Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, KG (13 January 1477 – 19 May 1527) was an English nobleman and a member of the courts of both Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII.[1][2]
Henry Algernon Percy
19 May 1527 (aged 50)
Catherine Spencer
Margaret Percy, Countess of Cumberland
Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland
Sir Thomas Percy
Ingleram Percy
William Percy
Maud Herbert
Origins[edit]
Percy was son of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, by his wife Maud Herbert, daughter of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423–1469). Alan Percy was his younger brother. His sister was Eleanor Percy, whose husband was beheaded for treason on the order of Henry VIII.
Northumberland married Catherine Spencer (d. 1542), a daughter of Sir Robert Spencer of Spencer Combe in the parish of Crediton, Devon,[12] by his wife Eleanor Beaufort, Countess of Ormonde, daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406–1455), KG. By Catherine he had three sons and two daughters:[13]
Death and burial[edit]
He died at Wressell Castle in East Yorkshire on 19 May 1527, and was buried at Beverley Minster in the Percy Chapel, where there was a splendid tomb monument next to that of his father the 4th Earl who died in 1489. The chapel was erected at about the time of his father's death. In the north window there was a stained glass depiction of the 4th Earl with his wife, Maud Herbert (also buried at Beverley,) and eight children. This was drawn by Sir William Dugdale for his 'Book of Monuments' in 1640-1641 and the drawing, with others of Beverley, is preserved in the British Library (MS Lansdowne 896, ff35-39.) The 5th Earl's monument was drawn for the Wriothesley Heraldic Collections, 'Collections Relating to Funerals', which are also preserved in the British Library, London. [Drawing of the tomb of Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland and his wife Catherine (Spencer) Image: Add. MS. 45131, f.89v] [This drawing is illustrated in 'Of a Fair Uniforme Making, the Building History of Beverley Minster 1188-1736'. page 242, by J. Phillips, ISBN 978-1906259471.]
Assessment[edit]
Northumberland displayed magnificence in his tastes, and being one of the richest magnates of his day,[3] kept a very large household establishment, and was fond of building. Leland praised the devices for the library at Wressell, presumably arranged by him.[18] He encouraged the poet John Skelton, who wrote the elegy on his father.[19] A manuscript formerly in his possession (British Museum Reg. Bib. 18 D ii.) consists of poems, chiefly by Lydgate.[13]