Nielsen Hayden genealogy

John Chichester

Male 1365 - Bef 1399  (< 33 years)


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  • Name John Chichester  [1
    Birth 1365  of Raleigh in Pilton, Devon, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    Gender Male 
    Death Bef 1399  [3, 4
    Person ID I8057  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of DDB, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK
    Last Modified 6 Mar 2023 

    Father John Chichester 
    Family ID F689  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Thomasine Raleigh   d. 7 Aug 1402 
    Marriage 1384  [3, 5
    Children 
    +1. John Chichester,   b. 1386, of Raleigh in Pilton, Devon, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 Dec 1437 (Age 51 years)
    Family ID F4642  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 12 Sep 2021 

  • Notes 
    • Vivian's Visitations of the County of Devon, Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620 (1895), p. 172, gives two ancestries for this John Chichester, one from Alexander Chichester's book (citation details below) which makes this John a son of a Sir Roger de Chichester who is said to have been knighted after the seige of Calais and present at the 1356 battle of Poictiers, and the other from "Harl. MS. 1538, fo. 256, and the College of Arms", which makes this John a son of another John Chichester, GX5-grandson of "Walleran de Cirencester alias Chichester, descended from a brother of Robert Chichester, Bishop of Exeter, temp. King Stephen. Did homage to William de Raleigh for the Manor of South Pool 22 Hen. III, as appears on the Ledger Book of Tor Abbey."

      Alexander P. B. Chichester's version is as follows:

      Richard de Cicester, went to the Holy Land with King Richard

      Robert de Cicester, m. Petronilla

      Richard de Cicester, brother of Robert de Cicester, bishop of York; Richard m. Elizabeth

      Roger de Cicester, accompanied Edward I to Gascony

      Roger de Cicester, in the French and Scottish wars with Edward III

      Roger de Cicester, knighted after the siege of Calais

      John Chichester, m. Thomasine Raleigh

      The College of Arms version is as follows, assuming that Vivian transcribed it correctly:

      Waleran de Cirencester alias Chichester

      John de Cirencester

      John de Cirencester

      Thomas Chichester, m. Alice de Rotomago, who brought her husband the manors of Ledwinstowe and Restercombe

      William Chichester

      John Chichester

      Richard Chichester

      John Chichester

      John Chichester, m. Thomasine Raleigh

      It doesn't speak to the validity of all these claimed connections, but it seems likely that this John Chichester's father was indeed another John Chichester, as pointed out by the author of the Wikitree page on Thomasine Raleigh. That page cites the following entries in Patent Rolls and Close Rolls for 1377-78.

      From Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Richard II, vol. 1: 1377-1381 (London, 1897), page 31, 1377, October 10, Westminster:

      Grant to Guy Bryan, the elder, knight, of the custody of the body of Thomasia, daughter and heir of John de Rale of Devon, together with the marriage of the said lady; rendering 40l. to the king if he in the king's right recover the custody and marriage. By bill of treasurer. Vacated by surrender and cancelled, because Edward, late prince of Wales, was long in possession of the custody, and Hugh de Browe, knight, bought the custody and marriage from the said prince's executors and granted them to Richard White.

      From the same volume, page 186, 1378, April 14, Westminster:

      "Grant for 40l. paid to the king by his father's executors, to Richard White, of the benefit of the custody and marriage of Thomasia, daughter and heir of John de Rale of the county of Devon, which the king granted on October 10, by letters patent, now surrendered and cancelled, to Guy de Brien, the father, for that sum to be paid at the Exchequer in case he in the king's right recovered the same, and of which the king's father long had possession, and which Hugh de Browe, knight, bought after the king's father's death of his executors, and afterwards grated to the said Richard White."

      From Calendar of the Close Rolls, Richard II, Vol. 1 1377-1381 (London, 1914), page 201-02, 1378, July 29, Westminster:

      "John Chichestre the younger and Richard White to John de Asshe. Recognisance for 100 marks, to be levied etc. in Dorset.

      "Memorandum of defeasance, upon condition the said John Chichestre and Richard shall before Christmas next give security for a yearly pension of 6 marks payable to John Asshe at Exeter for his life, payment to begin at Michaelmas next.

      "John de Asshe to Sir John de Fordham and John Chichestre, and to Richard White to whom the king has granted the wardship and marriage of the heir of John de Rale. Quitclaim of the said wardship and marriage, granted to John de Asshe by the late king. Dated London, 30 July 2 Richard II.

      "Memorandum of acknowledgment, 30 July."

      The John Chichester of these 1377-78 transactions cannot have been our John Chichester, who would have been underage at the time. The only reasonable interpretation we can see is that of the Wikitree writer, who says that "it is evident that John Chichester bought the marriage of Thomasine Raleigh along with Richard White, and that he subsequently married his son to her."

  • Sources 
    1. [S699] The Visitations of the County of Devon, Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620, with additions by J. L. Vivian. Devon: 1895.

    2. [S3784] History of the Family of Chichester, from A. D. 1086-1870 by Alexander Palmer Bruce Chichester. London: J. C. Hotton, 1871., year only.

    3. [S413] Genealogy Page of John Blythe Dobson.

    4. [S145] Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis and Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. 8th edition, William R. Beall & Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, 2006, 2008.

    5. [S3784] History of the Family of Chichester, from A. D. 1086-1870 by Alexander Palmer Bruce Chichester. London: J. C. Hotton, 1871.