John de Mowbray

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Axholme, Lincolnshire, England

Notes:

Governor of Berwick-on-Tweed. He was summoned to Parliament by writs from 10 Dec 1327 to 20 Nov 1360.

One of the commanders of the English army at the Battle of Neville's Cross. Present at the Siege of Calais.

Died "of pestilence" [Royal Ancestry].

From the original Dictionary of National Biography (article by James Tait):

MOWBRAY, JOHN (II) de, ninth Baron (d.1361), son of John (I) de Mowbray, was released from the Tower, and his father's lands were restored to him, on the deposition of Edward II in January 1327. Though still under age he was allowed livery of his lands, but his marriage was granted, for services to Queen Isabella, to Henry, earl, of Lancaster, who married him to his fifth daughter, Joan. His mother's great estates in Gower, Sussex, &c., came to him on her death in 1331. Henceforth he styled himself 'Lord of the Isle of Axholme and of the Honours of Gower and Bramber.' The De Brewers inheritance involved him in a protracted litigation with his mother's cousin, Thomas de Brewes which had begun as early as 1338, and was still proceeding in 1347. Mowbray had also had a dispute before his mother's death with her second husband, Sir Richard Peshall, touching certain manors in Bedfordshire, &c., which he and his mother had granted to him for life, and in 1329 forcibly entered them.

Mowbray was regularly summoned to the parliaments and 'colloquia' from 1328 to 1361, and was a member of the king's council from the former year. In 1327, 1333, 1335, and again in 1337, he served against the Scots; but there is little evidence for Dugdale's statement that he frequently served in France. In 1337, when war with France was impending he was ordered as lord of Gower to arm his tenants; next year he had to provide ships for the king's passage to the continent, and was sent down to his Sussex estates in the prospect of a French landing. According to Froissart, he was with the king in Flanders in October 1339, but this is impossible, for he was present at the parliament held in that month, and was ordered to repair towards his Yorkshire estates to defend the Scottish marches. Next year he was appointed justiciar of Lothian and governor of Berwick, towards whose garrison he was to provide 120 men, including ten knights. In September 1341 he was commanded to furnish Balliol with men from Yorkshire. On 20 Dec. 1342 he received orders to hold himself ready to go to the assistance of the king in Brittany by 1 March 1348, and Froissart makes him take part in the siege of Nantes; but the truce of Malestroit was concluded on 19 Jan., and on 6 Feb. the reinforecments were countermanded.

At Neville's Cross (17 Oct. 1346) Mowbray fought in the third line, and the Lanercost chronicler loudly sings his praises: 'He was full of grace and kindness -- the conduct both of himself and his men was such as to redound to their perpetual honour'. Froissart, nevertheless, again takes him to France, with the king. In 1347 he was again in the Scottish marches. On the expiration, in 1352, of one of the short truces which began in 1347, he was appointed chief of the commissioners charged with the defence of the Yorkshire coast against the French, and required to furnish thirty men from Gower. The king sent him once more to the Scottish border in 1355. In December 1359 he was made a justice of the peace in the district of Holland, Lincolnshire, and in the following February a commissioner of array at Leicester for Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Rutland. This, taken with the fact that he was summoned on 3 April 1360 to the parliament fixed for 15 May, makes it excessively improbable that he was skirmishing before Paris in April as stated by Froissart. It is possible, however, that the Sire de Montbrai mentioned by Froissart was Mowbray's son and heir, John.

Mowbray died at York of the plague on 4 Oct. 1361, and was buried in the Franciscan church at Bedford. The favourable testimony which the Lanercost chronicler bears to the character of John de Mowbray is borne out by a piece of documentary evidence. In order to put an end to disputes between his steward and his tenants in Axholme, he executed a deed on 1 May 1359 reserving a certain part of the extensive wastes in the isle to himself, and granting the remainder in perpetuum to the tenants. This deed was jealously preserved as the palladium of the commoners of Axholme in Haxey Church 'in a chest bound with iron, whose key was kept by some of the chiefest freeholders, under a window wherein was a portraiture of Mowbray, set in ancient stained glass, holding in his hand a writing, commonly reported to be an emblem of the deed'. This window was broken down in the 'rebellious times,' when the rights of the commoners under the deed were in large measure overridden, in spite of their protests, by the drainage scheme which was begun by Cornelius Vermuyden in 1626 and led to riots in 1642, and again in 1697.

