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929.2

C878c

v.l

1175999

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

— II III I III III I ,
3 1833 01208 7000

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center

http://www.archive.org/details/genealogicalhist01crok

THE

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY

THE CROKE FAMILY,

(ICIVALLY JfA.MSn

LE BLOUNT

THE

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY

THE CROKE FAMILY,

UllcilVAI.LY NAMED

LE BLOUNT

SIR ALEXANDER CROKE, D.C.L. and FAS.

OF STUDLEY PRIORY, OXFORDSHIRE.

OIKO0EN MATETE.

Pindar.

C%7%^ OXFORD

FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON
AND JOSEPH PARKER, OXFORD.

1823.

TO MY CHILDREN.

1175999 .

IT is an interesting object of curiosity, I believe, to most men,
to search into the origin of their own families, to trace their

•.

lineal descents, and to collect the history of the individuals who
compose them. However remote in time, or consanguinity, it
is natural to experience in favour of our forefathers the real
or imaginary influence of blood, and relationship : we enter
affectionately into their concerns, we participate of their honours
and prosperity, and are personally hurt at their misconduct, or
misfortunes:

The connection between the ancestor and his posterity not
only affects themselves, but is acknowledged by mankind in
general. In every country, an ancient descent, and from persons
of eminence, reflects honour upon those who can claim it : the
greatest nations have been ambitious of deducing their history
from the earliest times, and where their real sources were lost in
obscurity, they have adorned them with imaginary gods and
heroes. These sentiments are undoubtedly founded in the
innate and best feelings of the human mind, which delights in
multiplying and extending the ties that bind us to our fellow-
creatures. The love of our kindred is the first degree in the

expansion of the heart, in its progress towards universal bene-
volence.

Self-love but selves the virtuous mind to wake,
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake:
The centre moved, a circle strait succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace,
His country next, and next all human race3.

I trust therefore that I have not been actuated by a silly
vanity, or pride, by indulging a propensity so natural, and upon
my return to my native country, after many years of absence
occupied in the duties of an honourable station, if I have
amused some of my vacant hours in collecting and digesting all
(he particulars I can discover relating to our own family. Its
antiquity, and noble origin, the number of illustrious persons it
has produced, and a variety of circumstances connected
with it, seem to be not altogether unworthy of research, and
relation.

Every day the task of inquiring into former ages becomes
more difficult. The knowledge of events gradually fades away,
every generation, every year, annihilates the remembrance of
persons, and facts,

E di cento migliaja, che Parena

Sul t'ondo involve, tin se ne scrva appena*.

My father, my grandfather, and my ancestors still more remote,
were in possession of circumstances now totally forgotten, and,
in the next generation, much of what is known to me will be no
longer in memory. I have endeavoured therefore to preserve,
before it be too late, whatever information still subsists, either
in my own knowledge, or in the traditions of those who have

' Essay on Man, ep. iv. 1. 363. b Ariosto, canto xxxv. stanza 12.

gone before me. The pursuit has been to myself an innocent, and
not unpleasant employment : the display of the rank and merits
of your ancestors to you, my children, may prove an incitement
to virtue and good conduct, and may " kindle in you a generous
emulation, and a noble ambition to perform actions worthy of
them0."

But another still more beneficial use may be made of this
history. The review of so many persons and generations, passing
rapidly over the theatre of life, may impress upon your minds a
great truth, which I have lived long enough to feel in my own
experience, but which, in the ardour of youth, you may probably
have hitherto overlooked, That this world is nothing more than
a succession of mere phantoms, which appear upon the stage for
a short time, and then vanish for ever : and that to ourselves
even, in what we seem to be, and to enjoy, it is equally unsub-
stantial. To the past we are dead, the present transitory mo-
ment can scarcely be said to exist, and the contingencies of
to-morrow are still more visionary. You will then be satisfied
that nothing can be considered as real but our future stale, and
that no object is worth the pursuit of a rational being but a
happiness which is of a very different character from any thing
to be seen in this life, unchangeable, indestructible, and eternal.
If this lesson, one of the most valuable which the whole com-
pass of science can teach you, from the moving pictures here
represented, should strike you with such luminous evidence as it
ought to do, and become the leading principle of your lives, I
shall think my trouble amply rewarded.

In a few more revolutions of this planet, I shall myself be
numbered with the ancestors of the family. In my person, in
my character, and in the simple history of my life, I shall be as
little known or remembered as they are now.

c Sir Harhotlle Grimston's Preface to Crokc James.

will remain to be discovered, by any idle person who may have
the curiosity to enquire after me, beyond a register, a monument,
and some slight scattered notices, which may have found their
way into print, or may have been accidentally committed to
writing. In future times, when this body shall be reduced to
the dust from whence it came, may this little memorial be pre-
served, as a testimony of my respect for my predecessors, and
of my love for my children, and even of those who shall be born
after them ; who " will never have known, or seen me, and
whom I shall neither know, or see."

Believe me,

my dear children,

to be ever your affectionate father,
Studley Priory, ALEXANDER CROKE,

January 1, 18c23.

CONTENTS.

Dedication Page v.

Contents ix.

Introduction I.

BOOK THE FIRST.

FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TILL THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TWO BROTHERS,
ROBERT AND WILLIAM LE BLOUNT, IN ENGLAND, IN THE YEAR 1066: OR THE
HISTORY OE THE COUNTS OF GUISNES, AND THEIR ANCESTORS OF THE ROYAL
FAMILY OF DENMARK.

CHAP. I.

The history of Guisnes to the death of the frst Count, Sigefrede, and his Countess
Elstrude of Flanders — Kings of Denmark — Noble family of Elstrude . 5

CHAP. II.

Of the subsequent Counts of Guisnes, to the end of the frst male line — Adolphus,
Rodolphus, Eustace, Baldwin I. Eobert or Mdnasses, Emma of Tancarville,
Beatrice de Guisnes, liberie de Vere, Baldwin of Ardrcs ... 20

CHAP. III.

Of the father of Robert and William le Blount— Origin of coats of arms— Origin of
names . .......... 33

CHAP. IV.

Of the family of Guisnes of the second race, or the house of Ghent— Chat elains of
Ghent - Wcnemar — Counts of Guisnes— Arnold I. — Baldwin II. Knighted by
Thomas & Becket— Arnold II.— Lambert d'Ardres, the Historian— Baldwin III.
—Arnold III. — Guisnes sold— Baldwin IF. nominal Count — Jane de Guisnes— John

de Brienne— Guisnes recovered 43

x CONTENTS.

CHAP. V.

The Counts of Guisnes of the third race, or the house of Eu — John dc Brienne
—Rodolphus II. — Rodolphus III. the last Count — Final history of Guisnes — Con-
quered by Edward III.— Reconquered in the reign of Queen Mary . . 73

CHAP. VI.

Of other noble families of the house of Guisnes— The Lords de Couci—The Viscounts
of Meaux—The Chatelains of Ghent — The Lords of St. John Steen — The Lords
of Rassenghiem, and the Counts of Isenghiem .83

BOOR THE SECOND.

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE LE BLOUNTS IN ENGLAND, AND THE HISTORY OF THE
ELDEST BRANCHES, THE BARONS OF IXWORTH, THE BARONS OF BELTON, AND THE
CROKE FAMILY.

PART I.

THE BARONS OF IXWORTH, AND BELTON.

CHAP. I.

The settlement of the Ic Blount s in England—Sir William le Blount quartered at the
Monastery at Ely— Tabula Elicnsis— Sir Robert le Blount, Baron of Ixworth—
Possessions of the brothers ......... 93

CHAP. II.

Le Blount, Baron of Ixworth in Suffolk — Robert, first — Gilbert, second — William,
third — Gilbert or Hubert, fourth — William, fifth — William, sixth, slain
at the battle of Lewis— Title extinct — His two sisters married Sir William de
Crcketot, and Sir Robert de Valonys 102

CHAP. III.

Le Blount, Baron ofBelton. Stephen le Blount married Maria le Blount. Union of the
two families — Their sons Robert and John — Sir John le Blount. Family ofde Wro-
tham — Sir Robert le Blount. Lord Odinsels. Belton acquired — Division into tiro
great branches from Sir Ralph le Blount, and Sir William le Blount — Sir William
ancestor of the Blounts of Sodington, fyc. in the third booh— Sir Ralph le Blount.
Lovet. Hampton Lovet acquired— Sir William le Blount— Sir Thomas le Blount.
Juliana de Leyboumc. Hastings. Clinton. Two sons, William and Nicholas — Second
Nicholas— Sir William le Blount. Alanus de Atkinson — Thickenapcltre acquired —

CONTENTS. xi

Sir John le Blount. Elizabeth de Fourneaux—Sir William le Blount. Alice le
Blount. Sir Richard Stafford. Sir Richard Stury . . . . 108

BOOK II. PART II.

THE LORDS OF BELTON CONCLUDED, AND THE HISTORY OF THE CROKE FAMILY. 127

CHAP. I.

The conclusion of the Lords of Belton, and the origin of the Croke family.
Sir Thomas le Blount and Nicholas le Blount — View of the reign of Richard II.
Conspiracy. Cruel execution of Sir Thomas le Blount. Extinction of the Lords of
Belton — Nicholas le Blount escapes into Italy. John Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of
Milan. Return and change of name to Croke. Settles at Easington—Heynes —
James Croke, alias le Blount — Richard — John— Of the coat of arms of the
family 129

CHAP. II.

John Croke, alias le Blount, Esquire, and Prudentia Cave— Clerks and Masters in
Chancery — Sir Thomas More— Cave family — Chilton and Studley purchased. 393

Digression I. The history of the Priory of Studley, its jwssessions, founders, and
benefactors— De Oyley — De Iveri—De Saint Valori—the Earl of Dreux — Richard
King of the Romans— Story of Adela de Ponthicu— Grant to John Croke. 408
See Additions.

Ricliard Croke, D.D. Greek Professor.— Taught Henry the Fill.— Sent to Italy in
the affair of the King's Divorce 43S

CHAP. III.

Sir John Croke, or le Blount, and Elizabeth Union, The families of Union and
Fettiplace— Beatrice of Portugal — First High Sheriff for Buckinghamshire — Name
ofle Blount omitted 443

CHAP. IV.

Tlie eldest son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Union, Sir John Croke the Judge,
and his descendants.

Section I. Sir John Croke, the Judge, and Katherine Blount, his wife— Speaker of
the House of Commons — Affair of the monopolies — Poor laixs— Appointed a Justice
of the King's Bench .......... 459

Section II. Sir John Croke, the eldest son of Sir John Croke, the Judge, and his
descendants— Decay and extinction of this eldest branch— Trial of Haixkins 485

xii CONTENTS.

Section III. Sir Henry Croke, the second son of Sir John Croke, the Judge, and
his descendants; or the Chequers branch— Sir Henry Croke, Clerk of the Pipe,
married Bridget Hawlrey— Sir Robert married Susan Fanloor—Thurban— Rivet t
— Russel—Greenhill . . . iy R

Section IV. Charles Croke, D. D. the third son, Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham
College, Rector of Agmondcsham, Chaplain to King Charles the First . 506

Section V. Serjeant Union Croke of Marston, the fourth son, and his
descendants — Relationship to the Parliamentary leaders — Sir Richard Croke,
Member for Oxford — Strange events at Woodstock — Captain Union Croke — The
Cavalier Plot— Defeat of Sir Joseph IVagstaff— Concurred with Monk . 511

Section VI. Edward Croke, thejifth son ...... 550

CHAP. V.

Henry Croke, the second son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Union, and his
descendants, or the Waterstock branch — His son Henry Croke, D. D. Professor of
Rhetoric at Gresham College, Rector of Waterstock — The estate there left him by
his uncle Sir George Croke the Judge — Wilkinson family — Sir George Croke,
Fellow of the Royal Society — The longitude, and other philosophical pursuits — Left
only daughters — Waterstock sold ........ 552

CHAP. VI.

Sir George Croke, the Judge, the third son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Union,
and his descendants.

Section I. Sir George Croke, and Mary Bennel — Appointed a Justice of the King's
Bench — Disputes between the King and Parliament— Supports the liberty of the
subject — Seldcn arid Hambden's cases— His reports— Bennet family— Left only
three daughters ........... 561

Section II. Mary the eldest daughter, and her husband, Sir Harbottle Grimston,
Baronet — The Grimston family ........ 606

Section III. Elizabeth, the second daughter, and her first husband, Thomas Lee,
Esquire — The Lee family . ■ • ■ • ■ ■ • 614-

Section IV. Sir Richard Ingoldsby, the second husband of Elizabeth, and his family
— The Marquis of Winchester . . ■ . • • • . 616

Frances, third daughter, and John Jervois, Esquire 627

CHAP. VII.

Paidus Ambrosius Croke, the fourth son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Union, a
barrister — Family of Wellesbornc — His only daughter married Sir Robert Heath,

CONTENTS. xiii

Lord Chief Justice— Their descendants, Earls of Gainsborough, and Viscounts
Wentworth ............ 628

CHAP. VIII.

The three daughters of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Union.

Section I. Cecily Croke, the eldest daughter, and her first husband, Edward Bul-
strode, Esquire — The families of Bulstrode and JVIiitelock — Sir James Whitelocke,
a Justice of the King's Bench— Sir Bidstrode JVhitelocke, Lord Commissioner of the
Great Seal, and Ambassador to Sweden — Quee?i Christina . . . C30

Sir John Brown, the second husband of Cecily ...... 654

Section II. Prudence Croke, the second daughter, and Sir Robert Wingfield 655

Section III. Elizabeth Croke, the third daughter, and Sir John Tyrrell — Family
of Tyrrell 656

CHAP. IX.

William Croke, the _fifth son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth . Unton ,- his wife,
Dorothy Homjivood : and his son Alexander Croke — Remarkable account of Mary
Honywood — Bradford the Martyr — Thefamilies ofBrasey and Beke, Lord Lovelace,
and Mayne — Simon Mayne one of the King's Judges— John Bigg . . 658

CHAP. X.

The descendants of William Croke continued. The eldest branch of the descendants
of his son Alexander Croke — Richard Croke — John — Edward — John — James —
Charlotte Croke married William Ledwell 674

CHAP. XI.

The descendants of William Croke continued. The youngest branch of the descendants
of his son Alexander Croke — William Croke — Fettiplace — Tlie Reverend Alexander
Croke — Alexander Croke, Esquire, of Marsh Gibbon, and Elisabeth Barker — The
families of Barker and Busby — Doctor Wood, author of the Institutes — William of
Wykeham 679

Digression II. The history of Marsh Gibbon ..... 690

The sequel of the descendants of William Croke— Tlie children and grandchildren of
Alexander Croke of Marsh Gibbon, and Elizabeth Barker . . . 695

END OF VOL. I.

CONTENTS.

VOL. II.
BOOK THE THIRD.

THE HISTORY OF THE YOUNGEST BRANCHES, THE DESCENDANTS OF SIR WILLIAM LE
BLOUNT, THE SECOND SON OF SIR ROBERT LE BLOUNT, AND ISABEL ODINSELS. 119

CHAP. I.

The Blount s ofSodinglon in Worcestershire, and Mawley in Shropshire.
Sir William le Blount. Isabel Beauchamp. Lovet. Timberlake. Elmley Lovet.
Broughton. Two sons, Peter, and Walter — Sir If alter le Blount of Rock. Johanna
de Sodington — Peter le Blount — Sir William le Blount. De Jrerdon. Husee
— Crophull — Sir John le Blount — Isolda Mountjoj/. Eleanor Beauchamp. Meriet
— Name of Blount — Sir John Blount. Juliana Foulhurst. Isabel Cornwall— Sir
Walter Blount created a Baronet in 1642. — Ed-ward Blount, the friend of Pope
— The family confirmed to the present time 121

CHAP. II.

The Blounts of Kinlet in Shropshire, including those of Yeo, or Eye, in Hereford-
shire, of Kidderminster in Worcestershire, and some other places— Richard, Earl
of Cornwall— Elizabeth Blount beloved by Henry VIII. — The Duke of Richmond —
Lord Surrey ........... 155

CHAP. III.

The Mountjoy branch — Sir Walter Blount — Evidence of his descent — Marriage vjith
Donna Sancha de Ayala — Family of Ayala— Edward the Black Prince — John of
Gaunt, arid Constantia of Castile — Marriage of Catherine of Lancaster with Henry
the Infant of Spain— Bakepuiz family— Slain at Shrewsbury— Shakespeare — Sir
John Blount, Knight of the Garter— Sir Thomas, Treasurer of Normandy — Sir
Walter, created Lord Mountjoy in 1464 — Edward, second Lord — John, third —
William, fourth, the friend of Erasmus — Interview with Queen Catherine — Charles,
fifth, at Boulogne — James, sixth, an alchemist — William, seventh — Charles, eighth,
and last, distinguished by Queen Elizabeth — Conquest of Ireland — Created Earl of
Devonshire in 1603— Penelope the wife of Lord Rich— Died without lawful issue —
His natural son, Mountjoy Blount, created Lord Mountjoy, and Earl of Newport —
Extinction of that title— Sir Christopher Blount, married Letitia, Countess of
Leicester, beheaded in 1601. . 170

CONTENTS. xv

CHAP. IV.

The Blounts of Iver in Buckinghamshire, and Maple- Durham in Oxfordshire, still
subsisting— Marriage with de la Ford — Sir Michael Blount, Lieutenant of the
Tower, claimed the Barony of Mount joy — Teresa and Martha Blount the friends
of Pope 252

CHAP. Y.

The Blounts of Grendon, Bromyard and Orleton, in Herefordshire, and Eldersfield
in Worcestershire— Thomas Blount the Lawyer, his works— Edward Blount, his
works 280

CHAP. VI.

The Blounts of Burton-upon-Trent, and Blounfs-Hall in Staffordshire ,- of Osberston,
in Leicestershire ; and Tittenhangcr, in Hertfordshire — Sir Thomas Pope, the
founder of Trinity College — Tittenhanger — Richard Blount, the Provincial of the
Jesuits — Sir Henry Pope Blount, the traveller — Sir Thomas Pope Blount— Charles
Blount, the Deist — By a marriage with Charles York, the property of this branch
centered in the Earl of Hordwick ........ 288

CHAP. VII.

Other Blounts— I. Jews— 2. Blounts in Kent — 3. In Gloucestershire — 4. In Essex,
tfc. — 5. In Bedfordshire— 6 . In London — 7. Of C?vydo?i—8. Other Blounts of
uncertain places 338

The Conclusion 369

Notes, Additions, and Corrections ........ 373

Records, and other Docttments, relating to Sludley Priory .... 397

In the Genealogies, No. 4. is cancelled, being comprehended in No. 44. No. 44. is to be
placed after the Introduction.

In the Copper Plates, there are four of Seals and Fragments at page 437.

APPENDIX.

AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO IN BOOK I.

I. The history of William, Count qfPonthieu. From Lambert.

II. The arrival of Sigefred. From the same. — His fortifying Guisnes.

III. The anger of Arnold, and the reconciliation. Ibid.

IV. Sigefred's connexion with Elstritde. Ibid. — Account of Sigefred's i?ivasion,
and the corruption of El st rude, written by the Monks of St. Bert in 's.

V. The magnificence of Rodolphus. From Lambert.

VI. Account of Rosella, and their children. Ibid.

VII. The education of the children of Eustace. Ibid.

VIII. The invention of Saint Rotrude. From the Chronicle of Andres.

IX. A charter of Manasses, Count of Guisnes, and Emma, his Countess, to the
Monastery of St. Leonard, with their seals.

X. Contract of the Sale of Guisnes to the King of France. — History of the Counts
of Guisnes in Latin verse.

XI. Delivery of Guisnes by John, King of France, to Edward the Third.

XII. Extracts from records relating to Guisnes. From the Catalogue des Rolle.s
Gascon, Normans, et Francois, in the Tower, Harlcian Manuscripts, French Rolls,
fyc — A catalogue of the Governors and Officers of Guisnes from Edward the Third,
to Edward the Fourth.

IN BOOK II.

XIII. The estates of Robert, and William le Blount, in Domesday Book.

XVI. Account of the Knights and Monks of Ely. List of them from the Tabula

'J,)N|S.

IN BOOK III.

XV. Catalogue of ancient deeds, chiefly belonging to the Sodington family, in the
Hatieian Manuscripts.

XVI. Family of Ayala. Relacion del Lignage dc Ayala, from the Historia
Genealogica de la Casa de Lara, by Don Luis de Salazar y Castro.

XVII. Three letters from Lord William Mountjoy to Erasmus, and two from
Erasmus to Lord Charles Mountjoy. A short account of thirteen letters from Eras-
mus to Lord William Mountjoy, of which the ■principal substance is introduced in the
history.

XVIII. Catalogue of ancient deeds, belonging chiefly to the Mountjoy family,
from Dugdalc, and Ashmole's MSS.

XIX. Father Richard Blount's letter to Father Seguiran, about the marriage of
Charles the First with Henrietta of France. — His admonitions to the Jesuits of the
English Mission.

IN BOOK IV.

XX. Account how the Blounts changed their name to Croke. From a manu-
script. With notes from authentic historians, confirming the accuracy of the account.

XXI. Bill of fare at the marriage of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, with the Duke
of Milan's daughter. From Corio. — Translation of it.

XXII. Master Croke' s Ordinances in Chancery.

XXIII. The grant of the Priory of Studlcy to John Croke.

XXIV. The will of Sir John Croke.

XXV. A speech of Sir John Croke, one of the Justices of the King's Bench.

XXVI. Catalogue of books given by Sir John Croke to the Bodleian Library.

XXVII. The Woodstock Scuffle. A ballad.

XX VIII. Letter oj Mons. Denys, and correspondence between Sir George Croke
and Mr. Oldenburg.

XXIX. A paper respecting theprinting of Sir George Croke's Reports.

XXX. Sir George Croke's Orders for the Alms House.

XXXI. Account of painted glass, formerly in the church and mansion at
Waterstokc .

XXXII. Bradford's letters to Mrs. Honywood.

XXXIII. Entries of birtlis, deaths, tyc. in a Manuscript of Solomon's Proverbs
arranged.

XXXIV. TJiomas Hcame's walk to Studley.

XXXV. Proposals for drying malt with hot air. Bu John Busby, Esquire,
F. R. S. j

XXXVI. Some occasional verses.

XXXVII. a. A letter to Mr. Bromley, respecting the Lancastrian schools.
b. Latin verses on winter and skating.

XXXVIII. A catalogue of the books arid documents principally used in the
Genealogical History.

GENEALOGIES.

Page

1 . Kings of Denmark ......... 18

2. Elstrude, wife of Sigefrcde, the frst Count of Guisnes . . . ibid.

3. The Counts of Guisnes 90

4. Le Blount, from the time of William the Conqueror to Sir William le

Blount, in 1320 118

~>. Bcauchamp of Hachc . . . . . . . . .121

6. De Vcrdon 128

7. Sir Ralph de Mountjoy 134

8. Blount of Sodington ....... .151

Supplement A. The descendants of (i eorge Blount . . . ibid.
Supplement B. The connexion of the Blount s of Sodington with the

Aston Howard and other noble families ..... ibid.

9. Blount of K 'inlet, Yeo, or Eye, Kidderminster, Bewd/ey, fyc. . ■ 168

10. Blount of Yeo, or Eye ibid.

11. Ayala 176

12. Blount, Lard Mountjoy 252

1 3. De la Ford 254

14-. Blount of her, and Maple- Durham 278

1 5. Blount of Grendon, Bromyard, Orlton, Ar. 286

16. Blount 'of Elders field, ^c ibid.

17. Blount of Burton-upon-Trent, and Blount s Hall, in Staffordshire-,

Osbaston, in Leicestershire; and Tittenhange?; in Hertfordshire . .334

18. Blount 'of Bilton and Mangotcf 'eld 342

19. Can/clupe and Hastings ........ 378

20. Leybournc ........... ibid.

21. Crokc, from Dessenz of Noblemen ...... 392

22. Cave 396

23. Lords of the Honor of St. Valori. De Iveri, and De Valori . . 420

24. Union and Fettiplace

xix

Page
ISO

25. Hawtrcy, Croke, Thurban, Rivett, Russel, and Greenhill ■ • 500

26. Vanloor 502

27. Russel .504

•28. Relationship of the Croke family to Oliver Cromwell, and the Parlia-
mentary leaders ...■••••'

29. Wilkinson 554

30. Bennet 564

612

31. Grimston

32. Lee of Hartwell .614

33. Ingoldsby 626

34. Bulstrode, IVhitelocke, Mayne, and Beke 6o4>

35. Wingfield ibuL

36. Tyrrell of Heron, (fc 656

37. Tyrrell of Thornton, %c. lbld-

658

666

674

684

33. Croke and Honywood

39. Lovelace .....-•••■

40. Norris and Bertie ...-■••■

41. Barker .....-••••

42. Barker from William of Wykeham lbld-

43. Busby

4 1. The Croke family, from the first origin to the present time. Th

leading Genealogy, to which all the others are referred

683

754

COPPER PLATES.

IN THE LETTER PRESS.

The coat of arms of the Counts of Guisnes • 3

The seals of Count Manasses, and the Countess Emma . . • • 29

The seal of Wenemar, Chatelain of Ghent ....•• *5

Ths seal of Arnold I. Count of Guisnes *7

Seal and counterseal of Baldwin II. .55

Seal of William de Guisnes ihid-

Seals of Siger, Chatellain of Ghent, and Petronilla de Courtray . • 56

Seal of Margaret, Chatellaine de Courtray ^"^

Seal and counterseal of Arnold II. . 61

Page

Seal and counterseal of his Countess Beatrice 62

Seal and counterseal of Baldwin III. 66

Seal and counterseal of Arnold III. ..... 69

Seal and counterseal of Baldwin IV. . 7°

Seal and counterseal of John de Guisnes . . . . . . J \

Seal and counterseal of Jane, Countess of Eu, and Guisnes ... 72

The three coats of arms of le Blount, lozengy, nebuly, and the six martlets 91

The arms of Blount, ncbuly •. .119

Seal of Sir Walter le Blount 125

Seal of Peter le Blount 127

Seal of Sir William le Blount 130

Coat of arms of Croke, alias le Blount, martlets ..... 369

Seal of Elizabeth, Prioress of Studley . 434

Seal of Sir John Croke ......... 456

SEPARATE PLATES.

The map of the County of Guisnes ....... 5

The Castle of Guisnes 82

Sir William le Blount, and Monk Wylnote 9S

The head of Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, from an etching by

Agostino Caracci ......... 388

Chilton Church 404

Fragments of the Priory at Studley ....... 437

The monument of Sir John and Lady Elizabeth Croke at Chilton . . 452

The head of Sir George Croke, by Hollar ...... 561

Sir George Croke's Alms-house at Studley . . . . . .587

The monument of Sir George Croke at Waterstock .... 594

Studley Priory in the time of Sir George Croke ..... 604

As all these plates, except the map of Guisnes, and the head of Sir George
Croke, were etched by myself, I have to apologize for their rudeness.

INTRODUCTION.

SlR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON, in his preface to the
Reports of his father-in-law, Sir George Croke, has correctly
stated, that " he was descended of an ancient and illustrious
' family called LeBloit?it," and that " his ancestor, in the time
' of the civil dissention betwixt York and Lancaster, being a
' fautor and assistant unto the house of York a, was inforced to
' subduct and conceal himself under the name of Croke, till
' such time as King Henry the Seventh most happily reconcil-
' ing those different titles, this our ancestor in his postliminium
1 assuming his ancient name, wrote himself Croke, alias Blount;
' that of Blount being altogether omitted by the Judge's father
' upon the marriage of his son and heir, Sir John Croke, with
' the daughter of Sir Michael Blount, of Maple Durham, in the
' county of Oxford." Which was about the end of the six-
teenth century b.

All authorities agree that the family of Le Blount is descended
from two brothers, the sons of the Lord of Guisnes in France,
who came over with William the Conqueror, and were then
established in this country0. And the French historians have

* It is printed " Lancaster," but this is evidently a mistake.

" Preface to Croke Charles, or Part the First.

c Collins's Baronetage, vol. ii. p. 367. iii. 665. Bigland, Garter King at Arms, in
Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. ii. p. 163. Dugdale's Baronage, Fuller,
&c. &c. which will be more particularly stated hereafter.

2 INTRODUCTION.

traced the descent of the house of Guisnes from the royal family
of Denmark.

The history of this family will therefore be divided into three
Books.

The First Book will contain the account of the family from
the earliest periods till the settlement of the two brothers
Robert and William le Blount in England, in the year 1066:
or the History of the House of Guisnes in Picardy, and, ante-
cedently, in Denmark.

The Second Book will relate the settlement of the le
Blounts in England, and the history of the eldest branches, the
Barons of Ix worth, the Lords of Belton, and the Croke family.

The Third Book will comprehend the youngest branches, the
Blounts of Sodington and Mawley ; of Kinlet, Eye, and Kid-
derminster; the Lords Mountjoy ; the Blounts of Iver and
Maple-Durham ; of Grendon, Bromyard, Orleton, and Elders-
field ; of Burton-upon-Trent, Osbaston, and Tittenhanger; and
others of the name.

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BOOK THE FIRST.

FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TILL THE SETTLEMENT OF THE
TWO BROTHERS, ROBERT AND WILLIAM LE BLOUNT, IN ENG-
LAND, IN THE YEAR 1066; OR THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTS OF
GUISNES, AND THEIR ANCESTORS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF
DENMARK.

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THE

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY

THE CROKE FAMILY.

CHAPTER I.

The History of Guisnes, to the death of the first Count.

IT has been stated in some old authorities, that this ancient family of
Le Blount took its rise from the Blondi, or Biondi, in Italy, whose
historians derive them from the Roman Imperial family of the Flaviia.
But a candid examination compels me to acknowledge, that I can find no
evidence, or even probability, for this Italian and Roman descent. It is
founded apparently upon no better ground than the similarity of meaning
between the names of Flavius, or Flavus, of Blondi, or Biondi, and of
Le Blount ; all derived from the flaxen, or light colour of the hairb. The

* Collins's Baronetage, vol. i. page 367- From the information of the family of the
Blounts of Sodington, 1727. Rawlinson's MSS. B. vol. lxxiii. Art. Blount, fol. 110. and
Habington's MSS. Descents of Worcestershire Families, in Bib. Soc. Antiq. &c. &c.

b Thus the royal family of the Guelphs has been deduced from the Catuli of Rome,
because the names in the Latin and German language are synonymous, both signifying
little dogs, or whelps. So the poetical historian, Gunther, says of Guelph the Sixth ;

Hunc ex Romano Catulorum sanguine clarum,

Et genus et nomen, (nisi fallit fama) trahentem,

Theutonicus verso Welphonem nomine sermo

Dixerat, ambiguae deceptus imagine vocis.

Gunther in Ligurin. lib. ix. In Muratori, Antichita Estensi, vol. i. p. 2. Some more

ZudJcerke

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THE

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY

THE CROKE FAMILY.

CHAPTER I.

The History of Guisnes, to the death of the first Count.

IT has been stated in some old authorities, that this ancient family of
Le Blount took its rise from the Blondi, or Biondi, in Italy, whose
historians derive them from the Roman Imperial family of the Flavii\
But a candid examination compels me to acknowledge, that I can find no
evidence, or even probability, for this Italian and Roman descent. It is
founded apparently upon no better ground than the similarity of meaning
between the names of Flavius, or Flavus, of Blondi, or Biondi, and of
Le Blount ; all derived from the flaxen, or light colour of the hairb. The

" Thus the royal family of the Guelphs has been deduced from the Catuli of Rome,
because the names in the Latin and German language are synonymous, both signifying
little dogs, or whelps. So the poetical historian, Gunther, says of Guelph the Sixth ;

Hunc ex Romano Catulorum sanguine clarum,

Et genus et nomen, (nisi fallit fama) trahentem,

Theutonicus verso Welphonem nomine sermo

Dixerat, ambiguae deceptus imagine vocis.

Gunther in Ligurin. lib. ix. In Muratori, Antichita Estensi, vol. i. p. 2. Some more

6 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book t.

family of Le Blount is sufficiently noble and ancient not to stand in need
of fictitious embellishments : and the real and well-proved deduction of
the family from a Danish origin completely destroys the other suppo-
sition.

The county of Guisnes, the seat and patrimony of this family, before
its arrival in England, is a part of the modern province of Picardy; which
was never united under one government, like Normandy and Flanders,
but was divided into many seigneuries, some of them held as fiefs of
neighbouring lords ; and the name of Picardy itself is of recent origin0.
It is a very fertile country, and though a northern situation is unfavourable
for vineyards, it abounds with corn and pasturage in an eminent degree.
It is bounded on the north-east by the districts of Calais, Marque,
and Oye, and the province of Flanders ; on the east by Artois ; on the
south by the county of Boulogne; and on the north-west by the sea.
By a terrier made after it was reduced under the dominion of France, in
1.5.58, it contained twelve baronies, Andres, Fiennes, Licques, Basinghem,
Hames, Alembon en Surques, Courteboume, Lamotte d'Andres, Laval,
Creseques, Zelthum, and Hermelinghem. As many pairies*, Perrier,
Losteborne, Nielles, Campagne, Autingues, Surgues, Bouvelinghem,
Asquingoul, Reques, Fouquesolles, Ecclemy, and La Haye. Twenty-
six lordships, Doncres, Nenviras, Berne, Wolfus, Leulingue, La Cresson-
niere, Steimbeque, Courteheuse, Saint Martin-en-Louches, Hondreconte-
en-Breme, Le Fief du Briart-en-Frelinghem, d'Ophauve, Du Hied,

modern writers have derived it from a German root, from whence our word help is
formed — Helfen. Leibnitz, Orig. Guelf.

So the real name of the Burleigh family was Sitsilt, an ancient Welsh name, which,
after several variations, was at length changed to Cecil, upon the suggestion of Mr. Ver-
stegan, the celebrated antiquary, that they were descended from the Cecilii of Rome.
Aubrey's Lives, vol. ii. p. 28.

c Valesii Notitia Galliarum, p. 447. Gibbon, vol. xi. p. 1. For an account of the
principal authorities, as well printed, as manuscript, which are referred to in this work,
see the Appendix, No. XXXVIII.

" Pairies were fiefs, of which the possessors were bound to attend the court of their
lord, where they were styled peers, pares curtis, or curice. They are so styled in the
English, as well as the French law. Blackstone, vol. ii. p. 54. In France, tout fief avait
ses pairies, c'est a dire, d'autres fiefs mouvant de lui, et les possesseurs de ces Jlefs scrvans,
qui etoient census egaux entr' eux, composoit la cour du seigneur dominant. Encyclopedic
voce Pairie.

chap. i. THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. 7

Landrethum, Croisilles, La Grange, Le Court, Bercq-en-Campagne,
Dispendas, Sanghem, Marcamp, the abbey of Licque, and that of La
Capelle, the priory of Ardres, the hospitals of Lostbourne, and of Saint
Merlat, in Ardres. It contained thirty-three parishes; Ardres, Nielles,
Louches, Breme, Rodelinghem, Bouquehault, Leulingue, Bonningues,
Licques, Surques, Alembon, Sanghem, and Homelinghem, l'Hopital or
l'Hotel Dieu de Saint Inglevert, Escales, Sangate, Wale, which does not
now exist, Hervelinghem, Peuplingue, Pihen, Coquelle, Fretun, Nielles-
en-Cauchie, Saint Tricat, Saint Martin in the Castle of Hames, Boucres,
Saint Blaise, Guisnes, Eperleques, Andres, Balenghem, Campagne, and
Capelle, now the Great and Little Cappe. Auderwic, Bredenarde, Tour-
nehem, Ushant% and some lands besides, within the county of Artois,
were amongst its dependencies1 . Of these subordinate lordships, the barons

e Terrier de Guines, Hist, de Calais, vol. ii. p. 352. Amongst the Harleian Manuscripts,
No. 3880, is a rental of the crown lands, and the King's revenues in Calais and Guisnes,
taken by commissioners, who were Sir Richard Cotton, Comptroller of the Household,
Sir Anthony St. Leger, Knight of the Garter, and Thomas Mildmay, Esquire, in the sixth
year of Edward the Sixth. It is entitled Lands' Rental. The sums total are as follows :

£. s. d.

The County of Guines . . . . 851 7 11

Lordship of Marc and Oye . . 1447 18 4

Lordship and Castle of Hames . 383 15 3

Ski mage de Calais 620 13 0

Besides the town and marches of Calais.
' Whatever they might have been originally, Calais, Oye, and Marque, seem not to have
been comprehended within the county of Guisnes very early. The foundation and the
origin of the name of Calais are lost in obscurity. It was derived from the Caletes, if they
ever visited that country, and may be corrupted from Scala, a port in Caesar's time, if
that were not Scales, or Escalle. The name Calais appears only after the twelfth century.
In 860, the Calaisis was part of Flanders, and a lordship distinct from the counties of
Guisnes and Oye. Hist, de Calais, vol. i. p. 446, where the boundaries are described.
From 864, it probably made part of the county of Guisnes, and was possessed by Baldwin
Count of Flanders. Ibid. 454. In 955, Arnold, the second, Count of Flanders and Bou-
logne, had a contest with the Abbey of St. Bertin for Calais, which they pretended had
been given them by Walbert, or Arnold le Vieux ; but Arnold retained it against them.
He was still in possession of it after William of Ponthieu had taken Guisnes, &c. and after
Sifred's invasion, when he fortified it against his attempts. Ibid. 496, 498. In 996,
Baldwin IV. Count of Flanders, improved the port. Ibid. 502. In 1137, it was ceded by
Charles le Bon, Count of Flanders, to the Count of Boulogne; p. 571. And in 1216, the

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

of Ardres became very powerful. Hames was erected into a Marquisate
in 1658, as was Courtebonne in 1671, in favour of Charles de Calonnes.
The twelve baronies and twelve pairies of Guisnes, were established as
early as the year 106oh.

The town of Guisnes is situated between Calais and Boulogne. It
stands by the side of a marsh to the north-east, and a river rises near it,
formerly called the Leda, which flows down to Calais. It is surrounded
on the other three sides by hills ; and to the south is an extensive wood.
At the time of the surrender to the French it was nearly square, encom-
passed on all sides by a large ditch filled with water, and defended 1>\ a
rampart of earth, strengthened by freestone parapets. The castle, which
stood south of the town, was separated from it by a ditch, which was
a continuation of that of the town, and surrounded likewise the castle.
It was built in the form of a pentagon, with five round bastions, and very
high curtains. In the middle stood a tower, called La Cuve, which was
a square building, fortified without by a strong bulwark, and a second
wall, defended by a wet ditch, and four towers at the angles'.

Count of Boulogne gave Calais, Marque, and Oye, to Philip Augustus, King of France,
a- a portion with his daughter Matilda ; p. 630. And it continued in the Royal Family
till it was taken by the English.

Yet the Count of Guisnes had a judge in Calais in 1218. To a charter of Arnold of
that date, among the witnesses is Willielmus de Undescote, Clerico Nostro, et Justiciario
de Calais. Duchesne Pr. p. 273. Justice was administered in Calais in the name of the
Count of Boulogne, the lord ; but the Counts of Guisnes had allodial lands there, which
were not subjected to the ordinary jurisdiction of the lord, but to their own tribunal
Hist, de Calais, vol. i. p. G37-

The Counts, or Viscounts, of Oye were in the number of the twelve Peers of Flanders,
and therefore it was not part of Guisnes ; yet it was seized by Sifred. Hist, de Cal. i. 622.
It afterwards was probably ceded with Calais, in 1 137, by Charles le Bon, to the Count of
Boulogne; for in 121(i, it was given by the Count of Boulogne to Philip Augustus, as
before stated.

As to Marque, the Abbey of St. Bertin claimed it in 938, as having been given to it by
the Count of Flanders The gift was controverted, and the Count kept possession. Hist.
de Cal. i. 4,92. In 1147, it was held of the Count of Boulogne, and had for pairies under
it and Oye, Coulogne, Walle, or Waldam, Offekirk, Hennin, and Ecluse. (Ibid. p. 582,)
and was at last ceded to Philip Augustus. Ante.

' Hist, de Calais, vol. i. p. 524.

" Nobiliaire de Picardie. Hist. Cal. ii. 530, and 568.

' From a plan of Guisnes, taken after the siege in 1588, printed at Rome, by Duchetti,

chap. i. THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. 9

In an ancient picture in Windsor Castle, representing the interview
between Henry the Eighth and Francis the First, in the year 1.520, which
took place between Guisnes and Ardres, there is a bird's-eye view of the
market-place, church, and castle of Guisnes, with part of the town walls,
and the surrounding ditch, of the morass, which lies on the north side of
the town, and of the river, with a view of the adjacent country, as they
were at that timek.

After the capture by the Duke of Guise in 1,5.58, the fortifications were
entirely demolished by the French government, as useless ; that frontier
being sufficiently covered by the towns of Ardres and Calais.

The County of Guisnes was anciently comprehended within the
Roman province of Belgica Secunda, and was inhabited by the Morini, a
German race who had passed the Rhine, and expelled the original Celtic
inhabitants. They were some of the most warlike people of Gaul, and
for some time defeated the attempts which were made upon their liberty
by Julius Caesar. After they were subdued, it was from the Portus
Itius, probably Ushant, in that territory, that he sailed upon his expedition
to Britain1. The boundaries of the districts occupied by barbarous nations
were fluctuating, and expanded, and contracted, with the weakness, or
strength, of the neighbouring tribes. Much of what is now land was then
occupied by the sea, or by morasses. Morinia is laid down by D'Anville,
as extending along the sea-coast for about seventy-five miles, from Calais
to Montreuil, on the river Canche, and of about half that breadth.
Taruenna, now Teroiienne, was the principal town™. It experienced the

Histoire de Calais, vol. if. p. 310, referred to by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, in his Description of
the Picture at Windsor Castle, page 19, note. There is also a rude plan of it in the British
Museum, Cotton MSS.

k This picture has been engraved by the Society of Antiquaries, and a description was
given of it by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, which was published in the Archaeologia, vol. iii. p. 1S5,
and separately, to accompany the print.

1 The name of Morini was derived from the Celtic Mor, mare, the sea, as Armorica was.
Valesii Notitia Galliarum. Caesar, Bell. Gall. ii. 4. iii. 9, 28. iv. 20, 22, 37. vii. 76. Ushant '
was originally called Wit-sand, White sand, ab albedine arenae.

m It continued to be the ecclesiastical capital of this country till 1553, when it was
destroyed, and the bishopric divided into three bishoprics. Guisnes was then annexed
to that of Boulogne. Hist, de Cal. Pref. 7. The Bishop of Teroiienne was styled Epis-
copus Morinorum.

10 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

general calamities which afflicted every part of the Roman empire in its
latter period. It was ravaged by the Huns, occasionally visited by the
Northern pirates, and invaded by the Franks. Upon the death of Valen-
tinian the Third, in the year 454, it ceased to be a part of the Roman
empire.

Upon the dissolution of the Roman government, Morinia fell under the
dominion of the Franks, who had then fully established themselves in
Gaul ; and it acknowledged the sovereignty of Childeric". In the division
of that country, upon the death of Clovis, it formed a part of the kingdom
of Soissons. During this period it was governed, according to the
political system of the feodal nations, by officers appointed by the King
of France, under the name of Counts, whose principal residence was at
Boulogne, and whose office was temporary, and various in extent. In
process of time the Counts established their independence, and became
the hereditary proprietors, or sovereigns, of the respective districts into
which the country was apportioned.

In the subsequent dark periods, it is difficult to ascertain exactly who
were the owners of the county of Guisnes, till it had its own and distinct
Counts, about the middle of the tenth century. In the disputes which
have arisen upon this subject, it has been severally given to the Abbey of
Saint Bertin at Saint Omer's, the Counts of Ponthieu, of Boulogne, and
of Flanders. But it is scarcely possible to reconcile, and to weave into
one connected narrative, the insulated facts, and the confusion of names,
which occur in the rude annals, and the documents which remain of those
times, frequently of suspicious authenticity.

Without entering into these uninteresting discussions, I shall shortly
state what appears to be the most probable account, and descend to clearer
times, and better established events.

In a dreadful eruption of the Huns and Vandals into Morinia, Leger
the Second, the third Count of Boulogne, and his two sons, were slain, in
the year 524. He was succeeded by his grandson Rodolphus in the
county of Boulogne; but the county of Arques, which comprehended
Sangate, Montour, Watte, Guisnes, and some other places, was detached
from the county of Boulogne, and given to Matilda, the daughter of

" Mezerai, torn. i. p. 236.

chap. i. THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. 11

Leger, and who brought it in marriage to a prince of the house of
Brandenbourg0. From her it descended at length to Agneric, the prin-
cipal counsellor of Theodoric, King of Burgundy and Austrasia. He
was succeeded by his son Walbert, who was living in 660, was Count of
Saint Pol, Ponthieu, and Arques, and with his son Bertin, so christened
by St. Bertin, became a monk in the monastery of that name ; and, dying
without issue, his brother Saint Pharon, bishop of Meaux, and, next, his
sister, Saint Phara, were his successors p.

After the death of Saint Phara, this county remained for several years
without a lawful owner, till Lideric, the first Forester of Flanders, created
Count of Harlebec by Charlemagne, annexed it to his dominions, and it
continued to be enjoyed by his successors').

One of these Foresters, Baldwin, surnamed Bras-de-Fer, the great-
grandson of Lideric, married Judith the daughter of Charles le Chauve,
King of France, and the grandson of Charlemagne. She was then a
second time a widow. Her first husband was Ethelwolf, King of England,
who, after a year's residence at Rome, had married her upon his return
through France. She was then only ten years of age ; and as her husband
lived only two years afterwards, she is said to have continued a virgin.
After his death she incurred great censure by marrying Ethelbald, his son
by a former wife ; but, at the repeated exhortations of the clergy, he was
induced at length to divorce her ; and he lived not long afterwards. She
returned to France, and was living at Senlis, where Baldwin saw her, fell
in love with her, and, with the connivance of her brother, carried her off
into Flanders, in the year 862. The King of France was offended, and
assembled a council ; the lovers were excommunicated, and a war was the
consequence. By the interference of the Pope, a reconciliation was effected,
and the marriage was solemnized with great magnificence at Auxerrer.

° Malbr. lib. ii. p. 226. Hist, de Calais, i. p. 333, 334, 335.

p Lambert, chap. 3, 4, 5, 6. Hist, de Calais, p. a 74.

" Lambert, chap. 2, 6. Hist, de Cal. i. 375. The claim of the Abbey of St. Bertin to
the county of Guisnes was founded upon a supposed grant from Walbert. It was proved
not to have been comprehended in that grant, and the abbey was never in possession of it.
Ibid. p. 416. Duchesne, p. 6.

r Hist, de Cal. i. p. 449.

C 2

12 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. rook i.

Upon this event King Charles created his son-in-law Count of Flanders ;
and that county then extended from the Scheld to the Sommc, and com-
prehended those of Boulogne, Saint Pol, Artois, and Guisnes. The King
reserved to himself the paramount sovereignty, and the Count had under
him the subordinate lords in the different districts \

Such was the origin of the Counts of Flanders, who afterwards ex-
tended their dominions, and acquired such power, that the first monarchs
of Europe sought their aid, or alliance. From this time they were the
immediate vassals of the crown of France; and the counties of Boulogne,
Saint Pol, Artois, Ponthieu, Guisnes, and other counties within then-
territories, were held immediately of the county of Flanders, and as
arriere-fiefs of the crown of France, having other lordships under
them*.

Baldwin the First died in S79". His son and successor, Baldwin
the Second, surnamed Le Chauve, died in the year 918*. By his
wife Elstrude, the daughter of King Alfred, he left two sons. The
eldest, Arnold, surnamed the Great, succeeded him as Count of
Flanders. The youngest, Adalolphus, Adolphus, or Ardolphus, had for
his inheritance the counties of Boulogne and Terouenne, Saint Pol, and
Guisnes, and was lord of the Abbey of Saint Bertin>'. After the
death of Adolphus, in 934, without children, his territories, including
Guisnes, came to his elder brother, Arnold the Great. This Count,

s Hist, de Cal i p. 452, 47S.

' Du Tillet, p. 103. Uredius. Hist, de Cal. i. p. 452, 479-

" Though Lideric i- .stated by the Flemish historians as the first Forester of Flanders,
doubts have been entertained by some other historians as to his very existence, and, at
least, to his having had the government of Flanders. L'Art de Verifier les Dates, vol. iii.
p. 1. Hut Baldwin Bras-de-Fer is acknowledged, by the consent of all the historians, to
have been the first Count, and that he was the son of Odoacer, the grandson of Enguer-
rand, and the great grandson of Lideric. It has been a question much agitated amongst
the French lawyers and antiquaries, at what time fiefs became hereditary. Montesquieu
gives it as his opinion, that many fiefs were already hereditary by the end of the first race,
and that Charles le Chauve established the succession to them by a general regulation.
Lib. xxxi. chap. 28. Before that period perhaps no general rule can be laid down; each
county must stand upon its own evidence.

x Hist, de Cal. i. 479, 480. Duchesne, p. 8. Lambert, chap. 1.

y Ibid.

chap. i. THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. 13

with the assistance of Louis D'Outremer, King of France, made war
against the Count of Ponthieu, and took from him Montrieul, and
other places. By his wife Alice, or Athele, daughter of Herbert the
Second, Count of Vermandois, he had five children, who all died before
him except his daughter Elstrude*.

Arnold the Great was succeeded in 965 by his grandson, Arnold the
Second, surnamed Le Jeune, the son of his eldest son Baldwin, by his
wife Matilda, the daughter of Conrad the Pacific, King of Aries, or of
Herman Billing, Duke of Saxony. Soon after his accession, Lothaire,
King of France, and William the Second, Count of Ponthieu, took ad-
vantage of his minority, and attacked his dominions. This Count was
descended from Engilbert, Silentiary, or Secretary, to Charlemagne, whose
daughter, Bertha, he married, and who created him Count, or Governor,
of Ponthieu. He was a man of learning, and at last retired from the
world, and was Abbot of Saint Riquier. William succeeded his father,
Roger, in 9-57 at soonest. Having been informed by tradition, that
the territories of his predecessor, Walbert, had reached to the sea, he
claimed the same extent of dominion, raised an army to support his
pretensions, and, with the assistance of the King of France, he conquered
the Boulonnois, the counties of Saint Pol, and Guisnes, in 965 a.

The ancient annals relate, that Count William divided his territories
amongst his children, according to their different dispositions and pursuits.
To the eldest, whose whole delight was in arms and horses, he assigned
his principal lordship of Ponthieu. The second son, who was a great
hunter, had the woods and lawns of Boulogne. To the third son, who
employed himself in the tranquil pursuits of agriculture, he gave the fruitful
lands of the lordship of Saint Pol. To the fourth, whose principal occu-
pation was the pasturage of his flocks and herds, he was preparing to
allot the appropriate territory of Guisnes, when one of those sudden
events, which were not uncommon in those unsettled times, defeated his
intention ; and his son was otherwise provided for, by a marriage with the
daughter and heiress of Reinald, lord of Saint Valorib.

; Hist de Cal. i. p. 487.

1 Ibid. p. 409, 411, 422, 487, &c.

' Duchesne, p. 5. Lambert, chap 15. Appendix, No. 1.

U THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book r.

This occurrence was the arrival of a Danish prince1, named Sigefrede,
cousin to the King of Denmark, who, with a numerous band of adventurers,
drawn from the northern countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway,
under the general names of Danes, or Normans, landed upon that coast,
and took possession of the territory of Guisnes. The predatory habits of
the Scandinavian nations, the recent success of Rollo, and others of their
countrymen, and their beneficial establishments in France and England,
were no doubt the principal incitements to this expedition, which had
been preceded by several others on different parts of the same coast; but
the immediate occasion of this attempt, and the reasons assigned tor it,
have been differently stated by the original writers. Duchesne thinks it
most probable, that, after Count William had subdued the Boulonnois,
Saint Pol, and Guisnes, Count Arnold called in the assistance of the
Danes, under Sigefrede and Cnute, to enable him to recover his dominions.
But he admits that this is mere conjecture, unsupported by any of the
original historians : and it seems inconsistent with the anger said to have
been expressed by Arnold upon this invasion. There seems upon the
whole no reason to disbelieve the circumstantial account given by Lambert,
that Sigefrede was not only related to the King of Denmark, but that he
was likewise a descendant of the blood of Walbert, Count of Ponthieu,
Guisnes, and Saint Pol, and that he therefore claimed Guisnes as his
lawful inheritance, and as having been unjustly detained from him by the
Counts of Flanders, and Ponthieu. Upon whatever pretences he founded
his claim, it is certain that he took possession of the country, with no
opposition, probably about the year 96.5, being well received by the in-
habitants as the descendant of their ancient sovereigns, and immediately
built and fortified the castle, or, in the language of that age, the donjon, of
Guisnes, and surrounded it with a double fosse"1.

' l'n Prince Danois. L'Art de Verifier les Dates.

' Appendix, No. III. 1. Lambert assigns the year 928 to this invasion, as does Meier,
in his Annals of Flanders, and Pontanus, Rerum Danicarum Historia, p. 129. -• Duchesne
supposes it not to have happened till 935 at the earliest. For this event did not take place
till after William of Ponthieu had conquered Boulogne, Saint Pol, and Guisnes, from
Arnold. But Arnold appears to have been in possession of Boulogne in 935; for, first, his
brother Adolphus did not die till 933, or 934, when Arnold succeeded to the counties of
Boulogne and St. Pol ; secondly, in the life of Saint Bertulph it is said, that Boulogne

chap. i. SIGEFREDE. lo

Count Arnold, the lord paramount, was extremely angry at this violent
intrusion into his fief, and summoned Sigefrede to appear before him to
answer for his conduct. The high character and courage of this prince
had procured him the friendship of many of the knights and nobles in the
court of Flanders. Amongst these was Cnute, the brother of the Kins; of
Denmark, his own cousin, with whom he had lived upon terms of the
closest intimacy, and who was in great estimation with Arnold. The
occasion of his being in Flanders is not mentioned. Upon receiving the
summons, Sigefrede called a council of his warriors, and, after hearing
their different opinions, communicated to them his resolution of appearing-
before the Count of Flanders in person. Relying upon his interest in
that court, and full of confidence in his own courage, he repaired to
Sithieu, or Saint Omer's, where he found Count Arnold surrounded by
his nobles and knights, amusing themselves with martial games'". When
he arrived there, " recollecting," to use the words of Lambert, " that
" fortune favours the bold," with an intrepid countenance he entered the
assembly, and made his obeisance to the Count, and his nobles, with ele-
gance and urbanity. He was received in a friendly and respectful manner
by his cousin Cnute, and the rest of the court. Count Arnold at first
shewed the haughty indignation of an offended sovereign ; but the friends

having fallen to Arnold, he caused the body of that saint to be translated to Harlebecque,
in Flanders, by the assistance of Wigfrid, Bishop of Boulogne and Teroiienne; but the
Chronicle of Flodoard relates, that he was not consecrated bishop of that place till 935.
3. The Art de Verifier les Dates assigns a still later period, 965, for which there seems to
be good reason, assuming that the invasion did not take place till after the conquest of the
Count of Ponthieu. 1. Lothario, who assisted William, did not begin his reign till 954.
2. Count William did not succeed till 957 at the earliest. 3. Meier, lib. ii. Annul. Fland.
and some other Flemish and French historians, relate, that the counties of Boulogne, &c.
were not conquered by Count William till after the death of Arnold I which happened in
965. Without being perfectly satisfied, I have adopted the opinion of the Benedictine, as
a submission to the authority of a learned chronologist. It is often not easy to ascertain
the exact date of events in those obscure periods, nor is it of much consequence.

' Sit-Diu, or Sithiu, originally called Hebbin-gahem, was at first only a small village.
Saint Omer, or Audemar, bishop of Teroiienne and Boulogne, in 636, built an hospital and
a church there, which afterwards became the cathedral of the bishoprick of St. Omer. He
gave St. Bertin, a fellow-labourer, a place near St. Omer's, where he built a monastery.
Flence the names of St. Omer's, and the Abbey of St. Bertin. The two institutions had a
law-suit for the possession of the body of their founder. Hist, de Cal. i. 365, 371.

lfi THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book r.

of Sigefrede interceded for him, and their repeated solicitations at length
succeeded in mitigating the prince's anger. He held out to Sigefrede the
right-hand of reconciliation, and friendship. The violence of the first
occupation was overlooked, and Arnold deigned to bestow, and Sigefrede
condescended to accept, the lordship of Guisnes, as a fief of the Counts of
Flanders. The solemn ceremonies of investiture, fealty, and homage,
were duly performed, and Sigefrede thus became the first Count of that
territory, which he transmitted quietly to his posterity f.

He is described as a man noble in mind, and illustrious in family;
I nave in all military affairs ; of the highest rank, and greatly honoured, in
Ins own country of Denmark, as the cousin-merman of the King, and
second only to him in dignity g.

Sigefrede married Elstrude, the daughter of Count Arnold the Great,
and his wife Alice de Yennandois, and who was named after her grand-
mother, Elstrude, the daughter of King Alfred. He died soon after his
marriage, leaving his wife pregnant with a son, who succeeded him in his
titles and property.

It is related by some of the original historians, with many flowers of
rhetoric, that the princess had been previously corrupted by Sigefrede, and
that he died wretchedly in consequence of his crime, despised and forsaken
by the world h. This story is not considered as entitled to credit by
Duchesne and Du Tillet, the celebrated French antiquaries, and is slightly
alluded to by the learned Benedictine1.

Nothing more is known of the history of the founder of the house of
Guisnes. It must be supposed that he maintained his territories with the
same valour and prudence by which he had acquired them ; that, as was
usual in those feudal ages, alternately a lord and a vassal, he supported

' See Appendix, No. III.

6 Ibid. The proper name of this Count was Sigefrede, from the Saxon rige victory,
and jrpebe peace. In German, sieg and friede ; in Danish, sejer and /red. These are all
different dialects of one and the same language. Sifred is a contraction, and Sigefroy, and
Sifroy, French corruptions of the name

" Elstrudem, enjus Sifridus nimio languebat amore. Cui post multa amoris colloquia.
furtivaque ardoris oblectamenta, demum nolenti velle, immo nolle volenti, sine vi ludendo
vim intulit, et earn clanculo impraegnavit Lambert d'Ardres, chap. ii.
Appendix, No. IV.

chap. i. SIGEFREDE. 17

his dignity and authority in his own court at his castle of Guisnes, and
was a faithful counsellor, an upright judge, and a brave soldier, in the
court of his sovereign of Flanders. The county of Guisnes was then in a
wild and uncultivated state, and with few inhabitants. Naturally a good
soil, it improved by degrees in wealth and population ; but at what oera the
subordinate baronies and pairies were created perhaps is not easy to ascer-
tain. It is certain that the full number existed in the reign of Baldwin
the First, about a century afterwards k.

But although the historians expressly state that Sigefrede was first
cousin to the King of Denmark, they have not mentioned to which of
them he was so nearly related, and have left it to be discovered from the
chronology of that time. If his arrival in Picardy took place in the year
965, Harold the Sixth, who reigned from 930 to 980, must have been
upon the throne : and Harold the Fifth was the grand-father of that
sovereign, of Sigefrede, and his cousin Cnute; as he was the great great
grand-father of Cnute, who swayed the sceptre of England with so much
ability.

The families of Guisnes, Le Blount, and Croke, have therefore a right
to enumerate the Danish kings in the catalogue of their ancestors. Den-
mark is one of the most ancient monarchies in Europe ; and it has been
observed, by no mean authority, that the regularity, and clearness, of their
genealogies, and chronology, are a strong presumption in favour of the
truth and accuracy of their historians'. They trace a succession of sixty-
six kings, from Dan, the first founder of the monarchy, in the year before
Christ 1038, to Harold the Sixth, who died in the year after Christ 980.
It is not my intention to write a history of Denmark, nor do I mean to
claim for an ancestor a sovereign who was a contemporary of King David.
In the history of Denmark, during the great migrations of the northern
hive, from the year of Christ 401, to 699, there is an unfortunate chasm,
in which the name of King Biorno alone can be discovered to occupy an
extensive space of two hundred and ninety-eight years. In the revolutions
which may have happened in the intermediate time, it is impossible to
connect the genealogy of the preceding, with that of the subsequent,

k Hist, de Cal i. 524.

' Universal History, vol. xxxii. Modern Part.
D

IS THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

sovereigns. But from the election of Gormo the First, in the year of
Christ 699, or 700, the descent of the royal family is regularly carried on
from that monarch to Harold the Fifth, through a succession of thirteen
monarchs of the same race, and chiefly in a descent of the title from father
to son™.

A strong and characteristic badge of the original Danish descent of this
family was long preserved in the cry of war of the Counts of Guisnes,
which was Berne, Berne; that is, bunt, burn. A dreadful exhortation
to slaughter and destruction, in the language of their northern ancestors,
whose expeditions were usually marked by sword and fire".

From the marriage of Sigefrede with Elstrude, daughter of the Count of
Flanders, the subsequent Counts of Guisnes, and the families descended
from them, are related to some of the most illustrious houses in Europe.

I. They are descended from Lideric, the first Count, or Forester, of
Flanders, in the year 792. They were of course related to the subsequent
Counts; to Matilda, the daughter of Baldwin the Fifth, who was the wife
of William the Conqueror ; to the five Latin Emperors of Constantinople.
of the houses of Flanders and Courtenay ; and to some of the principal
heroes of the Crusades, Robert, Count of Flanders, Eustace, Count of
Boulogne, and his two brothers, the celebrated Godfrey of Bouillon, and
Count Baldwin. The Counts of Flanders intermarried likewise with
many of the royal families of Europe, with daughl :rs of the Kings of
Burgundy, Italy, and France".

?. Elstrude was the grand-daughter and namesake of Elstrude, the
daughter of Alfred the Great1".

:3. The Counts of Guisnes claim a direct descent from the Emperor
Charlemagne, through Judith, the daughter of his grand-son, Charles
le Chauve, and wife of Baldwin the First, Count of Flandersi.

"' See Genealogy , No. 1 .

" Duchesne, p. 9.

° Oliver Uredius in Genealogia Comitum Flandrite. Du Cange, Familix Byzantina-,
p. 2 1 7- See Genealogy, No. 2.

'' The name of this princess is variously written in the English historians: Aelstryth,
Elitrita, Aelfryth, Aelfthrythe, Elstrude, Ethelswide, and Elfrida.

q Vix ulla est toto orbe Christiano praclara nobilitas, quin ex aliquo Comitum Flandria?
tit oriunda, atque ita genus suum ad C'arolum Magnum referre possit. Uredius in Titulo.

No. 1.

KINGS OF DENMARK,

Gormo I.
elected A. D. 699, or 700.

Gotrick, his son.

Olaus III. his son.

Hemming, his son.

Siward and Ringo, cousins to Hemming.

Regner, son of Siward.

Ivar, son.

Siward, the Snake-eyed, brother to Ivar.

Eric, the Bern, his son.

(Eric, the Usurper. A. D. 857-)

Cnute, the Little, son of Eric the Bern.

Frotho VI. son of Cnute, married Emma,
daughter to the King of England.

Gormo II. surnamed Angle, being born in
England, son of Frotho.

Harold V. son.

, 1 ,

Gormo III. = Daughter of Edward the Name unknown.

I elder king of England. )

' " I Sigefrede, first Count of Guisni

Harold VI. Cnute. according to Lambert, &c. &c.

F irst cousin to Sigefrede, A. D. 960.

reigned from A. D. 930,
to A. D. 980.
I
Swen. A.D. 981.

r I

Harold. Cnute the Great, A. D. 1015.

King of England.

Hardiknute.

From the Universal History, Modern Purt, vol. 32

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chap. i. SIGEFREDE. 19

4. Another Judith, grandmother to the former, and the wife of Louis
le Debonnaire, was the daughter of Guelph, Count of Weingarten, and
Duke of Bavaria. Through her they claim relationship to the Dukes of
Brunswick, the ancestors of the present royal family of Great Britain, the
Dukes of Bavaria, and Saxony, and the Italian branches of that family,
the Marquisses of Este, of Liguria, and Tuscany, and the present Dukes
of Ferrara, and Modena. A noble race, which has been immortalized bv
the splendid visions of Ariosto, and the more sober fictions of Tassor.

' Muratori, Antichita Estensi. Leibnitz, Origines Guelfics; and Gibbon's Antiquities
of the House of Brunswick.

t> 9

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

CHAPTER II.

Of the subsequent Counts of Guisnes, to the end of the first mule line.

JLlIE posthumous son of Sigefrede was horn about the year 966. He
was under the tutelage of Arnold le Jeune, Count of Flanders, his first
cousin and godfather, by whom he was named Ardolphus,oi' Adolphus,
in memory of his great uncle, the Count of Boulogne and Saint Pol, and
Abbot of Saint Bertin's. Count Arnold superintended his education ;
and when he arrived at an age capable of performing the duties of a knight
and a sovereign, he conferred upon him the order of chivalry, and put him
in possession of the county of Guisnes ; to which he generously added
the rich and extensive lands of Bredenard, which were situated between
the river Vonne, and the bridge of Neullay".

Adolphus 's affections were engaged by the charms of Mahaut, or Ma-
tildis, daughter of Ernicule, Count of Boulogne, and he obtained her in
marriage. They had two sons ; of whom Raoul, or Rodolphus, succeeded
him, and Roger died in his youth1'.

Rodolphus, the third Count of Guisnes, married Rosella, the daugh-
ter of Hugh the Second, Count of Saint Pol. She was so denominated,
according to Lambert, from her roseate odours, or the roses in her com-
plexion; but more probably after Rosella, the wife of Arnold le Jeune,
surnamed Royne, or the Queen, from being the daughter of Berenger,
King of Italy. This marriage did not take place till after the year 1000,
but how long after that time is uncertain1.

It is related, that he distinguished himself by his military achievements,
under kings and princes, in various and remote parts of the world, yet the
particulars of his warfare have not been specified. The ecclesiastics, the
only writers of this period, too often omit civil and military transactions'1.

1 Lambert, chap. 12, 13. " Ibid. chap. 14, 16

Duchesne. d Ibid.

chap. ii. ADOLPHUS, RODOLPHUS, EUSTACE. 21

Proud of his martial renown, and his noble descent, his magnificence in
his establishments at home, and upon his war expeditions, was greater
than his revenues could support6. To supply his extravagance he op-
pressed his vassals, and all who were resident within his territories, with
new exactions. He compelled them to pay annually a penny a head for
all men, women, and children, who had lived there a year and a day, and
fourpence upon every marriage and burial. A heavy tax when the
precious metals were scarce ! He introduced likewise a degrading species
of servitude, by which all his subjects were prohibited from carrying any
other arms than clubs; perhaps to prevent their revolt at his oppressions.
It was called Colvekerlia, or Massuerie, and continued for many years.
This tax he transferred, by sale I suppose, to the lords of Hamme, as a
perpetual feodf.

To the great joy of the country, he was slain at a tournament at Paris,
where he received two mortal wounds, and was thrown into the Seine.
This happened before the year 1036s.

His eldest son and heir was named Eustace ; and he had besides, as
Lambert informs us, other sons, who did not degenerate from the virtues
of their father in arms and martial deeds ; and likewise daughters, whose
lovely faces, and elegant forms, excited the admiration of the age'1.

Eustace, the fourth Count of Guisnes, was of a different moral cha-

* Appendix, No. V.

1 Lambert, chap. 36. In the Flemish language cotvc signified a club, keule in modern
German, all derived from the Latin clavis, or an higher origin. Kcrle, as the Saxon carl,
•was a countryman. Hence colvekerli, clavigeri rustici. The poll-tax was likewise com-
prehended under the general term. It was often exacted with insult, and particularly
from new-married women, and was considered as of a very slavish nature. Jgnominiosum
omnino, pritsertim mulieribus recens miptis, servitutis genus videtur indicari. The
editors of Du Cange in voce. I do not see what oppression it could iiave been to bear
clubs. By the feodal law rustics were prohibited from carrying higher arms. Si qiiis
rusticus arma, vel lanceam, portaverit, vel gladium, judex, in cujus potestate repirtus fuerit,
vel arma tollat, vel viginti solidos pro ipsis recipiat a rustico. Feod. Lib. II. tit xxvii.
sect. 5.

s Ad execrabiles nundinas quas torneamenta vocant, says Lambert, chap. J 8. This
shews how early they were in use. They were condemned by the Council of Lateran, in
1164, under Alexander the Third, and persons slain in them were prohibited Christian
burial. Decret. Greg. lib. v. tit. 13.

" Appendix, No. VI. Lambert, and the Chronicle of St. Bertin.

22 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book t.

racter from his father, and treated his subjects with justice and mildness1.
Little is known of him : he appears to have been living in the year 1052,
and to have died soon after. His wife was Susanna de Grammes, daughter
of Siger de Gramines, the most noble Chamberlain of Flanders, by whom
he had Baldwin, his eldest son ; William, of whom nothing is said by
Lambert; another son, named Remelin ; and two daughters, Adela, and
Beatrice. He provided that all his children, both sons and daughters,
should be educated in the liberal studies of literature : and his sons ex-
celled in every military science, amongst the first young men of
Flandersk.

The fifth Count of Guisnes was Baldwin the First, who succeeded
his father before the year 1065 ; since he was at the Court of Philip the
First, King of France, and attested a charter of that date1.

The proper name of his Countess, Adela, was superseded by that of
Christiana, which was universally bestowed upon her for her piety. She
is said to have been the daughter of Florent, or Florentin, a Duke of Lor-
rain ; but as no duke of that name is known, Duchesne supposes that he
was a powerful lord of that country, though not of ducal rank. According
to other authors, she was the daughter of Bernard, Duke of Saxony,
widow of Florent the First, Count of Holland, and was called Gertrude
of Saxony m.

In the war for the succession to the county of Flanders, in the year
1070, he embraced the party of Robert le Frison, against the heroine and
tyrant Richilda ; and in the year following displayed his valour in the
battles of Montcassel and Broqueroies, in which she was defeated".

Baldwin was no less religious than his Countess. His pious intention
of founding a monastery on his domains, was promoted and accomplished

' His subjects used to say of him,

Ex re nomen habes, vivas, Conies, hie, et in aivum !
A pun upon his name, Eustatius; eo quod semper et ubique slaret in bono. Lambert,
chap. 19, who adds himself, quod studuit,

Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.
k Appendix, No. VII. Lambert, chap. 23.
' Duchesne and Preuv. p. 19.

m Lambert, chap. 25. Hist, de Cal. i. p. 517, who refers to Oudegherst and Scriverius.
" L'Art de Verifier les Dates. Lambert, chap. 27.

chap. ii. BALDWIN THE FIRST. 93

by an accidental event. Upon a pilgrimage to Saint James in Galicia, in
company with Enguerrand, lord of Lillers, and other noblemen, he fell
sick, and was hospitably entertained at the Abbey of Charroux in Pictoir.
In gratitude for this kindness, and edified by the exemplary regularity of
that house, he agreed with the abbot that he should supply him with monks
tor his intended foundation, which he immediately proceeded to carry into
effect. For his new establishment he chose the town of Andres, about
two miles from Guisnes, where he built a magnificent church, on the site
of the chapel of Saint Medard, and founded a monastery, which was dedi-
cated to Saint Saviour, and Saint Rotrude, whose remains had been mira-
culously discovered'1. Monks from the Abbey of Charroux were trans-
planted thither : it was richly endowed by the Count, and numerous other
benefactors, and in ten years' time was possessed of a fourth part of the
county of Guisnes '. It became one of the most considerable abbeys in
France, and was adorned with the stately monuments of the Counts of
Guisnes. The charter of foundation bears date in 1084, and it was con-
firmed by the Bishop of Teroiienne in the same year. It was made sub-
ject to the Abbey of Charroux, by which the abbot was elected, and to
which it paid an annual rent of two marks of silver'. In 1211 the monks
obtained from the Pope the privilege of electing their own abbot*.

• Sancti Salvatoris Carofensis Monasterium. Lambert, chap. 2(3, 29, 30.

p For the history of the discovery of the body of Saint Rotrude, see Appendix,
No. VIII.

' This appears by an act of Manasses. Duchesne, Preuv. p. 35. Hist.de Cal. vol. i. 567-

r Gallia Christiana, vol. x. p. 1602.

5 Appendix, No. VIII. Extract from the Chronicle of Andres. The charter of founda-
tion, and the bishop's confirmation, are printed by Duchesne, Preuv. p. 23, 25 The
benefactions are all stated at length, and are very numerous. They consist of land, houses,
mills, gardens, farms, tithes, and other property. Much of the land is described by days,
terra quatuor dierum, prata triginta dierum; sometimes without mentioning the land, as
quatuor dies, that is, as much land as a man can plough in a day with one plough, or a
certain quantity of provisions for one day for the king's, or lord's, house. It occurs in
Domesday book in the latter sense, as nox does likewise. Dimidia dies mellis. Una dies
de firma. Firma trium noctium. Spelman, Ducange. Some of the benefactors give them-
selves, as well as their property. Gotho dedit seipsum, dedit etiam totum pnedium.
Eustachius, filius Hugonis fecit similiter Bernardus de Gisnes dedit hospitcm, (a sort of
Villains, Ducange,) una cum eomitatu, et uxor ejus Gtrberga attrihuit seipsam cum pueris
suis. Rainerus del Bruc, et Segechins uxor ejus dederunt semetipsos, et totum prtediunv

24 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. rook i.

It may not be uninteresting to relate the future history of this abbey.
When King Edward the Third took Calais, in 1347, the monks retired to
Ardres, but afterwards returned, and reestablished the abbey. It was
again destroyed by the troops of Henry the Eighth, when he took Bou-
logne in 1.54;3, and was never rebuilt. No other monument of it afterwards
remained than a house with a little chapel, at Ardres, which had been
occupied by the monks in their secession, and retained the name of the
Abbe Royal, and where the abbot of Ardres maintained a chaplain. T<>
this small establishment were annexed the revenues of the ancient abbey,
amounting to one thousand crowns, or three thousand livres a year. The
body of Saint Rotrude was removed to the Abbey of Saint Bertin, where
it continued to he one of its most valuable treasures1.

The pious Adela died soon after this foundation, and was buried in the
new monastery, where the solemn rites were performed by Gilbert, the
first abbot. Her husband attended the funeral, and gave to the monks
the use of the marshes of Ostingheken, to celebrate an anniversary f< >r the
repose of her soul".

Baldwin had afterwards a contest, both in writing and by arms, with
Arnold the First, Lord or Baron of Ardres, who refused to do homage to
him for his territories, which were held as fiefs of the county of Guisnes.
These barons were become rich and powerful; and Arnold was supported
by a potent ally, Robert the Second, Count of Flanders, to whom he
surrendered his allodial lands, and his castle, to hold of him as fiefs x.

Count Baldwin died seven years after his Countess, and was buried
near her at Andres, about the year 1091. He is said to have profited by
his liberal education, and the study of the holy Scriptures. He was brave
as a warrior, and correct in his morals. To his subjects and soldiers he
conducted himself as a brother, rather than a superior, and exacted no

eorum Count Manasses, heir to Baldwin, agreed that each of his knights should give a
carrueate of land, or a rent of one hundred shillings. There are the names of Orbertus
Wiscardus, and his brother Otgrinus. As most of the lands granted were in the county of
Guisnes, all the gifts passed in the court of the Count. Generalibus placitis apud Gisnes,
praesentibus militibus, et laicis, placitum observantibus, regionis Guinensis. Pr. p. 38.

' Hist, de Cal. i. p. 385, 583.

" Mentioned in the Charter, p. 25.

J L'Art de Verifier les Dates.

chap. ii. BALDWIN THE FIRST, MANASSES. 2o

more than his just dues. He was a protector of widows and orphans,
and a strenuous defender of the Church. Such is the excellent character
given of him bv Lambert, and which is not contradicted by any of his
actions with which we are acquainted7.

His children were six in number : Manasses, or Robert, the eldest :
Fulk, who accompanied his cousin Robert, Count of Flanders, Eustace of
Boulogne, Godfrey, and Baldwin, in the first crusade, and was made
Count of Baruth, or Berytus, where he was buried : Guy, Count of
Forois, a place which the geographical knowledge of Duchesne has not
enabled him to discover2: Hugh, first a priest, and archdeacon of the
church of Teroiienne, and who afterwards adopted the profession of a
soldier, and received the order of knighthood. His eldest daughter,
Adela, married Jeffrey, lord of Semur in the Brionnois, and " resembling
" her mother, shone like the sun for piety." Gisla, the youngest,
married Wenemar, Chatelain of Ghent, of whom we shall have occasion
to speak hereafter*.

The sixth and last Count of Guisnes, in the male line, and who suc-
ceeded his father about the year 1091, was christened Robert, after his
godfather, Robert le Frison, Count of Flanders, but he was usually called
Manasses; for it was customary in those times, as we are informed by
Lambert, for persons to assume two names'1. This nobleman frequented
the court of William Rufus, and was in great favour with that king. He
bestowed upon him in marriage an English lady of considerable pos-
sessions, Emma of Tancarville, daughter of Robert Lord of Tancarville,
and Chamberlain of Normandy, and who was the widow of Odo of
Folkestone1'.

The oppressive services of Colvekerlia, which had been imposed upon

* Lambert, chap. 24.

1 L'Art de Verifier les Dates says, (vol. ii. p. 7&5,) Gui, ch'un modeme, trompe par
Lambert, fait Compte de Foris, en vertu d'un pretendu marriage avec la fille du Compte
de Foris.

a Lambert, chap. 25.

" Ex quo (Balduino, Christiana) suscepit famosissimae nobilitatis sobolem, Robertum vi-
delicet, qui ut tunc temporis erat consuetudo, et adhuc plerumque tenetur, binomius erat,
sed suppressa vocationis proprietate, inolescente usus assuetudine, dictus est Manasses.
Lambert, chap. 25, 33.

c Lambert, chap. 35.

26 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. hook i.

the people of Guisnes by Hodolphus, still continued, and had been trans-
ferred by him to the lords of Hamme. A case, in which the fine upon
marriage had been demanded with insolence, and indecency, from a bride,
whose husband, William de Bocherdis, a vavassor, had resided in the
country just long enough to bring him within the reach of the law,
gave good reason tor complaint. Havidis, the bride, applied to the
Countess, who interceded in her favour with her husband. He abolished
the grievance, and granted lands to the lord of Hamme, as a compen-
sation for the perquisites which he lost by this emancipation'1.

Manasses was engaged in hostilities with Arnold the Second, Lord of
Ardres, in 1093, because, after the example of his father, he had trans-
ferred to the Count of Flanders the feudal duties which he owed to the
Count of Guisnes. In the course of this war, Arnold was besieged in
Ardres. The city was taken, and he was compelled to retire into the
castle, or donjon. This likewise being nearly forced, he collected his
strength, and made a vigorous sortie with such effect, that he drove
Manasses from his territories, and almost to Guisnes. A peace ensued,
the Lord of Ardres at length acknowledged the sovereignty of the Count
of Guisnes, and the princes were completely reconciled1'.

The remaining part of the history of this Count is confined to Ins
benefactions to religious houses. By a charter, without date, but cer-
tainly executed before the year 1097 f, at the petition of Gilbert, abbot of
Andres, he confirmed all former, and all future, grants to that monastery.
It specifies minutely all preceding benefactions, which are very numerous.
He likewise decreed that none of his successors, or vassals, or any lay
persons whatever, should exercise anv jurisdiction, or feudal rights, over
the abbey, or any of its possessions, but that they should be subject
only to the abbot and monks. Offenders against this privilege were to
have their lands sequestered, and to pay a fine of one hundred pounds of

'' Lambert, chap. fi6. Lambert calls him, Veteranus sive Vavassorius ; upon which
Ducange in voce observes, Nondum mihi perspectum fateor cur Veteranorum nomencla-
ture vavassores donet Lambertus Ardensis.

e Duchesne, p. <)4. Lambert, Preuv. p. 1.59, 163. L'Art de Verifier les Dates, torn. ii.
p. 7S6.

' A charter of that date refers to it. Preuv. p. 37.

chap. ii. MANASSES. 27

silver to the Count5. In 1 102, he subscribed, as a witness, a donation
to the abbey of Saint Bertin, and in 1119, some privileges were granted
to the same through his hands'1.

In conjunction with his Countess Emma, lie founded an abbey
for nuns of the order of Saint Benedict, in the suburbs of Guisnes, in
honour of the Holy Trinity, and Saint Leonard. The principal part of
the endowment was from the Countess's possessions in England, and it
was placed under the government of the Abbey of St. Bertin. Sybella, a
lady from Lorrain, and related to Manasses's mother, was the first
abbess'. Afterwards he bestowed upon it some churches and tithes in
England, part of his lady's marriage-portion, and which, being of
an ecclesiastical nature, he considered it as sinful for a layman to
enjoy. These were the church of Niguenton, the churches or chapels of
Alschot, and Celpham, and the tithes of Herst, and Bliseinghes, all in the
diocese of Canterbury. The grants were confirmed by William, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and possession was delivered by him, and Henry
his Archdeacon. The original charter of foundation bears date in 111/;
that of these farther gifts in 1120, and it is sealed with the seals of the
Count and the Countess*. By other charters without date he gave to
the same monastery the tithes of all cheese, cider', apples, wool, and
sheep, which belonged to him in England, and woodbote, and right
of common in Guisnes, with twenty-four measures of wheat from his mill"1.
This abbey continued till Guisnes was restored to France in the reign

'-' The charter itself from the Chronicle of Andres. Duchesne, Preuv. p. 35. Firmiter
etiam statuimus, ut nulli successorum meorum, vel hominum, ejusdem Caenobii homines
liceat ad suam, vel cujuslibet laicalis personae, justitiam cogere, nisi ante abbatem ; vel
coacti vam petitionem, seu incisuram super ipsos instituere, vel animalia eorum suis servitiis
mancipare, vel quidlibet ex eorum substantiis auferre ; sed omnia pranominata et omnia
ad idem monasterium pertinentia, sub potestate et justitia abbatis et monachorum libera
omnino in perpetuum permaneant. Petitio, a tax. Incisura, the same. French, taille,
tallia, talliage. Ducange.

" Archives of St. Bertin, p. 38.

1 Hist. Cal. i. p. 567. Chron. of St. Bertin. Duch. Pr. p. 41. 38. Gallia Christiana,
vol. x. p. lb'06.

k See the second charter in the Appendix. No. IX.

' Sicera.

m Archives of St. Leonard's transferred to Bourbourg. Duch. Pr. 40.
E 2

2S THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

of Queen Mary, when the nuns were deprived of their English revenues,
and their French property was transferred to the Benedictine nuns of
Ardres".

In 1124 he commuted some services of personal labour, which wen-
performed by the inhabitants of Scales, now Escalle, for a pecuniary rent,
and on condition that when a ship arrived from England, they should carry
his goods from thence to his castle, three times a year, and should assist
him in his wars0. In 1127, he made another grant to Saint BertinV.
The church of Andres, and the spacious infirmary which was built by
Rodolphus de Dovera, the friend and fellow-soldier of Manasses, having
been burnt by lightning, he rebuilt them, with the assistance of other
noblemen4.

Soon after, oppressed by years and sickness, and full of trouble from
the state of his family, he caused himself to be carried to the abbey of
Andres, assumed the habit of a monk, and in a few days rendered up
his spirit, in the arms of Peter, the abbot, in the year 1137. His
widow retired to the abbey of Saint Leonard, and did not long survive her
husband r.

Count Manasses was of a robust make, and a gigantic size, but his
countenance was beautiful, and his form elegant. He was dignified in his
appearance, amiable for his virtues, and universally beloved. In his
solemn acts he styled himself, Robert, by the grace of God, Count of
Guisnes, which did not denote an independent sovereignty, but a great-
ness and power more than common. He maintained great state, and
amongst the witnesses to his charters, we find the names of some of his
officers, Elembert, Vice-count, Baldwin, Constable, William and Manasses,
Sewers, and Eustace, Esquire to the Countess' . Whatever may be the
opinion of modern times to the contrary, the noblemen who bestowed
such large revenues upon the monasteries were real benefactors to society.
The lands of the religious houses were better cultivated, and improved,

n Hist, de Cal. i. p. 568. ° Duch. Pr. p. 40. * Ibid.

i Chronicle of Andres, Duch. p. 41. r Lambert, c. 49, 51.

s Duch. Pr. p. 40. Hist, de Cal. i. p. 555. Comes Manasses elegantissimae formas specie
laudabilis, essentia staturii giganteus apparuit, et personali auctoritate grandaevus, facie
decorus, et aspectu, im6 virtute, robustus, omnibus amabilis. Lambert, chap. 36. in fine.
This appears in some measure from his seal.

MANASSES.

than those of the laity ; and their tenants were used with more kindness,
and exempted from the hardships of military service. The poor were
relieved ; learning was preserved, and communicated ; means of educa-
tion were supplied ; and religion was maintained, and propagated.

Manasses, by his Countess Emma, had only one daughter, named
Sibylla, or Rose, whom they married to Henry de Grand, Chatelain of
Bourbourg. She died before her father and mother, in child-birth with
Beatrice her sole offspring. After her death Henry married Beatrice de
Gand, of the family of the lords of Alost. Manasses appears likewise to
have had a daughter called Ade, but it is probable that she was not by
Emma of Tancarville. He had likewise, before his marriage, a natural
daughter named Adelaide, by a fair damsel of Guisnes. She was married
to Eustace of Balinghen, and had five sons and a daughter. Her second
husband was Daniel, brother to Siger, the second, Chatelain of Ghent1.

The following are the seals of Manasses and Emma, annexed to their
charter of 1 120, which is in the Appendix".

Lambert, chap. 34,

Duchesne, Preuv. p. 39

30 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book ii.

Beatrice, the only hope of the family, was of a weak and sickly consti-
tution, and was afflicted with the stone and gravel". At a proper age her
grandfather procured a suitable match for her with a powerful English
nobleman, Alberic de Vere, called by the French writers, Albertus
Aper, or Sanglier, who was Lord Chamberlain, and Chief Justice of
England, and the favourite of Henry the First, and King Stephen*.

" Calculosa, et morbida. Lambert.

' Lambert, chap. 43. The crest of the family of Vere is a boar, aper, sanglier —
Edmondson's Baronage. Dugdale in his Baronage, i. p. 188. is wrong in stating that it was
the Jirst Alberic de Vere, who married Beatrice de Guisnes. For,

1 . It is certain that the first Alberic had a wife named Beatrice ; but it is equally certain
that she had five sons and a daughter. In the Monasticon, vol. i p. 436 — 438. isacharter
by which Alberic, and his wife Beatrice, with their sons, Alberic, Roger, Robert, and
William, grant the Church of Kensington and other gifts to the Abbey of Abingdon, for
the soul of their son Geoffrey, deceased. And there was a daughter named Rose, married
to Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex. Beatrice de Guisnes had no children, by the
concurring testimony of the historians, (Lambert, Preuv. p. 32. Duchesne, p. 30.) it is fully
confirmed likewise by the course of events, the fears of Manasscs that he should leave no
lineal descendants, and his divorcing, and marrying again, his granddaughter Beatrice, with
the view of having an heir, (Preuv. p 30, 32, &c.) her bad health, for Lambert says, that
she was matrimonii debitum solvere pertimeseentem, (chap. 50.) Arnold's readiness to seize
the country as next heir, De Vere's neglect, and no son's appearing to claim the county
after her death. The reason assigned for De Vere's not returning was, quod de vitd uxuris
sua' non nimus quam de Guisnensis terrte comitalu disperaret.

2. The time does not agree. The Charter to Abingdon Abbey was confirmed by King
Henry the First in the year 1111, when seizin was delivered by Picot, Alberic's Dapifer,
or Sewer, to Faritius the Abbot. A few years afterwards (non multorum post decursum
annonmi) Alberic died, as is stated in the register of the Abbey. (Dugdale, eod. loco.)
But our Alberic was living at the death of Manasses in 113?.

3. Our Alberic was a favourite with King Stephen, who did not begin to reign till 1137,
when the first Alberic must have been dead.

Alberic de Vere therefore, who married Beatrice de Guisnes, must have been the second
Alberic, the son of the former, who was killed at London, in 1139, the fifth year of
Stephen, and is related by the English historians to have been in the confidence of that
monarch and to have been much employed by him in affairs of importance. He was made
Lord Great Chamberlain, and one of the King's Justices by Henry the First, was a man
of talents and eloquence, and was sent by Stephen to appear for him at the ecclesiastical
synod which was held in the fourth year of his reign. The turbulence of that reign, and
the important situation which was held by De Vere, the sickly state of his wife, the want
of children by her, the probability of her death, and the consequent loss of Guisnes, will

chap. ii. BEATRICE, ALBERIC. 31

In case of her death without children, a very probable event, the next
heir was Gisla the sister of Manasses, who was married to Wenemar,
Chatelain of Ghent. Their son Arnold was an ambitious and enter-
prizing prince, who looked forward to the succession, and was prepared
to seize upon Guisnes the first opportunity. With this view, even in the
lifetime of Manasses, he had obtained from him the lordship of Tour-
nehem, within the county of Guisnes, which afforded him a castle, and a
station, within the territory y.

Immediately upon the death of Manasses, in 1 137, Henry of Bourbours;
sent over to England to inform his son-in-law, of that event, and of the
designs of Arnold. Alberic came over, took possession of Guisnes,
which was thus fallen to him in right of his wife, and did homage to Thierri
D'Alsace, Count of Flanders. He returned immediately to England, to
receive seizin from King Stephen of his wife's lands in that country,
leaving her in Flanders with her father, and having appointed Arnold
de Hammes, surnamed the Glutton, Bailiff, or Governor of Guisnes.
Fully engaged by his honourable offices in England, having no prospect of
children to continue the succession in his own family, and finding little
attraction in his wife's infirmities, he never came back to Flanders2.

In the mean time, Arnold, taking advantage of his absence, formed a
powerful confederacy with William Castellan of St. Omer's, his father-in-
law, and others, and seized upon the castle of Guisnes. He was opposed
by Henry of Bourbourg, and his allies ; the war was carried on with

sufficiently account for his not going over to that country, and supporting a right which
was so very precarious.

Beatrice de Guisnes was his second wife His first wife by whom he had seven chil-
dren, was Adeliza, the daughter of Roger de Iveri, and Adeline de Grentmaisnel, as is
fully proved by Kennet, (Parochial Antiq. p. 81. &c. ed. 1695.) who states it as a palpable
mistake in Dugdale, transcribed from Leland, that she was the daughter of Gilbert de
Clare. (Baronage, vol. i. p. 188.)

It should seem that the title of Count of Guisnes was continued in the family of De
Vere, for we find the arms of Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Gyne, and Oxeford, in the reign of
Henry the Second, videlicet, quarterly, gules, and or. In the first quarter a mullet of the
second, (Ashmole's MSS. vol. 797.)

y Lambert, chap. 44, 45, 50.

1 Ibid.

32 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. chap. n.

various success, in which Guisnes was a scene of devastation ; and at
length Arnold obtained complete possession". During this time, in
vain did the partizans of Beatrice press De Vere to appear, and defend
his wife's property. In this distressed state of her affairs, Baldwin,
Lord of Ardres, made a proposal to Henry of Bourbourg, that if he
would separate his daughter from De Vere, and give her to him in
marriage, he would assist him in the recovery of Guisnes. The offer
was accepted, and Beatrice was sent over to England under the care of a
priest of Saint Omer's, and other attendants. Her ill-health, and other
causes, were assigned as reasons for a separation ; De Vere consented, and
a legal sentence of divorce- was pronounced by an ecclesiastical court.
She returned to her father, and was married to Baldwin, with the consent of
her liege Lord the Count of Flanders, but she died in a tew days after the
celebration of the nuptials, about the year 1142, and was buried in the
monastery of Saint Mary de la Capelle. Her husband, Baldwin, soon
after went to Palestine with Louis, King of France, and Thierri. Count
of Flanders, and died there in 1 146. On the death of Beatrice, Henry of
Bourbourg quitted Guisnes, and left the undisturbed possession to
Arnold, whose father, Wenemar, and his mother Gisla, being both dead,
her rights now fully centered in him, and he thus became the first Count
of Guisnes, of the second race, or of the house of Ghent. But Alberic,
and Baldwin of Ardres, are enumerated as the seventh and eighth
Counts1'.

1 Lambert, chap. 5-2 — 59- This war is described in verse by Lambert, who was a
contemporary, in chap. 55.

h Lambert, chap. 59, 60, 6l, 62, 65.

chap. in. LE BLOUNT. 33

CHAPTER III.

Of the father of Robert and William le Blount.

HAVING thus given the history of this family till the extinction of the
male line, and beyond the Norman invasion, it remains to ascertain which
of these Counts was the father of Robert and William le Blount.

That they were the sons of a Count of Guisnes is sufficiently established
by the records of the Herald's office, the tradition of the family, and the
unanimous concurrence of every genealogical authority11. And since it is
evident, from the high rank which they held in William the Conqueror's
army, and the extensive lordships which he bestowed upon them, that they
were of a noble and illustrious family, there is no reason to question these
uniform accounts h.

It may however be observed upon the history of the Counts of Guisnes,
as related by the French historians,

First, That the surname of le Blount does not there appear.

Secondly, That there are no three brothers mentioned, of whom two
were named Robert and William.

* This family of Blount, Blond, Blund, or le Blond, so named from fairness of com-
plexion, is of noble extraction. The first mentioned in the records of the Herald's office are
Robert le Blond, son of le Blond, Lord of Guisnes in Normandy, and William le Blund,
who is supposed by Sir William Dugdale and others to be the brother of Robert Gene-
alogical Table by Ralph Bigland, Esq. Garter King at Arms, in Nash's History of Wor-
cestershire, vol. ii. p. 163. Le Blound, Lord of Guisnes, in France, had three sons, who
came into England with William the Conqueror. One returned into France, the other
two, Sir Robert, and Sir William le Blound, remained in England, and gave a beginning
to all the Blounts in the kingdom. Collins, or rather Wootton, from the family. Baronetage,
vol. ii p. 367. and vol. iii. p. 665. The many genealogies in the Harleian collection, that
of Rawlinson, and all the manuscripts, agree upon this point.

" Camden styles Gilbert le Blount, son of Robert le Blount, magna nobilitatis vir. Bri-
tannia, in Suffolk. Ixworth.

34 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

Thirdly, That no notice is taken that any of the family went over with
Duke William.

Fourthly, That the coat of arms of the Counts of Guisnes, being vairy,
or, and azure, is different from that of the Le Blounts, whose most usual
arms were lozengy, or, and sable: or nebuly of six pieces, or, and sable.

1. To the first objection a decisive answer may be given. Hereditary
surnames were unknown both in France and England, till about the time
of William the Conqueror, when they began to be introduced into both
countries ; and it was long after, not till about the reign of Edward the
Second, before they came into general use. To search therefore for the
ancient surnames of the royal and most ancient families of Europe is to
seek after what did not exist".

Surnames, indeed, given to individuals, were not uncommon, but they were
arbitrary, and personal, and died with their possessors. They were mostly
in the nature of sobriquets, or nicknames, both good and bad, and were
derived from their country, their possessions, place of birth, or habitation ;
from their occupations, professions, offices, and honours. Others were
given on account of the qualities, or habits, the perfections, or the deiects
of die mind, or the body, the colour of the complexion, or the hair, and
even the most accidental occurrences, or associations. They are to be met
with in the history of all the nations of Europe. Such were those of Edgar
the Peaceable, Ethelred the Unready, Charles the Bald, Edmund Ironside,
William Rufus, Geoffrey Grisogonel, or Grey-cloak, of Anjou, and in
later times, Geoffrey Plantagenet, and the Duke of Guise, le Balafre.

At length these surnames began to be something more permanent, and
to be continued from father to son; and thus gradually became family
names. This took place in England, in a considerable degree, upon the
Norman conquest, and many of the nobles and knights, who came over,
retained and transmitted to their posterity, the appellations, some of them
merely incidental, which they had brought over with them. To this new
practice I apprehend the survey of Domesday Book very much contri-
buted. It bestowed upon the Norman adventurers " a local habitation,
and a name." The authority of the great record of the nation gave
stability to the names there entered, and their posterity, with the in-

' Camden's Remains.

chap. in. LE BLOUNT. 35

heritance of the fief, would naturally transmit the surname of the first
possessor, in which it stood registered in the rolls of their sovereign
lord.

But even long after that period, family names were subject to great
fluctuations, and frequently underwent many changes. It was not un-
common for persons to take surnames different from their fathers. Of this
many examples have occurred in our own country. For instance, Mor-
timer and Warenne, the founders of the noble families of those names,
were brothers, and sons of Walter de Sancto Martino. The first Gifford
was the son of Osbert de Bolebec. The first Lovels, Montacutes, Stan-
leys, and De Bergs, were respectively the sons of De Percival, Drogo
Juvenis, de Aldeleigh, and Fitz-Adhelme. Besides these examples,
Camden has given a remarkable instance of this practice, in a Cheshire
family, not long after the Conquest, from authentic records. William
Belward, lord of the Moiety of Malpasse, had two sons, Don David of
Malpasse, surnamed le Clerk, and Richard. Don David had William his
eldest son, surnamed de Malpasse. His second son Philip, was surnamed
Gogh, one of the issue of whose eldest son took the name of Egerton. A
third son, David, took the name of Golborne, and another that of Good-
man. Richard, the other son of William Belward, had three sons, who
all took different surnames, Thomas de Cotgrave, William de Overton,
and Richard Little ; who had two sons, one named Ken-clarke, the other
John Richardson. Here, as Camden observes, is the greatest variety of
names, in one family, in only a few descents, and derived from most of
the sources from whence they were usually deduced ; from their place of
habitation, in Egerton, Cotgrave, and Overton; from their complexion, in
Gogh, that is red ; from mental qualities, in Goodman ; from stature, in
Richard Little; from learning, in Ken-clarke; and from the father's name,
in Richardsond. Even till the Reformation it was not unusual for eccle-
siastics, upon taking orders, to exchange their family name for that of their
town. The family name ef William of Wykeham is unknown, and that of
William of Waynflete was Paten, or Barbour'.

1175999

d Camden's Remains.

e Life of William of Wykeham, by Lowth, and of William of Waynflete by Dr.
Chandler, who quotes Holinshead, p. 232, for the frequency of the practice.
F 2

36 THE COUNTS OF GU1SNES. hook i.

The family of Guisnes therefore, according to the usage of the times,
having no surname, and the individuals of it being designated only by their
Christian names, with the addition usually of their hereditary lordship, it
is not at all extraordinary that the two brothers, Robert and William,
should have acquired a name which did not belong to their ancestors.
Nor is it difficult to assign a reason fortius peculiar addition. The Danes
were a fair people ; and whilst their countrymen in Normandy, who had
migrated earlier, had been imbrowned by a longer residence in a more
southern climate, the family of Sigefrede, who came over subsequently,
might have still retained the national character of countenance; and the
name of le Blount, in the Romance, or French dialect of the Latin tongue,
would properly describe the light complexion and flaxen hair of the
Scandinavian tribes'.

It is not improbable that the Counts of Guisnes may have had the
surname of le Blount, although it is not mentioned by the French historians.
The accounts of the family in England expressly state the father of these
two brothers to have been Le Blount, Lord of Guisnes. The name itself
is of foreign origin, and such attributes were very common at this time,
anil particularly amongst their kindred noblemen in the neighbouring pro-
vinces. Amongst the old Counts of Boulogne we find a Guy a la Blanche
Barbe, a surname not very unlike that of le Blount. Most of those names
which were derived from personal qualities, of mind, or body, could
scarcely have been assumed by the persons themselves, and must have
been first given them by others, as a sort of nickname ; most certainly in
those which implied some defect. Many of the family of Guisnes might
have been called flaxen haired for a long time before they adopted the
epithet as their surname, or before a regular historian would apply it to
them.

Second///, and thirdly. With respect to the second and third objec-
tions, namely, that the names of Robert and William do not occur, and
that no notice is taken that any of the family went over with William the
Conqueror, it may be observed, that all ancient pedigrees are imperfect,
and many of the collateral branches, and the names of the younger chil-

1 Blundus, blondus, color capillorum flavus, qui nostvis Blond. Du Cange in voce.
William Rufus is styled Blundus in some records.

chap. in. LE BLOUNT. 37

dren, are necessarily omitted. Most of the authentic accounts of the
ancient families of Europe are taken from charters, grants to monasteries,
and other conveyances, in which of course, the elder branches, who were
possessed of the chief property, were the parties ; the younger brothers had
nothing to bestow. It is to these benefactors likewise that the historians
of those dark times have principally confined their narratives. The
interests of their order, and the endowments of their churches, and
monasteries, were the subjects most worthy of their attention. The
adventures of the younger brothers of the family, and their embarking in
an expedition which was so general, and extensive, were not objects of
sufficient importance to find a place in those crude, and imperfect,
annals.

The fourth objection, that the coat of arms of the Counts of Guisnes is
different from that of le Blount, the history of armorial bearings will
entirely dispel. With regard to the origin of coats of arms, which some
heralds have carried up almost to Adam, an evident distinction must be
made. The use of national, or personal, insignia, or symbols, taken from
animals, and other objects, is very ancient. Such were the Roman eagles,
and the peculiar standards of most nations. They were equally in use
amongst the Northern barbarians, and were displayed by the feudal chief-
tains upon their banners, their shields, and helmets. In the Crusades,
when the knights of so many different nations were assembled, completely
covered with mailed armour, from the necessity of avoiding confusion,
these appropriate marks became more general, and they assumed a more
fixed and invariable character, as religious, as national, as family, and as
individual distinctions ; and the regulations which were unavoidably
introduced, and observed, gradually formed the art, or science, of heraldry.
The subjects which formed these different ensigns were naturally taken
from those pursuits which were most honourable, and most accordant to
the manners and mode of life of those who bore them ; from religion, war,
and the chase. The cross of their Saviour, the arms and accoutrements of
the knights, the war-horse and his trappings, the beasts of venery from the
royal lion to the humble rabbit, the noble falcon, and his various prey,
supplied an ample choice to gratify the fancy and taste of a gallant
warrior.

Whatever capricious ornaments therefore the knights might occasionally

.38 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

display upon their banners, or armour, coats of arms, properly so called,
were unknown in the time of William the Conqueror. It was not till the
crusades that these marks of distinction began to assume a regular form.
It was not till a still later period, and by a gradual progress, that they
became hereditary. This did not take place in France till the twelfth
century5, and, in England, till the time of Henry the Third, in the
thirteenth1'. The earliest known sculptured arms in this country are those
on the shield of Geoffrey de Magnavilla, Earl of Essex, in the Temple
Church, who died in 1144s. The oldest seal with a coat of arms is the
great seal of Richard the First, in 1 189, with two lions, or leopards, com-
battant; his next seal, made in 1195, bore three leopards passant1'. In
Montfaucon's Monuments of the French Monarchy, the first arms repre-
sented are those of Geoffrei le Bel, Comte of Main, who died in 1150.
The most ancient French seal with arms is said to have been that of Louis
le Jeune, who began to reign in 11:37'. From the reign of Philip
Augustus who began to reign in 11 SO, they are common. Amongst the
seals of the Counts of Flanders, there is that of Robert le Frison, the
tenth Count, affixed to a diploma of the year 1072; he is represented on
horseback, and with a lion rampant on his shield. This may be thought an

c In the ancient tapestry at Bayeux in Normandy, which represents the history of
William the Conqueror, and Harold, and which was said to have been worked by Queen
Matilda, but is certainly of contemporary date, and has been engraved by Montfaucon, in
his Monuments de la Monarchic Francaise, vol. i. though the shields in general have no
ensigns on them, there are four, on which are pictured two monsters, a cross, and some
leaves. Kpon these Montfaucon, and there cannot be better authority, observes, Ces
boucliers sont chargez de quelques figures, deux de monstres, un d'un croix, et l'autre de
quelques fuilles, ce ne sont point des armoiries {nun tamen here gentllitia insignia erant.) II
est certain qu'il n'y en avoit point encore en ces temps-la qui passassent de pere en fils.
Les anciens mettoient souvent des marques a leur boucliers. Je ne donte point que depuis
ces anciens Romains d'aatres nations n'aient quelquefois mis des marques sur leur
boucliers, mais e'etoit un pur caprice. II n'y a eu de ces marques qui aient pass£ par
succession aux families qu" au douzieme siecle. (Ilia vero insignia quels families distin-
guuntur, qujeque ad filios et nepotes transierunt, duodecimo saculo cceperunt.) Montfaucon, I.
p. 376. See Archaeol. vol. xvii. p. 85. and vol. xviii. p. 359.

h Selden, Titles of Honour, Preface, p. 92.

1 Gough's Introduction to his Sepulchral Monuments, p. 104.

k Speed's History in Rich. I.

1 Edmondson, p. 10.

chap. in. LE BLOUNT. J9

exception to the assertion, that arms were not in use so early. But in
reality this must be referred to the arbitrary insignia occasionally adopted
by knights. The lion does not appear again till it is introduced upon the
shield of Philip of Alsace, to a diploma of 1163; after which it regularly
becomes a coat of arms, and is on the seals of all the subsequent Countsm.
In Scotland there is no evidence of any coats armorial before William the
Lion, who began to reign in 1 16-5". The oldest monument of any of the
Roman Pontiffs with a coat of arms, is that of Clement the Fourth,
at Viterbo. He died in 1268°. In short, no well authenticated examples
of coats of arms are to be found which can prove that they were regularly
established, or, indeed, were in use, as proper heraldic insignia, till after
the first crusade. But for a long time, even after those periods, they were
far from being fixed and permanent, and changes and variations frequently
occurred. In the same family the son often adopted a different coat
of arms from his father, and one brother was distinguished from another
by a different coat of arms. Innumerable examples of such variations are
to be met with in England, and even so late as in the instances of the last
Earls of Chester, Winchester, and Lincolnp.

Since then, at the time of William the Conqueror's expedition, heraldry
had no existence, neither the Counts of Guisnes, or their sons, could have
had any coats of arms. When they were introduced into use, which was
long after the Le Blounts had settled in England, it would have been no
unusual occurrence that the two branches of the family, the one in
Guisnes, and the other in England, should have adopted different bearings,
from the want of mutual intercourse, or even for the very purpose of
distinction.

It is even far from being impossible, or improbable, that the two coats
of arms were originally the same, and that the subsequent difference was
the effect of time, or accident. The two coats, the one, vairy, or, and
azure, and the other lozengy, or, and sable, and barry, nebuly, or, and

m Ol. Uredii, Sigilla Com. Flandriae.

° Lord Hale's Remarks on the History of Scotland.

° Edmondson's Heraldry, p. 10.

* The oldest grant of arms upon record is of Richard II. Richard the III. first erected
the Heralds into a college. Rowe Mores' Dedication. The banners of the twelve tribes
of Israel are not mentioned in the Scriptures, but were the fancies of the Rabbies.

40 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. isook i.

sable, in their general appearance, both in the forms, and the colours, have
a considerable degree of resemblance, and either of them may have been
an accidental, and gradual, or an intentional, deviation from the other.
As the leopards of Normandy and Aquitain have imperceptibly become
lions in the arms of England'1.

At what period the Le Blounts acquired their coat of arms cannot
perhaps be easily ascertained. The first authentic emblazonment which I
have met with, is in the reign of Edward the First, in the catalogue of the
knights of that period, in an ancient manuscript in the British Museumr.

It does not appear that, in fact, the Counts of Guisnes had adopted any
coat of arms till the latter end of the twelfth century. Upon examining
the ample collection of proofs and documents annexed by Du Chesne to
his history, the earliest seal we find of any of the Counts of Guisnes is to
a charter of Count Manasses, of the year 1120, already given. The
impression is of a man on horseback, with a lance, or some other weapon,
and a shield, without any coat of arms. The seal of his wife Emma, is a
woman with a book in one hand, and a flower in the other8. So the seal
of Count Arnold, in 1151, is a man on horseback. The oldest seals in
that collection, which have coats of arms, are those of the three sons of
Arnold, Baldwin the Second, in 1202; William, about 1177; and Siger,
Chatelain of Ghent, in 1190, and 1198. Those of Baldwin have the
usual arms of Guisnes; William has, in addition, a bend; and Siger, a
chevron; to distinguish their being younger brothers*.

There is no direct proof, therefore, that the Counts of Guisnes had any
coat of arms before the year 1177, but there is presumptive evidence,
from their seals, that they had none as late as the year 1151.

These objections are therefore of no weight, and the only point remain-

1 As late as the reign of Edward I. the arms of England are thus blazoned. Le Roy
de Engleterre porte de goules, a iii Lupards passauns de or. In an ancient manuscript
containing nomina et arma nobilium qui cum Edwardo primo militabant. See more of
this subsequently. Harleian RISS. No. 106S. p. 71. and in the Catalogue published by
Rowe Mores from another manuscript.

' Ibid.

• For the charter itself see the Appendix, No. IX.

' All these seals are engraved in the next chapter. They are taken from Duchesne.

chap. in. LE BLOUNT. 41

ing to be ascertained is which of the Counts of Guisnes was father to
Robert Le Blount, and William Le Blount, the founders of the family in
England, and to the other brother who returned to France.

The reigning Count of Guisnes, at the time of William's expedition,
was Baldwin, who succeeded to the lordship before the year 1065, and
died in 1191. Four sons only are mentioned by Lambert, Manasses, or
Robert, the eldest, Fulk, Guv, and Hugh. This Robert could not have
been the same with Robert Le Blount, because he succeeded to the lord-
ship of Guisnes, and, though he frequented the court of King William,
certainly did not settle in England. The name of William is not amongst
them. Unless therefore there were other sons not stated by Lambert, the
two Le Blounts were not the sons of Baldwin, at that time Count of
Guisnes.

We must go back therefore to the late Count, Eustace, the father of
Baldwin, and his children. Besides Baldwin, he is stated to have had a
son, William, and another named Ramelin, but no other is mentioned.
This might have been William Le Blount, for Lambert does not say what
became of him. There might have been another brother named Robert,
and Ramelin might have been the third who returned to France, and
whose name is not known. These sons of Eustace were well qualified for
the high prowess and the military rank of the Le Blounts, for it is said of
them that they had been educated in the art of war amongst the first
youths of Flanders".

But as there is no positive authority for these suppositions', let us ascend
another step, to Rodolphus or Raoul,the father of Eustace. Besides Eustace,
he is stated by Lambert to have had other sons, " who did not degenerate
" from their father's merits in warlike exploits and accomplishments"."
Amongst these were probably Robert and William Le Blount, and the other
brother. The age of these sons agrees perfectly as to time. Rodolphus
married after the year 1000 ; it is not known how long after. If we
suppose that he married about ths year 1010, his younger children would
probably have been from forty to fifty years of age at the time of the Con-
quest. Robert Le Blount must have been of that age, since his son
Gilbert was capable of bearing arms, and accompanied William upon his

" Appendix, No. VII. x Appendix, No. VI.

42 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

expedition to England*. The high military command, bestowed upon the
brothers, seems to imply a maturity of years and experience. In the
painting at Ely, hereafter more particularly to be described, though a
correct resemblance perhaps may not be found, yet even after repeated
renovations, the general appearance was probably preserved, and in that of
William Le Blount, we see the portrait of a warrior far advanced in life.
Upon the whole therefore it seems best supported by facts, that the Le
Blounts were the sons of Rodolphus, by his wife Rosella, daughter of the
Count de Saint Pol.

* Dugdale, Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 184. Gilbertus veniens in conquestu cum Willielmo.

chap. iv. HOUSE OF GHENT. 43

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Jamil if of'G/iisnes, of the second race, or House of Ghent.

W E have now traced this family from its first origin to the end of the
first race, to the time of the migration of the two brothers, and the detach-
ment of the Le Blounts from the main stock. Before I proceed with their
history, I shall relate the sequel of the fortunes of the house, and territory,
of Guisnes.

The descendants of Manasses having become extinct by the death of his
grand-daughter Beatrice without issue, his next heir was Gisla, his
youngest sister. At the death of Beatrice, his brothers and his other
sisters were dead, and none of them had left children, except Adela, who
had been married to the Lord of Semur, and had a son. She was older
than Gisla, and had she been living would have had a claim prior to that
of her sister. But she had been dead some time, and, by the laws of that
country, representation did not take place, and therefore a younger sur-
viving sister was preferred before the son of an elder sister deceased, as
being nearer of kin to the last possessor. The son of Adela, Jeffrey,
Lord of Semur, appeared at first as a competitor, but he soon abandoned
his claim3.

Gisla was married to Wenemar, Chatelain of Ghent, and Lord of
Bornhem ; one of the first noblemen in Flanders.

Ghent had formerly belonged to the Emperors, and was governed by
Counts appointed by them. It was afterwards conquered by Arnold le
Jeune, Count of Flanders, and, after being several times taken and retaken,
was finally possessed by the Counts of Flanders, in the time of Baldwin
le Barbu, about the year 1007. He appointed Lambert, a noble Lord,
who was descended from the ancient Counts of Ghent, as the first heredi-
tary Chatelain, Viscount, or Burg-grave of Ghent, and who was the

1 Lambert, chap. 63.
G 2

U COUNTS OF GU1SNES. hook r.

ancestor of Wenemar. The ancient Counts, upon the first conquest, art-
supposed to have retired to A lost, and to have continued Lords of that
place, retaining their original name of De Gand\

The Chatelanie after this was therefore an hereditary fief, held of the
Counts of Flanders. It was the first in rank, and the Chatelains had the
title of Illustrious. They had large domains, within which they had the
right of taxation, of haute justice, and other feudal perquisites. It was
their prerogative likewise to bear, in person, or by a proper knight of their
blood, the standard, or banner, of the city of Ghent, whenever the citizens
went to war under their Lord and Prince, the Count of Flanders. And
the city was bound to give them a white horse, and a salary of one hun-
dred livres Parisis a day, when upon that honourable service0.

Wenemar, the son of Lambert the Second, who was grandson to the
lirst Lambert, succeeded his father before l()8!s, in the Chatelanie of
Ghent, and the Lordship of Bornhem. He was twice married. His
first lady was named Lutgarde, and died without children. His second
wife was Gisla de Guisnes. His name appears as a party, a guarantee,
or a witness to various acts of that time, chiefly donations to monasteries,
which, however important to those religious houses, are uninteresting to
posterity. Having some contention with the people of Ghent, lie retired
to William of Normandy, Count of Flanders, who sent him as his ambas-
sador to the Emperor Lotharius. He enjoyed his government for fifty
years, and died in 113S, leaving his widow Gisla de Guisnes, who sur-
vived her husband, her brother Manasses, and her great niece Beatrice,
and died about the year 1 W2.

The children of Wenemar and Gisla. were Arnold, Wenemar, Sie>er,

b Duchesne, p. 39, "99. Of the Lords of Alost, descended from the ancient Counts of
Ghent, and named De Gand, was Gilbert de Gand, an ancestor of Beatrice, wife of
Arnold II. Count of Guisnes, who came over with William the Conqueror, and received
from him the Barony of Folkingham in Lincolnshire. His grandson, of the same name,
was created Earl of Lincoln by King Stephen, and his brother, Robert De Gand, was Lord
Chancellor. They were deprived of the Earldom of Lincoln, for supporting Louis of
France, and Gilbert gave the Barony of Falkingham to Edward, eldest son of Henry the
Third. Camden, Britann. in loco. Of the family of Alost were likewise the Lords of
Tenremonde.

c Duchesne, p. 299.

chap. iv. ARNOLD THE FIRST. +o

Baldwin, first a monk and afterwards a knight, and Margaret, married to
Steppo, a knight of Ghent.

The seal of Wenemar affixed to a charter containing some grants to the
Canons of Bornhem, without date, but perhaps about 1 1 1C2J.

From Gisla the title to the county of Guisnes descended to her eldest
son Arnold the First, who thus became the stock of the Counts of
Guisnes of the second race, or House of Ghent, as before mentioned.

But Arnold did not succeed to the Chatelanie of Ghent, or the Lord-
ship of Bornhem. After the death of Wenemar, Theodoric, Count of
Flanders, displeased with Arnold for seizing upon Guisnes without his
consent, took possession of Ghent, and appointed Roger, the Chatelain of
Courtray, to be Chatelain. Arnold, to whom the office of right belonged,
at length entered into a compromise, and agreed to surrender his claim,
upon condition that Roger should marry his daughter, Margaret of Guisnes.
as his second wife. Roger died in 1190, and leaving no children by
Margaret, he was succeeded by Siger de Guisnes, her brother, and son to
Arnold, who had married Peronella de Courtray, the daughter of Roger

rt Duchesne, Pr. p. 67. from the archives of the Abbey of Afflegem. Of this and the other
seals introduced, from the great accuracy of Duchesne, who copied them from the originals,
and who has printed all the charters to which they are annexed, there can be no doubt of
their authenticity. Yet he must have translated the inscriptions from their ancient form into
a modern character.

46 COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

de Courtray, by his first wife, Sarah de Lille. From him descended
the subsequent Chatelains, who bore the arms of Guisnes, as well as those
of Ghent, till the time of Hugh the Second, who succeeded in 1232.
And from these descended the Barons of Saint John Steene, and Ras-
senghien, and the Counts of Isenghien, who will be hereafter mentioned f.
The Lordship of Bornhem was likewise given to Sigerf.

We have before seen that Arnold, in the absence of Alberic de Vert-,
had taken possession of Guisnes. Upon the death of Beatrice, and his
mother Gisla, he became the ninth Count of Guisnes. He is 6aid to have
been one of the bravest knights of his time, but the memory of his exploits
has not survived. He was likewise a benetiictor to several churches, and
monasteries, and, amongst other benefits, he bestowed upon that of Saint
Bertin the privilege of passing over his lands in their way to England,
without paying any impost. His wife was Matilda the daughter of
William, Chatelain of Saint Omer's. Upon a journey to England, to visit
the property which had descended to him from Emma of Tancarville, the
wife of his uncle Manasses, he was attacked in his own house, at a town
called Newton8, part of those possessions, by a disorder of which he died
in 1 169, and his body was removed to the hospital of Santingheveld, to be
buried according to his own desire1'.

They had thirteen children ; Baldwin, William, Manasses, Siger, Chatelain
of Ghent, Arnold, Margaret, married first to Eustace de Fiennes, secondly,
to Roger, Chatelain of Courtray, and Ghent; Beatrice, who married first,
William Faramus, Lord of Tingry, anrl afterwards Hugh, Chatelain of
Beaumez ; A delis, who had two husbands likewise, Hugh Chatelain of
Lille, and Robert de Waurin, Lord of Senghin ; Euphemia, Abbess of
Saint Leonard's ; Lutgarde, a nun who succeeded her sister ; Matilda.

c Lambert, chap. 61. Duchesne, 300, 303.

f The arms of the Chatelains of Ghent are, sable, a chief, argent ; with a coronet of a
circle of gold, enriched with precious stones, bearing pearls, nine in sight.

5 Apud Niuentoniam. Lambert, chap. 73. Neuetona Chronicle of Ardres, p. 100.

" Lambert, chap. 73. As to the name of this Count, Lambert calls him Arnold, Duch.
Pr. p. 89. In charters, his name is signed Arnulfus, Ernoldus, and Arnulphus, page 01,
In one charter he styles himself Ernoldus, but the seal to the same instrument has Ernulfus ,
P- 93, 94. Arnold the Second is called in a charter Arnoldus, his seal has Arnulfus. In
another, both charter and seal have Arnulphus.

chap. iv. BALDWIN THE SECOND. 47

wife of Baldwin de Hondescote ; Gisla, married to Walter de Pollar,
Lord of Aa in Brabant, and Prince of Tyberios, or Tabarie, in the Holy
Land ; Agnes, who went to the Holy Land, married there, and was
poisoned'.

The seal of Count Arnold, from a charter without date, but probably
about 1151, granting a free passage over his lands to the Abbey of St.
Bertink.

He was succeeded by his eldest son, Baldwin the Second, the
tenth Count of Guisnes, who was christened of that name by his godfather
Manasses, in memory of his own father.

At a proper age, he received the honour of knighthood from the hands
of Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The holy prelate in
person girt on his sword, fixed his spurs, and conferred the stroke of
chivalry ; a ceremony which was attended with great splendour, and
valuable gifts to the Archbishop ; for whom he ever after retained the
highest veneration1.

1 Lambert, chap. 48.

k From the Archives of that Abbey. Duch. Pr. p. 93.

1 Archipraesul Thomas, qui eidem Comiti dudum in signum militiae gladium lateri, et
calcaria (o per omnia praedicandae in eximio Christi sacerdote humilitatis virtutem) sui
militis pedibus adoptavit, et alapam collo ejus infixit; quern tamen in ipso militatoriae pro-
motionis ejus die variis redemit munusculis, et lautioribus quam regalibus expensis.

48 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

It may perhaps, at first sight, be thought extraordinary that a military
order should be conferred by an ecclesiastic, yet a little consideration of
the nature of chivalry will shew that it was perfectly in character. What-
ever might have been the origin of this institution, and however it might
afterwards have degenerated, whilst it existed in its purity and perfection,
it was entirely founded in religion. Besides the other duties, which
were of a moral and Christian nature, to defend the catholic faith, holy
church, and her ministers, were some of its first obligations. The pre-
vious preparations, the fasts, the night spent in prayer, the sermons, the
sacrament, the baptisms, and the white habits, were the same ceremonies
which accompanied the most solemn acts of religion. The form of con-
ferring knighthood itself was purely religious. It was regularly performed
at the altar, mass was celebrated, and a peculiar form of prayer was used,
to be still seen in ancient rituals. By whomsoever applied, the sword
was always blessed by a priest, and the words of investiture invoked the
name of God, Saint Michael, and Saint George. Some of the orders,
as the Knights Templars, and of Saint John of Jerusalem, were de-
cidedly monastic, and all of them partook of the monastic nature in their
form, their vows, and their obligations. They were even sometimes con-
sidered as a species of priesthood, and the doubt whether all knights were
not bound, like the clergy, to celibacy, was only dispelled by another
indispensable part of their duty, love, and the service of the ladies m.

It is no wonder, therefore, that an order so connected with religion, should
be conferred by ecclesiastical, as well as lay, persons. Accordingly we
find, that the right of making knights belonged to the pope, and other
dignitaries of the church. In the Pontificale Romanum a form is pre-
scribed for their creation by the pontiff in person". He claimed a right
of authorizing others to make knights, even as late as the time of Julius
the Third, in 1550. That pope, by his bull to the patriarchs of Con-
stantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Aquileia, and other archbishops
and bishops, being of his household chaplains, grants them the power of

Language scarcely affords Lambert sufficient expressions for his admiration of Saint
Thomas a Becket, qui fecit magnalia in terra iEgypti, terribilia in man', mirabilia in ccelo
et in terra, super omnes, et in omnibus, magnitudinis virum, &c. Lambert, chap. 87.

"' De Sainte Palaye. M6moires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie.

" Selden, Titles of Honour, vol. iii. p. 498.

chap. iv. BALDWIN THE SECOND. 49

creating eight knights0. The Emperor of Germany was always knighted
by a bishop p. In ancient times in England they were created both by
ecclesiastical, and lay subjects. The Abbot of Edmondsbury knighted
many persons in the reign of William the Conqueror^. Lanfrank,
Archbishop of Canterbury, bestowed that honour upon William Rufus,
in his father's life timer. In a Synod, held at London, under Anselm,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1102, in the reign of Henry the First, it
was enacted, that abbots should not create knights8; though the practice
seems still to have continued ; for, amongst other authorities, in the statutes
of the abbey of Reading, which were confirmed by Henry the First, and
subsequent kings, the abbot is prohibited from making knights, unless
when he is habited in his sacred vestments'.

In the year 1 170, when Thomas a Becket was returning to England,
after his banishment, and passed through the county of Guisnes, he was
met by Peter, Abbot of Saint Bertin's, by the command of Baldwin, and
conducted from that monastery to the castle of Guisnes, where he was
entertained with the greatest honour and magnificence. In the morning,
before his departure, the Archbishop made a full confession of all his
former life, to Geoffrey, Chaplain of the Count's chapel, humbly requesting
his spiritual counsel, and commending himself to his prayers. He then
took shipping for England, and his tragical end soon followed. Count
Baldwin having afterwards obtained some relics of his body, placed them
in the chapel of Saint Catherine, which he had built at de la Montoire".

His father Arnold, in his life time, had procured for Baldwin the
Second, a match of great prudence, with Christiana, sole daughter of his
vassal, Arnold, Lord of Ardres, Viscount of Marc, and Lord of Colewide,
by his wife Adeline, sister and heiress to Baldwin, Lord of Ardres, father

0 Milites et equites deauratas octo, ac eisdem militibus solita equitum deauratorum
insignia concedere. Selden, Titles of Honour, p. 506.

p Ibid. p. 495.

q Ingulphus, p. 901.

' William of Malmsbury, lib. iv. cap. 1.

3 Id. de gest. Pontif. ne abbates faciant milites.

1 Nee faciat milites nisi in sacra veste Christi. Seld. ibid.
" Chronicle of Ardres, and Lambert, chap. 75, 87.

50 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

of Lambert the historian". Christiana was the heiress of those three
lordships, which thus were united to Guisnes. Yet it was thought
something of degradation for a lord to marry the daughter of his vassal.
Arnold's father, Elembert, Lord of Marc and Colewide, having been
appointed by the Count of Guisnes his viscount, or lieutenant, he and his
successors ever after retained the title of Viscount of Marc>.

In Christiana's fortune was included some property in England, the
manor of Tollesbury, or Tolleshunt, in the parish of Tollesbury in Essex.
Arnold d'Ardres possessed here three knights' fees about the reign of
King John. He had likewise lands in Kent, Essex, and Bedfordshire,
which he lost by supporting the barons against the king. In after times
Robert de Guisnes gave to Fulk Basset, Bishop of London, the homage
of Henry de Mark in this place. In 1251 the Count of Guisnes held
Tolleshunt for two knights' fees, and Fulk Basset, brother and heir of the
bishop, at his death in 1271, held it of the king in capite, by one knight's
fee, of his honour of Boulogne2.

After the death of his wife in childbed, which happened upon the 2d of
July 1177*5 to console his affliction, he gave himself up to study; and
though his education, like that of most of the nobility of those times, had
been illiterate, he made great progress in philosophy, and the knowledge
of the holy Scriptures. He collected a considerable library, of which he
appointed Hesard de Hesdin librarian, and built an organ for the nuns at
Guisnes. The defects of his education were supplied by the lectures of
learned men, whom he invited to his castle, and maintained. Some of
their labours in his service have been specified. Landeric de Wallanio
translated for his use the Song of Solomon from Latin into Romance b,
together with the Gospels for Sundays, and some Homilies. Alfrius

1 Ad similitudinarium multorum exemplum nobilium, ducum, videlicet Regum et Impe-
ratorum se humiliantium et propter similem causara sic uxoriantium, inclinavit se ad
hominh sui filiam. Lambert, chap. 66, 67.

» Duchesne, p. 66. The arms of the Lords of Ardres were, argent, an eagle displayed,
sable. For a coronet a wreath set with pearls. Duchesne, Pr. p. 86, 90.

1 Morant's Essex, vol. i. p. 400. Dugd. Bar.

3 Lambert, chap. 85, 86.

b De Latino in Romanum. Lambert.

chap. iv. BALDWIN THE SECOND. 51

interpreted the life of Anthony the monk. Another of the literati, named
Master Godfrey, translated out of the same language a part of the Physics
of Aristotle, as Simon de Bolonia did the work of Solinus de Natura
Rerum. Walter, surnamed Silens, composed for him a book intitled
Silentium, sive Romanum de Silentio, the Romance of Silence. Such
was the Count's learning, that he was thought to equal Augustine in
theology, Dionysius the Areopagite in philosophy, Thales the Milesian
in mythology, and the most celebrated minstrels in lays of great ex-
ploits0.

From his love of literature, Baldwin was naturally attached to the clergy,
to whom it was almost exclusively confined. In 1 178 we find him enter-
taining, in his castle at Ardres, William of Champagne, Archbishop of
Rheims, who was returning from a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Thomas
a Becket at Canterbury. In describing the feast given upon this occasion,
Lambert relates a story strongly characteristic of the gross hospitality of
the age. When the guests asked for water, to temper the strong wines
which were set before them, the Cyprus, the Hi/ppocras, and the Claret",
the attendants were directed, instead of water, to supply them with excel-
lent wine of Auxerre'. The prelate perceiving the trick, " for there is
" nothing hidden," says the historian, " which shall not be revealed',"
asked his host for a cup of that water, without shewing his mistrust. The
Count, arising from his seat, went to the side-board, and overturned and
broke all the vessels of water, pretending drunkenness. " This piece of
" politeness," says Lambert, "so much diverted the Archbishop, that he
" promised to do whatever he should require, and at parting he presented
" him with two vials of precious balsam6."

In 1179 he accompanied King Louis le Jeune to the tomb of Saint

c Lambert, chap. SO, 81. In eantilenis, historiis, sive in eventuris nobilium, sive etiain
in fabellis ignobilium, joculatores quosque nominatissimos aequiparare putaretur. Lambert,
chap. 81.

d Vino altero et altero Cyprico et Niseo, pigmentato, et clarificato. Lambert, chap. 37-

e Authisiodoricum vinum pretiosissimum.

f Nihil enim opertum quod non reveletur. Lambert, 87.

? Lambert, chap 87-

H 2

52 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

Thomas a Becket. From Ushant they sailed to Dover, where his majesty
was received with great honours by Henry the Second11.

In the time of this Count an event happened of some importance to
the county of Guisnes, the change of its sovereign lord. We have before
seen, that it was a fief of the Counts of Flanders, as they were feuda-
tories to the Emperor, and afterwards to the King of France. Philip
of Alsace, Count of Flanders, married his niece Isabel, or Elizabeth,
daughter of his sister Margaret, wife of the Count of Hainalt, to Philip
Augustus, son of Lewis the Seventh, King of France, and gave as her
portion a large part of the west of Flanders, and other territories. After
the death of Philip of Alsace, at Acre, in 1190, there were many claims
upon Flanders. His sister Margaret, as the next heir, took posses-
sion of it, and her husband Baldwin, Count of Hainalt, and Namur,
assumed the title of Count. Matilda of Portugal, the widow of Philip,
was intitled to her dower; and Louis of France, the son of Philip
Augustus, claimed what had been settled upon his mother at her mar-
riage. After much discussion, a treaty, or a judicial decision, was made
at Arras in 1191, by which the county of Flanders was divided, and
Margaret had Bruges, Ghent, Ypres, Courtray, and Oudinard. Matilda,
for her dower, Lisle, Douay, Orchies, l'Ecluse, Cassel, Furnes, Bailleul,
Bourbourg, Berghes, Nieuport, and some other places. To Louis were
ceded, in perpetuity, Arras, Bapaume, Aire, St. Omer's, Hedin, Lens,
the homages of Boulogne, St. Pol, Guisnes, Lillers, Ardres, Richebourg,
and all places to the south of Neuf-Fosse, comprising the Advowry of
Bethune'.

By this arrangement the Counts of Guisnes became at first the imme-
diate vassals of the Crown of France. Afterwards Lewis the Eighth, the
son of Philip Augustus, assigned these territories as the apannage of
Robert of France, his youngest son. Saint Lewis erected them into a
county, which was called Artois, in 1238, and Robert was created the first
Count. The counties of Boulogne, Saint Pol, and Guisnes, were placed

* Hoveden in anno 1179.

1 Meyer. Annal. Flandriae. Anno 1191. Buzelini Ann. Gall. Fland. p. 248.
p. 105. Hist, de Cal. i. filO Duchesne, Pr. p. 127.

chap. iv. BALDWIN THE SECOND. 33

under the tenure of Artois, and thus became arriere-fiefs of the Crown of
France*.

Baldwin did not long observe the fidelity due to the French king. In
1192 he joined the Count of Flanders, at that time at war with King
Philip Augustus. The French King marched a powerful army into
Flanders, and reduced them to terms. A treaty of peace was signed
soon after at Peronne, in which Guisnes, and the other places, which were
the portion of Isabel, were finally ceded to Philip Augustus1.

In 1196, Baldwin was again in arms, another treaty was made at
Bailleul, and again broken. Philip invaded his territories a second time,
and he was obliged to surrender himself a prisoner, with his two sons,
Giles and Sigerm. He was restored to his liberty after some years con-
finement, and, his health being injured by the imprisonment, he died on
the 2d of January, in 1206.

His funeral was attended by thirty-three children, which he had by his wife,
and other ladies who shared his affections after her death. For though a
lover of learning, he was not indifferent to the charms of the fair sex".

Such was his prudence in the councils of princes, that he was said " to
" shine as a precious gem in the crown of the kingdom of France, and a
" valuable carbuncle in the diadem of the king of England0." So great was
his wisdom and impartiality in the administration of the laws, that he was

k Le Roi Saint Louis ayant erige, l'an 1238, 1' Artois en Compte, mit clans sa mouvance
ceux de Boulogne, de Guisnes, et de S. Paul, qui devinrent par la des arriere-fiefs de la
couronne. Du Tillet. Arnold III. in 1248, acknowledged, by an instrument under his seal,
that he and his ancestors had done four liege homages to the Count of Artois; 1. for the
Castle and County of Guisnes; 2. for the Barony of Ardres ; 3. for the Chatelanie of
Langle; 4. for the land which he had at Saint Omer's. Duchesne, Preuv. p. 287- quatre
hommages liges.

1 Duchesne, p. "2. and Preuv. p. 127. '

m Chronicle of St. Bertin, Pr. p. 128.

° His enemies said of him, In tantum in teneras exardescit puellas, et maxime virgines.
quod nee David, nee filius ejus Salomon in tot juvencularum corruptione similis ejus esse
creditur. Sed nee Jupiter quidem. Lambert admits that he had so many children, quod
nee pater eorum nomina novit omnium. Lambert, chap. 89.

0 In concilio principum adeo prudens dictus est idem Comes, quod in corona Regni
Francise quasi gemma radiaret prcetiosa, et in diademate Regis Angliae quasi carbunculi
petra corruscaret pretiosa. Lambert, chap. 88.

54 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

surnamed the Just. However irregular in his pleasures, his conduct as a
prince and a man, in other respects, was correct, and virtuous. He
was a protector of orphans and widows, hospitable to strangers, and a
benefactor to churches and monasteries. He built chapels, repaired
cities and castles, established markets, drained marshes, and was in
everv respect an active and public spirited sovereign. In his castle at
Guisnes, he built a chapel, and, over the donjon, he erected a beautiful
round bouse, covered with lead, and which contained so many chambers,
and was so artfully contrived, that it was compared to the labyrinth of
Daedalus p.

The children of Baldwin the Second, and Christiana of Ardres, were ten.
I. Arnold, 2. William, 3. Manasses, Lord of Rorichoue, and Tiembronne;
4. Baldwin, Canon of the Church of Terouenne, and administrator of the
Churches of Saint Peter near Montoir, of Stenentone, Stitede, Maling,
and Baigtone, in England. He was killed in 1229, and his death was
amply revenged by his nephew, Baldwin the Third, who compelled his
murderers to go and bear arms in the Holy Land, for the good of his
soul 'i. Though an ecclesiastic, he left children. 5. Giles Lord of Lotesse,
(i. Siger, 7. Mabile, who married John de Chisoin, 8. Adeline, married to
Baldwin de Marquise, and Hugh de Malaunoy. 9. Margaret, wedded to
Rabodon de Rumes, 10. Matilda to William de Tiembronne. The
names of five of his natural children are mentioned.

