Embedded Files
aide memoir with updates
aide memoir with updates
The Beginning of the Family Tree
2nd generation
Joscelinus, lwife Emma , living in 1135, with his father Radulpus granted 2 garbs of Tithes to the Wood at Meashes in Normandy to the church of St John in Falaise, also granted the Abbey at Val in Normandy of which he was co founder, the churches of Beri, Braodin & Clisson with other heridiments in Devon also a small fee & the tithes of a mill in La Pomerai & numerous churches & other Property 1125
1st Henry wife Rohese sister of Reg Earl of Cornwall. Assented to the gift to the Abbey of Val in 1125; paid Danegeld n Devon 1133_ Witnessed a deed in Normandy in 1135 ; was charged Dangeld in 1156 ; Paid £7.12s 6d in scutage of Wales in 1165 He died around that time.
Brothers Roger, Phillip, Josciln & Randulphus
Scutage was money paid by a vassal to his lord in lieu of military service
2nd Henry 1st wife Matilda de Vitrie mother of 3rs Henry 2nd wife Rohesia BARDOLF sister of Doun Bardolf. children of Thomas Bardolf who gave him no children.
Held the castle of La Pomeroi & his Prepositura from Duke of Normandy for a fee of £80 6s 8d for his lands & paid £29.7s.8d & certified his knights fees in England ; gave land to the Priory of St Nicholas in Exeter' which his wife & his brother Josceiln witnessed,
Captured & fortified St Michels Mount in Marizion for Prince John in rebellion against Richard I in 1193 . Died by suicide in 1194 after Richard the king had him accused him of High Treason. His lands were attainted.
His brother Joscelin tried for High Treason & compelled to become a Monk at Forde Abbey. He left when Richard I died 1199 was granted his property at Payhembury.
3rd Henry wife Alice de Vere daughter of John Earl of Oxford
Paid 700 marks for his lands in 1195. Settled Clistwick Barton & Cheriton on his son Geoffrey
William of Normandy was the illegitimate son of the unmarried Robert, Duke of Normandy, by his mistress Herleva. His father was a contender for the English throne which was held by his childless cousin Edward the Confessor.
Duke William was known as William the Bastard, the Conqueror and as William I of England in 1066
Ranuphus de la Pomeraie of le Chateaux Ganne in Normandy.
The Family held lands around Falaise,the apple growing area of Normandy. After the Conquest
Ralph or Radulphus de la Pomerai was awarded some 60 Devonshire manors for his support of the Duke William of Normandy.
His wife is unknown but 2 children are known
Proven Companions of Wiliam Duke of Normandy
The order in which names are listed below is that given in the respective sources:
(1) Robert de Beaumont, later 1st Earl of Leicester (Source: William of Poitiers)
"A certain Norman, Robert, son of Roger of Beaumont, being nephew and heir to Henry, Count of Meulan, through Henry's sister Adeline, found himself that day in battle for the first time. He was as yet but a young man and he performed feats of valour worthy of perpetual remembrance. At the head of a troop which he commanded on the right wing he attacked with the utmost bravery and success."[9]
(2) Eustace, Count of Boulogne, a.k.a. Eustace II (Source: William of Poitiers)
"With a harsh voice he (Duke William) called to Eustace of Boulogne, who with 50 knights was turning in flight and was about to give the signal for retreat. This man came up to the Duke and said in his ear that he ought to retire since he would court death if he went forward. But at the very moment when he uttered the words Eustace was struck between the shoulders with such force that blood gushed out from his mouth and nose and half dead he only made his escape with the aid of his followers."[10]
(3) William, Count of Évreux (Source: William of Poitiers)
"There were present in this battle: Eustace, Count of Boulogne; William, son of Richard, Count of Evreux; Geoffrey, son of Rotrou, Count of Mortagne; William FitzOsbern; Haimo, Vicomte of Thouars; Walter Giffard; Hugh of Montfort-sur-Risle; Rodulf of Tosny; Hugh of Grantmesnil; William of Warenne, and many other most renowned warriors whose names are worthy to be commemorated in histories among the bravest soldiers of all time."[11]
(4) Geoffrey, Count of Mortagne & Lord of Nogent, later Count of Perche (fr) (Source: William of Poitiers)
(5) William fitz Osbern, later 1st Earl of Hereford (Source: William of Poitiers)
(6) Aimeri, Viscount of Thouars a.k.a. Aimery IV (Source: William of Poitiers)
(7) Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville (Source: William of Poitiers)
(8) Hugh de Montfort, Lord of Montfort-sur-Risle (Source: William of Poitiers)
(9) Ralph de Tosny, Lord of Conches a.k.a. Raoul II (Source: William of Poitiers)
(10) Hugh de Grandmesnil (Source: William of Poitiers)
(11) William de Warenne, later 1st Earl of Surrey (Source: William of Poitiers)
(12) William Malet, Lord of Graville (Source: William of Poitiers)
"His (King Harold's) corpse was brought into the Duke's camp and William gave it for burial to William, surnamed Malet, and not to Harold's mother, who offered for the body of her beloved son its weight in gold."[12]
(13) Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, later Earl of Kent (Source: Bayeux Tapestry)
"Hic Odo Eps (Episcopus) Baculu(m) Tenens Confortat Pueros." ("Here Odo the Bishop holding a club strengthens the boys.")[13]
(14) Turstin fitz Rolf a.k.a. Turstin fitz Rou and Turstin le Blanc,[14] (Source: Orderic Vitalis)
(15) Engenulf de Laigle (Source: Orderic Vitalis)
The five additional names
These five were agreed upon by both David C. Douglas and Geoffrey H. White and are from the Complete Peerage XII-1, Appendix L.
(16) Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances (Source: William of Poitiers)[15]
(17) Robert, Count of Mortain (Source: The Bayeux Tapestry)[15]
(18) Wadard. Believed to be a follower of the Bishop of Bayeux (Source: The Bayeux Tapestry)[15]
(19) Vital. Believed to be a follower of the Bishop of Bayeux (Source: The Bayeux Tapestry)[15]
(20) Goubert d’Auffay, Seigneur of Auffay (Source: Orderic Vitalis)[15]
Since the time of these lists, J. F. A. Mason in the English Historical Review adds one additional name:
(21) Humphrey of Tilleul-en-Auge (Source: Orderic Vitalis)[16]
Robert Mortain was Duke Williams half brother and after Hastings he given over 700 manors , many in Cornwall and was considered Earl of Cornwall. Reginald its Earl of Cornwall was the illegitimate son of William the Conquerors son Henry I and brother of Rose /Rohese who married the 1st Henry Pomeroy
2023 NOTES
1357 England
The earliest date of a Common Ancestor for at least 2 Pomeroy lines in one of the genetic groups established by DNA
AML Note: Mar 22:1357 is the branching point: the 'genetic birthdate" of the founder of the Lewannick Pomeroy Lineage
Ralph de Pomeroy (d. pre-1100), feudal baron of Berry, Domesday Book 1086.
Manors held by Pomeroy As Tenant-In-Chief In 1086: Held Directly From The King
Ash (Bradworthy), Ashcombe, Aunk Berry Pomeroy, Radworthy, Brendon, Clyst St George, Curtisknowle, Dunsdon,Heavitree, Highleigh, Huxham, Keynedon, Lank Combe, Mamhead, Peamore, Sheldon, Smalbridge, Southweek,Stockleigh Pomeroy, Strete Raleigh, Tale, Upottery, Washfield, Weycroft, Yeadbury, Great Torrington, Bruckland, Caffyns Heanton, Cheriton (Brendon), Dunkeswell, Dunstone (Widecombe in the Moor), Gappah, Holcombe, Mowlish.
By around 1496 Pomeroy lands included Berry Pomeroy included Coffyns Heannton (Lynton) Ogewell, Churston Ferrers, Clyst Forneson (Sowton) Gattecombe in Colyton, Knighton Hethfield at Hennock, Pynesford in Asprington and Saltern at Budleigh Salterton.
Son Henry, the 1st Henry Pomeroy married Rohesia sister of Reginald Earl of Cornwall whose mother was Sibel Corbet , the mistress of King Henry I, and were acknowledged as illegitimate children. Rohesia brought a dowry which included Ridwary or Roseworthy in Gwithian in West Penwith, in the far west of Cornwall.
They had 5 sons of record William de Pomeroy 1102 who donated Berry Pomeroy to Gloucester Abbey. This was redeemed by his brother Joscelin in exchange for Seldene.Sydenham near Tavistock ; William died childless & before his father Jasceline before-1114), Henry; Roger; Phillip; Joselin and Ralph
1193
Henry Pomeria the 2nd of that name married 1st Matilda de Vitri who died in childbirth.
2nd Rohesia Bardolph daughter of Thomas Bardolph & sister to Doun. Her 2nd husband was John Russell .
Henry became Constable of Normandy, a household knight of King Henry I (1100-1135) Named as one of the constables in the king's household s in the Constitutio Domus Regis.
He was a leader of the king's household troops on several occasions, notably in 1124 at the Battle of Bourgtheroulde, about ten miles southwest of Rouen. Died pre-1165.
His wife was Rohesia Bardolf and they had at least 2 sons. He died in 1194 by suicide having been attainted for High Treason.
Jocelinus 2nd son of Henry and Rohesia was tried for High Treason and compelled to become a monk from 1194 until 1199,when the king, Richard I, died.
Jocelinus promptly quit the religious life and was granted all his property at Tale in Payhembury.
Henry the 3rd of that name married Alice de Vere daughter of Robert de Vere 3rd Earl of Oxford by his wife Maud Bolbec. one of the Magna Carta barons.
Following Henry's death his estates were assigned by King John to the custody of William Brewer until 1210 when his heir raised 600 marks for his feudal relief.
Geoffrey 2nd son married 1st Joan Allalegh, of Allaleigh Blackawton, Totnes. This farm was the ancestral freehold of the Allalegh or Hawley family of Dartmouth.
John Hawley d 1408 was a wealthy medieval Dartmouth ship owner, and privateer , Mayor & MP for Dartmouth
2nd marriage was to Matilda de Raleigh of Nettlecomb possibly dau of Sir John de Raleigh and Margaret Chandos. From this cadet line came Thomas Pomeroy Esq son of Robert of Smallbdridge who in 1388 married the heiress of the Pomeroy title Johanna Chudleigh co- heir to the Pomeroy fortunes , but without the kings permission for which he was fined.
The fourth of the Henry Pomeroys married Johanna Vautort sister of Reginald de vautort, feudal baron of Totnes from 1206.
In 1302, following the death of Edmund, earl of Cornwall in September 1300, Peter Corbet and Henry de la Pomeray of Berry brought suit before the king to regain their share of the Vautort of Tremerton Castle inheritance. They also requested to have returned the lands at Harberton and Brixham in Devon.x
5th Henry de Pomeroy (1211-1236) married Margerie de Vernon He died in the Holy land in 1235 or 36 A knight Crusader
6th Henry de Pomeroy (d.1281), was a minor under 21 in 1249. He confirmed his ancestor's grants to Ford Abbey. In 1259 he was ordered by royal summons to be at Salop with horse and arms against Llewellyn ap Griffith. He married a Isolda de Bathonia, a widow, who survived him and in 1292 held as her dower 1/3 of Berry and Stockleigh Pomeroy
7th Henry de Pomeroy (1266-1305), (son). He was born at Tregony, Cornwall. He obtained a quarter of the feudal barony of Totnes in 1305 when the inheritance of his cousin Roger III de Vautort (1275-1305) reverted to the crown. He married in 1281 to Amicia de Camville, daughter of Sir Geoffrey de Camville.
She survived her husband and in 1325 held the manor of Stockley Pomeroy in dower.
8th Sir Henry de Pomeroy (1291-1327) (son), married Johanna de Moels, daughter of John de Moels, Baron Moels.
They had five sons for whom they created a successive entail. Henry the heir whosw wife was Emmot , John (may have married Anne Rawley(Raliegh of Fardel ) William, Nicholas and Thomas with wife Johane the fifth son father of William grandfather of Edward who married Margaret Beville and continued the line .
The daughter of Henry by his 2nd wife Elizabeth Courtenay a daughter of the Powderham Courtenays the cadet line of the Earls of devon at Tiverton Castle, Their daughter Elizabeth Pomeroy o married Oliver Carminow of Cornwall.
9th Henry Pomeroy took the title and married, his wife unnamed by Vivian but recently I found mentioned in a record with mention of his wife as Emmot.
They had 3 children John who married Joan de Merton , Joanna wife of Sir James Chudleigh and Margaret wife of Adam Cole.
Their heirs were Joanna Chudleigh and John Cole.
Sir John de Pomeroy (1347-1416), married Johanna de Merton, daughter and co-heir of Richard de Merton and widow successively of Sir James Chudleigh ,whose 1st wife had been Johanna de Pomeroy, and John Bampfield of Poltimore, the marriage was without children.
His heir was his nephew John Cole, son of his sister Margaret, and his niece, the twice widowed Johanna Chudleigh (1376-1423) who in 1388 married Thomas Pomeroy son of Robert Pomeroy. She was widow of John St Aubyn and Phillip de Bryan
Smallridge is a hamlet, a tithing, in All Sainrs Parish near Axminster in East Devon
1068 The Domesday Book records grist mills as well as settlements at Weycroft and Smallridge (Undercleave).
The term gristmill grinds can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding into flour- Corn refers to the three grains grown in England for flour and animal feed - wheat, barley & rye - Corn - is what US calls we call Maize or Indian Maize . .
