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SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
SCRIVELSBY,
The Home OF THE Champions.
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
MARMION AND DYMOKE FAMILIES.
ILLUSTRATED.
By the rev. SAMUEL LODGE. M.A,
Canon of Lincoln, and Rector of Scrivelsby.
" Let me review the scene, And summon from the shadowy past The forms that once have been."
Longfellow.
HORN'CASTLE :
\V. K. Morton, High Street.
LONDON' :
Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row
1893.
SCR.
H
The Home of the Champions.
WITH SOME ACCOUXT OF THE
MARMION AND DYMOKE FAMILIES.
ILLUSTRATED.
By the rev. SAMUEL LODGE. M.A.
Canon of Lincoln, and Rector of Scrivelshy.
" Let me review the scene, And summon from the shadowy past The forms that once hav'C been."
Longfellow.
HORNCASTLE :
W. K. Morton, High Street.
LONDON :
Elliot Stock, 62., Paternoster Row.
1893.
^>?(oL^
To Wife and Children, and all who love a
Happy Home.
INTRODUCTION.
HE Dvmokes have dwelt at Scrivelsbv for more than five centuries, and the Championship, the peculiar badge of their house, is strictly attached to the feudal ownership of the Manor. This
alone gives the little village an importance to which, other- wise, it could lay no claim. But it has become an article of general agreement, that while no place, however small, is beneath the notice of the historical enquirer, it is the duty of all persons who have the leisure and inclination for such studies, to make the most of their opportunities, and to rescue from oblivion the records of the town or village, in which thev may chance to dwell.
Scrivelsby, as is well-known, is unusuallv rich in historical associations, as well as in subjects of interest to the genealogist and antiquarian. But, owing to recent changes in the family succession and other causes, there is an absolute dearth of the ordinarv sources of information, which are s^enerallv to be found stored up amongst the archives of our country houses, and, without which, it would be useless to attempt
^
fSnt
'=€>M^
I
INI
alone j4ivcj» ihc liitie vi wise, it could !nv no general aj'tcciuciu, ui.u \n the notice of the h: persons who have ih* 1'«v"t make the most of ti obhvion the records mav chance to dwell. Scrivelsb\ , as is w associations, as well as in and antiquarian. Rut. succession and other of the ordinary sou to be found storj houses, and,
CTIOX.
dwelt at Scrivelsbv for more
nnd the Championship, the
litir house, is strictly attached
<Tship of the Manor. This
importance to which, other-
I it has become an article of lace, however small, is beneath juirer, it is the dutv of all iiclination for such studies, to imities, and to rescue from
II or villaji^e, in which they
IS unusually rich in histoncai nf interest to the ^cii I ecent changes in ih' there is an .i
> 1 1 .s .
r
INTRODUCTION.
HE Dvmokes have dwelt at Scrivelsbv for more than five centuries, and the Championship, the peculiar badge of their house, is strictly attached to the feudal ownership of the Manor. This
alone gives the little village an importance to which, other- wise, it could lay no claim. But it has become an article of general agreement, that while no place, however small, is beneath the notice of the historical enquirer, it is the duty of all persons who have the leisure and inclination for such studies, to make the most of their opportunities, and to rescue from oblivion the records of the town or village, in which they may chance to dwell.
Scrivelsbv, as is well-known, is unusually rich in historical associations, as well as in subjects of interest to the genealogist and antiquarian. But, owing to recent changes in the family succession and other causes, there is an absolute dearth of the ordinarv sources of information, which are generally to be found stored up amongst the archives of our country houses, and, without which, it would be useless to attempt
77??. INTRODUCTION.
anything in the shape of an exhaustive history of the families that, from time to time, have inhabited them.
It is not, however, the object of this vrork to dwell upon the history of the Marmions and Dvmokes, apart from their connection with Scrivelsby and the Championship ; much less does it propose to search out and follow up the offshoots and collateral branches of the two families, in their various settlements, in England or abroad. But, even in this restricted area, it ought to be possible to excite the interest, not only of the residents in the neighbourhood, but of that select circle, also, amongst the general public, to whom the bye- paths of history, and antiquarian research are always attractive.
It is true that the local reader will expect and appreciate local details, which will be "caviare to the general" : but it is not too much to hope that the general reader will find some compensation in being introduced, it may be for the first time, to an ancient Institution, which was once closelv connected with the history of the country, but is now in danger of perishing from memorv, and of leaving " not a rack behind." The Championship, however, with its quaint ceremonies and time-honoured associations, must not be allowed to fall into abeyance, without at least an acknowledg- ment of its past history, and an attempt to portrav its origin, growth, and present position.
The striking and almost romantic transference of the Scrivelsbv Manor from one branch of the Dvmoke familv to the representative of another and an older branch, a few
INTRODUCTION. tX.
years ago, excited some notice at the time, and revived the somewhat waning interest in the fortunes of a familv which for so many generations had been established at Scrivelsbv. It can hardly occasion surprise that this revival of interest has brought to the surface manv important questions respecting the Dymokes, and the unique distinction of that which is generally but incorrectlv termed the hereditary Championship. No fault, indeed, need be found with this description, as long as it is clearly understood that the office is only hereditarv as being attached to the estate, which, in the natural course of things, mav be expected to descend from father to son, in hereditary succession. Were it otherwise, the Championship would have been the perquisite of the Tetford branch of the Dymoke family from 1760 to 1875, while the estate was, during that time, vested in what is known as the Scrivelsbv branch of the same family. But the ownership of the Manor and the distinctive title are inseparably united. It will be seen in the following pages that the Championship is so closelv connected with the possession of the land, that, apart from Scrivelsby, no one is entitled to be called Champion to the reigning sovereign.
Again, it is often, but erroneouslv, supposed that the Manor of Scrivelsby is held on a different tenure from that under which other estates are inherited. Because it was, undoubtedlv, a striking instance, in olden times, of feudal occupation, it has been thought that, in some inscrutable fashion, the owner of the Scrivelsbv Manor is still a
X. INTRODUCTION.
feudatorv liegeman of the sovereign, and that he is tied and bound bv the peculiarities of his position. It is a pity to dispel these pleasing hallucinations, but it is an historical fact, that all feudal obligations have long ceased to be operative, and that the last remnants of the feudal svstem came to an end at the time of the Restoration in 1660, when the Crown and Church lands, together with numerous Royalist estates, which had been confiscated during the Commonwealth, reverted to the rightful owners. There is not a shadow of doubt that, at the present day, the owner of Scrivelsby holds his estates exactly as other estates are held by the Nobility and Countrv Gentlemen of England.
Under these circumstances, then, it is that the present attempt is made, to meet an acknowledged want, by gathering together, in convenient shape, such information respecting the Championship, as is to be found scattered about in various Manuscripts and publications, which are well-nigh inaccessible to the general reader.
In the historical part of a work of this kind, originality is neither to be expected nor desired : but attention will alwavs be drawn to the source from which the information is derived, with due attention to the verification of quotations, in accordance with the advice of the late Venerable President of Magdalene. And, although no pretension to infallibility is put forward, great pains have been taken to ensure accuracy, without which a book that treats of ancient customs and family histories would be justly liable to severe criticism.
INTRODl'CTION. XI.
The Family of Mannyiiii, by T. C. Banks, has been largely consulted, and free use has been made of an unpublished MS. by the Rev. Mark Noble, although much labour has been caused bv the obvious necessity of testins: the statements of both these writers bv other authorities.
The Rt. Hon. E. Stanhope, M.P., of Revesby Abbev, has kindly placed at the author's disposal some valuable papers, which were found amongst the manuscripts left bv the late Sir Joseph Banks, P.R.S., who was, as might have been expected, much interested in everything connected with the Championship. These papers, unfortunately, were received too late to be much used in the body of the work : but one of them will be found in the Appendix (No. 17), and is likely to attract attention, as it embodies, in homelv ballad language, a serious theory, which mav, possiblv, have commended itself to the judgment of Sir Joseph Banks, although it runs counter to the generally received opinion on the subject of which it treats.
INIuch useful information, too, has been contributed bv Lady Hartwell, on subjects connected with the familv historv of her ancestors : and it is to her thoughtful consideration that the readers of Scrivelsbv will have the opportunity of seeing the interesting extract from the diarv of the Champion who officiated at the coronation of George III.
Thanks also are due, and are herebv cordiallv rendered to the Rev. W. R. Bell, for manv valuable hints and
xii. INTRODUCTION.
suggestions ; and to Professor Church, for his kind assistance during the progress of the work through the Press.
Reference has been made, with the permission of the author, to Pahiier's Baronial Family of Marmion, and to the interesting little book on Parish Registers, by Mr. Chester Walters, while the advice and assistance of Mr. H. Carlton, in the selection and production of suitable subjects for the Illustrations, have been highly appreciated.
Although it is probable that many readers will unblushingly skip the last Chapter, which treats of the old Parish Registers, it will, possibly, be found sufficiently interesting to a select few, to justify its inclusion in a work which treats of Scrivelsby itself, as well as of the families that have made it historical.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
The Village. Description. Negative Advantages. Patriarchal Government.
Horncastle Soke. Special Charms. Life in the Countrv. . . i
CHAPTER II.
Lincolnshire. False Impressions. Healthiness of the County. Fen and Marsh. Hills. Anecdote of lost leaves. Foliage in Autumn. Sunsets. Somersby. . . . . . . . . .12
CHAPTER III.
The Coronation Ceremony. Court of Claims. Service in Westminster Abbey. The Coronation Banquet. Coronation of Charles II. Reasons suggested for absence of Champion from Early Coronations. Perquisites and Claims for Service at a Coronation. . . . . .20
CHAPTER IV.
The Marmions. Origin and Settlement. The Championship. Feudal System. Grand and Petty Serjeanty. Saxon and Xorman. Robert Dispensator. The Knave. The Old Judge. Sir Philip. . . . . .29
CHAPTER V.
The Earlv Dymokes. Derivation of Xame. Totemism. Rebus on Lion Gate. Canting Mottoes. Sir Baldwin Freville. An Imperious Dame. The Sockburn Dragon. . . . . . . . -43
CHAPTER VI.
The Wars of the Roses. Execution of Sir Thomas Dvmoke. Battle of Lose-coat Field. Brass in Horncastle Church. Sir Thomas Dymoke. Table Monument . . . . . . . . . ^2
XIV. CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
The Lincolnshire Insurrection and Pilgrimage of Grace. Rising of the Peasants. Perplexity of the Gentry. Bad Faith of the King. Family of Sir Edward Dymoke (i). . . . . . . .62
CHAPTER VIII.
The Martyr Champion. The Reformation. Edward VI. Marv and Elizabeth.
Appointment of Bishops. Dr. Cooper of Lincoln. The Duke of
Norfolk. Episcopal Visitation at Scrivelsby. Imprisonment and Death of the Champion. Reflections. . . . . . -72
CHAPTER IX.
The Stuart D3-mokes. The Plague. Mutilated Ceremonial at the Coronation of James I. Sir Edward Dymoke (2). Quarrel for Precedence. Civil War. Disastrous Effects on the Fortunes of the Dymoke Famil3^ The Tottering Champion. Cock and Bull Story. Break in the Direct Succession. . 80
CHAPTER X.
Latter day Champions. Lewis Dymoke (i) and his successors. The Tetford Branch and the Scrivelsby Branch. First Clerical Champion. Sir Henry Dymoke. Death of Henry Lionel. End of Scrivelsby Branch. 93
CHAPTER XI.
The Missing Link. The Tetford Branch Restored. Vicissitudes of Fortune. Tradition. A " Maze " of Genealogy. Sir Edward Dymoke (3) ancestor of both branches. The Old Champion. Selection of the Descendant of Youngest Son. Restoration to descendant of Second Son. Henry Lionel's Will. The Marmion Barony. . . . . -99
CHAPTER XII.
Reflections. Coincidences. Mock Heroic Verses. Redgauntlet. The Gold Cups. Decay of Sentiment. " The Champion's Farewell/' bv Tom Hood. Coronation of William IV. Courtesy title of Champion. . . . 107
CHAPTER XIII.
Scrivelsby Court. The Park. Lion Gate. Leaden Cow. Moat. Arched
Gateway. Armour and Armoury. Familv Portraits. General appearance. 118
CHAPTER XIV.
Scrivelsby Church. St. Benedict's. Approach from Reclorv. The Church Plantation. Architectural features. Monuments. The Xew Style. Churchyard Cross. . . . . . . . .123
CONTENTS.
XV.
CHAPTER XV.
Description of the Old Parish Registers from 1565 to 1812.
APPENDIX.
9
10 II 12 13 14 15 16
17 18
19 20
The Champions of England .....
Descent from Sir Philip Marmion ....
Mural Tablet to Lionel Dymoke in Horncastle Church
Table Monument to Sir Robert Dymoke in Scriveisby Church
Autograph Letter from Henry VIII. to Sir Robert Dymoke
Autograph Letter from Queen 'SV.xry to Sir Edward Dymoke
Orders bv Mrs. Jane Dvmoke ....
Ouartcrings of the Dymoke Coat of Arms
Dymoke Entries extracted from Old Register .
List of Champions who have Acted
List of Chainpions who have not Officiated
"The Champion's Farewell," by Tom Hood
An Elegy on the death of Sir H. Dymoke, Bart., by Henry Winn, of Fulletby
Letter of Henry VL to Robert Boulton, Keeper of the Wardrobe
Genealogical Tables ......
Competition between Freville and Dymoke for the Championship
Established Anecdotes and L'nestablished Opinions
The Immediate Successor of liobert Dispensator.
Rectors of Scriveisby from 1246 ....
An Account of the Procedure at the Court of Claims, &c., previous to and at the Coronation of George III.
131
147
149 150
152
155 156 158 161 162 165 166 167 168 170 172
174
176 182
184 188
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. ESCUTCHEOX OF THE DyMOKE CoAT OF ArMS
2. Gardener's Cottage. ....
3. The Stocks ......
4. CORO.VATIOX BaXQUET. ....
5. Gold Cup axd Cover ....
6. Effigies of Sir Philip Marmiox and Dame
7. The Lion Gate .....
8. Brass to Lionel Dymoke in Horncastle Church
9. The Old House Before the Fire in 1761
10. Armed Figures
11. Sir Henry Dymoke, Bart.
12. Francis Scaman Dymoke
13. The Gold Cups
14. ScRivELSBY Court
15. St. Benedict's, Scrivelsby
16. Churchyard Cross to Henry Lionel Dymoke
17. The Present Rector of Scrivelsby
Frontispiece page 4
9
24
28 40 45 53 57 68 96 104
113 121 124 129
144
^
CHAPTER I.
The Village — Description — Negative Advantages — Patriarchal Government — Horncastle Soke — Special Charms — Life in the Country.
How gay the habitations that bedeck
This fertile valley ! Xot a house but seems
To give assurance of content within,
Embosom'd happiness and placid love ;
As if the sunshine of the dav were met
With answering brightness in the hearts of all
Who walk this favoured ground.
W^ORDSWORTH.
)CRIVELSBY, deriving its name in all probability from some old Danish chieftain with the usual appendage " by " denoting his township or home, is prettily situated on gently rising ground about two and a half miles south of Horncastle. The population is small, and the houses few and far between. But although the village is one of the smallest in the county, it is far from being dull or unattractive. If "all the world's a stage," it need excite no surprise that the natives of Scrivelsbv can exhibit on their humble boards an epitome of what is going on in the great world around them. Thev have their episodes of romance — admixtures of pathos and burlesque —
2 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
veritable Enoch Ardens are not unknown in the immediate neighbourhood ; and while the fickle goddess still finds work to do, shaping her ends and moulding the fortunes of mankind
" Now in cruel sport, and now with eye benign," the novelist will find, amidst " the simple annals of the poor" sufficient material to satisfy the most exacting of his readers.
Scrivelsby is still, as it has always been, the theatre of romance and unexpected incident ; and yet some people might think that life in so small a place, must needs be dull. But they would make a great mistake. It is true that some people will be dull anywhere, and to them even the charms of nature will seem flat and unprofitable. If balls and routs are desired, if concerts and music halls, or even political meetings and that latest development of rural happiness, the Parish Council, be deemed indispensable to the thorough enjoyment of life, it may be freely allowed that no such attractions will be found here. But happily there are no idle hands at Scrivelsby, and consequently there is no sense of weariness, except that which comes from honest toil. People who have or can find plenty to do are never dull, nor do they feel that craving for excitement, from which others, less favourably circumstanced, occasionally suff'er.
A peremptory demand for the disclosure of the particular attractions that Scrivelsby has to offer would probably be met in the first instance bv the enumeration of its negative advantages. In the first place there are no " unemployed,"
THE VILLAGE.
3
and consequently no really poor; there is no one in receipt of parochial relief ; sickness is almost unknown, and some little time back, a period of seven years passed bv without the death of a single adult belonging to the parish. To go on with these negative advantages, there are no shops and no public houses ; and though more open to question, no Schools, and no Dissenting Chapels. The absence of a School, indeed, is a very serious drawback, but when the configuration of the village is considered, it will be seen at once that the few children of school age are on the whole better provided for at Schools more convenientlv situated in the surrounding: villages. A casual traveller passing through on the high road would easilv understand this. Such a one, it is true, might ask "but where is Scrivelsby?" He is told that he is passing through the village, and he sees here and there a house or two, but invariably a long way apart ; he sees a prettv little church in a large churchyard, and he sees no more. "Where then is Scrivelsbv " and instead of waitins^ for echo to answer the question, the following description must suffice.
The village consists of a few houses placed apparentlv of set purpose as far as possible from each other — a standing proof of self-sufficiencv — with perhaps a reminiscence of the old time of our Saxon and Danish fore-fathers, when each family settled in a separate homestead, distinctly protected by its special enclosure, and alwavs solitary and apart. Be this as it mav, all that the passing traveller can see now will be five or six houses, and these at long intervals from each other. A
4 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
quarter of a mile from the first cottage, known as the Image House, from a quantity of figures with waving arms which used to shew the direction of the wind, is one of the most noteworthy features of the village — the Gardener's Cottage — immediately fronting a lovely little piece of landscape — a winding avenue on rising ground, flanked on either side with old elm trees, the intermingling top-branches of which form an arch of nature's workmanship.
The next striking object is the Lion Gate leading to the Court, to be hereafter described, with its quaint double-roofed lodo-e ■ and a mile further on is a farm house at the cross-road leadincr to Moorbv and Wood Enderby. No wonder that the question "Where is Scrivelsby?" is often asked, even by those who are travelling straight through it. But if the enterprising traveller will take the trouble to pursue his quest, he will find snuglv hidden away behind the Court, and on the north side of the park, a little cluster of houses, constituting the real village or "town" as it is called of Scri'elsby, far away from the road and a good mile from the Church. Here there are no less than three farm houses and four labourer's cottages ! Retracing his steps and coming back to the Lion Gate, and going southwards he will come to an old-fashioned farm house, prettily situated ; and half a mile further on, the Rectory, with two cottages hard by on the site of the old house which was burnt down in 1804. And this is Scrivelsby, which in spite of the Uymokes, would probably have been little heard of outside the countv, had it not been one of the places enumerated by
GARDENERS COTTAGE. From a Photograph by Messrs. Poultoti &• Sons, London.
THE VILLAGE. 5
Sir Walter Scott as forming part of the appanage of the hero of his immortal poem.
However scanty may be the knowledge of the source from which the championship springs, everyone has read or heard of the " Lord of Scrivelbaye," and the majority of readers will insist still on believing that the Marmion of Sir Walter Scott's poem was one of the Scrivelsby Champions ; and it has even been gravely argued on no better foundation than that which the poem affords, that the Marmions remained at Scrivelsby much longer than is generally supposed. So hard is it for sober fact to hold its own against poetical fiction. But poets and the writers of historical romances claim for themselves a free hand, and introduce historical names, and travesty historical facts, at their own will and pleasure. And as the readers of poems and romances are a much more numerous body than the prosaic student of real historv, it is little to be wondered at, that the fictitious representations of the poet and novelist sink deeper and make a more lasting impression, than the bare facts of history which have nothing but their reality to recommend them. Would that our writers of fiction more frequently remembered that
" It is excellent To have a Giant's strength ; but it is tyrannous To use it like a Giant."
It is perhaps in the matter of dates, that the majoritv of readers are imperceptibly misled bv the careless introduction of historical characters into works of fiction, nor can Sir Walter
6 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Scott be altogether acquitted on a charge of carelessness in this respect. It is true that in one of his notes to " Marmion " he tells his readers that the last champion of that name was Sir Philip, who flourished in the time of Henry III., yet it may be fearlessly asserted that for the few hundreds who read the notes of such a work with any degree of attention, there are thousands or hundreds of thousands who skim hastily over the text, and carry away nothing but a vivid sense of pleasure at the swing and rhythm of the poem, together with a very hazy recollection of the historical allusions with which it abounds.
It may be as well to say once for all that Scott's "Marmion" is a creation of the brain, and that the poem itself is based on incidents connected with the Battle of Flodden in the time of Henry VIII., whereas the last champion Marmion died at Scrivelsby in the twentieth year of Edward I., and it is tolerablv certain that in his time, Scrivelsbv consisted exclusivelv of the baronial hall and the houses of the artizans and retainers depending upon it.
The Government of the Marmions was patriarchal. The lord's authority was supreme. The right of "gallows" was claimed as a special prerogative of the house, and so sweet and reasonable a claim was granted as a matter of course. Even within living memory, some faint trace of this patriarchal government might have been seen here. Not indeed that the gallows was set up and misdemeanants executed without the intervention of Judge and Jury ; but the old-fashioned stocks,
THE VILLAGE. 7
which are still to be seen in the little copse opposite the Lion Gate, were occasionally used for other purposes than those of ornament. The Champion of the day — and that day for weal or woe is for ever gone — would have had no scruple in order- ing his farm-bailiff to seize any naughtv bovs, found playing at pitch and toss on a Sundav, and to lock them up in the stocks for a couple of hours as a public example and warning. In these davs of more advanced civilization, the same offence would have necessitated the intervention of a policeman, the issue of a summons, the calling of witnesses, the formality of a trial in the Pettv Sessional Court House, the preliminary horrors suffered by the culprits, and the possible fine of five or ten shillings — to be levied on the unfortunate parents, who would then probablv for the first time prove that they were awake to their parental responsibility by giving the delinquents an inordinate thrashing at home. There is something, after all, to be said in favour of a patriarchal government, such as that which undoubtedly existed in early times at Scrivelsby.
The Lord of a Manor held a very different position from that of his modern representative, and enjoyed many peculiar privileges, some traces of which are to be seen at the present dav. His influence would naturallv be measured bv the extent of his possessions. Now it is quite certain that the Manor or Barony of Scrivelsby was at one time much larger than at present, and the jurisdiction of the lord extended over a much wider area. It is curious to note how jealously the
8 SCRIVELSRY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
privileges of the domain were guarded and the rights of the lord secured. Horncastle and fourteen villages more or less remote formed what was called a Soke or Soc, to which certain rights of enquiry appertained, and a special jurisdiction was attached. But Scrivelsby, though contiguous with Horncastle, and at one time undoubtedly forming part of the Soke, was soon after the coming of the Marmions found to be outside it. And whv ? Because these powerful lords, resenting the inquisitorial claims of the Soke, bought their barony out by paying the customary fine. And so the Soke of Horncastle, instead of comprising, as might have been expected, a cluster of villages adjacent to each other* and contiguous with its central town, is found to run in a peculiar fashion of its own, keeping clear of the district which was subject to another influence. But there are abundant reasons for thinking that most if not all of the villages that might have been expected to be included in the Soke of Horncastle were at one time subject to the jurisdiction of the lord of Scrivelsby ; and we know that in the year 1258 Sir Philip, the last of the
* Thus the villages of Thimblehv and West Ashby and the two Toyntons, are in the Soke of Horncastle, as are also on the south side of the town the two Marehams with Roughton, Haltham, and Wood Enderby, each of these three touching Scrivelsby, but having no other connection with it ; and then as a kind of compensation the Soke makes an unexpected appearance at Coningsby, Langrick, and Thornton-lc-Moor, distant from Horncastle between seven and twelve miles. Now while these portions of the Soke of Horncastle are found so strangely placed, we see that not only Scrivelsby, but the villages intermediate on the west side between Horncastle and Coningsby are excluded, viz.: Thornton, Martin, Langton, Kirkby-on-Bain, and Kirkstead, all of which might have been expected to be in the Soke.
THE STOCKS, Opposite the Lion Gate, Scrivelsby Park.
THE VILLAGE. 9
Scrivelsbv Marmions, obtained a roval charter for a yearly fair, in addition to a weekly market, to be held at Scrivelsbv on the 2 1st of March. This shews that the baronv was extensive, and although it may seem strange that so insignificant a village should be chosen for the central place of business, a little reflection will enable us to see that as the tenants and other dependants of the barony were confined to the limits of their own district, it was only natural that the chief place in it — chief at least in importance if not in population as containing the lord's seat — should be selected as the proper place for holding both market and fair. At Scrivelsby too were the gallows, and in later times the stocks and the pillory, and to Scrivelsbv accordingly were brought the various culprits for whose benefit these contrivances were specially provided.
But without going back to the past glories of the village, there is abundant reason for saying that the Scrivelsby of to-dav can hold it own against all gainsavers. The lover of nature can revel here. There is abundant occupation for the artist : birds in every varietv abound in the various little coppices and plantations dotted about in every direction : and wild-flowers, including lilies of the valley, which grow with unusual luxuriance, are to be found everywhere in great variety. Never, too, was there such a home for a student, or a man with literary tastes ; far from the madding strife of a large population, he can pursue the even tenor of his way, happy and complete in himself, amongst scenes inviting
lO SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
contemplation as well as preparation for the more active business of life.
Scrivelsby, moreover, is a good sporting country, and those who are learned in such matters say that with its natural advantages and its numerous coverts it would be hard to find a better; and to those who love a ride with the hounds, the neighbourhood enjoys a good hunting reputation, although perhaps it is not so popular in this respect as Leicestershire or some parts of the Counties of York and Northampton.
On the whole it is safe to say that a place where pinching poverty is unknown, where everyone is fully and happily occupied, where the cultivated taste of the educated can find abundant scope for enjoyment, while the illiterate labourer is learning something of the refinements of life without the intervention of the political firebrand, is not to be held in slight esteem, because its population is scanty and its position a little out of the beaten track.
It will be a bad day for England when these little oases in the desert of life are swept away, and when confusion and noise take the place of peace and quietness and the tranquil discharge of the duties of life which are as incumbent on the residents in a little village as on those whose fate it is to live more in the glare of the world and amidst the haunts of busy men in the restless hurly-burly of public life. But non omnes omnia. Different surroundings suit different temperaments. Kusticus finds his happiness in one place ; Urbanus in another.
THE VILLAGE.
I I
The towns, perhaps, and the large centres of population are better suited to the young ; and the more retired nooks amidst a scanty population to those who are more advanced in vears or in declining health. Happy are they who can say of their home, wherever and whatever it may happen to be,
" In all the world no spot there is That wears for me a smile like this."*
""■ " Ille tcrrarum mihi propter omnes Angulus ridet."
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CHAPTER II.
Lincolnshire — False Impressions — Healthiness of the County — Fen and Marsh — Hills — Anecodote of lost leaves — Foliage i)i Aiilujnn — Sunsets — Somersby.
One part, one little part, we dimly scan, Through the dark medium of life's feverish dream : Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan, If but that little part incongruous seem.
Beattie.
EFORE entering on the history of the Marmions and Dvmokes, it mav be worth while to attempt the not very difficult task of removing some of the prevalent mis- conceptions respecting the quarter in which their home is situated. Lincolnshire people who know the real attractions of the county have for the most part been satisfied with chuckling over the mistaken notions of those who have not enjoyed a similar experience. The present, therefore, seems to be a favourable opportunity for shedding a little light on a subject which is still involved in some obscurity.
It is sometimes thought, by those who have no personal acquaintance with the county, that Lincolnshire is flat, uninteresting, and unhealthy. Some people seem to think that
LINCOLNSHIRE. 13
Fen and Marsh are everywhere predominant, that punts and other flat-bottomed boats are the usual methods of locomotion, that quinine or at least gentian is a necessary commodity in everv household, and that ague claims its victims by thousands. Now in answer to all this, which is only an exaggerated statement of what was at one time an almost wide-spread belief, it will be enough to say, even at the risk of being twitted with Qui s excuse s'accuse, that although Lincolnshire is assuredly not a hillv countv, it is far from being uniformly flat ; that to the lover of nature and to the antiquarian it is full of interest, that ague is, happily, a thing of the past, and that as regards healthiness, the statement of the enthusiastic native still holds good, that while "Lincolnshire taken altogether is about the healthiest county in England, Scrivelsby is undoubtedly the healthiest village in Lincolnshire."
The truth is that a century or even half a century ago there was some foundation for saying that parts of Lincolnshire — even as it might have been said that parts of Kent or Yorkshire — were damp, and that ague was prevalent. The old mistake was made of deeming the part equal to the whole, and of applying to the one certain epithets that were more appropriate to the other. Lincolnshire is in size second only to the county of York, and it is not strange to find a lack of uniformity in so extensive a district.
Without attempting to give a general description of the countv, as being unsuited to a work of this kind, it will be sufficient to sav a few words about the Fens and Marshes,
14 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
concerning which much misapprehension exists. It is not everyone, indeed, who knows the difference between them : and vet the knowledge of this difference is necessarv for a thorough appreciation of the great drainage works that have exercised the ingenuity of our forefathers for manv generations and have onlv been successfullv completed within living memory. Marsh, then, is land reclaimed from the sea, the water with which it was impregnated being salt and brackish, and as a matter of course adjoining the sea from which it has been reclaimed. On a receding coast the Marsh will sometimes extend for several miles. Fen, on the other hand, as we see it now, is the outcome of human skill and industry, converting a naturally wet and swampy soil into good and productive land *
Much skill and enterprize have been exhibited in the reclamation of both Fen and Marsh, but the former has been the more difficult of the two and has been almost too successfully carried out. So effectual, indeed, has been the drainage of the Fens, that not only has ague been utterly routed, but so little moisture is left in the soil that in times of drought vegetation is seriously hampered. And as, contrary to the general opinion, the rainfall in Lincolnshire is less than in any other English county, the dryness of the soil is occasionally attended with disastrous results, and the
~" In Murray's Handbook of Lincolnshire we are reminded that the Marsh " differs entirely from Fen, a word meaning " Mud " reclaimed from stagnant water, while the Marshes are re-claimed from brackish or salt water."
LINCOLNSHIRE. 1 5
agricultural depression, so wide-spread and calamitous, has told more heavily, perhaps, on the Fen farmers than on any other. Even the productive lands of the Marsh have of late vears greatlv deteriorated in value, pasture land that a few years ago could readily be let for /'5 or /'6 the acre scarcely realizing now more than -f,2 or / 3.
But it is with the natural aspects rather than with the commercial value of the land with which we are now more immediately concerned, and it will be interesting to see what was said of the fens hundreds of vears ago when the general appearance of the countrv was much wilder than it is at present. William of Malmesbury, writing in 11 40, says "The Fens are a verv paradise, and seem a heaven of delight and beauty thereof, the marshes bearing goodly trees, which, for tallness and without knots, strive to reach the stars. It is a plain countrv and level as the sea, which with green grass allureth the eye. ' This description, it must be owned, is a little flattering, and doubtless at the time when William of Malmesburv wrote, there were manv more trees "striving to reach the stars" than suited the agricultural necessities of later days. The Fens after all only occupy a fifth part of the countv, and have been reclaimed for purposes of cultivation at enormous expense, and on the whole, with great success.
Then, as to the flatness of the county, this feature is only to be found in unbroken uniformitv in the district of Holland, one of the three great parts into which Lincolnshire
1 6 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
is divided, the other two, Kesteven and Lindsey, exhibiting greater variety, and often, especially on the Wolds " little bits" of scenery quite sufficient to satisfy the taste of the most fastidious.
The highest of the Lincolnshire hills, it is true, does not rise above four hundred feet from the level of the sea, but each of the three chief ranges presents a wide panorama with varving features of interesting landscape. Visitors to Lincoln need not be told of the hill on which the noble Minster stands : and even from Scrivelsbv, which is not the hilliest part of the county, we can take our friends a short drive to Louth by way of Tetford and Ruckland, by roads which will for ever put an end to their complaining of the flatness of the county, and over hills, on which if our jaded steeds could only find articulate speech, they would deliver anything but words of grateful benediction.
The view from the broad tower of Lincoln Minster is truly grand, and the late Sir Charles Anderson gives a glowing and eloquent description of it in his " Lincoln Pocket Guide" than which it would be hard to find a safer or more valuable companion for anyone desirous of acquainting himself with what the Citv and Countv of Lincoln have to offer in the shape of attraction. The extensive view from the heights of Lincoln Minster, however, is only an additional proof that the Minster stands well in the midst of a wide and level plain. It is, perhaps, this particular view which has misled the casual visitor into the mistaken notion that the whole of
LINXOI.NSHIRE. 1 7
Lincolnshire is equallv Hat ; and such an impression is likelv to be deepened bv the prospect which he sees from either side of the railway carriage on his departure. But the railwav engineer knew his business too well to choose for his course anv but the easiest and most economical road. He mav always be trusted to leave the hills alone, wherever possible, and to avail himself of the natural advantages of the level ground, which will reduce to a minimum the heavv outlav of construction. But it is in this wav that strangers are naturallv led to think that what thev see from the railwav is a fair sample of what is to be found in other parts of the countv through which the railwav does not pass : and so the impression gets about that Lincolnshire is flat and uninteresting.