The following Epitaph on the Countess Christiana, was written by
Lambertr.

HIC COMIT1SSA JACET, FLORENTI STIRPE CKEATA,
PARQUE VIRO SOCIATA PARI, CHRISTIANA VOCATA.
JULIUS IN SEXTO NOXARUM MENSE NOTETUR,
SICQUE DIES OBITUS IN SECULA LONGA C1ETUR.
ANNUS MII.LESIMUS, CENTENUS, SEPTUAGENUS,
SEPTIMUS, A CHRISTO STAT IN EJUS FUNERE PLENUS.

p Lambert, chap. 76. He repaired the fortifications of Tournehem, and Audrvvick, and
built Sangatte. Lambert, chap. 77, 86.
q Lambert, chap. 71, 1% 79-
' Lambert, chap. 71, 72.

CHAP. IV.

BALDWIN THE SECOND.

The seal and counter-seal of Baldwin the Second, to a charter dated in
1202, confirming a grant of the tithes of Guisnes to the Abbey of St.
Bertin5.

The seal of his brother, William de Guisnes to a charter without date,
but perhaps about 1177, by which he, his wife Flandrina, and his son
William, grant to the Church of Saint Leonard the tithes of three parishes.
St. Bertin, St. Peter, and St. Medard1.

s Duchesne, Pr. p. 132. Archives of St. Bertin. ' Ibid. p. 100. From the Archives

' that Abbey.

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

The seal of his brother Siger, Chatelain of Ghent, and that of his wife,
Petronilla de Courtray. It is a grant of tithes to the Abbey of Afflegem,
and bears date 1 198".

The seal of his sister Margaret, wife first of Eustace de Fiennes, and
afterwards of Roger Chatelain of Courtray, to a charter without date,
granted to the Abbey of St. Bavon at Ghent1.

Duchesne, Pr. p. 464. Archives~6Tu*ie Abbey. * Ibid, p IOP,

chap. iv. ARNOLD THE SECOND. 57

He was succeeded by his son, Arnold the Second, the eleventh
Count of Guisnes, who likewise inherited from his mother the Lordships
of Ardres, Marc, and Colewide. Upon her death, in the year 1177, he
immediately claimed those lordships of his father, and, obtaining possession,
assumed the title of Lord of Ardres. His education was completed in
the Court of Philip, Count of Flanders. After receiving the order of
knighthood from his father, in 1181, he employed the two next years in
frequenting tournaments? in different countries, under the conduct of a
brave and prudent knight named Arnold de Cayeuz, and his nephew, who
had been the companion of Prince Henry of England. In those early
years, as we are informed by Lambert, he delighted to hear ancient men
relate the edifying histories of the Roman Emperors, of Charlemagne, of
Roland and Oliver, of King Arthur, the exploits of the English, of Gor-
mund, Ysembarb, Tristan and Hisolda, Merlin and Merculf, the siege of
Antioch, and the wars of Palestine11.

His personal charms, and high reputation, inflamed the love of a noble
widow, Ida, niece of the Count of Flanders, and, in her own right,
Countess of Boulogne : wife, first, of Matthew, whose surname is un-
known; secondly, of Gerard, Count of Gueldres; and thirdly, of Bethold,
Duke of Loringhen. After many clandestine meetings, the Countess paid
him a visit at Ardres, where he entertained her splendidly, and only per-
mitted her to depart upon her promise to return. Every thing was ar-
ranged, and the consent of Count Philip was obtained, yet Arnold was at
last disappointed of the lady, and the county of Boulogne. Reginald,
son of the Count of Dammartin, before this new connexion, had made
proposals of marriage to Ida, to which she had been well-disposed, but her
uncle, the Count of Flanders, unwilling to give up the profits of the ward-
ship of the county of Boulogne, and disliking a French connexion, dis-
approved of the alliance. At this critical period, when the marriage with
Arnold was entirely settled, Dammartin seized the Countess, not altogether
without her acquiescence, and carried her off into Lorrain. She contrived
means to write to Arnold, to inform him of this pretended violence, and
to request that he would deliver her from the hands of her oppressor. The
too credulous lover, with some friends and followers, immediately engaged

' Et Behordicia. z Arnoldus de Chaiocho. a Lambert, chap. 90, 9 1, 92.

58 THE COUNTS OF GU1SNES. book i.

in the enterprize; but no sooner were they arrived at Verdun, than Dam-
martin, informed of their coming by the Countess herself, took them all
prisoners, and married the perfidious lady. After a captivity of some
months, they obtained their liberty by the intercession of the Archbishop
of Rheims. Lambert considers this unfortunate affair as a judgment
upon him for having neglected to fulfil his vow of going to the Holy Land
witb Philip Augustus, and Philip Count of Flanders, and for having
squandered the tithes, and the money, which had been exacted for that
purpose, with thoughtless prodigality6.

in his next matrimonial connection Arnold was the deserter. He was
affianced to Eustachia, the youngest daughter of Hugh, Count of Saint
Pol, but the celebration of the marriage was deferred on account of the
tender age of the young lady. In the mean time, Henry, Chatelain of
Bourbourg and Lord of Alost, died, in 119+, without issue, leaving Bea-
trice his sister sole heiress of his possessions. Arnold then abandoned
Eustachia, paid his addresses to Beatrice, and was accepted. The mar-
riage was celebrated with great magnificence at Ardres, and the new mar-
ried couple received the nuptial benediction, were sprinkled with holy
water, and fumigated with incense, as they lay in bed, by a procession of
priests, led by Lambert the minister of the place, who relates the event.
And the whole ceremony concluded with a long prayer by Count Bald-
win, his father0.

Arnold, being thus Chatelain of Bourbourg, and Lord of Alost and
Waist', by this marriage ; and Lord of Ardres, Marc, and Colewide, from
his mother, in the lifetime of his father, assisted him in his war with the
Count of Flanders against Philip Augustus, and was the principal means
of taking the city of Saint Omer, in 1 198, for which he received great re-
wards from the Count. He surrounded Ardres with a large fosse, and
gave protection to Matilda, the widow of Philip, Count of Flanders d.
Upon the death of his father, Count Baldwin, he succeeded to the

0 Lambert, chap. 93, 94, 95.

0 Ibid. chap. 149.

1 Ibid. chap. 151. Of this work Lambert gives a very rhetorical account, and describes
the engineer, doctum geometricalis operis magistrum, Simonem fossarium, cum virga sua,
magistrali more, procedentem, et hie illic, jam in mente conceptum rei opus, non tam in
virgA, quam in oculorum pertica, geometricantem. Ibid. c. ]54.

chap. iv. ARNOLD THE SECOND. 59

county of Guisnes, in 1206. An enmity subsisted between him and
Reginald, who was Count of Boulogne by his marriage with Ida, aug-
mented, if not occasioned, by that marriage. Philip Augustus, as the
ally of the Count of Boulogne, with a large army, entered the county of
Guisnes in 1209, destroyed the castle of Bonham, and committed other
devastations, till a peace was made in 1210% when Arnold did homage,
and took the oath of fealty to King Philip Augustus and his son Louis.
But his adherence to the King of France proved extremely detrimental to
his affairs. In the war which then raged between John, King of England,
and Philip Augustus, the English army under the command of the Earl
of Salisbury, together with the troops of Ferdinand, Count of Flanders,
Reginald de Dammartin, and other noblemen, entered Guisnes in 1213,
and laid waste a great part of the country. A month after, in 1214, they
returned again, and putting all to fire and sword, Arnold was obliged to
retire to Saint Omer's. The city and castle of Guisnes were totally de-
stroyed by the English, under the pretence that they had been compelled
to pay a duty whenever they had passed through that country. Ardres
was saved by the payment of a large ransom by the abbot. At length
the hostile armies departed, and carried off Beatrice, and her children, into
Flanders, where she was detained four years. Arnold was afterwards pre-
sent with Philip Augustus at the battle of Bovines in 1214, where he had
the satisfaction of seeing those enemies, who had so cruelly ravaged his
territories, defeated, and many of them taken prisoners'.

When John, King of England, had banished the prior and monks of
Canterbury, in 1207, for electing Cardinal Langton Archbishop, at the
nomination of the Pope, without his consent, the Count of Guisnes met
them upon their entrance into his territories, to the number of eighty, and,
after having regaled them at his castle of Tournehem, furnished them with
horses for their journey to St. Omer's. Upon their arrival, they were met

e Lambert, chap. 154.

' Matthew Paris, An. 1216. Preuv. 269. Chronicle of Flanders, Ibid. Chronicle of Ardres,
Preuv. 267. Matthew Paris, An. 1211. Rex Anglorum Johannes misit prin. ipibus militia:
suae, qui erant in Flandria, pecuniam magnam nimis, ut Regem Francorum inquietarent,
et terras cum castris incursione bellica devastarent. At illi terram comitis de Gysnes fere
totatn ferro flammisque discurrentibus contriverunt.
i 2

60 THE COUNTS OF GUISNES. book i.

in the public place of that town by the monks of the Abbey of Saint
Bertin in solemn procession. It was a moving scene, says the chronicle
of Ardres, to see one convent thus embracing another, and shewing their
love by mutual kisses of peace. They received a cordial invitation to re-
side with the monks of Saint Bertin; but Geoffrey, the prior, unwilling to
render their generosity too burdensome, remained there himself with seven
others, and the rest were distributed into different monasteries in France.

Arnold held lands in England, in Kent, Bedfordshire, and Essex, amount-
ing to twelve knights' fees, part of the honour of Boulogne, which consti-
tute him an English Baron?. And when Louis, the son of Philip Augus-
tus, was invited into England by the barons, in their contests with John,
Arnold accompanied him with fifteen knights in 1215, leaving his county
to the ravages of the king of England11.

In 1217, he obtained the release of his wife Beatrice, still a prisoner in
the custody of the Countess of Flanders, who was intrusted with the
government of that county, during the imprisonment of her husband Fer-
dinand, taken at the battle of Bovines. In 1215 and 1219 he served in
the crusade against the Albigeois, with Prince Louis, and died in 1220.
His Countess survived him four years, and built a monastery for nuns at
Bonham, of which her daughter Beatrice was appointed the first abbess.
It was destroyed by war, and by an inundation in 1395, and the nuns
were transferred to Saint Colombe in Blendegne1.

The children of Arnold the second, and Beatrice, Chatelaine of Bour-
bourg, were, Baldwin, Robert, Henry, Arnold, Beatrice, who took the veil
in the Abbey of Bourbourg, and was the first abbess of the monastery of
Bonham founded by her mother, Christiana, Matildis, who married Hugh
de Chastillon, Count of Saint Pol ; Adelis, and Beatrice. The second son
Robert de Guisnes, and his brother and sisters are not mentioned by
Lambert, and therefore were probably not born when his history concluded.

' Dugdale, Bar. i. 76] .

" Chronique ancienne de Flanders. Preuv. 269. Matthew Paris.

1 Amongst her benefactions to the monastery at Ardres was a cask of excellent wine for
the pittance of the monks. Unum etiam peroptimum vini dolium adhuc vivens ad nos us-
que carricari fecit, et ad fratrum pitanciam assignavit. Preuv. 274.

ARNOLD THE SECOND.

Robert's brother, Count Baldwin, by his will dated in 1244, left him a
house in Baulinghem, and some land in Guisnes which had belonged to
his sister M. perhaps Matilda k. He held the honour of Chokes in
Northamptonshire, in the thirty-third of Henry III. 1248, and sold the
manor of Gayton in the same county, with all his lands in England, to
Ingelram Lord Fienles'.

The seal and counter seal of Arnold the Second, on yellow wax, to a
bond, by which he engages to pay a fine of fifty marks, if Walter de
Formeselles should wage war against Philip, King of France, or his son
Louis, as long as the King should exhibit justice in his court to the Count
of Flanders, dated 1217m.

' Those of his Countess Beatrice, to an agreement between her, and her
son Baldwin, to abide by the award of arbitrators in their disputes, dated

6 Duchesne, p. 163. pr. 2S3.

' Banks, vol. i. p. 321.

■ Duchesne, Pr. p. 271. from the king's Archives.

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

1222. It is on yellow wax, and was executed after her husband's
death".

.J % zz

From this period we have no longer the assistance of the faithful
historian of the family, Lambert of Ardres, and must be con-
tented with such information as Duchesne has been able to collect
from charters, and other ancient documents. He was the natural son of
Baldwin, Lord of Ardres, the second husband of Beatrice de Bourbourg,
by Adela, the daughter of Radulphus, a canon of that place ; and was
cousin to Arnold the Second, Count of Guisnes, to whom his book is
dedicated. His ecclesiastical preferment was that of Priest, or Rector of
the church at Ardres. His history of the Counts of Guisnes, and Ardres,
begins with the earliest accounts of that country, from the year 800, and
ends abruptly in the middle of the reign of Arnold the Second, before the
year 1206, when it must be presumed that his death prevented the com-
pletion of his work. He professes to have taken the early parts of his
history from authentic chronicles ; he must have had access to the best
materials, the documents of the family, and of the church at Ardres ; and
of the latter part he was a contemporary, and an eye-witness. He pursues
the history of the Counts of Guisnes, in an uninterrupted series, till the

Duchesne, p. 274. Archives of the Court of Isenghiem.

CHAP. IV

ARNOLD THE SECOND. 63

ninety-sixth chapter, when he breaks off suddenly, and begins the history
of the Lords of Ardres, Bourbourg, and Marque, which is then introduced
by something of a poetical fiction. During two rainy days and a night,
when Arnold, and a company of knights, assembled at his castle at Ardres,
were unable to pursue the amusements of the chase and the tournament,
Walter de Clusa, an ancient sage, under which feigned name we must
understand Lambert himself, related this history to the assembly to pass
away the wearisome hours. " Applying his hand to his beard, and
" combing it with his fingers, after the manner of old men0," he began
his narrative, and continued it through more than fifty chapters, till the
rain ceasing, the nobles returned to their manly occupations, and Lambert,
in his own character, resumed his history of the Counts of Guisnes.

Lambert was learned in the literature of the age, and well acquainted
with the ancient mythology, which he fails not to introduce upon all
proper occasions. His heroes are compared to Hercules, Hector, and
Achilles; his heroines to Cassandra, Helen, or Juno. He quotes Homer,
but not in the Greek, Virgil, Ovid, Priscian, Eusebius, Jerom, Porphyry,
Prosper, Sigebertus, and Bede. When he is animated with his subject,
he sometimes breaks out into a strain of poetry ; but it must be admitted
that his style is barbarous, like that of all the early writers of Europe,
often too concise, at other times immoderately verbose, and full of anti-
thesis, puns, and rhetorical amplifications. Every thing which concerns
the interests of the church is stated with minute accuracy. He is affec-
tionately attached to the family of Guisnes and Ardres, his relations, and
patrons, but his partiality does not bias his judgment, or affect the truth
of his narration, since he relates the faults of the individuals whose lives he
writes, as well as their merits. Upon the whole he may be considered as
one of the most authentic historians of the middle ages, and as such is
repeatedly quoted by Valesius, Ducange, and other antiquaries.

Baldwin, the second husband of Beatrice de Bourbourg and the father
of Lambert, went to Jerusalem in 1 146. He died at Sathania or Senclia,
and at his own request was thrown into the sea. Thirty years afterwards,
in 1176, an impostor appeared, who pretended to be Baldwin. Lambert

p Qui apposita ad barbam de\tera, et, ut senes plerumque facere solent, ea digitis inser-
tis appexa, et appropexa, apto in medium ore incipit, et dicit. Chap. 96. p. 499-

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

was not at first certain of the falsehood of his pretences, and was accused
wrongfully of favouring the deception for money, as he relates himself''.

THE GENEALOGY OF LAMBERT D'ARDRES.

ARNOLD II.

Lord of Ardres.

(
Petronilla de= Arnold III. ■-:
Ruchenia, Lord of Ardres. i
niece of no lawful :

Theodoric, issue. :

Count of
Flanders.

Robertus = Matil da .
a natural

Helewide Beatrice de=: Baldv

Arnoldus = Christii
Baldwin.

Guisnes, d.

of Henry,

Castelain

Bourbourg.

Lord of Ardres

no lawful issue.

died in

Palestine,

1146.

Lambert d Ardres,

Priest of Ardres,

the historian,

a natural son.

Adela,

d. of

Radulphus,

a Canon.

Adeline,
heiress

of
Ardres.

Baldwin II,
Count of Guisnes

Arnold,

Lord

Marque,

and
C olewide.

Christiana

heiress of Ardres,

Marque, and

Colewide.

Arnold II.
Count of Guisnes.

Baldwin the Third, the twelfth Count, succeeded his father in
1220, as Count of Guisnes, Chatelain of Bourbourg, and Lord of
Ardres, and payed the relief which was due for his father's twelve knights'
fees in Kent, Bedfordshire, and Essexi. He married Matilda de Fiennes,
daughter of William, Lord of Fiennes and Tingry, and Agnes de Dam-
martin, sister of Reginald Count of Boulogne, and Simon de Daminartin,
Count of Ponthieu. She was also cousin to Matilda, Countess of Bou-
logne, married to Monsieur Philip of France, uncle to Saint Lewis, and
likewise cousin to Jane of Ponthieu, Queen of Castile and Leon.

It would be tedious to relate this prince's temporary quarrels with some
of the neighbouring nobles, his benefactions to monasteries, or his at-
tendance at the translation of the body of Saint Bertin. In 1235 he was
one of the noblemen who swore to endeavour to procure the marriage of

Chap. 141, 142, 144.

Dugdale, i. p. 76i,

chap. rv. BALDWIN THE THIRD. 60

Robert, brother of Saint Lewis, with the daughter of the Count of Flan-
ders, and in the same year subscribed the complaint of the Barons of
France to Pope Gregory the Ninth, against the prelates'.

In 1233, Baldwin went to the assistance of Henry the Third, King of
England, who was partial to foreigners, in his wars with the Barons.
Having been appointed to the command of Monmouth Castle, he was
besieged in it by the Earl Mareschal of England. Baldwin made a vigo-
rous sortie, in which after a bloody battle he took the Grand Mareschal
prisoner. He was at the same time wounded by an arrow, but the wound
was not mortal, and he afterwards greatly signalized himself by his gallant
exploits in that country5, where he had large possessions. A writ of right
was brought against him by Robert de Davans, for a hide of land, and the
twentieth part of a knight's fee in Telshant in Essex, in the twenty-first
year of Henry III. 1236, when he appointed Peter de la Mote his attor-
ney, in an imparlance*.

He died in 1244, having made his will the same year, in which, amongst
a great variety of bequests, he leaves two hundred livres to a knight to go
to the Holy Land for the good of his soul".

By Matilda de Fiennes he had four children. Arnold, Baldwin, Lord
of Sangate, Adelvie, married to William, Chattelaine of Saint Omer and
Count of Fauquembergue, and Ida, the wife of Gerard de Prouny*.

r Duchesne, Preuv. p. 280.

s Matthew Paris. In anno 1233 Duchesne, Preuv. p. 279, 280.

' R. Dod's MSS. vol. 103. fol. 186. Essex. Claus. 21 Hen. III. Baldevinus comes de
Gysnes, attornavit Petrum de la Mote in loquela que est in Com. Essex inter ipsum et
Robertum de Davans de una hida terre, et de vicessima parte unius feodi militis in Tel-
shant.

" Duchesne, Preuv. p. 165.

* The will is a curious specimen of the old Flemish French. A few extracts may be
amusing. Je Baudevvins Cuens de Ghisnes, e Castelains de Broborgh, fay a savoir a tos
cheaus ki sunt e ki avenerunt, ke j'ai fait mon testament en teil maniere l'an del Incar-
nation nostre Seingeur M. CC. et XLIIII. le deluns apres le Tiphanie. (the Monday after
the Epiphany.) J'ay donei Robert mon frere me maison de Baulinghem ki fu M. (de
Mahaut de Guisnes) me sereur, e totte le tere ke le tenoit en la tere de Ghisnes, cho ai-je
donei a luy e a son hoir s'il a hoir de son cors; e s'il n'avoit hoir de son cors, tot doit
revenir au Comte de Ghisnes, ke kil soit, e cho luy ai-je donei por son homage e por son
servige. J'ay donei a Adame de Tienbrone me nieche le bos de huonual tot ensi cumme
je l'aquis a Monseingneur Manassie mon oncle. — J'ay donei a Clarenbaut mon clerc totte
K

(,(,

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

The seal of Baldwin, with the counter seal, to a charter to the Monas-
tery of Clairmarest, relating to a rent in Rumineehem, dated 1240.

n !jo

His son, Arnold the Third, the thirteenth Count of Guisnes,
succeeded to that county, and to those of Arches and Bourbourg in 124.5.
He was unfortunate during the whole course of his life.

me dime de Beauvoir, tot ensi cum je 1' acatai a Monseigneur Vvichart de Bochout, e mon
palefroi ke ie acatai a Monseigneur Philippe de Hondescote. — A Robert d'Achiel mon
grant palefroi, e mon haubergh, e mes cauches de toclenet, e unes convertures de fer. A
Horse mon garchon mon petti palefroi bai. A l'Abeie d'Andernes la ie ai coisi me sepul-
ture, et la ie vuel gesir, X livreies de tere per faire mon aniversaire. e che les aserra on a
la tere ke je acatai a me Dame Alienor de Andernes, et mon cheval vairon e mon haubergh
e mes cauches a mon cors, e toutes les armure- de mon curs. A l'Abeie de Liskes X livreies
de tere por faire mon anniveraaire sollemnellement. e con port la por en foir mon cuer e
m'entraille. A me filles tottes mes carettes, a tot les kevaux, e a tot le harnais, e tos mes
pors, e totes mes vakes, e totte me bestaille e trestos mes bleis de mes granges, e mes hau-
berions, e mon autre meme harnais. — A 'un chevalier por aleir outre meir por 1'ame de mi
C.C. lib. de parisis. — E k cho a parfaire ai-ie mis mes testamenteurs (executors.) Ouch.
Preuv. p. 283.

chap. iv. ARNOLD THE THIRD. 67

The wife of Arnold was Alice de Coucy, daughter of Enguerrand the
Third, Lord of Coney, Marie, and la Fere, and, after the death of her bro-
thers, heiress of those lordships. The ancient family of de Coucy, which
thus centered in that of de Guisnes, was one of the most illustrious in
France. It derived its origin from the family of de Boves, so denominated
from an old castle near Amiens". Mary, the elder sister of Alice, was
married first to Alexander the Second, King of Scotland, and was the
mother of Alexander the Third ; and afterwards was the wife of John de
Brienne, suraamed of Acre, Grand Butler of France, youngest son of
John de Brienne, King of Jerusalem2. The mother of Alice was Mary
de Montmirel, the third wife of Enguerrand de Coucy, and heiress of the
Lordships of Montmirel, of Oisy, of Crevecceur, Ferte Ancoul, Ferte
Gaucher, Tresmes, and Belo, the Viscounty of Meux, and the Chattellainy
of Cambray, all which lordships from this marriage subsequently came
into the family of Guisnes\

Upon a journey to visit the court of Henry the Third, King of England,
in 1249, Arnold was arrested by Roger Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, and Mar-
shall of the kingdom, upon his own estate. He complained to the King,
when the Earl pleaded a right of retaliation for a similar seizure upon the
territories of Guisnes, where the Count had detained him as he was going
ambassador to the council of Lyons, and had exacted a large fine. The
affair was only ended, and the Count set at liberty, by the interference of
Saint Lewis of France1'.

Afterwards, in the war, in which he supported the Countess of Flanders
against the Count of Holland, the Flemings were defeated, and, with the
young Count of Flanders and many other noblemen, Arnold was taken
prisoner in a naval engagement near Walcheren, in 1253, and was com-
pelled to pay a ransom amounting to near nineteen thousand pounds of
our money, which he borrowed from his own subjects, the Echevins of the

y De Bova, or Castrum Bobarum, Preuv. p. 343.

* Anno 1239. Rex Scotiae Alexander filiam cujusdam nobilis Baronis de Regno Franco-
rum Engelrami de Cuscy, nomine Mariam, virginem elegantem, sibi matrimonialiter copu-
lavit, et nuptias die pentecostes apud Rokesbure solemniter celebravit. Mat. Par. in anno.
Pr. 383.

1 Duchesne, p. 223, 230.

b Mat. Par. An. 1249. Pr. 288.

K 2

(is COUNTS OF GUISNES. hook i.

four bans of the county of Guisnes, that is, of Guisnes, Ardres, Aud'erwic,
and Bredenard, and for which he gave them an hypothecation upon Ins
lands in that county c.

When Saint Lewis assumed the cross, he engaged himself as one of the
knights who were to accompany him, but he did not go to the Holy
Land ; prevented probably by the embarassed state of his affairs11.

To these misfortunes was superadded an inconsiderate, but what was
then thought a meritorious, generosity, in numerous and large benefactions
to churches and monasteries. By these means, having contracted great
debts, and reduced himself to the severest distress, he was obliged to sell
the county of Guisnes, Montoire, and Toumehem, with other possessions,
to Philip the Third, King of France. The contract of sale was executed
at Paris in 1C2S0. It begins by stating, that in consequence of his im-
mense debts, and the mortgaging of all his property, moveable and im-
moveable, to his vassals, he was reduced to such extreme poverty, that he
was unable to provide his wife and family with necessaries, and that, lest
he should finally be obliged meanly to beg his bread, upon due deliberation
he bad resolved to sell his possessions in Guisnes. The annual value was
stated at one thousand, three hundred, livres Parisis. The price was three
hundred thousand livres Parisis, and to be paid by installments. Ue was
likewise to receive an annuity of a thousand livres Tournois, for the lives
of himself and his wife. The king was besides to pay all his debts which
were charged upon the land of Guisnes, and was to assign him a com-
petent manor, or castle, for his residence'. It appears that Ardres, Au-
derwic, and Bredenard, as dependences of the county of Guisnes, were
comprehended in this sale, though not mentioned'.

The chronicle of St. Benin, and the bond to the Echevins. Preuv. p. "288. The sum
was 20,720 livres Parisis, which the Art de verifier les datps values at 25,875 livres Tour-
nois, of the money of that time, or in the present money, 457,101 livres, 8 sols, y deniers.
At a rough calculation of 40 pounds Stirling to 1000 livres, this will make something more
than £18,280. Mezerai, t. i. p. 608.

,; Extrait de l'Escrit des Chevaliers retenus pour aller avec le Roi S. Louys outre mer,
et des convenance qu'il fist avec eux. — Ly Cuens de Guines soy dixiesme de Chevaliers,
deux mille sis cens livres, et mangera a l'Hostel clu Roy. Pr. 292.

e See the contract, Appendix, No. X.

' The arret of Parliament in 1295, hereafter mentioned, states that what was claimed by

CHAP. IV.

ARNOLD THE THIRD.

(,.,

The time of his death is unknown. The poor and the unfortunate re-
tire to their graves unobserved, and unnoticed !

The children of Arnold the Third and Alice de Coney were six. Bald-
win, the eldest, Enguerrand de Guisnes, the second son, who, upon the
death of his maternal uncle, became Lord of Coucy, Oisy, and Montmirel,
and was the ancestor of the second race of the family of De Coucy.
John de Guisnes, the third son, obtained the Viscounty of Meaux, and the
Lordships of Ferte Ancoul and Ferte Gaucher, upon a division between
him and his brother Enguerrand. There was a daughter married to a
nobleman in Ireland, whose names are unknown ; another called Isabel,
who married first Gaucher, Lord of Basoches, and afterwards the Lord of
Faillovel; and a third, Alice, who was the wife of Walter Bertout, Lord
of Maliness.

The seal and counter seal of Arnold the Third, to a French charter,
granted to the convent of Mount St. Eloy at Arras, exempting the monks
from all duties on passing over his lands, dated in 1277h.

his successor, were Fortalieium et villam Guinensem, Arde, Audrvic ac Bredenarde.
Preuv. p. 301. And the son, facto patris sine terra vixit. Poem. p. 285.

" This name is variously spelt, Aelide, Alips, and Adelize.

h Duchesne, Pr. p. 293.

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

His eldest son, Baldwin the Fourth, inherited the Chat-
tellanie of Bourbourg, and some other possessions. He married Jane de
Montmorenci, sister of Matthew, Lord of Montmorenci, Great Chamber-
lain of France. He assumed the titles of Chattellain of Bourbourg,
Count of Guisnes, Lord of Ardres, Auderwic, and Bredenard, and endea-
voured to render his titles effectual by instituting a suit before the Par-
liament of Paris to recover the territories, which had been sold by his
lather, from King Philip the Third, under the droit de retrait lignager.
The parliament decided, in 1283, that the suit could not be maintained,
and that the Count could not claim the retrait lignager. This, in the
French law, is a right in the descendants of the seller to redeem lands sold
upon repayment of the purchase money. A law founded in the principles
of the feudal times, to perpetuate the inheritances of great families1.

He died in 129-3. and left only two daughters, Jane and Blanch.
Blanch was never married, and had for her portion the Lordship of Cole-
wide, and the Chattellanie of Langle.

The seal and counter seal of Baldwin the Fourth, to a sale of lands to
John le Vas, in French, and dated in 12S4-. It is broken in some places.
In the dexter quarter of the shield are the arms of Ghent, sable, a chief
argent, to mark his ancient extraction from that housek.
10. 84.

' The arret of the parliament. Pr. p. 300. Duchesne says, that the retrait lignager had
no place in sales to the crown ; but the arret does not state this reason, and this was a doubt-
ful point in the French law. See Potier, Traite des Retraits, Part I. ch. iv. sect. 194, page
16"4. This droit was not the general law of France till an edict of Henry the Third in
15S1. Till then it prevailed only in particular provinces, and must have varied in different
places. In 1293, he recovered, by an arret, ninety-five pounds for every year the king had
held the mill of Bredenard. Some memoirs call his wife Catherine, others Beatrice.

k Duchesne, Pr. p. 301.

JANE.

The seal and counter seal of his brother, John de Guisnes, Viscount of
Meaux, Lord of Ferte-Ancoul, and Ferte-Gaucher, affixed to a remon-
strance made by the nobles of Champagne to Philip, King of France,
against certain grievances, sealed with their seals, in 1314'.

Baldwin the Fourth having no son, his heir was his eldest daughter
Jane, who was styled Countess of Guisnes, and was married, in 1293, to
John De Brienne, the second Count of Eu, and Great Chamber-
lain of France. They finally succeeded in obtaining the restitution of the
territories which had been alienated by Jane's grandfather. Upon a legal
process, in the reign of Philip le Bel, an arret of the parliament, in 129-5,
restored to them the county of Guisnes, Ardres, Auderwic, and Brede-
nard, except such lands as were held of the Count of Boulogne. It was
the ground of this decision, that Count Arnold the Third, previously to
the sale, had settled those territories upon his son Baldwin in marriage,
and therefore had no interest to alienate™.

' Duchesne, p. 398.

m Terras in maritagium datas et assignatas. Arret. Pr. p. 301. et 304.

THE COUNTS OF GUISNES.

Bv this marriage of the heiress Jane, the county of Guisnes was trans-
ferred from the second race, the house of Ghent, to a third race, the
Counts of Eu. John de Brienne was slain at the battle of Courtray in
1302, and left his son Rodolphus a child, under the guardianship of his
mother. The marshes of Guisnes, which were said to have been held
under the Counts of Boulogne, were restored in 1321, by King Philip
the Fifth. The Countess Jane survived her husband near thirty years, and
died in 1331. It does not appear that they had more than this one sod".

The seal, and counter seal, of Jane, Countess of Eu, and Guisnes, to a
charter respecting some dues from the Abbey of St. Bertin, dated 1324.
The coats of arms are Guisnes and Eu. The latter is, azure, seme of
billets, or, a lion rampant of the same0.

8 Pr. p. 305, 30S.

0 Duchesne, Preuv. p. 308. See the history of the Counts of Guisnes
from Sigefrede to John de Brienne, Appendix, No. X

RODOLPHUS THE SECOND AND THIRD. 73

CHAPTER V.

Counts of Guisnes, of the third race, or the House of Eu.

JOHNDE BRIENNE,whodiedin 1 302, and his wife Jane de Guisnes,
were succeeded by their son Raoul, or Rodolphus the Second, in
1331, as Count d'Eu, and the sixteenth Count of Guisnes. He was
Constable of France, and was slain by the stroke of a lance at a tourna-
ment at the marriage of Philip Duke of Orleans, on the seventh of Octo-
ber, 1345. His lady was Jane de Mello, Lady of Orme and Chateau-
Chinon, daughter of Dreux de Mello, of an illustrious house in the diocese
of Beauvais3, and left a son and two daughters ; Raoul ; Jane, married,
first to Walter de Brienne, Duke of Athens, secondly, to Lewis d'Eureux,
Count d'Estampes; and Mary, who died young. His son Raoul, or
Rodolphus the Third, inherited the counties of Eu and Guisnes, of
which he was the seventeenth, and last Count ; and he was likewise
appointed to the honourable office of Constable of France.

Upon the invasion of France, by Edward the Third, in 1346, Philip the
Sixth dispatched Rodolphus, and the Count de Tancarville, with a body
of troops, to the defence of Caen, which was an extremely rich city, and
was threatened by the English. The citizens were likewise in arms, and
promised to make a brave defence. At their own request, and against his
own opinion, Rodolphus arrayed them in battle beyond the bridge, and an
attack was made upon the enemy, but upon the first discharge of the
English, the citizens fled, and Rodolphus, and Tancarville, were obliged
to surrender themselves prisoners to Thomas Lord Holland. The con-
sequences of this victory, the taking of Caen, and the massacres and
pillage of that city, have been fully related by the historians6. Rodolphus
was carried into England, and remained there above three years, where he

a Hist. Cal. i. p. 697-

b Hume, ii. p. 450. ed. 4to. Froissart, liv. i. chap. 122.
L

74 THE ENGLISH IN GUISNES. book i.

was treated by Edward with the greatest kindness. In 13.50, he was
permitted to return to France, to prepare the means of redeeming his
liberty, and proposed to deliver up the town of Guisnes to Edward as his
ransom. He went to Paris, and proceeded to the Hotel de Nesle, to pay
his court to King John the Second, who had succeeded to the French
throne. His reception was not such as he had expected, the monarch was
displeased at his agreement to deliver up Guisnes, which would have
opened the frontiers of his kingdom to the English, then in possession of
Calais. He entertained likewise suspicions of his fidelity, and that he had
formed dangerous connections with the King of England. These un-
favourable impressions, however ill founded, had been inspired, or, at
least, fomented, by Charles de la Cerda of Spain, who had executed the
office of Constable of France during his captivity, and was desirous of
obtaining that honour tor himself. John, in consequence of these in-
trigues, caused him to be arrested by the Provost of Paris, and three days
afterwards his head was cut off before the Hotel de Nesle, in the middle
of the night1, without any form of trial, in the presence of the Duke of
Bourbon, the Count Armagnac, and other Lords. Charles de la Cerda,
who was appointed Constable in his place, reaped little benefit from his
treachery, having been soon after assassinated by the orders of the Kini; of
Navarred.

Rodolphus married Catherine, daughter of Lewis the Second, of Savoy,
Lord of Bugei, and widow of Azzo Visconti, Duke of Milan.

Not contented with having put Rodolphus to death, in this irregular
manner, King John confiscated his possessions, gave the county of Eu to
John D'Artois, son of Robert, Count of Beaumont, and reunited that of
Guisnes to the domains of the Crown.

The King of France did not long enjoy his new acquisition. Calais
had been conquered by the victorious arms of Edward the Third, in
the year 134-7- It was not probable that the strong castle of Guisnes,
in its immediate neighbourhood, would be left unattempted. It was not
however taken till five years afterwards, and by the stratagem of a private

A Fheure tie Matines, says a MS. Chronicle, that is, about the middle of the ni^ht.
L'Art de Verifier, ii. p. ~sq. Duchesne. Hume, ii. 474. Froissart. liv. i. chap. 1

chap. v. THE ENGLISH IN GU1SNES. 75

individual, in a time of truce. An English archer named John Dancaster,
having been taken prisoner by the French, was detained in Guisnes, and,
not being closely confined, was permitted to work upon the repairs of the
fortifications. Having discovered a concealed wall which went across the
ditch just under the water, in the night he let himself down from the
castle, passed the fosse upon it, and escaped to Calais, where he concerted
the plan of his enterprize. With thirty men, habited in dark armour, he
returned by the same way to Guisnes ; they scaled the castle walls, slew
the centinels, took the garrison by surprise, and made themselves masters
of the place : and the next day they were reinforced by more troops from
Calais. This happened in January, 1352. The governor, the Lord of
Balinghem, was absent; and William de Beaucourray, his Lieutenant, was
accused of treachery, and beheaded. The King of France complained to
the Pope of this breach of the truce. The ambassadors of Edward
pleaded, that the Count of Guisnes having been taken prisoner, had en-
gaged to pay eighty thousand golden crowns for his ransom, or to sur-
render the county of Guisnes ; that the ransom not having been paid, the
county was forfeited to Edward ; and that King John had cut off the head
of the Count to deprive Edward of the ransom, or the county. The
cause was heard in the Consistory Court at Rome, but the death of Pope
Clement prevented sentence from being given6.

e Thuanus, lib. xx. cap. 3. page 680. ed. Buckley. Stow's Chronicle, page 3S8
Edit. 1592. Froissart differs as to the date. Ce mois d'Octobre, au jour que la confrairie
Saint Oven fut celebree, prindrent les Anglois la ville de Guines, durant les treves. vol. i.
ch. 153. page 160. Edit. Denis Sauvage. 1574.

Essendo furata la contea Guinisi al Re di Francia, sotto la confidanza delle triegue,
trasse in giudicio il Re d'Inghilterra a corte di Roma, suoi ambasciadori dicendo, che sotto
la fede delle triegue prestata, il Re d'Inghilterra gli hauea tolto per furto la rocca, e la
contea occupata per forza. E per la parte del Re d'Inghilterra fu risposta, che havendo
per suo prigione il Conte di Guinisi, Conestabole di Francia, preso in battaglia, e dovendosi
riscattare per lo patto del la sua taglia iscudi LXXX. mila doro, o in luogo di danari la
detta contea di Guinisi. E lasciato alia fede, acci6 che procacciare potesse la moneta, il
Re di Francia, appellandolo traditore, per non haverlo a ricumperare, o consentirgli la
contea di Guinisi, il fece dicollare. E cosi, contro a guistizia, privo il Re d'Inghilterra
delle sue ragioni, lequali guistamente havea racquistate. La quistione fu grande in concis-
toro, e pendeva la causa in favore del Re di Francia. E pero, innanzi che sentenzia se ne
desse, il Re fece restituire la terra di Guinisi a quello Inghilese che dato glie l'havea. E
L 2

76 THE ENGLISH IN GUISNES. book r.

After King John of France had been taken prisoner at the battle of
Poitiers, by the treaty of Bretigny in 1360, Guisnes was formally ceded
to the King of England, with Calais, Marq, Sangate, Couloigne, Haines,
Wale, and Oye, as part of John's ransom. The letters of the King of
France to the magistrates, noblemen, and subjects of that county, to de-
liver the possession to the King of England are quoted by Duchesne.
And Edward appointed Matthew de Salperwic his Sovereign Bailly in
that county, the fourth of December 1362f. The King of England, to
secure the important post of Calais, removed all the former inhabitants,
and peopled it with English, who were of course governed by the laws of
their own country. Guisnes was permitted to enjoy its ancient laws
and customs s.

In the subsequent wars, various attempts were made by the French to
recover their lost possessions in the county of Guisnes. In 1370, Ardres
was attacked by an army of one thousand lances, under the command of
the Constable of France, but they were repulsed with considerable loss'1.
The next attempt was more successful. In 1377, the first year of Richard
the Second, the Duke of Burgundy with a powerful army invested it, and
the garrison, commanded by John de Gumeny, being weakened by previ-
ous excursions, was obliged to surrender, and was permitted to retire, vies
et bagues sauves, to Calais. The castles of Ardiwick, and Vauclingen
submitted also1.

King Richard the Second, in 1394-, restored and confirmed to the
nuns of the monastery at Guisnes, all their lands and revenues, both
in Guisnes and England, of which they had been deprived in the wars".

seguendo la morte di Papa Clemente non ne segul altra sentenzia. Istoria tli Matteo Vil-
lain. Fir. Giiinti, 15SI. p. 118. He states the capture of Guisnes as above related.

' Duchesne, p. 182. Appendix, No. XI. In the act of cession, dated the twenty-sixth of
October 13fi0, 35 Edw. Ill, Guysnes is surrendered to the King of England, a tenir en
demesne et en fee, et en obeissance, ce que en fee, et en obeissance. The tenants are
directed to render lige homage and obediences to the King of England. — Sauf notre droit
en autres choses. Though not expressly stated, I suppose the King of England did, or
ought to have done, homage for it to the king of France. MSS. Cotton.

i Hist, de Cal. ii. p. 351.

b Froissart, ch. 25,0.

' Ibid.

k Rhymer, iii.part iv. p 94

chap. v. THE ENGLISH IN GUISNES. 77

Upon the death of his first wife, a treaty was entered into for the mar-
riage of Richard with Isabel, eldest daughter of Charles the Sixth, King
of France, who was only seven years of age. They were married by
proxy, on the twelfth of March 1395, and it was one of the articles of the
treaty that she should be conducted to Calais vestue et enjoiallee1. The
King came over to receive her. He proceeded to Guisnes, and the
French King came to Ardres. Between these two places there is a large
plain, across which ran the line of boundary between the territories of the
two sovereigns. Here was the place of interview, and it was covered
with a great number of splendid tents. After several days spent in mutual
festivities, accompanied as usual with magnificent presents, the young
bride arrived with a numerous attendance of nobles and ladies, in superb
habits, with garlands of gold and pearls. She made two obeisances upon
her knees to her future husband, but he prevented the third by his kind
embraces. Taking leave of her father and friends, she was conducted to
Calais, where the marriage ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, on the third of November. After the death of Richard she
returned to France, and in 1406 was married to Charles, Count d'Angou-
leme, afterwards Duke of Orleans"1.

The English took Balinghem, in 1412, and in return the Count de St.
Pol plundered, and burnt the town of Guisnes, although he dared not
attack the castle". The next attempt against Guisnes was in 1436.
Whilst the Duke of Burgundy was besieging Calais, as his army was
exposed to frequent attacks from the garrison of that place, he sent
the Lord of Croy to invest it. After a vigorous resistance, the town
was taken by assault. The castle proved impregnable, and the sieges
of both places, after ineffectual efforts, were abandoned0. In 1454,
Charles, Count d'Eu, conducted an enterprize against Guisnes. No
sooner had he appeared before it than the garrison sallied out, defeated
him, and hung sixty of the prisoners which they tookp. Charles the
Seventh, reconquered from the English all their possessions in France,
except Calais and Guisnes.

' Rhymer, vol. vii. p 811. ■ Froissart Hist, de Cal. ii. p. 81. ' Monstrelet,

ch. 92. Hist, de Cal. ii. 115. ° [list, de Cal. ii. 150. " Ibid. p. 173.

78 THE ENGLISH IN GUISNES. book i.

An attempt to take Guisnes was again made in the year 1514. After
the capture of Terouenne, and the battle of Spurs, and Henry the Eighth
had returned to England, the Count d'Angouleme, afterwards Francis the
First, presented himself before it with eight thousand men, and a numerous
artillery. The treaty for peace which immediately succeeded put an end
to the siege'.

Another interview between the kings of England and France, still more
splendid than that between Richard and Charles, took place in the year
1.520, between Henry the Eighth and Francis the First, in the plain
between Guisnes and Ardres, which was called from this event the Chump
de Drap D'Or. The magnificence of this meeting, in which the kings,
and the noblemen, of France and England exhausted their revenues in the
rivalry of expense and splendor, has been related by all the historians, and
has been celebrated in the lively description of Shakespeare'. The
picture of this scene at Windsor castle is an elaborate performance, painted
at the time, and contains a representation of every circumstance, from the
beginning to the conclusion of the interview, with the strictest observance
of historic and local truth, and it is embellished with the portraits of the
principal personagess.

After Henry the Eighth had taken Boulogne in 1544, the Dauphin
undertook the siege of Guisnes, but after some severe losses, he contented
himself with setting fire to some villages, and retreated*.

In the twenty-fourth year of his reign, 1532, Henry the Eighth appointed
commissioners to draw up ordinances and decrees for the government of
the county of Guisnes, as he did likewise for Calais". They regulated the
succession to lands according to the law of inheritance in England, and
the heriots to be paid upon deaths. At the expiration of seventy years,
every tenant was bound to renew his title, and to pay a fine of a quarter
of his rent. No English subject was permitted to many a foreigner,
without a licence. A widow's dower was to consist of half her husband's
lands for life, and the fee simple of one tenth. All the inhabitants were
compelled to learn the English language, and an English name was to be
given to every child at its baptism. Sons were to be of age at sixteen,

« Hist, de Cal. vol. ii. p. 215. ' Hen. VIII. Sc. 1. ! See book i. chap. 1. 'Rhymer,
torn. vi. p. 121. Hist, de Cal. ii. 253. " In the Cotton MSS. Faustina. E. vii. 4, 5.

chap. v. THE ENGLISH IN GUISNES. 79

and girls at fourteen years of age. No owners of castles were to suffer
them to decay, and there were other less important regulations.

After the conquest of Calais and Guisnes, so mortifying to the French,
they always looked forwards to their recovery. The county of Guisnes,
and the empty title of Count, were bestowed upon several families by the
favour of the French King, though Ardres, and some small parts of it
only, were in their possession.

The title was first claimed by the Viscount de Thouars. His claim
was founded upon a descent from Margaret de Brienne, daughter of John
de Brienne, the First, Count d'Eu, and who married Guy, the Second,
Vicount of Thouars, and Lord of Talmond. But his pretensions were
without foundation, for Margaret was proved not to have been the daughter
of Jane, Countess of Guisnes, as they alledged, but was the sister of
John, the Second, Count d'Eu, the husband of Jane. The claim was
therefore disallowed, yet the Lords of Tremouille, Dukes of Thouars,
have always taken the title of Counts of Guisnes".

By the treaty of Arras in 1435, the nominal county was ceded by
Charles the Seventh, to Philip le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. Louis the
Eleventh, in 1461, gave it to Anthony de Croi, notwithstanding the oppo-
sition of Louis de la Trimouille, Vicount de Thouars. The King, in
favour of De Croy, re-united the Barony of Ardres, and the Chatellany
of Angle, to the county of Guisnesy. Afterwards Louis the Eleventh,
by the treaty of Conflans, in 1465, gave the counties of Boulogne and
Guisnes to Count Charolois, and made a compensation to the Lord
De Croi. But the Count becoming Duke of Burgundy, and being
engaged in a rebellion against the King, Guisnes was taken from him,
and given to Anthony De Croi, who was succeeded in it by his son
Philip. Philip revolted from the King, and attached himself to the Duke
of Burgundy, upon which his lands were confiscated in January 1476,
and the county of Guisnes, and Barony of Ardres, were bestowed upon
Anthony, the natural son of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, surnamed
le Grand Batard, upon whose death, in 1504, it reverted to the crown,
from which it was never afterwards alienated2.

1 Hist, de Cal. ii. 17, 78. Duchesne, p. 82.
» Monsti-elet, liv. iii. 97, 122.

2 Hist de Cal. ii. p. 188. lgi. from the records. Some of the French historians state,

80 THE RECONQUEST OF GUISNES. book i.

But these shadowy honours were soon after converted into realities.
At the treaty of peace concluded between Edward the Sixth, and
Henry the Second, in 1.5.50, the French King paid four hundred thousand
crowns for the restitution of Boulogne. Calais was next recovered.
The Duke of Guise made an unexpected march to this place, in the
winter, a season when the greater part of the garrison was always
withdrawn to England, and a fleet of ships blockaded it by sea. After
a brave resistance, the governor, Lord Wentworth, was obliged to capi-
tulate ; and thus this important fortress, after being in the possession of
the English for above two hundred years, was taken in eight days, in
January in the year 15.58.

The Duke next marched to Guisnes, of which Lord Gray was the
governor, with a garrison of 1400 nun. The bulwarks of the city, after
three days battering, were taken by assault. The Governor retreated to
the castle, the tower de la Cuve, and whilst the French troops were en-
gaged in plundering, they were attacked and driven out of the city, which
the English then burnt. The batteries were opened against the castle,
and the bastion which defended the gate was shattered, and a breach
opened. After some hard fighting the breach was abandoned by the be-
sieged, who retired to the old castle. The French having succeeded in
taking possession of some other bastions, the governor capitulated, the
twenty-first of January 155S\ Hammes, the county of Oye, Coulogne,
Wales, Sangate, and all the other places, followed the example of Calais
and Guisnes, and nothing now remained to the English of all their pos-
sessions in France.

that Guisnes was several times retaken by the King of France. L'Art de Verifier les Dales
says, that Charles the Sixth recovered it from the English by conquest, and was in pos-
session of it in 1413, and that it was again reconquered by Charles the Seventh. But
nothing can be more certain than that the English were never dispossessed either of Calais
or Guisnes till the final reconquest in the reign of Queen Mary. The records in the tower
and other evidences prove, that all the acts of ownership, in the nomination of the governor,
and other officers, were performed by the Kings of England during the whole period, and
at the very dates mentioned by the learned Benedictine. See Appendix, No. XII. The
donations by the Kings of France of this county were disposals of the lion's skin before
the lion was taken, and have occasioned these mistakes.
■ Hist de Cal. ii. 308.

chap. v. THE RECONQUEST OF GUISNES. si

This war was concluded by the treaty of Chateau Cambresis, in 1559,
between Queen Elizabeth, and Henry the Second, when it was agreed
that the French King should retain for eight years the possession of Calais,
with the castle and town of Guisnes, and the rest of that country taken
in the last war, and that after the term of eight years, he should restore
those places to the Queen, or pay the sun) of five hundred thousand gold
crowns. For the performance of these conditions seven or eight merchants
were security, and hostages were besides given b. At the expiration of
the time, in 1567, Elizabeth sent her ambassadors, Smith, William Win-
ter, and Henry Norreys, to Charles the Ninth, to demand the restitution
of these places, according to the treaty. The claim was resisted, and a
long discussion ensued with the Chancellor de PHopital. This refusal
was founded upon an article of the treaty by which it was agreed, that if
the Queen should attempt any thing against the French King by arms,
either directly or indirectly, he should be freed from the said agreement.
And it was alleged that the English had sent auxiliary troops to Rouen,
and had taken possession of Havre de Grace, which the King had been
obliged to recover by force. It was answered by the ambassadors, that
the French had first prepared for war, that they had supported Mary
Queen of Scots, and sent troops to her assistance, and to invade England.
Replies and rejoinders followed each other, the embassy was unsuccessful,
and the French refused to surrender the town, or to pay the stipulated
sumc.

All the territories recovered from the English, including Guisnes, were
united under one government, under the name of the Pays Recotiquis, of
which Calais was the capital, and it was divided into twenty-four cantons,
or parishes. The ancient counties, baronies, pairies, and lordships, were
united to the domains of the crown, and had no other lords, with some
few exceptions'1.

b Treaties in 4 vols vol. ii. page 46. ed. 1~S2.

c Thuanus, lib. 41. Hist, de Cal. ii. p. 367- Hume says, that " all men of penetration
" saw that the stipulations of the treaty of Chateau Cambresis were but a colourable pre-
" text for abandoning Calais." vol. v. p. 19- But these discussions shew that the Queen was
in earnest in endeavouring to recover those places.

d Hist, de Cal. ii. 313, 4(5l, 352. Besides its connexion with this family, the account of
M

82 THE RECONQUEST OF GUISNES. book i.

Guisnes appeared to me to be interesting, as it was one of the places possessed by this country
in France; I had therefore a double motive to render it as complete as I could. A history
of our ancient possessions upon the continent is a desideratum in English literature. That
of Normandy would be particularly acceptable, especially since the local antiquities of that
dukedom have been lately so much illustrated.

M ;;

THE LORDS DE COUCY. 83

CHAPTER VI.

Of other noble families of the House of Guisnes.

HAVING thus brought to a conclusion the history of the county of
Guisnes, and the elder branch of the family, it may be necessary to say
something of other noble families, descended from younger brothers of
that house ; which however I shall not pursue at any great length.

The Lords De Coucy*.

We have before seen that, upon the death of his maternal uncle, named
Enajuerrand de Coucy the Fourth, Enguerrand de Guisnes, the second
son of Arnold the Third, and Alice De Coucy, succeeded to the pos-
sessions of that family, by the name of Enguerrand the Fifth, and became
the ancestor of the house of Coucy, of the second race. He was brought
up at the court of his first cousin, Alexander the Third, King of Scotland,
who married him to a noble lady named Christiana, daughter of Thomas
Balliol h, a relation of John Balliol, King of Scotland0. Upon his suc-
cession to the rich inheritances of De Coucy, he divided them with his
brother, John de Guisnes, in 1311. By this partition, Enguerrand had
the lordships of de Coucy, Marie, and la Fere, in Vermandois, Oisy and
Hauraincourt, in Cambresis, Montmirail, Conde en Brie, and Chalon le
Petit, with the Chattellanie of Chateau Thieny, and the Hotel de Coucy
in Paris. John obtained the Chattellanies of la Ferte-Gaucher, and la
Ferte-Ancoul, the Viscounty of Meaux, and the lands of Boissy, Tresmes,

* Duchesne, liv. vii.
b Camden, Lane. Preuv. p. 415.

c Le Lignage de Couci, written in 1303, in Duchesne, Preuv. 390, 440, 441. Duchesne,
p. 253.

M 2

84 THE LORDS DE COUCY. book i.

Belo, and Romeny. The agreement was confirmed by Philip le Bel, and
these large possessions were afterwards divided amongst their sons''.

His grandson, Engnerrand the Sixth, in 1:338, married Catherine of
Austria, the eldest daughter of Leopold the Eirst, Duke of Austria, and
Catherine of Savoy, grand-daughter of Albert the First, Duke of Austria,
and Emperor of the Romans, and great grand-daughter of Rodolph of
Habsburg. The match was made by King Philip, who gave her a marriage
portion of forty thousand livres tournois, for which was substituted a rent
of two thousand livres, and he added twenty thousand livres more. In
consideration of this fortune, Enguerrand settled upon her a dower of six
thousand livres a year1'.

Their only son was Enguerrand the Seventh, who went to England, in
1360, as one of the hostages, by the treaty of Bretigni, for the restitution
of John King of France. Here he was in such favour with Edward the
Third, that he gave him in marriage his second daughter Isabel, and the
title of Earl of Bedford, with lands in Morholm, Wirisdale, Ashton, 11-
verston, and Whittington, in Lancashire'. With part of his marriage por-
tion he purchased the county of Soissons, which had been surrendered to
King Edward by Guy de Blois, for his ransom, as one of the hostages for
the King of France, with whom he was in great favour1-'. In right of his
mother, Catherine of Austria, he claimed that Dutcliy. The Emperor
admitted his right, but was unable to assist him against the Austrians,
who refused to receive him. He collected troops in France, and entered
Austria, but the attempt was unsuccessful, and he was obliged to abandon
his claim \ Afterwards he engaged in the expedition against the Turks
in 1395, under the command of Sigismond, King of Hungary, and was
taken prisoner by Bajazet, with the greater part of the French princes, at
the siege of Nicopolis on the Danube. Upon setting out upon this ex-

d Preuv. p. 39"). The agreement for the partition. There are some accounts of the
possessions of the de Coney family in England, in Banks's Dormant Baronages, vol. i.
p. 321 Dugdale, Karon, vol i. p. 761. but with many errors, which may be corrected frosn
authentic documents in Duchesne, livres 6 and ?.

c The Settlement, Preuv. p. 407, 40S.

' Camden, Bedf. Lane. Ulverston. Duchesne, p. 26G. Preuv. 415 Froissart.

' Preuv. p. 432.

" Pr. 420. Fro;ssart.

chap. vi. THE LORDS DE COUCY. 80

pedition, a high compliment was paid him by Charles the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy, who having appointed his son John, Count of Nevers, to
command the French troops, put him under the care of the Lord De
Coucy. He died in captivity, and his heart was buried in the monastery
of the Celestins near Soissons, which he founded. After the death of
Isabel of England, he married Isabel of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke
of that province, who survived him, and, in 1399, married Stephen, Duke
of Bavaria, father of Isabel, Queen of France. His children were only
daughters, two by his first wife, and one by his second'.

The eldest daughter, Mary, Countess of Soissons, lady of Coucy, and
Oisy, married Henry de Bar, eldest son of the Duke of Bar, who was
slain at the siege of Nicopolis. She sold the lordship of de Coucy, in
1400, with the Chattellanies of Marie, and la Fere, to the Duke of Or-
leans, reserving the use during her life. The Duke used unwarrantable
methods to compel her to this sale, and little of the purchase money was
paid. She died soon after, having been poisoned at a wedding. The
sale was held not to have been legal. The Chattellanies of Marie and la
Fere returned to Robert de Bar1".

The second daughter, Philippa, was educated in England, and married
Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland', Marquis of Dublin, Earl of Oxford,
and Great Chamberlain of England. Her portion was Morholm, Wiris-
dale, Ulverston, and other places in Lancashire. Her husband proved
unfaithful, he fell in love with a German girl, one of the Queen's maids of
honour, whom he married, after he had been divorced from his wife™.

' Duchesne, 270. Pr. 412. Froissart.

k Duchesne, Pr. 426". The Deed of Sale.

1 He was created Duke of Ireland in the ninth of Richard II. Dugd. MSS. No. 34.
f. 59.

"' Le Due d'Irlande avoit ;i femme la fille au Seigneur de Coucy, laquelle estoit fille de
Madame Ysabel, fille des defunts Roy et Royne d'Angleterre, qui estoit belle Dame et
bonne, et de plus noble et haute attraction qu'il fut. Et toutesfois il ainia une des Damoi-
selles de la Royne regnante en Angleterre, une Alemande, et fist tant envers Urbain VI.
qu'il se demaria de la fille au Seigneur de Coucy, sons mil tiltre de raison, fors par pre-
somption et nonchalance, et epousa celle Demoiselle. Et tout consentit le Roy Richard,
car il estoit si aveugle de ce Due d'Irlande, que s'il eust dit, sire, cecy est blanc, et il fust
noir, le Roy n'en eust dit du lontraire. Le mere de ce dit Due fut moult grandement

S6 THE VISCOUNTS OF MEAUX. hook i.

Isabel, the only daughter of the second marriage, after the death of her
father, and his widow, Isabel of Lorrain, instituted a suit in law to recover
her rights against her sister Mary de Bar, and the Duke of Orleans, and
at length obtained the half of Coucy, Marie, and la Fere. Philippa,
being an English subject, and provided for in that country, had no claim
to them". Isabel married Philip of Burgundy, Count of Nevers and
Rethel, youngest son of Monsieur Philip of France, called the Hardy,
Duke of Burgundy, in 1409°.

And thus this branch of the house of Guisnes, and the second race of
the family of Coucy, ended in the royal family of Bourbonp.

The Viscounts of Meaux*.

Of the three sons of Arnold the Third, and Alice de Coucy, we have
traced the descent of two, Baldwin de Guisnes, and Enguerrand de
Guisnes, Lord of Coucy. We mentioned a third brother. John de
Guisnes, who shared in the property of his maternal uncle, with his brother
Enguerrand. By this partition lie obtained the castles and Chattellanies
of la Ferte-Gaucher, and la Ferte-Ancoul. the house of Tronoy or Dronay,
the vineyards of Vaucelles, the land of Boissy, of Tresmes, Belo, and
Rommeny. He had likewise the Viscounty of Meaux, from which he
took his title. His issue failing, were succeeded by Enguerrand De Coucy,
youngest son of Enguerrand De Coucv the Fifth. After two descents,
this branch ended in two daughters. Of these, the eldest, Alienor de
Coucy, married Michael, Lord of Ligne in Hainault. Jane, the youngest,
married John de Chastillon. The youngest died, and Alienor succeeded
to the whole property, and. dying without issue, was succeded by her aunt,
Jane de Coucy, who was the wife of John de Bethune. A daughter of
this house, Jane de Bethune, Viscountess of Meaux, was married to
Robert de Bar, whose daughter Jane de Bar, was wife of Lewis of Luxem-

eourroucee de son fil, et prit la fille au Seigneur de Coucy. et la meit aveeques elle, et en
sa compaignie. Froissart, vol. iii. ch. 77. He calls Oxford Acquessuffort.

n Pr. p. 427. The proceedings from the Register of the Parliament.

0 Monstrelet, ch. 51. Preuv. 436.

>' Duchesne, page -2Q4.

i Duchesne, liv. 6, 7.

CHAP. VI.

THE CHATTELLAINS OF GHENT. 87

burg, Count of Saint Pol, by whom she had Peter of Luxemburg, Count
of Saint Pol, and Viscount of Meaux, whose daughter, Mary of Luxem-
burg, married Francis de Bourbon, Count of Vendasme' .

A second branch of the house of Guisnes, the Viscounts of Meaux,
by this marriage centered in the royal family of Bourbon5.

The Chattellains of Ghent.

We have likewise seen that the Chattellanie of Ghent came to Siger de
Guisnes, a younger son of Arnold the First. From him descended the
subsequent Chatellains, the Barons of Saint John Steene, and of Ras-
senghien, and the Counts of Isenghien. Weary of the world, Siger
quitted all earthly concerns, and entered into the order of Knights Tem-
plars. The Chatellains of Ghent continued to be Lords of Bornhem, and
Houdain. Walter de Gand, surnamed Villain, second son of Hugh, the
First, Chattellain of Ghent, and Lord of Saint John Steene, was the an-
cestor of the family of that latter title, and which retained likewise his sur-
name of Villain1. The male line of the Chatellains of Ghent ended in
Maria. She married Gerard, Lord of Sottenghien, a younger branch of
the house of Enghien, in 1280. On the death of her son, and his issue,
the Chatellanie fell to another female, Isabel, Viscountess of Melun, who
had three husbands; first Henry of Louvain, secondly Alphonso of Spain,
surnamed de la Cerda, son of Ferdinand, Prince of Castile, and Blanch,
daughter of Saint Lewis, who after the death of Alphonso the Tenth,
King of Castile, assumed that title, but was obliged to abandon it. By
him Isabel was mother to Charles, Constable of France, and Count of
Engoulesme. Thirdly, she married John, Viscount of Melun, Great
Chamberlain of France, 1327- To him she brought the Chatellanie of
Ghent, and other possessions, but from that time her descendants bore the
title of Viscounts of Ghent".

1 Duchesne, p. 294.

s Ibid. Par ainsi les deux Branches des Seigneurs de Coucy, et des Vicomtes de Meaux,
sorties de la maison de Guines, fondirent dans la Royale Famille de Bourbon, de laquelle
est descendu le Roy Louys XIII. aujourd'huy regnant.

' Duchesne, p. 337.

" Ibid. 359.

SS THE LORDS OF ST. JOHN STEENE, &c. book t.

The Lords of St. John Steene, surnamed Villain.

After the Counts of Guisnes, the Chatellains of Ghent, and the Lords
of Coucy, this branch was the most illustrious.

The city and lordship of Steene, Saint John Steene, or de la Pierre, was
transferred by one of the Counts of Flanders to a Chatellain of Ghent, in
exchange for some rights in the town of Hulst : it was enjoyed by the
Chatellains till it was given as a portion to Walter de Gand, the second
son of Hugh, before mentioned, who was surnamed Villain, or Villanus.
This name was not uncommon ; Duchesne mentions several who bore it, a
cardinal priest, in a bull of Eugene the Third, Villain de Canny,
Villain D'Arzillieres, Villain de Nuelly, in Villehardouin, and Villain
D'Aunoy, appointed by that historian guardian of his lands in Cham-
pagne15. An uncle of Maker le Villain was surnamed Gerand le Diable.
From a mere personal sobriquet this name become that of an illustrious
family, whose cry of war was, Gand a villain sans reproehe.

This family was divided into several branches, the Lords of Welle,
Huysse, Morbeque, Lidekerque, and others''.

The Lords of Rassenghiem-, and Counts of Isewrhiem.

From the marriage of John Villain the Third, Lord of Saint John
Steene, and of Margaret de Gaure of Liedequerque, proceeded the two
branches, the Barons of Rassenghiem, afterwards Counts of Isenghiem,
and the Lords of Liedequerque, which barony and lordships with other
possessions were acquired from herz. I shall not relate all the particulars
which may be collected of these noblemen ; but it may be interesting
to mention, that Martin Villain, in 1458, made a voyage to the Holy
Land, and, upon his return, he passed by the kingdom of Cyprus, where
Charlotte, Queen of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, received him with
great honours, and invested him with the Order of the Sword, with the
privilege of conferring the same upon two other knights, or, at least,
esquires. Queen Charlotte's letter is dated at Nichosia, and was pre-
served amongst the muniments of the Counts of Isenghiem, and the coat

* P. 358. » Ibid. 355. • Ibid. 409-

CHAP. VI.

THE LORDS OF ST. JOHN STEENE, &c.

of arms of the Count received the addition of a sort of scroll round it, in
which five swords were interwoven \

The territory and title of Isenghiem were acquired by the marriage of
Adrian Villain the Third with Margaret, daughter of John de Staveles,
Lord of Isenghiem, in 152.5. From a barony it was erected into a county
by Philip the Second of Spain, in 1582, as a reward for Maximilian
Villain's services ; particularly against the heretics in Flanders'1.

Many of the noblemen of these derivative families are occasionally
celebrated in Froissart, Monstrelet, and other contemporary chronicles.

The county of Guisnes having been united to the possessions of the
Crown of France, and all the foreign male lines of the family having
become extinct, the blood of Sigefrede, the original founder, is no longer
to be found, in a direct male descent, except in the families of Blount, and
Croke.

" Duchesne, p. 413. Preuv. 6i>l. b Ibid.

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re-

BOOK THE SECOND.
PART I.

HE SETTLEMENT OF THE LE BLOUNTS IN ENGLAND, AND THE
HISTORY OF THE ELDEST BRANCH, THE BARONS OF IXWORTH,
THE LORDS OF BELTON, AND THE CROKE FAMILY.

^ '- -

:if*

=zS e vdlcu nt~

THE

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY

THE CROKE FAMILY.

CHAPTER I.

The settlement of the Le Blount s in England.

WILLIAM of Normandy's preparations for the invasion of England
animated the whole continent of Europe. Every motive which could in-
fluence the mind, in those days of chivalry, was in full action; the prospect
of military fame, the hopes of extensive territories, the love of novelty and
adventure, and the sanctity of an expedition which had been consecrated
by the Pope1'. From Normandy the warlike ardour principally extended
to the nobles and knights of the neighbouring countries. Amongst these,
Baldwin the Fifth, Count of Flanders, was doubly related to Duke William.
They were first cousins, Baldwin's mother, Eleanor, having been sister to
Robert the First, William's father. A still nearer connexion had taken
place by the marriage of the Count's daughter Matilda with Duke William b.

' In the Bayeux tapestry, the consecrated banner, sent by the Pope, is always introduced,
and is argent, a cross or, in a bordure azure. Archaeol. xviii. p. 359- Walsingham says it
represented a man fighting.

b It is said by some authors that Baldwin IV. h;id no child by Eleanor, and that
Matilda was his tzrand-daughter by Orgina of Luxemburg. But it is certain that Matilda
was nearly related to Duke William ; he had a dispensation from the Pope to marry her;
and Maugrr, Archbishop of Rohan, the Duke's uncle, in a rebellion in Normandy, actually
excommunicated him on pretence of the too near relationship between them. If Eleanor
had not been Matilda's grand-mother these facts cannot be accounted for. Carte, vol. i.
p. 413. Rapin, i. 165 has made a mistake in styling Matilda jhe daughter instead of the
grand-daughter of Eleanor,

94- LE BLOUNT book ii.

Tosti, brother to Harold, had married his other daughter, and, being at enmity
with the King of England, had retired to the court of Flanders, full of
complaints of the injustice which he had suffered; and he had engaged the
protection of that Prince against his brother. The Emperor had given public
permission to all his vassals to embark in the expedition. The Count of
Flanders, therefore, had every inducement to employ all his influence to
promote its success. Eustace, Count of Boulogne, was one of the principal
noblemen who personally engaged in it. In concert with his relations, the
Counts of Flanders, and Boulogne, Baldwin die First, the Count of Guisnes,
naturally supported the interests of the Duke of Normandy; with whom,
and his wife Matilda, he was connected by the ties of consanguinity1.
Three brothers of the house of Guisnes, who were probably uncles to
Baldwin, and the sons of Rodolphus, a former Count, and his wife Rosella
de Saint Pol, inlisted under the banners of the Duke. The name of one
of them, who afterwards returned to France, has not been preserved ; the
other two were Sir Robert Le Blount, accompanied by his son Gilbert,
and Sir William Le Blount, who continued to reside in England, and were
the ancestors of the family of that name.

The accounts of the Norman invasion are short and obscure. The list
of the names of those1 who came over with William, in the Battel Abbey
roll, varies much in the different copies which are now extant, and that
document is not conclusive evidence, unless so far as it is confirmed by
better authority. In four of those copies the name of Le Blount occurs,
and it is omitted in the others'1. As to their rank, and peculiar duties,
Robert Le Blount was stiled Dux navium militarium, or Commander of
the ships of war. and he was of the council of the Conquerorc. His

c See the Genealogies, Nos. 2, 3, 4-. and book i (hap. 3.

cl The name of Le Blount is found in Duchesne in his Rerum Normaniearum Scriptores,
page 9 ; in Fuller's Church History, page 151 ; in Holinshead, page 3; and in Stow, page
105. The name is omitted in the lists in Fox's Acts and Monuments, page 1S3; in two
other lists in Holinshead, page 2 ; and in Stow, page 104; in Scriven's list, and in the
rhyming catalogue in the Chronicle of John Brompton.. the Abbot, which begins
Vous que desyrez assaver
Les nons de grauntz de la la mer,
Que vindrent od le conqueror
William Bastard, de graunt vigour &c. &c.
c Sir Thomas Blount Chevalier fuit de concilio Ducis, (sc. Willmi Conquestoris.) Coles
MSS. vol. xliii. p. 9. British Museum. Thomas is evidently an error for Robert.

chap. i. LE BLOUNT. 95

brother William was General of the footf. The exploits of the brothers
upon this occasion, and the share which they had in the decisive battle of
Hastings, have not been related ; but the high station which they held, and
the great rewards which they afterwards received from the Conqueror, are
sufficient testimonies of their military merit.

Many circumstances have been related in local chronicles which are not
of sufficient consequence to have found their way into the general histories.
Of this kind are the events which took place in the Isle of Ely upon the
conquest of England. Thurston, the abbot, and the monks of that rich
monastery were the strenuous supporters of Edgar Atheling. After the
unfortunate battle of Hastings, they afforded a safe retreat to many of the
Saxon lords. The Earls of Chester and Northumberland, with other
noblemen, and their followers, retired to that monastery with their
treasures. The natural difficulties of the country, which was inaccessible
from its extensive marshes, seemed to promise them security, till some
general efforts could be made to rescue the kingdom from a foreign yoke.
Hereward, the son of Leofric, Lord of Brunne, a general of great renown,
was elected to the chief command, and a plan of defence, and of hostilities
against the Normans, was adopted in their councils of war. The strength
of the place, the formidable force collected there, the length of time it con-
tinued, and the ineffectual attempts of his armies, had made the siege of
Ely of sufficient importance to require the presence of William ; and he
marched thither in 1069, with a considerable force. A causeway was
thrown up across the marshes, and several attempts were made to force a
passage. But the works were imperfect, the resistance brave and well
conducted, and, before any progress could be made, William was obliged
to repair to his army at York, which had been taken by the combined
armies of the English, Scots, and Danes. The next year he returned to
renew his attacks upon the island of Ely, and again failed in his attempts
to pass the marshes. The preparations for another assault were defeated,
and their forts were destroyed, in a sally made in boats, and commanded

f Colli ns'a Baronetage, vol. ii. page 36'7- vol. iii. p. 665. Nash's History of Worcester-
shire, vol. ii. p. 163. Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. Blount. Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 184.
Summons of the Nobility. Fuller's Church History, p. 155. Speed's History of Great
Britain, page 797- Dux manuum militarium in some of these is an error for navium.

96 LE BLOUNT. book ii,

by Hereward in person, who, like Alfred, had got intelligence of their
designs by visiting their camp in disguise. The king thus repeatedly
baffled retreated to Cambridge, and, in his resentment for their protracted
resistance, he confirmed his former seizure and alienation of the lands
belonging to the monastery, in different parts of the kingdom. The monks
repented of their resistance, and wished to surrender. The abbot, and
some of the monks retired from the island, and waited upon the king at
Warwick, with their humble submission. But their good will was all that
was in their power. The lords refused to surrender, the monks who re-
mained were kept under strict guard, and even in ignorance of what was
going on, and the place was still vigorously defended. In the year 1071,
though some reinforcements had been received, the skill of William's
engineers, improved from experience, by a due combination of causeways
and boats, forts and engines, formed a sufficient passage for the troops over
the marshes anil waters, and after several attempts, the defences were
forced, and victory declared in William's favour. The garrison retreated,
and great numbers were slain, or taken prisoners. Amongst the latter
were Earl Morchar, Siward, surnamed Beam, and Egelwin, bishop of
Durham. Great cruelty was exercised upon some of the prisoners, and
Hereward alone of all the leaders escaped. The king took possession of
the monastery, accepted a fine of a thousand marks as an atonement, and,
in the true spirit of the times, paid his devotions, with an offering of a
mark of gold, to Saint Etheldreda, the founder and patroness of the
Abbey?.

Both as a punishment and a security, William sent forty of his principal
knights, to be quartered upon the monastery. They had their banquets in
the refectory, and each knight was allotted to a particular monk, as his
host and companion. Amongst these knights was William Le Blount,
who was assigned to the care and hospitality of Brother Wylnote. Great
friendship and harmony subsisted between these martial and monastic
pairs. There is reason to believe that the knights were not dissatisfied
with their situation. " Of all the abbeys in England," says the witty Dr.
Fuller, " Ely bare away the bell, for bountiful feast-making ; the vicinity

* Bentham's History of Ely.

chap. i. LE BLOUNT. 97

" of the fens affording them plenty of flesh, fish, and fowl, at low
" rates1'."

When the king required the service of these knights in Normandy, upon
the insurrection of his son Robert in 1077, their departure was a subject
of mutual regret. But let the ancient historian of the Abbey relate " the
" story," as it is translated by Dr. Fuller. " The soldiers with their
" retinue are sent, they come, and here abide. Whereof each one is
" delivered to some principal monk, as a captain to his lieutenant, or a
" guest to his host. Now the king decreed that Bertwolde (MSS. Brith-
" nodus) the butler should minister food to the soldiers and monks jointly
" together, one with another, in the common hall of the monastery. What
" need many words ? these captains to their lieutenants, these guests to
" their hosts, these soldiers to their monks, were most welcome : for all of
" them entertained each one, each one entertained all, and every one
" mutually one another, with all duties of humanity. At length the fire
" of the civil war being quenched, and the king established according to
" his heart's desire, five years after, his severity in punishing being in
" godly manner pacified, it pleased the king to withdraw this yoke, where-
" with the pride of the monks was now sufficiently abated. And the
" Conqueror reclaimed his soldiers to punish the ungodly insolence of his
" son Robert, who at that time in outrageous manner kept riot in Nor-
" mandy. But our monks (which is a wonder to report) did not only
" with tears bewaile the departure of their dearest mates, the heroical
" soldiers, and welcome guests ; but howled out most fearfully, and beat
" their breasts as destitute of hope, after the manner of a new married wife,
" whose husband is violently taken away, at an unseasonable time, out of
" her sweet arms unto the wars. For they doubted lest that, being for-
" saken, they should be subject to the spoil, whereas they had lived
" securely at ease, with their armed guests, to whose trust they had com-
" mitted themselves and their goods. They being now all ready for their
" journey, every one of our monks, many in number, investured in their
" copes, in dutiful manner accompanied these gentlemen departing, unto

h Fuller's Church History, book i. p. 299. In testimony of their merit in this respect
he quotes an ancient couplet.

Prasvisis alii-s, Eliensia festa videre,
Est, quasi praevisa nocte, videre diem.
O

98 LE BLOUNT. book ii.

" Hadenham, with songs, crosses, censers, processions, and all solemnity
" that might be used.

" And returning home they took order that the arms (or rather, the por-
" traits) of each soldier should be lively depainted upon the walls of the
" common hall, where they took their repast together, to the perpetual
" memory of the customed kindness of their soldier-like guests, the which
" from time to time, from the predecessors to the successors, and from
" obscure antiquity to our posterity at this day, are curiously set forth to
" be viewed of all men, not without a pleasant delight, in such manner as
" they glitter and shine honourable in the margent of this table'."

At the Reformation these pictures were destroyed, and the refectory of
the monastery was converted into the present deanery of Ely. There is
however an ancient painting, which was formerly in the possession of
Doctor Knight, prebendary of that church, and now in the episcopal
palace, which was probably copied from it. It consists of forty tablets, or
pictures, each containing a knight, with the monk his companion, in their
respective dresses as soldiers and Benedictines, with the coats of arms of
each of the knights, as they are now borne by their families and descend-
ants. Over it is the following inscription :

" ftomina rt insignia millitum smcptlatim mm singulis! monarbis
" in ecdessta <£Iirnsft roUnratoium rcrjnantt (Sttltrlmo Conqurttorr,
" Slnno Somini ios?."

The inscription over the picture of our ancestor is,

" £Itm&us labium ifliUitarum Mix
" Cum 2£lnInoto ittonarfto."

He is painted with a helmet and a red feather : his dress is scarlet ;
the helmet, and some pieces round his neck, are blue, to represent steel.
Round his shoulders is a white scarf, and at the joints of his arms are
large knobs with double bands, or bracelets, and he has a sword in his
right hand. His appearance and beard denote the hardy veteran, but with
an air of mildness and benevolence he stretches out his left hand, ap-
parently in friendly converse with his companion, who is dressed in the

1 See the original Latin, Appendix, No X!Y, and the list of the knights.

tmx torn top tag to spomctio

chap. i. LE BLOUNT. 99

habit of his order. The meekness, resignation, and delicacy, of the holy
father, form a striking contrast to the hardihood, and roughness, of the
knight and soldier. Between them is the coat of arms still borne by the
Blount family, barry, nebuly, or, and sable k.

k As these pictures have been the subject of some controversy amongst the antiquaries,
it may not be improper to give a short statement of their history.

There appears to have been an original painting upon the walls of the refectory of the
Convent, containing the portraits of the knights and monks, with their coats of arms,
which was destroyed at the dissolution.

There are now remaining, 1st, the Ely Tablet, Tabula Eliensis, in the Episcopal Palace
at Ely, which is on board, about three feet long, by two broad, and is said to have been
copied from the original painting in the refectory. It consists of forty tablets, or pictures,
each containing the portrait of a knight, with the monk his companion, with the coat of
arms of each knight, as they were subsequently borne by their families. The inscription
at the top is, " Nomina et insignia Millitum singulatim cum singulis monachis in Ecclesia
" Eliensi collocatorum regnante Gulielmo Conquestore, Anno Domini 1087." Over each
tablet is the name of the knight, and the monk. This has been engraved in Bentham's
History of Ely.

2. A Parchment Roll, above a yard long, having a piece of green silk hanging before it.
In the middle is a Latin historical account of the transaction, and round it the arms of the
forty knights. At the top are the arms of Saint Etheburg, (for Saint Etheldreda,) the
foundress of the Convent, of Saint Ethelwald, Bishop of Winchester, of William the Con-
queror, and of Robert de Orford, the fourteenth Bishop of Ely, who filled that see from
1301 to 1309, from 30th Edward 1. to 3d Edward II. which ascertains the period within
which this document must have been made. It was in the possession of Francis Blome-
field, and was printed by him in a sheet of the Collectanea Cantabrigiensia, which he after-
wards cancelled, and therefore is not now easily to be met with. What is become of the
original does not appear. The Latin history in the middle was printed in the Gentleman's
Magazine for 1779, page 585, and is in the Appendix, No. XIV. and there are many old
copies of it, with variations.

3. Fuller, in his Church History, book ii. page 168, has given a translation of the same
history, with the coats of arms round it. Some mistakes he has made, as in calling Earl
Morcar of Northumberland, Earl Margery.

4. There is a manuscript now in the British Museum, formerly in the King's Library,
MSS. 18. C. 1. 3. entitled, " Story found in the Isle of Ely.'' This is a translation like-
wise of the same history, and has neither arms, or portraits.

5. In Dugdale's Manuscripts, in the Ashmolean Museum, MSS. No. 6501. II. F. 2. is
the same account, with the arms.

Upon the whole the following observations may be made, respecting principally the
authenticity of the Ely Tablet.

1. If these traditions and written accounts may be credited, the monks, at the departure
o 2

100 LE BLOUNT. book ii.

The nobility, the high military rank, and the personal merit, of the two
brothers, procured them the favour of the Conqueror, and were rewarded
by extensive grants of land. Robert Le Blount appears in Domesday
I took as the possessor of thirteen lordships in Suffolk, namely, Giswortha,
afterwards called Ixworth, Walsani, Eascefelda, Wica, Sapestuna, Hep-
worda, Wica, Icswerda, Watefella, Gisilmcham, Westtorp, Wiverthestuna,
Westledestuna. In Middlesex, he held Leleham, and part of Stanes.
An ample inheritance was bestowed upon William Le Blount in Lincoln-

of the knights, caused pictures to be painted upon the walls of the refectory, as me-
morials.

2. These pictures could not have been coats of arms, since they were not known in
the tune of William the Conqueror.

3. It follows therefore that they must have been portraits, which may well be signified
by the word insignia, as they were put up in honour of the knights. And it may be
observed, that the Ely Tablet is intitlcd, Nomina et insignia Militum, though it contains
their portraits.

4 They were repaired from time to time ; and it was perfectly natural that, when roats
of arms were introduced, those of each knight should be added.

5. After the pictures were so completed, the Ely Tablet was copied from them. The
originals were perhaps separate pictures, not improbably as large as the life, though placed
here in one piece The copier would in many respects adopt the practice and mode of hi^
own time, as to the form of the letters in his inscriptions, his painting in oil, and other
particulars.

Ij. The Ely Tablet therefore probably gives a true representation of the original
pictures, as they appeared at the time the copy wis made: that is. the portraits, the first
paintings, with the additional arms The objection made by Cole, that pointed, or
rounded, helmets were not in use so early, or even before the fourteenth century, seems
unfounded, as a helmet, nearly of the shape of that of William Le Blount, may be seen on
the head of his cousin, Ernolphus, Count of Guisnes, in 11.01. The coats of arms having
been evidently introduced :it a time long after that of William the Conqueror, no argument
ran be deduced from the shape of the escutcheons.

These paintings are very rude. The engravings of them in Bentham are very incor-
rect, and too much finished. That of Earl Warren, in Watson's Memoirs of the Warren
family, except something of the outline, is mere fancy. The annexed etching was traced
off the original painting, in which however one l has been by accident left out in the word
millitarum.

See Book I. chap. 4. Bentham's Hist, of Ely. Fuller's Church History, book ii. p 168.
Stukely, in his second part of Origines ltoystoniana;, who is very erroneous. Cole's MSS.
in the British Museum, vol. xxxi. page 100 to 107. Heylin, in his Examen Historicum,
preface, p. 4, written against Fuller, who answered it in his Appeal of Injured Innocence.

chap. i. LE BLOUNT. 101

shire, where seven lordships are recorded in his name. Faldingevrde,
Crocsbi, Torgrebi, Widcale, Catebi, Salrlatibi, and Schitebroc1.

Sir Robert, from his principal lordships, was styled Baron of Icksworth,
and Lord of Orford Castle. He married Gundred, the youngest daughter
of Henry, Earl Ferrers, who was one of the commissioners for the survey
of Domesday, and had two hundred and ten lordships given him by the
Conqueror. His youngest son, Robert de Ferrers, was created Earl of
Derby by King Stephen. It is not known who was the lady of William
Le Blount. Time has obliterated all further memorials of the two bro-
thers, nor is it known when they died, or where they were buried m.

The heralds have given to Sir Robert Le Blount for a coat of arms,
lozengy, or, and sable. You have already seen that coats of arms were
not in use so early. This coat was borne by his descendants, the Barons
of Ixworth ; and the heralds in this, as in many other cases, have worked
upwards, and have attributed to the ancestor the bearings of his posterity.
After the extinction of the Barons of Ixworth, it does not seem to have
been borne by any others of the family".

To Sir William Le Blount have been attributed two coats of arms, to
which the same observation applies. They are, first, barry, nebuly, of six
pieces, or, and sable0. And, secondly, gules, a fesse between six martlets,
argent : both of which have been borne by his descendants to the present
time".

1 See Domesday Book. Appendix, No XIII. and Dugdale, Baron.
■ Dugdale, Baron, vol. i. p. 257-

n Bigland, &c. It appears however in a coat of arras of the Grendon family, on an old
parchment in the possession of that family. See book iii. chap. 5.
• Ibid.
T Rawlinson's MSS. B. vol. 73. f. 110. 6.

LE BLOUNT, BARON OF IXWORTH.

CHAPTER II.

The Le Blounts, Barons of Ixworth in Suffolk.

ROBERT LE BLOUNT, the first Baron of Ixworth, was succeeded

in his possessions by his son Gilbert Le Blount, the second Baron ;
who likewise came into England with William the Conqueror".

He founded a priory at Ixworth, for black canons, or canons of the
order of Saint Augustine, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. Camden
mentions it in these words. " Here is to be seen an ancient priory
" founded by Gilbert Blount, a man of great nobility, and Lord of Ix-
" worth h." At the dissolution, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, it was
valued at <£l68. 19*. l\d. a year, according to Dugdale, and at ^280. 9*.
jd. according to Speed ; and it was then granted to Richard Codyngton1'.

His lady was Alicia de Colekirke, by whom he had William, his son
and heir, and a daughter named Galina, or Galiena de Redel, who married
Robert de Insula, or de l'Isled. The arms of Colekirke were gules, a fesse,
embattled, or, between two bells, argent1.

It seems probable that Galiena derived her name of de Redel from her
cousin Geoffrey de Redel, Archdeacon of Canterbury. Upon her marriage
with Robert de Insula, that ecclesiastic gave her certain lands, which he
afterwards exchanged for Rya, in the manor of Portar. The donation was
confirmed by Henry the Second, and by Matthew Count of Boulogne'.

1 Dugdale, Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 184. b Britannia. Ixworth, Suffolk. ' Monasthon.
Tanners Notitia Monastics. a Dugdale, ibid, (ienealogies, Collins. ' Biglaml, Maple
Durham Pedigree.

' Carta? antiqine. Hen. II. confirmat donationem quam Galf'ridus Ridellus, Archidia-
conus Cantuariensis, fecit Roberto de Insula, et Galiena;, cognate suae, filiie Willmi Blundi,
de Rya qua; fuit manerii Portar, in excange (something seems wanting here, perhaps pro
terra) quam idem Gafridus dedit prefata? Galiena?, ad maritandum honorato Roberto, et
quam Mattheus Comes Bolon. carta sua eis confiimavit. R. Dods. MSS. vol. lxviii. f. 59-
William is a mistake for Gilbert, if Dugdale is right in making Galiena his daughter.

chap. ii. LE BLOUNT, BARON OF IXWORTH. 103

As Matthew was Count of Boulogne from 1160 to 1173, this gift must
have been made between those years5.

William Le Blount, the third Baron of Ixworth, lived in the reign
of Henry the Second, and married Sarah de Monchampes, the daughter
of Hubert De Monchampes, De Munchensi, or De Montecanisio, Lord
of Edwardeston, or Elwaston in Derbyshire, son of Warine De Mon-
chensi, a Baron in the time of Henry the First, who was son of Hubert
De Monchensi, a baron, and Lord of Edwardeston in Suffolk, in the time
of the Conqueror11. The priory at Ixworth having been destroyed in the
wars, he rebuilt it, at some distance from the parish church, near which it
had been originally erected'. The arms of De Monchensy were, or, three
escutcheons, each, barry of six pieces, vairy, and gules1'.

His son Gilbert, or Hubert, was the fourth Baron, and married
Agnes de Insula, or de ITsle. The arms of de ITsle were, or, a fesse,
between two chevrons, sable1.

Hubert, son of William Blund is under the guardianship of the King.
For eight years last past he was under the custody of the Bishop of Ely,
and is of twenty years of age (thirty according to Dugdale.) He is the
grandson of Hubert De Muntechenesy. He holds Ixworth, Effeld,
Walesham, and Stratford, which were his father's1".

In the Chartulary of the priory of Merton in Surrey is the following
charter without date. " Brother Robert, Prior of Merton, and the Con-
" vent there, to all the faithful in Christ, greeting. We make it known
" to you that we have granted, and confirmed, to Alexander, Clerk, of

f William tlie fourth Count of Boulogne, who lived in the Court of Henry the Second,
died in 1 159. He left a sister Mary, who was Abbess of Romsey in England. Upon the
death of William, Matthew d' Alsace, son of the Count of Flanders, carried her off in ]16'();
married her, and thus became in her right Count of Boulogne; and died in 1173. These
lands were probably held of him under some manors granted to him, or his predecessors,
by the King of England. Hist Calais, i. 587, -M)9.

'' Bigland, Maple Durham Pedigree.

' Tanner, and Dugdale. Roger Dodsworth's MSS. Hot. Pip. vol. xiii. f. 14.

k Bigland, Maple Durham Pedigree.

1 Ibid.

■ R. Dods. vol. xli. f. 5. Rot. de dominabus puellis et pueris ex parte Rememoratoris R.
in Scacco. In anno 20 Hen. II. 1 1/3.

104 LE BLOUNT, BARON OF IXWORTII. book ii.

" Fecham, the land which Gilbert Blount has given him, and his heirs, for
" his service, to hold of us, rendering a rent of twelve pence". "

In the twelfth year of Henry the Second, 1 165, upon the assessment of
an aid for marrying the king's daughter, it was certified that Gilbert Blount,
the father of William, in the time of King Henry, and at his death, held
twelve knights' fees, but it was in the time of war, that he was dissei/.ed
of five of them, of which three were in the king's lands".

Gilbert or Hubert had two sons, William and Stephen. Of Stephen I
shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

William was the fifth who inherited the Barony of [xvvorth. At his
father's death he was a minor, and was under the wardship of the Bishop
of Ely. In the thirty-second year of Henry the Second, 1185, he was
thirty-two years of aye. He was possessed of the Lordship of Ixworth.
Esteldei, and Walcham in Suffolk, and Edulfesberg in Buckinghamshire p.

In Norfolk, in Easter term in the seventh year of John, 1205, William
Blund demanded of William Fitz Roscelin, the manor of Henford, as his
right, and of which William Blund his grand-father had been seized in the
time of Henry, the king's father, by taking the explees. To this record
the following pedigree is annexed'1.
1 I

I . )

William Blund = Sarua Gilbertus = Alicia=Roselin

I I

William Blund William son

the Demandant. of Rosceline.

By this it seems that Sir William Le Blount, who married Sarah De
Monchensi, besides his sister Galiena, had a brother named Gilbert, who
had Henford for his portion, and which had been kept possession of, after
his death, by William, son of Rosceline, who had married Alicia, the
widow of Gilbert.

In the pleas of the fifteenth of John, 1213, William Blund demanded
against Warine Fitz Gerald, lands in Stivinton, of which his ancestor

c R. Dods. MSS. vol. lv. f. 120. " Ibid. vol. xlvii. and vol. lxxxix. f. 33. "> Dugd.
Baron. " R. Dods. MSS. vol. xcvii. f. 26.

chap. ii. LE BLOUNT, BARON OF IXWORTH. 105

Gilbert Blund was seized in the time of King Henry. His pedigree is
annexed'.

Gilbertus Blundus.

Willelmus.

I
Huberlus.

Willelmus, the Demandant.

His wife was Cecilia de Yere, who was the mother of a son named
William, and two daughters, Agnes and Roisia8. The arms of de Vere
were quarterly, gules, and or1.

William le Blount, the sixth and last Baron, married Alicia de
Capella".

In the fifth of Henry the Third, 1220, he paid scutage for the siege of
the castle of Bihamx. In the eighth year, 1223, William le Blund, and
Alicia his wife, gave ten shillings to the church at Fairford in Gloucester-
shirey. In the twelfth year, 1227? there was a perambulation of the
King's forest in Lancashire, by William Blount and others2. In the
twenty-first year, 1236, William le Blount was sued by Walter de Fon-
tibus, (Fountayn,) in a writ of right for the manor of Welldon Parva, in
Northamptonshire, and had an imparlance". In the twenty-ninth year of
Henry the Third, 1244, when an aid for marrying the king's son was ex-
acted, at the rate of twenty shillings for every knight's fee, Sir William
le Blount paid seven pounds for seven knights' feesb. In the thirty-
eighth year, 1253, when each fee was assessed forty shillings, towards
making the King's eldest son a knight, he paid fourteen pounds0.

In the disputes between King Henry the Third and the Barons, he
supported Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, against the King. A
reference of their mutual claims having been made to the French King, in
1263, some of the English Barons went over to France to appear before
him at Amiens. The Earl of Leicester set off, when his horse fell, and
he broke his leg. Upon which accident, he and the other Barons sent a
deputation of a few wise men, both of the clergy and the laity, to represent

1 R. Dods. MSS. vol. 97. f. 59. s Dugdale, Baron. « Bigland. " Dugd. Baron.
1 R. Dods. vol. ciii. f. 54. » Ibid. vol. cvii. f. 128. * Ibid. vol. ciii. f. 133. 3 Ibid,
vol. ciii. f. 186. b Ibid. Rot. Pip. vol. xv. c Ibid.

106 LE BLOUNT, BARON OF IXWORTH. book ii.

them ; and of this number was the Lord William le Blount1. At the
unfortunate battle of Lewis, he was standard bearer to the Earl of Leicester,
and was slain, upon the 14th of May, 12(34. He was attainted in Parlia-
ment, and dying without issue, his heirs were his two sisters. After the
battle of Evesham, and the death of the Earl of Leicester, the next year,
when Henry was established in full power, he made a merciful use of his
victory. No attainders, except of the Montfort family, were carried into
execution. And although the Parliament held at Winchester passed an
Act to confiscate the property of all who had borne arms against the
King, most of the forfeitures were remitted, easy compositions were made
with others for their lands, and very small sums were levied even upon
the most notorious offenders'".

Such is the general account given of the consequences of the victory
at Lewis, but it is difficult to ascertain precisely what forfeitures were
exacted of Baron William. By the inquisition held upon his death, his
property was found to consist of the manor of Wrabnasse in Essex, of
Cley, Affield, Ixworth, and Walsham, and some lands in Level, all in
Norfolk*'. Matthew Paris says, that he was attainted, and all his lands in
Ikes worth, Walsham, Hemesford, and other places, were given to Peter
Camynert, and Thomas de Grandisone, in the forty-ninth year of Henry
the ThirdB. Some of his estates were certainly forfeited. There is a
record of the sixteenth year of Edward the Second, in which it is stated,
that Edward the First had granted to William de Loghmaban lands in
Blencogan, in Cumberland, which had belonged to Sir William le Blount,
who had forfeited them as an enemy and rebel ; and likewise the lands
which Johanna, the widow of John le Blount, held in dower ; that since
the said lands were held of John de Weston, and Margaret his wife, in her
right, they claimed the wardship of the lands, and the heir of William de
Loghmaban, who was a minor, and likewise his marriage1'. Yet his
principal estates were not confiscated ; his widow had her dower in the
manor of Ixworth, which she held till her death in 128 1, the tenth of

d Tyrrel, from Annals of St. Augustine. MS. Mus. Brit, and Wykes.

' Hume, ii. p. 228. ed. 4to. from Matthew Paris, p. 675.

' Inquis. Post Mortem, 48 Hen. III. The county is stated wrong in this record.

B Hist, in anno

" R. Dods. MSS. vol. xxxii. f. 95.

chap. ii. LE BLOUNT, BARON OF IXWORTH. 107

Edward the First: and his two sisters succeeded to the inheritance of
Ixworth, and his principal manors'.

Agnes, his eldest sister, was married to Sir William de Creketot of
Ovesdonne, who died in the 53d year of Henry the Third, 1268. Roisia,
the youngest, was the wife of Robert de Valonys, Baron of Orford in
Suffolk, fifth son, and heir, of Robert de Valonys and Isabella de Creke.
William de Creketot and Robert de Valonys, their two sons, were co-
heirs of these lordships in right of their mothers.

By the death of Lord William, the last Baron of Ixworth, without
male heirs, the title became extinct, and the property was thus transferred
from the Le Blount family to those of De Creketot and Valonys k. Creke-
tot bore, azure, on a cross argent, five escalops, gules. De Valonys,
argent, three pallets, wavy, gules'.

In the seventh year of Edward the First, 1278, in the Pipe Roll, the estate
of the late William le Blount paid to the scutage for Wales fourteen
pounds, being for seven fees, at forty shillings each feem. In the hundred
Rolls, about the same time, Alicia Blunda had wreck and other rights in
Wrabenasse in Essex". In Suffolk it was presented, that she had sub-
tracted her suit to the hundred court of Risbrigg, for her tenement of
Wratting0 : that she held the manor of Ixworth of the Kino, of the Barony
of le Blount p: that the Lords of Stoke, Domina Alicia le Blunde, Domi-
nus Baldwin de Seyngeorge, Willielmus de Stok, Johannes de Tendring,
Juliana Gifford, and Thomas Talbot, had from old times the assize of
bread and ale in Stoke q: that Alicia la Blunt had lately claimed free
warren in Haverille, and Withetherisfeld, the jurors knew not by what
warrant — that she claimed the same in Wrotting magna, and had sub-
tracted her services in Wrattingr. That in Kent she held one knight's fee
in the town of Sneilwell*.

1 Inquis. 10 Edw. I. Alicia uxor Willi. Le Blount tenuit Icworthe manor, Suffolk.

k Dugdale, Camden, cSx. The descent from Creketot and Valonys is continued in
Dugdale's Monasticon. Ixworth, vol. ii. p. 184. Sir William de Valonys had the ad-
vowson of the church of All Saints, with the chapel of St. Mary, of the gift of Sir William
Blount, formerly Lord of the manor of Cley. Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. iii. p. SQO.

'Bigland. '" Dods. vol xvi. f. 41. "Page 165, 164. "Ibid. p. 172. p P. 151.
i P. 143. ' P. 153, 195. s P. 497, 500.
*P

10S SIR STEPHEN LE BLOUNT.

CHAPTER III.

Le Blount, Baron of Be/ton, to Sir Thomas le Blount and Nicholas
le Blount \

THE eldest male branch thus becoming extinct, we must ascend back to
Sir Stephen le Blount, the second son of Gilbert le Blount the
fourth Baron of Ixvvorth, and Agnes de LTsle, as the root from whence
the rest of the family proceeded. He lived in the reign of Henry the
Second, and married Maria, the sole daughter and heir of Sir William le
Blount of Saxlingham in Norfolk, the third in descent from Sir William
le Blount, who came over with the Conqueror.

This original William le Blount had a son whose name is not known,
and who was Lord of Saxlingham, in the time of Henry the First. His
son Sir William le Blount lived in the reign of Stephen, and was father to

a This branch, the eldest after the extinction of the Barons of Ixwoith, is entirely
omitted by Bigland in his two pedigrees of the Sodington and Maple-Durham families;
because they were not descended from it. The principal authorities for it are, 1. A
Pedigree drawn up about the reign of Charles the First, which belonged to Sir William
Dugdale, and which was communicated by Dugdale Stratford Dugdale, Esquire, Member
for the County of Warwick, his descendant. It seems to be extremely accurate. The
Sodington branch is the only part which is continued to modern times, and it ends with
the children of Sir George Blount, Baronet, who married Mary Kirkham. 2. What
Nash in his History of Worcestershire calls the Illuminated Pedigree. It was drawn up
at the College of Arms in lC42, is a vellum roll, ten feet and a half long, and about two
feet eight inches broad, with the coats of arms drawn and emblazoned in their proper
colours. It was made for the Blounts of Grendon Court in Herefordshire, and therefore
that branch is particularly described, and has been continued by Mr. Roland Blount to
the present times, in the possession of whose widow it now remains. At the head are the
effigies of Robert Lord Blount in a modern peer's robes, with a banner of the lozengy,
Blount's arms ; and of Sir William le Blount, in plate armour, with the nebuly arms of
Blount on his surtout, and on his banner, argent a cross, gules. 3. The Pedigree in
Rawlinson's Manuscript, B. vol. 73. f. 110. 4. The Manuscript printed in the Appendix,
No. XX. 5. Various records, deeds, and other documents, quoted in their proper places.
All this evidence places in a clear light many parts of the family which before laboured
under great obscurity : such as the marriages with Odinsels, de Wrotham, Lovet, Stafford,
Stury, &c. &c. Sir Thomas le Clount, Isabel and Eleanor Beauchamp, &c. &c.

chap. in. SIR JOHN BLOUNT. 109

Sir William le Blount, who lived in the times of Henry the Second,
Richard the First, and John, and who had this only daughter Maria,
married to Sir Stephen le Blount, who thus became Lord of Saxlingham.
And thus the families of the two brothers who first settled in England
became united, and they were both the ancestors of the subsequent
families6.

Sir Stephen le Blount in the first year of Richard the First, 1 1 89, was
on an assizec ; and in the tenth year 1198, with Agnes his mother, held
half a carucate of land in the manor of Thorphall, in the parish of Sax-
lingham in NorfolkA

Sir Stephen le Blount had two sons, Robert and JoHNe. His second
son Sir John Blount married Constance one of the sisters and coheirs
of Richard de Wrotham'. This family was descended from
Geoffrey de Wrotham of Radeville near Wrotham in Kent, who was a
domestic servant of several of the Archbishops of Canterbury; of whom
Hubert Walter gave him certain lands at Wrotham. Geoffrey, by his
wife Muriel de Lyd, had a son William, who was recommended by Arch-
bishop Hubert to Richard the First, in the ninth year of whose reign he
was appointed Warden of the Stanneries in Devonshire and Cornwall.
His report of the execution of his office is still extant in the Exchequer?,

b Rawlinson's MSS. B. vol. 73. f. 119. b. Pedigree by Vincent Eyre in Coll. Arm. who
has stated Stephen to have been the second son of William le Blount and Cecilia de Vere.
Bigland calls him a natural son. His legitimate descent from Gilbert and Agnes is proved
by the record next cited, by the Illuminated Pedigree, and Dugdale's Pedigree. The
Sir Stephen le Blount, who was Chamberlain to Edward II. in Scotland, and Warden of
the Marches, must be a different person. Rot. Scot. 2 Edw. II. ra. 16.

c Placit. Cap. West.

<* Blomefield's Hist, of Norfolk, vol. iii. p. 33S, 340. In 1235, Ellen le Blund held the
same of William Cardville; and the same year the heirs of Stephen le Blund held a
quarter of a knight's fee of the Earl of Arundel. In 1306, William, son of Ralph le
Blund, sold it to Peter de Norford. In 1323, William le Blund possessed it. In 1272,
Ascelina, widow of William le Blund, sued out a writ against William, son of Warine de
Munchensy, and Sapientia, widow of William de Cardville, for her dower in Saxlingham.
Ibid. That Saxlingham, the estate of Stephen le Blount, went in the line of Ralph le
Blount, is a proof of the eldership of his branch.

e Dugdale's Pedigree. The Illuminated Pedigree.

f Habington. Collins, Hutchins's Hist, of Dorsetshire, vol. i. p. 284.

s Lib. Nig. Scacc. i. 102.

p 2

110 SIR JOHN LE BLOUNT. book ii.

and his rules and ordinances still govern the affairs of the Stanneries. In
the next year he had grants of the manor of Cathanger in Somersetshire,
and the Bailiwick of North Petherton. In the first year of John he was
Sheriff of Devonshire, still Warden of the Stanneries, and Forester of the
King's forests in Somersetshire and Dorsetshire, which offices he held in
the fifth year. His wife was Maud de Cornhall, who brought him two
sons. William, the eldest, was Archdeacon of Taunton, in the reign of
John, and succeeded to the property and honours. But being a clergy-
man, his brother Richard was substituted for him in his office of Forester.
He died the third year of Henry the Third, 1218, when Richard de
Wrotham, the second son, succeeded him. He was then a minor, and
John de Mariscal and John de Erleigh were his securities for the per-
formance of his office of Forester. In the twenty-sixth year of Henry the
Third, 1241, he was a knight, and one of the justices of the Court of
Common Pleas. He died in the thirty-fifth year of Henry the Third,
12.50, without issue, when his heirs were William de Placetis, or Plessy, the
son of his eldest sister Muriel ; Constance, the wife of John le Blount;
Emma, the wife of Geoffrey de Scoland ; and Christiana, the wife of
Thomas Picot. His property consisted of the manors of Mongton, Newton,
Cathangre, and Ham, in Somersetshire ; Crele and Hcyghland in Kent ;
and other estates. William de Placetis had the office of Forester, the
manor of Newton, and most of the property. His third son Richard
took the name of De Wrotham h.

An estate at Mosterton, or Mostern, in Dorsetshire, is the only part
which I can trace in the Blount family. In the twentieth of Edward the
Third, 1546, Thomas Blount held one sixth of a knight's fee there1. In
the thirty-fourth year, 1340, John Blount held at his death two parts of
a messuage and garden, and one carucate of land, at that place of the
King in capite as of his manor of Marshwood, and Margaret his sister
was his heir, aged thirteen yearsk. It should seem therefore that this
branch of the family ended in that heiress. In the eleventh year of Henry
the Sixth, Richard More held the manor, and the capital messuage called
Rlounts' Court1.

Inquis. P. M. Collinson's Hist, of Somersetshire, vol. i p. 41. vol.
Escaet. Hutchin. vol. i. p. 2S4. k Ibid. ' Ibid. vol. i. 347.

chap. in. SIR ROBERT LE BLOUNT. in

Sir Robert le Blount, the eldest son, married Isabel, the daughter of
the Lord Odinsels, who brought him as her portion the manor of Belton
in Rutlandshire ra. This was a family which had great possessions. The
family of Limisie, in King John's reign, ended in two heiresses, of whom
Basilia the eldest married Hugh de Odinsels, a Fleming ; and Alianora the
youngest David de Lindesey, a Scotsman. The partition of the estates
between them was made in the fifteenth year of that King. From Hugh
de Odinsels proceeded two families. The first was seated at Ichinton in
Warwickshire, and continued till near the time of Sir William Dugdale.
The second possessed Solihull and Maxtoke. Hugh lived in the fifth
year of Henry the Third, 1220, and died in the twenty-third year, 1328.
His son Gerard had livery of his lands, and paid a relief of fifty pounds :
the relief for a knight's fee being only one hundred shillings, he
must have held ten knights' fees. Gerard died the fiftieth of Henry the
Third, 1265, and Hugh his heir being under age, the custody was granted
by the King to his son Edmund Crouchback. Hugh was of age the next
year, and died the thirty-third of Edward the First, 1304. John, then
twenty-eight years of age, was his successor, and died the tenth of Edward
the Third, 1336, leaving his son John, twenty-four years of age, who in
the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, 1351, was outlawed, and the King
seized his lands. They were restored to his son John, the thirty-first of
Edward the Third, 1357. From him was a regular succession of heirs
till the reign of Elizabeth, when John Odinsels was extravagant, be-
came poor, sold the property, and ended the family.

The other family, at Solihull and Maxtoke, Sir William Dugdale ob-
serves, was soon, by heirs female, transferred to other stocks. Amongst
these was Isabel. The manor of Belton, her portion, was a large inherit-
ance, and from this estate the le Blounts of this branch were called to
Parliament, by the name and title of Lord Blount of Belton". The arms
of Odinsel were, argent, a fesse, and two mullets in chief, gules; with
several variations0.

In the eighth year of Henry the Third, 1223, Robert le Blund witnessed

'" Rawlinson, Dugdale, and the Illuminated Pedigrees.

n Rnwlinson. In Escaet. 28 Edward I. Belton was a knight's fee of Edmund Duke of
Cornwall, p. 160.

0 Dugdale's Warwickshire, p. 342.

112 SIR RALPH LE BLOUNT. book ii.

the charter of foundation of Hilton Abbey, in Staffordshire, granted by
Henry de AudetheleP. In the fifteenth year, 1230, he held a burgage house
in Salopq. In the thirty-seventh of Henry the Third, 1252, he sued for
Robert Stater'. The thirty-eighth, 1253, Robert Blundus sued John Fitz-
vvilliam for carrying away from his house his charters and his seal5. The
fifty-second, he complained of trespass in his manor of Gayton in Lincoln-
shire1. He died in the seventeenth year of Edward the First, 1288, when
Maleuline the Escheater was commanded to seize into the King's hands
all the land and tenements of which Robert le Blound, who held of the
King in capite, died seised".

From Sir Robert le Blount the family divided into two great branches,
descended from his two sons, Sir Ralph le Blount, and Sir Wil-
liam. Sir William le Blount, the youngest, was the ancestor of
the Blounts of Sodington, Kinlet, Burton-upon-Trent, the Lords Mounrjoy,
those of Maple Durham, Grendon, and other families, which will be the
subjects of the third book.

Sir Ralph le Blount, or Rodolphus, was probably so named
from his ancestor Rodolphus, Count of Guisnes, the father of Robert and
William le Blount. As the eldest son he was of course the Lord of Belton.

He married the daughter and heir of Sir Lovet, of Hampton Lovet in

Worcestershire*. Her Christian name and that of herfather are not mentioned,
but she seems to have been either Cecilia, or Alicia, one of the daughters
and heirs of Sir John Lovet, the son of Henry Lovet, who will be more par-
ticularly mentioned in the account of the Sodington family. She inherited
Hampton Lovet from her father. It appears by the Testa de Nevil, about
the first of Edward the First, 1272, that Henry Lovet held one knight's fee
in Hampton Lovet of the Barony of William de Beauchamp>'. In 1269
William Beauchamp presented to the church, I suppose on account of the
minority of the heirz. This estate descended in this branch of the family,
and not in that of Sodington. The arms of Lovet were, argent a fesse
between six wolves' heads erased sable.

In the fourteenth year of Edward the First, 1285, Sir Ralph le Blount
recovered lands in Saxlingham which were his grandfather's, by the judg-

>' Mon. Ang. i. 942. '• Calend. Rot. Chart. r Placit. West. E Ibid. ' Ibid.

u Rot. Orig. Scacc. x The Illuminated Pedigree. > Testa de Nevil, p. 40. 'Nash.

CHAP. III.

SIR WILLIAM LE BLOUNT.

merit of Solomon de Ruffe*. The descent of this estate, some of the
earliest property of the family, proves the seniority of this branch".

Besides Sir Thomas le Blount, it appears that Sir Ralph le Blount had
an elder son, Sir William le Blount, and that his wife was named
Isabel. He was styled Lord of Belton. The estate there was settled
upon. him in tail, and to bar it, in the fifty-fifth year of Henry the Third,
1270, a fine was levied between William le Blount and Isabel his wife,
querents, and Walter le Blount, deforcient, of one messuage, one mill,
nineteen virgates of land, &c. in Belton, settled on William and Isabel
in tail; who gave to Walter a virgate of land in Messeworth in Bucks*.
By a deed without date, Lord William le Blount gave to John Lovet
lands in Brerhull in Bertone^. In 1306", William son of Ralph le Blount
sold land at Thorphall in the parish of Saxlingham in Norfolk to Peter de
Norford2. In 13 1j, in the ninth year of Edward the Second, William
le Blount was Lord of Belton1. In 1323, William le Blount possessed
land at Saxlingham1'. In 132S, William le Blount presented to the
Church of Hampton Lovetc. He must have died soon after that year,
and without issue, since his brother Thomas, who died in 1330, was Lord
of Belton. This Sir William le Blount could not have been the son of Sir

1 Rawlinson and Dugdale's Pedigrees.

" Though contemporary, the following mercantile Sir Ralph le Blount I suppose was a
different person. He was Sheriff of London in the fourth year of Edward the First, 1276.
Rawlrnson. In the Hundred Rolls, in the time of Henry the Third, and Edward the First,
we find in London the ward of Ralph le Blount, and mention is made of Reginald le
Blount, and William le Blount. Presentment is made of two walls erected in Kyron Lane
by Ralph le Blount and the Abbot of Warden, to escape the attacks of thieves, the
association of bad women, and filth in the night; another for exporting wool. Hund. Roll,
p. 418. b. 424, 480.

* This is from a MS. note of Le Neve, in the copy of Wright's History of Rutlandshire,
in Gough's Collection, Bib. Bod. He adds, "See the Roll of Assarts of the Forest of
Roteland to prove a William Le Blount possessed of Belton then. Willm le Blount de
Belton tenuit Belton Launde. Vide Rot. Regard, 49 Edw. III. (1375.) in 5 et ult." It is
possible that this Sir William le Blount may have been the husband of Isabel Beauchamp,
of the Sodington line, and his son Sir Walter of Rock, and that a part of the Belton
estate had been settled upon him as the younger son.

J Dugdale. Appendix, No. XVIII. Art. 5.

z Blomefield, Hist. Norf. vol. iii. p. 338, 340. a Anecd. Coll. Arm.

h Blomefield, ibid. c Nash.

114 SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. book ii.

Thomas, as he was in possession of Belton before Sir Thomas's death.
Nor could he have been the person who married Isabel Beauchamp, be-
cause the estate at Saxlingham and the Lordship of Belton went in the
elder branch, and not in the Sodington family.

The other son of Sir Ralph le Blount was Sir Thomas le Blount.
He is enumerated amongst the Knights who fought under that warlike
monarch Edward the First. That he was a brave, a faithful, and an
accomplished soldier, may be inferred from the honourable trusts which
were bestowed upon him by his sovereign. And though no memorials
remain of his various campaigns, and military services, it may be presumed
that he shared in the dangers and honours of the British conquests in
Wales, Scotland, and France.

In the fourth year of his reign, 1310, King Edward the Second gave
him the custody of his manor of Caldecote, near Kayrwent, in Glouces-
tershire, which had been held by John the son of Reginald, deceased1'.

In the fifth year, 1.31 1, he was appointed Governor of Drosselan castle,
in Wales, which he held till the twelfth year, 131 S, when he was succeeded
by Egidius de Beauchamp0. This castle is in the parish of Llangathen,
not far from Grongar Hill, in the vale of Towy in Carmarthenshire.
Some ruins of it still remain.

He married two wives : the name of the first is not known. His second
was j uliana de Levborne. This latter marriage took place in the nineteenth
year of Edward the Second, 132.5. Juliana was the daughter of Thomas
de Levborne, and the widow of John de Hastings, Lord Bergavennyf.
She was a great heiress, and was usually styled the Infanta of
Kent. Her family was ancient, and had large possessions in that county.
The greater part of their property had belonged to Odo, Bishop of
Baieux, the half brother of William the Conqueror, whose estates had
been confiscated by William Rufus. Sir Roger de Levborne erected the

"* Rot. Grig, in anno.

c Dagdale's Baron, vol. i. p. 519- and Rot. Orig. in Cur. Scacc. 12 Edw. II. Rex
commisit Egidio de Bello campo custodiam eastn Regis et ville de Broslan, cum perti-
nentiis, tenendum quamdiu Rex plaeuerit, eodem modo quo Thomas le Blound.

' For Juliana de Leyborne, see Dugdale's Baron, vol. i. p. 531, 5S2. vol. ii. p. 13, 14.
The Inquis. post mortem at her death, and Hasted's History of Kent, vol. ii. p. 206, &c.

chap. in. SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. 115

castle upon the manor from whence he derived his name, in the reign of
Richard the First, whom he accompanied, with William de Leyborne, to
the siege of Acre in 1191x. His son, Sir Roger de Leyborne, took an
active part in the troublesome reigns which succeeded. Adhering to the
Barons, he was taken prisoner by King John in the castle of Rochester, in
1215, but made his peace and was discharged. In 1251, he slew Ernulf
de Mounterey at a meeting of the Round Table, at Waldon in Essex ; the
launce, which was unbated, entering through his armour; and it was
supposed to have been done designedly, out of revenge for ErnulPs having
broken his leg at a former tournament. In 12.52 he attended King Henry
the Third into Gascony. At first he adhered to the cause of the Barons
against the King, but in 1263, he declared in favour of the royal cause,
and was wounded in the King's service at Northampton. He was after-
wards besieged in Rochester castle, and defended it successfully against
the Earl of Leicester in person. He was taken prisoner at the battle of
Lewes in 1264, and was released upon an undertaking for his personal
appearance before the parliament. He was again defeated by Leicester in
Wales. In 1265 he was appointed by the King to treat with the city of
London, which had incurred his severe displeasure by adhering to the
rebellious Barons. After imprisoning some of their members, the King
at last consented to restore the city to its liberties for a fine of 50,000
marks7. He was rewarded for his loyalty by valuable grants, and import-
ant offices, particularly after the battle of Evesham. He was constable of
Bristol in 1259, and was made Warden of the Forests beyond Trent,
Steward of the King's Household, Warden of the Cinque Ports, Sheriff
of Cumberland and Kent, and Governor of Carlisle, in 1267. In 1269
he assumed the cross to accompany Prince Edward to the Holy Land,
but he died in the" fifty-sixth year of Henry the Third, 1271. His two
wives were, Idonea, the youngest daughter of Sir Robert de Vipont, Lord
and Baron of Westmoreland ; and his second, Eleanor, the daughter of

* List of the Knights at Acre. Ashmole MSS. No. 1120. The arras of Leybourne were,
Azure, six lions rampant, argent, 3. 2. 1. or 3. 3. Ashmole MSS. No. 1120. Hasted, Hist.
Kent. General History, page lxxxi.

v Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. i. p. 179 and 509.
Q

116 SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. book ii.

William de Ferrers, and die widow of Roger de Quinci, Earl of Win-
chester, who survived him1.

His son, William de Leyborne, received many marks of his sovereign's
favour. In the fifty-sixth year of Henry the Third he had a grant in tee
of the forest of Englewood. In the fourteenth year of Edward the First
he entertained the King at his castle of Leyborne on the 25th of October.
He was appointed the King's Admiral, Admiral of the southern seas, and
Constable of Pevensey Castle, in 1295. The wardship, and marriage of
Geoffry de Say was conferred upon him, and his ward married his daughter
Idonea. From the twenty-seventh year of Edward the First to the third
of Edward the Second, he regularly received his summons to the Parlia-
ment as a Baron of the Realm. In the latter year, 1.109, he died, leaving
his widow Juliana surviving, and Juliana, his grand-daughter, then six-
years of age, his only heiress ; his son Thomas de Leyborne having died
before him.

But William de Leyborne had enfeoffed his son Thomas, and his wife
Alice, before his death, with the manor of Leyborne, and other property.
Thomas died in the thirty-fifth year of Edward the First, three years
before his father, seised of the manor of Leyborne, which was held of the
King as of the honor of Albermarle by half a knight's fee. He left i\lice
his wife, who was the daughter of Ralph de Tony of Flamstead in Hert-
fordshire, and his daughter Juliana".

In the twenty-eighth year of Edward the First, Sir Simon and Sir
Henry de Leyborne, two younger brothers, attended the King into Scot-
land and were knighted at Carlaverockb. In the list of persons sum-
moned by that monarch, by his writs of the 8th of February, to attend
his coronation, Henry de Leyborne and his consort were invited'.

Juliana de Leyborne, the heiress of the family, was born in 1303, for
she was six years old at her grand-father's death in 1309d- In her centered

1 Dugdale's Baron, vol. ii. p. 13, 14. Selden, Titles of Honour, part ii. chap. v. s. 26.
Upon the summons of the Barons, 5 Edw. I. to assist upon the expedition against Wales,
Roger de Clifford who married the eldest, and Roger de Leyburn, the youngest daughters
of Robert de Veteri Ponte, acknowledged to owe the service of two knights' fees and an
half each for their halves of the Barony of Westmoreland. Seld. from Rot. Scut.

" Ibid. b Hasted, vol. i. p. 4Sy. ' Ibid. vol. iii. p. 2(55. '< Inquis. P. M.

chap. in. SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. 117

the rewards of the merits of her ancestors, and the favour of so many
sovereigns. Besides property in other places, the manor and castle of
Ley borne, and the advovvson of the church of Ridley, she inherited twenty-
two manors in the county of Kent alone. Mere, in Reinham parish, was
held by the service of walking as the Principal Lardner or Clerk of the
Kitchen at the King's Coronation ; and the privilege granted by Henry
the Third to Roger de Leyborne was confirmed to his great-grand-daughter;
that his gavelkind lands in Reinham, Upchurch, and Herclep should be
held in fee by the fourth part of a knight's feee. In addition to these, the
manors of Langley, Colbridge, De la Gare, Wadeslade, Watringburv,
Foukes, East Farbone, Bichnor, Swanton-Court, Goodneston, Easling,
Queen-Court, Barton, Ashford, with Wall and Esture, Eleham, Pack-
manstone, Elmstone, Overland, Wadling, Ham, and Westgate, acknow-
ledged her as their Ladyf.

These immense possessions Juliana de Leyborne transferred to three
successive husbands : but she was so unfortunate as to have no children to
inherit them.

Her first husband was John de Hastings, the eldest son of John de
Hastings, Lord Bergavenny, by Isabel his wife ; sister, and, at length,
co-heir, to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. At the death of his
father in the sixth year of Edward the Second, 1312, he was of age. In
1323 he was made Governor of Kenilvvorth Castle, and died in the
eighteenth year of Edward the Second, 1325, leaving his widow Juliana,
and Lawrence, his son and heir, by a former wife, about five years of age5.
The principal seat of the Hastings' family was on the Lordship of Berga-
venny in Monmouthshire, and they likewise enjoyed great property at
Fillongley, Allesley, Birdingbury, Aston Cantelupe, and other places in
Warwickshire, which they acquired, by marriage, from the Cantelupe
family h.

' Thomas le Blount, and Juliana his wife, enfeoffed certain persons of the manors of De
la Gare, Langell, and the third part of Herietsham, eighty acres of wood in Espling, Os-
pring, Hertelope, Ronham, Olivele, Aske, Sidingbourne, Tonge, Milstede, Merston, Rode-
meresham, Kingestone, Upchurch, Dordan, and Middleton, in the county of Kent, as of
the inheritance of Juliana. R. Dods. MSS. vol. 128. f. 6.

f See each of these places respectively in Hasted's History of Kent.

e Escaet. R. Dods. vol. 132. f. 47.

b Dugdale's Warwickshire in locis, and page 742. See Genealogy of Cantelupe, No. 19-
Q 2

118 SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. book if.

In about a year after his death, in 1325, Juliana again married Sir
Thomas le Blount. Besides what she inherited from her father and grand-
father, she was now endowed with considerable property of her late husband.
Upon the death of John de Hastings, his estates were in the hands of the
Crown, on account of the minority of the heir ; and Edward the Third, in
his first year, by John de Blomville, his Escheator, assigned to Sir Thomas
le Blount and Juliana his wife, widow of John de Hastings, one of the
heirs of Adomar de Valencia, late Earl of Pembroke, the following lands,
as her dower.

The manors of £. s. d.

Sutton, in Norfolk, valued at 32 0 11$

Winfarthing, in the same county 20 8 9^
Inveneslesbury, in Herts 8 19 11$

Suthanyfeld, in Essex 10 9 10

Thurton, in the same 10 3 1

Reydon, in Suffolk 51 IS 3$

Towcester, in Northamptonshire 63 13 6
Some tenements in Fanges, in Essex 3 13 4

In Asshedou, in Bucks 1 10 0

In Southwark, Surrey 0 8 6

Making in all 4203. 6s. 2r/. in annual value1.
The manor of Birdingbury, in Warwickshire, had been granted to Sir
John Paynel for his lite ; and upon his death, which happened before this
marriage, it was assigned to Juliana, as part of her dower, the reversion
and inheritance belonging to the son of her husband, Lawrence de
Hastings. Accordingly we find that Sir Thomas le Blount, as patron,
presented to the church at Birdingbury, Thomas le Blount, a subdeacon,
in the year 1327- What relation this Thomas bore to him is not known k.
Upon the death of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in the ninth
year of Edward the Second, 1315, as his son Thomas was a minor, various
noblemen were entrusted with the care of his property. At first William
de Sutton was appointed Constable of Warwick Castle, and in the
twentieth year of Edward the Second, 1326, Thomas le Blount had the
charge of that castle, as Constable or Governor. He did not however

' Rot. Orig. in Cur. Scacc. 1 Edward III. k Dugd. War. p. 216.

chap. in. SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. 119

long enjoy this honour, for in the first year of Edward the Third it was
entrusted to Roger de Mortimer, during the remainder of the minority1.

During the unhappy state of the kingdom in the last year of Edward
the Second, though he held the office of Lord Steward of the King's
household, he adhered to Queen Isabel ; and after she had taken
Bristol, and the King had fled into Wales, he gave her every assistance"1.
Holinshead relates it in the following manner, which he has literally
translated from the original historian, Walsingham. " After the Queen
went to Bristol, the King in the mean time kept not in one place, but
shifting hither and thither, remained in great care. Whereupon Sir
Thomas Blount, an ancient Knight, and Lord Steward of the King's
house, took his servants, with victuals, horses, and armour, in great plenty,
and came to the Queen, of whom, and likewise of hir sonne, he was
joifullie received, and divers of them which he brought with him were
retained, and the others had letters of protection, and were sent away in
loving manner"." Howe says, that by the breaking of his rod, he resigned
his office, and shewed that the King's household had free liberty to
depart0.

Upon the accession of Edward the Third, he supplied the place of the
Earl of Pembroke, who was still under age, at the Coronation p. He again
served his country, and in 1327 was with the army which entered Scotland
under Henry Duke of Lancaster''.

After the death of Juliana de Leybourne, widow of Sir William de
Leybourne and grandmother of the heiress, an Inquisition was held in the
second year of Edward the Third, 1328, in Kent, when it was found that
she held the manor of Eselyng, of the heir of Bartholomew de Badlesmere,,
who was under age, as of the barony of Chilham, by the service of one
knight's fee ; and a messuage, and eighty acres of ploughed land, and six of

1 Dugd. War. p. 342. b. Rot. Orig. Cur. Scacc. m Dugd. Bar. vol. i. p. 519-
n Holinshead, page 339. Walsingham, 20th and 21st of Edward the Second. Miles
emeritus, Domini Regis Senesehallus se, cum tota sua familia, assumptis victualibus,
armaturis, et dextrariis multi6 valde, contulit ad Keginam. Quern ilia, cum filio suo,
benigne suscepit, et quosdam de suis secum retinuit, quosdam datis Uteris protectoriis in
pace dimisit. Walsingham, page 125. edit. Cambden. Dextrarii, Fr. destriers, war
horses. Du Cange.

• History of England, page 225. " Rawlinson, vol. 73. f. 110, but with a mistake

as to the reign. q Dugd. Bar. vol. i. p. 519-

120 SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. bookii.

meadow, in Overland, of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, then vacant.
And that Juliana, the daughter of Thomas de Leybourne, the wife of
Thomas le Blount, was her next heir, and of full age. On the 13th of
February, Thomas le Blount did homage for those lands r.

In the twentieth year of Edward the Second, and the first and second
years of Edward the Third, Sir Thomas le Blount was summoned to Par-
liament as a Baron5. He died in the fourth year of Edward the Third,
13S0, leaving no issue by his second wife. There is no Inquisitio post
Mortem amongst the records of the Tower.

In the same year, his widow Juliana married her third husband, Sir
William de Clinton, younger brother of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, an-
cestor of the Lords Clinton and Say, the Earl of Lincoln, and the Duke
of Newcastle*.

This marriage, and the great wealth he acquired by it, was the step to
the future honours of William de Clinton. In the next year he was made
Justice and Governor of Chester, Constable of Dover Castle, and Warden
of the Cinque Ports. In 13.51 he was summoned to Parliament as a
Baron. Next year he was appointed Admiral of the Seas from the
Thames westward. By patent of the 16th of March, in the eleventh year
of Edward the Third, 1337, he was raised to the dignity of Earl of Hun-
tingdon, with the creation fee of £20 per annum, payable out of the issues
of that county, and a grant of a thousand marks per annum of land. In
1316 he paid an aid for knighting the Black Prince for the castle of Ley-
bourne for one fourth of a knight's fee, which Thomas de Leybourne before
held of Margaret de Rivers, and she of the King".

In the mean time, the son of her first husband, Lawrence de Hastings,
was under the guardianship of his mother-in-law, Juliana. He was bred
up in the court of Queen Philippa, the wife of Edward the Third, who
seems to have interested herself in the young man's favour. When that
Sovereign was at Newcastle, upon his Scotch expedition in 1333, having
sent for the Queen to come to him, and considering that so long a journey
might be dangerous to the child, he directed special letters to Juliana,
desiring her to take him under her charge, as a person most proper to

r R. Dods. MSS. vol. 84 fol. S. Fines. 8 Dugtlale, Baron, vol. i. p. 519- and Sum-

mons of the Nobility, in annis. ' Dugdale, i. 5~6, &c. &c. " Dugd. Baron. Hasted,
History of Kent.

chap. in. SIR THOMAS LE BLOUNT. i2!

undertake that trust\ In the ninth year of that King, 1335, Sir John le
Blount, and others, were assigned to enquire of all trespasses committed by-
Guy Bretons and others in the manor of Inteberwe, in Worcestershire,
which belonged to Lawrence Earl of Pembroke''. In the eleventh year of
Edward the Third, 1337, Lawrence de Hastings was committed to the
tuition of Juliana's third husband, the Earl of Huntingdon, and he had an
allowance of two hundred marks a year out of the Exchequer for his main-
tenance ; and he held the manors of Winfarthing, and Heywood, in Nor-
folk, as his guardian. As soon as he came of age he was declared Earl of
Pembroke, and he died in the twenty-second year of Edward the Third,
1348r.

Sir William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, died in the twenty-eighth
year of Edward the Third, 1334, and was buried in the Priory at Maxtoke,
which he had founded. Having no children, his heir was Sir John de
Clinton, his elder brother's son*. Upon the Inquisition at his death
it was found that he held, in conjunction with Richard Dallesle, yet
living, the manor of Wybergh, and the manors of Thurton and South-
ingfeld, and the hamlet of Founge, and the advowson of the church of
Thurton, in right of Juliana his wife, yet living, videlicet of her dower.
John, the son of John his brother, was his heir, of the age of twenty-four
years b.

Juliana, having survived her three husbands, became again possessed of
the castle of Leybourne, and all the manors which she had inherited, in her
own right. She made her will the SOth of October, 1363, died in the
forty-third year of Edward the Third, 1369, and was buried according to
her will in the new chapel, on the south side of the Church of St. Augus-
tine's monastery, near Canterbury0. Upon the Inquisition which was held
after her death, it was found that she had no heirs, either lineal or collateral,
and all her immense possessions escheated to the Crown d.

* Dugdale, Warwick, p. 742. * Rot. Orig. in Scacc. * Dugd. Warw. p. "42.
» Dugd. Bar. h Eseaet. R. Dods. MSS. vol. 51. f. 61. ' Dugd. Baron. Reg. Cant.
Langham , f. 115.

* Inquis. Post Mort. 43 Edw. III. See the Genealogy of Leyborne, No. 20. formed
from Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 531. vol. ii. p. 13. Ashmole's MSS. No. 825. part 5.
fol. 10. No. 804. fol. 34. R. Dods. MSS. vol. 132. fol. 39. Hasted's History of Kent,
vol. ii. p. 206, &c.

122 SIR WILLIAM LE BLOUNT. book ii.

By his first wife Sir Thomas le Blount had two sons, William and
Nicholas. Sir William le Blount, the eldest, succeeded him as
Lord of Belton c. Nicholas le Blount, the second son, was living in
the 3.5th year of Edward the Third, 1361, and was the father of the second
Nicholas le Blount, who lived in the reign of Richard the Second,
and changed his name to Croke : an event which will be related in the
next chapterf.

Sin William le Blount, the eldest son of Sir Thomas, was Lord
of Belton, in the reign of Edward the Seconds. He had a daughter Isabel,
married to Alanus de Atkinson, and a son John. He was Knight of the
Shire for Rutland in the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-fifth years
of Edward the First, and the seventh of Edward the Second, that is, in
1299, 1300, 1306, and 131:3h. This was before his father's death, when he
Mas summoned to the upper house. In the fourteenth year of Edward the
Second, 1320, William le Blount, Lord of Belton, gave to Walter the son
of Robert, the Bailiff of Belton, half a virgate of land, in Belton, for his
life'. In the fust year of Edward the Third, 1327, he had a charter of
Free Warren for his manor of Hampton Lovetk; and in the fourth and
sixth years, 1330 and 1332, grants of two yearly fairs at Belton, on the
eve of St. Thomas, and on the eve, day, and morrow of St. James1. In
1328, and 1332, he presented Thomas de Hugford to the Rectory of
Hampton Lovet™. By a deed dated at Hampton Lovet, in the fortieth

e The Illuminated Pedigree makes the son of Sir Thomas le Blount, who married
Leybourne, to have been Sir Thomas Blount, and says that he supplied the place of John
Hastings at the coronation of Edward III. And that his son Sir Thomas Blount was
beheaded in MOO.

'Manuscript, Appendix, No XX. In the 2Sth year of Edward I. 1209, Nicholas le
Blount of Yorkshire released to Sir Roger Mynyot all his land in Eskelly, which had
belonged to Richard de Stochilld. R. Dodsw. vol. <)I. f. 181. Perhaps the first Nicholas.
A Nicholas le Blount was Rector of Weting in Suffolk, in 1315. Blomefield's Norfolk in
loco.

s Hist. p. 109. n. " Wright's Rutland, p. 14. i Dugdale's MSS. Ashmole MSS.

vol. 39. fol. 47, et seq. Append. No. XVI II. art. 3. k Habington in Collins,

vol. iii. p. 3(]S. note. Rot. Chart, p. 159. 1 Dugdale, Baron, p. 518. Rot. Chart.

6 Edw. 111. n. '21.3:2. p. 1(33.

m Nash in loco. In lSfifl William de Beauchamp presented, perhaps as Lord on
account of the minority of the heirs of Sir John Lovet. In 1303 Peter le Blount, who in
1305 likewise, presented Radulphus le Blount, who was witness to a deed in lull. See
page 1 16. I know not in what right Peter presented.

chap. in. SIR JOHN LE BLOUNT. 123

year of Edward the Third, 1366, he gave to his son Sir John le Blount,
knight, and Elizabeth his wife, in franc marriage, certain lands in Hams-
lope, in Buckinghamshire. The seal is the nebuly arms of Blount".

The manor of Thichenapeltre, which is called in Domesday Book
Tichenapletreu, was in Hampton Lovet, and was purchased, according to
Nash, in the thirteenth year of Edward the Third, 1339, of Richard Bos-
ler, or Bottiler ; but by a deed preserved by Ashmole of John Alleyne,
and Alice his wife, by William Blount, and John his son0. In the same
year, Joan, late wife of Richard le Bosler, released to Sir John Blount,
Lord of Hampton Lovet, the manor ThichenapeltreP.