Smallridge, Axminster: Ends up in hands of Rowin Mallack, ( IS this Mallet ) son in law of Thomas Gorges, Gov. of Maine 1640-1643)
Domesday 1086 PLACE: SMALLRIDGE Hundred: Axminster County: Devon
Total population: 18 households (medium). Total tax assessed: 1 geld units (very small). Taxable units: Taxable value 1 geld units.
Value: Value to lord in 1086 £2. Value to lord c. 1070 £2 Households: 8 villagers. 5 smallholders. 5 slaves.
Ploughland: 4 ploughlands (land for). 2 lord's plough teams. 2.5 men's plough teams.
Other resources: 0.25 lord's lands. Meadow 15 acres. Pasture 31 acres. Woodland 0.5 hides. 1 mill, value 0.25. Livestock in 1086: 15 cattle. 8 pigs. 57 sheep. 32 goats.
Lord in 1066: Wulfnoth. Lord in 1086: Ralph of Pomeroy. Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Ralph of Pomeroy.
Buckerell manor belonged, at an early period, to the Pomeroys, afterwards to the Beauchamps of Rime, whose heiress brought it to Bonville, and the coheiresses of Bonville to Fulford and Gwynn. It was held by these families in moieties. Fulford's moiety was sold to Richard Cross, Esq.; but both of them have been long ago divided into parcels.
Sir John de BEAUCHAMP Knight was born 1315 in Ryme Intrinseca, Dorset.. He died 8 Apr 1349 in Ryme Intrinseca, Dorset, in 1340 married Margaret de WHALESBOROUGH born 1328 in Lancarffe, Cornwall .
Smallridge was one of the earliest homes of the Raleighs in Devon. They were here before 1242 and lived here for ten or eleven generations until Sir Wimond Raleigh, the grandfather of the celebrated Sir Walter, sold it temp. Henry VIII. Cloakham House, not far away, was built in 1732. -
Geoffrey de Pomeroy 2nd son of 3rd Henry Pomeroy by his wife Alice de Vere a daughter of the 3rd Earl of Oxford Robert de Vereone of the barons who signed Magna Carta .Henry settled Cliswick Barton of Goeffrey in 1206
1640 The Manor of Smallridge was broken up and sold in small parcels. so just before the English Civil War.
Heritage Gateway
Possible Roman Fortlet north-west of Smallridge, All Saints
Possible Barrow west of Smallridge, All Saints
SDV361131 Title: Cloverhayes, Smallridge, East Devon: Geophysical Survey
Originator: Smart, C. Date: 2017
Summary:This report presents the results of geophysical survey (magnetometer) of land at Cloverhayes, Smallridge, East Devon. The site comprises a long triangular-shaped field immediately south of Cloverhayes, on the northwest edge of Smallridge hamlet. The purpose of the survey was to define the extent, nature and significance of any sub-surface archaeological remains whether corresponding to the recognised vegetation marks or not. The possibility of the site being once occupied by a Roman camp would have provided significant new evidence for the character of military movement through the south west of Britain in the middle decades of the first century AD.
It it is evident that there is no support in the results of the magnetic survey for the anomalies transcribed from aerial photographs. Specifically, there is no evidence for a rectilinear enclosure or Roman camp.
Undercleve still exists as does the name Cloverhayse but as a modern bungalow recently sold for over £1 million
Thomas Pomeroy Esquire son of Robert of Smallbridge and Buckerell was the cadet line. Thomas was favoured by the king he was a Kings Knight and with his wife's co heir John Cole managed to usurp the declared heir ,Edward, taking the title until his childless death in 1426 when the title reverted to the original line and Edward son of Thomas 5th son of Sir Henry and Johanna Moels took the title.
Edward de Pomeroy (d.1446), first cousin of Sir John de Pomeroy (d.1416). Edward was Sheriff of Devon in 1431. He married Margaret Bevile (d.1461), daughter of John Bevile of Woolston, near Bude- Children were
Edward circa 1404 d 1446 ;
Elizabeth who married Courtenay ;
Margaret ;
Sir John of Cornwall wife not known;
Nicholas
Henry de Pomeroy Esq (1416-1481) (son), married 1st Alice Raleigh, daughter of John Raleigh of Fardell, Devon.
Children
It was this man who began the building of Berry Pomeroy Castle
The family became established in Devon at Bury Pomeroy near the thriving town of Totnes.
The family expanded and spread outward, and over the intervening centuries there were family groups across Devon and the south of the west country, into Cornwall and later into Dorset.
The senior line of the family became extinct in the 17th Century
2023 Notes & new queries
Going Over Old Ground
Courtenays- Earls of Devon Barons Okehampton MA PhD by Chris Fother
Extract
Below the peerage sat the later medieval gentry. Although their incomes varied considerably, the gentry were largely a social group whose economic position was very similar. The gentry were the largest group of society where incomes differed massively.
However, generally speaking, historians have agreed that there were two tiers of the gentry: the upper tier which consisted of the knights, esquires and gentlemen known a the ‘county gentry’, this is where the Courtenays of Powderham stood, and the lower tier known as the ‘parish gentry’ which consisted of merchants, the poorer esquires, the poorer gentlemen and the richer ‘yeomen’.
Similarly to the peerage, in order to tackle the problem of identifying the gentry, historians have given monetary values in order to categorise where the gentry families stood within the social structure of the gentry. From H. L. Gray’s assessment of the 1436 tax returns, he estimated that excluding the peerage there was an estimated 950 ‘knights’ who had an income of ranging from £40 to £200.
There were about 5000 lesser landholders who were mostly ‘gentlemen’ and merchants with an annual income ranging from £5-£20
The ratio of county gentry to parish gentry is difficult to estimate throughout the country as different county studies have calculated different estimates.
For example, from his study of the Cheshire gentry, M. J. Bennett estimated that the ratio of county to parish gentry was 1:5 while P. W. Fleming estimated that within Kent the ratio was more 1:3. However, all of the studies agree that the gentry interacted with each other and social mobility existed within the counties.
The head of the family ( At Powderham ) from 1425 until his death in 1463 was Philip Courtenay
It was during his lifetime that he married into the wealthier and influential Hungerford family and also betrothed his son and heir, William, to his ally William Bonville’s daughter.
The county gentry within Devon were a group who frequently married one another. It was very convenient for the families and they became allies like Philip Courtenay did with William Bonville during their dispute with Thomas Courteney, Earl of Devon.
The marriage system was similar to a marriage pool which allowed Philip II to tactically marry himself and his son into families which the Courtenays of Powderham could benefit by upgrading their social network and status.
.............."
~~~
Phillip Courtenay of Powderhsm was 2nd son of the Earl ; thus Powderham was the cadet line of the Courtenays . The Caput line was at Tiverton which the Courtenays held from the 13th-century Okehampton Castle, their original seat in England ; later they built Colcombe Castle)
~~~
Source Wikipedia. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Courtenay,_1st_Earl_of_Devon )
William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1475 – 9 June 1511), feudal baron of Okehampton and feudal baron of Plympton,[5] was a member of the leading noble family of Devon. His principal seat was Tiverton Castle, Devon with further residences at Okehampton Castle and Colcombe Castle, also in that county.
He was the son of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon by his wife Elizabeth Courtenay, daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay (b. 1445) of Molland, 2nd son of Sir Philip Courtenay (18 January 1404 – 16 December 1463) of Powderham by Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (d. 1449). William's parents were thus distant cousins, sharing a common descent from Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377).
William was a supporter of King Henry VII (1485–1509), the first of the Tudors, who made him a Knight Bachelor at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on 25 November 1487. He also served in the royal army as a Captain and assisted his father in the defeat of the pretender Perkin Warbeck at the siege of Exeter in 1497, which secured the Tudor succession at last.
William fell out of favour. King Henry VII discovered that he had joined in the conspiracy to crown Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (d.1513), the last Yorkist claimant. For his complicity, the king attainted and imprisoned him in the Tower of London in February 1504, making him incapable of inheritance.
Tiverton Castle was the principal seat of the (senior/ Caput) Courtenay Earls of Devon throughout the mediaeval period including William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon whose wife Catherine of York , daughter to Edward IV by his wife Elizabeth Wydville, Her sister married Henry Tudor, king Henry VII; Catherine was sister to the lost princes ,Edward V & Richard of York ; she was also niece to King Richard III & aunt to Henry VIII.
These connections did not save Catherine's son Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, 2nd Earl of Devon (1498–1539) from being implicated in a plot and executed in 1539 by King Henry VIII.
After the attainder and execution of Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, 2nd Earl of Devon (1498–1539) in 1539, King Henry VIII granted Tiverton to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, who held it amongst his other vast possessions, in 1540. Earl of Bedford John Russell was uncle to Joanna Boweman , wife of Hugh Pomeroy of Tregony.
more connections
( AJP note Phillip was father of Catherine who married St Clere Pomeroy D 1471 & of Humphrey who married Elizabeth Pomeroy. )
sources Wikipedia and a MA dissertation PDF
HENRY I called BEAUCLERK
Henry I (c. 1068/1069 – 1 December 1135) was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106. A later tradition called him Beauclerc for his scholarly interests— he could read Latin and put his learning to effective use— and Lion of Justice for refinements which he brought about in the royal administration, which he rendered the most effective in Europe, rationalizing the itinerant court, and his public espousal of the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition.
Henry's reign established deep roots for the Anglo-Norman realm, in part through his dynastic (and personal) choice of a Scottish princess who represented the lineage of Edmund Ironside for queen. His succession was hurriedly confirmed while his brother Robert was away on the First Crusade, and the beginning of his reign was occupied by wars with Robert for control of England and Normandy. He successfully reunited the two realms again after their separation on his father's death in 1087. Upon his succession he granted the baronage a Charter of Liberties, which linked his rule of law to the Anglo-Saxon tradition, forming a basis for subsequent limitations to the rights of English kings and presaged Magna Carta, which subjected the king to law.
The rest of Henry's reign, a period of peace and prosperity in England and Normandy, was filled with judicial and financial reforms. He established the biannual Exchequer to reform the treasury. He used itinerant officials to curb the abuses of power at the local and regional level that had characterized William Rufus' unpopular reign, garnering the praise of the monkish chroniclers.
The differences between the English and Norman populations began to break down during his reign and he himself married a descendant of the old English royal house. He made peace with the church after the disputes of his brother's reign and the struggles with Anselm over the English investiture controversy (1103-07), but he could not smooth out his succession after the disastrous loss of his eldest son William in the wreck of the White Ship. His will stipulated that he was to be succeeded by his daughter, the Empress Matilda, but his stern rule was followed by a period of civil war known as the Anarchy.
When King Henry I lost his only legitimate male heir,William, the future looked grim for his English realm and the survival of the ruling Norman dynasty. When he White Ship foundered in the English Channel on November 25 1120 it set off a train of events that ended in the worst of all possible circumstances: civil war.
How The White Ship Sank
William and his father were returning to England from Normandy after Henry’s victory over the French King, Louis VI, when The White Ship sank. It appears that the Ship’s master, a man named Thomas, was following behind King Henry’s fleet as it headed out across the Channel when, for some reason, he decided to overtake it. This led to a fatal moment of carelessness and disaster ensued. Captain Thomas had forgotten how treacherous the waters of the English Channel could be. He took insufficient care as The White Ship cleared the port of Barfleur on the Normandy coast and struck a submerged rock. Within minutes, The White Ship capsized and sank.
Read more at Suite101: The Sinking of the White Ship, 1120: Prince William Heir to the English Throne, Drowns http://www.suite101.com/content/the-sinking-of-the-white-ship-1120-a184110#ixzz1AzC8KOwR
Henry I Beauclerk married Matilda (Edith) On 11 November 1100 daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland. Named Edith as a concession to the powerful barons she changed her name to Matilda upon becoming Queen. She was also the niece of Edgar Atheling and the great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside (the half-brother of Edward the
The marriage united the Norman line with the old English line of kings but it greatly displeased the Norman barons. The other side of this, however, was that Henry, by dint of his marriage, became far more acceptable to the Anglo-Saxon populace.
Henry & Matilda had four children at the Palace of Westminster. She died on 1 May 1118, was buried in Westminster Abbey.
1. Matilda. (c. February 1102 – 10 September 1167). She married firstly Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and secondly, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, having issue by the second.
2. William Adelin, (5 August 1103 – 25 November 1120). He married Matilda (d.1154), daughter of Fulk V, Count of Anjou. He died in the White Ship disaster
3. Euphemia, died young.
4. Richard, died young.
On 29 January 1121 Henry married Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey I of Leuven, Duke of Lower Lotharingia and Landgrave of Brabant, but there were no children from this marriage.
Left without male heirs, Henry took the unprecedented step of making his barons swear to accept his daughter Empress Matilda, widow of Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, as his heir.
Henry died on 1 December 1135 of food poisoning, according to legend, from eating "a surfeit of lampreys" (of which he was excessively fond
King Henry is famed for holding the record for more than twenty acknowledged illegitimate children, the largest number born to any English king; they turned out to be significant political assets in subsequent years, his bastard daughters cementing alliances with a flock of lords whose lands bordered Henry's.