Mowbray's wife was Joan, fifth daughter of Henry, third earl of Lancaster. His one son, John (III) de Mowbray (1328?-1368), was probably born in 1329, and succeeded as tenth baron. Before 1353 he had married Elizabeth, the only child and heiress of John sixth lord Segrave, on whose death in that year he entered into possession of her lands, lying chiefly in Leicestershire, where the manors of Segrave, Sileby, and Mount Sorrel rounded off the Mowbray estates about Melton Mowbray, and in Warwickshire, where the castle and manor of Caludon and other lordships increased the Mowbray holding in that county. The mother of Mowbray's wife, Margaret Plantagenet, was the sole heiress of Thomas of Brotherton, the second surviving son of Edward I, and she, on the death of her father in 1338, inherited the title and vast heritage in eastern England of the Bigods, earls of Norfolk, together with the great hereditary office of marshal of England, which had been conferred on her father. Neither her son-in-law, John de Mowbray the younger, nor his two successors were fated to enjoy her inheritance; for the countess marshal survived them, as well as a second husband, Sir Walter Manny, and lived until May 1399. But in the fifteenth century the Mowbrays entered into actual possession of the old Bigod lands, and removed their chief place of residence from the mansion of the Vine Garths at Epworth in Axholme to Framlingham Castle in Suffolk. John III met with an untimely death at the hands of the Turks near Constantinople, on his way to the Holy Land, in 1368. His elder son, John IV, eleventh baron Mowbray of Axholme, was created Earl of Nottingham on the day of Richard II's coronation; his second son, Thomas (I) de Mowbray, twelfth baron Mowbray and first duke of Norfolk, is separately noticed.

John married Maud de Holand before 26 Feb 1322, and was divorced about 28 Feb 1327. Maud (daughter of Robert de Holand and Maud la Zouche) was born about 1315; died before 10 May 1380; was buried in Swinnerton, Staffordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Joan of Lancaster between 28 Feb 1327 and 4 Jun 1328. Joan (daughter of Henry of Lancaster and Maud de Chaworth) was born about 1312; died about 1349; was buried in Byland, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleanor married Roger la Warre before 23 Jul 1358. Roger (son of John la Warre and Margaret de Holand) was born on 30 Nov 1326 in of Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire, England; died on 27 Aug 1370 in Gascony, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 13 Sep 1340, Bretby, Repton, Derbyshire, England
• Alternate death: 21 Sep 1368, near Constantinople
• Alternate death: 9 Oct 1368, near Constantinople

Notes:

Summoned to Parliament by writ, 14 Aug 1362 to 20 Jan 1366.

Killed in battle with the Turks.

John Mowbray and Elizabeth de Segrave were Gx4-grandparents of Anne Boleyn (d. 1536):

John de Mowbray = Elizabeth de Segrave
Thomas de Mowbray = Elizabeth Fitz Alan
Margaret de Mowbray = Thomas Howard
John Howard = Katherine de Moleyns
Thomas Howard = Elizabeth Tilney
Elizabeth Howard = Thomas Boleyn
Anne Boleyn = Henry VIII
Elizabeth I

Making TNH a sixth cousin to Elizabeth I, fifteen times removed.

John married Elizabeth de Segrave after 25 Mar 1349. Elizabeth (daughter of John de Segrave and Margaret Marshal) was born on 25 Oct 1338 in Croxton Abbey, Melton Mobray, Leicestershire, England; was christened on 25 Oct 1338 in Croxton Abbey, Melton Mobray, Leicestershire, England; died between 1364 and 1368. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joan married Thomas West before 2 May 1384. Thomas (son of Thomas West and Alice Fitz Herbert) was born in 1365 in of Oakhanger, Hampshire, England; died on 19 Apr 1405. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joan married Thomas III Gray before 1384. Thomas (son of Thomas II Gray and Margaret de Presfen) was born about 1359 in of Heaton, Wark-on-Tweed, Northumberland, England; died on 26 Nov 1400. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleanor married John Welles before 1368. John (son of John de Welle and Maud de Ros) was born on 20 Apr 1352 in Conisholme, Lincolnshire, England; died on 26 Aug 1421. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 22 Mar 1367

Notes:

Earl of Norfolk. Created Earl of Nottingham 12 Feb 1383. Granted the office of Marshal of England for life, 30 Jun 1385.

Thomas Mowbray and Elizabeth Fitz Alan (aka Elizabeth Arundel) were great-great-great grandparents of Anne Boleyn (d. 1536).

From Wikipedia:

He was one of the Lords Appellant to King Richard II who deposed some of the King's court favourites in 1387. He worked his way back into the king's good graces, however, and was likely instrumental in the murder, in 1397, of the king's uncle (and senior Lord Appellant), Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, who was imprisoned at Calais, where Nottingham was Captain. In gratitude, on 29 September 1397, the king created him Duke of Norfolk.