Sir John le Blount, his son, was Lord of Belton, Custos of the
City of London, and Constable of the Tower in the reign of Edward the
Third. In the first year of that King, 1327, he was summoned as a Baron
to Parliament, by the name of the Lord Blount of Belton q. He had two
wives : by the first, whose name is not known, he was the father of Sir
Thomas le Blount, who succeeded to the Lordship of Belton, and whose
history will be given in the second part of this book. His second wife
was Elizabeth de Fourneaux, sole heir to her father Sir Simon de Fourneaux
and Alice his wife, daughter of Sir Henry de Umfraville, and co-heir with
Elizabeth Umfraville, who married Oliver St. John, ancestor of Lord
Bolingbroker. She inherited the great estates of Fourneaux, whose arms
were, gules, a bend between six cross-crosslets, or\

In the nineteenth year of Edward the Third, 134o, Thomas de Hugford,
Rector of Hampton Lovet, granted to Sir John Blount, and Elizabeth his
wife, with remainder to William their son, the manor of Hampton Lovet,
with the advowson, and the manor of Thichenapeltre1.

Elizabeth survived her husband, and in her widowhood, in the eighth
year of Richard the Second, 13S5, founded a chauntry in the Abbey of
Athelney in the county of Somerset. By the deed of foundation she
agreed with Robert Hacche, the Abbot, that there should be found for
ever two Chaplains, one of them to be a monk, the other a secular priest,

" Dugdale's MS. Ibid. App. No. XVIII. Art. 2. • Ashmole, MS. App. No. XVIII.

Art. 27. p Habington. Ibid. '" Rawlinson's Pedigree, Dugdale's Pedigree. rCol-
linson's History of Somersetshire. Nash, vol. i. p. 536. s Habington. They were

quartered with Blount in St. Augustine's Church, Dudurhull or Doderhill. ' Ashmole's
MS. App. No. XVIII. Art. 39.

124 SIR JOHN LE BLOUNT. book ii.

to say mass every day in the year, except Good-Friday, for the good estate
of William Aungier, and Henry Roddam, and also for the said Elizabeth,
the Lady Alice Stafford, the Lady Maud Stafford, and Robert Wrench,
and all the other friends and benefactors of the said Elizabeth, And also
for the souls of Sir John Blount, Sir Simon de Fourneaux, and Alice his
wife, Sir Henry de Umfraville, and Isabel his wife, Sir William Blount,
and Maud his wife, the Lady Julian Talbot, the Lady Elizabeth Corn-
wall, Sir Brian Cornwall, her son, Sir Richard Stafford, and Sir Richard
Stafford the younger, Robert Flete, and Robert Stockton, and for the
souls of all her friends and benefactors deceased. And it was farther
agreed, that on the decease of the said Elizabeth Blount, or any other of
the persons above mentioned respectively, annual obits should be kept on
the days of their deaths, as also for the other persons who were dead at the
time of executing the indenture. These services were to be performed at
the Altar of the Holy Trinity in the Abbey Church of Athelney. And it
was agreed that in case of the neglect thereof, the said Elizabeth and
her heirs should have power to distrain upon the lands of the Abbot
and Convent on their lands at Clavelshay in the parish of North
Peverton".

Their son, Sir William le Blount, whose wife was named Maud, was
therefore dead, and without issue in 13S5. Alice, their only daughter and
heir, married first Sir Richard Stafford, who was likewise dead in 13So, and
had had a son Sir Richard Stafford, then dead also. Secondly, she married
Sir Richard Stury, who died without issue in 1403. This Knight served
Edward the Third and Richard the Second, in their wars, with Sir John
Montacute, afterwards Earl of Salisbury. They both favoured the doc-
trines of Wycliffe, whose disciples attended their assemblies in armour, on
account of the interruptions they were exposed to. When their attempts
at a reformation recalled Richard the Second from Ireland, in 1:394, he
sharply rebuked Montague, and threatened to put to death Sir Richard
Stury, if they did not renounce their opinions'1. In the east window of
Hampton Lovet in painted glass was the effigy of a knight in armour kneel-
ing, with his name Sir Richard Stury under it, and two coats of arms; on
the right, party per fesse, gules and or, six roses counter-changed, the buds

n Coilinson's History of Somersetshire. * Ypod. Neust. p. 540. Walsingham, p. 351.

chap. in. SIR JOHN LE BLOUNT. 125

counter-coloured ; on the left, gules, a bend between six cross-crosslets, or,
for Fourneaux'' ; which proves Alice's descent from that family.

In 1396, by the name of Alice Stury Lady of Hampton Lovet, she pre-
sented to the church, and, in 1412, as the widow of Richard Stury2.
By a petition, without date, addressed to the Earl of Warwick, describing
herself as his tenant, and the late wife of Sir Richard Stury, she claimed
two messuages, two plough lands, five acres of meadow, and other lands in
Thichenapeltre, in the county of Worcester, as her rightful inheritance
after the death of William le Blount her brother'.

Afterwards, styling herself Lady of Hampton Lovet, she erected a
chapel in the chauntry of St. John the Baptist in the church there, dedi-
cated to Saint Anne, and endowed it with the manor of Bishampton, lands
in Hampton Lovet, and in Otterton, formerly Cotterugge, to support two
chaplains, to pray for the souls of Sir John Blount and Elizabeth his wife,
her father and mother, Sir Richard Stafford, and Sir Richard Sturv, her two
husbands. The licence for this endowment from the Bishop of Worcester
is dated the twenty-eighth of October, 1414, and in that year she presented
a clerk to itb.

She died in the fourth year of Henry the Fifth, 1415, and Sir John
Blount of Sodington was found to be her heire, in the estates which came
from her father Sir John Blount. The Fourneaux estates went to her
mother's heirs, the descendants of John Bitton who married Hawise Four-
neauxd. This was Sir John Blount, who married Juliana Foulhurst, and
Isabella Cornwall, and died in 1424. The situation of the Belton branch
of the family rendered it necessary to have recourse for an heir to so dis-
tant a relation. She had no children, her own brother was dead, her half
brother or nephew, Sir Thomas Blount, had been beheaded in 1400, and
her cousin Nicholas le Blount, had been attainted, went abroad, changed his
name, and had lived in concealment in a distant country ; and it must be
concluded from this inquisition that no other relations remained of the de-
scendants of Sir Ralph le Blount. Thus were the manors of Hampton
Lovet, and Thichenapeltre, transferred to the Sodington branch. In the
same year 141.5, Sir John Blount presented to the church of Hampton

y Nash, ii. p. 538. z Nash. * Ashmole, App. No. XVIII. Art. 40. and Habington, ibid.
b Dodsw. vol 90. f. 111. Nash, vol. 1. p. 643. e Escaet. Dods. vol. 42. f. 47- d Col-
linson's History of Somersetshire.

126 SIR JOHN LE BLOUNT. book ii.

Lovet, and the chapel of St. Annef. Hampton Lovet descended to his
son Sir John Blount of Sodington, by whom it appears to have been
transferred to the Mountjoy family ; for Sir Thomas Blount the Treasurer,
presented to the church in 1419, 1421, 1422, 1432, 1445, and to the
chapel in 1427, 143:5, 1444, 1447, 1448, and 1453. And next, William
Lord Mountjoy presented to the church in 1493, and to the chapel in
1512s; and in that family it continued till it was sold to the Packington
family.

I Nash. s Ibid.

BOOK THE SECOND.
PART II.

THE LORDS OF BELTON CONCLUDED, AND THE HISTORY OF
THE CROKE FAMILY.

THE

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY

THE CHOKE FAMILY.

CHAPTER I.

The conclusion of the Lords of Belton, and the origin of the Croke
family.

HAVING thus given the history of the children of Sir John Blount by
his second wife Elizabeth Fourneaux, I proceed to Sir Thomas Blount,
his only son by his first wife". He succeeded as Lord of Belton. In the
thirty-second year of Edward the Third, 1358, it was found by an inquisi-
tion not to be to the King's detriment to grant a licence to Sir Robert
West, to give the manor and advowson of Compton Valence in Dorset-
shire to Sir Thomas Blount for life". At the coronation of Richard the
Second, in 1377, he was deputy for John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, a
minor, in the office of Naperer, or Superintendent of the King's linen, in
right of his manor of Ashele in Norfolk0.

This knight, with his cousin Nicholas le Blount, whose descent I have
already given, engaged deeply in the conspiracy which was formed, in the

» Dugdale's, Rawlinson's, and the Illuminated Pedigrees. b Inquis. ad quod damnum
in anno.

' Ibid. Baker's Chronicle. In these Pedigrees an intermediate Sir Thomas Blount is
interposed between Sir John Blount and this Sir Thomas, but as the time scarcely admits
of it, and as no particulars are mentioned of him, except that he lived in the reign of
Richard the Second, I think it extremely probable that one Sir Thomas has been multi-
plied into two, as has sometimes been done by Dugdale, and other genealogists.

130 CHANGE OF NAME. book hi.

year 1400, to restore Richard the Second to his throne after his deposition
by Henry the Fourth. Since this transaction materially affected the
family, by occasioning the extinction of the tldest line of the Belton
branch, and the change of name, from le Blount to Croke, in the second
line, it may not be improper to give some account of it, and of the
causes which occasioned it.

A long minority, a turbulent aristocracy, the ambition of the princes of
the blood, and the King's imprudence, rendered the reign of ltichard the
Second one of the most unfortunate in the English annals. In the fluctu-
ations of power between the parties of the King and his opponents, as
each gained the ascendancy, their adversaries bled upon the scaffold ;
in their turn, the King's adherents, his enemies, and finally Richard him-
self, were sacrificed in the contest ; and a foundation was laid for the civil
wars which desolated the country for near a century. Expensive wars,
the want of economy, in a tutelary and rapacious government, had early
exhausted the treasury; and new and extraordinary taxes excited a general
discontent in the kingdom, and dangerous insurrections of the people.
When the King became capable of acting for himself, his thoughtless ex-
travagance, his unbounded attachment to his favourites, and the oppres-
sion of his subjects to extort the means of supplying his necessities, gave
general disgust, and excited the jealousy and resentment of a haughty
nobility. The necessary defence of the kingdom against a projected in-
vasion of the French, in 13S6, required the aid of Parliament, and the
party in opposition to the court, with the Duke of Gloucester at their
head, seized this opportunity to compel the removal of the King's min-
isters, and to take the government into their own hands. A commission
issued, to which the King was obliged to consent, to invest fourteen per-
sons with powers totally subversive of the King's authority ; his favourites
and ministers were impeached, and most of them beheaded, or banished''.
For some time the Duke and his party were completely masters of the
kingdom, and Richard was obliged to acquiesce ; but those measures were
displeasing to the people ; and as soon as circumstances were favourable,
Richard emancipated himself from this restraint, asserted his royal authority
in a council held for that purpose on the third of May 13S9, and appointed

d Stat. 10 Rich. II. 1387.

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 131

his own ministers. By these vigorous proceedings, and his subsequent ju-
dicious conduct, the King and his Parliament were cordially reconciled,
he acquired the confidence of his people, and the kingdom for some years
enjoyed an uninterrupted tranquillity.

But Richard unfortunately was not satisfied with the possession of a
moderate and constitutional authority : he still feared the machinations of
his enemies, he had experienced their oppressive insolence, he wished
to protect himself against their power, and to raise himself above their
control. It was declared by Parliament, that the King was as free in his
royal prerogative as any of his predecessors, notwithstanding any statute
in derogation thereof, particularly in the time of Edward the Second ; and
that if any statute had been made in prejudice of the liberty of the Crown,
it was repealed and annulled0.

In 1396 he strengthened his authority by an alliance with the French
King, and a marriage with his daughter ; and partly by force, and partly
by an artful management, he had procured a parliament entirely at his de-
votionf. The Duke of Gloucester, and his party, alarmed at the King's
proceedings, were entering into new cabals, when he was suddenly arrested
and put to death, and many of his faction were seized, impeached, and
beheaded. The Parliament proceeded to pass laws for the farther main-
tenance and extension of the royal authority. By one Act the whole
power of the Parliament, after it was dissolved, was vested in eighteen
commissioners, or any six of the lords, or three of the commoners, who
composed itg. And though it was expressed to be merely for answering
the petitions depending in Parliament then undetermined and undis-
patched, yet it was charged against him, that by colour of this grant they
proceeded to other general matters according to the King's will'1. This
was a strong measure, and the whole power of the kingdom was thus
devolved upon the King and a council entirely at his command. To
render himself still more secure, it was made high treason to endeavour to
procure the repeal of those statutes, solemn oaths for their observance were
administered to all his subjects, and the sanction of religion was super-

■ Rot. Pari. 15 Rich. II. 1391. f Articles against King Richard, Art. IS, 19, 20.
g 21 Rich II. ch. 16. 1397. " Articles against King Richard, Art. 8.

132 CHANGE OF NAME. book 11. part ii.

added by a bull obtained from Pope Boniface to confirm them under the
penalty of excommunication, denounced against all who should infringe
them.

Though the King appeared now to be completely triumphant, and fully
established in an independent and arbitrary power, under this seeming pros-
perity a general discontent prevailed through the kingdom, the oppres-
sive exactions still continued, and the connection with France, the natural
enemy of the country, was offensive to the prejudices of the English. At
this critical period, the King, by his unjust and injudicious conduct to the
Duke of Lancaster, again roused the spirit of hostility, and occasioned his
own ruin. After having banished that nobleman, without sufficient reason,
upon the death of his father, Richard seized upon his opulent dutchy, and
refused to admit him to the possession of it. Henry landed in England,
and having taken a solemn oath that he had no other design than to
recover his hereditary property, was supported by the greater part of the
nation, Richard was deserted, and betrayed, and Henry of Lancaster
mounted the throne doubly an usurper, by deposing his lawful sovereign,
and by excluding the lawful heir of the house of Mortimer'.

Yet although they had been overpowered for a time by the Lancas-
trians, the King had still many friends. The English people, always high
spirited but generous and humane, though they could oppose the tyranny of
a prince upon the throne, were filled with compassion towards their fallen
monarch ; who, after all, was rather inconsiderate than criminal. They
were attached to the hereditary succession, and shocked at the perjuries
and fraud by which Henry had obtained the crown. Some powerful
noblemen, and a great number of Richard's adherents, determined there-
fore to take advantage of the spirit which was now rising in his favour,
and to replace him on the throne. The conjuncture seemed not unfavour-
able. The Welsh and the men of Cheshire were invariably in his interest,
and assistance might be expected from France. The principal leaders in
this conspiracy were John Holand Earl of Huntingdon, uterine brother
to Richard, and a great warrior ; his nephew Thomas Holand Earl of
Kent : Edmund Earl of Rutland, and Thomas Lord Despenser, who had

Richard was taken at Flint Castle, Aug. 19, 1399- Henry was crowned, October 13.

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 133

married Richard's cousin. These noblemen had all been the appellants
against the Duke of Gloucester, and for their services in those impeach-
ments had been promoted by Richard to the respective titles of Dukes of
Exeter, Surrey, Albemarle, and Earl of Gloucester, of which honours they
had been deprived in the first parliament of Henry. With these were John
Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, an accomplished nobleman, who had been
much in Richard's confidence, and had been sent by him from Ireland to
take the command of the forces till his arrival : Ralph Lord Lumley, the
Bishop of Carlisle, the Abbot of Westminster, Richard's two chaplains
William Ferriby and Richard Maudelain, Sir Benedict Sealy, Sir Thomas
le Blount, his cousin Nicholas le Blount, and many others.

The great power and vigilance of Henry, and the numerous armies
which he could command, rendered any direct and open attack upon him
altogether hopeless, and it was necessary to resort to some bold but secret
attempt. The plan of the conspiracy was concerted at a dinner given by
the Abbot of Westminster, on the ISth of December, 1399, at which were
present the two Holands, Rutland, Despenser, Walsh, Roger Walden
Archbishop of Canterbury11, the Bishop of Carlisle, Maudelain, Pol King
Richard's physician, and Sir Thomas Blount, who is styled " a wise
knight1." It was here agreed to surprise Henry at a tournament to be
held at Windsor on Twelfth-day, and a written agreement with their seals
was entered into. The tournament was proclaimed, and Henry accepted
of the invitation, every preparation was completed, the day arrived, and
Henry was already at Windsor ; when unfortunately the plot was dis-
covered, either by accident, the treachery of Rutland, or some means
not perfectly known, within a few hours of its being carried into execution.
The King, upon receiving this information, instantly fled to London, and
the Lords who came to Windsor soon after with a body of five hundred

k With the Duke of Gloucester the Earl of Arundel was impeached, and his brother,
Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, was banished. Roger Walden was there-
upon consecrated Archbishop, and continued to the end of Richard's reign, when he was
removed, and Arundel restored. Walden was afterwards made Bishop of London.
Godwin. De Preesulibus.

1 MS in the French king's library, called Ambassades, in Webbe's translation of the
Metrical History of Richard, by Creton. Archaeol. vol. xx. p. 217-

134 CHANGE OF NAME. book ii. part ii.

lances, and six thousand archers™, were disappointed of their object.
Henry speedily collected an army of twenty thousand men, and appeared
with them the next day at Kingston upon Thames. The conspirators,
unable to oppose such a force, retreated in military array, with banners
displayed, and every where proclaiming King Richard. The Earls of
Kent and Salisbury, with two hundred horse, marched through Coin-
brook, to Sunning near Reading, where Queen Isabel resided, who,
though only eleven years of age, was the object of Richard's tenderest
affection.

Here the Earl of Kent, to raise the Queen's spirits, and to animate his
adherents, declared that Henry of Lancaster had run away from them, and
had been chased into the tower of London, and that Richard had escaped
from prison, and was at Pomfret with an hundred thousand men : and he
tore off the collars and other badges of the house of Lancaster from the
Queen's attendants, who had been placed about her by Henry. Maudelain,
the King's chaplain, who resembled that prince most remarkably in person
and voice, clothed in royal habiliments, with a rich crown upon his head,
inarched with them, and personated the King ; and having been much with
his Sovereign, and employed in many confidential services, he was admi-
rably qualified to favour the deception. From Sunning they proceeded
to Cirencester, where a thousand men, chiefly archers, were collected on
the evening of the sixth of January. The Earl of Gloucester and Lord
Lumley, with three hundred horse, proceeded towards South Wales, in
hopes of being joined by Lord Berkeley in Gloucestershire".

In the town of Cirencester they were opposed by the inhabitants, and
in the market place three hundred of them fought against two thousand0,
many women distinguishing themselves in the combat. Being defeated,
the Earls of Kent and Salisbury were made prisoners, but one of their
chaplains having set fire to some houses, with a view to rescue them, the

m Carte.

" In the pardon of the Bishop of Carlisle, they were said to have appeared in arms at
Bampton, in Oxon. Wantage, Faringdon, and Cirencester. Caite, Hist, of Kng'and. ii. 645.
Rhymer, viii. p. 165.

0 Froissart.

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 135

townsmen dragged them out of the Abbey, and beheaded them p. More
than twenty of the principal conspirators fled to Oxford, where they were
seized and beheaded in the Green Ditch. Amongst these were Lord
Lumley, Sir Thomas le Blount, Sir Benedict Sealy, John Walsh, and
Baldwin of Kent. Sir Bernard Brocas, Sir John Shelly, Maudelain and
Ferriby, were put to death in London. The executions were performed
with every circumstance of the most horrid barbarity.

Sir Thomas Blount was hanged ; but the halter was soon cut, and he
was made to sit on a bench before a great fire, and the executioner came
with a razor in his hand, and knelt before Sir Thomas, whose hands were
tied, begging him to pardon his death, as he must do his office. Sir
Thomas asked, " Are you the person appointed to deliver me from this
world ?" The executioner answered, " Yes, Sir, I pray you pardon me."
And Sir Thomas kissed him, and pardoned him his death. The execu-
tioner knelt down, and opened his belly, and cut out his bowels straight from
below the stomach, and tied them with a string that the wind of the heart
should not escape, and threw the bowels into the fire. Then Sir Thomas
was sitting before the fire, his belly open, and his bowels burning before
him; Sir Thomas Erpyngham the King's chamberlain, insulting Blount,
said to him in derision, " Go seek a master that can cure you." Blount
only answered, " Te Deum laudamus, Blessed be the day on which I was
born, and blessed be this day, for I shall die in the service of my Sovereign
Lord, the noble King Richard." The executioner knelt before him, kissed
him in an humble manner, and soon after his head was cut off, and he was
quartered".

p The king found it necessary to restrain the zeal of his partizans, by issuing a writ on
the Sth of February, commanding that none in future should be beheaded or executed
without form of law. Ilhym. vol. vii. p. 124. As a reward for this service, on the 2Sth
of February, 1400, the king granted to the men of Cirencester the goods of Thomas, Earl
of Kent, and John, Earl of Salisbury, and other traitors there taken ; Rhymer, viii. p. ISO
and to the men four bucks from Braden Forest, and a cask of wine annually from the
port of Bristol ; and to the women six bucks and a cask of wine. Ibid. p. 150.

" From la Relation de la Prise de Richard II. par Berry Roi d'Armes, a Manuscript in
the French king's library, of which an account has been published by Gaillard, in his

136 CHANGE OF NAME. book ii. part ii.

The Earl of Huntingdon remained in London till after the battle of
Cirencester, then went on board a vessel, and being hindered by contrary
winds, was seized, committed to the Tower, and beheaded. Lord De-
spenser escaped from Cirencester, and embarked in a vessel of Bristol, but
the Captain brought him back to that place, where the people decapi-
tated him. Eight of the heads, and the mangled quarters of the Lords
and principal persons, were brought to London in panniers, and carried in
triumphal procession, on the Kith of January, with trumpets sounding,
and the people shouting, and they were accompanied by eighteen Bishops,
and thirty-two royal Abbots, and other prelates, and were then fixed upon
London bridge. The Earl of Rutland, who seems to have made his peace
by betraying his fellow conspirators, paraded through the streets with the
head of Lord Spencer, his brother-in-law, carried upon a pole before him,
and presented it to the King : and was followed by twelve waggons loaded
with prisoners in chains. The Bishop of Carlisle, and the Abbot of West-
minster were pardoned'1. These cruelties were the prelude to the death
of the unfortunate Richard, probably by starvation, and he was buried on
the twelfth of March following11.

Bv the attainder and death of Sir Thomas Blount, his estates were of
course forfeited to the Crown. Upon the inquisitions which were taken,
he was found to possess, in Hampshire, rents in Barramslie, the manor of
Lvndhurst, rents in Pillee, a messuage and lands in Broklegh, the manor
of Ryngewode, a messuage and lands at Wallop : in Wiltshire, at Larke-
stoke, the manor and a mill ; a messuage and lands at Wodefold ; at
Bathampton, Rolveston, and Wyly, ten pounds of rent : and four pounds of
rent at New Sarum : and that he died without issue'1. It must be ob-
served, that Belton is not mentioned in these inquisitions, probably because

account, &c. of the MSS. in the library of the King of France. London, 1~89 vol. ii.
p. 19?. It is referred to by Carte, vol. ii. p. 642. from whom this extract is taken.

0 The Bishop of Carlisle was removed from the Tower to the Abbey of Westminster.
Rhymer, vol. viii. p. 150.

p His scull has been examined, and no marks of any wound were perceived. Gough's
Sepulcral Monuments, vol. i. p. 1G3. King on Ancient Castles. Archeeol. vol. vi. p. 313.

q Escaet. vol. iii. p. '26o. Rot. Tat.

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 137

it was in Rutlandshire, of which the inquisition is not remaining ; unless it
had been before alienated, which does not however appear. It was most
likely now forfeited into the hands of the Crown, and was granted to Sir
Walter Blount, since it is afterwards found in his possession, and was
settled upon his wife Sancha. And thus the eldest line of the Lords of
Belton became extinct.

In the mean time, Nicholas le Blount, and William Fitzwilliams, who
with others upon the first failure of the conspiracy had been sent to
different parts of the kingdom to excite a farther insurrection, raised each
of them a good party of horse, with which they made an excursion as far
as Brentford, where meeting with a body of one hundred and sixty of
Henry's men, they defeated them, and took many prisoners. But all
hopes of success being now at an end, and Henry's vigour and cruelty
precluding all chance of safety, the chiefs engaged in this service held a
council at midnight, and having ordered the common soldiers to betake
themselves to their own homes, the principal officers, endeavoured to
make their escape and to go abroad. Calais was as unsafe as England,
for immediately upon the discovery of the conspiracy, on the 5th and 6th
of January, writs were sent not only to all the counties in England, but to
Peter Courtenay the captain of Calais, to arrest the Earls of Kent and
Huntingdon, and all other traitors, and to seize their lands ; and all liege
subjects were commanded, under penalty of forfeiture of life and limb, not
to conceal the said Earls, their officers, ministers, or servants, or any of
their followers, adherents, or favourersr. They went therefore on board a
small vessel at Pool, and arrived in safety at St. Maloes5. These were
John Carrington, second son of Sir Thomas Carrington, who had received
his military education under Sir John Neville in Gascony, where he served
Richard the Second till he was twenty-five years of age'. His elder

r Rhymer, vol. vii. p. 120. 5 Croke MS.

' This was John de Nevill, son and heir of Ralph, Lord Nevill, who served in the
armies of Edward III. and Richard II. and was much in France. In the 34th of Edward
III. he was there with the king and Sir Walter Manny, when he was knighted. In the
41st he succeeded his father as Lord Nevill. Three years after he was retained to serve
the king with forty men at arms, one hundred archers, and an hundred mariners. After-
wards with a larger number, and he was constituted admiral of the fleet. In the 4Ath,
46th, and 47th years he served in France. In the 1st and 2d years of Richard II. he was

138 CHANGE OF NAME. book ii. part ii.

brother being dead, he came into England, and continued with Richard till
his capture in Wales". With them were likewise Richard Atwick,
Robert Newborough, William Lindsey, William Fitzwilliams, a younger
son of John Fitzwilliams of Emley in Yorkshire\ and Nicholas le
Blount\

It is probable that Nicholas le Blount, having taken so active a part in
the insurrection, and being so nearly related to Sir Thomas le Blount, was
outlawed with the rest of those who had escaped, by which they became
dead in law, and their estates were forfeited. And although by a statute
made in the 5th year of Henry the Fourth, in the year 1404, all treasons,
insurrections, and rebellions, were pardoned, yet outlawries for such of-
fences, declared by a court of justice, were excepted2.

Having secured their retreat to the continent, they went to Paris,
and brought to King Charles the first information of the murder of
his son-in-law. These soldiers were too active to continue long in idle-
ness, ami the war in Italy, between the Emperor and the Duke of
Milan, presented a fair field for their ambition''1. A great connection and
intercourse at this time subsisted between England and Milan. For
some years a great number of English soldiers had served in Italy.
The accomplished .John Galeazzo Visconti, the reigning Duke, had
received his education under the instructions of Britons, and Sir John
Hawkwood, the great English warrior, had married Doninia, the na-
tural daughter of Bernabo his uncle1'. An event had taken place not

lieutenant of Aquitaine, and seneschal of Bourdeaux. He died the 17th of October, in the
12th year of Richard II. Dugdale's Baron, vol. i. p. 296.

" Croke MS. Appendix, No. XX.

x Amongst forty English who were killed by the Irish lords lez Tothils, on Ascension-
ilay, in 1498, was John Fitzwilliams, perhaps the father of William Fitzwilliams. Camden
in anno. (MS. p. 1<).) ? MS.

z Stat. 5 Hen. IV. chap. 15. Le Roi ad pardonez toutz maners de tresons &c. et auxint
les utlegaries, si nulles en eux ou aucun de eux soient pronunciez par celles enchaisons.

* The battle of Brescia, mentioned in page 389, was fought on the 21st of October 1401.
Muratori, Annales d'ltalia, vol. ix. p. 4.

b Sandford's Gen. Hist. p. 360. Sir John Hawkwood was born at Sible-Heningham in
Essex, the son of a tanner, and bred a tailor. Having being pressed into the king's service,
he served in the wars in France with so much merit, that he was promoted, and knighted.

No. 19.
THE BARONY OF BERGAVENNY IN WALES,

IN THE DAYS OF KING EDWARD THE FIRST.

Sir William Cantelupe,
Lord and Baron of Bergavenny.

I
Sir George Cantelupe,
Lord and Baron of

Bergavenny,
died without issue.

Johanna, the eldest
sister, married Sir
John Hastinges, who,
in her right, was
Lord of Bergavenny.

Sir John Hastinges,
Lord of Bergavenny.

Ashmole MSS. vol. 625. part 4. f.

Milisent, the youngest.

married

Eudo de la Zouche.

William Lord Zouche.
of Harrintrwortlie

Cantelupe bore, Azure, three leopards' heads, jessant de lis
Ibid. vol. 797-

As a Sir Thomas de Blount bore these arms, with a bend ermine, (Ashm. MSS. vol. 825.
part 4. in fine,) perhaps it was Sir Thomas le Blount, who married Juliana de Leybourne,
the widow of John de Hastings, and who might have borne them from being possessed of
some of the Hastings, or Cantelupe, property, which his wife held in dower.

= §*:

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, and
y, of
mar-
wick.

Ham de Clinton
ounger lirother
k. Died 28 E
is Sir John dc
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chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 3S7

many years before, which had still more contributed to promote the con-
nexion between the two countries. This was the marriage of Lionel,
Duke of Clarence, second son of King Edward the Third, with Violante,
the sister of John Galeazzo.

These events had established a frequent communication between the
English and the Milanese, and le Blount, with the other refugees, very
naturally repaired thither, and entered into the military service of the Duke,
who was at war with the Emperor, upon the following account. The
predecessors of John Galeazzo Visconti had enjoyed only the title of Im-
perial Vicar, or Governor of Lombardy. He was created the first Duke
of Milan, and his dominions were rendered nearly independent of the Em-
pire, by the Emperor Wenceslaus, in consideration of one hundred thou-
sand florins of gold, in 1395. The Germans were discontented with
Wenceslaus, and a powerful party was formed against him. The Electors
convoked a national assembly, and pronounced the solemn sentence of his
deposition, in 1400. Amongst the charges against him, it was one that he
had alienated the imperial domain of Milan, and raised a simple officer of
the kingdom of Lombardy to the rank of Duke. The Count Palatine,

After the peace of Bretigni, with many other English adventurers, he went into Italy,
and became the most celebrated commander of his age. Bernabd, brother to Galeazzo
the Second, and father of Giovanni Galeazzo, gave him his daughter Doninia in
marriage. He afterwards served the Pope, and at last established himself with the
Florentines. He died at Florence, at a very advanced age, the l6th of March, 1393, the
seventeentli of Richard II. where a superb monument, with his picture or statue, was
erected to his memory. Sismondi's Histoire des Republics d'ltali, and all the Italian
writers of that period. Fuller's Worthies, Essex. Stow's Annals. Morant's Essex, ii.
289, 290, who endeavours to prove him to have been lord of a manor, and not a tailor, but
upon insufficient reasons. Hearne, in his preface to Leland's Itin. vol. iii. p. 5, refers to a
Life of Hawkwood by Valens. Villani, lib. ix. c. 3". and for the companies, lib. ix. c. 109-
x. 27, 34. Froissart, b. i. c. 214, 215. Montfaucon, ii. 318, 322. Walsingham, Ypod.
Neust. p. 522. Muratori, An. vol. xii. Poggio, Hist. Florent. Buoninsegni. See Memoirs
of Sir John Hawkwood, read at the Society of Antiquaries, 25 Jan. 1776, printed in the
Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica of Nichols, vol. vi. art. 1. A portrait of him was
given to the Society by Lord Hailes in 1775. His name is variously corrupted by the
Italian writers. Paulus Jovius calls him Aucuthus, others Giovanni della Guglia, or
Aguglia, John of the Needle; Aucud, Agudo, Kauchovod, and more correctly Falcone di
Bosco. See a description and etching of the monument of Bernabo Visconti at Milan,
24 March, 1814, by T. Kerrich, Archteologia. The Lords of Milan were the first Princes
of Europe who maintained a standing army. Ibid, from Villani, in 1346.
3 D 2

JSS CHANGE OF NAME. book iv.

Robert, was elected Emperor, the 21st of August, 1400, and was crowned
at Cologne, the 6th of January, 1401, upon a capitulation of certain articles :
and, amongst others, that he should re-establish the imperial domain in
Italy.

In consequence of this engagement, and of the invitation of the Floren-
tines, and some other Italian states, who were alarmed at the power and
conquests of Galeazzo, the new Emperor, after having settled his affairs in
Germany, assembled an army of fifteen thousand horse, and with the Duke
of Austria, passed the Alps, in October, 1401, and approached the frontiers
of Lombardy : where he received an hundred thousand florins from the
Florentines, with the promise of farther assistance1".

From Trent, he summoned the Duke of Milan to surrender all the coun-
tries of which he had usurped the sovereignty, and threatened him, in case
of disobedience, with his vengeance, and the ban of the empire. Giovanni
Galeazzo returned a haughty reply, " That he possessed his dutchy in
" virtue of a solemn concession by the legitimate sovereign ; that he had
" been invested conformably to the laws and ancient customs ; that it did
" not belong to Robert, a base usurper of the throne, the declared enemy
" of their common sovereign, to trouble him in the possession of propertv,
" so justly acquired: and that he would repel force by force if he attempted
•• to make an hostile attack"."

Galeazzo was prepared to resist this formidable confederacy. He hail
ahead}' reduced to his dominion most of the northern part of Italy. His
army was commanded by the great constable Count Alberico Balbiano,
who had been Grand Seneschal of the kingdom of Apulia, and some
years before, in 1:394, had entered into his service with an hundred lances.
Under him the principal commanders were Facino Cane, and Otto Terzo.
All the troops from every quarter which could be procured were engaged
in his pay, and they amounted to four thousand lances, most of them select
and experienced warriors0. The arrival of the English was very seasonable ;
they readily engaged in the Duke's service, and amongst others, Carrington,
Atwick, Newborough, Fitzwilliams, and le Blount, are particularly speci-
fiedp.

The first object of the Emperor was to endeavour to seize Brescia, as

n Corio, page 661. edition of 1565. " Corio— Pfeffel, Abregi. ° Corio.

'• MS. ut supra.

' "' . ' /

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 389

the possession of that place would facilitate the entrance of his armies from
Germany. But that city being well provided with the means of defence,
he could make no impression upon it. Whilst he was engaged in this at-
tempt, the principal part of his army, upon its march towards the city, was
met by a select body of troops, including le Blount and his companions,
which had been sent out of Brescia to attack themi. A desperate battle
ensued. The post of greatest danger and honour was assigned to the
English ; they shewed themselves not unworthy of the military fame of their
country; and by a furious onset on the Imperialists, broke their line, put
them to flight, and contributed principally to the decisive victory which
was obtained r. The Emperor lost six hundred horse, the Grand Marshal
of the Imperial army, and many other noble persons, were taken prisoners,
and the remainder of the army escaped with difficulty from total destruction.
The Emperor fled to Trent, his army was dispersed, and after some in-
effectual attempts to retrieve his affairs, he was compelled to renounce all
his designs upon Italy, and to return to Germany5.

In this battle, Carrington and Newborough were however taken prisoners,
and a large sum Avas paid for their ransom to a relation of the Bishop of
Cologne. Galeazzo acknowledged with gratitude the merits and services
of the English, and the splendid rewards which he bestowed upon them
were worthy of the magnificent house of Visconti1.

The Duke of Milan, by this important victory, being now secure in his
dominions, and freed from all apprehensions from the Emperor, and the
Italian states, proceeded to extend his conquests on every side. He had
made himself master of many of the neighbouring states, had taken Bologna,
and almost reduced Florence ; and he had even prepared the ornaments of
royalty for the purpose of being immediately crowned King of Italy, when
he was seized with a violent fever, which put an end to his life and his
projects, on the 3d of September, in the year 1402".

Galeazzo was a Prince of a superior understanding, great prudence, and
humanity, and had received an extraordinary education under the most
learned men of the age, in every department of science, and particularly in
all the arts which are useful to a sovereign. But his ambition was equal to
his talents, his magnificence and liberality were unbounded, and he wished

' Corio. ' MS. s Corio. Pfeffel. ' MS. " Corio. Pfeffel.

390 CHANGE OF NAME. book iv.

to extend his fame throughout the universe". By his will, his dominions,
which comprehended the finest parts of Italy, were divided amongst his three
sons, who were all minors, andhe left besides immense treasures, out of which
he directed a monastery, several churches, and chapels to be erected, with
suitable endowments7. To his eldest son, Giovanni Maria Inglese Vis-
conti, who was only fourteen years old, he bequeathed the Dutchy of Milan,
and some other places; to his second son, Philip Maria Anglo, Pavia;and
to his legitimated son, Gabriel Anglo, Pisa ; but the power of the Visconti
family was much diminished by this partition of his dominions. The care
of his children, and the administration of affairs, was intrusted to a council
of seventeen persons. The government was distracted by intrigues, and
by factions struggling tor power. The country became one promiscuous
scene of murders, robberies, and violence ; and the subject states asserted
their independence2. The services of the English were no longer re-
quired, and they were ill treated by the Great Constable Alberico
Balbianoa, who, ungrateful for the benefits conferred upon him by the
deceased Duke, basely deserted to the party of the Pope and the Floren-
tines".

In this unhappy situation of affairs, the English, who had continued in
Milan in the enjoyment of their wealth, and well-earned reputation, in
1404 resolved to leave Italy, and to return to England. They pro-
ceeded through France and Flanders. At Besancjon Robert New-
borough died, in consequence of a fall from his horse, and was buried in
the Grey Friers' Church in that city ; having bequeathed the greatest
part of his riches, obtained in Italy, to his friend Carrington. The others
passed through Burgundy, traversed France, and arrived in Hainault,
where they were entertained with great hospitality in the monasteries.
Here they met with two friers, lately arrived from England, from whom
they obtained information of many particulars relating to Carrington's
family, and of the state of matters in that country. From Hainault they
travelled through Brabant to Amsterdam. Being informed of the cruelty

" He began the celebrated cathedra] at Milan in 1386, the finest Gothic building ii
Europe.

y Corio, pages 666, 66~. * Ibid. p. 636. a MS. u Corio, p. 636. See i

head of Giovanni Galeazzo, from a print by Agostino Caracci.

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. 391

which was exercised by King Henry the Fourth towards those who had
taken part against him, they thought it prudent to change their names
before they ventured to revisit their native land. John Carrington assumed
the name of Smith, Fitzwilliams of English, and Le Blount changed his
name to Croke. From Amsterdam they sailed for England, in a ship of
Ipswich, near which place they landed in 1404.

During the life of King Henry the Fourth, they kept themselves in con-
cealment, but after his death, in 1413, and they could appear in public
with safety, they purchased lands, with the riches which they had ac-
quired in Italy. Carrington, or Smith, settled in Essex, and dying in the
year 1446, at the mature age of seventy-two, was buried in the church-
yard of Reinshall Church, which was erected by himself.

Le Blount, or Croke, lived mostly in Buckinghamshire, at a place
called Essendon. His friends, Carrington, Fitzwilliam, and the rest of
his former companions in arms, frequently visited him, and they talked
over their old exploits with mirth and pleasure.

The history of these transactions is contained in a curious original docu-
ment, still preserved in the Croke family, and which is entitled, " An
" account how the Blomits in Warwickshire changed their name to
" Croke" and which is printed in the Appendix0. It is confirmed by
contemporary and authentic historians.

Nicholas le Blount, or Croke, married Agnes Heynes, the daughter of
John Heynes and Alicia at Hall. By the death of her brother, John
Heynes, without issue, she inherited her father's property, and from this
intermarriage the Crokes have ever since quartered the coat of arms of
Heynes ; argent, a fesse nebule, azure, interspersed with besants, between
three annulets, gules.

Alicia was the daughter of Walter at Hall, by Johanna, the daughter of
Fulk Rycot. Alicia had a sister Johanna who married Henry Bruer. In
the Rycot, and Bruer families, we meet with intermarriages with Senton,
Frenshe, and Langfled. What the estates were which were thus acquired
from the Heynes, or the at Hall families, or both, I have not been able
clearly to discover, but in the manuscript from whence this account is

' No. XX. There was a Henry Croke with Henry the Fifth at the battle of Agin-
court, in 1415. List of the Knights at that battle in Ashmole's MSS. No. 825, part 5.

.3!)'2

CHANGE OF NAME.

taken, upon the pedigree, the names of Appulton, Keinington, Northemp-
sey, Lyford, and Botely, all in the county of Berks, are written. From
hence it must be inferred, that the property of the family was situated in
those places'1.

The son of Nicholas le Blount, and Agnes Heynes, was James Croke,
or le Blount. His name is omitted in the " Dessenz," but it appears in
the vellum pedigree, and in another pedigree in the Manuscript of Rawlinson.

The son and heir of James was Richard Croke, who married a lady
named Alicia, but of what family is not related ; by whom he had a son
named John Croke, otherwise le Blount, who will be the subject
of the next chapter'.

uti'il

Gene-

" Dessenz of Noble Noblemen. Harl. MSS. No. 1074. Art. 39. f.
alogy, No. 2 1 .

' There was a Richard Croke, who was Nottyngham Pursuivant at Arms, and died in the
twenty-second year of Henry the Seventh or Eighth, 1506, or 1530. Rex omnibus &o
concessimusdilecto subdito nostro Thomae Treheron officium Persevanti, vulgariter Notyng-
ham appellati — per mortem Richardi Croke, 30 Ap. An. Keg. XXIJ. Kennet in Bliss's
Wood's Ath. Ox. vol. i. p. 25y, note. Weever mentions a Richard Crooke who was Wind-
sor Herald in the reign of Henry the Eighth. Fun. Mon. p. C76.

For this first part of the Croke family there are four documents. 1 . The account of the
change of name, a manuscript printed in the Appendix, No. XX. 2. A pedigree on vellum,
beautifully illuminated, which begins with James Croke alias le Blountz, and ends with
the children of William Croke, perhaps about the year 1670, penes me. 3. A pedigree in
the Harleian Manuscript, No. 1074, drawn up apparently in the reign of Henry the
Eighth, which is here printed, Genealogy No. 21. 4. A pedigree in Rawlinson s Manu-
script in the Bodleian Library, No B. 74. p. 131. There are some variations, and differ-
ences between them, which will appear in the following comparative view. From the
whole I have extracted what appeared the most probable account, upon comparing dates,
times, and circumstances.

Account of
change of name.
Thomas le Blount,
Knight, of Warwick-
shire, temp. Ed. I.

Nicholas le Blount,
35 Edw. III.

Nicholas le Blount,
temp. Rich. II.

Vellum Pedigree. Dessenz Pedigree. Rawlins

Peclisr

Jacobus Croke,
alias les Blounts.

Richardus Croke,

married Alicia.

John Croke,

married

Prudentia Cave.

Nicholas le Blount,

alias Croke, married

Agnes Heynes.

Richardus Croke.

I
John Croke,
married Cave.

Nicholas le Blount,
Knight of Warwick-
shire, 35 Edw. III.

James Blount.

Richard Blount.

John Croke,

md. Prudentia Cave.

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chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. #393

As there is a very ancient document of about this period, which con-
tains the coats of arms of some of the le Blount family, this may be a
proper time for considering their different bearings more particularly.

We have seen that three different coats of arms were borne by le Blount
in the earliest times : Lozengy, or and sable, by the Barons of Ixworth :
Barry nebuly, or and sable ; and gules, a fesse between six martlets,
argent, by the descendants of the first Sir William le Blount. And there
can be no doubt but that all the branches of the le Blount family are equally
entitled to each of those arms ; being lineally descended from those who
bore them. Yet the lozengy arms have been laid aside since the ex-
tinction of the Barons of Ixworth'. And though at this day the Blounts
generally use the nebuly arms only, and the Croke family the martlets ;
they were formerly borne promiscuously by all branches of the family.
Thus in the Sodington branch, Peter le Blount used both coats ; his
brother Sir Walter le Blount of Rock had for his seal the nebuly arms ;
Sir William le Blount, son of Sir Walter, sealed first with the martlet
arms, and afterwards with the nebuly arms?. They both were found in
painted glass in the window of the chapel of the Blount family, in Mamble
church b. And the martlets are introduced as the second quarter in the
coat of Blount of Sodington in the Heralds' Visitation in 16341.

In a Manuscript in the Harleian Collection are the arms emblazoned of
the knights of the several counties of England, in the time of Edward the
First. Under the head of Warwickshire we find enrolled, " Sir William
le Blountz," with his arms described, " unde of 6, or and sable." Sir
Thomas le Blount with, "gules a fes entre 6 martlets argent1'." The
same Catalogue was published from other manuscripts by Rowe Mores,
at Oxford, in 1749, under the title of Nomina et Historia Gentilitia
Nobilium Equitumque sub Edwardo primo Rege militantium, in a small
quarto in black letter1. He supposes the catalogue was written between

' They are introduced in the arms of Mountjoy Blount, Earl of Newport, in Mr.
Wm. Blount's old parchment, but as they are the fifteenth quarter, and not stated to be
Blount, I imagine they must be the arms of some other family.

8 See their seals post, p. 125, 127, 130.

h Nash's Worcestershire, vol. ii. p. 157- Habington's MSS. in Bib. Societ. Antiq.

1 In Coll. Arm. c. 30. k Harl. MSS. No. 1068. fol. 71.

1 It was printed from R. Dodsworth's MSS. vol. 21. and Robert Glover's " Copies of
Olde Rolls of Arms," in Queen's College library. Mores printed only a few copies.
T

394* CHANGE OF NAME. book ii. part ii.

the fifteenth and nineteenth years of Edward the Second, 1:321, and 1 32.5,
because Edmund of Woodstock, as Earl of Kent, and Hugh le Despenser,
are mentioned ; of whom the first was created Earl of Kent in 1321, the
latter beheaded in 1325. Mores speaks in warm terms of this book, and
says that it is, without a rival, the most ancient heraldic document existing-.
In this copy the names and arms are thus recited ; Warwickshire, " Sir
William le Blount, oundee de or et de sable. Sir Thomas le Blount de
joules, a une fesse e vi merclos de argent." In the arms of the tilters at
the tournament at Dunstable, in the second year of Edward the Second,
1308, in " le comte de Warwick" are Sir William le Blond, with the
nebuly arms, and Sir Thomas le Blond, with the martlets'". These were
probably Sir William, the son of Sir Walter le Blount, of Rock, who
married Margaret de Verdun, and Sir Thomas le Blount who was tin-
husband of Juliana de Leyborne. They are styled knights of Warwick-
shire, though the principal seat of one was at Rock or Sodington, in
Worcestershire, and of the other at Belton, in Rutlandshire, because they
were tenants of the Earl of Warwick, and therefore fought under his
banner".

Yet this Sir William le Blount used seals both of the nebuly and
martlet arms, as is already mentioned. Sir Thomas le Blount to the
deed before recited has affixed a seal with the nebuly arms: and his
eldest son used the nebuly arms likewise. It should seem there-
tore, that though, in their seals and private legal transactions, they
used either coat, in war and tournaments, when from their being
clothed in armour distinctions were necessary and usual, Sir William
confined himself to the nebuly coat, and Sir Thomas to the mart-
lets. Hence in the Croke Manuscript it is said, that Sir Thomas le Blount
bore for his arms gules, a fesse between six martlets, argent, and that
from him they have been derived to the Croke family, who are descended
from his second son Nicholas, and have always borne those arms. Aut\
being so descended from a second son, in early times they bore a crescent

m Harl. MSS. No. 10(58. So in Edward the Fourth's time. Ibid. fol. 115a. Dodsw.
vol. 35 f. 78. Ces sont les noms et le* arras bannerets de Engleterre, arms as before.
Edw. II.

" Hampton Lovet, Tiiuberlake, and other manors belonging to the family, were held of
:he Earl of Warwick.

chap. i. CHANGE OF NAME. #395

upon the martlet arms. The oldest emblazonment which I have met with
is in the " Dessenz of Noble Noblemen," which was written early in the
reign of Henry the Eighth. It commences with the second Nicholas le
Blount, alias Croke, the grandson of Sir Thomas le Blount, and has the
martlet arms with a crescent on the fesse". The crescent is found like-
wise in the arms of John Croke, who married Prudentia Cave, the great
grandson of Nicholas, and died in [554; in brass upon his monument at
Chilton, and in stone over the porch at Studley Priory. In that of his
eldest son Sir John Croke, in the same places, in a painted glass window
at Studley Priory, and on a seal ring on his finger in his portrait p. The
crescent was borne likewise by his eldest son Sir John Croke the Judge,
and after this it was discontinued. The nebuly arms seem to have been
continued in the elder branch of the Belton family.

0 Harl. MS. No. 1074. Art. 39. t'ol. .3.5, 5rj. In this book in the genealogy of the King's
of England, fol. 172. 6. Henry VIII. is the last, and Henry Prince of Wales is there. As
he was born Jan. 1, 1509, and died Feb. <22, old style, the book must have been written in
1510. The Lady Mary is in another hand and ink. It has the name of Henry Lilly,
Rouge Dragon, written in it. Genealogy, No. 21.

p Penes me.

JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 393

CHAPTER II.

JOHN CROKE, ALIAS LE BLOUNT, ESQUIRE. DI GRESSION, THE HIS-
TORY OF THE PRIORY OF STUDLEY, ITS POSSESSORS, FOUNDERS,
AND BENEFACTORS. RICHARD CROKE, DOCTOR IN DIVINITY.

John Croke, or le Blount, Esquire, and Prudentia Cave.

THE year of the birth of John Croke, alias le Blount, Esquire,
the son of Richard and Alicia Croke, alias le Blount, does not appear.
From his subsequent promotion it is evident that he must have been edu-
cated in the profession of the law. Of his early life, and the gradual steps
of his advancement, no memorials have been preserved. We first find
him, in the year 1522, one of the Six Clerks in the High Court of Chan-
cery.

As the Chancellor had been almost always an ecclesiastic, these officers
were anciently actual cleri, or in holy orders, and were regularly promoted
to livings under the Chancellor's patronage. They were originally six in
number : in the early part of the reign of Richard the Second, they were
reduced to three ; and by an ordinance in Chancery, of the twelfth year
of that king, they were again restored to their first number. As clergy-
men they were incapable of marrying ; and even when they ceased to be in
orders, the ancient custom of their celibacy still continued ; a restraint
which was confirmed by the same ordinance, and was observed till the
reign of Henry the Eighth*. In the fourteenth year of that monarch,
1 522, a petition was presented to Parliament by John Trevethen, Richard

a Ordinatum est quod idem Custos Rotulorum jam habeat sex clericos, et non plures,
scribentes in rotulis praedictis, ex causa supradkta, proviso quod nullus eorundem clerico-
rum sic scribentium sit uxoratus. Hargrave's Manuscripts, in the British Museum, No.
221. page 22, entitled, " The Antiquitie of the Six Clerks."
3 E

394 JOHN CHOKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv.

Welles, Oliver Leader, John Croke, William Jesson, and John Lemsey,
who then filled the office, and which was to this efifect.

" In most humble wise beseechen your highness, your true and faithful
" subjects, and daily servants, the six clerks of your high court of Chan-
" eery, that whereas of old time accustomed hath been used in the said
" court, that all manner of clerks and ministers writing to the Great Seal,
'• should be unmarried, (except only the Clerk of the Crown,) so that as
" well the Cursitors, and other Clerks, as the Six Clerks of the said Chan-
" eery, were by the same custom restrained from marriage, whereby all
" those that contrary to the same did marry, were no longer suffered to
" write in the said Chancery, not only to their great hindrance, losing
" thereby the benefit of their long study, and tedious labours and pains in
«' youth taken in the said court, but also to the great decay of the true
" course of the said court. And forasmuch as now the said custom taketh
t; no place nor usage, but only in the office of the said six clerks, but that
i; it is permitted and suffered for maintenance of the said course, that as
" well the said Cursitors, as the other clerks aforesaid, may and do take
• wives, and marry at their liberty, after the laws of holy Church, and of
li long time have so done without interruption or let of any person. It
" may therefore please your highness of your most abundant grace, with
" the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons in
" this present parliament assembled, to ordain, enact, and establish, that
" the said six clerks, and all others which in time to come shall be in the
" same office, may and do take wives and marry at their liberty, after the
" law of holy Church, and so married may hold their said office as they
" should do before the said espousals." The petition was favourably
received, and passed into a statute1'.

In the year 15295 when Sir Thomas More was appointed Lord
Chancellor, he was at the head of the department0. That good and
able man, upon coming into his office, found the Court of Chancery
filled with many tedious causes, some of which had hung there for
almost twenty years. To prevent the recurrence of these proceedings,
which were so oppressive to parties, he endeavoured to apply a remedy,
which was conformable to the manners of the times, and the character

b Stat. 14 and 15 Hen. VIII. cap. 8. 1522. 3 c Spelman, Series Cancell. Gloss, in \oce.

chap. i. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 395

of the Chancellor. He first caused Mr. Croke, the chief of the Six
Clerks, to make a Docket, containing the whole number of all injunc-
tions, which in his time had already past, or were depending, in any of
the King's Courts at Westminster. Then having invited all the Judges
to dinner, in the presence of them all, he shewed sufficient reason why he
had made so many injunctions. And they all confessed that they them-
selves in the like case would have done no less. He then assured them,
" that if they themselves, to whom the reformation of the rigour of the law
" appertained, would upon reasonable considerations in their own discre-
" tion, as he thought in conscience they were bound, mitigate and reform
" the rigour of the law, there should then from him no injunctions be
" granted." To this offer they refused to condescend. " Then," said
he, " for as much as yourselves, my Lords, drive me to this necessity, you
" cannot hereafter blame me, if I seek to relieve the poor people's injuries."
After this he said to his son Roper secretly, " I perceive, son, why they
" like not this ; for they think that they may by a verdict of a jury cast
" off all scruple from themselves upon the poor jury, which they account
" the chief defence. Wherefore I am constrained to abide the adventure
" of this blamed."

Mr. Croke availed himself of the privilege of marrying granted to the
Six Clerks. As his eldest son was born in 1530, his marriage must have
taken place at least the year before. His lady was Prudentia, the third
daughter of Richard Cave, Esquire, of Stanford-upon-Avon, in Northamp-
tonshire, by his second wife Margaret, daughter of John Saxby, of North-
amptonshire. This was an ancient family, descended from two brothers,
Wyamarus and Jordayne, who were living at the time of the Conquest,
and enjoyed several lordships in Yorkshire; from one of which, North and
South Cave, they derived their surname, de Cave. She was sister to Sir
Thomas Cave ; and to Sir Ambrose Cave, who was Chancellor of the
Dutchy of Lancaster, one of the Privy Council to Queen Elizabeth, and a
most intimate friend of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh. It is related, that at
a public ball at court her Majesty's garter slipped off as she was dancing.
Sir Ambrose, taking it up, offered it to her, but, upon her refusing it, he
tied it on his left arm, and declared that he would wear it for his mistress's

Thomas More's Life of Sir Thomas More, page 218.
3 E 2

396 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. bookiv.

sake as long as he lived. In the possession of the family is an original
picture of him with the garter round his arm. Her nephew, Roger Cave,
married Margaret daughter of Richard Cecil, and sister to William Cecil
Lord Burleigh, the Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth0. One of
their posterity, Sir Thomas Cave, was advanced to the dignity of a baronet
in the year 1641 : an honour which is still enjoyed by his descendants.
The sufferings for the royal cause, in the reign of Charles the First, of the
Reverend John Cave, Rector of Pickwell, are minutely related by Walker,
in his history of the sufferings of the clergy, and afford a striking but not
uncommon example of petty democratic tyranny f. His son was the
learned Doctor William Cave, Canon of Windsor, and Chaplain to King
Charles the Second, who wrote the Scriptorum Ecclesiasticui-um Historia
Literaria, the Lives of the Fathers, Primitive Christianity, and other
works which still maintain their rank amongst the ecclesiastical historians
of Great Britain s.

On the 19th of September, 1529, the twentieth year of Henry the
Eighth, he was appointed by patent Comptroller, and Supervisor of the
Hanaper in Chancery, for his life\ On the L 1th of June, 1534, the
twenty-sixth of Henry VIII. the King granted to him the office of Clerk
of the Inrollments in the Chancery for his life'. And in 1545, the
thirty-seventh of that King, on the 6th of March, with Sir Anthony
Lee, he had a grant of the manor of Senders, and the Rectory of
Stone, in Buckinghamshire11. In the first year of Edward the Sixth,
1546, six Serjeants at Law were made, and amongst them appears the
name of " Mr. Croke of the Inner Temple." A full account of

e In Ashmole's MSS. vol. 836. fbl. iii. is an original letter from Roger Cave's executors
to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, dated 2d of August, 1586, about his will and funeral.

' Page 220.

s Collins's Baronetage, vol. ii. p. lfU. and a Pedigree, Had. MSS. No. 1233. fol. 114.
from Wymer and Jordanus Cave, to Sir Thomas Cave, the first baronet, in 1627 Printed
in Genealogy, No. 22. but I have omitted the coats of arms.

" Walton in his Life of Pope, page 6, is mistaken in attributing this and other grants in
the same reign to Richard Croke. 1 have examined the records, Rex Johanni Croke uni
sex cler. cancell. concessit Officium Contrarotulatoris et Super visoris Hanaperii ad vitam.

1 Patent Rolls, 26 Hen. VIII. 11th Jan. Rex Johanni Croke concessit officium Cleriei
Irrotulamentorum omnium et singularum evidentiarum indenturarum, &C. inter recorda
Cancellarire irrotulandarum, ad vitam.

k Patent Rolls, in anno.

No. 22.

NEALOGY OF CAVE.

Maud, (.laughter to Peter de Mawle
Lord of Lockhiffton.

Anne, daughter to Sir Symon Ward

Alice, dau. to Sir Geffrey Hotham.

Marv, daughter and heir to Sir
Genill, of South Cliffe.

Catherine, daughter to Roger Some
of Grindall.

Anne, married to

Gilbert Stapleton,

of Bay ton.

Wimarus de Cave,
who gave all his lands in North
Cave and South Cave to his bro-
ther Jordan. Sans issue. Temp.
Will. Conq. and Will. Rufus.

Jordan de Cave,
yonger brother of
Wimarus de Cave.

de Cave, son and heir of Jordan Cave.

Thomas, second son
John, third son.
Piers, fourth son.

erine, married to
ohn Markenfield.

Robert (ie Cave, married the da. of Thos. de Metham.

Thomas Cave, son and heir of Brian, mar0. Joyce, da.
of Sir William St. Quintin.

Geffry Cave, son and heir of Thomas, married Mable
I Saltmarsh.

Alexander Cave,
Dean of Durham, and Prebendary
of Holden, where he lyeth buried,

Peter Cave,
son and heir of Geary,
Lord of South Cave,

chap. ir. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 397

the feast given upon the occasion is preserved by Dugdale. This perhaps
was John Croke1. In the year 1547, the second of Edward the Sixth, he
was elected Member of Parliament for Chippenham™.

Afterwards being in much favour with King Edward the Sixth, in
Michaelmas Term 1549, the third year of his reign, he was by him made
one of the Masters of the Chancery".

There is still extant in manuscript a paper, in the nature of a report,
upon the constitution of the Court of Chancery, drawn up by Master
Croke, in 1554, the second year of Queen Mary, when Stephen Gardiner,
Bishop of Winchester, was Lord Chancellor0. It isintitled, " Ordinances
" explained by Master Croke, upon the estate of the Chancerye Courte in
" Anno 1554." With the knowledge and accuracy of an ancient practi-
tioner, he has stated minutely the different officers who compose the court,
with an enumeration of their respective duties and privileges. The greater
part of these regulations, I apprehend, are still the law of the court, but he
mentions several customs, which savour of the simplicity of the good old
times, and have been long abolished in modern practice. The Lord
Chancellor, he states, had his diet out of the Hanaper, towards such
charges as he was wont to be at. Of which some were then out of use ;
as to have, in the term time, such Masters of the Chancery as would
come to his house to be at his table, and a Chancery table in his hall for
the Clerks. Many of his officers always travelled with the Chancellor,
and were allowed for horse-keepers and horse-meat : and there were three
or four Clerks of the Almoner at meat and drink in the Chancellor's house,
who, for their diet, served the poor suitors with their pens, without fees.

This Report will enable us to clear up a point of ecclesiastical history

1 Dugd. Or. Jur. page 117. m Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria.

" Croke Car. Preface. The time of his appointment appears by the following notes.
In a list of the Six Clerks in the first of Edward the Sixth, 1547, Croke appears at the
head; Croke, Carter, Snow, Leder, Judd, Walrond. In that for the third of Edward the
Sixth, 1549, his name is omitted, and they stand thus; Carter, Snowe, Leder, Judd,
Walrond, Powle. (Lansdown MSS. vol. 163. fol. 151.) And in another manuscript,
(Lansdown, vol. l63,fol. 84.) there is " a noat of the Six Clarks, and when they succeeded."
Amongst these is, " Crooke departed Michaelmas 3d Edw. VI. succeeded by Powle."

° Hargrave's MSS. British Museum, No. 249, f. 80. Lansdown MSS. No. 163. f. 141.
There is said to be another copy amongst the manuscripts of Lord Somers. It is printed
in the Appendix, No. XXII.

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chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 397

the feast given upon the occasion is preserved by Dugdale. This perhaps
was John Croke1. In the year 1547, the second of Edward the Sixth, he
was elected Member of Parliament for Chippenham m.

Afterwards being in much favour with King Edward the Sixth, in
Michaelmas Term 1549, the third year of his reign, he was by him made
one of the Masters of the Chancery".

This Report will enable us to clear up a point of ecclesiastical history

1 Dugd. Or. Jur. page 117- m Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria.

" Croke Car. Preface. The time of his appointment appears by the following notes.
In a list of the Six Clerks in the first of Edward the Sixth, 1547, Croke appears at the
head; Croke, Carter, Snow, Leder, Judd, Walrond. In that for the third of Edward the
Sixth, 1549, his name is omitted, and they stand thus; Carter, Snowe, Leder, Judd,
Walrond, Powle. (Lansdown MSS. vol. 163. fol. 151.) And in another manuscript,
(Lansdown, vol. l63,fol.84.) there is "a noat of the Six Clarks, and when they succeeded."
Amongst these is, " Crooke departed Michaelmas 3d Edw. VI. succeeded by Powle."

'■ Hargrave's MSS. British Museum, No. 249, f. SO. Lansdown MSS. No. 163. f. 141.
There is said to be another copy amongst the manuscripts of Lord Somers. It is printed
in the Appendix, No. XXII.

398 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv.

hitherto left in uncertainty. The Lord Chancellor, as is well known, has
a right to present to all benefices appertaining to the King, under a certain
value. The reason and origin of this privilege appear upon the rolls of
Parliament, in the reign of Edward the Third ; that it had been immemo-
rially granted by former Kings, to enable the Chancellors to provide for
the Clerks of the Chancery, who were always in orders f. But then, and
long subsequently, this patronage comprehended only benefices of twenty
marks or under. The limitation has long since been extended to twenty
pounds ; for which no law or original authority is to be found, nor is the
exact time known. Bishop Gibson, upon the authority of Hobart% sup-
poses that the enlargement was probably made about the time of the new
valuation taken in the reign of Henry the Eighth. So Professor Christian,
in his notes upon Blackstone's Commentaries1, says, " It does not appear
" how this enlarged patronage has been obtained, but it is probable by a
" private grant of the crown, from a consideration that the twenty marks
" at the time of Edward the Third, was equivalent to twenty pounds in
" the time of Henry the Eighth. It cannot be doubted that since the
" new valor beneficioruin, pounds were intended to be substituted for
" marks."

By " the ordinances explained" this point is determined. The present-
ation to all benefices of twenty pounds, or under, was first usurped by Car-
dinal Wolsey, probably with the King's consent. As the Cardinal was
disgraced in 1529, the practice must have commenced long before the new
valor beneficiorum was made, which was not till the year 1534. The
words of the Report are these : " The guift of benefices of the King's
" patronage of the value of twentie pounds, and under, be in the distribu-
" tion of the Lord Chancellor. The ould rent was twentie marks, but
" because the Cardinal, when he was Lord Chancellor, did present, in the
" King's name, his clearkes to benefices of twentie pounds by yeare, all
" Lord Chancellors have since done the like." Master Croke must have
stated this from his own knowledge, as he was one of the Six Clerks
during the Chancellorship of Wolsey.

Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity College in Oxford, was ori-
ginally destined to the profession of the law, and his earliest preferments

* Rot. Pari. 4 Ed w. III. i Hobait, 214. Gibson's Codex, p. 763. 'Edition

of Blackstone, vol. iii. p. 48. note.

chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 399

were in that department; as Clerk of the Briefs in the Star Chamber, and
Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. He received his instructions in the
law of that court under the tuition of Maister Croke, and he always re-
tained a grateful affection for the instructor of his youth ; which he testified
by his will, dated in 1 556, in which is a bequest " of his black satin gown,
" faced with Luserne spots, to his old Master's son, Master C/-oA-es."

Nicholas le Blount, we have seen, was the first who bore the name of
Croke, and, by his purchase of Easington, first introduced the family into
Buckinghamshire. As all his original property, which descended to him
from his ancestors, must have been confiscated by Henry the Fourth, he
was indebted for whatever wealth he possessed to his own merit : and the
foundation of the future fortunes of the Croke family was laid in Italy, by
the munificence of the Duke of Milan. By his marriage with the heiress,
Agnes Heynes, he obtained the inheritance of that family, which appears
to have been situated in Berkshire : Maister John Croke, by his purchases
in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, finally established the family in
those counties. He was enabled to make these acquisitions by the very
lucrative situations which he held. That of one of the Six Clerks was
extremely profitable, for we find that, in the reign of Charles the First, six
thousand pounds were paid to the Earl of Portland for procuring a man
that appointment*.

The office of Master of the Chancery was formerly of great rank and
emolument. They were appointed by patent, and created by the solemn
form of putting on a cap of dignity. They were styled the companions
and co-judges, and were the real and effective assessors of the Chancellor ;
and the King's counsel in his Chancery. In the House of Lords they at-
tended for the purpose of advising the Lords in those branches of learning
which belonged to their occupation, in the common, the civil, and the canon
law. They were allowed to wear their caps there, in the presence of their
sovereign, and their present seats on the woolsacks in that august assembly
are the remains of their ancient dignity. Besides their fees, they had
other large perquisites and privileges. They were maintained in great
luxury in the Hospitium, or Hostell of the Chancery, where the principal

s Warton's Life of Sir Thomas Pope, pages 6. and l6i. ' Clarendon, vol. i. p. 101.

ed. 181Q-

400 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iy,

officers of that court lived in a collegiate manner. The King's Purveyors
supplied them with provisions, and the Butler of England with wine ; of
which twelve tons were allowed yearly. A stately barge was kept upon
the river for their voyages from the Hostell to Westminster-hall, and corn
was allowed for their horses. They were found in lodging, food, fire, and
apparel. Two robes, or liveries, were annually given them by the King,
and delivered by the Chancellor. The winter robes were adorned with
rich furs ; those intended for the warmer season were lined only with
taftety". In the reign of Richard the Second a complaint was exhibited
against them in Parliament, " that they were over fatte, both in boddie
" and purse, and over well furred in their benefices, and put the King to
" veiry great cost more than needed"."

Many of these privileges and customs indeed were abolished before the
time of Master Croke, as appears by his "ordinances," and some of them
were compensated in money. Their principal emoluments were still un-
diminished. The ordinary and stated fees were not large, but a practice
prevailed of receiving voluntary douceurs, the honoraria, from their clients,
to a great amount. This practice, which was common to most of the
public officers concerned in the administration of justice, even to those who
were in judicial situations, was the occasion of Lord Bacon's disgrace, who
had only followed the example of his predecessors. As late as the begin-
ning of the reign of James the First, these fees, taken by the Masters of
the Chancery, were a subject of complaint in the House of Commons, and
an attempt was made to regulate them by an Act of Parliament. But as
they were not exacted as strict dues, but freely and voluntarily offered by
clients, as a debt of gratitude for beneficial services performed, prohibitory
laws were of little efficacy, and the practice continued?.

From the fair emoluments of his profession, Maister Croke might have
been enabled to become the purchaser of a considerable estate. But the
dissolution of the monasteries opened a new scene of wealth to those who

" Pannus et furfura, and pannus et sandallus, are the words of the Rolls, for all such
allowances were made by wan-ant on record.

s A treatise of the Maisters of the Chauncerie, written probably between 1596 and L60S.
Published by Hargrave. Tracts, p. 314. vol. 1.

» Stat. 1 Jac. I. cap. 10. Abuses and Remedies of Chancery, by Norbury, in Hargrave's
Tracts, vol. i. p. 428.

chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 401

had interest enough to obtain the gift, or the purchase, of the religious
houses. The necessities of the King induced him to sell, by one extensive
commission, a considerable part of their possessions for his immediate
relief. The great quantity of land which came to market, the few persons
who could command sufficient sums of ready money to become purchasers,
and the pressure of the King's wants, which required an expeditious sup-
ply, occasioned them to be sold at a rate very inferior to their real value,
and great numbers of persons raised large fortunes from this fruitful
source.

In the year 1529, Master Croke purchased the estate and manor of
Chilton, with lands in Wootton, and Hamme, in the county of Bucking-
ham, of Lord Zouch. Easington, where his ancestor had settled in the
reign of Henry the Fourth, was in that parish, which probably lead to the
purchase. In the time of Edward the Confessor, Afric Fitz Goding held
Chilton, and Easington2. At the Conquest it was taken from him, and
given to Walter Gifford, and Ciltone and Hesington were two distinct
manors. Walter Gifford was cousin to William the Conqueror, Earl of
Longeville in Normandy, and Earl of Buckinghamshire. He had vast
possessions, and his son founded Nutley Abbey, in the parish of Long
Crendon. Chilton descended to that branch of the Giffords, who had the
name of Bulbec, or Bolebec, and lived at their castle at Whitchurch in
Buckinghamshire. Other families had possessions at Chilton, as Paganus
de Dourton, Geoffrey de Sancto Martino, Hampden, and Grenville ;
holding I suppose of the chief Lord of the fee. In 1468, William Lord
Zouch, of Haringworth in Northamptonshire, was seized of this
manor : and it continued in his family till it was purchased by Master
Croke a.

The conveyance is dated on the 10th day of May, in the twenty-first
year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, 1529. The consideration paid was
five hundred marks : a yearly rent is excepted of £6. 13s. id. payable to
the wife of Sir Christopher Garnyes, Knight, and before wife of Sir John
Risley, for her life. It is covenanted that the premises are of the yearly

1 Brown Willis.

a Delafield's History of Chilton, a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, printed
Dr. Bliss's edition of Rennet's Parochial Antiquities.
3 F

402 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv.

value of ^19- 13s. id. above all charges, and a fine was levied to complete
the titleb.

And after the suppression of the monasteries, Henry the Eighth, in the
thirty-third year of his reign, 1541, for the sum of two hundred and twenty-
five pounds and five shillings, sold to John Croke and Prudence his wife,
the manor of Canon Court, in Chilton, lately parcel of the monastery of
Nokley, lately dissolved, as amply as it was enjoyed by Richard Rigge
the last Abbot. By the same letters patent, were granted an estate at
Merlake, which will be hereafter mentioned, and a house, with a garden on
the west side of it, in Chancellor Lane, in London, which had both be-
longed to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem0.

Upon the acquisition of this estate, Mr. Croke erected the mansion-house
of Chilton, which became the principal seat of the family. It was built in
the form of an H. In the middle of the front, facing the great entrance,
was a porch, embattled, and covered with lead, which advanced some feet
from the house, and was ascended by steps. On its face, just over the
outward door, this inscription in capital letters was cut into the stone, al-
luding to the turret, iehova turris mea, "The Lord is my tower."
In the windows were many coats of arms of the family, and their con-
nexions, in painted glass. There was likewise a gallery. The old house
was altered, modernized, and new fronted by Richard Carter, Esquire, the
subsequent owner of the estate, in 1740d. But the area, and the spacious
dimensions of the old house, may even now be ascertained from the two
extremities of the original building, which are still subsisting, and are dis-
tinctly marked : on the north side, by two chimneys, and a good part of the
wall, which are in an ancient style, the brick work being in diamonds of
two colours ; and, at the south end, by a Gothic door-way and window.
All the bedrooms are still covered with old wainscot in small pannels,
some of them of an ancient pattern, like scrolls of paper. I remember a
fine stone gate-way, which formed the entrance from the street, consisting
of a large arch for carriages, and a smaller by the side of it. Over it were
carved these sentences in capital letters, da gloriam deo. deus
non deseret. "Give the glory to God. God will not forsake us."
And above, in carved work, pierced through the stone, omnia desuper,

" Studley Chartulary, fol. 22. and f. 24. c The Grant in Studley Chart, fol. 17-

d Dekfield's History of Chilton.

chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 403

" All things from above." Which last sentence, probably suggested by
this inscription, is written on the picture of Sir John Croke, the Judge.
This gateway was pulled down by Sir John Aubrey.

Ten years after his first purchase of Chilton, in the year I^395 he bought
of Henry the Eighth the Priory of Studley, with all the possessions which
belonged to it, for the sum of one thousand, one hundred, and eighty-seven
pounds, seven shillings, and eleven pencee. It appears that he sold off all
the distant estates of the Priory, and retained only the house, and manors,
and other rights in the parish of Beckley.

The Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem were suppressed by the Act of
Parliament passed in the thirty-second year of Henry VIII. 1541. In
the same year, together with the manor of Canon Court, and the house in
Chancery Lane before mentioned, the King sold to John Croke, and Pru-
dence his wife, a messuage called Merlake, in the parish of Beckley, in
Buckinghamshire, parcel of the late Preceptory of Sandford, in Oxfordshire,
lately belonging to the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, with all their
other possessions, and manorial rights there : to hold in capite by the ser-
vice of the thirtieth part of a knight's fee, rendering three shillings yearly'.

Master Croke in London lived at a house in Fleet Street, called the
Charyate, or Chariate, and which had a garden to it. He purchased this
house, which was already in his possession, with two others adjoining it, in
the year 1541. The sellers were Richard Holte, Citizen and Merchant-
Taylor, and Thomasine his wife. The premises are described as all that
messuage, called the Charyate, with two messuages and a garden adjoining,
in which said messuage called the Chariate he now dwelleth. The consi-
deration was 5^140, of which ^£60 was paid at the time of purchase, and
the remainder by half yearly installments. Reciprocal bonds of two hun-
dred marks each were given for the performance of the covenants, and the
next year a recovery of the estate, which was freehold, was suffered in the
Court of Hustings^-'.

0 See the History of the Priory of Studley, inserted after the account of Master John
Croke.

' The Grant, penes me. Studley Chartulary, fol. 17.
s Copies of the Deeds, in the Studley Chartulary, fol. 34 to 40.
3 F 2

404 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv.

Master John Croke, or le Blount, died upon the 2d of September, in
the year 1554, and is buried at Chilton, in a chapel adjoining the chancel,
and which is still the burying place of the family. His monument is a flat
stone in the pavement, with the following inscription in the old black letter,
written on brass plates, and on a fillet round the stone. It does not men-
tion his age, which leaves the time of his birth uncertain.

(At the head,)

g>tt grain* Iw stomnus tamm ipse rrsmrgrrf sperat
iHannoito rlausus; Cronies in Ijor tumulo.

(At the feet,)

(©tit ttmrnt Bomtmtm sucrabmmt tn Qonnno.
gfojutor forum ft protrrtor rorum est.

(Round the sides of the stone, on the fillet,)

imt Inrtl) bttrirti 3obn Crokr tbt eartur, sumtpnw one of tht sir
Clrdtps of tl)f Upsgs! Comtt of tftf Cnannrrrp, arib afttrtoart
(one of) tlje 0fotettt& of tnc eiard Cbannm-p, (lul)trl) Stolm) UruaitrtJ
tljf stronTj Da)) of September, in tftr pro of ottre 2.orOe <§oti,

MCCCCCLIIII. b.

The coat of arms on a brass plate is, a fesse between six martlets,
with a crescent on the fesse ; without any quartering, or impale-
ment.

It is not known whether he left any children besides his son and heir,
Sir John Croke. I have a picture of an old man with a sensible look,
which may probably be intended for him.

Over the porch of the house at Studley are his arms, in stone, Croke,
as before, with the crescent ; quartered with Heynes, and impaled with
Cave, fretty, the colour of course not designated. The present family of
Cave still bears azure, fretty, argent : and for a crest, on a wreathe, a
greyhound currant sable. On an escroll, proceeding from his mouth, for
a motto, Gardez, alluding to the name, Cave, Beware.

His will is as follows, which was proved the 18th of October, 1555, on
the oath of William Walker, Proctor of the Executor.

^s^%^

1**

A MB

chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 405

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN, the xi day of June, in the
yere of our Lorde God a thousand, fyve hundredth, fiftie and fower; and
in the firste yere of the reigne of our sovereign Lady Quene Mary :
I John Croke, of Chilton, th' Elder, make my Testament and last Will
in this wise followinge. First, I bequeath my soule unto Almightie Godd,
and my bodye to the erthe to be buried in Christian buriall. I bequeath
to every of my servants, men and women, a blacke lyvery, at seven shil-
linges or eight shillinges the yarde ; the men to have coates, and the
women gownes, as speedily after my decease as may be provided. And I
bequeath to Thomas Springe fortie shillinges : to Oswald thre poundes :
to Smewyn fortie shillings: to Stephen fortie shillings: to Meade fortie
shillings : to Arthure fortie shillings : to Henry Chilton fortie shillings :
to Henry the Bruer fortie shillings: and to Frances fortie shillings. I
bequeath to Byrdesey twentie shillings : to the Miller twentie shillings : to
Hawkyns twentie shillings : to Thomas the Carter twentie shillings : to
John Chapman twentie shillings : to Alyanor Adys fortie shillinges :
to Sibill fortie shillings : to Amye twentie shillinges : to Johan Lovell
twentie shillings : to Allice twentie shillinges : to Johan Maygott tenne
shillinges. I bequeath to John Coventree thre pounde six shillinges eight
pence, and a black gown at tene shillinges the yarde: and to Sir Rauffe
fortie shillings, and a blacke gowne of tenne shillinges the yarde: and to
Mighell twentie shillinges. I bequeath to Jack twentie shepe: and to
Robyn twentie shepe, and kepinge for them in Adingrove, or ellswhere
sufhcientlie, so longe as they shall contynue in service with my sonne, and
my daughter, or at their bestowinge. I bequeath to Roger, the boye in
my kitchin, twentie shillinges: and to Alexander xx*-: and to Norrice
xx«- I bequeath to Anne Hunt tenne powndes : and to my cosin Anne
Mason thre pownde, six shillings, eight pence : and to her sister Wise
fortie shillinges : and to Prudence Mason that fyve pownde which my
wife willed unto her, and xxxiii*. imrf- of my bequest besides : and to
Mystris Conysby twentie shillinges: and to Prudence Edwardes ^6111.
vi«. vi xid. to her marriage. I bequeath to Anne Lee a tablett of golde,
with a pommaunder in it. I will and bequeath to Anne Hunt, besides
her annuity of twentie-six shillings eight pence by the yere, thirtene shil-
linges fower pence by the yere; to be taken and received of the rentes of

406 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv.

my howses in Flete Strete at London, during her litfe. Also I will and

bequeathe to Oswalde, my Butler, twentie shillings by yere during his lyfe,

to be taken of the same rentes : also to Smevvyn twentie shillinges by

yere, to be taken of the same rentes, during his lyfe : and also to my cozin

Thomas Ashwell fortie shillings by yere, during his lyfe, to be taken of

the same rentes. Also I geve unto the same Thomas Asshwell the best of

my geldinges that he will chose, after my Executour hath first chosen out

twain for himself. I give to Sir George Gifforde a signet of golde, with a

blue stone, and the best of my gownes that he will chose. Also I bequeath

to John Croke, my sonne, and to Elizabeth his wiffe, my ferme of Adin-

^rove : to have to them, and to theire assignes, for so many yeres as they

and eyther of them shall lyve, enduring the term and lease of the said

ferme: and, after their deceases, I give and bequeath the residue of yeres

of the said ferme then to come, and of the lease of the same, to the heirs of

the bodie of the saide John my soonne, lawfullie begotten ; and, for lack

of such issue, to the right heirs of me John Croke, th' elder. Also I geve

and bequeath to every of my godchildren, in Chilton, and Esendon, fyve

shillings a pece : and to Thomas Golde, the Attorney of the Common

Place, eight powndes, in satisfaction for the cropp at Hayes that was in

variance between him and me, and never yet dyscussed : yt contayned by

estimation xii acres of wheate and rye newly sowen. Also I bequeath to

the poore people of Beckeley, Studley, and Horton, fortie shillinges ; and

to the pore people of thes Townes following, (that is to say,) to Borstall

twentie shillings: to Ockeley twentie shillings : to Brill fortie shillings : to

Ludgarsall twentie shillings : to Dorton twentie shillings : to Wotton

twentie shillings: to Asshendon and Pollicott twentie shillings: to Neather

Wynchindon twentie shillings : to Cherdesley twentie shillings : to Cren-

don twentie shillings : to Shobyndon twentie shillings : to Ikford twentie

shillings : to Wornall twentie shillings : to Chilton and Esindon twentie

shillings. Also I give and bequeath to yonge Ciceley Croke my chain of

golde, conteynyng in lyncks the nomber of a 148, and also my late wiffe's

wedding ring. Also I give and bequeath to my olde companyons, the

Feloweshipp of the Six Clerks, tenne powndes ; to be bestowed by them

in manner and forme followinge; that is to say, tenne marks thereof uppon

such thinges as they shall thynke moste necessary for theire house ; and

chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 407

fyve marks residue uppon a convenyent dynner : whereunto I will require
them to call Sir Richard Reade, the Clerks of the Petie Bagge, th'
Examynours, and the Regester. I give unto Maister Leder my hope of
golde. And of this my last Will and Testament, I ordeyn and make
John Croke, my son, my Executour, to whom I will and geve all the
residue of my goodes not before bequeathed. In witness whereof I have
subscribed this my last Will and Testament, and sett to my seale, the day
and year above written. Per me Johannem Croke — Robert Keylway —
Edward Unton — Ciceley Unton — J. Coventre.

408 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY.

DIGRESSION.

The History of the Priory of Studley, its possessors, founders, and
benefactors.

THE materials for the earlier part of the history of the Priory at Studley,
have been extracted from the ruins of antiquity by the industry of Bishop
Kennet ; the parish of Beckley, in which it is situated, having originally
formed a part of the extensive honor, barony, or lordship, in which the
parishes of Ambroseden and Bicester, the more peculiar subjects of his
valuable work, were likewise comprehended.

Nothing more is known of this place before the Norman conquest, than
that the village of Beccaule, which was bequeathed by King Alfred, in
the year 901, to his relation Osferth, is supposed to have been Beckley a ;
and that in 1005, Ailmer, Earl of Cornwall, founded an Abbey of Bene-
dictine Monks, to whom he gave certain lands, which he exchanged with
his kinsman Godwin for five mansions at Stodelege, now perhaps Studley".
Whoever was the possessor at the time of the Conquest, it was one of
the estates which were seized by William, and bestowed upon his fol-
lowers. Amongst these, Robert de Oyley enjoyed a considerable
share of his sovereign's favour. Wigod de Walengeford, a powerful
Saxon nobleman, had supported William's claim to the throne of England,
and had hospitably entertained him in his castle at Wallingford. To
gratify one of his adherents, and at the same time to ingratiate himself
with his new subjects, in the year 1066, he bestowed in marriage to
Robert de Oyley, Aldith, the only daughter and heiress of Wigod ; who,
after her father's death, which happened soon after, succeeded to his great
estates. Upon this marriage, King William gave likewise to De Oyley
two other lordships, the barony of Oxford, or De Oyley, and what was
afterwards called the honor of Saint Valori, of which the head, or capital

* Rennet's Parochial Antiquities, page 39, from /Elfredi Vita MSS. p. 194. This Beck-
ley, Beccaulea, in a note to the will of King Alfred, Oxford, 1788, is said to have been in
Sussex. " Ibid. p. 46. Mori. Ang. torn i. p. 254, 259.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 409

seat was at Beckley, and which contained a large extent of country,
including Studley, Ambroseden, Mixbury, Northbrook, Arncott, and
other manors.

The institutions of chivalry were the foundation of all the virtues of
those rude times. The minds of the knights were elevated and refined by
the love of God, and of the ladies, and by the sentiments of honor and
courage required by their profession. The rivalship, incident to those
engaged in the same noble pursuits, might have promoted divisions in-
jurious to the public interests. But the children of chivalry were all con-
sidered as brethren, and a more intimate connexion subsisted between
many of them in the voluntary association of brothers, or companions in
arms. Mutual esteem, and a similarity of ideas and pursuits, were the
foundation of an exalted friendship, which received a peculiar form in these
associations. They were entered into either for some particular enterprize,
or generally, and for life. The Brothers took a solemn oath to share
equally the labours, and dangers, the glory, and the profit of their adven-
tures, and never to abandon each other in their perils, or misfortunes.
Besides the oath, other fanciful ceremonies were sometimes employed: the
knights mingled their blood ; hearts of gold were given, or an exchange of
armour was made ; they received the sacrament, or jointly kissed the
sacred vessel in which it was contained. Like members of the same
family, they adopted the same dress and armour, and they had the same
friends and enemies. The engagement was considered as of the most
sacred and indissoluble nature. The obligation to assist a brother in arms
was held to be paramount to every other duty, except that to the Sovereign
alone, and even a distressed damsel might in vain implore the succour of
the Knight, when necessity compelled him to fly to the relief of his com-
panion. Knights of different nations frequently took upon them these
mutual engagements, but the connexion was at once dissolved in case a
war arose between their respective sovereigns0.

This practice prevailed as early as the time of William, and such a con-
nection subsisted between many of the knights who came over from Nor-
mandy: of these Eudo and Pinco are particularly mentioned d. Robert

* De Sainte Palaye, Me"moire sur l'ancienne Chevalerie, vol. i. p. 224. Du Cange,
Dissertation 21, sur Joinville, and Gloss, voce Anna Mutare. d Dugd. Baron, vol. i.

p. 439-

3 G

410 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PIIIORY. book iv.

de Oyley had a fellow adventurer, and sworn brother, in Roger de Iveri'.
In virtue of this engagement, when William the Conqueror bestowed two
lordships upon De Oyley, upon his marriage, he honourably gave one of
them to Roger de Ivery, about the year 1077- This was the lordship
of which Beckley was the head. Before this gift Robert de Oyley had
endowed his chapel of St. George within his castle at Oxford with two
parts of the tithe of Beckley, the tithes of Horton, and half a hide of land
in Stodele : they were afterwards transferred to the Abbey of Oseney, in
1149f. Tins family of De Ivery was descended from Rodolph, maternal
half-brother to Richard the First, Duke of Normandy : who having dis-
tinguished himself by killing a monstrous boar, in a hunting party with
his royal brother, was rewarded for that service with the castle and lands
of Ivery, on the river l'Evre, in Normandy, which gave him the title of
Counts. Roger de Ivery was the son of Waleran de Ivery, who held a
knight's fee in the baily wick of Tenechebrai in Normandy by the service of
being Pincerna, or Cup-bearer, to the Dukeh. His son Roger enjoyed
the same honour of being Cup-bearer to William, after his accession to
the throne of England, and married Adeline, eldest daughter of Hugh de
Grentmaisnel, and Adelidis his wife. Hugh came over with the Con-
queror, and having distinguished himself in the battle of Hastings, was
afterwards joined with Odo, Bishop of Baieux, and William Fitzosborn,
in the administration of justice throughout the kingdom.

This lordship was then styled the Barony of Ivery, and constituted its
owner an English Peer. Roger de Ivery likewise gave his name to the
town of Iver, in Buckinghamshire, which belonged to him. He died
about the year 1079? leaving three sons : Roger; Hugo, who had the
manor of Ambroseden ; and Geoffrey'. The eldest, Roger de Ivery,
succeeded to the Baronies, and to the office of Cup-bearer. About the
year 1086, he attended the King in Normandy, and was appointed

' Memorandum ijuod Robertus de Oleio, et Rogerus de Iverio, fratres jurati, et per fidem
et sacramentum confederati, venerunt ad conquestum Anglia;, cum Rege Willielmo Bas-
tard. Iste Rex dedit dicto Roberto duas Baronias, quas modo vocantur Doylivorum, et S.
Waleria. Register of Oseney Abbey, MSS. penes Decan. et Capit. Md. Christi. Kennet,
1066.

1 Kennet, 1083. e Gul. Gemet. p. i>88. h Norman. Script, p. 1048. ' Kennet,
p. 62, S3, from Domesday Book and Oseney Register.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 41 1

Governor of the castle of Rohan ; where he gave a proof of his courage
and fidelity in defending it against one of the rebellious attempts of Robert,
the King's sonk. Upon the death of King William, in the disputes for
the succession, with his relation Hugh de Grentmaisnel, he supported the
title of Robert to the crown of England ; for which he was banished by
William Rufus in 1087, forfeited all his estates in England, and died in
sorrow and disgrace. His misfortunes were considered by the monks of
Worcester as a judgment for his having robbed them of the manor of
Hampton1.

Geoffrey de Ivery, the youngest son, was restored to his brother's
possessions, and, dying without issue, the barony de Ivery fell to the
Crown. But though the direct line was now extinct, yet some collateral
branches long continued in the country"1.

About the year 1155, King Henry the Second bestowed this barony
upon Reginald de Saint Valori, or, as it was called in England,
Saint Walery".

This noble and ancient family were Lords of St. Valori in Normandy, a
town so named from St. Valorie, a disciple of Columban, who was made
Abbot of a Monastery in the territory of Amiens by Clothaire, in 589.
The first person who is known of this family was Gilbert, who was styled
the Duke of Normandy's Advocate de Sancto Gualerico. He married
Papia, the daughter of Richard the Second, Duke of Normandy. His
son was Bernard de St. Walery, father of Walter de St. Walery, who
flourished under Duke Robert the Second, and with his son Bernard was
present at the siege of Nice in 1096. Ranulph de St. Walery, who is
recorded in Domesday Book, attended Duke William upon his expedition
to England. Guy de St. Walery seems to have been his son, or younger
brother, and died about the year 1141; leaving, by his wife Albreda,
Reginald his son and heir0.

k Kennet, p. 70, from Ordericus Vitalis, b. iv. p. 546. ' Ibid. p. 70. Mon. Ang. torn. i.
p. 134. b. m Ibid. p. 83. Regist. de Oseney. See the History of the House of Yvery,
written by John, Earl of Egmont; printed, but not published, in 1764.

" Kennet first states, that this honor was given soon after the death of Geoffrey de Ivery
to Guy de St. Valori, p. 83, but afterwards, p. 104, he says this is a mistake, and that it
was first given to his son Reginald by Henry II. about 1155, and that Jeffrey was living
in 1149.

° Kennet, p. S3.

3 G 2

412 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

Reginald de Saint Valori having assisted the Empress Matilda, King
Stephen seized his lordship of Haseldone in Gloucestershire, which he
gave to John Saint John of Stanton. Henry the Second, upon his acces-
sion to the throne, restored it to Reginald, but as in the mean time it had
been given to the Abbey of Kingswood, the monks were unwilling to
relinquish their claim to it. At length Reginald having been enjoined as
a penance by the Pope to found an Abbey of the Cistertian order, they
surrendered it upon condition of his performing this injunction. The
abbey was erected at Haseldon, and the Abbot of Kingswood, with
many of his monks, were translated thither. From hence, from a defi-
ciency of water, they removed to Tettebiri, and afterwards, being ill supplied
with wood, his son, Bernard de Saint Valori, procured from Roger de
Berkley forty acres of land in Mireford near Kingswood, and transferred
the Cistertian Abbey to that place. For which Bernard granted to Roger
de Berkley freedom from toll in his port of Saint Valori''. Reginald soon
after confirmed to the nuns of Godstow, Heringesham, and Boieham, and
whatever John Saint John had given them'1.

Reginald de St. Valori was in great favour with Henry. In 1 15.5, soon
after the death of Geoffrey de lvery, the King conferred upon him the
honor of lvery, which from this time was called the honor of Saint
Valori, or Waleryr. Bishop Kennet has no where defined the exact ex-
tent of this honour. The lands of Roger de Iveri are thus stated in
Domesday-book. In Peritune Hundred, Mixbury, Astall, Fulbrook,
Etone, Northbrook, Horspath, Hensington, Heathrop, Clanfield, Barton,
Beckley, Cheping Norton, Sherborn, Holton, North Leigh, Hampton-
Gay, Wistelle, Cutslowe, Rousham. In the first Gadre Hundred,
Norbrook, Stoke Line. In the second Gadre Hundred, Walcot, Wool-
vercot5. I think it extremely probable that the whole of these lands con-

p Mon. Ang. vol. i. p. 811. b. S12. b. Kennet, p. 97, 113, 126. ■» Monastic on, -vol. i.
p. 525. b. r Kennet, p. 113.

* I state the modern names as they are given by Kennet, Par. Ant. p. 67- In Domesday
they are, Misseberie, Estalle, Fulebroc, Etone, Noidbroc, Horspadan, Hansitone, Trop,
Chenefclde, Berton, Bechelie, Nortone, Scirburne, Eltone, Lege, Hantone, Wistelle, Cods-
laue, Rovesham, Norbroc, Stoches, Waltone, Ulfgarcote. The wife of Roger de Iveri in
Besentone Hundred held Letelape, (Islip) and Oxendone, (Oddington.) In Edward the
Confessor's time, the manors of Burcester, (Bicester,) Ambroseden, Stratton, Weston, &e.
belonged to Wigod de Walingford. Domesday Book.

CHAP. II.

HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY.

stituted the honour of Iveri, and afterwards of Saint Valori. Some manors
might in process of time have been detached from it by sale or gift, but
it must be observed that it was held of the Crown by the same service of
ten knights' fees, as long as it continued in the hands of a subject. At the
death of Richard, King of the Romans, in 1272, the manors of Beckley,
Ambrosedon, Blackthorn, Henley, and Willarstone only are mentioned'.
The capital seat of the honour was at Beckley, where was a castle, in
which Richard, King of the Romans, his son Edmund, Earl of Cornwall,
and the other Lords resided. Upon the site where it stood, are still to be
seen an ancient pigeon-house, and evident remains of foundations. Here of
course the Lords of the dependent manors performed their suit and ser-
vices".

Reginald was appointed a Commissioner to enquire what rents were due
to the King in Normandy in 1161, and to collect a scutage, which was as-
sessed in the same year upon the county of Oxford. He confirmed like-
wise to the monks of St. Frideswide at Oxford the manors of Knittinton
in Berkshire, which had been given by his father. In 1164, he was one
of the Barons in the Council of Clarendon, and was deputed with other
Lords to wait upon Lewis, the King of France. He died about 1 166, and
left a son named Bernard, and a daughter called Matilda".

Matilda married William de Braose, a powerful Baron, and for her bold
and resolute behaviour to King John, was miserably famished, with her
eldest son, in Windsor Castle in ^lO?.

His son, Bernard de Saint Valory, the founder of the monas-
tery at Studley, being abroad at his father's death, the King issued a pre-
cept to the Sheriffs of the counties in which his lands were situated, to
secure his rights and property till his return2. For the livery of his lands
he paid to the King five marks and a half, in which were included, half a
mark for Beckley, and one mark for Horton. It appears by a charter of
the year Il695 that he was still in possession of the original hereditary
lordship of St. Valori in Normandy.

In 1171 he fell under the King's displeasure, his lands were seized, and
the rents paid into the Exchequer. But his peace was soon made, and it

' Kennet, p. 276. u Ibid. p. 1Q5. * Kennet, in annis. * Mat. West, sub

anno. * Kennet, p. 123.

414- HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. hook iv.

seems to have been a condition that he should give to the King his manor
of Wolvercott, and the advowson of the nunnery of Godstow, near Oxford,
both which estates he had acquired in frank marriage with his second wife
Avoris, the daughter of John de St. John, Lord of Stanton a.

He was a considerable benefactor to the monks. In 1172 he gave to
the Abbey of Oseney a pool near the Thames, with a watercourse running
to the mill, and the moiety of seventeen acres and a half of his demesne
lands in the isle of Oseney. To the Hospital of St. Giles in London he
gave rents and privileges at Isleworth, and confirmed and enlarged his
father's gifts to the nuns at Ambesbury\ He granted likewise a charter
to the nuns of Godstow near Oxford, about 1 172, with lands and fisheries".
King Henry the Second bestowed upon him the manor of Ardington, now
Yarnton, in Berks, in 1 1 SO *' .

In the year 1 184 according to Kennet, but Bishop Tanner supposes in
1176, or 1179, he founded the Priory of Studley, for nuns of the
Benedictine order, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and endowed it with
half a hide of land in Horton. This is the earliest charter which is known,
but it seems rather to imply that the convent was already in existence6.

He was attending Richard the First in Normandy, when his father,
Henry the Second, died in 1189- Soon after the coronation he again ac-
companied the King into Normandy, where he went to prepare for his ex-
pedition to Palestine. Bernard assumed the Cross with his sovereign,
and, for his better success, in his passage through France, he founded an
Abbey, which he called Locus Dei, Lieu Dieu, or Godestow, in 119 1,
in the county of Eu, upon the river Breston, which divides Normandy
from Picardyf. To the convention which was made at Messina between
Philip Augustus, King of France, and Richard, amongst the fidejiissores,
or securities, was Bernardus de St. Walery, or such of his heirs as should
inherit St. Valori8.

The events of this memorable crusade are well known, and the immortal
honour acquired by Richard Cceur de Lion, and his brave associates.

* Kennet, p. 127. b Ibid. c Kennet, p. 128. '' Ibid, in anno.

' Studley Chartukry. ISryan Twyne's MSS. Kennet, in anno. Tanner's Notitia Mo-
nastica. Dugdale's Monasticon. ' Kennet, p. 1 49. Gallia Christiana, vol. x. p. 328.

5 The new edition of Kennet, in anno, from Ryuier.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 415

The siege of Acre was then the principal scene of action. It was here
that the romantic bravery of Richard, and the Franks, met with a worthy
adversary in the courage and virtues of Saladine. After two years the city
was compelled to surrender ; but this siege and victory were purchased at
an immense expence of money, troops, and heroes. More than one hun-
dred thousand Christians were slain, and every country in Europe had to
lament the loss of its princes, nobles, and knights. Amongst these is
enumerated Bernard de Saint Valori, who was shot through the head by
an arrow from an arbalet, or cross-bow h.

He was succeeded in his baronies by Thomas de St. Walery, who
paid one hundred and seventy marks for the relief of his barony', and was
likewise a considerable benefactor to the service of religion, and the second
founder of the Priory of Studley. He married Adela, or Edela, heiress to
the lordship of Saint Albine, near Dieppe in Normandy, and daughter of
the Count of Ponthieuk, of whom the following extraordinary story is
related in the History of Picardy.

" Thomas de Saint Valery was travelling with his wife Adela, daughter
of a Count de Ponthieu. They were attacked near a forest by eight
armed men. St. Valery, after a severe struggle, was seized, bound, and
thrown into a thicket. His wife was carried off, exposed to the brutality
of the banditti, and afterwards dismissed in a state of nudity. She, how-
ever, sought for and found her husband, and they returned together.
They were soon after met by their servants, whom they had left at an
inn, and returned to their father's castle at Abbeville. The barbarous
Count, full of false ideas of honour, proposed, some days after, to his
daughter, a ride to his town of Rue, on the sea shore. There they en-
tered a bark, as if to sail about for pleasure ; and they had stood out three
leagues from the shore, when the Count de Ponthieu starting up, said,
with a terrible voice, " Lady, death must now efface the shame which
" your misfortune has brought on all your family !" The sailors, pre-
viously instructed, instantly seized her, shut her up in a hogshead, and
threw her into the sea, while the bark regained the coast. Happily a
Flemish vessel passing near the coast, the crew observed the floating hogs-
head, and expecting a prize of good wine, took it up, opened it, and with

" Roger de Hovedon, p. 685. '< Kennet, p. IhQ. k Ibid. p. 156.

416 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY.

BOOK IV.

great surprise found a beautiful woman. She was, however, almost dead,
from terror and want of air ; and at her earnest entreaty the honest
Flemings sent a boat ashore with her. She gained her husband's house,
who was in tears for her supposed death. The scene was extremely
affecting — but Adela survived it only a few hours. John, Count of Pon-
thieu, repenting of his crime, gave to the Monks of St. Valery the right of
fishing three days in the year in and about the spot where his daughter
had been thrown overboard1."

In 1193, Thomas de St. Valori gave his manor of Mixbury to the
Abbey of Oseney. In 1202, he confirmed to the Abbot of Thame some
land in Stoke, and in 120:3 he confirmed his father's foundation of the
Priory of Studley, with some new gifts"1.

In 1205, he confirmed to the monks of Bittledon lands in Dodford".
In 1206, he owed the King ten marks and nine shillings for arrears of
scutage". In 1207, he confirmed his father's foundation of Godstow in
France. He afterwards incurred the King's displeasure, and his lands
were seized by the Crown ; for in 1209 he paid a composition of one
thousand marks to recover them. The custody of his barony having been
in the mean time committed to Robert de Braibroc''.

In 1212, an Inquisition was taken of the honor of Saint Valori q. In
1213, Thomas de St. Valori, by adhering to the Pope and the French
interests, again offended the King, who sent a precept to the Sheriff of
Oxfordshire, with orders for putting in some discreet steward to take care
of his lands and chattels, commanding him to be summoned to appear on
a certain day. And another precept was sent to Ralph Hareng, Seneschal
of the honor of St. Valori, requiring him to assign to Gerard de Rodes
land to the value of twenty pounds out of the said estate1".

In 1216, the King committed his estate to Ralph Harengod, to keep
for the use of Thomas de Saint Valori', who confirmed the grants to
Godstow Nunnery in Oxfordshire. In 12175 a precept was issued to the
Sheriff of Oxfordshire to give Thomas de St. Valori possession of the lands

1 The History of Picardy, quoted by Horace Walpole, from whom the above is taken.
Walpoliana, vol. ii. page 128.

m Kennet, in anno. Mon. Ang. torn. i. p. 147- Studley Chart, and Brian Twyne.

n Kennet, p. 16?. ° Ibid. p. 168. p Ibid, in anno. q Ibid. p. 175.

' Ibid, in anno. 6 Ibid. p. 183.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 417

of his brother Henry, of which he had been disseized in the Barons' war, and
Henry had seizen of his lands in Fulbroc in Oxfordshire, Northon and
Sutton in Huntingdonshire, and Henton in Berks, where he had obtained
a market'.

Henry de St. Valori, brother of Thomas, late lord of the manor of
Ambrosden, at a trial before the itinerant Judges in the county of Buck-
inghamshire, lost his lands in the said county by default to the King,
because his attorney had not personally appeared in the court, after four
days admonition ; but would have pleaded for an Essonium de malo lectin
that is, that upon sickness of the party summoned, attested in the open
court for four days successively, the Judges shall then appoint four knights
to attend the sick person, and see him depute an attorney to appear for
him. Which plea was now overruled by the Judges, because no attorney
could have an attorney, as no proctor could have a proctor. Upon which
Henry de St. Valori was judged in default, and his lands taken into the
King's hands".

Thomas de St. Valori died in 1219, 4 Henry III. and left only one
daughter, Allanora, who was married to Robert, surnamed Gastabled,
Earl of Dreux, a French peer, who was of the royal blood of France,
being descended from Louis le Gros. He had livery of all the lands in
England of her inheritance, including the honor of St. Valori, and in 1220
confirmed the gifts of Thomas de St. Valori to the Abbey of Oseney*.

About 1227, ah the lands of the Earl of Dreux were seized by the King,
during some contests in France. He died in 1228, and was succeeded in
his possessions in France, by his eldest son John, as Earl of Dreux and
Brenne, and Lord of St. Valori, in Normandy. But the honor of St.
Valori in England remained in the hands of the Crown. The arms of
St. Valori were, two lions passant, which appears by a seal of Thomas de
Saint Valori51. Allanora then married Henry, Earl of Sully l.

Upon the disseizure and death of Earl Robert, the custody of his lands
in England, which he held in right of his wife, was committed to
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the King's brother, in 1229, of which,
in 1231, he had a full grant from his royal brother. But some part was

' Kennet, p. 1S4. u Bracton, Hingham magna, cap. 4. Kennet, p. 198.

* Dugd. Baron, vol. i. p. 455. Du Tillet, Recueil, p. 27, SS, 45. y R- Dods. MSS.

vol. 20. fol. 58. ' Du Tillet, p. 27.

3 H

418 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

allotted to Allanora, the widow of Robert. Richard, Earl of Cornwall,
who had been elected King of the Romans, in 1256, died in 1272, and
was succeeded by his son Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, who dying
without issue, in 1300, the honor of St. Walery descended to the King,
Edward the First, as next heir\ ThisBarony was valued at ten knights'
fees\ By King Edward the Second it was granted to his favourite Piers
de Gaveston0, upon whose death in 1312 it again reverted to the King,
who immediately gave it to his new creature, Hugh le Despenser'1.
Hugh granted it to his relation Sir John de Handlo'. After this it
appears to have been in various hands. In 1317, the King gave it to
Isabel his Queen for lifef. In 1332, John de Eltham, Earl of Cornwall,
was possessed of it1-'. In 1337, Sir John de Handlo held the manor of
Beckley for life, and William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, obtained a
grant in fee in reversion after the death of Handlo. In 1351, Edward the
Black Prince held it by grant of the King as Duke of Cornwall \ In
1357, Almaric de S. Amand was lord of the manor of Beckley1. From
the want of sufficient documents, these intermediate possessions are not
clearly understood, but in 1376, after the death of the Black Prince, the
honor of St. Walery was ultimately vested in the Crown, with whom it
has ever since continued : parcels, or particular manors only, having been
granted out\

In the fifth year of Edward the Sixth, 1551, the King, by his letters
patent, dated the 24th of April, amongst other things, granted to Sir
Walter Mildmaye the manor of Beckley, with all messuages, lands, tene-
ments, woods, &c. in Beckley and Horton in the county of Oxford, to
hold in capite by the service of the hundredth part of a knight's fee, as
parcel of the honor of Ewelme. From him it was transferred to Sir Henry
Norris, and thus came into the family of the Earl of Abingdon1.

'Studley Chart, f. 42. In 121-1, Philippa Basset, Countess of Warwick, gave to the
Canons of Bicester seven shillings rent, which Roger de Stodley paid for a tenement in
Stodley. Kennet, p. 232. R. Dods. MSS. Pipe. vol. 15. f. 120. vol. 20. f. 30. vol. -12. f. 127.
vol. 61. f. 38.

11 Studley Chart, f. 46. R. Dods. MSS. vol. 14. f. 246. vol. 15. f. 58, 285, 325. c Dugd.
Baron, vol. ii. p. 42. Dugd. MSS. B. 1. 142. R. Dods. MSS. vol. 35. f. 25. * Dugd.

Baron, vol. i. p. 390. ' R. Dods. vol. 107. f. 201. f Dugd. MSS. C. 138. % Year

Book, Ed. iii p. 223. " Decree of Appropriation. Studley Chartulary. ' Dugd. Bar.

vol. ii. p. 20. h Kennet. ' Studley Chartulary, fol. 42.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 419

The extent of the manor of Beckley, and of what it consisted, is clearly
ascertained by an inquisition taken on the death of Edmund, Earl of
Cornwall, before the Escheator, on the 16th of November, in the twenty-
eighth year of Edward the First, 1300. It is a very particular and minute
account of the manor of Beckley, and Hamlet of Horton, and of all the
messuages, the number of acres of plowed land, meadow, and wood, the
names, rents, and services of every freeholder, bondman, cottager, and
every other possession, right, and franchise belonging to the manor. The
value of the whole is estimated at ^44. 3s. 7\d. a year ; of which 6s. 8d.
was held by the Prioress of Studley in free alms. It was held of the King,
in capite, as of the honor of St. Valori, and King Edward was found to be
the next heir™.

Upon this inquisition, in the old chartulary, amongst other remarks, it
is observed,

First, That neither the Prioress of Studley, nor the Lord of the manor
of Ashe, nor any other person inhabiting, or having any lands, within the
towns of Studley, Ashe, or Merlacke, is said or declared to be a freeholder
of the manor of Beckley, or suitor to the court there, or to owe any
manner of suit or service to the Lord of that manor.

Secondly, That no part of the manor of Beckley extendeth into any
other county than Oxfordshire.

Thirdly, That no mention is made of the great parcel of ground called
Otmoor, " which Moor at this day some would fain find to be parcel of
" the manor of Beckley, but if it had been so in deed, and so known,
" taken, and esteemed, in those days, it could not, nor should not, have
" been so utterly forgotten, and so clearly left altogether out, and unmen-
" tioned in the said presentment. And specially for that it is so great and
" notable a quantity of ground, so beneficial a common, and so profitable
" for fowling and fishing to all the inhabitants of six or seven townships
" bordering round about it, who always together, videlicet, every of the
" said townships, as well one as another, have ever used, and enjoyed the
" said common, for all their flocks of sheep, herds of beasts, and all
;' manner of cattle, at all times, and have taken and enjoyed the profits of
" the fowling and fishing at their pleasure, at all times. No one of the

m Studley Chartulary, fol. 46. b.
3 H 2

420 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

" said townships claiming any preheminence, or greater right, or interest
" than the rest"."

It appears then, that when these observations were made, above two
hundred years ago, the claim of the lord of the manor of Beckley to the
lordship of Otmoor was considered as a new claim. Otmoor was not ori-
ginally comprehended within the manor of Beckley, as is clearly proved by
this inquisition. It was probably part of the wastes of the honor of Saint
Valori, and that honor not having been granted out, the Moor remained
the property of the Crown. The tenants of all the manors within that
honor had of course right of common upon it: and the other neighbouring
towns by usage : but being inconvenient for the occupation of those at a
distance, the use and the right gradually became confined to the townships
immediately surrounding it0. It would necessarily be under the juris-
diction of the court of the honor of Saint Valori, which was held at
Beckley. After those courts were disused, the court of the lord of the
manor of Beckley, which was held at the same place, naturally enough
assumed some parts of their jurisdiction, gradually extended its authority
over the neighbouring waste of Otmoor, exercised manorial rights over it,
and made regulations, which being for the general good were acquiesced
in. And this usurpation upon the Crown has been matured by time and
possession into a perfect right.

In the mean time, the Priory at Studley was augmented by various
donations, as well by the Founder, his heirs and successors, as by strangers.
The original foundation consisted of the house, and site, and half a
hide of land in Horton, given by Bernard de Saint Valori. This gift was
confirmed by his son Thomas de Saint Valori in 1203, who prescribed the
mode of electing the Prioress. She was to be chosen with his consent, or
that of his Seneschal, if he was absent abroad. Upon this nomination she
was to be presented to the Bishop of Lincoln, and to appear at Saint
Valori 's court at Oxford to perform fealty. That is, a free election was
left to the Religious, yet a conge d'eslire was first to be obtained from the
Patron. He granted likewise pannage for feeding the Prioress's pigsp.

n Studley Chartulary, fol. 49. b.

° The towns of Charlton, Fencot, Moorcot, Noke, and Oddington, were not part of the
honor of St. Valori. Rennet, p. 6\. et passim.

p Charter in Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 486. Rennet, p. 165, and Glossary, voce
Advowson of Religious Houses.

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420 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

" said townships claiming any preheminence, or greater right, or interest
" than the rest"."

It appears then, that when these observations were made, above two
hundred years ago, the claim of the lord of the manor of Beckley to the
iordship of Otmoor was considered as a new claim. Otmoor was not ori-
ginally comprehended within the manor of Beckley, as is clearly proved by
this inquisition. It was probably part of the wastes of the honor of Saint
Valori, and that honor not having been granted out, the Moor remained
the property of the Crown. The tenants of all the manors within that
honor had of course right of common upon it: and the other neighbouring
towns by usage : but being inconvenient for the occupation of those at a
distance, the use and the right gradually became confined to the townships
immediately surrounding it0. It would necessarily be under the juris-
diction of the court of the honor of Saint Valori, which was held at
Beckley. After those courts were disused, the court of the lord of the
manor of Beckley, which was held at the same place, naturally enough
assumed some parts of their jurisdiction, gradually extended its authority
over the neighbouring waste of Otmoor, exercised manorial rights over it,
and made regulations, which being for the general good were acquiesced
in. And this usurpation upon the Crown has been matured by time and
possession into a perfect right.

In the mean time, the Priory at Studley was augmented by various
donations, as well by the Founder, his heirs and successors, as by strangers.
The original foundation consisted of the house, and site, and half a
hide of land in Horton, given by Bernard de Saint Valori. This gift was
confirmed by his son Thomas de Saint Valori in 1203, who prescribed the
mode of electing the Prioress. She was to be chosen with his consent, or
that of his Seneschal, if he was absent abroad. Upon this nomination she
was to be presented to the Bishop of Lincoln, and to appear at Saint
Valori's court at Oxford to perform fealty. That is, a free election was
left to the Religious, yet a conge d'eslire was first to be obtained from the
Patron. He granted likewise pannage for feeding the Prioress's pigsp.

" Studley Chartulary, fol. 49. b.

0 The towns of Charlton, Fencot, Moorcot, Noke, and Oddington, were not part of the
honor of St. Valori. Kennet, p. 6l. et passim.

"• Charter in Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 486. Kennet, p. 165, and Glossary, voce
Advowson of Religious Houses.

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chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 421

In August, in the ninth year of John, 1207, Thomas de Saint Valori
granted a rent of three shillings in Beckleyi.

By another charter without date, he granted a carriage load of dead wood
for firing weekly, to be taken out of Horton wood, by view of his Forester ;
and a piece of land to enlarge their garden'.

Richard, King of the Romans, by his charter, granted to the Nuns
twelve feet of land in breadth all round the priory in his demesne wood of
Horton9.

His son, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, granted them one acre and half of
his waste of Horton to enlarge their enclosure, by a charter dated the first
of October, in the twenty-seventh year of Edward the First, 1298'.

In 1226, Robert Earl of Dreux, Lord of Saint Valori, and Alanor his
wife, daughter and heir of Thomas de Saint Valori, granted the advowson
of the Church of Beckley to the Nuns of Studley. The grant was con.
firmed by Alanor after the death of her husband in 1234\ Hugh, Bishop
of Lincoln, assigned certain tithes to the Nuns, in 1230*.

The Nuns having recovered seizin of the presentation of the Church of
Beckley against the King, and the Master of the Temple, Hugh Bishop
of Lincoln, at the petitions of the King, and of Richard Earl of Pictou
and Cornwall, and at the instance of the Nuns, with the consent of the
Dean and Chapter, confirmed the right of advowson to them, and assigned
to them a pension of ten marks from the said Church in certain portions
after specified, together with the small tithes. These portions were, the
tithes of corn of five hides of plowed land of the fee of the Lord of Saint
Valori in Horton, with the tithe of hay thereunto belonging. The third
part of the tithes of corn of two hides of the demesnes of Robert de Bosco,
and John, the son of Alexander, in the town of Esses, with the tithes of
hay. The tithes of corn of one carrucate of land cleared and cultivated by
the Nuns in the town of Esses, provided that if they should clear any
more land they should pay tithes for the same to the Church of Beckley,
and they presented Nicholas de Anna, Clerk, to the Rectory, who was
instituted by the Bishop, and took an oath not to molest the Nuns in the

i Dugdale. Kennet, p. 169. ' Dugdale, and Br. Twyne, No. 4. ' Dugdale.

B. Twyne, No. 13. 'Dugdale. Br. Twyne, No. 14. "Dugdale. Studley Char-

tulary, f. 26. Br. Twyne, No. 5, 6, 7, 8. * Br. Twyne, No. 6, 7-

422 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

said assignments of tithes y. This transaction took place in 12347. In
1248, the Prioress again presented to the Church of Beckley*.

Yet afterwards, for some reason which does not appear, the advowson
was in the Lords of Saint Valori. For in 1283, Edmund Earl of Corn-
wall presented to the Church1'. In 1290 he presented Philip de Hed-
deshonere, in place of Richard de Sottewell, instituted to the Church of
Frothinghamc. On the death of Philip de Heddeshonere he presented
Henry de Exond. In 1301, the King presented, as having the honor of
Saint Valori descended to him'. In 1316, Sir John de Handlo presented
Robert de Hanlo, Clerk, on the vacancy by the resignation of James de
Berkhamstedef. Upon the institution of Robert de Hanlo to the Church
of Haseley in 1318, Sir John Hanlo presented Edmund de Lodelawes.

During this period several controversies took place. In the year 1292
there was a suit between Philip de Heddeshonere, the Rector of Beckley,
and dementia the Prioress and convent of Studley, respecting the tithes
of corn and hay which were claimed by the Prioress. By the consent of
parties it was referred to the arbitration of Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln ; who
having made all due enquiries, in the presence of Edmund Earl of Corn-
wall, as patron of the living, decided in favour of the Prioress's claims,
and a deed was drawn up and executed by the parties1'.

There was also a controversy between Sir Edmund de Lodelow, Rector
of Beckley, and the Prior and convent of Saint Frideswide, the appro-
priators of Oakley, concerning the tithes of a wood called Godstowe-wood,
which each of the parties asserted to be within their respective parishes.
It was decided by the Bishop of Lincoln in 1328 in favour of the Priory,
it being found that the wood was within the forest of Bernwood, and
therefore within the parish of Oakley'.

In 1345, in Michaelmas term, there was a trial between the King and
the Prioress of Studley, for the taxation of three hides of land annexed to
the Nunnery, in which the Prioress pleaded, that at the foundation three
hides of land in the parish of Beckley were annexed to it, and that she was

y Studley Chartulary, fol. 25. z Regis, Line. a Regis, Lincoln. b R. Dods.

MSS. vol. 44. f. 1S1 . e Reg. Lincoln. 01. Sutton. d Kennet, new Edition.

e R. Dods. MSS. vol. 107- f. 166". ' Reg. Line. Dalderby. % Ibid. * The

Agreement. Studley Chartulary, fol. 7- ' Chartular. S. Frideswidte. Kennett in

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 423

taxed for them amongst the spirituals, or tenths. But the jury returned
that she ought to pay for the same in taxation of the temporals'5.

At length the Nuns not only recovered the advowson of Beckley, but
obtained the appropriation of the living. Margery, Prioress of Studley,
by her petition to Edward, the Black Prince, to whom the advowson had
been granted by his father, King Edward the Third, having shewn that her
predecessors were seized of the advowson, and had presented their Clerks,
who had been instituted by the Bishop of Lincoln, Prince Edward,
adverting to the poor state of the Priory which was in his patronage,
granted and quit-claimed to the said Prioress and convent the advowson of
Beckley, to hold of himself and his heirs as Dukes of Cornwall. As the
church was then void, he granted to them the presentation, and his licence
to appropriate. These letters patent were dated the 9th of November, in
the 2jth year of his father's reign, 1351, and are recited in the letters
patent of Edward the Third, dated on the 11th of November following, by
which he confirms his son's grant, and gives his licence to appropriate1.

The consent of the King and the Lord having been thus obtained, the
appropriation was made by John Bishop of Lincoln, by his decree bearing
date the 18th of the calends of May, in the year 1352. He states, as an
inducement, that the possessions belonging to the Priory, since the last
pestilence, had become so barren and slender, that they could not com-
modiously be maintained, or keep hospitality, or perform their other duties.
Wherefore, that divine worship may be more perfectly increased in the said
Priory, the said Religious being patrons of the Church, in the presence
of the Chapter of Lincoln, and the Archdeacon of Oxford, the Bishop
united, annexed, and incorporated the said Church to the Prioress and
convent. Reserving a fit portion of the profits for the maintenance of a
perpetual Vicar, to be instituted upon the presentation of the said Reli-
gious. And saving to the Church of Lincoln an annual pension of
6s. 8d. and for the Chapter 40c?. Then follows the confirmation by the
Dean and Chapter, in which the pension reserved to the Church of
Lincoln is stated to be \0s.m

In the year lo24, a suit was instituted in the Archdeacon of Oxford's

" Dugd. MSS. A 2. f 323. ' Studley Chartulary, fol. 26. n Studley Chartulary,

fol. V, 28.

424 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

court by the Prioress and Convent, against Ralph Cradoc and Robert
Guillim, for subtraction of tithes arising in Beckley Park. The Prioress
obtained a definitive sentence in her favour, which established her right,
title, and possession, of perceiving all and all kind of tithes, as well great
and small, as mixed and minute, and of what kind soever, in, of, and out
of, all lands, fields, meadows, feedings, pastures, parks, and all other tithe-
able places within the parish of Beckley".

Such were the benefactions by the Founder, and his successors ; I pro-
ceed to state others which were made by strangers.

Soon after the foundation, Matilda, the daughter of Alan, the Hunter,
(Venatoris) upon taking the veil, gave to the Convent twelve acres of
plowed land upon Shulfhull, in Horton, with its appurtenances in meadow
and pasture. Which gift was confirmed by Thomas de Saint Walery,
discharging it from all secular services due to him0.

Henry the Third, between the years 1229 and 1237? granted the Nuns
to have one horse of burden travelling every day, once in the day, to bring
them dead wood for firing from his wood of PanshaleP.

There are many documents relating to the donation of the church or
chapel of Senekeworth, or Seckworth, with lands in that parish, in the
beginning of the thirteenth century. This was a village, now no longer in
existence, situated between Botley and Whitham in Berkshire, which
chiefly belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon, and is now in Cumnor
parishi.

1. The charter of Robert de Senekeworthe, granting to the Priory of
Studley the Church, with all lands, tithes, and dues ; and one acre of land
called Northsuturc, and pasture for three beasts in his demesne. It has
no date, but the time may be ascertained from the witnesses, who were
H, and K, the abbots of Oseney, and Nutley, and P, the Prior of St.
FrideswideV.

2. In 1218, a composition was made by Richard, Bishop of Sarum,
that the Nuns should have a third of the tithes of corn of Seckworth ; all

■ Studley Chartulary, fol. 29.

0 Ibid. fol. 15. a, and b. Dedi Deo, et Ecclesine Sanctae Maria; de Stodleia, et moniali-
bus ibidem Deo servientibus, cum corpore meo in religione. The name of Shulfhull is
still retained.

* Br. Twyne, No. 9. « Ibid. 55. r Ibid. No. 15.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 425

other benefits belonging to that chapel in lands, tithes, and dues, with the
tithes of Mercham, Cheleworth, and Boteley, to belong to the Vicar of the
Chapel8.

3.. By his charter, Sir William de Senekeworth, granted to Dionysia his
daughter, half a virgate of land, with a messuage, croft, and meadow ; and
two acres of arable land lying on one side at Schoolles, against Packstok,
and on the other side adjoining the road called Eynshamwaye, and a
marsh called Davidsmore*. It seems that Dionysia gave this land to the
Priory.

4. Sir William, Lord of Senekeworth, her father, son and heir of Robert
de Senekeworth, by his charter, without date, gave to the Nuns pasturage
for four cows, and one bull, in all his lands, except the islands ; and he
discharged the virgate of land, which they held in Senekeworth, from all
claim of hidage, scutage, chirichseth, and the custody of Windsor, and all
other demands, except a rent of six pence to Robert de Boteley".

5. Sir William de Senekeworth, son of William, confirmed all the gifts
of his father, and the half virgate of land which the nuns had of the gift of
his sister Dionysia ; and he discharged it of the custody of Windsor, suit
of court, and all other demands".

6. William, Lord of Senekeworth, granted to the church of the Blessed
Mary at Senekwort/i, in lieu of the tithes of his demesne meadow, the
meadow called Welistdesham, containing five acres, and another between
the Church-mead and the Thames. If any meadow now in Villenage
should fall into his hands, it should be tithed ; and least any instigated by
an evil spirit should presume to disturb this Act, he confirmed it by the seal
of R. Bishop of Sarum>'.

7. By a charter, William, the son of Henry, grants a virgate of land in
Senekeworthe, with Crodyne-croft2.

8. About 1 1 8 1 , a composition was made between the Abbot of Abendon
and William, the Vicar of Seckworth, respecting oblations, and other
obventions belonging to the Mother Church of Cumnor, by A. and E.
Abbots of Missendon and Dorkecestr, Philip and A. Priors of St. Frides-

s Br. Twyne, No. 16. * Ibid. No. 20.

u Ibid. No. 17. Chirivhseth, that is, a certain quantity of corn which was paid to the
church on St. Martin's day, Church-scot. Ducange, and Kennet, Pur. Antiq. p. 603.
' Br. Twyne, No. 22. ' Ibid. No. 19. * Ibid. No. IS.
3 1

426 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

wide and Esseby, by the command of Pope Lucius the Third. It men-
tions the church of Mercham, and Bayvvorthea.

The church of Ilmere, in Buckinghamshire, was given to the Nuns of
Studley by Albritha, daughter of David de Romenel, and Thomas, the
son of Bernard, in the reign of King John, which gift was confirmed by
Peter of Blois, Bishop of Lincoln ; and afterwards Hugh, his successor,
appropriated it, and instituted a Vicar1'.

Hugh, the son of William of Elsefield, gave a virgate of land there ;
and, besides a hundred white loaves of that kind of bread which is called
at Oxford Blanpeyn, which Ralph his Steward, and his heirs, were to
deliver annually at Studley, upon the feast of the Assumption of Saint
Mary0.

A house at Stratford was given by William de Stratford, by a charter
without date'1.

By a charter, Elias, the son of William de Tetyndon, gave the tithes of
his demesnes in that parish ; and if he should erect a chapel there, he
should maintain the Chaplain. The gift was confirmed by Robert,
Bishop of Lincoln, who held that see from 1235 to 1253 e.

Hugh, the son of Henry of Abingdon, confirmed the gift which Master
Gilbert Mertel had made of premises in Ocks Street, which were of his
feef.

The charter of Walkeline, the son of Roger, giants to Philip, the
Miller of Oxford, a virgate of land in Wendlebury, rendering yearly six
pence for some gilt spurs. And he warrants these tenements to whom-
soever he shall assign them, whether a religious house, or otherwise".

About 1221, Ralph Harang granted a rent of ten shillings to be paid
by Richard le Wose of Forest-hill for a pittance for the Nuns1'.

About 1221, Matthew, the son of Alan, gave a virgate of land at
Steeple-Aston, in Oxfordshire1.

But the principal donation was of the manor and advowson of Cruu-
cumbe in Somersetshire, and a manor in Long Compton in Warwickshire,
by Godfrey de Craucumbe ; perhaps about the year 1245.

' Br. Twyne, No. 23. " Ibid. No. 24. Hugh Wallis, Bp. of Lincoln from 1209 to

1234. c Ibid. No. 25. d Ibid. No. 26. e Ibid. No. 27. f Ibid. No. 28.

s Ibid. No. 29. " Ibid. No. 35. * Ibid. No. 36.

chap. ir. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 427

The town of Craucombe is about ten miles north from Taunton.
Before the Norman invasion, Gueda wife of Godwin, Earl of Kent, in
expiation of her husband's injuries to several monasteries, bestowed this
manor on the church of Saint Swithun, at Winchester. At the Conquest
it was seized by William, and given to the Earl of Morton, of whom
Robert held it in Domesday Book. This Robert was surnamed de Con-
stabulo from his office in Normandy. His son Robert possessed it in the
beginning of the reign of Henry the First, and was succeeded by Simon,
who called himself Fitz-Robert, and in the fifth year of King Stephen
paid a fine to the King to have livery of the lands of Wimond de Crau-
combe, whose daughter he had married11. In the fourth of Henry the
Second he paid a fine to have justice against Reginald Heirun, his wife's
sister's husband1. And in the twelfth year of Henry the Second he was
certified to hold one knight's fee of Robert de Beauchamp1".

Simon Fitz-Robert having no issue, his lands were divided between his
two brothers, Ralph and Godfrey. Godfrey, who inherited one half of
the manor of Craucombe, assumed the name of de Craucombe, and was
one of the most considerable men of his time. In the sixth of John he
had a grant of the manor of Edston in Warwickshire. In the ninth year,
a grant of the right of hunting, as well in, as out of forests, in all counties
where he had lands". In the sixteenth year of that King he was at Run-
nimede, and was sworn to the observance of the peace agreed to, and to
support the authority of the twenty-five persons appointed to have the
management of the kingdom. In that reign and that of Henry the Third,
he was sent on several important embassies to the court of Rome. Henry
the Third, in his seventeenth year, intrusted him to apprehend Hubert de
Burgh, Earl of Kent, which he did at the head of three hundred men, and
dragged him to the Tower out of a chapel near Merton, where he had
taken sanctuary0. In the eighteenth year, the King granted to him the
wood of Corseley, containing five acres, ten of moor, and thirty of heath,
in the forest of Selwood ; and in his nineteenth, the rights of free warren,
a market, and a fair". Afterwards, by the artifices of some sycophants, he
was dismissed from the King's court, but in 1245 was retaken into favour.

k Rot. Pip. 5 Steph. ' Rot. Pip. m Lib. Nig. Scacc. i. 100. n Br. Twyne,

No. 12. ° Dugd. Baron, vol. i p. 697- p Brian Twyne, No. 10, 11.

3 I 2

428 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book rv.

How much he was about the court appears by the great number of royal
charters to which he was a witness.

By a charter without date, for the salvation of his own soul, and those
of Alice and Johanna, his wives, he gave to the convent at Studley his
manor of Craucombe, with the advowson of the church, to clothe the
Nuns: except a messuage which William the shoemaker held of him in
Craucombe, with half a virgate of land which he had given to Aufred
Byssop : to hold of Robert de Beauchamp, with the borough, market,
and all other rights, free from all suit to the county, the sheriff, and the
hundred; by the service of one knight's fee, of the fee of Mortuylq.
The manor from this time obtained the name of Craucombe Studley.
In the sixth of Henry the Eighth the Prioress made a grant of her
moiety of the Church House towards the repairs of the parish church
of Craucombe. The advowson was valued in 1290 at six marks1. On
the 7th of June, 1459, the Prioress presented William Tybarde, the first
President of Magdalen College, to the church of Craucombe8.

As to Long Compton, the manor being vested in Edward the First, it
was found, upon an inquisition held in the seventh year of his reign, that
the Nuns of Studley in Oxfordshire had a carucate of land, which was
granted to them by Geoffrey de Craucombe in pure alms, who had ob-
tained it of Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. That they had nine
tenants holding several proportions of land, by the performance of certain
servile works, and three acres of land in deme-ne, bestowed on them by
Hubert de Burgh for the enlarging their court, and likewise a court leet
and free warren. That John de Compton had two yard lands of the
Hospital of Saint John in Oxford, for which he paid 6s. Sd. to the Nuns
of Studley per annum. In the thirteenth of Edward the First, Hugh de
Plessetis and Ralph Pipard, who held the other half manor of Long
Compton, claimed to have in common with the Prioress of Studley, a
court leet, assize of bread and beer, gallows, weyfs, and to be exempted
from suit to the hundred or county court, but it was found that the
Prioress exercised these liberties in severalty1.

Dugdale's Monasticon, ad prnedictas Sanctimoniales vestiendas.
' Taxat. Spiritual. Collinson's History of Somersetshire, 3 vols. 4to. 1791- vol. iii. p. 515.
■ Chandler's Life of Will. Waynflete from Reg. Bath and Wells, p. 93. note.
' Dugdale's Warwickshire, Ed. 2. 1730. by W. Thomas, D. D. page 578. land in Halton.
p. 651. note to page 382. and lands in Shotswell, p. 533.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 429

A great number of houses, pieces of land, and rents, in the city of Ox-
ford, were granted by different persons, at various times ; chiefly in the thir-
teenth century ; which are all described in the charters, with their situations
and boundaries ; but although these particulars might be interesting to an
Oxford antiquary, they are too long to insert here. They may be classed
according to their parishes.

In St. Mary' s parish.

Clementia, the daughter of Robert Oweyn of Oxford, in her virginity,
and own liege power, about 1261, granted a messuage near the house of
the University; a mark of rent from the school of John Walens: four acres
of meadow behind Oseney ; all her right in the lands held by Roger de
Orliens, tailor, in right of his wife Catherine, her sister, and all the rest of
the lands and tenements of her father".

In 1276, William Pylle, of Oxford, granted a house called the School,
between the gable of his own house, and Lawrence Kepeharm's ; excepting
the room abutting upon it, and the window looking into his own premises.
If his wife Chrestina should survive him, and demand her dower in it, he
binds his other lands, and discharges this tenement. It was afterwards
called the Studley Schools, and brought half a mark of rent".

About 1214, Andrew Helegod gave part of his land in St. Mary's
parishy.

About the year 1241, Ralph Halegod, for his own soul, and those of
his wives, Matilda, and Agnes, his father and mother, and his heirs, gave
all his land in St. Mary's parish, which was held of the Church of the
Holy Cross in Holiwell, for the clothing of the Nuns of Studley ; which
was agreed to by Juliana, the Prioress, with the assent of the whole con-
vent. If any shall convert the land to other purposes, he is excommuni-
cated. A rent of thirty-two pence to be paidz.

In that year, an agreement was entered into, between John, Abbot of

u B. Twyne, No. 31. In raea propria puellitate, et ligea potestate.

* Ibid. No. 32. Wood's Hist. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 1 3. and Kennet, Par. Antiq. Camera
forera. Forera is a head-land. Visits extra dictam domum in tenementum meum. I suppose,
a window

» Ibid. No. 33. *■ Ibid. No. St. ad vestitum Monialium de Stodleye.

430 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

Oseney, and Juliana, the Prioress of Studley, concerning an earthen wall,
and the gutter of a sollar, in St. Mary's parish8.

In the parish of Saint Mildred.

Philip, the miller, of Oxford, gave twenty-one pence of rent, paid by
Peter, the son of Thorald, for the house which belonged to Humedon, the
taylor, about 1221 b.

About 1260, an agreement was made between Walter the goldsmith,
and Elizabeth, Prioress of Studley, respecting a rent often shillings from
the house of Henry Gareford.

Henry de Anna, formerly Rector of St. Mildred's0, gave two houses, a
sollar with cellars under it, in that parish ; and another house in St.
Peter's. He granted likewise a rent, that twelve pence each might be
paid annually to the Jiffy Nuns of Studley upon the day of his anniver-
sary*1. And Robert, son of Oein, gave four shops in Cobler's Street1-.

In St. Peter's in the East.

Lawrence, son of Harding, with the consent of his wife Agatha, gave
all his land in Cattestrete, before Smithgate*".

The nuns had a house called Sheld Hall, near New College, which was
purchased of them by William of Wyckham, for an annual rents.

Edmund Turand gave a rent of four shillings ; Henry the son of John
Pille, the rent of a tenement ; and Thomas de Blekkeley, the shop of
Lawrence Legh.

In All Saints' parish.
Thomas, son of Henry, of Oxford, gave a rent of eight shillings from
two shops ; Celeyna, daughter of William Wakeman, a rent of twenty
shillings, with power of distress ; Adam, the son of Golde, of Oxford,
four shillings of rent ; Henry Punchard remitted his right in a house
in the Goldsmiths' Street : and Lawrence Leg granted one mark of rent

B. Twyr.e, No. 34, note. b Ibid. No. 37. c Ibid. No. 43. d Ibid. No. 4'2.

Ibid. No. 44. Quatuor selrlas, shops, or stalls; in corvesaria, the coblery.
Ibid. No. 38. F Ibid. note. * Ibid. Nos. 39, 40, 41.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 431

from his house in the Great Street. There is no date to any of these
charters'.

In St. Martin's parish.
Peter, the son of John, gave some land ; Galfredus de Hengtestry
(Hinxey) Burgess of Oxford, a stall in the Butcher-row ; and Thomas de
Henxtesey, Burgess of Oxford, remitted all his right in five shillings rent
from a house in the Butcher-row k.

