EEBO Texts Mentioning or Dedicating Henry Neville

Topic: EEBO Texts Mentioning or Dedicating Henry Neville

Elder Sir Henry Neville Notes

• The 1579 Windsor witchcraft pamphlets should be treated as direct EEBO witnesses for Sir Henry Neville of Billingbear, the elder (d. 1593), not for the ambassador himself.
• A12973, A rehearsall both straung and true, contains one substantive passage: Elizabeth Stile was brought before "Sir Henry Neuell knight," examined by him, and committed by him to Reading gaol.
• A72130, Richard Galis's A brief treatise, contains ten Neville-form occurrences. Galis repeatedly routes complaints through Sir Henry Neuel/Neuell; Sir Henry's wife has "often conference" with Galis; Neville's Castle lodging and chamber appear; and Neville examines the accused in the presence of local Windsor/Castle gentlemen. This wife was not the ambassador's mother, Elizabeth Gresham, who died in November 1573. The passage follows the death of Galis senior in 1574 and belongs to the period of Sir Henry's third marriage to Elizabeth Bacon, the ambassador's stepmother.
• Full extraction and Shakespeare-connection screen: windsor witch trials and merry wives of windsor.
• Do not merge these father references into the ambassador's direct publication-world profile. They belong in the father-biography and Merry Wives local-context lanes.
• TCP B12208, STC 5742.9, ESTC S108682, is the original 1584 Leicester's Commonwealth witness to Sir Thomas Layton speaking with Sir Henry Neville on the Windsor terrace and to Neville exercising the Windsor constableship as Leicester's deputy. This is also the elder Sir Henry: the date, title Sir, and office description rule out the not-yet-knighted ambassador.
• TCP A50030 (1641) reprints that same elder-Neville passage. It was formerly misclassified in this project as a posthumous reference to the ambassador; both original and reprint must now be tagged to the father.

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• TCP B12208, page B12208-050-b, printed p. 97, says:

“The wordes also of Sir Thomas Layton, to Sir Henrie Neuile, walking vpon the Tarresse at Windsore are knowen”

It continues that Layton hoped to see Neville hold Leicester's Windsor office and explains that Sir Henry exercised the constableship "onelie as deputie to the Earle." The passage proves that the 1584 polemic circulated this allegation and office description; it does not prove the pamphlet's larger charge that Leicester aimed at the crown.

• The Folger catalogue identifies its STC 5742.9 copy and links digital item img62717. The scan is behind a human-verification screen in the current research session. TCP supplies the searchable text and page marker, but the project still needs the Folger title page and printed p. 97 for page-image collation.
• British Library Add MS 33739 catalogues a manuscript copy and gives transmission context: the 1584 book was rapidly suppressed; David Peck found 57 manuscript copies (44 complete); and the British Library holds 17 complete, two imperfect, and two extract witnesses. The text's Neville passage therefore had a substantial manuscript as well as printed afterlife.
• STC 5154, TCP A18639 is dated 1587 and is titled:

“A Christian and wholesom admonition directed to the Frenchmen, which are reuolted from true religion, and haue polluted themselues with the superstition and idolatrie of poperie.”

• TCP A18639 contains the dedication:

“To the right worshipfull godly vertuous and my singular good friends M. Henry Neuill Esquier and maistresse Anne Neuill his wife ...”

• TCP A01216 is dated 1601 and is titled:

“A declaration of the practises & treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earle of Essex and his complices, against her Maiestie and her kingdoms ...”

• TCP A01216 contains the wording:

“this fellow ... fell of practising with sir Henry Neuil that serued her maiestie as ligier ambassadour with the french king ...”

• TCP A19903 is dated 1603 and is titled:

“Microcosmos The discovery of the little world, with the government thereof.”

• TCP A19903 contains the dedication:

“to the noble discreete and wellbeloved knight sir Henry Nevill ...”

• STC 1670, TCP A06207 is dated 1619 and is titled:

“A King and No King”

• TCP A06207 contains the dedication:

“to the right worshipfvll and worthie knight sir Henrie Nevill ...”

• TCP A17832 is dated 1637 and is titled:

“Britain, or A chorographicall description of the most flourishing kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland ...”

• TCP A17832 contains the wording:

“Billingsbere the inhabitation of sir Henry Nevill ...”

