John Conyers

Notes:

Sheriff of Yorkshire 1467-68, 1474-75. Present at the coronation of Richard III in 1483.

From Wikipedia:

Sir John Conyers, one of twenty-five children of Christopher Conyers, was a pre-eminent member of the gentry of Yorkshire, northern England, during the fifteenth century Wars of the Roses.

Based in Hornby Castle, he was originally retained by his patron, the regional magnate Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury at a fee of £8 6s. 8d. By 1465, he was Steward of the Honour of Richmondshire and was being retained, along with his brothers William and Richard, by Salisbury's son and successor as regional magnate, the earl of Warwick, for which he received £13 6s. 8d. He accompanied Salisbury on his journey from Middleham to Ludlow in September 1459, and took part in the Battle of Blore Heath on the 23rd of that month. He later took part in Warwick's rebellion against Edward IV in 1469 and the Battle of Edgecote, raising his 'Wensleydale connection, and possibly even being the ringleader, 'Robin of Redesdale.' He submitted to the King in March 1470. After Edward's successful return to power in 1471 he was a Justice of the Peace for Yorkshire's North Riding. A loyal retainer and probable ducal councillor of Edward's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III (who retained him for £20 annually), he was made a knight of the body, at 200 marks per annum annuity, and substantial estates in Yorkshire, "where he was very active on local commissions." He was also elected to the Order of the Garter. In August 1485 he appears to have fought in and survived the Battle of Bosworth in the army of Richard III, and was later granted offices in Richmondshire by the new king, Henry VII in February 1486, as a result of 'good and faithful service.' He supported Henry during the first rebellion of his reign, in spring 1486, a position that has been called 'particularly significant' and, according to Michael Hicks, it 'was a momentous decision'.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Like his father, John was a Salisbury retainer, but, unlike the now elderly Christopher, John was drawn into the conflicts of the 1450s. He was with the duke of York and the Nevilles at the rout of Ludlow in 1459, and was attainted at the Coventry parliament. He escaped the worst consequences of attainder, however, by having put his wife's inheritance into the hands of trustees who included men acceptable to the Lancastrian regime—a tactic adopted by Thomas Harrington at the same time. [...]

[His father Christopher] was dead by 1465, when an extant Middleham account shows John retained at £20 p.a. by Salisbury's heir, the earl of Warwick, but does not mention Christopher. For the rest of John's life he was to be the linchpin of the Middleham retinue -- a role that in 1471 allowed him to move smoothly into the service of the new lord of Middleham, Richard, duke of Gloucester, after the defeat and death of the earl of Warwick, in whose earlier rebellions the Conyers family had been deeply implicated -- Sir John has himself been identified by some historians with the Robin of Redesdale who led the principal Yorkshire rising of 1469 against Edward IV. The family thus retained its claim on the patronage and favour of the greatest northern nobleman -- an important consideration when John was looking to advance not only the twelve children he had fathered, but also his younger siblings, such as Brian, his eldest half-brother, for whom he acquired Pinchingthorpe from the Sockburn branch of the family.

From a national perspective Sir John's career reached its climax in 1483, when the lord of Middleham became king. John was made a knight of the body and a knight of the Garter, but his importance to the new king (and, perhaps, his own inclinations) kept him in the north, and unlike many of Richard's other northern allies he did not move south to enjoy the spoils of royal patronage. His kinsmen, too, tended to remain based within Richmondshire -- creating a slight sense of distance from the king's inner circle which perhaps stood them in good stead when Richard was defeated by Henry Tudor in 1485. As in 1471 the interests of the Conyers family and the new lord of Middleham coincided: one wanting lordship, the other needing to win over the Middleham connection. Barely a month after Bosworth, on 25 September, Sir John was among those commissioned to administer the oath of loyalty to the new king.

