William Vaughan (military)

William Vaughan († after 1484) was a Welsh military officer during the Wars of the Roses .

William was a younger son of Watkyn Vaughan from Bredwardine Castle in Herefordshire and his wife Elizabeth Wogan. His father was murdered in 1456, after which his older brother Thomas Bredwardine inherited. William inherited only a small property in Rhydhelig near Cardiff . During the Wars of the Roses, like the other members of his family, he supported the House of York and was considered an excellent fighter. Under his relative, Walter Devereux, 1st Baron Ferrers of Chartley , he served as constable of Aberystwyth Castle . In 1462 he is said to have accompanied Walter Devereux on his campaign to northern England, where he secured the region after the preliminary victory of Edward IV over the House of Lancaster. According to family tradition, after the Battle of Barnet in 1471 , he killed the fleeing Earl of Warwick , the kingmaker . In 1475 he was Vogt of Brecon . In 1484 King Richard III granted him . an annual pension of 10 marks . Several Welsh poets such as Dafydd Nanmor and Lewis Glyn Cothi celebrated his bravery.

Web links

• Evan David Jones: VAUGHAN family of Bredwardine, Herefordshire (Dictionary of Welsh Biography)