• TCP A80650 is dated 1642 and is titled:

“A briefe abstract of the question of precedency, betweene England and Spain Occasioned by Sir Henry Nevil Knight, the Queen of Englands embassadour, and the embassadour of Spain at Callys ...”

• TCP A80650 contains the wording:

“occasioned by sir Henry Nevil knight the queen of englands embassador ... at Callys ...”

• TCP A25601 is dated 1642 and is titled:

“An Answer to the Lord George Digbies apology for himself ...”

• TCP A25601 contains the wording:

“sir Henry Nevill by name ... commonly called the undertakers parliament ...”

• TCP A29737 is dated 1643 and is titled:

“A chronicle of the Kings of England, from the time of the Romans goverment unto the raigne of our soveraigne lord, King Charles ...”

• TCP A29737 contains the wording:

“but yet to be in the custodie of sir Henry Neuill ...”

• TCP A02836 is dated 1628 and is titled:

“Quodlibets lately come ouer from New Britaniola, old Newfound-land ...”

• TCP A02836 contains the dedication:

“sir Henry Neuil sonne and heire to the lord of aberguenny ...”

• John Florio’s epistle dedicatory to his translation of Montaigne’s Essays addresses:

“Ladie Marie Nevill”

• The same dedicatory epistle identifies her as:

“wife to Sir Henrie Nevill of Abergevenny.”

• The same dedicatory epistle also identifies Lady Marie Nevill as the daughter of the Lord High Treasurer. The Lord High Treasurer at the relevant date was Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, making Lady Marie Nevill a daughter of Sackville and therefore a member of a family already closely connected to the Neville–Sackville circle documented elsewhere in this project.
• Brooke's 1619 Catalogue and succession (TCP A16939) independently supports the same identification, stating that Thomas Sackville's daughter Mary married Sir Henry Nevill, son and heir of Edward Baron Abergavenny.

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• No Ken Feinstein Twitter/blog material is isolated in this packet at present.

3. Quoted Source Text

Dedications

• A18639: “M. Henry Neuill Esquier and maistresse Anne Neuill his wife”
• A19903: “to the noble discreete and wellbeloved knight sir Henry Nevill”
• A06207: “to the right worshipfvll and worthie knight sir Henrie Nevill”
• A02836: “sir Henry Neuil sonne and heire to the lord of aberguenny”
• Florio, Essays: “Ladie Marie Nevill”
• Florio, Essays: “wife to Sir Henrie Nevill of Abergevenny”
• Brooke, A16939: “Mary married to Sir Henry Neuill knight, sonne & heyre of Edward Baron of Abergauenny.”

References to offices, locations, or political associations

• B12208 (1584, elder): “Sir Henrie Neuile, walking vpon the Tarresse at Windsore” and “the said Sir Henrie exerciseth onelie as deputie to the Earle”
• A50030 (1641 reprint, elder): “sir thomas layton to sir henry nevile walking upon the taresse at windsor”
• A01216: “sir Henry Neuil that serued her maiestie as ligier ambassadour with the french king”
• A17832: “Billingsbere the inhabitation of sir Henry Nevill”
• A80650: “sir Henry Nevil knight the queen of englands embassador ... at Callys”
• A25601: “sir Henry Nevill by name ... commonly called the undertakers parliament”
• A29737: “in the custodie of sir Henry Neuill”

