst of the stirring and confused events which led to the Wars of the Roses; ...

... [ cont'd on p.131 ]

Margaret, plotting from the centre of the Lancastrian web in France, started in the spring of 1464 a new revolt against the now established power of York. Percy was to summon his lieges in the north, Somerset in the west; they were to join forces and test again the fortunes of the Red Rose.

It does not appear whether William Cary took part in the fatal and disastrous campaign which followed, culminating in the battle of Hexham and the capture of Somerset. Probably he was not on the field of Hexham or he might then have anticipated his fate at Tewkesbury, for Somerset and all his followers who were taken in arms were promptly beheaded. But it is evident that William Cary was involved in the plot which led up to Hexham, for within the next few months we find him borrowing money and settling his affairs at home. In July, 1464, in company with the surviving brothers of the late Duke of Somerset and other liegemen of the Red Rose, he fled into France to join the exile of Queen Margaret.

When Parliament met in January, 1465, following the battle of Hexham, the inevitable attainder of the late Duke of Somerset and those of his followers taken in arms was the first order of business. The same act gave an opportunity to those who had escaped to come in and stand trial for treason, or in default to share in the attainder. In this list Sir William Cary is included. ...

––[ Here Fairfax Harrison quotes "the portions of the act immediately relating to him" ]

William Cary had now cast his lot with the House of Lancaster beyond recall. What then became of him was in after years eloquently rehearsed by his son to Henry VII.* [* See the petition in Cal. Tor Abbey Mun., H. & G., vi, 19.] After reciting the act of Parliament of January 21, 1465, and the summons to William Cary to appear and stand his trial for treason, the story proceeds:

"At which Utas of St. John Baptist the said Will'm Cary appered not before the said Kinge Edward the IIII^th, accordinge to the said p'clamacion bycause that afore the seid XXI^st daie of January the said Will'm Cary, Knt., for the naturall love, accordinge to the dutie of his allegeaunce, owed to the most famous Prince of blessed memory, Henry late Kinge of England, the Vl^th, youre Uncle, was departed oute of this Realm of England into partes beyonde the See, unto the said late Quene Margret, and Prince Edward, son of the same late Kinge Henry the VI^th, then being beyond the See: in whose service, as a trewe subgett unto the said late Kinge Henry the Sixte, the said Will'm Cary was and continued the foresaid XXI^st daie of Januarie and long tyme before and after the said Utas of St. John Baptist, till he was att the Feld of Tewkesbury by the servauntes of the said Kinge Edward the III^th slayne, for his true feyth and allegeaunce owed and observed unto the said late Kinge Henry the Sixte: by reason of which Acte the XXI^st daie of Januarie, in fourme aforesaid ordeyned and enacted, the said Will'm was atteynted of High Treason."

In consequence of this attainder all the estates of Sir William Cary were adjudged forfeit to the crown and were divided between Sir Thomas Bouchier and John Fortescue.

After the failure in 1463 of the expedition of the small mercenary army which Margaret had raised on the continent by the aid of Louis XI, the queen returned to France and there in the Lorraine dominion of her father King René resided at the castle of Kuerere for the ensuing seven years. Here she gathered a small court of English exiles who shared and supported her poverty and her indomitable determination to renew the fortunes of the Red Rose. William Cary was one of this company. ...

––[ From here (p.135), Fairfax Harrison recounts the main sequence of events in this continuing conflict between those of the 'red rose' and those of the 'white' - leading up to that defeat of the 'red' on the field of Tewksbury, where Sir William Cary would end up losing his head. For this final chapter in the life of Sir William, he turns (on p.137) to: ]

... invoke an old chronicler to conclude the story:

"Queen Margaret, when it was too late, accompanyed with John Longstrother, Prior of Saint Johns and the Lord Wenlock, with divers Knights and Esquires (possibly including our Sir William Cary among their number - see below), took shipping at Harfleur the four and twentieth of March, but by tempest was kept back till the thirteenth of April: and then with her sonne Prince Edward she landed at Weymouth and from thence went to an Abby hard by called Ceern & then to Bewly in Hampshire, whither there came unto her Edmund Duke of Somerset and Thomas Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, with divers others: amongst whom it is resolved once more to try their fortunes in the field, but then the Queen would have had her son Prince Edward to be sent into France, there to remain in safety till the next battell were tryed : but they, being of a contrary minde and specially the Duke of Somerset, she at length consented, though afterward she repented it. From Bewly she, with her son and the Earl of Somerset passeth on to Bristow, intending with what power they could raise in Glocestershire to march into Wales, to join with Jasper, Earl of Pembrook, who was there making preparation of more Forces. King Edward hearing of these things resolves to cross this conjunction and followes Queen Margaret with a great power so close that near Tewkesbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her Forces, who resolutely turn and make head against him, where Somerset, on the Queen's part, leading the Vauntguard, performed the part of a valiant commander: but finding his souldiers through weariness begin to faint, and that the Lord Wenlock who had the conduct of the battail on the Queen's part, moved not, he rode unto him, and upbraiding him with cowardice or treachery, never staid, but with his Pollaxe beat out his brains : and now before he could bring in his men to the rescue their Vaward was routed, and John, Earl of Devonshire, with above three thousand of the Queen's part were slain : the Queen herself, John Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset's brother, the Prior of Saint John's, Sir Garvis Clifton, & divers others were taken prisoners: all of which, except the Queen, were the next day beheaded. At which time Sir Richard Crofts presented King Edward King Henries son Edward, whom he had taken prisoner: to whom King Edward at first shewed no uncourteous countenance: but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms? and answering, though truly, yet unseasonably, "To recover my Father's Kingdom and Heritage," King Edward with his hand thrust him from him, or (as some say) strook him with his Gauntlet, and then presently George Duke of Clarence, Richard Duke of Glocester, Thomas Grey Marquesse Dorset and Will Lord Hastings standing by, fell upon him in the place and murdered him. His body was homely interred with other ordinary Corpses in the Church of the Monastery of the Blackfryers in Tewkesbury. After the victory thus obtained King Edward repaired to the Abbey Church of Tewkesbury, to give God thanks for his good success, and finding there a great number of his enemies that were fled thither to save themselves he gave them all free pardon: only Edmund Duke of Somerset, John Longstrother, Prior of Saint John's, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir Gervis Clifton and divers other Knights Esquires, who were apprehended there and brought before the Duke of Glocester, sitting that day as Constable of England, & the Duke of Norfolk as Marshall, were all arraigned, condemned and judged to dye, and accordingly upon the Tuesday being the seventh of May they were all and twelve other Knights more, on a scaffold set up in the middle of the town, beheaded, but not dismembered, and permitted to be buried. The same day Queen Margaret was found in a poore house of Religion, not far from thence, into which she was fled for safeguard of her life; but she was after brought to London and there kept a prisoner, till her Father ransomed her with great sums of money. This was the last pitch battell that was fought in England in King Edward the Fourth's dayes, which happened on the fourth of May, being Saturday, in the eleventh year of his reign, and the year of our Lord 1471." *

[* The present editor has chosen to quote Sir Richard Baker's account of the battle of Tewkesbury, not for its authority, though in this instance he is good enough, but for love of an old book which has pleasant associations. It will be remembered that Baker went through many editions, being a favorite among country gentlemen, though not so much esteemed by the learned: that Sir Roger de Coverley had "drawn many observations together out of his reading in Baker's Chronicle and other authors, who always lie in his hall window." (Spectator, No. 269.) ....]

We do not know whether Sir William Cary reached England with Queen Margaret and the prince, or, preceding her, had returned earlier in that year with Edmund Beaufort, who, since his brother's death at Hexham, had been recognized by the Lancastrians as fourth Duke of Somerset and is so called in the chronicles. It is probable that they canvassed Devon together and brought in to Margaret at Beaulieu the nucleus of the army which was overthrown at Tewkesbury. For the tale of those of the Lancastrians who survived the encounter and despite the king's pardon had to die at the demand of that ruthless dwarf who came to be known as Richard III, we will supplement Baker and turn to another and this time a contemporary chronicler:

"And these were taken and behedede afterwarde where the Kynge had pardoned them in the Abbey Cherche of Teukesbury by a prest that turnyd oute at his messe and the sacrament in his handys, whanne Kynge Edward came with his swerde into the chirche, requyrede hyme by the vertu of the sacrament that he schulde pardone alle tho whos names here folowe: The Duke of Somersett, the Lord of Seynt Jhones, Sere Humfrey Audeley, Sere Gervis of Clyftone, Sere William Gremyby, Sere William Cary, Sere Thomas Tresham, Sir William Newburgh, Knyghts, Herry Tresham, Walter Curtenay, Jhon Florey, Lowes Myles, Robart Jacksone, James Gowere, James Delvis, sonne and heire to Sere John Delvis: which upon trust of the Kynge's pardon, yevene in the same Chirche the Saturday, abode ther stille when thei myght have gone and savyd ther lyves: which one Monday aftere were behedede, notwitstandynge the Kynge's pardone." *