In the seventeenth of Edward the Second, 1323, Roger, son of Nicholas
at Nash, enfeoffed John Frelond of one messuage, one virgate of land, in
Horton, formerly belonging to Walter at Hall. And in the fifteenth of
Edward the Third, 1341, John Frelond enfeoffed Margery de Berchesdone,
Prioress of Studley, with two tofts, twenty acres of plowed land, and three
of meadow in Becklegh and Horton, formerly belonging to Walter at
Hall, to find a chaplain to pray for his soul1.

In the eighteenth of Edward the Third, 1344, John Frelonde, and
William Attewode, of Studley, gave one messuage, nine oxgangs of plowed
land, ten acres of meadow, six acres of wood, and sixteen shillings of rent
in East-Clay don, and Botel-Claydon, to maintain a chaplain to celebrate
a mass of the Virgin Mary every day in the conventual church of
Studley n\

Another capital donation was made to the priory, in the thirteenth of
Richard the Second, 1389. This was the manor of Esses, Ashe, or Nashe,
in the parish of Bechleij, and in the counties of Oxford and Buckingham.
It was formerly the property of John de Esses, or at Ashe, and Eleanor
his wife, son of Roger at Nashe, by whom it was granted to John de
Appulby, and Margaret his wife, the thirty-fifth of Edward the Third.
1361. John de Appulbye, who was lord of Boarstall, granted it to Ralph
Major, Vicar of the church of Beckley, and Roger Pake, of Newanton
Purcel, Clerk of Studley, in the thirty-ninth of Edward the Third, 136.5.

' Ibid. No. 45, 46, 47, 48, 49. Distress, Libero introitu ad nanniandum. From nam,
distraining, whence withernam, a distress by reprisal. Saxon, niman, to take, and )>y)>ep-
contra. German, nehrnen, and wieder. Goldsmiths' Street, Orfeveria. French, Orfevre,
Auri Faber.

k Ibid. No. 50, 51, 52. A stall, stallum. Butcher-row, Bocheria.

1 Studley Chartulary, fol. 15, 16. m R. Dods. MSS. vol. 56. f. 134.

432 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. bookiv.

And in the thirteenth of Richard the Second, 1389, John Redhod, William
Beknesfelde, and William Cok de Whateleye, enfeoffed Agnes at Halle,
Prioress of Stndley, with all their land in Ashe, which had belonged to
John at Nashe, and which they had by the feoffment of Ralph Major,
parson of the church of Waterstoke, and Roger Palte. In the next year
Margaret, wife of Sir Gilbert Chastelyn, and afterwards of John Appulby,
released all her right in Ashe, by a deed dated at Godstowe".

There are no remains of the town of Ashe, which stood upon the spot
called Pinfold Green, where was the pound of the manor0. Traces of the
name still continue in Nash Field, Asham Marsh, Asham Mead, and
A sham Field.

It appears, by depositions taken in the nineteenth year of Queen Eliza-
beth, that the Prioress of Studley had common without stint, for all man-
ner of cattle in the very extensive track of country called the Quarters.
Some tradition of this right still continues in two proverbial sayings, re-
membered by old people, that " if the grass grew upon Stanton church,
" Studley might come and eat it off;" and another, that " Studley could
" reach and fetch from Stanton church to Picket of Hay," which was said
to have been near Winslow, ten miles off. It is extremely probable, that
when this track of country was inclosed, the piece of ground called Men-
marsh was allotted to Studley, in compensation for these extensive common
rights. It appears by those depositions, that Menmarsh was part of the
Quarters, and in an ancient terrier of the bounds of the parish of Beckley,
it is stated, that the rivulet upon the common, there styled Dene-
brockep, divided the parish of Beckley from Brill or Boarstall ; so that
Menmarsh was in Brill or Boarstall parish, and the county of Buckingham''.
So in the perambulation of the forest of Bernwood for the purpose of dis-

n Studley Chartulary, fol. 9. a. and b. 10. a. and b. II, 12, 15, iG.

0 It is so laid down in an ancient map, penes me.

p Probably so called from the Danes, who fought many battles in Bernwood Forest.
See Kennet, p. 35.

* Fines et limites parochia? Ecclesia? parochialis dc Beckleye. Sepe vocatum Arngravehegh
quod est inter quondam campum vocatum Borstallfelde dividit parochiam de Beckleye, a
parochia de Brehull. Et per illud sepe extendit se parochia de Beckleye, et ducit idem
sepe recte ad quendam rivulum Denebrooke nuncupatum, qui quidem rivulus pertendit
usque ad clausum Domini Richardi Damori. Qui quidem clausus dividit parochiam de
Beckley a parochia de Woodpcrrye. Studley Chart, f. 3.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 43.3

afforesting so much of it as was in Oxfordshire, in the twenty -eighth year
of Edward the First, in stating the boundaries between the Buckingham-
shire, and the Oxfordshire parts, Denebrock is described as the division on
that sider.

There were besides a great number of other donations, of which
the donors and the time are unknown, and which are specified in
the subsequent grant of the priory. The original register of the mo-
nastery, which existed in the time of Bishop Tanner, is no longer to be
found.

Of the Prioresses, I have been able to discover only the names of
Juliana, in 1241s; of Alice de Craucombe, who was elected in 12.501;
Elizabeth, Prioress in 1260u; Clementia, who was Prioress in 1292*;
Margery de Berchesdone, who died in \377, and was succeeded by Eliza-
beth Freemantle, the Sub-prioressy; Agnes at Hall, in 13S9Z; Catherine
Copcot, who died in 1529, and was succeeded by Alice WhygilK About
the year 1266, there were fifty nunsb.

The following is the seal of one of the Prioresses, perhaps Elizabeth,
who held that office in 1260, or Elizabeth Freemantle. It represents the
Virgin Mary and Child, under a tabernacle. Below, under an arch, is the

' Et sic per le Holewey usque Menmarshe, et sic usque le Hoke de Okewood apud
Shortrudinsend, et sic usque le Denebroke ad caput occidentale de Orcherd de Oclewood,
et sic ascendendo per le Denebroke usque Suthwellerne. Mudley Chartulary, fol. 51. b.
54. and Kennet, page 313. 1294. and page 369. 1315.

Yet by permitting me to continue without dispute in the possession of Menmarsh for
twenty-three years, till all the old witnesses were dead, who could have proved the full
exercise of manorial rights over it by the lord of the manor of Studley ; and by the perjury
of a discarded tenant, who had vowed revenge ; ] was cruelly robbed of this piece of land,
by two verdicts at Oxford Assizes, during my absence abroad. If this judgment was correct,
the Prioress of Studley had received no compensation for her common rights in the Quarters ;
and the manor of Studley in Oxfordshire, in the midst of forests and wastes, had little
or no waste belonging to it. The decision was as much against natural equity, as
law.

5 Brian Twyne, MSS. No. 34. ' Regist. Lincoln, in Kennet. u B. Twyne, MSS.

No. 34. note. " Studley Chartulary. y Monasticon, vol. iii. p. 13.

z Coles's MSS. a Ibid. vol. 27. fol. 85. Mus. Brit. " B. Twyne, MSS. No. 42.

Henry de Anna gave annually quinquaginta monialibus xii denarios.
3 K

434 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

Prioress praying, and the. inscription is Sigillum Elizabethe Priorisse de
Stodle. The Seal of Elizabeth, Prioress of Stodleyc.

•use

iiLCfillum Priori!

Elt7aletl\e m^tti &: S t o die

The habit of the Benedictine Nuns was a black robe, with a scapulary
of the same, and, under that robe, a tunic of white, or undyed wool.
When they went to the choir, they had over all a black cowl, like that of
the monks.

The Priory was dissolved amongst the lesser monasteries, which had
not above two hundred pounds a year, by the Act of the twenty-seventh
of Henry the Eighth, 1536. At the dissolution, Johanna Williams was
the Prioress, and there were fifteen nuns, whose revenue amounted in the
gross, according to Speed, to c£l02. 6s. 7\d. or in the clear, according to
Dugdale, to ,£ 84. 4s. 4f/.d Johanna Williams surrendered the Convent,
and had a pension of =£16. 6s. $d. assigned to her, which she enjoyed in

' For this seal I am indebted to Henry Ellis, Esq. of the British Museum, whose atten-
tion and politeness render all researches in that extraordinary collection easy and pleasant.
1 Dugdale's Monasticon. Tanner's Notitia Monastica.

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 435

1553, in which year there remained in charge, I suppose upon the Court
of Augmentations, £3. 6s. 8d. in annuities, and in pensions to the nuns,
to Katherine Copcote, £3. 6s. Sd. to Alice Yemans, £l. 13s. id. to
Elizabeth Boulde, £l. 13s. id. to Susan Denton, and Margaret Wigball,
£ 1. 6s. 8d. each6.

It has been justly observed, that the dissolution of the monasteries was
an act not of the Church, but of the State ; prior to the Reformation, and
effected by a King and Parliament of the Roman Catholic communion.
The strictest members of that persuasion, and the most respectable cha-
racters of the times, among whom the Duke of Norfolk may be mentioned,
accepted grants of the Conventual estates. Even the clergy thought it no
sacrilege to share in these acquisitions. Bishop Gardiner commended the
King for suppressing them, and Queen Mary made large grants of Abbey
lands. Undoubtedly the suppression of the Convents facilitated the ad-
mission of Protestantism ; but it was evidently undertaken on other
principles'.

In the thirty -first year of Henry the Eighth, 1539, the Priory, with all
the possessions belonging to it, were purchased by John Croke, for the
sum of one thousand, one hundred, and eighty-seven pounds, seven shil-
lings, and eleven pence, and a grant was made of it by letters patent from
the King, on the 26th day of February in that yearE. The premises are
described as the house and site of the Monastery, with the Church, the
manor of Studley in the counties of Oxford and Buckingham, the manor
of Crawcombe Studley, in the county of Somerset, the manor of Long
Compton in Warwickshire, six pounds of rent in Crawcombe Bere in
Somersetshire, the Rectory and Church of Beckley, the Rectory and
Church of Hilmere, otherwise Ilmere, in Buckinghamshire, the Chapel of
Senekeworth, or Sakeworth, in Berkshire, the advovvson of the Church of
Crawcombe Studley, the advowson of the Vicarage of Beckley, the ad-
vowson of the Vicarage of Hilmere, or Ilmere ; all their possessions in
Steple Barton, Steple Aston, Astvvykes, Worton, Wighthill, Wightley,
Benbroke, Bekbroke, Takeley, Weveley, Forstyll, Ellesford, Ellesfeld,

e Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. ii. p. 186. ' Burn's Eccles. Law, vol. ii. p. 545.

Warton's Life of Sir T. Pope, page 39. E Sept. pars Patent, de anno R. Hen. Octavi

tricesimo primo. In the Rolls' Chapel.

3 K 2

4.36 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv.

Overhayford, Tetyndon, Tyvyton, Bekeley Parke, and Staunton, in
Oxfordshire ; and in Horton, Marlake, Okeley, Wornehall, Thomley,
Wynchyndon, Kymbell, Hilmere, Umere, Est Claydon, Botcl Claydon,
Wighthill, and Wightley, in Buckinghamshire ; and in Belgravein Leices-
tershire, in Westcot Fairford in Gloucestershire, in Senekeworth, and
Sakworth, in Berkshire, in Langeporte or Lamport in Northamptonshire,
in Long Compton in Warwickshire, and in Crawcombe Studley, and
Crawcombe Bere, in Somersetshire, and elsewhere : excepting the
Prioress's wood, and all lands in Wroxton, Ardeley, Chesterton, and
Wendlebury, in Oxfordshire. The whole was to be held of the King, in
capite, by the service of the twentieth part of a knight's fee, and rendering
six pounds fourteen shillings and two pence annually.

Of the reservations, Prioresses wood was granted by Queen Elizabeth,
in her fourteenth year, to Christopher Hatton, Esquire, of whom it was
purchased in the same year by Sir John Croke of Chilton1'. And the fee
farm rent of 4J6. 14s. 2f/. and of three shillings for Marlake, were sold
under the statute of the twenty-second of Charles the Second, chapter the
sixth, to William Gape, and were by him conveyed to William Croke,
Esquire, of Chilton, in the twenty-fifth of Charles the Second, 1672, for
the sum of il23. 9s.' The adjoining manor of Marlake, we have before
seen, was purchased by Maister John Croke in 1541.

Of the very extensive possessions belonging to the Priory of Studley,
thus purchased by Master John Croke, it appears that he sold off all the
distant property, and retained only the house, the manor of Studley, the
appropriation of Beckley, and other rights in that parish. The manor of
Crawcombe Studley was transferred to the Kingsmill family, in which it
still continues k. To whom the other estates were conveyed has not been
traced. Out of the appropriation of Beckley, his son, Sir John Croke,
conveyed to William Shillingford, otherwise Izod, by a deed dated the
tenth of Elizabeth, loGS, the Rectory of Beckley, and some messuages
and lands in the town of Beckley, reserving all rights and tithes in Studley,
Horton, Ashe, Merlake, and Otmoor, except the tithes of beasts upon Ot-
moor belonging to the towns of Beckley, Noke, and Oddington1.

11 Grant, and Bargain and Sale. In Studley Chartulary, fol. 12,13. ' Deeds, penes me.
Collinson's Somersetshire. ' Deed.

■■ ■

i-^. v&trs tl^-

fe?

%^3r ^p

^^S

> w

7~T '

■ - ■ ■ ■ : ,.! ,'/.' ?r/c.

;*«H"*£Sfe0

r
S

6 fin, A foi'ha at JlulL .

?ru>rc<& ot JimtLy.

4n. Croh

l*C*

cjjbc ' mm "ioitfic tcmmmt of (J'. J'Utry J

'Dudley .

J rone ike Juffte7v>Ur,< wz tfbc Jduqrae^IcLtutrL OffuxL.iqJlw.SI MCR'-fWl

.iQjurv.au

J Jt CrcL

■Hf

chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 437

From many fragments which have been found of pillars, friezes, and
capitals, of the Saxon and Gothic styles of architecture, admirably ex-
ecuted ; and of very large windows, with a great quantity of flowered
paving bricks, of what are usually called Norman tiles, the Priory must
have been a handsome building ; and there was a large Conventual
Church™. How soon after the grant it was adapted to the purposes of
domestic convenience, is not related. I apprehend that the principal part
of the walls of the present house were those of the Priory, and, in par-
ticular, the kitchen, the offices adjoining, and the eastern wing ; but it
must have been much altered, and the windows all made new". As
Master Croke, the purchaser, had built his principal seat at Chilton, it is
probable that he did little to Studley, or even his son Sir John Croke, who
resided at Chilton. I imagine that it was fitted up as a dwelling-house
by Sir John Croke the Judge, the grandson of Master Croke. The old
withdrawing room, the present dining room, had his arms inlaid over the
chimney, being Croke with a label, impaled with Blount0. This proves
that that room, at least, was finished by him, after his marriage, and in the
life-time of his father. As his father did not die till Judge Croke was
fifty-five years of age, he must have lived at Studley from his marriage till
that event took place. The Chapel was built long after, by Sir George
Croke, and the stables have the date of 1666, and the initials of Alexander
CrokeP.

™ See the etching of them. I use the terms Saxon and Norman according to
their usual acceptation, but the question of the origin of Gothic architecture has been
very satisfactorily cleared up by late surveys of Normandy. It is certain, 1. that what we
improperly style Saxon architecture, was a clumsy imitation of the Roman Orders, common
all through Europe, and by the Normans introduced here: 2. that the intersection of the
arches, and the erection of groined ceilings, gradually suggested the pointed arch :
.5. that the pointed arch naturally lead to all the other peculiarities of the Gothic style.

" The present appearance agrees in this with the information received by Hearne in his
AValk to Studley. See Appendix, No. XXXIII.

° 1 have preserved it.

p Studley, or as it was formerly written, Estodeley, was probably derived from €rr.
East, Pobe a wood, and Ley, uncultivated land, or I ege, a place. It would therefore
signify, a woody place to the east, which is a proper description, being in the midst of
woods, and to the east of the parish church, and the ca=tle of Saint Valori.

43S RICHARD CROKE, D.D.

RICHARD CROKE, DOCTOR IN DIVINITY.

THERE was a person who lived about this time, whom we may with
considerable probability include within the pale of our family ; although
there are not sufficient data fully to establish the relationship. This was
Doctor Richard Croke, or Crocus, as he called himself in Latin, one of the
first restorers, and most successful cultivators, of the Greek language in
Europe.

The name of his father and mother are not known, but he is stated by
Mosellanus, in a letter to Erasmus, to have been of an ancient and honour-
able family3. He was born in London1', perhaps about the year 1492°.
In his will, he mentions a brother, Robert Croke, of Water Horton in
Warwickshire. This is all the knowledge we have of his connexions, but
it is not improbable that he was the brother of John Croke, the Master in
Chancery. They were contemporaries, and died within four years of
each other11. He bore the name of Richard, which was that of Master
Croke's father, and they both enjoyed the friendship of Sir Thomas More.
The name of Croke is of rare occurrence out of this family.

From whatever family he was descended, he was under no great obli-
gations to it. In his oration to the Cantabrigians, he complains that in
his younger years, he was deprived of his paternal inheritance, by the ini-
quity of his relations. It is a proof of early merit, that he found in Arch-
bishop Warham, a kind benefactor, who was at the expence of his mainte-
nance and education6.

a Juvenis cum imaginibus. Erasm. Op. Le Clerc, Epist. page J 596. D.
b Wood's Ath. Oxon. i. col. 85.

0 He was admitted Scholar at Cambridge in 150G, and as students then entered young,
we may suppose that he was about fourteen years old.
'' John Croke in 1554, Richard in 1558.
e Oratio de Grwc. Disc, laudibus.

chap. ii. RICHARD CROKE, D.D. 439

Under such eminent patronage, he was elected Scholar of King's College
at Cambridge, on the 4th of April 1506f. Soon after, lead by the celebrity
of the Oxford professors, he removed to that University, and studied the
Greek language under the famous William Groyn, and other learned
men^.

Having made great proficiency in Grecian literature, he went for farther
improvement to Paris, where he was living in 1513. Whilst he resided
there he seems not to have been well supplied with the means of pursuing
his studies. Erasmus wrote to his friend Colet to send a few nobles to him,
as a young man of good hopes, and who had been left destitute by some
who had promised him their assistance*1.

His reputation for learning being now established, he went into
Germany, and was the first public professor of the Greek language at
Cologne, Louvain, Leipsic, and Dresden'. The exact time of his
residence in these Universities is not ascertained ; that he was at Leipsic
in 1514, appears by a letter from Erasmus to Linacerk. He continued
there for three years, and, amongst other eminent pupils, he taught the
celebrated Camerarius1. With what honours he was received, and the
success he met with there, the great number of his pupils, and the
animated spirit and love for learning which he inspired, have been described

' Wood, ibid. Regium Collegium cui mese eloquentiae rudimenta debeo. Croc. Oratio
de Graec. Disc. laud.

g Wood, ibid. Richardo Croco quondam ministro ac discipulo Grocini. Erasmus
Epist. Coleto, page 131. C. Grocini doctissimi discipulus. Caii Hist. Cantab, p. 127-

h Si quas pecunias habes in manibus, in hoc commissas.ut dentur in subsidium, rogo
mittas aliquot nobiles Richardo Croco, quondam ministro ac discipulo Grocini, qui nunc
Parisiis dat operam bonis Uteris. Juvenis est bonce spei, et in quern recte beneficium col-
locaveris, nisi me plane fallit animus. Erasm. Epist. Coleto, 1513. page 131. C. In
another, dated 29 Oct. 1513, destituitur ille a nonnullis qui promiserant subsidium, page
131. F.

1 Epistola Croci dedic. Martino Lenbelio Civi Lypsensi, praemissa operibus Ausonii,
impressa 1515. Vale et Crocum tuum, primum literarum Grascarum, Colonise, Lovanii,
Lypsieeque tuae, publicum professorem. Ama, Vale.

k Erasm. Linacro, 5 June, 1514. Crocus regnat in Academia Lipsiensi, publicitus
Graecas docens literas. Page 136. C. dated St. Omer's.

1 Joac. Camerarii Vita P. Melancth. Usus ego sum Croco praeceptore Lypsia? puer pent
triennio. Tn Grammatica sane doctrina Crocus excellebat, profitendo plurimorum studia
excitaverat, reversus in patriam hoc opus doctrinae reliquerat inchoatum. Page 2o.

440 RICHARD CROKE, D.D. book iv.

in glowing language by Camerarius ; who made such progress under his
instructions, that, when the Professor was occasionally absent, the scholar
supplied his place, though only sixteen years of agem. He was succeeded
by Peter Mosellanus", upon his removal to Dresden ; the last place of his
residence upon the continent ; and where he gave lectures for two years0.

From hence he was invited to return to his native country, in 1517, and
having been recommended for his great learning and eloquence, he became
preceptor to the King in the Greek language, and was in great favour with
him, and the English noblemen who were the patrons of literaturec. In
1519, he was still attendant upon the court, and wrote to his friend
Mosellanus to come to England ; who however declined the invitation.
Mosellanus, in a letter written at that time, says, that he wished to send
some books of Croke to Hesse, but that they were not to be procured q.

Upon the entreaties of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, he returned to
Cambridge, where he was appointed Greek Professor to succeed
Erasmusr. This appears to have been in the year 1518, for there is a
letter of the 23d of April from Erasmus, to congratulate him upon his ap-

"' Joach. Camerarii Epist. Nuncupat, ad librum de Eruditione C'ornparanda. Lugd. Bat.
1699. page 17. Giving an account of his early studies, he says, Advenit turn ad nos
Richardus Crocus e Britannia, cum uberiore copia quasi mercis musicae. Ccepit profiteri
interpretationem Graecae linguae. Quis ad ilium concursus factus? Quis honor externo
habitus, vel qui potius non habitus? Quis turn vel labori, vel operae, vel impensis pepercit?
Fervebat opus, florebat ipse, nos incensi eramus discendi cupiditate.

" Melch. Adam. Vita: Philosoph. Germ. fol. 1705. p. 119, 120.

0 Dominus Richardus Crocus Anglus, qui hie biennio Grascae literatura; rudimenta cum
summa laude, et morum honestate, seminavit, et nunc patriam repetiturus, has tibi literas
porrecturum se recepit. H. Emsor Erasmo. Ex Dresda, Misiikc, 15 March, 1517. page
1592. D.

r Crocus qui ct Lypsi^e Graecas literas primus docuit, et ipsi Regi Henrico elementa
Graeca tradidit. Stapleton de tribus Thomis, cap. 5. Croke was King Henry's Greek
master after his return from Leipsic. More's Life of Sir Thomas More, p. 95.

i Mosellani Epist. ad Jul. Pflugium. Hessum nostrum rectissime valere cupio, cui
libellos Croci, quos cupit, jamdiu misissem, si haberi possent. Nusquam, quod sciam, pro-
stant. Is noster Crocus in Aula Regis sui agit, et me jam Uteris in Angliam vocat. Sed
an fidendum sit nescio. Misnae, 1519. Jortin. Erasm. vol. iii. page 60.

' Wood. Knight's Life of Erasmus in Jortin, vol. i. page 22. Erasmo in professione
linguae Gnecae successit R. Crocus, vir disertus atque eloquens. Caii Hist. Univ. Cantab,
page 127.

chap. ii. RICHARD CROKE, D.D. 441

pointment to the professorship ; which he styles, a splendid and honour-
able situation'. In his oration in commendation of Greek learning, which
is dated on the calends of July the year following, he praises Erasmus
highly, and speaks modestly of himself, as unworthy to succeed so great
a man. In performing the duties of this office, so great were his labours,
and so persevering his assiduity, that he had reason to complain, " that
" his health was injured, and his countenance was become pale and
" sickly1."

Afterwards, in 1522, he was appointed the first Public Orator at
Cambridge ; an officer who was before called Magister Glomeriae : and he
received a salary of forty shillings ; which office he held till he was suc-
ceeded by Doctor Day in 1528". By the University of Oxford he was
offered a great stipend to reside there, and he was solicited to accept it by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Thomas More, Linacer, and Grocyn.
On the other hand he was pressed by the Bishop of Rochester to continue
at Cambridge; with whose request he complied1. In 1523, he was
admitted to the degree of Bachelor in Divinity7, and was elected Fellow
of Saint John's College in Cambridge2. The next year, 1524, he was
made Doctor in Divinity*. Then, or about that time, Wood says he was
tutor to the King's natural son, the Duke of Richmond : but as that
nobleman was then only five years of age, it was certainly later. The
Duke went to Paris in 1532, and died in 1536, being only seventeen years

* Erasmus R. Croco suo S. D. Gratulor tibi, mi Croce, professionem istam tarn splen-
didam, nee minus hororificam tibi quam frugiferam Academiae Cantabrigensi ; cujus com-
modis equidem pro veteris hospitii consuetudine peculiari quodam studio faveo. Mihi
nihil tuorum libellorum redditum esse scito. Tantum Franciscus ostendit epistolas
quasdam Grsecas abs te recognitas, quas probavi; verum aiebat eas alteri missas. D.
Thomae Grajo reddidi tuum Theocritum. Bene vale, mi Croce charissime. Lovanio,
23 Aprilis, anno 1518. Col. 1678. F. Dr. Francis, Physician to Cardinal Wolsey.

' Croci Oratio ad Cantabrigienses.

" Wood, ibid. Glomeria is a barbarous word formed from glomerare, to collect together.
I suppose from collecting together the members of the University. Dorainus Crocus qui
primo advexit Graecas literas, erat primus Orator, et habuit, sicut Magister Glomerias sti-
pendium xls. Ex libro D. Matthei Cant. Dr. Day succeeded about 1528. Ex libro
Oratoris Publici. Baker, in Coles's MSS. vol. 49 p. 333.

1 Croci Oratio ad Cantabrigienses.

y Regist. Acad. Cant. Baker. * Ibid. » Ibid.

3 L

442 RICHARD CROKE, D.D. book iv.

of age. It was probably about the year 1529, or 1530, that Doctor Croke
was his instructor; before he went to Italy, and when the Duke was at
King's College b.

Dr. Croke was intimately acquainted with all the learned men of his
time, particularly those of his own country. His friendship with Erasmus
appears strongly in a letter written by Mosellanus, of which Croke was to
be the bearer, in 1517c.

There is a letter from Sir Thomas More to him, preserved by his grand-
son, and which, allowing for the times and the man, must be allowed to
be an elegant compliment.

" Whatsoever he was, my Crocus, that hath signified unto you that my
love is lessened, because you have omitted to write unto me this great
while, either he is deceaved, or else he seeketh cunningly to deceave you ;
and although I take great comfort in reading your letters, yet am I not so
proude, that I should challenge so much interest in you, as though you
ought of dutie to salute me everie day in that manner, nor so wayward,
nor full of complaints, to be offended with you, for neglecting a little this
your custom of writing. For I were unjust if I should exact from other
men letters, whereas I know myself to be a great sluggard in that kinde.
Wherefore be secure as concerning this ; for never hath my love waxed
so cold towards you, that it need still to be kindled and heated, with the
continual blowing of missive epistles. Yet shall you do me a great plea,
sure if you write unto me as often as you have leasure, but I will never

" Wood. ibid.

c Petrus Mosellanus Domino Erasmo. Lipsias, 24 Mar. 1517. Deinde velut sponte
currenti calcaria subdidit (ut literas scilicet Erasmo scriberet) Richardus Crocus, Britannus,
juvenis cum imaginibus, turn utriusque linguae litteraturae cognitione non solum in Britan-
nia, verum etiam Germanifi nostra maxirne clarus, qui in litterariis nostris confabulationibus,
quoties tui nominis mentio esset facta (fiebat autem saepe) non destitit suadere, hortari, ut
me tibi insinuarem ; neque enim hoc vel tibi tore ingratum, vel mihi pcenitendum ; nempe
quod te sit humauior nemo, neque quisquam x*i rat ^oxxm magis omnibus sit expositus.
Aicbat praeteiea noster Crocus, se ita Erasmo conjunctum, ut epistolm nostrae, vel hoc
nomine, locus esset futurus istic honoratior, quod a se apportaretur: jam turn enim hinc in
patriam solvere parabat. His quasi stimulis excitatus calamum arripui, hsc ntcunque
scripsi, Croco perferenda dedi ; qua re si quid est peccatum, tuo Croco in nostra culpa
ignosces,- is enim hujus aud,icid3 mihi auctor fu it (quod Graeci dicunt) *cgup«io{. Erasm.
Epist. p. 1 596. D.

chap. ir. RICHARD CROKE, D.D. 443

persuade you to spend that time in saluting your friends which you have
allotted for your owne studie, or the profitting of your scholars. As
touching the other part of your excuse, I utterly refuse it, as there is no
cause why you should fear my nose as the trunk of an elephant, seeing
that your letters may without fear approche in the sight of any man ;
neither am I so long snowted that I would have any man fear my censuring.
As for the place which you require that I should procure you, both Mr.
Pace and I, who love you dearly, have put the King in mind thereof."

When King Henry's divorce was in agitation, and, in consequence o*
Cranmer's suggestion, it was thought expedient to take the opinions of
the foreign Universities; in the year 1530, Doctor Croke was sent into
Italy upon that business : and he performed his commission with zeal, and
fidelity. At the commencement of his progress, he was not invested with
any public character, and had only a letter of recommendation to John
Cassali, the English Ambassador. He went first to Venice, where he
conferred with the divines and canonists, and even the Jewish Rabbis ;
and consulted the works of the Greek and Latin Fathers ; which lay hid
in manuscript, in the library of Saint Mark. Here he was intimate with
Francesco Giorgi, the most learned man in the Republic ; and who was
called by the Pope, " the Hammer of Heretics' ."

After continuing some time, he went to Padua, Bononia, and other
cities. The question of the lawfulness of the King's marriage was at first
proposed in general terms, without any direct reference to the case of
Henry. When Doctor Croke found that the men of learning were
mostly inclined to his opinion, he became more explicit, and at length
ventured to go to Rome ; where he endeavoured to procure himself to be
made a Penitentiary Priest, that he might have the better access to the
libraries. At this time, the Earl of Wiltshire, and Stokesley, Bishop of
London, were sent as Ambassadors to the Pope, and the Emperor ; and
Cranmer accompanied them. In the disputes which took place between
the families of Cassali, and Ghinucci, the King's ministers in Italy, he
adhered to the Ghinucci; and the Cassali became of course his inveterate
enemies. By Stokesley he sent over an hundred books, papers, and sub-
scriptionsf.

d More's Life of Sir Thomas More, page 95. e Burnet's History of the Reformation,
vol. i. p. 87- fol. edit. ' Ibid.

3 L a

444 RICHARD CROKE, D.D. book iv.

Though it was well known that bribes were given both by the Emperor,
and Henry, yet an appearance of obtaining the disinterested opinions of
the Universities was endeavoured to be preserved. Doctor Croke, in one
of his letters of the 5th of August, 1.530, to the King, protested that
" he never gave, or promised any divine any thing till he had first freely
" written his mind, and that what he then gave was rather an honourable
" present than a reward." In another of the 7th of September, he writes,
" Upon pain of my head, if the contrary be proved, I never gave any man
" one halt-penny, before I had his conclusion to your Highness, without
" former prayer, or promise of reward, for the same." In his accounts
still extant, the sums given appear to have been generally small, from one
to thirty crowns, and the utmost was seventy-eight crowns. The Empe-
ror's presents, and provisions, were more magnificent. Doctor Croke
found the divines completely mercenary, and says, that " if he had money
" enough he could get the hands of all of them in Italy'."

Many of his letters written during his stay in Italy are still extants.
In all of them he complained of the deficiency of his remittances, and that
he had not money enough to support himself, and to pay his transcribers,
and other necessary expences.

Having thus acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of his
employer, he was soon rewarded. On the 12th of January in 1531, he
was presented by the King to the Rectory of Long Buckby in North-
amptonshireh. A few years after, in 1.53.5, this Rectory, including eight
shillings payable yearly to the Prioress of Markeyate for a portion of the
tithes, was valued at thirty-one pounds, eleven shillings, and three pence ;
out of which ten shillings and seven pence were deducted for synodals
and procurations'. He does not seem to have resided upon his living, but
to have kept a curate : one of whom was called Sir William Castell.

' Burnet, ibid.

s In the Cotton MSS. Vitell. !'<. 13. They are much burnt round the edges, but the
principal part may be made out. One of them, giving an account of the decision of the
University of Padua, is printed by Burnet, vol. i. Appendix, page 8S, Another by Strype,
vol. i. Appendix, No. 40 from Fox's collection. There is another original letter in the
Harleian MSS. No. 416. folio 21. from Dr. Croke to Henry VIII. dated from Venice in
1530, 22 Oct. concerning the prevarication of some Friars at Padua.

11 Reg. Joh. Longland. Episc. Line. Bridges's History of Northamptonshire, p. 548.

' Rot. in OfEc. Primit. No. 28. Ibid. p. 5i~.

chap. ii. RICHARD CROKE, D.D. 445

Graduates having then the title of Sir, as Sir Hugh Evans in Shakes-
peare.

In 1532, he came to Oxford, and was incorporated Doctor of Divinity
in that University. In that year, King Henry the Eighth converted
Cardinal Wolsey's College into his own foundation, by his charter of the
18th of July, and Croke was appointed the third of the twelve canons.
In the latter end of the same year, the new Dean, Doctor John Hygden,
died, upon which the Canons wrote to Cromwell, the Secretary of State,
requesting that he would intercede with the King that Doctor Croke might
succeed him; but he was not appointed to the Deanery. In 1545,
Henry dissolved his College, and established it as a Cathedral. On this
new foundation he was not made a Canon, but he received, as a com-
pensation, a yearly stipend of <£26 13*. 4</. : when he retired to Exeter
College, and lived there as a sojourner15.

During his continuance at Oxford, he wrote some verses upon Leland,
to reproach him with changing his religion ; for Croke continued firm till
his death in the Catholic faith. Leland replied in the following witless
epigram.

In Richardum Crokum Calumniator em.
Me fatuum Crokus, fatuorum maximus ille,

Imperio quodam prajdicat esse suo.
Ut sim, me furise non torquent ; illius urgent
Ciade Mathematician nocte dieque caput'.

It should seem that he afterwards went to reside at Cambridge, for
Doctor Caius, or Keys, mentions that in 1551, a Doctor Richard Croke,
being Deputy Vice-Chancellor of that University, together with Doctor
Hall, discharged Christopher Frank, the Mayor of Cambridge, from his
interdict, to which he had rendered himself subject, by refusing to take the
usual oath to the Vice-Chancellor ; but not till he had made submission,
and done penance at the Augustine Church, on his knees, with a lighted
taper before the blessed Virgin™.

He died in London in 1558, having made his nuncupative will on the
22d day of August, being I suppose too ill to write. It was proved in

" Wood, by Gutch, vol. iii. p. 42S. ' Leland, Encomia Celeb. Virorum. Collectanea,
vol. v. p. 161. Wood, ibid. m Caii Hist. Cantab, lb. i page 107.

446 RICHARD CROKE, D.D. book iv.

the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on the 29th of August in the same
year, in the following words.

In the Name of God, Amen, the 22d day of August, in the year
of our Lord God a thousand five hundred fifty-eight. Richard Croke,
Doctor of Divinity, Parson of Long-Buckby, in the county of North-
ampton, being then sick in his body, but of his perfect mind and memory,
made and declared his last will and testament nuncupative in manner and
form following. First he commended his soul to Almighty God, and all
the holy company of Heaven, and his body to be buried in Christian
burial. Then he made, named, and constituted Robert Croke, of Water
Horton, in the county of Warwick, his brother, and Richard Carpenell,
his servant, his Executors of his said testament, and last will ; to whom
he gave all his goods, chattels, and debts whatsoever. Witnesses hereof
Will. Gent, and John Knight, Gent. Sir Will. Castell, Curate of Long
Buckby, aforesaid, Will. Frend, and others. The will was proved by the
oath of Christopher Robynson, Proctor of the Executors.

His known printed works, which are all extremely scarce, are these.

Oratio de Graecarum disciplinarum laudibus. Dedicated to Nicholas,
Bishop of Ely, by an epistle dated cal. Jul. 1519. In quarto".

Oratio qua Cantabrigienses est hortatus ne Graecarum literarum deser-
tores essent. Printed with the former. Before and at the end of these
two Orations, Gilbert Duchet has a laudatory Epistle0.

Richardi Croci Britanni Introductiones in rudimenta Grasca. Dedi-
cated to Archbishop Warham. Expensis providi viri Domini Johannis
Lair de Siberchp.

Tabula Greecae Linguae, published in Germany : mentioned in the dedi-
cation of his Rudimenta Graeca.

Elementa Gramma ticae Graecae1'.

De Verborum Constructione. I suppose this is his translation of
Theodore Gaza's fourth book De constructione, which he dedicated to the
Elector of Mentz. Printed at Lypsick, 1516, in quarto r.

" Wood's Ath. On. col. 86. ° Ibid. ■" Wood, and Ames's Typographical Anti-

quities, page 45(5. q Wood.

r Ibid. Grammatica Theodori Gaza; Latine verterunt partim Erasmus, anno 1518, par-
tim vero Richardus Crocus nostras, lingua; Graecae apud Lipsienses professor omnium
primus. Hodius de Graecis illustribus, p. 72.

chap. ii. RICHARD CROKE, D.D. 447

He translated into Latin, Chrysostom in Vetus Testamentum, and
Elysius Calentius. This writer was a Latin poet, who was born at
Naples, and died before 1503. He was preceptor to Frederic, the son of
Ferdinand the First, King of Naples. His works were published in folio,
the first edition it is not known when, the second at Rome in \503, the
third at Basil in 1 554s.

Opera Ausonii impressa per Valentinum Schumen, 4to. 1515, cum
epistola praemissa dedicata Martino Lenbelio, Civi Lypsiensi, et annota-
onibus1.

* Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannica Hibernica, p. 209. Moreri. ' See ante.

448 SIR JOHN CROKE.

CHAPTER III.

Sir John Croke, or lc Blount, and Elizabeth Unton.

TlIE family was now permanently established at Chilton, and Sir John
Croke, the son of John Croke, Esquire, and Prudentia C.ive, succeeded
to the ample inheritance of his father. The tranquil life of a man of fortune
affords tew incidents for the pen of a biographer, and little which can
interest posterity. But Sir John Croke was the patriarch from whose
loins several distinct families proceeded, the descendants of his numerous
children.

He was bom in lo;30\ The place of his education is not known,
except that at seventeen years of age he was admitted of the Inner Temple,
rather for acquiring the theory, than with a view to the practice of the
profession of the lawb. By Sir Harbottle Grimston, who married his
grand-daughter, he is described as a man of great modesty, charity, and
pietyc. He resided in London at the house in Fleet Street, which had
been purchased by his lather, and which was a fashionable part of the town
before elegance had migrated westward. At his house in Chilton he
seems to have maintained with dignity the highly respectable character of
a country gentleman ; filling, when his duty required it, the public offices
which belonged to that station, and occasionally taking his seat in Parlia-
ment.

Early in life, when he was twenty-three years of age, in 1553, he
married a lady of family, and high connexions, and who had likewise the
youthful charms of fifteen. This was Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir
Alexander Unton. Her family was seated at Chequers in Buckingham-
shire, at Faringdon, and Wadley, in Berkshire. In Faringdon church is

1 From his monument.

b " John Crooke of London was admitted of the Inner Temple, 10 June, 1 Edward VI.
" 151-7." Register of the Inner Temple.
1 Preface to Croke Charles.

chap. in. SIR JOHN CROKE. 449

a chapel called Unton's Isle, where are some of their monuments, of which
the inscriptions are nearly obliterated, but which have been preserved by
Ashmole'1. Sir Hugh Unton, the great-grandfather of Lady Elizabeth
Croke, married Sybell the daughter and heiress of William Fettiplace, the
son of Thomas Fettiplace of Shifford in Buckinghamshire, Esquire, in the
time of Henry the Sixth, whose wife was Beatrice, the natural daughter of
John the First, King of Portugal. This sovereign married Philippa, the
daughter of John of Gaunt, and had by her legitimate children, who suc-
ceeded him in the kingdom. By his favourite mistress Ines, or Agnes
Perez, he had Beatrice, and a son named Alphonso, who was created
Duke of Braganza, and was the ancestor of the present royal family of
Portugal. Beatrice had four husbands. The first was Thomas, Earl of
Arundel. After his death she became the second wife of the great Gilbert
Talbot, first Earl of Shrewsbury, the victorious general of the English
forces in France, by whom she had a daughter named Ankaret, who died
a child. Thirdly, she married John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon ; and
lastly, Thomas Fettiplace, Esquire. Her first and third marriages were
unfruitful, and she left only one son, William Fettiplace, by her last hus-
band. She was much beloved by her royal father, who upon the death of
her first husband, in the fourth year of Henry the Fifth, wrote to Sir John
Pelham, a favourite of that monarch, desiring him " to shew the Lady
" Beatrice, his daughter, being deprived of her husband, the same favour
" he had before shewn her." From this marriage the Untons quartered
the arms of Fettiplace ; which are gules, two chevrons, argent : and the
Croke family, from this, and another marriage, which will be hereafter
mentioned, claims a descent from the royal house of Braganza6.

d History of Berkshire. Faringdon came to the Crown by the dissolution of Beaulieu
Abbey. It was granted by Queen Mary to Sir Francis Englefield, after whose attainder
Queen Elizabeth gave it to Sir Henry Unton. In 1622 it was purchased of Sir John
Wentworth, and other representatives of the Unton family, by Sir Robert Pye. Wadley,
in 1531, was the seat of the Untons: from them it passed by a female to the Purefoys.
Henry Purefoy of Wadley was created a baronet in 1662, and the title is now extinct.

e D. Antonio Caetano de Sousa, Historia Genealogica da casa real Portuguesa, 6 vols.

•ito. Lisbon, 1 739 to 1748. Collins, Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 266. Ashmole's History of

Berkshire, vol. ii. p. e<2l3, &c. Monuments at Childrey in Berkshire, Swinbrook in Oxford-

3 M

4.50 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

Sir Thomas Unton, the son of Hugh, in the reign of Henry the Eighth,
held lands in Fingest in Buckinghamshire ; and was created Knight of the
Bath, at the Coronation of Edward the Sixth.

His son, Sir Alexander Unton, had two wives; Mary Bourchier, by
whom he had no children ; and Cecill, the daughter of Peter Bulstrode,
Esquire, of Bradborough in Buckinghamshire, by whom he was the father
of Sir Edward Unton, Knight of the Bath, Henry Unton, and Lady
Croke. Sir Alexander died in 1547f. After his death, his widow Cecill
married Sir Robert Kellaway, of Minster Lovell, in Oxfordshire, by whom
she had an only daughter Anne, married to Sir John Harrington, Lord
Harrington of Exton in Rutlandshire. This nobleman was the eldest son
of Sir James Harrington. In the reign of Elizabeth he was Lord Lieu-
tenant of Rutlandshire, and Recorder of Coventry. King James in the
first year of his reign created him Baron of Exton. He and his lady
were appointed to the care and tuition of the princess Elizabeth, who
was born in 1596, and afterwards married Frederic the Fifth, Count
Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, and King of Bohemia. Lord
Exton accompanied her into Germany upon her marriage, where he
was taken ill, and died at Worms on the 24th of August, 16 1:3. His
widow was living in 1617- His only son survived him only a few
months, and died young and unmarried. He left two daughters, who
inherited the property. Of whom Lucy married Henry, Earl of Bedford,
to whom she brought an estate at Minster Lovell, and ten thousand
pounds in money. Frances, the other sister, and co-heiress, was the
first wife of Sir Robert Chichester of Raleigh in Devonshire, Knight
of the Bath, by whom she had a daughter, Anne, married to Thomas
Lord Bruce, ancestor of the Earl of Aylesbury s.

Sir Edward Unton, Knight of the Bath, brother to Lady Elizabeth
Croke, married Anne, Countess of Warwick, daughter to Edward Sey-

shire, of Anne Fettiplace, married to Edmund Dunch, in Little Wittenham Church in
Berkshire. Fuller's Worthies. Vertot's Revolution de Portugal. Anderson's Genealogical
Tables, pages 717, 718, 719. Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 158.

f Monument in Faringdon Church.

" Wills of Sir John and Lady Elizabeth Croke, and of their son, Sir John Croke.
Collins, Uaronetage, vol. ii. p. 227- Holland's Hemologia Anglica, 1620.

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chap. in. SIR JOHN CROKE. 451

mour, Duke of Somerset, and Protector of England, widow of John
Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and son of the Duke of Northumberland, by
whom she had five sons, of whom three died young ; Edward and Henry
only survived, and succeeded one after the other, in their father's in-
heritance. Of the two daughters, Anne, married Sir Valentine Knightley,
and Cecill to John Wentworth, Esquireh.

Of the two sons, the nephews of Lady Elizabeth Croke, Edward
Unton married two wives ; first, a daughter of Sir Richard Knightley of
Northamptonshire ; and secondly, Catharine, daughter of the Lord
Hastings, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon, but left no issue by either.

The other son, Sir Henry Unton, was educated at Oxford, and travelled
over great part of the world. For his bravery he was created a Knight
Banneret, by the Earl of Leicester, at the siege of Lutphen in 1586. He
was twice ambassador in France. During his residence there, in the
true spirit of the reign of Elizabeth, he challenged a French nobleman, in
defence of the beauty, or honour, of his royal mistress. In the Bodleian
Library is a manuscript which contains copies of his dispatches, and
other papers, during his first embassy: the passport is dated 22 July,
1591'. His wife was Dorothy, the daughter of Sir Thomas Wroughton.
He died upon his second embassy in France, the 23d of March, 1596,
and was brought over and buried at Faringdonk. After his death, a
collection of poems, written at Oxford in memory of him, was published
by Doctor Robert Wright, Fellow of Trinity College, and afterwards
Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry ; who prefixed a good Latin preface1.
Wright accompanied Sir Henry in his last embassy to the French King's
camp at Lafere, in which he diedm.

Such was the noble family into which Sir John Croke married, and
which soon after became extinct. To return to the account of himself".

" Monument in Faringdon Church. ■ Bod. MSS. No. 3498. * Monument at

Faringdon.

1 It is entitled, Funebria nobilissimi et praestantissimi equitis D. Henrici Untoni ad
Gallas bis legati regii, &c. a Musis Oxoniensibus apparata. 1596. 4to.

m Warton's Life of Sir Thomas Pope, Appendix, page 392. He inserts part of one of
the poems.

D See the Genealogy of Unton and Fettiplace, No. 24. From Had. MSS. No. 1139,

a Visitation of Bucks in 1574. No. 1 102. Visitation of Bucks in 1«34, page 122, No. 3968.

Ashmole's Berkshire. Monuments in Faringdon Church. Brown Willis's MSS. vol. 21. f. 19-

3 M 2

452 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity College in Oxford, by
his will dated in 1 556, and which took effect by his death in 1559, in the
fiftieth year of his age, bequeathed to him, under the affectionate name of
" his old master's son, Master Croke," his gown of black satin, faced
with lucern spots. This was the spotted fur of a Russian animal called
a lucern, anciently much esteemed. It was usual in those times, when
fashions were less changeable, and valuable articles of dress were con-
sidered as a substantial part of wealth, to leave them to particular friends,
as a token of affection. This satin gown seems to have been his habit of
ceremony, since he is represented in it by Hans Holbein in a fine picture,
in the possession of the Earl of Guildford at Wroxton, and it appears
in all his other portraits: Sir John Croke himself is painted in a similar
gown".

In the year 1571, the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth, he was elected
Member of Parliament for Southampton, and he represented his own
county as Knight of the Shire for Buckinghamshire, in the Parliament
which met in 1572, having for his colleague Sir Henry Leep. In 1575 he
was appointed the first High Sheriff for the county of Buckingham,
divided from Bedfordshire : till that year there having been only one
High Sheriff for the two counties'5; and he then received the honour
of Knighthood from the Queen Elizabeth'.

Sir John Croke and Lady Elizabeth lived together above fifty-five
years. He died on the 10th day of February, in the year 1608, in the
seventy-eighth year of his age, and his lady followed him on the 24th
of June 161 1, in the seventy-third year of her age.

They had five sons, and three daughters, who lived to grow up : John,
Henry, George, Paulus Ambrosius, and William : Cicely, Prudentia, and
Elizabeth : and three children, who died young. He was buried in
a very splendid manner : the expences of his funeral amounted to c£215.
14a\s; and his widow erected a fine monument in the chapel in Chilton
church, which is appropriated as the burial place of the Croke family.
Their effigies are lying under an arch supported by two black marble

° Thomas Walton's Life of Sir Thomas Pope, page, 6. and 164. p Willis, Notitia

Pari. i Fuller's Worthies, Bucks, p. 140. ' Ward, p. 303. s Account in

the hand-writing of Sir George Croke, penes me.

' ><>'■' >Q ".OOOOOOOOOOi

452 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity College in Oxford, by
his will dated in 1.556, and which took effect by his death in 1559, in the
fiftieth year of his age, bequeathed to him, under the affectionate name of
" his old master's son, Master Croke," his gown of black satin, faced
with lucern spots. This was the spotted fur of a Russian animal called
a lucern, anciently much esteemed. It was usual in those times, when
fashions were less changeable, and valuable articles of dress were con-
sidered as a substantial part of wealth, to leave them to particular friends,
as a token of affection. This satin gown seems to have been his habit of
ceremony, since he is represented in it by Hans Holbein in a fine picture,
in the possession of the Earl of Guildford at Wroxton, and it appears
in all his other portraits: Sir John Croke himself is painted in a similar

They had five sons, and three daughters, who lived to grow up : John,
Henry, George, Paulus Ambrosius, and William : Cicely, Prudentfa, and
Elizabeth : and three children, who died young. He was buried in
a very splendid manner : the expences of his funeral amounted to c£215.
14*. s; and his widow erected a fine monument in the chapel in Chilton
church, which is appropriated as the burial place of the Croke family.
Their effigies are lying under an arch supported by two black marble

° Thomas Walton's Life of Sir Thom;.s 1'ope, pages 6. and 164. p Willis, Notitia

Pari. i Fuller's Worthies, Bucks, p. 140. r Ward, p. 303. * Account in

the hand-writing of Sir George Croke, penes me.

. JoL(dy £6>$a.l?etA &rv/uL . a/ 6 A Man , J&wfa.SAty&ed : . ' <

• ' ' ■■ .2 .cm ry mi : . 3£e. nny .4

. • fincdvr*^. It. ( ' -/ '

chap. in. SIR JOHN CROKE. 453

Corinthian pillars. Sir John is in armour, and Lady Elizabeth in the
dress of the times. Round the front of the monument their children
are all represented kneeling in the habits of their respective situations
in life : the figures are well executed, and the whole is a fine specimen
of the taste and statuary of that age.

Above the figures of Sir John and Dame Elizabeth, in the centre,
is the coat of arms of Croke, quartering Heynes, with a crescent. The
same on the right hand ; and on the left, Unton, quarterly.

In front of the monument are the following eleven figures of the chil-
dren, with a coat of arms to each.

1. Sir John Croke, the eldest son, in his dress as a Judge, scarlet robes
and black coif. The arms are Croke, impaled with nebule, or and sable,
Blount.

2. A babe in swaddling clothes. This must have been their second
child, who died an infant. The arms are Croke, with a crescent, azure,
for difference, denoting a second son*.

3. Henry Croke, in a bar gown, welted down the sleeves, denoting an
utter barrister. Arms, Croke with a mullet, impaled with argent, a
chevron between three eagles' heads erased, azure, for Honeywood.

4. Sir George Croke, habited as a Judge. Arms, Croke, with a
martlet, impaled with gules, a bezant between three demi-lions' heads
couped, argent, for Bennet. In his own coat of arms he bore a mullet, as
third son, not reckoning the infant.

5. Paulus Ambrosius Croke. In a plain bar gown, as having been a
reader". Two coats of arms : first, Croke, with an annulet, impaled with
gules, a lion or griffin rampant, or, debruized of a bend, ermine, a chief,
cheeky, or and gules, for Wellesborne. Second coat of arms, Croke, im-
paled with argent, two piles in chief, wavy gules, for Choe.

6. A little boy. Arms, Croke, with a fleur-de-lis.

7. A young man. Croke. with a rose.

8. William Croke, as a gentleman, in armour. Croke, with a quater-

' Ward supposes the three young figures to be grand-children, but the differences on the
arms prove them to be children of Sir J. Croke.
u Chauncy's Hertfordshire, p. 303.

454 SIR JOHN CROKE.

BOOK IV.

foil, impaled with azure, a chevron between three eagles' heads erased,
argent, for Honey wood31.

Then come the three daughters.

1. Cecil. Two coats of arms. First, sable, a stag's head caboched, ardent,
pierced through the mouth with an arrow, or ; attired, and between them
a cross patee, fitchee, or, for Bulstrode, impaled with Croke. Second,
gules, within a bordure a chevron between three lions' paws, erased
and erect, argent, armed azure. On a chief argent, an eagle displayed,
sable. Impaled with Croke, for Brown.

2. Prudentia. Arms: a bend, gules, cottised, sable, charged with three
pair of wings, argent, for Wingfield, impaled with Croke.

3. Elizabeth. Arms : argent, within a bordure engrailed, gules, two
chevrons, azure, for Tyrrel, impaled with Croke.

It appears that some part of this monument was not put up during the
life time of Lady Elizabeth ; for though two of her sons were judges, the
youngest did not arrive at that dignity till long after the death of his
mother.

The inscription on the monument is this.

JOHANNES CROCUS, EQUES C L ARISSIMUS, UNA CUM UXORE, ELI-
ZABETHA, EX ILLUSTRI UNTONORUM FAMILIA. QUI PARITER
SUAVE JUGUM CHRISTI, UNANIMI IN VERA PIETATE CONSENSU,
SUSTULERUNT, VITAM DEO CONSECRARUNT, OPERA INDIGENTIBUS
EXHIBUERUNT, EXEMPLUM POSTERIS RELIQUERUNT, IN HOC MONU-
MENTO CONDITI, RESURRECTIONEM JUSTORUM EXPECTANT.

JOHANNES OBDORMIVIT IN DOMINO X DIE FEBRUARII ANNO
CHRISTI MDCVIII, jETATIS SU^E LXXVIII. ELIZABETHA OBDOR-
MIVIT IN DOMINO XXIV DIE JUNII, ANNO CHRISTI MDCXI, >ETATIS
SVM LXXIII.

PRjEVIUS AD CHRISTUM PROPERO, MEA LUX, MEA VITA.
CORDA DATE CHRISTO. METAM PROPEREMUS AD ISTAM.
VERE IGITUR FCELIX, ET VITA, ET FUNERE, CROCUS.
EST BONA VITA BONIS, MORS BONA GRATA DEO.

* See as to Honey wood, in the Vellum Pedigree, it is argent, and the bearings azure.

chap. in. SIR JOHN CROKE. 455

On the pavement below is a large flat stone, I suppose over the bodies,
with this inscription, on a fillet of brass round it.

HERE LYETH BURIED SIR JOHN CROKE, KNIGHT, AND LADY
ELIZABETH HIS WIFE, DAUGHTER OF SIR ALEXANDER UNTON,
KNIGHT,WHO LYVED MARRIED TOGETHER 55 YEARES, 9 MONETHES,

and (obliterated) days, for whome this tombe is made, at

THE CHARGES AND DIRECTION OF THE SAID LADY ELIZABETH.
THE SAID SIR JOHN CROKE DIED THE 10 DAY OF FEBRUARY, IN
THE YEARE OF OUR LORD, 160S, AND THE SAID LADY ELIZABETH
DYED THE 24 DAY OF JUNE, IN THE YEARE OF OUR LORD,

1611.

Sir John Croke's coat of arms is thus blazoned, in painted glass, and in
stone over the porch, at Studley. Croke, quartered with Heynes, a
crescent for difference. Impaled with Unton, quarterly, the first and
fourth quarters, azure, on a fesse, ingrailed, or, between three spear heads,
argent, a greyhound, current, sable, armed, gules, for Unton. Secondly,
gules, two chevrons, argent, for Fettiplace. Thirdly, azure, three griffons,
segreant, argent, armed and langued, gules.

I have the portraits of Sir John and Lady Elizabeth. His is painted on
pannel, and bears the date of 1596, aetatis 65. It is a three-quarters
length. He is represented as a comely man in a green old age, with a
grey beard ; the hair which grows on his upper lip appearing almost to
cover his mouth. He is dressed in a black silk doublet, worked and cut
in small rows, with a gown of the same colour, flowered, lined and collared
with fur ; perhaps the same which was bequeathed to him by Sir Thomas
Pope. He has a high crowned hat, with a band and rose. His sleeves
have small ruffles, worked with an open edge. On his left hand, which
bears a fringed glove, on the fore-finger he has a gold ring, with the single
coat of arms of Croke, with a crescent on the fesse. On the fourth finger
he has three rings, two broad plain gold rings, and between them a seal
ring, with a death's head, and round it, disce mori vt vivas. This
ring is in my possession. It is gold, very heavy, and has the initials I. C.
cut at the back of it. It belonged to his youngest son, William, who
mentioned it in his will as an intended bequest to his grandson, Samuel

456 SIR JOHN CROKE. bookiv.

Davis, but he had afterwards erased if. I have likewise what appears
to be a copy of this picture, not so well painted.

Her picture is on canvas, a three-quarters length, larger than the other.
She is a handsome woman, dressed in a large loose black gown, slashed in
tin- sleeves, and shewing the white lining. She has a very large ruff
round her neck, and ruffs round the wrists. Over her breast is a sort of
broad band of white cambric, with lace down the middle, on which hangs
a cameo of a head set in gold. Below this is a festoon of strings of pearls,
and there are strings of dark beads round her wrists. Her head is dressed
with a comb, set with pearls. On her left hand there is a ring with a
square stone on her thumb, and another set with stones in the shape of a
heart, on her fourth finger. In her right hand is a pinch of snuff. By
her right side hangs a fan, and on her left a watch. The exact time when
pocket-watches were invented does not appear to be known. The watch
said to have belonged to Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, in the beginning
of the fourteenth century, was a jocose imposition upon an antiquary.
Henry the Eighth, and Charles the Fifth, had watches. There was one in
Sir Ashton Lever's Museum, dated in 1541. In Queen Elizabeth's time
they appear to have been a common article of magnificence. Malvolio, as-
suming the great man, talks of " winding up his watch." Hook, in 1606,
by some said to have been the inventor, only improved the construction7.

These two pictures were given to my father by Richard Ingoldsby.
Esquire, of Dinton, the last male descendant of Sir Richard Ingoldsby,
who married their grand-daughter.

■ Will, penes me.

1 Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Act ii. sc. 8. Harrington, Archieol vol. v. p. 416.
Ward's Lives, Hook, pages 169, 171, 179 Dr. Dei-ham's Artificial Watchmaker. Beck-
man's History of Inventions, &c Waller's Life of Hook.

chap. in. SIR JOHN CROKE. 457

I have the wills of Sir John, and Lady Elizabeth, Croke, which give a
curious picture of their affairs, and the manners of the times. His was
made the 2d day of July, 1607 : her's on the 1st of February, 1609".

It appears by these wills that they sometimes resided at their house in
Fleet Street ; of course during Sir John's attendance upon the Parlia-
ment ; and in the country, at the Manor-house of Chilton, or the Lodge
in the park there. They had a house for the purpose of husbandry,
which was carried on extensively according to the usual custom of
gentlemen in those days ; almost every article of consumption being
supplied from their own lands. No notice is taken of the house at
Studley, which he had given up to his son John. Their coaches, the
number of their horses, and servants, the gilded chambers, and the great
quantity of gilt plate, in cups and covers, salt sellers and other articles, the
chains of gold and pearls, the rings and jewels, the Turkey carpets, the
great quantity of silk and linen, exhibit a picture of the simple splendor
which reigned in the family of a rich country gentleman. The sums inci-
dentally mentioned, and the appraisement at the end, afford a measure of
the value of many commodities at that period. Three steers, or dry kine,
tat I suppose, are valued at £\3. 6s. $d. or £4>. 8s. lOd. each. These
modern times may perhaps smile at the minuteness, and simplicity, with
which the different articles are enumerated, the knowledge displayed by a
lady of family and fortune of the detail of her domestic establishment, and
the particular care with which she disposes of her various pieces of apparel.
The reader will not be displeased with the occurrence of antiquated names
for various implements of ancient use ; the mazlin cup, the suckling pot, the
great livery pots, the kettle for driving of bucks, the basons and ewers,
the armour and weapons for furnishing men for the wars, the lances,
the morinspikes, the calivers, my lady's gowns and kirtles, of silk,
velvet, taffety, and tufftaffety ; not forgetting her holiday cloak of the
latter material. The bowl of silver gilt with a cover, which Sir John
bought of his eldest son, Sir John Croke, and which had been given
him as a fee for his counsel in law by Sir Christopher Hatton, shews
the estimation in which his legal opinions were early held. We may
profit by the examples of the unfeigned sense of religion expressed

a The will of Sir John Croke is in the Appendix, No. XXI V.

3 N

45S SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

at the beginning of the wills, and reduced into practice at the end
of them, in large bequests to the poor ; by the love shewn to all their
children and relations, in the great number of specific legacies, and
bv their considerate kindness to all their servants. All these and other
circumstances will afford a fair specimen of the mode of living, the ideas,
the plenty, the benevolence, and hospitality of those good old days ; and
will make these testaments interesting to all readers of taste and feeling.

The will of Lady Croke, being extremely long, is not printed. It
may therefore not be improper to mention the various persons to whom
she bequeaths legacies. These are, her daughter Brown, and her children.
Henry Bulstrode, and his daughter Elizabeth. Her daughter Whitlock,
and her daughter Elizabeth. Anne Searle, another of her daughter
Brown's daughters, and her sister Dorothy Bulstrode that was. Edward
Bulstrode. Her daughter Winkefield, and her children, Robert, Richard,
and Roger Winkefield. Her daughter Tyrrell. Her daughter Bennet
Croke, and her children, Nathaniel, Henry, and Elizabeth. Her son
Paulus Ambrosius Croke. Her son William Croke, his wife, and
his children, Elizabeth, Catherine, Alexander, Edward, and Francis.
Her sister Harrington. Lady Umpton. Her nieces Wentworth,
Chilwood, and Purefoy. Her cousin Francis Brown. Mrs. Denham
of Oakley. Mary Hart. Mrs. Gurgeney. Sir Alexander Hampden.
Her cousin Scudamore. With other legacies to servants and the
poor. The residue was to be divided into three parts. The first, for
the two daughters of her son Henry. The second, for the two daughters
of her son William. And the third, for her executors, George Croke,
Paulus Ambrosius Croke, William Croke, and Henry Wilkinson, Min-
ister of Waddesdon.

Thus far we have only had to follow a single stem; but since the
numerous children of Sir John Croke, and Elizabeth Unton, became
each the founder of a separate family, I shall take them all in order,
according to their seniority ; allotting a chapter to each child, and
the descendants. I shall follow the elder branch first to its extinction,
then the next son, and so on to the last. Adopting in this respect
the order which would be employed to hunt out the heirs to a paternal
estate.

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 4,59

CHAPTER IV.

The eldest son of Sir Jo/in Croke, and Lady Elizabeth Union, Sir John
Croke, the Judge, and his descendants.

AS Sir John Croke the Judge had five sons, who each became the head
of a separate family, this chapter is subdivided into six sections ; of which
the first will be occupied by the Judge, and the other five by his sons, and
their descendants.

SECTION THE FIRST.
Sir John Croke, the Judge, and Katherine Blount,

his WIFE.

OF the five sons of Sir John Croke, and Elizabeth Unton, four were
educated for the bar ; and two of them became illustrious ornaments to
their profession.

The eldest son of Sir John Croke, and Elizabeth Unton, was named
after his father. He was born in 1553, and was brought up to the law.
He was admitted a Student of the Inner Temple the 13th of April, 1570,
the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth, and in due time was called to the
bar.

Our ancient sovereigns interfered much in the private and domestic
affairs of their subjects ; and the influence, or direct power, of the King,
or his ministers, was often exerted to promote the interests of favoured
individuals. The lawyers of modern days would repel with indignation
the interference of a prime minister in the government of their societies.
At this time an application to a Lord High Treasurer for his letter to the
Benchers of one of the Inns of Court, to admit a young man to the bar,
was not extraordinary. Amongst the manuscripts in the British Museum,
is the following petition to the Lord Burleigh.
3 n 2

460 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

It is indorsed, " The humble petition oi* John Croke, gentleman, of the
" Middle Temple, for your Lordship's letter to the Reader of the Middle
" Temple, in his behalf, to be called to the bar V

" To the Right Honourable the Lord High Treasurer of England.

" It may please your Lordship, I am an humble suitor unto you, for
your Lordship's letter unto Mr. Henry Hall, Reader of the Middle
Temple, and the rest of the Worshipful of the Bench, in behalf of your
suppliant, John Croke, gentleman, of the same house, that it would please
him to accept of your suppliant in his call to the bar, (whereof they have
a good opinion of him.) 1 therefore most humbly desire your Lordship
to afford your honourable letter unto that end. Eor the which he shall lie
most bound to pray for your Lordship."

The relationship between the petitioner, and the Lord High Treasurer,
was the ground of this application. Mr. Croke's cousin, Roger Cave,
was married to Margaret, Lord Burleigh's sister ; and his sister Prudentia
married Sir Robert Wingfield, the son of Elizabeth, another sister of Lord
Burleigh ; but whether before, or after, this time does not appear.

He was made a Bencher of the Inner Temple, the 30th of January.
1591; Lent Reader of that Society, in 1596; and two years afterwards
Treasurer, in which office he succeeded Sir Edward Coke\ In the latter
end of the reign of Elizabeth he was appointed Recorder of the City
of London0.

In 1.594, the thirty-seventh of Elizabeth, under the name of John
Croke of Studley, he was jointly bound with Sir Michael Blount to
Charles Blount, the last Lord Mountjoy, to pay a yearly quit-rent of
twenty pounds, in consideration of his Lordship's surrendering the moiety
of a certain number of acres of arable land, meadow, pasture, and wood,
in the parishes of Benham, Winterburn, Stapleton, and Boswell, for the
term of ninety-nine years'1.

Sir John Croke, besides his professional pursuits, served his country in

1 This petition states him to have been of the Middle Temple, but in the Register of the
Inner Temple is an entry, " John Croke of Chilton, admitted 13 April, 12 Elizabeth, 1570."
Perhaps he was of both societies. Lansdown MSS. No. 107. fol. 7-*. Burleigh Papers.

b Arms in the Inner Temple Hall Window. Register of the Inner Temple. Dugdale's
Orig. Jurid pages 166, 170. c Preface to Cro. Car. J Note to the Maple-Durham

pedigree.

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 461

a parliamentary capacity. In the year 1585, he was elected Member tor
Windsor, with Henry Neville, Esquire. In 1597, and again in 1601, he
was chosen one of the representatives for the city of London e.

In the year 1601, he gave to the newly established Library of Sir
Thomas Bodley, " twenty-seven good volumes, of which twenty-five were
" in folio'." The catalogue of them is printed in the Appendix, from the
large vellum book of benefactions made by order of Sir Thomas Bodley,
and preserved in the library?. He was likewise Sub-Steward of the Uni-
versity of Oxford1'.

In the last memorable parliament which was called by Queen Elizabeth,
and which assembled on the 27th day of October, 1601, he had the honour
of being chosen Speaker of the House of Commons. The manner and
the ceremonies observed upon his appointment have been related by a
contemporary writer'.

Upon the meeting of the House, Sir William Knolles, the Comptroller
of her Majesty's Household, proposed that they should proceed to make
choice of a Speaker ; and signified his opinion that Mr. John Croke,
Recorder of London, and one of the Knights for the City of London,
was " a very fit, able, and sufficient man to supply the whole charge of the
" said office, being a gentleman very religious, very judicious, of a good
" conscience, and well furnished with all other good parts." No contrary
voice being delivered, Mr. Croke, after some large pause, stood up, and
very learnedly and eloquently endeavoured to disable himself for the
burthen of that charge ; alledging his great defects both of nature and of
art fit to supply that place, and shewing all full compliments for the same
to abound in many other learned and grave members of the House. In
the end, he prayed most humbly that they would accept of his due excuse,
and be pleased to proceed to a new election. Upon which the Comptroller
stood up, and said, That hearing no negative voice, he took it for a due
election, which the House confirmed. Whereupon the Comptroller, and
the Right Honourable Sir John Stanhope, her Majesty's Vice-Chamberlain,

e Willis's Notitia Parliamentaria. f Wood's Annals Univ. Oxon. by Gutch, vol. ii.

p. 922. 5 Appendix, No. XXVI. '' Sir Leoline Jenkins, vol. ii. p. 652. ; Sir

SimondsD'Ewes's Journals of the Parliaments, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1682.
fol.

462 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

immediately set Mr. Croke in the chair. After some little pause, he
returned thanks to the House for their great good opinion of him, and loving
favour towards him, and prayed them to accept of his willing mind and
readiness, to hear with his unableness and wants, in the service of the
House, and referred himself to their good favour1'.

On the 30th of October, about one o'clock, her Majesty came by water
to the Parliament chamber, where being placed in her chair of state, the
members of the House of Commons, who had attended at the door of the
said house, with their new Speaker elect, the full space of half an hour,
were at last let in, and the Speaker was led up to the bar, by the hands of
Sir William Knolles, and Sir John Fortescue, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and presented to her Majesty, to whom after he had made
three low reverences, he spoke in effect as follows.

" Most sacred and mighty Sovereign, upon your Majesty's command-
ment, your most dutiful and loving Commons, the Knights, Citizens, and
Burgesses of the Lower House, have chosen me, your Majesty's most
humble servant, being a member of the same House, to be their Speaker ;
but finding the weakness of myself, and my ability too weak to undergo
so great a burthen, I do most humbly beseech your sacred Majesty to con-
tinue your most gracious favour towards me, and not to lay this charge so
unsupportable upon my unworthy and unable self; and that it would
please you to command your Commons to make a new election of another,
more able, and more sufficient, to discharge the great service, to be ap-
pointed by your Majesty, and your subjects. And I beseech your most
excellent Majesty, not to interpret my denial herein to proceed from any
unwillingness to perform all devoted dutiful service, but rather out of your
Majesty's clemency, and goodness, to interpret the same to proceed from
that inward fear, and trembling, which hath ever possessed me, when
heretofore, with most gracious audience, it hath pleased your Majesty to
licence me to speak before you. For I know, and must acknowledge,
that, under God, even through your Majesty's great bounty and favour, I
am that I am. And therefore none of your Majesty's most dutiful sub-
jects more bound to be ready, and being ready, to perform, even the least
of your Majesty's commandments. I do therefore most humbly beseech

k D'Ewes, page 621.

ch.iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 4,63

your Majesty, that, in regard the service of so great a prince, and flourish-
ing kingdom, may the better, and more successfully, be effected, to com-
mand your dutiful and loving Commons, the Knights, Citizens, and Bur-
gesses, of the Lower House, to proceed to a new election."

Then after he had made three reverences, the Queen called the Lord
Keeper, to whom she spake something in secret, and after the Lord Keeper
spoke in effect thus much.

" Mr. Speaker, — Her Majesty with gracious attention having heard
your wise and grave excuse for your discharge, commanded me to say
unto you, that even your eloquent speech of defence for yourself is a great
motive, and a reason very persuasive, both to ratify and approve the choice
of the loving Commons, the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, as also to
commend their wise and discreet choice of yourself, in her gracious censure,
both for sufficiency well able, and for your former fidelity and services well
approved, and accepted of. And therefore her Majesty taketh this choice
of you for bonum omen, a sign of good and happy success, when the
beginning is taken in hand with so good wisdom and discretion. Her
Majesty therefore commanded me to say unto you, that she well liketh of
your election, and therefore she ratifieth it with her royal assent."

Then Mr. Croke, making three low reverences, answered in this
manner.

" Most sacred, and most puissant Queen, Seeing it hath pleased you
to command my service, by consenting to the free election of your dutiful
and loyal subjects, the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, of me to be their
Speaker, I most humbly beseech your Majesty to give me leave to shew
unto you the dutiful thoughts, and earnest affections, of your loyal subjects,
to do your Majesty all services, and to defend your royal and sacred per-
son, both with their lives and goods. He then proceeded to make a
vehement invective against the tyranny of the King of Spain, the Pope's
ambition, and the rebels of Ireland ; which he said were like a snake cut
in pieces, which did crawl and creep to join themselves together again.
He then offered his solemn prayers to heaven, to continue the prosperous
estate and peace of the kingdom, which, he said, had been defended by the
mighty arm of our dread and sacred Queen."

At this the Queen interrupted him, and cried out, " No, but by the
mighty hand of God, Mr. Speaker."

464 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

He then proceeded to beseech her Majesty for freedom of speech, to
every particular member of the House, and their servants. And lastly, that
if any mistaking of any message, delivered unto him from the Commons,
should happen, that her Majesty would attribute them to his weakness, in
delivery or understanding, and not to the House; as also any forgetfulness,
through want of memory, or that things were not so judiciously handled,
or expressed by him, as they were delivered by the House.

To which, after the Queen had spoken to the Lord Keeper as aforesaid,
(after three reverences by the Speaker,) the Lord Keeper said in effect as
tblloweth.

" Mr. Speaker, — Her Majesty doth greatly commend and like of your
grave speech, well divided, well contrived ; the first proceeding from a sound
invention, and the odier from a settled judgment and experience. You
have well, and well indeed, weighed the estate of this kingdom, well
observed the greatness of our puissant and grand enemy the King of Spain,
the continual and excessive charges of the wars of Ireland, which if they
be well weighed, do not only shew the puissance of our gracious Sovereign
n defending us, but also the greatness of the charge continually bestowed
by her Majesty, even out of her own revenues, to protect us, and the ex-
posing of her Majesty to continual trouble, and toilsome cares, for the
benefit and safety of her subjects. Wherefore, Mr. Speaker, it behoveth
us to think and say, as was well delivered by a grave man lately, in a
Concio ad Clerum, Opus est subsidio nt fiat excidium. Touching your
other requests, for freedom of speech, her Majesty willingly consenteth
thereto, but with this caution, that the time be not spent in idle and vain
matter, painting the same out with froth, and volubility of words, whereby
the speakers may seem to gain some reputed credit, by emboldening them-
selves to contradiction, and by troubling the House, of purpose, with long
and vain orations, to hinder the proceeding in matters of greater and more
weighty importance. Touching access to her person, she most willingly
granteth the same, desiring she may not be troubled unless urgent matter
and affairs of great consequence compel you thereunto : for this hath been
held a wise maxim, " In troubling great estates, you must trouble seldom."
For liberties unto yourselves, and persons, her Majesty hath commanded
me to say unto you all, that she ever intendeth to preserve the liberties of
the House, and granteth freedom even unto the meanest member of this

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 465

House: but her Majesty's pleasure is, you should not maintain and keep with
you notorious persons, either for life, or behaviour, and desperate debtors,
who never come abroad, fearing laws, but at these times ; pettifoggers
and vipers of the commonwealth; prolling and common solicitors, that set
dissention between man and man ; and men of the like condition to these.
These her Majesty earnestly wisheth a law may be made against; as also
that no Member of this Parliament would entertain, or bolster up, any
man of the like humour, or quality, on pain of her Highness displeasure.
For your excuse of the House and of yourself, her Majesty commanded
me to say, that your sufficiency hath so oftentimes been approved before
her, that she doubteth not of your sufficient discharge of the place you
shall serve in. Wherein she willeth you to have a special eye, and
regard, not to make new, and idle, laws, and trouble the House with
them ; but rather look to the abridging, and repealing, of divers obsolete
and superfluous statutes ; as also first to take in hand matters of greatest
moment and consequence. In doing thus, Mr. Speaker, you shall fulfill
her Majesty's commandment, do your country good, and satisfy her
Highness's expectation. Which being said, the Speaker made three
reverences to the Queen, and the Members of the House of Commons
returned to their own House, where the Speaker repeated the substance of
what had been delivered by the Lord Keeper1.

In this Parliament many matters of considerable importance were trans-
acted. Amongst others, the redress of the great grievance of monopolies.
From the scantiness of the Queen's revenues, and the great expences of
her government, she had adopted an expedient, which had not been un-
usual, to reward her servants by granting them monopolies by patent ;
which they either exercised themselves, or sold for large sums. The)'
were lucrative to the holders, but oppressive to the country, bv raising the
price of commodities, and by restraining the freedom of commerce. A
petition against them had been presented by the House to her Majesty in
the last Parliament, but with little effect. A bill was now brought in,
entitled, " An Act for the explanation of the common law in certain cases
" of letters patent." It appeared that these monopolies comprehended a
large proportion of the most useful articles of life, glass, pots, bottles, iron,

1 D'Ewes, p. 600.
3 o

466 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

steel, tin, oil, vinegar, salt, currants, salt petre, lead, brandy, beer for ex-
portation, paper, cards, starch, sulphur, ashes, anniseed, tanning, and
other particulars : and one proof of the abuse of them was produced by
the instance of salt, which had been raised from sixteen pence, to fifteen
shillings a bushel. Long debates ensued upon it. It was said by
Mr. Francis Bacon, that the royal prerogative was too high to be debated ;
that her Majesty had both an enlarging and a restraining power ; and that
by her prerogative she might set at liberty things restrained by statute law
or otherwise, and might also restrain things which were at liberty. What-
ever might be the private sentiments of individuals, these high notions of
the royal power seemed to be generally entertained by the House; at least
they were openly asserted by many, and passed without contradiction.
But although they might receive some countenance from the arbitrary
proceedings of the House of Tudor, in the two following reigns they were
fully discussed, and were proved to be contrary to the laws and consti-
tution of England.

Whilst the bill was depending, the Queen, sensible of the general
odium which these unpopular privileges had excited, and foreseeing from
the spirited manner in which they were taken up by the House, that she
should be compelled to abolish the monopolies, was desirous that it should
appear as a gracious measure originating from herself. She sent therefore
for Mr. Croke, and informed him of her intention of recalling the obnoxious
patents. On his return to the House he stood up in his place, and gave
the following account of the interview.

" It pleased her Majesty to command me to attend upon her yesterday
in the afternoon, from whom I am to deliver unto you all, her Majesty's
most gracious message, sent by my unworthy self. She yields you all
hearty thanks, for your care and special regard of those things that
concern her state, kingdom, and consequently our selves, whose good
she had always tendered as her own ; for our speedy resolution in
making of so hasty, and free, a subsidy, which commonly succeeded,
and never went before our councils ; and for our loyalty. I do assure
you with such and so great zeal and affection she uttered and shewed the
same, that to express it our tongues are not able, neither our hearts
to conceive it. It pleased her Majesty to say unto me, that if she
had an hundred tongues she could not express our hearty good wills.

ch.iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 467

And further she said, that as she had ever held our good most dear,
so the last day of our (or her) life should witness it ; and that the
least of her subjects was not grieved, and she not touched. She appealed
to the throne of Almighty God, how careful she hath been, and will
be, to defend her people from all oppressions. She said that partly
by intimation of her council, and partly by divers petitions that have
been delivered unto her both going to the chapel and also to walk abroad,
she understood that divers patents, which she had granted, were grievous
to her subjects ; and that the substitutes of the patentees had used
great oppressions. But she said, she never assented to grant any thing
which was malum in se. And if in the abuse of her grant there be
any thing evil, (which she took knowledge there was,) she herself would
take present order of reformation. I cannot express unto you the
apparent indignation of her Majesty towards these abuses. She said
that her kingly prerogative (for so she termed it) was tender ; and there-
fore desireth us not to fear or doubt of her careful reformation ; for
she said, that her commandment was given a little before the late troubles,
(meaning the Earl of Essex's matters,) but had an unfortunate event;
but that in the middest of her most great and weighty occasions, she
thought upon them. And that this should not suffice, but that further
order should be taken presently, and not in Jtituro, (for that also was
another word which I take it her Majesty used,) and that some should
be presently repealed, some suspended, and none put in execution,
but such as should first have a tryal according to the law, for the
good of the people. Against the abuses her wrath was so incensed,
that she said, that she neither could, nor would, suffer such to escape
with impunity. So to my unspeakable comfort she hath made me
the messenger of this her gracious thankfulness and care. Now we
see that the axe of her princely justice is laid to the root of the tree ;
and so we see her gracious goodness hath prevented our counsels,
and consultations. God make us thankful, and send her long to reign
amongst us. If through weakness of memory, want of utterance, or
frailty of my self, I have omitted any thing of her Majesty's commands,
I do most humbly crave pardon for the same ; and do beseech the
honourable persons which assist this chair, and were present before
3 o 2

468 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

her Majesty at the delivery hereof, to supply and help my imperfections ;
which, joined with my fear, have caused me (no doubt) to forget something
which I should have delivered unto you."

Nothing could exceed the astonishment, the admiration, and gratitude
of the House, at this extraordinary mark of the Queen's goodness and
condescension. Mr. Wing-field, with tears in his eyes, said, that if
a sentence of everlasting happiness had been pronounced unto him,
it could not have made him shew more inward joy than he now did.
Another compared it to the glad tidings of the Gospel ; and said,
that it ought to be written in the tablet of their hearts. Croke said,
that his heart was not able to conceive, nor his tongue to utter, the
joy he conceived of her Majesty's gracious and especial care for our
good. Wherefore as God himself said, Gloriam meant ulteri non dabo.
so may her Majesty say, in that she herself will be the only and
speedy agent for performance of our most humble and most wished
desires. Wherefore let us not doubt but as she hath been, so she
still will be, our most gracious Sovereign, and natural nursing mother
unto us. Whose days the Almighty God prolong to all our comforts.
Upon which the whole House answered, Amenm.

It was unanimously voted, that the Speaker, with a committee, should
wait upon her Majesty with the thanks of the House. When the
time was fixed, Mr. Croke asked the House, " What it was
11 their pleasure he should deliver unto her Majesty ?" Upon which
Sir Edward Hobbie stood up, and said, " It was best he should devise
" that himself, and that the whole House would refer it to him."
Which reference was confirmed by the general acclamation of I, I, ln.

In the afternoon, about three o'clock, about one hundred and forty
members met in the great chamber before the Council chamber in
Whitehall. When the Queen came into the Council chamber, and,
being seated in her royal seat, attended with most of the Privy Council,
and nobles about her, the Speaker and the Members were introduced,
and after three low reverences made, Mr. Croke addressed the Queen
as follows.

"' D'Ewes, p. 657- " Ibid. p. 658.

ch.iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 469

" May it please your excellent Majesty, I am, in the name of your
most loyal subjects of the Lower House of Parliament, (whereof part are
here prostrate at your sacred feet,) to present all humble, and dutiful,
thanks for your most gracious message, sent of late by me unto them.
For which they confess they are not able to yield your Majesty eyther
answerable guifts, or comparable treasure, but true hearts they bringe, with
promise of respect and duty, befitting true, and dutiful, subjects, even to
the spending of the uttermost droppe of bloud in their bodyes, for the pre-
servation of religion, your sacred person, and the realme. They cannot
express the joy of their hearts by any sound of wordes, that it pleaseth your
Majesty soe freely, and willingly, to grant them this access unto your
sacred person. They come not, as one of tenn, to give thanks, and the
rest to depart unthankful, but they come, all in all, and these for all, to be
thankfull, not for benefitts received, which were sued for, and so obtained,
but for gracious favours bestowed of your gracious mere motion, and of
late published by your Majesty's most royal proclamation. They confess,
that your sacred ears are always bowed down and open to all their suites
and complaints, yet now your Majesty hath overcome them, by your most
royal bounty, and as it were prevented them by your magnificent and
princely liberality ; for which, as for all other your gracious favours and
royal and kingly benefits bestowed upon them, they give glory first unto
God, that hath in mercy towards them placed so gracious and benigne a
prince over them, praying to the same God to graunt them continuance of
your so blessed, and happy, government over them, even to the end of the
world. And, most gracious Sovereign, I confess I was not able in my
heart to conceyve, much less with my tongue to utter, your princely and
royal message, sent by me, your unworthy servant, to the Commons, soe
in like manner I must acknowledge I am as unable to declare their
humble, and dutiful, thankes for the same, for which my want and dis-
ability I crave pardon, first of your sacred Majesty, and of them all desire
to be excused0."

The Speaker having ended his speech, with three low reverences, the
Noblemen and Counsellors present, with the Speaker and Members of the
House of Commons, all kneeled down, when her Majesty uttered these

° Had. MSS.

470 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

gracious words following, directing them to Mr. Speaker, with command-
ment to relate them from her to the Lower House of Parliament.

" Mr. Speaker, — I well understand, by that you have delivered, that
you, with these gentlemen of the Lower House, come to give us
thanks for benefits received. I pray you, let them know, that I return
them all the thanks that can possibly be conceived in a kingly heart,
for accepting my message in so kind a manner, and thanke you
for delivering of it. But I must tell you, I doubt, and cannot be
resolved, whether I have more cause to thank them, or they me.
Howsoever I am more than glad to see sympathy between them and
me, and I must tell you, that I joy not so much that I am a Queen,
as that I am a Queen over so faithful and loving a people, as also
that God hath set me over you, and preserved me so miraculously
from dishonour, shame, oppression, violence, and infinite dangers, and
practices, attempted by the enemies of God, and religion, against me.
For which so mighty deliverance I yield all humble and hearty thanks
to Almighty God. For the money you have so freely and willingly
bestowed upon me, I will be no waster. You all know that I am
neyther fast holder, nor greedy griper, nor hoarder of money ; noe
nor spender much upon myselfe. It shall all be bestowed for the
defence of the kingdom, and theyr owne eyes shall see it, and a
just account shall be made of all. Tell them, Mr. Speaker, that they
may have a prince more wise, but never shall they have a prince more
loving unto them, or more carefull of them for their wellfare, than
myself will be. For I desire nothing more in this world, than to
preserve them in peace, and to keep them from oppression and wrong.
It was such a grief unto me when I heard that my people and loving
subjects were by errors abused, that I could not be at rest, untill I
had given them a remedy."

Here she paused ; and bidding Mr. Speaker and the Commons to stand
up and come nearer her, said, " that, as you have spoken unto me, soe I
must speak to you, and trouble you with a longe speech. The remedy of
the grievances, and heavy wrongs, Mr. Speaker, for which they are so
exceedingly thankful, I must say thus much in excuse of myself, That I
never granted any of these Pattents, by my prerogative royal, to any of
my servants by way of recompence for their good services done, but my

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 471

intention was for a common good to the subject, as well as private benefit
to them. Neyther did I ever sett my hand to any grant since I came to
this place, but in my heart I thought no danger, but good should come to
my subjects thereby. And, for my own part, I wish I may no longer live,
than I shall endeavour to advance the Gospell, and the peace of my king-
dom. But I must tell you, that those that sued to me for these, and such
like pattents, dealt with me as physitions do with their patyents, who use
to put into the pills they minister, either much aromatical powder, or guild
them over to hide their bitterness and sourness. For they pretended to
me, that all my subjects should have a public benefit and profit, as well as
they should have private gain. This they pretended, and this I intended,
but the executioners of them (like varletts) turn all to a contrary end. God
knoweth against my heart ; for God let me no longer live, than I shall
endeavour, to my uttermost power, to doe all the good that may be for all
my loving subjects, without any intention of preferring my private, much
less any of my servants', good before them. Truly, Mr. Speaker, when
this grievance came unto my ears, as I had great cause to be moved at
their misdemeanors, so my heart was surprised with an extraordinary joy,
when I understood that those gentlemen of the Lower House, that spake
against the abuse of those monopolies, spake not against me that granted
them, nor in malice to my servants, and others that had them, neyther for
their private respect as being oppressed and wronged by the lewd ex-
ecutioners of them, but for their love to me, as well as for the public good
in general. For they no doubt did perceive, that the gain of the pattents
tolerated this long time, was a hazard of the losing of the love of my sub-
jects, than which what can be more precious unto me !

" For this, Mr. Speaker, their loving and kind dealing with me, I can but
thank them, and think of them as the best subjects I have. And for this
their loving regard and care of me, this I will promise, that none that ever
was before me in this realm, nor none that shall come after me, shall be
more regardful of them than I will be, even to the hazard of my own life
for their sakes. Alas, Mr. Speaker, what am I as of myself? without tht
watchful providence of Almighty God ? other than a poor silly woman,
weake, and subject to many imperfections, expecting as you do a future
judgement; yet I hope assuredly this much, in the mercy of Almighty

472 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

God, that so long as I endeavour to my uttermost power to defend my
people from private and open wrongs, shun oppression, and tyranny,
that God will accept my willing heart for good, and not impute unto me
the errors and culpes of my subjects. For if that were not, intolerable and
miserable were the state of a king. But howsoever I thanke Almighty
God, that sendeth me such loving subjects, who are willing, as much as in
them lyeth, to keep me from errors, which I might ignorantly have fallen
into. Amongst these, and many other blessings which Almighty God
hath vouchsafed to bestow on me, I thank God, notwithstanding all the
attempts at danger, infamy, shame, oppression, and wronge exercised
against me, by the enemies of the kingdom, this heart of mine was never
possessed, or surprised, with any fear, or dread. This 1 speak not by way
of bragging, or boasting, of my own strength, or power, but for it, and
all his mercies bestowed upon me, I give all thanks possible, and so long
1 hope I dishonoured him not, nor speake flatteringly of myself. Many
think it to be a great preheminence to be a King or a Queen. It is truth,
the throne of a kinge is glorious without ; but, Mr. Speaker, I am not so
blind, or simple, as to be ignorant, that with the glory there are many
dangers, greifes, troubles, and vexations, and many other calamities and
crosses ; so that for my part, were it not more for conscience, than for any
content I have, (except the love of my subjects, which is as dear to me as
my life,) I could well be content that another had my charge. Well, Mr.
Speaker, commend us heartily to all the Lower House, and soe I leave
you to God, and your godly consultations."

She turned herself to Mr. Comptroller, and Mr. Secretary, willing them
that they should bring the Gentlemen of the House to kiss her hand,
before they went into their countries.

" Many things," the writer says, " through want of memory I have
omitted, without setting down many her Majesty's gestures of honourable
and princely demeanor, used by her. As when the Speaker spake any
effectual or moving speech, from the Commons to her Majesty, she rose
up and bowed herself. As also in her own speech, when the Commons,
apprehending any extraordinary words of favour from her, did any reverence
to her Majesty, she likewise rose up and bowed herselff."

"• I have given the last speech of the Speaker to the Queen, and her answer, from a

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 473

This account affords a fine specimen of the ceremonious and courtly
style of the reign of Elizabeth.

In this Parliament many statutes were passed for the good of the
country. Amongst these was the celebrated Act for the relief of the poor,
the foundation of the present poor laws'1. At the time this statute passed,
it was thought not unwise, and to have been founded upon the humane
principle of charity, and an useful plan of police. Either from a radical
defect in the system itself, from the changes in the state of society, or from
the mismanagement of those who were intrusted with the execution of it,
by extending relief indiscriminately to those who are able to work, as well
as to the sick and impotent, or perhaps from all these causes together, it
has proved the scourge of the country, the basis of a system which has
deranged the natural relations of society, of rich and poor, labourers and
their employers, parents and children, husbands and wives ; has relaxed
industry and virtuous exertion, annihilated modest dependence, and
destroyed charity. The ruinous consequences which have ensued from it,
have compelled us to perceive at length a self-evident truth ; that to support
one part of the community, and that the most worthless, at the expence
of the other part, which is the most useful and industrious, is an arrange-
ment founded in palpable injustice, and in a false policy, totally subversive
of the first principles of civil society : which was established to secure to
every man the fruits of his own labour. There were other acts passed of
less equivocal utility : for the relief of soldiers and mariners ; for the re-
dress of the misemployment of charities ; for preventing perjury, and
unnecessary expences in law, and for avoiding trifling and frivolous suits ;
for preventing idle misdemeanors ; against fraudulent administrations ; for
the true making of woollen cloths ; the recovery of marsh lands ; the
encouragement of the insurance of ships ; and the assizing of fuel r.

The business of this Parliament being ended, the Queen appointed a day
to dissolve it, the 19th of December, 1601. For this purpose her
Majesty being in the Upper House, the Members of the House of Com-
mons were introduced, with Mr. Croke their Speaker, who addressed her
Majesty to this effect.

manuscript in the British Museum, which is different from that published by D'Ewes,
page 658, and is much fuller. Harleian MSS. No. 787. folio 127. the last in the book,
i 43 Eliz. chap. ii. ' Statutes at Large.

3 P

474 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

" That laws were not at first made with human pen, but by Divine ordi-
nance, that politick laws were made according to the evil conditions of
men, and that all laws serve not for all times, no more than one medicine
for all diseases. If he were asked, what were the first and chiefest thing
to be considered, he would say, Religion. So religion is all in all, for
religion breeds devotion, devotion breeds zeal and piety to God, which
breedeth obedience and duty to the Prince, and obedience of the laws,
which breedeth faithfulness and honesty and love, three necessary and only
things to be wished and observed in a well-governed Common-wealth.
And that her Majesty by planting true religion had laid such a foundation
upon which all those virtues were so planted and builded, that they could
not easily be rooted up and extirpated. And therefore he did acknowledge,
that we ought and do acknowledge that we will praise God and her
Majesty for it. And then he descended to speak of governments and laws
of nations, among and above all which he principally preferred the laws of
this land, which he said were so many and so wise, that there was almost
no offence but was met with in a law. Notwithstanding her Majesty
being desirous for the good of her land to call a Parliament for redress of
some old laws, and making some new, her dutiful and loving subjects
having considered of them, have made some new, and amended some old,
which they humbly desire may be made laws by her most Royal Assent,
which giveth life unto them. And so after thanks given for the pardon by
which we dread your justice and admire your mercy, and a prayer unto
her Majesty that she would accept as the testimonies of our love and duty
offered unto her, with a free heart and willing spirit, four entire subsidies
and eight fifteenths and tenths, to be collected of our lands and livelihoods."
In speaking whereof, he mistook and said, four entire fifteenths and eight
subsidies, but he was remembered by some of the council that stood near
him, and so spake right as aforesaid ; and having craved pardon for his
offence, if either he had forgotten himself in word or action, he ended.

The which the Lord Keeper answered thus in effect. " First as touching
her Majestie's proceedings in the laws for her Royal Assent, that should
be as God should direct her sacred spirit ; secondly, for your presentation
of four subsidies and eight fifteenths and tenths; thirdly, your humble
thankfulness for the pardon, for them and yourself; I will deliver her
Majestie's commandment with what brevity I may, that I be not tedious

ch.iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 475

to my most gracious Sovereign. First she saith, touching your proceeding
in the matter of her prerogative, that she is persuaded subjects did never
more dutifully ; and that she understood you did but obiter touch her
prerogative, and no otherwise but by humble petition ; and therefore, that
thanks that a Prince may give to her subjects, she willingly yieldeth. But
she now well perceiveth, that private respects are privately masqued under
publick presence. Secondly, touching the presentation of your subsidy,
she specially regardeth two things, both the persons and the manner. For
the first, he fell into commendations of the commonalty ; for the second,
the manner, which was speedy, not by persuasion, or persuasive induce-
ments, but freely out of duty with great contentment. In the thing which
ye have granted, her Majesty greatly commendeth your confidence and
judgment ; and though it be not proportionable to her occasions, yet she
most thankfully receiveth the same as a loving and thankful prince ; and
that no prince was ever more unwilling to exact or receive any thing from
the subject than she our most gracious Sovereign ; for we all know she
never was a greedy grasper nor strait-handed keeper ; and therefore she
commanded me to say, that you have done (and so she taketh it) dutifully,
plentifully, and thankfully.

For yourse(f, Mr. Speaker, her Majesty commanded me to say, that you
have proceeded with such wisdom and discretion, that it is much to iiour
commendations ; and that none before you hath deserved more. And so
he ended after an admonition given to the Justices of the Peace, that they
would not deserve the epithets of prolling Justices, Justices of quarrels,
who counted champetrie good chevesance, sinning Justices who do suck
and consume the wealth and good of the Common-wealth : and also
against those who lie (if not all the year, yet) at least three quarters of the
year in this city of London'."

Afterwards the House was dissolved by the Lord Keeper. Before the
dissolution, Mr. Herbert Croft, one of the Members, addressed the Speaker
in these words.

Mr. Speaker, — " Though perhaps my motion may seem unseasonable at
this present, yet I beseech the House consider with me a speech made
yesterday, that consisted of four parts, the scope whereof (it being Mr.
Hackwell's speech) lays open the dangerous mischiefs that come by trans-

' D'Ewes, p. 618.
3 P 2

470 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

portation of ordinance, and that due reformation thereof may be had for
restraint of private transporting; I would only put the House in mind, and
vou also, Mr. Speaker, that the gentleman which yesterday moved it, de-
sired that Mr. Speaker might say something thereof to her Majesty, in his
speech to be inserted. Which I do again desire, the more earnestly,
because our bill is fallen (as he said) into an everlasting sleep, and we have
now no remedy but by her Majesty."

Mr. Croke answered him. — " If it please you, upon the motion of
the gentleman made yesterday, I mean to say something therein, both
for your satisfaction, and performance of rny duty, and therefore this matter
shall need no further to be moved."

With which the House rested well satisfied, and so arose. But it is to
be noted, that the Speaker said not one word in his speech to her Majesty
touching that matter, which was greatly murmured at, and spoken against,
amongst the burgesses, that the House should be so abused, and that nothing
was done therein5.

It was when the business of the monopolies was before the House, that
certain witty verses, burlesquing some of the wise Members of the Parlia-
ment, and which began,

Down came Sir John Croke,
And said his message on his book,

were written by the polite and agreeable Sir Michael Hicks, a great wit of
the times, and the intimate friend of Sir Fulk Greville, Sir Francis Bacon,
Sir Walter Raleigh, Mr. Cambden, and other learned and eminent per-
sons. But notwithstanding the testimony of the Secretary of State, Sir
Robert Cecil, confirmed too by an oath, that " they were in his fancy as
" pretty and pithy as ever he saw," and " the great entertainment they
" found with her Majesty," and " the good sport she intended to have with
" the author, when she saw him next," I fear I cannot, consistently with
the delicacy and cleanliness of these fastidious days, mention even the sub-
ject of them, much less introduce the verses themselves1.

In the first year of James the First, 1603, he was knighted, and made
Serjeant at Law, with thirteen others. Upon their appearance in the

■ D'Ewes, 6S9. ' Collins's Baronetage, vol. i. page 343. De Crepitu in Parlia-

mento.

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 477

Court of Chancery, to take the oaths, Sir John Croke, on account of his
having been Speaker of the House of Commons, and having thereby
gained a precedency before all other barristers, who were not Serjeants, by
the direction of the Lord Keeper, appeared as Ancient, or first of the new
Serjeants, although he was Puisne, in admittance, to five of them. And
he made a speech in that capacity, in all their names, and delivered unto
the Lord Keeper a ring for the King. But when the solemnity of taking
their degree was performed, in the Court of Common Pleas, Philips, be-
cause he had received the King's patent to be one of his Serjeants, came
first, as Ancient Serjeant, by the appointment of Popham, the Chief
Justice, with the assent of the greater part of the Justices and Barons.
And Sir John Croke was brought to the bar, after the said five new Ser-
jeants, who were his ancients in admittance : and this was the rank as-
signed him. This was against the opinion of the Lord Keeper, and
twelve of the Privy Council, who wrote letters, that as he had been
Speaker of the Parliament, and had been knighted the Sunday before, he
ought to have the precedence before the other Serjeants, notwithstanding
their antiquity of admittance ; and four of the Judges, Andersons Gawdy,
Fenner, and Yelverton, concurred in this opinion".

He was afterwards made a King's Serjeant, and Judge of the counties
of Brecknock, Radnor, and Glamorgan".

In the fifth year of King James, 1608, on the 25th of June, upon the
death of Sir John Popham, the promotion of Sir Thomas Flemming to be
Chief Justice, and of Sir Lawrence Tanfield to be Chief Baron, Sir John
Croke was made a Justice of the King's Bench : in which office he con-
tinued till his death. Upon receiving this preferment, his coat of arms
was set up in the north window of the hall of the Inner Temple, and in
the hall of Serjeant's-Inn in Fleet Street?.

King James, in the thirteenth year of his reign, 1615, granted to him
diverse coppices, woods, underwoods, and other land, in the forest of
Bernwood, to hold for twenty-one years, rendering £51 z.

The arguments of Sir John Croke, as counsel, and his decisions as a
judge, recorded in the contemporary reports, shew his eminence in his

" Cro. Jac. page 1. " Ibid. Table of the Judges, 5 Jac. s Cro. Jac.page 181.

Dugdales Orig. Jurid. p. 166, 170. • Pat. Rot. 13 Jac. I. part 2.

478 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. bookiv.

profession, and he is said to have been " famous for his wisdom, eloquence,
" and knowledge in the laws*." He received a bowl of silver e;ilt, with
a cover, as a present from Sir Christopher Halton, " for his council in
" law1'." Sir Christopher, though originally a member of one of the
Inns of Court, had never followed the profession of the law. When he
was appointed Chancellor, in 1587, in cases of difficulty he consulted his
learned friends, and it may be presumed from this valuable present, that
Sir John Croke was one of those of whose opinions he availed himself.

In 1609, Sir Thomas Bodley was guided by his advice, with respect to
the best mode of endowing his celebrated library at Oxford0.

There are in the British Museum, a short minute of a charge to the
Grand Jury of Middlesex in 1604, of another at the Somersetshire Assizes
at Monmouth in 1618, and a very long and able charge in the Court of
King's Bench in 1613d. These minutes are written, according to the
practice of the old lawyers in a motley dialect of law French, Latin, and
English ; though no doubt they were delivered, bating a few quotations,
in the English language only. The charge delivered in the King's Bench
contains a full and able specification of all offences which can come within
the cognizance of the grand inquest, but expressed in the quaint language
of that reign. Some of them would now appear curious. They are di-
rected to inquire " de ceux que voile purtraiture le picture del Dieu sem-
" ble al un liorame oue grey beard. Car ceo est un damnable offence, il
" n'est d'etre measured. Heaven is his throne, and the earth is his foot-
" stool, et pur ceo ils que voile undertake de measure Dieu doyent vuer
" higher than the heavens cujus mensura (comme un dit) est altior celo,
" latior terra, et profundior mare." In the reign of James, Recusants and
Papists, and the Gunpowder treason, would not be forgotten, the learned
Judge informed the Jury, " Ceo jeo dye pur leur amendment, ils seant
" semblable al vipers labouring pur eat out the bowells del terre which
" brings them forth. De Jesuits leur positions sont damnable, La Pape a
" deposer Royes, ceo est le badge et token del Antichrist. Doyes etre

1 Preface Cro. Car. b Will of Sir John Croke, his father. ' Life of Sir

Thomas Bodley, prefixed to the printed catalogue of manuscripts. d Bibl. Harl.

No. 583. fol. <Zi. b. No. 585. fol. 30.

ch. iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 479

" carefull a discover eux. Receivers of stolen goods are semblable a les
" horse leaches, which still cry, Bring, bring."

Amongst my own papers I have four annual speeches of ceremony
made by Mr. Justice Croke when he was Recorder of London, upon pre-
senting the Lord Mayor in the Exchequer in the years 1596, 1597, 1600,
and another without date ; one of these speeches is given in the Ap-
pendix'.

The two following trials which were held before him may be mentioned
as remarkable.

Dr. Dun, afterwards the celebrated civilian, when he was a student of
Christ Church, had the misfortune to kill a boy. He brought down a spe-
cial commission to Oxford, and was tried by Serjeant Croke, the Sub-
steward of the University, and was acquitted f.

In the year 1608, Sir John Croke, with Sir Thomas Fleming, Chief
Justice, and Sir David Williams, gave sentence against the townsmen of
Oxford, in the Court of King's Bench, in a dispute between the Univer-
sity and City for privilege of watch and ward. In which cause, besides
sitting as Judge, he gave testimony, that the privilege in dispute had been
asserted and used by the University above thirty years before, to his re-
membrance, without the claim of the town s.

For the benefit of the students of the law, and of posterity, he published
in 1602 a folio volume of select cases, which had been collected by the in-
dustry of Robert Keilway, who was Supervisor Liberationum Regis, or
Surveyor of the King's Liveries, and which were decided in the reigns of
Henry the VII. and VIII : others of which the time was unknown: cases
in Eyre in the time of Edward the Third : a few in that of Edward the
First: others reported by Judge Dalison in Philip and Mary, and
Elizabeth : and some by Serjeant Bendloes, in Henry, and Mary. In a
Latin preface, written not without some degree of classical elegance, and
dedicated to the candid students of the law of England, he balances the
motives for and against the publication of the work, and decides at length
in favour of it by the advice of his friends, and the utility of cases, in qui-
bus multa acute, multa subtilitcr disputata, [quce turn inventionem, turn

e Appendix, No. XXV. f Sir Leoline Jenkins, vol. ii. p. 652. s Wood's Hist.

Univ. Oxon. lib. i. p. 386.

480 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

Judicium multum juvere possunt,) sammo cum ingenio et Judicio deter-
minata, quce alibi non leguntur. The alterations, or improvements, which
have been wrought in the law of England, by the ever-changeful course of
time, the abolition of the feodal tenures, the extension of commerce, and
other causes, have rendered those ancient cases of less use than formerly,
but it is upon these old and solid foundations that the present admirable
legal fabric has been erected, and, as Sir John Croke expresses it, ex an-
tiquis jontibus hodiernce saluberrimce aquce hauriuntur. He concludes
his preface with four admonitory lines to the student.

Sit tibi cura magis multum, quam multa, legendi :

Immcmor anne legit P Negliget ipse legem.
Qua: meminere sciunt, quod labitur utile non est ;

Nosce quod oblitis tempus inane juit ''.

Amongst the manuscripts of the Glynne family, at Ambroseden, were
seven Arguments concerning the power and privileges of Parliament, by
Mr. Mason, Mr. Calthrope, Mr. Attorney General, Justice Hyde, Justice
Jones, Justice Whitlock, and Justice Croke'.

In those times, the servants of the public were not so well rewarded for
their services as at present, and Queen Elizabeth in particular was sparing
of her remunerations. I have a letter from Sir John Croke to his brother
George, in which he complains that he was much impoverished by his
high situations, which led him into expences beyond what his fortune
would support ; and requesting the loan of five hundred pounds'5. It ap-
pears too by his will, that, in his necessities, to provide for his children,
and to sustain his public offices, he had sold to Sir George Croke the
manor of Easington for seven hundred and fifty pounds'. Sir George had
likewise a mortgage upon part of his property for five hundred and fifty
pounds, and purchased of him his estate at Studley.

Sir John Croke married Catherine the daughter of Sir Michael Blount,
of Maple-Durham in Oxfordshire, Lieutenant of the Tower, of whom I

h The Reports are intitled, Relationes qu<>rundam casuum selectorum ex libris Roberti
Keilway, Armigeri, qui temporibus fcelicissimje memorise, Regis Henrici beptimi, &c. &e.
' Vol. ii. of the Catalogue of Oxford Manuscripts, page 51. No. 199?, 68. k This let-

ter has been lost during my absence abroad. ' Ad publica onera evocatus sustinenda

Will penes me.

ch.iv. sec. i. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 481

have already spoken in the chapter upon that family. She was born the
1 1th of April, 1663 m. Upon this marriage, the name of Blount was al-
together omitted by his father, and the rest of the family, who had till that
time styled themselves Croke, alias Blount ".

In London, Sir John Croke resided at his house in Holbourne. As his
father did not die till he was fifty-five years of age, in 1608, and his
mother, who had the use of the principal mansion at Chilton, lived three
years afterwards, till 1611, I apprehend that he resided, when in the
country, at Studley, till his mother's death. This supposition is confirmed,
by the admission of his third son Charles at Christ Church, as a Knight's
son of Oxfordshire, in 1603°. How long the Priory continued in its
original slate, or whether any alterations were made in it by his father or
grandfather, does not appear. It is extremely probable, that it was first
converted into a commodious dwelling house by Sir John Croke the
Judge. He certainly fitted up the old withdrawing room in the life-time
of his father, and after his marriage ; it was in small pannels, in divisions,
with Doric pilasters between ; and his coat of arms, inlayed in wood, was
over the chimney, namely, Croke, with a label, denoting the eldest son,
impaled with Blount. When the wainscot was taken down to make the
present dining room, at the back of the coat of arms was found written in
ink, " Mr. John Croke y" yonger att Studley, theis be &c." The same
coat of arms, with those of his father, are in painted glass in the window of
the same room, and those of Sir George Croke which are in a different style
of ornaments, from having probably been put up at a later time, after he had
purchased the estate. Sir John Croke's arms are likewise in stone over
the porch, with the date 15S7, when I suppose the alterations were made.
The arms of Sir George Croke were evidently a subsequent addition.
This porch appears to have been built on to the walls previously erected.

After his mother's death he lived at Chilton, where his will is dated in
1617, and died at his house in Holbourne, the 23d day of January, in
1619, aged 66 years. He was buried at Chilton, and his monument is a
flat marble stone, on the pavement of the Croke Chapel, with the follow-
ing inscription upon a brass plate, written by himself.

m Gough's MSS. Shropshire, No. 2.
■ Preface to Croke Charles, by Sir Harebottle Grimston.
° Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors, page 306.
3 Q

482 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv.

EPITAPHIUM VENERABILIS VIRI JOHANNIS CROKE.

EQUITIS AURATI, ET UNIUS JUSTICI ARIORUM
DE BANCO REGIS, AB IPSO DUM IN
VIVIS ESSET CONSCRIPTUM.
DISSOLVOR L.ETUS, CHRISTUM SITIBUNDUS ADIRE.

SALVATOR, PROPERA, CORPUS, ET, EUGE, CAPE.
NON FUIT II/EC TRISTIS MEA MORS, SED JANUA VITyE.

NON LOCUS EST LACRYMIS, NON DOLOR ULLUS IBI.
VITA BEATORUM CUM SANCTIS UNDIQUE SUAVIS:

NIL MAGIS HAC DULCE EST : NAMQUE SOPORE JACENS
CORPUS ADIT TERRAM PATIENTEM, QUOD PARIEBAT,

ASTRA TENENT ANIMAM, QUAM DEDIT ANTE DEUS;
USQUE DIEM QUO NOSTRA SALUS DOMINUSQUE REDEMPTOR

ALTISONANTE TUBA SURGERE NOS FACIAT,
ABSTERGENS OCULIS LACRYMAS, ET VINCULA SOLVENS

MORTIS, UT STERNA CORPORA LUCE MICENT.
HMC MEA SPES, REQUIES, HJEC FIRMA FIDUCIA CORDIS,

VIVERE CUM CHRISTO, QUI MEA SOLA SALUS.

LONDINI OBIIT, JANUARII 23. 1619.
ANNUM AGENS 66.

Round the sides of the stone is likewise a fillet of hrass, on which is cut
the following words.

HIC JACET JOHANNES CROKE MILES, ET UNUS JUSTICI ARIORUM
DOMINI REGIS AD PLACITA CORAM IPSO REGE TENENDUM ASSIG-
NATA, DUM VIXIRIT, QUI OBIIT VICESIMO TERCIO DIE JANUARII,
ANNO DOMINI MDCXIX jETATIS SUI LXVI.P

There is likewise a plate with his arms. Croke, quarterly ; impaled
with Blount, quartering nine coats. 1. Barry, nebuly, Blount. 2. With-
in a bordure, charged with ten saltiers, two wolves statant, Ayala.
3. Vairy, Beauchamp. 4. A tower, Ayala. 5. A pale, Delaford. 6. A

>' This epitaph seems to have suffered much from the ignorant artist who engraved it.
Trncndum assigiiala, are palpable blunders, for tenenda assignatus ; rixirit, for vixerit ; ter-
cio for tertio ; atatis sui for sua. Some other parts are doubtful.

ch.iv. sect. SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. 483

chevron between three pheons, Spicer. 7. A fesse, dancette, between
three mullets pierced, More. 8. A fesse between three annulets. 9. Barry
of six, vairy and ermine.

In the window of the withdrawing room only four of the quarters of
Blount are introduced. First, Blount, nebuly of six pieces, or, and sable.
Secondly, argent, within a bordure, or, charged with ten saltiers, gules,
two wolves, statant, sable, armed and langued of the third, Ayala. Thirdly,
Or, a tower with three battlements azure, Ayala. Fourthly, Vairy, Beau-
champ. Over all, a crescent or, for difference. It is the same in stone
over the porch.

His will was made the 28th of October, 16175 and is written in Latin.
He left one hundred pounds, and all his household goods in his mansion
house at Chilton, and all his plate, to his wife. To his son Sir John
Croke, all his books, and the furniture in his houses in Holbourne, and
Serjeant's Inn, with his seal at arms. To his son Henry, and his wife
Brigitta, and their children, one hundred pounds. To his son Charles,
twenty pounds. To his sons Union and Edward, each, forty pounds,
and an annuity of twenty pounds, to be paid out of Chilton. To his
daughter Rachel, bed furniture of the value of forty pounds. To each of
his brothers and sisters, a silver cup of ten pounds value, with this in-
scription, Timete Dominum, Honorate Regem, Diligite invicem. (Fear
the Lord, honour the King, love one another.) To his brother George, a
gold ring of an ounce weight, with this inscription, Fides adhibita fidem
obligat, (Fidelity exhibited, secures fidelity,) requesting him, by the frater-
nal love he bore him, to permit his son and heir to repurchase the manor
of Easingdon. To each of his servants, twenty shillings. Upon all his
family, and upon all who confess and love Jesus Christ, he implores the
blessing of God. To his dearest aunt, Lady Anne Harrington, Baroness
of Exton, he bequeaths a golden heart, with diamonds, of the value of
twenty pounds. His wife, and his son John, are his executors, and his
brothers George, Paul, and William, and his sons Henry and Charles, are
the supervisors of his will. By subsequent codicils he gives a pair of gilt
salts, which had been his father's and grandfather's, to his son Sir John
Croke, and to the poor in Chilton and Easingdon three pounds : to those
of Studley and Horton, forty shillings.

He had five sons, John, Henry, Charles, Unton, and Edward ; and a
3 Q 2

484 SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE. book iv-

daughter named Rachel : of all of whom 1 shall treat in order, appropriat-
ing a separate section to each.

I have his picture, painted on pannel, a half length. He is in his judge's
robes, with a square cap, under which is a white cap, worn perhaps on
account of baldness, or some other infirmity. In his right hand is a
bundle of papers. On the back ground is written, Omnia Desuper. I
have likewise the picture of his wife, the Lady Katherine Croke, a hand-
some woman in a large ruff. The dress and general appearance corre-
spond with her statue on the monument of her father, Sir Michael Blount,
in Saint Peter's Church in the Tower.

CH.IV. SEC.

SIR JOHN CROKE.

SECTION THE SECOND.

THE ELDEST SON OF SIR JOHN CROKE THE JUDGE, AND HIS
DESCENDANTS.

THE eldest son of Sir John Croke, the Judge, was likewise Sir John
Croke, the fourth of that name, and the third of that title, having been
knighted, in the life-time of his father, by King James the First \ He in-
herited the estate at Chilton, where he lived as a country gentleman. In
1628, the third year of Charles the First, he was elected Member for
Shaftesbury1*.

He married two wives; the first was Eleanor, the youngest daughter and
one of the coheiresses of Jervas Gibon, Esquire, of Kent. She had a con-
siderable fortune, was only fourteen years of age, of a sickly constitution,
and died in two years, being five months under sixteen. Her eldest sister
married Mr. Robert Pointz ; the second, named Gresill, Sir John Law-
rence. After the death of Eleanor, Sir John Lawrence instituted pro-
ceedings at law, and in Chancery, against Sir John Croke, in 1618, to
compel him either to pay ,£300, which was due to Sir John Pointz for the
wardship of Gresill, or to relinquish his claim to Eleanor's lands. In his
answer, Sir John Croke declares that he is willing to pay his contribution to-
wards the wardship of Gresill, but that the lands of Eleanor, being of the
nature of gavelkind, he was intitled to hold them for his life, as tenant by
the curtesy, if he did not marry again, whether he had issue or not ; that
the provision in the will of Jervas Gibon, that if any of his daughters died
before sixteen, her portion should accrue to the other sisters, must be un-
derstood if unmarried. And that the inheritance of the land descended
to the two surviving sisters, by which Sir John Lawrence was bettered
more than £300. All this appears in the petitions and answers of the

» Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors, page 305. b Willis, Notit. Pari.

486 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

parties in Chancery before Sir Francis Bacon : but how the law-suit ended
is not stated0.

His second lady was Rachel, the daughter and heiress of Sir William
Webb, Knight, of Motcomb in Dorsetshire. He died the tenth day of
April, 1640, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, leaving three sons, and one
daughter. He was buried under a plain marble stone on the pavement of
the Chapel at Chilton, with the following inscription, which bears testi-
mony to his devotion, learning, honour, and probity, and the proper dis-
charge of his filial, conjugal, paternal, and friendly duties.

m. s.

CINERES JOHANNIS CROKE DE CHILTON, EJUS NOMINIS QUARTI,
IN AGRO BUCKINGHAMIiE, MILITIS AURATI, HAC IN URNA SUNT
REPOSITI, QUI TUBiE NOVISSIM.E AD SPEM ADHELANT.

NUMINI DEVOTUS PARENTIBUS SACER

LITERIS ERUDITUS CONJ UGI M ARITUS RED A M ATUS

V I R IDEM

FIDE SPECTATUS LIBERIS PATER OPTIMUS

PROBITATE INSIGNIS AMICIS PRESIDIUM.

QUI, PATRIAE ET PRINCIPI NATUS ET LIBATUS,
HINC PROPERE, AT FEL1CITER, FATO SUCCUBUIT.

OBIIT 10rao. DIE APRILIS, ANNO DNI 1640, ET /ETATIS SU.E 54°.
RELICTIS TRIBUS FILIIS, ET UNICA FILIA, QUOS SUSCEPIT EX
RACHELE, DULCI CONJUGE, FILIA ET H7EREDE GUILLIELMI WEBB.
DE MOTCOMBBE IN AGRO DORCESTRI.E, MILITIS AURATI.
NON TOTUS PEREO.

The arms on the monument are, Croke, quarterly. In an escutcheon
of pretence, gules, a cross between four faulcons, or, for Webbd.

Sir John Croke, the fourth of that name and title, was his son and
heir. In the life-time of his father he married a young lady of an excellent
and amiable disposition, Jane, the daughter of Moses Tryon, Esquire, of

c Lansdowne MSS. vol. 165. No. Q5. fol. 332. The petition and answer of Sir John
Croke.

J The colours are not expressed on the monument, but they are in Guillim.

ch.iv. sec. ii. SIR JOHN CROKE.

Harringworth in Northamptonshire, but he was so unfortunate as to lose
her in child-birth, in the twentieth year of her age, in 1636, leaving only a
little daughter to console his afflictions. Her monument is a black marble
on the pavement of the chapel at Chilton. The inscription.

m. s.

ET VIRTUTI CCELO FELICITER RECEPTEE

J A N M :

MOSIS TRYON DE HARRINGWORTH IN AGRO NORTHAMPT. ARMIG.

FIL. JOHANNIS CROKE DE CHILTON IN AGRO BUCKINGH. ARMIG.

UXORIS.

QUAM

PARENTES PIAM

MARITUS FIDELEM

HABUERE.
CONSANGUINEI CARAM

OMNES AMABILEM.

HANC

FAMILI.E DECUS

CONJUGIS DELICIAS

AMICORUM DESIDERIUM

IN IPSO FLORE FCECUNDITAS ABSTULIT ;

IX0. MAII Vt0. A PUERPERIO DIE. A. C. 1636, iETATIS XX.

FILIOLA, UNICO TOT LACRIMARUM SOLATIO, SUPERSTITE.

The coat of arms is Croke, quarterly, with a label for difference, impaled
with azure a fesse, crenelle, between six etoiles, ore.

He married a second wife, but it is not known who she was.

During the civil wars, Sir John raised a troop of horse for the service of
the King, by which means he very much embarrassed his estate. Mr.
Ward says, that he was afterwards created a Baronet, but he was not able
to learn the time of his creation, or to find his name in the English Ba-
ronetagef.

I would willingly draw a veil over the misfortunes and crimes of this
last, but one of the family in the elder branch, but the historian must prefer

e The colours from Guillim, p. 402.

f Ward's manuscript additions to his lives of the Gresham professors, in the British
Museum, page 305.

488 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

plain truth before the gratification of his private feelings. We have before
seen that Sir John Croke, the Judge, had impaired his fortune by the
necessary expences of supporting the dignity of the high offices which he
filled. His grandson was completely ruined. Poverty, unless it is occa-
sioned by vice, is not dishonourable, and a series of unavoidable or laudable
expences, or even a thoughtless imprudence, might have dissipated the pa-
ternal property of Sir John Croke, without affecting his character. The
affair which I am about to relate can receive no mitigation by being attri-
buted to the virulence of party spirit, or the gratification of an unfounded
revenge, festering in a mind rendered acrid by distressing circumstances.

This was his cruel persecution of Mr. Robert Hawkins, and his endea-
vours to take away his life, in conjunction with several other persons, by a
false indictment for a robbery in 1667. An account of Hawkins's trial
was published in 168.5, and is attributed by Wood to Sir Matthew Hale,
before whom he was tried %. It was republished in 17 10, about the time
of Sacheverell's trial, to support the high church, by casting an odium
upon the sectaries; and it is likewise in the State Trials'1. The second
edition is intitled, " The Perjured Phanatick, or the malicious conspiracy
" of Sir John Croke of Chilton, Baronet, Justice of peace in com. Bucks.
" Henry Larimore, Anabaptist preacher, and other phanatics, against the
" life of Robert Hawkins, M. A. now living, and late minister of Chilton,
" occasioned by his suit for tithes. Discovered in a trial at Alisbury,
" before the Right Honourable Sir Matthew Hale, then Lord Chief Baron
tw of the Exchequer, and after Lord Chief Justice of England. Published
" by his Lordship's command."

In his preface to the reader, Mr. Hawkins gives the following account
of " the occasion of this great difference."

" I was entertained by Sir John Croke, of the parish of Chilton, in the
county of Bucks, Baronet, to attend as Chaplain in his house ; and also
to serve the cure of the said parish of Chilton ; for which he did, under his
hand and seal, promise to pay me fifty pounds per annum, he being im-
propriator of the said parish, and to pay it by quarterly payments. When
1 had faithfully performed my duty in both these capacities above two
years, and in all that time had received no money from him, but upon

* Ath. Ox. vol. ii. col. 426. ed. 1. " Vol. ii. page 42. Edit. 1719-

ch. iv. sec. ii. SIR JOHN CROKE. 489

some occasions had lent him several sums out of my own pocket, at last I
was somewhat urgent with him for money, and then he told me plainly,
that I did not know him as yet, for, as he said, he had cheated all persons
that he had ever dealt with ; and therefore I must not expect to speed
better than they had done. I told him, that I hoped for better things
from him. But he replied, that he never intended to pay me any money,
and therefore I might take my course.

" When I saw that, I went to London, and upon enquiry, found that Sir
John Croke was outlawed after judgment, at the suit of Mr. Thomas and
Mr. William Hellows, the one of London, and the other of Windsor, for
a sum of money due from the said Sir John Croke to the said gentlemen ;
and that his manor of Chilton, with several farms, and the Rectory of the
said parish, were extended into the King's hands, and a lease was granted
from the Crown, under the seal of the Court of Exchequer, to the same
gentlemen, and their assigns. I applied myself therefore to them, in order
to persuade them to pay me for serving the same cure, out of the profits aris-
ing from the said Rectory : and they, by the advice of their counsel, granted
me a lease of the said Rectory, with all the glebes, tithes, and other profits
belonging to it, under both their hands and seals, to enable me to demand
the same. Upon which I returned to Chilton, and acquainted Sir John
Croke with what I had done; humbly entreating him to pay me what was
due, and, upon that condition, I promised to deliver up the same lease.
But Sir John, instead of complying, told me I was a treacherous villain,
and had undermined him in his estate, and therefore was not fit to live; and
that the lease should be of no use to me ; for that he would find out a way
to prevent all my designs, and put a stop to all my proceedings, for he knew
how to do my business to all intents and purposes ; and bid me get out of
his sight, or else he would knock me down immediately : so I left him in
a great rage and passion. Soon after this, he advised one Mr. Good, a
Minister in the next parish, with the said Larimore, and others, to make a
forcible entry upon my church in Chilton, which according they did, by
breaking it open ; and I indicted them for a riot upon that account at the
next sessions at Buckingham. And then I desired several of the farmers
to give me a meeting, in order to prevent a suit in law, if possible. When
they came to me, I told them, that Sir John Croke owed me a great sum
3 R

490 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

of money, for serving the cure at Chilton, which they knew to be true ;
and that he refused to pay me ; and therefore, unless they would find out
some way for me to be paid, I must put my lease in suit, and force them
to pay their tythes to me, or compound with me for them. They replyed,
that it would be unjust in me to make them pay their tythes over again,
which they had bought of Sir John Croke, and had taken their farms
tythe free. I replied, if they would let me see their leases, I would not
insert any of those persons' names in my bill, whose leases bore date before
the outlawry and extent ; but all those whose leases were made since that
time, were liable to pay their tythes to me, or else compound with me for
them. But they reply'd, they would consult with Sir John Croke about
the matter, and let me know his answer in a short time.

" So when they had discoursed with Sir John, they told me that he said,
they needed not to fear what I could do to them by vertue of the lease, or
upon any other account, for, as soon as I should begin the suit, and de-
mand the tythes, he was fully resolved to do my business so effectually, as
should stop all my proceedings.

" So when I saw I could not prevail to get my money either from Sir
John Croke or the tenants, I was forced to exhibit my bill in the Exche-
quer, for tithes against Larimore, Mayne the Constable, Thomas Beamsly,
Nicholas Sanders, and others; which I did in Michaelmass term, 1667,
as may appear by the records of the Exchequer ; and when the said Lari-
more, Mayne, and the rest above named, were served with subpcenas to
answer my said bill, Sir John Croke soon after, viz. Wednesday, Septem-
ber the 16th, 1668, entered upon this conspiracy, with Larimore, to take
away my life, as will fully appear by Mr. Brown's evidence in the trial,
which shews how they prosecuted their malice, how justice was done, and
my reputation as well as life secured by my acquittal : I shall only
mention farther, the incouragement 1 had from my Lord Chief Baron,
to prosecute several of the conspirators. He himself was pleased to direct
the process for special bail, to order the Under Sheriff to demand £500.
security of each ; and, upon amotion at the Exchequer by Sir Richard
Croke, and other eminent council, that less might be accepted, positively
insisted upon the said order. But all ended in their hearty submission to
me, and a reasonable composition with them ; Larimore paid me «£30.

ch. rv. sec. ii. SIR JOHN CROKE. 491

Thomas Croxton ^44. Thomas Beamsly <£20. Mayne £\5. Nicholas
Sanders =£12. In all ,£121. The others were secured by their poverty
and Sir John Croke lost his commission."

Though Sir John Croke was sufficiently culpable, this account is evidently
much exaggerated, and in some parts a misrepresentation. The barefaced
avowal, and even boast, of dishonest principles, here attributed to him, would
shew a degree of profligacy scarcely credible in any man. This preface was
written under a strong sense of injuries, with something of triumph, for
having succeeded in escaping them, and it was published at a time when
the author might hope to gain favour by blackening the puritans. Hawkins
himself appears not to have been of the most unblemished reputation, for it
is said by Anthony Wood, that " he was afterwards Vicar, but a poor one5
" if not scandalous, of Beckley'."

This trial took place at Aylesbury, on the 11th of March, 1668, before
Sir Matthew Hale, and Hugh Windham, Serjeant at Law. Hawkins was
indicted for stealing two gold rings, one white Holland apron, two pieces
of gold of the value of ten shillings each, and nineteen shillings in silver,
belonging to Henry Larimore, upon the 18th of September. Sir
John Croke was present in court, but quitted it abruptly before the
conclusion. The best short account of this trial will be the summing up
of Sir Matthew Hale to the Jury.

At the end of the examinations, the Lord Chief Baron (Hale) asked if
Sir John Croke was gone, and informed the Court " that he had sent him
" that morning two sugar loaves for a present. I did not then know so
" well as now, what he meant by them, but to save his credit, I sent his
" sugar loaves back again. I cannot think that Sir John Croke believes
" that the King's Justices came into the country to take bribes, I rather
" think, that some other person (having a design to put a trick upon him)
" sent them in his name." And so taking the letter out of his bosom, he
asked the gentlemen if it was his hand, which appearing, the Lord Chief
Baron said, " he intended to carry it to London, and would relate the
" foulness of the business upon occasion."

His directions to the Jury were to this effect.

1 Ath. Ox. vol. ii. col. 426. Ed. i.
3 R 2

492 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

" You that are of the Jury, the prisoner at the bar stands indicted for
robbing this Lariraore, and you have heard at large, both the prosecutor's
evidence to prove him guilty, (which if you do believe,) I never heard a
fuller. And, secondly, you have also heard the prisoner's defence, wherein
(as I think) he hath as fully answered the same charge. I shall first repeat
the evidence against him, which consists of two branches ; the first is the
prosecutor's proof of this indictment ; and, secondly, his charging
him with other crimes of the like nature, as the stealing of Chilton's
boots, and the picking of Noble's pocket.

1. For to prove him guilty of robbing him, he observes this method :

First, He himself swears that he saw the prisoner at the bar commit the
robbe y.

Secondly, His son and sister swear that they saw him run out of the
house at the same time.

Thirdly, He brings in four or five persons, that swear the gold ring, and
the five shilling piece, were found in the house of him that is now the pri-
soner at the bar.

Fourthly and lastly, He proves by two witnesses, that the gold ring and
five shilling piece were pawned to him.

And for the first of these, Larimore swears, that upon Friday, the 18th
of September last past, he locked his doors, between twelve and one of the
clock at noon, and went out (leaving nobody at home,) to pluck hemp,
about two furlongs from his house, where he stayed with the rest of his fa-
mily, till within an hour and an half of sunset ; at which time, he coming
home, found his door open, and ran up into his chamber, and there through
the chinks of the loft boards, he swears that he saw the prisoner, now at the
bar, ransacking and rifling of a box, in the which was at that time a Hol-
land apron, and a purse, in which purse were two gold rings, two pieces
of gold, and nineteen shillings in silver, all which said rings, gold, and
silver, with the said apron, he swears that he did see the prisoner now at
the bar turn out of the said purse, take and feloniously carry away, except
one piece or two of the silver, and shew the very purse out of which he
saw him take them. If you compare the evidence with the indictment,
you may see the policy of the prosecutor. For he would gladly seem a
moderate prosecutor, by indicting him for felony only, as the stealing of

ch. rv. sec. ii. SIR JOHN CROKE. 493

rings, money, &c. But by his evidence, he would as gladly charge him
with burglary also, for he swears, he broke open, or picked the locks of his
doors, and box, which by law is the same.

And secondly, To corroborate this his evidence, he brings in two wit-
nesses more, viz. his son and sister Beamsley, and they swear that they
did, at the same time, see the prisoner, that is now at the bar, run out of
Larimore's house, with a great bunch of keys in his hand, and he hid him-
self amongst beans and weeds : and note the keys, to intimate that by the
help of those, he picked Larimore's locks.

Thirdly, He brings in his son, Dodsworth Croke, the Constable, and
Tythingman, which all swear, that they found this gold ring, and five shil-
ling piece of silver, in a basket, hanging upon a pin, in the house of the
prisoner at the bar, with a few eggs, which the prisoner at the bar the day
before had stolen from him.

And, fourthly and lastly, He brings in one of Sir John Croke's sons
and Mr. Good, who swear that the one pawned the ring, the other the five
shilling piece, to Larimore.

Thus Larimore swears, he saw the prisoner rob him, his son and sister
swear they saw him run out of the house, the same time, four more swear,
that they found the ring and five shilling piece in his house upon search ;
and, lastly, two swear that the ring and five shilling piece were pawned to
him. If all this be true, he must needs be guilty, and if so, altho' I have
a great respect for his calling, yet that shall no way excuse him, but rather
aggravate his crime.

And thus much touching the indictment.

And secondly, He seems to charge him with other acts of the like
nature ; as,

1. He brings in one Chilton to swear that the prisoner at the bar did
steal a pair of boots from him, and four or five persons swear, that they
did hear Chilton say he did.

2. He brings one Boyce, from London, a person, I think, of no great
credit, he swears, that he saw the prisoner at the bar, about two years ago,
have his hand in the pocket of one James Noble, and that Noble said, that
he lost a gold ring, and a piece of gold at the same time. This (if true)
would render the prisoner now at the bar obnoxious to any Jury. Thus
far the evidence against the prisoner at the bar.

494 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

Now we come to the prisoner's defence, which, because it is so full, I
shall be the briefer in it.

The parts of his defence were two, as himself observed.

1. He shews how too improbable it is.

And 2. How impossible it is that he should be guilty of this charge.

First, That it is not likely that Larimore was robbed at all, because he
did not declare it to any of his neighbours, as soon as he saw the robbery
committed. Again, he varies as to the time when it was done, for that he
told his brother Beamsley, that he had lost the ring and five shilling piece,
before there was any difference between him ami the prisoner at the bar,
as appears by Mrs. Willcox, and that difference began in Michaelmas term,
1667: and before Sir John Croke he confessed that he had lost this a
month before the prisoner was committed, which must be about the 19th
of August, 1668. And in court, he swears, that he saw the prisoner rob
him of the same gold ring, and five shilling piece of silver, upon Friday the
18th of September, 1668, an hour and an half before sunset; all this
cannot be true ; and for the warrant, that bears date a day before the rob-
bery was committed, whereupon the Judge said to Larimore, Come,
thou art a cunning fellow, for thou wentst to Sir Richard Pigott for a
warrant on the 17th day, and wast not robbed untill the 18th day : Lari-
more, thou knewest, it seems, upon the 17th day, that thou shouldest be
robbed on the 1 8th day, that the prisoner at the bar should rob thee ; surely
thou canst divine, if all this be true. Again, is it likely, that when the
prisoner was charged with flat felony at his own doors, the constable like-
wise threatening to break open his house to search, if he had been guilty,
his wife and himself, having the opportunity of going abroad after they
had so charged him, while they were gone to consult with Sir John Croke,
as the prisoner at the bar sufficiently proved they did, that in all that time
he would not have made his escape, or at least found a more convenient
place to convey a ring and five shilling piece, than to let it remain all that
time in a little basket, with a few eggs, hanging on a pin ? Again, who
came first into the room, where this egg-basket hung ? Why, Larimore ;
and who took down the basket ? Larimore ; who turned out the eggs ?
Larimore ; and who had the dressing of the eggs ? Larimore. He is a
special cook, you Gentlemen of the Jury; it is an easy thing for Larimore
to juggle a ring and five shilling piece into a basket, he being the first that

ch. iv. sec. ii. SIR JOHN CROKE. 4.95

came into the room ; as he put up his hand to take down the basket, he
might with ease enough convey such things as these were into it. All
this, and many more, are probable circumstances, to move you and me to
believe, that it is not possible, that the prisoner at the bar is guilty of this
robbery ; but that I must leave to you to consider of.