He had many mistresses, and identifying which mistress is the mother of which child is difficult. His illegitimate offspring for whom there is documentation are:
1. Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester. b. 1090 Often said to have been a son of Sybil Corbet.
2. Maud FitzRoy, married 1113 Conan III, Duke of Brittany
3. Constance or Maud FitzRoy, married 1122 Roscelin, Viscount de Beaumont (died ca. 1176)
4. Mabel FitzRoy, married William III Gouet
5. Alice FitzRoy, married Matthieu I of Montmorency and had two children Bouchard V de Montmorency ca 1130-1189 who married Laurence, daughter of Baldwin IV of Hainault and had issue and Mattheiu who married Matilda of Garlande and had issue. Mattheiu I went on to marry Adelaide of Maurienne.
6. Gilbert FitzRoy, died after 1142. His mother may have been a sister of Walter de Gand.
7. Emma, married Guy de Laval IV, Lord Laval This is based on epitaphs maintained in the chapterhouse of Clermont Abbey which appear to refer to Emma as the daughter of a king. There may be some confusion here, however, in that Guy's son, Guy de Laval V, was also married to an Emma who described herself as the daughter of Reginald de Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I as noted below. Additionally, if the elder Emma was also an illegitimate child of Henry I, this would make Guy and his wife Emma first cousins, something that casts more doubt on the claim
By Edith he has the following issue
1. Matilda, married in 1103 Count Rotrou III of Perche. She perished 25 November 1120 in the wreck of the White Ship. She left two daughters: Philippa, who married Elias II, Count of Maine (son of Fulk, Count of Anjou and later King of Jerusalem), and Felice.
With Gieva de Tracy- issue
1. William de Tracy
With Ansfride born c. 1070. She was the wife of Anskill of Seacourt, at Wytham in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).
issue
1. Juliane de Fontevrault (born c. 1090); married Eustace de Pacy in 1103. She tried to shoot her father with a crossbow after King Henry allowed her two young daughters to be blinded.
2. Fulk FitzRoy (born c. 1092); a monk at Abingdon.
3. Richard of Lincoln (c. 1094 – 25 November 1120); perished in the wreck of the White Ship.
With Lady Sybilla Corbet of Alcester born in 1077 in Alcester in Warwickshire. She married Herbert FitzHerbert, son of Herbert 'the Chamberlain' of Winchester and Emma de Blois.
She died after 1157 and was also known as Adela (or Lucia) Corbet. Sybil was definitely mother of Sybil and Rainald, possibly also of William and Rohese. Some sources suggest that there was another daughter by this relationship, Gundred, but it appears that she was thought as such because she was a sister of Reginald de Dunstanville but it appears that that was another person of that name who was not related to this family.
issue
1. Sybilla de Normandy, married Alexander I of Scotland.
2. William Constable, born before 1105. Married Alice (Constable); died after 1187.
3. Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall.
4. Gundred of England (1114–46),
5. Rohese of England, born 1114; married Henry de la Pomerai in 1130 son of Joscelin de la Pomerai.
6. Elizabeth of England married Fergus of Galloway and had issue.
[G. E. Cokayne, in his Complete Peerage, Vol. XI, Appendix D pps 105-121 attempts to elucidate Henry I's illegitimate children. For Mistress Sybil Corbet, he indicates that Rohese married Henry de la Pomerai [ibid.:119]. In any case, the dates concerning Rohese in the above article are difficult to reconcile on face value, her purported children having seemingly been born before their mother, and also before the date of her mother's purported marriage.]
From http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20Kings%201066-1603.htm#_Toc159664189
ROHESE (-[1176]). The parentage of Rohese is uncertain. Renaud Earl of Cornwall granted Roseworthy manor in Cornwall to his sister "Rohesia de Pomeria" in a charter
The wife of Henry de la Pomerai was therefore the daughter of Sibyl Corbet, either the king´s daughter or Rohese, daughter of Herbert FitzHerbert who later married Sibyl. m (1146 or before) HENRY de la Pomerai, son of JOSCELIN de la Pomerai & his wife Emma
1110/15 SIBYL Corbet, daughter of ROBERT Corbet of Alcester, co Warwick & his [first] wife --- (-after 1157). The Complete Peerage deduces her parentage, relationship with King Henry, and her marriage from a charter, dated to [1163/75], of her son "Reginaldus, Henrici Regis filius, comes Cornubiæ" by which he granted property to "Willielmo de Boterell, filio Aliziæ Corbet, materteræ meæ" which he had granted to "Willielmo de Boterells in Cornubia, patri…predicti Willielmi" on his marriage, witnessed by "Nicholao filio meo…Herberto filio Herberti, Baldwino et Ricardo nepotibus meis, Willelmo de Vernun, Willielmo fratre meo…Hugone de Dunstanvill…"[132]. She married ([1115/25]) Herbert FitzHerbert. The [1125/35] birth date range estimated for her son Herbert, born from this marriage, suggests that she married after her relationship with the king. The Pipe Roll of 1157 records a payment to "the mother of Earl Reginald" from an estate at Mienes, Sussex[133].
Henry de la Pomerai was married first to Matilda De Vitrie only living issue of record Henry Pomeroy who married Alice de Vere
2nd wife Rohese dau of Thomas Bardolph and Adila dau of Sir Robert Corbett Lord of Alcester Borough in Warwickshire, She survived her husband and had licence to marry again 1207 – second husband John Russell had suit with her son in Law Henry respecting her dower. Russell paid King John 50 marks for marrying the sister of Bardolph and claimed against the Abbot of Vale ( in Normany) the church of Stokely as part of Rohesa his wife’s dower in 15th year of John’s reign 1212.
His father Gocelinus and his father Radolphus granted 2 tithes of the Wood at Mershes in Normandy to the church and hospital of St John at Falaise and also granted to the Abbey of Val in St Omer diocese of Bayeux of which he was co-founder, the churches of Bere, Bacerdon and Clessons with other herediments in Devon and a small fee or bordgium and the tithe of a mill Le Pomeria and numerous churches.
Abbey du Val-Richer Located in the middle of the Normandy countryside, woods and meadows, the Château du Val-Richer is actually an ancient abbey home country residence The abbey was founded around 1146 by Philippe de Harcourt (Bishop of Bayeux).
Roger La Maniche Chievre Abbey of St. Mary du Val, Bayeaux was born in 960. He married Petronilla.
They had the following children:
William "Guillame" Le Chievre "La Capra" was born in 1023/1028. He died in Sep 1087.
Raul "Ralphdulfus""Ralf" de La Pommeraie was born in 1086. (see notes on Chievre website)
Hugh de La Pommeraie died in 1066.
Beatrix Chievre Abbess of St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall.
Aegidio de Chivre d'Anjou.
Joseclinus son of Rohese and Henry Pomerai was tried for high treason at Winchester on the morrow of the King's second coronation there 8 Apr 1194 and compelled to become a monk at Ford Abbey,
Forde Abbey was built between 1133-36, dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. The abbey buildings and lands were leased to Richard Pollard.
He quit the life of religion on the death of Richard I, 6 April 1199. Jocelinus was granted all his village of Tale in Peahembury, which was given him by his brother Henry, to the Abbey of Ford, with consent of Henry de Pomerai his brother's son and heir.
AND: 1125. Translated from the Latin:
'In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, I, Gosselin de Pomeria, give and concede, with the consent of Emma my wife and my sons, Henry, Roger, Philip, Gosselin and Ralf, by the hand of Richard, bishop of Bayeux, the church of St Mary, which is called "de Valle", to the canons there following the rule of the blessed Augustine...with all below written:...'
'Witnesses: Gosselin de Pomeria, with his sons Henry, Roger, Philip, Gosselin, and William, son of Paganus, with his sons, and Hugo de Rossello and Chistinus de Olleio, William, son of Richard, Walter de Petrafitta, William Rossellus, William de Braio, Gosselin do Braio, Robert Buzo, Robert de Cruculles...'
'...MCXXV...This charter is confirmed by Gosselin de Pomeria, Emma his wife and his sons, for the health of their souls and those of their ancestors, by the hand of Richard, bishop of Bayeux, and consent of Richard de Tornebuto, in whose fee the church stands.'
Contents: Devon Record Office Quit claim
1. Ralph, abbot of the church of St Mary of Valle in Normandy and the convent of the same place
2. Sir Henry of la Pomereye
Premises: all 1.'s claim to land in the town of Bery which 2. holds by ordinance of the venerable father W. bishop of Exeter and by grant from the prior and convent of Merton
Seals: 1st seal, vesica, the abbot, inscription damaged; 2nd seal, virgin and child, damaged, with counter-seal, damaged, '[BEA]TE.MARIE.DE.VALL[E]'
Colcombe Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colcombe_Castle
Medieval Pomeroy Knights
Pomeroy Soldiers of the late medieval period:
1346-1377:
1. Sir Henry Pomeroy (IX) (by 1308?-1373) served in the retinue of John de Veer, earl of Oxford, as one of the commanders of the Black Prince's division at Crecy. 1346.
"cavelier" is a word Powley uses for him. Note: Each "Man At Arms, " whether he was a Knight, or Armiger/Esquire, brought 3 Archers (Valets) with them. Commanders would have up to 25 Knights or Armiger/Esquires.
2. His son, John de la Pomerai (Powley doesn't have a birth date..-says he died 1416.) was active in the naval defence of Devonshire against a landing from France in 1375
(Noted as a Man At Arms aboard a ship. Not a "mariner." ) Also served with Edward III aboard one of the naval ships in 1372. Commissions of Array :1377.
3. Thomas de la Pomeray, (esquire) ( cousin of John ) , Man-at-arms) 1369. Also "on journey for the King..1372- (Salisbury was Ambassador to the Pope) .
In 1404 Thomas de la Pomeray, Knight, was in Wales for the King. (While he was in Wales his property was “invaded” and papers taken by Courtney, and company; his wife was Joan widow of Sir James Chudleigh ). seeA2A below
4. William Pomeray, "esquire." Man-at-arms) 1369, At Sea (Probably brother of Thomas, above.)
5: John Pomeray, "esquire," Man-at-arms) 1369. At sea. (Probably brother of Thomas, above.)
1389-1422
1. William Pomeray, Esquire, Man At Arms, 1389, Brest Garrison 1 year. Also recorded as serving in North of France 1 year in 1422:
2. Thomas Pomeray, at Brest Garrison, 1389 1 year:
In 1395 this Thomas de la Pomeray with John of Gaunt at Acquitane. 1396 with John of Gaunt at Gascony. 1396 appears to be his last "muster."
Note: In 1416 Joan's ( nee Chudleigh (st Aubyn , de Bryan) uncle, John Pomeroy , Lord of Berry Pomeroy, dies. She dies in 1422. Thomas married Joan Raleigh nee Whalesborough. He died Oct 1426. At this point Berry Pomeroy "reverts" to Edward. Joan Whalesborough Pomery dies in London 1436.
3. Edward Pomeray is with Sir Hugh Courtenay 1419 Service in France. "Diplomatic." "Of Sandridge, Devon."
(The National Archives, Kew Legal status Public Record(s) After 1422: There are no more Pomeroy's listed in any of the musters, although the rolls are complete to 1443.
THOMAS DE LA POMERAY, {Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry,Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Joscelinns, Radulphus), youngest son.
Ped. fin. 3 Edward III; acquired lands in Sandridge, etc. Ped. /fin. 45 Edward III. p '^
Married. Our authorities do not give the name of his wife.
In accordance with the entail of his father Henry, by fine 3 Edward III, his son and heir, Edward, succeeded to the manors of Stokeley, Byrye,(Beri) Harberton, etc., his father's elder brother Sir Henry having died without male issue, as did also his elder brothers Capt. William, Nicholas, and John.
A2A
Petitioners: Thomas Pomeroy, knight; Joan (Pomeroy), wife of Thomas Pomeroy.
Addressees: Commons of Parliament.
Places mentioned: Clyston (Broad Clyst), Devon; Ayston (Ashton), Devon; Shappelehilion (Shapley), Devon; Hokesbeare (Huxbear), Devon; Affelond (Affaland), Devon; Exeter, Devon; Westwydemouth (Widemouth), [Cornwall].
Other people mentioned: Philip Courtenay, knight; John [Courtenay], son of Philip Courtenay; Joan [Chuddelegh], widow of James Chuddelegh.
Nature of request: Thomas Pomeroy, knight, and Joan his wife request that the commons ask the king that they might be restored to certain manors and tenements in Devon and Cornwall, from which they were forcibly expelled by Philip Courtenay, knight, John his son and Joan, widow of James Chuddelegh, while Thomas was going to Wales in the king's service.
They ask to be restored in such a way as to be able to defend themselves by common law, which they cannot do at present, as Philip and his associates broke into their tenements in Exeter by night, and stole all their deeds, charters and 11
THOMAS DE LA POMERAY, {Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Joscelinns, Radulphus), youngest son.
Ped. fin. 3 Edward III; acquired lands in Sandridge, etc. Ped. /fin. 45 Edward III. p '^
Married. Our authorities do not give the name of his wife.