In 1398, Norfolk quarrelled with Henry of Bolingbroke, 1st Duke of Hereford (later King Henry IV), apparently due to mutual suspicions stemming from their roles in the conspiracy against the Duke of Gloucester. Before a duel between them could take place, Richard II banished them both. Mowbray left England on 19 October 1398. While in exile, he succeeded as Earl of Norfolk when his maternal grandmother, Margaret of Brotherton, Duchess of Norfolk, died on 24 March 1399.

He died of the plague at Venice on 22 September 1399. Bolingbroke returned to England in 1399 and usurped the crown on 30 September 1399; shortly afterward, on 6 October 1399, the creation of Mowbray as Duke of Norfolk was annulled by Parliament, although Mowbray's heir retained his other titles.

Thomas married Elizabeth Fitz Alan in Jul 1384 in Arundel, Sussex, England. Elizabeth (daughter of Richard de Arundel and Elizabeth de Bohun) was born about 1371; died on 8 Jul 1425. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 7 Sep 1395

Notes:

6th Lord La Warre. Captain of St. Lo Castle in Normandy, 1418; Captain of La Mott Fort, 1419.

Reynold married Margaret Thorley before 17 Feb 1429. Margaret (daughter of Robert Thorley and Anne de la Pole) died before 24 Nov 1433. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1451
• Alternate death: Aft 1454

Maud married Robert Ogle about 21 May 1399. Robert (son of Robert Ogle and Joan Heton) was born about 1379; died on 12 Aug 1436. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

One of the three conspirators in the Southampton Plot against Henry V, as dramatized in Shakespeare's play about that king.

Eleanor married Hugh Poynings before 29 Sep 1406. Hugh (son of Thomas Poynings and Joan le Strange) was born in of Chawton, Hampshire, England; died on 26 Dec 1426. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleanor married Godfrey Hilton before Jun 1433. Godfrey (son of Robert de Hilton and Isabel) was born in of Swine, Skirlaugh, Yorkshire, England; died on 5 Aug 1459. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Ives Welles. He took part in the rebellion of 1405, for which he was fined 100 marks and pardoned 7 Aug 1405.

Richardson's Royal Ancestry, published in 2013 (citation details below), has him dying before 26 Jul 1417, but in a 2021 post to SGM (citation details below), Richardson says that he "died testate at an unknown date." He cannot have died as late as 26 Jul 1417, since his widow Maud Greystoke married before 6 Oct 1414 (date of fine), as her second husband, Walter Fauconberge.

Eudes married Maud Greystoke about 1395. Maud (daughter of Ralph de Greystoke and Katherine Clifford) was born about 1380; died after 1437. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Robert Howard after 21 Feb 1421. Robert (son of John Howard and Alice Tendring) was born before 1400; died before Apr 1436; was buried in Tendring Chapel, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Isabel Mowbray (d. 1452) = James Berkeley (~1394-1463)
Maurice Berkeley (~1433-1506) = Isabel Meade (1444-1514)
Anne Berkeley (b. ~1470) = William Dennys (~1470-1533)
Isabel Dennys (~1512-1572) = John Berkeley (~1510-1546)
Elizabeth Berkeley = Henry Lygon (~1525-1577)
Isabel Lygon = Edward Bassett (d. 1602)
Jane Bassett (d. 1631) = John Deighton (1568-1640)
Frances Deighton (1612-1706) = Richard Williams (1608-1693)
Nathaniel Williams (1641-1692) = Elizabeth Rogers (~1643->1702)
John Williams (1675-1724) = Hannah Robinson (1678-1757)
Silas Williams (1707-1775) = Mary Wetherell (1715-1757)
Paul Williams (1738-1773) = Mary
Jairus Williams (1764-1841) = Hannah Morse (1770-1850)
Jason Williams (1805-1886) = Melinda Chamberlin (1805-1884)
Julia Ann Williams (1832-1895) = Calvin Sanford (1817-1888)
Lucy Fidelia Sanford (1860-1901) = Charles Wesley Nourse (1856-1914)
Ralph Carroll Nourse (1892-1958) = Alice Adelaide Gleed (1892-1981)
Cynthia Bassett Nourse (1930-1980) = Virgil Greeley Hetfield (1925-1996)
James Alan Hetfield (1963- ), lead singer and cofounder of Metallica

Family/Spouse: Henry Ferrers. Henry (son of William Ferrers and Philippe Clifford) was born in of Buttsbury, Essex, England; died between 1419 and 15 Jun 1422. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married James Berkeley between 1423 and 1424. James (son of James Berkeley and Elizabeth Bluet) was born about 1394 in Raglan, Monmouthshire, Wales; died in Nov 1463 in Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England; was buried in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Roger Lewknor before 1468. Roger (son of Thomas Lewknor and Philippe Dallingridge) was born in of Broadhurst in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, England; died on 4 Aug 1478. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Anne Ogle, but this appears to stem from an error in 1563/64 visitation of Yorkshire. She is recorded as Elizabeth in the contemporary entry recording the marriage dispensation in the bishop's register. [Some corrections and additions to The Complete Peerage: Volume 6: Heron.]

