Sir John de Hardreshull

Sir John de Hardreshull fought on the side of Edward II at Boroughbridge in 1322. In 1324, he seems to have been in the King’s service in Aquitaine. In 1326, he was made keeper of the castle of St. Briavell’s and forest of Dene. He was overseas in the King’s service again in 1330/1. In 1342 and for several years after, he was the King’s lieutenant in Brittany. He was in Prince Edward’s division in the Battle of Crécy. He was taken prisoner in 1347 and released in 1348 (CP 691-692).

Events

Date of Birth: St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August) 1291.

Place of Birth: Pachesham, Surrey, England.

The date and place are given by the Complete Peerage (6:390), citing a proof of age given in a Coram Rege Roll.

Place of Baptism: Leatherhead, Surrey.

The place is given by the Complete Peerage (6:390).

Date of Death: between 1 May 1367 and 18 June 1369.

The dates are given in the Complete Peerage (6:390).

Place of Burial: Ashton, Northamptonshire.

“He was buried and Ashton, Northants, according to the monument there.” (CP 6:392 fn e).

Relationships

Father: William de Hardreshull.

This relationship is given by the Complete Peerage (6:390). Sir William’s inquisition post mortem names his son and heir, John.

Mother: Juliane de Hacche.

This relationship is given by the Complete Peerage (6:390).

Spouse: Maud Mussenden (or Matilda).

The first name is given by the 1592 Visitation of Kent (Bannerman p. 91) and by Wrottesley (p. 439). The Complete Peerage (6:392) merely states that Sir John “is said to have” married, firstly, Maud. Dudding (p. 37, citing Harl. MSS. 1548 f. 153) gives Maud's surname as Mussenden.

Spouse: Margaret Stafford.

This relationship is given by the 1592 Visitation of Kent (Bannerman p. 91), by the Victoria County History of Warwick (Volume 4, sub Hartshill), and by the Complete Peerage (6:392).

Children (by Maud. Some sources give the mother of the daughters as Margaret):

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

William Hardreshull (died 1349) died s.p.

Joan Hardreshull married Sir James Burford, Knight.

Elizabeth Hardreshull married Sir John Culpepper.

Margaret Hardreshull married Sir John Talbot.

Evidence

from the Victoria County History of Huntingdon (Volume 2, sub Great Paxton)

In 1360, Sir John Hardreshull of Hardreshull, Warwickshire, gave the manor of Great Paxton to Robert Spigurnell, (fn. 53) who, however, only seems to have obtained possession in 1362, by the disseisin of Robert, son of Robert, son of Roger of Wollaston. The latter brought an action in 1364, but it appeared that Sir John and Robert Spigurnell only held a moiety of the manor, the other moiety being in the possession of John Cheyne and his wife Joan and Elizabeth, daughter of William Mochet. (fn. 54)

Commentary

The 1592 Visitation of Kent states that Sir John had no issue by his second wife, Margaret Stafford, and the court case cited by Wrottesley seems to support this by giving Elizabeth as a daughter of John’s first wife and ruling that John did not have a daughter, Joyce, by his second wife. The Victoria County History, on the other hand, citing the Complete Peerage 6:393, states that John had three daughters by Margaret, one of whom was apparently Elizabeth. However, the Complete Peerage does not in fact support this. Rather, one of the sources it cites, Dudding’s History of Saleby, explicitly states that Margaret had no children.

References

Bannerman, Bruce (ed.). The Visitation of Kent taken in the Year 1592. (Harleian Society, 1924).

Calendar of Inquisitions Post-mortem and Other Analogous Documents Preserved in the Public Record Office Volume IV, Edward I (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1913).

Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59) Volume 6.

Dudding, Reginald Charles. History of the Manor and Parish of Saleby with Thoresthorpe in the County of Lincoln (W.K. Morton & Sons, 1922).

'Parishes: Great Paxton', A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 2 (Victoria County History, 1932), pp. 328-332.

“Parishes: Hartshill” in Salzman, L.F. (ed.), A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4: Hemlingford (Victoria County History, 1947).

'Paulerspury', A History of the County of Northampton: Volume 5: The Hundred of Cleley (2002), pp. 245-289.

Wrottesley, George. Pedigrees from the plea rolls: collected from the pleadings in the various courts of law A.D. 1200 to 1500, from the original rolls in the Public Records Office. (London, 1905).