It must be owned, however, that the natives of the Marshes are wonderfuUv impressed bv the sight of anvthing in the shape of rising ground, and there are manv humorous stories told, told in all seriousness and possiblv believed in, as if the ant hills with which thev are familiar were a fair representation of the hills of which thev hear their enterprising neighbours speak on their return from some distant expedition. Nor were our forefathers free from the same kind of weakness. It is onlv a few vears ag^o that some leaves out of an old re2:ister book were found far awav from the parish to which thev belonged : and after manv surmises and much close examination, some one suggested that the words supra moiitcni, which were plainlv discernible, might possiblv refer to Mareham-on-thc- Hill , a little village adjoining Scrivelsbv, and standing on the
D
1 8 SCRIVELSHV, rilE HOME (JE THE CHAMPIONS.
self-same verv "gentle elevation on which Scrivelsbv itself
Stands. And by a comparison of names and dates with the
Mareham register it was fonnd that the snrmise was correct,
and that no less a sonorons description than supra nioiitciii
was deemed sufficient to render adequate justice to the little
rise which is common to the two viUages.
But, if we are not mountainous, we are well wooded, and
few sights are more exhilarating than certain parts of Scrivelsby
on a sunnv dav in late autumn — the most beautiful time of
the year — when the foliage appears in its loveliest and most
variegated array, tints of purple, russet, and brown, alternating
with the fiery red of the beech, and, now and again, all the
colours of the rainbow combining to make such a picture as
must lill with despair the most skilful and enthusiastic of our
landscape painters — despair o{ representing a tithe of what
our farm labourers see unmoved everv dav when October is
drawing to an end, and the air resounds with the " noise of
rooks that gather in the wakino' woods."
" But who can paint Like Nature i* Can imagination boast, Amid its gay cvcaticMi, hues like hers?"
We think, too, and with some reason, that our sunsets are more beautiful and noteworthv than can often be seen elsewhere, especially in the more hilly districts ; that the lights and shades in which we are permitted to revel form part of the material wherewith the poetic temperament is fed, and that here, as nmch as anvwhere, the pages of the book
LINCOLNSHIRE. 1 9
of nature are so displayed as to lead the student in that fascinating lore nearer and closer to Nature's God. We, at least, do not wonder that the genius of Tennvson was nurtured, if not matured, in our own immediate neighbourhood, and that his close and intimate knowledge of woodland scenery, wild flowers, and the ever-varving aspect of fleecy clouds and meteor lights, enabled him to see the ideal visions of "Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy skies, Breadths of tropic shades and palms in cluster, knots of Paradise."
Somersbv, the birth-place of the poet, is onlv a few miles distant from Scrivelsbv, and there, too, is to be seen much of the same tranquil scenery, though on a less gorgeous scale, than is noticeable here.
CHAPTER III.
The Coronation Ceremony — Court of Claims — Service in Westminster Abbey — The Coronation Banquet — Coronation of Charles II. — Reasons suggested for absence of Champion from early Coronations — Perquisites and Claims for Service at a Coronation.
Montgo)nery : Ay, now, my sovereign speaketh like iiimself : Ami now will I be Edward's champion.
Hastings: Sound, trumpet; Edward shall be here proclaimed. Montgomery : And whosoe'er gainsa3-s King Edward's right, By this I challenge him to single fight.
{Throi^'s doivn his gaunt /ct'\.
Shakespeare.
T is an old saying, and, doubtless, as true as it is old, that " uneasv lies the head that wears a crown," but our concern now is not so nnich with the mental cares and anxieties inseparable from regal power as with the physical torture suffered bv the wearer of a crown, especially on the first dav of assuming it. Anyone who will take the trouble to acquaint himself with the full ritual to be observed during the ceremony of a coronation \\\\\ sympathize with the king or queen who must go through it all from the beginning to the bitter end. When her present Majesty was crowned more than
CORONATION CEREMONY. 21
fiftv years ago, it was not one of the least noticeable features in her admirable deportment on the occasion, that she betrayed no distress or nervousness beyond what was natural and graceful in a voung girl appearing in public under such trying circumstances.
Such importance has always been attached to the ceremonial of a coronation, that a Special Court, the Court of Claims, was appointed to hear and decide upon the petitions of every claimant to take part in it. Some of the petitions submitted to this Court are sufficiently curious. Amongst them is a claim made bv the Dean and Chapter of Westminster to instruct the king in the rites and ceremonies used at the coronation, and to carry away certain perquisites for the discharge of this arduous duty. This may possibly excite a smile, but there was a real necessity for the sovereign to have someone to act as prompter, to ensure the observance of every formality, and to provide for the right thing being done in the right way and at the right time.
The ordeal of the full coronation service in Westminster Abbey, lasting as it does for several hours, is sufficiently trying, especially to a female sovereign of tender years : but this is only the beginning of the anxious work of an anxious day. After a brief and necessary interval of rest, the arduous work of the coronation banquet has to be faced, and the chief person, in whose honour the banquet is held, must at least seem to enjov it, must be perfectly at ease and gracious, and above all things must beware of looking bored I At the
22 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
coronation of Richard II., Holinshed gravely tells us that "the feast on that occasion was so exceedingly sumptuous and princely, that if the same should be rehearsed, the reader would perhaps doubt of the truth thereof."
It was during the coronation banquet that one of the most striking features of the dav's ceremonial was to be seen — an armed knight mounted on a white charger, richly caparisoned, riding into Westminster Hall, throwing down his gauntlet, and challenging to mortal combat anv who should gainsay the sovereign's title to the throne. It was, indeed, the great feature of the day, and it is a pitv that it should be discontinued now. The following description of this part of the ceremonial is quoted by Noble, and is given in the very words of an eyewitness. Dr. Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough, who was present at the coronation of Charles II. Ex uno disce omnes : —
" A little before the second course was ready at the dinner in Westminster Hall, Sir Edward Dvmock entered the Hall, on a goodly white courser, and armed at all points in rich armour, having a plume of blue feathers in his helm. He there made a stand for some time, and then advanced in manner following, way being made for him by the Knight Marshall : First two trumpets, the Sergeant Trumpeter, the Sergeants at Arms, an Esquire carrying the Champion's lance upright ; Mr. Owen, York Herald ; the Earl Marshall on his left hand ; the Champion ; the Lord High Constable on his right hand ; both likewise on horseback.
CORONATION CEREMONY. 23
"At the lower end of the Hall, York Herald proclaimed the challenge in these words following : ' If any person, in what degree sover, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our sovreign Lord, King Charles H., King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, son and next heir to our Sovreign Lord Charles I., the last King deceased, to be the right heir to the imperial crown of this realm of England, or that he ought not to enjoy the same, here is his champion who saith that he lyeth and is a false traytor, being ready in person to combat with him, and in this quarrel will adventure his life against him, on what day soever shall be appointed.' Thereupon the Champion threw down his gauntlet, which, lying some time, and nobody taking it up, it was delivered unto him again by York Herald. Then all advanced forward untill the Champion came to the middle of the Hall, where York Herald made the like proclamation, and the gauntlet was again thrown down, taken up, and returned to the Champion, who ascended to the foot of the ascending step to the state, and, at the top of the said steps, the said Herald proclaimed the said challenge for the third time, whereupon the Champion threw down the gauntlet again, which, nobody taking up, it was delivered unto him. This being done, the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, assisted by Viscount Montagu, and Lord Paget, presented on the knee to the King a gilt cup and cover, full of wine, who drank to his Champion ; and, by the said Earl, sent him the cup ; and he, after three reverences, drank it all off, went a
24 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
little backward, and so departed out of the Hall ; taking the said cup for his fee, accordingly, as being adjudged to him by the said Court of Claims."
We claim to know a great deal about the appearance of a Champion on a Coronation day, but our knowledge is more apparent than real. At and after the Coronation, indeed, of Richard II., there is no lack of trustworthy information on the subject, but before that time we know but little, and that little imperfectly. Between William the Conqueror and Richard II. were ten soyereigns, not including the daughter of Henry I. who exercised roval power at interyals, during the troubled reign of Stephen. But although it has been said that at the coronation of Edward III. the immediate pre- decessor of Richard II., Sir Alexander Freyille, knight, performed the office of Champion as ovyner of the Castle of Tamworth,* a confusion has probably been made between Sir Alexander's claim and the execution of the duties which the claim inyolyed. There is, howeyer, no well authenticated account of an armed Champion taking part in a coronation before the time of Richard II., although, as will be presently shewn, from the time of William the Conqueror there had always been a Champion in England, albeit a Champion faineant.
It is by no means easy to giye a satisfactory explanation of the absence of this official from so many of the early coronations, and to account also for the sudden and hotly
"'■ Co/liii'x Peerage. 5th Ed., yd. 6, p. 338.
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CORONATION CEREMONY. 25
contested claim to act as Champion that was made in 1377 by the heads of two great families, each claiming the right as being descended from the original champion, the great Norman baron, Marmion, who is better known by his court title, Robert Dispensator.* No difficulty, indeed, need be felt in
ri^htlv gauginor the motives underlying the claims of the rival
0,000 .0
families : but the task of accounting for the non-appearance of a Champion at so manv of the early coronations is much more difficult. A plausible explanation, however, may be safely advanced.
It is quite possible that after William the Conqueror, the circumstances under which his immediate successors came to the throne made it desirable that their coronation should be conducted as quietly and unostentatiously as possible, and consequently the most striking part of the pageant was omitted. In this way it would come about that a precedent being established bv William Rufus, Henry I., and Stephen, the remaining sovereigns up to Richard II. would not think it necessary to require the services of a Champion which were
"=" This is not tlie first time that a great Xorman baron appears in the English Court, nor is this the only occasion when we hear of a Court official bearing the title of Dispensator. Du Chesne in his Scriptores Normaniw speaks of one Hugolin, an eminent Norman, at the English Court, whom he styles Regis ■ Canccllarius ct Dispensator. When it is remembered that Edward the Confessor, the son of Ethelred, had lived in Xormandy twenty-seven years, during the usurpation of the three Danish Kings, Cnut, Harold, and Hardicnut, it is not surprising that on his return to England to assume his royal dignity, he brought with him several persons with whom he had contracted friendship in Xormandy, and whom he afterwards appointed to honourable offices in England. E
26 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
evidently not considered indispensable. We know that the coronation of some of these intermediate sovereigns was conducted with much pomp and ceremony, but the part of the Champion was left out.*
Meanwhile, the two families, who shared a portion of the inheritance of the last of the Marmions, were beginning to put forward certain claims, of which we shall hear in another chapter; and so the coronation of Richard II. came to be the pivot on which the controversy turned and was regarded by each competitor as likelv to settle permanently the question between them. Without unduly anticipating what must be said later on, it will suffice here to state that Sir Baldwin Freville and Sir John Dvmoke each claimed the rio^ht of acting as Champion at the approaching coronation of Richard II. : Sir Baldwin, as the descendant of Sir Philip Marmion's eldest daughter who inherited Tamworth Castle, and Sir John Dvmoke, on behalf of his wife who was descended from Joan the youngest daughter to whom, on her father's death, the Manor of Scrivelsbv was allotted. The Court of Claims, for reasons which will be hereafter given, decided in favour of the Dymokes, in which family the championship has continued to the present day.
*" Henry II., Richard I., John, Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III., were all crowned with great solemnity in the Church of St. Peter at Westminster (except Henry III., a child of nine years of age, who was crowned at Gloucester) but no mention is made in history of the performance of the office of Champion at those particular times." — CoUiiis. Peerage.
CORONATION CEREMONY. 2/
Amongst other claims advanced before the same Court on later occasions, Robert Ratcliffe, Earl of Essex, claimed to be dapifer to the King, i.e. to have the privilege of carrying the lordlv dish containing the piece de resistance at the coronation banquet ; but in making this claim he must have forgotten the peculiar perils of the office. It is said that William the Conqueror, who was not the meekest of mankind, was once so exasperated with his dapifer because he brought to the table a half-roasted crane that he incontinently knocked him down and kicked him out of the banqueting hall.*
The King's Champion, in addition to the right of performing the duties of his office, claimed to have as his fee a gold cup and cover, together with the horse used at the coronation, with the saddle, armour, and furniture, as well as twentv vards of crimson satin. The cup was to weigh thirtv-six ounces. These several claims were allowed with the exception of the twenty yards of satin.
The Champion was not the onlv person who carried off a gold cup on the Coronation Day, for "the Lord Mayor, with certain citizens of London, claimed to serve the King with wine after dinner in a gold cup, and to have the same cup and cover for his fee : and with twelve other citizens by them appointed, to assist the chief butler of England in the
'' In these days, the butler of a modern establishment would be not a little startled at receiving such a practical intimation of his master's displeasure !
28 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
butlership, and to have a table on the left hand of the hall. This claim was not allowed, because the charter of the citv was at the time seized into the Kings hands. They were, however, permitted ex gratia to execute the office and to dine in the hall : and, moreover, they had a gold cup and cover of twenty ounces of fine gold for their fee."
There was yet another gold cup claimed by no less a person than the Duke of Norfolk, who, not content with modestly demanding the best cup of gold and cover, claimed also "all the vessels and wine remaining under the bar, and all the pots and cups, except those of gold and silver, in the wine cellar after dinner. Allowed with only a cup and ewer, which was thirty-two ounces of pure gold."
To give two more claims — from high Church dignitaries, as it happens — the Bishops of Durham, and Bath and Wells, claimed to support the King in the procession, but strange to say, make no demand of a fee : but the Archbishop of Canterbury, according to ancient usage, claimed and received as his perquisite the purple velvet chair, cushion, and footstool, whereon he sits at the coronation.*
■"'See Bank's Family of Marinyun, pp. 1 33-1 5'"^, where the various and multitudinous claims are fully given, and of which the few here mentioned are samples.
GOLD CUP AND COVER.
Presented to the late Sin Henry Dyinoke by George IV., after his Coronation.
CHAPTER IV.
The Mannions — Origin and Settlcjncnt — The Championship — Feudal Sysieni — Grand and Petty Serjeaniy — Saxon and Xornian — Robert Dispensator — The Knave — The Old Judge — Sir Philip.
They hailed him Lord of Fontenaye, Of Lutterworth and Scrivelbaye,
Of Tamworth tower and town.
Scott.
EFORE the arrival of the Dymokes, six Marmions, two Ludlows, and a Hillary, lived more or less at Scrivelsby. Of these six Marmions four were called Robert, and it is sometimes difficult to assign to each his proper place in the history of the family. So fond, indeed, were the Marmions of this particular name, that one Sir Robert, having married twice, gave the same name to the eldest son of each marriage. The varying accounts given by diflferent writers of these earlv settlers at Scrivelsbv mav be attributed to the confusion caused by so many members of the familv bearing the same familv name. It will be an advantage, therefore, if some characteristic title can be found
30 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
whereby the several Roberts may be easily distinguished from each other.
The Marmions were a powerful Norman family, closely connected with the great Dukes of Normandy and dwelling at Fontenav-le-Marmion, between Caen and Falaise, where William lived before his memorable expedition to England. Both William, afterwards called the Conqueror, and the Marmions, were descended from a common ancestor, Rollo, called "the ganger" from his marvellous activity. Amongst other high honours the family of Marmion enjoyed the peculiar privilege of acting as Champions to the Dukes of Normandy, and they held their lands on feudal tenure by Knight Serjeanty subject to the performance of this particular service. When William came over to seek his fortune in England, he brought with him, as might have been expected, his Champion, Sir Robert Marmion, the Sire or Lord of Fontenay. We may judge of the value of his services in the eves of his master bv the noble gifts and honours with which they were rewarded. In addition to his other possessions, he received grants of land in the counties of Lincoln, Gloucester, Warwick and Hereford, together with the governorship of Tamworth Castle in Warwickshire.* Amongst the many Manors given to this Robert Dispensator, as he was called, that of Scrivelsby stands out prominently, as being assigned to
'" Tamworth is on the border of two counties. The town is chiefly in Staffordshire : the district in wliich the famous castle stood is in Warwickshire.
THE MARMIONS. 3 1
him under the same tenure as that by which the Norman estates were held, the service being, as in Normandy, to act as Champion at the King's Coronation,
Amongst other institutions the Feudal svstem was introduced into England by the Conqueror. It had long existed in his old home, but was unknown in England. The svstem is intricate, but the general principle can be grasped without any great mental effort. Everyone ought to know something about it, and there is a certain clue which will enable those who follow it to acquire this knowledge easily and one that will guide them safely through all its intricacies. And this clue is Bismarck's famous dictum do iit des " I give something to you to induce vou to give me something in return."
Self-interest has never failed to exercise great influence on human affairs. In the unsettled times of the eleventh and twelfth centuries especially, everyone had to look closely after his own. Everv man's hand was against his neighbour. The strong arm had to guard what the strong arm had gained. And so, above all things, it was indispensable that the arm should be strong. Kings knew this and acted upon it : the great barons also knew it and turned their knowledge to good account : and so on through everv grade, the ruling principle amongst them all being this far-reaching maxim do ut des.
Thus the King or head man was not long in discovering that he could not hold his own without help from others. He must have soldiers to fight his battles, and the soldiers
32 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
must be properly equipped : and so, starting with the convenient theory that all the land in the kingdom or domain belonged to himself, he assigned portions of it to his great nobles, on condition that they should fight for him, when summoned, and should bring with them a body of men, in number proportionate to their holding, fully armed, and equipped for their work. The King said in effect do tit des. The great nobles, also, said to their dependants : " I haye more land than I can cultivate myself ; I will therefore let you have a portion of it on condition that when the King summons me to help him in his wars, you will help me by bringing so many men fit and ready for service in the field." Thus we have in a small compass the characteristic feature of the feudal system — service to be rendered for boons granted — and both depending on the land.
Then, further, in days when the art of legal conveyancing was unknown there must be some proof in concrete shape of the assignment that had been made. Accordingly, when lands were assigned, some particular service was attached to the holding, that all men might know that some return was expected for what had been given. Sometimes this outward sign assumed a strange shape. The great noble must hold the King's stirrup when he mounted his charger. He must gird himself with a napkin and serve his lord at the banquet. He must undertake to act as Champion to his master when required. He must cut so many faggots and present them to his lord on bended knee. He must once a year make a
THE MARMIONS. 33
formal offering of a white bull, or a cask of Malnisev, or — for the value of the sign was not so much considered as the sign itself — a fleece of wool, or a bushel of wheat, or a load of straw.*
In each case the King claimed and exercised the right of determining the particular service attached to the grant. The most common and at the same time the most important was Knight service, whereby direct aid was to be given in times of war : but there were, besides, numerous forms of tenure, such as those just mentioned, altogether irrespective of military service.
If the tenure on which the grant was made consisted of some honourable service, such as acting as Champion, or closelv attending on the Kings person, it was said to be held bv Grand Serjeanty or Knight Serj'eantx ; but if the tenure depended on the offering some small implement of war, such as a bow, a sword, a lance, a pair of spurs, or such-like, it was said to be bv petit or petty Serjeanty. It was in this wav that the championship became attached to the Manor of
^ Amongst the many claims advanced bv different persons to take part in the coronation of James II. was one from the Lord of the Manor of Hej'don, in Essex, who claimed to hold the bason and napkin for the King while washing his hands before dinner, this being a condition on which the land was held. It was in , allusion to this service that the following epigram was written bv Henry Pollexfen, a scholar at Winchester at the time : —
A lord, on this occasion, prays to bring
A bason and a towel, to the King :
This custom, sure, on no good footing stands :
What monarch mounts a throne with dirty hands ?
34 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Scrivelsby by Knight Serjeaniy\ although in after times there was some little difficulty in proving it.
It is impossible to say now who was the owner of Scrivelsbv before the battle of Hastings, but whoever he mav have been, his claims were light indeed when weighed against those of the powerful baron from Normandy, to whom, alono; with manv a broad acre elsewhere, Scrivelsbv was assigned by the Conqueror. Saxon and Norman had appealed to the God of battle, and the result of the appeal was unmistakeable. The well-known rule of olden times, voe victis, a rule which even in these enlightened davs has hardlv ceased to be operative, was strong enough then to solve many a difficulty and to untie many a hard knot of state policy. And so it was here. The Saxons were defeated on the battle-field ; the Saxons must suffer accordingly. The Normans were victorious : to them therefore must fall the spoils of war. King William saw clearly what system of government would be most beneficial to himself, and, like a strong man, he adopted it. The ownership of the soil was the basis on which his authoritv must rest : the land therefore must be in the hands of his friends — his "men" as his trustiest partizans were happily termed. Amongst the rest, the owner of Scrivelsby had to yield up his holding, and the great Robert Dispensator, the Champion and favourite of William, promptly took possession of it.*
'- Sir Joseph Banks or some writer who left his MS. at Revesbv, in opposition to Dugdale, controverts the ojiinion tliat the noble family of the Despensers, is
THE MARMIONS. 35
This Robert, the first EngHsh Champion, after basking long in the sunshine of Koval favour, fell into disgrace towards the end of the reign of Henrv I., and was stripped of all his possessions : but, upon his death, as in the case of Sir Thomas Dvmoke in later times, the King did his best to make compensation to the son for the penalty he had inflicted on the father ; and accordingly, the next Mannion, Sir Roger,* received back, not onlv all the forfeited estates of his predecessor, but he acquired besides several fresh grants, amongst the most important of which were Quinton in Gloucestershire, and Middleton in Warwickshire. He also held the barony of Llanstephan in Carmarthenshire.
Upon the death of Sir Roger his son Robert succeeded, and acquired great reputation for charitable deeds and for the
derived from Robert Dispensator, although he allows that the word Despenser carries the same sense as Dispensator, each word denoting a Steward, or comptroller of the household. " There is certainly," he says, " a similarity in the sound of ' Dispensator ' and ' Despenser,' but if we lay aside this coincidence and examine the ancient possessions and genealogical descent of both families, the sentiments of Sir William Dugdale will be probably superseded, especially as the great officer who is generally allowed to have had the honour of being Champion, came in at the Conquest, cloathed with the like dignity in Xormandy, and, assuredly, enjoyed the two rival manors of Tamworth and Scrivelsby. For the family of Despenser to prove their descent from Robert Dispensator they must show us a regular inheritance of the estate according to Domesday Book. If this proof cannot be adduced they must lay asid.e their pretensions to this stock, and instruct the heralds to derive a clearer genealogy for the illustrious house of Despenser, which has at various periods incurred the severity and deserved the gratitude of the nation."
■=■ Dugdale, Collins, Banks, and others give the family name of Robert to all the Marmions up to Philip. But there was certainly a Roger amongst them, and the weight of evidence favours the view that the son and successor of the first Champion was Roger and not Robert. (See Appendi.x Xo. i8.)
36 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
endowment and restoration of religious houses on which he spent large sums of money. We are surprised, therefore, to learn that, in spite of this, his general character failed to conciliate the good opinion of his contemporaries. On the contrary, instead of dwelling on his munificence, his piety, and his charity to the poor, he is described by the English annalists of the period as " quarrelsome, stubborn, and matched by few of his time in ferocity and knayery." In the ciyil war between Stephen and Maud the daughter of Henry I., Sir Robert, as became the Chariipion, held firmly to the King, and consequently, during the short time of Stephen's imprisonment at Lincoln, Maud depriyed him of his castle at Tamworth and other possessions, and bestowed them on Sir William de Beauchamp, who had remained steadfast to herself, and had in his turn been despoiled by Stephen of many of his possessions.
This Champion came to an untimely end occasioned by one of his own " knayish " tricks. Haying quarrelled with Maud's Champion, he sacrilegiously droye out the monks from the Benedictine Priory near to his enemy's castle, and made the Church his fortress. As a master stroke of cunning,- he thought to ensure the destruction of his enemies by digging pits which he carefully coyered oyer with earth, but, unfortunately, like the engineer, " hoist with his own petard " he fell into one of his own pits and perished ignominiously. His fate has often been quoted as a warning against sacrilege. A yaliant cobbler, seeing the Knight disabled, plunged an awl
THE MARMIONS. 37
into his bowels, and a common soldier forthwith cut off his head.
Another Robert followed, and by uniting his son to the daughter of Sir William Beauchamp, he recovered for his family the much coveted possession of Tamworth Castle, of which Maud had deprived his father.
This Sir Robert was succeeded by his son bearing the same name, but of a different temperament from all his predecessors : he was a student, and in due course became a Judge or Justiciary.* So famous, indeed was he, that in the time of Richard I. he became presiding Justiciary of the barons-errant, or Justices-in-Evre, an office somewhat akin to the position of the Lord Chief Justice of the present day. In 1185 he was Sheriff for Worcestershire and he held the same office also in 1 187 and 1 190. '
In the days of King John when the Barons were in open revolt, Sir Robert prudently retired to Normandy : but, returning to England, he openly sided with the Barons, and after Magna Charta was signed sorely against the King's will, he was ordered bv the enraged monarch to yield up to him the greater part of his possessions ; and a military force was
■=• The sentiments and usages of modern tmies afford no criterion whereby we can safely pass judgment on what strikes us as incongruous in the 12th or 13th century. Bearing in mind the still more apparently inconsistent features in the character of the military churchmen, the Knights Templars of the period, whose mission it was to advance the spiritual empire of peace by the vigorous use of the weapons of carnal warfare, we need not be surprised to find the same man performing the duties of a Champion, a Diplomatist, a General, and a Judge.
38 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
sent to destroy Tamworth Castle. Nothing however, came of all this. The old judge kept his property well in hand, and on the death of John was persuaded to submit himself to the bov King who succeeded him — Henry III. He died shortly afterwards, in 121 7, leaving three sons, two of them called Robert, and the youngest of the three William.
On his death Robert the Elder succeeded. Hitherto the Marmions held their feudal tenures both in England and in Normandy ; but on the separation of those countries, the representative of the family in England was Robert the Younger, his elder brother of the same name remaining in Normandy. These two Roberts were both children of the
J
same father by different mothers. By an agreement between the brothers, Robert the Younger consented to pay a certain sum for the English possessions, until a final settlement should be made as to the disposition of the family property in both countries. "But if before that, Sir Robert the Elder made his peace with the king, so that he might have his father's English lands, he should pay to Robert the Younger as much as should be paid to the Crown, and answer for the rest, and the latter should account to him for the issues of the lands."*
'-" Mr. C. F. R. Palmer, O.P., has with much exemplary diligence unearthed a great deal of interesting information respecting the Marmions of Fontenay, and those who care to investigate the early history of the family will not find a safer guide. His work is entitled. History of the Baronial Family of Marmion, and was published in 1875 by J. Thompson, of Tamworth, and in London by Simpkin, Marshall & Co. The account here given is mainly based on information supplied in this work, after verifying it by reference to the usual authorities on the subject.
THE MARMIONS. 39
It was further agreed that, " the said Robert the Younger
should then enjoy the lordships of Winteringham and
Coningsbv, in the County of Lincoln ; Quinton, in the County
of Gloucester ; and Berwick, in the County of Sussex. As
also, that William, his vounger brother, should have East and
West Torrington, in the County of Lincoln, and lands to the
value of ten pounds per annum in Berwick ;* of all which they
had special grants from their father. These conditions appear
to have been executed ; for, in the fifth year of the reign of
King Henrv IIL,t Robert, the elder son, made his peace with
the king, and had possession of the Castle of Tamworth
delivered to him, and the rest of his father's estates.:};
Having occasion to return into Normandy, 17 Henry HL,
he passed over the whole of his lands in England § for
seven years to Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester,
together with the guardianship of Philip, his son and heir, to
marry him where he should think fit without disparagement.
Whereupon, the Bishop, with the consent of the same Robert
and Philip, made an assignation thereon unto William de Cantilupe,i| Sheriff for the Counties of Warwick and Leicester.
He died, 25 Henry HL, anno 1241.^
■'- Dugdale's Warmckshi re , Vol. II., p. 8i8. f-Pat. 5. Hen. III. m. 8. X Claus 5. Hen. III. m. 19. § Cart. 17. Hen. III. m. 2.
Cart. 24. Hen. III. m. 4 : and, Testa de Nei'ill, p. 106. n. 472 ; and p. 144. n. 626.
^ Matth. of Westmin. in an. 1241.
40 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
The last of the Marmions, the son of Sir Robert the Elder, and the most famous of all, was that Sir Philip de Marmion who was a leading figure both as statesman and warrior in the stormv davs of Henry III. Sir Philip received as a reward for his services after the battle of Evesham a grant of all the demesnes in Tamworth together with the governorship of Kenilworth Castle, with lands in Nottingham, Derby, Warwick, Lincoln, and Leicester. Thus the family was rich and powerful. They held numerous estates in other counties and possessed property in other parts of Lincolnshire, but, as regards the Championship, the Caput Baroniae * and the fons honoris were at Scrivelsby : and to the present dav even though the duties of the Championship have been allowed to fall into disuse, the courtesy-title of Champion is given, and will doubtless continue to be given to the owner of Scrivelsby Manor, whoever he may happen to be.
On the death of Sir Philip Marmion, without male issue, his estates were divided between his four co-heiresses, t the
■" Several baronies or parts of baronies might be vested in one person (Madox's Baronia An^lica, p. 33). In each barony there would be a chief place, generally, but not always, a Castle, which was called Caput baronia-. The caput of the Marmion's Staffordshire barony was Tamworth Castle : the caput of the Lincolnshire barony was Scrivelsbv, which as carrying with it the Championship was also the chief fom or caput honoris. When, upon the death of Sir Philip Marmion, his eldest daughter took Tamworth Castle and the estates in Staffordshire as her portion, the particular tenure, on which Scrivelsby was held, was probably overlooked, and so occasion was given for the subsequent controversy that arose as to the " nidus " of the Championship.
t Strictly speaking, according to the old feudal law, a barony could not be divided. The exception was when it descended to heiresses, in which case it had to
THE MARMIOXS. 4 I
two with whom we have to do being Margaret and Jane or Joan, a child of eight at her father's death. The elder of these two, Margaret, or Mazera as she is sometimes styled in the old charters, was Sir Philip's second daughter, but upon the death without issue of her eldest sister Joan who was married to William Mortein, she inherited Tamworth and the estates in Staffordshire. She was already married to Ralph Croumbwell or Cromwell, and their daughter Jane became the wife of Alexander Freville, and was the ancestress of that Sir Baldwin Freville of whose claim to the Championship we shall presently hear.*
Jane or Joan, the youngest of Sir Philip's four daughters to whom Scrivelsby and the Lincolnshire estates had fallen, became the wife of Sir Thomas Ludlow and the mother of Thomas de Ludlow, who predeceased her, leaving a daughter Margaret, who subsequently became the wife of Sir John Dvmoke.t Upon the death of her first husband, Sir Thomas Ludlow, the Lady Jane became the wife of Sir Henry Hillary, who survived her, and was allowed to retain possession of the
be divided equallv between them, the eldest daughter being entitled to the chief seat of the baronv, bv reason of her eldership. The part of each heiress, before partition made, was called her rationabilis pars of such a barony. It was also called Propo.rs a Purpart (see Madox's Baionia Afiglica, p. 42). Of Sir Philip's four daughters the eldest and the voungest were bv different mothers and each had the same name.
■~" The Frevilles had large possessions in Cambridgeshire. The Church of Little Shelford in that county is full of interesting memorials of the family.
t The old Ballad which will be found in the Appendix (Xo. i) gives a good account of the union of the Marmions and Dymokes through the marriage of Sir John Dvmoke and Margaret Ludlow. G
42 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
family estates,* with the title of Champion, until his death in 1350, when he was succeeded by the Lady Margaret Ludlow, mentioned above, who married Sir John Dymoke and was the ancestress of the family that for more than five centuries has dwelt uninterruptedly at Scrivelsby.
It is often said by people, boasting of the antiquity of their familv, that their forefathers came over with William the Conqueror, but it is not often that their claims will bear investigation. Few, indeed, even of our best families, can trace their lineage so far back and. with such certainty as the Dymokes of Scrivelsby. The present Champion is a lineal descendant of Sir Philip Marmion, through the lady whose marriage with the Gloucestershire knight in the days of Edward IIL is the link that connects the houses of Dymoke and Marmion : and there is no doubt that Sir Philip Marmion was directly descended from the great Robert Dispensator, who accompanied William of Normandy in his descent upon England in the year 1066.
'- Sir Henry Hillary appears to have twice exercised the right of patronage to the Rectory of Scrivelsby, once in 1324, in concert with his wife, who is styled the Lady Johan, and again in 1325, when he presented in his own right, and is on the occasion ingloriously deprived of his initial letter, the appointment of the new Rector being recorded as due to "Sir Henry lUary, Kt."!
CHAPTER V.
The Early Dymokes — Derivation of Name — Totemism — Rebus on Lion Qate — Canting Mottoes — Sir Baldivin Freville — An Imperious Dame — The Sockburn Dragon.
Dim with the mist of years Gray flits the shade of power.
Byrox.
H E family name of Dymoke has undergone the usual fate of most old historical names bv being spelt differently at different times. The most common form, however, is Dymoke, as it appears in the present day. The first page in the old Scrivelsby Registers contains an entry recording the marriage of Mrs. Frances Dymoke* in 1565 to Mr. Thomas Winderbanke. Other forms of the name occasionally appear as Dimmock, Dymock, Dymocke, Dymok, Dimok, Demoke, and Demok.
According to the generally accepted theory, the name is derived from the manor of Dimmok in Gloucestershire, the original seat of the familv, before they took up their abode in
■"■ This lady was the daughter of Sir Edward Dymoke (i).
44 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the more congenial home of Scrivelsby. This may possibly be a true explanation of the name, but it is also possible to go still further back, and to suggest that the Gloucestershire manor was itself called after the family which settled there, and which, m accordance with the ancient belief in Totemism, derived its distinctive appellation from the oak tree from which it may be supposed the Dymokes believed themselves to have originally sprung.
