Agnes, Lady Hungerford (died 20 February 1523) was a murderer and the second wife of Sir Edward Hungerford. When he died in 1522, Agnes was then charged and convicted of the murder of her first husband, John Cotell. She was hanged at Tyburn in 1523.
Biography
Agnes was the widow of John Cotell, the steward of Sir Edward Hungerford.[1] Agnes strangled her first husband at Farleigh Castle on 26 July 1518, with the aid of William Mathewe and William Inges, yeomen of Heytesbury, Wiltshire. She married Sir Edward after her first husband's body was burned in the castle kitchens. Her second husband may have been involved in the murder, or protected his wife from arrest during his lifetime.[2]
Her second husband died 24 January 1522 and Agnes was the sole executrix of his will.[3] Around this time, proceedings were taken against Agnes and her accomplices for the murder of her first husband. She and Mathewe were convicted and hanged at Tyburn on 20 February 1523;[2] she is likely buried in the Grey Friars' Church in London.[4][5]
After she died, Agnes' family left her out of documents such as genealogies due to her notoriety.[2]
Notes
- ^ Kightly 2019.
- ^ a b c Daybell 2008.
- ^ Harrison 1891, p. 260 cites: cf. Gent. Mag. 1858, pt. i. p. 122.
- ^ Harrison 1891, p. 260 notes: Stow, Chronicle, p. 517; Grey Friars' Chronicle, Camd. Soc., ed. Nichols, pp. 43, 100, where the attempts at identification are hopelessly wrong; Antiquary, ii. 233.
- ^ An inventory of Agnes' goods, taken after her trial, is printed in "Archæologia", vol. 38, pp. 353 et.seq (Harrison 1891, pp. 259, 260)
References
- Daybell, James (3 January 2008). "Hungerford [other married name Cotell], Agnes, Lady Hungerford (d. 1523), murderer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14169. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Kightly, Charles (2019). "History of Farleigh Hungerford Castle". English Heritage. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Harrison, William Jerome (1891). "Hungerford, Walter (1503-1540)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 259–261. Endnotes
Further reading
- Ashton, D. J. (January 2008) [2004]. "Hungerford, Walter, Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14183. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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