John BURRIDGE / Margaret MALDENE

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Thomas BEAUCHAMP / Elizabeth STRETCH

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[32290] BEAUCHAMP, Sir Thomas(d.1444), of Whitelackington, Som.

[32291]

[32292] SOMERSET1401, 1425, 1426, 1431, 1432

[32293]

[32294] ? yr. s. of John Beauchamp of Lillesdon, Som. by his w. Joan. m. (1) bef. 1390, Elizabeth (b.1365/6), da. and coh. of Sir John Stretch of Pinhoe and Hempston Arundel, Devon, 1s. d.v.p.; (2) bef. 1422, Eleanor, da. and h. of Roger Silveyn of
South Bradon, Som., 1da. Kntd. 11 Oct. 1399.1

[32295]

[32296] Tax collector, Som. Mar. 1404.

[32297]

[32298] Commr. to raise royal loans, Som. Sept. 1405, Nov. 1419, Som., Dorset Mar. 1431; of inquiry, Som. Dec. 1407 (extortion by the King's ministers), Dorset Feb. 1410 (trespass), Devon Apr. 1410 (unlicensed market at Forde), Som. Nov. 1411 (Cary
estates), May 1428 (concealed crown income), July 1443 (insurrection); array June 1421, Jan. 1436; arrest, Som., Devon July 1426.

[32299]

[32300] The pedigree of the cadet branch of the Beauchamp family of Hatch, to which Thomas belonged, is confused, but there can be no doubt that he, a younger son, owed his prominence in Somerset more to his political sympathies than to his family
connexions. He was an early supporter and probably retainer of Henry of Bolingbroke, who on the eve of his coronation made him a knight and a month later, on 16 Nov. 1399, granted him jointly with Sir Walter Hungerford £200 from the estates of
Margaret, late duchess of Norfolk, ‘in recompense of their great expense in the King's service after his last advent into England’. Thereafter Beauchamp received other marks of royal favour: in March 1401 he secured a grant for life of six
bucks and six does each year from Neroche forest, which he continued to enjoy regularly until 1440; and, described as ‘King's knight’, he was granted in December 1412 a licence to enclose and empark 250 acres of land in ‘le Shawe’ within his
manor of Ashill.2

[32301]

[32302] The gap between Beauchamp's first and second elections to Parliament, one of nearly 25 years, may be partially explained by his behaviour in the meantime. On 18 Feb. 1407 the constable of the Tower of London was instructed to take him into
custody. The nature of his offence on this occasion is unknown, but only a few years later he again earned the government's displeasure, this time by his involvement with the lollards, which had probably come about as a consequence of his close
association with his neighbours, the Brookes of Holditch. Early in 1412 Bishop Bubwith of Bath and Wells placed an interdict on certain parishes in Somerset on the ground that they or their incumbents had admitted a certain unlicensed preacher
to give sermons in their churches. This preacher was a lollard named John Bacon, a chaplain of Stoke-sub-Hamdon and quite possibly a priest of the chantry there which had been founded by the Beauchamps and was by this time under Sir Thomas's
control. We have no records of Beauchamp's movements during the first two weeks of January 1414 and there is nothing to indicate that he was present with the lollards in the rising at St. Giles’ Fields. However, his complicity soon became known
to the Council, and by 23 Jan., less than a fortnight after the dispersal of the rebels, he had been arrested and was being kept in irons at the Tower, shortly to be joined there by Thomas Brooke. On 8 Feb. Richard Whittington, the wealthy
London merchant, and three other influential friends stood surety for him in 1,000 marks that he would be a ‘true prisoner’ and would make no attempt to escape. Accordingly, he was no longer kept in chains, but allowed to ‘go at large within
the Tower’. Beauchamp spent some months in custody, remaining confined

[32303]

[32304] II-1386-157 until 13 Sept., when he was released on giving security to present himself for trial on receipt of orders to do so. On or about 29 Sept. he and Brooke came before the King at Westminster, where they were accused both of stirring
up rebellion and of holding heretical opinions: they pleaded not guilty, and were ordered to appear again on 26 Oct., when they were acquitted of both charges by a jury. Despite this verdict, there can be no doubt that Beauchamp was implicated
in the revolt, though possibly not to any great extent. After this he is not known to have been again accused of lollardy and, though he seems to have been dropped from government service between 1414 and 1419, after the latter date he resumed
his place in the administration of Somerset. When, in December 1419, the King's Council required to know who of the knights and esquires of the county were best able to defend the realm, the list returned by the local j.p.s was headed by Sir
Thomas Beauchamp.3

[32305]

[32306] Beauchamp's property was not extensive, for as a younger son he could expect to receive little from the family estates. Through his first marriage, to one of Sir John Stretch's daughters, he had acquired at Stretch's death in 1390 the manors of
Ashill and East Runnington, together with the reversion of that of Alstone (which was to remain in the hands of Sir John's widow until she died in 1422), and other lands came through his second marriage. In 1412 he was enjoying an annual income
of eight marks from Marnhull and ‘Byre’ in Dorset, while his property in Somerset was said to be worth £60 6s.8d. a year. In 1419 Beauchamp made an attempt to take over certain of his own family's estates, notably those in Lillesdon and Stathe
which had been held by William Beauchamp, esquire (possibly his elder brother), who died on 7 July that year. Only four days after his kinsman's death Sir Thomas, ousting William's widow, entered the lands by force, cut down corn, collected
rents and stole livestock and other goods worth £100. He acted similarly at Chaffcombe, where William had held a moiety of the manor, on 20 Aug. ‘in warlike array’ seizing property there which belonged to John Denbaud, esquire, who was then
abroad serving as constable of Cherbourg. When inquiries were made about the Chaffcombe incident, Sir Thomas claimed that he had been acting in the interests of William's son and heir, John, who was also overseas, though admittedly with an eye
to his own interests since if John had no children he himself stood to inherit the property. He explained his actions by alleging that Denbaud had illegally enclosed part of the Beauchamp holding. There is no evidence that Sir Thomas ever
gained permanent control of his kinsman's estates. He was, however, consolidating his position in other ways: from 1422 to 1425 he farmed the prebend of Whitelackington for £6 16s.4d. a year; in 1425 he acquired premises including the advowson
of the chapel of East Lambrook; and by 1427 he had a joint interest in the advowson of Trent. The full extent of his landed holdings (with the exception of the properties held ‘by the courtesy’ after the death of his first wife) is seen in a
series of transactions made between 1426 and 1429, which dealt with the manors of Whitelackington and ‘Holewalerewe’ and over 64 messuages and 1,000 acres of land in Somerset, besides property in Dorset, Devon and Oxfordshire. As well as these
permanent acquisitions, over the years Beauchamp had obtained temporary custody of various estates from the Crown. During the minority of the earl of March, he had custody of the earl's lodge in North Petherton park, which, however, in 1406 was
burnt down, leaving Beauchamp's silk-covered bed and silk curtains, two worsted beds and various pewter vessels destroyed in the blaze. Beauchamp also procured from the Crown two properties in wardship, including (in 1422) the estates belonging
to his son-in-law, John Kendale, but in 1426 his claim to one of these grants were declared null and void by the justices in Exchequer chamber because he had failed to answer in court. Beauchamp was evidently a man of some standing with
connexions with most of the prominent figures in the area, notably (Sir) Thomas Brooke (whose friendship he retained after their spell in the Tower together), Sir Humphrey Stafford II, Sir Thomas Stawell and Ralph Bush, esquire.4 Beauchamp
attended the parliamentary elections held in Somerset in 1407, 1413, 1421, 1423 and 1429. Yet the air of respectability suggested by such contacts and such appearances on public occasions could not entirely mask the side of Sir Thomas's
character suggested by the incidents at Lillesdon and Chaffcombe, and it was not long before he broke the law again. In October 1427 he and three of his tenants were forced to purge themselves before Bishop Lacy of Exeter of the crime of
forging and publishing fictitious charters in order to oust the owners of two Somerset manors, Ninehead Flory and Withiel Flory. Beauchamp attributed the charges to the malice of his enemies and swore his innocence on the Holy Sacrament.5

[32307]

[32308] Beauchamp died on 2 Feb. 1444. As his son, John, had predeceased him, his heir was his grand daughter Alice, the wife of John Speke. A year later his widow became involved in a dispute over Whitelackington, in which Sir Thomas's last wishes
were called into question, but she proved able to retain the manor at least until 1462.6

[32309]

[32310] 1CFR, x. 345; CCR, 1422-9, p. 46; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 367-8; R. Holinshed, Chrons. (1807-8 edn.), iii. 3; Chrons. London ed. Kingsford, 48.

[32311]

[32312] 2CPR, 1399-1401, pp. 154, 534; 1408-13, p. 471; 1436-41, p. 374.

[32313]

[32314] 3CCR, 1405-9, p. 174; 1413-19, pp. 49, 116, 121, 428; C81/1364/18; E28/97/28; KB27/611 m. 13, 614 m. 15; C. Kightly, ‘Early Lollards’ (York Univ. D.Phil. thesis, 1975), 336-7, 339-40, 342-4.

[32315]

[32316] 4C1/5/82; C138/40/61; C139/115/31; CFR, x. 345; xiv. 320, 419; xv. 129; xvii. 275; CCR, 1389-92, pp. 262-3; 1413-19, pp. 346, 350; 1422-9, pp. 51, 207, 403; 1429-35, pp. 67, 309; 1435-41, p. 47; CPR, 1391-6, p. 214; 1416-22, pp. 271-2; 1422-9,
pp. 37, 400; 1429-36, p. 10; 1441-6, pp. 34, 252; Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xvii), 129-30, 155-6; (ibid. xxii), 187-9; Reg. Stafford (ibid. xxxi), nos. 144, 396; Some Som. Manors (ibid. extra ser. 1931), 223-4; Dorset Feet of Fines,
279-80, 301-2, 304-6; Feudal Aids, iv. 371-3; vi. 507; CAD, i. C1054; CChR, vi. 1; Sel. Cases in Exchequer Chamber (Selden Soc. li), 27-29; KB9/196/1, 201/3.

[32317]

[32318] 5C219/10/4, 11/2, 12/5, 13/2, 14/1; Reg. Lacy (Exeter) (Canterbury and York Soc. lx), 283-5.

[32319]

[32320] 6C139/115/31; C1/13/57; CPR, 1441-6, pp. 296-7; Reg. Bekynton (Som. Rec. Soc. xlix), 368; Reg. Lacy (Canterbury and York Soc. lxii), 321-2.

[32289] [S158]

[32288] [S158]

[32328] [S158]

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Thomas SHIRLEY / Isabel BASSETT

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[31255] Sir Thomas Shirley, reputed to have fought at Crécy and Poitiers and noted for his benefactions to the college in the Newarke, Leicester, where he was buried ‘in a large and stately monument’, left his son and heir, Hugh, still an infant at his
death, which occurred shortly before April 1362.

[18628] Possibly the daughter of William BASSETT (b. 1301) of Tehidy, Cornwall by his wife Johanna Bottreaux, and sister of William BASSETT (1337- 27 Oct. 1384) that married about 1370, Margaret, daughter of Simon FLEMING and Cecily CHAMPERNOUN,
daughter of Thomas CHAMPERNOUN and Eleanor De ROHART. If this is correct, Her nephew, John, son of her brother William, married Johanna BEAUMONT. John and Johanna BASSETT had son John that married Margaret BUDOCKSHYDE and had son John BASSETT
which married 1st Anne DENNYS; 2nd Honor GRENVILLE abt 1504. Honor married 2nd Arthur PLANTAGANET, Viscount LISLE. Hugh PAYNE of Hadleigh Suffolk served Lord LISLE at Calais. Anthony PAYNE of Cornwall was the later bodyguard to Sir Bevil
GRENVILLE.

[31260] (Like John PAYN, Sir Hugh was loyal to Henry of Bolingbrooke and John of Gaunt.)

[31261]

[31262] SHIRLEY, Sir Hugh(c.1362-1403), of Lower Ettington, Warws. and Shirley, Derbys.

[31263]

[31264] LEICESTERSHIRE1393

[31265]

[31266] b.c.1362, s. and h. of Sir Thomas Shirley of Shirley by Isabel, uterine or bastard sis. of Ralph, 3rd Lord Basset of Drayton; nephew and h. of Lord Basset. m. bef. 1390, Beatrice (c.1366-20 Apr. 1440), da. of Sir Peter Brewes (d.1377) of
Wiston, Suss., sis. and event. h. of Sir John Brewes (d.1426), 1s. Sir Ralph, 5da. Kntd. bef. June 1392.

[31267]

[31268] Commr. of weirs, Leics., Notts. June 1398; array, Notts. Dec. 1399; oyer and terminer, Derbys. Mar., July 1401; to make proclamation of Henry IV's intention to govern well, Derbys., Leics., Warws. May 1402; of inquiry, Notts. June 1403 (Sir
Hugh Annesley's estates).

[31269]

[31270] J.p. Notts. 28 Nov. 1399-d., Derbys., Warws. 16 May 1401-d.

[31271]

[31272] Constable of Castle Donington, Leics. 15 Mar. 1400-d.1

[31273]

[31274] Master of the King's hawks 27 Mar. 1400-d.

[31275]

[31276] Master forester of Duffield Frith, Derbys. 23 Feb. 1402-d.

[31277]

[31278] Chief warder of Higham Ferrers park, Northants.2

[31279]

[31280] The Shirley family had held the manor of Lower Ettington in the male line since the Conquest, but derived its name from another of its manors, acquired subsequently in the 12th century. To these holdings the Shirleys added ‘Houne’ and other
properties also in Derbyshire, and Barnham, far away in Suffolk. Sir Thomas Shirley, reputed to have fought at Crécy and Poitiers and noted for his benefactions to the college in the Newarke, Leicester, where he was buried ‘in a large and
stately monument’, left his son and heir, Hugh, still an infant at his death, which occurred shortly before April 1362. Hugh's mother, either an illegitimate daughter of Ralph, Lord Basset (d.1343), or more likely that lord's stepdaughter, then
made a widow for the fourth time, took as her fifth and sixth husbands Sir John Woodhill (d.1367) and Sir Gerard Braybrooke I (d.1403). It was to Braybrooke that in 1372 John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, sold the wardship of the Shirley estates
for a single payment of 100 marks. Hugh would appear to have come of age shortly before March 1383, when he confirmed his mother in her life tenancy of the lands of his inheritance, his own full possession being thus deferred for about ten
years. The Shirley estates were to provide him with an annual income of at least £40 a year.3 But he and his son were to acquire holdings of much greater value (at least six manors in Leicestershire, two more in Sheldon, Warwickshire, and
Ratcliffe-upon-Soar and Colston Basset in Nottinghamshire) through the generosity of his uncle, Lord Basset, who had no children of his own. Hugh clearly rose in his uncle's estimation as he grew older, for although in 1376 he had been
mentioned no higher than fourth in succession in an entail of certain of these manors and would only have inherited them if Basset himself and three others had died without male issue, by January

[31281]

[31282] IV-1386-365 1390, when Basset came to make his will, he had decided that his nephew should inherit all of the estates he held in fee simple, provided that he and his heirs adopted the surname of Basset and bore his arms. Not all of the manors
so demised passed to the Shirleys in Sir Hugh's lifetime, for some were held in dower by Lord Ralph's widow until her death in 1402, and others were retained by Basset's trustees for the effective implementation of the many bequests specified
in his will. Nevertheless, it was this bounty which made Shirley a landowner of considerable substance in Leicestershire, the county he was to represent in Parliament.4

[31283]

[31284] Throughout his career Shirley served the house of Lancaster, linked by the ties of lordship forged in his youth while under the guardianship of John of Gaunt. Having been contracted on 14 Mar. 1386 as the duke's esquire to serve in his army
overseas, he probably stayed with Lancaster, engaged in his wars in Spain and France, until the duke returned to England late in 1389. Duke John's high regard for him was expressed in the award of two annuities for life: the first of £20
charged on the issues of the honour of Leicester; the other, which he shared with his wife, Beatrice, of as much as 100 marks derived from the honour of Tutbury. In the 1390s Shirley was among the duke's chamber knights, while his wife also had
a place in the household, as one of the Duchess Constance's closest companions. Furthermore, he also enjoyed the esteem of Gaunt's son and heir, Henry of Bolingbroke, who in 1391-2 gave him a present of some jewellery. Shirley established
strong ties with other leading Lancastrian retainers, such as Sir Walter Blount, for whom he provided securities at the Exchequer in 1392, Sir John Bussy and Sir John Dabrichecourt. These three all came forward on his behalf in August 1394 to
offer guarantees under pain of £200 that he would keep the peace in future towards Sir Thomas Erdington† . His dispute with Erdington concerned property at Barrow-upon-Soar from which Sir Thomas had long sought to oust Lord Basset; Shirley had
kept up the feud with a midnight raid on Erdington's own manor-house there at the head of a band of 200 armed men. In the spring of 1397 Sir Hugh was in London making preparations for a voyage to Bayonne, probably on Lancaster's business, and
in the will John of Gaunt made on 3 Feb. 1398 he was left a bequest of 100 marks. Richard II evidently considered it worthwhile to procure Shirley's compliance following the seizure of the ducal estates by the Crown a year later: on the point
of departure for Ireland on 24 May 1399 he issued orders to the duchy officials for the continued payment of his annuities.5 Yet there could be no question but that on Henry of Bolingbroke's return from exile two months later Shirley would go
to his side; indeed, he was soon made a bachelor to the new King, Henry IV. In January 1400 he assisted in putting down the earls’ rebellion in support of the deposed monarch; and royal commissioners sent to Castle Donington (previously held by
the rebel earl of Kent) made him keeper of the castle for its safe governance, an appointment formally ratified by the King on 15 Mar. On the same day Shirley was granted an annuity of 40 marks for life from the issues of the lordship of
Donington, and although this was subsequently reduced to 25 marks when the full amount of his other annuities was revealed, henceforth he could still expect to receive £103 6s.8d. a year from the revenues of the duchy of Lancaster, a sum not
including fees paid for his official posts as master of the King's hawks (dating from that same month) and master forester of Duffield. Loyalty to the house of Lancaster had made him a wealthy man. The King could confidently rely on him to
perform functions of local government in the Midlands, as a j.p. and commissioner, and sent him a personal summons to attend the great council of August 1401 as one of six commoners selected from Nottinghamshire.6

[31285]

[31286] It was at this stage in Shirley's career that his title to the Basset estates received a serious challenge from Edmund, earl of Stafford, Lord Basset's coheir in right of blood, who having succeeded to a number of Lord Ralph's manors under the
terms of entails made in the early 14th century, nevertheless considered Shirley to have usurped his interest in the rest; and Sir Hugh's failure to change his name to Basset as required by his late uncle no doubt gave him a pretext. However,
in an agreement apparently made on 20 July 1403, Earl Edmund formally ‘granted’ Shirley the estates Lord Basset had willed to him, with reversion in default of male issue to the Staffords, which concord the earl was bound to honour under pain
of £12,000. The indenture was never sealed, for on the following day both men were slain at the battle of Shrewsbury. A tradition, well established by Shakespeare's day, has it that they were two of the three knights (the other being Shirley's
colleague, Blount) who, clad in royal armour in order to impersonate the King, successively encountered and fell in single combat under the victorious arm of the earl of Douglas, their deaths being avenged by a fourth champion, Prince Henry.7

[31287]

[31288] Shirley left a widow, Beatrice, a son, Ralph (still a minor) and five unmarried daughters. Henry IV showed concern for their welfare: on 10 Sept. following he granted Beatrice custody of the Shirley estates to the value of £44 10s. a year, and
on Oct. he gave her Ralph's wardship and marriage. Furthermore, when When shown the unsealed agreement made between

[31289]

[31290] IV-1386-366 Sir Hugh and the earl of Stafford, he commanded that the accord be kept as if formally ratified by law. From 1406 Beatrice possessed a lease of four of the Basset manors (as granted her by Lord Ralph's feoffees) to hold until her
son attained his majority; and following that event she formally conveyed to him the family estates in return for a regular pension.8 She became heir to her brother Sir John Brewes's lands (six manors in Sussex and another in Buckinghamshire)
at his death in 1426, but never took possession, for Sir John's widow retained them as her jointure until she died in 1449 (whereupon they passed to Beatrice's grandson, another Ralph). Left a wealthy widow with an income of at least £92 a
year, and probably much more, Beatrice outlived her husband by 37 years, dying in 1440.9

[31291]

[31292] 1Somerville, Duchy, i. 573; DL42/15, f. 94.

[31293]

[31294] 2DL42/15, f. 23.

[31295]

[31296] 3J. Nichols, Leics. iii. 707-8, 716; VCH Warws. v. 78-79; E.P. Shirley, Stemmata Shirleiana (2nd edn.), 1, 26, 28, 373; W. Dugdale, Warws. 620-2; CP, ii. 4; Reg. Gaunt, 1371-5, no. 386; Leicester Mus. Archs. Ferrers ms 26 D53, no. 342.

[31297]

[31298] 4CPR, 1374-7, p. 358; CAD, v. A11357, 11372; CP, ii. 4; Shirley, 29, 376; Coll. Top. et Gen. vii. 393; Ferrers ms 26 D53, no. 1583; VCH Warws. iv. 202.

[31299]

[31300] 5Shirley, 373; DL28/1/3; CPR, 1392-6, p. 98; Procs. Chancery Eliz. I ed. Caley and Bayley, i. p. vi; CCR, 1392-6, p. 367; 1396-9, pp. 473-4; Test. Vetusta ed. Nicolas, 143; Ferrers ms 26 D53, no. 2049; S.K. Walker, ‘John of Gaunt and his
retainers, 1361-99’ (Oxf. Univ. D. Phil. thesis, 1986), 234.

[31301]

[31302] 6CIMisc. vii. 44, 59; DL42/15, ff. 10d, 23, 96, 98; CPR, 1399-1401, p. 239; PPC, i. 159, 162.

[31303]

[31304] 7CAD, v. A11358; Harl. 4928, f. 68d.

[31305]

[31306] 8C137/12/12; CPR, 1401-5, pp. 263, 373; DL42/15, f. 157d; Shirley, 381-3, 385, 388; Ferrers ms 26 D53, no. 343.

[31307]

[31308] 9Suss. Arch. Colls. v. 6, 8; xxiii. 190; liv. 156, 160, 165; C139/29/42, 101/65; Ferrers ms 26 D53, nos. 102-3; Shirley, 385-6; VCH Bucks. iii. 148; EHR, xlix. 632.

[31253] [S158]

[31254] [S283]

[18626] [S158]

[18627] [S283]

[31258] [S158]

[31259] [S283]

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William CORBET / (Unknown)

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[40099] [S158]

[40098] [S158]

[40100] [S158]

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John de CAMOYS / Margaret de GATESDEN

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[50566] [S157]

[50564] [S157]

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