The date for their marriage is actually the dispensation date; they were third cousins, both being descended from Thomas de Gray (1277-1344) and his wife Agnes.

Elizabeth married William Heron on 13 Jan 1412. William (son of William Heron and Isabel Scot) was born about Oct 1400 in of Ford, Glendale, Northumberland, England; died on 1 Sep 1425. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Paulet. John (son of William Paulet and Eleanor de la Mare) died on 11 Jan 1437 in Nunney, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Privy councillor, 1434. Lieutenant of Ireland, 1438-42. Summoned to Parliament 25 Feb 1432 to 30 Jul 1460. Taken prisoner by Yorkists at the battle of Blore Heath. Fought at the second battle of St. Albans. Killed at the battle of Towton.

Lionel married Joan Waterton on 15 Aug 1417 in St. Oswald's, Methley, Yorkshire, England. Joan (daughter of Robert Waterton and Cecily Fleming) died after 18 Oct 1434; was buried in Methley, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lionel married Margaret Beauchamp in Apr 1447. Margaret (daughter of John Beauchamp and Edith Stourton) was born about 1410; died before 3 Jun 1482. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Duke of Norfolk. Earl Marshal of England. Present at the coronation of Richard III. Led the van of archers at Bosworth Field, where he was slain.

Knight of the shire for Norfolk, 1455. Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1461. Vice Admiral of Norfolk and Suffolk, 1466. Sheriff of Oxfordshire 1467-68. Treasurer of the Household 1467-74. Lieutenant of Calais 1469. Privy Councillor 1483. Admiral of England, Ireland, and Aquitaine 1483.

A zealous Yorkist, he was knighted on the field by Edward IV at the battle of Towton, 29 Mar 1461. He was summoned to Parliament by writs dated 15 Oct 1470 to 15 Nov 1482. He was created Duke of Norfolk and constituted Earl Marshal of England 28 Jun 1483.

John married Katherine de Moleyns before 1442. Katherine (daughter of William Moleyns and Margery) was born about 1423; died on 3 Nov 1465; was buried in Stoke-By-Nayland, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Margaret Chedworth before 22 Jan 1467. Margaret (daughter of John Chedworth and Joan) died between 13 May 1490 and 3 Dec 1494; was buried in 1494. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Edward Grey. Edward (son of Reynold Grey and Joan Astley) was born about 1415; died on 18 Dec 1457. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Maurice married Isabel Meade in 1465. Isabel (daughter of Philip Meade, Mayor Of Bristol and Isabel) was born after 1443; died after 29 May 1514 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England; was buried in Austin Friars, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Roger married Anne before 29 Sep 1490. Anne died before 28 Nov 1502; was buried on 28 Nov 1502 in Boxgrove Priory, Sussex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Elizabeth Heron and John Heron were third cousins, both being great-great grandchildren of William Heron (d. 1379) and Isabel Gray (d. >1362).

Elizabeth married John Heron after 11 Jul 1438. John (son of William Heron and Isabel) was born about 1418 in of Ford, Glendale, Northumberland, England; died on 29 Mar 1461 in Towton, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 5 Oct 1492

John married Eleanor Roos before 1455. Eleanor (daughter of Robert Roos and Joan Skelton) was born on 23 Jun 1432 in St. Christopher, Bread Street, London, England; died before May 1509; was buried in Basing, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Robert Willoughby. Robert (son of Thomas Willoughby and Joan Arundel) was born in of Parham, Suffolk, England; died on 30 May 1465; was buried in Campsey Priory, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleanor married Thomas Hoo before 1445. Thomas (son of Thomas Hoo and Eleanor Felton) was born before 1399 in of Hoo, Luton, Bedfordshire, England; died on 13 Feb 1455. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Thomas Dymoke. Thomas (son of Philip Dymoke and Joan Conyers) was born about 1428 in of Scrivelsby, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England; died on 12 Mar 1470. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

2nd Duke of Norfolk. Styled Earl of Surrey, 1483-85 and 1489-1514.