4. Citations

• Anonymous. The copie of a leter... [Leicester's Commonwealth]. 1584. STC 5742.9; ESTC S108682; TCP B12208, page B12208-050-b, printed p. 97. Folger catalogue record and digital item.
• Anonymous. Leicester's common-wealth. 1641. TCP A50030, the later reprint of the elder-Neville Windsor-terrace passage.
• British Library, Add MS 33739, manuscript copy and copy-census note for Leicester's Commonwealth: https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/040-002024635.
• Constant, Léonard. A Christian and wholesom admonition directed to the Frenchmen, which are reuolted from true religion, and haue polluted themselues with the superstition and idolatrie of poperie. 1587. STC 5154. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A18639.
• Bacon, Francis. A declaration of the practises & treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earle of Essex and his complices, against her Maiestie and her kingdoms ... 1601. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A01216.
• Davies, John. Microcosmos The discovery of the little world, with the government thereof. 1603. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A19903.
• Beaumont, Francis, and John Fletcher. A King and No King. 1619. STC 1670. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A06207.
• Camden, William. Britain, or A chorographicall description of the most flourishing kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland ... Translated by Philémon Holland, 1637. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A17832.
• Cotton, Robert. A briefe abstract of the question of precedency, betweene England and Spain Occasioned by Sir Henry Nevil Knight, the Queen of Englands embassadour, and the embassadour of Spain at Callys ... 1642. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A80650.
• Decius, Theophilus Philanax Gerusiphilus Philalethes. An Answer to the Lord George Digbies apology for himself ... 1642. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A25601.
• Baker, Richard. A chronicle of the Kings of England, from the time of the Romans goverment unto the raigne of our soveraigne lord, King Charles ... 1643. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A29737.
• Hayman, Robert. Quodlibets lately come ouer from New Britaniola, old Newfound-land ... 1628. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A02836.
• Florio, John, translator. The Essayes or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses of Lo. Michaell de Montaigne. 1603. In “Florio’s Epistle Dedicatorie,” Renascence Editions, University of Oregon, https://pages.uoregon.edu/rbear/montaigne/book3.html.
• Brooke, Ralph. A catalogue and succession of the kings, princes, dukes, marquesses, earles, and viscounts of this realme of England. 1619. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, TCP A16939.

5. Notes on Access

• These entries were identified through exact-name and close-variant searches in the EEBO FTS database.
• STC numbers are included here where they have already been directly verified in the project materials.
• The local search databases are:
• [local source path removed]
• [local source path removed]
• A02836 is included because it matches the search, but its wording identifies an Abergavenny Henry Nevil rather than the Billingbear Neville line.
• The Florio / Montaigne dedication is a collateral Neville-family witness, not a Billingbear Henry Neville dedication. It is included because it identifies Lady Marie Nevill as “wife to Sir Henrie Nevill of Abergevenny.”
• For the Sackville/Abergavenny/Billingbear network built from Florio, Brooke, and the Robert Sackville letter in the Neville XML, see sackville abergavenny neville family network.

6. Expanded Variant and Identity Sweep, 13 July 2026

The new sweep adds one quantified Billingbear notice and two identity cautions.

Virginia subscription amount

TCP A14521, the 1620 Virginia list, does more than name Neville. It prints:

“Sir Henry Neuill, of Barkshire 37. 10”

The figures record a subscription of £37 10s. in the printed list. TCP A12461 repeats “Sir Henry Neuill of Barkshire” in 1624. Because the elder ambassador died in 1615, the 1620 item is a retrospective company/subscriber record rather than evidence of an act performed in 1620. It belongs with the Virginia/business packet and should be compared with company court books to determine the original payment date and whether the interest passed through his estate.

The John Owen/Vicars epigram is not about Billingbear

TCP A08687, John Vicars’s 1619 Englishing of John Owen, contains:

“Sir Henry Neuill his Adagie. Wish no vaine thing.”

“NO vaine, nor vile thing wish to haue, / This Counsell is both wise and graue.”

This looks tempting because of the Nevill/vile wordplay, but the book’s dedicatory structure identifies the man as the Henry Neville connected to Lady Mary Neville—the Abergavenny line—not the Billingbear ambassador. The University of Birmingham’s open Owen edition describes the heading as the motto of Lady Mary’s son-in-law: Owen, Book II. The epigram should be retained as a collateral Neville-family and motto witness, never quoted as the ambassador’s personal adage.

A legal “Sir Henry Nevil” remains unresolved

TCP A32252, Callis’s 1647 Reading upon the Statute of Sewers, says:

“in the Case of Sir Henry Nevil in Plo. Com. an Office of a Parker was granted to two, and an Annuity for the exercise of it”

The passage is a legal precedent about an office and its annuity. The name alone is insufficient to assign the case to either Billingbear Neville. The underlying Plowden report must be located and dated before this becomes a biographical notice.

These additions reinforce the packet’s central rule: name search is only the first stage. Place (Barkshire, Billingsbere, Abergavenny), office, date, kinship, and the work’s internal dedication must control identity. The publicly searchable EEBO/TCP corpus is especially valuable for discovery, but ambiguous Sir Henry Nevil hits should remain in an identity queue rather than being silently added to the ambassador’s biography.