Margery de Cotton

Events

Date of Birth: unknown..

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: unknown.

Place of Death: unknown.

Relationships

(probable) Father: Peter de Cotton.

Peter is given by Earwaker (p. 5) as the father of Margery’s sister, Ellen, without citing a source. Ormerod gives Hugh de Cotton as the father of Margery, but some information he gives is contradicted by the Recognizance Rolls of Chester. (For example, he states that Margery was the only daughter of Hugh, whereas it is clear that Margery had at least three sisters and one brother, Hugh.)

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: Hugh de Venables.

This relationship is given by Ormerod (3:199). It is recorded in the Recognizance Rolls of Chester (DKPR 1876 Appendix II, p. 167-8).

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. )

Sir Richard de Venables (1363 - about 1402) married Isabel de Langton.

Thomas de Venables of Horton.

William de Venables, constable of the castle of Chester, married Blanche, widow of Sir Hugh Browe.

Margery married (1) Richard Bulkeley; married (2) Randle Mainwaring.

Evidence

From The Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records Appendix II (Recognizance Rolls of Chester):

(page 488):

1383, May 14. Margery, who was the wife of Hugh de [Venables], Ralph de Vernon, Kt., Nicholas de Vernon, Kt., Roger de Venables, Thomas de Davenport, John Donne, Arthur de Davenport, William de Bostok, Hugh de Coton, and Richard de Vernon, to the King, recognizance for 200l. [5, 6, & 7 Ric. 2. m. 3 (6).]

May 14. Grant to the said Margery, by the King, on the above recognizance, of the custody of two parts of the lands, &c., of the said Hugh de Venables, with the wardship and marriage of Richard his son and heir. [Ibid. (7).]

May 15. Margery, livery to, of the said 2 parts. [Ibid. (8).]

1385, June 2. Margery, late wife of Hugh, de Kynderton, writ of the King, to Adam de Kyngeley, for livery to, of the 3rd part of the lands of William de Bulkylegh de Chedle, which Alice his wife held in dower on the day of her death; the custody of which pertained to her, the said Margery, in right of her husband’s will, bequeathing to her the custody of the two other parts of the lands, and the wardship and marriage of Richard son and heir of the said William, together with the reversion of the said third part held by him. [8 & 9 Ric. 2. m. 2 d. (1).]

(page 489):

1387, June 22. Margery, who was the wife of Hugh de [Venables], of Kinderton, to Joan, who was the wife of John le Wayn, recognizance for 8l.; payments were made on the above by Henry de Ravenscroft to John de Martynescroft. [10 & 11 Ric.2. m. 3 (5).]

The Calendar of the Close Rolls (Richard II., Vol. 3, p. 32) also gives details of Margery getting livery of her lands.

From The Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records Appendix II (Recognizance Rolls of Chester):

(pp. 167-8):

1418-19, March 17. Hugh de [Cotton], of Rudheath, writ “ouster le main,” setting forth the finding of an Inquisition, viz., that the said Hugh held not any lands in the county of Chester of the Earl of Chester, in capite by knight’s service; that he died seized in his desmesne, as of fee, of 8 ½ acres 8 perches of land in Cranenache within the limits and bounds of Rudheth, held of the Earl of Chester, in socage, at 6d. yearly for every acre; also of 1 messuage and 16 acres of land in “Le Leghes” near Cranenache, in fee-tail, of the abbot of the monastery of St. Werburgh, Chester, in socage by the service yearly of half a pound of cinnamon; also of 1 messuage and ½ an acre of land in Middlewich and Kinderton, held of the lord of Kinderton in socage by the service of one fathering yearly; also of 1 salt-pit and two parts of two salt-pits in Middlewich, not known of whom held; that the said Hugh died on the Friday next after the Feast of St. Hilary, 4 Hen. 5.; that Hugh son of Hugh son of Richard, Kt., son of Hugh de Venables, of Kinderton, and Margery his wife, one of the sisters of the said Hugh de Cotton, and of the age of 13 years or more; Alice, who was the wife of Henry de Cranenache, and another sister of the said Hugh; Ellen, wife of Hugh de Sondebache and third sister of the said Hugh; and Hugh de Ravenscroft, son of Agnes, fourth sister of the aforesaid Hugh, were the next heirs of the said Hugh; that one Hugh de Coton, a bastard, had held the lands and tenements aforesaid after the decease of the said Hugh, and taken the profits, unknown by what right; and commanding a division of the lands to be made, and livery to be made to the said Alice, Ellen, and Hugh de Ravenscroft of their shares of the same. [6 & 7 Hen. 5. m. 5 (7).]

References

Calendar of the Close Rolls. Richard II. Vol. III. A.D. 1385-1389. (London: 1921).

Ormerod, George; Peter Leycester; William Smith; William Webb; and Thomas Helsby. The history of the county palatine and city of Chester: compiled from original evidences in public offices, the Harleian and Cottonian mss., parochial registers, private muniments, unpublished ms. collections of successive Cheshire antiquaries, and a personal survey of every township in the county, incorporated with a republication of King's Vale royal and Leycester's Cheshire antiquities. (London: G. Routledge, 1882).

Earwaker, John Parsons. The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach, co. Chester. (1890).

The Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records. (London: 1875).

The Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records. (London: 1876).