John married Margaret Darcy before 20 Nov 1431. Margaret (daughter of Philip Darcy and Eleanor Fitz Hugh) was born on 1 Sep 1418 in Ravensworth, Yorkshire, England; died between 20 Mar 1469 and 20 Apr 1469. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Eleanor Conyers died on 5 Jun 1493; was buried in Ripon Cathedral, Yorkshire, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1380
• Alternate death: Aft 1459
• Alternate death: Aft 1462

Notes:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Christopher Conyers [...] married Ellen, the daughter and coheir of Thomas Rolleston and his wife, Beatrice Haulay. The Rolleston inheritance in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire was divided between Ellen and her sister Margaret (the wife of John Tirwhit) in November 1415. Ellen died in 1433 and Christopher subsequently married Margaret, daughter of Robert Waddesley. With his two wives Christopher fathered twenty-five children, including twelve sons and, unusually, he made landed provision for a high proportion of the younger sons. To some extent he could afford to do this because his eldest son and heir, John had married an heiress -- Margery (d. 1469), the younger coheir of Philip, Lord Darcy -- but the endowment of the younger sons did not all come out of Christopher's own estate; he was also purchasing land extensively.

Other children were provided for by their marriages to heiresses -- again testimony to Christopher's purchasing power, but also to his local standing, although he was never knighted (which allows him to be distinguished from his namesake who headed the Sockburn branch of the family from 1431) and was never sheriff. His influence presumably derived from his service to the junior Nevilles, who held Middleham in Wensleydale, an association that also helps to explain Christopher's appointment as bailiff of Richmondshire in June 1436, initiating a family connection with the administration of the shire that was to endure for the rest of the century. In March 1436 he was one of the feoffees to the use of the will of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, although his relatively lowly social status is reflected by his placing in the list.

[After his son John was attainted at the Coventry parliament, following the rout at Ludlow in 1459:] Christopher, meanwhile, first safeguarded himself by securing a pardon in December 1459 and then early the following year made an elaborate settlement to protect his land should he die while his heir was under attainder -- a real risk since he must have turned seventy (having been old enough to act as one of his father's executors in 1412).

Christopher's anxieties proved groundless and he lived long enough to see the Yorkists triumph at Towton in 1461. He was dead by 1465 [...]

Christopher married Eleanor Rolleston before Sep 1415. Eleanor (daughter of Thomas Rolleston and Beatrice Hauley) was born about 1399; died on 6 Aug 1444. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1433

Notes:

Or Ellen, Helen.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1413

Notes:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

The founder of the Hornby line was John Conyers (d. in or before 1412), a lawyer in the service of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster [...] John's exact place in the wider Conyers pedigree remains uncertain. He was the younger brother of Sir Robert Conyers, who shared with him a grant of the custody of Skelton Castle in August 1403 and was later to be one of John's executors. Their father was also called Robert, and it is probably the three of them who were accused of an attack on the prior of Guisborough's estates, including Ormesby, in 1376. Robert Conyers le filz and John his brother were also involved, at about the same time, in a dispute with Philip Darcy, although this was evidently later resolved, and John acted as Darcy's attorney in 1398. Robert the father may have been a younger brother of John Conyers of Sockburn (d. 1395), whose heir was also, confusingly, called Robert but was never knighted—which distinguishes him from John of Hornby's father and brother. John of Hornby's mother is unknown. It was probably his father who, c. 1373, was married to Alice, but this seems to have been a second marriage, with the sons of the first marriage already adult. The elder Robert married a third time, if he can be identified with the Sir Robert Conyers and Joan, his wife, who received papal letters of plenary remission in 1394. Sir Robert the son married Alina, who can probably be identified with the heir of William Percy of Kildale, who brought Ormesby into the family; their son was John Conyers of Ormesby (d. 1438). A third brother, William, was also the father of a son called John.

John Conyers of Hornby died in or just before 1412. He had acquired at least one further manor, that of Solberge-on-Wiske, which he had been granted by Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, and which he used to make provision for his younger sons, Richard and Thomas.

John married Margaret St. Quintin before 22 Jan 1398. Margaret (daughter of John de St. Quintin and Elizabeth de Swinhoe) was born about 1379; died after 4 May 1435. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft Oct 1426

Thomas married Beatrice Hauley. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Elizabeth de Swinhoe before May 1378. Elizabeth (daughter of William de Swinhoe and Elizabeth) was born about 1376; died before 2 Feb 1412. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called John Haulay.