Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington - First Marriage

First Marriage

Cecily was considered as a possible marriage candidate for William, the eldest son and heir of the Earl of Pembroke, who approached her uncle, the Earl of Warwick with his proposal in about 1468. Warwick turned his offer down as he considered the Earl's son to have been lacking in sufficient noble birth and prestige to marry a member of his family. About six years later, another spouse was found for Cecily; however, Warwick had nothing to do with the bridegroom that was chosen for her.

Cecily married Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset on 18 July 1474, about two and a half weeks after her fourteenth birthday. He was the eldest son of King Edward's queen consort, Elizabeth Woodville by her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby, a Lancastrian knight who had been killed in combat at the Second Battle of St. Albans, the site of Cecily's great-grandfather's execution. It was Thomas's second marriage. His first wife, whom he had married in October 1466, was Anne Holland, the only daughter and heiress of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter and Anne of York. Anne had died childless sometime between 26 August 1467 and 6 June 1474. Cecily's marriage had been proposed and arranged by Queen Elizabeth Woodville, who, with assistance from King Edward, persuaded Cecily's stepfather and legal guardian Baron Hastings to agree to the match. The Queen had that same year bought Cecily's wardship from Hastings to facilitate the marriage. The marriage accord stipulated that were Thomas to die prior to the consummation of the marriage, Cecily would then marry his younger brother Sir Richard Grey. This accord was confirmed by an Act of Parliament. The marriage had cost Elizabeth Woodville the sum of £2,500. She in turn, held on to Cecily's inheritance until the latter turned 16 years old.

At the time of Cecily's marriage to Thomas, the latter held the title of Earl of Huntingdon; he resigned this peerage a year later in 1475, when he was created Marquess of Dorset. Being that women were not permitted to sit in Parliament, Thomas sat in Cecily's place as Baron Harington and Bonville.

Cecily's husband shared the same mistress, Jane Shore with his stepfather King Edward. When the King died in April 1483, Jane then became the mistress of Cecily's stepfather Baron Hastings. Jane was instrumental in Hastings' defection from the side of King Edward's youngest brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester who had been made Lord Protector of the realm following Edward's death. She persuaded him to join the Woodville family in a conspiracy aimed at removing the Lord Protector, and when Richard was apprised of Hastings' treachery, he ordered his immediate execution on 13 June 1483 at the Tower of London. Hastings was not attainted, however, and Cecily's mother was placed under Richard's protection.

Thomas's maternal uncle Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, and his younger full brother Richard Grey were both executed on 25 June 1483 by the orders of King Richard III, who had three days earlier claimed the crown for himself. Richard's claim was supported by an Act of Parliament known as Titulus Regius which declared Thomas's half-brother King Edward V and his siblings illegitimate. Although Thomas and Cecily attended Richard's coronation, later that year, Thomas joined the rebellion of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham against the king. When this revolt failed, he left Cecily behind in England and escaped to Brittany where he became an adherent of Henry Tudor, who would ascend the English throne as Henry VII following his success at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485.

Cecily (notwithstanding her Yorkist family background) and her husband were both guests at King Henry's coronation; the following month, the new king lifted the attainder which had been placed on Thomas in January 1484 by Richard III for his participation in the Duke of Buckingham's unsuccessful rebellion. The Dorsets also attended the wedding of Henry and Elizabeth of York in January 1486. Elizabeth was Thomas' eldest uterine half-sister by his mother's second marriage to King Edward. When she was crowned Queen consort in November 1487, Cecily and Thomas were present inside Westminster Abbey to witness the ceremony. Cecily had been honoured the preceding year on the occasion of Prince Arthur's baptism when she was chosen to carry the boy's train while her mother-in-law, the dowager queen, stood as the Prince's sponsor. The ceremony had taken place at Winchester Cathedral.

Thomas and Cecily together had a total of fourteen children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. Her eldest son, Thomas's birth was noted in a letter from John Paston II to John Paston III in June 1477: Tydyngys, butt that yisterdaye my lady Marqueys off Dorset whyche is my Lady Hastyngys dowtre, hadd chylde a sone.