Again, the prisoner at the bar proves the whole business to be but a
meer contrivance of Sir John Croke's and this Larimore, on purpose to
ruin him, as is fully made manifest by the testimony of Mr. Brown, who
justifies, that upon Wednesday the 16th of September last past, and but
two days before this pretended robbery, he heard Sir John Croke advise
this Larimore to fetch a warrant to search the house of the prisoner at the
bar, and then to convey gold and silver into it ; which having done, charge
him with flat felony, and bring him before the said Sir John Croke, and
no other Justice, he then promising to the said Larimore to commit him
to the jail without bail, and hang him at the next assizes, which is now ;
and, as I take it, they do aim at it. You of this jury, if you do believe
what Mr. Brown saith, it is as foul a conspiracy as ever was heard of; and
I am apt to think it may be probable, because that Sir John Croke and
Larimore did threaten to cast this Mr. Brown into prison, and sd ruin him,
if he came down, and testified his knowledge about this business, which
thing is of a very ill consequence. Again, it seems likely that Mr. Brown
may be credited, if you compare their actions with the times ; for upon
Tuesday Sir John arrested the prisoner upon a feigned action of an ^6100.
Upon Wednesday the plot was concluded upon by Sir John Croke and
Larimore, as may appear by Mr. Brown's testimony. On Thursday they
procured of Sir Richard Pigott the warrant to search. On Friday,
Larimore pretends that he was robbed, (tho' in truth there appears no such
thing.) Upon Saturday the prisoner's house was broken open and he ap-
prehended ; and upon Sunday he was carried to jail ; it was a good week's
work. But there is an honest man, said my Lord Chief Baron, (pointing
at Mr. Willcox,) he knocks down all ; for he justifies that he came to
Larimore's house upon Friday the 18th of September last past, (it being
the same day that he swears he saw the prisoner at the bar robbing him,
and an hour and a half before sun-set,) and there continued till it was near
night, and he further saith, that Larimore was with him all that afternoon.
And he said, that Larimore was not robbed that afternoon, nor was Mr.

496 SIR JOHN CROKE. book iv.

Hawkins there at that time. If this that Mr. Willcox saith be true, then
all that Larimore, his son, and sister hath sworn, must needs be false.

And as touching the boots, Chilton swears that he had legged a pair of
boots for the prisoner, and laid them in his shop window, for him to take
along with him as he went by, which he did, and paid him for his work ;
and yet this Larimore, Sir John Croke, Croxtone, and others, did use their
utmost endeavours, to stir up this Chilton to indict the prisoner for stealing
of them, (Croxtone promising him to bear him out in it.) This can argue
nothing else but malice in those persons. And for that which Boyce
swears, is a story which can argue nothing else ; for neither is Noble here
to prosecute, nor can Boyce swear that the prisoner at the bar did pick his
pocket, or that Noble ever said he did.

Thus I have repeated the evidence to prove him guilty, and have not, I
think, omitted any thing in it that is material. Which if you do believe,
he must needs be guilty. And also the prisoner's defence, which I think
is sufficient. It is a plain case, and I suppose you need not go from the
box, but that I leave to you.1'

And so the Jury, not stirring from the box, found Mr. Hawkins, Not
Guilty.

On account of his debts, Sir John Croke, at this time, and afterwards,
was a prisoner in the King's Bench, but continued in his house at Chilton
under the superintendance of a keeperk. He sold the family estate at
Chilton to — Harvey, Esquire, a citizen of London, of whose son Edward
it was purchased by Richard Carter, Esquire, a barrister, and one of the
Welch Judges : whose son George Richard Carter, Esquire, having an
only daughter, Martha Catherine Carter, by her marriage with Sir John
Aubrey, Baronet, about the year 1784, it became his property'. This sale
does not appear to have relieved Sir John Croke from his embarrassments,
for he was removed from Chilton to London in a state of confinement, and
died there, the exact time is not known m.

His son was Sir Dodsworth Croke, who was knighted by King
Charles the Second", and to whom the title of Baronet descended".
Having no children, he was the last of the male line of the eldest branch

k Delafield's History of Chilton. ' Monument in Boarstall Church. "' Delafield.

Ward, MS. Addit. p. 305. • Delafield.

ch. iv. sec. ii. SIR JOHN CROKE.

497

of the family. The estate at Chilton having been sold, he lived to a oreat
age in poverty and distress, at that place, and died without issue in 1728,
as appears by this inscription upon a square stone in the chapel. " Here
" lieth the body of Sir Dodsworth Crooke, Knight and Baronet, who
" died January the 16th, 1728, aged 84 years."

3 s

THE CHEQUERS BRANCH.

SECTION THE THIRD.

THE SECOND SON OK SIR JOHN CROKE, THE JUDGE, AND H I S
DESCENDANTS; OR THE CHEQUERS BRANCH.

SIR HENRY CROKE.

WHILST the eldest branch of the descendants of Sir John Croke, the
Judge, thus withered in poverty, and discredit, his second son, Henry, by
his prudence, and good conduct, raised a fair establishment of fame and
fortune.

He was born, as is stated on his monument, in the memorable yeur
1588, when the country obtained safety and glory by the destruction of
the invincible armada. The honour of knighthood was conferred upon him
by his Sovereign, and he is said to have been a man of letters, and of polite
manners. About the year 1616, he obtained the office of Clerk of the
Pipe in the Exchequer1 ; which is a lucrative place, not over burdened
with any great expenditure of time, or labour\ His education, profession,
and the previous steps which lead to this appointment, have not been
related. In 1628, the third of Charles the First, he was Member of Par-
liament for Christchurch, in Hampshire0.

By a discreet marriage he acquired a very considerable estate in Buck-
inghamshire. His lady was Bridget, the daughter and co-heiress of Sir
William Hawtrey, Knight, of Chequers, in the parish of Ellesborough.

This was an ancient family, which had been long settled there. From
the name, Hawtrey, a corruption of Haute rive, in Latin de Aha Ripa,
it may be presumed to have claimed a Norman origin, or from the town of
Hauterive in Languedoc, on the river Auriege, thirteen miles south of
Thoulouse. The earliest of the family who remains upon record is Sir

* Styled in Latin, Ingrossator rotulae magna; in Curia Scaccarii.

'' In the Court Calendar it i« valued now at £651 a year, and is at present held by Lord
William Bentinck.
' Willis. Notit. Pari

ch. iv. sec. in. THE CHEQUERS BRANCH. 499

William de Alta Ripa, of Algerkirk in the county of Lincoln ; and who
appears to have acquired this estate by his union with Catherine, the
daughter and co-heiress of Sir Chequers of Chequers. From him, by a
descent of ten steps, we arrive at Sir William Hawtrey, Knight, the father
of Bridget*.

There are two flat monuments of this family in Ellesborough church.
One has the effigies of a gentleman and lady, engraved on a brass plate,
with two groups of figures, the one of eleven men, and the other of
seven women, representing their sons and daughters. The brass fillets,
with the inscription, have been torn off, but there is the coat of arms of
Hawtrey. The other has an inscription on a brass plate in the old black
letter.

#f pour ruartttf prat) for fht sottlrs of Cfcomas ©atotreg (Ssqugf r,
anti £>pjbell his irjyffe tohprh GThomas fcrresspb the xvth tiap of flo-
brmbec in the pm of our Hortrc 6o*& a mccccc0. xl. mi0. ariO tl;f
siapU £$itU tomsSptJ the .... trap of ... . in the wre of our iCorbr

<8oti a mccccc on tohose sfoute anfo all Christen soules Slesu

habe merrp.

iiere Ipethe the bofcp of iHarpe somtpme the iupfe of S83iIIiam ^ato-
trep of this parpshe (Sgqupa*, luho oeparte'o this Ipfe in trabeu" of her
fprst rftgRr the xth Uap of Serember in the per? of our 3Lorl3 #00
M. vc. l. v. hjbose soule £0)3 parson*

The wife of Sir William Hawtree, the father of Bridget, was Winifred,
the daughter of Ambrose Dormer, Esquire, of Great Milton in Oxford-
shire, and sister of Sir Michael Dormer, who married Dorothy Hawtrey,
sister of Sir William Hawtrey c. Sir William Hawtrey had no male
issue ; but he had three other daughters, Mary, married to Sir Francis
Wolley ; Anne, to John Sanders of Dinton ; and Elizabeth, to Walter

d Vi-itation of Bucks, in 1574. Harl. MSS No. 1139. Pedigree of Hawtrey in Brown
Willis, supra. In the twenty-sixth of Elizabeth, the Queen granted to Michael Hawtrey,
Philippa li is wife, and Willi. im Hawtrey, their son, the Rectory and Advowson of the Vi-
carage of Wendover, for their lives, rendering 49^ l6s. 8d. a year. The fine paid was
501. Rot. Pat. in Brown Willis, MSS. vol. xl. fol. 106.

e Monument of the Dormers in Great Milton Church. Brown Willis's MSS. vol. xix. in
Bibl. Bodl.

3 s 2

500 THE CHEQUERS BRANCH. book iv.

Pye, son and heir of Sir Walter Pye. The estate at Chequers went with
Bridget, the second daughter, to Sir Henry Crokef.

Sir Henry Croke died of the stone, the first of January, in 1659, in the
seventy-second year of his age, and was buried at Ellesborough. In the
inscription upon his monument, which is a flat marble on the pavement,
there is a singular thought, conceived in the quaint beauties of the lan-
guage of those times, that " he did not love the poor, and therefore that
" none might continue in poverty, was the constant object of his exertions,
" and of the employment of his wealth."

p. m. s.

REQUIESCIT SUB HOC MARMORE DOMINI HENRICI CROKE, EQUI-
TIS AURATI, DEPOSITUM, ANNOS XLIII CLERICI PIP.E OFFICIO
GAUDENS, TAM LITERIS QUAM MORIBUS HUMANISSIMI : AN".
DN\ MIRABILI MDLXXXVIIl" NATI : jETATIS LXXII, DOMINIQUE
MDCLIX, PRIMO MANE, MENSE JANUARII, LITHIASI MORBO, DE-
NATI.

EX DIUTURNITATE JUDICIUM COMPUTETIS,
EX EUPHEMIA FIDELITATEM,
SINGULIS CHARISSIMUS SOLAS PAUPERES NON REDAMAVIT,
IDEOQUE,NE TALES PERMANERENT,
TUM OPE, TUM OPIBUS SATAGEBAT.
ALBO OMNIUM CALCULO VIVEBAT,
SUO MORIEBATUR.

A coat of arms, Croke quartered, with a crescent for difference.

His lady, who died before him, is buried under a superb marble monu-
ment in the same church. She is represented in a recumbent posture,
under an arch, supported by four Corinthian columns, and her manly vir-
tues are celebrated in the following, rather extraordinary, epitaph. She
died in 1638, and was buried on the fifth of July s.

ECCUM NOMEN QUAM EMPHATICE MARMOREUM :
DURIORI SCILICET SAXO jEQUE PERENNE:

' See the Genealogy of Hawtrey, Croke, Thurban, Puissel, and Greenhill, No. 25.
s Ellesborough Register of burials.

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500 THE CHEQUERS BRANCH. book iv.

Pye, son and heir of Sir Walter Pye. The estate at Chequers went with
Bridget, the second daughter, to Sir Henry Crokef.

p. m. s.

REQU1ESCIT SUB HOC MARMOEE DOMINI HENRICI CROKE, EQUI-
TIS AURATI, DEPOSITUM, ANNOS XLIII CLERICI PIPJE OFFICIO
GAUDENS, IAM LITERIS QUAM MORIBUS HUM A NISSIM I : AN".
DN1. MIRABILI MDLXXXVIII0 NATI: jETATIS LXXII, DOMINIQUE
MDCLIX, PRIMO MANE, MENSE JANUARII, LITHIASI MORBO, DE-
NAT I .

EX DIUTURNITATE JUDICIUM COMPUTETIS,
EX EUPHEMIA FIDELITATEM,
SINGULIS CHARISSIMUS SOLAS PAUPERES NON REDAMAVIT,
IDEOQUE, NE TALES PERMANERENT,
TUM OPE, TUM OPIBUS SATAGEBAT.
ALBO OMNIUM CALCULO VIVEBAT,
SUO MORIEBATUR.

A coat of arms, Croke quartered, with a crescent for difference.

ECCUM NOMEN QUAM EMPHATICE MARMOREUM :
DURIORI SCILICET SAXO .EQUE PERENNE:

' See the Genealogy of Hawtrey, Croke, Thurban, Russel, and Greenhill, No. 25.
- Ellesborouffh Register of burials.

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CH. IV. SEC. III.

THE CHEQUERS BRANCH.

ET VEL IPSI MONUMENTO MONUMENTUM ;
NOMEN QUAERAS (LECTOR) SEU TITULUM POTIUS
VIRTUTUM, PIE VIXIT SPIRANS ETHICA
BRIGETTA CROKE :

MARITA PLUSQUAM AMICA

MULIER QUAM PENE NULLA,

FEMINjE NIHIL HABENS NISI SEXUM,

CONSTANTIA FLORESCENS UXOR ADMODUM VIRILI,

MULTA PARTU MATER, ET AMORE MULTA,

CLARIS ORIUNDA PROAVIS, CLARIS ET DIGNA,

CUJUS VIGENTEM CINEREM RIGANS MARITUS,

OBRUTA DUM JACET H/EC TUMULO, JACET ILLE DOLORE.

The arms are, Croke, single, with a crescent, impaled with, argent,
lour lions rampant, between two cotises sable. For Hawtrey. Two
crests, two swans' necks, Croke; and for Hawtrey, a bear's head, or, fretty,
sable. There are likewise two single coats, one of Croke, and the other
of Hawtrey, as in the impaled coat of arms.

His son and successor, not only in his estates, but likewise in the office
of Clerk of the Pipe, was Sir Robert Croke, Knight, who twice re"
presented the borough of Wendover in Parliament, in the fifteenth and six-
teenth years of Charles the First', and was knighted by that King at
Whitehall, the nindi of August, 1641 k.

Like his father, he improved his patrimony by a prudent marriage. The
object of his choice was Miss, or as young ladies were then called, Mrs.
Susanna Vanloor, one of the three daughters and heiresses of Sir Peter
Vanloor, Baronet, only son of Sir Peter Vanloor of Tylehurst in Berkshire.
This last gentleman was born in Holland, in the province of Utrecht, was
a wealthy merchant in London, and was naturalized by the authority of
parliament. His mercantile and pecuniary services were often employed,
and acknowledged, by his Sovereigns Queen Elizabeth, King James, and
Charles the First, and he was rewarded by the title of a Baronet. He died
September the sixth, in 1627, being above sixty years old, and was buried

1 15 and 16 Charles I. Willis's Not. Pari. * Woods Ath. Oxon. vol. ii. col. 728.

.502 THE CHEQUERS BRANCH. book iv.

at Tylehurst under a sumptuous monument1. By his wife Jacomina, the
daughter of Henry Teighbott, he had only one son, of his own name, and
six daughters, of whom Anna married Charles Caesar, son and heir of Sir
Julius Caesar, Privy Counsellor, and Master of the Rolls, and Mary, Sir
Edward Powell, Baronet. Sir Peter Vanloor, the son, married Susanna,
the daughter of Lawrence Beeke, of Antwerp, and had three daughters.
Jacomina, Susanna, and Maria. Susanna married Sir Robert Crokem.

In 1661, Sir Robert Croke presented a petition to King Charles the
Second, for restoring the ancient and established comptroll and legal
course of the King's Exchequer. He states, that his Majesty's father, in
the eighth year of his reign, by his letters patent, granted him the office of
Clerk of the Pipe, or Ingrosser of the Great Roll of the Exchequer : that
the ancient course of the Court had been observed from King Stephen,
until of late, that the auditors obstructed the same by illegal and unsafe
proceedings ; and in particular that many rents had been omitted in the
accounts, and many sums lost to the Crown. His Majesty, by an order
of the seventh of June, 166 1, referred the petition to the Chancellor, and
others, who met at Serjeant's Inn, on the eighth of July, and made an
order for the production and return of various documents, by the second
of November, but what farther was done does not appear".

He died February the eighth, 1680, aged 71 years, and his lady in 1685,
aged 60. They were both buried at Ellesborough, but their tomb-stones
are now nearly covered by the pew of the Russel family0. They had six
sons, and seven daughters p.

The arms of Vanloor are, or, a garland, or orle of wood-bine, or honey-
suckle, proper 1.

Robert Croke, Esquire, their eldest son, was Clerk of the Pipe, in
his father's life-time, who must therefore have resigned in his favour, after
having enjoyed the office above twenty years. He died however without
issue before his father, July the 30th, 1671, aged thirty-five years, and

' Ashmole's Berkshire, p. 14G. '" Gmealogy of the Vanloor family in Dugdale's MSS.
No. 852. fol. 324, It is signed by Pieter van Loor. No. 26. " Landowne MSS. vol.
259. fol. 100. ° Inscription p There was a Robert Croke, who took the degree

of Doctor of Physic, 1 May, lfj44, can it be the same person? Wood, Fasti, Oxon. vol. ii.
col. 728. 9 Blome's Catalogue of Baronets, at the end of Guillim.

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ch. iv. sec. in. THE CHEQUERS BRANCH. 60S

was buried at Ellesborough, but his tomb-stone is likewise eclipsed by the
Russel pew.

A second son, Henry Croke, died in 1662, only twenty-one years
of age. His tomb-stone has a long laudatory inscription, nearly ob-
literated by the envious hand of time, and the footsteps of the profane.
As far as it can be made out it is as follows.

HENRICI CROKE
QUOD MORI POTUIT HEIC CONDITUR
QUOD MORI NON DEBUIT HEIC PANDITUR.
QUI Dni ROBERTI CROCI, EQUITIS AURATI,
NATU SECUNDUS, ANNUM AGENS XXI,

SUMMO MANE, CALENDIS JANUARIIS, AN. DM. M,DC,LXII.
VEL APOSTEMATE, VEL ARTIUM1
MORBO, SANE MEDICIS OCCULTO,
OXONII DELICI.E, OCCUBUIT,
IISDEM HORA DIEQUE QUIBUS AVITUS
DUi HENRICUS CROCUS, EQUES AURATUS,
TRIBUS RETRO ANNIS OBDORMIVIT.

NATALIUM SPLENDOREM VIRTUTUM PURPURA,
VIRTUTES OMNIGENiE SCIENTI.E IRIDE,
SCIENTIAS PURiE RELIGIONIS CANDORE ....
AUT SUI EXEMPLUM IMMORTALI ....
TUM MORUM TEMPER1E TUM MORTIS TEMPORE ....
EN CCELESTEM AMBITIONEM ....
SIMULAC VIRILEM ATTIGISSET jETATEM
PERFECTIONE NON CONTENTUS HUMANA
AD HIERARCHIAM SANCTORUM ....

Four lines obliterated.

A daughter Catherine was baptized the 23d of February, 16.50, and
died in 1657s.

All the six sons and seven daughters of Sir Robert Croke, and Su-
sanna Vanloor, died before their father, except three daughters. For Sir

' Artuum. ' Ellesborough Register.

504 THE CHEQUERS BRANCH. book iv.

Robert, by his will, dated the 5th of May, 1679? gave all his manors and
lands, in the parish of Ellesborough, to his wife Dame Susan Croke, for her
life, and after her death to Susan, Mary, and Isabella, his three daughters,
their heirs and assigns, for ever, in such shares as his wife should ap-
point*. Isabella the youngest daughter married John, or Samuel, Dod, a
barrister. Mary, the second, was the third wife of John Thurban, Serjeant
at Law; by whom he had no children".

The whole of the estate at Chequers, I know not by what means, be-
came the property of Serjeant Thurban ; who left it to Johanna, his only
daughter, by his second wife Mary, sister to Lord Cutts. She married,
for her first husband, Colonel John Rivett, by whom she had three sons,
John, James, and William, and a daughter, Johanna Cutts Rivett. Her
second husband was John Russel, Esquire, by whom she had no children.
The three sons dying without issue, the estate came to their sister Jo-
hanna Cutts Rivett. This heiress married Charles Russel, Esquire, son
of John Russel, who married Johanna Thurban, by his first wife Rebecca,
sister of Sir Charles Eyre. They had an only son, Sir John Russel, Ba-
ronet, whose two sons by his wife Catherine Cary, Sir John Russel, and
Sir George Russel, both dying without issue, the reverend Doctor John
Russel Greenhill, as next heir, inherited Chequers. He was the son of
Samuel Greenhill, Esquire, by Elizabeth Russel, sister of Charles Russel
before mentioned. The son of Doctor Greenhill, Robert Greenhill Rus-
sel, Esquire, Barrister at Law of Lincoln's Inn, and Member of Parliament
for Thirsk in Yorkshire, is the present representative of the family, which
is descended from Oliver Cromwell ; the Protector's youngest daughter
Frances, the relict of Robert Rich, having married their ancestor, Sir John
Russel, Baronet".

The house at Chequers, in the parish of Ellesborough, is a fine old
brick mansion, built by Sir Henry Croke, with a square court in the

' Sloan's MSS. Mus. Brit. No. l69t. fol. 91. u Brown Willis, MSS. vol. iii. p. 36.

x Genealogy, No. 27- from the Visitation of Bucks, in 1574, by Richard Lee, Harl. MSS.
No. 1139. Brown Willis's MSS. Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, Gough's View of the fa-
mily of Cromwell. Nichols's Biblioth. Topog. vol. vi. art. 3. There was a Robert Thur-
born, Student in Medicine, but in Orders, Warden of Winchester in the time of William
of Waynflete, in 1429. Chandler's Life of Waynflete, p. 15.

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Robert, by his will, dated the 5th of May, 16?9> gave all his manors and
lands, in the parish of Ellesborough, to his wife Dame Susan Croke, for her
life, and after her death to Susan, Mary, and Isabella, his three daughters,
their heirs and assigns, for ever, in such shares as his wife should ap-
point1. Isabella the youngest daughter married John, or Samuel, Dod, a
barrister. Mary, the second, was the third wife of John Thurban, Serjeant
at Law ; by whom he had no children".

The house at Chequers, in the parish of Ellesborough, is a fine old
brick mansion, built by Sir Henry Croke, with a square court in the

1 Sloan's MSS. Mus. Brit. No. 1691. fol. 91. » Brown Willis, MSS. vol. iii. p. 36.

v Genealogy, No. 27- from the Visitation of Bucks, in 1574, by Richard Lee, Harl. MSS.
No. 1139. Brown Willis's MSS. Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, Gough's View of the fa-
mily of Cromwell. Nichols's Biblioth. Topog. vol. vi. art. 3. There was a Robert Thur-
born, Student in Medicine, but in Orders, Warden of Winchester in the time of William
of Waynflete, in 1429. Chandler's Life of Waynflete, p. 15.

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middle. It has lately been fitted up in the Gothic style, with great taste,
and the rooms are large, and very beautiful. In the library is a valuable
collection of original portraits of the Cromwell family, and some of the
principal characters of that period. Amongst them are the pictures of Sir
William and Lady Hawtree, Serjeant Thurban, and two full-lengths of
Sir Robert, and Lady Croke y.

y That of Sir Robert Croke is a fine portrait, and might have been painted by Cornelius
Jansen, or Vandyck. The other of Lady Croke is in a stiffer, more Gothic style, and being
apparently older than the other, 1 am inclined to think is the portrait of Sir Robert's
Mother, Bridget Hawtrey.

3 T

506 CHARLES CROKE, D.D.

SECTION THE FOURTH.

CHARLES CROKE, D.D.

CHARLES CROKE, the third son of Sir John Croke, the Judge, was
a clergyman, and his success in his profession seems to have been the
just reward of his merits. He was educated at Thame school, and was
admitted a student of Christ Church in Oxford, on the 5th of January,
1603, as a Knight's son of Oxfordshire. He took the degree of Bachelor
of Arts, April the 16th, 1608, that of Master in Hill, and became the
principal Tutor and Lecturer in his college*.

Upon the resignation of Mr. Richard Ball, the second Professor of
Rhetoric in Gresham College, he was a competitor for that office with
Mr. William Osbaldson. On the 14th of January, 16 13, he was elected;
upon which occasion, the interest of his father, who had been Recorder of
London, and was then one of the Judges of the King's Bench, was sup-
posed to have given additional weight to the recommendation of his own
acknowledged learning and abilities. The following letter, written by Dr.
King, formerly Dean of Christ Church, and then Bishop of London, is no
mean testimonial in his favour.

" To the Right Worshipfull, my verie loving friends, Sir Thomas Ben-
" net, and Sir Bapt. Hicks, Knights, with other the Committees for the
" Rhetorique Lecture, in Gresham Colledge, these.
" Right Worshipfull,

" Understandinge that Mr. Charles Croke had a suite unto your
" worthie company, in discharge of my love, which I beare to his name,
" as also to his own good deservinge, I was bould to accompanie his
" desires with some testimonie of my knowledge of him. Wee lived to-

a Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors, page 306, with the manuscript additions.

ch. iv. sec. iv. CHARLES CROKE, D.D. 0O7

" gether in Christ Church, I his deane, he a member of that house, where
" I observed and cherished his proceedinge from time to time ; wherein he
" prospered so well both for disputations and for other exercises of learn-
" inge, that most of the place of lecturinge and government over others he
" hath atteyned unto in that house. Which I speak not by report or
" rumour, but am able truly to relate upon my perfect knowledge. His
" religion is sounde and uncorrupt, according to the race from whence he
" springeth. And for his honestie and virtuousness of lief, I could not
" add more to men, that understand my speech, than that he is his father's
" living image. Learning, religion, and virtue, I know, are what you
" ayme at ; which, when you shall find conjoyned in a person of birth and
" blood, as well as of other qualities, you need not seek further to make
" your election. And therefore, recommending you all to the integritie of
" your good consciences, and the direction of the Spirit of God, I heartily
" rest,

" Your worship's very assured friend,

London House, " JO. LONDON."

Jan. 14, 1613.

After his election, he was ordered to perform his first inaugural oration
upon the first Friday in Hilary term following, which was upon the 2Sth
of the same month b.

This institution of Gresham College was established by the celebrated
Sir Thomas Gresham, a noble merchant, in the reigns of Edward the
Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth, who, like the Medici, was a great encourager
of learning ; and his benefaction took effect after the death of his lady in
1596. It was designed to be a third University of the kingdom, and, by
its situation in London, to afford the means of obtaining knowledge to
those, whose situation precluded them from a regular education in the
more distant seminaries, particularly persons of the mercantile profession.
Seven professorships, for divinity, law, physic, geometry, astronomy, rhe-
toric, and music, were appointed. The mansion-house of Sir Thomas was
assigned for the residence of the Professors, who read their lectures

Ward.
3 T 2

.508 CHARLES CROKE, D. D. book iv.

twice in every week during the law terms, and received a salary of fifty
pounds a year. This college was the cradle of the Royal Society. Many
of the learned men, whose voluntary meetings were the origin of that
useful establishment, were Professors here. The first members usually
assembled in it, and had their public room, and their repository for curi
osities there, for above fifty years, till they finally removed to Crane Court,
in 1710°.

In 1616, Mr. Croke was Junior Proctor of the University of Oxford,
with the learned Dr. Saunderson, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln*1. Upon
the 24th of June, in the same year, he was instituted to the rectory of
Waterstock, upon the presentation of his uncle Sir George Croke: but he
resigned it in the October following1-. On the 5th of September, 1617, he
was elected Fellow of Eton College, in the room of Mr. William Charkef.
In 1619, he resigned his Gresham professorship, in favour of his cousin
Henry Croke, who succeeded him on the 2.5th of May in that year^.

Doctor Charles Croke had two wives. The first was Anne, the
daughter of Sir William Grene ; to whom there is a marble monument in
Becklev church, against the wall of the chancel, at the south end of the
communion table. On a plate of brass, having a lady kneeling against a
table with a book engraved upon it, is this inscription.

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED IN MEMORY OF ANNE CROKE.
WIFEOF CHARLES CROKE, AND DAUGHTER OF SIR WILLIAM GRENE,
KNIGHT, BY CHARLES CROKE, HER SURVIVING HUSBAND, NOT IN
ANY OPINION BRASS, OR MARBLE, CANNE EXPRESS HER WORTH,
OR HIS OWNE AFFECTION, BUT TO TELL THE READER THAT IN THIS
CHANCEL LYES HER BODY, THAT IS NOT IN SURER POSSESSION OF
DUST, THEN IS HER SOULE OF HEAVEN, EXPECTING CONSURREC-
TION WITH THE JUST, FOR THE MERITS OF CHRIST.

And on a brass plate, on a flat stone below,

HEARE LYETH BURIED THE BODY OF ANNE CROKE, THE WIFE OF
CHARLES CROKE, THIRD SON OF SIR JOHN CROKE, KNIGHT, ONE OF
THE JUSTICES OF THE KING'S BENCH, WHICH ANNE WAS THE

'Ward. Sprat's History of the. Royal Society. d Wood's Fast. Oxon 'Ward.

' Ibid. « Ibid.

ch. iv. sec. iv. CHARLES CROKE, D.D. 509

DAUGHTER OF SIR WILLIAM GRENE, KNIGHT, OF GREAT MILTON,
IN THE COUNTY OF OXFORD. SHE DEPARTED THIS LIFE JULY 24,

1619.

TE SEQUIMUR, CONJUX, PASSU QUO POSSUMUS £QUO,

ATQUE JACERE TUO TENDIMUS USQUE SINU,

POSUIT CONJUX MCESTISSIMUS CAROLUS CROKE.

On the monument against the wall is a coat of arms : Croke, impaled
with, Azure, three stags trippant, or.

For his second wife, he married Anne, daughter of John Rivett, of
Brandston, in the county of Suffolk, Esquire. By her he had an only
son, who died young, and named John Croke k.

In the year 1621, he was presented, by the Earl of Bedford, to the rich
living of Agmondesham in Buckinghamshire. This obliged him to quit
his fellowship at Eton College, which, by the rules of that society, was not
tenable with any living, rated at more than forty marks; and Agmondesham
is stated at ,£48. 16s. 0£</.h On the 20th of June, 1625, he accumulated
the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor in Divinity, and went out Grand
Compounder. He was afterwards appointed a chaplain to King Charles
the First'.

Since his rectory was so valuable, it cannot be supposed that it was from
mere lucrative motives that he undertook the education of some young
gentlemen of rank and fortune, who seem to have been principally the sons
of his particular friends. In this number were included, Sir William
Drake of Amersham, Sir Robert Croke1, and, that "miracle of his age tor
" critical and curious learning," as he is called by Anthony Wood, John
Gregory, who was selected by Dr. Croke to wait upon those two gentle-
men, as their Servitor, when they went to Christ Church, in I624m.

" Ward, 307. ' Wood, Fasti Oxon. vol. i. col. 851.

k Visitation of Bucks, 1575, and another in 1634. " Charles Croke, D. D. now Rector
" of Ayniersham, and Chaplain to the King's Majesty, married Anne, daughter of John
" Rivett, Brandston, com. Suffolk, Esquire." Harl. MSS. No. 1533 fol. 65. b. No. 1482.
fol. 19. A pedigree in Harl. MSS. No. 1102. fol. ~. Brown Willis's MSS. vol. iii. fol. 36,
Bibl. Bodl. Ward says he always lived single.

1 Fast. Oxon vol. ii. col. 728.

'" John Gregory was born at Agmondesh.au in l607, the son of poor but respectable
parents, and was probably educated gratis by Dr. Croke, who thus provided for his farther

510 CHARLES CROKE, D. D. book iv.

Another pupil was Henry Curwen, Esquire, only son of Sir Patrick Cur-
wen, of Warkington, in Cumberland, Baronet, who died at the age of four-
teen, on the 21st of August, 1638, whilst under his care, and was buried
m Agmondesham church. Under the title of a " Sad Memorial," he
published the sermon which he preached upon the melancholy occasion,
upon the fourteenth chapter of Job, verse the second, in quarto, at Oxford,
in 1638".

He continued always very zealous in the interest of King Charles the
First, during the rebellion ; for which reason he was obliged to leave his
native country, and retire to Ireland, soon after the unhappy exit of that
Prince. His chief residence there was at Feathard, in Tipperary, but he
died at Carloe near Dublin, on the 10th of April, 1657°. I believe he left
some posterity in that country.

education by this appointment He made a great progress in hi» studies, was successively
Chaplain of Christ Church, Chaplain to Brian Duppa, Dean, afterwards Bishop of Chiches-
ter, then of Salisbury, in each of which churches Gregory had a prebend. In the Rebellion
he lost his preferment, and retired in great distress to Kidlington, where he died in lb"4o'.
He wrote several very learned books, and was honoured with the correspondence of the
greatest men of the age. Biog. Brit. 1?C6. Supplement. Ath. Oxon. ii. col. 100, 50, 728.
Fast. Oxon. i. 240, 252. His life prefixed to his Opera Posthuma.

" Fast. Oxon. vol. i. c. 851. His monument in Agmondesham church.

" Ward's Lives, p. 308. from the information of Mr. Benjamin Robertshavv, Rector of
Agmondesham.

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ch.iv. sec. v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 511

SECTION THE FIFTH.

SERJEANT UNTON CROKE, OF MARSTON.

THE influence of Hambden, and some other principal leaders in the op-
position to King Charles the First, and who were persons of fortune and
respectability in Buckinghamshire, extended in a considerable degree to
their neighbours ; and, accordingly, in the civil war which followed, we
find the gentlemen of that county in general on the side of the Parliament.
The Croke family was even more intimately connected with the heads of
that party. To the Lord Commissioner Whitlock, Ingoldsby, Saint
John, Hambden, Waller, the poet, Mayne, Grimstone, Sir Hardress
Waller, and even to the Protector, they were nearly related by blood, or
affinity". We come now to a branch of the family, which was naturally
swayed by the bias of its connections, and attached itself to Cromwell with
zeal and fidelity.

The fourth son of Sir John Croke, the Judge, was born about the year
1594, and was named Unton after his grandmother. He was admitted a
student of the Inner Temple the 16th of November, 1609, called to the
Bar the 26th of January, 1616, and to the Bench the 14th of June, 1635.
He married his wife, whose name was Anne, the 8th of November, 1617,
the daughter and heiress of Richard Hore, Esquire, of Marston. In the
first parliament of King Charles the First, in 1625, and in that which was
summoned in 1640, he was elected Member for Wallingford, in Berkshire1.
In the latter year, he was Lent Reader to the society of the Inner Temple,
when Sir Thomas Gardiner, Recorder of London, who lived some time at
Cuddesdon, near Oxford, read the autumnal lecture0'.

He resided at Marston, a small village near Oxford, in a house which
he acquired by his wife, and which was made use of by the Commissioners
for the King and the Parliament army in the treaty for the surrender of
Oxford, in May, 1646'. He was also for some time Deputy Steward of

a See the Table, No. 28. " Willis, Notit Pari. c Dugil. Or. Jud. 168. a Wood's
Hist. Univ. Ox.l.b.i. p. 365.

519 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

the University to Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery and Pembroke1.
On the 21st of June, 1654, he was called to the degree of Serjeant at Law.
In Thurloe's State Papers there is a letter, of the 2d of October, 1655,
from Doctor John Owen, the Dean of Christ Church, to the Protector, in
which he strongly intercedes in Serjeant Croke's favour, that he might be
made a Judge.

" May it please your Highnesse,
" Your Highnesse was pleased to favour me not long since in my
" request on the behalf of Mr. Serjeant Croke, and to mention your good
" intendments towards him. Least in the multitude of your weighty
" affairs he might be forgotten, during the present opportunity of making
" him one of your Judges, I am bold to remind your Highnesse of your
" thoughts towards him, being fully assured he will never really forfeit
" them. I dare not with any confidence assume unto myself a judge-
" ment of the fitness of any person for such an employment, yet I have
" most good ground to continue in my former persuasion of his ability and
" integrity, so that I am most confident your Highnesse will never have
'• cause to repent of your doing him this favour, and that he will, in his
" place, perform that which is the true service unto you, in an upright ad-
" ministration of justice. That you may have the presence of our good
" God, in a living sense of his unchangeable love in Jesus Christ, to your
" person, and a gracious assistance in all your affairs, is the daily prayer of
" him who is to

" Your highnesse most humbly and most faithfully devoted,
Oxfcd, "JOHN OWENf."

October 2, 1655.

Whether the place was already promised, or for whatever cause is not
known, it seems that the recommendation was not attended to.

In the list of Commissioners appointed in 1656, under the authority of
an Act of Parliament, for the security of the Lord Protector, with power
to try offenders for high treason, without the intervention of a jury, after
the Lord Chancellor, and the Judges, the third person named is Unton
Croke, Serjeant at Law&.

' Wood's Hist. Univ. Ox. lib. ii 442. ' Thurloe's St.'ite Papers, vol. iv 65.

5 Tlie Att itself in the King's Collection of Pamphlets published during the time of
Charles the First, and the Commonwealth. Folios, volume 15.

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 513

Unton Croke acted likewise as a Justice of the Peace, and the following-
entries in the register of the parish of Marston of marriages performed by
him in that capacity, during the great rebellion, may amuse the reader.

3 July, 1654. Edward Lyde, als Joyner, of Horspath parish, and
Dorothy, one of the daughters of John Robinson of Whately, yeoman,
were married by and with the consent of the said Jo. Robinson in this
parish before Unton Croke, Justice of the Peace, according to the statute.

(Signed) Unton Croke.

In some of these entries it is stated, that the " contract" had been pub-
lished in the parish church ; in others, that it had been proclaimed on three
several market days in the market place at Oxford. A family marriage
occurs. Martin Piggot, gent, of the parish of St. Pancrass in London,
and Anne Croke, one of the daughters of Mr. Unton Crooke, Esq. married
the 26th of August, 1657, by Martin Wright, Esq. Justice of the Peace.

His wife died before him, on the tenth day of June, I67O, in the sixty-
ninth year of her age, and left him with ten children. He followed her
in a few months afterwards, on the 28th day of January, 1671, being
seventy-seven years of age.

On one flat stone in the chancel of Marston church are both their
epitaphs.

O VIR, QUICUNQUE ES, PUSILLUM HOC TERR£,QUO MEUM TEGITUR
CORPUS, MIHI NE INVIDEAS.

EX LU. CAP. 6°. VERS. 26. V 2E VOB1S CUM LAUDAVERINT VOS
OMNES HOMINES.

UNTON CROKE, SERVIENS AT LEGEM, OBIIT 28°. DIE JANUARII,
AN0. DNI 16701', ANNOQUE ^TATIS SU;£ 77°-

(On a brass plate below.)

MY FLESH SHALL REST IN HOPE. PS. 16. V. 10.

HERE UNDER RESTETH, IN HOPE OF RESURRECTION, THE BODY
OF ANNE, THE WIFE OF UNTON CROKE, SERJEANT AT LAW, WHO
WAS MARRIED TO HIM 8th NOV. 1617? AND LEFT HIM AND TEN

h According to the manner of dating then in use, this must have been l67?> or what we
should now write, 1671. The date of the preceding year continued till the 25th of March.
3 U

514 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

CHILDREN THE 10th DAY OF JUNE, 1670, AND IN THE 69th YEAR
OF HER AGE.

The arms on the monument are, Croke, impaled with, sable, a chevron,
between three cinquefoils, for Hore.

Of these ten children, the names of some are not known. Sir Richard
Croke, the eldest son, Captain Unton Croke, the second, and Charles,
will furnish materials for our history. Anne, the eldest daughter, we have
seen was married to Martin Pigott ; the second was named Mary;
there was a second Anne, a Catherine, and another daughter, Caroline,
who died the 19th of July, in the year 1670, in the thirty-sixth year of her
age5.

Sir Richard Croke, the eldest surviving son, was born about the
year 1623. He followed, what may now be almost considered as the family
profession, that of the law, and he proceeded in it till he obtained the highest
rank, that of a Serjeant. He was admitted of the Inner Temple, the 24th of
January, 163.5, called to the bar the 5th of November, 1646, to the bench
the 23d of November 1662, and was Autumn Reader in l670k. At his ad-
mission he is styled second son of Unton Croke. His lady was Elizabeth,
the daughter of Martyn Wright, Esquire, Alderman of Oxford. He was
Recorder of that city for thirty years, and represented it in Parliament for
twenty years.

After the death of King Charles, the property belonging to the Crown
was taken possession of by the Parliament. The old royal Manor, or
Palace, at Woodstock, the favourite abode of our kings from Henry the
First to Charles the First, and which is rendered interesting from the con-
finement of Queen Elizabeth, and the anecdotes which are related of her
emplovments and sentiments during her imprisonment, did not escape
their unhallowed hands. In 1649, Sir Richard Croke, his brother Captain
Unton Croke, with the Captains Cockayne, Hart, Careless and Roe, and
Brown, the surveyor, were the Commissioners appointed to survey, esti-
mate, and sell, the manors, and houses at Woodstock, belonging to his

' So inscribed on a small flat stone in Marston chancel. Visitation of Oxon In Coll.
Gonville et Caii, apud Cantab.

k Arms in the Inner Temple Hal!. Register of ditto. In the register occur likewise
the names of Charles, Henry, Francis, Robert, &c,

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 515

late Majesty1. By some zealous partizans of the cavalier party, it was
thought that the interference of supernatural agents might not be unser-
viceable to the cause of the Royal Martyr. When the Commissioners
had taken possession of the Palace, they were assailed by the powers of
darkness. The adventures they met with were certainly extraordinary,
but as they are " proved by irrefragable testimony," and are considered
both by Anthony Wood, and Doctor Plot, as " worth the reading by all,
" especially the many Atheists of the age," I hope I may be excused for
inserting them.

The original account of this affair was published in a small quarto of
thirteen pages, printed in 1660, but with the date of 1649, intitled, " The
" just Devil of Woodstock, or a true narrative of the several Apparitions,
" the frights, and punishments, inflicted upon the Rumpish Commis-
" sioners, sent thither to survey the manors and houses belonging to his
" Majestic" In the preface, it is said, that " the penman of this narrative
" was a divine, and minister, and schoolmaster of Woodstock, a person
" learned and discreet, and not biassed with factious humours ; his name
" Widows, who each day put in writing what he heard from their mouths,
" and had befallen them the night before, keeping to their own words,
" never thinking it would be made publick." It was printed after his
death1".

I give this story as it has been written by Dr. Plot, in his History
of Oxfordshire, which is much shorter than the other, and though it differs
in some few respects, as the days of the month, it agrees in the main cir-
cumstances with Widows.

" Amongst such unaccountable things as these, we may reckon the
strange passages that happened at Woodstock in anno 1649, in the manor
house there, when the Commissioners for surveying the manor house, park,
deer, woods, and other the demesnes belonging to that manor, sat and
lodged there. Whereof having several relations put into my hands, and
one of them written by a learned and faithful person then living upon the
place, which being confirmed to me by several eye witnesses of many of

1 Wood Ath. Oxon. ii. 11 9.

1,1 This is a very scarce book. It is to be found amongst the King's Pamphlets, in the
British Museum, volume 859, article 10.

3 U 2

516 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

the particulars, and all of them by one of the Commissioners themselves,
who ingenuously contest to me, that he could not deny but what was
written by that person above mentioned was all true; I was prevailed upon
at last to make this relation publick, (though I must confess, I have no
esteem for such kind of stories, many of them no question being performed
by combination,) which I have taken care to do as fully, yet as briefly, as
may be.

" October 13, 1649, the Commissioners with their servants being come to
the manor house, they took up their lodging in the King's own rooms,
the bed chamber and withdrawing room, the former whereof they made
their kitchin; the councel hall, their brew-house; the chamber of pre-
sence, their place of sitting to dispatch business ; and a wood-house of the
dining room, where they laid the wood of that ancient standard in the
high park, known of all by the name of the King's Oak, which (that no-
thing might remain that had the name of King affixed to it) they digged
up by the roots. October 14 and 15, they had little disturbance ; but on
the 16th there came, as they thought, somewhat into the bed chamber,
where two of the Commissioners and their servants lay, in the shape of a
dog, which going under their beds, did as it were gnaw the bed cords ; but
on the morrow finding them whole, and a quarter of beef which lay on
the ground untouched, they began to entertain other thoughts.

" October 17, Something to their thinking removed all the wood of the
King's Oak out of the dining-room into the presence chamber, and hurled
the chairs and stools up and down the room : from whence it came into
the two chambers where the Commissioners and their servants lay, and
hoisted up their beds' feet so much higher than their heads, that they thought
they should have been turned over and over, and then let them fall down
with such a force, that their bodies rebounded from the bed a good dis-
tance, and then shook the bedsteds so violently, that themselves contest,
their bodies were sore with it. October 18, something came into the bed-
chamber, and walkt up and down, and fetching the warming-pan out of
the withdrawing room, made so much a noise, that they thought five bells
could not have made more. And October 19, Trenchers were thrown up
and down the dining-room, and at them that lodg'd there, whereof one of
them being shaken by the shoulder and awakened, put forth his head to
see what was the matter, but had trenchers thrown at it. October 20,

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. .517

The curtains of the bed in the withdrawing room were drawn to and fro,
and the bedsted much shaken, and eight great pewter dishes, and three
dozen of trenchers, thrown about the bed chamber again, whereof some fell
upon the beds : this night they also thought whole armfulls of the wood of
the King's Oak had been thrown down in their chambers, but of that, in
the morning, they found nothing had been moved.

" October 21, The Keeper of their ordinary and his bitch, lay in one of
the rooms with them, which night they were not disturbed at all. But
October 22, though the bitch kennel'd there again, (to whom they ascribed
their former night's rest,) both they and the bitch were in a pitiful taking ;
the bitch opening but once, and that with a whining fearful yelp. Octo-
ber 23, they had all their cloathes pluct off them in the withdrawing room,
and the bricks fell out of the chimney into the room ; and the 24th they
thought in the dining-room, that all die wood of the Kino's Oak had been
brought thither, and thrown down close by their bed-side, which noise,
being heard by those of the withdrawing room, one of them rose to see
what was done, fearing indeed that his fellow commissioners had been
killed, but found no such matter ; whereupon, returning to his bed again,
he found two dozen of trenchers thrown into it, and handsomely covered with
the bed cloaths.

" October 95, The curtains of the bed in the withdrawing room were
drawn to and fro, and the bedsted shaken as before : and in the bed cham-
ber glass flew about so thick, (and yet not a pane of the chamber windows
broken,) that they thought it had rained money, whereupon they lighted
candles, but to their grief, they found nothing but glass, which they took up
in the morning, and laid together. October 29, Something walked in the
withdrawing room about an hour, and going to the window, opened and
shut it ; then going into the bed-chamber, it threw great stones for about
half an hour's time, some whereof lighted on the high bed, and others on
the truckle bed, to the number in all of about fourscore. This night there
was also a very great noise, as though forty pieces of ordnance had been
shot off together ; at two several knocks it astonished all the neighbouring
dwellers, which 'tis thought, might have been heard a great way off.
During these noises, which were heard in both rooms together, both com-
missioners and servants were struck with so great horror, that they cryed
out to one another for help, whereof one of them recovered himself out of

.518 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

a strange agony he had been in, snatch'd up a sword, and had like to have
killed one of his brethren coming out of his bed in his shirt, whom he took
for the spirit that did the mischief. However, at length, they got all to-
gether, yet the noise continued so great and terrible, and shook the walls
so much, that they thought the whole manor would have fell on their heads.
At its departure, it took all the glass away with it.

" November 1, Something as they thought walk'd up and down the
withdrawing room, and then made a noise in the dining-room : the
stones that were left before and laid up in the withdrawing room, were
all fetch 'd away this night, and a great dale of glass (not like the former)
thrown about again. November 2, came something into the withdrawing
room, treading (as they conceived) much like a bear, which first only
walking about a quarter of an hour, at length it made a noise about the
table, and threw the warming-pan so violently, that it quite spoiled it. It
threw also glass and great stones at them again, and the bones of horses,
and all so violently, that the bedsted and walls were bruised by them. This
night they set candles all about the rooms, and made fires up to the mantle-
trees of the chimneys ; but all were put out, no body knew how, the fire,
and billets that made it, being thrown up and down the rooms; the curtains
torn with the rods from their beds, and the bed posts pull'd away, that the
tester fell down upon them, and the feet of the bedsted cloven in two :
and upon the servants in the truckle bed, who lay this time sweating for
fear, there was first a little, which made them begin to stir; but before they
could get out, there came a whole coule, as it were, of stinking ditch water
down upon them, so green, that it made their shirts and sheets of that
colour too. The same night the windows were all broke by throwing of
stones, and there was most terrible noises in three several places together,
to the extraordinary wonder of all that lodged near them ; nay, the very
cony stealers that were abroad that night, were so affrighted with the dis-
mal thundering, that for haste they left their ferrets in the cony boroughs
behind them, beyond Rosamond's well. Notwithstanding all this, one of
them had the boldness to ask in the name of God, What it was? What it
would have? and, What the// had done, that the// should be disturbed in
this manner? To which no answer was given, but the noise ceased for a
while. At length it came again, and (as all of them said) brought seven
Devils, worse than itself. Whereupon one of them lighted a candle again,

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 519

and set it between the two chambers, in the door-way, on which another
of them fixed his eyes, saw the similitude of a hoof striking the candle and
candlestick into the middle of the bed-chamber, and afterwards making
three scrapes on the snuff to put it out. Upon this, the same person was so
bold as to draw his sword, but he had scarce got it out, but there was an-
other invisible hand had hold of it too, and tugg'd with him for it, and
pervailing, struck him so violently with the pummel, that he was stun'd
with the blow. Then began grievous noises again, insomuch that they
called to one another, got together, and went into the presence chamber,
where they said prayers and sang psalms ; notwithstanding all which, the
thundering noise still continued in other rooms. After this, November 3,
they removed their lodgings over the gate ; and next day, being Sunday,
went to Ewelm, where, how they escaped, the authors of the relations
knew not; but returning on Monday, the Devil (for that was the name they
gave their nightly guest) left them not unvisited, nor on the Tuesday
following, which was the last day they staid. Where ends the history (for
so he was stiled by the people) of the just Devil of Woodstock: the Com-
missioners and all their dependants going quite away on Wednesday ;
since which time, says the author that lived on the place, there have honest
persons of good quality lodged in the bed chamber and withdrawing room,
that never were disturbed in the least like the Commissioners.

" Most part of these transactions, during the stay of these Commissioners,
'tis true, might be easily performed by combination, but some there are of
them scarce reconcileable to juggling : such as, 1. The extraordinary noises,
beyond the powerof man to make, withoutsuch instruments as werenot there.
2. The taring down and splitting the bed posts, and putting out so many
candles and so great fires, no body knew how. 3. A visible shape seen
of a horse's hoof treading out the candle. And, 4. A tugging with one
of them for his sword by an invisible hand. All which being put together,
perhaps may easily perswade some man otherwise inclined, to believe that
imaterial beings might be concern'd in this business : which if it do, it
abundantly will satisfy for the trouble of the relation, still provided the
speculative Theist be not after all a practical Atheist"."

To this account of Dr. Plot, we may add a few circumstances which he

" Plot's History of Oxfordshire, chapter viii. sect. 37-

.520 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

has omitted, from Widows, and which more particularly relate to Sir
Richard and Unton Croke.

" On the 25th of October in the afternoon, came to them Mr. Richard
Crook the Lawyer, brother to Captain Crook, and now Deputy Steward
of the manor. Mr. Hyans his Majesty's officer being put out. To en-
tertain this new guest, the Commissioners caused a very great fire to be
made of near the chimney full of wood of the King's Oak, and he was
lodged in the withdrawing room, with his brother and servant in the same
room. About the middle of the night, a wonderful knocking was heard,
and into the room something did rush, which coming to the chimney side
dashed out the fire, as with a stamp of some prodigious foot, then threw
down such weighty stuff, what ere it was, (they took it to be the residue of
the clefts and roots of the King's Oak,) close by the bed side, that the house
and bed shook with it. Captain Cockayne, and his fellow, arose, and
took their swords to go unto the Crooks. The noise ceased at their rising,
so that they came to the door, and called. The two brothers, though they
were fully awaked, and heard them call, were so amazed, that they made
no answer, until Captain Cockayne had recovered the boldness to call
very loud, and came unto their bed side. Then faintly first, after with
some more assurance, they came to understand one another, and comforted
the Lawyer. This entertainment so ill did like the Lawyer, and being
not so well studied in the point, as to resolve this the Devil's law-case, that
he the next day resolved to be gone, but having not dispatched all that he
came for, profit and persuasions prevailed with him to stay the other hear-
ing, so that he lodged as he did the night before.

" On the 26th, the glass was thrown about the room. In the morning
Mr. Richard Crook would stay no longer, yet, as he stopped, going
through Woodstock town, he was there heard to say, " that he would not
" lodge amongst them another night for a fee of five hundred pounds."

" On the 28th in the night, a noise, both strange, and differing from the
foregoing, first awakened Captain Hart, who lodged in the bed chamber,
who hearing Roe and Brown to groan, called out to Cockayne and Crook
to come and help them, for Hart could not now stir himself. Cockayne
would fain have answered, but could not, or look about, something he
thought stopped both his breath, and held down his eye-lids. Amazed
thus, he struggled and kicked about, till he had awaked Captain Crook,

ch. iv. sec. v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 521

who, half asleep, grew very angry at his kicks, and multiplying words, it
grew to an appointment in the field. But this fully recovered Cockayne
to remember that Captain Hart had called for help. Then they heard
Captain Crook crying out as if something had been killing him. Cockayne
snatched up the sword that lay by their bed, and ran into the room to save
Crook, but was in much more likelihood to kill him, for at his coming the
thing that pressed Crook went off him, at which Crook started out of his
bed, whom Cockayne thought a spirit, and made at him, at which Crook
cried out, " Lord help, Lord save me [" Cockayne let fall his hand, and
Crook embracing Cockayne, desired his reconcilement, giving him many
thanks for his deliverance. Then rose they all, and came together, dis-
coursed sometimes godly, and sometimes prayed. One night their book
of valuations was found laid upon the embers, and burning ; which was
snatched up and saved.

The Commissioners applied to Mr. Hoffman, the Presbyterian minister
of Wootton, who after consulting with two Justices of the Peace, Jen-
kinson and Wheat, refused to go to pray with them. To this there is a
marginal observation. " By which it is to be noted, that a Presbyterian
" minister dares not to incounter an independent devil." A humorous
ballad was written upon this occasion, and was printed in 1649, in one
sheet in quarto, and intitled, " The Woodstock Scuffle," and is in the
Appendix °. It is said, that this tragi-comic piece was performed
by Joe Collins, the late King's Gardener, who hired himself to the
Commissioners, assisted by his splay-footed bitch, and other confe-
derates p.

Sir Richard Croke had a considerable interest in his own county, and
in the general election in 1654, supported his cousin, Lord Commissioner
Whitlocke, as a candidate for the City of Oxford, and his son James in
representing the County. Immediately after his election, James Whit-
lock, who was afterwards knighted by Cromwell in 1656, wrote the fol-
lowing letter to his father.

° Appendix, No. XXVII. p See the British Magazine for April and August, in

1757. For an account of the Palace at Woodstock, and Rosamond's Bower, see Warton's
Life of Sir Tho. Pope, page 71, note.

3 x

522 CROKE OF MARSTON. chap. iv.

" For the Right Honourable his deare Father, the Lord Commissioner
" Whitelocke, att Chelsey. These, hast, hast.

" Dear Sir,

" I held it my duety, uppon the instant of the con-
" elusion of the elections att this place, to acquaint you, that I am chosen
" one of the Knights for the countey in the next parliament. I am told,
" that the number of voyces might justly have given the first place to me ;
" but I freely resigned it to Lieutenant Generall Fleetwood, not suffering
" it to be brought to tryall by the polle, which many of the countrey de-
" sired. The persons elected are, Lieutenant General Fleetwood, Mr.
" Robert Jenkinson, Collonell Nathaniel Fynes, Mr. Lenthall, Master of
" the Rolles, and myself.

" Many of your friends appeared really for me, amongst which, I can
" experimentally say, none acted more effectually then my cousen Cap-
" tain Croke, his father, and brother. The Citty of Oxford was pre-
" pared very seasonably for me, wherein my cousen Richard Croke's
" affections did particularly appeare ; and I conceive that, if you shall be
•• pleased to waive the election for the Citty of Oxford, no truer friend
" could be commended by you for their choice then my cousen Richard
" Croke, in regard of his interest there, if you think it fitt. I shall say no
" more at present in this hast, butt expect your commands in all things,
" who am

" Your most obedient sonne,

Oxford, « J. WHITELOCKE^."

July 12, 1654.

In 1659, he was appointed one of the Commissioners for settling the mi-
litia for the County of Oxford, under the ordinance of Parliament for that
purpose. He died on the 15th day of September, 1683, in the sixtieth
year of his age, and is buried under a handsome marble monument,
erected against the wall, in the chancel of Marston church, by his son
Wright Croke. The epitaph speaks highly of his devotion to the true ca-
tholic religion, his fidelity to his clients, and his friendship for all mankind ;

' Whitelocke's Journal of the Swedish Ambassy, vol. ii. p. 419.

CH. IV. SEC. V,

CROKE OF MARSTON.

and it states, that he was much beloved by both the King Charleses. It
is conceived in the following words.

m. s.

RICHARDI CROKE EQUITIS, SERVIENTIS AD LEGEM, PER VIGINTI
ANNOS OXONII BURGENSIS, PER TRIGINTA RECORD ATORIS, UTRI-
QUE CAROLO DI LECTISSIMI, DEO ET RELIGIONI VERE CATHOLICS
SEMPER DEVOTISSIMI, CLIENTIBUS FIDELIS, ET TOTI HUMANO GE"
NERI AMICABILIS. QUI VIXIT OMNIBUS AMANDUS, OBIITQUE 1 5"
DIE SEPTEMBRIS AN. DNI 1683, jETATIS SV M 60, OMNIBUS FLEX-
DUS, PR^ECIPUE FILIO SUO MCESTISSIMO WRIGHT CROKE, QUI HOC,
ERGA PATERNAM VIRTUTEM, ET EX AMORE SUO, OPTIMO PARENTI,
MONUMENTUM POSUIT.

The coat of arms is, Croke, quarterly, on the fesse, a label, on a martlet,
sable ; denoting the eldest son of a fourth son'.

Sir Richard Croke had three sons, Richard, Wright, and Charles8.

' Rawlinson, MSS. Pedigrees.

' The following is a specimen of the malice, and wit of the cavalier party against
their adversaries, and of the Fescennine licentiousness of the Universities in those times.
It is part of a Terrae-filius, spoken in the Theatre at Oxford, at the Public Act, in 16*74,
and preserved by Anthony a Wood, in his Diary, volume 52, page 25, under the year
1714

Oratio habita in Theatro Ckoniensi per Henricum Gerard, A. M. e Collegio Wadhamensi,
et Academioe Terra:- filium.— Cum hoc Doctore (Dr. Smith, Canon of Christ Church) jun-
gamns illius coexecutorem Recorderum nostrum Oxoniensem, qui cum sit magister memo-
riae oppidanis, (Mr. Crook,) Teme-filius ipsi paucis erit e memoria. Noverint, igitur,
universi per prgesentes, preedictum dominum, Dominum Recorderum Oxoniensem, non ha-
ventem timorem Dei ante oculos, sed motum ab instigatione Diaboli, Oliveri, vendidisse,
vel vendendos exposuisse, omnes et singulos boscos, subboscos, catellos, matellos, pascuas,
pratas, et pasttiras, Regii manerii Woodstockiani, die 25" Octobris, anno \QiQ. Noverii.t
deinde universi, pra?dictum Dominum causam habuisse cum Diabolo, misere tamen jacta-
tum fuisse, Barbarum enim ilium Diabolum a summo gradu ad imum praecipitem dedisse.
Noverint insuper universi per praesentes, eodem tempore, Diiibolum contra ilium habeas
corpus issuasse, at secundum meritum debuisse habeas animam issuasse. Non mirum tamen
est ilium hunc Diabolum hostem habuisse, cum tot Diabolos hospites sibi ascivit? Dia-
bolum scilicet Rebellionis, Diabolum Hypocrisis, Diabolum Fraudis, et Diabolum Fanati-
cismi et ca?teros quoscunque oppidanos Diabolos.
3x2

524 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

Richard died in the 16th year of his age, in January 1 671, having been
entered of the Inner Temple, and a monument was erected to his memory
in Carfax Church at Oxford, with the following inscription, which attri-
butes to him the appropriate virtues of his age ; a good disposition, great
hopes of his future proficiency, the fear of God, and an exemplary dutiful-
ness towards his parents.

MEMORISE SACRUM.
HIC JACET HUMATUS RICHARDUS CROKE, DE INTERIORI TEMPLO
LOND, GENT. FILIUS ET HiERES APPARENS RICHARDI CROKE AR.
APPRENTICII IN LEGE, ET RECORDATORIS CIVITATIS OXON, EX
ELIZABETHS UXORIS EJUS, FILI.E MARTINI WRIGHT GENT. DE-
KUNCTI, UNIUS ALDERMANNORUM DICT/F: C I V IT AT I S OXON . VIXIT
JUVENIS BONS INDOLIS, ET MAGN* SPEI, EXEMPLAR TIMORIS
ERGA DELHI, ET OBSEQUII ERGA P A RENTES. OBI IT . . . DI E MENSIS
JANUARII, ANNO SALUTIS NOSTRA 1671, ANNOQUE jETATIS SVJE 16
CURRENTE.

JEHOVA DEDIT, J EHOVAH RECEPIT, SIT NOMEN

JEHOV/E BENEDICTUM.

His eldest son having thus died young, Sir Richard Croke was suc-
ceeded by his second son and heir, Wright Croke, who was born about
1658. This young man was entered at Lincoln College in Oxford the
6th of July, 1677? and gave early indications of talent and scholarship.
There is a considerable Latin poem of his in the Musae Anglicanae, in
praise of the Saxon language, written when he was at college. It is a
proof of some merit in a composition, that it is placed in a select collection
with the works of Addison, Smith, and others of our best writers of Latin
poetry, and that it does not suffer by the proximity'. But these seeds of
genius do not seem to have been matured to any good purpose. It does
not appear that he followed any profession, or engaged in any pursuits,
which might have been useful to himself, or others. Nothing indeed farther
is known of him than that he had a wife, whose name was Mary, that he
died on the 7th day of June, 1705, in the forty-seventh year of his age,

' Musae Anglicanae, vol. iii. p. 225.

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 525

and his lady on the 29th of March, 1717, aged 61 years. Of his family,
it is recorded on the same monument which he erected to the memory of
his father, that he lost three children in their tender years ; and the parish
register of Marston contains the names of two other sons, Richard, bap-
tized 11th of October, 1687, Charles, baptized 7th of April, 1689, and a
daughter, Caroline, baptized 31st of January, 1691. In the same register
are entered the baptisms of Anne, daughter of Richard Croke, 16th of
July, 1699, and of Thomas, son of Richard Croke, 30th of May, 1703.
Whose children those were I am at a loss to know, as Sir Richard Croke
died in 1683, and Richard, the son of Wright Croke, was only 12, and 16
years of age, at those two baptisms.

The inscription, on the monument in Marston chancel, under that for
Sir Richard Croke, is this.

PROPE ETIAM JACET WRIGHT CROKE, ARMIGER, PR^DICTI Rl-
CHARDI CROKE, EQUITIS, FILIUS, HjERESQUE, QUI EX HAC VITA
DISCESSIT 47 AN. jETAT. JUNE 7th, 1705.

ITEM WRIGHT CROKE, ARMIGERI, FILII TRES, QUI TENERIS IN
ANNIS DEFUNCTI SUNT.

PROPE ETIAM JACET MARIA, UXOR CHARISSIMA WRIGHT CROKE,
QUiE OBIIT 29° MARTII 1717, .ETATIS 61.

Of Charles Croke, the other son of Sir Richard Croke, nothing is
known.

We have seen Sir Richard Croke in favour with the leading powers
in the great Rebellion : his brother Union Croke entered early into
the parliament army, in which he had the command of a troop of cavalry.
Though he was never promoted to the rank of a general, he was an active
partizan, and an able officer in that species of desultory warfare, which
was peculiarly calculated for the cause in which he was engaged.

Whilst the King was at Oxford, he was stationed in the garrison at
Abingdon, with a large body of the parliament army, under Major Gene-
ral Browne. This was a scene of very active service, from being a situa-
tion so near the head quarters of the enemy, and Unton Croke dis-
tinguished himself upon every occasion where the cavalry were employed.
Amongst other gallant actions, he went one night with his party, and

526 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

seized and carried off a great number of horses belonging to the King's
troops, whilst they were grazing in the meadows adjoining to Magdalen
College. For this hazardous and useful piece of service he was promoted
to a company".

In the year 1649; Lord Fairfax, Generalissimo of the parliamentary
army, with his Lieutenant General Cromwell, and other officers, came to
Oxford, at the time of the Commemoration, where they were splendidly
entertained by the University, with feasts, and with learned and congra-
tulatory speeches. Fairfax and Cromwell were created doctors of law".
Degrees were given to other officers, according to the recommendation of
the generals. Sir Hardress Waller, Colonels Harrison, Ingoldsby, Hew-
son, Okey, and some more, were admitted to the degree of Master of Arts,
and Unton Croke was created Bachelor of La\vv. In the October follow-
ing, with his brother Sir Richard, he was one of the Commissioners ap-
pointed by the Parliament to take possession of the King's Palace at
Woodstock, for the valuation and sale of the royal property there ; as
before mentioned.

The Lord Commissioner Whitelocke was in several ways related to the
Croke family, and was born in the house of Sir George Croke, his mother's
uncle, in Fleet-street2. When he went upon his embassy to Sweden,
with a magnificent train of attendants, he was accompanied by two of his
cousins. In his own account he thus describes them. Amongst the gen-
tlemen of the first degree, who were admitted to the Ambassador's table,
and who had servants and lacquays in Whitelock's livery, was " Captain
" Unton Croke, of the army, k'msman to Whitelocke, son of Serjeant
" Croke, of an ancient family in Oxfordshire, and of good parts and con-
" dition*." Unton had the particular permission of the Protector to go1'.
His brother Charles, mentioned hereafter, was the other. They sailed for
Sweden in November, 1653, and returned in June, 1654. Of Captain
Unton Croke's gallantry in this embassy, Whitelocke tells the following
story. " The 22d of February, Captain Croke, Whiteloeke's kins-
" man, and one of his gentlemen, chose for his Valentine, Monsieur

u Wood's Athena? Ox. pan ii. coll. 755. * Whitelock, p. S89. » Wood, Ath.

Ox. ii. p. 755. z Wood's Ath. Ox art. Whitelock, part ii. coll. 399. a Wliite-

lock's Ambassy to Sweden, vol. ii. Append, p. 463, and 465. b His Letter to Crom-

well, Thurloe's State Papers, vol. iii.

ch. iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 527

" Woolfeldt's lady, and sent a present of English silke stockins and gloves,
" which she took so well, that, he going to wait on her as his Valentine,
" she treated him with great respect, and gave him a ringe sett with a
" fayre ruby, and sixe little diamonds about it, of the value of eighty
" pounds, a present fitt for a lady to give, who was the daughter and sister
"of a king0." Monsieur Woolfeldt was a nobleman of family and for-
tune in Denmark, and had the place of Reichs Hoffmeister, or Great
Chamberlain, in that country. His lady was the King of Denmark's
daughter by a left-handed wife, that is, a second wife, whom the King,
having issue by his first wife, takes in marriage by the left hand, and the
issue cannot inherit the crownd: a kind of marriage well known amongst
the German nations1. Woolfeldt was at that time in Sweden, having
been banished by the King of Denmark for favouring the rights of the
people.

In the beginning of the next year, 1655(, Unton Croke was of material
service to the Protector. The general discontent of the nation at the usurp-
ation of Cromwell, and more particularly after the dissolution of the Par-
liament on the 22d of January, began at that time to shew itself in open
mutinies, and still deeper conspiracies. All parties, the republicans, the
army, and the royalists, were dissatisfied with an arbitrary power, erected
upon the ruins of the monarchy and of liberty, and exercised with oppres-
sion and tyranny. A conspiracy, usually called the Cavalier Plot, was
very generally entered into to restore the King. Cromwell, who had in-
formation of every thing which passed, was justly alarmed at these combina-
tions, which he knew to be very extensive, and favoured by some of the
principal persons in his government, and who had been his chief sup-
porters. To counteract their designs, he employed confidential agents in
all parts of the kingdom. In this service, Captain Unton Croke, with his
troop, was stationed in the west, and had his emissaries in every quarter.

■ Ambassy, vol. i. p. 454. d Ambassy, i. p. 280. e See the Introductory Essay-

to the case of Horner on Liddiard, page 115. It is fully treated of by Heineccius in his
Elements Juris Germanici, lib. i. tit. 10. § 214. and the whole of title 13. f At that

time the year began the 25th of March, till that day the date of the preceding year conti-
nued, eitheralone, or with the following year also, written like a fraction. WagstafTe's ex-
pedition was in what we should now call 1655, yet being before the 25th of March, Unton
Croke's Letters are dated 1() ">4, or l6o|.

528 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

With, or without, specific directions, he apprehended all persons who were
with reason suspected of being disaffected to the government. Of his
seizure of Adjutant General Allen he has given an account to the Pro-
tector8.

" Feb. 7, 1654.
" Concerning Adjutant Allen.

" Sir John Davis, Baronet, reports, that the said Adjutant said, at his last
being in London, he was with the Protector, and had roundly told him his
mind, and that he did nettle the Protector extremely ; that he departed
from him in a huffe, without any leave, and that immediately he took his
horse and came out of London.

" About the end of November last he met in Exeter a kinsman of his
wife's, one Mr. Reynell, who was chosen a member of the last Parliament,
but had deserted. He told the said Mr. Reynell, they were quiet in Ire-
land, as to the common enemy, but there were many discontented there,
as well as here. He said there was talking of disbanding some there, and
that he was pitched upon to inform a Committee concerning it, and other
the affaires of Ireland ; but he was resolved to say nothing in it : he said
there might be mischief, besides the danger of disbanding any there, that
there could not be 5000 drawn into the field ; and there was 40000 to be
kept under. He did highly commend Lieutenant General Ludlowe, and
said he was come already, or coming into England. That he intended to
be himself in Ireland in February, but would first go to London.

" The said Mr. Reynell telling him he was ready to act in the country as
a Justice of the Peace, though he could not as a Parliament man. For
that the best way (as he thought) to be secured against the common ene-
mies was to acquiesce in and under the present government ; he answered,
that he happly might think so likewise, but there were many of another
mind, and the Protector might have overruled all, according to the interest
of honest men, without taking so much power to himselfe, which did dis-
please many.

" All company, that have, since his last coming from London into these

' All the following letters, which are in Thurloe's State Papers, 1 have examined and
corrected by the originals, which are in the Bodleian Library.

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 529

parts, conversed with him, do report him to be a person highly dissatisfied
with the present government.

There are divers strangers, particularly from Somerset, and about Bristol,
that came to his meetings, which are often on week days. He rides
commonly with a kind of vizard over his face, with glasses over his eyes,
and this he did on the 5th of last month, being Friday, riding to a meeting
at Luppitt, within this county, and that which did not a little cause sus-
picion of him, was the coming at that time of Hugh Courtnay (that had
been, or is, an officer in Ireland) to Mr. Prowze's house, a Cavalier of
good estate ; where the said Courtnay scarce spoke any thing but treason,
most bitterly reviling the present government and his Highness, said he
was then going to London, where, and thereabouts, he was sure to meet hearts
and hands enough to carry on the Anabaptistical interest, that his govern-
ment should not stand many months, and that deliverance was at hand.

We have not picked out the venom of his discourses, but fairly repre-
sented the same.

JO. COPLESTON".
UNTON CROKE*.

Captain Union Croke to the Protector.
May it please your Highness,
If my letter of account concerning Adjutant General Allen (which I
sent up with divers papers inclosed in it by same post that he wrote to
your Highness) be not yet come unto your Highness's hands, I cannot but
suspect there hath been some ugly practise used in diverting the intelli-
gence, which at large I presented your Highness with ; and also an endea-
vour to render me negligent and remiss in my duty towards your High-
ness. And least what I have reason to fear should prove true, that your
Highness is yet in the dark concerning all passages of the seizing the Ad-
jutant's person, and other things relating to him, I shall presume humbly
to reiterate what I formerly hinted unto your Highness. So soon as I

" He was Sheriff of Devonshire, represented Barnstaple in the Parliament in 1656 and
l65|, and was Knighted by Oliver, 1 June, 1655. Noble, i. 443.
1 Thurloe's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 140. Original, vol. 23. f. 43.
3 Y

530 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

received your commands for securing his person, which came to my hands
this day eight days in the evening, within few hours afterwards I set forth
of Exon, towards his father-in-law Mr. Huish his house, where I heard
the Adjutant was. To which place I came about break of the next day;
and having enquired of some servants of the house, whether the Adjutant
were there, they told me he was, and in bed. So soon as I heard this,
I resolved, according to what the High Sheriff and I agreed on the night
before, imagining it might conduce much to the advantage of your High-
ness, to seize on his trunks, and them to search for papers, thereby to
discover his designs, and to know who were his correspondents. But un-
happily, he had sent them up to London some few days before : so that
1 was deprived of my intention. And here, my Lord, if he could quarrel
at any thing in his apprehension, it was at this action, where I was neces-
sitated to send two or three soldiers to enter in his chamber, with the
first that carried him news of my being come to the house: least he
having notice, if he had any papers there, might convey them away. Some
i'ew letters were found, which I inclosed in my last letter to your High-
ness. They were writ to him from some discontented spirits, and many
dissatisfactory clauses contained in them. 'Tis true, my Lord, the sol-
diers wore their swords by their sides, and alighting from their horses,
took their pistols in their hands ; but that the least violence was used, or
any ill words gave, or any thing that looked like an affront, I do deny,
and well know, that he cannot lay any thing to the charge of myself or any
man that was with me. I should now, my Lord, render your Highness
an account of what words passed between us, but, hoping that my former
letter is, ere this, in your Higlmess's hands, I shall forbear ; only this I
shall add, that, according to your Higlmess's instructions, I confined him to
Ins father's house, he giving me a note under his hand, that he would there
remain until your Higlmess's further pleasure were known. This day
1 sent him your Higlmess's letter, and I desired him to remember his pro-
mise unto me in continuing at the present where he was. All that possibly
the High Sheriff and myself, with the greatest care and diligence we have
used, can of a truth make out against him, is this, that to two persons of
very good quality in this county, in his discourses, he vented these words.
To the one he said, (and that in a high bravado) that he was not asiiamed

ch.iv. sec. v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 531

to say, that he was dissatisfied with the present government: and that he
had declared so much (said he) to your Highness ; and added, that, in
discourse with your Highness, he very much nettled you, and having put
your Highness into a chaffe, he left you, and then took his horse, and
came into the country, without taking leave. To the other gentleman he
said, they being entered into several discourses, and the gentleman asking
him some question concerning Ireland, as to the peace thereof, &c. to
which the Adjutant replied, they were free from the common enemy, but
there were those, that were discontented there as well as here. He added,
that it was reported, that some in Ireland should be disbanded, which he
thought could not be done ; and then, entering into a high commendation
of Lieutenant General Ludlow, he concluded the Irish discourse. After
this, the gentleman took the occasion to express the great sense of happi-
nes that he, and the whole nation had, by your Highness's government.
To which the Adjutant replied, that he perceived he thought so, and
it may be, so might he ; but he thought many others were of another
mind. And then said, that your Highness might have overruled all,
according to the interest of honest men, without taking so much of the
government to yourself, which, he said, displeased many. My Lord,
these words will be exactly proved. Many others I have heard, in many
places spoken, but cannot prove them. All the country rings of his
dissatisfaction, which he spares not to tell every where, especially at the
meetings of such of the baptized church, where he resorts ; but doth it so
cunningly, that I cannot yet discover him further, though, without all
question, his work hath been in those parts to dissatisfy the people. They
have had divers meetings of late upon the week days, to which places he
hath gone disguised with kind of vizard : and this also can be proved. I
sent over all Dorsetshire and Devon, enquiring after Colonel Sexby, and
Courtney, but as yet cannot hear of them, and your Highness need not
doubt in the least of my vigilancy and care in all respects over those that
are your Highness' and nation's enemies. I have faithful scouts in all
parts of this country, who do correspond with me, and if any thing be
hatching, I hope the Lord will make me instrumental to discover and sup-
press it. I have, according to your Highness' commands, acquainted the
baptized Church in Exon with your Highness's favour towards their^
3 y 2

.532 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

who have sent this inclosed letter of thanks to your Highness. I now
take leave humbly to subscribe myselfe,

Your Highness's most humble

and devoted servant,
Exon, UNTON CROKE\

February 7, 1654.

In another letter from him, of the 21st of February, he relates his se-
curing some other gentlemen, who might have been instrumental in any
insurrection. His own Lieutenant had been apprehended as a disaffected
person, and some of his soldiers, who had been sent to take Colonel
Sexby, had been imprisoned at Weymouth. These events he fully
stated and explained in two other letters to the Protector, of the 5th of
March.

Captain Union Croke to the Protector.
May it please your Highness,
By the last post I acquainted your Highness of the peace and quiet that
was in these parts, and what I had done in relation thereunto, by securing
such gentlemen as (if any trouble should have arisen) might have been
instrumental in acting much mischief. And 1 humbly desired your High-
ness's commands, whether I shall continue their restraint, or enlarge them.
I also acquainted your Highness, that I had not been careless in making
the most curious search after Sexby, having had parties out after him both
in Devonshire and Dorsetshire. Some of them are not yet returned,
which makes me hope they have tract him, and that by the next your
Highness may receive a further account from

(May it please your Highness)

Your most humble and obedient Servant,
Exon, ' UNTON CROKEi.

February 21, 1 654-.

k Thurloe, iii. p. 143. Original, vol. 23. f. 5Q. ' Ibid. vol. iii. p. 165. Original,

vol. 23. f. 203.

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 533

Captain Union Croke to the Protector.
May it please your Highness,
Receiving your commands on Saturday night last by the post, I made
all possible speed to repair to Weymouth, to receive an account of the late
detention of my soldiers, and also to be informed of the particulars your
Highness gave me in charge, and I have most faithfully and impartially
(according to my best judgement, and as the brevity of time would also
permit) couched every particular in this enclosed narrative. Hitherto your
Highness hath (I confess) received no satisfaction from me concerning
my Lieutenant. Indeed, my Lord, I know not how he stood in your
Highness's thoughts, nor what was the reason of his long absence from
my troop. I only accidentally heard that he was detained upon suspicion
that he did not well relish the present government. My Lord, I think he
is more a stranger unto me than unto any officer in the regiment. He
was placed in my troop (but not by my choice) immediately before the
time your Highness gave me liberty to attend my Lord Whitelocke into
Sweden. So that, before my going thither, I had not a week's acquaint-
ance with him, and since my return I have had as little of his company:
so that I am very incapable to know his principles. But, my Lord, I am
informed by others that know him very well, that he is of a dangerous
temper, and neither well inclined to the good old way of God, nor to the
government of your Highness. My Lord, this I thought my duty to
speak, not out of any prejudice I have to the person of the man, from
whom I have received all respect that could have been expected, but that
I could not be silent having so fair a call from your Highness to spend
my opinion. I profess, my Lord, I am so far from desiring his continu-
ance, that I rejoice at your Highness's resolves in giving him his dismis-
sion. And since your Highness is pleased to think of such a course, I
beseech you, my Lord, grant me the liberty of making an earnest request
unto your Highness, which if you will be pleased to grant, I shall freely
engage all that's dear to me in this world, that your Highness shall never

have cause to think your favours It is, my Lord, that my

Cornet (who is a plain downright honest man, one that is well principled,
and that hath borne command in my troop now for more than five years,
and an exceeding good and careful soldier) may be my Lieutenant, and that
your Highness will confer my colours on a brother of mine who hath been

.53+ CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

some years in my troop, and is not unapt for the place. He is, my Lord,
well disposed, and of a gracious spirit. The High Sheriff of Devonshire,
Col. Copleston, hath lately honoured him with one of your Highness's
commissions for a company (which he hath already raised) in his regiment:
but, my Lord, I imagine that that is now near at an end ; and therefore it
is that I presume thus earnestly to importune your Highness in this man-
ner, hoping I may live to express my gratitude, and to declare more amply
than I hitherto have had opportunity to do, how much I am,
May it please your Highness,

Your most faithful and obedient Servant,

Weymouth, UNTON CROKE™.

March 5, l65|.

A paper of Captain Unton Crake concerning Col. Sexb//.

The Mayor of the town, Captain Hurst, the Governor of Portland,
Captain Green that commands a frigate, and Cornet Brockhurst that
belongs to Jersey island, confessed to me, that the soldiers demeaned
themselves very civilly without giving offence to any ; and the reason why
they were detained was purely upon this account, that they came to search
tor Colonel Sexby without an order in writing.

The soldiers came unto Weymouth on the 20th day of February last
past about five a clock at night, made some enquiry at a distance, whether
Colonel Sexby were in town or no. They were told that if he were in
town, he was at Captain Arthur's house, (who is the Grand Customer of
that place, but a man esteemed of no good principle,) for there he was ser-
vant to a lady, to whom for many years he had professed friendship, and
many people thought that it still continued. One of the soldiers throwing
aside his arms, addressed himself to the said Captain's house in quality of
a countryman, and knocked at the door, whereupon a maid servant came
unto him. The soldier asked her whether Colonel Sexby were in the
house or no ; for he had a desire to speak with him. She replied, she
could not tell, but she would in an instant inform him, and so went in and
called Mrs. Ford unto him, Sexby's supposed mistress. When she came,
she demanded of the soldier his business. He told her, he had a message

ra Thurloe, lii. \>. 193. Original, vol. 24. f. 91.

ch.iv.sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 535

and letter to deliver to Colonel Sexby. She desired to know from whom.
The soldier answered, from a very good friend of the Colonel, one Mr.
Hugh Courtney. Mrs. Ford said, that the Colonel was not within, but
if he would leave the message and letter with her, she would take order to
have it delivered unto him, that so a time and place might be appointed
for them to meet. The soldier told her that unless he could see him he
would not deliver the letter, and so departed. Immediately after this,
Mrs. Ford calls one Dudley unto her, (who is deputy to Captain Arthur,
and acts all things under him,) and tells him that there were troopers in
town, enquiring after Colonel Sexby. She willed him to enquire, if he
could, what was the business ; and if he could learn it, she desired to be
informed before any soldiers came down to the house to make search
after him. He promised he would make enquiry, and then went up to
the inn where the soldiers quartered, and entered into discourse with
them. He told the soldiers, that he knew their business, and what it was
they came about, and told them it was to apprehend Sexby. And for his
part he loved the Protector so well, that he would assist them in the
business. He said that Sexby was in town, and at the house of Cap-
tain Arthur : and if they should be wise, and keep his counsel, he would
carry them to his very chamber door : but he told them, they must search
very well, for the house was large, and many by places in it ; that without
a strict scrutiny, little good could be done. The soldiers were very joy-
ful at this news, and did intend that night, though very late, to go and
search the house. And when they were provided and ready to go,
Dudley's mind changed, he denied all that was said before, and would not
go forth with them ; so that all the business for that night seemed to be
quashed. E're this time, the news went for current about the town, that
soldiers were come to apprehend Col. Sexby; whereupon. Coronet
Brockhurst, Captain Lambert, one Major Hardinge, and Mr. Waltham,
(the two last, I am credibly informed, are high flown men in their prin-
ciples, and direct friends to Sexby and Joyce,) these four much questioned
why it was the soldiers came to look after any man without a written
order. Some of them examined the soldiers, who presently confessed the
design ; and notwithstanding that they made out what they could, to
whom they belonged, from whence they came, and what was their busi-
ness ; yet they thought it convenient to secure the soldiers. And that

536 CROKE OF MARSTON.

SOOK IV.

night some of Captain Lambert's seamen were placed in the house, where
the soldiers were, to take care none should come to them, nor they go to
any. The next day the soldiers were had to the Mayor, and by the in-
stigation of the aforesaid gentlemen, he thought them very fitting to be
secured, until such time as he should send for Captain Hurst, Governor
of Portland. He desired the soldiers to repair to their quarters, and en-
treated Coronet Brockhurst and Captaine Lambert to bear them com-
pany, which was to watch over them. About noon Captain Hurst comes.
They incited the Captain to proceed against the soldiers, as they had
done the Mayor before. He concurred with them, so the soldiers were
then disarmed, and made prisoners indeed.

By this it appears, that if Sexby were in the town, he had liberty
enough given him to make his escape.

I do find that the Mayor and Captain were very innocent from any
design in the business ; they did it merely at the request of others.
Neither can I learn that either the Mayor or Captain have any relations
or near acquaintance with Sexby; but some of the other gentlemen have.

I cannot discover what the principles of the Captain are. They are not
much taken notice of any way ; but sure I think by his discourse, he
desires to be quiet, and doth not appear to be of a turbulent spirit. 1
pressed him to discourse as to present affairs, but he was very wary. 1
asked him his thoughts of Major General Harrison, who was his prisoner.
He was very affectionate towards him in his expressions, often saying, he
was a good man. He told me that the Major General had desired liberty
of him to speak upon some places of Scripture sometimes to his soldiers,
which he had granted him : and he did usually preach to them. There is
no commission officer but himself in the castle; otherwise I had discoursed
with more. The Captain told me that he had little acquaintance with
Sexby ; but he knew Joyce very well, and hinted to me, as if he owned
all his preferment from him. He told me that he was at London, about
three weeks since, and desired to speak to Sexby about some business,
but could not, for he was then told that Sexby was with his Highness, and
that he had much conference about the plot ; but that he heard Sexby
was very free, and gave satisfaction. He told me that Colonel Harrison
wondered to hear that Sexby should be suspected. He thought him only
to be a decoy for his Highness, because he observed all those that Sexby

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 53?

had been with were secured ; but he himself at liberty, though pretended
to be searched for. Colonel Harrison also added, that Sexby was with
him, but he knew him to be a treacherous fellow, and would have nothing
to do with him. This imperfect unmodelled narration is all that at present
can be made forth by

UNTON CROKE".

After the events here related, Colonel Sexby was suspected of having
dispersed some papers directed against the government. Cromwell sent
for him to secure him, but he fled. Upon which, Cromwell pretended, on
account of ancient friendship, to employ him as his agent at Bourdeaux.
He accepted of the employment, but being near seized by the magistrates
there, he made his escape0. He was the writer of the celebrated pamphlet
called, Killing no Murder, of which he acknowledged himself to be the
author. He died in the Tower1".

Notwithstanding the vigorous police of the Protector, the conspiracy
still existed in full force, and a day for a general rising was even appointed.
The design so far succeeded, that in several counties armed parties began
to assemble, and, in the month of March, attempts were made to seize
Shrewsbury castle, Chirke castle, and other strong places. In the west
the conspiracy broke outmost into action. On the 11th of March, a
party of about two hundred horse, under the command of Sir Joseph Wag-
staff, Penruddock, Jones, and Grove, some of the principal gentlemen in
that part, with other persons of fortune and consequence, entered Salisbury
at the time of the assizes, at midnight, proclaimed King Charles the Se-
cond, seized the Judges, and having taken away their commissions, set
them at liberty ; the Sheriff they carried away with them. Not find-
ing themselves supported by the country, as they expected, they retired into
Devonshire : of which Captain Croke having timely intelligence, pursued
them with his troops, overtook them at South Molton, and defeated them
most completely, after a sharp conflict"!. Penruddock, Jones, and Grove,
with many others, were taken prisoners, but Sir Joseph Wagstaff and

" Thurloe, iii. p. 194. Original, vol. 24. f. 87- ° Ludlow, vol. ii. p. 82. p No-

ble's Memoirs of Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 66. a. q Whitelock's Memorials, page 601. Lud-

low's Memoirs, vol. ii. page 69. Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion.
3 Z

538 CROKE OF MARSTON. book v.

Mr. Mompesson escaped. Captain Croke's two letters to the Protector
upon this occasion, which were published in the Gazette, will give the most
authentic account of this transaction r.

" A Letter to his Highness the Lord Protector, from Captain Unton
Crooke, signifying the total defeat of the cavaliers in the west, under the
command of Sir Joseph Wagstaffe.

Published by his Highness's special commandment. London, printed
by Henry Hills and John Field, printers to his Highness, lbo4. [March 17.]
A Letter, &c. as in the title page.

May it please your Highness,

Yesterday morning, being Tuesday, I marched
with my troop to Huninton, being fifteen miles eastward from Exon,
with intention to stop the enemy from coming further westward ; but
gaining intelligence that they were come that way, and that they would
be too strong for me, I made my retreat to Exon ; the next morn-
ing I understood they were in the march for Cornwall, and in order
thereunto they were come to Collumpton, within ten miles of Exon, I
heard they were much tired, and their number two hundred, and there-
fore imagined that if they should gain Cornwall, it might be much preju-
dicial ; 1 was resolved to hazard all that was dear to me rather than let
them have their end, and thereupon marched towards Collumpton with
only my own troop, I had no more for this service, but when I came near
that place, I understood they were marched to Tiverton, whither I pur-
sued them with all speed, but there mist them also, but received informa-
tion that from thence they were gone to South Molton, twelve miles
further, still in order for Cornwall; thither I resolved to follow them ; they
took up their quarters about seven of the clock this night, and by the good
providence of God, directing and assisting me, I beat up their quarters
about ten of the clock; they disputed it very much with me in the houses
for more than two hours, firing very hot out of the windows ; they shot
seven or eight of my men, but none I hope mortally wounded, they shot
many of my horses also; but, my Lord, we broke open many houses;
some of them yielded to mercy ; I promised them, I would use my en-

' They are preserved in the British Museum. See catologue of printed books.

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 539

deavours to intercede for their lives, I have taken most of their horses,
about fifty prisoners, amongst whom are Penruddock, Jones, and Grove,
who commanded those horse, each of them having a troop. WagstafT I
fear is escaped, he was with them, but at present 1 cannot find him, yet
hope to catch him as soon as day-light appears. I will raise the country
to apprehend such stragglers, which for want of having dragoons, narrowlie
escaped me. My Lord, they are all broken and routed, and I desire the
Lord may have the glory. I beseech your Highness to pardon this un-
polisht account, I can hardly indeed write, being so weary with extreme
duty, but I hope by the next to send your Highness a more perfect one,
and a list of the prisoners, many of them, I suppose, being very consi-
derable. Colonel Shapcot of this county was pleased to march with me
on this design, and was with me at the beating up of their quarters, and
hath shewed himself wonderfully ready, in every respect, to preserve the
peace of this county. My Lord, I remain,

May it please your Highness,

Your most obedient and most humble servant,

From South Moulton, UNTON CROOK.

March 15, 1654, about two
or three o'clock in the morning.

" A second Letter to his Highness the Lord Protector, from Captain
Unton Crooke, signifying the total defeat of the cavaliers in the west,
under the command of Sir Joseph Wagstaffe.

Published by his Highness special commandment.
London, printed by Henry Hills and John Field, printers to his High-
ness, 16 J4. [March 20th.]
A second Letter, &c. as in the title page.
May it please your Highness,

I gave your Highness last night an account how far I
had pursued the enemy that came out of Wiltshire into Devon ; I sent
your Highness the numbers of them, which I conceived to be two hun-
dred ; it pleased my good God so to strengthen and direct me, that al-
though I had none but my own troop which was not sixty, that about ten
a clock at night, I fell into their quarters at a town called South Molton,
in the county of Devon ; I took, after four hours dispute with them in the
town, some sixty prisoners, near one hundred forty horses and arms. Wag-
3 z 2

540 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

staffe himself escaped, and I cannot yet find him, although I am still send-
ing after him ; this party of them was divided into three troops, Colonel
Penruddock commanded one of them, and was to make it a regiment, Co-
lonel Groves commanded another, and was to com pleat it to a regiment,
Col. Jones the third, and was to do the like; these three gentlemen are of
Wiltshire, and men of estates. One of Sir Edward Clark's sons was with
them, he was to be Major to Penruddock, the prisoners tell me that we
killed him.

I have brought all the prisoners to Exon, and have delivered them over
to the High Sheriff, who has put them into the high gaol. Your High-
ness may be confident this party is totally broken, there is not four men in
a company got away ; the country surprize some of them hourly, the
Maior of South Molton, being with me in the street, was shot in the body,
but like to do Mill.

I have nine or ten of my troop wounded.
I remain,

Your Highness most

obedient servant,
Exon, Mar. 16, 1654. UNTON CROOK."

A commission of oyer and terminer was issued for the trial of the prisoners,
but Chief Justice Rolls, the Judge, who had been seized at Salisbury, and
was nominated upon the commission, refused to attend, as being too
nearly implicated in the affair. The Attorney General, Prideaux, was
sent down to prosecute. Many were found guilty of treason. Penrud-
dock and Grove were beheaded. Lucas, and many inferior criminals, were
executed; Jones, being allied to Cromwell, was pardoned.

After this defeat, Unton Croke was still upon the alert, to extinguish
all the remains of the conspiracy. In June he was in Oxfordshire, and
apprehended a great number of disaffected persons.

Captain Unton Croke, and H. Smith, to the Protector.
May it please your Highness,

In pursuance of your instructions we have seized the
persons of the Lord Lovelace, Sir John Burlacie, Sir Thomas Pope, John
Osbaldiston, Esq. who were included in the list sent us from your High-

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 541

ness, Sir William Walter, and Col. Sands, are, as we hear at London, and
so out of our reach. We have also secured the Lord of Falkland, George
Nappier, Thomas Whorvvood, Esq. who are dangerous and disaffected
persons. We intend to-morrow morning to send them to Worcester, that
being the nearest place where there is convenience for confinement. We
also sent for my Lord of Lindsay, whose residence is in this county, a
person sufficiently known to your Highness, as we suppose ; but at his
own importunity, and Colonel Coke's, we have adventured to leave him at
his house, untill your Highness shall signify the contrary ; but we
thought it a duty to act what we did incumbent on,
May it please your Highness,

Your most faithfull humble servants,

H. SMITH.

Oxon. June 6th, 1655. UNTON CROKE.

Here was in this town one Coll. Colt, who formerly served the king,
and esteemed a very dangerous person, we made attempts to seize him,
but he having notice, fled from us, as we hear, to London5."

In November, disturbances were still apprehended, and Unton was still
active, as appears by a letter from Major General Berry, followed by a
second, in which he requests the Protector to perform his promises to Cap-
tain Croke.

Major General Berry, to Secretary Thurloe, dated Worcester, Mth
of November, \655.
Sir,

I came this last night to Worcester, where I met with your
Letter, as also some intimations from his Highness, which I can find
Captain Croke hath taken notice of, and given his Highness an account
of his proceeds thereupon, &cl.

Major General Berry, to the Protector.
May it please your Highness,

I have only one public business of great import-

■ Thurloe's State Papers, iii. p. 521. Original, vol. 27. f. 101. ' Thurloe, vol. iv. p. '211.
Original, vol. 32. f. 569-

542 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

ance, that I make bold to trouble your Highness withal, having always
found you ready to accept such motions ; and that is, that your Highness
would please to make good your word to Captain Croke ; but it must be
whilst you live, or otherwise we fear it will never be done. You know
what plotting there is against your person, and if any of them should
take, what will become of our preferments ? Only for my own part, I
may hope for something when you die, if any thing be left, because I am
promised it in the word of a King, from whom I crave pardon, and a grant
of this humble request of

Your Highness's most

devoted Servant,
Salop, JA. BERRY".

Dec. 1, 1655.

The failure of this attempt was fatal to the designs of the royalists ; and
the annihilation of their very sanguine hopes filled them with indignation
against the principal instrument of their defeat. Union Croke was accused
of a breach of the. terms upon which Penruddock, and the others, had
surrendered. It was pretended that they had capitulated only upon the
express condition that their lives should be spared. The charges of per-
fidiousness and falsehood were liberally bestowed upon him, and are con-
veyed to posterity in the sermons of Dr. South", and the Fasti of Anthony
a Woody. But upon an accurate consideration of all the circumstances
of the case, whatever may be the merits, or demerits, of the cause in which
he was engaged, Unton Croke must stand acquitted of this crime.

With respect to the fact, whether any such direct and express terms had
been granted them as the inducement to their surrender, Ludlow informs
us, in his Memoirs, that " Major Croke absolutely denied any such
" tiling7-." In his letter to the Protector, published in the Gazette, and
written immediately upon the spot, no such capitulation is mentioned, nor
do we find that his account was contradicted at the time. All that he
states is, that they defended themselves, firing very hot out of the windows.

" Thurloe, vol. iv. p. 274. Original, vol. S3, f. 45.

1 South's Sermons, ed. 1715. vol. i. page 124. in a note, perhaps written by Dr. King,
the publisher of South's Sermons.

J Fasti Ox. part ii. col. 755. * Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 71. ed. Edinburgh, 17.

ch.iv. sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 543

for two hours, that the troops broke open many houses, that " some of
" them yielded to mercy, and he promised them that he would use his
" endeavours to intercede for their lives." A very different thing from
a surrender upon express terms. Penruddock, in the speech which he
made at his execution, stated the articles to have been life, liberty, and
estate, and said that they were drawn by his hand3. This implies that
they were in writing ; in which case they must have been deposited with
the parties who were to have the benefit of them : many persons must
have seen them, and they would have been capable of proof.

Indeed the promise of interceding in their favour, which Unton Croke
admits that he made to some of them, was in reality the utmost engage-
ment to which his power extended. Without entering into the learning
of the writers of the Law of Nations, relating to sponsions, or treaties en-
tered into by subaltern officers, it must be remarked, that this was not a
case of war, but a case of a rebellion against an established government ;
which would of course be subject not to the laws of war, as between two
enemies, but, to the municipal laws of the country, as between the So-
vereign and the subject. A commander sent to reduce rebels, could have
no power, without an express authority to that effect, to stipulate with
them for the preservation of their lives ; and, in case of capture, they
would still be amenable to the laws of treason. It is justly observed there-
fore by Lord Clarendon, though his account of this transaction in other
respects is evidently stained with the colouring of party, that " Major
" Croke had no authority to enter into any such convention^.'1''

After all, if such conditions had in reality been made, with, or with-
out, sufficient authority, the performance of them did not rest with Un-
ton Croke, but with the Protector. It was not Unton Croke who put
them to death : but, after they had been condemned upon a trial before a
jury of their countrymen, it was the Protector who inforced the sentence,
and suffered them to be executed : which it was not in Unton Croke's
power to prevent.

To some, who yielded to mercy, he fairly stated, that he promised to

3 State Trials, vol. ii. p. 259. ed. 1730. 1!) April, 1655. Trial of Penruddock.
b Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, ed. folio, vol. iii. p. 435.

544 CROKE OF MARSTON. bookiv.

intercede for their lives. His conscientious performance of this promise
affords a very strong presumption that he was not capable of acting per-
fidiously towards the others. By two letters in Thurloe's Collection, it
appears that he addressed himself both to Cromwell, and his Secretary, in
their favour ; and that with warmth, and earnestness.

Captain Union Croke to Secretary Thurloe.
To the Honourable John Thurloe, Esquire, Secretary of State at
Whitehall. These, Hast, hast, hast.
Honourable Sir,
Upon my Lord Protector's letter, I immediately sent away Mr. John Pen-
ruddocke, and Erancis Jones, within some few hours after I received an ex-
press from you, clearing any doubt I might make of the person, because there
were two of the name in gaol, but the considerablenesse of the person
guides me aright. Sir, 1 wrote to his Highness lately, concerning five
men, (who are the most inconsiderable of the company, not one of them
being of estate or quality as I can learn,) to whom I promised, who kept
a house against me four hours, that I would intercede to his Highness for
their lives. Sir, I shall press it to you with importunity, that you will
move it to his Highness, that so, if any be thought worthy of pity, as to
have their lives, that his favour may extend to those men ; though not for
their own sakes, yet in regard of my reputation, because I lye under a
promise to them. Sir, hereby you will infinitely oblige,

Sir, your most humble servant,
Exon, UNTON CROKEc.

March %, 1655.

At the time of holding the commission for their trial at Salisbury, he
wrote again.

Captain Union Croke to Secretary Thurloe.
Honorable Sir,
1 received yours at Exeter on Saturday last, and accordingly repaired to
Sarum, to attend the Judges, where I at present am. You were pleased to
put me in hopes, that his Highness might be intreated for the sparing of

c Thurloe's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 281. Original, vol. 36. f. 23.

CH. IV. SEC. V.

CROKE OF MARSTON.

those five persons I wrote about, and promised me your assistance, in the
promoving my request. Sir, I do again in treat your intercession, and that,
if it be possible, by the very next post, I may be ascertained whether there
is a possibility of their reprieval. One of them is Wake, two brothers, whose
names are Colliers. I profess I have forgot the others' names, but they
are all five contemptible persons ; yet, by reason of my engagement, I
cannot but continue my importunity, that they might be spared. Sir, I am
very tedious with you, but I hope you will pardon,

Honorable Sir,
Your very humble Servant,

Sarum, UNTON CROKE".

April 12, 1655.

These letters evidently proceed from an honourable mind ; extremely
desirous, not of formally satisfying an engagement by a cold application,
but of accomplishing the object of it effectually ; and they shew that
sensibility of reputation which always attends a man of honour. Upon
the whole, it is impossible for every impartial person not to draw the
conclusion, that the vehement abuse, which was heaped upon this officer,
proceeded rather from the virulence of a disappointed party, than from any
foundation in truth.

The suppression of this conspiracy, which threatened to shake the pro-
tectoral throne, and was chiefly effected by the vigorous measures of Unton
Croke, gave great satisfaction to Cromwell. To provide for his future
security he immediately established his project of dividing England into
cantons, under the government of twelve Major Generals, and of levying
a tenth part of the estates of all the royal party. Unton Croke was pro-
moted to the rank of Major, and two hundred pounds a year, out of the
forfeited estate of Mr. Mompesson, was settled upon him for his services '.

In I608, the zeal and insolence of the Anabaptists and other sectaries'
being very violent against the University of Oxford, the colleges, and stu-
dents, they had laid a plan to destroy all " both root and branch" as they
called it. The Protector, having received information of their designs,
sent orders to Major Unton Croke, at this time at Oxford, with some

4 Thurloe, p. 368. Original, vol. 25. f. 315. e Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 72.

546 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

troops of cavalry, to have a vigilant eye towards their proceedings. Upon
which he appointed parties of horse to patrole the streets, night and day ;
and particularly upon the Sth of May, the time fixed for the attempt. The
scholars were armed for the protection of their own colleges. A general
panic prevailed. Many of the members of the University quitted the
place, some hid themselves, or left their colleges and took refuge in the
town, and others of the more godly party prayed day and night to be freed
from the danger. By the activity of Major Croke, and his troopers, the
intended insurrection was prevented, tranquillity was completely restored,
and the University saved from total destruction'.

Upon the death of Oliver Cromwell, in 1658, he appeared in support
of his son Richard, and at the head of his troop, with the Mayor, Recorder,
and Town-Clerk of Oxford, proclaimed the new Protector before Saint
Mary's church and at other places ; where they were liberally pelted by
the loyal young students of the University with carrot and turnip tops?.
In that year, he was appointed High Sheriff for Oxfordshire, by
Richard Cromwell, and his council ; in which capacity he made a double
return of members for that county1' ; and, in the same year, with his brother,
Sir Richard Croke, was returned as Member of Parliament for the city of
Oxford'. This was afterwards quoted in the House of Commons, as a
case in point, to prove that a person might be returned for a borough in a
county for which he was High Sheriff k. In King Charles the First's time
it was considered as a disqualification, and that monarch appointed four
of the popular leaders Sheriffs, to incapacitate them from being elected
members, which was submitted to1. In the writ indeed there was for-
merly a clause, Nolumus autem quod tu nee aliquis alius Vicecomes dicti
regni aliqualiter sit electus. But as early as the reign of Queen Eliza-
beth the constant practice was otherwise, as is proved by Sir Simonds

f Wood's Hist. Univ. Oxford, ed. Gutch, p. 684. t Anthony Wood's Life, p. 115.

'' Journals, House of Commons. ' Willis's Not. Pari. vol. i. p. 277, 291. k Douglas,
Election Cases, vol. iv. p 121. note p. 161.

' Sir Edward Coke, and other members, who had taken an active part against the Duke
of Buckingham, were made Sheriffs in lfi25, and so could not be chosen parliament men.
Whitelocke's Mem. pages 2, 6. In 1G29, Mr. Long was fined 2000 marks in the Star-
Chamber, and imprisoned, for serving as a Member of Parliament, when he was Sheriff.
Whitelocke, p. M.

ch. iv. sec. v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 547

D'Ewes ; and he adds a substantial reason for it, that " otherwise it had
" lain in the power of any sovereign to have disabled as many persons as
" he chose, and he might have dis-furnished the house of its ablest mem-
bers01."

After the removal of Richard Cromwell from the Protectorship,
April 22, 1659, the governing powers began to look towards the revenues
of the universities ; and all human learning was despised by the
saints. Some thought that the universities should be quite abolished,
but the more moderate were of opinion, that they should be modelled
after the form of Leyden, and other Dutch universities, and should
have three colleges left for the study of the three great faculties, of
divinity, law, and physic ; each to have a professor. The most active
person in promoting this plan was said to have been Major Croke. For
this opinion respecting the university he was censured by Dr. South".
Soon after, he was appointed one of the Commissioners for Oxfordshire,
by the act for settling the militia.

In the disputes which arose between the republican party and the
army, when the principal point in debate was the re-establishment of the
remains of the long parliament, or the calling of a new one, a party
appeared for the old parliament in Wiltshire, under the command of
Colonel Croke, " who having told divers of Ludlow's friends (as he relates
" it himself) in that country, ' that the principal reasons of his dissatis-
" faction with the proceedings of the army had been taken from what
" Ludlow had said in the late council of officers,' he prevailed with divers
" of them to side with him, and so marched towards Portsmouth, in order

"' Journal, page 381.

" Sermons, vol. i. page 124. ed. 1715. " Should God in his judgement "suffer England
" to be transformed into a Minister, should the faithful be every where massacred, should
" the places of learning be demolished, and our colleges reduced not. only as one in his
" great zeal would have it, to three but to none, yet assuredly hell is worse than all this."
To this is subjoined a note, I suppose by the Editor, Doctor William King, to explain to
whom he alludes. " Unton Croke, a colonel of the army, the perfidious cause of Penrud-
" dock's death, and sometime after High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, openly and frequently
" affirmed the uselessness of the Universities, and that three colleges were sufficient to an-
" swer the occasions of the nation, for the breeding up of men to learning, so far as it was
" either necessary or useful."

4 A 2

548 CROKE OF MARSTON. book iv.

" to join Sir Arthur Haslerig, and Colonel Morley, who had already pos-
" sessed themselves of that place, and declared for the restitution of the par-
liament0." On the 1 lth of January, 1660, he was made Colonel of
Berry's regiment by the Parliament ''.

Weary at length of the endless confusion which prevailed in the king-
dom, with the moderate men of all parties, together with his relation In-
goldsby, he cordially supported the re-establishment of a more stable
government, in the restoration of the ancient race of monarchs. After
General Monk had arrived in London, on the 29th of February, accord-
ingly, Colonel Unton Croke, and his regiment, declared their concurrence
with himi. After the Restoration, when his regiment was disbanded,
he appears to have led a retired life : sometimes in Devonshire, from
whence he married his wife, at Cheddington in Bucks, at Grandpoole
in the south suburbs of Oxford, at Heading-ton Wick, and other places.
He was living in a gouty condition, at or near London, in 1690: but
his affair with Penruddock was never forgotten by the loyalists r.
He married, first, the daughter of Sir Charles Wise, and had by her one
daughter at least. His second wife was the daughter of Mr. Mallet, a
merchant of Exeter : by whom he had a son of his own name. What
became of his children is not known.

Charles Croke, a younger son of Serjeant Unton Croke, and
brother to Colonel Unton Croke, was a Commoner of Christ Church
College at Oxford8. He accompanied his cousin, Lord Whitelocke, upon
his embassy to Sweden, in the years 16.5J, and 1654, as one of his Pages,
of whom he had four ; Henry Elsing, son of the Clerk of the Parliament,
was another'. He served some years in his brother Unton Croke's troop of
horse, and after his return from Sweden, Colonel Copleston, the High Sheriff
of Devonshire, honoured him with one of the Protector's commissions for a
company, which he had already raised, in his regiment. But that being
near an end, Unton Croke, in a letter to the Protector, dated 5 March,
1655, requests that he would confer the vacant colours in his troop upon

0 Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 283. >' Whitelock, p. 694. '' Ibid. |>. C>y<).

' Wood's Ath. Oxon. col. 7.~>5. ' Wood's Fast. Oxon. ii. c. 755. ; Whitelocke's

Ambassy, vol. ii. p. 465. Appendix.

ch.iv.sec.v. CROKE OF MARSTON. 549

his brother, of whom he speaks as " not unapt for the place, well disposed,
" and of a gracious spirit "." Wood informs us, that after he had taken
many rambles, had been a soldier, and had seen the vanities of the world,
he published at London in 1667, a book in octavo, intitled, Youth's
Unconstancy .

1 See the letter already printed, p. 533, 53±, from Thurloe's State Papers, vol. iii.

EDWARD CROKE.

SECTION THE SIXTH.

T HE fifth and youngest son of Sir John Croke, the Judge, was Edward
Croke, of whom it is only known by his monument, that he died young,
on the 4th of February, 1626, and was buried at Chilton, where, on a flat
stone, is the following inscription, upon a brass plate ; of which the senti-
ments are superior to the poetry.

A coat of arms above, Croke with an annulet.

ave, viator.
stay here, thou gentle passenger,
and view this young man's character,
here lyes the body of a sonne,
next to his sire that to god is gone,
the next step forward, grandsire holdes,
and great grandsire third place enfoldes*.
their virtues speake their prayses best,
and heere their bodyes quiet rest.

vale, lector,
reader, now passe, and credit this,
who liveth well shall go to blisse,
and who so runnes a holy course,
as these have donne whom i rehearse.
when as he views this character,
will wish he were inheritor
unto such worthyes, men that were
renowned whilst they lived heere.

uk jacet edwardus croke, qui oi5iit quarto die febru-
arii, 1626.

3 This alludes to the situation of their places of burial.

ch. iv. sec. vi. EDWARD CROKE. 551

Sir John Croke, in his will, mentions his daughter Rachel, but he
probably speaks of his daughter-in-law, Rachel Webb, wife of his son,
Sir John Croke.

This finishes all the descendants of Sir John Croke, the Judge.

CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. book iv.

CHAPTER V.

The Waterstock Branch.

HAVING gone through all the descendants of Sir John Croke, the
Judge, I return to his brother Henry Croke, the second son of Sir
John Croke, and Elizabeth Unton. He was a barrister, and was dead
when his mother made her will in 1607. His wife was Bennet Hony-
wood, the daughter of Robert Honywood, of Charing, in Kent, Esquire,
and sister to his brother William's wife; and who was buried the 27th of
October, 1638, at Waterstock. He is represented on the monument of
his father and mother in a bar gown, with his coat of arms, Croke, with a
mullet, impaled with argent, a chevron between three eagles' heads, erased,
azure: for Honywood. His children were, Anne, Nathaniel, Henry, and
Elizabeth. Anne married William Walpole, Esquire, of Little Bursted,
in Essex ; and Elizabeth was the wife of Nicholas, a barrister. I be-
lieve Nathaniel died young \

Henry Croke, son to the last Henry, was born about 1596. He
was entered at Christ Church College, in Oxford, on the 17th of January,
lb 10, being only fourteen years of age; where he continued till he had
taken his degree of Master of Arts, and then removed to Braze-nose Col-
lege'1.

A testimonial, addressed to Doctor George Abbot, Archbishop of
Canterbury, was given him in 1 6 1 8, from the principal members of
both his colleges, certifying his abilities for any employment either in
Church or State, suitable to his years, being then twenty-two years of age,
but for what purpose it was obtained does not appear, unless for his
ordination.

3 Harl. MSS. Xo. 1533. a visitation of Bucks, in 1675. Ward, Waterstock Register.
b Ward, 305.

chap.v. CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. 553

Reverendissimo in Christo patri, Georgio divina Providentia Archie-
piscopo Cantuariensi, et totius Angliae primati et metropolitano, nos, quo-
rum nomina subscripta sunt, pro merito et dignitate tanti viri debitam cum
honore reverentiam. Cum Henricus Croke, e collegio jEnei Nasi in Arti-
bus Magister, certis de causisipsumin hac parto moventibus, literas nostras
testimoniales de vita sua, laudataque morum integritate, concedi petierit ;
nos tarn honestae petitioni ejus, quantum in nobis est, obsecundare volen-
tes, testamur, et testatum facimus per praesentes, Henricum Croke ad se-
cundam annuum suscepti gradus magisterii, quo in JEde Christi et Mnei
Nasi collegio versatus est, sedulam studiis dedisse operam, vitamque suam
sobrie ac pie per omnia instituisse; ad haec, in iis rebus, quas ad religio-
rem spectant, nihil unquam, quod scimus, eum aut credidisse aut tenuisse,
nisi quod catholici patres veteresque episcopi ex doctrina Veteris Novique
Testamenti collegerunt, quod ecclesia nostra Anglicana jam tenet, appro-
bat, et tuetur ; adeoque dignum fore, ut ad quodcunque munus in eccle-
sia, vel republica, aetati subs competens promoveatur. In cujus rei testi-
monium nomina nostra hisce praesentibus apposuimus.

Sam. Radcliffe, Pr. coll. Mn. Nas. Guil. Goodwin, Vicec. Ox.

Joann. Pickering. Edm. Gwinne, Subdec.

Edw. Ritston. Johann. Weston, Praebend.

Gabr. Richardson. Guil. Ballowe, Thesaur.

Radul. Richardson. Christ. White, Magist.

Philipp. Cappar. Johann. Morris, Magist.

The names in the first column were of Brazen-nose, in the second, of
Christ Churchc.

The next year, his cousin Charles Croke resigned his Professorship of
Rhetoric, at Gresham College, and he was chosen to succeed him, upon
Wednesday the 26th of May, 1619, being then but twenty-three years of
age. Upon that occasion he obtained another testimonial from Christ
Church college, where he had been longest resident.

Universis Christi fidelibus, ad quos hoc praesens scriptum pervenerit,
nos, quorum nomina subscripta sunt, pro merito ac dignitate cujusque

c Ward, 309-

554 CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. book iv.

personae debitam reverentiam. Cum pium sit et aequitatis officio consen-
taneum cognitae veritati testimonium perhibere, et Henricus Croke, Ar-
tium Magister, ex Mde Christi Oxon. certis de causis ipsum hac in parte
moventibus, literas nostras testimonials de vita sua laudabili, merumque
inteo-ritate, sibi concedi petierit, nos tarn honestae petitioni deesse non po-
tuimus. Quare testamur, et testatum facimus per praesentes, dictum Hen-
ricum Croke per septem annos in ALde Christi Oxon. vixisse, doctrinae
suae atque eruditionis Christianae non vulgare apud nos specimen edidisse.
eundem fuisse et esse probis et honestis moribus, bona fama, religione sin-
cera, et conversatione integra, adeoque dignum, qui ad qualecumque munus
in ecclesia, vel republica, aetati et gradui conveniens promoveatur. In cu-
jus rei testimonium nomina nostra his praesentibus apposuimus. Datum die
decimo octavo Maii anno Dom. 1619-

Edm. Gwinne, Subdec. Rob. Burton, Theol. Baccal.

Jo. Weston, Doct. Jur. Civ. Jo. Wall, Theol. Baccal.

Tho. Manne, Theol. Baccal. Rob. Whitehall, Theol. Baccal.u

Trinity term beginning that year on the next Friday after his election,
which was the day for reading the Rhetoric Lecture, he was ordered to
perform his Latin oration that morning according to custom. It is pro-
bable that he had prepared his composition from an expectation that he
should be chosen, as the time was short, and the electors would otherwise
scarcely have required that duty from the youngest professor they had
ever chosen. He held the office with great credit for eight years, and re-
signed it April the 13th, 1627? having then taken his degree of Bachelor
in Divinity1.

He left Gresham College upon a design of marriage, which he accom-
plished soon after; for upon the 18th of July following, he married Sarah,
the daughter of the Reverend Henry Wilkinson, Rector of Waddesdon, in
Buckinghamshire. And the reason of his quitting his professorship some
months before his marriage might probably be to favour the election of his
wife's brother, Edward Wilkinson, who succeeded him in itf.

d Ward, 309. l Ibid. ' Ibid.

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chap.v. CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. 555

The family into which he married produced several divines of considerable
eminence in die Presbyterian party. His father-in-law, who was born in
1566, and died in 1649, had been elected Fellow of Merton, by the interest
of Sir Henry Saville, to whom he was related, obtained the Rectory of
Waddesden, and was one of the Assembly of Divines in 1643. His wife
was Sarah, the only daughter of Dr. Arthur Wake, Canon of Christ
Church, and father of the learned Sir Isaac Wake, Orator of the Univer-
sity of Oxford, author of Rex Platonisus, and afterwards Ambassador to
Savoy5.

The brother of Mr. Henry Wilkinson, was Doctor John Wilkinson,
who was tutor to Prince Henry, son of James the First, Principal of
Magdalen Hall, and, in 1646, one of the Parliamentary Visitors of the Uni-
versity. In 1648, he was appointed President of Magdalen College, and
died in 1649- At this advanced period of his life, oppressed by years
and weakness, he was persuaded by the avarice of his wife, and his ne-
phew Henry, to take part in a very disgraceful transaction. The founder
of Magdalen College had provided a sum of money for the expenses of
law-suits, and other occasional demands, and which was deposited in old
gold, or spur-royals, in the tower of the college. Dr. Wilkinson, with the
college officers, broke open the door, discovered the treasure, and they di-
vided it amongst them : the President had an hundred pieces, and the
Fellows each thirty. All the college shared in the spoil ; in the whole
there were nine hundred pistolets, and each piece produced sixteen shillings
and six-pence1'. Wood states the whole amount at <£1400.

Doctor Henry Wilkinson, usually styled senior, nephew to the Presi-
dent of Magdalen, son of the Rector of Waddesden, and brother to Sarah
Wilkinson, was one of the Assembly of Divines likewise, Rector of Saint
Dunstan's, one of the Parliamentary Visitors, Vice-President, and Senior
Fellow of Magdalen College, Canon of Christ Church, and Margaret Pro-
fessor of Divinity; and died in 167-51.

There was another Doctor Henry Wilkinson, commonly called junior,

e Wood Ath. Oxon. ii. 59. As there has been some confusion respecting these divines,
from there being several of the same name, I have made out a correct pedigree of them.
No. 29. h Chandler's Life of William Waynflete, 1811, page 290. Wood, ii. 748.

1 Ath. Oxon. c. 397.

4 B 2

556 CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. book v.

who was cousin to the last, being the son of the Reverend William Wil-
kinson, of Adwick in Yorkshire; brother to the Rector of Waddesden, and
the President of Magdalen. This Henry was made Principal of Magda-
len Hall, in 1648, and had a brother John, who was a physician k.

Soon after Henry Croke's marriage, his uncle, Sir George Croke, pre-
sented him to the Rectory of Waterstock, and, upon the 25th of June,
1640, he took the degree of Doctor in Divinity. Sir George Croke hav-
ing by his will left him the house and estate at Waterstock, upon his death
in 1641; he succeeded him as Lord of the Manor. He died in 1642, and
was buried on the 20th of April1, in the chancel of his own church, with-
out any monument to his memory1".

He had four sons, George, John, Henry, baptized 7th of May, 1640",
and Samuel, baptized 1st of April, 1642°, and one daughter, Mary, born
in 1635, who died in her infancy''.

Of the great number of persons, who compose the genealogy of a nu-
merous family, tew will be found whose lives can afford much entertain-
ment, or instruction. Of many, no remembrance whatever is preserved ;
the men of fortune pursue their amusements, the men of business their occu-
pations, without supplying any materials which can be interesting to futurity.
When we meet with a man of science and philosophy, who has employed
his mind in pursuits useful or ornamental to mankind, we may be allowed
to dwell upon the subject with some degree of pleasure and satisfaction.

Sir George Croke, the eldest son of Doctor Henry Croke, after his
father's death, inherited the estate at Waterstock. His uncle Sir George
Croke, the Judge, left him one hundred pounds, to be laid out in the pur-
chase of an annuity, towards his maintenance and education1'. He was ap-
pointed Fellow of All-Souls College in Oxford, by the Parliamentary Vi-
sitors, and on the 2?th of February, 1651, was created Master of Arts, by
virtue of a dispensation from Oliver Cromwell, the Chancellor of the Uni-
versity'.

He married Jane, one of the fourteen children of Sir Richard Onslow,
the ancestor of the celebrated Speaker of the House of Commons, and the

" Ath. Oxon. ii. c. 6±6, 770.

1 Waterstock Register. "' Ward.

" Waler-

stock Register. " Ibid.

p Ward. q Will penes me.

r Wood A th.

Oxon. vol. ii. col. 777-

chap.v. CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. 557

present Earl of Onslow. Sir Richard Onslow, in the time of Charles the
First, espoused the side of the Parliament, in which he served in three ses-
sions for the county of Surrey. He raised a regiment, and was one of
the select committee who waited upon Oliver Cromwell to persuade him
to assume the title of King; and was afterwards made one of his peers.
He was a man of an elegant and polite mind, and a particular friend of
Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper; with whom he concurred in bringing about
the Restoration of Charles the Second5. Upon the return of the King, he
received the honour of Knighthood, and was appointed High Sheriff for
Oxfordshire in 1664'.

Sir George Croke appears to have been actively engaged in the various
pursuits which occupied men of science at that philosophical period, when
the Royal Society was first instituted, and enrolled amongst its members
so many persons of eminence ; and he was elected a Fellow the 8th of Fe-
bruary, 1676". Dr. Plot, in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, has de-
dicated to him a plate of undescribed plants, natives of Oxfordshire, in
which he styles him " a learned and curious botanist"." Of the different
branches of that interesting science he attended more particularly to gar-
dening, and was curious in exotic plants7. Lawrence, in his New System
of Agriculture2, says, that he was the first who brought the Plane Tree
into England: which Miller supposes must have been the Occidental, or
Virginian Plane : for the Oriental Plane was introduced by Lord Ba-
con11. Evelyn, in his Sylva, says, that " the introduction of the true Plane
Tree amongst us is perhaps due to the great Chancellor Bacon, who
planted those still flourishing at Verulam. As to mine, I owe it to that
honourable gentleman, the late Sir George Croke of Oxfordshire, from
whose bounty I received an hopeful plant, now growing in my villa 'V

Anthony Wood gives an account, that he visited Sir George Croke at
Waterstock, on the 30th of June, in 1668, and was much pleased by lodg-
ing in a room there, called the King's room, because Henry the Sixth had
slept there. And that in December of that year, he spent his Christmas

5 Collins's Peerage, vol. v. p. 327, 330. ' Wood, ubi supra. " Books of the

Society. " Page 149. y Ward, p. 311. 2 Page 247. 3 Dictionary in

voce. b Voce Platanus, vol. ii. p. 68. Edit. Hunter, 1812. The first edition was in

1664.

55S CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. book iv.

at Sir George's, with Francis Dryer, a foreigner of Bremen, who had been
residing at Oxford for the purpose of consulting the Bodleian Library0.

In a correspondence with Mr. Oldenburg, the Secretary of the Royal
Society, and which is preserved in their letter books, Sir George appears to
have been an astronomer, an anatomist, an amateur in medicine, and to
have been engaged in discovering a method to find the longitude at sea.

A vapouring French physician, a Monsieur Dennis, who was employed
" par ordre du Roi a faire des experiences, dont tout le monde recevra de
" grands avantages," transmitted to England in 1673, " un essence merveil-
" leuse," which he pretended would staunch effusions of blood even from
wounded arteries. It had been tried " aux yeux de toute la cour, et de
" tout ce qu'il y a de scavans medicins etchirurgeons." The ingenious in-
ventor had obtained the Royal Privilege for the exclusive sale of it in
France, and he confesses that he expected to derive " bien de l'argent"
from England; " car pour une pistole de dispense, on en tireroit plus de
•' mille." A pretty reasonable profit. Some of it was transmitted to Sir
George Croke, who in a series of experiments fully proved the inefiicacy
of the medicine, and annihilated the golden mountains of the charlatan.

About the same time he brought forward a proposition for the finding
of the longitude. Having stated the insufficiency of all former methods,
by the eclipses of the moon, her place in the zodiac, distance from the
fixed stars, or entrance into the ecliptic line, by the satellites of Jupiter, or
any other celestial observations, or the variations of the magnetic needle ;
he assumes, that a correct measurer of time would be the only certain me-
thod; an opinion which succeeding experience has proved to be true.
Since then to obtain an accurate time-keeper was the principal object, he
examines and rejects the various kinds in use, dials, water, sand-glasses,
and pendulums, and then proposes a new horologium, of his own inven-
tion, in which Mercury was made the measure of time per descensum,
upon the principle of an hour-glass. In Latin, the language of science,
he describes the invention, and explains its various advantages.

Mr. Oldenburg, in his answer, after many compliments, informs him,
that the invention of mercurial hour-glasses had occurred to Tvcho Brahe,

Life of Anthony Wood, p. 217, 214.

chap. v. CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. 5.59

the Danish astronomer, many years before, who had failed in the experi-
ment, and complained " that Mercury had played the knave with him ;"
that another man, Smith, had attempted the same thing with no better
success ; and that it was his own opinion, and that of his philosophical
friends, that the method would not answer.

Sir George, in his reply, assures the Secretary that he had never seen
those authors ; but with the true sanguine spirit of an inventor, so far from
being disheartened by this information, he is glad that his opinion is con-
firmed by so good authority. He does not like it the worse because they
failed in the experiment, which he supposes was owing to its being ill
conducted. He obviates some farther objections, and wishes it to be tried
with greater accuracy. He proposes that Mr. Hook, or some able me-
chanic, should make an instrument upon his plan. But I suppose it did
not succeed ultimately, as nothing farther was heard of itd.

Sir George Croke died the 17th of November, 1680, at the house of his
brother Henry, in the Haymarket at London, from whence his body was
conveyed to Waterstock, and was buried in the chancel, without any
monument, near to his great uncle Sir George Croke, the Judge, and his
wife, who died about four years before him, March the 11th, l6?6e.

He left only two daughters, Elizabeth, and Sarah, who was born the
19th of April, l669f; one of them married Sir Thomas Wyndham; and
Mr. Delafield was informed that Sir Richard Onslow courted the other,
but whether he married her he could not be certified e. There being no
son, the estate was sold to Sir Henry Ashhurst. This gentleman was
one of the trustees appointed by Mr. Boyle for his lectures. He was a
staunch puritan, and a particular friend of the celebrated Mr. Baxter.
In 1688, he was created a Baronet. The estate still continues in this fa-
mily, but in 1695, the ancient seat was pulled down, and a new one of
brick was built in its place. This, in turn, was demolished, and an ex-
cellent new stone house was erected, by Sir William Henry Ashhurst, one
of the Justices of the King's Bench : and father to William Henry Ash-

d See Monsr. Denys's letter, and the correspondence between Sir George Croke and
Mr. Oldenburg, respecting the Styptic, and the finding the longitude, from the Letter
Books of the Royal Society, in Appendix, No. XXVIII.

e Wood, ibid. f Waterstock Register. • History of Chilton.

560 CROKE OF WATERSTOCK. book iv.

hurst, Esquire, the present representative in Parliament for the county of
Oxford h.

Of the other three sons of Doctor Henry Croke, John was a courtier,
and Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King Charles the Second. He
died in November, 1670, and was buried at Waterstock. Henry was a
linen draper in the Haymarket. Of Samuel no account has been pre-
served'.

11 Ward, p. 312. and MSS. notes. Wood, Fast. Oxon. Life of A. Wood. p. 581.
■ Ward, p. 311. Waterstock Register.

5 i r G eo rd e C ro oKe one o€
ttie [uftice^ of tke bi..o, Ben. k

oh. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 561

CHAPTER VI.

Sir George Croke, the Judge, and his descendants.

SECTION THE FIRST.

SIR GEORGE CROKE, the third son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth
Unton, was born about the year 1.560; in the beginning of the reign of
Queen Elizabeth*.

He passed his infancy and his tender years under the care of a discreet
and affectionate mother, and exhibited, from his childhood, the same ex-
cellence of mind and disposition, which accompanied him through lite.
He received the first part of his public education at the school at Thame,
which had been founded by Lord Williams, and was formerly of much ce-
lebrity. At the age of fifteen, in 1575, he was entered of Christ Church
College in Oxford, to improve his talents, by the cultivation of the
sciences, and the study of philosophy. After some residence, he was
removed to the Inner Temple, of which he had been admitted a Member.
on the 7th of February, in the seventeenth year of Queen Elizabeth, 157-t:
and where he employed the remainder of his youth in the study of the com-
mon lawb. At what time he was called to the bar does not a,ppear. In
1597, the 39th of Elizabeth, he was elected a Representative in Parliament
tor the borough of Berealston in Devonshire0. He was made a Bencher of
the Inner Temple, the 5th of November, 1597 ; was Autumn Reader in
1599; Treasurer in 1609; and Double Reader in 1617"1- The Inns of
Court, at that time, constituted a Juridical University, where exercises

" From the dates, cetatis 66, 1626, on his picture, and his monument.
b Sir Harbottle Grimston's Preface to his Reports. Wood's Hist. Univ. Oxon. Register
of the Inner Temple, and his arms in the Hall window.
' c Willis's Not. Pari. * Pref. Cro. Car. Ward, p. 30.5. Temple Register.

4 C

.562 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

were performed, lectures read, and degrees conferred, in the common law :
as in other Universities in the canon and civil lawe. From the Benchers,
or Ancients, one was appointed to read lectures annually in the summer
vacation to the students, and was called the Single, or Autumn Reader :
and one of them, who had formerly read, gave his lectures in the Lent va-
cation, and was called a Double Readerf.

Upon the 29th of June, 1623, the twenty-first year of King James, he
received from Williams, the Lord Keeper, and Bishop of Lincoln, in the
presence of the King at Greenwich, an order signed by the King for him
to be made a Serjeant at Law, and at the same time was knighted, and
appointed the King's Serjeant. On the 3d of July following, he received
the King's writ to that effect, dated the 26th of June ; and in Michaelmas
term, he was accordingly called to the rank of a Serjeant, with fourteen
others, amongst whom were, Bridgeman, Sir Heneage Finch, Davenport,
Bramston, and others, who afterwards arrived at high dignities in the
law8.

A happy union of learning, judgment, memory, talents, industry, and
integrity, could not fail to open the road to fame and wealth. Sir George
Croke appears to have had great practice as advocate, and was particularly
celebrated for his skill in pleading causes'". His name occurs continually,
as counsel, in the cases of the contemporary reporters. Of his zeal,
and honest prejudices, in favour of the parties in whose causes he
was engaged, so natural to a warm and honourable mind, he has
frankly made a confession in his argument in Selden's case. " The
•■ counsel have, of either side, pressed such reasons and arguments as they
" thought convenient for the maintaining their opinions ; and perhaps
•' with a prejudicate opinion : as I myself, by mine own experience, when
•• I was at the bar, have argued confidently, and 1 then thought the law
•' to be of that side for whom I argued. But after being at the bench,
•' weighing indifferently all reasons, and authorities, I have been of a dif-

Blackstone, vol. i. p. 23. ' Coke, Preface to vol. iii. of his Reports.

s Cro. Jac. p. 66S, 671- Pref. Cro. Car.

'' Judicio acri, et memoriatenaci fruebatur, quibus addita singulari imlustria, amplissi-
mum juris cognitionem, maxime autem in iis qua ad causas agendas spectant, adeptus est.
Denique virtutibt.s intel'.ectualibus morales adjecit, fidem utique integerrimam, et munifi-
centiam egregiam. Wood, Hist, et Antiq. Univ. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 64.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 663

" ferent opinion, and so the law hath been adjudged, contrary to that
" opinion, which I first confidently conceived1."

In 1618, when the citizens of Oxford, endeavoured to procure a new
charter, which would have been injurious to the University, the Earl of
Pembroke, the Chancellor, having notice of it, obtained a copy, which
was examined by the University, and many exceptions were taken to
it. They were put into the hands of Mr. John Walter, and Mr.
George Croke, the Barrister, who digested and drew them up in due
formk.

Though the exact amount of his profits cannot be ascertained, there is
sufficient proof that he acquired considerable wealth by his profession.
As a younger brother he could have inherited no great fortune from his
father. I had a letter from his elder brother, Sir John Croke, the Speaker
of the House of Commons, and afterwards Judge, to borrow five hundred
pounds of him, as is before mentioned.

Before the year 16 15, he purchased of Sir William Cave, the estate at
Waterstock, which is now the property of William Henry Ashhurst,
Esquire. This estate had come into the Cave family, by the marriage of
Sir Thomas Cave, brother to Sir George Croke's grandmother, Prudence
Cave, with Elizabeth Danvers, daughter and heiress of Sir John Danvers
of Waterstock. For many years it had been in the Danvers family, as
appeared by the coats of arms formerly in painted glass in the church and
mansion-house. There were the quarterings and impalements of many
families, with which they intermarried : Bruly, Quatermain, Mansel,
Fowler, Verney, and others. Amongst them were those of William
Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, George Neville, Archbishop of York,
and James Fenys, the latter with the date of 1480. That the arms
of William of Waynflete were there, may be easily accounted for.
Joan Danvers, relict of William Danvers, Esquire, was a benefactress
to Magdalen College, in the life-time of the founder. In 14.53, she
granted the manor of Wike, alias Staneswyke, at Ashbury in Berk-
shire, which had descended to her from Rate Stanes, to Waynflete, and
other trustees, for the new Hall, which was afterwards transferred to
the college. In return, the President and Society entered into an obliga-

' State Trials, vol. vii. k Wood's Annals Univ. Oxon by Gutch, vol. ii. p. 331.

4 c 2

564 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

tion to celebrate exequies cum notd for her soul, and the souls of her hus-
band, and of Matilda de Acre, Countess of Oxford, for which they were
allowed a pittance. These obits continued till the Reformation, when they
were changed into commemorations1. The arms of Waynflete were pro-
bably put up in remembrance of the connexion which subsisted between
him and Joan Danvers, or to record a visit which he made to Waterstock.
1 1 was a very usual mark of respect, paid to persons of rank, and was fre-
quently given by the visitors themselves. George Neville was brother
to the celebrated Earl of Warwick, who was surnamed the King-
maker, and was Archbishop of York from 1464, to 14/6. It does
not appear why his coat of arms was put up at Waterstock m. James
Fenys, I suppose, was Lord Say and Seal, to whom the Danverses
were related. For William of Wykeham's daughter Margaret married
Sir William Fenys, (or Fiennes,) Lord Say and Seal. Edward Fenys,
Lord Say and Seal, married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Danvers, and
and his sister Elizabeth Fenys, married William Danvers. In the house
were likewise the arms of Knolles, Harrington, and others, I know not
how connected".

In 1621, he purchased Studley of his nephew, Sir John Croke of Chil-
ton, and, besides lands in Chilton, given in exchange, he paid the sum of
c£l800 in money for it. I find receipts, which have been preserved, for
the sum of £2420, before paid in 1600, to his brother Sir John Croke, the

1 Chandler's Life of William Waynflete, 1811, page 86, 252.

'" Godwin de Praesulibus, vol. ii. p. 275. who has recorded an account of the magni-
ficent dinner given at his installation.

n See post, the Genealogy of Barker from William of Wykeham, No. 42. See the ac-
count of the coats of arms in the church and mansion house at Waterstock, as they were
in the year 1660, from Hutton's Collections for Oxfordshire. Rawlinson's MSS. Bibl. Bod.
No. 397. fol. 343. in the Appendix, No. XXXI. and the arms in the church rudely tricked
by Wood. Wood's MSS. Ashm. Mus. No. 8548. f. 52. As they had survived destruction
in the Rebellion, what became of those in the church? Those in the house, 1 suppose, were
destroyed when it was taken down. In an heraldic visitation I find, Edwardus Cave de
Waterstoke, Ar. filins tertius Thomae Cave, milit. Duxit in uxorem Elizabetham filiam
Johannis Conway de Arrowe in com. Warw. mil. et habuit exitum Fulconem. Harl. MSS.
No. 5868, and Lee's visitation of Oxfordshire, in 1574, page 33. Anthony Wood's MSS.
No. 8474, 12.