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Tilney. Elizabeth (daughter of Frederick Tilney and Elizabeth Cheyne) was born about 1442; died on 4 Apr 1497. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married John Wyndham in 1467. John (son of John Wymondham and Margery Clifton) was born in of Crownthorpe, Norfolk, England; died on 6 May 1502 in Tower Hill, London, England; was buried in Austin Friars, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Katherine married John Bourchier before 13 May 1490. John (son of Humphrey Bourchier and Elizabeth Tilney) was born about 1467 in of West Horsley, Surrey, England; died on 16 Mar 1533 in Calais, France; was buried in Calais, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Talbot. Elizabeth (daughter of John Talbot and Joan Cheddar) was born in 1452 in Nutley, Sussex, England; died on 8 Sep 1487. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Killed in the Second Battle of St. Albans, fighting for the Lancastrians.

John married Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of England in 1452. Elizabeth (daughter of Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg) was born in 1437 in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, England; died on 8 Jun 1492 in Bermondsey Priory, Surrey, England; was buried on 12 Jun 1492 in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Berkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William Dennis. William (son of Walter Dennis and Agnes Danvers) was born about 1470 in of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, England; died on 22 Jun 1533. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edmund married Joan Tyrell about 1532. Joan (daughter of Jasper Tyrell and Anne Goring) was born about 1510; died before Sep 1557 in Racton, Sussex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Robert Tailboys before 1467. Robert (son of William Tailboys and Elizabeth Bonville) was born about 1441-1451 in of Kyme, Lincolnshire, England; died on 31 Jan 1494; was buried in Kyme Priory, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sheriff of Hampshire 1491-92, 1499-1500. He was one of the commanders of the army that subdued the Cornish at Blackheath, 22 Jun 1497. Created a Knight of the Bath at the marriage of Prince Arthur, 14 Nov 1501.

John married Alice Paulet before Jun 1468. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Eresby, Lincolnshire, England

Christopher married Margaret Jenney before 28 Mar 1482. Margaret (daughter of William Jenney and Elizabeth Cawse) died between 1515 and 1516. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleanor married James Carew about 1468. James (son of Nicholas Carew and Margaret Fiennes) was born in of Beddington, Surrey, England; died on 22 Dec 1492. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Leon, Lyon.

Lionel Dymoke = Joan Griffith
Alice Dymoke = William Skipwith
Henry Skipwith = Jane Hall
William Skipwith = Margaret Cave
Henry Skipwith = Anne Kempe
Diana Skipwith = Edward Dale
Katherine Dale = Thomas Carter
Thomas Carter = Arabella Williamson
Daniel Carter = Elizabeth Pannill
Thomas Carter = Mary
Anne Carter = Joseph Oswald
Susannah Oswald = Gen. Daniel Stewart
Martha Stewart = James Stephens Bulloch
Martha Bulloch = Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Lionel married Joan Griffith about 1486. Joan (daughter of Rhys Griffith) was born about 1471; died after 1492. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lionel married Anne Heydon between 1505 and 17 Dec 1509. Anne (daughter of Henry Heydon and Anne Boleyn) died before 8 May 1521. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1544

Notes:

Sheriff of Lincolnshire 1483-84, 1502-03, 1509-10, 1515-16. Merchant of the Staple of Calais. Treasurer of Tournai. Commander at the siege of Tournai in 1513.

He was King's Champion at the coronations of kings Richard III, Henry VII, and Henry VIII, "by entering the hall during dinner on horseback to challenge in single combat any who disputed the king's right to reign." [Royal Ancestry, citation details below]

Family/Spouse: Anne Sparrow. Anne (daughter of John Sparrow) died before 6 Mar 1543. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jane married John Fulnetby about 1485. John (son of John Fulnetby and (Unknown) Sothill) was born about 1455; died between 30 Aug 1523 and 3 Nov 1528. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "an impecunious younger son". Comptroller of Calais in 1531.

Family/Spouse: Joyce Culpeper. Joyce (daughter of Richard Culpepper and Isabel Worsley) was born about 1480; died after 1527. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Thomas Boleyn. Thomas (son of William Boleyn and Margaret Butler) was born about 1477 in Hever Castle, Hever, Kent, England; died on 12 Mar 1539; was buried in St. Peter's, Hever, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1522

Notes:

Esquire of the King's Body. He was in an expedition to Biscay in 1512, was knighted by his cousin Edmund Howard that year, and was with Henry VIII at the siges of the Therouanne and Tournai. He attended conferences with the king of France in 1520.

Family/Spouse: Eleanor Scrope. Eleanor (daughter of Richard Scrope and Eleanor Washbourne) was born about 1476; died before 1509. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1561

Notes:

Or Joan.

