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- For the origins of Beatrice see The complete peerage vol XII page 619. Also Burke, The royal Families of England Scotland and Wales. Burke shows her as the Widow of Thomas, Earl of Arundel, but that Beatrice died in 1439. See also The Complete Peerage vol.V,pp.209-210, where the confusion with another Beatrice daughter of Inez Pires is revealed.
Genealogy of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy of 'Margaret of York Duchess of Burgundy 1446-1503' by C.Weightman (1989)
does not show her at all (see record 3420 at http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal08243) nor does Weir.
See The Fettiplace Family An Article by J. Rentyon Dunlop at http://www.berkshirehistory.com/articles/fettiplace_family.html
http://www.berkshirehistory.com/articles/fettiplace_monument.html) and http://www.berkshirehistory.com/gentry/database/
Fettiplace Family 1386 - 1696 at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dav4is/ODTs/FETTIPLACE.shtml
Pinto, Beatrice of Portugal was born about 1386. She died on 25 Dec 1447 and is interred in East Shefford, Berkshire. Her
Titles included Baroness Talbot & Baroness Strange of Blackmere. The daughter of John I 'o Falso' of Avis, King of Portugal, b. 11 Apr 1358 and Plantagenet, Philippa of Lancaster, b. 31 Mar 1360, Beatrice married firstly in about 1415 to Talbot, Gilbert of Irchingfield, Lord Talbot 5th and had a child Talbot, Ankaret, Baroness Strange, b. 1416 who died young on 13 Dec 1421.
She then married before 1423 to Thomas Fettiplace with whom she had a son John Fettiplace (our direct ancestor).
Thomas Fettiplace and Beatrice De Sousa had the following children:William Fettiplace; James Fettiplace & John Fettiplace.
Apparently on the authority of a document of 1432, that Beatrice, Lady Talbot "was the illegitimate daughter to the King of Portugal, who surviving him [ie. Sir Gilbert Talbot] became the wife of Thomas, Earl of Arundel"; and he has been followed without question by Lysons and others; while Collins, in his Peerage, states that Beatrice was first married to the Earl of Arundel, then to Gilbert, Lord Talbot; after his decease became the wife of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon; and finally married John Fettiplace of Childrey in Berkshire.
There is endless arguments concerning Lady Beatrice's birth and parentage. Jacobus states that she was not the illegitimate daughter of King Joô I (John) of the Aviz dynasty of Portuguese rulers. (NEHGR 123:241ff Oct 1969)
An interesting, yet inconclusive, case for placing her in the Burgundian dynasty of Portugal among the Sousa descendants of Affonso III's illegitimate son, Affonso Dinez -- known as the Sousa de Arronches line -- can be made largely on the heraldic evidence. [TAYLOR, Dr. Nathan L.; Beatrice Fettiplace (Ancestress of Gov. Thomas Dudley): A Summary; unpublished: http://home.earthlink.net/~nathanieltaylor/pdfs/a_Fettiplace.pdf
Nevertheless, it is virtually certain that she descends from some noble Portuguese line, so I have kept her here as a daughter of King Joô for the nonce.
That she was of the Portuguese Royal House can hardly be questioned, although the argument against her being a daughter of King John I is possibly correct, and that in favour of her being a Pinto, or Souza, possible. Her quartered arms, and her marriage with Lord Talbot, whose first wife was Joan Plantagenet, granddaughter of King Edward III, indicates her royal descent, her mother, as likely as not, being a Pinto or Souza. Bishop White Kennett states: " the family received a great addition of 'blood and honour by marrying Beatrix, daughter of the King of Portugal, which match is mentioned and allowed of in the pedigree of the Kings of Portugal" . Mr. T. C. Button says that Beatrice was in some way related to Peter the Cruel, King of Castile, and the Harl. MS. 5867 records that Sir Thomas Fettiplace "married the Ladye Beatryce, Countesse of Shrewsburye and daughter of Alphoncious, King of Portugal" - the MS. being obviously incorrect as regards Beatrice being Countess of Shrewsbury, for it was her brother-in-law, not her husband, who bore this title. But whatever the theories of Planché and other writers on this subject may be, no notice appears to have been taken of the following letter, a copy of which is to be found amongst the correspondence of a late Rector of East Shefford, and as the marriage of Sir Thomas Fettiplace with the widow of Gilbert Talbot is the one fact that has never been disputed, the contents of the letter, it must be admitted, only add to the confusion already existing in connection with this subject, and may have been already contradicted, or disputed.
Legation of Portugal, London, August 20th, 1887.
Sir,
Pray accept my best thanks for your letter relating to the Fettiplace Tomb. All that I can say in reply to it is that in 1405 an illegitimate daughter of King John I. of Portugal, named Beatrice, married Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey. Left a widow she re-married in 1415 to Gilbert Talbot, Baron of Irchenfield and Blackmere, K.G. She was again left a widow in 1419. 1 am convinced that she did not marry Sir John (? Thomas) Fettiplace m her third husband. I am sorry that 1 am unable to give you further information. Accept, etc. (Signed) M. D'ANTAS.
The Lady Beatrice died Christmas Day, 1447, and she and her husband lie buried under a beautiful alabaster tomb in the little old and disused Church of East Shefford, their great-grandson, John, and his wife, Dorothy Danvers, being buried close by under a fine canopied tomb of Purbeck marble. The configuration of the angels' wings on the tomb of Sir Thomas Fettiplace, and the orle, or fillet, encircling the bascinet of his effigy, what is, perhaps, as sumptuous a memorial as any existing, that of Thomas, Earl of Arundel, and his Countess, Beatrice, daughter of King John I. of Portugal.
Amanda Taylor's geneology
- Complete Peerage 12(1) (1953): 617-620 has a good account of Gilbert Talbot, K.G., 5th Lord Talbot (died 1418). Regarding his marriage to his surviving wife, Beatrice of Portugal, the following information is given:
"He married, about 1415, Beatrice, a Portuguese lady, perhaps of the family of Pinto. He died s.p.m. 19 October 1418 at the siege of Rouen. His widow married before 1423 Thomas Fettiplace, of East Shefford, Berkshire, who died between 1442 and 1446 and was buried there. M.I. She died on Christmas day 1447 and was buried at East Shefford aforesaid. M.I." END OF QUOTE.
The identification of Beatrice simply as "Portuguese lady" is a bit misleading. There are no less than four visitations which mention this lady, and in all of them she is identified as a daughter of the King of Portugal. The four visitation records are listed below. Furthermore, Collectanea Top. et Gen. 1 (1834): 80-90 indicates that Beatrice bore the ancient arms of Portugal, both on her seal and impaled with those of her husband, Gilbert Talbot. For whatever reason, Complete Peerage ignored the evidence of the visitations.
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