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ch, vi. s-ec.i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 565

Judge, said to have been for lands bought at Studley, and for a further
sum of ,£1200 in 1621, to his nephew, " due as by agreement0."

The exact time of his marriage has not been stated. His lady was
Mary, the second daughter of Sir Thomas Bennet, by his wife, who was
named likewise Mary, and was the daughter of Robert Taylor, Esquire,
Sheriff of London, in the thirty-fourth year of Queen Elizabeth. Sir
Thomas Bennet was the third son of Thomas Bennet, Esquire, of Clopcot
near Wallingford in Berkshire, was Sheriff of London in the year 1594,
and Lord Mayor in the first year of King James the First ; by whom he
was knighted. And he was brother to Richard Bennet, the ancestor of
the Earl of Arlington, in the reign of Charles the Second, and of the pre-
sent Earl of Tankerville. Lady Croke's elder sister Anne, married
William Duncombe, of Brickhill in Buckinghamshire, Esquire. Simon,
her eldest brother, was seated at Beechampton in Buckinghamshire,
married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Arthur Ingram, and was created
a Baronet in 1627- Richard, her second brother, was an eminent
merchant in London, and the grandfather to three heiresses, who became the
wives of Lord Latimer, John Bennet, Esquire, and James Cecil, Earl of
Salisbury. His widow Elizabeth, daughter of William Cradock, Esquire,
afterwards married Sir Heneage Finch"1.

Upon the 11th of February, 1624, the twenty-second year of James,
he was created one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, then more
usually called the Common Bench, in the place of Sir Humphrey Winch •».
In Hilary term, 1627, with the rest of the Judges, he subscribed some
orders to be observed in the houses of the Courts of Law : as he did after-
wards, in 1630, for the government of the Inns of Court and Chancery'.

After the death of Sir John Dodridge, in 1628, the fourth year of King
Charles, there being then five Judges in the Common Pleas, the King,
intending to reduce them to their usual number, upon the 23d of Sep-
tember, having had communication with the Lord Keeper Coventry,
nominated Sir George Croke to be one of the Justices of the King's

0 Penes me.

p Collins's Peerage, vol. iii. page 364. edition 1756. By an error he calls her Margaret,
instead of Mary. See the Genealogy of Bennet, from Collins, and Brown Willis's MSS.
vol. 19. No. 30.

' Cro. Jac. page 699. r Dugd. Orig. Jurid. p. 321.

566 SIR GEORGE CROKE. bookiv.

Bench, and signed a warrant the same day for his patent ; and another
warrant, reciting his first patent of Justice of the Common Pleas, and
determining his pleasure concerning that place, saving all wages and sums
due. The patent of Justice of the King's Bench was dated and sealed
upon the 9th day of October, the patent of revocation of his former appoint-
ment upon the 10th ; and both were delivered to him upon the 1 1th, when
he was sworn in\

Upon this occasion a question was raised respecting his precedency.
Previously to this removal, he had three puisnes, or juniors, upon the
Bench ; one in the Common Pleas, and two of the Barons in the Exche-
quer ; and there was no clause in his patent, saving his superiority, pre-
cedency, and antiquity, as had been the case in the second patent of
Justice Nichols. It was doubted therefore, whether his appointment to
the King's Bench was not to be considered as a new appointment, which
would bring him in as puisne to all the Judges, whose rank is determined
according to the date of their patents. But all the Judges, assembled at
the Lord Keeper's house, agreed, " That he needed not such a saving.
" For his patent continued untill the time he was Judge of the King's
" Bench, and he never ceased to be a Judge, but was translated only."
And they conceived that " the patent of revocation of his place as Justice
" in the Common Pleas was needless ; because, by making him Justice in
" the King's Bench, his former patent was in law determined, according
" to the case in Dyer, 5 Mar. 159, yet for better security, there was one
" made, according to the president of Justice Jones his patent, when he
" was removed out of the Common Pleas to be Judge in the King's
" Bench1."

Towards the conclusion of Sir George Croke's life, in the disputes
between the King and the Parliament, the kingdom had arrived at one of
the most important crisises in which any country was ever involved. Each
party pretended to found its claims upon law and right ; and it must be
admitted, that, at the commencement of the contest, they were both on the
side of the Parliament. For it was indisputably the object of the King,
however excellent his private character, to render his power despotic, and
independent of his Parliament : whilst it was, at least, the ostensible

* Cro. Car. p. 127- ' Ibid.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 56?

purpose of the Parliament, to maintain the ancient free constitution of the
country.

But the state of the question was soon changed. Charles had complied
with every reasonable demand, and had surrendered every offensive part of
his prerogative. This period may be fixed, at the time when he gave his
assent to the bills for the abolition of the High Commission Court, and
the Star Chamber. The subject had then obtained the confirmation of
every right, which was essential to his freedom. The Crown was left in
possession of all the prerogatives, which were absolutely necessary to the
executive power, and of no others. And the constitution was settled,
nearly according to its present form ; which is justly considered as a
model of political wisdom.

From this time it became evident, that no concessions on the part of the
Crown were sufficient to satisfy the Parliamentary leaders, and that they
had a settled design to overturn the established laws and constitution, to
abolish the monarchy, and to establish a republic in its place. They
began by depriving the King of the command of the militia, and were pro-
ceeding to strip him of every part of his just authority. Farther submis-
sion would have been to betray the sacred trust, with which he was
invested; and he was compelled to make a stand in his own defence, and
that of the lawful constitution of his country. A civil war was the con-
sequence: which ended in the King's defeat, the triumph of his adversaries,
and the erection of a commonwealth. The struggles for power between
different factions, the inevitable concomitant of that unstable form of po-
licy, ended in a military government, and the tyranny of Cromwell. The
people, at length, having experienced the inadequacy of all the projected
schemes of government to promote their happiness, and sensible that they
had only been the dupes of crafty and ambitious men, were glad to retrace
their steps, and to return to the old legitimate limited monarchy.

Such is the short history of this contest. It was the fortune of Sir
George Croke to live in the earliest part of it only ; when the Crown was
assuming very unjustifiable powers. To establish, and rivet them upon
the people, the Courts of Justice were used as the principal instruments ;
and no means were left unattempted, by threats, persuasion, and promises,
to render them subservient to the views of the court. The virtuous Sir Ed-
ward Coke, and several others, had been removed for want of sufficient

.568 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

servility. The place of Chief Justice was occupied by Finch, a man
whose talents were employed only to gratify his ambition: and most of the
other Judges were awed, or cajoled into submission. Wherever the Crown
was interested, the decisions were uniformly in its favour; and these par-
tial judgments were amongst the principal causes of the subsequent ca-
lamities.

In these unjustifiable proceedings Sir George Croke did not concur;
and unterrified by the menaces, and uninfluenced by the fascinations
of power, upon every occasion, followed the dictates of his own con-
science, and gave his opinion in favour of the rights of the people. Al-
though he was but little supported, and his opinions were generally over-
ruled by the majority of the Judges, yet they had great influence upon the
public mind, and contributed not a little to those measures by which the
liberties of the country were finally established. To appreciate properly
the merit and the utility of his conduct, it will be necessary to shew how
much those liberties were indangered by the attempts of the Crown.

Of the three absolute rights of man, which civil society was instituted to
protect, that of personal security, indeed, in the enjoyment of life and
limb, could not well have been violated in a civilized country, or by any
but a most lawless and savage despot; but powers which were totally sub-
versive of the other two rights, persona/ liberty, and the right of pro-
pert if, were claimed and exercised by this unfortunate monarch. Nor was
any thing further wanting to establish a perfect despotism, than his suc-
ceeding in these attempts; for a sovereign who can imprison or tax his
subjects, without control, has the unlimited command over a nation.
Upon these two essential points the country found an able supporter in
Sir George Croke.

First. Personal Liberty, by which no man can be imprisoned un-
less by due course of law, is essential to a free state. In every country
where the magistrate or the sovereign is invested with the power of arbi-
trary imprisonment the subject is completely inslaved, and holds every other
right by a precarious tenure.

I shall say nothing of the High Commission Court, or the Star Cham-
ber; because, however inconsistent with liberty, they were certainly esta-
blished by the law of the land, till they were abolished by Act of Par-
liament. But the most objectionable and illegal power assumed by the

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 569

King, was that of imprisonment by a warrant from the Privy Council,
without bail, and for a great length of time, without the parties being
brought to trial. Such imprisonments had frequently taken place in the
last and former reigns. Charles continued to exercise a power which he
believed to be lawful, and he exerted it, with little scruple, upon every oc-
casion, where the public or even the private, conduct of individuals, had
unfortunately incurred his displeasure. In 1626, Sir Dudley Diggs, and
Sir John Elliot, were committed to the Tower, for exercising a truly le-
gitimate right, in being managers for the Commons in the impeachment of
the Duke of Buckingham. They were however soon released". The
Earl of Arundel was committed for having married his son to the Duke of
Lenox's sister ; but he was released upon the application of the House of
Peers". Of those who refused to lend the King the sums required by the
Commissioners of loans, some were sent on board ships to serve as man-
ners, others were pressed as soldiers ; Sir Peter Hayman was dispatched
upon an errand to the Palatinate; and many others were imprisoned in
close confinement, in common jails, and out of their own counties. Just
before the meeting of the Parliament, in 1627, they were all discharged y.
Many were imprisoned without any cause shewn, and when it was certi-
fied, upon their being brought up by habeas corpus, that they were com-
mitted by his Majesty's command, they were returned back to prison2.

These harsh measures occasioned the interference of Parliament, and
the celebrated Act, called the Petition of Right, was the consequence; by
which it was enacted, that no freeman should be imprisoned, unless by the
lawful judgment of his Peers, or the law of the land3. But this law, con-
clusive as it seemed, proved no security to the subject, and arbitrary im-
prisonments by the Privy Council again took place. Even the writ of
habeas corpus, which the law had provided as a remedy in cases of false
imprisonment, was evaded, by removing the persons committed from prison
to prison, and other artful means \

These unjustifiable proceedings were opposed by Sir George Croke.
Upon every motion for an habeas corpus, or for a discharge from custody,
where the party was legally intitled to it, he always gave his decided opi-

' Whitelocke, p. 6. » Ibid. » Ibid. p. 8. z Ibid. » 3 Car. I. « White-

locke, page 13.

4 D

570 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

nion that it should be granted: though his vote was often rendered nuga-
tory by the number of the other Judges.

Thus in the case of Atkinson in 1629, who had been committed by the
Lord Chamberlain, for suing a servant of the King, without his leave, had
been once delivered by an habeas corpus, and was again committed by
the Lord Chamberlain; Sir George Croke, with Jones, and Whitelocke, in
opposition to Hyde, the Chief Justice, granted a new habeas corpus c.

But the principal case was that of the celebrated Selden, who, with
Hollis, Hobert, Elliot, Hey man, Coriton, Long, Stroud, and Valentine,
were committed for their language and proceedings in Parliament ; which
the King, in his speech upon the dissolution of it, was pleased to call " the
" seditious conduct of some vipers.''' A particular statement of this case
will shew the oppressive nature of this power which was assumed by the
Crown, and the vexatious manner in which it was exercised.

The first warrant of the Privy Council, under which they were com-
mitted to prison, was dated the 2d day of April, 1629, and stated no
cause, but only His Majesty's pleasure and commandment. A month
afterwards, on the 7th of May, a second warrant issued for their detention,
" for notable contempts committed against the King and government, and
'"for stirring up sedition." They applied for writs of habeas corpus, but
upon the day when they were to have been brought up to hear the opinion
of the court upon them, the prisoners did not appear, and therefore could
receive no benefit from the writs. This was a manoeuvre on the part of
the King, who had removed some of them from the prisons in which they
were before, and to the keepers of which the writs had been directed, and
had committed them to the Tower. A letter was sent from the King to
the Judges, dated the 27th of July, 1629, to inform the court of the reason
why he had not suffered them to appear, " that they had carried them-
" selves insolently and unmanneredly towards the King and the Judges,
" and therefore he did not think their presence necessary, until their
" temper aud discretion should be such as to deserve it." Selden and
Valentine were however permitted to appear the next day. Three hours
after, came another letter from the King, to inform the Judges, that " upon

" Whitelocke, page 13. b.

ch.vi. sect. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 571

" more solemn deliberation, Selden and Valentine were not to be brought
" up, but that all should receive the same treatment.'"' He recommended
likewise that the opinions of all the other Judges should be taken. From
this intended delay, the court could give no opinion upon the writs of ha-
beas corpus, and the parties continued in prison the whole of the
long vacation. Towards the end of the vacation the King sent for
the Chief Justice, and Judge Whitlock, and told them " that he was
" contented they should be bailed, if they would express their sor-
" row for the King's being offended with them.'''' In Michaelmas Term
the prisoners were brought up, and informed that the court was
willing to discharge them upon giving bail, and also finding sureties for
their good behaviour. In prescribing these conditions, Sir George Croke
did not concur with the other Judges, and was of opinion that they were
intitled to be bailed absolutely; but his opinion was overruled by the rest.
The prisoners considered these conditions as illegal, since sureties for good
behaviour were never required but from persons held to have been guilty
of some heinous, or at least infamous crime, and it was an implication that
they were guilty of the matters objected. Upon their refusal to find such
sureties, they were therefore remanded to close custody in the Tower, and
the Chief Justice informed them at the same time, that perhaps the court
would not afterwards grunt an habeas corpus. A denial of justice, which
was considered, by all the eminent lawyers present, as a monstrous perver-
sion of the law, but which was adhered to by the court: for upon a sub-
sequent application of Mr. Littleton for another habeas corpus, for the
question to be again argued, the Judges refused, and said, that unless Sel-
den would certify under his hand that he would enter into such a security,
they "would no more grant an habeas corpus*.

Proceedings were commenced against them in the Star Chamber, but
they were dropped. Sir John Elliot, Hollis, and Valentine, were prose-
cuted in the Court of King's Bench, and were fined and imprisoned by
the sentence of the court". But Selden was not proceeded against, and
was detained in prison upon the original grounds, of not putting in sure-
ties for his good behaviourf. In the end of November, by a warrant from
the Privy Council, his close confinement was relaxed, and he was permitted

J State Trials, vol. vii. p. 29, &c. Rushworth, Whitelock. e Ibid. f Selden 's

Vindicias Maris Clausi, p. 1433. a. 1428. b.

4 D 2

572 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

some liberty within the walls of the Tower, and to see his friends. Soon
after he procured himself by an habeas corpus to be removed to the Mar-
shalsea prison, from thence, in May, 1630, to the Gate-House, in West-
minster, from whence he was again remanded to the Marshalsea. During
this time, many applications were made, at different intervals, to procure
his liberty by habeas corpus, but all in vain; till at length, in May, 1631,
by the interest of the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, he was dis-
charged, upon giving hail for his appearance only. After making his ap-
pearance in the Court of King's Bench from term to term, according to
the tenor of his bailment, in January, 1634, upon his petition to the King,
he was absolutely discharged^-'.

Thus was a member of Parliament, one of the first characters in the
kingdom for learning, talents, and respectability, by a mere mandate of the
Privy Council, illegally kept in custody, without being convicted of any
crime, or brought to trial, for the space of six years; of which, for near
nine months, he was in close confinement; for above two years more, in
prison, with more or less indulgence; and for the rest of the time in the
legal custody of his bail. Nor was this a mere nominal imprisonment,
within the rules of a court, but during part of the time close and severe.
During the nine months he was in the Tower, his friends were denied all
access to him, and he was prohibited for three months from the use of
books, paper, pens, and ink. At length leave was obtained from the Privy
Council that he might have the use of certain books, of which he gave a
catalogue1'. Nineteen sheets of writing paper were allowed him, marked
each by the Lieutenant of the Tower, of which, and of whatever he might
write upon them, a regular account was required to be given1.

These oppressions, in violation of the Petition of Right, engaged the
attention of Parliament in the year 1640, and produced the celebrated ha-
beas corpus act, a noble remedy, and which was finally completed by sub-
sequent statutes. In the debates upon that Bill, the indignation of the
House of Commons was justly excited by these cases. It was resolved,
that " there was a delay of justice towards Mr. Selden, Ho His, and the
" rest, in that they were not bailed upon the writs of habeas corpus."

e Vindicia?. That is 16.35. b They were the Bible, both the Tahnuds, some modern

books of Talmudical learning, and Lucian. ' Selden's Vindicia?.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 573

" That Sir George Croke, then one of the Judges of the King's Bench,
" was not guilty of this delay, and that Mr. Seiden, Hollis, and the
" others, should have reparation for their respective damages and suffer-
" ings against the Lords of the Council, and the Judges of the King's
" Bench;" and the sums of c£o000 each were awarded to most of themk.
Hyde, Jones, and Whitelocke, were named as the guilty persons, but
Whitelocke's son, afterwards Ambassador in Sweden, having assured the
House, that his opinion and carriage in the case of habeas corpus were well
known to have been the same with that of Judge Croke, which was con-
firmed by Hambden and others, he was considered by the House in the
same degree with that Judge, as to their censure and proceedings1.

2. The other most important right is that of property; which was
likewise invaded. If the King could take the money of his subjects
without their consent in parliament, property was no longer secure ; parlia-
ments, being no longer necessary, would be laid aside, and the Sovereign
would be despotic. The various attempts to establish this power in the
Crown which had been made in the early part of Charles's reign, had
been strenuously resisted, and, as it was conceived, the claim itself had
been finally annulled by the Petition of Right. But this statute was soon
evaded, and still farther efforts were made to render the King independent
of his parliaments. This was done by the writs, which issued by the King's
sole authority, to tax all the counties in England for the ostensible purpose
of finding ships, and furnishing them with men and provisions.

The general occasion of raising this tax was not fictitious. The other
powers of Europe were in arms. The coasts were actually much infested
by pirates, to the great prejudice of commerce. That the narrow seas
were not guarded was one of the grievances complained of by the House
of Commons, in 1625. That pirates infested the coasts, that trade had

k Journals of the House of Commons, July 6 and 8, 1641. Selden's opposition was
merely on account of what he considered as the illegality of the King's proceedings, not
any enmity to the monarchy itself. At a subsequent period, upon the intended removal of
the Lord Keeper Littleton, the King proposed to deliver the seals to Seiden, whose affection
to him was not doubted. They were not howe*er offered to him, because it was thought
he would refuse them, on account of his age and dislike of business. Clarendon, vol. i.
part ii. page 770. ed. 181£).

1 Whitelocke's Memorials, page 37.

574 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

decayed, and the national honour suffered, was a charge against the Duke
of Buckingham. The Dutch had become masters of the sea ; and the
disputes relating to the fisheries had given occasion to the celebrated con-
troversy between Grotius and Selden, respecting the freedom of the seasm.
It had become necessary to support the honour of the kingdom by a more
powerful fleet. Nor was there afterwards any suggestion that the money
which was raised had been embezzled, or misapplied. In the summer of
1635, by the help of this tax, a powerful navy of sixty ships had protected
the narrow seas, and the trade of the country; the Dutch fishing boats,
which had encroached upon the British territories, were repressed, and
they had been compelled to pay thirty thousand pounds for a licence to
fish in those waters. But if the right of levying this tax had been once
established, there was no security as to the future application of the money
raised ; and it would have afforded an unlimited fund for any purpose to
which the King might think proper to apply it".

At first, in 1634, writs had been directed to the Cinque Ports, and
other maritime places only, to prepare a certain number of ships : which
was not much objected to, or opposed. But the next year, 1635,
the King, intending to increase the navy still more, issued new writs,
directed not only to the maritime places, but to every county in England.
It was a favourite measure with the King, and to ensure its success, the
Lord Keeper Coventry, by his Majesty's command, in his usual address
to the Judges, before their departure to hold the Assizes, on June 17th,
1635, required them to take every occasion in their charges, and otherwise
" to let the people know how careful his Majesty was to preserve his
'•'• honour, and the honour of the kingdom, and the dominion of the sea,
" and to secure both land and sea by a powerful fleet, that foreign nations
" might see that England was both able and ready to keep itself, and all
" its rights." And the Judges were to let them know, " how just it was
" that his Majesty should require this supply for the common defence,
" and with what alacrity and chea? fulness they ought, and were bound
" in duty, to contribute to it." In December of the same year the King
privately took the opinion of the Judges upon the general question.

For the most part, the tax was submitted to and paid ; and, in parti-

'" Whitelocke, p. 22, 3, and 6. " Clarendon, i. p. 121.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 575

cular, the sum of twelve thousand pounds, which had been assessed upon
the county of York. But many, as Whitelocke observes, were not con-
vinced by the Judges of its legality, great discontent was expressed, and
actions were brought against the officers employed in the execution of the
writs0. Upon this opposition, the King required the more solemn opinion
of the twelve Judges, upon a case stated in a letter addressed to them on
the second of February, 1636. Every exertion was made by Lord Chief
Justice Finch to obtain an answer favourable to the Crown. By great
solicitation, promises of preferment, and even threats, he at length pro-
cured the following opinion p.

May it please your most excellent Majesty,
We have according to your Majesty's command, every man by himself,
and all of us together, taken into consideration the case and question,
signed by your Majesty, and inclosed in your royal letter ; And we are
of opinion, that when the good and safety of the kingdom in general is
concerned, and the whole kingdom in danger, your Majesty may by writ,
under the great seal of England, command all the subjects of this your
kingdom, at their charge, to provide and furnish such number of ships,
with men, munition, and victuals, and for such time as your Majesty
shall think ft, for the defence and safeguard of the kingdom from such
danger and peril: And that by law your Majesty may compel the doing
thereof in case of refusal or refractoriness : And we are also of opinion,
that in such case, your Majesty is the sole judge, both of the dangers,
and when, and how the same is to be prevented and avoided.

Jo. Brampston. Rich. Hutton. Geo. Vernon.

Jo. Finch. W. Jones. Fra. Crawley.

Humph. Davenport. Geo. Croke. Robt. Berkley.

Jo. Denham. Tho. Trevor. Fra. Weston.

This opinion was thus signed, the 7th of February, 1636, by all the
twelve Judges ; but, at the time, two of them, at least, Sir George Croke,
and Mr. Justice Hutton, dissented from it, and subscribed for conformity
only. It was published, and inrolled in all the courts of law.

0 Whitelocke, p. 24,. * Ibid. p. 23.

.576 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

Amongst those who had opposed these writs was John Hambden,
Esquire, a gentleman of family and fortune in Buckinghamshire. He
was proceeded against in the Exchequer, and the cause was tried, upon a
demurrer, before all the Judges, in the Exchequer Chamber.

By the writ it was commanded, that the county of Buckingham should
provide a ship of war of 450 tons, with 180 men, and all things necessary,
and should bring her to Portsmouth by the 1st of March, provided for six
and twenty weeks, for the defence of the kingdom, the guarding of the
sea, the security of the subjects, and the safe conduct of ships, the sea
being infested with pirates. To effect this, power was given to the Sheriff
to assess each person within the county according to his state and faculties,
and to enforce compliance by distress and imprisonment. The sum assessed
upon Hambden was twenty shillings, which he refused to pay, and the
legality of the charge was the question to be decided.

The whole nation regarded with the utmost anxiety the event of this
celebrated trial, one of the most important which ever came before a court
of justice. On the one side, the power and prerogative of the Crown
were at stake, and, on the part of the subjects, it involved their dearest
interests, their liberty, persons, and estates. It was argued, on the behalf
of Mr Hambden, by St. John, and Holborne, and for the Crown, by Sir
John Banks, the Attorney General, and Sir Edward Littleton, the Soli-
citor General ; and afterwards by the twelve Judges. The cause was
conducted with talents and exertions, equal to its importance. The argu-
ments were elaborate, learned, and powerful. Reason, history, and autho-
rities, were appealed to. Laws and statutes, from the remotest antiquity,
to the present times, precedents, Parliament rolls, records, and decisions of
courts, particularly of the Exchequer, to the number of upwards of three
hundred, were produced, on one side, or the other, at the bar or on the
bench.

After the counsel had concluded their arguments, which occupied twelve
days, the Judges separately delivered their opinions at length ; beginning
with the junior, according to the usual practice of the court. After five of
the Judges, Sir Francis Weston, Sir Francis Crawley, Sir Robert Berkley,
Sir George Vernon, and Sir Thomas Trevor, had delivered their opinions
in favour of the Crown, Sir George Croke, on the 14th of April, 1638,
contrary to expectation, gave his judgment for Hambden. His non-con-

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 577

currence in the opinion delivered to the King, to which his signature
appeared, had not been generally known. From the persuasions of the
King's friends ; from his unwillingness to differ from his brethren upon
the Bench ; and perhaps from his benevolent wishes, not to give occasion
to disturbances in the country, and to foment the divisions and the vehe-
ment party spirit, which now began to shew themselves, and of which he fore-
saw and feared the consequences ; he had resolved to deliver his opinion
for the King, and to that end had prepared his argument. Yet a few days
before he was to argue, upon discourse with some of his nearest relations,
and most serious thoughts of this business, he resolved not to tjive an opi-
nion which in his real judgment he could not approve. He was particu-
larly confirmed in this resolution by his lady, who was a very good and pious
woman, and told her husband upon this occasion, " that she hoped he
" would do nothing against his conscience, for fear of any danger, or
'■'■prejudice to him or his family ; and that she would be contented to
" suffer want, or any misery with him, rather than be an occasion for
" him to do or say any thing against his judgment, and conscience.''
A noble example of spirited and honourable conduct in a lady ! Upon
these and other encouragements, but chiefly upon his better thoughts, he
suddenly altered his purpose and arguments ; and when it came to his
turn, he argued and declared his opinion against the Kingi.

Before he proceeded to his argument, he obviated a difficulty, which had
been much pressed by the Solicitor General, That the case had been
resolved by the opinions of all the Judges under their own hands. He
admitted that he had set his hand to two opinions, of which the first in
December, 1635, being more general, he still maintained; but with respect
to the second opinion before stated, he confessed, " that he subscribed his
" hand, but he then dissented to that opinion, and then signified his opi-
" nion to be, that such a charge could not be laid by any such writ, but by
" parliament. But the greater part seeming absolutely to be resolved
•' upon that opinion, some of them affirming that they had seen diverse
•' records and precedents of such writs, satisfying them to be of that
" judgment, he was pressed to subscribe with them, for that the major
•' part must involve the rest, as it was said to be usual in cases of differ-

i Whitelocke's Memorials, page 24.
4 E

57S SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

" ence, and for that the lesser number must submit to the major, although
" they varied in opinion ; as it is in the courts, if three Judges agree in
" opinion against one, or two, where there are five Judges, judgment is
" to be entered per curiam. And in cases of conference and certificate of
k< their opinions, if the greater part did agree and subscribe, the rest were
" to submit their opinions. And this by more ancient Judges than
" myself was affirmed to be the continual practice. And that it was not
" fit, especially in a case of this nature, so much concerning the service of
" the King, for some to subscribe, and some to forbear their subscriptions.
" And that although we did subscribe, it did not bind us, but that in point
" of judgment, if the case came in question judicially before us, we
" should give our judgments as we should see cause after the arguments
" on both sides.

" Hereupon I consented to subscribe, with such protestations, only fur
" conformity. But this being before arguments heard on both sides, or
" any precedents seen, I hold that none is bound by that opinion. And
" if I had been of that opinion absolutely, now having heard all the argu-
" ments of both sides, and the reasons of the King's counsel to maintain
" this writ, and the arguments of the defendant's counsel against it, and
" having duly considered the records and precedents, cited and shewed to
" me, especially those of the King's side, I am now of an absolute opinion
" that this writ is illegal, and declare my opinion to be contrary to that
" which was subscribed by us all. And if I had been of that opinion.
" yet, upon better advisement, being absolutely settled in my judgment,
" and conscience, in a contrary opinion, I think it no shame to declare
" that I do retract that opinion, for humanum est errare, rather than to
" argue against my own conscience."

After this manly avowal of his conduct and sentiments, he proceeded
with his argument. He stated six points. First, that the command to
make ships at the charge of the inhabitants of the country, not being by
authority of Parliament, was illegal, and contrary to the common law.
Secondly, that it was expressly contrary to diverse statutes. Thirdly.
that it was not to be maintained by any prerogative royal, nor allegation
of necessity or danger. Fourthly, that, admitting it were legal to lay
such charge upon maritime ports, yet to charge an inland county is illegal,
and not warranted by any former precedent. Fifthly, I shall examine

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 579

the precedents and records, cited to warrant the writ. And, sixthly,
I shall examine this particular writ, and do conceive it is illegal, and not
sufficient to ground this charge.

The first point he proved, by shewing, that this was the first writ
since the Conquest, which went to any inland county to that effect, and
therefore that it was against the common law. That the common law of
England settleth a freedom in the subjects in respect of their persons, and
giveth them a true property in their goods and estates, so that without their
consent, either actual, or implicite, by a common ordinance which they con.
sented unto by a common assent in Parliament, it cannot be taken from them,
nor their estates charged ; and for this purpose the law distinguished be-
tween bondmen, whose estates are at their Lord's freewill and disposition ;
and freemen, whose property none may invade, charge, or unjustly take
away, but by their own free consent ; and this constitutional doctrine he
proved by numerous authorities. That if it were allowed, no man would
know what his charge may be, for they may be charged as often as the
King pleases, and with making as many ships as should be appointed.
And, besides, it is left in the power of the Sheriff, to charge any man's
estate at his pleasure.

Secondly. If the common law were doubtful, it is made clear by
diverse express statutes, which he stated ; from that of the twenty-fifth
year of Edward the First, by which it was enacted, that " no aids, taxes,
" or prizes, should be taken, but by the common assent of the realm," to
the Petition of Right passed in the third year of the King. Amongst
which, the Act of the twenty-first of Henry the Fourth, was shewn to be
directly to the very point, stating, that " of late commissions had been
" made to cities and boroughs, to make barges and barringers, without
" assent of Parliament, and therefore declaring them void."

Thirdly. And whereas the arguments had been, that the kingdom
being in danger, there could not so suddenly any Parliament be called,
and the kingdom might be lost : the writ so mentioning, and that being
recordum superlutivum. To all these he answered, amongst other things,
that the suggestions of danger in the writ were not absolute, or sufficient.
And if they were, that we are not always bound absolutely to believe
them : because many times untrue suggestions are put into writs and
patents, which may be traversed. Yet the law doth not impute any un-
4 e 2

580 SIR GEORGE CROKE. hook iv.

truth to the King, out thai he is abused therein, and attributeth the false-
hood to those who misinformed him.

It the danger were real, yet a charge must not be laid upon the subjects
without their consenl in Parliament; for either it is near, and then presi nl
provision must be made by men's persons, and the present ships of th<
kingdom which the King may command; but he cannot command money
out of null's purses, lint, if the dan;." r !>'• further off, the King may call
his sages together tor such defence. And here, if then- be time to mak<
ships al the charge of the counties, there is time enough to '-all a Parlia-
m< nt. And Beven months an- allowed by tin- writ to prepare the ships.

Where it has been urged, that this writ is warranted by the Kind's pre-
rogative, to this I answer, that I do not conceive there is any such prero-
gative, lor if it wen-, I should not speak againsl it, for it is part of oui
oaths to maintain the- prerogative. But if it is against the common law
and thi tatutes, then there is no such prerogative-, for the King can do
nothing contrary to the law. Nihil aliud potest Rea in terris tjuum de
jure potest. And whatevi r is done to the hurt or wrong of the subji Cts,
and againsl the laws of the land, the law accounteth, that it is not done by
the King, hut by some untrue and unjust informations, and is there-
fore void. And Hit be illegal to impose such a charge, it is not to be con-
sidered as a matter of royal power, hut as a matter done upon a false sug-
gestion, to l)i- imputed not to the King, hut to those who advised him.

The royal power, indeed, is to Ix- used, in cases of necessity, and iinun-
nenl danger, when ordinary courses will not avail; as in eases of rebellion,
sudden invasion, and the hk<-. But in a time of peace, and no extreme
necessity, legal courses must he used, and not royal power, lint there
can he no such necessity or danger conceived, that may cause these writs
to he awarded. For the laws have provided means for defence in times of
danger, without taking this course, for the King hath power to command
all persons to attend with arms, at the sea coast, to defend the kingdom,
and also to make stay or arrest of the ships of merchants, to go with his
navy, to any part of the kingdom for defence thereof. And this was
always conceived to he sufficient. This course he shewed had been always
taken, and no other was resorted to, even in the case of the threatened
invasion by the Spanish Armada.

FOURTHLY. If it were legal to lay such charge upon maritime ports,

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. .581

yet, to charge an inland county with making ships, where there are no
shipwrights, masters, or mariners, and is utterly unconversant with sea
affairs, is not legal, for it commandeth an unreasonable and impossible
thing to be done, which is contrary to law. For lex non cogit ad impos-
.sibilia.

But the fifth and great point, and indeed the chief argument in favour
of the Crown, was a multitude of records and precedents, which had been
cited to warrant the writ, and to shew, that the King had done nothing
but what his progenitors have done

1 confess this allegation much troubled me, when I heard these records
cited, and so learnedly and so earnestly pressed to be so clear, that they
could not be gainsayed. Hut having perused them, and satisfied my
judgment therein, I now answer, that if there were any such precedent,
(as I shall shew there was not one,) to prove this writ to be usual, yet it
were not material, for now we are not to argue what has been done de
facto, for many things have been done, which were never allowed ; but
our question is, what hath been done, and may be done, de jure; and then
as it is said in Coke, multitude) errantium non purit errori patro-
cinium. Multitudes of precedents, unless they be confirmed by judicial
proceedings in courts of record, are not to be regarded ; and none of these
were ever confirmed by judicial record, but complained of.

But to give a more clear answer unto them. Upon serious reading of
all the records which have been sent me on the King's part, I conceive
that there is not any precedent or record of any such writ.

It is true, that before the twenty-fifth year of Edward the First, there have
been some writs to maritime towns, to provide and prepare ships upon just
cause of fear of any danger, sometimes at the King's charge, but some-
times at the charge of the towns, which occasioned the complaint in Parlia-
ment, in the twenty-fifth of Edward, and the making of that statute; and
there is no record of that reign since, to maritime towns, to prepare ships
at their own charge.

In the time of Edward the Third, indeed, writs were again awarded to
maritime towns, to send ships at their own charge, which were the
principal cause of the statute 14 Ed. III. c. 1. After that statute, no
such writs or commissions issued, but one, but that is fully satisfied, for it

.582 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

was grounded upon an ordinance of Parliament, in the first year of
Richard the Second.

After this general answer, he took a view of all the records which had
been cited, near ninety in number, and shewed that none of them proved
these writs to be legal ; that they were only for arrays of men with arms,
and for collecting ships in the ports and maritime places ; and none of
these at their own expence, since the statute of the fourteenth year of
Edward the Third, and none to make or prepare ships at the charges of
the counties, upon any occasion whatever.

Having discussed the principal question, he proceeded in the sixth
place to examine the writ itself, which he proved not to be legally issued,
or warranted by any former precedent.

That the motives mentioned in it were not alledged as certain, and were
besides not sufficient. That all former precedents for providing ships had
alledged, that great navies had been armed by foreign princes to invade the
kingdom : but to make such preparations against pirates was never heard
of, but the course had been, for the Admiral to secure the coast with a few
ships. That the command of the writ to inland counties to find a ship,
which is impossible, and to find provisions for the men out of their own
county, is contrary to law. That the command to the Sheriff to assess
men at his own discretion, is not legal. That the power of imprisonment
is illegal, being contrary to Magna C/iarta, and other statutes. That other
parts of the writ could not be performed. That it was not certified, so long
after the writ had issued, that a ship had been provided, and therefore that
there is no cause to charge the defendant.

Lastly, he objected to the mode of proceeding, and that the writs of
Certiorari and Scire facias were irregular, and not good.

He concluded therefore, upon the whole matter, that no judgment
could be given to charge the defendant.

I have omitted many lesser arguments, particularly those of a mere legal
nature, and I have only given the heads of the principal, as every posi-
tion was proved at great length, by quotations and authorities. To every
impartial mind, it must have carried complete conviction, and I will venture
to say, that a more learned, masterly, luminous, or dignified argument,
was never delivered in a Court of Justice.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 583

He was followed, in favour of Hambden, by Sir Richard Hutton, and
Sir Humphrey Davenport, the Lord Chief Baron, and by Sir John Den-
ham, without any argument, as he was not able to attend.

An elaborate answer to Sir George Croke, and the other arguments in
favour of Hambden, was given by Sir John Finch, the Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas, abounding with much ingenious sophistry, and which
rather served to make more manifest the weakness of the King's cause,
than to support it. The principal foundation of his reasoning was the
supposition of a case of danger to the kingdom, of the sufficiency of the
King's writ to prove it, the necessity that he should provide against it, and
the consequential power of calling for the assistance of all his subjects for
defence. It was alledged, that the power of imposing this charge must
be solely vested in the King : for since the laws had intrusted him with
the power of defending the kingdom, it must necessarily have given him
the means of executing his trust. With regard to the precedents produced,
it was denied that they were irrelevant, and if they were not directly in
point as to the very mode, they were in point as to the principle, namely,
that the King had called upon his subjects for their services in time of
danger. That no distinction could be made between the sea and the land,
for that the sea was the King's as well as the land, and he might com-
mand the services of his subjects on the one, as well as the other.

The statutes against the power of raising talliage, aids, and other taxes,
were evaded by nice distinctions, and it was said that they must be under-
stood only of unjust exactions, and such as were levied for the King's own
emolument, and not of a revenue raised for the good of the country, and
for necessary defence. And, still farther, this necessary power for the de-
fence of the kingdom was said to be one of the high prerogatives of the
King, and that though Acts of Parliament might " take away the flowers
" and ornaments of the Crown, they could not take away the Crown it-
" self, they could not bar a King of his regality, and therefore Acts to take
" away his royal power in the defence of the kingdom, or to bind him not
" to command his subjects, their persons, and goods, and, I say, said the
" Chief Justice, their money too, are void."

It was said that the writ does not command an assessment, but ships to
be provided ; that the assessment was not absolutely necessary, and there-
fore that it was not a talliage, but a service. Yet, with the inconsistency

.584 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book vi.

natural to those who argue against the truth, when pressed with the rea-
soning of the impossibility of finding a ship in an inland county, he ob-
served, that it was to be performed by the money raised. In answer to
the objection, that by law no man could be compelled to go out of his
county, it was stated, that the sea and land made but one entire kingdom,
and therefore that going to sea was not going out of the realm ; that the
question before the court was not on an imprisonment, but on an assessment,
and that if the writ was illegal in form and circumstances, yet that would
not make the command illegal for substance.

Notwithstanding the able arguments in his favour, judgment was given
against Hambden, but a great part of the nation was satisfied that the de-
cision was contrary to law, and the Judges were loaded with reproach and
infamy, for prostituting the dignity of a court of law to the favour of a
prince'. The argument of Sir George Croke, from his known learning,
independence, and integrity, had great weight with the country, which
was justly alarmed at this subversion of its best rights; and the proceed-
ings in this case were one of the principal causes of the subsequent cala-
mities.

In the Parliament of 1640, it was unanimously voted by the two Houses,
that " ship-money, the extra judicial opinion of the Judges, the writ it-
" self, and the judgment against Mr. Hambden, were against the laws
" of the realm, the right of property, and the liberty of the subjects;
" contrary to former resolutions in Parliament, and to the petition of
" right. And were so declared by an Act of Parliament. iGth Car.
" cap. 14." The records of that judgment, and the opinion of the Judges,
were ordered to be brought into the Upper House by the Chancellor, and
chief Judges, to be vacated and cancelled.

The next day a committee was appointed to draw up a charge of treason
against such as had been abetters therein, Finch, who was now the Lord
Keeper, and the rest of the Judges'. Finch appeared upon his impeach-
ment, and made a very submissive speech in the House of Commons, yet
he was voted a traitor, amongst other charges, for " soliciting, persuading,
•■ and threatening the Judges to deliver their opinions tor the levying of ship-
" money," but he made his escape into Holland'. Sir Robert Berkley

' Clarendon, i. page 122. See his strong censure of the Judges. * Whitelucke,

p. 37. ' Ibid. p. 38.

CH. VI. SEC. I.

SIR GEORGE CROKE.

was afterwards impeached of high treason, and the Usher of the Black
Rod was sent to the Court of King's Bench, when the Judges were sit-
ting, and took Judge Berkley from off the Bench, and carried him away
to prison. He redeemed himself, by supplying the Parliament with ten
thousand pounds". Subsequently another charge was brought in by the
Commons against five of the other Judges, Brampton, Trevor, Weston,
Davenport, and Crawley, for their opinions in favour of ship-money x.

The situation of a Judge is an unthankful office. The party who gains
his cause thinks that he has only obtained his own, and feels no gratitude
for the justice of a decision in his favour; but the losing party usually con-
siders himself as aggrieved, and too frequently harbours resentment against
those who have decided against him. Even the high character of Sir
George Croke was not sufficient to shield him from the malice of disap-
pointed suitors. In the year 1640, an attack was made upon hiin by a
Mr. John Cusacke, a man of good family in Ireland, and great nephew
and heir to Sir Thomas Cusacke, sometime Lord Chancellor of that
country y. He was an attorney, and had written some pieces in support
of the royal prerogative. He came over to England for the recovery by
law of some property belonging to his uncle, in which he seems not to
have been successful. Whether in the prosecution of these claims Sir
George Croke had given a decision against him in the court in which he
presided2, or for what other cause, does not appear, he certainly en-
tertained much resentment against him, which he endeavoured to gratify in
the form of law. As a Solicitor in the Star Chamber, he procured a sub-
poena to be sued forth in that court, at the suit of two persons named,
Wingfield Honnings and Leonard Henricke, but without their authority
or knowledge, against Sir George Croke, Knight, without giving him any
other title, and caused it to be served upon him by a common porter. In
further prosecution of his wicked design, he had prepared a bill to be pre-
ferred against him, charging him with giving an unjust judgment in the
Court of Chancery, against Honnings and Henricke. Upon an informa-

u Whitelocke, p. 391. * Ibid. p. 45. ' Sir Thomas Cusacke was made Chan-

cellor of Ireland, 4th of August, 1550. He was of Cussington and Lismullen, in the county
ofMeath. Archdall's Irish Peerage, vol v. p. 38. % See Cusacke's case, Car. 12S.

Qu. whether the same? 4 Car. I.

4 F

.586 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

tion filed in the Star Chamber against him, by Sir Ralph Whitfield, the
King's Serjeant, the Court decided, on the 10th of June, 1640, that Cu-
sacke had been guilty of a great offence, which was much aggravated, in
respect it was against a Judge of the realm, without giving him that ad-
dition which of right belonged to him, being a person in the opinion of the
whole court of great learning and unspotted integrity, and one that in all
his judgments had shewed himself a worthy and honest man. Wherefore
they adjudged that Cusacke should be committed to the Fleet, till he had
given security never to meddle with the sollicitation of causes, should pay
a fine of £.500, and be set in the pillory, and carried through Westminster
Hall, and to all the courts there, with a paper on his head declaring his
offence, and in every court was to acknowledge his offence, and ask Mr.
Justice Croke forgiveness. There is a pedantic but humble letter from
Cusacke to Sir George, dated from the Fleet, 18th of June, 1640, ac-
knowledging his offence, and imploring forgiveness ; but whether he suc-
ceeded in obtaining his pardon is not known, as Sir George had declared
that " he did not seek a revenge for the abuse of his private person, but
" of his public function, that the estimation thereof, which is holy, and a
" general preservative of all public felicity, may be preserved*." This is the
case alluded to in Viner's Abridgment, that a bill in the Star Chamber
abated, because it was brought against Sir George Croke only, without
the addition of his office and dignity of Judge, which is said to have been
cited by Jones, in Trinity term, 16 Car. 1. soon after it happened1'.

As Sir George Croke, in his public situation, ably supported the most
valuable rights of his fellow subjects, in his private capacity he was
equally their benefactor, in promoting religion, and by charitable institu-
tions.

In the year 1629, he gave one hundred pounds to Sion College, the cor-
porate association of the clergy of London, and which was employed in
purchasing books for the library'.

He erected a chapel in his mansion house at Studley, and in his life-time
settled a stipend of twenty pounds a year for a clergyman, who should

• Viner's Abridgment, vol. ii. p. 94. Title Additions, G. 25. b The sentence of the

court, 10th of June, \6 Car. and Cusacke's Letter, MSS. with me.

c Ward, MS. Additions to his Lives of the Gresham Professors. British Museum, to
p. 305. from the History of Sion College, p. 41.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 587

preach once every Sunday, there, or in the chapel at Horton11. This was
a great convenience to his own family, the poor people in the alms-house,
his tenants, and neighbours; the parish church being at Beckley, at the
distance of two miles. There was previously no place for divine
service at Studley, since the suppression of the convent, and the chapel
of the contiguous hamlet of Horton was unendowed, and supported
only by the voluntary subscription of the inhabitants, who paid
eight pounds a year to the vicar of Beckley, or his curate, for reading
prayers there. But there were seldom, or never, any sermons, till Sir
George Croke, before the erection of his own chapel, first allowed ten
pounds a year to several clergymen for preaching upon Sundays, once a
fortnight e.

He likewise appointed an annuity often pounds a year " to the minister
" of Chilton, if he should be a preaching minister, and should preach once
" at least every Sunday in the parish church^."

At Studley he also erected an hospital or alms-house, for the relief, ha-
bitation, and maintenance, of four poor men, and four women. It is a
substantial, but plain, brick building, and has the following inscription
upon it.

DOMVS. PRO.
RELEVAMINE. PAV
PERVM. ERECTA.
ANO. DOMINI. 1639.
SOLI. DEO. GLORIA.
NIHIL. HOMINI.

By the same deed in which he had provided for the clergyman, and
which is dated the 23d of May, in the 15th year of Charles I. 1639,
he endowed it with a rent charge of sixty pounds a year, out of his estate
at Easington. It was a comfortable retreat for age and want. They were
supplied with the necessaries of life, a warm house, clothes, and fuel, and
an allowance in money, which was sufficient at that time to afford a
decent maintenance. The men were to be of the age of threescore

* Deed of the 23d of May, 1 5th Car. 1 639. « The affidavit of J. Coxhead, 7th of Feb.

1638. MS. penes me. ' Deed ut supra.

4 F 2

588 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

years, and the women fifty, unless they were lame or blind : and were to
be elected by such persons as should be owners of the mansion houses of
Waterstock and Studley ; and the persons elected were to be out of the
parishes of Chilton, Waterstock, and Beckley. They had each a room in
die building, and a separate garden behind it. Their allowances were,
two shillings every week; once every two years a livery gown of broad
cloth, of colour London russet, and the other years, two shirts and smocks ;
and half a chaldron of coals, or two loads of wood, yearly.

A set of excellent orders for their regulation was drawn up, and signed
by him, the 21st of September, 1639, and which is still extant*. They
bear the marks, not of a narrow superstition, but of an enlarged and liberal
mind, and the object appears to have been, not merely the relief of indi-
gence, but the encouragement of industry and good morals. No persons
of indifferent character were to be admitted, or could be permitted to con-
tinue. Such only were eligible as were poor indeed, and well reputed of
for religion, and good conversation; no cursers, or common swearers, no
idle persons, or drunkards, none having committed fornication, or adultery;
no hunters of ale-houses ; no gadders, or wanderers abroad from house to
house, no tale-bearers, no busybodies, but such as shall live without com-
mon scolding, or brawling, and quietly and peaceably with their neigh-
bours. After their admission, they were not to live in idleness, but to
dispose themselves to such work as they were able, that they might get
somewhat towards their maintenance, that they might eat their own bread,
and give unto others, and to keep themselves when they were sick. None
were to wander, or beg alms ; none was to lodge with them in their cham-
bers, but one of them was to help another, as in charity they should.
Cursing, or swearing, getting drunk, or sitting above half an hour at an
ale-house, unless with some strange friend, were fined for the two first
offences, and occasioned expulsion for the third. They were to attend
divine service on Sundays, both morning and evening, and twice daily, in
the chapel, or alms-house.

Such was the judicious, and well-arranged .plan, upon which this good
and wise man formed his charitable establishment. It is still kept up, and
maintained, as much as possible, according to the disposition and intention

6 See the Appendix, No. XXX.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 589

of the founder. The specific allowances of clothing, and fuel, are, of
course, of the same intrinsic value as formerly, but the pecuniary pay-
ments, from the depreciation in the value of money, are now become
scarcely sufficient for their support. An evil which might have been pre-
vented, by reserving the rent charge in corn, and apportioning the allow-
ance according to the price of that standard article of life*1.

The general estimation in which Sir George Croke was held for integrity,
a sense of duty, and a disposition to promote every useful institution, oc-
casioned his being appointed a trustee for several benefactions for the ad-
vancement of learning, and the improvement of the condition of the
poor.

Though the extraordinary talents of Lord Bacon had created a revolu-
tion in science, and had discovered the just method of studying nature in
her own works, like all other novelties it made at first but a slow progress.
The reign of James was abundant enough indeed in learning, but it was
directed towards matters of religion, and unprofitable disputation, and the
interest of Lord Bacon could never obtain the authority of the King to
found a public establishment for the encouragement of natural know-
ledge: which was afterwards in some measure effected by the institution of
the Royal Society1. In the mean time it was left to the exertions of indi-
viduals, and amongst these, Sir William Sedley by his will, dated in 16 IS,
bequeathed the sum of two thousand pounds, to be laid out in the pur-
chase of lands, to found a professorship of Natural Philosophy in the Uni-
versity of Oxford. Such however was still the prejudice in favour of
Aristotle, that the new professor was directed to lecture in his books of
physics, de ca?lo et mundo, de meteoris, his parva naturalia, de anima,
et de generations, et corruptionek. After his death, an estate at Wad-
desden, in Buckinghamshire, of the value of one hundred and twenty

" It appears by the old accounts of the Alms-house, that, during the Rebellion, such
charitable institutions were made to contribute to the government, and that in the year
1651, out of the rent charge of sixty pounds, four pounds fourteen shillings and sixpence
were paid for ten months tax for the army ; which is more than ten per cent. In the first
and subsequent Acts for imposing the land tax, charitable foundations were exempted.
1st William and Mary.

1 Sprat's History of the Royal Society, p. 151. k Wood's Hist, Oxon. by Gutch.

,590 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

pounds a year, was purchased with this money, and conveyed to the Uni-
versity, by a deed of the 11th of December, 1622, in which Sir George
Croke appears as a trustee1.

He was likewise appointed a trustee, with the Earl of Essex, and other
persons of rank and consequence, of the valuable estates given by Henry
Smith, Esquire, to charitable uses, of which the benefits were " so widely
" diffused, applied to so many purposes, and gladdened the hearts of so
" many persons in very different stations of life." Every parish in the
county of Surry partakes to this day of his benefactions, besides many
other places. They were directed to be applied to the relief of poor pri-
soners, and of hurt and maimed soldiers ; for the portions of poor maids in
marriage; apprenticing children, and setting up poor apprentices ; amend-
ing the highways; for losses by fire, or shipwreck; for the relief of aged,
poor, or infirm people, of married persons having more children than their
labour could maintain, poor orphans, such poor as keep themselves and
families to labour, and put forth their children to be apprentices at the age
of fifteen ; and to provide a stock always in readiness to set such persons
to work as were able; for the ransom of poor captives, being slaves under
Turkish pirates ; for the use and relief of his poorest kindred; to buy im-
propriations for the maintenance of godly preachers, and the better fur-
therance of knowledge and religion ; the teaching and educating poor chil-
dren ; and money to be lent in sums of twenty pounds, half a year at a
time. A more extensive charity, or a more proper application of it, can
scarcely perhaps be found m.

In the year 1639, or 1640, this pious and learned Judge, finding his
ageand infirmities to increase, and being desirous, before he put off
his decaying and declining body, to have some leisure to examine his
life, and to prepare for that great day, wherein all must render an
account to the Supreme Judge of all their actions, was an humble suitor
to King Charles for his writ of ease, which was denied, and yet in effect
granted".

1 Wood's History of the University of Oxford, lib. ii. p. 42. ™ Collections relating

to Henry Smith, Esq. published by William Bray, Esq. in 1800. "Sir Harbottle

Grimston, Pref. to Cro. Car.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 591

To the King's most excellent Majesty.

The humble petition of your Majesty's humble Servant, Sir George
Croke, Knight, one of the Justices of your Bench,
Humbly sheweth,

That he having by the gracious favour of your Majesty's late Father, of
famous memory, and of your Majesty, served your Majesty, and your said
late Father, as a Judge of your Majesty's Court of Common Pleas, and of
your Highness' Court, called the King's Bench, above this sixteen years,
is now become very old, being above the age of eighty years. And by
reason of his said age, and dullness of hearing, and other infirmities,
whereby it hath pleased God to visit him, he findeth himself disabled any
longer to do that service in your Courts, which the pi ice requireth, and
he desireth to perform ; yet is desirous to live and die in your Majesty's
favour.

His most humble suit is, that your Majesty will be pleased to dispense
with his further attendance in any your Majesty's Courts ; that so he
may retire himself, and expect God's good pleasure : and during that little
remainder of his life, pray for your Majesty's long life and happy reign.

GEORGE CROKE.

To which he received the following answer from the King.

Upon the humble address, by the humble petition of Sir George
Croke, Knight, who, after many years service, done both to our deceased
Father and Ourself, as our said Father's Serjeant at Law, and one of his and
our Judges of our Benches, at Westminster, hath humbly besought Us, by
reason of the infirmity of his old age, (which disableth him to continue to
perform to Us that service, ne much desireth to have according to his duty
done,) his further attendance might be by Us, in our grace, dispensed with ;
to the end all our loving subjects, who have and shall faithfully serve Us,
(as We declare this our servant hath done,) may know, that, as We shall
never expect, much less require, or exact from them, performances beyond
what their healths and years shall enable them ; so We shall not dismiss
them, without an approbation of their service, when we shall find they
shall have deserved it, much less expose them in their old age to neglect.
As our princely testimony therefore, that the said Sir George Croke, being
dispensed withal, proceeds from Us, at the humble request of the said Sir

592 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

George Croke, (which We have cause and do take well, that he is rather
willing to acknowledge his infirmity by his great age occasioned, than that
by concealing of the same any want of justice should be to our people,)
and not out of any our least displeasure conceived of him ; do hereby
declare our Royal pleasure, That We are graciously pleased, and do hereby
dispense with, the said Sir George Crake's further attendance in our said
Bench at Westminster, and any our circuits. And, as a token of our ap-
probation, of the former good and acceptable service, by the said Sir
George Croke, done to our deceased Father and Ourself ; do yet continue
him one of our Judges of our said Bench : and hereby declare our further
will and pleasure to be, That, during his, the said Sir George Crake's life,
there shall be continued and paid by Us unto him, the like fee and fees, as
was to him, or is, or shall be by Us, paid to any other our Judges of our
said Bench at Westminster, and all fees and duties, saving the allowance
by Us to our Judges of our said Benches, for their circuits only.

After he had thus retired from the laborious duties of his judicial office,
he spent the remainder of his life at Waterstock, in the enjoyment of his
friends, and the appropriate exercises of holy meditation and devotion.

In public transactions, there is a certain degree of formality and stiffness;
we see only the external man ; it is always, therefore, particularly inte-
resting to view a great character in his undress, in retirement, in the bosom
of his own family, and even in trifling circumstances of his private and
domestic manners and habits. The little anecdotes of this nature, intro-
duced with so much judgment by Plutarch, have made his lives the
favourite of all ages and nations. In Montaigne, and the works of our
relation Whitlock, we see the man himself, as well as the accurate chroni-
cler of his times. Of Sir George Croke, in this respect, little can now be
found, and none of his correspondence has been preserved. There is
however a memorandum, written by his nephew Alexander Croke, in
which he gives an account of a conversation, which passed between him
and his uncle, after his retirement from business, about the disposal of his
property, which, though in itself trifling, and of little consequence, may
not be uninteresting from the description of the place and manner in
which it took place, and the amiable kindness of Sir George to his
relations.

ch.v. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 593

" Memorandum, that upon the 21st day of June, 1641, I being then at
Waterstock, and my uncle, the Judge, being then pleased to declare unto
me his purpose of settling Studley and Easington upon me, in case his
son should die without issue, and then using unto me many kind speeches,
and amongst others, said unto me, that he did account of me as of one of
his children. I then moving of him, (that if his purpose therein should
continue,) and that what he intended that way, were to be to my eldest
son only, that he would be pleased so to order it, that my said eldest son
might in some kind be beneficial unto my son William. He was then
pleased to give me answer to this effect. " Nephew, I give the land unto
" you, and you may dispose of any part of it, as you will, yourself." I
then replied, " Sir, is it your pleasure, that I should do so }" He an-
swered, "Yes, when I am dead, but whilst I live you cannot do it."
And farther declared, that it was his intention and meaning, that provision
should be made for my wife, and for my younger children, and said, " that
" he intended to do it himself, and to have done it, although I had not
" spoken." And upon my saying, that what I moved him in, proceeded
from myself, out of my tender care of my children, and least peradven-
ture I might die in his life-time, his answer unto me was, " that it was
" well done, and if I died in his life-time, he would take order." And
then, as he was walking on the mount, he was pleased to say unto me,
that " my family consisted of two branches, and that Studley should be
" for my eldest son, and Easington for my younger," and said, that "for
" ought he knew, he would make it so before he slept;" and then said,
that " he would have me build an house at Easington, and that he would
" allow timber, and be at the charge of building, as far as an hundred
" pounds would go." All this passed in the parlour and garden, at Water-
stock, and upon the mount, the day and year above written. And upon
the Saturday following, I attending on my said uncle, between Thame
and Cuddington, he was pleased then to say unto me, that "concerning
" the matter I moved him in, his will was in his nephew Hampson's
" keeping, but if it pleased God that he lived till Michaelmas, he said he
" would doit." And afterwards, upon occasion of using my son Richard's
name, with mine and others, in the purchase of the land, which he intended
to have bought of Nicholas Lovell, in Easington, which he said he in-
tended towards his alms-house, but was pleased to declare, that " although
4 G

.594 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

" my son's name were therein used, yet his intention was, that my son
" William should have Easington," and did likewise at one or two times
more declare himself unto me to this purpose, " that it might be, Easing-
" ton one day might be my son William's.

ALEX. CROKE."

On the same paper is another memorandum.

" Memorandum, that in the year 1641, about Bartholomewtide, 1 being
then at Waterstocke, and my uncle, the Judge, speaking of Easington,
was pleased to say unto me to this effect, that " it might be, Easington
" might come unto me and my son William sooner than I did imagine.''
And at another time, about Michaelmas, in the same year, my said uncle,
having shewed me then the survey of Studley, was pleased, amongst other
speeches, to speak unto me to this effect, that " it might be, that it might
" one day come to me, and mine, but there would be a great many be-
" tween me and home, his daughters and their children." And used some
such like speech unto me at one other time before, and at one other time,
in the same year, as he was riding on the way between Waterstock and
Chilton, to the best of my remembrance, used words to this effect, that
" he would purchase some other lands for his alms-house, and take off
" the charge from Easington.

ALEX. CROKE0."

Soon after these transactions, he departed this lite upon the 1 6th of
February, 1642, in the eighty-second year of his age, and was buried ;it
Waterstock, on the 3d of March, where there is a monument to his me-
mory erected against the wall of the chancel near the communion table.
It is an arch, with Corinthian pillars, under which he is represented in his
judicial dress, leaning upon a scull, and with a book in his hand. Under-
neath is the following inscription.

GEORGIUS CROKE, EQUES
AURATUS, UNUS JUSTICI ARIORUM
DE BANCO REGIS, JUDICIO LYNCEATO,
ET ANIMO PRyESENTI INSIGNIS, VERI-

" The original MS. in the hand-writing of Vlexander Croke, penes me.

if CrxsA-e .

■U WO-terj tovA , ~" /64f ■

CH.VI. SEC.

SIR GEORGE CROKE. 595

TATIS HiERES, QUEM NEC MIS M NEC
HONOS ALLEXIT, REGIS AUTHORITATEM
ET POPULI LIBERTATEM ^EQUA LANCE
LIBRAVIT, RELIGIONE CORDATUS, VITA
INNOCUUS, MANU EXPANSA, CORDE
HUMILI, PAUPERES IRROGAVIT,
MUNDUM ET VICIT, ET DESERUIT,
ANNO jETATIS LXXXII. ANNO
REGIS CAROLI XVII. ANNOQUE
DOMINI MDCXLI.

Sir George Croke left behind him, amongst his contemporaries p, the
general character of abilities, and deep learning in his profession, un-
blemished integrity, sincere religion, and amiable manners : and the just-
ness of their opinion is sufficiently evinced by the history of his life. In a
turbulent period, when faction ran high, he was not considered as a par-
tizan, but he supported the steady and unbiassed dignity which became a
judicial situation. He lived in habits of friendship with many of the
popular leaders, without approving of their republican principles, or
abetting their violent proceedings. As he maintained the royal prerogative,
as far as it was conformable to the laws of the country, although he
decided those great constitutional points in favour of the liberty of the
subject ; yet his not having been removed from his office, and the King's
gracious answer to his petition for leave to retire, are proofs that he had
not forfeited the favour of his Sovereign. He happily quitted the world
before the scenes of confusion which followed ; had he lived, it is probable
that, like Sir Matthew Hale, he would have continued to hold his com-
mission, without acknowledging the authority of the usurpers ; since it
was necessary that justice should be administered, whoever might be in
possession of the government.

The following character of him was written by Sir Harbottle Grimstone,
his son-in-law ; whose personal acquaintance with him, and his own ex-
perience as a lawyer, enabled him to discriminate his various excellencies.

" He was of a most prompt invention and apprehension, which was

p Wood's Hist. Univ. Ox. lib. ii. p. 42. before quoted in a note; Whitelocke; and every
author by whom he is mentioned. His monument states his death in 1641. As it was in
February, this, according to the new-stile, was in 1642.
4 G 2

596 SIR GEORGE CHOKE.

BOOK IV.

accompanied with a rare memory, by means whereof, and through his
sedulous and indefatigable industry, he attained to a profound science and
judgment in the laws of the land, and to a singular intelligence of the true
reasons thereof, and principally in the forms of good pleading. He was
of an universal and admirable experience in all other matters which con-
cerned the Commonwealth. He heard patiently, and never spake but to
purpose, and was always glad when matters were represented unto him
truly and clearly; he had this discerning gift, to separate the truth of tin
matter, from the mixture and affection of the deliverer, without giving the
least offence, tie was resolute and stedfast for truth : and as he desired
no employment for vain glory, so he refused none for fear ; and by his
wisdom and courage in conscionably performing his charge, and care-
fully discharging his conscience, and his modesty in sparingly speaking
thereof, he was without envy, though not without true glory. To speak
of his integrity and forbearing to take bribes, were a wrong to his virtue.
In sum, what Tacitus saith of Julius Agricola, his wife's father, who
was a Governor in our Britain, I may truly say of this Agricola^, our
Reverend Judge, my wife's father, tempora eurarum, remissionumque
divi.su ; ubi conventus ac Judicia poscerent, gravis, intentus, severus, et
scepius miser icors : ubi officio satisfaction, nulla ultra potestatis persona :
tristitiam, et arrogantiam, et avaritiam exuerat; nee illi, quod est raris-
simuni, uut faciUtas auctoritatem, aut severitas amorem, deminuit. " That
he well and discreetly divided the seasons of his affairs and vacations.
In times of audience and judgment, he was grave, heedful, and austere,
and yet merciful too. That duty performed, no face any more or shew
of authority : severe and stately looks were laid apart in such sort, that
neither his gentle and courteous behaviour weakened the reverence, nor
his severity the love due to his person." He was of a strict life to him-
self, yet in conversation full of sweet deportment and affable, tender and
compassionate, seeing none in distress whom he was not ready to relieve ;
nor did I ever behold him do any thing more willingly than when he gave
alms : he was every way liberal, and cared for money no further than to
illustrate his virtues : he was a man of great modesty, and of a most plain
and single heart, of an ancient freedom and integrity of mind, esteeming

11 Tiu^yoi. Taciti Agricola, sect. is.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 597

it more honest to offend, than to flatter, or hate. He was remarkable for
hospitality, a great lover and much beloved of his country, wherein he was
a blessed peace-maker, and in those times of conflagration was more tor
the bucket than bellows, often pouring out the waters of his tears to
quench those beginning flames which others did ventilate. In religion, he
was devout towards God, reverent in the church, attentive at sermons,
and constant in family duties. Whilst he lived, he was the example of
the life of faith, love, and good works, to so many as were acquainted
with his equal and even walkings in the ways of God, through the several
turnings and occasions of his life', and he died full of commendation tor
wisdom and piety ; and left such a stock of reputation behind him, as
might kindle a generous emulation in strangers, and preserve a noble
ambition in those of his name and family to perform actions worthy of
their ancestors8.

Of the following poem, I know not the author. I found it in manu-
script amongst my papers.

An Elegy on Judge George Croke.
This was the Man, the Glory of the Gown,
Just to himself, his Country, and the Crown,
The Atlas of our Liberty, as high
In his own Fame, as others' Infamy.
Great by his Virtues, great by others' Crimes,
The best of Judges in the worst of Times.
He was the first who happily did sound
Unfreedomed Loyalty, and felt the Ground.
Yet happier to behold that dawning Ray,
Shot from himself, become a perfect Day,
To hear his Judgement so authentic grown,
The Kingdom's voice the Echo to his own.
Nor did he speak but live the Laws, although
From his sage Mouth grave Oracles did flow.
Who knew his Life, Maxims might thence derive,
Such as the Law to Law itself might give.
Who saw him on the Bench, would think the Name
Of Friendship, or Affection, never came

' Preface to Cro. Car. s Preface to Cro. Eliz.

59S SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

Within his Thoughts. Who saw him thence, might know

He never had, nor could deserve, a Foe.

Only assuming Rigour with his Gown,

And, with his Purple, laid his Rigour down.

Him nor Respect, nor Disrespect, could move,

He knew no Anger, and his Place no Love.

So mixt the Strain of all his Actions ran,

So much a Judge, so much a Gentleman.

Who durst be just, when Justice was a Crime,

Yet durst no more, in so unjust a Time.

Nor hurried by the highest Mover's Force,

Against his proper, and resolved, Course;

But when our World did turn, so kept his Ground,

Ho seemed the axe on which the Wheel went round.

Whose Zeal was warm, when all to Ice did turn,

Yet was but warm, when all the Word did burn.

The reports of cases, decided in the different tribunals, are the reposi-
tories of the common law, and of the interpretation of the statutes.
After the year books, no public officers were appointed to perform the
duty of reporting, but it was left to the industry of individuals. From
his earliest attendance in Westminster Hall, Sir George Croke had taken
a regular series of notes of cases which were adjudged in the Courts of
King's Bench, and Common Pleas, during the whole time that he fre-
quented them as a student, or advocate, or presided in them as a Judge,
He began when he was about twenty-four years old, and continued them
till within a year or two of his death. They were bequeathed by him,
with the principal part of his library, to his son-in-law, Sir Harbottle
Grimston, who published them, having been brought up, as he says of
himself, at the feet of this Gamaliel. They were written in a very small,
close, and intricate hand, and in the old Norman, or French, language,
which eustom had rendered more familiar ana expressive to the old lawyers
than their native tongue ; but they were published by Sir Harbottle in
English, contrary to his own opinion, by the injunction of some persons of
authority. In regard they were too bulky to be comprised in one volume ,
he divided them into three parts, according to the reigns of the three
princes, in which the decisions took place. And in consequence of tin-
advice of Lord Coke to students, " that they should read the later

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE.

■ >>.»['

" reports first" and that he might vouch the principal persons in the
profession then living, for their correctness and candour, he began with the
publication of the last part, those cases which occurred during the reign of
King Charles the First, when he was Judge as well as Reporter. This
first volume, or part, was printed, with the approbation of the Judges, in
the year 1657 ; and, by the authority of the Parliament, a monopoly was
granted to Sir Harbottle for the sole publishing of it*. There was a
squabble between some printers respecting it, which was published and
printed on one side of a sheet of paper". A long preface is prefixed,
giving an account of the work, and an history of the author and his family.
The second part, of cases during the reign of King James, came out in
1659 ; and the first part, of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 1661 ;
which is dedicated by Sir Harbottle Grimston to King Charles the
Second, with all those expressions of an ardent affection, which subsisted
between Charles and his subjects, in the early days of his restoration.
The reports themselves begin about the time when those of Sir James
Dyer end, and comprehend a series of cases adjudged during a period of
near sixty years, from the twenty-fourth year of Queen Elizabeth, 1582,
to the sixteenth of Charles the First, 1640 ; an extraordinary length of
time for the exertions of one man. They contain an immense mass of
law, of the highest authority, with a regular journal of all the changes
which took place in the principal department of the profession, and an in-
teresting account of the legal formalities and ceremonies used in the cre-
ation of Serjeants, Judges, and other high officers ; and of many of the
usages and rights of the common law. The method used is likewise ex-
cellent. They are not swelled out with the pleadings and arguments at
large, but each case is shortly stated, according to the points discussed and
adjudged ; the reasons are plainly and succinctly stated ; and a happy me-
dium is observed between a wearisome diffuseness, and an imperfect
brevity.

I have a portrait of him, a three-quarters length, in his dress as a Judge,
with the coif. His left hand leans on a table covered with a green cloth,

1 It is amongst the King's folio pamphlets in the British Museum, No. 13. See the
Appendix, No. XXIX.

" Journals, House of Com. 9 June, 1657, page 551. order signet! Hen. Scobel, at the end
of Cro. Car

600 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

and there is a curtain behind him of the same colour. There is written on
it, aetatis 66, anno domini 1626. I have likewise another picture, appa-
rently a copy from the other. Mr. Pennant mentions that he saw at
Gorhambury, the seat of Lord Grimston, near Saint Alban's, a portrait of
Sir George Croke, a half length in his robes, and another of his lady in
black, with a lawn ruff1, but, on examination, I found it to be a copy of
his mother's picture, Elizabeth Unton.

There is a small oval head of him, engraved by Hollar"; another larger
by Robert Vaughan, which is prefixed to his Reports, with this inscription
Vera e/figies Georgii Croke Equitis a/irati et utriusque Banci Justicia-
rius, temp. Car. Reg. Ut vultus hominum, ita simulacra vultus; quce
marmore, out cere jinguntur, imbecilla, ac mortalia sunt. Forma mentis
ceterna; quam tenere et exprimere, non per alienam materiam, et artem,
sed tuis ipse moribus possis%. Granger* mentions two others, by Gay-
wood, and R. White, but I have never seen them.

His buildings, the chapel and the alms-house, still remain at Studley. His
coat of arms, dated 1622, is carved in stone, over the porch of the mansion,
impaled with Bennet, that of his wife, viz. gules, a bezant between three
derni lions rampant, argent, langued azure, with a mullet, to denote his
being a third son. The same arms, in painted glass, are in the old with-
drawing room, with the two crests, that of Bennet being out of a mural
coronet, or, a lion's head gules, charged with a bezant on the neck. The
same arms are in the chapel, and two of the bed rooms.

Sir George Croke left two wills ; the first, relating principally to his
real, the second to his personal property. The first is dated the 25th of
May, 1639, and is to the following effect11 : He desires to be buried after a
Christian's manner of burial, without any unnecessary ceremonies, or
charges, especially of hearse, heralds, or offerings. He left an annuity of
£20 to his brother William Croke, to be paid by his wife, and others, out
of Easingdon, and £§0 a year, as before limited, to the alms-house, and
chaplain. He bequeathed Studley to his conusees and grantees, under a

' Pennant's Journey from Chester, and he quotes Lloyd, ii. 2fi7? " The original plate

of Hollar is in the Bodleian Library ; and, by the favour of the Vice-Chancellor and the other
Curators, I have been permitted to have some impressions taken off' for this work. * Ta-
cit, in vita Jul. Agricolae Socrei sui, sec. 46. y Biographical Dictionary. * The
original is in the possession of William Henry Ashhurst, Esq. of Waterstock.

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 601

fine before levied, to the use of his son Thomas for life, then to the conu-
sees for ninety-nine years, then to the heirs of the body of his son Thomas
by any other wife that he might have other than Anne his now wife; with
liberty to Thomas, with the assent of his mother, and of any two others of
his executors, to limit all or any part of Studley to any his wife that he
hath, or shall have, for term of her life for a jointure; then to his conu-
sees during the ninety-nine years, and afterwards to the use of such chil-
dren of Thomas, and the heirs of their bodies, as his son, by the assent of
his mother, and two executors, shall appoint ; and for default of such ap-
pointment, then after his decease, to such of the children of Thomas, and
the heirs of their bodies, as the testator's wife and executors should think
fit. And for default of such issue, to his brother, William Croke, for
life, remainder to the use of his nephew Alexander, and his heirs male;
giving security for the payment of £2000 for the testator's daughters.

Easington he left to his wife for life, or widowhood, then to his son
Thomas for life, with power to sell, with the consent of the executors:
then to the conuseesfor ninety-nine years, as before limited as to Studlev:
and, after that term ended, then to the heirs of the body of his son by
any other wife than Anne ; and, for default of such issue, to his nephew-
Alexander Croke, and the heirs male of his body; giving security for the
payment of £ 1000 to his daughters.

Wuterstock he bequeathed to his wife for life, or widowhood, then to
his son for life, then to his executors for ninety-nine years, then to his son
and the heirs of his body by any other wife than Anne, with liberty, with
the consent of his mother and two executors, to appoint the same to any
wife he now hath, or shall have, for life for a jointure, and, after such
estates, then to the conusees, to dispose thereof to such of the children of
Thomas, and the heirs of their bodies, as he, with the consent of his mother
and two executors, should appoint; and, for default of such appointment,
to such of his son's children as the executors should think fit. And for
default of such issue, then to his nephew Henry Croke, son of his brother
Henry, and then to his son George Croke, giving security for .£3000 to
his daughters.

We have before seen, that the estate at Waterstock went, according to
this will, to his nephew Doctor Henry Croke, and afterwards to his son
4 H

602 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

Sir George Croke: that at Studley went to his brother William, as will
hereafter appear.

The will of his personal property is dated, at the beginning, on the 20th
of November, 1640, and, at the end, on the 3d of December, and was
proved on the 3d of May, 1642. In this he bequeaths to the poor of Chilton,
Waterstock, Studley, and Saint Dunstan's in the West, five pounds each,
and three pounds to the parish where he shall die. To the minister of
Chilton 40s.; of Waterstock £o ; but if his nephew Henry is parson there,
£10. To his wife £300, and her jewels, &c. part of his plate, and the
use of the remainder for life; afterwards to his son, or, if dead, to be sold
and divided amongst his daughters. A part of the plate is excepted, and
given to his son. To his wife, half his household stuff, and furniture, at
Waterstock, and the use of the other half for life, or widowhood ; then to his
son Thomas. His household stuff at Studley to his son, and two hundred
pounds for the better furnishing the house at Studley. To his wife, her
wearing apparel, coach, coach-horses, and harness, one nag for her own
use, except the bay nag given him by his son-in-law, Thomas Lee, which
was to be returned to him ; a double gelding, and two geldings for servants,
and his carts and cart geldings, kyne, &c. &c. To his brother William
Croke, a piece of plate of the value of £10, and the sum of ,±100, and his
wearing apparel ; except his robes used by him as a Judge, which were to
be disposed of by his wife by gift or otherwise. To his son-in-law, Har-
bottle Grimston, Esquire, and his daughter Mary, £20 in plate, and to
their children, George, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Thomas, ±100 each.
To Harbottle Crimston all his books concerning the common law, lying
or being usually in his study, or closet, at Serjeant's Inn, both printed
books, and written ; except his books of Statutes, and the Abridgments of
Statutes, and those which concern the office of a Justice of Peace, which
books so excepted he devises to his son Thomas. And he desires his
said son-in-law, that if he shall not proceed in the practice and profession
of the law, as perhaps, after the death of his father, he may not think it
convenient for him to do, that then he would dispose of them between his
nephew Edward Bulstrode, Unton Croke, and George Walton. To his
son-in-law, Thomas Lee, Esquire, and his daughter Elizabeth, his wife.
£20 for plate ; and to their sons, Thomas, and George, and their daughter

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 603

Mary, £ 100 each. To Richard Jervois, Esquire, and Frances his daughter,
his wife, £20, and to their daughters, Lucy and Mary, ^100 each. All
his books concerning the common law, except the book commonly called
the Commentary upon Littleton, and the Book of Statutes, and Abridg-
ment of Statutes, and Dalton's book concerning a Justice of Peace, lying
and being in his study at Waterstock, to his nephew Unton Croke, Esq.
Also all his books concerning the common law at Studley, to his nephew
Edward Bulstrode, Esq. to whom he forgives a debt of £50. The books
excepted in his study at Waterstock, to his son Thomas. All his divinity
books in English, except the three new books of Martyrs of the last edi-
tion, and the English Bible in folio at Waterstock, to his wife, the book of
Martyrs and Bible to his son, his wife to have the use for life, or widow-
hood. To his son, all his Latin books, and books written in Latin, French,
or any other language not before given. Legacies to his servants. To
his nephew and godson, George Croke, son of his nephew Doctor Henry
Croke, ,£100, for an annuity towards his maintenance and bringing up in
learning. To his wife, one complete armour for a horseman, and two
armours for two footmen. The residue of his armour to his son. Debts
owing from his brother William to be released. His wife, his nephew
Bulstrode Whitelocke, Thomas Hampsted, Alexander Croke, Esquires,
and his good neighbour, William Tipping, to be his executors. His wife
to have the sold administration, and the others to be coadjutors, and to have
i320 each. And whereas Lord Bayning, Viscount Sudbury, had ap-
pointed him one of his executors, and he had not intermeddled in his
affairs, though he had joined in the probate, and the other acting executor
was dead, and the executorship was now come to him by survivorship, he
appoints Lady Anne, widow of Lord Bayning the son, his executrix of
the said estate. Signed George Croke. Christus mihi vita, mors
mihi lucrum. Witnesses, Har. Grimston, Tho. Hampson, L. Hurst,
Fran. Croke, Robert Newburgh, John Cammocke, Robert Dur-
ham.

His lady, Dame Mary Croke, survived him fifteen years, and dying on

the first of December, 1657, was buried at Waterstock, under a flat stone

in the chancel near her husband. She appointed Colonel Ingoldsby, and

Giles Hungerford, Esquire, her executors, and bequeathed five pounds to

4 h 2

604 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv.

the alms-house, to which she had given many benefactions in money
during her life, and settled upon it a small close in Easingtona.
The inscription upon her tomb-stone is as follows:

HERE LYETH THAT HONOURABLE LADY, DAME MARY, RELICT
OF SIR GEORGE CROKE, KNIGHT, LATE ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE
KING'S BENCH, WHO FOR HER PIETIE, CHARITIE, AND OTHER EMI-
NENT VIRTUES, WAS THE HONOR OF HER SEX WHILST SHE LIVED,
AND SCARCE LEFT HER EQUAL WHEN SHE DIED. SHE DEPARTED
THIS LIFE, DECEMBER THE 1st, l6j7-

They had only one son, named Thomas, and three daughters, Mary,
Frances, baptized the 25th of September, 1618\ and Elizabeth.

Of the children of Sir George Croke, little is known of his only son
Thomas, nor indeed of the exact time when he died. He appears to have
been bred to the law, for he was a member of the Inner Temple, and was
admitted on the 26th of April, 1619, into the chambers of his uncle, Paul
Ambrose Croke, who was a Bencher of that society'. Mr. Wood says,
that he was " a sot, or a fool, or bothd." But he quotes no authority for
this assertion, and the legacy of his father, in his will, in which he leaves
him " all his Latin and French books, or books in any other language,
" with his Statute books, Abridgments of Statutes, such as concern the
" office of a Justice of the Peace, and any others undisposed of," are a be-
quest not very well adapted to such a character. But as Sir George in
his will left the bulk of his law library to Sir Harbottle Grimston, it
should seem that at that time he had laid aside the study of the law, and
had chosen the life of a country gentleman. This will was made Dec. 2d,

1640, and it there appears to have been settled, that after his decease, his
son was to live at Studley, and his lady to continue at Waterstock, as he
devises to him part of his plate, the household goods at Studley, and =£200
for better furnishing that house. Thomas was living on the 21st of June,

1641, a few months only before his father's death. Whether he survived
him or not is uncertain. At that time in the conversation with his nephew

* The old alms-house accounts, sub anno 1647, &c. penes me. h Waterstock

ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 60.5

Alexander, he spoke of his succeeding to the Studley estate, after the
death of his son Thomas, as if it were a probable event; perhaps from the
state of his son's health. There is no proof that his son ever inherited
any part of his property, as Waterstock went to his daughters, and Stud-
ley to his nephew Alexander. Thomas was married, and his wife's name
was Anne, as appears from Sir George's will in 1639.

Of Sir George Croke's daughters, Mar//, the eldest, married Sir Har-
bottle Grimston, Baronet: Elizabeth, the second, had two husbands ; the
first was Thomas Lee, Esquire, of Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire; and
her second husband was Sir Richard Ingoldsbij, Knight of the Bath :
Frances, the third, married Richard Jervois, Esquire.

After just premising, that Stephen Moore, ancestor of the Baron Kil-
worth, Viscount Mountcashell, of the kingdom of Ireland, married the
granddaughter of Sir George Croke, I have not discovered by which of
his children*, I shall proceed to give some account of his sons-in-law.

e Debrett's Peerage, Ireland, p. 734.

606 SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON.

SECTION THE SECOND.

SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON, who married Mary, the eldest
daughter of Sir George Croke, was one of the most respectable characters
of that eventful aera. He was descended from an ancient family, and was
born at Bradfield Hall, near Maningtree, in Essex, about the year 1594.
He was the second son of Sir Harbottle Grimston, Baronet, who was the
representative for that county, and was one of those who were imprisoned
for a long time for refusing to pay the loan money. He was educated for
the law, and was a member of Lincoln's Inn, but. upon the death of his
elder brother, he abandoned his profession. Falling in love with Sir
George Croke's daughter, her father would not bestow her upon him
unless he would return to his studies ; which he did with great success,
and became eminent as an advocate". In 1638, he was appointed Re-
corder of Colchester ; and at the meeting of the Long Parliament, in 1640,
he was chosen one of the representatives for that place.

In his political conduct, though no enemy to the monarchy, he warmly
opposed the illegal oppressions of the Crown, and was a zealous defender of
liberty and the laws. His learning and talents were considerable, and his
eloquence powerful. Upon every important question, his conduct was ani-
mated, his language vehement, and he inveighed against those, whom he con-
sidered as the enemies to his country, with unsparing severity b. Upon all
measures in opposition to the King, and in the most important committees
of that memorable parliament, for the redress of grievances, and for
bringing obnoxious ministers to justice, he was always an active member.
He was one of the first who proposed calling to account those who had
been concerned in levying ship-money. In 1641, he was of the committee

J Burnet, Hist, of his Own Times. " Upon one occasion he called Secretary Winde-

banck, the very pander and broker to the Whore of Babylon. Rush. v. 122. Hume, vi.
411.

ch. vi. sec. ii. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 607

to prepare the charge against the Earl of Strafford; and, in 1642, upon
that for vindicating the privileges of Parliament, upon the King's going
down to the House to demand the five members. In the same year, when
the Parliament had passed the ordinance of the Militia, he accepted a com-
mission as one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the county of Essex c.
Soon after the King had erected his standard at Nottingham, Sir Thomas
Barrington and Grimston seized upon Sir John Lucas and his Lady in
Essex, and committed them to prison ; and Lucas was proclaimed a traitor
for assisting the King d. He was one of the Commissioners named by the
Commons, in 1647, to go down with a congratulatory declaration to the
army, and of another for disbanding part of the armye. During the
memorable siege of Colchester by the Parliament army, the King's troops
took possession of Sir Harbottle's house at Bradfield Hall, where they
placed two hundred musqueteers, and two troops of horse. This party
plundered and ruined the house, took away and destroyed all the furniture,
and turned out his ladyf. In 1647, he was one of the Committee of
Appeals from the Visitors appointed to reform the University of Oxfords.

But during this time he was far from going all lengths with the Parlia-
ment. In 1643, he refused to subscribe the solemn League and Covenant,
and discontinued sitting in the House till it was laid aside h. In September,
1648, he was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Parliament to
treat with the King in the Isle of Wight, and was extremely desirous of a
compromise between him and the Parliament. He, and Hollis, on their
knees, begged the King to dispatch the business with all possible haste,
before the army, then in the north, could interfere ; and they assured his
Majesty, that " if he would frankly come forward, and send them back
" with the concessions that were necessary, they did not doubt but that he
" would in a very few days be brought up with honor, freedom, and
" safety, to the Parliament, and matters brought to a present settlement."''
But the King unfortunately could come to no resolution, and the treaty
failed. The King however was well pleased with Sir Harbottle's conduct,
who, upon his return to Parliament, pressed the acceptance of the King's
concessions1.

When the King was brought to his trial, the persons in power had such

' U'hitelock, p. 56. d ibid. 59. c Ibid. ^S^. f Ibid. 308, 9, 10. s Wood's

History, by Gutch. ;' Burnet. ' liurnet's HisL of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 44. Ed. folio.

60S SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. book iv.

apprehensions of Sir Harbottle's duty to his Majesty, and his interest with
the army and people, that they put him under confinement, and did not
release him till after the King's death. An order for his discharge was
signed by Fairfax, on the 30th of January, which states that he had en-
gaged himself not to act, or to do any thing to the disservice of the Parlia-
ment or armyk. He afterwards resigned the Recordership of Colchester,
on the 6th of July, 1649, and went abroad for some time with his son for
his education1.

A man of Grimston's sound principles was not likely to be a friend to
Cromwell, and he joined in a strong opposition to him and the Indepen-
dents. During the disputes which began to take place between the Par-
liament and the army, at a meeting of the officers, it was proposed, " to
" purge the army." Upon which Cromwell said, " he was sure of the
" army; but there was another body that had more need of purging,
" name///, the House of Commons, and he thought the army only could do
" that." Grimston reported these speeches of Cromwell to the House of
Commons, and introduced the business by a speech, in which he stated,
that " he had a matter of privilege of the highest sort to lay before them,
" which concerned the very being and freedom of the House." He then
charged Cromwell with the design of putting force upon the House, and
proved the words which he had used by witnesses. Cromwell fell down
upon his knees, and made a solemn prayer to God, attesting his innocence,
and his known zeal for the Parliament, and submitted himself to the pro-
vidence of God for his protection. This prayer was uttered with great
vehemence, and was accompanied with many tears ; and he so confused
and wearied out the members by a very long speech, in which he endea-
voured to persuade them that the witnesses were not to be believed, that
nothing farther was done in it™. But he soon afterwards proved the truth
of the charge, by his forcible dissolution of the Parliament.

When Cromwell summoned a Parliament in 16j6, according to his new
model of representation, Grimston was elected as one of the sixteen mem-
bers for the county of Essex. He was not however permitted to sit in the
House, being in the number of those who were rejected by the council, for

" Archdall's Peerage of Ireland, in seven vols. 8vo. 1789- vol. v. p. JJ)3. ' Biog.

Brit, note F. "' Burnet.

ch. vi. sec. ii. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 609

refusing to recognize the Protector's government, or for being otherwise
obnoxious to him. Upon which he joined in the strong and severe remon-
strance which was published by the excluded members, against the
oppression and tyranny of Cromwell, and by which they protested
against the present assembly as not being the representative body of
England. But this remonstrance was not attended to by the Protector,
his Council, or the Parliament". After being thus excluded from the
House of Commons, he was principally employed in following the
practice of the law. As he was known to be a well wisher to the ancient
government of England, he united himself with those who prepared the
way for the King's restoration. In February 1660, he was appointed one
of the Council of State, in which the principal power was vested by the
old Parliament, before its dissolution. Upon the meeting of the new Par-
liament, he was chosen Speaker ; an high honour, to be appointed to pre-
side in an assembly, which was about to perform such signal services to
the country, as the abolition of tyranny and anarchy, and the restitution of
lawful government! Upon the 11th of May he sailed to Holland, to
wait upon the King, at Breda, with Sir John Granville, who had been
the chief organ of communication between the King, General Monk, the
army, and the Parliament0.

After the Restoration, he was much in favour with the King, and had
the honour of entertaining him, on the 25th of June, in 1660, at his house
in Lincoln's-Inn Fields. Upon presenting the money bill to his Majesty,
on the 13th of September, he made an elegant and loyal speech p. He was
in the commission of Oyer and Terminer for the trial of the Judges of
Charles the First, who sat at Hicks's Hall, 9th of October, 1660. Upon
the 3d of November the same year, without any solicitation, he was made
Master of the Rolls, an office which he held above twenty-three years, till
his death. The same year he was appointed Chief Steward of Saint Al-
ban's, and Recorder of Harwich, and from the Restoration till his death,
he continued to be one of the Representatives in Parliament for the
borough of Colchester'1.

He published, as I have before mentioned, the Reports of his father-in-

n Whitelocke, p. 640. c Burnet. p Biograph. Britan. sub nomine. n Biog.

Brit.

4 I

610 SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. book vi.

law, Sir George Croke, who had left them to him, with his study of books
at Serjeant's Inn. He has prefixed long prefaces to each of the volumes,
in which he has given an account of the Judge and his family. Several of
his speeches have been preserved in Rushworth, and other contemporary
collectors.

Sir Harbottle's second wife was Anne, daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon,
niece to the great Lord Bacon, and widow of Sir Thomas Meautys.
Of Henry Meautys, elder brother of Sir Thomas, he purchased the
house and manor of Gorhambury. It had belonged to the monastery
of Saint Alban's, and, at the dissolution, was granted to Ralph
Rowlatt, Esquire, whose son conveyed it to Sir Nicholas Bacon. His
eldest son Anthony Bacon, left it to his brother, the great Lord Bacon,
who gave it, after his death, to Sir Thomas Meautys, one of the Clerks
of the Privy Council, and his private secretary, and confidential friend. Sir
Thomas Meautys's only daughter Jane dying without issue, it became the
property of her uncle Henry Meautys. There was another connexion
between the families, for Sir Nathaniel Bacon married Jane, the daughter
of Hercules Meautys, Sir Thomas's great uncle r. Lord Bacon had built
a small house within the bounds of the old city of Verulam, and about a
mile from Gorhambury, called Verulam House, at an expence of nine or
ten thousand pounds : which was most ingeniously contrived, his Lordship
being the chief architect. It was sold about 1665 or 1666, by Sir
Harbottle Grimston, to two carpenters, for £400, of which they made ,£"800.
Gorhambury House was built by Sir Nicholas Bacon. There is extant a
particular and very curious description of both these houses8.

Sir Henry Chauncy gives this character of Sir Harbottle Grimston,
" He had a nimble fancy, a quick apprehension, a rare memory, an eloquent
tongue, and a sound judgment. He was a person of free access, sociable
in company, sincere to his friends, hospitable in his house, charitable to the
poor, and an excellent master to his servants1."

The celebrated Bishop Burnet lived many years under his protection, as

' From the deeds in the possession of Lord Verulam. Clutterbuck's History of Hert-
fordshire, vol. i. Ed. 1815.

' Letters in the Bodleian Library, vol. ii. page 228. ' Hist, and Antiq. of Hertford-

shire, p. 4,65.

ch. vi. sec. ii. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 611

Preacher at the Rolls Chapel. He was a kind patron to him, and greatly
assisted and encouraged him in writing the History of the Reformation".
When King Charles the Second was offended with Burnet, about his con-
duct in the affair of the Duke of Lauderdale, and sent Secretary
Williamson to Sir Harbottle, to desire him to dismiss him, he excused
himself, and said " that he was an old man, fitting himself for another world,
" and he found his ministry useful to him." Burnet was grateful for these
acts of kindness, and says in his History of his Own Times, " Since I was
" so long happy in so quiet a retreat, it seems but a just piece of gratitude
" that I should give some account of that venerable old man." After
stating some particulars of his life, which we have already related, Burnet
adds, " His principle was, that allegiance and protection were mutual ob-
ligations ; and that the one went for the other. He thought the law was a
measure of both ; and that when a legal protection was denied to one that
paid a legal allegiance, the subject had a right to defend himself. He was
much troubled when preachers asserted a divine right of regal government.
He thought it had no other effect but to give an ill impression of them as
aspiring men ; nobody was convinced by it ; it inclined their hearers
rather to suspect all they said besides ; it looked like the sacrificing their
country to their own preferment ; and an encouragement of princes to turn
tyrants. Yet he was always looked at, as one who wished well to the
ancient government of England.

" He was a just Judge ; very slow, and ready to hear every thing that
was offered, without passion or partiality. I thought his only fault was,
that he was too rich ; and yet he gave yearly great sums in charity, dis-
charging many prisoners by paying their debts. He was a very pious and
devout man, and spent every day at least an hour in the morning, and as
much at night, in prayer and meditation. And even in winter, when he
was obliged to be very early on the bench, he took care to rise so soon,
that he had always the command of that time, which he gave to those ex-
ercises. He was much sharpened against popery, but had always a
tenderness to the dissenters, though he himself continued always in the
Communion of the Church.

" His second wife, whom I knew, was niece to the great Sir Francis

" Preface to that History.
4i 2

612 SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. book iv.

Bacon. She had all the high notions for the Church and the Crown, in
which she had been bred ; but was the humblest, the devoutest, and best
tempered person I ever knew of that sort. It was really a pleasure to hear
her talk of religion ; she did it with so much elevation and force. She was
always very plain in her clothes, and went often to jails, to consider the
wants of the prisoners, and relieve or discharge them, and, by the mean-
ness of her dress, she passed but for a servant trusted with the charities of
others. When she was travelling in the country, as she drew near a
village, she often ordered her coach to stay behind, till she had walked
about it, giving orders for the instruction of the children, and leaving libe-
rally for that end*.

" In KiS4, old Sir Harbottle Grimston lived still to the great indignation
of the Court, on account of his known dislike to the Roman Catholic
religion. When the 5th of November came, Burnet begged him to excuse
his preaching at the Rolls, ' for that day led one to preach against popery,
and it was indecent not to do it.' Sir Harbottle said, 'he would end his
life as he had led it all along, in an open detestation of popery.' Burnet,
thus compelled to preach, did it effectually, and chose for his text, ' Save
me from the lion's mouth, thou hast heard me from the horns of the uni-
corn,' which was interpreted by the court, perhaps not unjustly, as levelled
against the King's coat of arms and his conduct. This occasioned much
anger, and the King wrote to Sir Harbottle to dismiss him from being
Preacher at the Rolls, as a disaffected person. He was obliged to com-
ply, and Burnet travelled abroad. Sir Harbottle died soon after, nature sank
all at once, and he departed, as he had lived, with great piety and resignation
to the will of God!-."

He was well read in the ancient Fathers of the Church, and wrote in
Latin, for the use of his son, a small manual, containing the duty of a
Christian. He also left in manuscript, a journal of the several debates in
the treaty with Charles the First in the Isle of Wight2.

He died on the 31st of December, 16S3, being near ninety years of age,
and was buried at Saint Michael's church, at Saint Alban's. By his first

" Burnet's History of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 382. folio edition. » Burnet, page 596.

'- Archdall's Irish Peerage, vol. v. page 194. note. He seems to have varied in the spell-
ing of his Christian name. In the two first volumes of Sir George Croke's reports, it is
printed Harebotle, but in the last volume, Harbottle, as it is now written by the family.

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ch.vi.sec.i. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 613

lady, the daughter of Sir George Croke, he had six sons, five of whom
died before him, and three daughters*. By his second wife Anne he had
no children. He was succeeded in his title and estates by his son
Samuel, who married, first, Lady Elizabeth Finch, daughter of Heneage
Finch, Earl of Nottingham, and Lord Chancellor; by whom he had
only one daughter named Elizabeth, and who married William, Marquis
of Halifax. Sir Samuel Grimston's second wife was Lady Anne Tufton,
daughter of the Earl of Thanet, by whom he left one daughter only.

Of Sir Harbottle Grimston's daughters, Mary, who was christened at
Waterstock, 5th of October, 1632, was married to Sir Chapel Luckyn, of
Messing Hall in Essex, whose grandson William Luckyn, was the adopted
heir of Sir Samuel Grimston, took the name of Grimston, and, in 1719?
was created Baron of Dunboyne, and Viscount Grimston, of the kingdom
of Ireland. His grandson, James Bucknell Grimston, was created Baron
Verulam in England, in 1790. His son, the present peer, James Walter
Grimston, succeeded to the title of Baron Forester, in Scotland, upon the
death of Anna Maria, the last Baroness, in 180S, and in 1815, was created
Viscount Grimston, and Earl of Verulam, in England. He was born the
26th of September, 1775, and married Lady Charlotte Jenkinson, daugh-
ter of Charles, the first Earl of Liverpool \

The arms of Grimston are, Argent, on a fesse, sable, three mullets of six
points, pierced, or ; and in the dexter chief, an ermine spot. Crest, on a
wreath, a stag's head, couped, proper, attired, or.

At Gorhambury, are portraits of Sir Harbottle Grimston, one at full
length, and another in his robes, as Master of the Rolls0.

' Sir George Croke, in his will, dated 20th November, 1640, leaves one hundred pounds
each to George, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Thomas, the children of his son-in-law Har-
bottle Grimston, Esquire, and his daughter Mary. The other sons must have been born
afterwards.

" Archdall's Peerage of Ireland, and all the peerages.

c Many of his speeches and some letters are extant in the histories and collections of the
times. Whitelocke's Memorials, Clarendon, Rushworth, Thurloe, Nelson, Rennet. &c. &c.
See the Genealogy of Grimston, No. 3 1 .

614 THOMAS LEE, ESQUIRE.

SECTION THE THIRD.

ELIZABETH, the second daughter of Sir George Croke, had two hus-
bands, Thomas Lee, Esquire, and Sir Richard Ingoldsby.

To the first she was married at Waterstock, on the 30th of September,
1633\ This was Thomas Lee, Esquire, of Hartwell, in Bucking-
hamshire, the ancestor of the present Baronet of that name and place, and
who was descended from an ancient family, which was supposed to be a
younger branch of the Leghs, or Leighs, of Cheshire, derived from the Ve-
nables. They settled in Buckinghamshire about the beginning of the
reign of Henry the Fourth. Their original seats appear to have been at
East Claydon and Morton, in that county ; where we find William Lee,
Esquire, who died in 14S6. By the marriage of his descendant, Sir
Thomas Lee, Knight, with Eleanor, the daughter of Michael Hampden,
Esquire, of Hartwell, they acquired that estate, and made it their principal
residence. Sir Thomas and Eleanor had twenty-four children, and Tho-
mas, their eldest son, married Jane, the daughter of Sir George Throck-
morton, of Fulbrook, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he was the father of
Thomas Lee, Esquire, the husband of Elizabeth Croke b.

Thomas Lee and Elizabeth Croke had three sons and a daughter,
Thomas, William, George, and Mary. William is not mentioned in Sir
George Croke's will, and was perhaps then dead. Mary married Sir
William Morly, of Barecourt, Knight. The name of their son Thomas
occurs occasionally in the annals of the times. Though probably, from
his Buckinghamshire connections, he took part with the Parliament, he
was a promoter of the King's restoration. On the 23d of December,
16-59, with his father-in-law Colonel Ingoldsby, and Colonel Howard, he
waited upon Lord Chancellor Whitelocke, to persuade him to go over to the
King with the Great Sealc. Upon the King's restoration he was created a

' Waterstock Register. ^ Collins's Baronetage, vol. iii. p. 149. ed. 1741.

c Whitelocke's Memor. p. 6^2. The name of Colonel Lee occurs several times in those
memorials ; I suppose the same person.

No. 32.

GENEALOGY OF LEE OF HARTWELL.

William Lee, of Morton, Esq. in Bucks, died I486.
John Lee.

Thomas Lee, of East Claydon,
and Morton, in Bucks.

Yates.

William.

is
George.

Sir Thomas Lee, Knight.

Twenty-four children.

Thomas Lee, Esq. eldest son,
possessed Morton and Hart-
well, High Sheriff of Bucks,
4 Car. I.

Thomas Lee, Esquire,
first husband.

Eleanor, daugh. of
Michael Hampden,
of Hartwell.

Jane, daugh. of Sir
George Throckmorton,
of Fulbrook, Bucks.

Elizabeth, 3d daugh. z
of Sir George Croke.

Sir Richard Ingoldsby,
second husband.

Thomas, =
created Baronet
12 Car. II.
died l6gi.

- Anne, da. and heir
of Sir John Davies,
of Panghorne, Berks,
died 1708.

Mary.

Sir William Morly,
of Barecourt, Knt.

[2 |s

John, Lyonel.

a Captain.

Sir Thomas
Lee, Bart,
died 1702.

Alice, da. and heir
of R. Hopkins, of
London, Merchant.

I I I
Mary.
Frances.
Jane.

I
Anne, martied

1. R. Winkworth,
of Maudlins, in
Ireland.

2. Capt. Nashack.

Martha,
married
— Pad-
more,
Esquire.

Elizabeth,
married
Colonel

R. Beek.

Elizabeth, =r Sir Thomas Lee, Bart.

dau. and
heir of
- Sandys,

Member for Bucks.

Sir William Lee, Knt
Chief Justice, married
l.adau. of Mr. Good-
win, of Bury in Suf-
folk, and had one son.
2. Mrs. Melmoth, relict
of — Melmoth, a mer-
chant, da. of — Drake,
a merchant.

Samuel.

John,
a Colonel in
the Guards,
married a da.
of Sir Thomas
Hardy.

Sir George Lee,
LL.D.

Thomas,

died young,

1740.

I
Sir William Lee. = Lady Elizabeth Harcourt,
I da. of Simon Earl Harcourt.

Sir William Lee,
died unmarried.

I
The Rev. Sir George Lee.

ch. vi. sec. in. THOMAS LEE, ESQUIRE. 615

Baronet, and died in 1691. His lady was Anne, the daughter and heir of
Sir John Davies, of Pangbourne in Berkshire, by whom he had a son of
his own name, who was singularly fortunate in his children, whom he had
by Alice, daughter of Richard Hopkins, Esquire, a merchant in London.
Besides his eldest son, who was likewise another Sir Thomas, and repre-
sented his county in Parliament, two of his other sons had the merit and
good fortune to arrive at the summit of their respective professions'1.

William, the second son, was bred to the common law, and became
Lord Chief Justice of England. His younger brother, George, was an
advocate in the Civil Law Courts, where his integrity and abilities pro-
moted him to the situation of Dean of the Arches, and Judge of the
Prerogative Court, when he was knighted, and made one of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, and a Privy Counsellor. But his talents
were not confined to his profession : he was an active Member of Parlia-
ment, and joined the party of the Prince of Wales in opposition to Sir
Robert Walpole. He was much in the confidence of the Prince, and
afterwards of the Princess Dowager, of Wales. His answer to the
Prussian Memorial was considered as a master-piece in the science of the
Law of Nations"; and his decisions in Prize Causes in the Court of Ap-
peals established his fame in every state in Europe f.

The last Sir Thomas Lee, brother to the two Judges, having lost his
eldest son, Thomas, at eighteen years of age, was succeeded by his youngest
son, Sir William Lee. This gentleman married Lady Elizabeth Harcourt,
daughter of Simon Earl Harcourt ; one of the most accomplished noble-
men of his time, Preceptor to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the
Third, and Ambassador to the Court of France. Lady Elizabeth survived
her husband several years : and their eldest son, Sir William Lee, having
died without issue, the present Baronet is the Reverend Sir George Lee.

The arms of Lee are, azure, two bars, or. Over all a bend, counter-
compony, of the second and gules. The crest, a bear, passant, sable,
muzzled, collared, and chained argent s.

6 Collins's Baronet, vol. iii. p. 149. Brown Willis's MSS. vol. 19-
e Montesquieu, Lettre XLV. Nous lisons ici la r£ponse du roi d'Angleterre au roi de
Prusse, et elle passe dans ce pays-ci pour une re"ponse sans replique.

f Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. iii. p. 70. s See the Genealogy of Lee, No. 32.

SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY.

SECTION THE FOURTH.

THE second husband of Elizabeth Croke was Sir Richard
Ingoldsby, Knight of die Bath. Amongst the sons-in-law of Sir
George Croke, we have hitherto seen only lawyers or private gentlemen.
We have now to present the reader with a soldier, of no small reputation
in those military times.

Sir Richard Ingoldsby was the second son of Sir Richard Ingoldsby, of
Lenthenborough in Buckinghamshire, Knight, by Elizabeth his wife, the
daughter of Sir Oliver Cromwell, of Hinchinbrook in Huntingdonshire ;
and consequently, he was cousin to the Protector. The Ingoldsby
family was originally of Lincolnshire. Sir Roger de Hyngoldyeby held
in Foulbeck, Hetham, Westby, and Heryerby, three knights' fees,
rendering yearly for Castle Ward thirty shillings, about 1230a. They
removed to Lenthenborough in Buckinghamshire, in the reign of Henry
VI. of which Ralph and John Ingoldsby were the joint purchasers.
Ralph had a commission in 1448, to provide ships for the defence
of Aquitaine, and John, in 1468, was appointed a Baron of the Ex-
chequer6. Sir Richard Ingoldsby's eldest son, Francis Ingoldsby, by his
extravagance, dissipated his fortune, sold Lenthenborough, and became
a Pensioner in the Charter House. The second son was Sir Richard
Ingoldsby, who married Elizabeth Croke.

He was educated in the public school at Thame, and by the persuasions
of his parents, entered early into the Parliament army. He was soon
made a Captain in Colonel John Hambden's regiment, in which he fought
against the King, and, in a short time, by the interest of Cromwell, he was
promoted to a regiment of horse. Colonel Ingoldsby was a man of great

" Dns Rogerus de Hyngoldyeby tenet in Foulbeck, Hetham, Westby, et Herierby, tria
feoda militis redd', pro Ward Castri xxx*. Blount's Fragmenta Antiquitatis, page 456.
Beckwith's ed. 4to. 1815.

b Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 181.

ch. vi. sec. iv. SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. 617

personal strength, and undaunted bravery. In an age of enthusiasm and
hypocrisy, he escaped the general contagion ; and without aspiring to the
character of a saint, he retained the honest frankness of a soldier, and the
pleasant and sociable manners of a gentleman. Although he was so unlike
those with whom he associated, and was known to be no enemy to
monarchy, he was highly esteemed by the republican party, and was much
in the confidence of Cromwell0.

A man of such a character, and so nearly related to Cromwell, was of
course engaged in all the principal transactions of the time. He was
elected a Member of the Long Parliament in 1640. In 1644, his name
appears in the list of officers of Sir Thomas Fairfax's army, which was
voted by the Lords and Commons, as Ingoldsby, Colonel of Footrt. In
that year he was obliged to surrender himself to the King's officers, but
regained his liberty6. In 1645, he attacked the King's troops near Taun-
ton, with considerable slaughter', and was employed in the siege of Pen-
dennis castle, where it was reported he was shot in reconnoitrings.
After the surrender of Oxford to the Parliament, 24th June, 1646,
Colonel Ingoldsby was appointed Governor of the garrison. Though no
place had been more loyal before the surrender, afterwards it became of all
others the most remarkable for sectarianism and sedition.

It was resolved by the Parliament to reform the University, and to bring
the members to a conformity with the prevailing opinions. Six commis-
sioners were sent down, to prepare the way for a general reformation. At
the head of these was the celebrated Doctor Cheynell. They were of the
Presbyterian faction, and preached, and disputed indefatigably, to remove
the scruples of weak-minded brethren. They met with great opposi-
tion from the army there stationed ; which consisted of Seekers, Ana-
baptists, Independents, and gifted men of every denomination ; who
maintained the perfect equality of all Christians, and abhorred the doc-
trines and the regular establishment of ministers, in the Presbyterian
assemblies. Conferences and disputations were frequently held between
the leaders of the different sects. Amongst these, one William Earby, a

c Wood's Ath. Ox. ii. col. 757. d Whitelocke, p. 132. e Noble's Memoirs of

Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 186. ' Whitelocke, p. 144. e Ibid. p. 204.

4 K

618 SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. book iv.

soldier and an eminent preacher, publicly maintained, that " the fulness
" of the Godhead dwelt in the saints in the same manner, though not in
" the same manifestation, as it doth in Christ, and that they would have
" the same worship, honour, throne, and glory, that Christ hath, and a
" more glorious power to do greater works than ever he did before his
" ascension." He had many followers in this extraordinary doctrine, till
Colonel Ingoldsby, his commander, cashiered and discharged him for his
abominable blasphemy h.

Upon the resolutions of the House of Commons, for disbanding the
army, in 1647, and the discontents of the military upon it, after the result
of Fairfax's Council of War was communicated to the House, the money
sent for disbanding Colonel Ingoldsby's regiment was recalled. Three
thousand pounds of this money were stopped by some of Colonel Rains-
borough's men'. After the King was taken prisoner, there was a petition
to the General, in October, 1648, from Colonel Ingoldsby's regiment,
" for justice to be done upon the principal invaders of their liberties, namely,
" the King and his party." It does not appear that Ingoldsby himself
concurred in it, as the soldiers at that time were deliberative bodies, inde-
pendent of their officers14.

Though he was appointed one of the King's Judges, he never sat in the
court, always abhorring the action in his heart, and having no other interest
in the national disputes than his personal affection for Cromwell. The
day after the sentence was pronounced, he had occasion to speak with an
officer, who, he was told, was in the Painted Chamber ; when he came
thither, he found Cromwell, and the rest of the Judges, who were
assembled to sign the warrant for the King's death. As soon as Cromwell
saw him, he ran up to him, and, taking him by the hand, drew him by force
to the table ; and said, " though he had escaped him all the while before,
" he should now sign that paper as well as they." Which he, perceiving
what it was, refused with great passion, saying, " he knew nothing of the
" business," and offered to go away. But Cromwell and others held
him by violence, and Cromwell, with a loud laughter, taking his hand in
his, and putting the pen between his fingers, with his own hand writ.

" Wood's Hist. ' Whitelocke, p. 2 53. k Ibid. 341.

ch. vi. sec. iv. SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. 619

Richard Ingoldsby, he making all the resistance he could ; and he after-
wards said, " if his name there were compared with what he had ever
" writ himself, it could never be looked upon as his own hand1."

After the University had been reformed, and regenerated, by the Par-
liamentary Visitors, Fairfax, Cromwell, and a large party, were invited
there to the Commemoration, in May 1649, and were received with
great honours. Degrees were given to most of them, and that of
Master of Arts was conferred upon Ingoldsby. Amongst the ejected
members of the University, Whitehall, who had been expelled from
Christ Church, by cringing and flattery to Ingoldsby, was made Fellow of
Mertonm.

In September of that year, a formidable mutiny broke out at Oxford,
amongst the Levellers. They published a representation to the army and
nation, declaring their intention of " freeing them from the excise, which
" eats into the bones of poor people, from cut-throat tithes, lawyers, and
" law Latin." They imprisoned their officers, set guards, fortified New
College, and committed many acts of hostility. The mutineers ex-
pected to have been joined by great numbers, and even the whole army.
Before they could increase to any very considerable party, by the care of
Ingoldsby the governor, and the other officers, they were dispersed,
some of them were tried by a court martial, and two were shot, others
disbanded and otherwise punished. Some of them, who belonged to In-
goldsby's regiment, were .pardoned at his request. The University was
greatly alarmed, and, after tranquillity was restored, it was voted, that
" calling into consideration that special service which divers officers of war
" had effected in quieting the tumultuous soldiers in the garrison, a civil
" visit and thankfulness should be tendered to them by the Vice-Chan-
" cellor, Proctors, and Heads of Houses, and that Major General Lam-
" bert and Colonel Ingoldsby should be presented severally with gloves,
" in the name of the University." And thanks were voted by the House
of Commons to them for their services therein".

In 1650 he was sent by the Parliament into Ireland with General Lud-
low. Here he was particularly distinguished. In the same year, with

' Nakon's Trial of King Charles. Clarendon, Hist. vol. iii. p. 1011. Ed. 1819. "'Wood's
Ath. Ox. » Wood, by Gutch, p. 626. Whitelocke, pages 408, 409, 410, 411.

4 K 2

620 SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. book iv.

three troops of horse, he charged 3000 horse and foot of the Irish, near
Limerick, under Colonel Grace, and totally routed them0. In 1651,
finding about two hundred horse grazing near the city of Limerick, he fol-
lowed them to the gates, where those that escaped the sword, the Shannon
devoured. The enemy lost about an hundred men, a hundred and fifty
arms, and a thousand cows, oxen, and sheep". In July, 1651, Cromwell
sent Ingoldsby's regiment to General Lambert, who were in Scotland'1.
In the year 1651, he purchased the estate at Waldridge, in the parish
of Dinton in Buckinghamshire, which then became the seat of the family.
In 1652, the Irish burnt Portumny town, and Colonel Ingoldsby relieved
them, routed their horse, and surrounded their foot in a bogr.

In the year 1653, when Cromwell was determined to humble the Par-
liament, he called a council of officers at Whitehall to determine respect-
ing the settlement of the country, and putting a period to that assembly.
Hopes were entertained that they would dissolve themselves, but Colonel
Ingoldsby came back to Cromwell, and told him that, the House was en-
gaged in debate of an act which would occasion other meetings, and pro-
long the session. Upon which Cromwell was so enraged, that with
a party of soldiers he marched to the House, ordered the mace to
be taken away, turned out the members, and locked the door. Thus,
by one bold measure, he destroyed the celebrated Parliament which had
murdered the King, and governed the nation for so many years, and put
an end to the Republic'. He was now declared Protector, and a Council
of State was appointed, by the fundamental instrument of government.
Of this Council, Ingoldsby was nominated, and was afterwards summoned
by writ to sit in the Upper House, or House of Peers, upon its erection
in 1657.

Anthony Wood informs us, that about this time, Cromwell committed
him to the Tower, for a short time, for beating at Whitehall a person,
whom he calls " the honest innkeeper of Aylesbury." This I suppose was
one of Ingoldsby's lively sallies, in which his zeal had the upper hand of
his discretion'. In 1654, he was one of the Commissioners for " eject-

" Whitelocke, p. 450. Ludlow, vol. i. p. 359- l> Whitelocke, June 20th, 1651.

1 Whitelocke, July 28th, 10*51. r Whitelocke, p. 513. s Whitelocke, page 52!).

Fast. Oxon. ii. col 758.

ch. vi. sec. iv. SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. 621

" ing scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient schoolmasters" for the county
of Buckingham".

After the death of Oliver Cromwell, he continued to be faithfully attached
to his son Richard, when he was ungratefully betrayed, and deserted, by
his own relations, and by those who owed their elevation to his family.
Richard was not insensible of his merit. When an officer was brought
before him for murmuring at the promotion of some persons who were
known to have been cavaliers, he asked him, " Whether he would have
" him prefer none but those that were godly ? Here, continued he, is
" Dick Ingoldsby, who can neither pray, nor preach, and yet I will trust
" him before ye all." And Henry Cromwell, the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, always spoke of him by the familiar, but affectionate appellation
of " honest Ingoldsby x." In 1659, he was one of the Commissioners of the
Militia for Bucks.

Yet however well disposed himself, he was not always properly se-
conded by the soldiers under his command. When Lieutenant General
Fleetwood, in opposition to the new Protector, had assembled his officers
at Saint James's, and had appointed a general meeting of the army
there, Richard ordered a counter-rendezvous at the same time at White-
hall. Most of the officers and soldiers repaired to the General :
amongst others, three troops of Colonel Ingoldsby's horse marched also
to Saint James's, with part of two more; so that he had only one entire
troop of his regiment to stand by him. Even many of Richard's own
guards deserted him, and he was left almost unprotected y. In this
distress of Richard, amongst contending and virulent parties, and whilst
he was wavering between contradictory proposals, Ingoldsby was one
of those real friends who suggested the most prudent line of conduct
for him to adopt, if he had been of a capacity to embrace their counsels,
and of sufficient courage to have executed them. They persuaded him
" to adhere to the Parliament, to reject the demands of the army, and to
" punish their presumption." Ingoldsby, Whaley, and Goffe, declared
their resolution to stand by him, and one of them, probably Ingoldsby,
offered to kill Lambert, whom they looked upon as the author of the con-

" The Commission. * Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 171- Ed. Edin. 1751.

low, ii. p. 176.

622 SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. bookiv.

spiracy against him, if he would give him a warrant for that purpose.
Richard rejected their advice, dissolved the Parliament, and was de-
posed2.

When the Council of Officers had thus freed themselves from the su-
perior authority of a Protector, they knew that they could not long hold
the government in their own hands, if they did not immediately remove
Ingoldsby, Whaley, Goffe, and the other officers who had dissuaded
Richard from submitting to their advice, from their command in the army,
as they had great interest there. They were accordingly removed, and
were replaced by Lambert, and the other officers who had been cashiered
by Oliver*.

The Cromwell family having now totally fallen from all its power and
honours, Colonel Ingoldsby, who had no republican principles, readily
concurred with the party which accomplished the restoration of the mo-
narchy. Before the arrival of Monk in London, on the 23d of December,
1659, with his son-in-law, Mr. Lee, and Colonel Howard, he waited upon
Whitelocke, the Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, and discoursing with
him upon the probability of their success, proposed that he should go over
to the King with the Great Seal. Whitelocke would not consent to their
overtures b.

After Monk was appointed General of the Forces, he gave Colonel
Rich's regiment to Ingoldsby. Before the order could be put in exe-
cution, Rich, hoping to prevail with his men, as he had formerly done, to
declare for the republicans, went down to their quarters. Upon his arrival
most of them promised to remain faithful to him; but when Colonel In-
goldsby came down, as he had great personal interest amongst them from
their having been under his command in the time of Cromwell, he pre-
vailed with the greatest part of them to desert Rich ; who, finding himself
abandoned, yielded the rest of the men to him, and declared his resolution
to acquiesce0. Rich was afterwards committed to prison by the Council
of State, for persuading his soldiers to obey the Parliament, and to stand
against Charles Stuart*.

On the 25th of February, 1660, he was sent by Monk with forces to

' Clarendon, iii. p. 876. a Clarendon, iii. p. 877- b Whitelocke's Memorials,

p. 692. b. c Ludlow, ii. p. 356. J Whitelocke, p. 699. b.

ch. vi. sec. iv. SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. 623

quiet the regiment at Burye, and he was appointed a member of the Coun-
cil of Statef. He surprised likewise the Castle of Windsor, where there
was a great magazine of arms and ammunition, and displaced the Governor
who had been appointed by the Rump Parliaments.

At this critical time a most important service was performed by In-
goldsby. Whilst the great business of the Restoration was in a state of
trembling uncertainty, an event happened which had nearly destroyed the
King's hopes, defeated all the prudent designs of Monk, and was near
again plunging the nation into all the miseries of civil war. The near
prospect of the changes which were expected to take place had filled the
republican party with the most gloomy apprehensions, and their ruin and
destruction appeared to be inevitable. The greater part of the army, and
even many of the soldiers who were under General Monk, had been in-
flamed, by artful agents, with a sense of their own desperate condition.
Whilst they were in this state of mind, and wanted only a proper oppor-
tunity, and a leader of vigour and capacity, to break out in great strength,
General Lambert, a man of the greatest enterprize, and military skill, and
highly popular with the army, made his escape from the Tower, where he
had been for some time confined by the Parliament. Monk, and the
Council of State, were in the greatest agony. Officers were sent by Lam-
bert to the soldiers who were dispersed in different parts of the kingdom,
and were all expected to join him; on the other hand, no small danger was
apprehended from assembling troops to oppose him in their present state
of jealousy and dissatisfaction.

With great expedition, Lambert drew together four troops, and appeared
in arms near Daventry, waiting for the other parts of the army. General
Monk, upon the first intimation of his proceedings, appointed Colonel
Ingoldsby to attend and watch all his motions with his own regiment
of horse: a service in which he very willingly engaged, from his enmity
to Lambert, on account of his malice to Oliver and Richard, and an
affront which he had himself received from him : and his own regiment
was the more faithful to him, for having been before seduced by Lam-
bert to desert from him. Ingoldsby, being joined with a good body
of foot, under Colonel Streater, used so much diligence in waiting upon

' Whitelocke, p. 698. f Wood, Fast. Ox. ubi supra. « Clarendon, iii. p. 1011.

624 SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. book iv.

Lambert's motions, before he was suspected to be so near, that Haslerig,
son of Sir Arthur, one of his four captains, was taken prisoner. Hasle-
rig told them that he was dissatisfied with Lambert's design, and had
quitted him, and hoped to be set at liberty. But Ingoldsby informed
him, that unless he would bring off his troop also from Lambert, his
deserting them should be of no advantage to him. He promised to use
his best endeavours, and was permitted to return, and soon afterwards he
brought over his troop to Ingoldsby \ From the information thus ob-
tained, Ingoldsby marched hastily, and came in sight, before it was known
that he was in pursuit of his enemy. Lambert, surprised at this disco-
very, disheartened by the desertion of one of his troops, and the supe-
riority of the enemy, and probably wishing to gain time, offered a parley,
which was agreed to. Lambert proposed that Richard should be re-
stored to the Protectorship, and promised to unite all his credit to the
support of that interest. But Ingoldsby, sensible of the folly and impos-
sibility of that undertaking, and having devoted himself to a better cause,
rejected his overture, and told him, that he himself was one of those who
pulled down Richard, and now would set him up again; and that they
had no commission to dispute, but to reduce him and his party'. Both
parties prepared for engaging, but another of Lambert's troops forsaking
him, his courage failed him, and no fighting took place; except that one
of the troopers fired a pistol at Ingoldsby. Lambert, concluding that his
safety depended upon his flight, endeavoured to escape by the swiftness of
his horse. Ingoldsby, keeping his eye still upon him, and being as
well mounted, overtook him, and made him prisoner with his own hand,
after he had in vain used great and much importunity to him, that he
would permit him to escape. Some officers of the greatest interest with
the fanatical part of the army, and whose designs were most apprehended
by Monk, were taken with him. This capture took place on the 23d of
April, 1660. Upon their return, they found the roads full of soldiers,
marching to join Lambert, and, if their plans had not been crushed at that
very instant, they would have become in a few days a very formidable
powerk. Ingoldsby first brought his prisoners to Northampton. It was

L Ludlow. ' Whitelocke, 701. k Clarendon, iii. p. 962. Whitelocke, p. 701. a.

Ludlow, ii. 376.

ch. vi. sec. iv. SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. 625

here that Lambert, as Ingoldsby told Burnet, entertained him with a pleasant
reflexion for all his misfortunes. The people were in great crowds applaud-
ing, and rejoicing for the success. Upon which Lambert put Ingoldsby in
mind of what Cromwell had said to them both, near that very place, in
1650, when, with a body of officers, they were going down after their army
that was marching into Scotland, the people all the while shouting, and
wishing them success. Lambert upon that said to Cromwell, he was
glad to see they had the nation on their side. Cromwell answered, " Do
" not trust to that; for those very persons would shout as much if you
" and I were going to be hanged." Lambert said, " he looked on him-
" self as in a fair way to that, and began to think Cromwell prophe-
" sied1."

Ingoldsby returned to London, and brought his prisoners to the Privy
Council, who committed them to the Tower, and other prisons. By this
seasonable victory, all apprehensions from the discontent of the army
were removed, and the business of the Restoration proceeded, without
further interruption, with moderation and firmnessm. From this time the
King's party, who had hitherto sheltered themselves in obscurity, appeared
publicly, and avowed themselves. And, through Mr. Mordaunt, who
was known to be entirely in the King's confidence, Ingoldsby, with
many of the Council, and officers of the army, made direct tenders of their
services to Charles". On the 26th of April, 1660, the House of Com-
mons ordered a day of Thanksgiving, " for raising up Monk, and other
" instruments, in delivery of the nation from thraldom and misery." And
thanks were voted to Monk, for his eminent and unparalleled services, and
to Ingoldsby0.

The King would admit of no applications from any of his father's
Judges, or hearken to any propositions on their behalf. To this, Ingoldsby
formed an exception. From the deposal of Richard, he had declared that
he would serve the King, and told Mr. Mordaunt, " that he would per-
" form all the services he could, without making any conditions; and
" would be well content, that his Majesty, when he came home, should
" take off his head, if he thought fit; only he desired that the King might

'Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 85. Ed. folio, 1724. m Clarendon.

■ Ibid. " Wliitelocke, p. 701. b.

4 L

626 SIR RICHARD 1NG0LDSBY. book iv.

•' know the truth of his case :" namely, that he had never once been
present at the trial of the late King, and had been compelled by force to
sign the warrant, as before related. But though his Majesty had within
himself compassion for him, he never would send him any assurance of his
pardon; presuming that, if these allegations were true, there would be
a season when a distinction would be made, without his Majesty's de-
claring himself, between him and the others of that bloody list, which he
resolved never to pardon; nor was Ingoldsby at all disheartened with this,
but pursued his former resolutions, steady in the King's caused

Upon the Restoration, in the Act of Indemnity which was passed, and
did not extend to any of King Charles the First's Judges, Colonel
Richard Ingoldsby was excepted by name, and he was declared capable of
bearing any office, ecclesiastical, civil, or military, and of serving in Par-
liaments At the King's Coronation he was created Knight of the Bath.
He afterwards retired, and passed the remainder of his life in a quiet re-
pose at Waldridge. Of his two younger brothers, Henry was a Colonel,
and Thomas a Captain, in the Parliament armyr. Henry was created a
Baronet, by Cromwell, on the 31st of March, 1658, and was re-created by
Charles the Seconds. Sir Richard served in Parliament, after the Restora-
tion, in the Parliaments which were summoned in the 13th, 31st, and
32d years of Charles the Second, for the borough of Aylesbury1, died in
1685, and was buried in Hartwell church, on the 16th of September. His
wife was buried at Dinton, May the 7th, 167-5". He left an only son,
Richard, and a daughter Anne, who married Thomas Marriot, Esquire, of
Ascot, in Warwickshire.

His son, Richard Ingoldsby, Esquire, of Waldridge, married Mary, the
only daughter of William Colmore, Esquire, of the city of Warwick.
They had seven sons, and as many daughters. He died the 14th of
April, 1703, and his wife in 1726 \ Their sons were, Richard, William,
Thomas, a second Richard, Francis, Henry, and John. The daughters,
Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, Letitia, Jane, Sarah, and Henrietta7.

All the sons died children, except Thomas, the third. He was born in

r Clarendon, iii. p. 101 1 . ^12 Car. II. cap. xi. sect. 45. ' Wood's Fasti, vol. ii.

col. "57. * Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, vol. i. p. 441. ' Ibid. " Noble.

* His monument in Dinton Church. Register there. * Dinton Register.

626 SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. book iv.

" know the truth of his case :" namely, that he had never once been
present at the trial of the late King, and had been compelled by force to
sign the warrant, as before related. But though his Majesty had within
himself compassion for him, he never would send him any assurance of his
pardon ; presuming that, if these allegations were true, there would be
a season when a distinction would be made, without his Majesty's de-
claring himself, between him and the others of that bloody list, which he
resolved never to pardon; nor was Ingoldsby at all disheartened with this,
but pursued his former resolutions, steady in the King's caused

Upon the Restoration, in the Act of Indemnity which was passed, and
did not extend to any of King Charles the First's Judges, Colonel
Richard Ingoldsby was excepted by name, and he was declared capable of
bearing any office, ecclesiastical, civil, or military, and of serving in Par-
liaments At the King's Coronation he was created Knight of the Bath.
He afterwards retired, and passed the remainder of his life in a quiet re-
pose at Waldridge. Of his two younger brothers, Henry was a Colonel,
and Thomas a Captain, in the Parliament army1". Henry was created a
Baronet, by Cromwell, on the 31st of March, 1658, and was re-created by
Charles the Second s. Sir Richard served in Parliament, after the Restora-
tion, in the Parliaments which were summoned in the 13th, 31st, and
32d years of Charles the Second, for the borough of Aylesbury1, died in
1685, and was buried in Hartwell church, on the 16th of September. His
wife was buried at Dinton, May the 7th, 1675". He left an only son,
Richard, and a daughter Anne, who married Thomas Marriot, Esquire, of
Ascot, in Warwickshire.

His son, Richard Ingoldsby, Esquire, of Waldridge, married Mary, the
only daughter of William Colmore, Esquire, of the city of Warwick.
They had seven sons, and as many daughters. He died the 14th of
April, 1703, and his wife in 1726 x. Their sons were, Richard, William,
Thomas, a second Richard, Francis, Henry, and John. The daughters,
Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, Letitia, Jane, Sarah, and Henrietta T.

All the sons died children, except Thomas, the third. He was born in

r Clarendon, iii. p. 101 1. i 12 Car. II. cap.xi. sect. 45. ' Wood's Fasti, vol. ii.

col. 75?. s Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, vol. i. p. 441. ' Ibid. u Noble.

» His monument in Dinton Church. Register there. * Dinton Register.

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ch. vi. sec. iv. SIR RICHARD INGOLDSBY. 627

1689, and inherited the estate at Waldridge. He was High Sheriff' for
Buckinghamshire, and, in 1731, was Member of Parliament for Aylesbury.
He died in 1768. His wife was Anne, daughter of John Limbrey, Esq.
of Tangier Park, in Hampshire, and she died the 21st of May, 1741, aged
forty years1.

They had an infant, who died in 1736* ; but their only surviving child
was Martha Ingoldsby, who, on the 7th of January, 1762, married George
Powlet, Esq. who on the death of the Duke of Bolton, in 1794, became
Marquis of Winchester, premier Marquis of England\ The Marchioness
died the 14th of March, 1796, and the Marquis in 1800. Their son was
Charles Ingoldsby Powlet, the present Marquis of Winchester, Earl of
Wiltshire, and Baron Saint John '.

The arms of Ingoldsby are, ermine, a saltier engrailed, sable. Crest, a
griffbnd.

Frances, the third daughter of Sir George Croke, married John Jer-
vois, Esquire, of whom I have not been able to learn any particulars.

1 Her monument at Dinton. a Dinton Register. " Ibid. c Peerage.

'' See the Genealogy of Ingoldsby, No. 33. from Brown Willis's MSS. vol. xix. Harl.
MSS. No. 1102. corrected, and continued from Deeds, the Dinton Register, &c.

4 L 2

628 PAULUS AMBROSIUS CROKE.

CHAPTER VII.

H.AVING exhausted the family of Sir George Croke, the Judge, 1
proceed to his brother, Paulus Ambrosius Croke, the fourth son of
Sir John Croke, and Elizabeth Unton.

He was a Barrister of the Inner Temple, of which he was admitted a
student, and described as late of Clement's Inn, the 18th of February,
24 Elizabeth, 1582 : was called to the Bar the 5th of July, 1590 : made a
Bencher the 10th of May, 1605: and was Lent Reader in 160S\ The
manors of Cotsmore and Barrow, in Rutlandshire, were purchased by
him\

His first wife was Frances Wellesborne, whose monument was in Saint
Catherine Cree's Church in London, and the epitaph is preserved by
Stowe'. Frances Croke, the loving and beloved wife of Paulus Am-
brosius Croke, of the Inner Temple, Esquire, was one of the daughters,
and heirs, of Francis Wellesborne, Esquire, of Hanny, in the county of
Berks. She deceased, the \0th of July, in the year 1605, aged 22 years.
Well borne she was,

but better borne again.
Her first, birth

to tin flesh did make her debtor.
The latter in the Spirit

by Christ hath set her
Freed from fleshes debts,

Death's first and latter gams.
Wives pay no debts

Whose husbands live and raigne.

' Inner Temple Register. Arms in the Inner Temple Hall window. Ward, 306. Dugd.
Or. Jud. p. 167. b Wright's Rutlandshire, page 40.

c Survey, page 149. There was a grant of the manor of Esyndon in the county of
Bucks for time of his life to Christopher Wellesborne, in the reign of Henry the Fifth, or
Richard the Third. Harleian MSS. No. 433. Art. 465.

chap. vii. PAULUS AMBROSIUS CROKE. 629

The first line alludes to the origin of this family. Eleanor, eldest
daughter of King John, married Simon Mountford, Earl of Leicester, by
whom she had six children. Richard, the fifth son, changed his name
from Mountford to Wellesbourne, and was the ancestor of that family*1.

His second wife was Susanna, the daughter of Thomas Coe, or Choe,
of Boxford in Suffolk, widow of Humphrey Milward, Esquire, of
London, and before the wife of Thomas Carter, Esquire, of London and
Walthamstowe.

He died on the 25th of August, in 1631, and Mr. William Fletcher
was admitted to his chambers in Hare Court, on the 3d of November, in
the same yearf.

On Sir John Croke's monument he is represented in a barrister's gown,
with two coats of arms for his two marriages. First, Croke, with an
annulet, impaled with, gules, a lion rampant, or debruised of a bend,
azure ; a chief, cheeky, or and gules : for Wellesbome. The other coat is,
Croke, as before, impaled with argent, two piles in chief, wavy, gules, for
Coe.

By his first wife he left one daughter only to inherit his estates. She
was married to Sir Robert Heath, Attorney General, and afterwards Lord
Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Their only daughter, Margaret
Heath, married Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Knight, of Jenkins, in the parish of
Barking, in Essex. They had an only daughter likewise, Susanna Fanshaw,
who became the wife of Baptist Noel, Esquire, second son of Baptist,
Lord Viscount Camden, who was seated at Luffenham in the county of
Rutland. They left one son, Baptist Noel, who became Earl of Gains-
borough, upon the death of his cousin, Wriothesley-Baptist, Earl of
Gainsborough, without male issue, in 1690s. This title became extinct
in 1799, but the present family of Noel, Viscount and Baron Wentworth,
is descended from the same ancestors'1.

MSS. No. 1533. page 65. b. A visitation book
5 Collins's Peerage, vol. ii. p. 522. Delafield.

'' Raker's

Chron. p

ss.

Harleii

of Buckingh

amshire.

Ward,

p. 300

" Peerage, i

, 272.

630 CECILY CROKE,

CHAPTER VIII.

SECTION THE FIRST.

CECILY CROKE.

BEFORE I proceed with the history and descendants of William Croke,
the fifth and youngest son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Unton, I
shall dispatch their three daughters, Cecily, Prudentia, and Eliza-
beth.

Cecily, the eldest, had two husbands: the first was Edward
Bulstrode, Esquire, of Hedgerly Bulstrode, in Buckinghamshire; the
second, Sir John Brown, Knight.

Her first husband was descended from an ancient family, and from
Richard Bulstrode, who was Keeper of the Great Wardrobe to Margaret,
the Queen of Henry the Sixth, and, afterwards, Comptroller of the
Household to King Edward the Fourth. His great grandmother was
Mary, the daughter of the celebrated Sir Richard Empson, one of the
Barons of the Exchequer, who, with Dudley, was an able instrument in
the hands of Henry the Seventh, to extort money from the subject under
the forms of law ; and who was attainted of high treason, arraigned, found
guilty, in violation of justice, and beheaded on Tower Hill, to gratify the
people.