In accordance with the entail of his father Henry, by fine 3 Edward III, his son and heir, Edward, succeeded to the manors of Stokeley, Byrye,(Beri) Harberton, etc., his father's elder brother Sir Henry having died without male issue, as did also his elder brothers Capt. William, Nicholas, and John.
They ask to be restored in such a way as to be able to defend themselves by common law, which they cannot do at present, as Philip and his associates broke into their tenements in Exeter by night, and stole all their deeds, charters and muniments,. (Documentary evidence by which one can defend a title to property or a claim to rights.) which were kept there
Endorsement: [On face] The lords are to speak to the king. Answered.[On dorse] This petition and the record on it are entered in the roll of parliament. Covering dates [1402] Note This petition is enrolled on the roll of the parliament of September 1402 (Rot. Parl. vol. III, pp.488a-489a). Held at Kew
A bit of a puzzle ?? This appears to give Sir Thomas a son John?
Joanna Chudleigh wife of James Chudleigh was a soldier - Sir James Chydeleye Knight in the service of the king under earl of Devon, 1387 at age of 50- served 39 years of 1367 - age 11 at first campaign.
Joanna was dau of Sir Henry Pomeroy + wife not given – her sister to Margaret was married Adam Cole both sisters to Sir John Pomeroy whose wife was Joanna Merton-( a surfete of joannas here ) according to Visitations it was Sir James Chudleigh & Joanna’s daughter, also Joanna, married Thomas Pomeroy the fatherless- her first husband Sir John St Aubyn ( with one son to the union ) and her second husband Sir Phillip Brian ( d 1423) both died
3rd was Thomas son of Robert of Sandridge - no living issue at the time of his death
Thomas de la Pomeray Esquire Man-at-arms under Captain Guy, Lord Bryan Commander, King Edward III date 1372 campaign Expedition Naval In 1416 Joan's ( nee Chudleigh (st Aubyn , de Bryan) uncle, John Pomeroy , Lord of Berry Pomeroy, died. She died in 1422 .
Thomas married a 2nd time – wife Joan Whalesborough. nee Raleigh He died Oct 1426. At this point Berry Pomeroy "reverts" to Edward. Joan Whalesborough Pomery died in London 1436.
Medieval soldiers
John Pomerai Archer under commander Edward, Duke of York, army led by King Henry V in 1415 in France
John Pomerai Archer Edward, Duke of York, King Henry V 1415 second quarter-campaign - Expedition to France
John Cole Man-at-arms Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry V 1415
John Cole Archer Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk Henry V 1415
Artur, Thomas Knight Man-at-Arms in service for Expedition, France under captain Edward Lord Despenser (1336 - 1375) : Commander, John, duke of Cambridge & Langley with Edmund earl of Brittany,. Date 1375 0306 Muster Roll ( ref TNA, E101/34/3, m1)
Artur, Thomas Archer Expedition, France captain Henry Bourchier, (1408 - 1483) count of Eu, earl of Essex : Commander Richard of York, (1411 - 1460) 1441 Retinue roll (TNA, E101/53/33, m7)
53 records found for Wynter
http://www.medievalsoldier.org/database/maindbsearch.php
I found no Pomeroys in this database which is odd.
PUtting this man in context
The Black Death, Bubonic Plague, arrived from Europe in 1348 and 1352 decimating the population of England. Almost half the inhabitants of England died.
Devon, with its dense agricultural based population, suffered more than any other county. In 2 years 17 churches lost 86 clergy to the pestilence. Exeter lost half its population in the first outbreak. Of those who survived a further quarter perished in the second outbreak. It must have been a terrible and terrifying time for everyone.
Significantly in the aftermath of the ravages wrought by the Black Death the social boundaries became blurred. It became difficult to tell a newly enriched Merchant from a Gentleman simply by their appearance. Merchants who aspired to gentility gradually became a class in their own right ,the Middling Class, who, with their new found wealth bought land on which they built great houses founded dynasties and began the gentrification process.
Thus the impoverished landed gentry, with their bloodlines but no ready money, found it expedient to marry their daughters off to the wealthy merchants who had money but no bloodline.
1357 England
The earliest date for a Common Ancestor for at least 2 Pomeroy lines of descent
as established by DNA
Richard II was born in 1367 & died in 1400 son of the Black Prince eldest son of Edward III ( who died before his father. Edward’s grandson became king at the age of 12, In the aftermath of the catastrophic Black Death, agricultural workers were in demand but land owners Lords of the Manor, were reluctant to pay higher wages and their land workers were tied to the Lord they lived under, unable to move to find better paid work without his permission.
The first poll tax levied in 1377 by King Richard II was to raise the necessary money for a military expedition on the continent. This first poll tax was a flat fee of one groat (four pence) for each person and essentially an experiment to raise funds.
The 2nd Poll Tax of 1379 was granted to the King by the lords, commoners and clergy of England to finance the Hundred Years' War. It was graduated according to each taxpayer's rank or social position, thereby avoiding dissatisfaction based on inequality and unfairness. This poll tax was expected to net over £50,000, but the revenue never reached half that sum.
The Heavy taxation caused an uprising and Kentish rebels converged on London in 1381where the Tower of London was stormed. The young king Richard appeared to handle the Peasants Revolt well but he soon revealed a ruthless dishonesty when he reneged on all the promises he made to Watt Tyler and the other peasant leaders and he had the uprisings leaders executed.
Richards inclination towards tyranny progressed and England became a very unhappy place under his rule. In 1399 Richard II was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolinbroke who was son of John of Gaunt 3rd son of Edward II who took the throne on 3rd April 1399 and reigned until 1413
This split the Plantagenet line for the throne between the House of Lancaster 3rd son John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and the House of York with Lionel of Antwerp, Edward III's 2nd son, & the 4th son Edmund of Langley. This was the beginnings of the Cousins War or Wars of the Roses.
Bolinbroke had been living in France but under pressure from the new French king he left for England and with a small group of followers, Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire towards the end of June 1399.
Men from all over the country soon rallied around him. Meeting with Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, who had his own misgivings about the king, Bolingbroke insisted that his only object was to regain his own patrimony. Percy took him at his word and declined to interfere.
King Richard had taken most of his household knights and the loyal members of his nobility with him to Ireland, so Bolingbroke experienced little resistance as he moved south.
Keeper of the Realm Edmund, Duke of York, had little choice but to side with Bolingbroke. Meanwhile, Richard was delayed in his return from Ireland and did not land in Wales until 24 July. He made his way to Conwy, where on 12 August he met with the Earl of Northumberland for negotiations. On 19 August, Richard surrendered to Henry Bolingbroke at Flint Castle, promising to abdicate if his life were spared. Both men then returned to London, the indignant king riding all the way behind Henry. On arrival, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 1 September.
Henry had agreed to let Richard live after his abdication. This changed when it was found that the earls of Huntingdon, Kent, and Salisbury, and Lord Despenser, and possibly also the Earl of Rutland – demoted from the ranks they had been given by Richard – were planning to murder the new king and restore Richard in the Epiphany Rising.
This plot, although averted, highlighted the danger of allowing Richard to live. He is thought to have been starved to death in captivity in Pontefract Castle on or around 14 February 1400, although there is some question over the date and manner of his death. His body was taken south from Pontefract and displayed in St Paul's Cathedral on 17 February before burial in King's Langley Priory on 6 March.
As the new king Henry IV found England thrown into economic chaos, by the effects of the Black Death and the undermining the old political order . He also, faced a number of rebellions, most seriously of which was in Wales with Owain Glyndŵr, the self-proclaimed ruler of Wales.
Owain Glyn Dwr had served in Richard II's army in the 1380s and it may even have been loyalty to the deposed king that encouraged him to lead a revolt against Henry IV. In 1404 he received French support and presided over the first Welsh parliament. As Henry consolidated control over England, his son Henry (the future Henry V) led the campaigning in Wales. By 1409, the revolt was broken. Glyn Dwr turned to guerrilla warfare until his death in around 1416.
There was also English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur),Earl of Northumberland
who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal (10 November 1341 – 20 February 1408) was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy.
Originally a follower of Edward III of England, from whom he held high offices in the administration of northern England.
At a young age, he was made Warden of the Marches towards Scotland in 1362, with the authority to negotiate with the Scottish government. In February 1367, he was entrusted with the supervision of all castles and fortified places in the Scottish marches. He went on to support King Richard II, was formally created an Earl on Richard's coronation in 1377, and was briefly given the title of Marshal of England. Between 1383 and 1384, he was appointed Admiral of the Northern Seas.
After Richard elevated his rival Ralph Neville to the position of Earl of Westmorland in 1397, Percy and his son, also Henry and known as "Hotspur", supported the rebellion of Henry Bolingbroke, who became King as Henry IV.
On King Henry IV's coronation, Henry Percy was appointed Constable of England and granted the lordship of the Isle of Man. Percy and Hotspur were given the task of subduing the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, but their attempts to make peace with the Welsh rebels did not meet with the king's approval.
In 1403 the Percys turned against Henry IV in favour of Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, and then conspired with Owain Glyndŵr against Henry. The Percy rebellion failed at the Battle of Shrewsbury, where Hotspur was killed. Since the earl did not directly participate in the rebellion, he was not convicted of treason. However, he lost his office as Constable.
King Henry IV suffered from poor health in the latter part of his reign, and his eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410.
Henry IV died in 1413, and was succeeded by his son, who reigned as Henry V.
His son Henry VI became king of England and France before his first birthday when in 1422, Henry V died suddenly, leaving his son Henry, who was less than a year old and England was ruled by a Regency Council.
Chapter on Thomas of Smallridge & Buckerel & his wife Joanna Chudleigh note Smallridge had a mill but not much more so a very small place
In about 1404 Sir Edward Pomeroy of Sandridge married Margaret Beville daughter of Sir John Beville MP Sheriff of Cornwall and a wealthy and influential man with a great deal of property to give in dower to his daughter. Edward Pomeroy was heir of Thomas Pomeroy esq., the 5th & youngest son of Sir Henry Pomeroy by his first wife Joan Moels and he inherited the title Baron of Berry Pomeroy on the death of Sir Thomas Pomeroy who died in 1426.
However this was not the death of his grandfather Thomas and therein lies the confusion.
Its a tale coloured with medieval ambition, aggression and a certain amount of skulduggery
There had long been a dispute over whose son Sir Thomas was. He made an illlicit marriage to Johanna Chudleigh the twice widowed co- heir to Berry Pomeroy. She the heir but being female she could not inherit the barony so whe was quite a catch however the dates suggested that Thomas could not be the 5th son of Henry Pomeroy & Joanna Moels , they simply did not fit.
In 1388 Thomas Pomeroy esq. married the twice widowed Joanna Chudleigh (Joanna born circa 1376 & died 1422)
This was an 'illegal' marriage, made without the required licence & essential consent of the king, Richard II
For this Thomas was fined and the priest was reproved and then pardoned 1389.
Joanna Chudleigh's mother was Joanna Pomeroy, daughter of Sir Henry Pomeroy the oldest of the 5 sons who had married Sir James Chudleigh.
Their daughter Johnna Chudleigh 1st married Sir John St Aubyn by whom she had a son John St Aubyn,
whose daughters Joanna Bodrigan and Margaret Tretheriff became her heirs.
Her 2nd marriage was to Philip de Bryan 3rd son of Guy de Bryan under whom the Pomeroy brothers served in 1372 . Sir Philip died on 13th Feb 1387. He came from a well connected knightly family and she was well dowered when he died.
Sir Guy de BRYAN Lord Bryan born 1309 and died, 17 Aug 1390, in Walwyn's Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales. ( of which only an earthwork remains ) He had connections in high places having married Elizabeth de MONTAGUE on 1349 in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. They are both buried in the Abbey. Her 2nd husband had been DESPENSER, Hugh le Lord le Despenser, son of the infamous favourite of Edward II
Their children included their 3rd son Sir Philip de BRYAN Knight was born 1352 and died 16 Jan 1387. age 35
Sir Philip was 35 when he died on 16 Jan 1387 and had married Joanna Chudleigh a year earlier, in 1386 and died without issue.
His father Sir Guy de Bryan, K.G. had created an entail male on his eldest son, Sir William de Bryan, and his third son, Sir Phillip, and failing male heirs ,on the right heirs of Sir William (S.R.S., XVII, 202).
Lands in Dorset and Devon were settled on them with the manors of Kingsdon, Somerton Erleigh and Somerton Randolph
In August, 1388, his father Sir Guy attempted to repudiate this settlement which he stated was against his will; and in the following November, his son Sir William made a public declaration stating that there had been no undue pressure on his father when the settlement of 1386 was made.
There was disharmony in the family when,in 1388, Sir Guy had found that documents were missing from his strong boxes . He had gone to his son Sir William’s inn in London and found the missing parchments Not long afterwards, Sir William travelled to Carmarthen, scaled the walls of the castle of Laugharne and took £25 from the paternal coffers.
After his death there were a series of Inquisition Post Mortems on the estates of sir Philip Bryan ‘chivaler’., as was the custom.
IPM taken at Frome Branche in Somerset on 14 February 1388. His heirs the daughters of his elder brother Guy the younger.
He held the manor of Faleys etc. in his demesne as of fee. He held the manors of Schokerwike and Batheneston in fee tail by gift and feoffment of Guy de Bryan, his father, to him and the heirs male of his body, with remainder in default to William de Bryan, knight, who is still living, and the heirs male of his body.