Family/Spouse: Edmund Knyvet. Edmund (son of Edmund Knyvet and Eleanor Tyrrell) was born in 1490 in of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, England; died on 1 May 1539; was buried in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Edmund Dudley after 1500. Edmund (son of John Dudley and Elizabeth Bramshott) was born about 1462; died on 18 Aug 1510 in Tower Hill, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Cecily Bonville. Cecily (daughter of William Bonville and Catherine Neville) was born between 1460 and 1461; died on 12 May 1529 in Shacklewell, Hackney, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Berkeley. John (son of Richard Berkeley and Elizabeth Coningsby) was born about 1510 in of Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, England; died in 1545. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Thomas Stoughton on 27 Feb 1553. Thomas (son of Lawrence Stoughton and Anne Combes) was born on 25 Mar 1521 in of Stoke in Stoughton, Surrey, England; died on 26 Mar 1578 in London, England; was buried in St. Clement Danes, Westminster, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Robert Tyrwhit. Robert (son of William Tyrwhit and Anne Constable) was born about 1482 in of Kettleby, Lincolnshire, England; died on 4 Jul 1548 in Kettleby, Lincolnshire, England; was buried in Wrawby, Kettleby, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

De jure Lord Kyme, styled Earl of Angus. Sheriff of Lincolnshire, 1526. He was knighted at the Battle of Blackheath in 1497. He was judged a lunatic 2 Mar 1517, and his person and lands were taken into custody.

George married Elizabeth Gascoigne before Apr 1493. Elizabeth (daughter of William Gascoigne and Margaret Percy) died in 1559; was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William Gifford. William (son of John Gifford) was born in of Itchel in Crondal, Hampshire, England; died on 17 Jun 1549. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Thomas Tyrrell. Thomas (son of James Tyrrell and Anne Arundell) was born in of Gipping, Suffolk, England; died between 12 Jun 1551 and 25 Aug 1551. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married William Eure about 1503. William (son of Ralph Eure and Muriel Hastings) was born about 1483 in of Witton in Weardale, Durham, England; died on 15 Mar 1548 in Eresby, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was made a knight banneret by Henry VII after the battle of Blackheath, 1497.

Family/Spouse: Malyn Oxenbridge. Malyn (daughter of Robert Oxenbridge and Anne Lyvelode) died on 3 Oct 1544. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Goodrick. John (son of William Goodrick and Jane Williamson) was born in of East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, England; died between 1545 and 1546. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1566

Notes:

Sheriff of Lincolnshire 1535-36, 1547-48, 1555-56. Knight of the shire for Lincolnshire, 1547, Apr 1554, 1558. Treasurer of Boulogne 1546-47.

Hereditary Champion of England at the coronations of Edward VI in 1547, Mary in 1553, and Elizabeth in 1559. Knighted March or September (records vary) 1546.

From the History of Parliament:

The first Dymoke of Scrivelsby, Sir John, established his right to act as champion of England at the coronation of Richard II on the ground that the office was attached to the manor of Scrivelsby. Sir Edward Dymoke carried out his hereditary duty at the coronations of Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. He sued out a pardon in October 1553 as Sir Edward Dymoke of Scrivelsby alias the King's champion.

Dymoke's status had earlier been put to a more than symbolic test. It was during his first shrievalty of Lincolnshire that there took place the rising of 1536. The rebels came to Scrivelsby on 3 Oct. and forced the sheriff to assume the leadership of their host; moreover, until the banner of the Five Wounds was prepared one belonging to the Dymoke family was used. It was while Dymoke was nominally at the head of the insurgents that the chancellor of Lincoln was murdered at Horncastle, but a week later he and three of his kinsmen joined the royal forces under the Duke of Suffolk at Stamford. Many of those examined after the rising claimed that the gentry, and in particular the sheriff, might have (as one of them put it) 'stayed the rebels with a white rod', but whatever was thought of his conduct he suffered no punishment or disgrace.

Dymoke's brief tenure of the treasurership of Boulogne lasted from the autumn of 1546 until the following spring. His appointment was mentioned by Sir Philip Draycott in a letter of 4 Sept. 1546, on 30 Sept. his precursor (Sir) Hugh Paulet spoke of expecting him by 1 Nov., and the Privy Council began sending him instructions in October; his successor, Sir Richard Cotton, was appointed on 17 Mar. 1547. It is not clear why Dymoke was appointed to the office, the only one of its kind which he was to hold, or why he relinquished it so speedily. If he went to Boulogne he must have returned before the coronation on 20 Feb. Both the lustre of this occasion and his recent knighthood may help to account for his election in the following autumn as senior knight of the shire in the first Parliament of the reign. He was, in any case, well qualified by birth, fortune and experience, while his marriage linked him with the governing group in the county which was headed by Edward Fiennes, 9th Lord Clinton, who married his sister-in-law, and included his fellow-knight Sir William Skipwith.