This belief in Totemism, which consists in the supposition that each family is descended from a particular plant or animal, is very ancient and widely spread.* Many of our old Saxon families can distinctly trace the origin of their names in this way, the separate clans being distinguished from each other by their respective totems, which were consequently held in special veneration as the guardian spirits of the family, the members of which would generally refuse to pluck the plant or kill the animal after which they w^ere named. Thus we find the Heartings or sons of the hart : the Wylfings or sons of the wolf : and the Thornings or sons of the thorn. Places too were often named after some plant or animal : as, for instance, Oakington from the oak tree, Horsington from the horse, and Wormingford from the serpent or wyrm. The suggestion that in the same wav the Dvmokes derived their name from the oak tree is not advanced without some reasons that go far to support it.
See Anjilo Saxon Britain, p. 80, by Grant Allen. S.P.C.K.
THE EARLY DYMOKES. 45
The visitor, who keeps his eyes open, on entering Scrivelsbv Park, will notice on the right hand side of the Lion Gateway, a rude delineation of an oak tree — the rebus of Sir Robert Dvmoke, whose name appears below — the letter Y being apparently formed by the stem of the tree. Again, as an additional support to the oak-tree theory, attention may be called to the words de iimbrosd quercu which are appended to the name of " Dimoak now Dimmock" in Wright's Court hand (p. 48, 6th Ed., 1822) in the list of ancient surnames as they were written in old deeds, records, and charters.
The family motto pro rege dimico which was probably assumed long after the establishment of the Dymokes at Scrivelsby, and in evident allusion to their duty as Champions, is a good instance of what are called canting mottoes,*
Sir John Dymoke, who married the Lady Margaret de Ludlow, is not only the first Dvmoke who settled at Scrivelsby, but he must always hold a conspicuous place in history as being the successful competitor for the Champion- ship in his famous contest with Sir Baldwin Freville.
So much has been already said of the four daughters and co-heiresses of Sir Philip Marmion, that it will be sufficient
■'- Vcr non semper viret the family motto of the Vernons, Forte scutum ot the Fortescues, and Conanti dabitur of the Conants of Rutland, are well known instances of these punning mottoes. Somewhat akin to these is the Rebus by which names are represented by figures or pictures. Thus at Lincoln College, Oxford, a rebus of Dr. Beckington represents a beacon on a tun or barrel : and at Jesus College, Cambridge, a Cock standing on a globe does duty ibr the name of Dr. Alcock, the founder. The rebus of the Dymokes is given above.
46 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
here to repeat that to the eldest of them Tamworth Castle with its appurtenances was allotted, while Joan, the youngest daughter, inherited the manor of Scrivelsbv and the estates in Lincolnshire.
There had long been a smouldering jealousy between the successors of these two sisters, and the question of the Championship caused it to burst into flame. The time had come when the controversy between the families must be broudit to an issue. The coronation of Richard II. seemed to offer a favourable opportunity for securing an authoritative decision as to their respective claims, and, by mutual consent, the right of appearing as Champion at the approaching coronation of the grandson of the reigning king formed the subject matter of the appeal which was to be submitted to the Court of Claims. Each claimant had apparently a strong case, and each of them entertained well-grounded hopes of a favourable result.
Sir Baldwin Freville, who was the undoubted represent- ative of the eldest daughter of Sir Philip Marmion, based his pretensions on priority of birth and as being seized of the ownership of Tamworth Castle. He also pleaded that when his ancestress Margaret (or Mazera) took by reason of her eldership, on the death of her sister Joan, the most important part of her father's patrimony, she took with it that which had alwavs been deemed the chief distinction of the family — the right of appearing as Champion at the coronations of the sovereigns of England. Against all this Sir John Dymoke had
THE EARLY DYMOKES. 47
nothing to allege bevond the simple fact that his wife occupied the position of the youngest daughter who inherited Scrivelsbv : and vet this was sufficient to o^ive him the victory.*
The controversy was a repetition of the old fable which enforces the wisdom of using practical methods for ensuring success, instead of trusting to numberless devices by which defeat can be avoided. And even as Grimalkin from her coign of vantage surveyed the discomfiture of the fox, in spite of his many devices, so did the wife of Sir John Dymoke learn in her Lincolnshire home that the mere possession of the manor of Scrivelsby was sufficient to outweigh the formidable claims of Sir Baldwin Freville.
If it had been a question of seniority. Sir Baldwin must have necessarily succeeded : of this there had never been any doubt. But the question that the Court of Claims had to decide turned on the particular tenure on which the respective lands of the two claimants were held, and to which estate the Championship was attached. The result, in accordance with the general expectation, was that the Championship was attached by Knight Serjeanty to the manor of Scrivelsbv; and as this manor had fallen to the youngest daughter of Sir Philip Marmion, it was declared that to her representative the rights of the Championship belonged. t Sir John Dymoke
■"■ See Appendix, Xo. i6.
f "The adjudication was made in favour of Sir John Dymoke, by reason that he brought forward better evidence in support of the right of office being adjunct to the manor of Scrivelsbv than Freville could adduce on behalf of his tenure of
48 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
accordingly officiated at the coronation of Richard II. as his wife's deputy, and from that time forward up to the time of George IV. in 1820 no coronation has been held without the appearance of a Champion, and that Champion has always been a Dymoke.
With the exception of this Sir John, we know but little of the early Dymokes at Scriyelsby, and still less of their predecessors in their old Gloucestershire home. Indeed, the first two Scriyelsby Dymokes are so oyershadowed by the imperious Dame who was wife of the one and mother of the other, that after the contest with Sir Baldwin Freyille, nothing is recorded of either of them beyond the bare statement that Sir John died shortly after performing the duties of his office *
Tamworth Castle : and moreover because as it is reported by Speed (p. 729) King Edward III. and his son the black Prince had often been heard to say that the inheritance of the said office was the right of Sir John Dymoke." Banks. The decision, however, was confined to the special occasion, and by using the words salvo jure the Court plainlv intimated that it would give a dispassionate consideration to any further arguments that might hereafter be advanced. As Sir Baldwin Freville failed to take advantage of this open door, the Court of Claims at the next coronation gave a definite verdict in favour of the Dymokes.
* Banks gives the following account from an old Chronicle respecting a part of the Champion's proceedings before the coronation of Richard II. : " In the meane time Sir John Dimmocke had been to the King's armorie and stable, where he had chosen according to his tenure, the best armour, save one : and the best steed, save one: so that the said John Dimmocke having armed himself, and being mounted on horsebacke, came to the Abbeie gates, with two riding before liim, the one carrying his speare, and the other his shield, staieing there till !Mass should be ended. But the Lord Henrie Percie, Lord Marshall, appointed to make waie before the King, with divers others, being all mounted on great horses, came to the Knight and told him, that he ought not to come
THE EARLY DYMOKES. 49
as his mother's deputy at the coronation of Richard II., and that his son Thomas officiated at two coronations, one in 1399 when Henry of BoUngbroke was crowned, and again in 141 3 at the coronation of Henrv V. On each of these occasions Sir Thomas acted on behalf of his mother, who must have been a very old woman at the time of her death, in the glorious year of Agincourt, when her son Sir Thomas had alreadv attained the ripe age of sixtv.
This lady is reported to have had a strong will of her own, and, on the death of her husband in 1381, she had not the least thought of abdicating in favour of her son, or of allowing him to replace her, either as Champion to the King, or in any other capacity. To use a Lincolnshire expression, she refused to take her slippers off before she went to bed, and so she lived and died, "within her little realm supreme" holding the reins of government firmly to the end. Had she lived in these times, when "Women's rights" is one of the questions of the day, she would doubtless have disdained the vicarious services of husband and son, and would have donned the armour, and mounted the steed, and thrown down the gauntlet in her own person, and he would have been a brave man that had ventured to accept her gage.
Of the next Dymoke, Sir Philip, who acted as Champion to Henry VI,, and lived long enough to see the beginning of
at that time, but when the King was at dinner, and therefore it should be good for him to unarme himself for awhile, and take his ease and rest, till the appointed time were come : so the Knight did, as the Lord Marshall willed him." H
50 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the war of the roses which was destined to be so fatal to his
son and successor, it will be sufficient to say that he was one
of those happy men whose history expired with himself. His
record must have been good, or we should have heard of it,
for
" The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones."
But although Sir Philip himself has left no mark of personal
identification, bevond the one official ceremony at which he
took part at the coronation of the Baby-king, his wife shines
with a reflected light in connection with an old and
interesting legend. This lady was Joan, the daughter of Sir
Christopher Coniers, Knight of Sockburn, in the county of
Durham ; and through her we become acquainted with a
ceremony that used to be performed by her father's family at
the Court of the Bishops of Durham, which has a close
resemblance to the service performed by her husband in the
King's Court at Westminster.
Noble tells us that "the origin of this was, as tradition
relates, that one of the Coniers' slew a dragon,* which
devoured men, women, and children, in the Palatinate. t In
'■' In confirmation of this tradition, the tomb of the great ancestor of the Coniers', in Sockburn Church, has, sculptured upon it, a dog and a monstrous serpent or dragon, Iving at the feet of the Knight, whicii he is said to have i<illed.
t In olden times, the Bishops of Durham were temporal princes as well as ecclesiastical rulers. They had many high privileges. The County of Durham formed one of the three great English Palatinates, and the Bishop was placed at its head. The other two were the counties of Chester and Lancaster. In these Palatinates, the lord or Count e.Kcrciscd almost royal authority, and enjoyed an absolutely independent jurisdiction.
THE EARLY DYMOKES.
51
reward for this prodigious service, the Coniers' were appointed Champions to the Bishops of Durham, and well did they deserve this honourable post. When the story is freed from its fabulous embellishment, it appears that this dragon was nothing more than a ferocious Danish chieftain, who over-ran the countrv, literally devouring bv his sword men, women, and children. The converting the Dane into a dragon is very easily accounted for, if we suppose that the despoiler bore for his standard the supposed monster, a dragon."
CHAPTER VI.
The Wars of the Roses — Execution of Sir Thomas Dymoke — Battle of Lose-coat Field — Brass in Horncastle Church—Sir Robert Dymoke — Table Monument.
Somerset: Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, But dare maintain the party of the truth, Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.
Warwick : I love no colours : and without all colour Of base insinuating flattery, I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.
Shakespeare.
The Gods
Avenge on stony hearts a fruitless prayer
For mercy.
TENwysox.
N the death of Sir Philip, his son Thomas succeeded, and his accession to the Champion- ship gave him an importance which was attended with fatal consequences. Had he occupied a less conspicuous position, he would probably have escaped the fate which afterwards overtook him. He was not only the King's Champion, but he was connected by marriage with the powerful family of Welles, and, although we have no reason for thinking that Sir Thomas
.1 ^
/-I'l >:f
BRASS TO LIONEL DYMOKE IN HORNCASTLE CHURCH.
THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 53
Dymoke was likely to exercise anv predominant influence over
the course of events, he was too highly placed and too highly
connected, to escape the perils from which men in a humbler
sphere would be exempt.
" The mighty pine is ever most By wild winds swayed about and toss'd :
With most disastrous crash Fall high-topp'd towers, and ever, where The mountain's summit points in air, Do bolted lightnings flash." *
In the history of this Champion, we see for the first and only time, a Knight of Scrivelsbv laying his head on the fatal block, at the command of an angry King who could adduce no crime on the part of his victim to justifv so severe a sentence. But the wars of the roses had bes^un, and no one's life was safe. Blood was shed without scruple on both sides. Amongst the many deeds of violence of which but little notice was taken at the time, the fate of Sir Thomas Dymoke stands out a conspicuous instance of the judicial murder of an innocent man, without any .adequate justification. It is, indeed, almost inconceivable that the King's Champion should have been thus sacrificed, more through caprice and momentary indignation at the insubordination of another, than for anv overt act of his own. It is true that everv
""■ " Sccpius ventis agitatur ingens Pinus : et celsas graviore casu Decidunt turres : feriuntque summos
Fulgura montes.
Horace.
54 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
one, at the time, had to take his side either as a supporter of the house of York or of the house of Lancaster, and the sympathies of Sir Thomas Dymoke were on the side of the Lancastrian King, at whose Coronation his own father had acted as Champion. Accordingly, when his wife's brother, Sir Robert Welles, had been commissioned by the Lancastrian leaders to raise troops in Lincolnshire on behalf of Henry VL, our Champion erected his standard in defence of the Lancastrian King. The die was now cast, and having openly chosen his side. Sir Thomas thenceforward became subject to the fortunes of war : and had he been slain in battle, there would have been no cause for complaint. But he was put to death under circumstances, which, even at the present day, excite indignation at the abuse of powxr as well as pity for the sufferer.
It came about in this way. An order was sent by Edward IV. for Lord Welles, the father of Sir Robert, and the Champion, Sir Thomas Dymoke, to appear before the Council. Instead of promptly obeying the summons, thev hesitated for a time, but subsequently went to London, when, hearing that the King was in no placable mood, thev fled to a sanctuary, and only left it on receiving an express promise of pardon. As soon as they had presented themselves at the Court, Edward received them graciously, but insisted that Lord Welles should exert his paternal authority, to induce his son to lay down his arms and submit to the royal mercy. But when the King had reached
THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 55
Stamford, and found that Sir Robert Welles was still at the head of his troops, he ordered, in violation of his promise, the immediate execution of Lord Welles and Sir Thomas Dymoke, and sent a second summons to Sir Thomas Welles, who replied with natural indignation that " he would never trust to the perfidy of the man who had murdered his father."
A battle was accordingly fought soon afterwards at Empingham,* near Stamford ; and Sir Robert Welles, being conquered and taken prisoner, was beheaded, a few hours after his father and Sir Thomas Dymoke had undergone the same fate, at Stamford.
Deep indeed is the stain left on the character of Edward IV., by this wanton exercise of irresponsible power. But the deed was done and irreparable, as far as Sir Thomas was concerned : and so, the King, in after years, did everything in his power to make atonement for his cruelty to the father by heaping honours on his son. This we shall see later on, when we come to the account of his successor, the first Sir Robert Dvmoke.
■•'* The battle was fought at Empingham. Young Welles collected 30,000 men from Lincoln and the neighbourhood, and with this hastily-gathered force he encountered the well-seasoned troops of the Yorkist King. Xor was the issue long doubtful. The new recruits could not stand before the trained and experienced soldiers of the angrv monarch, and seeing many of their leaders slain and the danger of their position, thev broke and fled with such percipitation that they flung aside their coats to enable them to make more speed. This skirmish has in consequence received the name of the battle of lose-coat field.
56 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOiME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
The eldest son of the murdered Champion was Lionel, who pre-deceased his father, and dving in 15 19 was buried at Horncastle. It is this Lionel, to whose memory a brass was placed in St. Mary's Church, and which still exists, though in a somewhat dilapidated condition. There was also a large brass on the pavement of the north aisle at its eastern end, beneath which he was presumably buried, but, though the matrix of the brass is clearlv discernible, the brass itself has disappeared, with the exception of a small central ornament. A full description of this brass will be found in the Appendix (No. 3.) A daughter, Alice, who survived her father Lionel, became the wife of Sir William Skipworth, Knight : and another daughter was married to John Goodrich of Bolingbroke.
To go back to the victim of Edward IV. — Sir Thomas Dymoke, — we are told by Banks that through his marriage with Margaret the second daughter and subsequently one of the co-heirs of Lionel Lord Welles, bv Joane his wife, daughter and heir of Sir Robert Waterton, " his posterity have a co-inheritance of right to the inheritance of the barony of Welles, now in abeyance : with this peculiar distinction, that the families of Dymoke and of Willoughbv Lord Middleton are the only two representatives in the male line from the four daughters of Lionel Lord Welles."
Upon the death of Sir Thomas, his son Robert was only ten years old, and in consequence of his father's tragic end and the attainder that followed as a necessary consequence of
THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 57
his so-called treason, the young Champion was in a pitiful
plight, in respect to his future position and fortune. But
Edward IV. whose unjust treatment of his father was rather
the result of sudden anger than of anv deep conviction that
Sir Thomas Dymoke had committed a capital crime, was so
liberal and indulgent to the orphan, as to justify the suspicion
that he wished in this way to express his sorrow for the rash
act into which he had been betraved. Accordingly when the
young Robert came of age, he was admitted by the King "to
haye liyery of all his inheritance, as well those lands &c. as
were descended to him from his father, as of those other
lands &c. which had deyolyed upon him through his mother,
the co-heiress of Welles and Westerton, without any account
to be taken either as to their yalue, or of such fine as
the King might be entitled to claim as due to him on
such occasions." (Prim. Pat. 21 Ed. IV. n. 7 quoted by
Banks.)
From this time forward, the career of Sir Robert Dymoke,
who was shortly afterwards appointed a Knight Banneret, was
uniformly successful. He liyed in fiye reigns, viz., in those of
Edward IV., Edward V., Richard III., Henry VII., and
Henry VIII., and acted as Champion to the three last named
sovereigns. Henry VIII., especially, held him in great honour,
and at Tournay in Flanders, he appears as the King's
Treasurer. (See Appendix No. 5.) LeJand, the antiquary,
makes mention of him and his residence as follows :
"Dvmmok dwelleth at Sckrettisbv, two miles from Horncastle. I
58 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
The seat, a plain building, was in part destroyed by fire in the last century. It was worthy the attention of the curious. The Hall contained the arms of the different Champions of England, and the shields of those sovereigns at whose coronation they had officially attended. They were there also complete suits of armour for man and horse."
This Champion died in 1545 and was buried, according to Blinks^ at Haltham.* In addition to his son Edward who succeeded him, he had two daughters, the younger of whom, Margaret, was married, on the death of her first husband, Sir Richard Vernon, to Richard Manners, a younger son of George Manners, Lord Ross, by Ann, sister of Edward IV., and aunt to Elizabeth, Queen Consort of Edward IV. She had no issue by her last marriage, but it is singular that the family of Manners, to which the Dukedom of Rutland is attached, is descended from an elder co-heir of her first husband. Sir Richard Vernon, usually called the Petty King of the Peak, in consequence of his having no less than thirty manors in that part of Derbyshire.
There is a fine table monument in Scrivelsbv Church to this Sir Robert Dymoke, which according to Banks and others
■^ The following extract is taken from the will of "Robert Dimock Knt. of Scrivelsbv," and is dated 1543 : — "I desire my son Edward Dimoke to appoint 2 discrete and honest priests and one poore man for 5 years to sa}- masse daylie in the Parish Church of Scrivelsbv, and the poore man to help, and pray for the souls of me Robert Dimoke and Anne my wife, and of Thomas Dimoke and Margaret my father and mother " (at Somerset House).
THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 59
was once at Haltham, containing the following inscription on a well-cut brass : —
" Here liethe the Bodv of Sir Robert Demoke of
Screvelsbv knightXbaronet who departed owt of this
present Ivfe the XV day of April in ye yere of our
lord god MDXLV. upon whose sowle almighte god
have m'ci Amen."
It is startling to see the title of Baronet given to a man
who died in 1545, whereas it is well-known that Baronets
were first appointed by James I., shortly after his accession
in 1603. The word, of course, should be Banneret, and we
know that Sir Robert Dymoke was appointed a knight
Banneret, soon after attaining his majority. It was this
Sir Robert whose rebus appears on the Lion gateway, at the
entrance of Scrivelsby Park.
With regard to this table monument, it has always been supposed that, as Sir Robert was buried at Haltham, his monument was originally placed in Haltham Church : but there is no trustworthy information to be obtained on the subject. The burial took place before the days of registers, and although the Haltham Registers go back to 1561, no help is to be obtained from that quarter. Assuming that the burial took place at Haltham, which is bv no means unlikely, there are two possible explanations to account for the exist- ence of the monument in Scrivelsbv Church. Scrivelsby being the caput baroniae would be the natural place for such a memorial, and as it is probable, from the curious blunder
60 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS,
on the inscription, that the tomb in question was erected several vears after Sir Robert's death, it is not at all unlikely that Scrivelsby Church was considered the fitting place for its reception, although the interment had taken place at Haltham.
Another plausible conjecture is that not only did the burial take place at Haltham, but that the monument also was placed there. But as Scrivelsby is the centre of a cluster of villages, all of them at one time belonging to the Champions, and as it was usual for the second son of the familv to take Holy Orders and to hold the family livings — sometimes three or four at a time — it is not uncharitable to suppose thot a clerical member of the family, finding himself at the same time Rector of Haltham and Scrivelsbv, quietly removed from the former village a handsome monument which he thought more suitable for the central church of the parish in which the family dwelt. After all, it is quite as likely that a mistake has been made with regard to Haltham, bv some old writer, and that the mistake has been so often copied by later generations as to have acquired an air of truthfulness. And if Sir Robert died and was buried at Scrivelsbv there would have been nothino; to cause a flutter in the breast of the curious antiquarian,* Amidst so much uncertainty it is well to have one piece of solid ground to stand upon, and the present Rector has secured this stable
*^ See ApjKMidix (No. 4) for additio:i;il evidence lately discovered.
THE WARS OF THE ROSES
6i
footing. He found the monument at Scrivelsby, and, without being too curious as to how it got there, he means to keep it, until otherwise directed bv competent authority. Here it is : here it shall remain.
CHAPTER VII.
The Lincolnshire Insurrection and Pilgrifnagc of Grace — Rising of the Peasants — Perplexity of the Gentry — Bad Faith of the King — Family of Sir Edward Dymoke (i).
"The ancient heroes were illustrious For being benign, and never blust'rous Against a vanquish'd foe : their swords Were sharp and trenchant — not their words."
BlTTLER.
(N the death of Sir Robert, at the age of 73, his son Edward succeeded, and performed the office of Champion at the coronation of tliree successive sovereigns, Edward VI., Mary, and but he had been a conspicuous figure even in his father's lifetime, and had been in some danger of sharing the fate of his grandfather, along with many others, who for one cause or another, had incurred the resentment of Henry VIII.
The times were "out of joint" when Edward Dymoke, the eldest son of the Champion, was Sheriff of the County. The office in those davs was no sinecure. The Sheriff was responsible for the preservation of order, and was entrusted
Elizabeth
THE LINXOLNSHIRE INSURRECTION. 63
with adequate powers for securing it. Everyone, moreover, with a grievance to be redressed, or a favour to ask, would go to the sheriff, as the natural intermediary between the government and the people. Even in quiet times, the sheriff had plenty of business on his hands, but when social troubles were rife, and the political horizon was overcast, his respon- sibilities were greatly increased. And this was the position in which Edward Dymoke found himself, when he entered upon the duties of his ofhce in the vear 1536.
Henry VIII. had been on the throne for more than a quarter of a century, and there was no longer any doubt as to the nature of his rule. The days of expectation were past : the conviction was brought home to the minds of his subjects, by many clear tokens, that the hopes, in which they had indulged, on his first accession, were not destined to be fulfilled. The rich and powerful were the first to suffer from the masterful government of the King. The time was come for the poor to undergo a similar experience ; and it is not surprising that they were less disposed to be submissive than the great nobles, who had felt the glamour of the King's personal ascendancy. The immediate cause of complaint, indeed, was one that affected all classes indiscriminatelv, but to the poor man it seemed to involve the loss of everything he held most dear.
Henry, with the assistance of his zealous Vicar-General, had already made a beginning of carrying out his arbitrarv project of suppressing the greater monasteries, and of
64 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
confiscatins: the revenues with which thev had been richly endowed. And it was evident that the lesser monasteries would soon share the same fate. The peasantry were unable to draw fine distinctions between an impartial investigation into the existence of supposed abuses, and the infliction of punishment for evil practices, of which they had no suspicion. Thev only saw the results ; and these seemed to be always the same, under circumstances however different. They realized the certain consequences to themselves, and were prepared to use every possible means for protecting their own interests. They viewed with indignation the impending ruin of the religious houses, which thev had always held in the highest reverence : they heard of monks, elsew^here, expelled from their homes, and exposed to the horrors of starvation : and thev looked forward with well-founded apprehension to the prospect of losing the charitable doles, which had always been liberally supplied by the Monasteries, and to which the poor people had learned to think they had an inalienable right.
The rustics of Lincolnshire were especially alive to the danger, for there were many of these religious houses in the county, not a few of them being within a few miles of the Sheriff's residence. Barlings, Kirkstead, Tupholme, and Bardney, all close at hand, were threatened : and while the higher dignitaries of these establishments were held in universal veneration, moving on terms of intimacy with the aristocracy of the district, the monks and poorer brethren were
THE LINCOLNSHIRE INSURRECTION. 65
always sure of a ready welcome, whenever they visited the houses of the farmers and of the labourers who tilled the soil. Under these circumstances it needed but little to fan into a blaze the smouldering discontent which was general throughout the Kingdom, but was more openly expressed in the Counties of Lincoln and York. The men of Lincolnshire were the first to rise, and under the guidance of the Abbot of Barlings, who had assumed the name of Captain Cobbler, thev unfurled the flag of rebellion, and boldly demanded a redress of their grievances.
This Lincolnshire Insurrection paved the way for the more formidable movement better known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, but, notwithstanding the King's contemptuous expressions, it was a sufhcientlv unwelcome revelation to him of the temper of the people with whom he had to deal, and of the necessitv of emploving greater caution in carrying out his plans.* It is no part of our task to describe the details of this insurrection. It will be suflScient to sav that the peasants, who were terriblv in earnest, compelled bv sheer force the leading gentry to take part in the movement ; and if the condition of affairs had been less serious, we, who have been spared a similar experience, might have derived much amusement at witnessing the shifts and evasions of the countv magnates, who, while feeling a deep svmpathy with the
■"■ In a little work entitled " Dorothy Dymoke," lately published by a Lincolnshire man, the Rev. Edward Gilliat, an interesting and vivid account is given of the Lincolnshire InsuiTection. J
66 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
sufferings of the poor, were only too conscious of their own inabihty to render them any effectual aid. They knew, better than the peasants who looked to them for guidance, that the resources of the King were far greater than any they could hope to bring against him. They were painfully aware that the bond of union between themselves was not so strong as that which existed between the rustics who were more immediately concerned in the rising: and knowing, moreover, the vindictive character of the monarch against whom the movement was directed, the gentry of Lincolnshire were not a little alarmed at the prospect of falling into his hands. They were between two fires. In their front was an angry mob, proving by many a deed of violence, and notably by the murder of the Chancellor of Lincoln on Roughton Moor, that they would brook no evasion on the part of those whom thev regarded as their natural leaders : and behind them was the King threatening the gallows and the block against all who ventured to resist him : and thev had abundant reason for believing that he would be as good as his word, when once he recovered his freedom of action and could wreak vengeance on his opponents.
The position of the Champion, Sir Robert Dymoke, was peculiarly trying. He was well stricken in years, and in feeble health : his sympathy was powerfully enlisted on the side of his poor neighbours : and yet he was, or had been, on terms of unusual intimacy with the King, who had the gracious art of attracting to himself those who enjoyed the
THE LINCOLNSHIRE INSl'RRECTION, 67
dangerous privilege of his friendship. No wonder that Sir Robert pleaded his age and infirmities, and left to his son Edward the difficult task of reconciling the conflicting claims of the King and his subjects. And it speaks well for the discretion of the Sheriff, that in those dangerous times he kept his head on his shoulders, and lived to act as Champion to Henry's three children.
It was on the occasion of this Lincolnshire Insurrection, that Henrv VIII. used the scurrilous words respecting the Countv of Lincoln, of which so much has been made bv late writers. In spite, however, of his unkingly gibes, there is no doubt that Henrv was seriously alarmed at the formidable dimensions which the movement had assumed ; and, with the object of arresting its further progress, he condescended to adopt the same tactics as those by which the insurrection of Wat Tvler had been suppressed in the time of Richard II. Lavish promises were made : the royal word was pledged : a free pardon was assured to the leaders of the insurrection ; but no sooner did thev lav down their arms, than the promises were forgotten, and many of the poor dupes were unjustlv executed. The same duplicity was exhibited later on, when Aske and others suffered for the part they had taken in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
The character of Henrv VIII. must always be an interesting study, but it is a forlorn hope to expect general assent to be given to the views of those, who, while extenuating the King's faults, would fain have us regard him
68 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
not only as a great monarch, but a model statesman, and a wise and enlightened ruler. It is unfortunate that this estimate is not supported by sufficient evidence to justify it, and can only be accepted by those who are content to exclude everything that tells against a foregone conclusion.
It mav be readily granted that Henry VIII. was intellectually strong : he was an able and adroit diplomatist ■ few rulers surpassed him in sagacity, and none in the unscrupulous adaptation of means to ends : but there was a fatal element in his character, which spread like a blight, tainting the good qualities of which he had received from nature a bountiful supply. He was intensely selfish, and claiming to be above the law, he carried even into private life the spirit of the French King's apothegm,* and so he came, gradually, but surely, to regard himself as the pivot round which all things in heaven and earth must turn. Such a man is tolerably sure to be taken by the multitude at his owm valuation, and there is — it must be owned — a certain kind of fascination in watching the efforts of a strong man, striving to bend everything to his own iron will. But right and wrong are not interchangeable terms : and we can only apply to the King the same standard as that by which ordinary mortals are measured. No man who is wholly selfish
can be really great : and, measured by this rule, Henry VIII.
^ In these days the most absolute ruler would scarcely venture to say letot c'est vioi, but in the 17th century, and from the lips of Louis XIV., the words are little more than the exaggerated statement of a fact.
^'m^
ARMED FIGURES IN SCRIVELSBY COURT.
THE LINCOLNSHIRE INSURRECTION. 69
is not entitled to the admiration of mankind. On the contrary we regard him as a conspicuous instance of perverted gifts : from the beginning to the end of his reign, there is in his character a noticeable decHne in conscientiousness and self-restraint : and a King who, with his many advantages - — natural and acquired — might have been a " dear son of memory" and a "great heir of fame" must be regarded as a man ignobly bent on using place and power for himself alone, and ruthlessly sweeping out of his path every obstacle that interfered with his interests or his pleasure. Confining our attention to the matter before us — the methods employed by this powerful King in his dealings with the Lincolnshire peasants — we can only pronounce him a blusterer, who began bv reviling, and ended bv betraying the unfortunate men who trusted to the roval word, and found their trust misplaced.
It was in the reign of Mary, that Sir Edward Dymoke, who was knighted soon after the death of his father, appears to have reached the zenith of his fame, and it is to him that was addressed the curious letter which will be found in the Appendix (No. 6.)
Some doubt exists as to the marriages contracted bv Sir Edward Dymoke (i.) There is a consensus of opinion that he married Ann the daughter of Sir George Talbois,* but as it is also said that he married a daughter of Sir John
~" The Manor of Kyme passed to the Dymokes, by the marriage of Sir Edward Dymoke with Anne, the fifth daughter of Sir George Talboys, and Elizabeth his wife. The Dymokes continued to reside at Kyme until the close of the i8th century. (Bp. of Nottingham's Sleaford p. 254).
JO SCRIV'ELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Monson,* it is possible that he was twice married, and as there was no issue bv the second, the name of Ann Monson was allowed to drop out of the genealogical tables. It is not a matter of anv great importance, except as a proof of the intimacy that undeniably existed between the old house of Dvmoke and the ancestors of the present Viscount Oxenbridge. At anv rate, bv his wife Ann the daughter of Sir George Talbois, Sir Edward had ten children, t three sons and seven daughters, a much larger number than generally fell to the Dvmoke familv. Of these ten children, Robert succeeded to the Championship, but was never called upon to exercise the duties of his office ; Charles seems to have been knighted, and died in 1611.J Edward also was knighted, and died in 1614
~" Collins' s Peerage, under the article, entitled "Monson." In all probability Collins has made the mistake of assigning to the first Sir Edward a matrimonial alliance which was contracted by the second Sir Edward Dymoke.
f There is a tradition that a certain Thomas Dymoke, presumably connected with a collateral branch of Sir Edward's family, migrated to America, in the early part of the 17th century, and after rising to eminence in the Colony of Massachusetts, died at Barnstaple, in 1658. Even at this distance of time, his memory is held in veneration by the surviving representatives of this offshoot from the Dymoke family.
X The Bishop of Nottingham, in his Sleaford, p. 409, says that in Howell Church there is a monument bearing this inscription: "Sir Ch : Dimok, of Howell, second son to Sir Ed : Dimok, of Screelsby, Knig., Champion to the crowne of England, and his wife Margaret, widow to Mr. Anthony Butler, of Coates." On a previous page (406) the Bishop says that "the Manor of Howell passed to the Dymokes of Scrivelsby in the year 1448 by the marriage of Sir Thomas Dymoke with Elizabeth Hebden. liy the attainder and decapitation o^ Sir Thomas Dymoke in 1470, the Manor was forfeited. Subsequently, however, it was restored to that ancient family, who possessed it for a considerable period ; but, from the evidence of the parish terrier, it had passed into other hands before 1707.
THE LINCOLNSHIRE INSURRECTION.
71
at the age of 78 ; Elizabeth was married to Henry Ascough, Margaret to Lord Eure, Frances to Thomas Windebanke, and the remaining four Dorothy, Susan, Sarah, and Bridget are left out of the ordinary records, but whether they were married or single, we are unable to sav. Sir Edward Dvmoke died in 1656, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert, who is well entitled to hold a more prominent place in the family history than that which has hitherto been assigned to him.
t:
CHATER VIII.
the
The Martyr Champion — TJie eformation — Edward VI. — Mary a?id Elizabeth — Appointment ^ Bishops. — Dr. Cooper of Lincoln — The Duke of Norfolk -Episcopal Visitation at Scrivelsby — Imprisonment and death f the Champion — Reflections.
They, con ained to wield the sword Of disputation, si nk not, though assailed With hostile din, nd combating in sight Of angry umpire partial and unjust : Nor for their b^ es would accept release. Oh ! high examp constancy divine !
Wordsworth.
•T the inqui ion taken on Sir Edward's death by the Coi : analagoiis in some respects to our moderi Court of Probate, his eldest son and success is described as Robert Dvmoke Esquire, but there is some ?ason for thinking that he, a| as his two younger brother subsequently received *' of knighthood. In any ise, his marrian" daughter of Edward Clint i. Earl of" ^.*rnr mm
into connection and intim; wi'ds^^^^^^ ^^^bilitv ; and though he never exercise
10
W. to
Br
f
THE MARTYR CHMPION.
