Sir William Harrington of Hornby (d. 1440), son of
Sir Nicholas Harrington
Sir Nicholas Harrington of Hornby, Lancashire (''c''. 1345/6 – ~1404), was an English Member of Parliament. He was the third and youngest son of Sir John Harrington of Hornby and Katherine Banaster (d. 1359).
Early life
His father died in 135 ...
, was an early fifteenth-century English
northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
knight, fighting in the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
and serving the crown in the north of England.
War in France
He served
Henry V while the latter was
Prince of Wales, and in 1415 fought at the
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt ( ; french: Azincourt ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected English victory against the numerica ...
as the king's
standard-bearer. He was elected a
knight of the Garter two years later, and, acting again as standard-bearer at the
siege of Rouen in 1419, he was badly wounded.
Family
At some point he is known to have married Margaret Neville of
Hornby, Lancashire.
This was not, however the principal branch of the
magnatial Neville family, and his new wife was not initially an heiress. However, through the death of her niece and great-nephew, she became a co-heiress with
Sir John Langton of the family estates, and Harrington,
jure uxoris
''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title ''suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could becom ...
, eventually gained
Hornby Castle in 1433.
His marriage also gave him a connection to the
duke of Exeter, husband of Margaret's niece. Around 1420 he married his heir
Thomas to his newly acquired
ward, Elizabeth Dacre, which brought him in (
dower) Dacre's castles of
Heysham and
Tatham. He died in 1440.
Royal service and offices
He was
sheriff of Yorkshire four times from 1408, and was appointed to various royal offices in the
duchy of Lancaster in
Lancashire, including the important position of chief-steward of the north in 1428.
In 1423, he had been part of a committee to negotiate with the
Scots
Scots usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
* Scots language, a language of the West Germanic language family native to Scotland
* Scots people, a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland
* Scoti, a Latin na ...
over the intended release of
James I, who had been captured by the English on his way to
France in 1408. Four years later, he led an
embassy to James in an attempt to make him pay the balance of his
ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
.
[Griffiths, R.A., The Reign of Henry VI (Berkeley, 1981), p. 157]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrington, William
Knights of the Garter
High Sheriffs of Yorkshire
1440 deaths
People of the Hundred Years' War