[*Warkworth's Chronicle in Bohn, Chronicles of the White Rose, 1845, 127. This list of the names of those "behedede" after Tewkesbury is confirmed by another, which includes "Sir William Carre," found among the Paston papers (Gairdner, Paston Letters, 1910, iii, 9). Sir Clements Markham (Richard III, 1906) gives still another list including "Sir Hugh Carey," but does not cite his source. It should be remembered that those who so "suffered" had all been attainted of new treason after having accepted pardon at the hands of Edward IV, and that they were now regularly, if summarily, tried and the fact proved before a constitutional court, that of the Lord Constable (Gloucester) and the Earl Marshal (Norfolk), a court which is mentioned by Sir John Fortescue in his De Laiidibus. It is clear that after Tewkesbury, Edward IV pardoned many of the Lancastrian captains who were engaged, including, e.g., a Fulford, but it may be fairly assumed that they were guilty only of a first offense: this may have led to the unreasonable conclusion that the pardon included the attainted "traitors" as suggested by Warkworth and other chroniclers.]

And so another Cary fell a victim to another Duke of Gloucester. The very name Gloucester should be ominous to all who have Cary blood in their veins.

It will be recalled that Baker records the tradition that Gloucester's Tewkesbury victims were beheaded but not dismembered and were permitted to be buried. The earliest of the numerous Cary monuments in the church at Clovelly exhibits Sir William Cary's arms impaled with those of Paulet. It is altogether probable that Sir William Cary's eldest son at some time, if not immediately after the battle, piously reclaimed his father's body and reburied it in Clovelly Church. »

Thus––Sir William Cary, a grandson of Sir Robert, was beheaded on 6 or 7 May, 1471, two or three days after the Battle of Tewkesbury (4 May, 1471), where he had fought under the banner of Lancaster––of the 'red rose'. There are many sources for this including, Wikipedia. But perhaps the most detailed comes from another website: 'Military History Encyclopedia on the Web',^S2 whose page on the 'Battle of Tewkesbury, 4 May 1471', begins its description of the:

Aftermath

« The most controversial events of the day came after the fighting was over. All accounts agree on a basic outline of events - Edward IV went to Tewkesbury Abbey, where he issued a pardon to at least some of the Lancastrians who had taken refuge in the Abbey. Somerset and other Lancastrian leaders were then seized and removed from sanctuary, tried and executed.

The details differ greatly. The most positive spin is that Edward went to the Abbey to offer thanks for his victory, issued a general pardon to all but the Lancastrian leaders and then removed the traitors from an abbey that didn't have the right to offer then sanctuary in the first place.

The most hostile account, in the Chronicle of Tewkesbury Abbey has Edward enter the Abbey with his sword drawn and kill some of the Lancastrians on consecrated ground. A middle ground is that he entered the Abbey during the pursuit, but was calmed down by a priest. A pardon was then offered, which included the Lancastrian leaders, but Edward then broke his word and had Somerset removed from sanctuary. Perhaps the most likely alternative is that Edward issued his pardon in the excitement of the victory and perhaps without realising that Somerset was actually in the abbey.

Whichever account is true, on 6 May Somerset, Hugh Courtenay and other Lancastrian leaders were tried in Tewkesbury in front of Richard of Gloucester, the Constable, and the Duke of Norfolk, who was also the Marshal. The Lancastrians were found guilty and beheaded in the market square. However Edward's vengeance was largely limited to men who had previously sworn obedience to him as king and had then broken their word. Those who had always been Lancastrians were generally pardoned. Edward also avoided any mutilations or displays of bodies, even treating Prince Edward's with respect.

.... »

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys, Vol. 1, (New York: De Vinne Press, 1920) Chapter VII, pp. 122-143.

   This chapter may be accessed directly at: archive.org/
   Source:Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys

2. ↑ Website: 'Military History Encyclopedia on the Web' > 'Battle of Tewkesbury, 4 May 1471'.

   Accessed at: historyofwar.org

3. ↑ Website: POMEROY Twig 2 > 'The Battle of Tewkesbury 1471'‎ > ‎ Casualty list 1471 .

   Lancastrians:
   « ... Sir William Cary of Cockington, executed after battle ... »
   Accessed 07 August, 2021 at: Tewkesbury 1471 (incl. a casualty list)

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Website: wikipedia.org > 'William Cary (1437–1471)'.
5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Guinn James Miller: History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California: An Historical Study of the State's Marvelous Growth from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Chapman Publishing Company, Calif. 1906. p. 346.

   « ... Sir William Cary, a grandson of Sir Robert, fell in the Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471, under the banner of Lancaster. .... »
   Google books 'snippet view' accessed 07 August, 2021 at: books.google.ca/