73
coronation, he is no doubt correct' described as " a person of great eminence " who, dying, whih EHzabeth was still Queen, under circumstances to be presen v described, was buried at Scrivelsby in 1580,
Amidst the many changes in ligious matters, for which the 1 6th century enjoyed an urnviable notoriety, Robert Dvmoke maintained his own groud consistently to the end. While the cause of religion itself ^ iTered from the indifference and inconsistency of so many of ii professors, it is refreshing to come across a man, who, wit >ut obtruding his religious belief, condescended to no unwort ' subterfuge, in attempting to conceal it. In the old fan he was born : in the practice of its precepts and riti.l he had lived : and in maintaining them firmly to the c 1, he was prepared to die. But to rightly appreciate the real eroism of his death, it will be necessary to give a brief ^ tch of the events that preceded it.
The growing corruption of he Romish Church had necessitated the movement rightl termed The Reformation. This movement, the chief theatre o which was in Germany, was warmly supported by many persons n England, secretly at first, but more openly and defiantly fterwards. Henry VIII. supported it, from interested moti' ., although his support was confined to the political side of ne question. It suited his pu' be supreme Head of t Church, and as this could
OD 'Ught abou^by breakin; with the Church of Rome,
hf pow^^^^^^^to the lovement, which aimed at
CHAPTER 'III.
The Martyr Champion — The Refortm. ni — Edivard TV. — Mary and Elizabeth — Appointment of BisJi s. — Dr. Cooper of Lincoln — The Duke of Norfolk — Episci I J'^isitatioti at Scrivelsbv — hnprisonment and death of the ( impion — Reflections.
They, constrained ti vielci the sword Of disputation, shrank not, lOugh assailed With hostile din, and coml ing in sight Of angry umpires, partial 1 unjust: Nor for their bodies wou accept release. Oh ! high example, constan divine !
Wordsworth.
:T the inquisition ta n on Sir Edward's death by the Coint anal ous in some respects to our modern Court f Probate, his eldest son and successor is dc Tibed as Robert Dvmoke Esquire, but there is some reason - thinking that he, as well as his two younger brothers, subsec^ ^ntly received the honour of knighthood. In any case, h^ marriage with Bridget, daughter of Edward Clinton, Ear of Lincoln, brought him into connection and intimacy with le English nobilitv ; and though he never exercised the fice of Champion at a
pa*
itml!^
P^-
tie
TV f
»
sr'^tr
I " t'
> m ■ 1
I TR CHAMPION.
73
'JU
» rrectly described as " a person of while Elizabeth was still Queen, esentlv described, was buried at
THE
coronation, he is no don great eminence " who, c under circumstances to Scrivelsbv in 1580.
Amidst the manv l . s in religious matters, for which the 1 6th centurv enjoyed m unenviable notoriety, Robert Dvmoke maintained his .>\\ ground consistently to the end. While the cause of relis^ion self suffered from the indifference and inconsistency of so mai of its professors, it is refreshing to come across a man, \\i , without obtruding his religious belief, condescended to n<> nworthy subterfuge, in attempting to conceal it. In the d faith he was born : in the practice of its precepts :i 1 ritual he had liyed : and in maintaining them firmlv tc the end, he was prepared to die. Rut to rightly appreciate tl' real heroism of his death, it will be necessary to give a rief sketch of the events that preceded it.
The growing corrupt n of the Romish Church had necessitated the movement rightly termed The Reformation. This movement, the chief tl atre of which was in Germany, was warmly supported bv manv >ersons in England, secretly at first, but more openly an* intlv afterwards. Henry \^III.
supported it, from inir motives, although his support was
confined to the political de of the question. It suited his purpose to be supreme iiti of the Churchy and as this could only be brouc^ht about bv reakim^ with the Church of Rome, he lent his powerful aiM ^ the movement, which aimed at
K
t
CHAPTER VIII.
The Martyr Oiampion — The Reformation — Edward VI. — Mary and Elizabeth — Appointment of Bishops. — Dr. Cooper of Lincoln — The Duke of Norfolk — Episcopal Visitation at Scrivelsby — Imprisonment and death of the Champion — Reflections.
They, constrained to wield the sword Of disputation, shrank not, though assailed With hostile din, and combating in sight Of angry umpires, partial and unjust : Nor for their bodies would accept release. Oh ! high example, constancy divine !
Wordsworth.
•T the inquisition taken on Sir Edward's death by the Court analagous in some respects to our modern Court of Probate, his eldest son and successor is described as Robert Dvmoke Esquire, but there is some reason for thinking that he, as well as his two younger brothers, subsequently received the honour of knighthood. In any case, his marriage with Bridget, daughter of Edward Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, brought him into connection and intimacv with the English nobilitv ; and though he never exercised the office of Champion at a
THE MARTYR CHAMPION. 73
coronation, he is no doubt correctly described as " a person of great eminence " who, dving, while Elizabeth was still Queen, under circumstances to be presently described, was buried at Scrivelsbv in 1580.
Amidst the manv changes in religious matters, for which the 1 6th century enjoved an unenviable notoriety, Robert Dvmoke maintained his own ground consistently to the end. While the cause of religion itself suffered from the indifference and inconsistency of so many of its professors, it is refreshing to come across a man, who, without obtruding his religious belief, condescended to no unworthy subterfuge, in attempting to conceal it. In the old faith he was born : in the practice of its precepts and ritual he had lived : and in maintaining them firmlv to the end, he was prepared to die. But to rightly appreciate the real heroism of his death, it will be necessary to give a brief sketch of the events that preceded it.
The growing corruption of the Romish Church had necessitated the movement rightly termed The Reformation. This movement, the chief theatre of which was in Germany, was warmly supported bv many persons in England, secretlv at first, but more openly and defiantly afterwards. Henry VIII. supported it, from interested motives, although his support was confined to the political side of the question. It suited his purpose to be supreme Head of the Church, and as this could only be brought about bv breaking with the Church of Rome, he lent his powerful aid to the movement, which aimed at
74 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the destruction not onlv of the political status but of the doctrine of the papacv. It is no part of our present business, to do more than allude to the painful and dangerous position of those who were sincerely attached to the religion of their forefathers. They were expected to follow the King in his varying moods, now compelled to accept the old doctrines under stress of punishment sometimes affecting their life and sometimes their personal liberty and fortune, and now called upon to throw off obedience to the holy Father, and to transfer to the masterful King the absolute supremacy, in matters ecclesiastical, which had previously been exercised by the Pope of Rome. To be burnt as a heretic, or to be beheaded as a traitor, was the alternative to be faced by many of the noblest of the King's subjects.
During the short reign of Edward VI., when the Reformation, in spite of many difficulties from within and without, made steady progress, and became so entwined with the real life of the nation, that the blind and bigoted persecution of the next reign only tended to give it additional strength, the adherents of the old religion were very far from the enjoyment of that liberty of conscience, which later generations have learnt to prize so highly. It was not till the reign of Elizabeth, that a short respite occurred in religious persecutions; and men began to hope that the "bloody" period would never again be renewed. But a Tudor Queen, with many of the characteristics of her father, had merely taken the place of another Tudor Queen, whose fault it had
THE MARTYR CHAMPION. 75
been that she adhered too extravagantly to the religion of her mother. But Elizabeth was wise, and knew how to bend her own inclinations to the political necessities of the period.
The re-action, after Mary's death, in 1558, was so strong, that with all the lion courage of her race, Elizabeth dared not attempt to stem the torrent that was gradually sweeping away every obstacle that withstood the dominant force of the Reformation, albeit it was notorious that in her heart she favoured the doctrines of the ancient faith. But it is very doubtful whether, during any period of her long reign, she was sincerelv actuated by religious motives, in the administration of public affairs ; and we know that, without having her sister's excuse, for Mary was at least sincere, she exhibited, again and again, the same tendency to persecute all who ventured to differ from herself. There was this difference between the two daua:hters of Henrv VIII. Marv hated the Protestants and burnt them without compunction : Elizabeth was ready to sacrifice both Papists and Protestants, when they clashed with her interests. It was, indeed, against a section of the Protestants, that she was especially vindictive. The Puritans in general, and the Anabaptists in particular, could expect no mercv, and assuredly they received none, at the hands of the Queen. And with the ever-growing dread of a Romish re-action, in favour of her rival, the detested Queen of Scots, she from time to time allowed the enemies of the old faith full license to indulge in the congenial task of persecution. State-policy, however, not religion, was the guiding feature in
76 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the Queen's exercise of royal power. It is not surprising, therefore, that during her reign of fortv-five years, the appointment of Bishops, to fill the constantly-recurring vacancies in the several sees, was conducted on no uniform principle. In one diocese would be found a Bishop tolerant, at least, if not secretly an approver, of the tenets of Catholicism, while in another and possibly a contiguous diocese, might be seated a prelate, determined to use his power and influence, in furthering the doctrines of the Reformation.
It was our Champion's misfortune to be living in a diocese presided over by a Bishop of strong Puritanical proclivities, stern and unpitying, who could not awav with ought that savoured of Papistry. It was a time of much searching of heart, and the Queen was suffering from one of her many fits of alarm, in consequence of the attempt of the duke of Norfolk to marry the captive Queen of Scotland. A raid was accordingly to be made on all suspected of Romish practices. Norfolk was lying under sentence of death, and Elizabeth after succeeding in bringing the victim to her feet, was characteristically anxious to save his life at the last moment. It was the Bishop of Lincoln of the time. Dr. Cooper, who was appointed to stiflfen the resolution of the Queen, and to gird her to the necessity of consenting to the execution of the Duke of Norfolk : and this he did, bv preaching, in her presence, a strong sermon, in which he urged that it was needful for the welfare of the State that the culprit should be cut oflf, and that "there was often
THE MARTYR CHAMPION. 77
mercy in punishing and cruelty in sparing" offenders of such a nature as the powerful leader of the Romish faction in England.
This was the Bishop before whom Sir Robert Dvmoke was cited to appear. He had been more than suspected of hankering after Rome : rumours were rife that the mass was administered, and a Romish Priest maintained at Scrivelsbv. Little wonder, at such a time, that the Champion should be summoned to Lincoln, to defend himself in the Bishop's Court ; but a valid plea of bodily weakness prevented him from obeving the summons. The Bishop, however, having scented prey, was reluctant to leave it unsecured, and accordingly the mountain must go to Mahomet, as the more natural alternative was, under the circumstances, apparentlv impossible. So Bishop Cooper came to Scrivelsby, in great state, on his errand of "mercy," and put the sick Champion through the customary interrogatories, by which heresy was supposed at the time to be most easilv detected.
Here was an opportunity for word-fencing and pliancy, to which a weaker or less earnest man might have stooped, but which offered no temptation to the hereditary Champion. With one foot in the grave, he scorned to palter with his religious belief, and, knowing the consequences of his obstinacy, he set himself resolutely to withstand first the cajoling, and then the threatening of the angry Bishop. The issue was not long in suspense. In spite of his feeble health, the Champion was forcibly conveyed to Lincoln ; and, as all
78 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
attempts to shake his faith were doomed to failure, he was cast into prison, where, as must have been expected, a speedy death put an end to his sufferings, and entitled him to be venerated as a martvr by his co-religionists of the Church of Rome.
However strong may be our views with regard to the Reformation, and however greatly we deplore the corruptions that had been allowed to spread over the old Church, dimming if not extinguishing the old light which had lightened our fathers, we cannot withhold our sympathy from a man in the position of Sir Robert Dymoke, who consistently adhered to the religion in which he had been born, and refused to purchase prolongation of life, by surrendering or paltering with it for an instant. No member of the Dymoke family has shed greater lustre on his house than the prisoner in Lincoln Castle, whose lifeless body was brought to Scrivelsby for interment, in the village Church, where he and his forefathers before him had worshipped through so manv generations.
The honour of the familv had reached its zenith, when the championship was held by the victim of the Puritan Bishop of Lincoln. At this time, and up to the troublous period of the civil war, the Dymoke family was wealthv and influential. Then followed a long period of gradual decline, which continued till the time of the late Sir Henrv Dvmoke, when something of the old state was once more witnessed at Scrivelsby. Those halcyon days, unfortunately, soon came to an end, and were replaced by the pecuniary troubles of
THE MARTYR CHAMPION.
79
previous years ; and at the present time the position of the family is seriously affected by the depression in the value of land, from which English landowners have cruelly suffered, and nowhere perhaps with greater severity than in Lincolnshire.
CHAPTER IX.
The Stuart Dy mokes — The Plague — Mutilated Ceremonial at the Coronation of James I. — Sir Edward Dymoke (2) — Quarrel for Precedence — Civil War — Disastrous Effects on the Fortunes of the Dymoke Family — The Tottering Champion — Cock and Bull Story — Break in the Direct Succession.
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded.
Milton.
There is some soul of goodness in things evil, Would men observingly distil it out.
Shakespe.\re.
HE storniv period of the civil war between King and Parliament w^as disastrous to many a loyal family, and notablv to the Dvmokes of Scrivelsby. It was a time to stir the blood and quicken the pulse of the loyal Englishman, while the circumstances attending a Sovereign at war with his own subjects were such as to enlist the svmpathy of his followers to an extraordinary degree, and, at the same time, to make them a little blind to the Sovereign's faults. In that terrible time, when father and son and other members of the same
THE STUART DYMOKES. 8 1
faiiiilv were often found in opposite camps, manv a noble fortune was ungrudgingly spent in the roval cause : and, as we, with our present knowledge, review the past, it is with shame and indignation that we note the levitv with which, in the hour of success, the losses of the gentry were regarded by the King "whose word no man relied on" and of the lavish and disgraceful expenditure that followed the great act of restoration in 1660. We cannot doubt that the more serious and sober-minded men of the time were constrained to solace themselves with the reflection, that it was for the cause, and not for the man, that thev had shed their blood, and exhausted their treasure. The Dvmokes must be included in the long roll of those whose lovaltv had cost them dear ; and it is from this period that we begin to hear of pecuniary embarrassments, the origin of which can be distinctly traced to the heaw losses, incurred bv various members of the family in supporting the royal cause.
It is easy for us, of the present day, to understand many things, which must have seemed incomprehensible to those who witnessed the occurrencies of the early part of the 17th century. We can see now that the seeds of that disastrous harvest, which was garnered in the davs of Charles I. and which reached its maturity in the tragedy of 1649, were sown in the davs of his predecessor, " the most learned fool in Christendom," as he was not inaptly described by his contemporaries, and, as he is more exactly portraved by Sir Walter Scott in his Fortunes of N'lg-el^ although,
82 SCRIV^ELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
perhaps, the Wizard of the North has, in this instance, laid on his colours a little too thick.
James came from Scotland, on the death of the great Elizabeth, to take possession of the English throne, and brought with him those exalted notions of the roval prerogative, which, in after time, proved so fatal to his house and dynasty. But the royal programme was fronted with two insuperable difficulties. The time was unpropitious, and the King was weak. He was self-willed, indeed, and obstinate, and for a while, the heritage of subserviency left by the strong rule of the Tudor Sovereigns enabled the Scottish King to have his way, and to enjoy for a season the fool's paradise of his own creation. But the first lesson to King James came from an unexpected quarter. He was fond of show, jealous of his supposed rights, and would bate no inch of state ceremonial, albeit his own ungainly person and lack of grace contributed anything but dignity to such occasions. It was, accordingly, with much displeasure, that he heard of the necessity for dispensing with all needless pomp and display at his coronation. The necessity, however, for this curtailment was urgent. The terrible plague was breaking out afresh ; numerous deaths had already occurred, and the alarm was universal. For fear of infection, an order was issued, forbidding the approach of the people within the precincts of the roval Court : and when James was crowned on the 25th of July, 1603, the ceremony was much more meagre than suited the taste of a King, who loved "state to the
THE STUART DYMOKES. 83
full." The coronation took place on the festival of St. James,* the patron Saint of the King, but, on the occasion, the ordinary ritual of the coronation service in Westminster Abbev was, considerably abridged, inasmuch as the form employed " had been drawn in haste, and wanted many things which midit have been considered at a time of leisure." The Champion, who took part in this mutilated ceremonial was Sir Edward Dymoke (2), the eldest son of the martvr, and of whom we know but little, save that he was thrice married. His first wife was Catherine Harrington, the mother of a son, Charles, who died young : the second, Ann, the daughter of Sir John Monson, the mother of Edward Dvmoke, who was baptized at Scrivelsby in 1600, and probablv died shortly afterwards, although there is no entry to that effect in the parish register : the third wife was Marv Poultenev of ^Nlisterton, who became the mother of the next Champion, Charles, who acted officially at the coronation of Charles I. It was this Champion, who had the misfortune to excite the wrath of Sir George Heneage, on a question of precedence, the angry knight complaining that his enemv, the Earl of Lincoln, had played him a scurvy trick, by placing him at some Court ceremonial, between Sir Edward Dvmoke and Sir John Monson — an indignity which he could not brook, inasmuch as they were but " pune " knights, in
■= It was customary for the coronation to be held either on a Sunday or on some Saint's-day, with a natural preference for the festival of any particular Saint, that for any reason was held in special reverence by the Sovereign.
84 SCRIVELSRY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
comparison with himself — and, accordingly, he claimed redress for this "presumptuous and malicious grievance." However ludicrous such a complaint may seem to us now, it was in those days deemed of sufficient importance to be solemnly investigated by the members of the "College of Arms," who recommended Sir George to make his appeal to the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Earl Marshal of England. An enquiry accordingly was made, and as it appeared that Heneage was knighted in 1583, whereas Dymoke and Monson received that honour a year or two later, the Earl Marshal decided that although the two latter were "of more ancient descent, better allied and more wealthy," the Earl of Lincoln was "perhaps not quite correct" in placing them on a level with Sir George Heneage, who had the advantage of one year's seniority as knight over Sir Edward Dymoke, and no less than three years over Sir John Monson ! And so this little tempest was allowed to subside, like a French duel, without injury to any of the persons concerned.
It is not a little remarkable that the coronation of Charles I., like that of his father, was delayed, for a similar cause, till the spring of the year following his accession to the throne. James died on the 27th March, 1625 : Charles was crowned on the 2nd of February, 1626. In the interval, the mortality had reached an alarming height. The plague had again broken out, and, according to the records of the time, had been fatal in more than thirtv-five thousand instances. It is not to be wondered at, that the
THE STUART DVMOKES. 8 ^
constant re-appearance of this fatal epidemic should have exercised a disquieting influence on the minds of the people, and we know that the plague continued to break out with greater frequency, and always with increasing violence, until the horrors of 1665 were followed bv the purification wrought bv the great fire of the following vear.
The coronation of Charles I. took place in the early part of 1626, and was conducted with unusual attention to ritual observance. The mutilated and ill-conducted coronation of James L had excited so much comment, that the Kino: issued a commission to Archbishop Abbott and certain Suffragans of the southern province, to search for precedents, and to revise the order of coronation. The most active member of this commission was Laud, then Bishop of St. Davids, who, after holding in succession the Bishoprics of St. David's, Bath and Wells, and London, was appointed to the primacv in 1633. Owing chieflv to the zeal and learning of Dr. Laud, the coronation of Charles L mav be regarded as an illustration of the most elaborate ceremonial that can be used on such occasions. It had at first been arrans^ed that the Oueen Consort should be crowned at the same time, and everv provision was made by the authorities, for the double coronation ; but although Henrietta Maria was dulv proclaimed Oueen of England, she was inflexible in her refusal to be either crowned or anointed.*
" See Xo. 38 of The Antiquary (New Series p. 78), where attention is directed to an exhaustive treatise on the coronation of Charles I., by the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, Canon of Lincoln and Rector of Tyneham.
86 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
The Champion on this occasion was Charles, the son of Sir Edward Dymoke (2), who was a leading cavalier of the time, and died a bachelor shortly after the breaking out of the civil war.
The Dvmokes, as might have been expected, were loyal partizans of the royal cause, and Charles Dymoke in particular impoverished his estate by largely helping the King with advances of money in his lifetime, and on his death bequeathing a sum of ;^2000 for the relief of his necessities.*
We come now for the first time to a break in the direct succession to the Championship. Hitherto, we have seen, for the long period of 250 years, son following father in unbroken succession, an almost unprecedented occurence in anv familv. Henceforward we shall find occasional interruptions, culminating in the noteworthv cleavage that occurred upon the death of Lewis (i) in 1760. Upon the death of Charles Dvmoke, who was the first Champion that appeared without the knightlv spurs, although, in all probabilitv, the honour of knighthood would have been conferred upon him, had the times been more peaceful, the Scrivelsbv inheritance fell to his uncle Nicholas,t who had
^ He also left a sum of /300 to be expended on a monument in Scrivelsby Church, but, owint^ probably to the unsettled times, this monument was never erected.
f Robert, an elder brother of Nicholas, died without male issue. His daughter Elizabeth, who w^as married to Robert Heywood, left a son Robert, who claimed to act as Champion at the coronation of Charles II., but his claim was disallowed in
THE STUART DYMOKES. 87
been knighted at Kichmond by James I. in 1604, and was the youngest son of Sir Robert, who died in 1580. Sir Nicholas never acted as Champion, and on his death was succeeded by his son Edward, who was knighted afterwards, shortly before the coronation of Charles II.
It was not a bed of roses on which the new Champion was called upon to lie. Succeeding to the estates when the Parliamentary forces were flushed with the first taste of victory, his very title excited the suspicion of the King's enemies, who could be no friends to the King's Champion ; and so they summoned him to Westminster, to answer for his "delinquency." Such delinquents had but one prospect before them, and that prospect spelt — Confiscation. A heavy fine was accordingly inflicted, in composition for the off^ence of being a Royalist, and bearing a " lewd and malicious " title ; and the young Champion was called upon to pay something over ;^7000, which, by some arrangement in the matter of Church benefices, was subsequently reduced to a sum variously given between ^4000 and ^,5000, an enormous sum at the time, and one that contributed to the further impoverishment of the Dymoke family. This Champion, doubtless, took part in the subsequent wars of the period and he survived to witness the restoration of the royal family in the person of Charles II., at whose coronation he oflftciated as Champion.
favour of the son of Nicholas, who was confessedly younger than Robert Dymoke. From this, the inference may be fairly drawn that the Scrivelsby estate descended in tail male.
88 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Sir Edward died shortlv afterwards, and was buried at Scrivelsby, on 8th of January, 1663. His wife was Jane, daughter of Nicholas Cressev, of Fuhietby or Fulletbv. Close attention should be paid to the children of this Sir Edward Dymoke, as he is the common ancestor from whom the two branches of the family — the Tetford branch and the Scrivelsbv branch — claim to be derived. The genealogical tables, from Banks onwards, mention onlv two sons, Charles who succeeded him, and John, from whom the Scrivelsbv Dvmokes were descended. But there was another son, Edward, coming between Charles and John, and from him the Tetford Dymokes spring. This we shall see later on.
The next Champion, Charles, better known as Sir Charles Dymoke, was Champion to James II., who was crowned on the 23rd of April, 1685 ; and the following unluckv incident occurred at the coronation. The account is taken from Prynne s Diary as given in the Surtees Society s Vol. 54 for 1869 : " 1698, Dec. 21. I was told this day a very observable thing by a verv good hand, which is this — When Champion Dimmock let off his horse to kiss K(ing) James II. hand, after that he had challenged anvone that durst question the King's rights to the crown, as the custom is, the Champion in moving towards the King fell down all his length in the hall, when as there was nothino; in the wav that could visibly cause the same : whereupon the queen sayd ' see you, love, what a weak Champion you have.' To which the K(ing) sayd nothing, but
THE STUART DYMOKES. 89
laught, and the Champion excused himself, pretending his armour was heavy, and that he himself was weak with sickness, which was false, for he was verv well, and had none."
This last statement is rather an ill-natured commentary on the poor Champion's mishap. He might have been credited with the sickness, however imaginarv, which he pleaded in extenuation of his maladroit performance. It is perhaps fortunate that this story had not been unearthed, when Tom Hood was on the look out for material to give point to his sarcasms on the tottering Championship. Here would have been a veritable tottering Champion, and we may imagine the glee with which he would have hailed a story so much to his taste. In justice to our Champion, however, it is only fair to remember that, whether his plea of sickness at the time was real or false, he died very shortly aftenvards. Up to now, there has been some obscuritv as to the time of his death, the Scrivelsby Register not mentioning it, and Banks vaguely stating that it occurred "about 1688." But in consequence of a successful rummage latelv made at Lincoln, all doubt as to the date in question is happily removed, for amongst the ninety-four entries which had disappeared from the Scrivelsby register, and were found amongst the transcripts at Lincoln, is an entry recording the burial of " The Honorable Sr. Charles Dymoke, Nov. 2, 1686."
The recovery of this lost date is further serviceable in clearing up some obscurity, arising probably from the similaritv of Christian names, whether Sir Charles Dvmoke
M
90 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
or his son Charles had officiated as Champion, at the coronation of William and Mary. As this coronation took place in the early part of 1689, the acting Champion would have been the son, who succeeded to the family honours on the death of his father in 1686. The Scrivelsbv register records the burial on the 7th Julv, 1698, of Eleanor, the wife of Sir Charles Dvmoke and the daughter of Lord Rockingham. There were four children of this marriage, Charles, Edward, a second Charles,* and Lewis. Of these, the first two died young : each of the survivors, in due course, succeeded to the Championship. The elder of these, Charles Dymoke, Esq., undoubtedly acted as Champion at the coronation of Anne, and also at that of William and Mary. Both Mary and Anne were reckoned Queens de jure, as well as Queens regnant, and, consequently, they were both entitled to the full ceremony of a public coronation, at which a Champion would appear. In the case of Queens Consort there was no fixed rule. These Queens were sometimes
'' The practice of giving the name of a deceased child to the next child born to the same parents was very common in the i8th and early part of the 19th century. It is in this way that many a supposed centenarian has been credited with more years than those to which he was fairly entitled. A search, for example, in some old Register for the baptism of A.B., supposed to have been 100 years old, might produce what would seem good evidence of the correctness of the surmise, whereas a further search might have made it clear that A.B. in question had died 10 or 15 years after his birth, and that his place had been supplied by a second A.B., who would be the person about whom the original enquiry was made, and whose years consequently would be reduced to the more modest dimensions of 85 or 90.
THE STUART DYMOKES. 9 1
crowned at the same time with their husbands, and sometimes, especially if thev were married after the King's coronation, at a special coronation, at which the Champion would not be present. Thus Elizabeth Woodville, who became the wife of Edward IV., was crowned at the time of her marriage, as was also Anne Boleyn, the unfortunate wife of Henry VIII. none of the other wives of this King being crowned at all, with the exception of Catherine of Arragon, who was crowned at the same time with himself.
This Charles Dymoke was buried at Scrivelsby, on the 24th January, 1702. With reference to this Champion, the gossiping Prynne tells another cock and bull story, though the part of the cock is, unfortunately, left out : " This Dimmock holds certain lands bv exhibiting on certain davs every year a milk-white bull, with black ears, to the people who are to run it down, and then it is cutt in pieces and given amongst the poor. His estate is almost j/'2000 a year, and whoever has it is Champion of England ; but he ows more by farr than he is worth, and has no children, so that it will soon get into another family. The Dimmock has enjoyed it ever since Will(iam) the Conqueror's days, if I do not mistake."
This story of the bull is probably correct as far as the baiting of the poor beast is concerned, but it is certain that this was not the tenure on which the estate was held. It is also probably true that the pecuniary circumstances of the Champion were in a very unsatisfactory condition, in
92
SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
consequence of the heavy losses occasioned by the civil war. Sir Charles Dymoke, being childless, was succeeded by his brother Lewis, who was destined to exercise a potent influence on the family history by the testamentary disposition he made at the end of his long life.
CHAPTER X.
Latter-day Chainpions — Lcivis Dymoke (i) and his Successors — The Tetford Branch and the Scrivelsby Branch — First Clerical Champion — Sir Henry Dymoke — Death of Henry Lionel — End of Scrivelsby Branch.
Along the cool sequestered vales of life, They spent the noiseless tenor of their way.
Gray.
HE History of the Family from this period enters upon a new phase. No longer brought into the same prominence by being in close association with the ruling powers of their day, the Dymokes seem to have settled down at Scrivelsby, quietly and unostentatiously discharging the duties which would naturallv fall to them as countrv gentlemen of distinguished lineage.
Lewis, the voungest son of Sir Charles Dvmoke, succeeded his brother in 1702, and for nearlv sixtv vears lived at Scrivelsby as Champion. He was twice called upon to perform the duties of his office, once at the coronation of George I., and again at that of his successor,* and had he
* George I. was crowned on the 20th October, 1714, and George II. on the nth October, 1727. It is strange that not one of the four Georges was crowned on St. George's Day, which seems to have been a favourite day for other coronations. Thus, Charles II., James II., and Anne were crowned on that day, 23rd of April.
94 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
lived a few more months he might have been summoned to act for the third time at the coronation of George III. ; but having attained the ripe age of ninety-one, it is not surprising that this dutv should have devolved upon a younger man.
A little later on we shall see that it was on the death of this Lewis Dvmoke that the great break occurred, which divided the familv into two branches, the one residing at Scrivelsby, and the other at Tetford. When we reach this point in the family history, we shall have to go somewhat deeplv into the puzzling region of genealogical enquiry : it will suffice to sav here, that the Scrivelsbv estates were bequeathed by the aged Champion, who died a bachelor in 1760, to a distant cousin Edward, who only lived a few months in the possession of the family honours, and was succeeded bv his son John, who was barelv settled in his new position, when he had to act as Champion at the Coronation of George III.* This John, at his death in 1784, left five children, two sons and three daughters. The eldest of these daughters, Catherine, was married to John Bradshaw, esquire, and the youngest, Sophia, to John Tyrwhitt, Esq., the second daughter, Elizabeth, dying unmarried. Each of the sons, Lewis and John, succeeded in due course to the Championship, Lewis on the death of his father in 1784, and John, who was in holy orders, in 1820, when his brother Lewis died, unmarried, after a tenure of twenty-four years.
* A most interesting extract from the diary of this Champion will be found in the Appendix (No. 20).
LATTER-DAY CHAMPIONS. 95
The Rev. John Dvmoke, the first Clerical Champion, was represented at the coronation of George TV. bv his son Henry, just out of his teens, permission having been previously granted by the Court of Claims, to whom the matter had been referred. It is worth remarking here, that Mr. Welles Dymoke also put in a claim, as " lineal descendant from an elder branch of the Dvmoke familv, deriving their origin from Sir Philip Marmion." This claim was not allowed by the Court of Claims, the decision being "that the Champion- ship belonged to the Reverend John Dvmoke, of Scrivelsby." It is important to remember this, as this decision of the Court of Claims is an authoritive settlement of a question, about which some little doubt had previouslv existed.
The Rev. John Dymoke (i) who was Rector of Scrivelsby, and a Prebendary of Lincoln, died in 1828, leaving two sons, Henry and John, and one daughter, Maria Georgiana, who became the wife of Sir John Mansel, Bart., and died at an advanced age in 1888. As in the case of the children of the first member of this branch of the familv, each of the two sons became Champion — Henry in 1828, on the death of his father, and John, who was in holy orders, when his brother Henrv died in 1865.
Henry Dymoke, better known as Sir Henry Dymoke, Baronet, to which dignity he was appointed in 1841, probably as a solatium for the discontinuance of the office of Champion at the two last coronations, was held in verv his^h esteem. Few country gentlemen, indeed, wielded greater personal
96 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
influence than Sir Henry Dymoke ; and the position of Chairman of Pettv Sessions, Chairman of the Board of Guardians, and President of everv Institution over which he cared to preside, came to him as a matter of course. When he succeeded to the family estate, he found it heavily encumbered, and he made it the business of his life to dischar2:e the manv obliijations under which it laboured, so that he might leave it to his successors as free and unincumbered as such an estate ought always to be. This could only be done by wise management and rigid economy, and, until his self-imposed task was accomplished, he abstained from every unnecessary expense, living the quiet life of a country gentleman, and thereby securing general esteem. Happily, he long outlived the necessity for this comparative self-effacement, and, during the latter years of his life, he assumed the position more becoming the owner of a great name, and the holder of an honourable office.
In 1 84 1, Sir Henry renewed the claim which had first been made bv his uncle Lewis, who petitioned George III. to declare him entitled to the Marmion Peerage : but on neither occasion was the petition successful ; that of Lewis being referred to the House of Lords, where it still remains in a state of suspended vitality, from which it is never likely to emerge ; and that of Sir Henry receiving only a formal acknowledgment that " the Lord Chancellor had presented a petition from the Hon. the Queen's Champion," but no decision was arrived at.
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THE LATE SIR HENRY DYMOKE, BART. From a Photu(jt(iph iii t>tc possession of Lady HartwcU.
Lx\TTER-DAY CHAMPIONS. 97
It was in the midst of his useful and active life, when, in 1865, Sir Henrv Dymoke contracted a chill, which brought on an attack of diptheria, from which he died at his London house, at the comparatively early age of 64. It was with something like consternation that the news of his death was received at Horncastle ; and within a short time a public meeting was held for the purpose of placing on record the high estimation in which he was regarded, as well as the appreciation bv all classes of his many services to the town and neighbourhood. As the result of this meeting, a suitable building was erected in Horncastle, bv public subscription, for the Dispensary, one of the many Institutions in which he had always taken a warm interest, and of which, as the inscription over the entrance states, he had ever been a "generous supporter." Sir Henry left an onlv daughter, Emma Jane, now Lady Hartwell, the wife of Sir Francis Hartwell, Bart, Her mother, Ladv Dymoke, was the second daughter of William Pearce, Esq.