Faleys. The manor, with Frome Branche and Wodelond, members thereof, and also the hundred of Frome aforesaid, held of the king in chief by knight’s service.
Schokerwike. The manor, held of the bishop of Bath by knight’s service and payment of 20s yearly.
Batheneston. The manor, held of the same bishop by the services aforesaid.
There was another IPM taken at Shirborn, in Dorset on 10 Feb 1388 where Phillip held no lands in the county.
Writ to the escheator in co Somerset to make further enquiry touching the above-mentioned gift of the manors of Schokterwyke and Batheneston by Guy deBryan (Somerset inquisition);
as the charter of the said gift exhibited in Chancery on behalf of William de Bryan for the purposes of suing the said manors out of the king’s hands states that the said Guy gave Philip the manor of Schokerwyke and £12 rent in Watheneston [sic], and the king Richard II wished to be certified whether the said rent in Watheneston [sic] is the same thing as the entire manor of Batheneston, as is confidently testifies on behalf of the said William, or not. 22 Mar 10 Ric II.
IPM Bath, Wedneday in Easter week, 10 Ric II. Guy de Bryene, knight, Philip’s father, gave and by his charter confirmed to the said Philip the manor of Schokerwyk and £12 rent in Batheneston, to hold to him and the heirs of his body, with remainder in default to William de Bryene and the heirs male of his body, and with remainder over to the right heirs of the said Guy.
IPM Crukerne, Thursday before St Clement the Pope, 11 Ric II. The statements in the said petition are true.
Also a later Inquisition, taken 17 Jan 1400:
Writ, melius sciri, enquiring who are the other heirs, as it was stated in the inquisitions taken on 14 Feb 1388 that Philippa, one of the daughters and heirs of Guy Bryen junior, brother of Philip, was one heir of Philip, aged 9 year and more, but who were the other heirs was not known.
IPM at Queen Camel Somerset 17 Jan 1400.
CLOSE ROLLS [f] 1385-89 pages 217, 320 5 Mar 1387 and 20 Jun 1387
To Richard Mucheldevere escheator in Somerset and Dorset. Order to take of Joan ( Joan Chudleigh who was by then wife of Thomas Pomeroy ) who was later the wife of Philip de Bryan knight an oath etc., and to assign her dower of her husband's lands and Assignment of dower lands to Joan, widow of Philip de Bryene knight, consisting of all his lands at Frome Braunche (a detailed list provided), and specified lands at Shokerwyk and Bathneston] Transfer of lands of Philip Bryan to his widow Joan
Fine Rolls [h] Vol 10 page 178 18 Mar 1387 Commitment to William de Bryan ‘chivaler’ and Alice late the wife of Guy de Bryan ‘chivaler’ ‘le fitz’ – by mainprise of Edmund de la Pole ‘chivaler’ of the county of Buckingham, Roger Plowefeld of the county of Hereford, and Geoffrey Newenton of London – of the keeping of all the lands in the manors, towns or lordships of Frome and Valeys in Selewode, co. Somerset, late of Philip deBryan ‘chivaler’, tenant of the king in chief, to hold the same from the time of Philip’s death until the lawful age of Philippa and Elizabeth, daughters of the said Guy and kinswomen and heirs of the said Philip, rendering the extent thereof yearly be equal portions at the Easter and Michaelmas Exchequers; with clause touching maintenance and buildings etc. Order for wardship of lands of the late Philip de Bryan, to be held for Philippa and Elizabeth, daughters of Guy the younger.
It seems strange that William Bryan, the second son of Guy the older, is not made heir himself, as the senior male member of the family.
~
Fine Rolls [h]
Vol 10 page 262 22 Nov 1388 Order to Richard Manyngford, escehator in the counties of Somerset and Dorset – on information that Thomas Pomeray without the king’s licence has taken to wife Joan late the wife of PhilipBryan ‘chivaler’ who held of the king in chief – to take into the king’s hand without delay all the lands in his bailiwick which were assigned to Joan as dower after Philip’s death, answering at the Exchequer for the issues thereof.
Johanna Chudleigh's 3rd marriage to an ambitious cousin, Thomas Pomeroy son of Robert Pomeroy Esq., of Smallbridge, Upottery & Bockerell, which were Pomeroy manors in east Devon.
Sir John Pomeroy died childless and Joanna Chudleigh, with her cousin John Cole, son of her aunt Margaret, was co- heir to the Pomeroy estates. However as a female she could not inherit the baronial title with its castle and considerable wealth.
Lady Joanna Chudleigh was a considerable heiress, a twice widowed well dowered lady. As niece and co-heir to the head of the Pomeroy house Sir John Pomeroy, she would have had no choice in the first two husbands chosen for her. Was Thomas her own choice, a man she hurriedly but irrevocably married to pre-empt another marriage? Was he a virtually unknown but ambitious cousin, and probably penniless to boot or was he known to her and liked enough to make a marriage that seems hasty and surreptitious risking the kings displeasure. One wonders if this was either a love match or one of mutual ambition and avarice.
Sir John had nominated as his heir, Edward, grandson of Thomas the 5th son of his grandfather Henry.
Sir Thomas Pomeroy, a kings knight and a man of standing,5th son of the head of the family had a wife Johan and a son, William
William must have married & had a son, Edward, in about 1377. His father Sir Thomas died in around 1378 .
By time of the death of Sir John Pomeroy in 1416 Thomas's son William was dead and his son Edward was married having, in 1404, taken as his wife Margaret Beville daughter of John Beville of Wolston.
John Beville, a Sheriff of Cornwall ,was a man of greater substance than his father, partly as a result of his marriage to Agnes Beaupyne a Bristol merchants daughter. At his death he held the family property at Woolston (Cornwall), Barkington and Sparkwell (Devon), his wife’s inheritance of the manor and hundred of North Petherton (Somerset) and Grindham, ‘Faryngton’ and ‘Iwode’ (formerly Bluet property) in the same county. Elsewhere, in Devon and Cornwall, he owned 35 messuages and some 850 acres of land.
Edward & Margaret already had at least 2 sons and maybe more who are unrecorded. Henry born in about 1416 when current head of house, Sir John died.
This was nasty time in history . Between 1346 and 1353 the Black Death was ravaging England , causing the death of about 1/3 of the population. Even the king, lost his wife to this virulent disease. Richard II, son of Edward the Black Prince, grandson of Edward III, came to the throne when he was little more than a baby and by the time he was an adult he had become a merciless tyrant . Not actually insane but possibly disturbed , or maybe absolute power corrupted absolutely.
In 1341 , when he was about 14 a rebellion ,the Peasants' Revolt ierupted in opposition to increased taxes on the hard pressed poor. This was the first significant challenge to the young king's authority. Wat Tyler led the rebellion from large parts of England and the rebels rampaged through the countryside arriving at the Tower of London where they slaughtered men and burned books. Richard met the rebels and promised them mercy, even acceded to the abolishment of serfdom, amongst other things. Then Richard hung the all the leaders, about 1,500 men.
In the years that followed King Richard cultivated a court with rich in art and culture, where he, as king, was supreme. His dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent and in 1387 control of government was taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the next eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. Then in September 1399 the exiled Henry of Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt , Edward III 3rd son, returned with an army and deposed Richard making himself King Henry IV. Today it is thought that although Richard's policies were not unprecedented or entirely unrealistic, it was the way in which he implemented them that led to his downfall.
National Archives indicate that Thomas the 3rd son of Henry Pomeroy by Joan Moels had accumulated a considerable amount of land in his own right by the time he went off on a mission for the King in 1372, leaving a son and heir William, and wife Johanne , at home.
Thomas, 5th son arrive safely home from the wars including the defeat at La Rochelle and he and his brothers shared some of the properties "for life," .
Meanwhile his son William married and had a son Edward who, as the last descendant of the entail created by his grand parents, became the male heir to the barony of Berry Pomeroy. Edward Powley tells us that Sir John de la Pomeray broke the entail of his father Henry set up for his 5 sons to inherit successively.
Five sons of Sir Henry de la Pomeroy and Joan Moels, and subject of a successive entail made in 1328
1. Sir Henry de la Pomeroy, b. Abt 1321, d. 20 Dec 1373, Tregony, Cornwall, (wife un named -father of John who inherited next)
2. Captain William Pomeroy, b. Abt 1324, d. circa
3. Nicholas Pomeroy, High Sheriff of Devon, b. Abt 1330, d. Aft 1383
4. John Pomeroy, b. Abt 1332, d. Aft 1357 who appears to have been a priest but also had a son Nicholas
5. Thomas Pomeroy, Knight of the shire, b. Abt 1334, of, Berry Pomeroy, who is on record as going on a journey for the king in 1372
Thomas had a wife Johan & was father of William Born circa 1372. William's son Edward born about 1377 was the one who inherited after Sir Thomas died in 1426 Up until 1414 records show that John Pomeroy's chosen heir was Edward, his nephew, son of his uncle Thomas, the 5th son.
Up until the time of young Edward was born, circa 1380, Sir John de la Pomeray, his wife Joan Merton, and his sister's children are living happily, but they were reconsidering the new law passed regarding "entails." because they had no male heirs, only the children of his sisters Joan & Margaret .
In 1388 the mysterious Thomas Pomeray Esq., married Sir John's niece,Joanna, now a widow for the 2nd time.
This was followed by a concerted campaign by Thomas Pomeroy and John Cole to disrupt the position of the Sir John's nominated heir, Edward Pomeroy.
The 1388 marriage was without licence , lacking the essential consent of the king possibly because the king would not have approved since it was decreed by an earlier king that nobles should not marry below their rank.
Thus the twice widowed and wealthy Johanna Chudleigh, widow of Sir John St Aubyn and Sir Phillip de Bryan married Thomas Pomeroy Esq., a second son of a cadet branch. She was of higher rank than him and suspect the reason that they married without licence from Richard II.
Thomas Pomeroy Esq, thereby gained the power of, the barony AND the king was persuaded to decided in his favour, against the nominated heir, Edward and his wife Margaret Beville...which undoubtedly made them very cross indeed.
The hunt for Thomas Pomeroy Esq went like this
What we knew.
Thomas Pomeroy Esq.who died in 1426, was not Edward's father. Apart from anything else if he had been he would have been almost 100 years old by then, and it seems extremely unlikely that he would have reached that age in a time of war when a man was old at 40.
IF Thomas, spouse of Joanna Chudleigh, had been the 5th son of Henry Pomeroy & Joan Moels , born circa 1326 , he would have been about 63 when he married the thrice widowed Joanna and had one child, Isabella , named in the IPM taken on her mother’s death, who died before her father.
That made Thomas a very, very old man when he died in 1426. His death occurred shortly after he apparently went on a pilgrimage to Rome with his 2nd wife Joanna Ralegh daughter of John Raleigh of Nettlecombe Court and Ismaria, and widow of John Whalesborough –
In 1440 the last of the Raleghs at Nettlecombe died and left the estate to Thomas Whalesborough, Joanna's son.
With his marriage to the heiress Thomas Pomeroy Esq., acquired half of all the Pomeroy estate holdings, Bury Pomeroy & Stockleigh Pomeroy, the manors and lands that realised a considerable income, not to mention the income from Johana's dower lands from the previous marriages.
Sir Thomas, an active soldier already in favour with the king as a Kings Knight and he set his sights on the title and went about getting it in a quite ruthless manner. with the assistance of his wife's co heir, John Cole . It is possible that he and John Cole fought together and thereby formed a bond. see table below.
The nominated heir Sir Edward Pomeray was at that time away with Sir Hugh Courtenay 1419 on diplomatic service in France
and Thomas Pomeroy & John Cole, both ambitious men, went about getting what they had set their sights on.
The HOW was interesting but new research as well as deduction was called for and thus
The hunt for the real Sir Thomas Pomeroy, Kings Knight was afoot.
Tucked away in Visitation someone had suggested he was son of son of Robert of Smallbridge
(mistyped as Sandridge) whose antecedents had held Bokerell & Upottery in East Devon.
This cadet line descended from Geoffrey 2nd son of Sir Henry Pomeroy & his spouse Alice de Vere
daughter of Robert de Vere 4th Earl of Oxford.
A younger son of whom after several generations in east Devon, Thomas seems to have been a younger son , of a Robert,
about whom we knew, and still know nothing .
THOMAS POMEROY Esq., son of Robert of the cadet line at Robert of Smallridge & Buckerell in Axminster
a man with a mission and the will and opportunity to achieve it.
This is Geoffrey and the cadet line at Bockerell & Upottery
C 241/42/43 Date: 1303 Sep 28 ( held at Kew)
Debtor: Geoffrey de la Pomeroy of Devon.
Creditor: Andrew de Trelosk, knight [held parts of fees in Aylesford in Teignbridge Hundred; in Stodbury in Ermington Hundred, in Orchard, and Dunterton in Lifton Hundred, Devon]
Amount: 2marks.
Before whom: Walter Tauntefer, Mayor of Exeter; Walter de Langdon, Clerk.
When taken: 15/09/1300 First term: 25/12/1300 Last term: 25/12/1300
Writ to: Sheriff of Devon Sent by: Roger Beyvin, Mayor of Exeter; Walter de Langdon, Clerk.