Edward Bulstrode, and Cecily Croke, had two sons, Henry and
Edward, and a daughter, Elizabeth. Their eldest son, Henry, was the
father of Thomas Bulstrode, who married Coluberry Mayne, and thereby
formed a connection with two families, of whom I shall have occasion to
speak hereafter, the Maynes, and the Bekes. Their daughter, Elizabeth
Bulstrode, married Sir James Whitelocke, Knight, one of the
Justices of the King's Bench, who was born in 1570. He was an able
and an independent man, and disapproved of the method sometimes used

ch. viii. sec. i. SIR JAMES WHITELOCKE. 631

by the King, of sending to the Judges for their opinions upon questions
beforehand; and said that if Bishop Laud went on in his way, he would
kindle a flame in the nation*. He concurred with Sir George Croke upon
the point of granting writs of Habeas Corpus. When actions for false im-
prisonment were brought against some of the members of the High Com-
mission Court, with a view of checking the oppressive measures of
that tribunal, and the King personally interfered with his absolute
command to stop the proceedings, Whitelocke insisted upon it, " that
" it was against law to exempt, or privilege, any man from answering
" the action of another man that would sue him." The Judges stood
firm, refused to obey the command of the King, and he was at length
obliged to abandon this unlawful exercise of authority6. After his
death, when it was moved, as before related, that Selden and the
other prisoners should have reparation out of the estates of the
Judges who had refused to bail them, Whitelocke was excepted, and it
was stated, that he had been a faithful, able, and stout assertor of the rights
and liberties of the free-born subjects of this kingdom, for which he had
been many ways a sufferer, and particularly by a strait and close
imprisonment, for what he said and did as member of the House of
Commons0.

His son has given the following character of him. " In his death the
" King lost as good a subject, his country as good a patriot, the people as
" just a judge, as ever lived. All honest men lamented the loss of him.
" No man in his age left behind him a more honoured memory. His
" reason was clear and strong, and his learning deep and general. He had
" the Latin tongue so perfect, that sitting Judge of Assize at Oxford,
" when some foreigners, persons of quality, being there, and coming to
" the court, to see the manner of our proceedings in matters of justice,
" this Judge caused them to sit down, and briefly repeated the heads of
" his charge to the Grand Jury in good and elegant Latin. He under-
" stood the Greek very well, and the Hebrew, and was versed in the
" Jewish histories, and exactly knowing in the history of his own country,
" and in the pedigrees of most persons of honour and quality in the
" kingdom, and was much conversant in the studies of antiquity and

1 Whitelocke's Memorials, page 13. b Ibid. p. 15. c Ibid. p. 37-

632 SIR JAMES WH1TEL0CKE. book iv.

" heraldry. He was not by any excelled in knowledge of his own pro-
" fession of the Common Law of England, wherein his knowledge of the
" Civil Law (whereof he was a graduate at Oxford) was a help to him,
" as his learned arguments will confirm"1."

Sir James Whitelocke was a member of the original Society of Anti-
quaries, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, with Sir Robert Cotton, Camden,
and other eminent men0.

There are in manuscript, the Lectures of James Whitlock, Esquire, in
the Middle Temple, read August the 2d, 1619, upon the Statute 21 Henry
VIII. chapter 13 ; and, A Treatise upon Combats5. Several of his
speeches are in The Sovereign's Prerogative, and the Subject's Privileges
discussed. Printed at London, in 1657. There are also two short pieces
written by him, published in Heame's Curious Discourses8. 1. A Dis-
course of the antiquity and office of Heralds in England. It consists of
three pages, and is dated 28 November, 1601. 2. Of the antiquity, use,
and privileges of places for Students, and Professors of the Common Law
of England: in six pages. He left likewise an account of his own life,
written by himself. And, notwithstanding his full practice in his profession,
he neglected not his study of the Bible, but collected notes throughout
both the Old and New Testaments. His lady likewise wrote a Collection
of promises and precepts out of the Book of God1'. He died in 1632.

The son of Sir James Whitelocke and Elizabeth Bulstrode, was
Bulstrode Whitelocke; who became eminent as a man of general
learning, a lawyer, a politician, and a negociator.

He is included in that list of superior characters, with whom it was the
pride and boast of Lord Clarendon to have associated in his youth. At
first setting out in life, they both ran the same course, and opposed the
illegal proceedings of Charles. Afterwards, whilst Clarendon followed
the fortunes of his Sovereign, Whitelocke, as was natural from his con-
nections with the principal leaders, was attached to the side of the Par-
liament ; yet, as his former friend observed, " with less rancour and malice
" than other men, and never led, but followed, and was rather carried

H Whitelocke's Memorials, page ] 7- " Life of Sir Robert Cotton, annexed to the

catalogue of the Bodleian, and other Manuscripts, page 8. ' Bodleian MSS. No. 7858.

c Pages 90, 129. " Swedish Ambassy, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 433, 4:36.

ch.viii.sec.i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 633

" away with the torrent than swam with the stream'." He has been
accused of a want of stability of principle, and of always adhering to those
who were in power : but the review of his life will shew this charge to be
unfounded. He was too good a moralist, and lawyer, not to distinguish
what was right ; he had too much sound sense for an enthusiast ; and he
was too honest to give his sanction to what he believed to be wrong.
Accordingly we find him opposing many of the unlawful proceedings both
of the King, and of the Parliament, and entirely adverse to the elevation
of Cromwell. When he had freely delivered his opinion upon any point,
and it was always in favour of peace and moderation, and his farther
opposition could be no longer effectual, he acquiesced under measures
which he could not control, and submitted to authorities which it was
not in his power to resist. This conduct proceeded not from weakness,
but, as he has explained it himself, from principle. " All casuists," he
said, " agree, that if a government be altered, and another power in pos-
" session of it, all private men are bound to submit to the present powers,
" because they are ordained of Godk."

Bulstrode Whitelocke was born on the 6th of August, 1605, in the
house of Sir George Croke, his mother's uncle, in Fleet Street1. He
received the first part of his education at Merchant-Taylors' School, and
was admitted, in Michaelmas term, 1620, a Gentleman Commoner of Saint
John's College in Oxford, where he was recommended to the particular
care of the President, afterwards Archbishop Laud, who was his father's
contemporary and intimate friend"1. For the fatherly kindness which he
experienced he was ever grateful ; and when that prelate was impeached,
he refused to be upon the committee appointed to draw up the charges
against him. Without having taken a degree, he removed from hence to
the Middle Temple, where he was called to the Bar, and became a cele-
brated practitioner.

During his residence in that society, together with Hyde, Noy, Selden,
and other great lawyers, he was one of the principal managers of the
superb masque, which was exhibited by the Inns of Court in February,
1633, before King Charles and his Queen, at Whitehall, at an expence

1 Life of Lord Clarendon, vol. i. p. 59. ed. 176l. k Swedish Ambassy, vol. i. p. 335.
' Wood's Ath. Ox. part ii. col. 399- m Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 33. ed. 1682. Wood.
4 M

634 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. bookiv.

of above twenty thousand pounds. In the arrangement of these festivities,
the whole charge of the music was intrusted to him, and it was an accom-
plishment in which he excelled. He has given an entertaining account of
the whole exhibition, apparently con amore".

But these delights were soon to be exchanged for less pleasing occupa-
tions. As a sound lawyer, he could not approve of the Ship-money, and
he was much consulted by Hampden in his great cause. Yet so little
was he of a seditious disposition, that he refused to support the Cove-
nanters of Scotland; and advised his friends not to foment those public
differences, or to encourage that nation in their opposition to their natural
Prince0.

In the Long Parliament, which met on the 3d of November, 1640, he
was elected Member for Marlow, and defended the memory of his father,
who was wrongfully accused of having refused to bail Selden upon an
Habeas Corpus?.

When the Earl of Strafford was impeached, he was chosen Chairman of
the Committee appointed to draw up the articles against him, and to speak
to some of them. Of his manner of conducting that trial, Lord Strafford
observed to a private friend, " that others had used him like advocates, but
" that Palmer and Whitelocke had treated him like gentlemen ; yet had
" omitted nothing that was material to their cause0."

He was frequently employed by the House of Commons to draw up
some of the most important bills, and other instruments ; as the Act that
the Parliament should not be prorogued, adjourned, or dissolved, without
their consent, which finally established the supreme power of that as-
semblyr.

In the debates upon the militia, in 1641, he made an excellent speech,
in which he declared it to be his opinion, that the power of the militia was
neither in the King alone, nor in the Parliament, but jointly in both : in
the King for command, in the Parliament for pat) ; which is the present
true constitutional doctrine8.

When matters were coming to an extremity with the King, and it was
proposed in Parliament to raise an army in their defence, Whitelocke

" Memor. p. 18. " Biog. Britan r Wood, ubi supra. Memor. p. 37.

* Memor. p. 37, 41. ' Ibid. p. 43. 5 Ibid, p 53.

ch. vni. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 635

highly disapproved of it, and with great eloquence deprecated the miseries
of a civil war, which he painted in the most lively colours, and with a pro-
phetic spirit foretold, that in the progress of it, they would be obliged to
surrender their laws, liberties, properties, and lives, into the hands of an
insolent soldiery. He then proposed, that all peaceable means should be
resorted to, before they had recourse to such desperate measures'.

His opposition was unavailing, and he therefore concurred in the future
proceedings of the Parliament. He accepted the office of a Deputy Lieu-
tenant of the counties of Oxford and Buckingham, in 1642, and with Mr.
Hampden, and a body of troops, dispersed the King's Commissioners of
Array, who met at Watlington to raise men for his service. Afterwards,
with a gallant company of horse, raised chiefly amongst his neighbours,
he marched to Oxford with Lord Say, and about three thousand troops,
and took possession of it. It was proposed to fortify that city, and to
seize the college plate, and Whitelocke, who was very much beloved there,
was named as a fit person to be the Governor. This advice was not
followed by Lord Say, and that important station was soon after occupied
by the royal army. In October, his seat at Fawley Court was plundered
by Prince Rupert's brigade, and in November, Whitelocke was with the
forces which opposed the King at Brentford".

In January, 1643, the Parliament sent propositions for peace to the
King at Oxford, when he was one of the six Commissioners, and princi-
pally drew up the papers during the treaty ; which came to nothing*.

As he opposed any undue extension of their authority both in the King
and the Parliament, he was equally adverse to any extraordinary power in
the sectarian clergy. In 1644, the Assembly of Divines, of which he was
one of the lay members, presented their opinion to the House of Com-
mons, " that the Presbyterian form of Church government should be
" settled, and that it was jure divino." In the debates upon that subject,
Whitelocke delivered his opinion in the House of Commons against the
divine right of presbytery ; and that point was in consequence negativedr.
So afterwards, when the Presbyterians petitioned to have the power of ex-
communication, and suspension, he opposed it, and shewed the unreason-
ableness and ambitious nature of the demand z.

' Meraor. p. 57- " Ibid. p. 59 " Ibid. p. 63. » Ibid. p. 106. Wood,

i Memor. p. 16'3.

636 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book i-v.

After the battle of Newbury, which happened upon the 27th of
October, 1644, he was one of the Commissioners named to carry to the
King at Oxford the propositions of peace, which had been agreed to by
both Houses. When employed upon this service, in an accidental
interview with him and Hollis, his Majesty expressed his particular regard
for them, and was satisfied of their wishes for peace. He requested their
opinion, as friends, what they apprehended might be a proper answer to
the message of the House, and was likely to facilitate a peace : and la-
desired them to set it down in writing : which they did, and the King
adopted some parts of their paper'. This treaty, which, like the others,
was only a solemn farce on the part of the Parliament to cajole the
people, of course produced no good effect. The secret intercourse, which
had taken place between Hollis and Whitelocke, and the King, was
betrayed by the treachery of Lord Savile, and they were impeached of
high treason, for advising with the King, contrary to their trust. It
was only by the great exertions of their friends, that they escaped being
sent to the Tower, and were at length cleared from the charge b.

The Earl of Essex, who was jealous of the power of Cromwell, and the
Scotch Commissioners, who were offended with him likewise, were
carrying on their intrigues to get rid of him. One evening, Maynard and
Whitelocke were sent for by Essex, to meet the Commissioners, and
other friends. It was proposed by the Scotch Chancellor, to remove
Cromwell, by proceeding against him as an incendiary, under the treaty
between the two nations. Whitelocke spoke against it, and advised them
not so to proceed, upon which the design was abandoned. After this
time, Cromwell, who was informed of every thing, shewed himself more
kind to Whitelocke'.

He voted against the Self-denying Ordinance, answered the arguments
which were advanced in favour of it, and stated the injury which the State
would suffer from laying aside the many brave men, who had rendered it
such material services'1.

In 1645, he was one of the Commissioners at the treaty of Uxbridge, of
which the proceedings are too much the subject of general history, to re-

* Memur. p. 109. b Ibid. p. 148, 156. ' Mem. p. 111. d Mem. p. 114.

Clarendon is wrong in stating that Whitelocke appeared for passing the Ordinance. Hist.
Reb. vol. ii. p. 795.

CH. VIII. SEC. I.

LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 637

quire being here related6. After the failure of that negociation, in the
debate about sending farther proposals of peace to the King, he supported
the motion to the utmost of his power. In the same year he was
appointed one of the Commissioners of the Admiralty, and Steward of
the revenues of Westminster College f. He was accused of holding
intelligence with the King, but he justified himself against the charge, and
had afterwards ,£2000 voted to him for his losses s. Although he was far
from agreeing with them in their politics and conduct, yet he states himself
to have lived much in 164.5 with Sir Henry Vane, Mr. Solicitor, Mr.
Brown, and other grandees of that party ; and was kindly treated by
themh.

With Selden, Maynard, and St. John, he procured the abolition of the
Court of Wards, and all the oppressive system of wardships : an improve-
ment in the laws of the country, which was adopted after the Restora-
tion".

Upon all occasions he shewed himself a friend to learning. He
preserved the Lord Keeper Littleton's books and manuscripts from being
sold by the Sequestrators'1. He preserved the Herald's College, in
opposition to the ruling powers, who were levellers of all ranks1. He
caused also the King's manuscripts at Whitehall to be removed to Saint
James's, and preserved. And again, in 1648, at the instance of Mr.
Selden, he undertook the care of the royal library and medals, to prevent
a design of their being sold and sent abroad™. At the siege of Oxford, he
used all his interest to have honourable terms granted to the garrison, and
that the colleges and libraries should not be plundered. With Selden he
assisted Patrick Young, formerly his Majesty's Librarian, to print the
Septuagint, from a valuable manuscript" : and in 1656, there was a great
meeting of learned men at his house, by an order of the House ot
Commons, to consider the translations of the Bible. It was agreed that
the English translation was the best in the world, though some mistakes
were pointed out. But the dissolution of the Parliament rendered their
enquiries fruitless".

In December, 1646, he earnestly promoted the Ordinance for taking away

e Memor. p. 120. ' Mem. p. 137. 5 Wood, and Memor. " Meraor. p. 176.

ed. 2. 1645. Oct. 14,. < Memor. p. 199. " Ibid. p. 166. ' Ibid. p. 203.

"' Ibid. p. 289, 400. - Ibid p. 259- ° Ibid. p. 645.

638 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

all coercive power of Committees, and all arbitrary power from both or
either of the Houses of Parliament, and was usually on all Committees
relating to foreign affairs p. And he opposed the disbanding of the army,
because he knew that the soldiers would not submit to it, and bad conse-
quences would ensue. This ingratiated him still more with Cromwell
and the officers. He kept a strong garrison in his house at Fyllis Court,
near Henley9.

During all this time, he applied himself closely to the practice of his
profession, and attended the Assizes. In March, 1647, he was appointed
one of the three Commissioners of the Great Seal, for one year, with a
salary of one thousand pounds. By this appointment he acquired
honours, and the style and title of Lord Commissioner Whitelocke, but he
was no gainer in point of income. His practice in the law before
brought him in near two thousand pounds a year, and the profits of his
new office were not above fifteen hundred. He has related, as an instance
of the industry of the Commissioners, that they determined in one day
thirteen causes, and forty demurrers in the afternoon, and sometimes sat
from five in the morning till five in the evening'.

In May, in the same year, his friends, and some who wished for his
absence, proposed that he should be appointed Lord Justice of Ireland, to
exercise the civil government of that country; but he was unwilling to
undertake it. Cromwell and his party were likewise against his going
away, as they frequently consulted with him, and made much use of his
advice5. He refused also the office of Recorder of the city of London'.

The next year, 1648, in July, the Earl of Pembroke was made Con-
stable of Windsor Castle, and Keeper of the Park and Forest, and he
appointed Whitelocke his Lieutenant". In October he was called to the
degree of Serjeant at Law, and was appointed by the House of Commons
Attorney General of the Dutchy of Lancaster, and one of the King's
Serjeants1'. When those who obtained promotion in the law came before
him to take the oaths, he usually addressed them in learned speeches, in
which he treated of the antiquity and the nature of their offices. Several
of them are preserved in his Memorials : such as his discourses upon the

p Mentor, p. 231. i Ibid. p. 217. ed. 2. 28 July, 164-6. ' Mem. p. 2<)4, 322, 359.
* Ibid. p. 253. ' Ibid. p. 271. " Ibid p. 319. x Ibid. p. 337-

ch. viir. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 639

Court of Exchequer, upon the rank of Serjeants, and of that of
Judges'.

When Colonel Pride stood at the door of the House of Commons, on
the 6th of December, 1648, to exclude those members who were obnoxious
to the party in power, he suffered Whitelocke to pass as a friend to Cromwell
and the army'. Whilst things were in an unsettled state, on the 21st of that
month, the Speaker, Lieutenant-General Cromwell, Sir Thomas Widdring-
ton, another of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, and White-
locke, met by appointment to consult upon the state of affairs, the
conduct of the army, and the settlement of the kingdom. Widdrington
and Whitelocke were ordered to draw up the heads of their discourse for
consideration ; by what means they might endeavour to bring the army
into a fitter temper, and procure the restitution of the secluded members ;
the answer to be given by the army to the message of the House ; and a
proposal of settlement between the army and the House. In this im-
portant duty they were intrusted with the confidence of both parties*.

He was next named by the House, upon the Committee to consider of
the charges to be brought against the King. But he never attended the
Committee, and entirely disapproved of the King's trial and execution6.
In February he was appointed to draw up the Act to take away the
House of Lords, though he had declared his opinion against that
measure0.

After the King's death, and the new seal of the Commonwealth was
made, on the 8th of February he was voted to be the first of the new
Lords Commissioners. Sir Thomas Widdrington refused to accept of the
office under the new government. Whitelocke modestly wished to be
excused, but stated his reasons why he had no objection to it, " that the
" business was the execution of law and justice, without which men
" could not live together :" and, with respect to any objections which
might be entertained against the legal authority of Parliament, " that a
" strict formal performance of the ordinary rules of law had hardly been
" discerned on either side, from unavoidable necessity :" that for
himself " he thought his obedience due to the House of Commons, there
" being no other visible authority in being but themselves11."

» Meraor. p. 344, 347, 392. » Ibid. p. 355. ' Ibid. p. 357. " Ibid, p 35$.

' Ibid. d Ibid. p. 372.

640 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

On the 14th of February, he was nominated one of the Council of
State, whose powers were to command the militia and navy, and for one
year. In the next year he was again appointed6. He refused to
subscribe the test appointed by Parliament, approving the proceedings of
the High Court of Justice which tried the King'. Whitelocke was
still in high favour with Cromwell. On the 24th of February, in 1648,
Cromwell and Ireton went home with him from the Council of State,
aud supped at his house. They were all cheerful, and well pleased,
and discoursed of God's providence, and the miraculous events which
had happened. In going home late, they were stopped by the guards,
who pretended not to know them, but did it to shew their vigilance8.
On the 14th of March he drew a declaration to satisfy the people
respecting the proceedings of the Parliament11. On the 1st of June, he
was chosen High Steward of the city of Oxford, and on the 6th of July re-
signed his office of Attorney General of the Dutchy'. In 1649, he was one
of the Governors of the school and alms-houses at Westminster15 ; and in
November, made a long speech in the debate for excluding lawyers from
the House of Commons1.

In 1650, when Fairfax had his scruples about the lawfulness of invading
Scotland, Cromwell, Lambert, Harrison, Saint John, and Whitelocke,
were appointed by the Council to confer with him, and to persuade him
to undertake it. Notwithstanding their arguments, Fairfax declared he
would rather lay down his commission than do it. The issue of the
conference was reported to the House, upon which Fairfax was removed
from his command, and Cromwell was appointed General and Commander
in Chief1"; upon which occasion Whitelocke was one of the four Members
appointed to meet and congratulate him. Cromwell presented each of the
four Members with a horse, and two Scots prisoners. Whiteloocke gave
his two prisoners their liberty".

After the defeat at Worcester, on the 10th of December, 1651, a
meeting was held at Cromwell's request at the Speaker's house, consisting
of some members of parliament, and officers of the army, for the settlement
of the nation. The lawyers were generally for a mixed monarchical govern-

* Memor. p. 376, 425. f Ibid. p. 377. s Ibid. p. .378. h Ibid, p 380.

, Ibid. p. 397. " Ibid. p. 411. ' Ibid. p. 431. ed. 2. m Ibid. p. 445. " Ibid,

p. 509. ed. 2. 10 Sept. 1651.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 641

ment, and the soldiers for a commonwealth. Whitelocke spoke in favour
of a monarchical government, and proposed that a time should be ap-
pointed for Charles Stuart, or the Duke of York, to come in to the Par-
liament, upon proper terms. Cromwell evaded, and put off that question,
and they parted without coming to any resolution : but that artful politician
by this conference discovered the inclinations of the persons present ; a
knowledge of which he afterwards availed himself0.

Near a year afterwards, on the 7th of November, 1652, Cromwell had
a private conference with Whitelocke upon the same subject, to sound
hiin, and to endeavour to gain him over to support him in his design of
assuming the supreme power. Cromwell urged the necessity of some high
authority to restrain, and keep things in order, and asked him what he
thought of some person's taking upon himself the office of King. White-
locke highly disapproved of it, and told him that, as to his own person,
the title of King would be of no advantage to him, because he had all the
power already, and that it would be attended with great envy, and op-
position. That the question, at present, was national, between a monarchy
and a free state. If he assumed the title, it would be merely personal
between Cromwell and Stuart. The friends of a commonwealth would
all desert him, and his cause would be ruined. He suggested therefore,
that Cromwell should enter into a private treaty with Charles, to restore
him upon certain limitations to secure their religious and civil liberties,
and to protect himself, and his friends. If he did this, he might be as
great as ever a subject was. Cromwell thanked him for his advice, but
from this time his carriage towards him was altered, and he did not consult
with him so often, or so intimately, as before p.

On the 20th of April following, in 1653, at the meeting at Cromwell's
lodgings at Whitehall, when he proposed that the Parliament should be
dissolved, which was supported by the Officers, as the best way to advance
themselves to the civil government, Whitelocke spoke against it, as a
dangerous thing, neither warranted in conscience, or wisdom. It was ex-
pected that the Parliament would dissolve itself; but when Ingoldsby came
from the House of Commons, and informed Cromwell that the members

• Memor. p. 491. v Ibid. p. 523.

4 N

642 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

were prolonging their sittings, he immediately marched down with a party
of soldiers, and cleared the House4. Into Cromwell's Parliament, which
was summoned by his writ dated the 8th of June, Whitelocke was not
admitted'. His commission of the Great Seal was superseded by the vote
for taking away the Court of Chancery5.

When Cromwell found that Whitelocke was not to be moulded to his
purpose, and that he was likely to oppose his design of assuming the sove-
reignty of England, which he was now about to carry into execution,
fearing his talents and influence, he was determined to get rid of him in an
honourable manner'. It was first proposed that he should be appointed
one of the Commissioners for the civil government of Ireland, which he re-
fused. Another favourable opportunity soon offered itself".

It was the policy of Cromwell, and the other leaders, to enter into
treaties with foreign powers, in which the legitimacy of their government
must necessarily be recognized. There was no power so friendly to them
as the Queen of Sweden. Like her father, she was attached to the pro-
testant cause, and was desirous of cultivating alliances against the popish
interests. The protestant princes of Germany were weak and divided, the
protestants of France were subdued, the Swiss were too distant, and the
Dutch and the Netherlands were in league with the Danes, and at war with
England. No nation therefore was in a condition to be so serviceable to
her as England. On the other hand, it was an important object to the
Commonwealth, by a treaty with Sweden, to procure a powerful ally, to
promote commerce, to open a free trade through the Sound, and to
strengthen themselves against the Dutch and the Danes.

Christina had already made some overtures, and it was resolved to send
an Ambassador Extraordinary to Sweden. Whitelocke was unanimously
appointed by the Council of State to that office. When it was to be no-
tified to him, Sir Gilbert Pickering, the Secretary of State, having written
what Cromwell called " a very fine letter," he took the pen himself, and
wrote as follows, with his own hand.

i Mem p 529. ' Mem. p. 5.12. s Mem. p. 543. ' Mem. p. 526.

p. 536. Ed. 1732. l6th of June, 1652.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 643

For the Right Honourable the Lord Whitelocke, one of the Commis-
sioners of the Seal. These.
My Lord,

The Council of State, having thoughts of putting your
Lordship to the trouble of being Extraordinary Ambassador to the Queen
of Swizland, did think fit not to impose that service upon you, without
first knowing your own freedom thereunto; wherefore they were pleased
to command our services in making this address to your Lordship, and
hereby we can assure you of a very large confidence in your honour, and
abilities for this employment. To which we begging your answer, do
rest,

My Lord,

Your humble servants,
September 2, 1653. O. CROMWELL.

GIL. PICKERING.

The coldness of the climate, the dangers of the northern seas in winter,
the chance of capture, the detriment which his affairs, private and politi-
cal, might suffer in his absence, and his suspicion, that it was not intended
as a favour, were reasons which induced Whitelocke to decline the ap-
pointment. But although this civil letter seemed to leave it to his own
free choice, he soon found that his refusal would not be admitted. In two
private conversations with him, Cromwell urged his acceptance with ex-
traordinary earnestness, and in the most friendly manner; assuring him
that it would be a most important service to the Commonwealth, and the
Protestant cause; with high compliments to his abilities, and promises of
future kindness. When he had at length prevailed with Whitelocke to
undertake the office, he thanked him in the most cordial terms, as for a
favour done to himself, and sent him a present of a fine sword, and a pair
of rich spurs. And indeed it would have been difficult to have found a
person better fitted for the situation. His being of a good family, and of
polished manners, his former travels, his acquaintance with languages, his
knowledge of the various interests of Europe, his firmness and courage, his
eloquence, judgment, and discretion, qualified him in a peculiar manner
for that delicate employment. Of his skill in foreign politics they had
4 n 2

644 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

had sufficient experience: and he had been always consulted in all ques-
tions of that nature : as in the dispute with Holland, about the dominion
of the British seasx.

The embassy was set forth with great splendor. Whitelocke's retinue
consisted of one hundred persons. In the first class, which comprehended
the gentlemen who were admitted to his table, were two of his sons, and
his cousin, Captain Unton Croke, whose brother Charles was one of the
Pages. With two frigates, two store-ships, a ship of war, and a light
catch, they sailed from Gravesend, on the sixth of November, 16o3, and,
after a most stormy passage, arrived at Gottenburgh on the fifteenth.
From hence, they went by land to Upsal, where the Queen was residing.
They were received with the greatest honours, both by the Queen and the
people; but of the foreign Ambassadors, Don Antonio Piementel de Pa-
rada, the minister from Spain, was the only one who paid his respects to
him. He had many enemies, who were instigated by the Dutch and
Danish Ambassadors, and he was in some danger of assassination from
the royal party: as had happened to Dorilaus and Ayscham. By his
noble and magnanimous conduct, he gained the esteem of those who were
at first not inclined to befriend him, and he maintained punctiliously the
dignity of the nation which he represented. To guard against the daggers
of the cavaliers, he never went abroad without a large attendance well
armed.

The Queen soon entertained a high opinion of him, from his honourable
conduct, and his candour, particularly in presenting to her at first all his
instructions without reserve, or distrust. She admitted him to frequent
private audiences, and treated him with perfect confidence. With herself
in person, in reality, the whole negociation was carried on, and Whitelocke
found her easier to deal with than her prime minister, the Chancellor Ox-
enstiern; an old and wary politician.

The many conversations which Whitelocke has detailed, exhibit a cu-
rious picture of the character and manners of that extraordinary woman.
With business she usually intermixed lively sallies, and pleasantry. Upon
one occasion she asked him how many wives he had had; and upon his in-

* Mem. p. 536". Rd. 2. 23d of June, 1652.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 645

forming her that he had had three, and had children by all of them, she
exclaimed, " Par Dieu vous estes incorrigible1 .'"

At a concert, she led him by the hand to a lady who was called La
Belle Comptesse, the wife of Count De La Garde, and desired him to
discourse with this lady, her bed-fellow, and tell her if her inside was not
as beautiful as her outside. Whitelocke found her to correspond to this
description, and to have great modesty, virtue, and sense. The Queen
then pulled off the Countesses glove, and gave it to Whitelocke, for a fa-
vour. The other she tore in four pieces, and gave to some great persons.
In return, Whitelocke sent the Countess a dozen pair of English white
gloves, which were much esteemed2.

At a collation, to which he invited the Queen, upon May-day, " by the
" custom of England, as she was his mistress," her Majesty expressed
her contentment, with much drollery, and gaiety of spirit. Amongst other
frolics, she commanded him " to teach her ladies the English salutation;
" which, after some pretty defences, their lips obeyed, "and Whitelocke
" most readily3."

The nuptials of Baron Home and the Lady Sparre were celebrated at
Court with great magnificence. In the evening when they began dancing
the brawles, the Queen came to Whitelocke to take him out to dance
with her, which he did. After it was over, and he waited upon her
to her chair of state, she exclaimed, " Par Dieu, these Hollanders are
" lying fellows." Upon his requesting an explanation of her meaning,
she said, " The Hollanders reported to me, that all the noblesse of Eng-
" land were of the King's party, and none but mechanics of the Parlia-
" ment party, and not a gentleman among them; now I thought to try
" you, and to shame you if you could not dance : but I see that you are a
" gentleman, and have been bred a gentleman1"." She likewise bestowed
upon him the Order of Amaranta, which she had instituted0.

Whitelocke's visit to Sweden was just at the critical time when
Christina was about to resign her crown. He had the honour of
being waited upon by the Prince, who came to Upsal to succeed

* Journal of the Swedish Ambassy, vol. i. p. 297.
P. 154. c Wood.

646 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

her ; and was present at the Ricksdagh, or Swedish Parliament, sum-
moned to give consent to the resignation ; which took place whilst he
was yet lying in the harbour of Stockholm.

Though there was little difficulty in arranging the terms of a treaty, to
winch both parties were so well disposed, a considerable delay took place
before it was concluded. The Swedish court waited to know the event
of a treaty which was negociating between England and Holland. As
soon as intelligence arrived of the conclusion of that treaty, the other
between England and Sweden was immediately signed, on the 1 1th of
April, 1654.

This treaty comprehended the articles of mutual friendship, free trade,
and reciprocal benefits, which are usually agreed upon between allied
nations. Each country was to be permitted to trade with the enemies of
the other, except in contraband. What was to be comprehended under
that description was to be the subject of future discussion. The goods
of an enemy might be seized on board the ships of either nation, but
passports and certificates were to be conclusive evidence that none such
were on board. It was agreed to maintain the freedom of navigation in
the Baltic, the Sound, and other seas, and to give mutual assistance for
promoting and establishing it.

This business being completed, after five months residence, Whitelocke
sailed from Stockholm on the 31st of May, 1654, landed at Lubec,
traversed part of Germany, sailed again from Gluckstadt, and after another
dangerous voyage, in which his vessel struck on a sand bank, and was
nearly lost, he arrived in safety on the shores of England, on the 30th of
June.

The treaty, and Whitelocke's conduct in Sweden, were highly approved
of by Cromwell and the Council ; but empty compliments were all that
he was likely to receive. Even the balance of his accounts, and the sums
which he had advanced beyond his allowance, were left unpaid. Two
years afterwards, by the very great exertions of his friends, the Parliament
voted him £500, the sum he had expended beyond what he had received,
and ^2000 more for his services. But the Protector was not pleased
with this favour of the Parliament to himd. Whitelocke observes, that it

a Memor. p 6±5. IS Jan. lfofi.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 647

was the practice of Cromwell, after his turn was served, to cast off' his
instruments !

When the new King of Sweden was seated on his throne, he sent an
Ambassador to England, in 1655, to ratify the treaty, and to arrange such
points as had been reserved for farther discussion. The Lord Fiennes,
Whitelocke, and Mr. Strickland, were appointed Commissioners to treat
with him. Many and warm discussions took place, especially as to
whether pitch, tar, hemp, and flax, should be considered as contraband.
At length it was agreed that they should be so considered, only during the
war between England and Spain. The new treaty was signed on the
17th of July, 1656. After the Restoration, a new treaty was entered into,
between Charles the Second and the King of Sweden ; in which almost
all the articles of these two treaties were introduced. And this is the last
permanent treaty now subsisting between the two countries, and which
still continues to define their political and commercial relations.

During Whitelocke's absence in Sweden, Cromwell had taken upon
him the sovereign power, under the name of Protector. Although this
was contrary to Whitelocke's opinion and advice, yet he accepted from
him the renewal of his commission as Ambassador : which was sent over
to Upsal. After his return, he was continued as first Commissioner of
the Great Seal, and was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Ex-
chequer, on the 4th of August, l654e. At the meeting of Oliver's second
Parliament, on the 4th of September, Whitelocke, as first Commissioner,
carried the purse with the seal before himf. In this Parliament he was
chosen for the county of Buckingham, and the boroughs of Oxford and
Bedford, and was Recorder of Bristol?.

On the 23d of April, 1655, an ordinance was made by the Protector
and his Council for the better regulating and limiting the jurisdiction of
the High Court of Chancery: which Whitelocke and Widdrington refused
to execute. Whitelocke's objections were " not only to the new regu-
" lations themselves, as inconvenient, injurious, and prejudicial to parties in
" the court, but to the authority by which they were enacted, which he
" knew had no legal power to make a law ; and he had taken an oath to
" execute the place of Commissioner legally and justly. He did not, how-

' Memor. p. 580. f Ibid. p. 582. < Mem. Sept. 1654.

648 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

" ever, scruple the authority of his Highness, and the Council, as to the
"command of matters concerning the government of the Commonwealth."
Upon this refusal the Seal was taken from themh. But the Protector, as
Whitelocke states, " being good-natured, and sensible of his harsh pro-
" ceedings against him and Widdrington, for keeping to that liberty of
" conscience which himself held to be every one's right, and that none
" ought to suffer for it," intended to make them some recompence, by
appointing them, in July, 1655, Commissioners of the Treasury, with the
Colonels Mountague and Sydenham, with salaries of one thousand
pounds a year each'.

Though Cromwell found that Whitelocke could not be made a tool of
to further his ambitious views, he still retained the outward appearance of
friendship for him, and frequently consulted him, particularly about
foreign affairs. He knew that his opinions, though sometimes not very
flattering to his inclinations, were always sound and judicious ; and that
he could always depend upon his sincerity. In these conversations he
often pressed Cromwell to have recourse to frequent Parliaments, advice
with which he was not disposed to comply, though he was not offended
by itk.

He was appointed one of the Committee of Trade and Navigation,
which was a favourite measure of Cromwell, and was established the 2d
of November, 1655: and he made an able report upon the copper trade
with Sweden1. He was nominated as an Ambassador Extraordinary to
Sweden a second time, in January, 1656, but Whitelocke thought "that
" he had had danger and trouble enough in his former Ambassy, without
" the least reward ; but instead of it, had met with neglects and slightings,
" besides being money out of pocket." He therefore endeavoured to
avoid this appointment, and the design was afterwards abandoned m.

In Cromwell's third Parliament, which met the 17th of September,
1656, he was elected Knight for Buckinghamshire, and was not one of
those members who were excluded from sitting in the House by Cromwell
and his Council"1: and he was appointed to fill the office of Speaker,
during the indisposition of Sir Thomas Widdrington, for which he

11 Memor. p. 602. '' Ibid. p. 60S. k Ibid p. 647, 664. i Ibid. p. 617,

632. m Ibid. p. 64:3.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 649

received the thanks of the House, and it was agreed, that in the short
time of his being Speaker, by his holding them to the points in debate,
they had dispatched more business than in all the time before of their
sitting".

When the Parliament had framed their Petition and Advice to Crom-
well, that he should take the title of King, Whitelocke was made Chair-
man of the Committee appointed to confer with him upon it. Though he
disliked some things in the Petition, and therefore refused to present it,
yet he spoke in favour of the principal point, and advised Cromwell to
comply with it. Upon this, and other important affairs, Cromwell con-
sulted with the Lord Broghill, Pierrepoint, Whitelocke, Wolsey, and
Thurloe, in private meetings, when he used to lay aside his greatness,
would be very familiar, and, by way of diversion, would make verses with
them, and every one must try his skill in poetry. Tobacco and pipes
were commonly introduced, and he would smoke himself. From this
buffoonery he would again return to serious business, and he followed
their counsel in most of his great affairs ; but not in complying with the
Petition and Advice0. Nor was Whitelocke's conduct upon this occasion
inconsistent with the principles which he had formerly avowed. Though
the illegal proceedings of Charles had originally occasioned his opposition
to him, he had been led, through his particular connection with the par-
liamentary party, much farther than he intended to go, and was in reality a
friend to monarchy. When the restoration of the exiled family seemed
impossible, he thought the re-establishment of the monarchical form
of government, even in the person of Cromwell, preferable to a republic.
The existence of a King was necessary to give life to the laws and con-
stitution of the country, to which Whitelocke was sincerely attached p.
What perhaps had never happened before, Cromwell's fears overcame
his inclinations and his ambition, and he refused the title. That of
Protector was substituted in its place, with power not inferior. At his
solemn inauguration, Whitelocke, with a drawn sword in his hand,

" Memor. p. 645. " Ibid. p. 6iJ.

p See the account of this conference, published in 1660, under the title of Monarch y
asserted to be the best, most ancient, and legal form of government.
4 o

650 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

sat with his son, Richard Cromwell, in one of the boots of his state
coachi.

Whitelocke was far from supporting all the measures of Cromwell and the
Parliament. He disapproved of the Committee for ejecting scandalous
and insufficient ministers, which was an instrument of great oppression to
the clergy r. About the same time he made application to Cromwell tor
the Provostship of Eton, " as a thing of good value, quiet, and honourable,
" and fit for a scholar," but he met with a refusal : his service, as he
observes, was past, and therefore there was no necessity of a recompence"!
Cromwell, however, still continued upon apparently friendly terms with
him, and summoned him as one of the sixty members of the Other House
of Parliament, the new House of Peers, on the 11th of December, 1657*.
Yet not being satisfied with the public transactions, he lived much in
retirement". In April, 1658, he was appointed of a Committee to hear
appeals from Guernsey and Jersey". He was nominated in the Commis-
sion of the High Court of Justice, for the trial of Doctor Hewet and the
other conspirators against the Protector, but he never sat with them : the
establishment of that court being against his judgment, which was, that
they should be tried in the Upper Bench, according to law?. Upon the
capture of Dunkirk, overtures were made to him to be Governor of it,
which he refused to undertake2. On the 21st of August, a bill was
signed by the Protector, about a fortnight before he died, for a patent to
make Whitelocke a Viscount, an honour of which he refused to accept3.

Upon the accession of Richard, he presented an address to him from
Buckinghamshire6. During his Protectorship, he constantly attended the
business of the Treasury, and was again made Commissioner of the Great
Seal, with Fiennes and LTsle. Richard had a particular respect for him,
and consulted with him, the Lord Broghill, and others, about dissolving
the Parliament. Most of them were for it. Whitelocke dissuaded him
from it : and always declared his judgment honestly, and for the good of
the Protector, when his advice was required0.

' Memor. p. 662. r Ibid. p. 664. ■ Ibid. ' Ibid. p. 665. " Ibid,

p. 673. " Ibid. p. 674- 'Ibid. * Ibid. a Ibid. p. 675. "Ibid.

p. 676. c Ibid. p. 678.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 651

After the deposition of Richard, and the army had assumed the govern-
ment, he was removed from his office of Commissioner of the Great Seal.
When part of the Long Parliament was restored, and appointed a Council
of State, he was named one of the members of it. He was falsely accused
of holding a communication with Charles and Hyde, from which he justi-
fied himselfd. He was named as a Commissioner to mediate a peace
between Sweden and Denmark, which he declined6. As President of
the Council, he was most active in suppressing the insurrection of Sir
George Booth.

Monk seems to have been desirous of availing himself of his services,
and wished him to have been one of the Commissioners for Scotland ; but
Whitelocke refused'. He was one of the Committee of ten members of
the Council of State, who were nominated by the army on the 17th of
October, 1659, to consider of fit ways to carry on the government *: and
of a new Council of twenty-three persons, named on the 22d, for the ma-
nagement of public affairs, under the name of the Committee of Safety.
This office he was at first unwilling to undertake, and only consented to
prevent, if possible, the army from governing by the sword. And he
was of a special Committee of that Board, to consider of a form of govern-
ment. The Great Seal was again delivered to him'1. At first he took an
active part against Monk, and with the Committee issued Commissioners
to raise forces against him : and he even received from them a commission
to raise a regiment of horse himself. He represented to the city that
Monk designed to bring in the King by a new civil war, and Lambert was
ordered to march against him.

Whilst affairs were in this perplexed state, Whitelocke proposed to
Fleetwood, that, since it was evidently Monk's design to bring in the
King, he should either assemble all their forces and see what stand they
could make against it, or else send some trusty person to the King with a
tender of their services to restore him ; and he offered to go himself.
Fleetwood at first seemed willing, and had even desired Whitelocke to
prepare himself for the journey ; but after meeting with Vane, and some
officers, he declared he could not do it without Lambert's consent, who

d Memcr. p. 680. e Ibid. p. 6S1. ' Ibid. p. 685, 6 Ibid. p. 686. "Ibid,

p. 687.

4- O -2

652 LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. book iv.

was at too great a distance. The next day, Colonel Ingoldsby told
Whitelocke that his condition required that he should go to the King,
with the Great Seal; which overture he did not comply with1. By the
restored Members of the Long Parliament he was treated with much
severity, and Scot said, that he should be hanged, with the Great Seal
about his neck. Being informed of their intention to send him to the
Tower, he retired into the country, and ordered his wife to carry the Great
Seal to the Speaker's

In this seclusion he continued till the King's restoration was completed.
After that event, during the debates upon the Bill of Oblivion, he peti-
tioned the House of Commons ; and on the question being propounded,
whether he should be one of the twenty persons excepted out of the general
pardon, it was negatived by a considerable majority. He spent the
remaining fifteen years of his life in retirement, mostly at Chilton
Park in Wiltshire, where he died of the stone on the 2Sth of July,
1675 ; and was buried at Fawley near Marlow, in an isle which he had
built for a burying place for himself and his family. It is said that he
waited upon the King, after the Restoration, to beg his pardon for all that
he had transacted against him, and that his Majesty bid him " Go, live
li quietly in the country, and take care of his wife and sixteen children."
Queen Christina, in an interview with Charles the Second, informed him,
that, in his Embassy to Sweden, she had never heard him speak a dis-
honourable word against his Majesty^.

Lord Commisssioner Whitelocke had three wives. The first was
Rebecca, the daughter of Thomas Bennet, Esquire, Alderman of London,
by whom he had only one son, Sir James Whitelocke, who was settled at
Trumpington, near Cambridge. He was first a Captain ; afterwards Fellow
of All Souls College; then a Colonel in the Parliament army; Knight
for Oxfordshire, Septembers, 1654; Knighted by Oliver, January 6, 1650;
Burgess for Aylesbury, January 27, 1658'". He left two sons, both of
whom died unmarried. His second wife was Frances, daughter of William,
Lord Willoughby of Parham, and Frances, daughter of John, Earl of
Rutland. He had nine children bv her, and she died the 16th of May,

1 Memor. p. 692, 693. k Ibid. p. G93. ' Memorials. m Wood's Ath. Ox.

part ii. col. 401.

ch. viii. sec. i. LORD COMMISSIONER WHITELOCKE. 653

1649- His third wife was the widow Wilson, whose maiden name was
Carleton, who survived him, and by her he had several children. In the
year 1664, he mentions that he had then fourteen children, and had lost
three. The eldest of the last marriage inherited Chilton Park, and his son
was living in 1772. At that time, of all Sir Bulstrode's numerous issue
there were none left in the male line, except Mr. Whitelocke of Chilton
Park, Mr. Carleton Whitelocke, and his son, a Student in the Middle
Temple".

In his retirement, Lord Whitelocke wrote the Annals of his own Life,
not with a view of being published, but for instruction to his children.
They contained likewise the public transactions of the country, and various
dissertations upon subjects of divinity, law, politics, history, and antiquity0.

Of these a part was printed in folio, in the year 1682, under the name
of Memorials of the English affairs from the beginning of the reign of King
Charles the First, to the Restoration. Arthur, Earl of Anglesea, was the
Editor. This is a most valuable account of that eventful period. The
concern which the author had in the public affairs of the country, and his
intimacy with the chief actors, enabled him to relate events with accuracy,
and to ascribe them to their genuine motives. Upon every occasion he
has shewn the greatest impartiality both as to the measures themselves,
and the characters of those who were concerned in them. His style is
easy, and without affectation ; and though his work is not wrought up into
a regular uninterrupted narrative, it derives some advantages from the form
of a journal, in the correctness of dates, and the introduction of an infinite
number of facts, which would not find their place in a regular history.

Another part was published by Doctor Morton, in the year 1772, in
two volumes in 4to. intitled, A Journal of the Swedish Ambassy in the
years 16.53 and 1654, from the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, written by the Ambassador, the Lord Commissioner Whitelocke.
It is a most interesting history of every thing relating to that ambassy,
full of anecdotes of the celebrated Queen Christina, and her court, and
related in so lively a manner, as to make us present, as it were, in every
scene he describes, and to enter into his very inmost thoughts and feelings.

11 Dr. Morton's Dedication to the Swedish Ambassy, &c. ° See his preface to it in

the Appendix, No. I. of the Swedish Ambassy, vol. ii. page 429.

654 SIR JOHN BROWN. book iv.

" In those pages," says his learned Editor, " the political man will find no
" contemptible model of doing business ; the family man may extract that
" which suits his laudable purposes ; and the individual, the moral, and
" the religious man will see his form delineated, and be instructed where to
" seek his end." It is greatly to be wished that the remainder of his
Journal was published.

His Essays ecclesiastical and civil were published in octavo, in 1706.
His Notes upon the King's Writ for choosing Members of Parliament,
issued in the thirteenth of Charles the Second, being Disquisitions on the
Government of England by King, Lords, and Commons, were published
in 2 vols, in 4to. in 1766. A most learned and constitutional book.

Many of his speeches were published separately in his life-time, of
which Wood has given a list. Others are in Rushworth's Collection ; as
those upon the trial of the Earl of Strafford. His speeches in the con-
ference with Cromwell, to persuade him to take upon him the title of King,
are to be found in the account of the conference printed in 1657, under
the title of, Monarchy asserted to be the best form of Government p.

The second husband of Cecily Croke was Sir John Brown,
Knight. I have not discovered any particulars relating to this second
marriage, which took place before the 1st of February, 1609; because
her mother, in her will of that date, styles her " my daughter Brown."

>' See the Genealogy of Whitelocke, Bulstrode, Mayne, Beke, &c. Whiteloeke, from
Biown Willis's MSS. vol. 19. Harl. MSS. 1102, a visitation of Bucks in 1 634. Bulstrode
from the same, Harl. 1102. p. 44. and Harl. No. 1193. p. 51. May ne from Harl. No. 1102.
Willis, ibid. Beke, ibid, and Brown Willis's MSS. vol. iii. page 4G. Harl. 1102. p. 61. b
Harl. 1193. p. f)8. No. 34.

654 SIR JOHN BROWN. book iv.

" In those pages," says his learned Editor, " the political man will find no
" contemptible model of doing business ; the family man may extract that
" which suits his laudable purposes ; and the individual, the moral, and
•l the religious man will see his form delineated, and be instructed where to
" seek his end." It is greatly to be wished that the remainder of his
Journal was published.

The second husband of Cecily Croke was Sir John Brown,
Knight. I have not discovered any particulars relating to this second
marriage, which took place before the 1st of February, 1609 ; because
her mother, in her will of that date, styles her " my daughter Brown."

f See the Genealogy of Whitelocke, Bulstrode, Mayne, Beke, &c. Whitelocke, from
Biown Willis's MSS. vol. 19. Harl. MSS. 1102, a visitation of Bucks in 1634. Bulstnxle
from the same, Harl. 1102. p. 44. and Harl. No. 1193. p. 51. Maynefrom Harl. No. 1102.
Willis, ibid. Beke, ibid, and Brown Willis's MSS. vol. iii. page 4«. Harl. 1102. p. 6l. b
Harl. 1193. p. (38. No. 34.

15 and 31 Hen. III. I
Geoffrey de la Bech. =

THE GENEALOGY OK WHITELOCKE, HULSTRODK. MAYNE, AND BKKLv

See likewise th< G<ncaf<>»j/ .</ I'nton, So. '24.

tleofieydela,

John de la ltocli. =

Thomas de In Bech. =

fflttjj

. (i.-ni-lniT ■ i lti.li-.nl Kind,..

and Rouse „f West™

-zigi

of = Edward Bulstrode.

- Mai v. dangli ,,t lit, li.ud l,i,ij,-„i
len.p Ik,, VII. relict of Johr

= Joan, tlaugllt.r of Thomas f'Jlft
of Sunning, Berks.

lary, daugh. ot

1, Read .'of
'anon, Berks.

...

'">'l

Robert de la Bech, =
9, 17 Hen. V. VI. 1

John Whitlock, = Acmes de la Bee
32 Hen. VI. 1 38 Hen. VI,

.llHeTvi. i!l'.'|CEd.T
IV l.i Hen VII.
1 Hen VIII.

(

Thomas Bulstrode

1
Robert Mayne,

Fiwtwite. Alice It
By the first wif

1
John Mayne, 0

Edward Bulstrode.

endon.

Richard Whitlock.

slrode, Bucks,
first husbaod.

lohn Had issue, De la Bech Whillock.and Richard, =
UiiliamWmflotk.l.nr.lof die Manor of 2.3Hen. |
licks ne.ir Ockingliaui. Berks, and of VIII.
Beeches Lands, and Whitchurch, Oxon.

Hicrom

,„

a ^pturi.

Sir James Whitlock, Knt, Judge of = Eli
the King's Bench, bom Nov. 28, 1
1 :,?(>, died 22 June, 1632, buried at
Fawley. Bucks

abeth Bulstrode.

Kr.l jrift.

= Ehzalnth, da
of! Benin-!.

Edward Bulstrode

and of Warwickshi
Issue.

Second JTift. 7V,lr

= Frances, da. of = Wido

Ld. Willough. maid

by. of Parkam, Ca.

, and Frances,

of Rutland"
1

Henry Bulstrode. =
„f Upton.

Simon Mayne. =
of Dinton, died 1

2d husband. '

Elizabeth, rear. Sir Bulstrode Whitlock,

Thus, Mu>tyn, ,.t .,!' lawlev, burn Aug
M.,st..ii,S. Wales. li. MiU5,, bed July 2S
Cecily, married E. 1675. Lord Commis-
IJixon,,,fliolden. sioner, and Ambas-

1 if if,. , m

■r Wilson, Mary, man,, 1
n name T. Knight,
leton. ol'Rcading
1 Cecily.

Elizabeth, mar".

Edward,
married
Mildred

of Ashford,

Thomas B
mard. Nov.

%i:

- t'ololieny

Simon Mayne,
King's Judge.

of' Bedfordshire,

died 1641. Second
wife Elizabeth, d.

I 1628. I died 1606,

II,„-i I

,1 II ,1.1,.,

,1 Wl,..|..ck.

,,L

Oil. I'.yli

Ihl i.rd. d„o ,
Join, l-.ill, ,r,l 1
N-Jtcnol.i,,,,-!,

, Henry.

M„ garel,

I „l l.„b„,

„!r

"the Ito'g.oid'e .,,'d I

No. 35.

THE GENEALOGY OF WINGFIELD.

Sir John Wingfield,
eldest son.

Sir Robert Winkfield,

of Letheringham,

Suffolk.

Elizabeth, second daughter and coheir
of Sir Robert Gowsell, by Elizabeth,
sister and coheir of Thomas Fitzallen,
fifth Earl of Arundel and Surrey,
widow of Thos. Mowbray, first Duke
of Norfolk.

Sir Henry Wingfield, :

of Otford, in Com. Suff.

Knt. of Rhodes,

second son.

= Elizabeth,
daughter of
Robert Rowley.

Sir Thomas Wingfield,
third son.

Robert Wingfield, Margaret, daugh of

of Upton, George Quarles, of

ob an. 18 Eliz. Ufford, in Norfolk.

Elizabeth,
wife of Sir Wm.
Brandon, grand-
father to Sir
Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk.

Anne, da. and = .lohn.
heir of John
Callvbut

John,

of Ticken-

cote, in

Com. Rutl.

Daughter.

married to
— Brocc.is,
f on and heir
of Sir Peck-
sail Broccas,

of Bucks

Robert Wingfield,
of Upton, in North-
amptonshire, ob. an.
22 Eliz.

Elizabeth, da. of Richard Cecil,
of Stanford, and sister of William
Lord Burleigh.

1 I
3. Richard.
4 Peregrine.

Dorothy,

mar. Adam

Claypole,

Norborough,

Lincolnshire.

Sir Robert Wingfield,
ob. an. 7 Jac. I.

Richa

Sir Robert Wingfield.

Prudence, da. of John Croke.

alias Blount, of Chilton.

in Com. Bucks.

Elizabeth, da. and coheir of
Roger Aston, Gentleman of
the Bed-chamber to King
James

Francis Wingfield.

sec. ii. PRUDENTIA CROKE. WINGFIELD. 655

SECTION THE SECOND.

PRUDENTIA CROKE, the second daughter of Sir John Croke and
Elizabeth Unton, married Sir Robert Wingfield, Knight, who died in the
seventh year of James the First. He was the son of Sir Robert Wing-
field, by his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of Richard Cecil of Burleigh,
and sister of William Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer, whose sister
Margaret was married to her cousin Roger Cave*. His great grand-father
was Sir Henry Wingfield, of Orford, in Suffolk, a Knight of Rhodesb.
Sir Robert Wingfield and Prudence Croke had three sons, Robert, Richard,
and Roger, and a daughter married to — — Broccasc, son and heir of
Sir Pecksell Brocas, of Buckinghamshire"1.

Some of this family were settled at Brantham, and Letheringham
in Suffolk, Stones Castle in Kent, and Kimbolton Castle in Huntingdon-
shire,- and were of great antiquity, and noble descents and alliances*.

Their coat of arms is, argent, on a bend, gules, between two cotizes,
sable, three pair of wings joined in lewer, as the first.

1 Collins's Peerage, vol. ii. p. igo. b Pedigree in the History of Northamptonshire

by Bridges and Whalley, vol. ii. page 508. Ed. 1791- c Dame Elizabeth Croke

(Unton'sj Will, penes me. d Harl. MSS. No. 1411. fol. 27- where is a pedigree of the

Wingfield family, printed in Genealogy, No. 35. e Guillim, page 384. Ed. 1660.

ELIZABETH CROKE. TYRRELL.

SECTION THE THIRD.

ELIZABETH, the third daughter of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth
Unton, married Sir John Tyrrell, of Heron in Essex. Her epitaph
at Chilton has recorded all we know of her.

Here lyeth Elizabeth Tyrell, late wife of Sir John Tyrell, of Heron,
Knight, and daughter of Sir John Croke of Chi/ton, Knight, who had
one daughter named Dorothy, who died in her infancie. And the said
Elizabeth died the \6th of February, Anno Domini 1631, being the 57 th
uearc of her age.

Against the wall is the monument. Within an arch, a lady kneeling
at an altar, an infant before her. At the top, a coat of arms, in a
lozenge, argent, two chevronels, azure, within a bordure, engrailed, gules,
for Tyrrell, impaled with Croke. Below another coat of arms, Quarterly.
1. Tyrrell. 2. Paly, argent and sable. 3. Gules, on a chevron argent,
three dolphins of the field. 4. Argent, a cross, between four escalops, sable.

This was an ancient family, descended from Sir Walter Tyrrel, who
held the lordship of Langham in Essex, in the time of William the Con-
queror, and shot William Rufus with an arrow in the New Forest ; they
were divided into several branches, which possessed large estates in Essex,
Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire ; and two of them were
created Baronets. The titles and the name are now become extinct.

Of the elder branch little is recorded, except the names, the marriages,
and the estates. One Sir John Tirrel was appointed by Henry the
Fifth Captain of the Carpenters for the new works at Calais, to be paid
twelve pence a day. The sufferings of another Sir John Tyrrel, in the
royal cause of Charles the First, are commemorated in the following epi-
taph in East-Hornden church.

En' ATTON,

SEMEL DECIMATUS,

BIS CARCERATUS,

TER SEQUESTRATUS,

TACET QUOTIES SPOLIATl'S,

si
>

ps,

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Sin 5

656 ELIZABETH CROKE. TYRRELL.

SECTION THE THIRD.

ELIZABETH, the third daughter of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth
Unton, married Sir John Tyrrell, of Heron in Essex. Her epitaph
at Chilton has recorded all we know of her.

Here hjeth Elizabeth Tyrell, late wife of Sir John Tyrell, of Heron,
Knight, and daughter of Sir John Croke of Chilton, Knight, who had
one daughter named Dorothy, who died in her infancie. And the said
Elizabeth died the \6th of February, Anno Domini 1631, being the 57th
yeare of her age.

Err ATTON,

SEMEL DECIMATUS,

BIS CARCERATUS,

TER SEQUESTRATUS,

TACET QUOTIES SPOLIATLS,

* ^

a <si

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Charles,
died unmarried,

John Robert Spencer =z= Ai
l'hilips, of Riffham. b. N

Nu. 3/".

II. TYRRELL OF THORNTON, OAKLEY. HANSLAPE. AND CASTLE-THORP, IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, AND SHOTOVER IN OXON
TYRRELL OF BOREHAM HOUSE IN ESSEX, NEWLY CREATED A BARONET.

Sir Thomas Tyrrell, -
','d si. 11 of Sir Thoiua-
Tyrr. 11. of Heron Gate,
Knt. Knight llannoivi,

Humphrey Tyrrell,

right of his wife, wl

brought thirty manors.

: Elizabeth, daugh. ami eohei
Sir Henry, or Sit Humph
Le Bruin, of South < >ken

Eliz.ilx'lii. ..laugh, of Sir Thou
Bodlcy, Knt. Founder of 1
Library.

George Tyrrell, Esi]. Eleanor, daugh. of Sir Edward

Montague. Km Lord < liifi'.Iu-
tice, and one of the Executors .1!
Hen. VIII. ancestor of the Duke,
of Montague ami Manehesioi,
and the Earls Sandwich and
Halifax.

Elizabeth, daughter of
Sir Wm. Kingsmill, of
SidmantOD, Southamp.

Mary, daughter of Benedict Lee,

Sir Edward 'Iym-11. . Mi/ah, ih.
Baronet, 1627. No is

. Penelojie, married

-- Sir Toby -^^ Lucy, widow of Willi

: Tyrrell. Bart. Cheyney, of Chest

d. 1671. Boy's, d'a. of Sir Thoi

Hester, married
Sir Peter la Ware.
, Sir T. Salisbury.
Thomas Tyrrell.

Eli/. ib tii. mar".

ofWoode;

(i. Bridget. 1

13
Sir I homas Tyrrell, =

"1 Man. lap..-, and Castle
I'lmip. Mucks. Col. in
I'ai'l Army, Judge of
tii. Cuunuon I'le.is, nnc
<>f the ComiiiU-ioner-.
of the Great Seal to
Oliver Cromwell.

J. Lucy, mar*, to

2. Hester, 'to T.
Gosfright.

3. Mary.

Sir Thomas TyTrell, Bart. Timothy.

mar1 Trances, only dau. No issue,

of Sir Henry Blount, of
Tittenhanger.

ber to Charles
Gen. of the Ordi

: Elizabeth, sole
da. and heir of
J. Usher, Abp.

He -y

Range

don Chace, mar".

Thompson,

Sir Peter Temple.

2. Bridget, Mimar".

3. Mary, married
Sir Walter Pye.

Hester, da. of Sir Edw. Sir Peter Tyrrell,

Tyrrell, of Thornton, of Hanslape and Castle

Bart. Thorp, treated Baronel

Jo'Go.maH. the dau. of

— John Blower, of Carew Raleigh, son of

iosi.i,maH

heir of Charles Blount, Esq.
Bluum's Hall, second son oi' S
Henry Blount

J.itm-Tyrrc]lJof("\il.l,.>

deni-ral ili-t.oi'i.n-i ;-;.|

■ Mai-v, .1 1. of
Sir'M.ehael
Ibitcliiii on.

2. Cha

3. John, Capt. Navy. d.luYl-J.
-1: I'sher, uiard. a daugh. of

Van Tromp.

Eli/.aWtl
I'liilip, 1
Peregriiu
BMiam

Mary, married

lieu Cavendish,

,A' Dove-bridge.

Derbyshire.

Eleanor, wife to Bridget, m

Charles, 2d son of S. Byn

Sir Henry Blount, ofWhitbi
of Tittenhanger.

r Charles Tyrrell, Bart.

.lames Tvrrell 1.-, .»! f
Cieut i.eiural 111 iT:J!). r.
Giooms of the Bctlchaml.
Prince of Wales

Ham Charley ti:,-,, ,rd.

E>-e\. h\ his wife Mary,

— Mary, daughter of
Giles Alleyn, Esq, of
Haseley Hall, Essex,

ol'.lohn lligham, Esq. ol

\une, li.lest daughter of

the Rev. Wm. Master,

second wife.

sir John Tyrrell, =
b. July 20, 17C2,
created a Baronet
Sept. 28, 1801).

^m-.A,, . -id v daughter <•!
Wdliam IWu. Esq. ot
\\ -,1th. on Huu-e, Hert>

ch. viii. sec. in. ELIZABETH CROKE. TYRRELL. 657

HIC JACET INHUMATUS,

JOHANNES TYRREL,

EQUES AURATUS,

OBIIT DIE MARTIS, APRILIS 3°. A.D. 167-5. MTAT. 82.

The deeds of men of fortune, and soldiers, seldom survive them ; the
works of authors have something of a longer existence. The last but
one of the Oakley and Shotover family, James Tyrrel, Esquire, who was
born in 1642, was educated at Queen's College in Oxford, and afterwards
studied, without practising, the common law, in the Inner Temple, where
he was called to the bar. Upon his marriage, he retired to his patrimony at
Oakley, and was one of the Deputy Lieutenants, and a Justice of the
Peace, for Buckinghamshire, from which offices he was removed by King
James the Second, for not complying with his designs for the restoration
of popery. He became a voluminous author, and wrote an History of
England to the reign of William the Third, in five volumes folio ; and
another work intitled Bibliotheca Politico, or an Enquiry into the Ancient
Constitution of the English Government, in folio likewise, and other books.

His son, James Tyrrel, was the last of the Shotover family, served in
the army, arrived at the rank of Lieutenant General in 1739, was one of
the Grooms of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales, represented the
corporation of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire in three Parliaments, was
Governor of Gravesend, and Tilbury Fort, and Colonel of a regiment.
He died without issue, and left the estate, and the house at Shotover,
which was erected by himself, to Baron Schutz ; by whose descendants
it is now

• Collins's Baronetage, Ed. 1741. vol. ii. p. 76. vol. iii. p. 510. See the Genealogies of
Tyrrell, No. 36, and 37-

4 P

6.58 WILLIAM CROKE.

CHAPTER IX.

William Croke, and his descendants.

»*E have now traced, to the full extent, the descendants of the four
eldest sons, and the three daughters, of Sir John Croke and Dame Eli-
zabeth Unton : the patriarchal stock of the family. We have seen all the
male lines of them gradually and in succession becoming entirely extinct,
vanishing from sight, or transferring their blood and property through
females to other families. The youngest branch, which lived at Studley,
has been favoured with a longer duration.

This branch was descended from William Croke, Esquire, the
fifth son of Sir .John Croke and Elizabeth Unton. We have before related,
that his brother, Sir George Croke, bequeathed to him the estate at Stud-
ley for his life, with remainder to his son Alexander in tail male; which
thus became the seat of his family. He does not appear to have engaged
in any profession or other active pursuit: an ample testimony is borne by
Sir Harbottle Grimston to the amiableness of his character: 'l that he
" was a man of an humble spirit, and piously disposed, addicting himself
" wholly to a country life."

If education and example can influence the mind, he was blessed with
a wife who was probably of a disposition similar to his own. This was
Dorothy, the daughter of Robert Honywood, Esquire, of Charing, in Kent.
Her mother, Mary, was a lady who has been much celebrated for her piety,
the multitude of her descendants, and the length of her life. Her father,
Robert Atwaters, or Waters, Esquire, of Royton, in the parish of Lenham,
in Essex, was a man of fortune, who left only two daughters, coheiresses ;
Joyce, the eldest, who married Humphrey Hales, Esquire, of the Dun-
geon, in Canterbury: and Mary, the youngest, who brought the estate at
Royton, another at Charing, and some other property, to her husband,
Robert Honywood; then of Henewood, in the parish of Postling, in

3 S

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WILLIAM CHOKE.

CHAPTER IX.

William Croke, and his descendants.

W E have now traced, to the full extent, the descendants of the four
eldest sons, and the three daughters, of Sir John Croke and Dame Eli-
zabeth Unton: the patriarchal stock of the family. We have seen all the
male lines of them gradually and in succession becoming entirely extinct,
vanishing from sight, or transferring their blood and property through
females to other families. The youngest branch, which lived at Studley,
has been favoured with a longer duration.

This branch was descended from William Croke, Esquire, the
fifth son of Sir John Croke and Elizabeth Unton. We have before related,
that his brother, Sir George Croke, bequeathed to him the estate at Stud-
ley for his life, with remainder to his son Alexander in tail male; which
thus became the seat of his family. He does not appear to have engaged
in any profession or other active pursuit: an ample testimony is borne by
Sir Harbottle Grimston to the amiableness of his character: " that he
" was a man of an humble spirit, and piously disposed, addicting himself
" wholly to a country life.''''

If education and example can influence the mind, he was blessed with
a wife who was probably of a disposition similar to his own. This was
Dorothy, the daughter of Robert Hony wood, Esquire, of Charing, in Kent.
Her mother, Mary, was a lady who has been much celebrated for her piety,
the multitude of her descendants, and the length of her life. Her father,
Robert Atwaters, or Waters, Esquire, of Royton, in the parish of Lenham,
in Essex, was a man of fortune, who left only two daughters, coheiresses ;
Joyce, the eldest, who married Humphrey Hales, Esquire, of the Dun-
geon, in Canterbury: and Mary, the youngest, who brought the estate at
Royton, another at Charing, and some other property, to her husband,
Robert Honywood; then of Henewood, in the parish of Postling, in

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chap. ix. WILLIAM CROKE. 659

Kent. Mary was born in the year 1527, and married in February, 1543,
at 16 years of age. Her husband died in the year 1576, and she lived to
see three hundred and sixty-seven descendants: of whom, sixteen were her
own children, one hundred and fourteen grandchildren, two hundred and
twenty-eight in the third generation, and nine in the fourth. Her grand-
son, Dr. Michael Honywood, Dean of Lincoln, in King Charles the
Second's time, and whose monument is in the Minster, used to relate, that
he was present at a dinner given by her to a family party of two hundred
of her descendants'1. Of her own issue, which consisted of seven sons
and nine daughters; Robert, the eldest son, married Dorothy, the daughter
of John Crook, LL.D.'1; Anthony, the second, married Mrs. Anne
Gybson; Arthur, the third, Elizabeth Spencer; Walter was the fourth ;
and Isaac the fifth, who was killed at the battle of Newport, June the 20th,
1600 ; the two other sons died young. Of the daughters, Catherine mar-
ried, first, William Flete ; and, secondly, William Headmarsh, or Hen-
marsh: Priscilla, to Sir Thomas Engeham, or Ingeham, Knight; Mary,
to George Morton; Anne, to Sir Charles Hales, Knight; Grace, to Mi-
chael Heneage, from whom are descended the Earls of Winchelsea, and
Nottingham ; Elizabeth, to George Woodward ; Susan, to Mr. Beecham,
or Rancham ; Bennet, to Henry Croke, the second son of Sir John Croke
and Elizabeth Unton; and Dorothy, to his brother William Croke0.

Hakewill, the first writer who gives a printed account of Mrs. Hony-
wood, quotes an Epigram from Theodore Zwinger, which was made upon
a noble lady of the Dalburg family of Basil, as applicable to her.

Mater ait natae, die natae, filia, natam
Ut moneat, natae plangere filiolam.

" The mother said to her daughter, daughter, bid thy daughter tell her
"■ daughter, that her daughter's little daughter is crying"1."

* Letter from Mr. Francis Brocklesby, at the end of the sixth book of Leland's Itine-
rary, by Hearne, p. 105.

b I know not who this was, or whether of our family.

c Hasted's History of Kent, vol. ii. p. 442. Morant's History of Essex, vol. ii. p. l6S.
The names of the husbands are spelt differently in these two books.

'' Hakewill's Apologie of the Power and Providence of God, folio, 1635, p. 252, and
4 P 2

660 WILLIAM CROKE. book iv.

Mrs. Honywood was a very good and pious woman, and zealous in
performing all the charitable offices of Christianity. The poor, the dis-
tressed, and the afflicted, partook of her bounty, and were benefitted by
her advice and consolation. In the persecutions, during the reign of
Queen Mary, she used to visit the prisons, and administered comfort and
relief to the unhappy sufferers. But, like many other good and pious per-
sons, she was afflicted with religious melancholy, and despaired of her own
salvation. She was frequently visited by some of the most eminent
divines, who endeavoured to heal her wounded spirit, by the various argu-
ments of Scripture and reason, unhappily without effect. In a conversa-
tion with the celebrated Mr. John Fox, the author of the Martyrology,
whilst all his advice and consolations were ineffectual, in the agony of her
soul, having a Venice glass in her hand, she broke forth into this expres-
sion, " 1 am as surely damned as this glass is broken;" which she imme-
diately threw with violence to the ground. The glass however rebounded
again, and was taken up whole and entire. The event seemed miracu-
lous, yet she took no comfort from it, but continued long after in her
former disconsolate condition : until at last, as Dr. Fuller relates it, " God
" suddenly shot comfort, like lightning, into her soul, which once entered,
" ever remained therein : so that she led the remainder of her life in spi-
" ritual gladness." This she told herself to the Reverend father Thomas
Morton, Bishop of Durham, from whose mouth Dr. Fuller received the
relation1: and the glass was long preserved in the family f.

During the time she continued in this unhappy state of mind, she con-
sulted, amongst others, as a spiritual adviser, Mr. John Bradford, a cele-
brated divine, and preacher; who was committed to prison soon after
Queen Mary's accession, and continued there near two years and an
half. Amongst a great number of letters, written during his confinement,
and preserved by Bishop Coverdale and Fox, are three to Mrs. Hony-
wood, and one at least to her sister, Mrs. Joyce Hales s. The writings of

from him, Dr. Derham, in his Physico Theology, p. 178. Edition 1727- Fuller's Wor-
thies, Kent, &c.

6 Fuller's Worthies, Kent, p. 85. f Morant's History of Essex, vol. ii. p. 168, 170.

s Myles Coverdale's Letters of the Martyrs, p. 426. A small black-letter, quarto,
published in 15G4. Fox's Book of Martyrs, vol. iii. f. 271, &c. Edit. 1684. The account

chap. ix. WILLIAM CROKE. 661

most of the divines of that period are deeply tinctured with the doctrine of
abstract faith, predestination, and election. In these letters, the con-
sciousness of a well-spent life, the zealous performance of all the duties of
religion, and the satisfaction arising from sincere, though imperfect, en-
deavours to serve God, are not thought of sufficient importance to be in-
troduced as topics of consolation. The sinner is to be recovered from
despair by a firm faith, that she is the beloved daughter of God, the citizen
of heaven, and the temple of the Holy Ghost ; independently of any obe-
dience or merit on her part. All doubts to the contrary are pronounced
to be only the suggestions of Satan ; and that whilst she has this belief, no
sins can be imputed to her. Admitting the soundness of the principle,
the letters are written with zeal and fervour, with good sense and elo-
quence11.

When the time of Bradford's sufferings approached, and he was to be
carried to Smithfield to be burnt, Mrs. Honyvvood resolved to accompany
him. Not deterred by the tumult, and the crowds which assemble upon
such occasions, she pressed forward with undaunted courage, and stood as
near to him as possible: though such was the pressure of the mob, that her
shoes were trodden off, and lost. On their arrival at the place, Bradford
went boldly up to the stake, and laying down flat on his face on one side
of it, as a young man who suffered with him did on the other, they con-
tinued in prayer for some little time, till the Sheriff told them to rise.
When they were got up, Bradford took up a faggot, and kissed it, as he
did the stake. When he pulled off his clothes, he desired they might be
given to his servant, " who," he observed, " was poor." After he was
chained to the stake, he held up his hands and face to heaven, and said
aloud, " O England, England, repent thee of thy sins!" Then, declaring
that he forgave, and asking forgiveness of all the world, and requesting the
people to pray for him, he turned his head about to the young man who
was chained to the same stake behind him, encouraged him, and said,
" Be of good comfort, brother, for we shall have a merry supper with the
" Lord this night." They both appeared to be void of all fear, and

of Bradford, in Fox, with some of his letters, occupies 68 pages of double columns, closely
printed, in folio. " See some of these letters in the Appendix, No. XXXII.

662 WILLIAM CHOKE. book iv.

shewed not the least alteration of countenance. In the midst of his tor-
tures, Bradford embraced the flaming reeds that were near him: and the
last words which he was heard to say, were, " Strait is the way, and nar-
" row is the gate, that leadeth to salvation, and few there be that find it ."
When the affecting scene was over, after disengaging herself from the
crowd, Mrs. Hollywood was obliged to walk barefoot, from Smithfield to
St. Martin's, before she could purchase a new pair of shoes'.

She survived till the month of May, in the year 1620, when she died at
the great age of ninety-three years.

There is a picture of her at Colcshill in Hertfordshire, the seat of the
Lord Viscount Folkestone, son of the Earl of Radnor, who is descended
from her; as is likewise his lady, through her mother, Lady Mildmay.
She appears to be a handsome hale woman, of about fifty or sixty years of
age, with some red in her cheeks, and of a cheerful countenance. Her
dress is a close jacket, buttoned, with a sort of loose gown over it, of black
silk. She has a small ruff, and a large hood, which falls over her back,
and comes over part of her left arm. In her left hand is a book, and at
one corner of the picture her epitaph. Lady Mildmay has another picture
of her, with the Venetian glass in her hand. In the family manor house
at Marks-Hall, in Essex, in the dining-room, was an original picture of
her, in a widow's dress, with a book in her hand. On the right side of
her hat was this inscription in golden letters, ^tatis suae 70. On the
other side, An0. Dni I597k. In the library belonging to the Cathedral of
Lincoln, which was founded by her grandson, Michael Honywood, D. D.
who was Dean there, is his picture painted by Adrian Ilanneman1.

The arms of Honywood are, argent, a chevron between three hawks'
heads erased azure.

Those of Atwaters, sable, a fesse wavy, voided azure, between three
swans, properm.

Mrs. Honywood was buried in Lenham Church, near her husband,
though a monument was erected to her memory at Marks-Hall, in Essex,
by her eldest son, Robert Honywood, with the following inscription.

■ Fox, ibid. Fuller's Worthies, Kent, p 85. k Morant's Hist, of Essex,

W.ilpole's Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 214 m Hasted's Kent, vol. ii p. 442.

chap. ix. WILLIAM CROKE. 663

" Here lieth the body of Mary Waters, the daughter and coheir of
" Robert Waters, of Lenham, in Kent, Esquire, wife of Robert Hony-
" wood, of Charing, in Kent, Esquire, her only husband, who had at her
'■'•decease lawfully descended from her, 367 children, 16 of her own
" body; 114 grandchildren; 228 in the third generation; and 9 in the
'■'■fourth. She lived a most pious life, and in a Christian manner died
" here at Marks-Hall, in the 93d year of her age, and in the 44M of
" her widowhood, Wth of May, 1620". "

The inscription on the monument of her grandson, Dr. Honywood, in
the Minster at Lincoln, are these.

MICHAEL HONYWOOD, S. T. P. CELEBERRIMjE ILLIUS MATRON*
MARINE HONYWOOD, MAKPAII2NOS, KAI nOATTEKNOT, E NEPOTIBUS
POST NULLUM MEMORANDUS, HIC JUXTA SITUS EST ; COLLEGII
CHRISTI APUD CANTABRIGIENSES OLIM ALUMNUS ET SOCIUS; PIE-
TATIS, PACIS, LITERARUM, STUDIOSISSIMUS ; QUIBUS UT VACARET,
PATRIAM, PERDUELLIUM CONJURATIONE PERTURBATAM, FUGIT,
XVII POST ANNOS, IN TRANQUILLAM, CAROLO SECUNDO REDUCE,
REDIIT; DEINCEPS COLLEGIO HUIC LINCOLNIENSI DECANUS AN-
NOS XXI PRjEFUIT. vir PRISCA SIMPLICITATE, morum probi-
TATE, LIBERALI M AGNI FI CENTI A, INSIGNIS; QUA QUIDEM UNICA
MONUMENTUM SIBI CUM LITER1S DURATURUM POSUIT; UTPOTE
QUI CLAUSTRI HUJUS ECCLESIjE DILAPSO IN LATERE, EXTRUCTA
PRIUS SUMPTIBUS NON EXIGUIS BIBLIOTHECA, EAM POSTEA LIBRIS
NEC PAUCIS NEC VULGARIBUS LOCUPLET A VERIT. TANDEM, SPE
VITjE IMMORTALIS, MORTI, HONYVODIOS LENTO PEDE INSE-
QUENTI, LUBENTUR SE OBTULIT, DIE VII MENSIS SEPTEMBRIS.
ANNO yETATIS SU.E 85, SAL. HUMAN* 1681.

" Fuller's Worthies, Kent, p. 85. Hakewill's Apology, book iii. ch. 5. sec. y. Heame,
in Leland, vol. vi. p. 4. The words, " Here lieth the body of," are omitted in some of these
copies, which are probably the most correct, as she was buried at Lenham; and this of
course was only a cenotaph. It is omitted on her picture at Coleshill. See the Genealogy
of Croke, and Honywood, No. 38. from an emblazoned roll, penes me.

664 ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

Upon a stone on the pavement is an English inscription, which states
her descendants the same as on her own monument.

William Croke, by his will, made the 17th of January, 1638, to which
there is a codicil, dated the 22d of April, 1642, directed his body to be
buried in the chancel of the church at Chilton: but there is no monument
there to ascertain the time of his death". By his wife, Dorothy Hony-
wood, he had several children, Alexander, Edward, Francis, Elizabeth,
and Catherine. Of his son and heir, Alexander, I shall speak presently.
Edward was born February the 11th, 1602, and died young. Francis
was born, the 6th of September, 1605, married Alicia Castle, and lived at
Steeple Aston, near Deddington, in Oxfordshire. He was buried there,
the 2d of August, 1672, by Daniel Greenwood, the Rector, who pub-
lished at Oxford, in quarto, in 1680, his sermon, preached upon the occa-
sion, from Isaiah, chap. lvii. verses 1st and 2d. " The righteous perish-
" eth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away,
" none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
" He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walk-
" ing in his uprightness1"." His children were, Dorothy Bell, Sarah
Hore, Anne Coxeter, Elizabeth Croke, and Francis"*. Elizabeth, born
June 21st, 15975 married John Keling, Esquire; and Catherine, who was
born October the 12th, 1598, was the wife of Richard Davis, otherwise
Pulestonr, who had a son named Samuel*.

Alexander Croke, Esquire, the eldest son of William Croke,
and Dorothy Honywood, was born on the 23d of February, 1594. He
was a member of the Inner Temple, and married two wives.

His first was Anne, the sole daughter and heir of Richard Brasey,
of Thame, in Oxfordshire, by his wife, Mary, the daughter of Richard Dan-
deridge, Esquire, of Berkshire. Richard Brasey was the son of John
Brasey, of Northfield, in Worcestershire. She died young, and was

0 Will, penes me. >■ Wood's Fasti Oxon. Part ii. col. 775. i Will of Alexan-

der Croke, who calls them his " nieces:" and their receipts for his legacies, penes me.
r From the entries in an old book in MS. being Solomon's Proverbs, arranged in methodical
order. Penes me. See Appendix, No. XXXIII. and the Vellum Pedigree. ■ Will

of William Croke.

CHAP. IX.

ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 665

buried at Chilton, under a flat, black, marble slab on the pavement of the
church.

On a brass fillet round the stone is written,

HERE LYETH ANNE CROKE, WIFE OF ALEXANDER CROKE,
ESQUIRE, DAUGHTER AND HEIRE OF RICHARD BRASEY, OF THAME,
IN THE COUNTY OF OXJVON, GENT. WHO DYED THE 22 DAY OF
MARCH, AN. DNI. 1622, AND IN THE 22d YEAR OF HER AGE.

On a brass plate in the middle.

GOD'S LOVE AND FAVOUR IS NOT KNOWN ALWAYS
BY EARTHLY COMFORTS, NOR BY LENGTH OF DAYS ;
FOR OFTEN TIMES WE SEE WHOM HE LOVES BEST
HE SOONEST TAKES UNTO HIS PLACE OF REST.
LONG LIFE ON EARTH DOTH BUT PROLONG OUR PAIN,
IN HAPPY DEATH THERE IS THE GREATEST GAIN.

She had only one son to survive her, Richard, who was born the 1 2th
of October, 16 19.

The arms of Brasey are, sable, a bend between two dexter arms, couped
at the shoulder, clothed in chain mail argent1.

His second wife, whom he married in 1624, was Sarah Beke, the
daughter of Richard Beke, Esquire, of Haddenhatn, in the county of
Buckingham, and Colubery Lovelace". They appear to have lived first
at Dinton till his father's death, as their three first children, George, Wil-
liam, and Colubery are registered there, in 1625, 1627, 1631. This
marriage formed another affinity with the families of Bulstrode and White-
locke; besides a nearer connexion with those of Lovelace, Beke, and
Mayne ; of which I shall proceed to give some account".

Colubery Lovelace was the daughter of Richard Lovelace.
Esquire, and sister to Sir Richard Lovelace, who was created Lord
Lovelace, Baron of Hurley, in the third year of Charles the First. John
Lovelace, who died in 155S, possessed of the manor of Hurley, was grand-
father to the first Lord Lovelace, and, according to Lysons7, was Knighted

' Vellum Genealogy. Visitation of Oxfordshire, Coll. Gonvil et Caius, Cantab.
■ Marriage Settlement, penes me. * For the Bulstrodes, Whitelockes, Maynes, and

Bekes, see their Genealogy, No. 34. ? Mag. Brit. vol. i. p. 299.

4 Q

666 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

in the wars, went on an expedition with Sir Francis Drake, and built the
mansion-house with the money he gained in that adventure. Lord
Lovelace married, to his first wife, Catherine, daughter of George Hill,
and widow of William Hyde, Esquire ; by whom he had no issue.
His second wife was Margaret, daughter and heir of William Dodsworth,
citizen of London, by whom he had two sons, John and Francis ; and
two daughters ; Elizabeth, who married Henry, son and heir of Sir
Henry Martin, Knight ; and Martha, who wedded Sir George Stone-
house, Baronet.

His son John, the second Lord Lovelace, married the Lady Anne,
daughter of Thomas Lord Wentvvorth, and Earl of Cleveland ; and dying
jn lo70, left issue, John, his only surviving son, and three daughters;
Anne, who died unmarried; Margaret, married to Sir William Noel, of
Hinkley Malory, in the county of Leicester, Baronet; and Dorothy, to
Henry, son and heir of Sir James Drax, Knight.

John, the third Lord, was an early friend to the Revolution, but as he
was going to join the Prince of Orange with a considerable force, was
made prisoner. On the accession, however, of the Prince to the throne,
this nobleman was made Captain of the Band of Pensioners. He lived
in a most prodigal and splendid style, which involved him in so much
difficulty, that a great part of his estates were sold, under a decree in
Chancery, to pay his debts. He married Margery, one of the daughters
and coheirs of Sir Edmund Pye, of Bradenham, in Buckinghamshire,
Baronet; by whom he had a son, John, that died an infant ; and three
daughters, Anne, Martha, and Catherine, whereof the first and last died
before their father without children : and his Lordship dying without issue
male, the barony of Wentworth descended to his only surviving daughter
Martha, and the title of Lovelace to John Lovelace, the son of William,
the son of Francis, the second son of Richard, the first Lord Lovelace.
His mother was Mary, daughter of William King, of Iver, Bucks. John,
the fourth Lord Lovelace, died in his Government of New York, on the
6th May, 1709. He married Charlotte, the daughter of Sir John Clay-
ton, Knight, by whom he had three sons, John, Wentvvorth, and Nevil ;
Wentworth died a month before his father.

John, the fifth Lord, survived his father about a fortnight ; when his
brother Nevil became his heir, and the sixth and last Lord Lovelace, and

No. 39.

GENEALOGY OF LOVELACE.

John Lovelace,
died in 1558,
possessed of

Hurley, Berks.

Richard Lovelace, Esq.

Catherine, da. of = Sir Richard Lovelace, = Margaret, da. and
George Hill, wi-
dow of William
Hyde. First wife.
S. P.

3 Car. I. first Lord
Lovelace.

heir of Willi,
Dodsworth, Citi-
zen of London.
Second wife.

Richard Beke, = Coluberry, = Simon Mayne,
first husband. died 1628. 2d husband.

John, :

d. 1670,

second

Lord

Lovelace.

The Lady Anne,
dau. of Thomas
Lord Wentworth,
and Earl of Cleve-
land.

Francis. =: Mary, da.
of William
King.

Elizabeth,

mar. Henry,

son and heir

of Sir Henry

Martin.

Martha,

married

Sir George

Stonehouse.

Sarah Beke, = Alexander
3d daughter. Croke.

John, = Margery,

third

Lord

Lovelace.

da. of Sii

Edward

Pye.

Anne,

died

unmarried.

Margery,

married

Sir W.

Noel.

Dorothy,

married

Henry, son

of Si'r W.

Drax.

William Lovelace.

John Lovelace, = Charlotte, da.

I
John,
died an
infant.

Anne,
died before
her father.

Martha,
Baroness of
Wentworth.

Catherine,
died before
her father.

4th Lord Love-
lace, died at
New York, 6th
May, 1709.

of Sir John
Clayton, Knt.

r~ |

John,

5th Lord Lovelace,

survived his father

a fortnight.

Wentworth,
died before
his father.

Neville,

sixth and last Lord

Lovelace, d. 1736.

S. P. Masculo.

Title extinct.

Martha,
married Lord Henry
Meauclerk, d. March
3d. 17S8, aged 79
years. Buried at
Stanmore.

chap. ix. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 667

dying in 1736, the title became extinct. His daughter Martha married
Lord Henry Beauclerk, died Marcn 3d, 1788, aged seventy-nine years, and
is buried in Stanmore Church, Middlesex.

The arms of Lovelace were gules, on a chief, indented, sable, three
martlets argent*.

Colubery Lovelace had two husbands. The first was Richard
Beke, Esquire, of Haddenham, the son of Richard Beke, Esquire, of
White-Knights, in Berkshire, Equerry to Queen Elizabeth, and Elizabeth,
aunt of Sir Thomas Read, of Boston (or Barton) in Berkshire ; which
Elizabeth died in 1606\ Queen Elizabeth, in her twelfth year, granted
to Richard Beeke, Gentleman, one of the Esquires of her stables, the site of
the mansion house in Haddenham, late purchased of the Lord North, and
a water-mill, for forty years, rendering o£S0, for the mansion, and £6, for
the millb.

By Richard Beke Colubery had several sons and daughters ; Henry,
who married Frances Rilliard, and had a son Richard, who married a
daughter of Sir Thomas Lee ; Margaret, who married Colonel Lilburne ;
Marmaduke, whose wife was Elizabeth Slater, of Haddenham ; William;
James; Elizabeth, married to Thomas Dover; Anne, married to William
Gape ; and Sarah, the third daughter, who was the wife of Alexander
Croke. Richard Beke died in the year 1605.

The second husband of Colubery Lovelace was Simon Mayne,
Esquire, of Dinton, in Buckinghamshire. She had two children by
him ; a son named Simon Mayne ; and a daughter called Colubery
Mayne, who married Thomas Bulstrode, Esquire, the grandson of
Edward Bulstrode and Cecily Croke. Simon Mayne died on the
13th day of July, 1617, when his widow erected a monument to his
memory, against the wall in Dinton church, with the following inscrip-
tion.

1 This account of the Lovelace family is from Banks's Extinct Peerage. See Genealogy,
No. 39-

a Elizabeth Beke, in her will dated 18th March, 1605, appointed her son, Richard Beke,
her Executor. On the l6th of June, Colubery Beke, his widow, took out letters of admi-
nistration cle bonis non. The inventory of his goods at Haddenham and Binfield, taken
after his death, is dated 20th May, 1607, penes me.

'■ Pat. Roll, in Brown Willis's MSS. vol. 40. fol. 80.
4 Q2

668 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

HERE LIETH THE BODY OF SIMON MAYNE, LATE OF DINTON,
ESQUIRE, WHO HAD TO WIFE COLUBERY LOVELACE, DAUGHTER TO
RICARD LOVELACE, OF HURLEY, IN THE COUNTY OF BERKS,
ESQUIRE, BY WHOM HE HAD ISSUE, ONE SON AND ONE DAUGHTER,
SIMON AND COLUBERY. HE DIED 13 JULY, THE 40th YEAR OF HIS
AGE, ANNO DOMINI 1 6 1 7 . IN REMEMBRANCE OF WHOM, COLU-

BERY HIS WIFE, AS A TOKEN OF HER NEVER ENDING LOVE, HATH
CAUSED THIS MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED.

MAIENI PIETAS, PROBITAS, SAPIENTIA, CANDOR,

MENS SUBMISSA, FIDES, SPES, AMOR, INTEGRITAS,
NUNC DESIDERIUM FACIUNT, IMITABILE VITJE

EXEMPLAR MODO QV M PROPOSUERE BONjE.
OMNIBUS ERGO MAGIS GEMMIS, TITULIS, MONUMENT1S,
SIC DECORATAM ANIMAM NUMINIS AULA CAPIT.
NEERE TO THIS PLACE A MIRROR LIES

OF PATIENCE AND HUMILITIE.
DEVOTION WAS HIS EXERCISE,

WHICH LED HIM TO ETERNITIE.
HIS SOULE IN BLISS, HIS CORPSE IN CLAY,
SHALL MEET AGAIN, AND LIVE FOR AYE.

His wife, Colubery Mayne, died in 1628. She made her will on the
18th day of July in that year, in which she directed her body to be
buried in the parish church of Donington als Dinton, near the place where
the body of her late husband, Simon Mayne, lay buried, and that her exe-
cutors should provide one or two decent grave-stones, sufficient for them
both, and her said late husband, herself, and their two children to be
pictured thereon, and cause the same to be laid orderly over the place
where her husband lay buried. The will, which is long, contains such
bequests as a rich widow might be expected to make to her children,
relations, friends, and servants, according to the respective degrees of her
affection for themc. In pursuance of the directions in her will, a large
flat stone was laid over the relicts of herself and her husband, near the en-
trance into the chancel in Dinton church ; with the effigies of herself, her

c Will penes me.

chap. ix. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 669

husband, and her two children, engraved on brass plates, with the following
simple inscription, in the black letter.

J&taion iflagtw, (Bsfpirf, mils Coluberrj), left isfSitf, &inum aitJj
Coluftcrrp. $tf totrtr 13 3ulp, 1617* stye 10th gam 1628.

The coat of arms of Mayne is under it. Ermine, on a bend, three dex-
ter hands couped at the wrist.

Her son, Simon Mayne, was a minor at his mother's death, and by her
will, she bequeathed the wardship of him, which she had by a grant from the
King, to her son-in-law, Alexander Croke, and Sarah his wife, with the
benefit of all his lands, and the use of all her goods and chattels in Dinton,
Winchendon, and Cudington, till her son attained the age of twenty-one
years. Upon condition that, during the minority, Alexander Croke
should keep and maintain him, with meat, drink, lodging, apparel, and
other things needful, at school, the University, or the Inns of Court, with
all necessary expences befitting his estate and calling, and that with all
loving and respective usage. And she gave to h«r son, when he should
accomplish his full age, the wardship and benefit of his marriage"1.

Under the friendly tutelage of his brother-in-law, it must be supposed
that his education corresponded with the wishes and directions of his dis-
creet mother. Influenced probably by the gentlemen of Buckinghamshire,
and his neighbour Ingoldsby, as he grew to manhood, he ranged himself
on the side of the patriots, and was a Member of the Long Parliament.
In 1654, we find him in the commission for the county of Buckingham,
under the ordinance for " ejecting scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient
" schoolmasters." And he was one of the Commissioners for settling the
militia in the same county in 1659'.

Upon the erection of the High Court of Justice for trying King Charles
the First, he was appointed one of the Judges, attended most of the days
of the trial, and finally affixed his name and seal to the warrant for the
execution f.

After the Restoration, upon the King's proclamation for those who had
given judgment against Charles to appear, he surrendered himself. As
one of the Judges, he was excepted by name out of the Act of Indemnity s.

d Will ut supra. e The printed ordinances. ' Nalson's Trial of King Charles.

i 12 Car. II. cap. 11.

670 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

When he was brought to trial with the other regicides, in his defence he
said, that " he had pleaded not guilty, not as denying the fact, but because.
" his conscience told him that he had no malice or ill intention to his
" Majesty." He acknowledged the fact of his sitting in the High Court
of Justice, and lay at his Majesty's feet for mercy, alledging " that he was
" an ignorant, weak man in the law." He admitted his hand and seal
to the warrant, but asserted that " he knew not of the King's bringing
" up, and never was at any committee." He stated, " that the importu-
" nity by which he signed it was known to many there. He was un-
" willing to it, and was told, What fear was there, when forty were there
" before, and twenty were of the Quorum ? He was thereupon drawn in
" to set his hand to it. He never plotted, or contrived the business.
4i There was a gentleman that plucked him down by the coat if he offered
" to speak in the House, and told him he should be sequestered as a delin-
" quent, and said, Will you rather lose your estate than take away the King's
"lifeh?" Mayne was found guilty, and condemned. Six only of tin-
King's Judges were executed. The rest, including Mayne, were reprieved,
and he continued in prison till his death, which took place in 1661. lie
was buried at Dinton.

This family became possessed of the manor of Dinton about 1606.
Upon the attainder of Simon Mayne it was forfeited to the Crown, but
was restored again to the family, and was sold in 1727? by Simon Mayne,
grandson of the regicide, to John Vanhattem, Esquire. It is now pos-
sessed by the reverend William Goodall, who married the natural daughter
and residuary legatee of Sir John Vanhattem, son to the first purchaser'.

It may not be improper to mention here a man, who was clerk to Simon
Mayne, I suppose in his capacity as a Justice of the Peace, and who was
a singular character. His name was John Bigg, and he was born in 1629-
He had been originally possessed of tolerable wealth, was looked upon as
a pretty good scholar, and of no contemptible parts. Upon the Restora-
tion, in despair for the final ruin of the good old cause, he grew melan-
choly, betook himself to a recluse life, and lived in a cave under ground at

h Trial of the 29 Regicides, page 308. Ed. 1679.

' Lysons's Magna Britannia, Dinton, Bucks, vol. i. part 3. page 550. Dinton register.
Information from Mr. Goodall, &c.

chap. ix. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 671

Dinton. His clothes were composed of innumerable patches, chiefly of
leather, as were his shoes. He lived entirely upon charity, but never
asked for any thing except leather, which he would immediately nail to
his clothes. Three bottles were suspended from his girdles, one for strong
beer, another for small beer, and a third for milk, which were given and
brought to him, as was his other sustenance. He died in 1696. There
are two pictures of him, a painting in oil of small size, in the possession
of Sir Scrope Bernard Morland, Baronet, of Winchendon in Buckingham-
shire, which has been etched by Richardson ; and a drawing, belonging to
Mr. Goodall of Dinton ; they were all taken from the sign of an ale-
house, called the Hermit. Two of his shoes are still preserved, of a large
size, and made up of pieces of leather nailed on ; one is in the Ashmolean
Museum at Oxford, the other in the collection of Sir John Vanhattem,
who some years ago had his cave dug up, in hopes of finding something
curious, but nothing was discovered15.

To return to Alexander Croke. His second wife, Sarah Beke, whose
connexions we have stated, died in 1667 • On a flat black marble at
Chilton is this inscription over her.

HERE LIETH THE BODY OF SARAH CROKE, SECOND WIFE OF
ALEXANDER CROKE, OF STUDLEY, IN THE COUNTY OF OXFORD,
ESQUIRE, AND DAUGHTER OF RICHARD BEKE, OF HADDENHAM, IN
THE COUNTY OF BUCKS, ESQUIRE. SHE DIED IN THE 67th YEAR
OF HER AGE, AND IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1667-

The arms are, Croke, with an annulet, impaled with two bars, indented.
On a chief three annulets1.

Alexander Croke died in 1673 ; the following inscription is on the
black marble slab which covers his remains.

HERE LIETH THE BODY OF ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE, SOME-
TIME OF CHILTON, AFTERWARDS OF STUDLEY, IN THE COUNTY OF

" Letter from T. Hearne to Browne Willis, in Letters by eminent persons in the Bodleian
Library, and Ashmolean Museum, vol. i. page 247. Inscription under.Richardson's Etching,
and other information. Amongst the servants of Colubery Mayne, Simon's mother,
appears one John Bigg. As this legacy was given in 16'28, and the Hermit was not born
till 1629, this could not be the same person, but perhaps was his father.

1 This is different from the coat of arms in the vellum Genealogy.

672 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. bookiv.

OXFORD, WHERE HE DIED, IN THE 78th YEAR OF HIS AGE, AND IN
THE YEARE OF OUR LORD 1673, BEING SON OF WILLIAM CROKE,
ESQUIRE, AND GRANDSON OF SIR JOHN CROKE, BOTH OF CHILTON.

Arms, Croke, quarterly, with an annulet.

His funeral sermon was preached by the Reverend Daniel Greenwood,
the Rector of Steeple Aston, in Oxfordshire, and which was published at
Oxford in 16S0. The text was from the second Epistle to the Co-
rinthians, the sixth chapter, and the seventh and eighth verses. " By the
" word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on
" the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report
" and good report : as deceivers, and yet true." The uncle of Mr. Green-
wood, Doctor Daniel Greenwood, was made Principal of Brazen-nose by
the Parliamentary Committee, and being removed upon the Restoration, he
and his wife retired to Studley, where they lived till her death, when the
Doctor went to live with his nephew at Steeple Aston m.

Alexander Croke had a numerous family. By his first wife, Anne
Brasey, he was the father of Richard Croke, who was born October the
12th, 1619, and died before him ; of whom hereafter: and of John, born
July the 10th, 1622, and who died the same year. By his second wife,
Sarah Beke, he had George, who was born August 29, 1625, and died in
1627; William, born February the 26th, 1626, of whom likewise more
will be said ; Simon, born July the 16th, 1629, and died in 1649 ; Colu-
bery, born September the 11th, 1631, and died August the 20th, 1652 ;
Elizabeth, born March the 26th, 1634, and died in 1641 ; Thomas, born
November the 5th, 1636, and who died the same year; and, lastly, Sarah
Croke, born May the 9th, 1640". The last, who died in 1691, married
Edmund West, Esquire, Serjeant at Law, of Masworth, who left an only
daughter named Sarah °.

The descendants of Alexander Croke formed two separate families,
deduced from his sons Richard, and William : between whom, by settle-

m Wood's Fasti, Oxon. part. ii. col. 771, 775. ■ MS. entries. Appendix, No,

XXXIII.

° Did she afterwards marry John Poynter, Esquire, of Kellshall in Hertfordshire? as
William Croke in his will in 1702, the elder brother of the Reverend Alexander Croke,
leaves a ring to his cousin Sarah Poynter the elder, and another to his cousin Harvey.
Did another sister marry a Harvey?

chap. ix. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 673

ments, and his will, he divided his estate at Studley. The mansion house,
with the lands in Oxfordshire, and a part of those in Buckinghamshire, he
gave to John, the son of his eldest son, Richard, who died before him.
The remaining part he settled upon his second son, William. We have
already given an account of a conversation between him and his uncle,
Sir George Croke, respecting the mode of disposing of his property :
which however did not take effect exactly in the manner then proposed.
1 shall treat first of Richard and his descendants'": and next of William"1.

" In the tenth Chapter. i In the eleventh Chapter.

4 R

674 RICHARD CROKE.

CHAPTER X.

The eldest branch of the descendants of Alexander Crake.

THE eldest son of Alexander Croke bv Anne Brasey, his first wife, was
Richard Croke. His wife's name was Anne, he lived at Lewknor
in Oxfordshire, was born on the 12th of October, 1619, and died, before
his father, March the 9th, 1663, according to the modern mode of com-
putation. By his will, which is dated the 1st of March, 1663, and was
proved on the 5th of May following, he directed that his body should be
buried at Chilton, but there is no memorial of him there. The executors
were his father, his brother William, his honoured brother-in-law, Sir John
Fettiplace, Baronet, Edmund Fettiplace, Esquire, and his son John'.

He had a large family, eight sons, and seven daughters, who are all
mentioned in his will ; John, Richard, Ferdinando, Alexander, Edward.
George, Charles, and Thomas. Anne, born in 1641, Mary, Elizabeth.
Sarah, Frances, Colubery, and Arabella. Mrs. Croke was left a widow
with fifteen children, who all standing in a row in mourning to see the
King, Charles the Second, go by in his way to Oxford, the road from
London to Oxford being near Lewknor, they engaged his Majesty's at-
tention, and occasioned him to enquire what family they wereb. She was
living in 1674, when her children Sarah, Frances, Colubery, George.
Charles, and Thomas, were under age1.

His eldest son and heir was John Croke, Esquire, who appears to
have been usually called Captain Croke, from having served his country
in the Trained Bands, the Militia of former times. He was married, on

1 Was his wife, Anne, sister to Sir John Fettiplace, or does he call him brother-in-law
because his brother William married Sir John's sister? The former I think is the most
probable. The latter seems very far fetched. Will, penes me.

" From the information of Mrs. Hicks, an obi woman who had lived in the family.

c A receipt of that date, pene- me.

No. 40.

GENEALOGY OF NORMS, AND BERTIE, EARL OF ABINGDON.

Edward Wray, Esquire, =
Groom of the Bedchamber
to King James I.

: Elizabeth, sole daughter and
heir to Francis Lord Norris,
Viscount Thame, and Earl of
Berkshire.

Montague Bertie,

second Earl of

Lindsey.

Bridget, second wife,

Baroness Norris,

of Rycote.

James Bertie, Lord Norris
of Rycote, first Earl of
Abingdon, 1682, 34 Car.
II. married 1. Eleanor, da.
and heir to Sir Henry Lee
of Ditchley. 2. Catherine,
widow of Lord Viscount
Wenman. He died 1699.
By his first wife he had
I

Sir Edward Norris,
of Weston.

Edward,
died
young.

James,
married Elizabeth,

daughter of

Lord Willoughby,

died 1735.

4 other sons,
3 daughters.

Henry :
Bertie,
d. 1734.

I
Philadelphia
Norris, first
wife. Second
wife the sis-
ter of Sir H.
Featherston,
Bart.

Sir Edward
Norris.

James. = Eliz. Harris.

Norris Bertie,
of Weston.

I I
Charles.
Montague,
Rector of
UfEngton,
Com. Line.

Norri

I Apr. 12, 1680.

Mary = John

Croke,

Esq.

Studley

Priory.

Eleanora, unmar.
Anne, unmarried.
Catherine,married
Francis Clarke, of
North Weston.

Willoughby,

3d Earl of Abingdon,

born 1692,

died 1762.

Willoughby,

4th Earl of Abingdon,

born 1740,

died 1799.

Montague,

5th Earl of Abingdon,

born 1784.

chap. x. JOHN CROKE. 675

the 12th of April, 1680, to Mary Norris, sister to Sir Edward Norris,
of Weston on the Green d, whose other sister, Philadelphia, married the
Honourable Henry Bertie, the first Earl of Abingdon's brother, whose
sister, Lady Mary Bertie, was the wife of Charles Dormer, Earl of Car-
narvon e. Hearne walked to Studley in 1716, and has left an account of
his visit. He says, that Mrs. Croke was an handsome woman, which
appears likewise by her picture in my possession : that she used to be
much at the Earl of Abingdon's, both at Rycote and Witham; and that it
was at the Earl's house that Captain Croke courted herf.

John Croke's brother Edward was a singular character. He was in the
army, in the regiment of the Blues, and served abroad, where he had his
leg shot off. Upon his return, not having realized much property in the
profession of war, and having a high spirit, he procured from his brother
an appointment in the alms-house at Studley, founded by Sir George
Croke. Here he lived, and having thus secured an independence which
gratified his honourable feelings, he frequently visited at his brother's
house, where his company was always acceptable, as he was a facetious
companion, and abounded in anecdote, and other convivial qualities. He
had entertained a notion that he should live to the age of old Parr, and
used to rise very early every morning, and go to a certain spring in the
neighbourhood to drink, and wash his hands and face^'. With respect to
the usual allowances of clothes, fuel, and pay, which were given by the
founder, he was, of course, upon the same footing with the other alms-
people, but it appears by the old accounts, that better linen was supplied
to him. That of the others was Lockram, at thirteen pence the ell, in
1698 ; but for Mr. Edward Croke, six ells and an half of Dowlace were
purchased, at fourteen pence halfpenny the ell, to made him two shirts :
the reason stated is that the Lockram was too narrow. He was likewise
appointed to the office of reading prayers in the alms-house, for which
twenty shillings a year is allowed'1. I have his picture in the dress of the
alms-people.

The manner of the death of her youngest son, Edward, was very afflicting

rt Albury pari-h register. ■ Collins's Peerage, vol. iii. p. 510. r Hearne's

account of his walk to Studley, 31 M.irch, 1716, MSS. Journal. Bodleian Library. Appen-
dix, No XXXIV. * It was at the Warren. From old Mrs. Hicks, supra. " Old
accounts, penes me.

4 R 2

676 JOHN, JAMES, AND CHARLOTTE CROKE. book iv.

to Mrs. Croke. After having given him a proper correction for some bail
words, she left him shut up in a closet, and went to make a visit to her
sister-in-law, Lady Carnavon. In the mean while he was taken ill, and,
notwithstanding every possible assistance, he died before her return. From
this unfortunate event, and, according to Hearne's account, from the sup-
posed unfaithfulness of her husband, she became melancholy, and was
principally confined to her chamber for several years before her death1.

John Croke died about I714k. His children, by Mary Norris, were
four sons, and a daughter: named Richard, John, James, Edward, and
Charlotte. Richard was a Student of Christ Church, in Oxford, died
young, and is buried in the chapel at Studley. I have his picture painted
after his death.

Here lieth the body of Richard, eldest son of John Croke, Esquire,
and Mary his wife. He was born the 14/// of August, \6$3: died Mai/
28th, 1698-

Their son Edward, before mentioned, is buried there likewise, with the
following inscription.

Here lieth the body of Edward, the son of John Croke, Esquire, and
Mart) his wife. He died Oct. 24, 1694: aged 2 years and 1 1 months.

John Croke, the eldest surviving son, was deformed, had an impedi-
ment in his speech, and was weak in his intellects, so as to be incapable of
managing his affairs: and therefore gave up his estate at Studley, to his
brother James, for an annuity of one hundred pounds a year.

James Croke, the second son, was High Sheriff for Oxfordshire, in
1726, and died in the same year, unmarried1. I have his picture. Upon
the death of James Croke, the Studley estate reverted to his brother John,
who, unwilling to have the trouble of managing it, gave it to his sister
Charlotte.

This was Charlotte Croke, who was born in 1587? and succeeded
to the mansion at Studley, upon the death of her brothers, John and
James. She married William Ledwell, Esq. and died May the 5th, 176.'3.

1 Mrs. Hicks. k Hearne's account ' Hearne's Diary, vol. 101.

chap. ix. CHARLOTTE CROKE. 677

They had an only daughter, who died before them, at the age of seventeen,
the 16th of June, 1748. Her husband survived her till the year 1766.
She gave the mansion house, at Studley, with the rest of the estate, to her
cousin, Alexander Croke, Esquire; and thus the two parts of that estate,
which had been divided by the former Alexander Croke, were again united
in the person of his descendant.

She was buried in the chapel at Studley, with an handsome monument
to her memory, with the following inscription.

" This stone is erected to the memory of Mrs. Charlotte Ledwell, of
" Studley, wife of William Ledwell, Esq. and youngest daughter of John
" Crooke, Esq. and Mary his wife. She was in faith and practice a
" true Christian. After a long and painful illness, which she bore with
" saint-like fortitude and resignation, she died on the bth day of May,
" 1763, aged 76.

" If here thy Tears, O Reader, fall,

" While Memory to thy Thought

" Shall Ledwell's various Worth recall,

" By me this Rule be taught;

" Like her, Thou Pilgrim of a day,

" Thy Task of Life attend,

" Then may'st thou find to Heaven the Way,

" And Glory in thy end."

Arms, Ermine, two fianches, lozengy, or and, azure, impaled with Croke.
The monument of her daughter is similar to Mrs. Ledwell's, and has
this inscription.

" Beneath this Stone lyeth the Body of Mary Ledwell, only Daughter
" of William Ledwell, Esq. and Charlotte his wife, of this Place. A
" young Lady blessed with all the excellent Qualifications of Mind and
" Bodij, -which might make her Agreeable to her Friends, or Happy in
" herself: Tho' young in years, yet was she aged in virtue, -who having
" spun out her short thread of Life, yet lived long enough to finish a com-
" pleat course of Piety and Goodness.

" Stop, Courteous Reader, but one moment here,
" And, if thou canst, refrain the generous tear !

678 CHARLOTTE CROKE. book iv.

" But if the bloom of Piety and Youth,

" If perfect Goodness, Constancy, and Truth;

" If modest Virtue join'd to modest Sense,

" If Honour, Honesty, and Innocence;

" If such like Virtues could thy soul have moved,

" Thou must this blooming Virgin have approved.

" All weeping ask why this Sun rose so bright

" To set so soon and hide its grateful light :

" Why in the morn it stopt its chearing ray,

" And left us mortals in the dawn of day :

" But weep no more at this her early fate,

'• As she is fixed in that eternal state,

" Where Bliss for ever bears an ample sway,

■• Where Mirth shall never cease, nor joy decay;

" For see! the rising Fair forsakes her tomb,

" And soars triumphant to her native home.

" Go then, blest Maid! enjoy what God has given,

" And with the Saints unite a Saint in Heaven.

" She died the \6th day of June, 1748, in the Mth year of her age,"

Arms, a lozenge, quarterly, first and fourth, Ledwell, second and third
Croke.

WILLIAM CROKE. 697

CHAPTER XI.

The youngest branch of the descendants of Alexander Croke.

We proceed next to William Croke, the eldest son of Alexander
Croke, by his second wife, Sarah Beke. We have seen that his father set-
tled upon him the principal part of the Studley estate, in Buckinghamshire.
He was born on the 26th of February, in 1627, and married Susan, the
daughter of Edward Fettiplace, Esq. of Swinbrooke, in the county of
Oxford. Through this lady, we claim another descent from Beatrice, the
natural daughter of John, the first King of Portugal; and consequently
a relationship to the House of Braganza, the reigning family of that
country".

The ancestor of the Fettiplace family came in with William the Con-
queror, and held a high office under him. In 1661, John Fettiplace was
created a Baronet. The whole of the male line of the Fettiplaces failing in
1746, the estate fell to Thomas Bushell, Esquire, son of Robert Bushell,
of Cleve Pryor, in Worcestershire, Esquire, who married Diana, daughter
of the first Baronet, and who assumed the name of Fettiplace, by Act of
Parliament11. This race I believe is likewise extinct0.

William Croke died in 1702, and was buried at Chilton, where, upon
a flat stone in the chancel, is this inscription to his memory.

" Here lyeth the body of William Croke, Esquire, late of Chilton, in
" the county of Bucks, son of Alexander Croke, Esquire, by his second
" wife, who died October the 6th, 1702, in the 77th year of his age. He
" married Susan the daughter of Edward Fettiplace, Esquire, of
•' Swinbrook, in the count// of Oxford, bi/ -whom he had 6 sons, and 5
'• daughters."

1 See the Genealogy of Unton and Fettiplace, Book IV. Chap. 3. and No. 24.
c 20 Geo. II. ch. 30. c Collins's Baronetage.

680 WILLIAM CROKE.

BOOK IV

The monument of Susan Croke is adjoining, which states the same
facts, and that she died the 17th of May, 1712, in the 86th year of her age.

The arms are, Croke with an annulet, impaling gules, two chevrons, ar-
gent, for Fetti place.

Their children were, Sarah, horn the 1.5th of November, 1653, and died the
6th of April, in 1727, unmarried, in the 74th year of her age, as is stated
upon her monument at Chilton. William, born July the 25th, 1655, and
died the 19th of January, 1705, without issue. He was educated at Mag-
dalen Hall'1, and is buried at Chilton. The Reverend Alexander Croke,
of whom more hereafter, was born July the 23d, 1657. Susanna, born
the 5th of September, 1660, died September the 16th, 1662. John, born
the 4-th of March, 1661, died the 22d of December, 1663. Edward, born
May the 15th, 1663, living in 1695. Jane, born the 15th of May, 1665,
living in 1695. George, born the 2d of February, 166S, and died the 1st
of July, 1669. Elizabeth, born January the 26th, 1670 ; she married
George Wren, son of Thomas Wren, Rector of Kelshal, in Hertfordshire,
by whom she had an only daughter. He died February the 22d, 1709,
aged 28, and was buried at Kelshal c. George, born the 22d of May,
I672f.

In his will, dated the 10th of May, 1695, after settling his property
upon his own family, he leaves rings and other small memorials to Sir
Thomas Lee, Baronet, his nephew, Samuel Poynter, and his two sisters,
Richard Ingoldsby, Esquire, and Simon Mayne. And he constitutes his
wife Susan, John Poynter, Esquire, of Kelshal, in Hertfordshire, Ri-
chard Beke, Esquire, and Thomas Dunster, Doctor in Divinity, his ex-
ecutors. His sons William, Alexander, and Edward, and his three
daughters, Sarah, Jane, and Elizabeth, were then living s.

The Reverend Alexander Croke was the second son of William
Croke, and Susan Fettiplace, and was born in 1657. Having originally
been a younger son, he was educated in the Church as his profession: he

'' His name written in books, lf)74 and 1678, Wm. Croke, Aula; Magd.
' Salmon's Hertfordshire, p. 350.

f The names and dates are taken from the entries in an old book; and I believe wei
■ ritten in it by William Croke. See Appendix, No. XXXIII.
b Will, penes me.

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 681

was admitted a Scholar of Wadham College, in Oxford, on the 29th of
September, 1676: took his degree of Master of Arts in 1681: and was
elected Fellow of that Society on the 4th of July, 16821'.

During his continuance there, he seems to have been intimate with
Creech, one of the principal poets of that time. Creech, in his translation
of Theocritus, has dedicated the twentieth Idyllium to him, under the
name of " his good-humoured friend, Mr. Alexander Croke, of Wadham
L' College." The subject is the cruelty of '; a City Maid."

By his relation, Sir Thomas Lee, he was presented to the Rectory of
Hartvvell, near Aylesbury, and I have some of his sermons there preached
They are in the full manner of Barrow, and are creditable to his talents as
a preacher, and a conscientious parish minister. Upon the death of his
elder brother William in 1705, he became the representative of his family,
and succeeded to that part of the Studley estate which had been settled
upon it.

He married Jane, the third daughter of Anthony Eyans, Esquire, of
Begbrook, in Oxfordshire1, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.
By his epitaph in Chilton church, it appears that he died on the 27th of
November, 1726, in the 69th year of his age.

The arms on his monument are, Croke, with a crescent ; impaled with,
a fesse, charged with three balls, in chief a greyhound, currant.

The children were, Sarah, born in 1703, and died of the small pox the
24th of April, 172S, in the 25th year of her age; she was buried at Chilton,
and her monument was erected by her lamenting mother. Mater mcerens
posuit. Alexander, his son and heir. William Croke, of Aylesbury k.
Jane, married to William Wood, Esquire, son of Thomas Wood, Doctor
of Laws, who wrote the Institutes. Another daughter, whose name is
not known.

Alexander Croke, Esquire, the eldest son of the Rector of
Hartwell, and Jane Eyans, was born on the 24th of February, in 1704.
He received the earliest part of his education at the public school at

h The books at Wadham College.

' I have her picture, painted by Mortimer, father of the celebrated artist. She holds a
rose. It is a poor performance.

" In a copy of Croke's Reports is written, *' Win. Croke de Aylesbury, 1 750, e dono
" Sam. Croke de Crooke Com. Lane. Armigeri." I know not who the latter was.
4 s

682 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

Thame, which was formerly of great repute': and afterwards he was
entered as a Gentleman Commoner of Wadham College at Oxford.
When he was twenty-two years of age, he married an heiress, and the
ceremony was performed at Hartwell, on the 12th of July, 1726. This
was Miss Elizabeth Barker, who having been baptized on the 24th of
October, in 1?0S, was in her eighteenth year, and was the only daughter
of Richard Barker, Esquire, of Great Horwood, in Buckinghamshire, by
his wife, Abigail Busby, who was likewise an heiress. She was handsome
and accomplished ; having received her education at Cavalier's school, in
Queen's Square, then the most fashionable establishment for forming
young ladies. When I knew- her, in her old age, she preserved the
remains of her former beauty, and she had the correct and elegant manners
of the females of the last age. By this marriage he acquired the estates at
Marsh Gibbon, which had descended from the Busbys, and that of
Batchford in Gloucestershire from the Barkers. After their marriage, till
the death of her brother William Busby, they lived at Dinton in Buck-
inghamshire, when they removed to Marsh Gibbon m.

As this lady was descended from the two families of Barker and Busby.
it may be proper to give some account of them. The family of the
Barkers had been settled for many years at Great Horwood. Through
the line of Fiennes, Lord Say and Sele, they claimed kindred with William
of Wykeham ; by the benefit of this pedigree, which was thus transmitted
to the Croke family, many of them had obtained admission into the opu-
lent foundations of Winchester and New College". Of these, William
Barker, born in 1604, was Fellow of New College, was created Doctor in
Divinitv, in 1661, for his laudable sermons preached before the King and
Parliament at Oxford, during the Rebellion. He was Rector of Hardwick,
in Buckinghamshire, and Prebendary of Canterbury ; and died 26 March,
1669. In his epitaph in Hardwick church, it is said, that " he was always
" noted for his orthodox sermons, his innocent wit, and his candid
" manners0."

1 Warton's Life of Sir Thomas Pope, page 365.

"' For the account of Marsh Gibbon, see the Digression at the end of the lives of Alex-
ander Croke and Elizabeth Barker.

"Collins's Peerage, vol. i. page 337. See Geneaiogy, No. 42. from a MS. Genealogy
made in 1572, and continued to the present time. " Wood's Fast. Oxon. ii. col. Sl22.

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 683

H. S. E.
DEPOSITUM GULIELMI BARKER, RECTORIS DE HARDWYCKE, CANO-
NICI CANTUARIENSIS DIGNISSIMI, QUONDAM NOVI COLL. IN OXON.
SOCII, ET DOCTORIS IN ALTIORI THEOLOGY SPjERA JVIER1TO COLLOCATI,
QUAM FREQUENTIBUS ORTHODOXIS CONCIONIBUS, SALIBUS INNOCUIS
MORUMQUE CANDORE ORNAVIT. IMITENTUR POSTER!. NATUS A0.
DOM. CIOIDCIIII. DENATUS MART. XXVI. CI0I3CLXIX.

Hugh Barker took his degree of Doctor of Laws, and followed with
success the profession of an Advocate in the Civil Law. He was ad-
mitted into the society of Doctor's Commons the 9th of June, 1607, was
Chancellor of the diocese of Oxford, and for his learning and integrity
was promoted to the highest station in that profession, the Deanery of the
Arches p. He died in the year 1632, and was buried in New College
chapel, under an handsome monument, erected to his memory by his
widow, who was Mary, the daughter of Alderman Pyott. He is repre-
sented in his doctorial robes under an arch, in marble. It was the work
of Nicholas Stone, a celebrated statuary, who had fifty pounds for
executing if.

H. S. E.
Hugo Barker L L Romanarum studio, scientia, professione, doc-
toratu, insignis. Qui multos annos Juri cognoscendo, inter pretando,
dicundo, impendit; eo successu ut ejus neque consultores prudentiam,
neque clientes Jidem, neque integritatem adversarii, desiderarent. In
quo, prcesidium sibi positum sensit Ecclesia, quo res suas, ritusque
tueretur, Clerus, quo dignitatem assereret suam, populus quod insi-
mularet non invenit. Quern hisce virtutibus gestus Dioces. Oxon.
Cancellariatus reverend, apud London Curice de Arcubus Decanum
fecit, et celeberrimi ibidem Juris eonsultorum Collegii President. Cui
hoc quod vides, lector, monumenti heic inter sacra familiaria condito,
sicut ipse prceceperat, Wickami olim e societute et sanguine, dolentibus
bonis omnibus, Maria conjunx piissima mcerens posuit, Anno Domini

MDCXXXII.

p Wood's Hist, et Antiq. Univ. Oxon. lib. ii. Fast. Oxon. Coote's Catalogue of English
Civilians, page 69. Epitaph. Genealogy, Harl. MSS. No. 1193. page 34. b.
11 Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England, vol. ii. page 48. Ed. 12mo.
4 S 2

684 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

The coat of arms on the monument is Barker, impaled with a lion pas-
sant on a fesse, and in chief three other charges.

In the same chapel is another inscription.
H. S. E.

Hugo Barker filius natu maximus Hugonis Barker de Norwood
Ma^na in Com. Bucks. Arm. natus 7°. die Jan. 1684, obiit 22°. die
Dee. 1690. Richardus Barker Armig. etnuper hujus Coll. superioris
ordinis commensalis infratris sui memoriam PJ

Johanna, the sister of Richard Barker, married the Reverend Thomas
Wood, Doctor of Laws, and Rector of Hardwick in Buckinghamshire,
who wrote the two Institutes of the Civil, and the English, Law. He was
first a Barrister of Gray's Inn, and afterwards Commissary and Official of the
Archdeaconry of Bucks. He was a man of talents and industry, and had
the merit of being the first person who reduced the immense chaos of the
laws of his country into a clear and regular system, upon which succeeding
times have not been able to improve. To him Blackstone is entirely in-
debted for his method, arrangement, and the principal substance of his
Commentaries. He has only clothed Wood's solid materials in more ex-
tended and elegant language, and, by the addition of historical deductions,
has formed a composition, if not more valuable to a lawyer, yet better
calculated for general reading. In this work Doctor Wood derived great
assistance from his knowledge of the civil law: which is not only in itself ex-
tremely beautiful as a body of laws, founded in justice and good sense, well
arranged, and couched in the most perspicuous and expressive language ;
but it had the good fortune to meet with commentators who were polite
scholars, and elegant writers ; whilst the English law, notwithstanding its
superior excellence, as the code of a free nation, as yet continued to be a
rude and undigested mass of legal learning. Doctor Wood died July the
12th, 1722, aged sixty-one\ He was related to Anthony a Wood, but I

r Wood's Hist. Univ. Oxon. by Guteh, page 223. I imagine this Richard Barker must
have been the husband of Abigail Busby, who had a younger brother named Hugh, pro-
bably born after the death of the boy here buried, and of the same name.

8 See a letter from him to Dr. Charlett, dated June 2, 1717, complaining of his corpu-
lency, in Letters from the Bodleian Library, vol. ii. p. 32. There is an original portrait of
him in the Warden of New College's Lodgings.

Robert Barker, Esq.

of Culworth,

Northamptonshire,

second son.

Mary Danvers, from whom the
Barkers and Crokes are Founder's
kin at Winchester. See Geneal.
No. 42.

er of

-Jew-
sister

Robert Barker, : Marie, daughter of

third son,

died July 6, 1636

aged 70.

Win. Smith, LL.D.
of Brickhill, Bucks,
died 1653, aged 75.

Thomas Barker,
first son.

Maria Jones,
first wife.

Hugh Barker, M.D.
of Newbury,
second son,
died 1687-

Joanna, daughter of

Goddard,

of Woodhey, Hants,
second wife,
died 1667.

William Barker, D.:er°
Rector of Hardwic50^

first son, born 16

died unmarried

gvood.

M^wthaimarried
l.?N* Castillion, of &&>%&&»*
Berks.^&teuJvf'Cvi.'f.
2. C&a&Craycrafl- J&lJX

Hester, daugh. of :

Heysham,

married 1697,
second wife,
survived him.

#< drifts -Kt° |

teg faro** Jane Elizabeth.

Hugh Barker, Esq.

of Great Horwood,

died 1704.

Elizabeth, da
Richard Whil
ofTidderley,
first wife, die>

Abigail Busby,

first wife,

See Genealogy,

No. 43.

Richard Barker, Esq.

of Great Horwood,

Will dated 1718, and

died 1719-

'htHrtti.a.Ce/riir/. Alexander Croke, Esquire,

cJv'y UiUiL **■ of Marsh Gibbon,

Jkrt- haAsk married 1726, died 1757-

J- See Genealogy, No. 44.

Elizabeth Barker.

1
Abigail,
Esther,
Richard,
died young.

= Anne Peak'

of Bedford,

survived hin

died 1753.

Hugh
lefth

'I? 7/W a<lowJ

684 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

The coat of arms on the monument is Barker, impaled with a lion pas-
sant on a fesse, and in chief three other charges.

In the same chapel is another inscription.
//. S. E.

Hugo Barker Jilius natu maximus Hugonis Barker de Norwood
Magna in Com. Bucks. Arm. natus 7°. die Jan. 16S4-, obiit 22°. die
Dec. 1690. Richardus Barker Armig. et nuper hujus Coll. superioris
ordinis commensalis infratris sui memoriam P.T

Johanna, the sister of Richard Barker, married the Reverend Thomas
Wood, Doctor of Lavs, and Rector of Hardwick in Buckinghamshire,
who wrote the two Institutes of the Civil, and the English, Law. He was
first a Barrister of Gray's Inn, and afterwards Commissary and Official of the
Archdeaconry of Bucks. He was a man of talents and industry, and had
the merit of being the first person who reduced the immense chaos of the
laws of his country into a clear and regular system, upon which succeeding
times have not been able to improve. To him Blackstone is entirely in-
debted for his method, arrangement, and the principal substance of his
Commentaries. He has only clothed Wood's solid materials in more ex-
tended and elegant language, and, by the addition of historical deductions,
has formed a composition, if not more valuable to a lawyer, yet better
calculated for general reading. In this work Doctor Wood derived great
assistance from his knowledge of the civil law: which is not only in itself ex-
tremely beautiful as a body of laws, founded in justice and good sense, well
arranged, and couched in the most perspicuous and expressive language ;
but it had the good fortune to meet with commentators who were polite
scholars, and elegant writers ; whilst the English law, notwithstanding its
superior excellence, as the code of a free nation, as yet continued to be a
rude and undigested mass of legal learning. Doctor Wood died July the
12th, 1722, aged sixty-one5. He was related to Anthony a Wood, but I

r Wood's Hist. Univ. Oxon. by Gutch, page 223. I imagine this Richard Barker must
have been the husband of Abigail Busby, who had a younger brother named Hugh, pro-
bably born after the death of the boy here buried, and of the same name.

s See a letter from him to Dr. Charlett, dated June 2, 1717, complaining of his corpu-
lency, in Letters from the Bodleian Library, vol. ii. p. 32. There is an original portrait of
him in the Warden of New College's Lodgings.

No. 41.

THE GENEALOGY OF BARKER

Robert Barker, Esq.

of Culworth,
Northamptonshire,

: Mary Danvers, from whom the
Barkers and Crokes are Founder's
Tdn at Winchester See Geneal.
No. 42.

Thomas Barker.

Catherine, daughter of
Kibble, of New-
bottle, and the sister
and coheir of Pigott

Robert Barker, = Marie, daughter of

third son. Wm. Smith, LL.D.

died July 6, 1636, of Brickhill, Bucks.

aged 70. died 1653, aged 75.

Hugh Barker, =r Mary, da. of
LL.D. Dean of Aide

the Arches, Pyo

second son

Richard Gardiner.

Mary,

married

John Sidon.

Thomas Barker,
of Astrop, mar*1.

Silvester,

dau. of William
Miles, Esq. of
Elmstree, Wilts.

: Joanna, daughter of

Goddard,

of Woodhey, Hants,
second wife,
died 1667.

William Barker, D.D.

Robert Barker,

Rector of Hardwick,

third son.

fourth son.

first son, born 1604,

died unmarried 1669.

Dorothy.'

Mary,
married Wm.
Hearse, M.D.

Mary Barker.

Richard Barker,
of Chetwood,

: Catherine, daughter of

Richard Chetwood,

son and heir of

Sir Richard Chetwood.

Mawhftjt married
. ?f* Castillion. of Sr.Uia^
Berks. oJtiAu *Jn,liC**-fL

•dnJx

Hester, daugh. of :

Heysham,

married 1697,
second wife,
survived him.

Elizabeth, daugh. of
Richard Whitehead,
of Tidderley. Hants,
first wife, dial KijHi

Jane Elizabeth.

Richard Barker. Esq.

of Great Horwood,

Will dated 1 718, and

died 1719.

1 1

Alexander Croke, Esquire,

1
Abigail,

--•-._ •

of Marsh Gibbon,

married 1726, died 1757.

See Genealogy, No. 44

died young

= Anne Peak,

Hncrh Barker, ■

of Bedford,

second son,

surviveil him,

died 1735.

died 1753.

Was a merchant,

and went to Cal-

Catherine Baber,

who afterwards

mar', John Bate,

Clerk.

Roberl

third so

died 173

Joan, = Thomas Wood, LL.D.
died 1733, died 1722, aged 6l.

aged 53.

William Holloway, LL.D.

Cadia. Joseph Bell, Esq.

Barker, = Diana, afterwards hs22i j/J, , Hugh Barker ]
married T. Wyld. #<>t~"*a)>>e,t* ■ Esquire.

■lugh

lpft his wife

enseint with

Mary Barker. &S q^K Hugh Barker Bell,

Mary Tripp, widow

of the Rev. r

Thornbury.

Henry St. John Bell.

The Rev. William Walker

II
"IS

bpffi JE

.in

E.E
-Jp*

si5!

5 -3 Wj

-3 C

* a

Sj2I

is "3 "3 Su

a g § s

llll

£0 o 3

o "So

|I.„d|z

C „TS
^ « CO

B-Ss-

E.=

gj§_.

■g .gs

1 °

[£ ~ 03 >

31*

IV? <5.

•fail

3 -c pq a

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 685

have not been able to trace out the exact consanguinity. Johanna died in
1733, aged 53 years, Their son, William Wood, married Jane, the
sister of Alexander Croke, of Marsh Gibbon. Besides the two Institutes,
Dr. Wood wrote an anonymous pamphlet, intitled, " An Appendix to the
" Life of Bishop Seth Ward." This was a severe censure upon the
pleasantries of Dr. Walter Pope in his Life of Bp. Ward, and for the
liberties he had taken with his cousin Anthony a Wood1. For any
farther particulars of the Barker family, see the annexed genealogy".

The earliest account we have of the Busby family extends only to
John Busby of East Claydon in Buckinghamshire. In deeds and old
pedigrees he is styled Yeoman, and Goodman John Busby, and a rich
shepherd". How he acquired the very considerable property which he
possessed is not known. He purchased the estate at Marsh Gibbon of
Richard Abraham, Sir Edward and Sir Henry Cary, in 16 10; and that
at Addington, in 1625, of Sir John Curzon of Waterperryy. He died
the 11th of June, 1635, and was buried in the church at Addington.

These estates descended to his son, Robert Busby, Esquire, who
was a Barrister, and a Bencher of Gray's Inn ; who had two wives, Eliza-
beth Kendricke, whom he married in 1629? and, secondly, Abigail, the
daughter of Sir John Gore, of Gilston in Hertfordshire: and, dying on the
15th of September, 1652, in the fifty-second year of his age, was likewise
there buried2. He left three sons by his second wife, John, Robert, and
William, and as many daughters, Hester, Elizabeth, and Abigail.

Sir John, the eldest son, who succeeded to the estate at Addington,
was knighted June 25, 166 1, by King Charles the Second, out of respect
to the memory of his father-in-law, Sir William Mainwaring, who was
slain in the King's service in the civil wars in defending Chester". His
first wife, Judith, was the daughter of Sir William Mainwaring by his

' Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 50. n. " I have a grant of arms from Sir Eilward
Bysse, Clarencieux king of arms, to Anthony a Wood, of Merton College, Oxford, son of
ThomasaWood, of the same University, his heirs and those of his father; or, a wolf passant,
sable, armed and langued, gules, a chief of the second. A crest, on a helmet a wolf's head
erased sable, collared and issuing out of a crown mural, or. Dated the 1st of May, l6'(ii .
Doctor Wood bore the same arms. Genealogy, No. 41. * Browne Willis's MSS. vol-

21. folio 52. i Browne Willis's Collections for Bucks, p. 1 13. * Monument at

Addington * Rennet's Chronicle, p. 482.

686 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. hook iv.

wife Hester, who afterwards married Sir Henry Blount, Knight, of Titten-
hanger in Hertfordshire, and by that her second husband she was mother
to Sir Thomas Pope Blount, Baronet, Charles Blount, and four other sons,
and a daughter, Frances, married to Sir Thomas Tyrrell, Baronet. Judith
died the 28th of December, 1661, in the nineteenth year of her age, and
is buried at Ridge in Hertfordshire1'. She left two children, but the son
died young, and the daughter, Hester, married the Honourable Thomas
Egerton, of Tatton Park in Cheshire, and died in 1724'.

Sir John Busby's second wife, to whom he was married the 3d of No-
vember, 1662, was Mary Dormer, daughter of John Dormer, Esquire, of
Lee Grange in Buckinghamshire, who died in 1714, in the seventy-first
year of her age. She had five daughters, and nine sons, and was buried
at Addington. Most of his children died before himd.

Sir John Busby himself died the 7th of January, 1700, aged sixty-five.
On his monument he is styled, " learned, Deputy Lieutenant, and Colonel
" of the Buckinghamshire Militia."

His son and heir was Thomas Busby, Doctor of Laws, who was
instituted to the living of Addington on his father's presentation, in 1693,
and died in 1725, leaving two daughters, by his wife, Anne, daughter of
John Limbry, of Hoddington, Esquire.

Abigail, daughter of Sir John Busby, by his second wife, married the
Reverend Harrington Bagshaw, who was father to the Reverend Thomas
Bagshaw, since Rector of Addington.