The Rev. John Dymoke, the second clerical Champion, succeeded, but, being in feeble health, he lived very little at Scrivelsby, and died in Florence in 1873. Like his father, he was for nearlv fortv vears Rector of Scrivelsbv, and, for the last few years of his life, was invested with the Championship, on his succession to which he resigned his benefice in favour of the present Rector. He was succeeded by his only son, Henry Lionel, who died shortly afterwards, without issue, at the early age of 45. His widow, who had a life interest in
N
98 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the estate, only lived a few years to enjoy it, and, on her death in 1883, in accordance with the terms of her husband's will, the Scrivelsby inheritance, as will be fully shewn in the next chapter, reverted to the representative of the Tetford branch of the Dymoke family.
Of the seven members of the Scrivelsby branch, it is to be observed that, with the exception of the first John, who acted at the coronation of George III., and the first reverend Champion, who was represented by his son Henry at the coronation of George IV., none of them left more than one child, while two of the seven, Lewis and Henry Lionel, died childless. It is also remarkable that every male of this branch, without exception, succeeded in due course to the Championship,
CHAPTER XI.
The Missing Link — The Tetford Branch Restored — Vicissitudes of
Fortune — Tradition — A "Maze" of Genealogy — Sir Edward
Dymoke (3), Ancestor of Both Branches — The Old Champion —
Selection of the Descendant of Youngest Son — Restoration to
Descendant of Second Son — Henry Lionel's Will — The Marmion
Barony.
" Fortuna, sasvo heta negotio, et Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax, Transmutat incertos honores,
Xunc mihi nunc alii benigna."
Horace.
Fortune, who with malicious glee
Her merciless vocation plies, Benignly smiling now on me,
Xow on another, bids him rise, And in mere wantonness of whim,
Her favours shifts from me to him.
Theodore Martin.
N the death of Henrv Lionel's widow, we come to one of those strange turns of fortune's wheel, which from time to time serve to excite the curiosity and quicken the interest of those — and their name is legion — who note the ever-changing aspects of societv, as exhibited in the rise and fall of our old English families.
It is often said that " the unexpected always happens," but when the truth of the saying is established, none,
lOO SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
apparently, are so astounded as those who were loudest in protesting that they always expected it. We have had a striking instance of this at Scrivelsby. There has probably not been a time within the last hundred years, when some one in the neighbourhood has not said with more or less distinctness, " mark my words ; the Tetford Dymokes will one of these days go to Scrivelsby." In fact, ever since the death of Champion Lewis in 1760, there has been a current notion, expressed with greater or less precision, that a missing link in the Dymoke pedigree would be found at Tetford, and that in course of time the Tetford branch would regain their old Scrivelsby home. Meanwhile, the two offshoots of the family settled in their respective spheres, widely and socially distinct from each other, until the remembrance of a common origin seemed well nigh lost. The one f^unily waxed while the other waned. The tradition, however, of the missing link was handed down through succeeding generations, although, as time went on, the probabilities of a change seemed to be gradually fading away, until at last they had reached the vanishing point. And yet every now and again would still be heard the old cry : " Mark my words : the Tetford Dymokes will one of these days go to Scrivelsby." And now that they have come back, the wonder is that so improbable a thing should have happened.
Here was a family well established and possessing the undoubted right of transmitting their inheritance at their pleasure. On the other side was a family bearing indeed the
THE MISSING LINK. lOI
same name, but having nothing else in common with the family in possession, and who apparently were as little likely to be called bv the Scrivelsbv branch to the ancestral
inheritance as any other family in the county. And yet by a
J J J J J
series of accidents which no one could haye foreseen, the hazy notions of those who thought that somehow or other the exodus from Tetford to Scrivelsby would be accomplished haye been fully yerified : the missing link has been found, and the wanderimj of the hundred years in the wilderness of Tetford has been followed by the tranquil Goshen of Scriyelsby.
But in order to fully understand the circumstances which led to the accession of the present Champion, we must go back once more to the time when the old bachelor Champion died at Scriyelsby in 1760. Haying reached the patriarchal age of 91, it is hardly surprising to find that he had outliyed many members of his family who might naturally haye expected to succeed him. The estate was not entailed, and it was competent for the aged Champion to exercise his discretion in the nomination of his heir.* As has been
* The i'ollowing extract from a private letter of the late Sir Joseph Banks is worth quoting, because it gives a sensible and practical opinion as to a claim proposed to be made bv the Tetford branch of the familv in 1811: "It matters not to the heirs of Champion Lewis whether the estate is held by Knight Service or' by Grand Serjeantry, as neither the one or the other of these tenures have any influence on the descent of the land. Scrivelsby, like the generality of other lands in England, is held by the proprietor with all the benefits by the common law provided for the personal advantages of proprietary of land : it may be bequeathed by will, or alienated by sale or gift; and if so alienated in prejudice
I02 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
elsewhere observed, in his endeavour to do justice to his relations, he "lost himself in the mazes of cousinhood," and bequeathed the manor of Scrivelsby to John Needham Dymoke, the grandson of John the youngest son of Sir Edward Dvmoke.
The reader is now invited to enter this " maze of cousinhood," and he will then more clearlv understand the imbroglio that happened on the death of Lewis. Taking our starting point from the death of Edward Dymoke (3) 1663-4, we find that he left four sons :
1. Sir Charles, who succeeded, and on his death in 1686
left two children, Charles and Lewis, each of whom succeeded in turn to the Championship, and died without issue, Charles in 1702, and Lewis in 1760.
2. Edward, whose name has been unaccountably left
out from the genealogical tables since the time of Banks. It is from this Edward that the Tetford branch claim to be descended.
3. Nicholas, who left one son who died unmarried.
4. John, from whom the Scrivelsby branch claim descent. Our business now is with Edward, the second son of Sir
Edward Dvmoke. This Edward is stvled in the re^rister Edward Dymoke, Junior. He married Abigail Snowden, on the 1 8th July, 1654, and had issue :
of the next heir, he cannot have any claim against the vestee, unless it arises out of special bargains or agreements made and confirmed previously to the alienation."
THE MISSING LINK. IO3
1. Robert, of Grebby Hall, who died in 1714, leaving three children.
2. Edward, who died unmarried, 1740, leaving the Tetford estates to his nephew, John.
3. John, who was the fiither of another John, just
mentioned, and who continued the succession on the
failure of the heirs of his elder brother, Robert, of
whose three children, Reuben and Robert died
unmarried, and a daughter, Elizabeth, became the
wife of the Rev. Thomas Welles, Rector of
Willingham and Spridlington, and to whom we shall
refer bve and bve.
Going back to John, we find that he died at Tetford,
leaving a son, also called John, and two daughters. This
John married Rebecca Nayler, and died at Tetford, 4th
August, 1782. It was to this John, the eldest legal
representative of Sir Edward Dymoke, to whom the Scrivelsby
inheritance would naturallv have fallen upon the death of
Lewis in 1760. But, as has been alreadv mentioned, Lewis,
having a clear and indisputable right to dispose of his
property at his pleasure, left the Scrivelsby estate to John
Needham Dvmoke, with remainder to his brother Edward,
from whom the Scrivelsbv branch of the Dvmoke familv
derived their succession. Confining our attention to the
Tetford branch, the succession from this point is uninterrupted,
son succeeding father in regular course (as will be seen in
the full genealogical table given in the appendix), until we
I04 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
come to Francis Seaman Dymoke, the present owner of Scrivelsby Manor.
Now, turning: our attention to the Scrivelsbv branch, we shall find that, starting from the same point as in the case of the Tetford descent, viz. Sir Edward Dymoke (3), who died in 1664, the common ancestor of the two diverging branches, his youngest son, John, became the father of Charles, who was the father of the two brothers, John Needham and Edward, mentioned in the will of the aged Champion, Lewis, as his heirs. It has alreadv been told how this Scrivelsbv branch inherited the Scrivelsby estate and the Championship from the time of John, who officiated at the coronation of George III. in 1 76 1, to Henry Lionel, the last representative of this branch of the family, and whose death occurred in 1875.
It is at this point that the interest of our genealogical puzzle culminates. Henry Lionel, dying without issue, bequeathed the estate — not to anyone by name— but to the "heir-at-law of John Dvmoke, who died at Tetford in the vear 1782." It is not difficult to fathom the motive of this bequest, nor, indeed, of the peculiar method adopted for describing it. He put himself in the place of the old Champion who died in 1760, and bequeathed his estate to the representative of the heir-at-law at the time of Lewis's death, and this heir-at-law w^as "John Dymoke, who died at Tetford in 1782," the very words employed in Henry Lionel's will. Of course, he might have left it direct to Francis Seaman Dymoke, who was undoubtedly the
FRANCIS SCAMAN DYMOKE, ESQ., THE HON. THE QUEENS CHAMPION.
THE MISSING LINK. IO5
heir-at-law of his great grandfather. But he had no personal
acquaintance with the Tetford family, and in all probability
he wished to emphasize, as distinctly as possible, his desire
to amend what might have seemed to him a wrong, under
which the Tetford branch had suffered for a hundred years,
without gratifying any personal wish of his own in benefiting
a particular individual. And so, in the whirly-gig of time,
the Championship, in the teeth of all probability, and long
after the time when the inheritance seemed hopelessly lost,
comes back to the very man who might have expected to
succeed, had the cleavage of 1760 never happened.
The marvel is heightened by the reflection that,
although the legal representative of Sir Edward Dymoke (3)
is now at Scrivelsby, he is not there because of his right as
successor to Sir Edward, but because he was selected, as of
grace, bv Henrv Lionel Dymoke, who might have disposed
of his property any way he pleased. iVnother result of the
particular wording of Henrv Lionel's will is that it excludes
all other claims. Had it stated that the property had to go
to the heir-at-law of Sir Edward (3), it is possible — not to
sav probable — that amongst others, the descendants, if any,
of Elizabeth, the wife of the Rev. Thomas Welles,
(alreadv mentioned as the daughter of Robert, the eldest son
of Edward Dvmoke, Junior, the second son of Sir Edward)
would have put in a claim, and the revenues of the estate
would have been wasted in litigation. It is not probable
that the dying Champion had this in his mind at the time of o
I06 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
drafting his will, but it is beyond question now that the
Scrivelsby estate is absolutely vested in the present owner,
and that his title thereto is clear and indisputable.*
The history, however, as it stands, is curious, and may
at least serve, amidst other instances of similar vicissitudes of
fortune,
"To point a moral or adorn a tale."
- In the statement of the claim to the Baron}- of Marmion, originally advanced by Lewis and subsequently renewed by Sir Henry Dymoke, attention is drawn to an important decision arrived at hv the Commissioners who were called upon to adjudicate between the rival claims of Sir Edward Dymoke to act as Champion at the coronation of Charles II., and Robert Heywood, the son of Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Robert, who was unquestionably the elder brother of Nicholas, the father of Sir Edward, the other claimant. The commissioners, after minute enquiry, having pronounced in favour of Sir Edward, who was certainly not the heir general, but the next heir male of the person last seized of the Manor, decided by implication that at some time, though the precise date was not given, " the Manor had been settled in tail male." This decision would be fatal to any claim that might be advanced by the descendants of Elizabeth, the wife of the Rev. Thomas Welles, and daughter of Robert Dymoke, of Grebby Hall, who died in the year 1714.
CHAPTER XII.
Rejlections — Coincidences — Mock Heroic Verses — Redgaiintlei — The Gold Cups — Decay of Sentiment — " The Champion s Farewell^' by Tom Hood — Coronation of William IV. — Courtesy Title of Champion.
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded.
Burke.
ROM what has been said of the families of Marmion and Dvmoke, it will be seen that for more than two centuries, the former, and for more than five centuries, the latter have been closelv connected with Scrivelsbv. The ]\Iarmions, however, before the division of their vast estates, were, as might have been expected, more ubiquitous than their successors, residing sometimes at Scrivelsbv, but more regularly and continuously at Tamworth Castle, in Warwick- shire. But they were a martial family, and the necessities of their position, entailing duties in connection with public affairs as well as with the management of their estates in different counties of England and at Fontenov in Normandv, caused them to be migratory in their habits, and, at this distance of time, it woiild be difficult to say where they were living at any particular moment.
I08 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
No record exists of anything like continuous residence in their Lincohishire home, and, although Sir Philip Marmion, the last representative of the unbroken line of the family, was buried at Scrivelsbv, he did not die there : and beyond the existing proof of the warm interest he took in this part of his inheritance, the chief ground for inferring that this was regarded as his principal home is based on the fact that the effigies of himself and his vrife were placed in Scrivelsby Church, where they exist to the present day.
The Marmions were not only a martial family, but they took a prominent part in the administration of local affairs in the several counties in which their property was situated. They were Sheriffs at a time when the office of Sheriff involved heavy and responsible duties. One of them, that Sir Robert whom we have styled "The old Judge," was at different times Sheriff of Worcestershire, Staffordshire, and of the Counties of Warwick and Hereford. They were also cited as barons to assist the King with their counsel in critical times, when the affairs of the nation required it.*
Amidst all this participation in government and administration, it is indisputable that not a single member of
* In the case presented hy Lewis Dvmoke (2) on liis petition to be declared Baron of Marmion of Scrivelsby, the claim is based on the petitioner's descent from Sir Philip Marmion, "who, in the return to an inquisition post mortem taken after his death in the 20th of Edward I., is stated by the Jurors to have held the Manor of Scrivelsby, with the appurtenances of the King in capita, per Baronimn, and to have died seized thereof in his demesne as of fee," and that the Marmions " were of high rank and antiquity among the Barons of the land."
REFLECTIONS. IO9
the family performed the peculiar duties of the office which was the characteristic distinction of their house, although they were undoubtedly the hereditary Champions of the Sovereigns of England as well as of the Dukes of Normandv. This abstention is certainly remarkable, whatever wei2:ht may be attached to the arguments advanced in a previous chapter, to account for the absence of a Champion from so many of the early coronations. It may well be that the Marmions were too much engaged in the realities of actual warfare to care about playing the part of mimic warriors in the courtly halls of Westminster. It is not till the Dymokes appear upon the scene, that we hear anything of a Champion claiming to exercise the duties of his office, at the coronation of our English sovereigns : but from that time onward — from 1377 to 182 1* — a Dymoke has always been found equal to the occasion, either in his own person, or by the substitution of some member of his family.
As the English Championship was strictly confined to the feudal tenure of the Manor of Scrivelsby, it would occasionally happen that the feudal owner would be a ladv, or a clergyman in holy orders, in which case, a husband or a son would represent the Champion on the coronation day. It may be worth mentioning that on the first as well as on the last occasion, when a Champion appeared at an English coronation,
* Although George III. died on the 29th January, 1820, his successor was not crowned before the 19th of July, 1821. It was on this occasion that Sir Henry Dymoke acted as Champion, on behalf of his father, who was in holy orders.
no SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the office was, in each case, performed vicariously, in the one bv the husband of the Ladv Mars^aret de Ludlow : and in the other bv the son of the Rev. John Dymoke, who was Lord of the Manor, as well as Rector of Scrivelsby, on the death of George IIL
Another circumstance mav be noticed, if onlv for the curious coincidence it affords. On the roll of Champions there were two Dymokes, of the name of Lewis. They were both bachelors, and the death of each was contemporaneous with that of the reigning Sovereign of the time, George IL and the first Lewis dying in 1760, and the second Lewis dying in 1820, in the interval between the death of George IIL and the coronation of George IV.
With regard to the execution of the office of Champion on a coronation day, it will be remembered that the right moment for his appearance, in full armour, and mounted on his charger, was in the middle of the coronation banquet, the right place being Westminster Hall. The challenge to all gainsayers was in the orthodox fashion, by flinging down the knis^ht's gauntlet, in the tolerable certaintv that no one would venture to take it up in token of acceptance. As a matter of fact, the challenge never has been accepted, although there have been occasions when the Sovereign's title might have been fairly questioned. It could not, for instance, have excited much surprise, if advantage had been taken in this wav to challenge the right of anv one of the Lancastrian Sovereigns, or of those of the house of York. Again, the
REFLECTIONS. Ill
accession of William and Mary, as well as that of Ann and that also of the first two Georges, might have occasioned some danger of disturbance at their respective coronations. But, happily for our Champions,* their task has always been a bloodless one, and instead of broken bones, the Dvmokes have alwavs brought back from the coronation banquet a golden cup and cover, which they received as their fee from the hands of the Sovereign. t x\lthough the Champion's challenge has never been accepted. Sir Walter Scott, in Rcdgauntlet^ gives a description of the coronation of George III., and introduces one of his characters, a maiden
'" The following mock-heroic verses were written on the occasion of the coronation of George II., by a young Westminster Scholar :
When first the new-crown'd King in splendour reigns,
A golden cup the royal Champion gains.
With gesture fierce, his gauntlet stern he throws.
And dares to martial fight his absetit foes.
Where no brave Quixote answering to his call
He rides triumphant thro' the gilded hall.
Thrice happy Conqueror that the laurel wears
Unstrain'd by warrior's blood or widows' tears.
Armed at all points, should he a foe behold.
Say — would he keep the field, or quit the gold ? f It was customary for the Sovereign to pledge the Champion bv tasting the wine with which the gold cup was filled, and then to place it in his hands, when he was e.xpected to empty it and to take it away as his perquisite. But a strange thing often happened. As it was necessary to remove the cover for the introduction of the wine, the cup naturally came in this state to the Champion's hands, and, strange as it may seem, most of the cups brought to Scrivelsby were found to be without a cover ! In the excitement of the moment the armed knight would not notice the absence of the lid, and afterwards when he tried to recover it, lo ! it was gone. Now this is suggestive of a mystery which it passes the wit of man to fathom.
I 1 2 SCRIVELSBY THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
of fourteen, as surreptitiously introduced into Westminster Hall, and instructed bv her Jacobite uncle to carry away the Champion's glove, and to leave in its stead a written statement that, on the assurance of fair play and honourable treatment, a fitting knight would appear to dispute the young King's title to the throne. In a subsequent note, the author of Waverley, while allowing that this particular incident was only the fruit of his own imagination, gravely assures his readers that "it was always said, though with little appearance of truth, that upon the coronation of George III., when the Champion of England, Dymock, appeared in Westminster Hall, and, in the language of chivalry, solemnly wagered his body to defend in single combat the right of the King to the crown of these realms, at the moment when he flung down his gauntlet as the gage of battle, an unknown female stepped from the crowd and lifted the pledge, leaving another gage in room of it with a paper expressing that if a fair field of combat should be allowed, a Champion of rank and birth would appear with equal arms to dispute the claim of King George to the British Kingdoms," and that, upon the strength of this tradition, he had ventured to introduce the striking incident in his novel.
In the good old days of the Plantagenets, the Champion claimed for his coronation fee, not only the gold cup with its golden cover, but the suit of armour also in which he appeared, as well as the charger on which he rode. It would seem also as if he claimed the right not only to take from the
REFLECTIONS. II3
King's armoury the second best suit of armour, but also to the royal Mews, and to select the second best horse he could find, which afterwards became his own property.* He also claimed, as already mentioned, twenty yards of crimson satin, wherewith to adorn his knightly person, but at the coronation of James I., and subsequently at the coronation of Queen Anne, this claim of satin was disallowed.
From the list given in the appendix, it will be seen that the Dymokes have acted as Champions on twenty-one occasions, and consequently there ought to be twentv-one cups in possession of the family. But the present Champion only holds seven, viz. those obtained at the coronation of James II., William and Mary, Anne and the four Georges. On the death of Henry Lionel Dymoke, in 1875, the Queen became possessed of these cups by special bequest, but Her Majesty, on learning the circumstances under which the bequest had been made, with that considerate good taste, for which she is justly celebrated, presented them as a personal gift from herself to the present owner of the Scrivelsby estates. In spite of their diminished number, these cups are an interesting feature in Scrivelsby Court, and it is to be hoped that they may long continue in the old home of the
- ~ At the coronation of George III., John Dymoke is said to have ridden the horse that carried George II. at the battle of Dettingen, but no record exists of the subsequent appearance of Bucephalus in the Scrivelsby stables ! It is probable, however, that the Champion received the value of the horse, in the shape of a composition, which was generally enforced on such occasions. P
114 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Champions, as a lasting memorial of the past greatness of the family, and of the peculiar office which they were privileged to hold.
It will be further noticed that, while there are twenty-one coronations, there are only fourteen officiating Champions, the explanation, of course, being that several of the Champions acted more than once. Thus, the first Sir Thomas officiated twice, and, each time, as the representative of his mother, who was tenacious of her position as Lady of Scrivelsby. Sir Robert Dymoke, and his son, the first Sir Edward, each performed the office on three coronations, while Charles Dvmoke and his brother Lewis acted twice. The late Sir Henry Dymoke was competent to act in his own right at the coronation of William IV., as well as at that of Her present Majesty, Queen Victoria, but on neither occasion were his services required, nor is it in the least likely that the office will ever again be revived.
We live in strictly utilitarian times, where balance sheets are all predominant, where pros and cons are strictly weighed, and woe betide any institution that, when placed in the utilitarian balance, kicks the beam for lack of power to produce solid proof in justification of its raison-cf -etre. The age of sentiment has passed and gone ; cakes and ale, and even cakes without the ale, are an abomination to the practical men of the nineteenth century : sports and pastimes are no longer thought seemly or becoming for grown men and women ; and even the games of our unfortunate children
REFLECTIONS. II5
are turned to profitable account, the mysteries of geography being taught bv the help of map-puzzles, and architectural geometry bv tov-bricks. No wonder, under such circumstances, that our Champions are never again likely to form part of a royal pageant, and that their office will in future be nothing but a memory and a name. But it is hard to think that the coup-de-gracc was given to the Champion's office by such very poor stuff as the doggerel verses of Tom Hood, which were supposed to have been of assistance to the authorities at the time of the coronation of William IV., when, chiefly for economical reasons, they were anxious to reduce the ceremonial of the coronation to the slenderest possible dimensions. Tom Hood was a wit and the champion punster of his day. But he was capable also of writing seriously and effectively on any subject in which he w^as interested, and when his sympathies were powerfully enlisted in any particular cause, a more powerful advocate could scarcely be found. The effect produced by his thrilling delineations of the sufferings of the poor shirtmakers, half a century ago, has, happily, not yet died out ; and he himself, by the choice of his epitaph, showed his appreciation of the popular verdict that was passed on his simple but painfully realistic poem.* But his "Champion's Farewell " was unworthy of him, and Homer was for once found napping. The lines are hardly
■~" The only panegj'ric that appears on Tom Hood's tombstone in Kensal Green Cemetery is this simple line :
" He sang the song of the shirt."
Il6 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
worth reproducing, but they may be seen in the appendix (No. 12) bv those who care to read them.
Ridicule is always a potent engine and can be usefully employed for the correction of abuses, and the annihilation of mischievous shams. Such an institution as the Championship would naturally give abundant scope to the role of the jesting fraternity. The only wonder is that the wit that was evolved Avas so poor and trivial. A good deal of pungent satire might fairly have been expended upon what might be termed an unmeaning ceremony, necessitating the conversion of a quiet country gentleman into a student in the equestrian school of Astley, and a change from riding straight in the hunting field to pirouetting and backing in Westminster Hall. The wit, however, in spite of its poverty, seems to have been effectual.
The coronation of 1831 was quietly and inexpensively conducted without any help from Scrivelsby, and there is no prospect of any future Champion bringing home from Westminster one of those golden cups which are more precious for their association than for their intrinsic value. Sie transit gloria. But, though the duties of the office are no longer exacted, the Championship still remains as an appanage of the old baronial estate of Scrivelsby, the owner of which is by courtesy entitled, in his official capacity, to be addressed A.B., Esq., The Honourable the Queen's Champion. This title is strictly confined to the person entitled to perform the duties of the office, and, like that of bishops and clergymen, is not shared by wife or children.
REFLECTIONS. I I 7
An amusing story is told of an aspiring dame, the wife of a Champion in holy orders, a good many years ago, who was anxious to assume the prefix of Honourable, and was only cured of this little piece of vanity, by finding her letters addressed "The Honourable and Reverend Mrs. D." In like manner, the witty Bishop of Oxford laughed out of Court a foolish claim for some distinctive title to be given to the Rural Deans of his diocese, by gravely proposing that they should be dubbed "Rather" Reverend, to distinguish them from their Right Reverend and Very Reverend brethren. So true is it that, in these davs as much as in the time of
Horace,
Pleasantry will often cut clean through Hard knots that gravity would scarce undo.*
CONINGTOX.
""■ Ridiculum acri Fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res.
HOR.\CE.
CHAPTER XIII.
Scrivelsby Court — TJic Park — Lion Gate — Leaden Cow — Moat — Arched
Gateway — Armour and Armoury — Family Portraits — General
Appearance.
This castle hath a pleasant seat : the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses.
Shakespeare.
CRIVELSBY Court, the family mansion of the Dymokes, is situated in a small park well stocked with deer. The park is well wooded, some of the trees beino^ verv old and
O J
picturesque ; and, though of no great size, the park is judiciously laid out, so that it appears to be much larger than it reallv is. It is, indeed, highly probable that in olden times it extended over a much wider area than it occupies at present. There are indications which give countenance to the belief that, at one time, it extended from the present confines to what is known as "Teapot Lodge," on the Dalderby road. There are clear traces of a continuous avenue extending along the whole distance ; and the field in which the Rectory now stands was at one time, in all probability, a portion of the old park.
SCRIVELSBY COURT. II9
The entrance now is through what is well known as the "Lion Gateway," a stone arch of the late perpendicular period, surmounted bv a rampant lion. This gateway was probably built by Sir Robert Dvmoke, in the early part of the 1 6th century. The rebus or device of the oak tree, on the right-hand side of this archway, has been already described.
On the south of the Court are two short avenues, one of walnut and the other of chesnut trees, the latter especially forming a striking object when seen from the interior of the house. It exactly faces the windows on the north side, from which a charming outlook is obtained. The leaden cow, now much dilapidated, used to wear so natural an appearance as to cheat the occasional visitor into thinking that it was a veritable animal, kindly posing itself in a suitable attitude for heightening the effect of the landscape.
A moat used to surround the house, and a fountain plays in one of the two existing sheets of water, which are well stocked with gold and silver fish. A small well-turfed garden occupies the place of the old pleasance. The walled fruit and kitchen garden is inconveniently situated at a considerable distance from the house, in the lane leading to the Rectory. Adjoining this walled garden, on its eastern side, is a bijou flower garden, which, though fronting the main road, is so well hidden by shrubs and trees as to form a pleasant retreat, with everything to gratify the eve, and with abundant shade to serve as shelter from the heat of
I20 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
the sun in the hottest days of summer. The Court is in the Gothic Tudor style of architecture, and part of it is very old. It has been twice exposed to the danger of fire. On the second of these occasions, irreparable mischief was done by the destruction of the old Hall, the walls of which were ornamented with richly-illuminated panels, depicting the various arms and alliances of the Dymoke family, from the earliest times. This fire happened in 1761, at the time when John Dymoke was in London preparing for the coronation of George III., and shortly after his ow^n succession to the Championship. The first fire was in the preceding century.
At the approach to the Court yard, in front of the house, is an ancient and most interesting arched gateway, evidently intended to cover the entrance. It has strong oaken doors, and there is an embrasure on the left-hand side with pierced loop holes, to rake the passage. Over it is a tower, w^hich was probably at one time higher than it is at present. It is now used as a clock tower, but was originally constructed as a place of vantage, from which missiles might be discharged against assailants, and was in all probability defended by a portcullis and a drawbridge, which could be let down to form an entrance to the Court from the moat, which used to encircle the whole building.*
* A good idea of tliis arched gateway can be obtained from the quaint engraving of the old house given on page 57. The laws of perspective have been evidentl)'' violated to give greater prominence to this old gateway.
SCRIVELSBY COURT. 121
There is nothing remarkable in the interior of the house, the rooms of which are comparatively small. The old reception hall, subsequently used as a billiard-room, is the finest room in the house, and commanding a noble view of the park. In the dining-room are a few family portraits, three or four of them being valuable. A few years back there were two lay figures wearing valuable suits of armour, and several other armed figures representing the various Champions who had taken part in the coronations of their time, but, unfortunately, the bulk of these were disposed of a few years ago, one of them being sold for a thousand guineas. At the same time was sold a valuable picture, bv Landseer, its chief interest consisting in its being one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the published works of that artist. On the right- hand side of the chief entrance is a small enclosure, containing an interesting collection of antique arms, supposed to have been used by the earlier Champions. Here are to be seen halberds, and axes, and maces, and swords, with old guns and pikes, daggers, and lances, the whole tastefully arranged and kept in admirable order. In the same enclosure, which is known as the armoury, are two armed lay figures, but of no value or importance.
On the whole, we may say that Scrivelsby Court appears
to be more suitable to the status of an ordinary country
gentleman, than to that of such eminent men as some
of the older Champions must undoubtedly have been. There
is no room now for state ceremonial or display, but in spite Q
122 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
of the architectural irregularities of the house, the tout ensemble is imposing and unique.
It is unfortunate that no good representation is to be found of the original house, as it appeared before the great fire in the last century. From the few engravings that still exist, it would seem that the description of Leland, the antiquary, w^as fairly accurate. At the same time, it is not at all unlikely that, although the exterior was not particularly attractive, it was at least as convenient and as w^ell adapted for its purpose, as the more imposing structure of the present time.
CHAPTER XIV.
Scrivelsby Church — St. Benedict's — Pretty Approach from Rectory — The Church Plantation — Architectural Features — Monuments — The New Style — Church-yard Cross.
The pathway, by perennial green Guarded and graced, seemed fashioned to unite As by a beautiful but solemn chain, The Pastor's mansion with the house of prayer.
Wordsworth.
I would rather sleep in the south corner of a little churchyard
than in the tomb of the Capulets.
Burke.
HE Church of St. Benedict, at Scrivelsby, stands in an unusually large churchyard, lately planted with ornamental trees which in a few years time may be expected to add much to the tranquil beauty of the scenery. As it is, the two acres of churchvard, enclosed by an iron fence, is one of the prettiest in the neighbourhood, and one from which good views may be obtained on every side. The approach from the Rectory, half-a-mile distant, is particularly striking, the last quarter-of-a-mile being through a closely-wooded plantation, the trees of which form a natural archway, resembling the aisle of some stately cathedral, w^hich closes over the pathway leading to the Church.
124 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Many fine views can be obtained by penetrating into the recesses of this plantation, which, though of no great extent, is one of the most attractive "bits" in Scrivelsby. The artist will find here abundant opportunities for shewing his skill, and the sportsman will not fail to notice the number of pheasants, whose peculiar whirr and cry are always to be heard in concert with the cooings of the wood-pigeon and the tuneful melody of the various birds, which haunt this choice little wood.
The outside of the Church is, perhaps, not so attractive as the interior. The addition of the modern steeple at its western end causes the Church to look unduly long, especially as the chancel roof is nearlv on a level with the nave, and is only separated from it by a leaden ridge.
The Church exhibits various architectural features, which shew that from time to time it has been altered and renewed, as was likely to be the case with a Church the patrons of which were the hereditary Champions of England, whose families have always used it as their natural place of worship. Attention has been already called to the apparently undue length of the Church ; and the visitor will notice in the interior that the present chancel has been undoubtedly added to another and more ancient chancel, which occupied its natural position at the east end of the old Church. The present reading desk stands in front of a massive pillar, w^hich was evidently the foundation of what was once the chancel arch, the old chancel ending at the site of the
ST. BENEDICTS CHURCH. SCRIVELSBY.
SCRIVELSBY CHURCH. I 25
present screen. Why this chancel was built, it is hard to understand, for the Church is already too large for the scanty population, and must always have been sufficient to hold the congregation of so small a parish, even when the Champion appeared with his full retinue of attendants. In olden times, however, attendance at Church was not so voluntarv a business as it is now, and where all had to attend, room must needs have been found for all ; and so, after all, there might at one time have been some reason for enlarging the Church in this way. The Church is dedicated to St. Benedict,* and parts of it are perhaps 500 years old. The arches of the nave are early English, the chancel arch and the Church itself Perpendicular, while the windows shew three different stvles. The oldest are the two windows in the chancel, which are late Perpendicular, and the others are apparently modern, and intended to represent the early
~ It will generally be found that some good reason exists for the choice of the particular Saint to which our parish Churches are dedicated. One very common reason was that, inasmuch as the festival days of the Saints were often used in old times as convenient dates with which everyone was familiar, the Church took its name from the Saint on whose day the annual holiday was kept. So it was at Scrivelsby, where Sir Philip Marmion in 1258 obtained a royal charter for a fair to be held on the vigil, day, and morrow of Saint Benedict, i.e., on the twenty-first day of March every year. Churches, too, were often dedicated to Saints who had suffered martyrdom. To this class belong St» Alban's, built by OfTa and called after Alban, the Roman soldier who has the distinction of being the first christian martyr in Britain : St. Alphage, at Greenwich, dedicated to the great Archbishop ^^Ipheah, or Alphege, who was murdered by the Danes, loii : and St. Edmund's, in Xorfolk, from the East Anglian King Edmund, who was tied to a tree and shot with arrows, because he refused the alternative offered him by the Danish Chiefs, Ingwar and Hubba, to renounce Christianity and reign under them.
126 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
English and perpendicular period. The tower and spire are modern, the windows in the tower and that also of the western extremity of the nave being good specimens of the imitation of earlv English. The least worthy window in the Church is undoubtedly that at the east end, which ought to be the most imposing and best of all. But the poorness of the window is intensified by the poorness of the painted glass, which was placed in it about sixty years ago, when it was not so easy as now to obtain good glass and good workmanship. In marked contrast with this wretched specimen of painted glass, is the window placed in the west end of the north aisle a few vears ago bv Sir Francis and Ladv Hartwell, as a memorial to the mother of the latter, the widow of Sir Henry Dymoke, who was buried in the same vault with her husband at the east end of the churchyard, a stately monument erected over this vault recording the deaths of Sir Henry in 1865, and that of Lady Dymoke in 1884.