Debtor: Thomas Pomeroy of Devon. ( son of Robert)
Creditor: Peter Pounfreit, citizen and skinner of London.
Before whom: Nicholas Exton, Mayor of the Staple of Westminster.
When taken: 26/09/1388 First term: 16/03/1389 Last term: 16/03/1389
Writ to: Sheriff of Somerset. [and Devon. and Oxon.] Sent by: Chancery.
Note: , C 131/36/22, C 131/41/14. Date given for return to Chancery: 28/5/1389.
The Five brothers son of Sir Henry & his spouse Joanna Moels were born in the decades of 1320 to 1330’s so
I asked the question.
If their father Henry away at war for long periods could there have been a gap of 15 years between the brothers ? It's not impossible , but it seemed unlikely.
Thomas the 5th son appears in record in 1372 & disappears,in the same year in a time when it was common for the sons of a knight to go on campaign from their teens.
If Thomas was a much younger son could he have been born around 1356 , having accompanied his brothers on campaign in 1372 when he was 15 or 16. ??
The last mention of him is in 1377.
Devon Record Office 3799M-0/ET/21/1 1379 Contents: Tiverton. Grant for life
1. Thomas Pomerey and Johane his wife
2. Johane Bolham
Premises: that tenement with the land adjoining which John Bolham once held at will in the manor of Lomeneclavile, together with the fulling mill in the same manor
Term: life of Johane of la Pomerey
Witnesses: John Gobbe, Robert Storigg, Thomas Hunt Date: Lomeneclavile, Friday before the feast of St Luke the evangelist, 2 Richard II
Seal: small, oval, ?lion
This record adds somewhat to the confusion but appears to be one of the 5 sons who was a 'companion' to Thomas but not his brother
William Pomeroy, close friend and companion of Sir Thomas Pomeroy: Called "The Queen's Esquire" 1417. Queen Joan of Navarre, the Queen Mother.
The same William Pomeroy was "Presented in 1421 letters patent, dated 1416 by the Kings mother Joan, queen of England, granting for life to her esquire, 20 marks annually, from yearly gate of Oxford."
In 1441, reference to William Pomeroy, “now deceased.” Of Devonshire. Memorandum of acknowledgement, 26 January.
Joan Bithewater to Thomas Bithewater chaplain, Master John Stokes clerk of the chancery, William Norton esquire and Robert Forster 'gentilman,' both of Westminster co. Middlesex, their heirs and assigns.
Gift during her life of a yearly rent of £10. 13s. 4d., reciting a writing, dated Meynbury (Membury) 20 March 9 Henry VI,
whereby Lawrence late prior of Goldeclyve and the convent gave to her and William Pomerey, now deceased, the manor of Meynbury otherwise Membury co. Devon for their lives and the life of the longest liver, a writing indented, dated Meynbury 24 March 9 Henry VI, whereby the said Joan and William made a grant of their whole estate in the said manor to the prior and convent and to their successors, subject to a yearly rent of £10. 13s. 4d. payable to them for their lives and the life of the longest liver, the death of the said William, and that she is sole surviving.
Witnesses: Richard Walsshe 'gentilman,' John Savage, Simon Croulonde, Robert Hough, John Faw . . . Dated Monday after Midsummer 18 Henry VI.1422 -1461
Goldcliff Priory which was a Benedictine monastery in Goldcliff, Newport, South Wales and it has as Prior there was Lawrence de Bonneville, 1418–1441. In 1442, with the full approval of Pope Eugene IV, the priory was made a cell of Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire.
we have records for the sons of Sir Henry & Johan Moels , John, William, Nicholas and Thomas with their eldest brother and heir Henry, including these
C 241/123/81 Date: 1347 Jun 22 Held by: The National Archives, Kew language Latin
Debtor: Henry de la Pomeroy, the elder [of Berry Pomeroy, Haytor Hundred, Devon] Henry de la Pomeroy, the younger, and Nicholas de la Pomeroy, of Devon.( sons of Henry Pomeroy & Johane Moles )
Creditor: John de Chudleigh [held part of a fee in Hookedrise, Hemyock Hundred, Devon.], now deceased.
Amount: £500.
Before whom: Henry de Hugheton, Mayor of Exeter; Robert de Lucy, Clerk.
When taken: 20/07/1341 First term: 20/10/1341 Last term: 20/10/1341
Writ to: Sheriff of Devon Sent by: Thomas le Forbour, Mayor of Exeter; John de Cory, Clerk. Endorsement: Devon' Coram Justic' de Banco.
Note: Executors of John: Thomas de Kyrkham, William Wyke, and Robert de Chudleigh.
and for Thomas the 5th & youngest brother when he was in the king's service in 1372. He settled his affairs to protect his wife Johan had a son William Pomeroy.
this was the Battle of La Rochell is which Thomas fought under Guy de Byan father od Phillip who later married Joanna Chudleigh
Thomas's "heir male of the body" in 1372 was William mentioned in the document, but the child must have died but he & Johan had another son, Edward, born after 1372.
Thomas was like most knights a soldier when the king required and this was the period of the Hundred yeard war and so may have spent long periods away from home thereby reducing the frequency of the appearance of children.
Devon Record Office 3799M-0/ET/7/4b 1372
Contents: Declaration of the uses of a conveyance
1. Thomas of la Pomeray
2. William Cary, Renauld Hors[ ], Piers Silverloc and John of Baucomb
Premises: all 1.'s lands and tenements, rents and services in Welcomb, Lake, Herwardesheghes, Est Wode, Walles, Stockleigh Pomeroy, Cheriton Fitzpayne, Dynnescomb, Teyng Hervy and Sandrugg
Uses Thomas of la Pomerai is going to a journey for the king. If he returns from the journey he is to hold the premises as before. If he dies on the journey before he can re-enter the premises, then William Cary and Piers Silverloc & John of Baucome are to hold them for Johane his wife, William his son, and the heirs of the body of William.
For default of such issue, the premises are to remain to the heirs of the body of Thomas (5th son), and for default, to Nicholas,( 3rd son ) brother of Thomas . and the heirs of his body. If Nicholas has no heirs of the body, the premises remain to William, brother of Nicholas and the heirs of his body, and for default, with remainder to the right heirs of Thomas.
Date: Wednesday next before the feast of St Laurence, 46 Edward III 1373
05/11/1377: Order to distrain Thomas de la Pomeroy to do homage and fealty to the lord and to show by what right and title he entered into the lord’s fee at La Wylle.
18/05/1378 Order to distrain Thomas de la Pomeroy to do fealty for lands and tenements in ye Yealbelorn.
02/11/1378: Order to distrain Johan de la Pomeray to do fealty for lands and tenements in Wille Yeallbxxx. (Yalberton about a mile away )
24 May 1380: John Rend 2d Reginald Poyer 2d in mercy for trespass and breaking and taking away the hedge of John de la Pomeraye
26 April 1392: The homage presents that Alexander Merle and Johanna his wife held certain lands and tenements Atte Wylle for the life. After Johanna’s death the reversion is to the heirs of Thomas de la Pomeray to be held by Knight Services.
01/10/1392: The lands and tenements which Thomas de la Pomeray lately held at le Wylle remain in the lord’s hands by reason of the minority of Edward. ( under 21 in 1392 = EDB 1371 -1392)
08/05/1397: Order to distrain Edward Pomeroy son and heir of William Pomeroy to do homage and fealty to the lord for the lands and tenements at Wille.
18/10/1392: Order to distrain Edward Pomeroy to do homage and fealty to the lord for the lands and tenements at la Wylle.
Proof that Edward was son of William and grandson of Sir Thomas
08/05/1397: Order to distrain Edward POMEROY son and heir of William POMEROY to do homage and fealty to the lord for the lands and tenements at Wille.
Sir Thomas 5th son of the 8th successive Henry Baron Pomeroy & his 1st wife Johanna Moels daughter of the feudal Baron Moels of North Cadbury Somerset . Henry's 2nd wife was Elizabeth Courtenay widow of Roger Carnimowe. Thomas was dead and by 1392 & his widow Johane married to Exeter Merchant Alexander Merle.
1st the widow of the Baron Elizabeth lately wife of Baron Sir Henry & then Johane the widow of Henry's 5th son Thomas, his step daughter in law !
Visitations has John Cole co heir with Joanna Chudleigh but it was his nephew Edward, grandson of Sir Thomas , who was his nominated heir.
John Cole, esquire (d. c . 1428). An important member of the political community in Devon, especially under Henry IV, Cole was a second-generation familiar of Earl Edward, his father, Sir Adam Cole, having been steward of the earl's household in 1381-2. Edward's patronage extended to other members of the Cole family, for Henry Cole, John Cole and Nicholas Cole all received livings in the earl's gift. John Cole, esquire, was the cousin of Henry IV's retainer, Sir Thomas Pomeroy.
Together Thomas & John pursued what were often quite dubious claims against another cousin, Edward Pomeroy, who in an act of violence in 1428, forcibly ejected by way of the windows of Berry Pomeroy.
This Thomas was evidently an active soldier and had set his sight on the barony, and set about getting it in what seems to be a quite ruthless manner with the assistance of John Cole .
Edward Pomeray was was evidently away with Sir Hugh Courtenay 1419 on diplomatic service in France when Thomas Pomeroy & John Cole took action.
Cole became a sheriff of Devon in 1405-6, and served abroad in 1415 (under Gloucester) and in 1417 (under Sir Thomas Carew).His standing in county society was good, he served as a grand juror in 1414 because of his connections and his extensive possessions.
His first wife, Blanche (whose family origins remain obscure) brought with her estates in Cornwall; and a transaction dated 1391 indicates the extent of Cole's lands which included the Cornish manor of Resparva (in St. Enoder and Probus) along with many other properties in that county, and the Devon manors of Uptamar, Hittisleigh and Nethway as well as various other places there.
He married, secondly, Alice, widow of John Sandeford. He was co-heirs of Sir John Pomeroy (d. 1416) with his cousin Joanna Chudleigh . His daughter and heiress, Margaret, married Thomas Hody to whose family Nethway (Cole's main seat) passed.
In the 7th year of the reign of King Henry V - 1420 From the Plea Rolls
Edward Pomeroy sued Thomas Pomeroy knt and his wife Joan and John Cole of Nithway- Arminger ( arms bearer ) -for the manor of Stockleigh Pomeroy and the moieties of the manors of Brixham and Harburton which he claimed by virtue of a fine levied in the.....
3 of Edw III (1330) and recorded in 18 Edw III (1345) respecting the manor of Tregony and 18 knights fees in Tregony and the manors of Bury and Stockleigh Pomeroy and 38 knights fees in Bury and Harburton and the moieties of the manor of Brixham and Harburton in Totnes
Alexander Merle, was an interesting character who appears to have married 2 of the Pomeroy widows. Elizabeth the widow of Baron Sir Henry & then his step daughter in law ,Johane, widow of Thomas ,Henry's 5th son .
There is little to be found about Merle. He was an Exeter city merchant, possibly a Scottish freebooter who by October 1382 was an MP for Devon with Bonville & in favour with Edward III
TIMELINE
1367 Elizabeth Courtenay widow of Roger Carminowe & widow of Baron Henry Pomeory married Alex Merle
1377 King Edward III, granted his esquire Alexander Merle of Scotland an annuity of 12 pence or 1 shilling a day for his services in wars making about £20 a year, (a good income that would buy 15 horses ! )
1378 Oct. 1- October 9:—mention of Alexander Merle, an esquire of Scotland, & his annuity
15 years later
1382 Elizabeth was dead &Merle married Johan widow of Sit Thomas Pomeroy MP
1384 Member of Parliament mentioned as one of four men who sat in Parliament for local boroughs.
1385 Alexander Merle esquire, cost and expenses in the safe carriage of 2000 marks brought by him from London to the Scottish March for the pay of the army invading Scotland
1387 Members of Parliament - Bonville with Alexander Merle in October
1384 Member of Parliament Among the 44 esquires listed next were Hugh Courtenay (the earl’s brother).
26 April 1392: The homage presents that Alexander Merle and Johanna his wife held certain lands and tenements Atte Wille for the life. After Johanna’s death the reversion is to the heirs of Thomas de la Pomeray to be held by Knight Services. .
In 1387 Sir John Pomeroy, wife recorded as Joan Merton, considering himself in no way bound by an entail of the family estates in favour of the his sisters and their children - Joanna who married Sir James Chudleigh and Margaret who married Adam Cole.
~ Joan Pomeroy became Chudleigh, her daughter Joanna Chudleigh became Pomeroy~
One of those tangles....
The daughter of John’s sister Joanna Pomeroy who married James Chudleigh her daughter was Johanna Chudleigh who married three times , 1st Aubyn then 2nd to De Bryan, and in 1388 she made a marriage with Thomas Pomeroy-
This is Thomas
Date: Wednesday next before the feast of St Laurence, 46 Edward III 1373
Records show that provisions were made by Sir John in 1404 and 1414 on behalf of Edward Pomeroy.
However these were ignored after his death in 1416, and the Crown over ruled his will preferring the claims of his nephew, John Cole of Nethway, son of Adam Cole and the co heir Joan who was by then married to the mysterious Sir Thomas Pomeroy who was a Kings Knight.
