Joan de la Mare

Family/Spouse: Ralph de Cromwell. Ralph (son of Ralph de Cromwell and Joan de Somerville) was born about 1292 in of Cromwell, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England; died before 15 Oct 1356. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Ralph de Cromwell was born in of Cromwell, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England; died before 28 Oct 1364.

Notes:

Rosie Bevan, 29 Mar 2015, post to SGM:

I can offer a few more details into the disputed inheritance and Geoffrey's ancestry.

In 1346-48 Henry of Pytchley, a monk at Peterborough, compiled a register of the abbey holdings from which there is an account of the disputed inheritance. The following is a précis.

Geoffrey de la Mare married three wives. From the first he had two sons, Geoffrey and Brian, and two daughters, Joan and Mabel. His second wife had a daughter named Maud, afterwards wife of Hugh de Cressy. However, because it was said that his son, Geoffrey, had previously had a pre contract with his second wife and had known her carnally, Geoffrey senior procured a divorce through the archdeacon of Essex. Afterwards Geoffrey junior and Brian died during the lifetime of their father. He married a third time, Cecily, who bore him another son named Geoffrey, posthumously. In 1345 the daughters and their husbands brought a suit for the de la Mare inheritance claiming that there could not have been a divorce because the second wife was mad so she could not authorise a deed of proxy, therefore Geoffrey was illegitimate. In the fine that ensued Hugh de Cressy and Maud recognised that Maxey and other tenements were the right of Geoffrey and quitclaimed their interest in them to him for 200 pounds. [W. T. Mellows, ed., Henry of Pytchley's Book of Fees (Northamptonshire Record Society, 1927), p.35-40.]

Geoffrey senior's ancestry can be gleaned from a plea in the Court of Common Pleas in the Michaelmas term of 1294 of Geoffrey de la Mare against the abbot of Peterborough claiming his right to the office of constable as held by his predecessors. Geoffrey gave the following descent from his great grandfather Brian de la Mare, from whom it descended to Geoffrey as his son and heir. From Geoffrey it descended to Brian his son and heir. Brian died without issue and it descended to Peter his brother and heir. Peter died without issue so it descended to his brother and heir Ralph. Ralph died without issue so it descended to Geoffrey his brother and heir. Geoffrey died without issue so it descended to Peter his brother and heir (evidently there were two brothers named Peter in the family). From Peter it descended to his son and heir Geoffrey, the plaintiff.

In the ensuing quitclaim of 1296 Geoffrey describes himself as "Galfridus de la Mare miles filius domini Petri de la Mare in Makeseye" confirming this paternity. [Sandra Raban, ed., The White Book of Peterborough (Northamptonshire Record Society, 2001), pp.1-2.]

Geoffrey married (Unknown first wife of Geoffrey de la Mare). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Sir Peter de la Mare, the father of Geoffrey, drowned in the Menai Strait on 6 November 1282, along with with several hundred other English soldiers fighting against the Welsh." [John Watson, 2015, citation details below.]

Peter married Christian. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]