Of the two daughters of Doctor Busby, Jane died single in 1780, and
Anne, the eldest, married Sir Charles Kemeys Tynte, Baronet, of Halse-
well in Somersetshire. She died without issue, in 1798, and left the estate
at Addington, away from her own relations, to a number of noble persons
in succession.

The second son of Robert Busby, and Abigail Gore, was named after
his father, was a woollen draper in Saint Andrew's, Holborn, and, in 1663,
married Grace, the daughter of Sir Henry Cary of Devonshire, by whom
he had one son, Robert, and six daughters. After his death she married
Sydenham.

" Chauncy's Hertfordshire, p. 503. e Collins's Peerage, vol. ii. tit. Hridgewater, and

Sharpe's Registrum Roffense, under Penshurst. Monument at Addington. " Monu-

ment there.

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 687

Of the daughters of Robert Busby and Abigail Gore, Hester married
Thomas Saunders of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire, in 1655; by whom
she had issue, Elizabeth, born in 1638, and died unmarried in 1661 ; and
Abigail, who was born October 14, 1647, and married, first, Edward
Shiers, Esquire, of the Inner Temple, and, secondly, Samuel Tryst,
Esquire, whom she survived, and died in 1707, in the sixtieth year of her
age.

The third son was William Busby, Esquire, who was also a Bar-
rister of Gray's Inn, and resided at Marsh Gibbon. His wife was Eliza-
beth Metcalfe of London, a widow, whom he married in 16'SO. His will
is dated in 1704, about which time he died, and his widow survived till
1733. They had three children, John, William, and Abigail. I have his
portrait, and that of his wife.

John Busby, born in 1681, was a man of philosophical pursuits, and
a Fellow of the Royal Society. He obtained a patent from King Charles
the Second for a new invented method of drying malt by hot air% as the
Earl of Berkshire had a similar patent from Charles the First, for a new
kiln for the same purpose'. It appears that at last he studied physic, and
perhaps took his degree in medicine, as I find him styled Doctor Croke,
and he had many books in that science, and furnaces for chemical experi-
ments. He died without issue about 1727- I have his portrait.

William Busby, Esquire, the second son, born in 1685, was a
Barrister of Gray's Inn, and lived at Marsh Gibbon. He married, in
1725, his cousin, Mary Busby of Addington. He died the 4th of August,
1733, and his widow survived him. His picture is extant. Having no
issue, his sister Abigail inherited his property at Marsh Gibbon11. She
was born in 16S3, and in 1709 became the wife of Richard Barker.

' See his printed proposals, Appendix, No. XXXV. ' Whitelocke's Memorials,

p. 24. a.

s Wood, in his Diary, vol. 142. p. 26, 1734, says, Dr. Thomas Busby, a civilian, formerly
of University College, died lately at Marsh. His books, which are valuable, are to be sold.
This must be William Busby. Tliere is a tradition that Doctor Richard Busby, the cele-
brated Head-Master of Westminster School, was of this family. Gentleman's Magazine
for January, 1795, page 15, where are many particulars relating to the Busby family.
Genealogy of Busby, Browne Willis's MSS. vol. lg, and his History of the Hundred of
Buckingham. See Genealogy of Busby, No. 43.

688 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

Esquire, of Great Horwood. Besides Abigail, Hester, and Richard,
who died infants, they had an only daughter, Elizabeth Barker,
married to Alexander Croke, Esquire. Abigail died on the 18th of
August, 1712, of the small pox, which succeeded a miscarriage, in the
twenty-ninth year of her age, and was buried at Marsh Gibbon, where
there is a neat monument to her memory. Her husband afterwards
married Anne Peck of Bedford, who survived him.

The inscription upon Abigail Barker's monument is as follows :

M. S.
Abig. Barker, Rich. Barker de Horwood Magna in com. Bucks, armig.
conjugis dilectissimae, necnon Gul. Busby in eodem com. armig. et Eliza-
beths; uxoris filiae unicae charissimae. Quje puerperio (abortu scilicet et
variolis simul infirmata) vita spoliata est, Aug. IS. Anno Domini 1712,
aetatis suae 29.

H. C. M. Posuit.

A coat of arms, Barker impaled with Busby.

Alexander Croke lived at Marsh Gibbon, kept a pack of hounds, and
acted as a Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire. He died the 15th of
June, 1757, and was buried at Chilton h.

Elizabeth, his wife, survived him. She continued to live at Marsh
Gibbon till after the marriage of her youngest daughter, Richarda, to Dr.
Wetherell, when she removed to Oxford. She lived till the 17th of Oc-
tober, 1786, when she died of the small pox, and was buried in Saint
Peter's church in that city, being in the seventy-eighth year of her age'.

The arms of Busby are, or, three darts, reversed, in pale, sable. On a
chief of the second, three mullets pierced of the first. Crest on a wreath,
a stag's head erased, transfixed with a dart.

Of Barker, argent, three bears' heads, erased, gules, muzzled, or. In
chief three ogresses.

Alexander Croke, of Marsh Gibbon, and Elizabeth Barker, had seven
children : Richard, born the 20th of June, 1727, and died young; Alex-

k His Epitaph.

' On her monument she is stated as having been aged eighty-five years, but this
mistake, as she was born in 1708.

Sir Henry Blount, Knt.
of Titteiihanger. The
Traveller. Second hus-
band. Married in 1647-

Sir Thomas Pope Blount,

Bart, the Author.
Henry Blount.
Charles Blount, the Author.
Christopher.
Ulysses.

1. A son, died young.

2. Hester, mard. Thos.
Egerton, Esq. of
Tatton Park, Che-
shire, died 1724.

Anne, married to Sir
Charles Kemeys Tynte,
Bart, of Halsewell, in
the Parish of Goat-
hurst, Somersetshire,
died in 1798, without
issue.

Hester, eldest daugh.
and coheiress of Chris-
topher Wase, Esquire.
She died 1678.

I
Frances, mar", to
Sir Thos. Tyrrel,
Bart, born 1648,
mard. in 1666.

Sir William Mainwaring,

Knt. slain in the defence

of Chester, temp. Car. I.

First husband.

Judith Mainwaring,
first wife, died 1661,
19 years old, buried
at Ridge, in Herts.

Sir John Busby, —

knighted l66l,

born in 1635,

died 1700,

set. 65.

Thomas Busby, LL. D.
heir, died 1725,
born in 1668.

Five sons, nine daughters.

Anne, daughter of

John.

John Limbrey, of

Thomas.

Hoddington, Esq.

Richard.

Hants, died about

Mary.

1745.

Judith.

Abigail.

Elizabeth

John.

Anne.

Arabella.

Mary.

Susanna.

= Mar
Johi
Lee
Nov
171
wife

Most of them died younj

Jane Busby,
died without
issue in 1780.

688 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE.

BOOK IV.

Esquire, of Great Horwood. Besides Abigail, Hester, and Richard,
who died infants, they had an only daughter, Elizabeth Barker,
married to Alexander Croke, Esquire. Abigail died on the 18th of
August, 17 12, of the small pox, which succeeded a miscarriage, in the
twenty-ninth year of her age, and was buried at Marsh Gibbon, where
there is a neat monument to her memory. Her husband afterwards
married Anne Peck of Bedford, who survived him.

The inscription upon Abigail Barker's monument is as follows :

M. S.

Abig. Barker, Rich. Barker de Horwood Magna in com. Bucks, armig.
conjugis dilectissimae, necnon Gul. Busby in eodem com. armig. et Eliza-
bethan uxoris filiae unicae charissimae. Quae puerperio (abortu scilicet et
variolis simul infirmata) vita spoliata est, Aug. IS. Anno Domini 1712,
aetatis suss 29.

II . CM. Posuit. •

A coat of arms, Barker impaled with Busby.

Alexander Croke lived at Marsh Gibbon, kept a pack of hounds, and
acted as a Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire. He died the 15th of
June, 1757, and was buried at Chilton11.

The arms of Busby are, or, three darts, reversed, in pale, sable. On a
chief of the second, three mullets pierced of the first. Crest on a wreath,
a stag's head erased, transfixed with a dart.

Of Barker, argent, three bears' heads, erased, gules, muzzled, or. In
chief three ogresses.

Alexander Croke, of Marsh Gibbon, and Elizabeth Barker, had seven
children : Richard, born the 20th of June, 1727, and died young ; Alex-

11 His Epitaph.

' On her monument she is stated as having been aged eighty-five years, but this is a
mistake, as she was born in 1708.

No. 43.

THE GENEALOGY OF BUSBY.

John Busby, of East Claydon, Bucks, :
Yeoman, purchased Marsh Gibbon in
1610, and Addington in 1625, died 11
June, 1635. A rich shepherd. Willis,

Sir Henrv Blount, Knt. z
of Tittenhanger. The
Traveller. Second hus-
band. Married in 1647.

: Hester, eldest daugh.
and coheiress ofTl 11 is-
topher Wase, Esquire.
She died 1678.

Elizabeth Kendriclie, -

first wife,

married in 1629.

- Ruber! Ilusby, Esquire,
of Addington, Barrister
and Bencher of Gray's
Inn, died 15 Sept. 1652,

: Abigail Gore, daughter of
Sir John Gore, Knt. of
Gilstone, Herts, Alderman
of London, sister to Sir
John Gore and Mrs. Mar-
tin, mar'1. 1632, d. 28 Sept.
1698, aged 92. . 2d wife.

John Busby,

died in his father'

life time.

Joseph Busby.

Judith, '

married

Wm. Gibson,

in 1630.

Elizabeth,

married

Wm. Guinm

Alice,

married

Thos. Boulter,

Claries Blount, the Author.

Christopher.

Ulysses

Frances, mar", to
Sir Thos. Tyrrel,
Bart, born 1648,
mar", in 1666.

Judith Mainwaring,
first wife, died 1661,
19 years old, buried
at Ridge, in Herts.

: Sir John Busby,

knighted 1661,

born in 1635,

died 1700,

Mary, eldest daugh. of
John Dormer, Esq. of
Lee Grange, married
Nov. 3, 1662, died
1714, set. 71 ■ Second

I2
Robert Busby, :
of St. Andrew's,

Holborn,
Woollen Draper.

1. A son. died young.

2. Hester, mar1. Thos.
Egerton, Esq. of
Tattoo Park, Che-
shire, died 1724.

Thomas Busby, LL. D. -A

heir, died 1725,

, daughter of

John Limbrey, of
Hoddington, Esq.
Hants, died about
1745.

-Utariea Kemev ; T vn te,
tat -.:' Ha inrd m
die Parish of Goat-

Jane Busby,
died without
issue in 1780.

1 the

Rev. Harrington
Bagshaw, who died
1713, set. 39. father
to the Rev. J. Bag-
shaw.

= Grace Cary, afterwards

mar". Sydenham,

daughter of Sir Henry
Cary, of Devonshire,
married 1663.

William Busby, Esq. Elizabeth Metcalfe,

Thomas Saunders, Esq. of

Haddenham, in 1655.
Issue, Wdliam, Francis,
Thomas, Abigail, Hester.
Perhaps not quite correct.

2. Elizabeth,
born in 1638, died without

^1
3. Abigail, married

1 . Edward Shiers, Esq. of the
Inner Temple, about l6;2.

2. Samuel Tryst, Esq. born
14 Oct. 1647, died 1707.

1 . Robert Busby.

2. Abigail, mar'. Wm.
Vaux, had Abigail
and Cicely.

3. Mary.

4. Gartaret, mard. — —
Case.

5. Elizabeth.

6. Margaret, married
Edward German.

7. Grace.

William Busby, Esq.
born in 1685. In 1725
married Mary Busby, of
Addington. He died
without issue, she sur-
vived him, and was
living in 1739. He died
Aug. 4, 1733. A Bar-
rister of Gray's Jnn.

Abigail Busby,
born 1683.
died 1712.
First wife.

Kii-liard Barker, Esq.
of Great Harwood,

married 1709.
See Geneal. No. 41.

Alexander Croke, Esq. = Elizabeth Barker,
of Marsh Gibbon, heir to the Busbys

mar". 1726, died 1757. and Barkers, died

See Geneal. No. 44. 1786, set. 85.

Esther.

Richard.

All died young.

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 6S9

ander, born at Dinton, the 27th of November, 172S : Elizabeth, born at
Dinton, the 27th of January, 1730, and died unmarried the 20th of Fe-
bruary, 1799, aged seventy years, and was buried at Saint Peter's church
in Oxford : Anne, born at Dinton the 29th of March, 1731, and died the
10th of February, 17^9: Abigail, born at Marsh Gibbon the 13th of
July, 1735, and died the 27th of December, 1821 ; Jane, born the 7th of
June, 1738, and died young ; Richarda, born the 28th of October, 1743-
married the Reverend Nathan Wetherell, and died the 13th of November,
1812k.

" From the entries in their mother's prayer book. Richarda was probably so christened
in memory of her grand-father, Richard Barker, but the name occurs elsewhere; there was
;i Richarda, Marchioness of Saluzzo, who married Nicholas the Third, Marquis of Ferrara.

4 T

HISTORY OF MARSH-GIBBON.

BOOK IV.

DIGRESSION THE SECOND.

The History of Marsh-Gibbon, from Brown Willis*.

MERSHE or Marsh Gibvven, derives its name from its situation in a
marshy place. The adjunct name of Gibvven being from an owner or
proprietor of lands here, or the principal lessee tenant under the capital
lords.

In the time of the Norman invasion it was surveyed in Domesday
Book, thus:

litis Moritonensis, in La nut a Hundred.

In Mersa tenent Monachi de Grestein
xi hitlas tie comite. Terra est xiii caru-
catarum. In Dominio iv hidae. £t ibi
sunt iii carucatae. Ibi xvii villani, cum
iii Bordariis, babentibus x carucatas.
Ibi viii Servi. In totis valenciis valet et
valuit semper viii libras.

Hoc Manerium tenuit Ulfus filius
Bergerete, et vendere potuit.

El unus homo Bondi stalre habuit ibi
dimidium hidae, et vendere potuit.

The monks of Grestein hold eleven
hides in Merse of the Earl of Moreton.
The arable is thirteen carucates. There
are in Demesne four hides, and there are
three carucates. There are seventeen
villains, and three cottagers holding ten
carucates. There are seven servants. In
the whole it is worth and was always
valued at 81.

Ulf, son of Bergerete, held this manor,
and could sell it.

And a certain man, a groom of Bondi,
held here half a hide, anil could sell it.

Terra Will. Ft Hi Ausculfi.

In Merse tenet Ailric de Wilhelmo iv
hidas pro i Manerio. Terra est v caru-
catarum. In Dominio ii et quinque vil-
lani, cum iii bordariis babentibus iii ca-
rucatas. Ibi iii servi. Pratum v caru-

Ailrie holds of William Fitz-Auscull
lour hides in Merse for one manor.
The arable is five carucates, two are in
Demesne, and there are five villains,
with ihree cottagers, having three caru-

In his History of the Hundred of Buckingham. 4to.

chap. xi. HISTORY OF MARSH-GIBBON. 691

catarum; silva xxx porcorum. Valet et cates. There are three servants; mea-
valuit semper lxx solidos; istemet tenuit dow for five carucates; and mast for
tempore Regis Edwardi, sed niodo tenet thirty hogs. It is and was always worth
ad Firmam de Wilhelmo, graviter et seventy shillings. He himself held it,
miserabiliter. (viz. Ailric) in King Edward's time, but

now holds it in farm of William heavily
and miserably loaded.

This Earl of Moreton, whose name was Robert, being brother by the
mother's side to William the Conqueror, he made him Earl of Cornwall,
anno 1068, in the second year of his reign; and gave him no less than 29
manors in this county of Buckingham, as we are told in Dugdale's Ba-
ronage, vol. i. whereof this of Mersh being one, he bestowed it on the
Abbey of Grestein, in Normandy, of his father's foundation, and so it
continued part of the Demesnes of that monastery, together with the ad-
vowson of the church, till both were procured, about the year 1365, by
the De la Pole's, in which family they continued till the year 1441 b, when
the manor being separated from the advowson, was by Will, de La Pole,
Earl of Suffolk, and Alice his wife, given to Ewelme Hospital Co. Oxon.
(of their foundation,) by letters patent of King Hen. VI. In which hos-
pital it remained under certain demises till 1605, 3 Jac. 1. when that
King endowing the Professor of Physick in the University of Oxford, with
the Mastership of Ewelme Hospital, and annexing it thereto, this manor
thereby became vested in the possession of that Professor: and he is, by
virtue of the tenure of that office, Lord of the principal manor of this place,
and so remains, anno 1735, in conjunction with the rest of the members of
this Hospital, viz. the Reader, and thirteen poor men, who are all united
in a corporate body, and act accordingly in that capacity, by granting
leases, &c. as other possessors of manors do.

As to the other manor of Fitz-Ausculfs (described also in Domesday
Book) it seems very soon to have come to Walter Giffard, Earl of Buck-
ingham, for he held it about anno 1112, 12 Hen. 1. who, having in the
year 1162, S Hen. IK founded an Abbey, called Nutley, or Notley,
within his park of Crendon, he gave thereto the tythes of Mershe; but he

'• Pat. 20 Hen. VI. p. 2. m. 19. ' See Parochial Antiq. p. 118, 147, 211.

4 T2

692 HISTORY OF MARSH-GIBBON. book iv

dying, anno 1 164-, 10 Hen. II. without issue, his lands were divided
among his heirs; and this his manor of Mershe came to his next kinsman,
Richard Strongbow, Earl of Strigoul, whose daughter and heir Isabel,
marrying William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, he in her right became
possessed thereof; and gave, anno 1190, 1 Ric. I. a very great fine to
the King, for livery of Earl of Giffard's lands; among which is recounted
this manor; which on the death of his successor, William Marshall, came
to his brother Richard Marshall; but he seems to have made little account
thereof, for Warin Basset1', a younger son of Alan Basset, Baron of Wy-
combe, as a relation and heir of the Marshall's, laid claim to it, and dis-
puted the right of patronage with the Monks of Grestein: but they making
it appear to the Bishop of Lincoln, that they stood seized of this advow-
son by the gift of the Marshall's, his plea was set aside: but the issue male
of Marshall failing in this reign, their lands became divided among several
proprietors, among whom were the Damory's, who claimed Demesnes
here temp. Edw. I. And anno 1317, 11 Edw. II. Richard Damory,
Knighte, obtained a grant of free warren at Mershe, and also at Bix Gib-
wen ; which last manor descended to him from the heiress of Gibwen,
from whom, as I presume, he inherited lands here; for the Gibwens were
possessors of considerable estates in this county, Geffry de Gibwen being
as it seems in King John's time, about 1210, Lord of Great Linford, in
which year he gave lands at Willen to SnelshalP Priory, and in King
John's and the beginning of Hen. the Third's time, he, the said Jeffry
Gibbewin occurs one of the King's Justices-. 1 also find that Roger de
Somery, anno 1291, 19 Ed. I. descended from the heirs of Fitz-Ausculf,
held lands here at Mershe. But the chief and principal heir of the Fitz-
Ausculfs seems to have been the Beauchamps; for anno 1260,44 Hen.
III. there was a tryal at the assizes, held in the ancient county town of
Buckingham, for lands at Mershe\ which were held by William Beau-
champ, senior, by knights' service. And his heir, Guy Beauchamp, Earl
of Warwick, anno 1312, 6 Edw. II. is returned to be seized of the manor
of Mershe; which the Montacutes had also a title to. For, anno 1315,
S and 9 Edw. II. the Kino- confirmed to the Abbey of Grestein, the do-

'' Parochial Antiq. p. 207. * Ibid. p. 375. ' Ex Registro Snelshall. " Madox's

Excheq. h Parochial Antiq. p. 255.

chap. xi. HISTORY OF MARSH-GIBBON. 693

nation and concession which John de Montacute (of the family of Mon-
tacute, who were afterwards Earls of Salisbury) made of the manor of
Mershe, with its appurtenances, and of the advowson of the church of the
said manor; and also the grant of one hide1 of land in the said village, given
to that convent, by Baldwin, son to Thomas de Haldeham, and Isabell
Montacute: after which I find no other claimants to this manor.

However, after the dissolution of foreign monasteries, their lands coming
to the crown, I presume their possessions in this parish, as well as what
belonged here to the Montacutes, being likewise so escheated, remained
parcel of the royal property, till the reign of Edw. IV. when that King,
by letters patent, anno Reg. 22, 1482, gave this second manor, then
known by the name of Westbury, or the Bury Manor, to the Company of
the Cooks, in London, which he had, anno Regni 12, 1472, incorporated.
For so it appeared at a tryal at law, anno 1578, 20 of Elizabeth, at the
assizes holden for this County of Buckingham, at Aylesbury*, wherein the
aforesaid grant is set forth, and the title of the conveyance of this manor,
by the Master and Warden of the said Company of Cooks : which Com-
pany, by deeds, dated Nov. 30, 1530, anno 31 Hen. VIII. sold their
right and interest therein to Robert Dormer, Esq. who, next year, 1531,
suffered a fine and recovery thereof, and after five years possession, anno
1536, reconveyed all his title and interest therein to William Howell, who,
dying seized thereof, Nov. 30th, 1557, was succeeded therein by John
Howell, his eldest son and heir, on whose death without issue, anno 18
Eliz. 15761, the Cooks' Company laying claim to the premises, were at
the aforesaid tryal at law, anno 1578, cast, and a verdict obtained against
them, and the premises adjudged to the purchaser, William Howell's heir,
who was one Henry Howell, as may be seen in Plowden's Commentary,
wherein the case is set forth at length. And in this family of the Howells
this manor"1 continued for upwards of an hundred years; and they held
courts for the same; till Edward Howell, by lease and release, dated June
the 14th and 15th, anno 1639, 15 Char. I. conveyed his property herein
to Richard Francis", whose descendant, Thomas Francis, dying 1698, his
widow, Anna Maria Francis, by deed of lease and release, dated April

> Parochial Antiq. p. 370. k Vide Plowden's Commentary, fol. 551. ' Ibid,

viz. Plowden. m Ex evidentiis hujus Manerii. ■ Ex evidentiis hujus Manerii.

694 HISTORY OF MARSH-GIBBON. book iv.

9th and 10th, 1701, conveyed it in fee to John Townsend and his heirs,
and in this family it still remains, anno 1735. And as lord of the manor
of Westbury, or the Bury Manor, they claim suit and service over nine
yard and three quarters of land in this parish, as does Ewelme Hospital
over forty-nine yard land and three quarters. The whole extent of the
parish being computed to contain fifty-eight yard land and a half, or about
two thousand eight hundred acres.

The advowson of this church, after having passed from the convent of
Grestein to the De la Poles, escheating to the Crown, anno 147-5? after
the death of Alice De la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk, has belonged to the
royal patronage ever since, except temp. Hen. VIII. when Charles Bran-
don, Duke of Suffolk, held it, as may be seen in the Account of the In-
stitution to the Rectory.

chap. xi. NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. 695

1 O proceed with the children of Alexander Croke and Elizabeth
Barker. Their youngest daughter, Richarda, married the Reverend
Nathan Wetherell, who was born on the 14th of June, 1726,
the son of Cornelius Wetherell, of the city of Durham : styled in the
Oxford Matricula, Gentleman. In his native city he probably received
his school education, and he was entered a Commoner of Lincoln
College, on the 20th of April, 1744 '. He was elected a Fellow of
University College, on the foundation of William, Bishop of Durham,
upon the 24th of January, 17-50; and was admitted to his degree of
Master of Arts on the same dayb.

During the time that he continued Fellow, it does not appear that
he was one of the College Tutors with Best and Coulson : in the
register only one person is entered, as being under his tuition. After
he was in Orders, he served the church of Marsh-Gibbon in Buck-
inghamshire, about fourteen miles from Oxford, as Curate to Doctor
Schutz. Having been early impressed with proper notions of religion,
he performed the important duties of a parish Minister with exemplary
zeal and piety. Here he formed an acquaintance with Miss Richarda
Croke, the youngest daughter of Alexander Croke, Esquire, whom
he afterwards married.

At University College, several men, who became eminent in different
pursuits, were his contemporaries and intimate friends. Of these the
principal were, Charles Jenkinson, afterwards Lord Hawkesbury, and
Earl of Liverpool0: George Home, President of Magdalene College,
Dean of Canterbury, and finally Bishop of Norwich'1: William Jones
of Naylande: Peter Waldo, a man of fortune, who, like Nelson, was
a sincere Christian, and bore testimony to the truth of the doctrines
which he professed by some excellent and pious writings': Sir Robert
Chambers, elected Fellow of University from Lincoln College in 1762,

* His subscription iti the University Register is, Termino Paschatis, Ap. 20, 1744.
Nathan Wetherell e Coll. Line Generosi Alius.

b From the Registers of the University, and of University College. c Entered a Com-
moner of University College, March 13, 1745. d Elected Scholar, March 15, 1745.
' Entered July 9, 1745. ' Entered April 2, 1748.

696 NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. book iv.

afterwards successor to Sir William Blackstone as Vinerian Professor,
and a Judge of the Supreme Court at Calcutta: George Croft, a man of
talents and learning, who filled an useful situation in the north of England
for the education of youth5: Sir William Jones, the celebrated orientalist,
elected Fellow in 1764: Doctor John Shaw11: and finally, the two illus-
trious brothers, Sir William Scot, now Lord Stowell, who was elected
Fellow the 14th of December, 1764; and John, Lord Eklon, the Lord
Chancellor of England'. Such a cluster of brilliant talents it would be
difficult to find in one society, and within so short a period. To these
may be added, of other Colleges, Doctor Hodges, who became Provost of
Oriel ; Doctor Patten, of Corpus Christi ; George Berkeley ; Samuel
Glasse ; and Doctor Nowell, Principal of Saint Mary Hall, who preached
a sermon before the House of Commons on the 30th of January, 1772.
for which he received the thanks of the House, which were ordered after-
wards to be expunged, on account of its high tory principles.

In union with some of these excellent divines, it is no reflection upon
the memory of Doctor Wetherell, that he warmly espoused the opinions of
John Hutchinson. The doctrines of the Hutchinsonians were strictly
conformable to those of the Church of England, and were liable rather to
the imputation of an excess of orthodoxy, than of any tincture of method-
ism, or any other species of Sectarian error. No great prejudice can well
be entertained against principles which could produce the elegant and
pious Commentary upon the Psalms, and the masterly treatises of Jones;
yet it must be admitted, that their interpretations of Scripture were some-
times fanciful, and that many of their tenets, though founded in truth,
were carried too far. These doctrines occasioned much controversy at
that time, but as they are now almost forgotten, it may not be improper
to state them shortly ; as they are displayed by the learned Rector of
Nayland, one of their ablest advocates1*.

s Entered as a Servitor, Oct. 13, 1762. h Entered May 14, 1764, at fourteen years

of age. ' He entered May 15, 1766. All from the College Register.

k John Hutchinson was born in Yorkshire in 1674, and died in J 737. He was Steward
to the Duke of Somerset, and derived most of his peculiar doctrines from the study of
Hebrew. See Floyd's Biography, vol. iii. the Lives of Bishop Home, and Jones of Nay-
land, and their works. Duncan Forbes on Hutchinsonianism, and the several pamphlets
which appeared in the controversy.

chap. xi. NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. 697

1. The followers of Mr. Hutchinson give to God the pre-eminence in
every thing.

2. They hold that only one way of salvation has been revealed to man
from the beginning of the world : videlicet, the way of faith in God, re-
demption by Jesus Christ, and a detachment from the world : and that
this way is revealed in both Testaments.

3. That in both Testaments, divine things are explained and confirmed
to the understandings of men, by allusions to the natural creation.

4. They are confirmed Trinitarians, and are kept such by the Hutchin-
sonian philosophy, of Jire, light, and air, the three agents of nature, on
which all natural life and motion depend, and in Scripture signify the
three supreme powers of the Godhead, in the administration of the
spiritual world.

5. On the authority of the Scriptures, they entertain so low an opinion
of human nature, under the consequences of the fall, that they derive
every thing in religion from revelation or tradition ; and that natural reli-
gion is deism in disguise, the religion of Satan.

6. The Hutchinsonians are attentive to the types and figures of the
Scriptures.

7. In natural philosophy, they are sure Sir Isaac Newton's method of
proving a vacuum is not agreeable to nature. They hold it more agree-
able to nature to suppose a circulating fluid, and that attraction is no
physical principle.

8. In natural history, they maintain, that the present condition of the
earth bears evident marks of an universal flood.

9. That what commonly passes under the name of learning, is a know-
ledge of heathen books, and should be admitted with great precaution.

10. Of the Jews, they think that they are the inveterate enemies of
Christianity : never to be trusted as our associates in Hebrew or divinity;
and as dangerous apostates from true Judaism.

1 1 . They are of opinion that the Hebrew is the primaeval, and original
language ; that its structure shews it to be divine ; and that a comparison
with other languages shews it priority.

12. That the Cherubim were mystical figures of great antiquity, and
great signification : symbolical of the Divine Presence: and that all animal-
worship amongst the heathens was derived from them.

4 u

698 NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. book iv.

Such were the doctrines of these learned men, and, since many of them
rested upon the etymologies and grounds of the Hebrew language, it
formed a considerable feature in their studies. For a whole winter,
Wetherell, Home, Jones, and Martin, employed themselves in examining
and settling all the roots of that language, and in collecting materials for a
new Lexicon. The fruits of a faithful and laborious scrutiny were com-
municated to Mr. Parkhurst, who used them in his Lexicon1.

Although a truly humble and devout spirit pervades all the works of
Sir Isaac Newton, they conceived a strong prejudice against his philo-
sophy, which they thought was not altogether consistent with the Scrip-
tures, and the account of the creation given by Moses ; and that it might
be employed as an engine against Christianity. A subscription of three
hundred pounds a year for three years was entered into by the friends of
Jones, to supply him with an apparatus for trying experiments, to confute
the false, and to establish the true, philosophy ; of which, fifty pounds
were supplied by Wetherell. The result of these experiments was several
treatises, written by Jones ; but how far he succeeded in his ultimate
object, I am not enough acquainted with the subject to decide"1.

Three sermons, preached at Saint Mary's in 17-56, by Patten, We-
therell, and Home, replete with the Hutchinsonian doctrines, gave
occasion to some replies, and were followed by an angry controversy, now
deservedly gone into oblivion".

On the 28th of August, 1764, he was elected Master of University
College, upon which occasion he took his degree of Bachelor in Divinity
on the 22d, and that of Doctor on the 27th of the November following.
Soon after his appointment he married Miss Richarda Croke, on the 22d
of April, 1765°.

In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, he filled the office of Vice-Chan-
cellor : during all which time the Earl of Litchfield was Chancellor, and
so continued till the 17th of September, 1772. Frederic Lord North
was elected to succeed him on the 3d of October, 1772 : Doctor Fother-
gill, Provost of Queen's College, being then Vice-Chancellorp.

During his Vice-Chancellorship, a proposal was brought forward to

' Life of Jones, page 42. ■ Lives of Jones and Home. ■ Ibid. " Registers

of the College, and of Marsh Gibbon. r University Register.

chap. xi. NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. 699

make some changes in the academical habits. It can scarcely be conceived
how much the University was agitated, and divided into parties, by this
apparently uninteresting question. The Convocation House was fre-
quently a scene of violence and confusion. The clamours after some time
subsided ; the alterations, which were reasonable and proper, were at length
adopted ; and Doctor Wetherell gained great credit from all sides for his
prudent conduct during this storm, for impartiality and good temper, and
his exertions to promote reconciliation and tranquillity.

Principally through the interest of his friend Charles Jenkinson, Doctor
Wetherell received the appointment of Dean of the Cathedral of Here-
ford, in the room of Doctor Francis Webber, Rector of Exeter ; in which
he was installed the 9th of November, 1771 ; as he was in the Prebend of
Norton Canons, on the 22d of September, 177-5, and in the Prebend of
Cublington, the 4th of September, 1777; both in that Cathedral. He
was likewise installed Prebendary of Westminster on the oth of May,
1775, in the place of Doctor James Cornwallis, made Dean of Canter-
bury'1. It has been said that he twice refused the Deanery of Canterbury,
and once an Irish Bishopric. The latter may be easily accounted for,
but there seems no reason for his refusal of the other preferment.

Amongst the friends of the Dean may be enumerated Doctor Johnson,
whom he usually visited in Loudon, and who often dined with him when
at Oxford. His name appears occasionally in the various memoirs of the
celebrated moralist. There is a letter from Johnson addressed to him on
the 12th of March, 1776, respecting the books printed at the Oxford press,
recommending a larger profit to be allowed to the booksellers, and giving
a detail of the progress of a book from the printer to the reader'. In the
same year, Johnson went to Oxford with Boswell, and called upon the
Dean. In the course of their conversation, Wetherell said, " I would
" have given an hundred guineas if he would have written a preface to his
■' Political Tracts, by way of a discourse on the British Constitution."
Boswell seconded him, and " thought there was a claim upon him for it."
Johnson was displeased with the dialogue, and burst out, " Why should
" I be always writings?" Doctor Johnson presented him with a copy ot
those Tracts.

i The Registers at Hereford and Westminster. ' Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. ii

p. 443. ' Ibid. p. 461.

4 U 2

700 NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. book iv.

Once when he was dining at University College, Johnson was rather
out of spirits. At dinner, to shew his attention to the lady of the house,
he asked her " how many children she had ?" Mrs. Wetherell told him
the number, and added, " that it' all the Doctor's learning was divided
" amongst them, she should desire no better provision for them." Johnson
was highly pleased with this flattery, and was in high good humour the
rest of the evening.

When Charles Jenkinson offered himself to represent the University in
Parliament, Wetherell and Home supported him ; but he was not elected,
and his friends incurred great abuse for what was called departing from
the old interest1. In 1780, Mr., afterwards Sir William, Jones, upon the
resignation of Sir Roger Newdigate, was proposed as a candidate to suc-
ceed him in the representation. Finding no probability of success, he sig-
nified his intention of declining to give his friends any farther trouble; and,
amongst others, by a letter addressed to Doctor Wetherell, on the 2d of
September, 1780, in which he complains of uncandid usage even from his
own college. In fact Jones had discovered principles of a republican
tendency, which were not in harmony with those of the University, and
his Ode to Liberty had given considerable offence".

However studious in his youth, as he advanced in life, Doctor Wetherell
seems to have relaxed from his literary pursuits. None of his writings
were ever published, not even a sermon : nor was he considered as a pro-
found scholar, or an eloquent preacher ; but he possessed a talent, which,
" though no science, is fairly worth the seven" — the knowledge of man-
kind : and he obtained preferment, and riches, beyond what his original
views in life seemed to promise. Besides his wife's fortune, and his regular
income, which was now considerable, some large fines occasionally fell to
him in his ecclesiastical benefices : and he was appointed residuary legatee
by Mrs. Croke, his wife's mother; by her sister, Miss Elizabeth Croke,
who died unmarried at an advanced age ; and by an old gentleman of the
name of Wood, a relation to his wife, who was the son of Doctor Wood,
the Rector of Hardwick, in Buckinghamshire, and had acquired a mode-
rate fortune in trade.

The property thus industriously acquired was not suffered to remain

1 Life of Home. " Lord Teignmouths Life of Sir William Jones, p. 228. Ed. 1807-

chap. xi. NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. 701

idle ; it was employed in a profitable speculation. A canal was projected
by his friend Sir Roger Newdigate, formerly of University College, to
convey the coals from his pits near Coventry, to Oxford. It was, I
believe, the first which was made in England, except the Manchester
canal ; and was considered as a bold undertaking. Doctor Wetherell was
a principal promoter of it, and adventured deeply. The American war
intervened, and the times became bad ; the affairs of the canal were in a
ruinous state ; neither principal or interest were forthcoming, and the ori-
ginal shares of a hundred pounds sank to fifty. Doctor Wetherell, being
so materially involved in the concern, had no chance of safety but by sup-
porting its credit; and he purchased many shares at that depreciated value.
At the peace, things took a new turn, the profits increased, and an un-
looked for event happened, which raised them beyond the most ardent
expectations of the proprietors. By an union with the Grand Junction
Canal, the Coventry Canal became part of the great line of communication
between an extensive manufacturing district, and the metropolis. The divi-
dends were raised to thirty-three pounds upon every hundred pounds share,
and each share now sells for seven hundred pounds. By this fortunate
occurrence, the Dean's property was multiplied in a prodigious degree,
and may fairly be estimated at near one hundred and seventy thousand
pounds.

The Dean, though short in stature, was of a strong, sanguine consti-
tution ; and, except occasional head-aches, to which he was much subject,
enjoyed uninterrupted good health : which was preserved by his habits of
temperance, and daily exercise ; and he retained all his faculties in a good
old age. Something of a paralysis, but of which the effects were not very
visible, seems to have constituted his last illness ; he laid down as to sleep,
and, without any emotion, breathed his last, in his eighty-second year, on
the 29th of December, 1807. He was a man of a good understanding,
and of a sincere piety : strict and conscientious in the performance of the
duties of his station, as a clergyman, and as Master of the college, over
which he presided for forty-three years : never neglecting to attend the
public service of the church, or omitting domestic prayers in his own
family. He constantly retained the primitive practice of fasting on Fri-
days, and during Lent; and was an exact observer of the sabbath. In the
intercourse of life, he was an affectionate husband, an indulgent parent,

702 NATHAN WETHERELL, D.D. book iv.

and a considerate master ; charitable to the poor, and kind and friendly to
all. Possessed of these amiable qualities, with good temper and cheer-
fulness, his society was always pleasant and agreeable.

He was buried under a neat monument in the chapel of University
College, with the following inscription.

H. S. E.

Nathan Wethcrell, S. T. P.

Herefordiae Decanus,

Ecclesite Westmonast. Praebendarius,

Necnon hujusce Collegii

Per annos plus quam XLIII.

Magister vigilantissimus.

Vir quidem vere venerabilis,

Benevolentia aeque ac pietate

Si quis alius

insignis.

Idemque

ob ingenii lenitatem,

et morum suavitatem

nemini non charus.

Natus XIV. Jun. 1726, obiit 29 Dec. ISO?

Anno aetatis suae LXXXII.

Marito

Tarn de se

Quam de XII liberis superstitibus

Optime merito

Ricarda Alex. Croke Arm. filia

Monumentuin hoc

P. C.

The coat of arms of Wetherell is, argent, two lions, passant, guardant,
sable. On a chief indented, of the second, three cups with covers, or.
Crest, a demy lion rampant, sable, bearing in his paws a covered cup, or.

Mrs. Wetherell survived him near five years, and dying on the 1:3th of
November, IS 12, aged sixty-nine years, was buried at Cowley. They left

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 703

twelve children. 1. Nathan Croke Wetherell, who was a Barrister.
2. Robert, first, Fellow of New College, and afterwards Prebendary of
Hereford, Rector of Newnton Longville in Buckinghamshire, and Vicar
of Stanford in Berkshire. He married Anne Meriwether. 3. Charles, a
Barrister, King's Counsel, and Member of Parliament, first for Shaftes-
bury, and now for the city of Oxford. 4. Margaret, married to the
Reverend George Shepherd, Doctor in Divinity, Rector of Saint Bar-
tholomew's near the Bank, in London, and Preacher at Gray's Inn.
.3. Richarda, married to Colonel Love Parry Jones, and has one daughter.
6. Richard, Rector of Nutgrove, and Vicar of Westbury, both in
Gloucestershire. In 1796, he married Caroline, only daughter of
Thomas May, Esquire, of Pashley in the parish of Tisehurst in Sussex,
upon whose death he succeeded to the estate there. He has a large
family. 7. Henry, Rector of Thruxton, and Kingston, and Vicar of
Kentchurch, all in Herefordshire. 8. Sarah, married in 1800 to the
Reverend Thomas Lane Freer, Rector of Handsworth, in Staffordshire,
and Vicar of Wasperton, in Warwickshire. The Freers are an old family,
of which was the Mrs. Lane, who rode before King Charles the Second,
in aiding his escape. They have three children, John Lane Freer,
Richard Lane Freer, and Mary Lane Freer. 9. Charlotte, married, in
1804, to Richard Spooner, Esquire, son of Isaac Spooner, Esquire, of
Elmdon in Warwickshire. They have several children. 10. Mary,
married, in 1801, to the Reverend John Clutton, Doctor in Divinity,
Canon of Hereford, Rector of Kinnersley, in. Herefordshire, and Vicar of
Lidney, in Gloucestershire. 11. Elizabeth, married, in 1811, to the
Reverend Edward Rowden, Master of Arts, formerly Fellow of New
College, and now Vicar of Highworth in Wiltshire. They have several
children. 12. James, Fellow of New College, now Prebendary of
Hereford, Vicar of Lyonshall in Herefordshire, and perpetual Curate of
Upton Saint Leonard's, near Gloucester. His lady was Lucy Hun-
tingford, niece to Doctor Huntingford, the Bishop of Hereford.

My father, Alexander Croke, the eldest surviving son of Alexan-
der Croke, of Marsh Gibbon, and Elizabeth Barker, was born at Dinton,
on the 27th of November, 1728. He was educated, first, at New College
School, at Oxford, and afterwards at Thame School, which was then a
public seminary of some celebrity: and where he had for his contempo-

704 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

varies, the Lord Cobham, afterwards Earl Temple, and the sons of many
other persons of consequence in the neighbouring counties. As his father,
by his hounds and other gaieties, had at least not increased his property,
he prudently determined to bring up his son to a lucrative profession. He
was accordingly bred to the law, and commenced the practice of it at
Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, where he resided many years.

On the 2.'3d of March, 1754, he married Anne, the daughter of the Re-
verend Robert Armistead, Master of Arts, Rector of Ellesborough, in
Buckinghamshire. The ceremony was performed at St. Gregory's church,
in London, by the Reverend Mr. Reyner, and James Revett, Esquire, of
Chequers, which is in the parish of Ellesborough, gave her away. Her
mother's maiden name was Mary Dobson, and she was related to the fa-
milies of Citizen, Tourle, and Clutton, in Sussex. Mr. Armistead died in
174-.5. A memorandum which is in Hammond's Paraphrase on the New-
Testament, is a proof of the care which he took of his daughter's religious
welfare. " April 19th, 1741, I give this book to my daughter, Ann Armi-
" stead, and desire her never to part with it. Robert Armistead." He gave
her likewise Barrow's Sermons, which 1 have, in which is written, " Given
" to my daughter, June, 1742." Upon the second of October, after the
marriage, she came to live at Aylesbury.

We have before seen in what manner the first Alexander Croke divided
the Studley estate between his two sons ; and that Charlotte Croke, the
last surviving heir of the eldest son, married William Ledwell, Esquire.
Under the power which she had reserved to herself upon her marriage,
having no child living, she settled that part of the estate upon her husband
for his life, with remainder to my father. Mrs. Ledwell died on the 5th
of May, 1763, and Mr. Ledwell on the 28th of May, 1766, when my
father came into the possession of the mansion, and the Oxfordshire part;
and thus the whole of the Studley estate became again united.

My mother died on the 8th of March, 176S, of a long and painful dis-
order, and was buried at Ellesborough on the 14th. She was a religious,
amiable, active, and sensible woman. I was too young to be able to form
a correct opinion of her merits ; but I recollect a conversation between her
and the apothecary, who was a Presbyterian, about predestination, in
which she asserted, what probably she felt, the freedom of her own will.
A child often years of age could not be supposed to comprehend much of

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 705

arguments upon a subject, which has puzzled men of higher intellects, but
it made an impression upon me, which may have inclined me, during the
rest of my life, to a stronger tendency towards the Arminian, than the
Calvinistic, side of that abstruse question.

We left Aylesbury on the 18th of May, 1771, and came to reside entirely
at Studley. The next year, on the 1 1th of February, 1772, my father mar-
ried a second lady, Sarah, the daughter of the Reverend Thomas Evans, Mas-
ter of Arts, and Vicar of Sandridge, near St. Alban's, to which he was pre-
sented by Sarah, Duchess Dowager of Marlborough, the 24th of April,
1744, and he died in 1774. She was a most excellent woman, and proved per-
fectly a second mother to me and my sister; and we lived in the most in-
timate friendship with her till her death, many years after. Her niece
married Colonel Harness, who died, as well as his eldest son, in the East
Indies, and left a widow, and two amiable daughters.

My father was a man of the strictest honour and integrity, and of a
sound understanding and judgment; without affecting any of those shewy
pretensions to talents, which are so apt to impose upon the world. In-
deed for coxcombs and pretenders of every kind, he always entertained
great contempt, and usually treated them with a peculiar kind of humour.
The latter part of his time was imbittered by disease and weakness. The
healing springs of Bristol afforded him no relief, and he died of a consump-
tion, soon after his return from that place, at his own house at Studley, on the
30th of November, 1777, at the early period of forty-nine years, and he
was buried at Chilton.

Mrs. Croke survived him till the 20th of April, 1806. Her death
afforded a singular instance of the frailty of human life. As she was sit-
ting by the fire, in moving her chair, she fell, broke her leg, and, after lying
for six months in misery, was tranferred to a happier state.

The children by the first marriage, for there were none by the second,
were, Jenny Sarah Elizabeth Croke, born the 25th of January, 1755.
Alexander Croke, born Feb. 29th, 1756, and died the 16th of August,
1756. Anne, born the 17th of June, 1757, and died March the 19th,
1758. Alexander, born July 22d, 1758. William le Blount, born March
the 18th, 1760, and died the 5th of June, 1761, having been choked by a
crumb of new bread. Of all these, one daughter, Jenny Sarah Elizabeth,
and myself, were the only children who survived their infancy.
4 x

06 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

Jenny Sarah Elizabeth Croke, the only surviving daughter, re-
ceived her education at a school at Eton. When she was grown up, she
usually passed her winters with the Lady Elizabeth Lee, the daughter of
the Earl of Harcourt, and the wife of our cousin Sir William Lee, at
Hartvvell. With Lady Elizabeth she sometimes visited at Nuneham,
and was introduced to the elegant and literary society, which often as-
sembled there ; Horace Walpole, Mason, Jemingham, and the Fau-
quieres.

On the 15th of April, 1777, she married John Parker, Esquire, of
Storth Hall, in Yorkshire, and an eminent Solicitor in London; which
proved an unfortunate connexion. On his estate in Yorkshire was a fine
trout stream, the delight of his early years. From the great centre of mer-
cantile adventure at Manchester, ramifications extended into all the neigh-
bouring counties, and a cotton-mill was erected upon this rivulet. The
profits were known to be considerable; the concern was to be sold, and
the demon of avarice prompted Mr. Parker to become the purchaser, in
conjunction with another gentleman. The emoluments of this manu-
factory induced him to launch out still farther. Large sums were ex-
pended upon a very extensive establishment at Exeter: wealth was rolling in
in a full tide; but great fluctuations took place in the cotton markets:
Mr. Parker was unskilled in the nature and tricks of commerce, he became
the dupe of some artful villains, and, in a short time, was totally ruined.
After their misfortunes, they retired to Reckley. Mr. Parker died on
the 26th of March, 1805, in the 56th year of his age, and his widow on
the 23d of July, 1814, aged 59 years: which was to me the irreparable
loss of the most affectionate of sisters, and the best of women !

You may wish perhaps, my children, to be informed of some particulars
relating to your father, of events which happened before you were born, or
when you were too young to understand them; and our descendants
may have some little curiosity to know something of the person who col-
lected these memoirs. For your gratification, and perhaps instruction, I
am willing to encounter the imputation of egotism, in giving you some ac-
count of my own life.

I was then the only surviving son of Alexander Croke, and Anne
Armistead, and I was born on the twenty-second day of July, 17.3S, at
a quarter after seven o'clock, on a Saturday morning, at Aylesbury, and

chap. xi. 3<* ALEXANDER CROKE. 707

was baptized on the 12th of August. At the age of nine years I was
afflicted with a complaint upon my lungs, which continued a long time,
and was nearly fatal. It left behind it a sense of weakness, dejection,
and oppression, which I never entirely overcame. When I was about ten
years of age, my mother died, but I was too young to feel her loss very
sensibly.

After having been at two or three rudimental schools, I was finally
placed for education under the care of the Reverend Thomas Shaw, Vicar
of Bierton, near Aylesbury, in the year 1767, with whom I continued till
my removal to the University. Mr. Shaw was the father of two sons,
who afterwards distinguished themselves in the paths of science and li-
terature. The eldest, the Reverend John Shaw, Doctor in Divinity,
is Fellow of Magdalen College, and published an edition of Apollo-
nius Rhodius's Argonauts, with learned notes. The work was abused,
with all the vulgarity of German critics, by the celebrated Brunck;
but it was generally considered as the work of an elegant, if not of a labo-
rious, scholar, and the preface was allowed to be a good specimen of clas-
sical Latinity. Against the supercilious censures of Brunck, we may pro-
duce in its favour the judgment of a British critic, not inferior in any re-
sp&ct to the German, and certainly as little disposed to flatter, Gilbert
Wakefield, who recommended it to Charles Fox, as the best edition of
that pleasing poet, in the correspondence which passed between them, after
that eminent statesman had retired from public life, and had returned to his
early and favourite studies of Grecian literature q.

The younger son, Doctor George Shaw, was educated as a physician.
He was a member of Magdalen Hall, in Oxford; afterwards he studied
physic, and the sciences connected with it, at Edinburgh, and in London ;
and took the degree of Doctor in Medicine; although he never attended to
the practice of his profession. His studies were devoted to the pleasing
pursuits of natural history, and he became one of the first zoologists and bo-
tanists in Europe. Soon after his father's death, he obtained a situation
of all others best adapted to his habits, that of one of the Librarians of the
British Museum. His works are well known. His British Zoology may
be considered as the standard work upon that subject, and of his Na-

q Letters between Fox and Wakefield.
4 X 2

70S J^ ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

turalist's Miscellany, it was said by Doctor Parr, " that he wrote the best
" Latin of any man since the time of Erasmus." He had likewise a turn
for poetry, and wrote several short pieces of great merit. Both the sons
were remarkable instances of early genius, and were entered at the Uni-
versity at fourteen years of age. George, at twelve, could repeat the whole
of Horace by heart. The abilities of his sons, of whom the eldest, before
his removal to the Charter House, and the youngest, entirely, had been
educated by their father, had induced some of his friends to persuade Mr.
Shaw to undertake the education of their children, and the number was
gradually increased to thirty.

In this amiable and superior society I continued for eight years; during
the latter part of the time rather as one of the family, than as a pupil.
The dispositions of the mind are as communicable as the affections of the
body. Besides the usual routine of Greek and Latin, I was very naturally
attracted by the fascinating pursuits of my friend Doctor George Shaw,
with whom I passed many delightful hours in experiments of philosophy
and chemistry, and in wandering, with perfect freedom, and in a sort of
intellectual luxury, through the various paths of science and literature, at
a time of life when every acquisition in knowledge produces a charming
sensation. The years which I passed at Bierton, I always looked back to
as some of the happiest of my life, and I there acquired a general love for
science, which has been a never-failing source of amusement, during the
whole of my life.

At a proper time, I was entered a Gentleman-Commoner of Oriel Col-
lege, and went to reside, in February, 1776, under the tuition of Mr.
Flemming, who was a tutor of the old school, and much attached to the
scholastic logic. This science, since the time of Locke, had for a while
lost its credit at the Universities: Aristotle has since been reinstated in
his didactic chair. From this study 1 thought I derived considerable benefit
in my future pursuits. After this gentleman had taken a college living, I
was pupil to the worthy and excellent Doctor Eveleigh, afterwards Provost
of the college. In those days, books were not much in fashion amongst
the young men, and I was led by example, more than from inclination, to
pass a dissipated, rather than an industrious, life. Something I read, but
it was chiefly at home in the vacations; and, upon the whole, I never re-
called to my mind my five years residence at Oxford with much pleasure

chap. xi. Jr ALEXANDER CROKE. 709

or satisfaction. Were the time to come over again, I would have spent it
very differently.

In 1777 my father died, and I was left to be my own master. Soon
after I came of age, I wished to improve my estate, by the drainage and
inclosure of the large common of Otmoor. I took a great deal of pains,
and was at a considerable expence about it, and I communicated the result
of my enquiries to the other proprietors, in a small pamphlet. In a busi-
ness which was for the benefit of all persons concerned, and in which I
had no separate interest, I might have expected to obtain some credit,
and thanks, for my public spirit. On the contrary, I was assailed on all
sides, and was treated as a common enemy. This patriotic attempt ended
in a paper war with the Earl of Abingdon, who had originally suggested
the inclosure to me, and five law-suits, by which, as I gained nothing, I
was not much benefitted by decisions in my favour with costs. The
drainage and inclosure were afterwards accomplished by some other per-
sons, at above four times the expence for which it might have been done
at the time, and in the manner, in which it had originally been pro-
posed.

I continued at the University till 1780, when I quitted Oxford, and re-
sided in chambers, first, in Lincoln's Inn, afterwards in other chambers in
the Temple, and finally in Harcourt's Buildings. In 1786 I was called to
the bar, as a member of the Inner Temple. But although I had studied
the theory of the law, I never engaged in the practice of it, or attended
much in Westminster Hall. I returned many briefs which were sent me
by the kindness of my friends. Having a competence, which though
small, as I was then saddled with a mother's and a grandmother's join-
tures, was sufficient for the wants of a young man without ambition, or
extravagance, I was not pressed by necessity to make any exertions. In
truth, my habitual bashfulness, the effect probably of the illness before men-
tioned, disqualified me in a great measure for the bar, which requires a
greater degree of confidence and self-possession than I ever was master of ;
and, which may perhaps be looked upon as a folly of no small magnitude,
I had strangely conceived a great contempt for every thing which seemed
mercenary, and was connected with a pecuniary remuneration. Yet I
was not altogether idle: I employed my time in reading the best writers in

710 ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

different branches of literature, and, besides the Greek and Latin classics,
I obtained some insight into the French, Italian, Spanish, and German
languages, with a little Hebrew, and still less of Arabic, which I learned
of professor Carlyle ; partly with a view of visiting the regions of the
East, and partly for the purpose of writing the history of the Crusades ;
neither of which intentions I executed.

In the year 1794-, being weary of an idle life, and seeing the necessity
of a profession, I determined to become an Advocate in the Civil and Ec-
clesiastical Courts, in Doctor's Commons ; and with that view re-entered
at Oriel College, and began attending the proper courts. In this design, \
met with very flattering encouragement from Sir William Scott, with whom
I was previously acquainted from his connexion with University College.

On the eleventh of August, 1796, I married, from the purest and most
elevated motive to that important connexion, an honourable and disin-
terested love. It was the most prudent and fortunate act of my whole
life, and the principal source of all my future happiness. I found my
mind exalted and refined by an attachment to the virtues of an amiable fe-
male ; every pleasure seemed doubled by communication, and every mis-
fortune was alleviated by the soothings of affection.

In 1797, I took the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in Michaelmas term
was admitted into the society of Advocates, in Doctor's Commons. A
severe illness the next year had nearly put an end to all farther views.
The usual year of silence, imposed upon Advocates on their admission, ex-
pired upon the third of November, 1798. The Civil Law Bar was at that
time richly furnished. It could boast of the elegant learning, the va-
rious talents, and the playful imagination of Scott: the plain capacity for
business of Nicholl: the cool argumentative powers of Arnold: the mas-
terly acquaintance with the law and practice of the Courts of Swabey : and
the comprehensive mind, and the overbearing, but sometimes obscure, elo-
quence of Lawrence, the friend of Burke. The junior Advocates, who
came into the profession about the same time with myself, were likewise
in every way highly respectable. In the time of war, the Court of Admi-
ralty affords a plentiful harvest, and I was admitted to a share of the busi-
ness, and the emoluments, fully adequate to my expectations.

Having taken some notes of an important case relating to the marriage

chap. xi. J ; ALEXANDER CROKE. 711

of illegitimate minors, I was solicited to publish them. I prefixed an
introductory essay upon the laws of illegitimacy in general ; which was
designed as a specimen of the manner in which I conceived law should be
studied as a liberal science ; by first ascertaining the general principles
upon which it is founded in nature and reason, and then examining the
manner in which they have been carried into effect, in the institutions of
different nationsr. This was one of many researches of the same kind
which I had pursued in a course of study, recommended to me by a great
master of the science.

The credit which I gained by this essay soon found me another employ-
ment. Mr. Schlegel, a Danish Professor, had published a scurrilous book
against the conduct of Great Britain towards neutral nations, and the pro-
ceedings in the Courts of Admiralty'. I was requested by some persons
high in government to answer it. My reply was published early in 1801 l,
and I received the most flattering testimonies of their approbation from
Lord Teignmouth, Lord Loughborough, Sir William Grant, Lord Sid-
mouth, Lord Grenville, and other great and eminent persons — the latter
honoured me with some observations upon it ; but the greatest, because the
most discriminating applause, was bestowed upon me in the Anti-jacobin
Review for September, 1801, at that time conducted by Mr. Canning and
other men of talents in the confidence of government. I had planned,
and in part executed, a more general inquiry into the rights and duties
of belligerent and neutral nations, which seemed little understood, and

' A Report of the Case of Horner against Liddiarcl, upon the Question of what consent
is necessary to the marriage of Illegitimate Minors, determined on the 24th of May, 179&
in the Consistorial Court of London. By Sir William Scott. With an Introductory Essay
upon the Theory am! History of Laws relating to Illegitimate Children, by Alexander
Croke, LL.D. London, 1800. Butterworth.

s It was intitled, Sur la visite iles Vaisseaux Neutres sous Convoi, ou Examen impartial
du jugement prononce par le Tribunal de 1'Amiraute Angloise, le 11 Juin, 1799, dans
l'affaire du Convoi Swedois. Par J. F. W. Schlegel, Docteur et Prof sseur en Droit a
l'Universite de Copenhague, Assesseur Extraordinaire de la Haute cour de Justice, membre
de plusieurs society's savantes. Copenhague, 1800, and translated into English, Debrett,
London, 1801.

' Intitled, Remarks on Mr. Schlegel's Work upon the Visitation of Neutral Vessels
under Convoy. By Alexander Croke, LL.D. London. White, 1801.

712 r ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

were greatly and designedly misrepresented by the enemies, secret and
avowed, of Great Britain. My subsequent appointment, but more parti-
cularly the able manner in which almost every question, which could occur,
had been discussed, and set to rest, in the luminous sentences of Sir
William Scott, prevented my completion of the work.

In the same year, I received an offer of being appointed a Judge of one
of the Vice-Admiralty Courts in America. Complaints of unjust decisions,
delays, and exorbitant tees, had been made against those courts, both by
British subjects and foreigners, which had at length attracted the attention
of the government. It was thought proper, by lessening the number, by ex-
tending the jurisdiction, and by increasing the salaries of the Judges, to give
them greater dignity, and to induce English advocates to accept of those
offices. An Act of Parliament was passed for that purpose in July, 1801".
In August, in the same year, I had the honour of being offered, without
solicitation, the first appointment upon this new establishment, with the
choice of my station either at Jamaica, Martinique, or at Halifax in Nova
Scotia. My salary was to be fixed at two thousand pounds a year, besides
fees, and it was agreed that upon my return, after a residence of six years,
I should receive an annuity of half that sum. The new jurisdiction of
each of these courts extended to every part of his Majesty's dominions on
the other side of the Atlantic, as well on the continent of America, as in
the islands: from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and including the West
Indies.

This offer was considered with all the deliberation which was due to its
importance to my future welfare. On the one side, present profit, the
chance of future advancement to the higher honours, and greater emolu-
ments in my profession, at home, and the unpleasantness of a banishment
from England : in the other scale, the uncertainty of business, the caprice
of clients, the chances of ill-health, the labour and confinement of the bar,
the probability of a peace, the certainty and independence of a fixed salary,
and of a provision for life, the credit and dignity of the judicial office : all
these and other circumstances were duly weighed in the balance of pru-
dence, by myself and my friends. After some hesitation, I resolved to

" 41 Gen. III. chap 96. See the Preface to Stewart's Reports.

chap. xi. Jcr ALEXANDER CROKE. 713

accept of the appointment, and, in selecting my situation, I preferred the
severe, but healthy climate of Nova Scotia, to all the luxuries and all the
dangers of the West Indies.

Upon obtaining this appointment, I had the honour of being introduced
to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, who had resided many years in
Nova Scotia, and was very partial to that country. Nothing could equal
his Royal Highness's condescension and kindness to me. With that
minuteness of attention which so much distinguished the good old King,
he enquired into all the particulars of my intended voyage, and the esta-
blishment I proposed to take with me. He recommended one of his own
servants, who had been with him in that country, as likely to be useful to
us from his local knowledge. He took great pains to procure a cook for
us, in which however he did not succeed, and we had several notes from
him upon the subject. I was indebted likewise to him for several letters
of introduction to the Governor, and other persons at Halifax.

The warrant from the Lords of the Admiralty to the Judge of the
Admiralty to make out my patent issued on the 13th of August, 1801.
On the 10th of September, I went on board the Jason, a merchant ship,
under convoy of the Alcmene frigate, at Portsmouth, with my wife, my
son Alexander, then a little boy in petticoats, and my daughter Adelaide,
a child in arms. After a tedious voyage of nine weeks, we arrived in
Halifax harbour on the 1 1th of November. We were received with great
honour and civility. In a few days after our arrival, a vessel came to an-
nounce that preliminaries of peace had been signed on the 1st of October,
between the King and the French Republic, which were afterwards com-
pleted by the definitive treaty of Amiens. This reduced the business of
the Prize Court almost to nothing, and my only judicial occupation was
the trial of revenue and navigation causes, which were very few, till the
declaration of hostilities against France, on the 10th of May, 1S03, and
the declaration of war by the United States, on the 18th of June, IS 12,
supplied me with ample materials for employment.

By the King's mandamus, I was appointed a member of his Councillor
the province, with rank immediately after the Chief Justice, who is Presi-
dent of the Council. Soon after my arrival in Nova Scotia, the King's
charter for founding an University at Windsor came over, and I was ap-
4 Y

714 J tr ALEXANDER CROKE. book vi.

pointed one of the Governors. They were directed to make a body of sta.
tutes, and the Bishop of Nova Scotia, the Chief Justice, and myself, were
named as a Committee to prepare them. The statutes were drawn up en-
tirely by myself, and were adopted, without alteration, by a majority of the
Governors : amongst whom great dissentions prevailed, and continued long,
to the great prejudice of the new institution. These contests were originally
occasioned by some statutes which had been drawn up by the Bishop, in
which he had contrived to give himself, as Visitor, more power than the
other Governors thought justifiable, or indeed consistent with his visitorial
duties, and which they therefore refused to adopt.

During my residence of fourteen years, I found my situation, and the
country, extremely pleasant. The climate was healthy, and not disagree-
ably severe, and I had employment just sufficient to occupy, without
fatiguing, the mind. Part of the time we resided in the town of Halifax,
but chiefly at a house, which I purchased, about a mile off, to which we
gave the name of Studley Minor. The situation was beautiful, and com-
manded views of the harbour, the town of Halifax, the country round it,
and the fine water of the north-west arm, with its accompanying banks of
native forest. This grand scenery was seen to advantage in a rude walk,
through my own wood ; and a retired spot, where I erected a little edifice,
and named it the Temple of Peace, was a delightful retreat for meditation
or converse. The following inscription was placed in it.

ACTXIAI.
I.

Ye who, all-weary, guide your wandering feet

'Midst life's rough crags, which piercing thorns intwine.
Awhile beneath this lowly roof retreat,

Sacred to Peace, a pure though rustic shrine.
Fly hence, swoln Pomp, to every vice allied,

Inconstancy, to nuptial vows untrue,
Comus, with frantic Riot by your side,

And mad Ambition's ever-restle>s crew,
Hence ! for in vain ye deem no mortal sees
Your inly-sickening hearts, unfit for scenes like these.

chap. xi. ./^~ ALEXANDER CROKE. 715

II.

These myrtled knolls demand far other guests.

And where the darkening woods unbounded spread
O'er Earth's primaeval rocks their gorgeous vests,

By human hand untamed, save where its head
Yon massy tower lifts o'er the wesrern main,

And looks to Britain, there let Innocence,
With sweet Simplicity, enchanters twain !

On every flower, and shrub, that joys the sense,
Unfading charms, celestial grace bestow,
Such as their votaries feel, and only they can know.

The society of Halifax was varied and agreeable, and it had acquired a
superior tone from the long residence of the Duke of Kent. It consisted
of the principal officers of Government, and of the army and navy, with
some of the inhabitants. During the time we were there, the Governors'
families were, Sir John and Lady Wentworth, Sir George and Lady Pre-
vost, Sir John and Lady Coape Sherbrooke. The Admirals' families
w-ere, Sir Andrew and Lady Mitchell, Admiral and Lady Emily
Berkeley, sister to the Duke of Richmond, Sir John and Lady Borlase
Warren. The Commandants of the garrison were, the Generals
Bowyer, Gardiner, the personal friend of Stanislaus, King of Poland,
Hunter, Darrack, and Sir Thomas Saumarez : all of whom except the two
first had wives and families. The Commissioners of the Dock Yard
were, the Captains Inglefield and Wodehouse. These, with Dr. Inglis,
the Bishop, Chief Justice Blowers, the worthy Dr. Stanser, the Rector of
Saint Paul's, and since Bishop, some other divines, lawyers, physicians,
merchants, and occasional visitors, such as Lord Selkirk, and Mr. Am-
bassador Foster, contributed to compose a society sufficiently numerous
and respectable for all purposes of comfort or pleasure. We had sub-
scription balls, and a neat theatre, where plays were performed by the
gentlemen of the garrison. An annual visit to Windsor, forty-five miles
from Halifax, with the other Governors of the College, when an exami-
nation of the students took place, and other little excursions, varied the
uniformity of the scene. Some amusement I occasionally found in writing
little pieces of poetry, which pleased my friends, though they may not
4 y 2

716 J (^ ALEXANDER CKOKE. book iv.

immortalize my name". The fineness of the scenery induced me to
attempt landscape painting, and it* not the works of a Claude or a Poussin,
my pictures gave some idea of a country little known at home, and after
our return, served to recall to our remembrance the places where we had
spent so many years.

On the 6th of December, 1808, the Governor, Sir George Prevost,
sailed upon an expedition against the island of Martinique, which had
been surrendered to France by the treaty of Amiens. I was specially ap-
pointed by His Majesty, as well as by the Governor's general commission,
to administer the affairs of the province in his absence, under the title of
President and Commander in Chief.

At Sir George Prevost's departure, the Legislature was sitting, and my
appointment had been formally announced to them in his farewell speech.
Upon entering upon my office, I repaired to the Council Chamber, and
took the oaths. The members of the House of Assembly were summoned
to attend there, and I addressed them in the following words.

" Mr. President, and Gentlemen of his Majesty's Council ;
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly ;

" His Majesty having signified his pleasure, that, during the absence of
his Excellency Sir George Prevost, on a military service, the government
of this province should devolve upon me, I have called you together to
communicate to you such his Majesty's instructions, and my acceptance
of the important trust.

" Anxious as 1 must feel, to perform the duties of this administration
to his Majesty's satisfaction, and to the benefit of the province, it cannot
but afford me a subject of great consolation, that this event has taken
place at a period, when my imperfect abilities may be assisted by the
united wisdom of the two great legislative Councils, at this time as-
sembled. Though, in the execution of this office, I may, perhaps, receive
some aid from the habitual attention to the transactions of nations, and to
the British laws and constitution, to which my professional studies have
been necessarily directed ; and though I may have acquired some little

x A few of them ate printed in the Appendix, No. XXXVI.

chap. xi. ^V ALEXANDER CROKE. 717

knowledge and experience in die concerns of this country, during a con-
siderable residence here ; yet I shall ever consider, that the surest grounds
of information, and the safest rules for my governance, are to be derived
from your advice and suggestions. In what must depend upon my own
efforts, I shall endeavour, with the most heartfelt zeal, and unremitting
application, to promote the honour of his Majesty's Government, and the
safety, prosperity, and happiness, of the province, in a systematic com-
bination with the good of the whole united British empire ; with which
the best interests of every particular part are equally and inseparably con-
nected.

" The flattering picture of political affairs in general, and the en-
couraging statement of the increased revenues, agriculture, fisheries, and
commerce of this province, which were laid before you by his Excellency
at the commencement of the session, and the proper objects which were
then pointed out to your attention, to give permanency to those improve-
ments, render it unnecessary for me to say any thing upon those topics.

" The present aspect of the subsisting hostilities, and of our various
national relations, and die probability that the government of the United
States will be ultimately actuated by enlightened views for the welfare of
their country, under the favour of Providence, and through his Majesty's
energetic and successful exertions, seem to promise a continuance of the
tranquillity which we have hitherto enjoyed, and which affords so blessed
a contrast to the calamities inflicted by the Almighty upon so large a por-
tion of the world. Should any unforeseen events, however, require the
employment of a military force, our confidence in the regular troops sup-
plied by his Majesty's paternal care for our defence, is greatly increased
by the return of that able and experienced commander, Major General
Hunter; and the high state of the discipline of the militia, arising from the
late regulations, seconded by the spirit and ardour of individuals, affords a
substantial pledge, that the province will likewise find an adequate protec-
tion in its own resources, and that its inhabitants are well qualified to
display the noble union of the characters of the citizen and the soldier.

" In the mean time, I must offer up my wishes and prayers for the
success of the expedition; and that our worthy Governor may speedily
return, crowned with fresh laurels, in addition to those he has already so
honourably acquired ; when I may resign with satisfaction the adminis-

718 3\sT ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

tration of the province into the hands of those, who are so much more
capable of conducting it."

This speech was answered by loyal and complimentary Addresses from
the Council, and the House of Assembly; but this friendship was not of
long continuance. The House of Assembly, presuming upon the weak-
ness of a temporary administration of the government, thought it a favour-
able time to promote their own views. They had two standing rules of
policy; the one was to exhaust the treasury, and, by that means, to
make the government dependent upon them for the necessary supplies;
and the other was to vote as much money as possible lor roads, of which
the members, or their friends, being commissioners, or contractors, or
otherwise interested, the emoluments came directly, or indirectly, into
their own pockets. Both these objects they now endeavoured to obtain
by larger grants of money, for different services, and particularly for roads,
than had ever been made, and far beyond all probability of a revenue ade-
quate to supplying them. They had assumed likewise a power of naming
a new colonial agent, and commissioners to correspond with him, without
an act of the legislature, or the consent of the Governor.

In consequence of these encroachments upon the executive power, and
this wasteful expenditure of the public money, when the Appropriation Bill
was brought up into the Council Chamber by the Speaker and the House
of Assembly, and offered to me for my approbation, according to the
forms of the British Parliament, which are punctiliously observed in the
colonial legislatures, I refused my assent to it. This occasioned much in-
dignation. The House of Assembly debated with great heat for two days
upon it, with their doors closed. Violent resolutions were passed, and at
length a Committee waited upon me, lo inform me, " that they had no
" further business before them," the usual form observed before a Session
was closed. Upon which, I went down to the Council, and prorogued
the legislature with the following speech.

"Mr. President, and Gentlemen of his Majesty's Council;
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly ;
" The Assembly having informed me by their Committee, that they have
no business whatever before them, at the end of a Session which has been

chap. xi. Jct ALEXANDER CROKE. 719

protracted to a longer duration than the subjects proposed to be considered
might have seemed to require, it remains only for me to dismiss you from
the fatigues of public exertion, to the more tranquil happiness of your
domestic relations. In your private stations you will, no doubt, continue
to exercise the same zeal for the prosperity of the country, which has in-
fluenced your conduct in your collective capacity, by the encouragement
of industry, and the promotion of peace, and a due submission to the
laws.

" The inactivity of the season of the year, and the interruption of inter-
course during the winter months, have precluded the information of any
material change in public affairs, since I last had the honour of addressing
you. The situation of Spain, though not yet arrived at its crisis, from the
invincible ardor of patriotism, which animates the whole of that interesting
country, continues to hold out a promise of relief to the subjugated nations
of Europe, and to augur, though remotely, the happy return of peace,
which has been so long banished from the world; but the unhappy state
of a neighbouring country, distracted by party violence, and occasionally
instigated by the suggestions of passion, rather than by the sound dictates
of reason, and of a beneficial policy, suggests the precaution of providing
against the most unfavourable alternatives, and amongst other means,
more particularly by a diligent and spirited execution of the laws for exer-
cising and disciplining the militia.

" Gentlemen of the Assembly ;

" I have to acknowledge, with the sincerest thanks, the liberal and ample
supplies which you have granted to his Majesty, for the exigencies of his
government. The continuance and amendment of those revenue laws,
where utility has been demonstrated by experience, require little observa-
tion, but I must congratulate you, with the warmest sentiments of appro-
bation, upon the honourable manner in which you have fulfilled your
engagement to his Majesty, by your provision towards defraying the
expences of providing arms for the militia, by a tax extremely unexcep-
tionable.

" Gentlemen of //is Majesty's Council, and of the Assembly;

" It is matter of deep concern to me, that I have been under the
necessity of refusing my assent to a Bill, which had received your joint

r ALEXANDER CROKE.

approbation. Disposed as I am to consult the wishes of such respectable
bodies of men, and inclined as 1 should feel even to sacrifice my own
opinions to yours, upon affairs of lesser consequence, I should be guilty of
a breach of the important trust which has been confided in me by his
Majesty, if I should give my assent to laws, which I conceived to be
highly exceptionable, in relation either to his Majesty's rights, or to the
welfare of the province.

" I have already communicated my reasons for this dissent, and shall again
proceed to state them to you. One of my objections to this Bill is from
the large amount of the sums appropriated by it, in conjunction with the
Bounty Bills, far beyond the expenditure of any former years ; without
any peculiar emergencies to require, or any probability of a material in-
crease of revenue to justify, the extension. The appropriation for expen-
ditures to take place within the year exceeds so far every calculation of
revenue expected to be received within that period, and the payment of
considerable sums will therefore be so much protracted, that it has been
thought necessary to introduce into the Bill a clause for the payment of
interest upon the warrants after they become due. By these great appro-
priations, the expences of this year would exhaust not only the unpaid
duties of the last, but the greater part of the funds necessary for the supply
of the ensuing year, even under the supposition that the present taxes will
be continued. The consequence of this absorption of the past, and antici-
pation of the future, revenue, will be an exhausted state of the treasury,
not only during the present, but likewise during the succeeding year; and
what every man who wished well to the country would strongly deprecate,
the new measure of the commencement of a debt upon interest. If such
a profuse lavishment of the revenue, which within the ordinary restrictions
is amply sufficient for every useful purpose, consistent with the actual
state of the country, would be scarcely adviseable in any common situation
of affairs, how much more improvident must it be considered, when a few
weeks may render it necessary to place the province in a state of defence,
at which important conjuncture, by the operation of this Bill, not a shilling
would be found in the public chest to pay anil furnish the militia, to de-
fray the expence of any military preparations, or for other necessary
service of Government.

" The next objection to the Appropriation Bill is founded upon a clause,

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE. 721

which enacts, that it shall be lawful for the Lieutenant Governor, or the
Commander in Chief, to draw out of the treasury of the province,
by warrant, in favour of the Commissioners appointed to correspond
with the Agent of the province, any sum or sums of money, not
exceeding two hundred guineas, to be remitted by them to the special
Agent of the province, to enable him to defray any expences which
may be incurred, for promoting the general interests of the commerce
and fisheries of the province.

;' For the object there stated, that of promoting the commerce and
fisheries of the province, I can assure you with the greatest sincerity,
that I possess as much zeal and earnestness as their warmest advocate,
and I am truly sorry that the clause introduced into the Bill for that
purpose is such as cannot receive my approbation. That any agents
of the province, distinct from the two general accredited agents, have been
constituted by a lawful authority, I am perfectly uninformed. Of the
existence of the Commissioners there mentioned, by whom, by what
authority, or for what purpose, they have been appointed, I am equally
ignorant. It is impossible therefore for me to recognize persons under
either of those descriptions. If, as I have been given to understand, for no
communication upon the subject has been made to me from either branch
of the legislature, the Council and the Assembly have concurred in ap-
pointing a special agent, and have each nominated Commissioners, for the
purpose of corresponding with him; to say no more of it, it is a measure
novel and unprecedented, and I think that the circumstance would require
me, particularly during a temporary exercise of the Government, to employ
a considerable degree of caution and deliberation, before I could be induced
to give a consent to such material innovations upon the usual mode of
transacting colonial affairs. But my objection is not founded merely upon
the novelty of the proceeding. For the Council and the Assembly to
appoint persons, and to invest them with authority to act, when their own
power and existence is suspended or determined, without any Bill or Law
for that purpose, without the knowledge, consent, or concurrence of the
executive branch of the Government, does appear to me to be an unusual
and unwarrantable assumption of power, and a dangerous encroachment
upon the prerogative of the Crown.

" Unpleasant as it is to be driven to the exercise of this right of
4 z

722 ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

dissenting from Acts which have been agreed to by his Majesty's Council
and the Assembly, and approving as I do of the greater part of the provi-
sions of this Bill, it is much to be lamented that it should have passed
both branches of the legislature with such exceptionable matter, as to
occasion its final rejection, f trust, however, that the province will suffer
no injury from the loss of this Bill, and that the revenue will be applied
by Government in a manner more ceconomical, but equally conducive to
the prosperity of the country; but whatever may be the consequences, in
the part which I have acted, I have done what I conceive to be my duty, and
I shall resign the government at the appointed time, with the consolation
of reflecting, that my short administration will not have been marked with
the imputation of having opened a road for intrenchments upon the Con-
stitution, of having left the province destitute of the means of defence in
the hour of danger, or of having entailed upon it an empty treasury and
an incipient debt.

Council Chamber, ALEX. CROKE."

Jan. 26, 180<).

Whilst I was President, I corresponded officially with the first Lord of
the Treasury, and the Secretaries of State, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Liver-
pool, Lord Bathurst, and Lord Hobart, concerning the affairs of the
province, and the politics and proceedings of the United States, which
were then verging towards hostilities; and likewise with the British Am-
bassadors in that country, Mr. Erskine, and Mr. Eoster. I held regular
levees, the returns of every public department were made to me, and I
commanded a body often thousand militia men.

Sir George Prevost arrived from the conquest of Martinique on the
15th of April, 1S09, and resumed the government. He soon convened
the legislature, and, as he loved popularity, he gave his consent to a new
Appropriation Bill, which contained almost all the improvident grants which
I had objected to, except that for the payment of the colonial agent. The
consequences which were foreseen succeeded. The treasury was soon
completely emptied, the public officers were unpaid, a considerable debt
was incurred, the financial affairs of the province were greatly embarrassed,
when the United States declared war there was no money to pay the
militia, and it became necessary to have recourse to a paper currency to
supply the wants of the Government.

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE. 723

At the end of that year, I had an unpleasant altercation with Sir George
Prevost respecting a trial for piracy, which I refused to attend ; amongst
other reasons, because I had doubts as to the validity of the commission,
under which the court for the trial of pirates was constituted. Sir George
wrote home upon the subject to the Earl of Liverpool, with copies of the
correspondence which had passed between us. The whole was by him
transmitted to the King's Advocate, and the Attorney and Solicitor
General, for their opinion upon the points in question. They decided
against me, and advised, that it should be signified to me, his Ma-
jesty's Government expected that I should attend those trials on future
occasions. In giving this opinion, the great law officers had entirely over-
looked an Act of Parliament, passed but a few years before, in which new
regulations were enacted respecting the trials of pirates in the colonies, and
by which all the existing commissions for them were annulled and de-
clared void7, and new ones directed to be issued. No new commission
had been granted for the province of Nova Scotia ; but these men were
tried, and one of them condemned and executed, under the old one, thus
revoked. In consequence of my subsequent application, stating these
facts, a new commission was issued in 1813.

In the year IS 10, I went over to England for a few months, with my
son George. We sailed from Halifax on the 14th of January, and landed
at Portsmouth, after a very stormy voyage, on the 10th of February. Sir
John and Lady Wentworth came over in the same convoy. I was happy
to see my friends, and was received b\' them with a flattering cordiality.
I placed my son George at Mr. Richards's at Winchester.

Nothing worth mentioning occurred during my stay in England, unless
it were the civilities which I experienced from his Royal Highness the
Duke of Kent. Any little circumstances which display the private man-
ners, and domestic life, of persons in such exalted stations, are interesting,
and I shall therefore relate exactly what passed in my intercourse with him.
Upon my arrival, of course I paid my respects to his Royal High-
ness, and received an invitation to breakfast, at Castle Hill Lodge.
The time fixed was ten o'clock, and I was punctual to the appointment.
After passing through the usual guards of porters, and servants in spendid

s Statute 46 Geo. III. 1806.
4 z2

724 ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

liveries, I was ushered into the Breakfast Room; his Royal Highness soon
made his appearance, and received me with great condescension and kind-
ness. The breakfast things were of elegant seve china, with a silver urn ;
he made the tea himself, and no servant waited. I was pressed to take
some chocolate, which was brought in by his valet, who he informed me
always made it, thought no one equal to himself in that employment, and
would be much mortified if I refused. It was certainly very good,
and was flavoured with cinnamon. The Duke's manner was gracious,
and one felt perfectly at ease with him. He talked much, and of a
variety of subjects, amongst which Halifax and Nova Scotia formed a
principal part. He entered a great deal into his own affairs, and com-
plained of ill usage from the public, and more particularly from his own
family, and he stated many circumstances of a very private and confi-
dential nature, which I shall not relate. He said that he had been accused
of cowardice in not venturing his person amongst the mutineers at Gibral-
tar ; but that he had actually gone down to them, when they appeared to
be in such a state of intoxication and madness, that the officers who ac-
companied him absolutely forced him away, as no good could possibly be
done with men in such a situation, and so utterly incapable of hearing rea-
son. After breakfast we got up, and walked about the room. He shewed
me the pictures in that and other apartments. There was a full length of
Louis the Eighteenth, painted, as he informed me, by a lady. A drawing
of the Princess Amelia, which he particularly pointed out to me. There
was a painting of himself by Lawrence, just finished. I observed that it
was the best likeness of him which I had seen, upon which he told me that
he was having it engraved, and would send me a print from it. His
Royal Highness never forgot his promises, and after my return to Halifax,
I received the print handsomely framed, with a polite note. He wished
me much to go to Windsor to pay my respects to the King, but I was so
near my departure, that I did not go. After a moderate stay, his Royal
Highness made us a bow, which was the signal for our departure, and we
accordingly took leave ; when he made an apology for having only asked me
to breakfast, as at that time he dined early, and drove out Madame de
Saint Laurent every evening, and therefore gave no dinner parties.

The history of an invitation to dinner will afford a striking example
of his Royal Highness's punctuality and attention. This invitation

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE. 72.5

was sent to me to Osborn's Hotel, where I had been staying, but as
I had left London, it lay there for many weeks unattended to, till en-
quiries having been made after it by his Royal Highness, it was at last
returned to him by the penny post. After my return, upon receiving
again his note of invitation, he transmitted it to Halifax, with an expla-
nation of the circumstances, and expressing great indignation that it should
have been opened, " which," he said, " had never happened to him before ;
" as when letters bear the name of Peers, or Public Functionaries in the
" corner, and they are returned, from being unable to find out the person to
" whom they are directed, they are uniformly sent back unopened." He
accompanied it with his " best regards," and sent it " that I might be
" satisfied of his intentions towards me, although most unluckily they failed
" in reaching me."

He always expressed the greatest kindness, and the most favourable
opinion of me. Soon after the commencement of the American war,
having occasion to write to him upon another subject, I freely gave him
my sentiments upon the real nature of the war, the temper of the United
States, and the situation of our own colonies ; I took the liberty of sug-
gesting that it was not by concessions, but by rapid and vigorous measures,
that the war ought to be carried on. In his answer of the 28th of October,
1812, he assured me, that he " was particularly grateful for my communi-
" cation, and not a little flattered that the opinions therein expressed were
" so congenial with his own — but I fear," he added, " it would be very
" difficult to make our friends here see matters in the light that you and I
" do. Still I do not despair of it, and it shall not be my fault if I do not
" turn your most judicious observations to public advantage." In another
letter he concluded by saying, that " whenever I returned to England, he
" hoped that I should not forget that I should always be a welcome visitor
" at Kensington." Some other complimentary letters I had the honour
of receiving from him, which I could not copy without too many
blushes.

On my return to Nova Scotia, I went on board the packet at Falmouth
the 19th of September, and arrived safe the 29th of October.

On the 25th of August, 1811, Sir George Prevost sailed for Quebec,
having been appointed Governor General of North America, when the
administration of the government of Nova Scotia again devolved upon me

726 ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

during the Interregnum. Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, the new Governor,
arrived on the 16th of October following.

In the year 1813, the sectaries in England, ever upon the watch to
undermine the Church, introduced into the province of Nova Scotia their
two favourite engines, the Lancastrian school, and the Bible Society.
The person employed for this purpose had been pay-master of one of the
regiments, and not originally of so sanctified a character, before he had
undergone a conversion in Portugal. The real nature of these societies
was not then so well understood as afterwards, and they met with great
success. The Governor, Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, even the Bishop,
and the principal persons in the province, at first supported them, and Mr.
Bromley came over under the express patronage of the Duke of Kent,
who had great influence in the country. I saw immediately the tendency
of these institutions, and determined to oppose them. I published a letter
in the Halifax paper upon the subject, which is printed in the Appendix".
This gave occasion to a very long controversy in the public papers, in
which above eighty pieces appeared on different sides, of which twenty
were written by me. The eyes of the members of the Established Church
began to be opened, the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge
at length superseded the Bible Society, and the national schools those of
Mr. Lancaster.

The Duke of Kent, who had become a warm patron of all those secta-
rian societies, supported his missionary with all his authority and influence.
A letter was shewn about, in which his Royal Highness had done me the
honour to censure me in strong language for opposing these plans. Upon
which I transmitted to him the two first printed papers, in which I had
publicly stated the reasons of my conduct: and I added some complaints
of his asperity towards me. He returned an answer, dated on the 7th of
April, 1814, through a third person, by whom I had made the communi-
cation, in which he said, " I am led to express my regret that one who is
" so justly esteemed for his great professional talents, and many private
" virtues, should upon the important subject of religion exhibit a temper
" and dispositions, in my opinion very far from corresponding with the

chap. xi. » 7 ALEXANDER CROKE. 727

" mild and liberal doctrines which it teaches. All the censure I can have
" presumed to pass upon the conduct of the worthy Judge as an opponent
" of the British system, in my correspondence with Mr. Bromley, must I
" think have been confined to the expression of my mortification, that an
" individual so well capable from education, talents, and station in society?
" to become a friend to the poor and illiterate of all classes and denominu-
" tions, should from narrow-minded prejudices so much circumscribe the
" sphere of his usefulness, by imbibing false alarms for the safety of the
" Church. In short, the Judge's sentiments upon religious toleration and
" general education are so totally different from mine, that however I may
" admire the principle of conscientious rectitude, under which he no
" doubt acts, I must lament, that it strikes so deep at the root of that true
" benevolence which would encourage universal improvement in the mind,
" morals, and character of all around him. I can only state how much I
" lament, that any original subscribers to the British system of education
" in America should have withdrawn their support, as I must believe the
" circumstance to have arisen more from the particular influence of pre-
"judiced minds, than as the result of a candid enquiry into the merits and
" principles of the institution."

In 1814, Mr. Stewart, the Solicitor General of Nova Scotia, published,
in an handsome volume, Reports of the principal cases decided by me in
the Court of Vice- Admiralty, at Halifax, from the commencement of the
war in 1802, to the end of the year 1813a. They have the merit at least of
correctness, as they were taken entirely from my own notes : many of them
had been previously printed at the particular request of the counsel, or
parties interested. These Reports render it unnecessary for me to say any-
thing of the nature of the business in which I was chiefly employed during
my residence in Nova Scotia. I trust they bear internal evidence of the
care and industry with which I conscientiously endeavoured to execute

* Reports of Cases, argued and determined in the Court of Vice-Admiralty, at Halifax, in
Nova Scotia, from the commencement of the war, in 1802, to the end of the year 1813, in
the time of Alexander Croke, LL.D., Judge of that Court: by James Stewart, Esq. a
member of His Majesty's Council, and Solicitor General for the Province of Nova Scotia.
Res Judicata pro veritate accipitur. Dig. London : printed for J. Butterworth and Son,
Fleet Street, 1814.

72S ^V ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

the duties of my important office; in which I had the arduous task of sit-
ting as umpire between my own countrymen, and the subjects of other
nations, as well neutrals, as enemies; of inforcing the maritime rights, and
of maintaining the high character of Great Britain for impartial justice to
all the world.

The war being apparently ended, by the success of the allies, the banish-
ment of Buonaparte to Elba, and the peace with the United States, there
was little employment for a Judge of the Admiralty in Nova Scotia, and
I obtained permission from Government to return to England. In the
mean time intelligence arrived that Buonaparte was again seated upon the
throne of France, and that fresh hostilities had commenced with that
country. Nevertheless, I pursued my original intention, and went on
board the packet on the 7th of July, 1815, with my whole family. When
we arrived near the English coast, a vessel of war of suspicious appearance
came in sight, and bore down upon us. As she did not answer any of
our signals, it was concluded that she was a French cruizer, our decks
were cleared, and every preparation was made for an engagement. There
was no possibility of our making any effectual resistance, as she was
greatly superior in size and guns to our vessel, and there seemed every
probability, that, after a battle, in which we Civilians might lose our lives
or our limbs, but could acquire no honour, we might look forward to a
long captivity in France. At the critical moment, when she came just
within gun shot, to our infinite satisfaction, she hoisted British colours, and
sent a boat on board us, with an officer, who informed us of the battle of
Waterloo, which was just over; that it was not known what had become
of Buonaparte, but that it was suspected that he was endeavouring to make
his escape to America; and the vessel was the Pelorus, which was cruizing
to intercept him. Never was there a greater change from sorrow to joy,
and we sat down to our breakfast with unspeakable comfort. On the 29th
of July, after a favourable voyage of three weeks, we arrived at Falmouth,
where we heard that Buonaparte was in safe custody at Plymouth. On
Saturday, the 5th of August, after a pleasant journey from Falmouth,
through Exeter, Glastonbury, Wells, Bath, and Oxford, we arrived at
Studley Priory about four o'clock, where we found our two sons, Alex-
ander and George ; and my whole family dined together with an heartfelt
satisfaction, which those only can appreciate who have experienced long

chap. xi. SIR ALEXANDER CROKE. 729

absences, from their mother country, and painful separations from their
dearest connexions.

On the 23d of December, lSlo, I tendered my resignation to the Lords
of the Admiralty, which was accepted on the 26th. His Majesty's go-
vernment granted me the annuity of one thousand pounds a year, which
had been agreed upon, and was authorized by the Act of Parliament for
constituting the Courts of Vice-Admiralty; and I received the King's
Letters Patent for it, under the Great Seal, bearing date the 14th of
March, 18 16. And on the 5th of Ju]y in the same year, the Prince Re-
gent bestowed upon me the honour of Knighthood.

I was apprehensive that the Duke of Kent was not well pleased
with the decided part which I had taken against his protege, Mr.
Bromley, and the Lancastrian and Bible Societies; but I was assured,
by gentlemen who had the honour of being in his confidence, that I had
no reason to be alarmed, for that his Royal Highness was a man of the
most perfect liberality, and never thought the worse of any person
for differing from him in opinion. Upon these assurances I waited upon
him, when I was received with a marked coldness, and an intimation was
given me by one of his confidants, that I might spare myself the trouble
of farther visits, as I should not be again admitted to the Royal presence.
I then discovered that the liberality of the liberales extends only to those
of their own sentiments, and that the saints can persecute, as far as they
have the power. Thus ended the only Royal friendship with which I
have had the happiness of being honoured b !

Returned thus to my own country, with a competent income, free from
the slavery of business, and master of my own time, I might have expected
to pass some years of the autumn, or winter, of life, with comfort and
tranquillity, in the bosom of my family, the performance of my duty, the
improvement of my mind in piety and knowledge, and the innocent pur-
suits and pleasures of a rational being. But how uncertain is human hap-
piness ! After some previous symptoms, I was taken suddenly ill with

" Since I wrote the above, his Royal Highness is gone to appear before the sovereign
judge of princes, as well as of common men, and who knows the secrets of all hearts. From
him he will receive the reward of his works done upon earth, according to their real mo-
tives, and principles. Peace be to his manes !
5 A

750 SIR ALEXANDER CROKE. book iv.

giddiness and sickness, in die Bodleian Library, where I was making re-
searches for these collections, on the 29th of July, 1819. This attack
proved the prelude to a most calamitous illness, upon the 17th of
September ; an oppression of the brain, which produced the effects of
a lethargy. For many days I lay totally senseless, at other times I was
delirious, and I had no recollection afterwards of what had passed for
nearly a fortnight. On the 24th of September, I seemed convulsed, my
pulse began to fail, I was thought to be in great and imminent danger,
and my life was totally despaired of. By the assistance of the physicians
of Oxford, the Doctors Wall, Bourne, and Kidd, and the application of
powerful remedies, I was relieved from this situation, so distressing to my
beloved wife, and my other friends, and I was gradually restored to health,
and strength. My recovery was thought by the physicians to have been
almost miraculous; to me it appeared altogether so. I hope I am suffi-
ciently thankful to ray heavenly Father for this his great mercy in deliver-
ing me from the snares of death which encompassed me, and that I shall
ever consider this new portion of worldly existence as graciously bestowed
upon me, to enable me to work out my salvation, and to be the better pre-
pared for that state of eternal happiness, which God has promised to those
who faithfully serve him. The remainder of my life, whether short or
long, does not seem likely to be marked by any great variety of events,
and little more will remain to be added to this account than the day of my
departure.

Providence has blessed me and my dear wife Alice with eleven chil-

'Al*c dren, named, Alexander, Adelaide, George, Jane Sarah Elizabeth, Went-

lP/J» worth, Anne Philippa, Charlotte, John, Frances MaryTerritt, Le Blount,

and another Alexander. Of all these, the eldest Alexander alone is no

more.

The fondness of a parent may be excused for calling to mind, and com-
mitting to paper, the few and uniform events of the life of a beloved son,
who was taken away at the immature age of one and twenty. And yet,
if I am not deceived by paternal affection, I cannot but think that this
simple narrative will be interesting, and that the example of so excellent a
young man will be useful, even to those who were not personally ac-
quainted with his merits.

Alexander Croke was born in Gloucester Street, Queen's Square, on

On the 16th July, at All Saints Choroh, Partington. JOHN |
OKOKK, En.] . ft I'orton iJ,,nB... Radnorshire, erne mirvlror of the
Issue of the late Sir Alexander c'roke, of Stn 1 ev l'riory, Oxford-hire,
to lliAFKAM'K^. phie-r dam liter of the Ute ,I..I,n R Dickson,
Esq.. of Woodville, county Leitrlm, and widow of JAMES N1AS
CKOSE. Commander K.N. fCSlf

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 731

Monday the twenty-third day of April, 1798, at twenty minutes after
seven o'clock in the morning. He was baptized at Queen Square Chapel,
now St. George the Martyr's Church, by the Reverend George Huddes-
ford, the author of Salmagundi, and other poetical pieces. Mr. and Mrs.
Parker and myself were the sponsors. He was a very delicate child, anil
often unwell: when he was about two months old he was given over. At
about three months, the 18th of July, he was placed with Mrs. Moore, a
healthy young woman at Walworth, and his health was much improved.
He was a very pretty child, and ladies often stopped his nurse to enquire
to whom he belonged, observing that he must be a lady's child, and not
her's. On the 29th of April, 1799? he was inoculated with the small pox,
vaccination not being then known, and on the 26th of March, 1800, we
took him home to our hired house at Walworth. In the beginning of
May, 1801, he was ill of a fever, and was attended by Dr. Latham.

The same year, he accompanied us to Nova Scotia. We embarked at
Portsmouth on the tenth of September, 1801, and arrived at Halifax on
the eleventh of November, he being then above three years and a half old.
He was much admired as a fine lively child, with uncommon sense for
his years. He shewed, even then, a remarkably correct tact, and a sensi-
bility to the peculiar character and situation of those with whom he con-
versed: his conversation to one person being very different from what it
was to another, and suitable to their particular case.

He continued with us in Nova Scotia till 1806, when he came to
England, under the care of Captain Sir Robert Laurie, Baronet, on
board the Milan. This had been a French frigate, called La Ville de Mi-
lan, having been built by that city, carrying 46 guns, but intended for a
seventy-four, and which had been brought to, and engaged in a most severe
and gallant action, by Sir Robert, in the Cleopatra, of thirty-two guns
only, the French ship being double her force in size, compliment of men,
and weight of metal. The Ville de Milan would have been taken but for
an unlucky accident, by which the Cleopatra was rendered immoveable
and in consequence was compelled to surrender. Both vessels were re-
duced to perfect wrecks, and were taken possession of by Captain Talbot,
who came up soon after the action in the Leander, without a gun being
fired. After they were taken, the Milan was given to Sir Robert, as a
just reward for his gallantry. Alexander went with great alacrity, and con-
5 A2

732 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

t'essed, when he was older, that his reason for wishing to go to England
was, " that he thought he should have no more lessons to learn. " By
such trilling, and often unobserved motives, are the wishes and actions of
children, and their determination to this or that mode of life or profession,
frequently directed! They sailed on the 6th of February, at 10 o'clock,
and arrived at Portsmouth. During the voyage, he gained the favour of
Sir Robert Laurie, and every person on board, by his spirit and resolution,
good-humour, and liveliness. " I assure you," said Sir Robert, in a letter
which I received from him at Spithead, " it was with much regret, myself
" and officers parted with him. A better disposed, or more charming boy
" could not be. Alexander has many friends in the Milan, and will never
" want them wherever he goes."

He was now nearly eight years of age, and had been entirely educated
by his mother, except a little Latin which I had taught him: and few boys
of his standing were ever better instructed. Upon his arrival in England,
he was placed under the care of the Rev. Charles Richards, at Hyde
Abbey School, at Winchester, preparatory to his going to a public school.
His conduct here, as Mr. Richards informed me, " was distinguished by
" diligence, good temper, and regularity: in his education he shewed a
" fine capacity, and was making all the improvement which could be de-
" sired." Soon after he came from Halifax he was nearly choked by a
plum stone.

1 came to England for a few months in 1810, brought his brother
George with me, and placed him at Mr. Richards's ; but during my stay
here, Alexander was removed to Harrow. Doctor Butler was the Head
Master, and he was boarded in the house of the Reverend Mark Drurv.

During our absence in Nova Scotia, he passed his holidays with my
sister, Mrs. Parker, at Beckley, who had all the affection and attention of
a parent for him. Besides his aunt, he met with great kindness from
many other friends, with whom he sometimes passed part of his time.
During the holidays, he used to ride to Oxford three times a week, to be
instructed in Greek and Latin, by the Rev. Mr. Firth, of Corpus Christi
College; which he continued whilst he was at Harrow.

In the Christmas holidays of IS 11, and afterwards, he attended the
Abbfe Bertin, at Oxford, to learn French. The Abbe had left France in
the Revolution, and resided 25 years at that University, teaching French,

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 733

and was a man of learning and respectability. The gentlemen of the Uni-
versity treated him with great attention, and he was particularly intimate
with the Bishops of Oxford, Randolph, and Jackson, with whom he spent
much time at Cuddesden. Alexander was a great favourite with the
Abbe, and Bishop Jackson having once seen him on horseback, sent a
message by Bertin, that " he should be happy to see him, and would
" shew him his palace." In the Christmas holidays of 1812, the Abbe
invited him to call upon him at Cuddesden, where he was upon a visit, to
be introduced to the Bishop, but on the day he went there, the Bishop
happened not to be at home. On his return, the Bishop sent him another
message, that " he should be happy to see him without waiting for a re-
" gular introduction," yet he never repeated his visit. Upon the resto-
ration of the monarchy, the Abbe returned to France, and at his de-
parture gave Alexander, as a token of his friendship, Vertot's Revolutions
Romanies, and the works of Monsieur Coffin, Rector of the University of
Paris, in Latin prose and verse, with assurances that he wished he could
have seen him come to the University, that he should be happy to see him
at Abbeville, and hoped he would remember that " there was once a
" Frenchman who had a great regard for him." Such was the general
esteem he met with.

On the 23d of July, IS 14, he suffered a great loss in the death of Mrs.
Parker. With every proper feeling upon this occasion he shewed good
sense and steadiness, far above his years, which were only sixteen. He
informed us of the melancholy event by a letter, in which he says, " I
" received a letter from you, containing your praise and approbation of my
" compositions, which had made me as happy as possible. — George's re-
" covery, the prospect of seeing you all soon, and the more immediate
" expectation of these holidays, had all conduced to perfect my felicity ;
" but it was ordained to be otherwise. How shocking is the task which
" devolves upon me, of informing you, for I must no longer hesitate, of
" the death of our most dear, and ever to be lamented, aunt, which took
" place on Saturday, at about ten minutes before one o'clock, at Studley.
" Never was any thing more awful or sudden." He then describes her
catching a cold, which ended in an inflammation on her lungs, and their
sending for Doctor Bourne. Alexander was at Harrow, but was sent for.
To his great agony, she was dead before his arrival. " Thus," he proceeds,

734 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

" my dear father, distressing as it has been to me, I have related to you
" these sad particulars, which I leave to you to break to my dear mother.
" You will be equally shocked, but I hope my mother will not be too
" much afflicted, at the idea of our being left alone, and will have confidence
" in our friends. Thus it has pleased the Almighty to deprive us of her,
" who has been to us as a parent; the loss is irreparable till your return;
" but still I do not repine, I grieve. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
" taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Even in this affliction
" there are blessings. How thankful am I that this did not take place
" before; every thing conduces to shew how kind have been the dispens-
" ations of Providence ; dear George's recovery, the prospect of your
" return, &c. must have all rendered her happy, had she any idea of her
" death. O could she but have lived to see you again ! The greatest
" portion of our happiness will be taken away, and 1 fear we must meet
" under affliction. Upon thinking of the pleasures of these holidays, some-
" thing used lately to whisper to me, that they would be debarred ; and thus
" it has pleased God to doit. But enough of these melancholy effusions.
" Whatever you may intend to do, with respect to your return, I hope
" you will have sufficient dependence on my prudence. I have consulted
" my friends in every measure." He then mentions the civilities he had
received, and the invitations which had been given to him and his brother
George, " but," he observes, " all our visits may be a diversion of our at-
" tention, but they cannot be a pleasure. How I dread sending this
" letter to you. I am alarmed for the affliction of my dear mother : but
" I hope the Almighty will enable her to bear it. 1 am comforted by
" knowing, that my poor aunt received a letter from me, and one from
" you, a day or two before her death." In another letter he says, " Cala-
" initous as this may be at present, I hope the Almighty will alleviate our
'l afflictions. I trust that she is now a saint in heaven, free from all her
" anxieties and labours."

In a subsequent letter, he gives an account of the kindness of his friends
upon this melancholy occasion, for which he says he shall ever be thankful:
and he adds, " this last sad event has doubled my wishes and anxiety
" about your return; I trust the Almighty will grant you all a safe one;
" and although perhaps it may not take place just yet, I trust you will
" consider us here under sufficient human protection, (and, I trust, under

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 735

" the protection of God ;) and again I will repeat, I hope you have suffi-
" cient confidence in me. Shocking is the doubt to me, whether you are
" still happy, or now afflicted. (As he did not know whether we had
" received his former letter, giving an account of my sister's death.) I hope
" my poor mother's health may not be injured by the shock. Sometimes
" I think Providence will manage every thing for us all, and that we shall
" not suffer any thing material by my dear aunt's death, and therefore
•' snatched her from her innumerable troubles and anxieties, of which none
" but ourselves can have any idea. This now reminds me of what she has
" told me, that no one knows what poor aunt has gone through.

" Durum, seel levins Jit patientid
" Quicauid corrigere est nefas.

" It makes me very melancholy to think that I am about to leave this
" house (Beckley,) where I have spent so many happy days, and that I
" may perhaps never enter it again. Adieu." In after times, and parti-
cularly in his last sickness, he frequently recollected with a melancholy
pleasure the happy days which he had spent with his aunt, in his early
youth. He often stood for some time on a spot, from whence he could
see the church, and repeated, " Ah! poor Beckley!" evidently much
affected.

In another letter, after he had been informed of our intention of re-
turning to England, he says, " I have had great pleasure and amusement
" these holidays, but I look forward to real happiness after my leaving
" Harrow. The Almighty has taken away one, but He will restore to me
" two parents, I trust. What happy preparations would my poor dear
"aunt have made for you all! What a recompence would she have
" thought it for all her anxieties !"

During his continuance at Harrow, he was remarkable for propriety
of conduct, and shewed considerable abilities. Though ihe letters
which are usually written by school-masters are frequently matters of
course, yet I believe that those which were written by his preceptors, both
at Winchester and Harrow, were sincere, and dictated by a genuine
regard for him, founded upon real merit. In a letter of the 2Sth of
November, 1814, brought to me by Sir James Cockburn, the Governor of
Bermuda, Mark Drury says, " It affords me real pleasure and satisfaction

736 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

«' to inform you, that your son has conducted himself with the greatest
" propriety, ever since you confided him to my care and attention.
" His improvement fully corresponds with my expectations, and his
" rank among -it his associates as a scholar is a most agreeable recom pence
" for his assiduity and talents. When you come to England, you will, I
" trust, acknowledge that I do not draw a flattering, but a true, picture of
" my young friend. His general behaviour to Mrs. Drury and myself is
" most exemplary, and has created in our minds a most sincere interest
" in his happiness. My friend, Sir James Cockburn, was desired by me
" to state to you, as accurately as possible, my sentiments of your son's
" qualities and progress. Sir James is a sensible man, and well ac-
" quainted with human nature. I conceive therefore you would derive
" singular pleasure and comfort from the representation of a gentleman,
" who has frequently conversed with me on the subject of my letter, and
" who has also been able to form an opinion of your son's attainments, by
" the different interviews which occurred, when Sir James resided in our
" parish. On a late melancholy occasion, (the death of my sister, Mrs.
" Parker,) your son behaved with uncommon sensibility and propriety.
" He consulted my advice, though it was unnecessary ; indeed we Jive
" together as much like two friends as you can conjecture. If our friend
" had not offered his hospitable mansion at that time, under my roof your
" son would have met with a comfortable reception. Indeed he will
" always be considered in my family as a connexion of real value." In
another letter, upon the occasion of his death, he confirms these senti-
ments. " The sad event afflicted me and Mrs. Drury most severely.
" The dear good fellow always behaved to us as an affectionate son. He
" never required reproof. It would be fortunate if all young men were
" equally correct in mind and conduct. He must be happy."

The account thus given by Mr. Drury was fully confirmed by Sir James
Cockburn, who spoke of him in the most flattering terms, and informed
me that he was considered as the best scholar, and, to use the words of
Doctor Butler, as the " crack boy," of the school. His verses were fre-
quently " read up" by the master, which was the custom of Harrow,
when they were particularly good, and he obtained a great many prize
books for his poetical exercises. He had quite a little library of them,
including handsome editions of Lucretius, Aristotle's Poetics, Longinus,

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 737

Cicero de Oratore, De Finibus, and his Tusculan Disputations, Ouden-
dorp's Caesar's Commentaries, Thucydides, Pindar, and Lucan.

As he was then fit for the University, he quitted Harrow upon the 26th
of July, 1815. His farewell verses were said to have been one of the
best compositions which had ever been made upon a similar occasion.

Farezoell Verses at leaving Harrow.

Baivoftsv a^yvfj.=voi, 6«X=gov xctra iuxpv yzmrsc.

At length, five years elapsed, with painful heart,
I bid adieu to Harrow, and depart.
Must I then go, and ev'ry tempest brave,
Launch into life, and seek the troubled wave?
And will not Time restrain his swift career,
That pleas'd awhile I yet may tarry here,
A parting look at Lyon's structure cast,
And waken sweet remembrance of the past?
Then stop, my muse; and, ere I take my way,
Crown this last labour, and inspire the lay.

Seats of my youth ! Alas, a busy train
Of joys, now fled, excites my mournful strain;
In contemplation starts the silent tear,
Recalling to my view each happy year;
My heart recoils whilst of those days I tell,
And on those hours, as if now present, dwell.
While blushing Spring still linger'd o'er the plain,
And Summer swift advanced his ardent train,
How oft have I through yon lone church-yard stray'd,
Where Lanfranc's steeple measures out its shade;
And, pausing, view'd beneath the village scene,
The sports loud echoing of the joyous green;
Or gaz'd where Windsor's turrets meet the eye,
Bright with the sun, when first he mounts on high;
Or where Augusta's clouded temples rise,
And smoky volumes mingle with the skies.

Sweet was the time, when 'neath the oak's broad shade,
I oft reclining sought th' Aonian maid,
Sang Britain's triumphs o'er her conquer'd foes,
Gallia's fell tyrant and her num'rous woes;
Or Nature's myst'ries when I dar'd t' explore,
Or trace the fables told in days of yore.
5 B

738 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

How fresh, how happy shone the coming day,
When all, in pleasure, cheerfulness, and play,
Enjoy'd their pastime, and from study free,
Renewed their sports, and gave their hearts to glee.
These were thy joys, delightful Ida, these
BeguiPd the hours, and taught e'en toil to please.
Oh ! that, his course thus pleasantly begun,
Man e'er should cease in happiness to run .'
All sport, temveeting; but grim Death stands near,
And/ate relentless marks its victims here.

Long will these pleasures of our early days
Entitle Harrow to my ardent praise,
And all these blithesome scenes of play and mirth
Endear its name, and well enhance its worth.
Yet these are transient — but that nobler toil,
Those youthful studies by the midnight oil,
Which first my mind exalted, and at length
By hope encouraged, gave it early strength,
Have left a treasure, that will ever last,
And time, swift gliding, ne'er its fruits shall blast.
Where'er I go, this benefits me still,
And must with gratitude my bosom fill.

Farewell, my Teachers; first indeed to you
My warmest thanks and all my praise are due :
Your cares I hope to cherish while I live,
And feel the precepts ye were wont to give.
Accept this humble tribute of my Muse
Nor what the glowing heart inspires, refuse.
If ever Virtue's riches should be mine,
In Wisdom's honours if I e'er should shine,
To you, kind Guardians, I shall owe my fame,
And bless th' instructions, whence that learning came0.

ALEXANDER C'UOKE.
Read over by Dr. Butler hi the school, July 24, 1815.

The four lines in Italics seem to have been too truly prophetic of Ins
own future fortunes, and on that account are tinged with a deep melan-
choly pathos which all must feel.

'' For a specimen of his Latin verses, see Appendix, No. XXXVII. b.

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 739

To the great joy of our two sons, after a favourable voyage of three
weeks, we landed at Falmouth from Nova Scotia, on the 29th of July,
1815. I wrote to inform them of our arrival, and desired them to repair
immediately to Studley to meet us. We reached that place about
four o'clock, on the 5th of August, where we found Alexander and George
ready to receive us, and, for the first time, our whole family dined together,
to our unspeakable joy and happiness ; though the death of my poor
sister was a great drawback upon our pleasure.

Alexander having left Harrow continued with us the whole summer.
He had been entered as a Commoner at Oriel College, the 9th of De-
cember, 1814, and he went now to reside, on the 21st of October, 1815.
My old friend Doctor Eveleigh, the Provost, died the very day he entered,
and Doctor Copleston had succeeded him. Messieurs Davison, Whately,
James, and Keble, were successively his tutors, and the college was in the
highest repute for discipline, learning, and abilities. For an account of
his conduct here, I shall introduce a letter from Mr. Davison.

To Sir Alexander Croke.
Dear Sir,
The conduct of your son, during the time that he has been with us, has
been such as to receive the strongest approbation of his college. He has
been most consistent in regularity of manners and habits, and seems to
have laid on him the foundation that will make him a valuable character in
life. With a strong sense of duty and principle, he has an ingenuous
modesty of disposition, which renders him a pupil whom it is a most
agreeable office to instruct or direct. We have hitherto found him studious
and attentive, with a real desire for his own improvement, without which
there can be no success, and in his classical reading he has made a consi-
derable progress.

I remain, Dear Sir,

Your faithful humble servant,
Oxford, July 2, 1816. JOHN DAVISON.

With regard to his studies, whilst at Oxford, he was most attached to
the classics, and took little pleasure in mathematics. For Latin verse he
always retained the fondness which is generally acquired at public schools.
5 b 2

740 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

Although not required at the University, he sometimes made a copy of
verses instead of a theme ; as once when the thesis given was, Our native
soil, he translated the 137th psalm into lyrics, which was much approved
of by his tutor, and was thought very applicable to the subject. In 1816,
he wrote tor the Chancellor's prize, upon the subject of The Druids, but
did not obtain it, though he found the practice and exertion employed in
the composition of service to him.

Upon his first entering at Oxford, I thought it necessar- to guard against
the ill consequences which might arise from his conceiving that he was a
young man of fortune. I told him therefore, candidly, that although 1
had a tolerable estate, yet that as I could not make one of my sons rich
and leave the rest in poverty, 1 must provide for all my children, and
therefore that he had to expect but a moderate income from me. It would
be necessary therefore for him to follow some profession, not for the name
only, but as a means of gaining an honourable livelihood. I left the choice
to himself, gave him time to consider of it, and stated the nature of the
different professions, and the prospects which they afforded him. Upon
his return home at Christmas, he told me that he wished to study the law,
and to be called to the bar ; a determination of which I approved, as I
thought that it was best suited to his situation in life, and that his appli-
cation and talents would afford a reasonable probability of success. Ac-
cordingly, on the 27th of April, 18 16, he was entered of the Inner
Temple, my own Inn of Court, and that of our great ancestor Sir George
Croke. On the 2Sth of October he passed his first examination for his
degree by Messrs. Cotton and Keble with credit, in Herodotus, three
books of Euclid, the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil.

But all these fair hopes were early destroyed, and, in tact, terminated
with his departure from Harrow. From that period, his health began
to decay, and he continued declining during the whole of his conti-
nuance at Oxford. From being strong, hearty, and lively, as he described
the state of his health in a letter to me, he grew pale and thin by degrees,
his strength was reduced, his nerves, sight, and memory, and his faculties,
in general, grew weak. In June, 1S16, by riding fast after dinner, he hurt
his stomach, from which he never recovered. By this weakness, indiges-
tions, and irregularity in the viscera, and the uneasiness which they occa-
sioned, he was prevented from entering into the ordinary pleasures of life,

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 741

and was unable to apply himself with any degree of vigour to his studies ;
at some times he was totally incapable of reading at all, and even was
deprived of the use of his voice. Although therefore his strong sense of
duty impelled him to exert himself, he was not able to do more than what
was absolutely necessary for his lectures and terminal examinations, and
even this degree of application he was at last obliged to give over. Except
occasionally some lyrics, and the poem on the Druids, he seems to have
done nothing in reading, or writing, beyond the mere routine of the college,
and he very early abandoned all idea of taking a degree in the higher
classes ; which, as well as his obtaining some of the prizes of the Univer-
sity, his masters at Harrow had confidently expected from him.

And indeed, the last term he was at Oxford, he was most unwillingly
compelled to appear very deficient at the collections, or examinations
which are held in the college, before the vacations, having been able to
make little use of his time, and, as he expressed it, " to make less return
" for the attention of his teachers." For this apparent negligence, of which
his instructors were not made acquainted with the reason, he incurred, for
the first time, what appeared to be their just displeasure, and received
a reprimand from the Provost. Reproaches, to which he was entirely un-
accustomed, I believe dwelt much upon his mind, and he wrote a letter,
on the 2d of July, 18 IS, to the Provost, to communicate to him the cause
of his seeming negligence, in which he explained fully the state of his
health, and that " the frequent returns of pain, inconveniences, and morti-
" fications that he experienced, had prevented him from any serious
" exercises of mind or body, for hours together, so that he was not at all
" times able to read over his lectures ; and made it impracticable for him
" to enter into that active intercourse with others, and even with his
" friends and school-fellows in the University, which is peculiar to young
" men." It had however been admitted to him, at the time of his repri-
mand, that he had been regular in his attendance at chapel ; upon which
he observes, in the true spirit of a religious mind, that " this had been a
" service of perfect freedom, and although he had been sometimes obliged
" to absent himself, and it had often been painful to him to appear in the
" evening, yet he was happy that it had been always in his power to be
" in chapel before the service was begun."

742 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

To this letter the Provost returned a very kind and friendly answer.

Oriel College, July 9, 1818.
My dear Sir,

I have just read with great concern the statement you have sent me of
your impaired health. I was not aware that you suffered to the extent
you speak of, nor indeed that you suffered from general indisposition at
all. I am too sensible of the distress caused by indigestion, not to sympa-
thize most sincerely with a fellow sufferer. If any thing of this kind had
been suspected by us last term, you cannot suppose we should have ex-
pressed the displeasure we did. I wish you had at the time stated this
plainly and distinctly. No one accuses you of idleness, or want of excel-
lent principles, and a good heart. It only appeared to us that there was a
constitutional languor, which called tor some stimulus. You have now
explained the case in such a way, as to secure you from every thing like
reprimand in future, and I am sure all those under whose care and autho-
rity you are placed will act towards you with the greatest tender-
ness.

In expressing my sincere wishes for the re-establishment of your health,
I must also repeat the high opinion I have always entertained of your
character, and remain, my dear Sir,

With great regard,

Yours very sincerely,

E. COPLESTON.

Yet although his prospects of worldly happiness and honours were so
soon clouded, and ultimately destroyed, Providence had other, and better,
things in store for him. From his childhood, he had always been a good
and prudent young man, with a proper sense of his duties, and his later
valetudinarian state of health contributed to preserve him from many of
the temptations of youth, and awakened him to a still more serious con-
sideration of divine things. He then thought that the accident of his
having been nearly choked with a plum stone " was a merciful dispensa-
" tion of Providence, ordained for his correction." The very day on
which he hurt his stomach, June 4th, 1816, and which was the beginning
of that specific complaint which ended in his dissolution, he began to read

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 743

two chapters every day in the Bible, in Mant's edition, with the notes,
commencing with Genesis, and the Acts of the Apostles; a practice which
had been suggested to him by Mr. Rolleston, of University College, in a
sermon at St. Mary's. He considered this as another great mercy, and
observed upon it, " that it would seem as if his heavenly Father had
" given him his word to teach him how to amend his life, at the same
'' time that he laid these calamities upon him." His continual illness, his
sense of God's goodness, the study of the Bible, together with the serious
considerations which entered into his mind when he began to receive the
Sacrament, assisted by the Divine grace, had produced a religious state of
soul, as perfect in every Christian virtue as perhaps human nature will ad-
mit of, and gradually prepared him for the kingdom of heaven ; a blessing
infinitely more valuable than all the wealth and greatness which the world
could have bestowed.

From June 1816, when he met with the accident before mentioned, to
the same month in 1818, he continued to be an invalid, but without much
alteration for the worse, and his stomach was not so far deprived of its
powers as to prevent him from eating moderately. But having hurt it
again three or four times in the term preceding the long vacation in that
year, by having been compelled to walk too soon after dinner, about Ox-
ford, with friends and visitors, a circumstance which always very much
disordered him, and the weather having been uncommonly hot at that
time, he was rendered extremely weak, and his complaint was greatly in-
creased. From that period his digestion was so impaired, that he was
never able to take more than one third of his usual quantity of food ; in-
deed if he eat more than about three table spoonfuls at once, his stomach
was overloaded, and he was uneasy for three or four hours afterwards.
Nor could he drink till about an hour after his meal, and that by sipping
leisurely, without bringing on an indigestion. It seemed upon the whole,
that it was the quantity of food, whether solid or liquid, rather than the
quality, which disagreed with him. To use his own words, " it was no
" more possible for him to go regularly through a dinner from soup to de-
" sert, eating or drinking just as it happens, than it would be to empty a
" tureen filled with meat, vegetables, and soup, into a tea-pot." It was

744 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE, book i v.

another inconvenience to him, that he could not venture to eat soon after
exercise, and was obliged to sit completely still for an hour or two after
meals, and that he could not move from place to place, or use the smallest
exercise, during that time, without bringing on an indigestion.

From an amiable disposition, and a wish not to give uneasiness to his
friends, he had concealed his real state of health, and we had no idea that
he was seriously ill, till about the 26th of September, in 18 IS, when he
explained his situation to me fully, in a letter, from which I have given
most of the above account. Till then we had attributed his abstemious-
ness and singularity more to whim, and a fantastic system of physic, and
valetudinarianism, which people often adopt, than to any real disorder, and
we were therefore endeavouring to laugh him out of it. His good humour
readily excused our joking, and his good sense induced him to adhere to
a plan which was necessary to his comfort. The opinions of the medical
men, who had been consulted, contributed still more to deceive us. Upon
his first accident, Mr. Crosvenor, and Mr. Tuckwell, two eminent sur-
geons at Oxford, were applied to, and on the :30th of March, 1818, 1 took
him to Doctor Latham. They were unanimously of opinion that his com-
plaints proceeded merely from weakness, occasioned by his growing, and
his youth, and prescribed steel, and such medicines, with every flattering
assurance of a speedy recovery.

After his letter had made me acquainted with the full extent of his dis-
order, I sent him to London, on the 20th of October, IS 18, for the best
medical advice. He consulted Carlisle, who was equally positive that it
was merely a case of weakness, without any local injury having been re-
ceived in the stomach, and recommended the same class of medicines, and
diet, which he had before taken. He stayed three weeks in London, and
shocked us inexpressibly, by the dreadful change which had taken place
in that short period. Upon his return, on the 7th of November, he
was reduced to a mere skeleton, his eyes were sunk in his head, and his
voice was altered, and hollow. As Mr. Carlisle had spoken with confi-
dence of the probability of his recovery, we still entertained hopes from
the effects of his medicines. No benefit was received ; he gradually
grew weaker, and could scarcely bear any food at all. Doctor Bourne
was sent for, and at his first visit despaired of a recovery. His brother
George was expected home in a few days from Harrow. He said he

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 745

wished only to live to see him. He arrived on Wednesday the 9th of
December, but on that day Alexander felt himself so weak, that he went
to bed at four o'clock. On the 10th, he came down to breakfast, and stayed
up till about four. The next day, Friday the 11th, he got up for a short
time, but he fainted away, and when he recovered, he told his nurse that
he thought he was dying.

The next day, Saturday the 12th, he was unable to get up. I thought
it proper to have some discourse with him respecting his situation. About
eleven o'clock in the morning, I went into his room, and finding him easy,
and composed, I entered into conversation with him, to prepare him for
receiving the sacrament ; Mr. Jenkins being expected to come that morn-
ing to administer it.

I began by observing, that in his afflictions, and during his long and
painful disorder, he had had the greatest consolation which could be en-
joyed, in the consciousness that he had led a good and religious life, and
that for a year or two past, his time had been almost entirely spent in the
duties of holy reading and devotion.

He assented to my observation, and said, " I am perfectly easy and
" happy in that respect. I have always endeavoured to follow the exam-
" pie of my Saviour, and, like him, I have always been meek, and serving,
" in the world e. I have never been a man of the world. If it should
" please God to take me, I have no doubt of my salvation."

Finding him in this excellent state of mind, I sent for his mother, as I
knew it would give her the greatest happiness. Upon her arrival, he re-
peated nearly the same things, and added, " It has been my practice for
" more than two years to read two chapters every day in the Bible, with
" the notes, and I think that it has given me a better idea of the Christian
" religion than reading long treatises would do. From this practice, I
" may say that I out-shone all the other young men at college at the di-
" vinity lectures. My reading the Bible prepared my mind to perform my
tk duty properly at church. I wish you all, particularly my brothers and
" sisters, to do the same. I leave my Bible with notes to you, my father,
" as a legacy. But you are learned, and do not want it; but it will do
" for them all to read; and I wish that the Prayer Book with notes, now

' See Luke xxii. 26, 27.
5 c

746 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

" about to be published as a companion to the Bible, may be procured,
" and read also.

" I thank God, and I think it a great blessing, that I Mas born of a
" good family, and of virtuous parents, who have set me a proper ex-
" ample, and have instructed me in the way I should go. It is impossible
" to know what God Almighty, with whom a thousand years are but as
" one day, and one day as a thousand years, has ordained in respect to our
" family, but 1 trust that they will all do well, and that not one of them
" will fall into condemnation. My father, you may think it childish, but
" it always strikes me, that boys do things without considering or under-
" standing them, or without thinking what connexion they may have with
" their future life. George's carpentering for instance. Our Saviour when
" a boy, was probably brought up to that trade. George was intended
" for the church, but that is now altered.

" I wish to receive the Sacrament, and if I look at my pocket-book, I
" can tell how often I have had that honour." (Upon looking into his
pocket-book, after he was no more, it appeared that he had regularly set
down every time of receiving it, and that the last was on Whit-sunday,
the 10th of May, opposite to which he had written, " 10th, Received the
" Sacrament the 1,5th time.")

I asked him if I should read to him, or say any prayers. He thanked
me, and hastily and earnestly mentioned the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah ;
but said that we should have prayers by and by, and as I was afraid of
fatiguing him, 1 did not read to him, and he did not mention it again.

He then said, " I do not know what I have done to be cut off so early
" in my youth. If I recover, I have laid down a plan for my future life.
" I may recover, as I do not think my vital powers are affected, but I
" have no objection to be carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. My
•' sufferings have been great, but they are nothing in comparison to what
" some experience, who have no hopes of eternal life. How horrid, how
" dreadful, must be the prospect of those, who know from their wicked
•' lives that they must be lost everlastingly. I have not been like the fool-
" ish virgins, who, when the Lord came, applied to the other virgins for
" oil for their lamps. I have endeavoured to keep my lamp trimmed, and
" I am not now to seek."

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 747

This is all I was able to recollect of his discourse at this time, per-
haps not entirely in the order in which he delivered it, but perfectly
correct as to the substance, and mostly as to the words. He after-
wards talked of indifferent subjects, with his mind perfectly easy, and un-
embarrassed.

Soon after this conversation, Mr. Jenkins came, and administered the
Sacrament. Lady Croke, my daughter Adelaide, Mrs. Marshall, our
housekeeper, Mrs. Jones, one of his nurses, and myself, received it with
him. He seemed very devout, and made the responses firm and loud,
lying in bed. The remainder of the day, and during the whole of Sunday,
he was very weak, occasionally in great pain, but seemed to suffer most
from restlessness, often requiring to be turned in his bed, which was
attended with great trouble and pain from his soreness within side. On
Sunday morning he wished us to go to chapel to pray for him, and, at
night, his brothers and sisters, with his mother and myself, took leave of
him, about eleven o'clock, and all kissed him. He was then perfectly sen-
sible, but restless, and as no particular change had taken place, it appeared
to us that he might have continued in the same state for some time ; but
about one o'clock, he seemed to be a little light-headed; wished, with
some impatience, to get up, and to go down stairs; and complained of
their wanting him to go to Beckley, which he said would kill him. They
endeavoured to quiet him by telling him that every body was gone to bed;
but he observed, that if his father was there he would dress him in a mi-
nute, and would not let them serve him so cruelly. Upon this I was
called up, and found him calm and composed, but unable to speak articu-
lately. He wanted something which we could not understand, and to
every thing of his usual wants which we mentioned, he shook his head.
He then lay perfectly quiet, muttered to himself for a little while in a faint
murmur, his lips just moving, and in a short time ceased to breathe, with-
out any struggle, groan, or emotion, at twenty minutes past one o'clock on
Monday morning, the 14th of December, 1818.

During his illness, he sometimes seemed to consider himself as near his

end ; as when he told the boy who attended him, that he should have all

the money which would be found in his purse ; but more generally he used

to say that he thought his vital powers were not affected. Such is the

5 c 2

748 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

self-deception, and the unwillingness to die, which is peculiar to human
nature, even in the best of men ! Or rather, such was God's special mercy
to him, that although he had a sufficient sense of his danger to prepare for
that awful event, yet he was relieved from the most alarming apprehen-
sions of approaching death, which is naturally painful to all. How won-
derful must have been his surprise, and how exquisite must have been his
sensations, when he awoke from death, which he knew not that he had passed
through, and found himself so unexpectedly in the regions of the blessed,
and was received and congratulated by his Saviour, the holy angels, and
the souls of good men made perfect, amongst whom, we humbly trust,
were some of his dearest friends and relations!

In his last illness, besides the Bible with notes, he read daily in the
Prayer Book. Nelson's Festivals, and Taylor's Holy Living, were two
other books which he used; and he observed, that " in time he should come
" to Taylor's Holy Dying." He read, morning and evening, two prayers
which I had drawn up for his brother George, and which he kept in a
drawer in his dressing table, with a quire of whitybrown paper to kneel
on. He observed once to Mrs. Marshall, who assisted him in going to
bed, that " he had been used to say his prayers to her when he was a
" child."

On a paper, in his pocket book, are two lists of certain Psalms, over
which he had written, " Best." The first list consists of the 72d, 19th,
24th, 63d, 8,5th, 65th, 96th, 98th, 99th, 23d, 80th, 81st, 22d, 29th, and
the 45th. The second list contains the ISth, 34th, 90th, 91st, 42d,
43d, 50th, 68th, 77th, 78th, 84th, 103d, 104th, and 107th; and he refers
to notes 71 and 75, upon Psalm the 1 19th, and note 11 upon the 51st
Psalm.

Of these two lists it may be observed, that the Jirst consists of psalms
of the sublimest character, and those which are most prophetic of Christ,
and his kingdom. But the second list is composed of Psalms adapted to
individuals, and contain complaints of the shortness of life, of afflictions,
and disquietude of soul, of hope in God, trust in his deliverance, thanks
for mercies received, and descriptions of the blessedness of God's service.
These were probably the Psalms which he felt to be most in harmony
with his own state of mind in his illness. But the notes, to which he last

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 749

refers, may be considered as exhibiting the exact picture of his own soul,
in the very last stage of life. " It is good for me that I have been afflicted ;
" that I might learn thy statutes. There is a class of most important
" duties, which can only be practised in affliction; namely, patience and
" composure under distress, pain, and affliction: a stedfast keeping up of
" our confidence in God, and our dependence upon His final goodness,
" even at a time when every thing present is discouraging and adverse;
" and, what is no less difficult to retain, a cordial desire for the happiness
" and comfort of others, even then, when we are deprived of our own.
" The possession of this temper is almost the perfection of our nature.
" But it is then only possessed when put to the trial: tried at all it could
" not have been in a life made up only of pleasure and gratification. It is
" in the chambers of sickness; under the strokes of affliction; amidst the
" pinchings of want, the groans of pain, the pressures of infirmity; in
" grief, in misfortune ; through gloom and horror, that it will be seen,
" whether we hold fast our hope, our confidence, our trust in God ;
" whether this hope and confidence be able to produce in us resignation,
" acquiescence, and submission'." " From whatever quarter afflictions come
" upon us, they are the judgments of God, without whose providence no-
" thing befalls us. His judgments are always right, or just, duly pro-
" portioned to the disease and strength of the patient; in sending them
" God is faithful and true to his word, wherein He hath never promised
" the crown without the cross, but hath, on the contrary, assured us, that
" one will be necessary, in order to our obtaining the other; and that they
" who are beloved by him shall not sin with impunity, nor go astray with-
" out a call to return?." " The soul that is truly penitent dreads nothing
" but the thought of being rejected from the presence, and deserted by the
" Spirit, of God. This is the most deplorable effect of sin ; but it is one
" that in general, perhaps, is the least considered and regarded of all
" others1'." To the searching trial of severe and long-continued afflic-

' Note "1, to the 119th Psalm, in Doyly and Mant's Bible, from Paley, on verse the
71st, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, &c.

5 Note 75, on the verse, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou
in faithfulness hast afflicted me. From Bp. Home.

h Note to Ps. li. v. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy
Spirit from me. From Bp. Home.

750 ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. book iv.

tions, it was the will of the Judge of all mankind to expose his virtues;
and he passed through them triumphantly. In pain, and distress, he
performed in the highest degree the appropriate duties of patience, and
composure; of resignation and submission to God's will; of a full confi-
dence in him, and a sincere anxiety for the happiness of others. This
temper, justly styled by Doctor Paley, the perfection of our nature, he
fully possessed, and as he bore his cross meekly, so he has no doubt re-
ceived the crown of immortal glory !

Such was the truly religious life and character, and such the happy
death, of this excellent young man. In this account of him, I have de-
scribed his feelings and state of mind, and the history of his sickness, in
his own words; and I have chiefly taken the particulars of his outward
conduct from the disinterested testimony of others. A few more circum-
stances remain to be added, to complete the account. He was a handsome,
well-formed young man, of a manly, and not of an effeminate appearance,
and without the smallest alloy of vanity, self-conceit, or affectation. In
his countenance there was a mixture of good sense, and mildness, which
was uncommonly interesting, and which prepossessed even strangers in
his favour. There was something peculiarly elegant in his manner, his
attitudes, his motions, and his manner of speaking, which I could not but
observe even in his last conversations with Doctor Bourne. When he was
well, he was very active, and was always cheerful, even in his last illness,
as far as pain and weakness would permit it. To his aunt, his father and
mother, and his instructors, he was dutiful and affectionate; for his brothers
and sisters he had the kindness, care, and consideration, rather of a parent
than of a brother, and paid the greatest attention to their welfare, and the
propriety of their conduct. To the servants, and every body about him,
he was mild and compassionate, and often took opportunities of instructing
them, and giving them good advice. His piety was quiet, without parade,
cant, or moroseness ; and he contented himself with doing his own duty,
without censuring others. By his equals, and his young friends, he was
universally beloved, and was respected and esteemed for his goodness, even
by those who could not follow his example. He had the very unusual,
and almost singular, talent in a young man, of being able to advise,
and even to reprove, his acquaintance and friends of his own age, not only
without offending their self-love, or provoking their ridicule, but so as

chap. xi. ALEXANDER CROKE, ESQUIRE. 7 j t

even to increase their esteem tor him : and they admitted the justness of
his opinion, though they could not always follow it. Asa proof of this 1
shall introduce part of a letter, written by a fellow collegian to his brother
George after his decease.

" Thank you, my dear Croke, for the early information you gave me of
" our mutual loss. I hope you will not think it impertinent in me, now
" that time, I trust, has worn off the first sting of grief, to testify to vou
" the high regard, which from the time that I had more opportunity of
" knowing him, I have always entertained for your dear brother. He was
" indeed a friend to me, not merely an acquaintance, with whom I could
" pass an evening to enjoy his conversation, and admire an apt quotation,
" or a witty turn : he often shewed himself qualified for this, yet many do
" this, some perhaps better than he. But a real friend is not often to be
" found. I mean one, who. dares reprove. This your brother would
" do, and in so mild and friendly a way, that though just, and sometimes
" severe, his remark, the manner in which it was conveyed, has afforded
" an additional tie to his friendship."

He was buried in the church at Beckley, on the 21st of December: his
sisters Adelaide, and Jane Sarah Elizabeth, his brothers George, and
Wentworth,and myself, attended the funeral ; Mr. George Cooke performed
the service ; his Tutor, Mr. James, and Mr. Henry Bishop, both of
Oriel, Mr. Grantham, junior, Mr. Loveday, and Mr. Davie vicar of
Waterperry, Fellows of Magdalen College, and our minister, Mr. Jenkins,
all clergymen, held up the pall.

I shall now conclude this melancholy history with the wish of one of
his friends,

May our last end be like his!

END OF VOL. I.

W .i/- rtjArJr a2S- <7l*js~~*~. Jct^U^ ^<£^,.<L ' *L /fs/~_.

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Full text of "The genealogical history of the Croke family, originally named Le Blount"

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