When Sir John de la Pomeray of Berry Pomeroy, died 1416 Thomas Pomeroy esq,with John Cole, and Sir Edward Pomeroy were at each others throats.
17th December 1417 a Memorandum of a mainprise under a pain of £40 was made in chancery 20 December this year by Robert Cary,
John Cole, William Pomeray esquires and William Jeu , all of Devon, for Thomas Pomeray knight, and of an undertaking by him under a pain of £100
that he shall do or procure no hurt or harm to Edward Pomeray esquire or any of the people.
Mainprise is almost the same concept as bail, but mainprise always involved a specified sum of money.
A reciprocal order was made on 21st December 1417 against Edward - Memorandum of a (like) mainprise, made 21 December by John Arundell of Trerys co. Cornwall esquire, William Kent of London 'peutrer,' Thomas Trefridowe of Cornwall and John Neucombe of Devon for Edward Pomeray esquire, and of a (like) undertaking by him, in regard to Thomas Pomeray knight etc.
Edward Pomeroy and his wife Margaret had been rightfully seised of the manor of Tregony since their 1404 marriage by virtue of a fine levied to them and their heirs male by Sir John de la Pomeray, knight,deceased. ( Sir John gifted it to then before their marriage for a fine or fee of £46 a year )
The manor was granted by John de la Pomeray, chevalier and Joan (de Merton) his wife, to Edward and Margaret and the heirs male of the body of Edward, to hold of John and Joan, and the heirs of John, paying to them for the life of John £46 yearly at Midsummer, Michaelmas, Christmas, and Easter; and then paying to Joan, for the term of her life, and to the heirs of John, a grain of wheat at Michaelmas; and doing all other services to the chief lords of the fee.
The grant was by fine [CP 25/1/33/32/24] at Westminster, dated three weeks from Easter, 1404 [recited in full], in which Margaret was described as the daughter of John Bevylle .
Reversion was to John de la Pomeray and Joan and the heirs of John, to hold of the chief lords of the fee by the customary services. Edward and Margaret gave 100 marks of silver. By virtue of the fine Edward was seised in demesne as of fee tail, and Margaret in demesne as of free tenement.
In 1418 Thomas Pomeroy with other’s forcibly entered the manor and imprisoned Margaret there for two days, occupying the manor and doing damage, then ousted Lady Margaret and her servants. Edward and Margaret petitioned under common law, and Thomas was summoned to appear before the Earl of Bedford at the quinzaine of Trinity next, and also grant a writ to the sheriff of Devon to make public proclamation of the said summons.
Endorsed: On 5 July Henry V (1419) it was agreed by Council that Thomas should be summoned to appear before them in the quinzaine of Michaelmas next.
Thomas Pomeroy and John Cole pursued what were often quite dubious claims against Edward Pomeroy, who was even assaulted in his house, his castle, and forcibly ejected by way of a window at Berry Pomeroy in 1428. They defenestrated him .
Sir John’s will, for which probate was granted in October 1416, has not survived. His widow was required to take an oath not to remarry without the King’s licence, and presumably never did so. She died four years later
It doesn't seemed to have stopped Thomas from pressuring Sir John's widow, and in 1420 Joan, without licence of the King, made over her rights in Berry to Thomas and his wife Joan and to John Cole. She died on Corpus Christi day.
Thomas with his wife Johanna & John Cole managed to get Sir Edward dispossessed of his inheritance to Berry Pomeroy by 1422.
Westminster.20th July 1422 To the escheator in Devon. Order to take the fealties of Thomas de la Pomeray and John Cole, and to give the said Thomas, Joan his wife and John Cole livery of the manor of Byry Pomeray, and the issues thereof taken since 20 November last; as it is found by inquisition, taken before the escheator, that John Pomeray knight was thereof seised, that he held it of King Richard II in chief by knight service. , that by name of John de la Pomeray, son and heir of Henry de la Pomeray, he gave the same to William de Horbury parson of Ipplepen, Richard Holrygge vicar of Bryxham, John Papilwyke parson of Lookessore, Reynold vicar of Byry Pomeray, John Hill, John Wadham, Thomas de la Pomeray, William Caunton and Richard Aysshe and to their heirs, that by virtue of his gift they were thereof seised, that William Caunton died, that after his death the surviving feoffees gave the manor to the said John Pomeray and Joan then his wife and to the heirs of their bodies, with remainder to the right heirs of John Pomeray, that licence of the late king was obtained, that those grantees continued their estate during the said John's life, that he died thereof jointly seised without issue by the said Joan, that she overlived him, and peaceably continued her estate until Ascension day 8 Henry V, on which day without licence of the king, by name of Joan who was wife of John de la Pomeray son and heir of Henry de la Pomeray, by deed of that date she made a surrender and grant of her estate in the said manor to the said Thomas, Joan and John Cole, being the right heirs of John Pomeray, and to their heirs, Joan being daughter of Joan sister and one of his sisters and heirs, and John Cole being son of Margaret the other sister and heir, by virtue of which surrender and grant they are thereof seised; and on 20 November last for a fine paid in the hanaper the king pardoned the trespasses herein committed, and for 20s. there paid he has respited the homage of John Cole until Easter next.
However Thomas's wife Joanna did not enjoy their new estate for long because she died 18 Nov, 1422, possibly in childbirth. They had a daughter Isabella who died before her father, possibly born at this time. When she died her dower lands were Combe Ralegh, Avishayes in Sidmouth, and Wolston, in east Alvington; a half share in Beri, half share in Stokleigh, a half share in Tregony. and half shares in the moieties of Hurberton and Brixham.
Later that same year 1422: Sir Thomas Pomeroy married a 2nd time this time to Joanna Raleigh of Nettlecombe Court widow of John de Whalesborough High Sheriff of Cornwall with whom she had 9 children including Thomas de Whalesborough.
In March 1423 Thomas and Joanna went of pilgrimage to Rome. He died in 1426, still having a go at Edward for there is a 1426 trespass of Thomas against Edward on record.
His second wife surviving to apparently ' take the veil' living until 1435. when she was buried at the Friars Minors,
"secundum disposicionem Gardiani ibidem et magistri Thome Wynchelsey." Bequeathed 40s. to the Friars to pray for his soul. Mentions Thomas Whalesburgh, her son, who was heir of her first husband John Whalesburgh, her son Robert Whalesburgh, and her second husband Sir Thomas Pomerey.
Litigation
Petitioners: Thomas Pomeroy, knight; Joan (Chudleigh), wife of Thomas Pomeroy.
Addressees: Commons of parliament.
Nature of request: Thomas Pomeroy, knight, and Joan his wife request that the commons ask the king that they might be restored to certain manors and tenements in Devon and Cornwall, from which they were forcibly expelled by Philip Courtenay, knight, John his son and Joan, widow of James Chuddelegh, while Thomas was going to Wales in the king's service.
They ask to be restored in such a way as to be able to defend themselves by common law, which they cannot do at present, as Philip and his associates broke into their tenements in Exeter by night, and stole all their deeds, charters and muniments, which were kept there.
( Sir Philip Courtenay was known for acts of gratuitous savagery and vindictiveness, occasionally tempered with some real skill in military and naval affairs. )
Nature of endorsement: [On face] The lords are to speak to the king.
Answered.[On dorse] This petition and the record on it are entered in the roll of parliament.
Places mentioned: Clyston (Broad Clyst), Devon; Ayston (Ashton), Devon; Shappelehilion (Shapley), Devon; Hokesbeare (Huxbear), Devon; Affelond (Affaland), Devon; Exeter, Devon; Westwydemouth (Widemouth), [Cornwall].
People mentioned: Philip Courtenay, knight; John [Courtenay], son of Philip Courtenay; Joan [Chuddelegh], widow of James Chuddelegh who was engaged to a Courtenay.
Date derivation: This petition is enrolled on the roll of the parliament of September 1402 (Rot. Parl. vol. III, pp.488a-489a).
One of those tangles....
Joan Pomeroy daughter of Sir Henry Pomeroy, son of Sir Henry & Johanna Moels , married Sir James Chudleigh and was sister to Sir John Pomeroy who married another Johanna, daughter of Richard de Merton. After the death of James Chudleigh, (Joan Chudleigh nee Pomeroy, her mother) was betrothed to John Courtenay
Quoting Connections she was either the mother or step mother of Joan Chudleigh , wife of Thomas de la Pomeray. Courtenay responded that his son was engaged to Joan Chudleigh (nee Pomeroy) at the time of the invasion (they were now married,) and that the lands and manors and documentation cited in the allegation belonged to her as they had belonged to her deceased husband, Joan’s father.
Joanna Chudleigh widow of St Aubyn and de Bryan had dower properties -1387 Close Rolls
From the History Of Parliament
POMEROY, Sir Thomas (d.1426), of Combe Raleigh, Devon.
Member of Parliament - Constituency DEVON Jan. 1404/DEVON 1406/ DEVON 1410 / DEVON May 1413
son of Robert Pomeroy of Sandridge, Devon
Married 1st in 1388, Joan (d. 14 Dec. 1422), da. of Sir James Chudleigh* of Ashton and Shirwell, Devon, by Joan, sis. and co-heir of Sir John Pomeroy, widow of Sir John St. Aubyn and Sir Philip Bryan†, 1 da. d.v.p.;
Married 2nd Joan (d.1435/6), da. of Sir John Raleigh† of Nettlecombe, Som., wid. of John Whalesborough* of Whalesborough, Cornw. s.p. Kntd. 1400.
Offices Held Sheriff, Devon 24 Nov. 1400-8 Nov. 1401, 29 Nov. 1410-10 Dec. 1411, 6 Nov. 1413-19 May 1414, Som. and Dorset 22 Nov. 1404-5.
Commr. of inquiry, Devon Aug. 1404 (prisoners taken at Black Pool), Devon, Cornw. June 1406 (concealments); array, Devon July 1405, Apr. 1418;
to raise royal loans, Devon, Cornw. June 1406; of oyer and terminer, Devon Mar. 1417.
JP. Devon 1 Oct. 1415-Nov. 1418.
Biography
Although he belonged to a cadet branch of the Pomeroy family, Thomas emerged as the most prominent member of the family of his generation.
This prominence was due more to a convenient marriage and dubious financial dealings, coupled with strong Lancastrian sympathies, than to any high standing as a landowner or ability as a public servant.
At regular intervals after this Sir Thomas Pomeroy received royal pardons of outlawry for failure to appear in court to answer his creditors, usually London merchants.
Indeed, between 1390 and 1406 he secured six such pardons relating to debts amounting to more than £120 and owed to city vintners, saddlers, drapers, tailors, armourers, a mercer and a fishmonger, as well as to the receiver of the duchy of Cornwall.! Such indebtedness was common amongst all the ranks of nobles and he was not particularly unusual in this. It was perhaps Sir Thomas’s shaky financial record that set the tone of his career. In September 1388, at Chudleigh, the vicar of Berry Pomeroy was summoned before the bishop of Exeter’s court accused of celebrating a clandestine marriage between Pomeroy and the twice-widowed Joan Chudleigh, who had recently, by common fame, been secretly married to William Amadas. A penance was imposed upon the vicar, but Pomeroy had to obtain the King’s pardon,for which, in October 1389, he paid £10 into the hanaper of the Chancery.
Certainly, this marriage ‘bore the appearance of enterprise’, for it was contracted very soon after an entail had been devised by Sir John Pomeroy by which the manor of Berry Pomeroy would, in default of children of his own, reverting his sisters and their heirs, John Cole and Joan Chudleigh,Thomas’s bride .
Thomas was well aware of this arrangement, having assisted in the legal formalities as one of Sir John’s feoffees. Much of his energy was to be spent on converting possibility into reality.
His career, however, was still had to be made. In February 1395 he was granted royal letters of protection as about to go to Aquitaine in the retinue of John of Gaunt; however, five months later he still tarried at home, being busy with his own affairs.
Henry IV’s accession provided the turning point of Pomeroy's public career. As ‘King’s esquire’, as early as March of 1400, he was given an annuity of £20 from the royal revenues of Devon, and in December following, ‘for the better maintenance of his knightly estate, to which the King caused him to be exalted at his last voyage in Scotland’, he received a grant for life of lands at Hemyock( North of Honiton) worth £8 p.a.
Meanwhile, in February 1400, he had become farmer of Oakford, ( near Tiverton in East Devon) Devon, by Exchequer lease, and four years later he was granted a share in the custody of lands at Membury( near Bampton north of Honiton), which, however, he surrendered in 1406.
Pomeroy’s annuity was to be confirmed by Henry V and by Henry VI’s council. Such liberality depended upon loyal service, and his standing may also be gauged by the willingness of the Lancastrian kings to exonerate him from the debts he owed as sheriff of Devon.
On two occasions he failed to account fully for the issues of the county: owing £56 13s.4d. in 1402, he was at first committed to the Fleet, only to be pardoned ‘for his good service to the King in Scotland and Wales without wages or fees’; and in February 1415, even though he had been told that the exemption of 1402 might not be used as a precedent, he was pardoned payment of £30, in consideration of his great costs and losses in the office. It is notable, however, that he had been removed from the shrievalty in the previous year after occupying it on this occasion for only six months.
Through his marriage to Joan Chudleigh Sir Thomas Pomeroy had acquired a number of properties in the West Country.
