The Nangle (originally named de Angulo) family had come to Ireland around 1172 and became substantial landowners in County Meath, although it has been said that most of them played a "curiously obscure" role in Irish history.
Like almost all of the Anglo-Irish nobility, Lord Navan appears to have followed without question the policies pursued by Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, who dominated Irish political life between the late 1470s and his death in 1513.
Simnel was crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and invaded England with a largely Irish army, but was crushed at the Battle of Stoke Field in June 1487.
The victorious King Henry VII showed remarkable clemency to his enemies by pardoning almost all of the surviving rebels, including Navan, as well as Simnel himself, who was given a job in the royal household.
She was Eleanor, daughter of Sir Thomas Dowdall of Newtown and Termonfeckin, County Louth; her second husband was William Preston, 2nd Viscount Gormanston.