Dymoke was to be re-elected to two Marian Parliaments when he sat with another kinsman-by-marriage, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt II, but there is no indication of the part which he played in the House or of his attitude towards the religious changes in which he became involved there. He was to remain in favour and employment under Elizabeth, and his appointment to a commission to impose the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity shows that he must have conformed to this further settlement. In 1564, however, he was described as 'indifferent' and his eldest son, Robert, as a 'hinderer': Robert became an open recusant and died in prison for his religion in 1580.

Edward married Anne Tailboys between 1523 and 1 Apr 1529. Anne (daughter of George Tailboys and Elizabeth Gascoigne) died after 1577. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Katherine married William Dynewell about 1510. William was born about 1485; died before 6 Jan 1544; was buried on 6 Jan 1544 in Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In one of the charges leading to her downfall, she was alleged to have failed to resist the advances of a gentleman of the king's privy chamber named Thomas Culpeper, who was himself beheaded at Tyburn on 10 Dec 1541, two months before her own execution. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article about Katherine Howard notes that "he was distantly related to Katherine on her mother's side, for they shared a Culpeper ancestor who had lived in the reign of Edward II." This would be true if the courtier were a son of any number of Culpepers of sixteenth-century Kent, virtually all of them descendants of Thomas Colepeper of Brenchley who died in 1309. But the ODNB confidently states that the courtier Thomas Culpeper was "the second of the three sons of Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury, Kent (d. 1541), and his second wife, Constance Harper (née Chamberlain); his elder brother, also named Thomas, was a client of Thomas Cromwell." This piques our interest, because this Alexander Culpeper was a son of John Culpeper (~1430-1480) and his wife Agnes Gainsford, who are themselves direct ancestors of JTS and (probably) TNH, AP, and GFS.^{1, 2}

The problem is this: Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury made his will on 20 May 1540, and died sometime in 1541 before 21 June, when his will was proved. His wife Constance made her will on 4 Oct 1541, after her husband's death. All of these events happened before the courtier Thomas Culpeper was accused, much less executed. And yet both wills name only one son named Thomas. Alexander's calls Thomas "myne eldist sonne" and mentions one other son, John. Constance's also names only two sons by Alexander, Thomas and John. (She had an additional son, George Harper, by her first marriage.)

Constance's will was proved at London on 13 Nov 1542, so it's entirely possible that she lived past 10 Nov 1541, the day the courtier Thomas Culpepper was executed. And there is a codicil to Constance's will, undated, but it makes none of the adjustments one might expect if one of one's legatees had been beheaded at Tyburn since the main will was drawn up.

Even more to the point, if backwoods gentry Alexander and Constance Culpeper had a son who was a fast-rising figure at the royal court, one would think he would at least be mentioned in one or both of their wills. Remember again that when both of these wills were drawn up, the courtier Thomas Culpeper had yet to be accused of any wrongdoing.

Finally, the will of the Thomas Culpeper who was definitely a son of Alexander and Constance Culpeper, mentioned in both of their wills, is dated 6 Aug 1557; it was proved 20 Oct 1558, and he was buried at St. Mary's in Goudhurst on 13 May 1558. He was married twice, to Elizabeth Hawte in about 1522 and to Ellen Hendley in about 1540. He is obviously not the courtier who was executed in November 1541.

Where does the claim about the courtier's parentage come from? Probably the 1592 Visitation of Kent. Specifically, the 1924 volume The Visitations of Kent, Taken in the Years 1574 and 1592 by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux, edited by W. Bruce Bannerman, part 2, London, 1924 (Harleian Society volume 75). "The present Volume contains the remaining portion of the letters, I-Z, of the second Visitation, in 1574, together with the third Visitation, made in 1592, based on a contemporary MS bearing the autograph of Percy, Viscount Strangford, London, 1816, with the addition, from other sources, of some further Pedigrees and Arms." We're uncertain what "contemporary MS" means in this context: an actual manuscript made by a herald in the 1590s, or not? And as to the "autograph of Percy, Viscount Strangford, London, 1816", we are doubtful about the mighty authenticating credibility emanating from the signature of Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford (1780-1855), whose career as a British diplomat went into an abrupt decline when, as ambassador to Russia in 1826, he was caught falsifying dispatches to the British government and revealing confidential documents to the Austrian ambassador in St. Petersburg. At any rate, these are the pertinent passages from the 1924 volume's representation of the 1592 visitation, all on page 92:

S^r John Colepeper of Bedgebery aforsaide knight Sonne and heire to Walter married Agnes the daughter of . . . . . and by her hathe issue S^r Alexander Colepeper knighte his eldest Sonne […]

S^r Alexander Colepeper of Bedgebery aforsaide knighte Sonne and heire to S^r John maried to his first wiffe Agnes Daughter to Roger Davye of Northfelde in the County of Kent Esquire and by her had issue Alys. After the saide S^r Alexander maried to his seconde wiffe Constance Daughter to Robert Chamberlein and wydowe of Harper, and her her had issue Thomas Colepeper his eldist Sonne, and Thomas Colepeper second Sonne, and John Colepeper thirde Sonne, Elizabeth maried to S^t Clere gent., Anne maried to Raulfe Molyns of Barkeshier, and Johan maried to Aldred ffitz James of Somersetshire Esquire, Margarett married to Phillippe Chowte gent and Katherin maried to Edwarde Barrett gent.

Anne's husband was actually William Molyns, not Raulfe or Ralph. Johanna's husband was Alfred Fitzjames, not Aldred, but given the fluidity of late-medieval names he may well have gone by Aldred two or three times a week. At any rate, even stipulating that these passages represent a perfect copy of the original 1592 visitation, it remains that this information would have been taken down by the heralds from people reciting family history over fifty years after the deaths of Alexander and Constance Culpeper.

We would like to know if the author of the ODNB essay about Katherine Howard, Retha M. Warnicke, has other sources that would indicate that the courtier Thomas Culpeper was in fact a son of Alexander and Constance. We would also like to know the source for the information that his stated older brother, also named Thomas, was "a client of Thomas Cromwell." In the absence of any such information, we're inclined to believe that this theory of the parentage of the courtier Thomas Culpeper is merely yet another example of the less-than-perfect reliability of visitation pedigrees.

_____

(1) Depending on whether TNH, AP, and GFS ancestor Joan Roberts was a daughter of her father Walter Roberts's second wife Isabel Culpepper, daughter of John Culpepper and Agnes Gainsford, as seems most probable, instead of his first wife, Margaret Penn. See Adrian Benjamin Burke, John Blythe Dobson, and Janet Chevally Wolfe, "The Exhurst Ancestry of the Stoughton Siblings of New England", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 165:245, October 2011; 166:46, January 2012.

(2) And possibly of PNH, if it's ever proved that his 9G-grandfather Henry Colepepper (d. 1675 in Virginia) was a son of his fellow Virginia emigrant John Culpeper (1637-1674), as has often been speculated. If this turned out to be the case, John Culpeper and Agnes Gainsford would be the most recent common ancestors of PNH and TNH.

Catherine married Henry VIII, King of England on 28 Jul 1540 in Oatlands Palace, Surrey, England. Henry (son of Henry VII, King of England and lord of Ireland and Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of England) was born on 28 Jun 1491 in Greenwich, Kent, England; died on 28 Jan 1547 in Hampton Court Palace, Richmond upon Thames, London, England; was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Berkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married William Carey in 1520. William was born about 1495; died on 22 Jun 1528. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Henry VIII, King of England in Jan 1533. Henry (son of Henry VII, King of England and lord of Ireland and Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of England) was born on 28 Jun 1491 in Greenwich, Kent, England; died on 28 Jan 1547 in Hampton Court Palace, Richmond upon Thames, London, England; was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Berkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was knighted at the coronation of Edward VI, February 1547.

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Sydenham. Elizabeth (daughter of John Sydenham and Joan) died on 1 Jan 1571; was buried in St. Decuman's, Watchet, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1596

Mary married Erasmus Paston after 22 Oct 1521. Erasmus (son of William Paston and Bridget Heydon) was born before 1508; died before 6 Nov 1540; was buried on 6 Nov 1540 in Paston, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Plumstead, Norfolk, England
• Alternate death: Bef 1561

John married Agnes Harcourt about 1538. Agnes (daughter of John Harcourt and Margaret Barantyne) died in 1578. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1st Duke of Northumberland.

John married Jane Guildford before 1526. Jane (daughter of Edward Guildford and Eleanor West) was born about 1504; died on 22 Jan 1555 in Chelsea, Middlesex, England; was buried on 1 Feb 1555 in Chelsea, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

2nd Marquess of Dorset.

Thomas married Margaret Wotton in 1509. Margaret died after 6 Oct 1535. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Henry Ligon. Henry (son of Richard Lygon and Margery Greville) was born in of Upton St. Leonard's, Gloucestershire, England; died on 31 Jul 1577. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]