The other features of interest in the Church are the two stone effigies in the north aisle, supposed to represent Sir Philip Marmion and his dame, the last of the family of Marmions, who resided at Scrivelsbv.* The kniijht's armour is clearly visible, his legs are crossed, a sign that he was a crusader ;
* The late Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Wordsworth, who, from his long connection with Westminster and Lincoln, must have been well acquainted with every kind of monument, was much impressed with the two stone effigies. There was something, perhaps, in their rude simplicity which appealed to the poetical temperament of the Bishop, who spoke of them as being to his mind an ideal representation of the quiet and repose of death.
SCRIVELSBY CHURCH. 12/
the wimple of the lady and the dog at her feet are also worth observing. The handsome table monument with its capital brass and legible inscription to the memory of Sir Robert Dymoke, who died in 1545, is well deserving of a careful examination. So much has been already said (see p. 58) about this particular monument and its curious mistake of baronet for banneret, that nothing more need be said here. On the floor, at the north end of the altar, is the following inscription : —
" Here Iveth the body of the Honourable Charles
Dymoke, Esquire, of Scrivelsby, Champion of England,
who departed this life the 17th day of January and
in the year of our Lord 1702. This gravestone was laid at the proper cost and charge
of his widow, Jane Dymoke, in the year 1726." This Charles Dymoke is the Champion regarding whom some doubt had at one time existed as to his having performed the office of Champion at the coronation of William and Marv, as well as that of Anne. And even with regard to the coronation of Queen Anne, which took place on St. George's Day, 23rd April, 1702, it may seem strange to find the death of the Champion who officiated at it recorded as taking place on the 17th day of January of the same year. The explanation, of course, is this : as the year then began in March, and not in January as now, the custom grew of denoting the years by two figures forming part of each. Thus what we should term 1703
128 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
would be termed 1702-3; and "the little gentleman in velvet " having occasioned the death of King William on the 8th of March, 1702, it is certain that his successor, Queen Anne, could not have been championed by a gentleman who was buried, according to the usual authorities on the 17th of January preceding. But as he died in what would now be called 1703, he could well have been present at the coronation of Anne in 1702.* It would not have been worth mentioning, had not a difficulty been sometimes felt in reconciling an apparent anomaly.
In the vestry, on the north wall, is an old brass which was found in Scrivelsby Court, and a copy of which appears in the old register book. It is very quaint : — " Mem'".
S'' Charles Dvmoke, buried within the commimion
rails, close to the South wall.
Lady Dymoke next to him.
Captain Dymoke next to the Lady.
The late Champion by the North wall.
jyjdm Prances next to Him.
There are other monuments to the Dymoke family, but
of no architectural value. The most striking is a marble
monument, elaborately carved, in the chancel and touching
the handsome chancel screen, to the memory of Lewis
^ The "New Style," whereby the year was to begin with the ist of January instead of the first of March, was adopted in 1751, and came into use in England on the ist of January, 1752. All other European nations had previously adopted it except Russia and Sweden.
CHURCHYARD CROSS TO HENRY LIONEL DYMOKE.
SCRIVELSBY CHURCH. I 29
Dvmoke, the first of that name. This monument is surmounted with the bust of the aged Champion, and has a shield containing the Dvmoke Arms, with crest and sword erect, and we are reminded by the inscription that this Lewis was the youngest son of Sir Charles Dvmoke, by Eleanor, his wife, daughter of the first Lord Rockingham ; that he was born on the 14th of February, 1669 ; that he performed the service of Champion at the coronation of King George L, and King George IL ; and that he died on the 5th dav of February, 1760, in the 91st vear of his age. There is also a plain slab to the second Lewis Dvmoke, who died on the 1 2th of May, 1820 ; and two others of the same kind, one to his father, John, who acted as Champion at the coronation of George IIL, and the other to his brother, the Reverend John Dymoke, the first of that name and title, who died on the 3rd day of December, 1828, at the age of 64. The wife and relict of this Rev. John Dymoke died on the 26th of April, 1856, at the age of 89, and was buried at Scrivelsby, her monumental inscription appearing on a stone on the floor, on part of which the present reading desk now stands. The inscription on this stone gives her the name of Amelia Alice Jane Elphinstone. She was the mother of Sir Henry Dymoke, and of his brother, the second Rev. John Dvmoke, who was for nearlv fortv vears Rector of Scrivelsbv, and the immediate predecessor of the present Rector. Besides two marble tablets to the memorv of Sir Henrv and Ladv Dvmoke, which mav be seen on the wall of the North
R
130 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
aisle, close to the main entrance to the Church, there is a marble tablet in the chancel, bearing the following arms and inscriptions : —
" Sable, two lions argent, crowned or. Dymoke. To the cherished memory of his loved parents, John Tyrwhitt, Esq. of Pentre Par, Carmarthenshire, obiit Aug, 2^. 1844 : and of Sophia, his wife, daughter of the Hon. John Dymoke, of Scrivelsby Court, Lincolnshire, obiit March 14"" 1845. This tablet is erected as a tribute of fillial (sic) respect, by their affectionate Son, the Rev. James Bradshaw Tvrwhitt, Rector of Wilksbv and Claxbv, in this county." At the west end of the churchyard is a stone cross to the memory of Mary Anne, the relict of the second Rev. John Dymoke, who died and was buried at Paris, in 1874, and was subsequently re-interred at Scrivelsby, in 1880. This lady was the daughter of the Revd. Dr. Madeley, who was for many years Vicar of Horncastle, and enjoyed a very high reputation.
There is also a handsome churchvard cross, after the model of the one in Somersby Churchyard, to the memory of Henry Lionel Dymoke, who died in London, and was buried at Scrivelsby on the ist January, 1876.
CHAPTER XV.
The Parish Registers.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear :
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Gray.
MONGST the curious and eccentric irregularities — not to use a stronger term — for which some of our old Parish Registers are notorious, those of Scrivelsby may well put in a claim for pre-eminence. It is almost inconceivable that these old registers should have been so badly treated. When, a few years ago, the laborious task of reducing them to order was first taken in hand, it seemed utterly hopeless to expect a successful result.
The following were some of the difficulties to be encountered. The oldest book, beginning from 1565, had evidently suffered much from both fire and damp ; many of the leaves were shrivelled up by the former, and rendered illegible by the latter. These difficulties were in a great measure overcome bv a careful use of certain chemical
132 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
appliances by which the old writing was restored.* The ravages of mice were not so easily remedied. These mischievous little creatures, in the poverty for which they have a proverbial repute, seem to have been very partial — perhaps for nesting purposes — to old parchment, which they nibbled and carried off without compunction.
A still worse, and apparently more irreparable injury had been occasionally wrought by the free use of penknife or scissors, many pages having been mutilated in this way, either by mischievous children or designing adults. Sometimes whole pages have disappeared, and so much pains has often been taken to conceal the loss as to justify the suspicion that their disappearance is not to be attributed to accident. An additional reason for thinking that penknife and scissors were occasionally used to save the trouble of paper and ink wherewith to make a fair copy, is furnished by the remarkable absence of many entries relating to the Dymoke family that might have been confidently looked for in the oldest register books belonging to the parish in Avhich the family had resided for so many generations.
Be this as it niay, and in spite of the apparent impossibility of remedying such disasters, the disasters in many cases have been remedied, and this is how it was done : — By referring to the transcripts at Lincoln, and with the kind
° It is worth while to suggest a caution against an injudicious use of these chemicals, which, if improperly applied, instead of restoring may have the effect of permanently destroying the old writing. The attempt should never be made without the advice and assistance of an expert.
THE PARISH REGISTERS. 1 33
assistance of the learned adept who presides over the MS. department of the Diocesan Registry, gaps have been filled up, and the old entries, which mice or scissors had destroved or designing persons had removed, appear once more in their proper place. As many as twenty entries referring to different members of the Dvmoke family alone, which had been given up as lost, have been recovered in this way, and have been found very useful in reconciling dates and clearing up certain matters that have hitherto been found difficult of explanation. There are still a few Dvmoke registers that are not forthcoming, but it is not likely now that anv further "finds'" in this direction will be made at Lincoln or elsewhere. So much, however, has been done, and such unexpected additions have been made to the Scrivelsbv registers as to place in bold relief the great value of diocesan transcripts, and the advantage of having them placed in such careful hands as those of the present Curator at Lincoln.
One verv curious instance of restoration bv the aid of transcripts may be noticed. The page containing the entries for the year 1671 was found to be cut awav longitudinally, leaving only a margin on the left-hand side of about two inches in the upper part, which graduallv tapered down to a point at the lower. On the piece of the page thus left, the first part of several entries were plainly visible, and then, in consequence of the mutilation, thev came to an abrupt and hopeless ending. The Lincoln transcripts, however, were brought into requisition, and the missing gaps supplied. The
134 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
following illustration will enable the reader to understand this
the better. The break shows where the gaps occurred, the
words in different type show how the missing information was
supplied : —
1671
jNIarriages
John Bra kenhury & Judith West married May w^'^.
Burials
John O verton buried Aprill 12*^.
Catherine W ard buried Aprill 14**'.
Susan the wife of Richard Clypsam gent, buried May 5*.
Simon Prantill a servant buried the same day
John the sonn of Nicholas Dymoke Gent, buried Nov'. 3^.
Jane the daug liter of Nicholas Dymoke Gent, buried Dec^. 26"^^.
Scriv elsbie Tho : Booker Rector
George Hickton ")
^, „ , > Uiurchwardens.
Iho^. Sparke )
Thus far, the difficulties in the way of the transcriber had been caused bv the carelessness of later jjenerations. We now come to a very remarkable state of things for which the parson or clerk at the time must be held responsible. It would have been enough to make the hair of anv unfortunate person stand on end when he first realized the work that lay before him in his search for some particular entrv. Whether owing to the scarcity of parchment, or the economical propensities of the good people who flourished in the latter part of the 17th and the beginning of the i8th centurv, advantage was taken of every blank space that could be found anywhere, without the slightest reference to the order of continuity or anv other order save that of the whim and
THE PARISH REGISTERS. 1 35
caprice of the entry-maker. Thus, on a page containing the record of the year 1576, beautifully written in the old court- hand of the period, and duly signed by parson and " Gardians," will be found " an account of Births, Burials, and Marriages since Michaelmas, 1703." Again, on the bottom of the page for 1678, for no other reason apparently than because there was a little space left, four entries are introduced for the year 1706, one of the four recording the "Buriall" of the Parson's son; on the next page are entries for 1 68 1 and 1688, the entries for the intermediate years being inserted in happy-go-lucky fashion, amidst the vears 1621, 1599, and 1576 ; and, in the midst of entries for 1579 is one for 1711. Entries for 1693 are thrust into the page belonging to the year 1586, and — the worst case of all perhaps — entries for 1754 ^^^ tucked in wherever an emptv space could be found on five different pages, properlv belonging to the years i 671-1753.
These instances are specimens only, and they by no means exhaust the catalogue of anomalies to be found in the oldest Scrivelsby register. But enough has been said to show how almost impossible it would have been to find any particular entry that might happen to be wanted, without diligentlv searching for it through the whole book. The present Rector has happily been able to reduce this chaos into some kind of order. He has transcribed the whole of the registers between 1565 and 18 1 2, numbering the pages in the new book into which he has entered them, so as to make them correspond
136 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
with the old book from which they have been copied. Every "impertinent" entry has been ticketed with the help of black lines, so that it may be seen at a glance to be "an intruder" out of its proper place. And, further, to help his successors and to save them from undergoing much needless labour in their antiquarian researches, he has drawn out a table shewing the page on which the entries, if any, will be found for each year from 1565 to 18 12. The following extract from this table will shew the modus operandi and the strange results it occasionally exhibits : —
|
"Entries, if any, for the year 1565 |
will |
be |
found |
on |
page 2 |
|
1566 |
|||||
|
to |
|||||
|
1575 |
|||||
|
1576 |
4 |
||||
|
1671 |
54- 57- |
||||
|
1680 |
5- |
||||
|
1682 |
5. 38. |
||||
|
1683 |
22. 38. |
||||
|
1687 |
3- |
||||
|
1688 |
5- |
||||
|
1703 |
4. |
||||
|
1711 |
78. |
||||
|
1712 |
8. |
||||
|
1722 |
58. 1%. |
||||
|
1750 |
6S |
». 71. 'J2. |
|||
|
1754 |
54- |
IZ- |
81. IIO. |
||
|
1797 |
] |
[00. 114. |
The temptation to publish these old registers in a separate volume has been resisted for economical reasons. The majority of entries refer to humble and obscure people
THE PARISH REGISTERS. 1 37
over whom no other epitaph can now be raised than the famous and appropriate one referring to the father of George III.* There are no verv remarkable entries to be found, such as are often discovered in other registers. Even the Dvmoke familv, with one or two exceptions, are very curtlv described. A list of the Dvmoke entries will be found in the Appendix, No. 8.
It is well known that previous to the time of Henry VIII. no record was kept of the births, deaths, and marriages that were alwavs occurrino^. It is to Thomas Cromwell, the imperious Vicar-General of Henry VIII. to whom we are indebted for our parish registers. He first conceived the idea of preserving these records, and, as was his wont, he lost no time in putting his idea into practical shape, and the following injunction was issued on the 29th September, 1538 : —
" The curate of every parish church shall keep one book or register, which book he shall every Sunday take forth, and in the presence of the churchwardens, or one of them, write and record in the same, all the weddings, christ'nings, and burials, made in the whole week before : and everv time that the same shall be omitted, shall forfeit to the said Church iijs and iiijd."
~ The following quotation is probably not verbally correct, but it is made from memory, and will serve its present purpose : —
" Here lies Fred
Who was alive and now is dead And so of him no more be said." S
138 SCRIVELSRV, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
Useful as was this new departure, the very fact of its being a new departure caused it to be received by the people with general alarm and mistrust. Poor people especially, were much excited on the subject. They " misdoubted " the King, and got the idea into their heads that some new tax on the ofhces of the church was in contemplation. Thus the first clause in the list of popular grievances circulated by the insurgents of the "Pilgrimage of Grace " complains "that no infant shall receive the blessed Sacrament of Baptism onlesse a trybette be payd to the King." These fears, however, were altogether imaginary. No fees were imposed. The clergy were simply ordered to take note of and duly register the weddings, christenings, and burials that took place in their respective parishes. But so widely spread was the suspicion excited by this innovation, that Cromwell prudently stayed his hand and allowed the subject to drop for a time. It is noteworthy that the injunctions of the following year contain no formal order on the subject of registers. New injunctions were issued from time to time in the succeeding reigns, but the ordinance of registers remained substantially unchanged until the time of Queen Elizabeth. It was towards the end of her reign, in 1597, that the clergy in convocation made a new ordinance respecting registers which was formally approved by the Queen under the great seal. Mr. R. E. C. Waters, of whose interesting and valuable Parish Registers in England the present writer has made free use, says on page 1 1 : —
THE PARISH REGISTERS. 139
" It has been wiselv ordered that a correct transcript should yearly be sent to the Bishop of the diocese : and the utility of this provision in supplying local loss, and preventing the commission of fraud, has been signally proved in parliamentary and legal proceedings : but the canon attached no fees to the transcript either for the parish or the Bishop, and neither of them was zealous of employment without remuneration. The result has been that the parishes often grudged the expense of a copy, the Bishops seldom insisted on its transmission, and the diocesan registrars allowed their archives to remain ' unarranged and unconsultable ' : so that the Bishop's transcripts, which ought to have formed an invaluable department of the public records, present a lamentable picture of episcopal negligence, parochial parsimony, and official rapacity." In a note on this passage, Mr. Waters amongst other proofs in justification of his invective, quotes what he calls a " cool " certificate from the Registrar of the diocese of London : — " I hereby certify that // is not the custom within the diocese of London for any return to be made to the Bishop's Registry of either burials or baptisms." And in the same documents occurs also this sentence : — " Mr. Bruce found, in 1848, that at Lincoln the parchment transcripts were regularly cut up bv the Registrar for binding modern wills ! "
This extract is worth quoting, not only for its general truthfulness, but because it gives an opportunity for saying that the present Bishop of Lincoln, amongst his other
140 SCRIVELSHY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
valuable efforts for the good of the diocese, has engaged the services of the learned Mr. A. Gibbons, who, in addition to other valuable work, has been employed for the last few years in the genial task of searching for, examining, and docketing these ancient transcripts. The reproach, therefore, of episcopal negligence in this respect can no longer be brought against the diocese of Lincoln ; and attention has been already called in the preceding pages to the assistance rendered in supplving from the ancient transcripts the deficiencies that were found in the Scrivelsby registers. Happily for us, the whole of these transcripts were not " cut up " in the way described by Mr. Bruce.
In our own case, and leaving out the "intruding" entries to which attention has been directed, the record appears to have been fairly well kept on the whole from 1576 to 1653 inclusive, thus covering the unsettled period of the civil war, when this kind of work was generally interrupted if not altogether neglected. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find in many registers special allusion made to the circumstances of the time, sometimes by way of excuse for neglecting the register,* but more frequentlv as a convenient method for enabling the indignant parson to relieve his feelings by piling up epithets against the arch
* Thus at Kibworth, under date 1641, occurs this passage : — " Know all mcMi, that the reason wh)- little or nothing is registered from this year 1641 to the year 1649, was the civil wars between King Charles and his Parliament, which put all into confusion till then : and neither minister nor people could quietly stay at home for one party or the other."
THE PARISH REGISTERS. I4I
disturber of the time. There is nothing of the kind at Scrivelsbv. The only noticeable thing is that between 1642 and 1650 there are fewer entries than usual.
The oldest register begins with the year 1565, but there is only one page for this year ; then the record breaks off and is not taken up again till 1576, after which till 1653 the entries were made with commendable regularity. Up to the year 16 14, when Parson Haughton died, the old court-hand is used, and the penmanship employed puts our modern hand-writing to shame. Then, during the incumbency of Haughton's successor, who styles himself " John Dixon de Screilsbye, " the register was well kept and well written, in the transition writing of the time, up to 1653, when the following ominous memorandum occurs, badly written and almost illegible : —
" Approved and sworne Thomas Sparkes Register for the towne of Screelsby, accordins: to a late Act of Parliament touchinge marriages Birthes and Buryalls." From this point all goes wrong with the registers, and this bad state of things continues till the incumbency of the Rev. John Brownell, in 1751, from which time to 18 12 the registers were again on the whole fairly well kept. It is in the intermediate period between the arrival of the Parlia- mentary Sparkes and the Rectorate of Mr. Brownell that the registers were so badlv treated. It was then that fire and damp and penknife and scissors did their deadly work. Then it was that the higgledy-piggledy method was adopted of
142 SCRIV^ELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
filling blank spaces wherever thev could be found, and then it was that the task of entering the births, deaths, and marriages, was apparently left to the clerk or his wife. Here is a specimen of an entry written in the worst kind of peasant illiteracy : —
" 10 of March Richard Lanes
1682 baptized the sun of Martha Lanes and
frances his wif
th 2 of October, 1684
Mary Lanes babtised the dautar of
Martha Lanes and Trainees his wif."
This precious information is given on the page properly
belonging to the year 1621. In this period the name of the
Rector is hardlv ever given. Sometimes it is mentioned
once, and never again.
Here is a curious problem which hitherto has defied solution. In 1663 and again in 1669 Thomas Booker signs as Rector, having been duly instituted in 1660. He also signs in 1670 and 1671. His name does not appear again till 1704, when in the list of burials occurs this entry :^ — "Thomas Booker, Rector of Scrivelsby, buried March the 30th day." He was consequently Rector from 1660 to 1704, but there was a time when two Richards were to be seen in the held at the same time, for a certain William Wood signs as Rector in 1671, and he is buried as Rector in 1672. How comes William Wood to be stvled not onlv Rector but Rector of Scrivelsbv, at the time when Thomas Booker was alive and in the enjoyment
THE PARISH REGISTERS. 1 43
of his professional title? If this had happened lo or 15 years earlier, it might have been assumed that the rightful Booker had been wrons^fullv ousted, and the wrongful Wood had been unrighteously foisted into his place. But ecclesiastical matters had shared with temporal policv the peaceful settlement of the Restoration, and it is incredible that, ten years afterwards, a duly qualified Rector should have been deprived of his benefice, a successor appointed, and the previous incumbent recalled to his post, and all within the space of two vears. This, however, is the problem which has yet to be solved. It should be added that no record exists at Lincoln of the institution of William Wood. This is a factor of which account must be taken, but it does not solve the problem. Everv now and then the Parson for the time beins^ or some one officiating as Curate would take the opportunity of recording something personal to himself. Thus a propos of nothing in particular to lead up to the announcement, we are told, and presumably with the expectation that we should be interested in hearing it, that a certain John Mazey, of whom nothing is said in anv other part of the book, was " inducted into the Rectory of Roughton on the 29*^ of May 1673." This announcement, however important in itself, is not likely to be so widelv and generally appreciated as a statement which appears in one of the old register books of the parish of Woodham Walter, in Essex, to this effect, and in these words : — " Be it known unto all men, that a fatt goose is better than a lean heen." Albeit this
144 SCRIVELSBY, THE HOME OF THE CHAMPIONS.
announcement partakes of the nature of a truism, which no one is likelv to gainsav, it is at least amusing, which is more than can be said of the institution to Roughton of the Reverend John Mazey.
Manv more curiosities in connection with our old registers might be mentioned. Enough, however, has been advanced in proof of the opening sentence of this chapter ; and, although much may be said in favour of allowing our old registers to remain in the custody of the parochial clergv, it would be vain to contend that an equally strong case could not be easily made out for transferring them to the Master of the Rolls or some other authority that would • be responsible for the due preservation of these priceless records. The foregoing account of the Scrivelsby registers might be cited as a strong argument for thus dealing with them. But it is tolerablv certain that these old books will be much better cared for in time to come than too often has been the case in time past. Their value is now more highly appreciated, and Incumbents who wish to retain possession of their register books must realize the responsi- bility which attaches to the person in whose custody thev are placed. They should be lovingly handled, reverently examined, and, above all, carefully guarded. On these terms only is it to be expected that the parochial clergy will be trusted with so precious a charge.
'=XFX.K'cX»
•Dc-APPENDIX.-s
'N^XKS^
APPENDIX No. I.
THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND. '
The Norman Barons Alarmyon
At Norman Court held high degree :
Brave Knights and Champions, every one, To him who won brave Scrivelsby.
These Lincoln lands the Conqueror gave, That England's glove they should convey
To Knight renowned among the brave. The Baron bold of Fontenay.
The royal grant from sire to son
Devolved direct iyi capite, Until deceased Phill. Marmyon,
When rose fair Joan of Scrivelsby.
From London city on the Thames, To Berwick town upon the Tweed,
Came gallants, all of courtly names. At feet of Joan their cause to plead.
Yet malgre all this goodly band,
The maiden's smiles young Ludlow won,
Her heart and hand, her grant and land, The sword and shield of Marmyon.
Out upon time, the scurvy knave. Spoiler of youth, hard-hearted churl :
Fast mowing to one common grave Goodwife and ladie, hind and earl.
148 APPENDIX.
Out upon time, since the world began, No Sabbath hath his greyhound-Hmb :
In coursing man, devoted man.
To age and death — out, out on him.
In Lincohi's chancel, side by side, Their effigies from marble hewn,
The anni written when the}' died. Repose de Ludlow and Dame Joan.
One daughter fair survived alone, The son deceased in infancy :
De Ludlow and de Marm3'on United thus in Margery.
And she was woo'd as maids have been. And won as maids are sure to be.
When gallant j'ouths in Lincoln Green Do suit, like Dymock, ferventl}'.
Sir John de Dymoke claimed the right, The Championship, through Margery ;
And gainst Sir Baldwin Freville, Knight, Prevailed as Lord of Scrivelsby.
And ever since, when England's Kings Are diadem'd — no matter where —
The Champion Dymoke boldly flings His glove, should treason venture there.
On gallant steed, in armour bright, His visor close, and couch'd his lance,
Proclaimeth he the monarch's right
To England, Ireland, Wales, and France.
Then bravely cry with Dymoke bold. Long may the King triumphant reign.
And when fair hands the sceptre hold, More bravelv still — long live the Oueen.
Old Ballad.
APPENDIX.
No. 2.
TABLE SHEWING THE DESCENT OF THE PRESENT CHAMPION FROM SIR PHILIP MARMION.
149
I . 2
J'
4-
5- 6.
7- 8.
9- 10.
II. 12.
14.
15- 16.
17- 18.
19.
Sir Phili]-) Marmion
Joan or Jane
Thomas Ludlow
Margaret Ludlow
Sir Thomas Dymoke (i)
Sir Philip Dymoke
Sir Thomas Dymoke (2)
Sir Robert (i)
Sir Edward ( i )
Robert
Sir Nicholas Sir Edward (3) Edward Dymoke, Junr. John(i) John (2) John (3)
Thomas Dymoke John (4) D3'moke Francis Seaman
= Sir Thos. Ludlow
= Sir lohn Dymoke = Elizabeth Hebden = Jane Conyers
Margaret, daughter of Lord Welles
Jane Sparrow
Ann, daughter of Lord Talbois
Bridget, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln
Mary Dan vers
Jane Cressey
Abigail Snowden
daughter of Sir Charles Dymoke
Rebecca Rayner Francis Capp Margaret Seaman Mary Anne Pollexfen
N.B. — In this table, is omitted every unnecessary name. Each step marks lineal descent from parent to child. The full family tree will be given in No. 15 of the Appendix.
150 APPENDIX.
No. 3. MURAL TABLET TO LIONEL DYMOKE.
The interestinsf mural tablet to Lionel Dymoke in Horncastle
o
Church exhibits a well-defined figure of an armed knight, kneeling on a cushion and holding in his hand a scroll containing in black letter the following inscription : —
"S'cta trinitas unus Deus miserere nob."
On each side of this figure are two shields containing arms, as follows : —
1. Dymoke, sable, two lions passant, argent in pale, ducally
crowned, or : empaling Waterton, Barry of six ermine and gules.
2. Dymoke, empaling Marmion, Vaire, on a fesse gules frette or; in
chief, Hebden, eniiine, five fusils in fess; a crescent for difference.
3. Argent, a sword erect azure : hilt and pommel gules.
4. Dymoke impaling Ha3"don, quarterly gules and argent, a cross
engrailed counter changed : a crescent for difference. In one of the lower corners of this brass, are the figures of his two sons, who died in infancy, and in the other corner three of his daughters.
The brass also bears the following inscription in black letter : — * " In honore sc'te et individue trinitas orate p' a'ia Leonis Dymoke milit' q' obijit xvij die me'se Augusti a° D'ni M^CCCCCXix cui' a'ie p'piciet de' Amen." Weir.
* For the benefit of those who are unacquainted with these abbreviations, it ma}- be worth while to give the inscription in full: —
"In honore sanctoe et individuoe Trinitatis orate pro anima Leonis Dymoke militis qui obiit XVII" die mense Au_efusti anno Domini MCCCCCXIX cujus animcc propiecitur Deus." " In honour of the Holy and undivided Trinity piay for the sou! of Lionel Dymoke a soldier who died on the 17th day in the month of August 15 19 on whose soul may God have mercy." lit. " To whose soul may the mercy of God's propitiation be extended."
APPENDIX. 151
In the pavement below there is a shrouded effigy of this knight, and the following lines were once to be seen hard by, but they are now almost if not quite illegible.
" Leon is fossa nunc haec Dymoke capit ossa. Miles erat Regis cui puree Deus prece Matris. Es testis Christe quod non iacet hie lapis iste Corpus ut ornetur sed spiritus ut memoretur. Hinc tu qui transis senex medius puer an sis Pro mc funde prcces quia sic mihi fit venie spes."*
* It is not easy to give an adequate representation of these old rugged verses with their double rime, but the following rough attempt will convey some idea of what was in the mind of the writer when he composed the knight's epitaph.
This vault contains the poor remains
Of Dymoke, Lionel : A soldier brave, within this grave.
He must a short while dwell : But through the A'irgin's intercession He hopes for joyful resurrection.
Thou, Christ, dost know, that not for show
Or body's decoration This stone we place : it is to grace
His spirit's habitation.
So pra}' for me, whoe'er you be
Whate'er your age or station, Before you go : for only so
Are hopes for my salvation.
152 APPENDIX.
No. 4.
THE MONUMENT TO SIR ROBERT DYMOKE IN SCRIVELSBY CHURCH.
Since Chapter VI. was in the printer's hands, a curious, but still inconclusive piece of evidence, relating to the tomb of Sir Robert Dymoke, has been supplied by the discovery in Scrivelsby Court, the dwelling place of the Champions, of an old brass which has evidentl}^ been forcibly wrenched from a stone to which it was once affixed. It is nearh' but not quite square, the exact dimensions being 14 inches ^y ^Sh 'iiid on the upper part is the Dymoke Coat of Arms, well and clearly cut. The inscription is much more roughly cut and is as follows : —
" Under this Stone h'es y'' Body of Sir Robert Dymoke, Bannarett, who was A General to King Henery y® S'*" at y^ Takeing of Tournay in France, and left there his Treasourer. His Monument was Remov'd under 3^"" Arch in 1760 by y'^ present Champion's Orders." As to this inscription, of which the above is an exact cop}', there are three things to be noted :
1. The proper description, Banneret, is given, and not Baronet,
as on the tomb.
2. The Monument is not now in the place where it was originall}'
set up. It was removed, but it is not said whether it was removed yVc;;? or to the arch of which it speaks, nor is an}' reason given whv it was removed.
3. The removal was affected in 1760 by the order of the present
Champion. How far does this inscription help us to decide whether the tonib was erected at Haltham or Scrivelsby ? It is obvious that the words " under this stone " may refer to the Church of either parish, and that the removal spoken of may have been either from Haltham to Scri\'elsby or from one part of Scrivelsby Church to another. There is, too, a delightful obscurity about " the order of the present Champion in 1 760," for in that year there were no less than three Champions, viz. : Louis (i), Edward, his successor, and John, the son of Edward.
APPENDIX. 153
Looking impartially at the evidence as a whole, it would seem to favour the conclusion that Sir Robert Dymoke died and was buried at Scrivelsby, and that his monument which had been placed originally over the grave was removed to its present position under the arch, by order of John Dymoke, the last of the three Champions of 1760.
The fact of the brass in question being found at Scrivelsby Court favours this conclusion. How did it come there ? Why was it taken from the place where it had once been fixed ? If, indeed, the monument were brought from Haltham, it is not surprising that the plate denoting the spot where the burial had taken place should be brought away with it ; but this particular plate could never have been at Haltham at all, for it speaks of a removal " under the arch in 1 760," and a close inspection makes it evident that the words on the plate were all engraved at the same time. It is reasonable therefore to infer that the monument was simply removed from one to another part of the same Church, and that Church must have been Scrivelsby, for there is no arch in Haltham Church to or from which such a monument could have been taken. But when the monument was removed, the plate was probably placed at first on the pavement close to it, but was subsequently taken away, as not being over the spot where the body had been interred ; and what so natural, under the circumstances, as that the Champion who had ordered the removal should have taken the brass to his own house, where it would be stowed away in some corner, and in course of time would be quite forgotten ? The inference therefore, is that Banks was wrong in saying that the monument to Sir Robert Dymoke was originally at Haltham. But although such an inference may be fairl}' drawn from the premises, it is equally possible that an opposite conclusion might be arrived at by adopting another line of argument. For instance, it might be said that the brass in question is altogether misleading. It must be granted, indeed, that it could never have been at Haltham, but it might be argued that it was engraved by the Champion's order to account for the change of site, the first part of it being possibly copied from a similar brass in Haltham Church, but the new brass was afterwards taken away for the sake of decency, because it falsely asserted that under it was buried the body of the Champion to whose memory the monument was u
154 APPENDIX.
erected. So, although some progress has been made by the suggestion of a possible solution of the problem, the question still remains undecided. The only sure standing-ground is that given at the end of Chapter VI.
In Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. 2, p. 57, "Sepulchral Brasses in Lincolnshire," a good suggestion is made to account for the word baronet being used instead of " banneret." It had been previously thought that the brass was not cut till after 161 1, when the term baronet was familiar, and " banneret " obsolete. But the learned writer points out that as an interval of at least yy years had elapsed after the death of Sir Robert Dymoke, and as the writing is too well cut for the 1 7th century " it seems more probable that it was restored after some injury, received probably in the ci\'il war, and that the restorer imagined himself to be con-ecting a blunder in the original inscription."
APPENDIX. 155
No. 5.
AUTOGRAPH LETTER FROM HENRY VHI. TO SIR ROBERT
DYMOKE IN 1513.
Now in the possession of Lady Hartwell the only child of Sir Henry
Dymoke, Bart.
The following is a translation into modem English of the original letter written in the court hand of the period. "By the King. Henry viij.
We wol and co'mande you that of o'' money being in y''® keepinge, you do paye and delyvere unto o"" Sherrif Lancastre, oon of o"^ heralde, the somme of seven ponnde thirtene shillinge and foure pens sterlinge, for suche cost and charge as he hath susteyned by o'' co'mandement to and from us and o'' citie of Torney and thes o"" 'tres (lettres ?) shal be your suffic'ent warrant and discharge in this behalfe.
Given under o' signet at o"" Mano' of Elth'm the xiith daye of July the v*'' y're of o' reigne. To o'' trusty and welbeloved Knight of o"" body Sir Robert Dymmok treasourer of o' citie of To'■ne^^"
With regard to the foregoing the term "Lancaster Sheriff" is to be noted. A " Lancaster Herald " is a well-known expression, but this mention of a " Lancaster Sheriff" is unique.
-@>o<^-
156 APPENDIX.
No. 6. LETTER OF QUEEN MARY TO SIR EDWARD DYMOKE.
