Sir Robert Poyntz (died 1520),[1] lord of the manor of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, was a supporter of the future King Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. He was buried in the Gaunt's Chapel, Bristol, in the magnificent "Chapel of Jesus" (known as the "Poyntz Chapel"), a chantry chapel built by him.
He was the eldest son and heir of John Poyntz (died 1465/72[2]), of Iron Acton, by his wife Alicia Cocks of Bristol,[3] who survived him and remarried to Sir Edward Berkeley of Beverstone Castle[4] in Gloucestershire. Sir Robert's younger brother was Thomas Poyntz (died 1501), an Esquire of the Body of King Henry VII at the baptism of his first-born son Prince Arthur, who married a certain Jane, the second wife and widow of Walter Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley(c.1432–1485), Knight of the Garter.[5]
The Poyntz family of Iron Acton were descended from John Poyntz (d.1376), a younger son of Nicholas Poyntz (d.1311), feudal baron of Curry Mallet in Somerset, by his second wife Matilda (or Maud) de Acton, aunt and heiress in her issue of John de Acton (died 1362) of Iron Acton.[6]
He married Margaret Woodville, the illegitimate daughter and only child of Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (c. 1440–1483), Knight of the Garter (brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville who married King Edward IV), by his mistress Gwenlina Stradling, a daughter of William Stradling[7] of St Donat's Castle in Glamorgan, Wales. The Heraldic Visitation of Gloucestershire records that:[8]
"A testimony of this match apereth by indenture of covenant of the mariag yett extant under the hand and seale of the said Erle, by letters written by the hand of the reverend ffather Morton, Cardinall, also by the armes of the Erle impaled w(i)th Poyntz on the top of a Chappell near Bristowe where they lye buried".
By his wife he had five sons and four daughters including:
In about 1520,[14] at the end of his life, he built a fine chantry chapel as an addition to the Gaunt's Chapel in Bristol (today known as St Mark's Church, Bristol), to the east end of the south aisle, beyond the tower, known as the "Chapel of Jesus" or "Poyntz Chapel". It should be distinguished from the Poyntz manorial chapel in Iron Acton Church, the family's chapel as lords of the manor and patrons of the advowson. It is fan-vaulted, and has two niches of unknown use on the North wall.[15] The floor is covered with coloured Spanish tiles, probably from Seville and contemporaneous with the building.[16] The center boss of the vaulted ceiling comprises a shield displaying the arms of Poyntz impaling Woodville, representing his marriage. At the entrance to the chapel is sculpted in stone the canting crest of Poyntz, A hand clenched,[17] from the French poigne, "fist".[18]
He died in 1520 and was buried in the Gaunt's Chapel in Bristol (today known as St Mark's Church, Bristol), in which he had built the Poyntz Chapel, his chantry chapel. Two remnants of his chest-tomb survive in the Gaunt's Chapel, being wooden panels decorated with Gothic canopy-work, each showing an heraldic shield. One shows the arms of Poyntz of four quarters (1:Poyntz; 2:de Acton; 3:Clanvowe; 4:FitzNichol[19]); the other shows the same first four quarters with an additional six quarters of the Woodville family, thus being the shield of the couple's son.[20] The 5th quarter is Woodville with baton sinister for bastardy.