Year 1470 (MCDLXX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
The title Baron Berkeley originated as a feudal title and was subsequently created twice in the Peerage of England by writ. It was first granted by writ to Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (1245–1321), 6th feudal Baron Berkeley, in 1295, but the title of that creation became extinct at the death of his great-great-grandson, the fifth Baron by writ, when no male heirs to the barony by writ remained, although the feudal barony continued. The next creation by writ was in 1421, for the last baron's nephew and heir James Berkeley. His son and successor William was created Viscount Berkeley in 1481, Earl of Nottingham in 1483, and Marquess of Berkeley in 1488. He had no surviving male issue, so the Marquessate and his other non-inherited titles became extinct on his death in 1491, whilst the barony passed de jure to his younger brother Maurice. However, William had disinherited Maurice because he considered him to have brought shame on the noble House of Berkeley by marrying beneath his status to Isabel, daughter of Philip Mead of Wraxhall, an Alderman and Mayor of Bristol. Instead, he bequeathed the castle, lands and lordships comprising the Barony of Berkeley to King Henry VII and his heirs male, failing which to descend to William's own rightful heirs. Thus on the death of King Edward VI in 1553, Henry VII's unmarried grandson, the Berkeley inheritance returned to the family. Therefore, Maurice and his descendants from 1492 to 1553 were de jure barons only, until the return of the title to the senior heir Henry, becoming de facto 7th Baron in 1553. Upon his death he was succeeded by his relative George Harding.
Wotton-under-Edge is a market town and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town.
North Nibley is a village in Gloucestershire, England about 1.9 miles (3 km) northwest of Wotton-under-Edge.
Steep Holm is an English island lying in the Bristol Channel. The island covers 48.87 acres (19.78 ha) at high tide, expanding to 63.26 acres (25.60 ha) at mean low water. At its highest point it is 78 metres (256 ft) above mean sea level. Administratively it forms part of the unitary authority of North Somerset within the ceremonial county of Somerset; between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was administered as part of Avon. Nearby is Flat Holm island, part of Wales.
William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley was an English peer, given the epithet "The Waste-All" by the family biographer and steward John Smyth of Nibley. He was buried at "St. Augustine's Friars, London" according to one source, but most likely in the Berkeley family foundation of St Augustine's Abbey, Bristol.
John Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle and 1st Viscount Lisle, English nobleman and medieval soldier, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and his second wife Margaret Beauchamp.
Thomas Talbot, 2nd Baron Lisle and 2nd Viscount Lisle (c. 1449 – 20 March 1470), English nobleman, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle and Joan Cheddar.
Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, The Wise, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer, soldier and diplomat. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley (d.1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys".
Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, The Magnanimous, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer. He rebelled against King Edward II and the Despencers. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley, steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of Lives of the Berkeleys.
St Mark's Church is an ancient church on the north-east side of College Green, Bristol, England, built c. 1230. Better known to mediaeval and Tudor historians as the Gaunt's Chapel, it has also been known within Bristol since 1722 as the Lord Mayor's Chapel. It is one of only two churches in England privately owned and used for worship by a city corporation. The other is St Lawrence Jewry, London. It stands opposite St Augustine's Abbey, founded by a member of the Berkeley family of nearby Berkeley Castle, from which it was originally separated by the Abbey's burial ground, now called College Green. It was built as the chapel to the adjacent Gaunt's Hospital, now demolished, founded in 1220. Except for the west front, the church has been enclosed by later adjacent buildings, although the tower is still visible. The church contains some fine late gothic features and a collection of continental stained glass. It is designated by Historic England as a grade I listed building.
Events from the 1470s in England.
Thomas de Berkeley, known as The Rich, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley, steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of Lives of the Berkeleys.
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, The Magnificent, of Berkeley Castle and of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, was an English peer and an admiral. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley (d.1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys".
Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley, The Valiant, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, was an English peer. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley, steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys".
Sir William Denys of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, was a courtier of King Henry VIII and High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1518 and 1526. The surname is sometimes transcribed as Dennis.
The Manor of Dyrham was a former manorial estate in the parish of Dyrham in South Gloucestershire, England.
Maurice Berkeley, de jure 3rd Baron Berkeley, of Thornbury in Gloucestershire, Maurice the Lawyer, was an English nobleman.
Philip Mede of Mede's Place in the parish of Wraxall in Somerset and of the parish of Saint Mary Redcliffe in Bristol, was a wealthy merchant at Bristol, then in Gloucestershire, and was twice elected a Member of Parliament for Bristol in 1459 and 1460, and was thrice Mayor of Bristol, in 1458-9, 1461-2 and 1468-9.
Nibley House, North Nibley in Gloucestershire is a Grade II* listed house on the English Heritage Register. The Neoclassical Georgian facade dates from 1763 behind which lies the Jacobean manor house built in 1609 by John Smythe the Elder, Steward at the time to Lord Berkeley. Today it is still a private residence which provides bed and breakfast and camping accommodation and is also a wedding venue.
Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle † 
William Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley