05 Robert Alexander (c1468 - 1539)

Introduction

The earliest Alexander ancestor that I have been able to confirm that I am descended from is Robert. Having moved back to a time when there are few surviving documents, it has been difficult to find that much out about Robert's life. We are looking at a period well before the introduction of parish registers and so there has to be an element of supposition, or assumption, which has to be made in order to build up a framework of his life.

There is no baptism record and there is no marriage record. In theory there ought to have been a record of his burial as a separate document confirms that Robert's death took place in 1539. Thomas Cromwell had issued an injunction requiring that registers of baptisms, marriages and burials had to be kept and this was dated 5 September 1538. Records survive which confirm that Robert was living in Wickham Bishops at the time of his death and another document confirms that was where he was buried. It should then have been an easy exercise to search the relevant parish register for burials and the entry found.

Unfortunately, for a number of reasons most registers from this date have not survived, in fact the earliest burial register entry for the Wickham Bishops is dated 7 March1662/3. This date coincides quite well with the beginning of the reign of Charles II which began on 29 May 1660, marking the end of the Commonwealth Period. Many parishes no longer have registers before this date as they were likely thrown out by the clergy who returned to the churches. Even those registers that have survived, were often poorly kept.

Apart from knowing the year in which Robert died, then only one other useful dateable piece of information comes from a manorial document (also known as court rolls) which recorded Robert being admitted into the manor and acquiring property. This happened in 1509 and therefore provides evidence that by this time, at least, Robert was an adult and held land owned by the lord of the manor.

And so, from those two dates, 1509 and 1539, everything else about Robert's life has had to be deduced.

Estimating Robert's date of birth

Knowing that Robert was old enough to hold land in 1509 obviously confirms that he was an adult, and if we assume that he was around twenty-five years old at that time, it would provide an estimated year of birth of 1484. But there are other scraps of information contained in the manorial documents from Wickham Bishops which provide other useful clues as to his possible date of birth.

In 1509, when Robert is first mentioned in the court rolls, he came into possession of a number of properties, although there is one important property which he did not hold. The actual date this property came into the possession of the Alexander family is unknown, however, some information can be ascertained from contemporary records. Without knowing how old William was at the time, and that there is no record of William acquiring this property,  it is fairly safe to assume that he would have held the property for at least a couple of years.

From the surviving court rolls, there is an entry dated Saturday after the Feast of St. Luke 15 Henry VII (21 October 1499) which records the death of William Grove, who was a joint-holder along with his wife Agnes of "Hilplace". The property then was transferred to Agnes. We have to wait until an entry dated October 1514 when Agnes reappears in the court rolls when she is reported as having an "unscoured ditch". As there is no further mention of Agnes in the transcribed copy of the court rolls, it has to be assumed that Agnes still held this property, which would mean that William must have acquired it no earlier than 1514.

If an assumption is made that William was aged about twenty-one in 1515, the earliest that he could have acquired the property, that would give an approximate date of birth of about 1494.

The property passed into Robert Alexander's possession in 1521, as the manorial documents record the surrender of this property from William Alexander to his father Robert.

It is known that Robert had another surviving son, John. John seems to have taken over most of the properties after his father's death and so I have assumed that he is likely to have been younger than William as John isn't mentioned in the manorial documents until 1540. This assumption may be confirmed through another record, as the Lay Subsidy of 1524 does not record William, (who had moved to Heybridge between 1521 and 1524) and that John paid only a small amount of tax. The proof that John is the son of Robert comes from two sources.

First, the manorial documents state that John was admitted in 1540 after the death of his father Robert. Second, John's will of 1550 states that he wanted to be buried in the churchyard near the graves of his parents.

Finally, there is evidence that there was a third son who also survived, Henry. Henry makes only fleeting appearances in the documents, he is listed as paying tax in the Lay Subsidy of 1524 in Wickham Bishops. He is shown as paying a much larger amount in tax when compared to John, making me believe that he is older than John. Whilst there is no evidence that Henry is the son of Robert, an entry in the 1510 manorial documents records Henry being was sworn into a tithing. (Tithings were made up of ten men and youths over the age of twelve from the parish, each of whom was responsible for the other members' actions and behaviour in a system of local policing.)

It may well be that the Alexanders arrived in Wickham Bishops just as Henry reached the age of twelve, and so it is possible to estimate that he could have been born around 1497. There is no proof to refute the fact that Robert may have had more children, some may have died, and no names of daughters have come down to us. Only William and John are definitely sons of Robert, and Henry would appear to be the right age to be the third son.

Pulling all the available surviving evidence together, I believe that a possible scenario would be that if William was Robert's first child born about 1494, then Robert could have married perhaps in the preceding year - 1493. If we then assume that Robert was aged about twenty-five when he married, it would mean that he had been born circa 1468.

Robert's life before 1509

It is still unknown in which parish Robert was born, but it is likely to have been one of the neighbouring rural parishes, possibly Langford for example. As there are no records to help us, then it is only possible to assume that, from the information above, he was born circa 1468, parents unknown. He is most likely to have been born into an agricultural family which had already accumulated some degree of wealth.

When Robert was aged about eleven, the Bubonic plague returned to England. In its original visit to these shores in 1348/9 it is estimated that the Black Death had resulted in the deaths of perhaps 45 % of the total population of the country. This is backed by entries in the manorial documents from Wickham Bishops which have survived, where a list of deceased tenants was recorded. Then, in 1361/2 the Black Death returned claiming perhaps 20% of the population, concentrating this time on infants and young men. Its third visit came in 1369 which claimed a further 10-15% of the population, again the majority of victims were infants and young men.

This was followed in the year 1471 by another visit of the Black Death when Robert would have been aged about three. Again, between 10-15% of the population is estimated to have died, but this wasn't to be the final visit, for in 1479/80, it returned claiming a further 20% of the population. Robert clearly survived both these visits during his early life but it isn't known if other members of his family became victims.

Robert was probably born in the seventh or eighth year of the reign of Edward IV. Edward remained on the throne until his death on 9 April 1483, which precipitated the beginning of a tumultuous period in English history. On that date Edward V came to the throne, but on 26 June of that year he was replaced by Richard III. After barely two years, Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, bringing to an end the reign of the Plantagenets, and Henry VII became king, the first of the Tudors. So, in the space of just over two years, Robert was now living under his fourth monarch. It would be interesting to know if these events had any effect in rural Essex. On 28 June 1491, Henry VIII was born.

Around the year 1493, Robert married, wife unknown, and over the following years they had at least three sons who survived to adulthood. The first one to be born was William with an estimated year of birth of 1494. William was followed first by Henry around 1497 and then finally by John around 1499. If there were additional sons, then there is no mention of them in the available records and they may have died in infancy. Whether they had any daughters is not known. On 2 April 1502, Arthur, Prince of Wales died which would lead to his brother Henry eventually becoming king upon the death of their father Henry VII.

By the time we reach 1509, something may have affected the Alexander family as life was about to change for Robert and his family. One supposition is that Robert's father may have died at that time, leaving him with some money which he could use to acquire property of his own and this led him to move to Wickham Bishops. Alternatively, perhaps Robert's father had died earlier and Robert had taken over the role of looking after the property, but by the year 1509, had decided it was time to sell up and move to a new area. Either way, a move took place in that year.

The first record containing Robert's name coincided with the date of the death of Henry VII and the day that Henry VIII became king, 21 April 1509 - an interesting coincidence.

Robert's life between 1509 and 1521: Early tenancies

Before beginning this part of the journey through Robert's life, it is necessary to point out that much of the information comes from the manorial documents (court rolls) deposited at The National Archives at Kew or the London Metropolitan Archives in London. Apart from a few later ones (in the 1660s), they are written in Latin and a couple of them are in poor condition. We are very fortunate that we have Rev. Thomas George Dixon M.A. *1 (Rector of Wickham Bishops 1899-1907) to thank for compiling an immense collection of information about Wickham Bishops, including arranging for the translating and transcribing of the court rolls between 1335 and 1873.

We should also thank Rev. Andrew Clark, who in 1911, went through all this information now held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and summarised it in eight manuscript volumes, now deposited at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford. *2

We have now reached a point where there is surviving evidence covering aspects of Robert's life. The earliest mention of his name comes from the manorial documents of Wickham Bishops and is dated Saturday after Hokday 1 Henry VIII (21 April 1509). *3

This was a Freshgrant of property to Robert Alexandre of the following:

                hampstall (of wasted holding) and 20 acres of arable - [known as] Goodwynsey's *1

                ½ acre meadow [known as] Toles-hoppe

                Spartheywode, bounded on the East by rectory land; on the West by John Artor's meadow, on the North by                                            Wyndfeldys-londe; on the South by Trypp's

                8 acres, called Reve's

                Reve's-mede

Wickham Bishops Court Roll (SC 2/174/11): 21 April 1509: Admission of Robert Alexander as tenant to the Lord of the Manor

The Rev. Dixon had abstracted information about the various properties from the court rolls and had been able to produce a history of each property through the centuries as it changed hands. For Goodwynsey's, the records begin 1339 when it was known as Forde's and the earliest known tenant took the name John atte Forde.

One of the other properties Robert acquired was Spartheywode which is easily found on maps of today, although the name has changed slightly to Sparkey Wood. It is likely that Spartheywode refers not to the wood, but an area of land nearby which could be farmed. The location of Sparkey Wood is quite close to that of Goodwynsey's and this may provide a clue one day on the future to the location of the other properties that Robert held, lying to the west of the current village.

In addition to the court rolls, there is another source of information that dates from this period of Wickham Bishop's history. The London Metropolitan Archives hold three surviving volumes of Estreat Books, covering the years 1506/7 - 1511, 1511/2 - 1514/5 and 1518/9 - 1521/2. (Estreat books contain records of fines, bail-money, recognizances etc. which are received by the Court at each session.) These should duplicate the information contained in the court rolls, but as some of them have not survived, these books may fill in some of the missing details.

One year later, Robert is mentioned in the court rolls for Saturday after Hokday 2 Henry VIII (20 April 1510). The translation/transcription for this entry states "Decenarii in default", which usually means that the tenants in the the tithing had failed to attend. The court roll itself has the side heading Essoin, meaning that an excuse for non-attendance had been delivered by a proxy, but this is then followed by a list of twelve names of those who attended (or did not attend?) On the basis that these names are normally listed in order of their importance, then Robert's name is the second to appear.

The next court roll to include Robert's name is dated ........ after St. Luke, 6 Henry VIII (October 1514). The roll is badly mutilated and is probably in the worst condition of all surviving rolls. It is assumed that as Robert's name appears near the beginning of a list of names, this is a list of attendees at the court, collectively known as the homage (jurors) or decenarii (tithing men). In fact, from this moment forward, Robert's name was always the first to appear in the list, suggesting that by now, he was the most important tenant of the manor. Robert's name appears for a second time at the end of the court roll as one of two "assignees". The meaning is unclear in this case, but may refer to the fact that they were witnesses to the proceedings of the court.

On the Saturday after Hokday 7 Henry VIII (28 April 1515) Robert is listed as being part of the homage, and similarly on the Saturday after the Feast of St. Luke 7 Henry VIII (25 October 1515) and the Saturday after Hokday 7 Henry VIII (11 April 1516). On this latter court roll, Robert's name once again appears as an "assignee".

At the Court held on the Saturday after the Feast of St. Edward, King 11 Henry VIII (24 March 1519/20) Robert's name appears three times in the short records for this court. Firstly his name appears against the heading Essoin, although it is unclear whether he was sending his excuse for non-attendance via a proxy, or he was delivering an excuse on behalf of another, in this case Thomas Hydney. The confusion arises as both their names appear in the list of those paying homage at the court. The third entry records Robert as an "assignee".

At the next Court, held on the Thursday after Hokday 12 Henry VIII (19 April 1520) Robert again appeared in the homage and also as an "assignee".

Robert's life between 1521 and 1539: Tenant of Hel-Place

The Court held on Saturday after Hokday 12 Henry VIII (20 April 1521) began badly for Robert, as he was one of three tenants who were "mulcted" (fined) 3d for default of suit of court (for not carrying out his obligations to the Lord of the Manor.) Robert is then mentioned in the transfer of a cottage and two crofts from William Spakeman to John Payne of Witham.

However, it is the next part of the Court Roll which is of interest as it records the surrender by William Alexander to his father Robert of "Hel-place" with two and a half acres of meadow. It states that an entry fine was excused, so it appears that there was no payment necessary to the Lord of the Manor for the transfer of the property. From the available records, it seems that William and his family had decided to leave Hel-place and Wickham Bishops and move to the nearby parish of Heybridge. The court rolls for Heybridge record William as residing there or being a tenant from as early as 1519.

Also included in the court roll of this date is an entry stating that from the Court Roll dated 4 Henry VIII 1512 (which has not survived), Robert held a lease for 33 years for Ryme's of eight acres and Ryme's-mede. (Previously recorded as Reve's and Reve's-mede, also as Reeves).

The Court Roll dated Saturday after the Feast of St. Luke 12 Henry VIII (20 October 1521) record a reference to Robert and "Hel-place" although the meaning at this stage is unknown.