This letter also, written in the court hand of the time, is now in the
possession of Lady Hartwell. It is here reproduced in modern English
characters : —
" By the Queene.
]\Iarv the Oueene.
Trustie and welbelovid, wee grete you well and left you know herewith that the warres be open betwixte us and France, and the King, our derest Lorde and husbande, passed the sea in parson to pursue the enemye, wee have gyven ordre (as mete is our honor and suretie so reguyring) to have a convenyent sorte put in parfect redyness in preparacon I'attendre upon our own parson, as well for the defence and suretie thereof, as to resiste such attempts as may be by any forren ennymie, or otherwise made agaynst us and our realme ; and knowing your fidelite and goodwill to s'rve us, have appoynted you to be one emongst others that shall attend upon us; therefore requiring and charging you not onlie to put yourselfe in ordre accordinglie, but also to cause your tenints srv'nts and others w*^ in your rules and offices, to furnj^she yourselfe w*'' ten horsemen, and one hundred footmen, well appoynted ; of the whiche footmen, one iiii*'' parte to be harquebuttiers or Archers : one other iiii*^ parte pykes ; and the reste Bills ; and which the said nombres of men, horse, and furnyture well in ordre to be readye to attende upon us, or ellswhere by our appoyntmente, upon one dais warnyng at any tyme after the xxv**" daye of Augusta nexte comyng ; ann in the meane tyme untill you shal be so called to s'rve us, remayne in full readyness and ordre to s'rve under theyme that have charge in that countie ; and hereof fa3''le ye not.
Geoven undre our signett at out Manor Richmond the laste of Julie, the fourth and fyfte yeres of our reignes.
To our trustie and well bloved Sir Edward Dymoke, Knigt."
The close connection existing between France and Scotland in the
14th and 15th centuries is well known to all historical students. England's
APPENDIX. 157
difficulty in France was ahva3'S Scotland's opportunity in England. War between the two countries, especially when the English Sovereign crossed the water to conduct the war in person, was always the signal for Scotland to rise and assist her friends in France by overrunning the border and inflicting as much damage as was practicable on each occasion. It is very true that this was not alwa3^s a safe game to play. A Queen of England had once before led her troops in person to punish the Scots for turning her husband's absence to the usual account, and the laurels gained by the wife at Nevil's Cross were not unworthy to be twined with those subsequent!}' gained b)' the husband at the gi'eat battle of Crecy in 1346. Coming nearer to Mary's own time, the memory of Flodden Field was still green, and it requires no stretch of imagination to believe that Queen ]\Iary was seriously intending to take the field in person against the Scots who were notoriousl}'' preparing to help their French allies, now that war had once more broken out, and King Philip, the husband of Mary, was fairly out of the kingdom, having " crossed the sea in parson to pursue the enemye." It is certainly a little remarkable to find a woman like Mar}'- desirous of emulating the heroism of Queen Phillipa, but she was at the time, as we well know, restless, uneasy, and full of trouble from every quarter. Conscious of having forfeited the affections of her people, pining for the return of her husband, whose waning love and phlegmatic temperament chilled and depressed her, jealous of her sister and successor, Elizabeth, and ill at ease with herself, she may well have conceived the idea of seeking distraction abroad amidst the stirring scenes of war from the thoughts which oppressed her in the peaceful avocations of every-day life at home. However this may be, it was generally supposed at the time that the Queen had made up her mind to lead her troops in person to Scotland, and this letter to Sir Edward Dymoke, with its minute directions and hints of establishing a special bodyguard selected from her subjects of most approved loyalty, seems to confirm the general report, not only by its particular terms, but because it is addressed to the Champion in an autograph letter by Queen Mary herself, instead of being sent in the ordinary course through the Lord Lieutenant of the county.
Scrivelsby Rectory. S.L."
The foregoing was contributed in 1888 to Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, and is now reproduced with the kind permission of the Editors.
\
158 APPENDIX.
No. 7.
ORDERS BY MRS. JANE DYMOKE.
Mrs. Jane Dymoke, the wife of Charles Dymoke, Esq., was a good woman and a benevolent, but imperious withal. After her husband's death she busied herself with philanthropic attempts to ameliorate the condition of her poor neighbours. Having property at Hemingby, she left a sum of money and divers lands for the endowment of a Hospital or Almshouses for aged widows who had seen better days, with preference to the widows of clergymen ; for the payment of a School Master and Mistress ; for giving a free education to the children of her tenants ; for clothing a certain number of scholars of both sexes ; and for apprenticing the boys to some tradesman or artizan in the neighbourhood. A few years ago this last-named opportunity of beginning a career was eagerly coveted, but in these days of restlessness and independence, parents do not seem to appreciate the boon. " Binding out," as it is called, is a restriction on personal liberty and the noble soul liketh it not. Parents like their children to be free, and the children in this one point agree with their parents. Thus the good intentions of the benevolent lady are necessarily frustrated, and the money has to be diverted into another channel. We gather from certain expressions in her will that any change of this kind would have been very distasteful to a lady who constantl}"" reiterates " I will have so and so done," " I will have my orders obeyed." Mrs. Jane Dymoke was buried at Horncastle and not, as might have been expected, at Scrivelsb}', where her husband died and was buried.
Extract from "Orders" given by Mrs. Jane Dymoke in 1736 for the good administration of her schools at Hemingby.*
''That by Mrs. Dymoke's order, the Schoolmaster and children shall be visited, as she shall appoint, to see that all things be kept in order, and that the children be orderly, and to hear what complaints are made by the Master and Mistress of the said children, and to rectify the same."
* These " Orders " though quaintly expressed, are in many respects admirable, and might be ado])ted with advantage by many school teachers of the present day. They are worth preserving, too, as shewing vividly the difference between 3'esterday and to-day. No one now would venture to give such directions as were seriously given 150 years ago.
APPENDIX. 159
" That the Master be duly qualified to teach the children to read English well and to write a good hand and to understand Arithmetic. / do not desire the girls should learn to write — only the boys."
" That the Master and Mistress be members of the Church of England ; that the Master shall instruct the children in the principles of the Christian Religion, as laid down in the Church Catechism, and in the use of the Common Prayer Book, and that he prays with them at School, morning and evening, and enjoins them to do the same at home, and to say Grace before and after Meat."
" That the Schoolmaster brings them to Church every prayer day and sees that they behave themselves with all reverence, as the Rubric directs."
" That he takes particular care of their manner and beha\iour, and not suffer an}- vice to grow upon them, but presently check it by due admonitions and corrections without partiality."
The following orders relate to parents.
" That they shall keep their children at School without changing
them." i.e., we suppose the school, not the children ! " That they send the children clean washed and combed, with a
piece of white linen about their necks, and onl}' Sundays and
Holidays in their School habits, without they have leave to
do otherwise." " That they would set them a good example at home, hear them
their lessons, catechism, and prayers, and see they perform
their tasks properly." "That they freely submit their children to the discipline and
con-ection of the School, and not to send them a begging
round the country as vagrants, and that they shall forbear
coming to the School, and not to speak ill of their Master
or Mistress for correcting them." "That such parents and such children who will not submit to
these orders, their childien shall be turned out of the School
and lose their clothes."
i6o
APPENDIX.
" I do also order that all or any of the girls may be emplo3"ed by
any of my tenants in sewing, and spinning, and knitting,
that they may not be idle, and for them to give the girls a
small matter to encourage them,"
And then in the midst of sundry directions for carrying out her kind
intentions, the old lady abruptly addresses one of the Trustees by name —
thus : " Mr. Caborn, I desire you will take particular care that these my
orders may be performed as I have set down. And if in case an\' of the
said Widows, Schoolmasters, or Schoolmistresses, or Children, neglect to
observe them, to let me know by the very first opportunity, and they shall
be discharged, for / will have them observed!'
APPENDIX.
i6i
No. 8.
OUARTERIXGS OF THE DYMOKE COAT OF ARMS. Arms — Sa., two lions passant, arg. crowned, or ; Ouarterings.
I
2
3 4
Dymoke
Ludlow
Marmion
Kilpeck [so stated
m
the books of the College of Arms, but this particular Quartering was probably borne as the badge of office of Champion (see Ralph Brooke's Discovery of Camden s Errors.)]
|
5 |
Hebden |
|
6 |
Rye |
|
7 |
Welles |
|
8 |
Waterton |
|
9 |
Engaine |
|
10 |
Sparrow |
|
II |
Talbo3's |
|
12 |
Barraden |
|
13 |
Fitzwith |
|
14 |
Umfraville |
|
I^ |
Kvme |
Crests-
-I
2
A sword erect, arg., hilt and pommel, or : A lion, passant, arg., crowned, or : The scalp of a hare, ears erect, p.p.r.
The frontispiece shows the Escutcheon of the Dymoke Coat of Arms with the proper colourings.
V
1 62 APPENDIX.
No. 9.
DYMOKE ENTRIES EXTRACTED FROM OLD REGISTER.
The following is a list of the names of the members of the Dymoke family that are found in the old Scrivelsby registers : —
1566 Mr. Thomas Windebanke and Mrs. Frances Dymoke married,
the 20'^ day of August. 15S0 Robert Dymoke, buried, 26"' of September. 1585 Katherine Dymocke, the daughter of Edward Dymocke was
baptized the 28 of August Anno supra dicto. 1593 Anne D3'moke, daughter of Rob*. Dymoke Esquier, was baptized
the second da3^e of December Anno sup*" dcto. 1597 John Dymoke, gent, buried 15th day of December a° supra dicto. 1600 Edward son and heyre to Sir Edwd Dymoke, Knight, was buried
May 18. 1624 Edward Dimock, Knight, buried Septem. 2. 1 64 1 Ladye Mar}- Dymocke, buyried July 10*''.
1654 Edward Dymoke, Jun''. and Abigail Snowden weare married, the 18 of July Anno Domi 1654.
1655 Robert Dymoke, the sone of Edward Dymoke Jun^ and Abigail was borne, the 2'j of Aprill and was baptized the same day.
1667 Mrs. Elizabeth Dymoke ye wife of John Dymoke, gent, bur; July 29*'' Anno p. dicto {prcedicto).
1667 Jane ye daughter of John Dymoke bur. August 7*'' Anno p. dcto.
1668 Nicolas the sonn of Nicolas Dymoke, gent, and Anne his wife buried Ma}^ 16"' Ann, p'. do.
1668 John Dymoke, gent, buried July 20*'' Ann p. d".
1669 Lewis the Sonn of Charles Dymoke Esquire, and Elianor his wife bap. Feb. 14*^ Anno Supra dicto.
1669 Catherin Dymoke ye daughter of Charles Dymoke Esquire and
Elianor his wife, buried Nov. 6*^. An. 'p. d". 1669 Mrs. Penelope Dymoke ye daughter of Charles Dymoke Esquire
buried April 7"'. Anno Sup. D". 1 67 1 John ye sonn of Nicolas Dymoke, gent, buried Nov^". 3'"'^ 1671 Jane, ye daughter of Nicolas Dymoke gent, buried December 6*^ 1 671 Anne the wife of Nicholas Dymoke buried March 16.
APPENDIX. 163
1693 Edward Dymoke, gent, was buried May 13.
1698 The Hon"'"'" lady Elener Dymoke, widow of Sir Charles Dymoke,
Knight was buried on the 7"' day of July 1698. 1702 The truly Hon""^'^ and worth}' Charles Dymoke, Esquire,
Champion of England, was buried on ye 24*^. day of January
1702, at Scrivelsby close to the north wall within the rails of the
chancel. 1 714 Tho. Dymok, the son of Nicolas buried March 28. 1 7 14 Nicholas Dymok of Enderby, buried Dec^ 20. ■ 1743 Jane Dymoke, widow of Sir Charles Dymoke, Champion, died
January 4*'' 1743, and was buried at Horncastle. 1756 Mrs. Elizabeth Dymoke ye daughter of S^ Charles Dymoke,
buried May 20. 1760 The Honb^^ Lewis Dymoke, Champion of England, died Feb.
the 5*^, buried Feb. the 2=,^, 1760.
1763 Lewis, son of the Honb''^. John Dymoke Champion, and Martha his wife born March 8*''. 1760, and bapt*^. the same day.
1764 John, son of the Honb^^ John D3''moke, Champion, and Martha his wife born March 8^^. 1760, and bapt^ the same day.
1784 The Honb^*^ John Dymoke, Champion of England, died in Old
Burlington Street, London, March 6"". and was buried within the
communion rails at Scrielsby March 17*^, 1784. 1799 Baptized Charlotte Catherine Jane, the daughter of John
Dymoke, clerk. Rector of Scrielsby and Amelia his wife June 3"^
1799. 1799 Charlotte Catherine Jane daughter of John Dymoke, Clerk,
Rector of Scrivelsby and Dalderb}', and Amelia his wife, July
2S'\ 1799-
1799 Charlotte Catherine Jane, daur of the Reverend John Dymoke
(Rector) buried on ye 26th Ocf. 1799. 1 80 1 Baptised Henry the son of John Dymoke, Clerk, Rector of
Scrivelsby cum Dalderby, and Jane Alice Amelia his wife March
6*^ 1801. 1 80 1 Christened Henr}' the son of John Dymoke, Clerk, Rector of
Scrivelsby cum Dalderby, and Jane Alice Amelia his wife,
August 3''^. 1 80 1, by me Thomas Roe, Rector of Kirkby Bane.
164 APrEXDIX.
1802 Baptized Mary the daughter of John Dymoke, Rector of Scrivelsb}^, etc, and Jane Ahce Ameha his wife, Nov^ 15^^., 1802.
1803 Buried Mary daughter of Rev'*. John Dymoke and Amelia his wife, Apl 15*^, 1803.
1804 Baptised John the son of John Dymoke, Clerk and Rector of this parish and Jane Alice Amelia his wife, October 8^^., 1804.
1807 Baptised Maria Georgiana daughter of the Re^'^ John Dymoke, clerk. Rector of this parish, and Jane Alice Amelia his wife Feb'^y. 9"". 1807.
N.B. The following are not to be found in the parish registers, but are taken from the transcripts at Lincoln and can be depended upon : 1 561-2 Married. M^ John Dymok and Mystris Doritha Gyrlyngton
XXX Julie. 1 661-2 Christenings. Jane daughter of Edward Dymocke and Abigail
his wife June 4. Frances daughter of Nicolas D3'moke Gent. & Sarah his wife. Dec. 30. 1663 Burials. M". Sarah Dymocke wife of M^ Nicolas Dymocke,
Gent Aprill 6. Sir Edward Dymocke, K*. buried Jan^. 8^.
Tho\ Booker. 1664-5 Charles son of Nicholas Dymoke Gent, and Anne his wife
bapt. Aug. 5. 1665-6 Nicholas son of Nicholas Dymoke Jan. 11. Christened. 1666-7 J^ne daughter of Nicholas Dymoke Feb. 14. Christened. 1677-8 Burial. M^ Thomas Dymoke May 22 1678-9 Burial. The Hon*''^ Lady Jane Dymoke. Dec. 27. 1679-80 Burial. Mrs. Frances Dymoke.
1684 Burial. Anne Dymoke of M^ Nicholas Dymoke {sic.) Nov. 7 1686 Burial. The Honourable S'. Charles Dymoke, Nov. 2.
APPENDIX.
No. lo.
165
LIST OF CHAMPIOXS WHO HAVE ACTUALLY OFFICL^TED.
Sir John Dymoke, for his wife, at the coronation of Sir Thomas, for his mother
Do. do.
Sir Phihp Sir Thomas ... Sir Robert
Do.
Do. Sir Edward (i)
Do.
Do. Sir Edward (2)
Charles
Sir Edward (3) Sir Charles . . . Charles
Do
Lewis (i)
Do.
John
Henry, for his father the Rev. John Dymoke (i)
Richard H. Henry IV. Henry V. ... Henry VI. ... Edward IV. ... Richard III. ... Henry VI I. ... Henrj'VIII. ... Edward VI. ... ... xVi ar V •
Elizabeth.
James I.
Charles I, Charles 11. James II. William and Mary.
Anne .
George I.
George II.
... George III.
... George IV.
1 66 APPENDIX.
No, II.
LIST OF CHAMPIONS WHO NEVER OFFICIATED AT A
CORONATION.
Robert, who died in the year 1580 in Elizabeth's reign.
Sir Nicholas, the father of Sir Edward (3).
Edward, successor of Lewis (i), who died in the same year, 1760.
Lewis (2), eldest son of John, who acted at the coronation of George III,
Rev. John (2), brother of Sir Henry Dymoke, Bart.
Henry Lionel, last of the Scrivelsby branch, son of Rev. John (2).
Francis Seaman, first of the Tetford branch.
Lady Margaret (Ludlow) was represented by her husband once, and twice
by her son Sir Thomas. Rev. John (i) was represented by his son Henry at the coronation of
George IV., in 1820.
APPENDIX. 167
No. 12.
THE CHAMPIONS FAREWELL. By Tom Hood.
Othttn aim dignitate.
Here, bring me my breeches, my armour is o'er : Farewell, for some time, to my tin pantaloons :
Double milled Kerseymere is a kind of leg clover. Good luck to broad cloth for a score or two moons.
Here, hang up my helmet, and reach me my beaver.
This avoirdupois weight of glory must fall : I think on my life that again I shall never
Take my head in a saucepan to Westminster Hall.
Oh ! why was my family born to be martial ?
Tis a mercy this grand show of fighting is up : I do not think Cato was much over partial
To back through the dishes with me and my cup.
By the blood of the D3miokes Til sit in my lodgings. And the gauntlet resign for neat gentleman's doe :
If I ride, I will ride, and no longer be dodging My horse's old tail twixt Duke Marquis & Co.
No more on my horsemanship folks shall make merry,
For I'll ship man and horse, and " show off " not on shore ;
No funnies for me, I will ride in a wherry.
They feathered m}" skull but I'll feather m} oar.
So, Thomas, take Cato, and put on his halter.
And give him some beans, since I now am at peace :
If a champion is wanted, pray go to Sir Walter, And he'll let you out ^Nlarmions at guineas apiece.
The ladies admired the piebald nag vastly.
And clapp'd his old sober sides into the street : Here's a cheque upon Child's : so, my man, go to Astley,
Pay the charge of a charger and take a receipt.
1 68 APPENDIX.
No. 13.
AN ELEGY OX DEATH OF SIR HENRY DYMOKE,
By Henry Winn.
On humble graves I oft have dropped a tear, Yet stood unmoved beside the pompous bier, Not schooled by flattery's art in cringing low To gilded baubles and unmeaning show : It is no common death when such as I Seize our rough quills to write an elegy.
Toll, Toll, thou solemn bell, and check our mirth : A gentle spirit leaves this cherished earth : Relentless death, whose dart no tears can stay. With hasty summons calls our friend away : The stroke seems cruel, but, we think, more kind To him it takes than us it leaves behind.
The noblest spirit of an ancient line —
In him we saw each manly virtue shine :
His private hfe — a pattern served to give
How husbands, Fathers, Masters, ought to live :
In public life — he bore a noble part,
The friend of virtue, industry, and art.
Ready the poor to cheer, their wants assuage. And smooth the wrinkles on the brow of age : The pauper's humble plea, the culprit's cause. He heard with pity, yet maintained the laws : Patient he sat to weigh conflicting tales, And with impartial hand upheld the scales.
Not Marmion's sword he wielded — but the pen. And taught religion to his fellow men ; O'er England's curse he mourned, and bared his' brand To smite the fiend which desolates our land. Unstained by sordid greed, or vulgar pride. Honoured he lived, and much too early died.
APPENDIX.
169
Yet, wherefore grudge the happy soul its bhss, And wish to hold it in a world like this ? Its duty nobly done, it seeks for rest — Its more congenial sphere among the blest- Enrolled with ransomed bands on that glad shore Where parted ones shall meet and part no more. Take, gentle shade, this tributary verse The muse presumptuous lays upon thy hearse.
w
I JO
APPENDIX.
LETTER FROM
No. 14.
HENRY VI. TO THE WARDROBE.
KEEPER OF THE
Henry VI. to Robert Boulton, 4th Nov., 1429.
(M.S. Record in the Chapter House — Robert Boulton was the keeper of
the wardrobe.)
Henry, to our well beloved clerk Robert Boulton, greeting. It hath been shown to us and our council by our well beloved squire Philip Dymoke, in what manner his ancestors (whose memor}' is not obscured) have been accustomed to do certain services and ceremonies at the coronation of our noble progenitors in times heretofore. That is to say, to be armed on the day of coronation and to be mounted on a large horse, and to do and exercise whatever to the said services belongeth, receiving the fees usual thereto ; so we b}^ the advice and assent of our council, will and command you that, for the holiday of our coronation you cause to be prepared the trappings and other things in this case usual, and then to be delivered to the said Philip in manner as they have been delivered to his ancestors by the Wardrobe Keepers of the said progenitors at such ceremony in times heretofore, and we will that these our letters be to you a warrant for the same, and that you have a due allowance for it in your accompt.
To be delivered to the said Champion before the 21st April.
One rich great horse saddle or field saddle of crimson velvet, with head stall reins, breast-plate and crupper, with daggs and trappings, richly trimmed with gold and silver lace fringe, and great and small tassels, with a pair of very large stirrops of Spanish make, and stirrop leathers lined with velvet and gold and silver lace, with two girths, and a surcingle, a bitt with silver and gilt bosses, a pair of holsters lined with velvet and laced with gold and silver lace, and a pair of holster-caps richly laced and fringed suitable to the saddle, one plume of red, blue, and white feathers (the colors of the three nations), containing 18 falls with a heme
:,
APPENDIX.
171
I
top, one plume of feathers for the headstall and dock, and two trumpet banners of his own arms. It is worth remembering that Henry VI. was twice crowned. It is said Robert de Momiion, the first Baron, had by gift of the Conqueror :
Four Manors in Warwickshire, one in Gloucestershire, fourteen in Lincolnshire, and seventeen in Leicestershire, all which were inherited afterwards bv the family.
1 70 APPENDIX.
No. 14.
LETTER FROM HENRY VI. TO THE KEEPER OF THE
WARDROBE.
Henry VI. to Robert Boulton, j^t/i iVov., i^2g.
(M.S. Record in the Chapter House — Robert Boulton was the keeper of
the wardrobe.)
Henr}', to our well beloved clerk Robert Boulton, greeting. It hath been shown to us and our council by our well beloved squire Philip Dymoke, in what manner his ancestors (whose memory is not obscured) have been accustomed to do certain services and ceremonies at the coronation of our noble progenitors in times heretofore. That is to say, to be armed on the day of coronation and to be mounted on a large horse, and to do and exercise whatever to the said services belongeth, receiving the fees usual thereto ; so we by the advice and assent of our council, will and command you that, for the holiday of our coronation you cause to be prepared the trappings and other things in this case usual, and then to be delivered to the said Philip in manner as they have been delivered to his ancestors by the Wardrobe Keepers of the said progenitors at such ceremony in times heretofore, and we will that these our letters be to you a warrant for the same, and that you have a due allowance for it in your accompt.
To be delivered to the said Champion before the 21st April.
One rich great horse saddle or field saddle of crimson velvet, with head stall reins, breast-plate and crupper, with daggs and trappings, richly trimmed with gold and silver lace fringe, and great and small tassels, with a pair of very large stirrops of Spanish make, and stirrop leathers lined with velvet and gold and silver lace, with two girths, and a surcingle, a bitt with silver and gilt bosses, a pair of holsters lined with velvet and laced with gold and silver lace, and a pair of holster-caps richly laced and fringed suitable to the saddle, one plume of red, blue, and white feathers (the colors of the three nations), containing 18 falls with a heme
APPENDIX.
171
top, one plume of feathers for the headstall and dock, and two trumpet banners of his own arms. It is worth remembering that Henry VI. was twice crowned. It is said Robert de Mormion, the first Baron, had by gift of the Conqueror :
Four Manors in Warwickshire, one in Gloucestershire, fourteen in Lincolnshire, and seventeen in Leicestershire, all which were inherited afterwards by the family.
172
APPENDIX.
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I 74 APPENDIX.
No. i6.
COMPETITIOX BETWEEX FREVILLE AND DYMOKE FOR
THE CHAMPIONSHIP.
Sir William Dui^dale* informs us that Sir Baldwin Freville, the third of that name, in the i Richard II., exhibited his claim to be the King's Champion on the day of his coronation, and to do the service appertaining to that office, b}^ reason of the tenure of Tamwortht : viz., to ride completely armed upon a barbed horse into Westminster Hall, and to challenge the combat with whomsoever that should dare to oppose the king's title to the crown : which service the Marmions, anciently Lords thereof, had heretofore performed. But Sir John Dimmock, being then his competitor, carried it from him, b}^ Judgement of the Constable and Marshall of England,^ in regard he was possessed of the Lordship of Scrivelsby, in the County of Lincoln : which by better authorities than Freville could produce,^ appeared to have been holden for divers ages b}' that service : and that the Marmions had the said office, as owners thereof, and not in right of their castle : it being descended to Dimmock, with Scrivelsby, from an heir female of Sir Thomas Ludlow, Knight, husband of Joan, the 3'oungest daughter to Philip, the last Lord Marmion.
In later times an apparentl}" weighty argument was advanced against the tenure of Scrivelsby by Knight Sejeanty, inasmuch as it was said to be well established that Seijeanties never paid escuage,l| whereas the ancestress of the wife of Sir John Dymoke on one occasion paid this particular fine, but Mr. Madox, in his histor}^ of the Exchequer, p. 453, says, that " Escuage was generally paid out of Knight's fees ; but, that there were also some Serjeantries which paid Escuage ; among which, Joan, late wife of Thomas de Ludelow (who could not have been more than 17 3'ears of age at the time of her death), was charged for the Manor of Langeton, with several Escuages of the armies of Scotland, assessed in the 28th, 31st,
* Dugdale's History of Warwickshire, edited by Thomas, Vol. 2, p. 1134. f Escheat, 23, Edw. I., n. 29. J M.S. in offie. arm. (H. 13) f. 321.
§ Escheat, 23 Edw. III. F. levat. Term. Mich. I. vi. Line.
II Escuage or Scutage was the fine paid for non-attendance on the King in time of war. Escuage accordingly was levied on females inheriting land from a deceased father.
APPENDIX.
175
and 34th years of King Edward I., as if it had been holden of the King by the fourth part of a Knight's fee : she alleged that the Manor of Langeton was a member of the Manor of Scrivelsby, and that the Manor of Scrivelsby with its members was holden of the King by Grand Serjeantry, and not by Knight Service : hereupon, the King, by his writ, commanded the Barons, that if it appeared to them, that the Manor of Scrivelby was holden of the King by Grand Serjeantry, and that the ]\Ianor of Langeton was a member of the Manor of Scrivelby, and that Joan or her ancestors had not formerl}' paid Escuage for the said Manor of Langeton, then they should discharge her of the said demanded Escuages." Mich. Brevia., 9 Edw. II., Rot. 13, a.
I 76 APPENDIX.
No. 17.
ESTABLISHED ANECDOTES AND UNESTABLISHED OPINIONS CONCERNING THE MARMION FAMILY AND THE TENURE OF GRAND SERJEANTRY BY WHICH THE MANOR OF SCRIVELSBY IN THE COUNTY OF LINCOLN IS SAID TO BE HELD.
The lines given below, to which the above heading is appended, were found at Revesby amongst the many valuable manuscripts of the late Sir Joseph Banks, although there is no reason for thinking that he composed them. In spite of their doggerel character, they are evidentl}^ intended to embody a serious argument : and the ballad form was probably chosen as being most likely to arrest attention and to secure general acceptance.
The notes given at the end will enable the general reader to understand the allusions, some at least of which might otherwise be almost unintelligible.
When William the Bastard^ at London kept house,
And his Frenchmen ate beef, at our English expense Sir,
His house-steward ^ who let all his purveyors loose ^ Was call'd by the English Bobby Despencer.
This Bobb}' the Steward, \vas Marmion hight,
A name possibly coin'd out of true Kitchen Bullion,^
If his first trade was keeping the Pots and Pans bright. For what Frenchman call Mariton we call a scullion.
One day when the Bastard had heartily din'd,
He said, "Bobby, if due Suit and Service you'l yield me.
To reward your good cheer I'm so warmly inclin'd.
That I'll grant you Black Coleshill and Snug little Scri'elsby."
Bobby ran for a Clerk who could minute the Grant,
While William sat boozing beside his long table, But before this was finish'd away William went,
So to tell what the Service was, no man was able.^
APPENDIX. 177
Bobbv soon rode to Polesworth and turn'd the nuns out,
For the which holy Editha grievousl}' gored him/' So to Scrivelsby he went where he made a grand rout,
But the King's Court at Horncastle horribly bored him.''
At last old Bob died, and brave Robert his son
Stept forward, a Knight very fond of head breaking,
But before this great Warrior one battle had won
The Knight died in a ditch of his own proper making.^
When Sir Robert the third got his Father's estate
A Jury was summon'd and sworn by their God To return all his Sersices due to the State
But their verdict was, verilv Nescunus quod?
Two Roberts succeeded, the Elder rebell'd.
The second was Lo3'al and happy and free, But neither once said, that their Manor was held
By the tenure so Xoble of Grand Serjeantry.
Next came Philip, a Knight of the spear and the sword,
The Family now had seen seven coronations, Yet no Chronicle, History, Tale or Record,
Says they e'er gave a challenge by Right of their stations.
10
Philip ne'er had a son, so the Marmiton name
Which arose midst the scullery's Filth Grease and Smoke
Was left to the younger Branch, men of good Fame, But the Lands went to Freville and Sir John Dymoke.
How these youngsters could dream that the Conqueror gave To Bob, his House Steward, the Champion's sword.
Is a matter good People can scarcely believe
Unless they've seen Faldingworth's lying Record.^^
Neither William the First, nor fierce Rufus his son
Wanted mock men of war to demand mock concessions,
By their sharp swords they held what their sharp swords had won. And left Champions to prop up disputed successions.
X
1 78 APPENDIX.
From Doomsda}' we learn Scrivelsby's Tenure so grand,
B}' Sergeantry held, is a manifest Joke, For that after the Conqueror granted the Land,
It owed suit and service to Horncastle Soke.^^
That this Fancy was foster'd by Great John of Gaunt,
Who at Bollinbrook, five miles from Scrivelsby then dwelt.
That he told Sir John Dymoke, no aid we should want If he'd claim that by Serjeantry Scrivelsby was held.
That the Faldingworth Roll, a most clumsy deceipt.
Was forg'd by John's order ^^ and brought forth to view.
That from John's wicked cunning, it got all its weight, Were likely, for such things John us'd much to do.^^
When Richard the second our Monarch was crowned, John of Gaunt sat alone and decided each claim,
It was then Scrivelsby Tenure the first time was found. And tis then we first read of the Champion's name.
This John tried by a forg'd Roll to change the succession,^^ He regarded not honor or the Law of the Land ;
This John minded not how he got wealth in possession, Yet on his sole decision does this Tenure stand.
Surely George our good King's indefeazable right, Which lives in our bosoms and reigns in our hearts.
Lacks not, to support it, the wager of Fight; Fell Usurpers and Tyrants alone need such Arts.
An Heir, wise and valiant, prudent and just. Entitled by Law to his much honor'd name.
Should dispence with a service which argues distrust. And which casts a dark shade on the rights of his claim.
APPENDIX. 179
NOTES TO BALLAD.
^William the Conqueror was the illegitimate son of Robert Duke of Normandy, known in history as Robert the Devil, but it is only fair to remember that the Danish system of marriage was widely prevalent amongst the early Xormans. By this system which was a legalized form of concubinage, the woman was bound to her paramour, while the man was at liberty to dissolve the connection at his pleasure. Of the five generations of Xorm.an Dukes from RoUo to William the Conqueror, all save one, known in history as Richard the Good, contracted this species of marriage, which was not deemed morally reprehensible, nor were the children of these informal unions debarred from the rights of inheritance.
-Robert Dispensator, the first English Champion.
3 The allusion is to the system of purveyance, by which the King was entitled, on his journeys, to be supplied with free quarters and entertainment. Such a custom was frequenth' abused, and the " purveyors " had a bad reputation for exacting illegal contributions to the King's necessities.
* As Dugdale does not mention anv of Marmion's Norman Ancestors, we are justified in supposing him to be the first of his family.
* In allusion to the return of the Juries mentioned in Tcsia dc Ncvill, which said Nescitmis quod sen>itiiim (we know not bv what service the lands were held).
^Robert Dispensator is said to have been in such a hurry to secure his grant of Tamworth Castle, in the jurisdiction of which the Nunnery of Polesworth was situated, that he forcibly ejected the Nuns from their home ; but their patron saint, Edith, appeared to him in a vision, and so alarmed him by her denunciations of his sacrilege, that he restored the Nuns, and made compensation for the wrong he had done.
^ See page 8, where a reason is given for the disappearance of Scrivelsby from the Soke of Horncastle, which is sufficiently confirmed by this statement.
^ See page 36.
^ See note 5.
^o See page 109.
11 Bishop Sanderson's Collections, page 192.
^-This is an unlooked for support to the arguments advanced in Chapter I., p. 8. There is no doubt that, before the Marmions came, Scrivelsby was in the Soke of Horncastle, but although the exact time of its extrusion is unknown, we find it mentioned in later documents as forming part of the Wappentake of Gartree.
1^ So grave an accusation ought not to be brought without adequate evidence to support it. It is evident that this ballad was composed by a partizan of the Frevilles, and in opposition to the claim of the Dymokes to act as Champions. But it is monstrous that for lack of better evidence it should suggest that John of Gaunt, the President of the Court of Claims, was only able to decide in favour of Sir John Dymoke, by producing a forged instrument, assigning the Championship to the Scrivelsby Manor by Knight Serjeanty. If this were so, how comes it that before the investigation of the question by
l8o ArPEXDIX.
the Court of Claims, the Black Prince gave so decided an opinion that the right belonged to Sir John Dvmoke? And further, if John of Gaunt had perpetrated this forgery for no other object than to benefit a neighbour, Bolingbroke being only a few miles distant from Scrivelsby, is it likely that he would have left the question open by using the words salvo jure, i.c., without prejudice to any future claim that might be advanced by the Frevilles, instead of at once closing it by giving a definite decision in favour of the side which, by implication, he favoured ?
