Kent

Medes of the Cinque Ports, 1470-1670

The story of the Cinque Ports in Kent and Sussex, on the south coast of England, is an interesting chapter in English maritime history. This association of towns, originally five - Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney and Hastings - was later joined by a dozen other seaports. The earliest written record of the Cinque Ports was a royal charter of 1155 granting them privileges such as freedom from import duties in exchange for maintaining fleets and crews that could be used to defend the English Channel during the frequent wars against France. At other times they were havens for pirates, who lured ships aground in order to plunder them. The peak prosperity of the Cinque Ports was in the 14th and 15th centuries. A decline set in during the 15th century as the harbors began to silt up, making them impassable for sea-going vessels. Today, for example, the towns of Rye and Tenterden are miles from the sea. Only Dover has remained a major port until the present day.

People named Mede lived in many of the Cinque Ports going back to 1300. As early as 1388, John atte Mede was appointed to take carpenters to repair a ship belonging to William Heron called "la Marie" of Sandwich, Kent. But each individual left so few records that it is difficult to connect them into families. There was a family living in Rye, Sussex, however, that left more substantial records.

Robert Mede was born in about 1470 and died in 1516. He was the Chamberlain of Rye in 1496-97, and in 1510 he was chosen a jurat, an alderman, and remained one until his death. He was a Member of Parliament in 1512 and 1515, receiving £6 15s. in wages at the first session and £5 2s. at the second. For six years in a row, until 1516, he was appointed to represent Rye at the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports, held that year at New Romney, Kent.

Robert Mede married Joan. Their son, William Mede, was born in around 1490 and died in about 1545. His career followed a similar path as his father's. He was the Chamberlain of Rye in 1516-17, was chosen a jurat in 1538, and was an MP in 1539, for which he received £7 4s. in cash and 2s. 8d. worth of lumber. He may have been involved in the building trade. This was the trade engaged in by Thomas Birchet, an executor of William Mede's will and an MP at the same time as him. In William Mede's will, made in 1543, he had four shops on the Strand and lived in Watchbell Street. He left to his wife, Amy, his moveable goods, her dower of 40s. and the use of one of his houses. His other possessions were divided between his sons, John and Humphrey, at the age of 21; his daughter Martha; his brother Robert; and his apprentice John Gillam. The remainder went to his stepchildren John and Ellen Petyt, children from his wife's first marriage. His moveable goods were valued at £87.

Alexander the son of William Mede was christened in Rye on May 20, 1541 and Martha the daughter of William Mede was christened on March 25 1543.

The Mede family disappeared from Rye after the death of William Mede, but it probably continued in Dover. In 1543-44, Robert Mede, possibly the brother mentioned in the will of William Mede of Rye, was the vicar of St. Mary, the Virgin, in Dover. The will of Robert Mede, clerk, of Fairlight, Sussex (five miles from Rye) is dated 1546.

Humphrey Mede and Mary Minge were married in St. Mary, the Virgin, Dover, in November 1566. Alexander Mede, probably their son, was born there in 1567. Humphrey Mede was in Dover in the 1560s to 1590s, and was the mayor of Dover in 1591. Alexander Mede had two children; in 1599 Humphrey Mead the son of Alexander was born in Bearsted, Kent, near Maidstone, and in 1601 Martha the daughter of Alexander was born in Dover.

Another Humphrey Mede, born in around 1590, was probably the grandson of Humphrey Mede and Mary Minge. He married Bennet Brooke in 1614 in Maidstone, Kent, and had Mary in about 1620, Humphrey in 1624, Sibill in 1627, Elizabeth in 1629, Thomasin in 1632, and Ann in 1634. These children, born in Dover, are in the will of Humphrey Meade, gentleman of Dover, dated 1646. Humphrey Meade, his son, born in 1624, was a mariner. He left a will, dated 1662 and probated in 1663, in which he left his property to his sisters and friends. He was unmarried and had no children, so this is the end of the line for this family.