Sir Edward Windsor, Knight, 3rd Baron Windsor

Male 1532 - 1574  (~ 42 years)


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  • Name Edward Windsor 
    Title Sir 
    Suffix Knight, 3rd Baron Windsor 
    Birth 0___ 1532  (Windsor, Berkshire, England) Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Religion Roman Catholic  [2
    Death 24 Jan 1574  Venice, Italy Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I43484  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 5 Mar 2016 

    Family Katherine de Vere,   b. 0___ 1538, (Castle Hedingham, Essex, England) Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 0___ 1600 (Age ~ 62 years) 
    Marriage Y  [1, 2
    Family ID F15783  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 0___ 1532 - (Windsor, Berkshire, England) Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 24 Jan 1574 - Venice, Italy Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Edward Windsor, 3rd Baron Windsor (1532 - 24 January 1574) was an English peer.

      Early life

      Edward was born into a landowning family of Norman ancestry that had steadily increased its possessions through the Middle Ages, including estates in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Middlesex and Surrey.[1] They were hereditary wardens of Windsor Castle, from which they derived their name, and their close association with the monarchy temporarily lost them their lands on the defeat of Richard III in 1485. His grandfather, the first Lord Windsor was born Andrew Windsor and made Keeper of the wardrobe in 1506 - a position in the king's secret financial machinery which gave him control of a budget of thousands of pounds and great opportunities for profit.[2] He was an important part of the network of his cousin, the notorious Edmund Dudley, but early knowledge of the king's death allowed him to side-step Dudley's fall and he kept his position until his death in 1543. On his accession in 1509, the new King Henry VIII signalled his acceptance of Sir Andrew into the inner circles of government by making him Knight of the Bath and he was ennobled 20 years later.[1]

      In his grandfather's dotage in 1542, during a visit by King Henry VIII, Lord Windsor was obliged to surrender one of the family manors, Stanwell between Hampton Court and Windsor to the crown, in return given a more modest historic form of Hewell Grange, a manor of Tardebigge in north Worcestershire. The following year his grandfather died aged approximately 74. By contrast his father, the next Lord Windsor, could only survive 13 more years which enabled Edward to gain a peerage at age 26, in 1558.

      Adult life

      Edward Windsor married Lady Katherine de Vere (1538–1600), the daughter of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford and his first wife, Dorothy Neville. Katherine had a prominent younger half-brother and sister by her father's second marriage to Marjory Golding, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and Mary de Vere.

      On 2 October 1553, the day after the coronation of Queen Mary, he was appointed a Knight of the Carpet. He fought at the Battle of St Quentin (1557), an engagement of the Italian War of 1551–1559, as part of an English force commanded by Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford.

      In 1558, he succeeded to his father's title.

      In 1563 he sold the remaining Middlesex family manor of Littleton (bought in 1528) to Francis Vaughan.[3] In 1566, Queen Elizabeth visited Windsor at his seat of Bradenham, Buckinghamshire. A firm Roman Catholic, he lived many years on the continent of Europe.[4]

      Windsor was admitted to the bar as a member of the Middle Temple, the bench book of which records:

      "Ordered, that Edward lord Windsor shall have, at his pleasure, his chamber called "the Parliament Chamber", notwithstanding the admission of Mr. Jerome Corbet, who will move therefrom whenever the said lord or Frederick, his eldest son, shall wish to reside there; but they must pay Corbet for his expenses in the said chamber."[5]


      Tomb in Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
      He died in Venice, where he is buried in the Basilica of San Giovanni & San Paolo. His monument there has been called "a sober, classical work attributed to Alessandro Vittoria".[6]

      Edward Windsor's sons by Katherine, Frederick Windsor, otherwise (aka) Ferdinand, (1559–1585) and Henry Windsor (1562–1605) were respectively the fourth and fifth Barons Windsor. [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S7408] "John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford (1516 - 3 August 1562)" bigraphy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_de_Vere,_16th_Ea.

    2. [S9134] "Edward Windsor, 3rd Baron Windsor" biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Windsor,_3rd_Baron_Windsor, download.