"See Harl. MSS. 66i. F 154.
I'' It is highly probable — not to say certain — that John of Gaunt maintained his son's contention that he was rightful heir to the throne by blood, inasmuch as he was descended, on the mother's side, from the clda.1 son of Henry III., Edmund, who, by reason of some personal deformity, had been passed over in favour of his younger brother, who became King on his father's death, with the title of Edward I. However untenable this claim may have been at the time, its production in writing cannot be called a forgery : and, after all, there was possibly more weight in the contention than has been generallv supposed. With regard to the whole question, which forms the subject matter of the ballad, it mav be worth while to examine in greater detail the arguments that have been brought forward to support it. The whole argument is based on the forgery said to have been committed by the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. In the first place it is said that " as the Duke of Lancaster's great baronial possession of Bolingbroke was contiguous to the Manor of Scrivelsby, and as he had not hesitated to forge an instrument to obtain the crown of England for his son, we may infer that he would readily stretch a point to serve an old neighbour, especially if a valuable consideration was connected with the obligation." Was ever so flimsy a pretext assigned in support of a charge of forgery, and especially when brought against a nobleman in the position of John of Gaunt ? The next argument is of a more serious character, but has very little to do with the matter in hand. It is said that " in the Lincoln papers the names of the Jurors sworn to make the returns relative to the scutage aid in the I". Edward III., anno 1272, are, incredible as it ma_v seem, the same as those stated to have been returned for the inquisition of the same towns in Tc^ta de Ncxnll, which, according to the sub-commissioners of the public records, appear to have been compiled near the close of the reign of Edward II., or the commencement of that of Edward III., anno 1327, a circumstance so notorious, that one of the manuscripts must have been falsified. For it is utterly impossible that the same Jurors could have been sworn in for the same towns at a distance of time not less than fifty years." A palpable hit has here been made, and it may be at once admitted that one or other of these documents has been tampered with, but there is no evidence as to which of the two was falsified, nor that John of Gaunt had any hand in either. Again it is said that "in Testa de Ncvill, p. 331, Philip Marmion held lands in Dalderby and Wilkesby, in the Wapentake of Horncastle, de Doviiiw Rcgc in capite de veteri fcoffavicnto " ; and at page 335, that " Robert Marmion held, in the same Wapentake, in Scrivelsby. Thornton, Lincoln, Dalderby, Wilkesby, and Holtham, septevidecim carucaias el duas bovatas sed nescwms per quod servitiuin." The
APPENDIX. l8l
implication here, of course, is that at that time no record existed, which expressly stated the particular tenure by wliich these lands were held, and that it was not till the forged instrument was produced by John of Gaunt that anything was heard of Scrivelsby being held by Knight Serjeanty. This is, undoubtedly, a fair argument to use, for it is clear that much difficulty was experienced in finding the original document which mentioned the exact tenure on which the several estates of the Marmions were held. The whole difficulty was caused by the dispersion of the Marmion estates upon the death of the last baron without male issue. As long as these extensive possessions were vested in a single famih", there would be no need to enquire into the origin of the several privileges which thev carried with them. But the case was different when the fourfold division was made on the death of Sir Philip Marmion in 1292. But although the evidence, as regards Knight Serjeanty, is not so conclusive as might have been desired, there was at least a well established tradition that Robert Dispensator received the Manor of Scrivelsby in this wa}-, and that it was deemed sufficient to justify the Court of Claims in assigning the Championship to the Dymokes of Scrivelsby, rather than to the descendants of the Marmions of Tamworth. In any case, the charge of forgery completely breaks down, and we must be content to abide by the final award of the Court of Claims, which decided in favour of Sir John Dymoke, " by reason that he brought forward better evidence in support of the right of office being adjudged to the Manor of Scrivelsby, than Freville could adduce on behalf of his tenure of Tamworth Castle."
1 82 APPENDIX.
No. i8. THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESSOR OF ROBERT DISPENSATOR.
It is necessary to furnish some evidence in support of the statement that the second Marmion in England was Roger and not Robert, as is generally said by Dugdale and others who probably followed his lead without enquiry. It is no slight support to this statement that Mr. C. F. R. Palmer, O.P., who bestowed much attention on the subject a few years ago, has satisfied himself upon the following grounds, that Robert Dispensator was succeeded by his son Roger.
In the printed calendar of the Patent Rolls of Richard II. there appears a Confirmation of certain donations to Polesworth Abbe}- in the district of Tamworth Castle, made by a member of the Marmion famih\ In this record there is per inspexinuis the gi"ant of Stephen confirming to Robert Marmion all the land of Roger, his grandfather, and Robert, hi father, according to the charter of Henry I. The Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I. testifies that the latter Robert — i.e., the great grandfather of Roger — paid relief in the year 1129, on inheriting the land of his father, and Stephen's charter supplies the father's christian name which the Pipe Roll omits. This Roger most exactly fits in with the Roger Marmion of Henry I.'s time, who held extensive lands in Lincolnshire, as entered in the contemporary list of crown tenants preserved amongst the Harleian MSS. The Roger, who in the year 1107 joined in his mother's gift to the Benedictine Abbey of Caen, as detailed in some Normandy deeds at the Public Record Office, and the Roger, in the same reign, who was Lord of Llanstephan Castle, on the authority of a MS. in the Lansdowne collection, must have been one and the same person. Hence it appears certain that Roger Marmion was not a mere "item" but the head of the family at the time stated, in which case he is properly described as the son and successor of Robert Dispensator.
If Roger died in the year 1129, as the Pipe Roll intimates, he cannot have been the Rogier Marmion of the Conquest in 1066, whom Wace then describes as an old man.
In the catalogue of the great military officers who accompanied William the Conqueror, quoted in Stow's Aimals (p. 104) from Gwilliam Tayleur, occur the names of Rogier Marmion and Le Dispenser. It is
APPENDIX. 183
probable that by the titular description Lc Dispenser is meant our Robert Dispensator, and that the Rogier Marmion, mentioned amongst the great barons, was his father, who died shortly after the battle of Hastings.
The known dates of the death of Robert Dispensator and of the Robert Marmion whom we style " The Knave," favour the supposition that the immediate successor of the former was Roger. " The Knave " died in 1143 and Dispensator in 1107, so that ample room is left for the son of the one and the father of the other to be in possession of the famil)' honours. If " The Knave " was the son of Robert Dispensator, as is generally stated, he must have been upwards of 70 when he came to an untimely end by falling a victim to his own knavish trick. It is far more probable that he was in the prime of life at the time of Stephen's conflict with Maud, and that he succeeded his father Roger about 11 20.
This is not the only instance of a confusion that has been made between the names of Robert and Roger Marmion. There is, according to Ba?iks, a document in the Cottonian Library, entitled C/andhcs, which states that the following notice occurs in a Catalogue giving the names of those persons who held lands per single hundreds or centuries, in the County of Lincoln. " Rogerus Marmion inter Scrifleby et Torentura et Ructuna, et Dalbi 17 C. et 2 B.* quas Rogerus ipse tenet. Inde in Dominio 9 C. et 6 B. Ulnetus tenet &c." From the same MS. it also appears that the said Roger held elsewhere other lands, which certain men, whose names are given, held under him. The point to be noted is that in the Cottonian MS. this Marmion is called Roger, whereas the more authentic record, the Liber Niger of the Exchequer, calls him by the name of Robert Mamiyun.
* In primitive times, before the present S3'stem of land-measurement was adopted, a rough estimate of the extent of a man's holding was arrived at by marking the average time occupied by Oxen in ploughing it. At the time of the Domesday Surve}', lands were described by Carucates and Bovates, i.e., b}- the amount of land that could be ploughed in a year by a team of Oxen and a single Ox respectively. There was, however, no fixed standard even for this rough mode of estimating land-areas. Madox in his Baronia (p. 183, n.w.) says that odo bovatoe /admit iinam Caracutam, but as he does not tell us what was understood by a hovate we do not gain much from his statement. There is, in fact, no established value either of a bovate or a Caracute, in consequence, probabl}-, of the variety of soils, which would make it impossible for oxen to plough with any kind of uniformit}', but, speaking generally, we may assume the average extent of a bovate to be 15, and a Caracute 120 acres. A curious instance of this primitive system of measurement is given in Homer (II. X. v.v. 351 — 353), where, what is termed a "mule's range, "representing the distance, by which a team of nimble-footed mules would beat a team of lumbering oxen in ploughing, appears to have been accepted as an established and recognized measure of distance.
184 APPENDIX.
No. 19.
RECTORS OF SCRIVELSBY FROM 1246.
1246 [a°. II Grostete.]
^Nlagister Luke de Waltham, ]iresented by Phili]-) Marmyun. 1262 [Gravesend]
Philip de Ganere}', subdeacon, b\' Sir Philip Marm3^un, on death of ]\Iagister Luke. 1270 [a°. XII. Gravesend] vii Kal : Maii
Philip de Ganereio subd. by the Bishop on presentation of Philip Marmyun, ad commendam. 1270 Xon : Julii.
Magister Donetus, de S. Qiiintin, subd : by Sir Philip Marmyun, on death of Philip de Ganerey. 1290 XVI Kal : Ap :
Magister William Gernun Clerk, presented in minor orders by Sir Philip Marmiun Kn*. on death of Magister Donetus. 13 1 5 VI Id : Jun :
William de Cossale, priest, b}' Lady Johan de Ludelowe, Lady of Scrivelsby, on resignation of William Gernoun.
1324 VI. Id : Jul :
John de Rocheford, by Sir Henry Hillary and Johan his wife, on resignation of Dominus William Coshale (sic)
1325 VII. Id : Maii
John de ffylyngley b}' Sir Henry Illary (sic) Kn*. on resignation of John, exchanged to Spene R. Sarum Dioc : 1354 XII Kal : April :
John Soot of Leverton, priest, by John Dymmok Lord of Scrivelsby on death of John Anne}' {perhaps an alias of the preceding Rector) 1360 V Id : Oct :
Ralph de Schirburn, priest, by Sir John Dynmiok Kn*. on resignation
of John Soote of Leverton — exchanged to Goxhill. John de Burley.
No record of this Institution can be traced at Lincoln, but it must have taken place between 1360 and 1378.
APPENDIX. 185
1378 Peter de Thirsk, X Kal : Jan: priest, by Sir John Dymmok, Kn\
on death of Dominus John de Burley. 1 38 1 John de Croxln-, priest, July 6, by Lady Margaret Dymmok on
resignation of Peter de Thirsk, exchanged to Claxby R. 1394 Magister Thomas de Welbourne, in legibus Licentiatus, bv
Margaret Dymmok, Lady of Scrivelsby. {Hon) vacant not
stated.) 1404 WilHam Peek, Capellanus, by same, Dec : 12, on resignation of
Magister Thomas Welbourne — exchanged to Asfordby R. 141 1 John Grenacre, priest, April 24th, by Lady Margaret relict of Sir
John Dymmok Kn'. and Lady of Scrivelsby on death of
Dom^ W. Peke. 141 1 Dominus William Spenser. 145 1 Dominus Richard Warner, Capellanus, by Lady Eliz"". Dymoke,
relict of Sir Thomas Dymoke, Kn*. on resignation of Will™.
Spenser. 1454 Dominus Robert Burght, [sic) Capellanus, by Thomas Demok of
Skrewylby {sic) gentilman — on resignation of Rich : Warner.
1467 Dominus Thomas Morpath, alias Sharparrow, priest, by Sir Thomas Dymoke, Kn'. on deprivation of Dominus Robert Borow {sic)
i^'j2 Magister John Croxby, B.D., by Robert Radclyf, Esq"", on death of
Dominus Thomas Shai-parrow. 151 7 ^Magister Richard Sothyde, ^LA., by Sir Rob*. Dymoke, Kn*. on resignat". of Croxby Thomas Bromfield.
Xo date given of this Institution, but y'' first pages in y^ oldest Parish Register are signed by Tho : Bromfield ft-om 1566 to ImSo
1584 Thomas Man, clerk, by Sir Edmund Dymoke, Kn*. on death of D^ Tho^ Bromefeld ■ John Haughton
Signs old Registers from 1591 to 1614. Buried at Scrivelsby.
1615 John Dixon, M.A., on death of John Haughton.
Buried at Scrivelsby.
1643 Gabriel Offley, M.A., by y'^ Bishop Feb. 5. Name does not appear in Register.
1 86 APPENDIX.
1643 John Warren, clerk, June 1 1, by Charles Dymock, of Scrivelsby, Esq'. 1660 Thomas Booker, clerk, by Edward Dymoke Esq.
Thomas Booker signs y« old Register Book as Rector in 1669 and is buried as Rector in 1704 while y* signature of Wm, Weed Rector, appears in 1671. John Whelpdale.
No record of date of institution at Lincoln. The Rev. J. Whelpdale, Rector, was buried at Scrivelsby in 1730 but no other mention of the name occurs in the Parish Register. Wm. Wood's name does not appear in the Registry at Lincoln but he signs the Scrivelsby Register once in 167 1 and his burial is recorded as Rector in 1672.
1 73 1 William Bowes, A.B., Aug. 3 1 , by Lewis Dymoke, of Scrivelsby, Esq'.
Buried at Scrivelsby in 1751
1 75 1 John Brownell, clerk, by Hon : Lewis Dymoke, Esq'., on death of William Bowes.
Buried at Scrivelsby in 1764. It was either in this Incumbency, or more probably in the time of his predecessor, that Dalderby was consolidated with Scrivelsby in 1741.
1764 John Tucker, Oct : 26, by John D3'moke, Esq. on death of preceding
Rector Brownell.
Mr. Tucker's name only appears once in the Parish Register, when he signs as Rector in 1764.
1777 John Warner, D.D., by John Dymoke, Esq. on death of Tucker.
This name does not occur in the Parish Registers, but it appears from the record at Lincoln that Dr. Warner was institued on 4th x-\ug. 1777 and the Rev. Jonathan Robinson on loth Novr. in the same year.
1777 Jonathan Robinson, M.A., loth Nov'., by John Dymoke, of
Hoddesden, Esq. on cession of John Warner.
Mr. J. Robinson was Rector of Kirkby on Baine and appears to have had charge of the parish first as Curate and subsequently as Rector from 1767 to 1788. He probably held the living under a bond of resignation in favour of J. Dymoke.
1 788 John Dymoke, B.A., April 25, by Lewis Dymoke, Esq', on resignation of Robinson.
. He appears to have been re-instituted 1789 and 1795 on his own cession. He was the father of his successor J. Dymoke.
APPENDIX.
187
1829 John Dymoke, B.A., March 15, by Henry Dymoke of Scrivelsby Court, Esq"", on the death of John Dymoke.
He died of cholera and was cremated the same day at Florence, 6 years after his resignation of the Rectory.
1867 Samuel Lodge, jNI.A., by the Hon: and Rev: John Dymoke, hereditary Champion and late Rector of Scrivelsby on resignat". of said J, Dymoke.
1 88 APPENDIX.
No. 20.
AX ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEDURE AT THE COURT OF CLALAIS, cS:c., PREVIOUS TO AND AT THE COROXATION
OF GEORGE HI.
The following is given /// the exact words of Champion John Dymoke.
" As soon as the Court of Claims was established, I proposed mine immediately, and exhibited it the first Court day, when it was read, and the second Court day it was read again, and allowed, and my certificate signed.
The Master of the Rolls was petitioned by my Attorney in my behalf to permit the Rolls to be brought into Court, to shew it was no new claim.
A day or two after the certificate was signed, I carried it to the Wardrobe, and there left it (having taken copies), that the}' might order the Banners and the Saddlerv. I carried there with me an emblazoning of my own single arms, crest, and motto, that they might be painted on the Trumpet Banners.
I, on day after, went to the Tower (having first given notice thereof to the Armourer and Secretary of the Ordnance), with a copy of my certificate, to claim the Armour, Pistols, Sword, Lance, and Target. I tried on the Armour I fixed upon. The Secretary told me the composition last time was £60, and would have compounded with me for the same, but I refused talking of it, as after I had wore it, it became my property, as much as my estate, and I intended demanding more. 1 carried to the Tower with me the emblazoning of ni}- own single arms (tho' married), crest, and motto, to be depicted on the target.
I then had an interview with the Master of the Horse, the Duke of Rutland, when the Duke said he would compound the horse for 100 guineas, but to keep up the form of the claim, and to secure payment of the money by not having forgot to claim, a da}- was set, and I went in the Master of the Horse's Coach to the King's Meuse {sic), where I laid my hand upon the best white horse in the stable, sa3'ing * this horse I chuse to do my service upon ;' having compounded with His Grace for ^105, or accepted the promise of payment in lieu of the horse. I took leave of His
APPENDIX. 189
Grace in the Meuse at his departure, and as soon as he was gone, my chariott drove up and carried me away.*
After that I received a letter from the Board of Ordnance, desiring my attendance. I went. It was then required of me, if I would accept of ;^6o as a composition for or in lieu of the armour, &c. I believe from thence they would have proceeded to have got me to sign a promise to return it ! a tiling nothing shon/d have obliged jne to have done, as that ever would have been a precedent to render the claim of the armour nominal, as the Board for the future would have made ever}' succeeding Champion act the same, and have given what composition they pleased, and if that promise or receipt had been given, they might have insisted on the armour as soon as used and been ad libitum about the payment of the stipulated sum. (I earnestly recommend it to all my successors to avoid this, and be as cautions as they possibly can, when they have to do with the Ordnance.) This being a thing unprecedented, I replied that it was an affair which required deliberation, and that the Conrt of Claims had allowed my Certificate, which expressly ordered me one of the best suits of armour, and such a one as the King would wear when he went into mortal battle. This, with the other perquisites, were mine as much as my estate, as soon as the coronation was over, for service performed, and not
* See page 113, where attention is drawn in a foot-note to the absence of this horse from the Scrivelsby Stables, and a suggestion is made as to the probabihty of a composition being offered and accepted. This note was printed before the author had seen the interesting extract from the diary of Champion John D3-moke. The horse that carried George II. at Dettingen in 1743 must have been at least twenty-two 3'ears old at the time of the coronation of George III. in 1761, and must then have been tolerabl}' safe for the Champion's performance in Westminster Hall, although it is well-known that in the days of his fiery youth he was not alwa3's to be depended on for sobriety of conduct. On the contrary, he was, during the battle of Dettingen, so oblivious of the precious burden he was carrying, that, being frightened at a sudden and unauthorized dash of Grammont's cavalry, he became unmanageable, and was carrying the poor little king into the verj' heart of the enemy's position, when he was stopped in time, and the king, dismounting from his panting steed, encouraged his men by telling them that now he could not run awa}', even if he would. " No more running awaj' now," he shouted, " steady, my boys : fire, my brave boys : the French \j'ill soon run," and with a rapid rush of infantrj^ he drove back Grammont's horse at the point of the bayonet, winning the battle, which is chiefly interesting as being the last battle at which an English King fought in person, with the cold steel. Some few years ago, there was at Scrivelsby Court an interesting relic of this old horse in the shape of a white tail with a parchment scroll attached, stating that it was the tail of the horse that carried George II. at Dettingen ; but, unfortunately, it cannot now be found.
190 APPENDIX.
like any other fees payable on this occasion. Being asked if I would compound when the coronation was over, I told them I would give an answer to that when it zvas over, and finlher I beg'd to be excused. The Board told me they perceived I was delicate for the rights and honour of my family, and applauded me for it. They would report it, and I should hear further. They took an extract of the cop}- of my certificate, which they returned, so before I left the room the}' acknowledged the armour, &c., to be my property, and said the minutes of their records corroborated it. I then took my leave and came away.
Upon this unprecedented behaviour from the Board of Ordnance, and assisted by Lord Talbot and Lord Litchfield, &c., I determined to present a Petition to His Majesty for my amiour, &c. Accordingly I drew up a Petition and having had it well wrote over, I presented it, on my bended knee, to the King, open, after he retired from the circle, as he went into his private apartments.
After some days. His Majesty ordered me one of the best suits of armour. The armourer interpreted this as they pleased, and gave me an old suit, but it being only three days before the coronation when it was signified to me by the Board that upon my ordering the Armour, Target, Lance, Sword, &c., to be delivered under my hand, it should be done. Accordingly I wrote an order of delivery to my servant, who carried it, and with this verbal reserve to the Armourer, that he should keep it till the coronation day and wait on me with it, when so ordered.
Upon a rehearsal of the Candles in Westminster Hall, the Friday preceding the coronation, I ordered the Horse and Armour only down, which I tried that night in the hall. The Armourer brought only the Armour, without Target, Lance, or Sword, in a hackney coach. I ordered the Armour only on the Monday morning preceding the coronation, which was brought again in a hackney coach to the Riding School in Tyburn Road, where my horse stood, and where I learnt to ride. I rode three-quarters of an hour in my Armour.
On the day of the coronation, a Sergeant's Guard of Sir Robt. Rich's Dragoons came at seven o'clock and escorted me down, when I purposed going into my Booth or Stables, but it was not half built, no floor in it, but a perfect hogst}', owing to the drunkenness of the workmen. It being impossible to go into this half built edifice, I, with my Gentlemen, who
APPENDIX. 191
were with me and I had invited to the Booth with me, went into the Hall, where we staid till the procession went to the Abbey, and we all followed it on the platform, having procured a ticket from the Earl Marshall for me and my attendance {sic) to pass and repass.
M)^ horse and accoutrements were sent to the Meuse the night before the coronation, to be brought down with the High Constable's Earl Marshall High Steward to the stables or Booth, which was done by twelve o'clock.
The dress of the Esquires, in honour of the young King and his late marriage, were white cloth — neatly made — with a broad open silver lace, the hats were laced with the same and white ostrich feathers round each ; m}' four pages (being my footmen) had creamed coloured coats, lined with blue, and blue-coloured cloth waistcoat, handsomelv laced with a brown single silver lace, and breeches like the coat (in honour of the King and Queen) instead of their usual Liveries, which was generally laced with narrow silver instead of worsted, and hats with the same lace round them, as on the coat, &c., white silk stockings, and bags. They had no shoulder knots on, being Pages, but the next da}^, when I went to Court, I had three of them behind my coach, both they and the Coachman had then their silver shoulder knots on.
I went to the coronation in my dress I was to ride in, (fearing the place should not be ready to receive me) and my coat over it, with a sword on it, being crimson satin quilted jacket and breeches, and white worsted stockings on, both which were to prevent the pressure and damp of the armour.
Being dressed just before the second course went in (as I took care to have notice from the Hall when it was proper to dress) the Knight Marshall came for me. With him I entered the Hall, carr3'ing my right- hand gauntlet in ni}^ right hand, with the fingers towards the horse's head (left-hand gauntlett being on my hand) and a little beyond the entrance, the challenge was made, at the end of which I flung the gauntlett on the ground, on the right side of me, a little beyond the horse, with as much force as the armour would allow just then my most uplifted arm and hand to throw it. I immediately clapped my hand to my side in token of defiance, and remained in that attitude till the gauntlett was taken up and returned me by the Herald. In the middle of the Hall was repeated the
192 APPENDIX.
same, only with this difference, that after the challenge, instead of raising my arm as high as the armour would admit to throw the gauntlett forcibly on the ground, I this second time did throw it ascant, expressing thereby a contempt of any one who should dare take it up. We proceeded to the top of the Hall, and at the foot of the steps the challenge was read a third time, at the end of which I threw the gauntlett down, as at first, then, putting my hand on m}' hip (a kimbo) I turned my face and head to the right and left — bidding as it were defiance. After the gauntlett had lain some time, it was the third time delivered to me, which I then put on, and as soon as on, I touched the forehead of ni}' helmet, with a small bend of the head three times, to pay my obeisance to His Majest}', first on the left side of my horse, then to the Queen on the right side, then to the King again, in token that I had finished the service : after which the King drank to me and I made obeisance as before to him only once : the cup was brought to me, and with the most audible voice I was master of, I drank after pronouncing these w^ords, ' Long live their Majesties.'
Having drank my liquor (keeping the cup in my hand) I turned my horse on his shoulders round to the right, and rode down the hall, waving my cap a little, that it might be seen. I delivered the cup to one of my Esquires, when out of the hall, and as soon as I was undressed, I got into my coach, and returned in the manner I came to the Hall in the morning, the guard attending me home. My fi"iends, being in another coach, were before my coach within the first escort of the guards, and behind mine came the second."
JOHN DYMOKE,
September i^iJi, 1761.
INDEX.
Agricultural Depression
Ague no longer prevalent in Lincolnshire
Anecdotes
Mareham supra niontcni
William the Conqueror and his dapifer
Knavish trick of Sir Robert Marmion
The Dragon of Sockburn
Quarrel for Precedence .
The Tottering Champion
Gock and Bull Story
The Rn'crend Mrs. D.
The " Rather " Reverend R. D Architecture of Church Arched Gateway Armour and Armoury . Autograph Letter from Henry VIIL „ Queen Mary
Autumn Tints Avenues in Park
Baronetage conferred on Sir Henry Dvmoke Battle of Lose-coat Field Bovate, extent of Brass in Horncastle Church „ Scrivelsby Church Break in the Succession to the Championship Canting Mottoes Caput Baroniae .
Champion, The, at Westminster Hall "Champion's Farewell," The, by Tom Hood Chancel, The
Christian Xames, same in same familv Church, Description of . Church Plantation, The Churchyard Cross to H. L. Dymoke Civil War, The .
S8
PAGE
15, 79 13
|
27 |
|
|
36 |
|
|
50 |
|
|
83 |
,84 |
|
88 |
|
|
91 |
|
|
117 |
|
|
117 |
|
|
124 |
-126 |
|
120 |
|
|
121 |
|
|
^11 |
|
|
156, |
157 |
|
18 |
|
|
119 |
|
|
95 |
|
|
5 5 |
|
|
183 |
|
|
150 |
|
|
27, 152 |
-154 |
|
86, 94, |
102 |
|
45 |
|
|
40 |
|
|
22-24 |
|
|
115, |
167 |
|
124 |
|
|
29 |
, 90 |
|
123 |
-130 |
|
123- |
124 |
|
130 |
|
|
80-92 |
196
INDEX.
|
P.\GE. |
||||||
|
Claim to Barony of Marmion ....... 96 |
||||||
|
Coniers of Durham .... |
50 |
|||||
|
Co-heiresses of Sir Philip Marmion |
40 |
|||||
|
Coincidences .... |
IIO |
|||||
|
Cooper, or Cowper, Bishop of Lincoln |
• |
76 |
||||
|
Coronations |
||||||
|
Richard II. ... . |
22, 25, 26 |
|||||
|
James I. . |
83 |
|||||
|
Charles I. |
85 |
|||||
|
Charles II. . . . |
22-24 |
|||||
|
James II. ... |
88 |
|||||
|
William and Mary |
90 |
|||||
|
Queen Anne |
90 |
|||||
|
Queens regnant . |
90,91 |
|||||
|
Queens dc jure |
90,91 |
|||||
|
George III. |
94 |
|||||
|
George IV. |
95 |
|||||
|
William IV. . |
115, 116 |
|||||
|
Victoria .... |
21 |
|||||
|
Court of Claims .... |
21, 26-28 |
|||||
|
Courtesy-title of Champion |
40,116 |
|||||
|
Death of Robert Dymoke in Lincoln Castle |
78 |
|||||
|
Descent from Sir Philip Marmion |
149 |
|||||
|
Despenser not derived from Dispensator |
34, 35 |
|||||
|
Dettingen, George II. at |
113, 189 |
|||||
|
Drainage of Fens |
14 |
|||||
|
Duke of Norfolk in time of Queen Elizabeth |
76 |
|||||
|
Dymoke |
||||||
|
Derivation of Name |
I |
|||||
|
Origin |
43 |
|||||
|
Lady Margaret (de Ludlow) |
41, 47,48,49 |
|||||
|
Sir John . |
45-48 |
|||||
|
Sir Thomas (i) . |
49 |
|||||
|
Sir Philip. |
50 |
|||||
|
Sir Thomas (2) . |
52-55 |
|||||
|
Lionel |
56 |
|||||
|
Sir Robert (i) . |
56-59 |
|||||
|
Sir Edward (i) . |
. 62, 69, 70 |
|||||
|
Robert |
72-78 |
|||||
|
Sir Edward (2) . |
83 |
|||||
|
Charles |
86 |
INDEX.
197
Dymoke
Sir Edward (3)
Sir Charles
Lewis (i) (Scrivelsbv Branch)
Edward
John (i) .
Lewis (2) .
Rev. Jolm (i)
Sir Henry
Rev. John (2)
Henry Lionel (Tetford Branch)
Edward, Junior
John (i) .
John (2) .
John (3) .
Thomas
John (4) .
Francis Seaman Early Coronations Elegy by Henry Winn Epigram by Henry Pollexfen Execution of Sir Thomas Dymoke Extract from Register of Dymoke entries Family Portraits . Fens and Marshes Feudal System . Fine, Heavy, on Sir E. D^-moke Freville, Sir Baldwin Gardener's Cottage Gateway, Arched Genealogical Tables
1. Direct Descent from Sir Philip Marmion
2. From Sir Philip Marmion to present time Gold Cups Goodrich, John . Grand Serjeanty . Healthiness of Lincolnshire Heneage, Sir George Henrietta Maria . Heywood, Elizabeth
26, 4;
30, 33. i;
■4, 175,
PAGE. 87, 88, 102
88
93, 104, 129
94 94 94 95
95-97 97 97
102
102
103
103 103
103 104, 149
25 168
33
54 162-164
121
14
31-33
87
-47, i74; 175
4 120
- 149
172, 173
28, III, 113
56
179, 180, 181
13 83,84
85 86
198
INDEX.
Hillary, Sir Henry Hood, Tom
Imperious Dame, The . Imprisonment of Robert Dvmoke James I. . Knight Serjeanty Legacy to Charles I. Leland's Description of the Old House Lincolnshire, Description of Lincolnshire Insurrection Lion Gateway List of Acting Champions Dymoke Registers Rectors of Scrivelsby . Manners, Richard Martyr Champion, The Marmions
Origin and Early History
Robert Dispensator
Sir Roger
Sir Robert, the Knave .
Sir Robert, the Judge .
Sir Robert, the elder
Sir Philip. Maze of Cousin hood Monson, Sir John Monuments in Scrivelsby Church Mottoes, Canting Mutilated Ceremony at the Coronation of James I. Old House, Leland's description of Old Ballad
Orders by Mrs. Jane Dvmoke . Parish Registers .
Patriarchal Government of the Marmions Pecuniary Embarrassments Pollexfen, Henry, Epigram by Quarrel for Precedence . Rebus on Lion Gate Rectors of Scrivelsby from 1246 Reformation in England St- Benedict
PAGE.
41, 42 115, 167
49 77
81-82
33 86
57 12-19
63
4, 45
165
162-164
184-187
58
72-78
|
2( |
^42 |
|
30-35 |
|
|
5, 182, |
183 |
|
36, |
183 |
|
37 |
,38 |
|
38 |
.39 |
|
40 |
|
|
102 |
|
|
83 |
,84 |
|
126- |
130 |
|
45 |
|
|
83 |
|
|
57 |
|
|
147, |
148 |
|
158- |
160 |
|
131- |
144 |
|
6 |
|
|
78 |
81 |
|
33 |
|
|
83 |
84 |
|
45 |
|
|
184- |
187 |
|
73 |
12:
INDEX.
199
|
Scrivelsby |
PAGE. |
||||
|
Description of Village ....... 2-4. 9, 10 |
|||||
|
Branch of Dymoke Family |
94-98 |
||||
|
Church . . |
123-130 |
||||
|
Court .... |
118-122 |
||||
|
Park |
118 |
||||
|
Serjeanty, Grand and Petty |
33 |
||||
|
Skipworth, Sir W. |
56 |
||||
|
Soke of Horncastle |
7-8 |
||||
|
Stocks, The .... |
7 |
||||
|
Table Monument in Scrivelsby Churc |
h |
58-61, 152-154 |
|||
|
Tail Male .... |
87, 106 |
||||
|
Totemism |
44 |
||||
|
Tottering Champion, The |
88 |
||||
|
Vernon, Sir R. . |
58 |
||||
|
Verses on Coronation of George II. |
III |
||||
|
Waterton Sir Robert |
56 |
||||
|
Wars of the Roses |
53-55 |
||||
|
Welles Dymoke |
• 95, 105, 106 |
||||
|
Welles, Lord |
55 |
||||
|
Welles, Sir R. . |
55 |
||||
|
Welles, Lionel Lord |
56 |
||||
|
Welles, Rev. T. . . . |
103, 105, 106 |
||||
|
Will of Henrv Lionel Dvmoke |
104 |
||||
|
William of Malmesbury, on the Fens. |
15 |
||||
|
Zenith of Dymoke Family |
78 |
cXd^X'cX'
►^■•THE END.-i^
^N£XX5^
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.
Pages II and 53, to the English versions from Horace append tiie name of the translator, Theodore Martin.
Page 26, last line, for Collin's read Collins's.
28, foot note, for Bank's read Banks's.
125, foot note, for Alphage read Alphege.
129, line 20, for reading desk read screen.
176, second stanza, y&^ Frenchman ;r^rr/ Frenchmen ; m\i\ for Mariton read^l2ccvd\X.ox\.
179. foot note,/'r Wappentake ;r(7(^/ Wapentake.
150, foot note, for propiecitur read propicietur,
151, line I'i, for hal")itation ;rr7c/ exaltation.
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