These included his wife’s dower lands in Somerset, namely one third of the manor and hundred of Frome Branche and the manors of Batheaston and Shockerwick (all demised for an annual rent of £24) which, along with Allerton, fell to her by marriage to Sir Philip Bryan (a younger son of Guy, Lord Bryan), together with the manor of Combe Ralegh in Devon, which had belonged to her first husband, Sir John St. Aubyn.
Yet the income from these estates was not sufficient to support Pomeroy’s extravagance. Shortly after his marriage he entered into a recognizance beforethe mayor of the Staple of Westminster in September 1388 for the sum of £83 10s.8d., and when payment became overdue and Chancery issued a writto value his property in Somerset, Oxfordshire, Dorset and Devon, it was found that income from the St. Aubyn manor of Alston Sutton, which was worth 12 marks a year, and a rent of ten marks from Frome would help pay off the debt.
It was perhaps Pomeroy’s shaky finances and extravagant tastes and extravagant tastes which encouraged him to increase his income from land.
Thomas's best opportunity to achieve his ambition came in 1416, when Sir John Pomeroy died without issue. His wife,( Joan Chudleigh) as co -heir with John Cole held moieties of Stockleigh,Harberton and Brixham, and presumably also, on the death of Sir John’s widow,( Johanna Merton) of Berry Pomeroy itself.
A settlement of 1414 declaring Edward Pomeroy to be heir to Berry was set aside by the Crown, and Sir Thomas Pomeroy, by right of his wife and John Cole of Nethway (son of Margaret Pomeroy and Adam Cole) were confirmed in possession of the reversion.
Then, perhaps by dint of strong persuasion, Sir John’s widow relinquished her life interest in the estate to these same two claimants a few months before herdeath in 1420. It is uncertain, however, whether Sir Thomas’s tactics succeeded at Tregony in Cornwall: there, he attempted to wrest the manor from Edward and his wife by making an assault on the manor-house and imprisoning and then ousting them.
The King’s Council intervened to prevent further damage and riot, and Edward apparently regained possession for a while but even so, after the death of Sir Thomas’s wife in 1422, it was said that his widow held Tregony.
Of Pomeroy’s associates in Devon, little is known, but he was clearly not on good terms with the powerful Courtenays. Sir Philip Courtenay’s son,Sir John, had married his wife’s stepmother, Joan Chudleigh, and in 1402 they were engaged in a dispute over the latter’s dower lands (six manors in Devon and Cornwall), during which some of the Chudleigh property in Exeter was burnt down. Relations had not improved by 1410 when Sir John Courtenay was summoned before Parliament to answer charges made in the Commons by Pomeroy himself, sitting for the third time as a shire knight. It is noticeable that Edward Pomeroy, by contrast, was on good terms with the Courtenays, and he may well have sought their support in his struggle to gain possession of the family estates.
Sir Thomas Pomeroy later stood surety for another prominent Devon landowner, (Sir) Thomas Brooke , when the latter obtained the estates of his stepfather-in-law, the heretic and lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle.
After Sir Thomas’s first wife’s death in September 1422, he was permitted to retain the Pomeroy estates ‘by the courtesy’, having had issue, a daughter named Isabel. She, however, died before her father whose death occurred on the feast of St. Laurence (either 3 Feb. or 10 Aug.) 1426.
Pomeroy’s scheme to bring the family inheritance to his cadet branch failed, for Edward Pomeroy was quick to take possession. In fact, no more was heard of any claim by Joan and Margaret St. Aubyn, the grand daughters and next heirs of Sir Thomas’s first wife. One grandaughter Johanna St Abyn was married to Otto Bodrgan age 17 the other Margaret St Aubyn was married off at the tender age of 13 to Reginald Tretherff who was only 3 years her senior.
In December 1422 Thomas had married the widow of a Cornish landowner, Johanna Ralegh, daughter of John Ralegh of Nettlecombe in Somerset and widow of John Whalesborough, by whom she had 9 children.
(Nettlecombe: In 1160 the manor was granted to Hugh de Ralegh (Sheriff of Devon) and has never been sold since. It has passed down to his successors through a continuous family line of Ralegh, Whalesburgh and Trevelyan to its current owner, John Wolseley, in 1943.)
The following year Sir Thomas & Johanna Pomeroy apparently made a pilgrimage to Rome He died on 6 June 1426 and she died survived him and died in 1436 in London.
Pomeroy Soldiers of the late medieval period: 1346-1377:
1. Sir Henry Pomeroy (by 1308?-1373) served in the retinue of John de Veer, earl of Oxford, as one of the commanders of the Black Prince's division at Crecy. 1346.
2. His son, John de la Pomerai (Powley doesn't have a birth date..-says he died 1416.) was active in the naval defense of Devonshire against a landing from France in 1375; (Noted as a Man At Arms on board a ship. Not a "mariner." ) Also served with Edward III aboard one of the naval ships in 1372. Commissions of Array :1377.
3. Thomas de la Pomeray, (esquire) ( cousin of John ) , Man-at-arms) 1369. Also "on journey for the King..1372- (Salisbury was Ambassador to the Pope) .
In 1404 Thomas de la Pomeray, Knight, was in Wales for the King. (While he was in Wales his property was “invaded” and papers taken by Courtney, and company;).
4. William Pomeray, "esquire." Man-at-arms) 1369, At Sea (Probably brother of Thomas, above.)
5: John Pomeray, "esquire," Man-at-arms) 1369. At sea. (Probably brother of Thomas, above.)
1389-1422
1. William Pomeray, Esquire, Man At Arms, 1389, Brest Garrison 1 year. Also recorded as serving in North of France 1 year in 1422: (relationship probably one of the 5 sons of Sir Henry Pomeroy and his wife Joan Moels.)
2. Thomas Pomeray, at Brest Garrison, 1389 1 year:
NOTE: After Thomas Pomeroy married Joan Chudleigh/St Aubyn, 1388 he became "de la Pomeray, esquire in the musters: 1390-1392.
(With "William le Scrope; Brest & Cherbourg.)
In 1395 this Thomas de la Pomeray was with John of Gaunt at Aquitaine and in 1396 still with John of Gaunt at Gascony.
1396 appears to be his last "muster." Edward Pomeray was with Sir Hugh Courtenay 1419 Service in France. "Diplomatic." "Of Sandridge, Devon."
(The National Archives, Kew Legal status Public Record(s)
Additional Connections Part of the tapestry that is genealogy
Thomas Pomeroy was son of Robert Pomeroy of Smallridge, Upottery & Bockerel, a cadet line from
Geoffrey, son of Henry Pomeroy by Alice de Vere. Henry died in 1206 in the Holy land a Knight Crusader
Geoffrey was 2nd son of Sir Henry Pomeroy ( d 1206) Born between 1180 & 1206 . His older brother Henry was ward of Ralph de Turbervill 3 Nov 1221 – he married Margery de Vernon dau of William De VERNON & Maud Beaumont . Margery survived her husband, who died 1235 in the Holy Land so he was a Knight Crusader and had ward of her son in 1236 on payment of 400 marks and in 1253, she had custody of the lands of the heir of her late husband.
Sister Mary de Vernon married Robert De COURTENAY (1° B. Okehampton)
sister Joan de Vernon married Henry De BRIWERE son was William De BRIWERE of Horsley
Geoffrey de la Pomerai was under age when his father died in 1206 he married Matilda de Ralegh, circa 1247,who may have been daughter of Warin de Ralegh 1 d 1242 of Nettlecombe in Somerset & Margaret le Boteler
Geoffrey inherited property at Clistwick Brandon in 1206, on the death of his father, Clyst St George, a Domesday holding of Ralph Pomeroy lying close to Topsham in east Devon , and Cheriton, in Payhembury.
In 1237 he had the manor of Tale by fine and in 1247 he had Upottery ( in Axminster & held by Ralph Pomeroy in 1086)
In 1247 he also held Buckerell by fine( fee) Buckerell is near Payhembury which has Cheriton, Upton & Tale in the parish but although apparently anciently being held by the Pomeroys it is not mentioned in Domesday Book.
..the Buckerell Parish Councill booklets states..
As Old Owlescombe it was one of the manors of Ralph de Pomeroy...
HOWEVER Domesday book tells us that Awliscombe had as Tenant-in-chief in 1086: William the goat. Also called William Capra Cheiver half brother of Ralph see foot note 1
1198 William, Lord Brewer, the founder of Dunkeswell Abbey, Torre Abbey and Polslow Priory, bought ‘Owlescombe’ from Henry de la Pomeroy and may have built a church at Buckerell …
According to Victoria County History, “Ralf de Pomaria has a manor called Old Owlescombe, now in the village of Buckerell”. But according to Risdon the name ‘did not appear until 1231’ when it was called after Andrew Bokerel. It is possible that Bokerel was a tenant of de Pomeroy’s, and as was the custom, the place he occupied was given his name rather than that of the Lord of the Manor. Andrew Bokerel was also Lord Mayor of London seven times.
Possibly Geoffrey got Tale when he married ? ( Tale is in Payhembury )
1st circa 1216 Geoffrey may have married Joan Allelegh of Allaleigh near Tuckenhay & Cornworthy,
2nd Matilada de Ralegh ? circa 1247 who may have been daughter of Warin de Ralegh 2 d 1242 of Nettlecombe in Somerset & Margaret le Boteler
connections
Not far from Combe Raleigh and just south west of Upottery is Smallridge is a hamlet ( no church) less than 2 miles north of Axminster and north east of Honiton in the East Devon .
Sir Humphrey de Beauchamp, Lord of Ryme Intrinseca, Oburnford, Oulescombe, Teinghervy, and Buckerell 1250-1316
Just north west of Honiton it historically formed part of Hemyock Hundred & falls within Ottery Deanery
Sir John de BEAUCHAMP Knight was born 1315 in Ryme Intrinseca, Dorset.. He died 8 Apr 1349 in Ryme Intrinseca, Dorset.
John married Margaret de WHALESBOROUGH in 1340 in Ryme Intrinseca, born 1328 in Lancarffe, Cornwall .
2 daughters
Joan de BEAUCHAMP was born 1347.married Sir Robert Challons
Elizabeth de BEAUCHAMP was born 1349.
Sir Robert Challons, regarding tenements in Oulescombe and Buckerell, Devonshire which had been possessed by Elizabeth's brother, Sir Thomas Beauchamp.
Margaret Beauchamp, and Thomas Beauchamp; with 1/3 of revenues of Bokerel to Pomeroy while she lived, and also she granted, as "once wife" of Beauchamp, her dower property of Teignhervey to Edward Pomeroy, son of Thomas Pomeroy, 5th son, in 1400.
In April 2016 Alma LaFrance Morey wrote this
We found a single record that is identifiable Sir Thomas Pomeroy, 5th son the Sir Henry by his wife Joanna Moels .
In 1372 Thomas made a declaration which named his wife as Johan and his son William , with no mention of a son Edward.
Edward might have been unborn at that time, and Thomas, was a warrior , a military man rather than one who stayed at home and minded his estates.
In 1372 Thomas was making provision for his family because he is going to a journey for the king.
If he returned from the journey he intended to hold the premises as before. If he died on the journey before he could reclaim his home then someone was to hold the property for his wife ,Johane and William his son, and the heirs of the body of William.
For default of such issue, the premises are to remain to the heirs of the body of 1., and for default, to Nichol, brother of 1. and the heirs of his body. If Nichol has no heirs of the body, the premises remain to William, brother of Nichol and the heirs of his body, and for default, with remainder to the right heirs of 1.
Date: Wednesday next before the feast of St Laurence, 46 Edward III. 1373
IN SEARCHING THE RECORDS FOR OWNERSHIP OF WYLL, purchased by Sir Thomas Pomeroy from Roger at Pole, 1377; the following were found in the Court Rolls for the Manor of Waddeton which clarifies that William, and not Edward was the next heir of Sir Thomas Pomeroy:
While the records show a dispute over the ownership of Wyll for over 200 years, the ongoing dispute tells us that Sir Thomas Pomeroys widow Johan married Alexander Merle, and that Edward was the son of William, which fills in the GAP IN YEARS between Sir Thomas b c 1328 and Edward b c. 1377.
05/11/1377: Order to distrain Thomas de la Pomeroy to do homage and fealty to the lord and to show by what right and title he entered into the lord’s fee at La Wille.
18/05/1378 Order to distrain Thomas de la Pomeroy to do fealty for lands and tenements in ye Yealbelorn.
02/11/1378: Order to distrain Johanne de la Pomeray to do fealty for lands and tenements in Wille Yeallbxxx.
The above repeated in 19/06/1378.
24 May 1380: John Rend 2d Reginald Poyer 2d in mercy for trespass and breaking and taking away the hedge of John de la Pomeraye
26 April 1392: The homage presents that Alexander Merle and Johanna his wife held certain lands and tenements Atte Wille for the life. After Johanna’s death the reversion is to the heirs of Thomas de la Pomeray to be held by Knight Services.
01/10/1392: The lands and tenements which Thomas de la Pomeray lately held at le Wylle remain in the lord’s hands by reason of the minority of Edward.
The above repeated 31/05/1393 and 28/10/1393 and 21/10/1395.
08/05/1397: Order to distrain Edward Pomeroy son and heir of William Pomeroy to do homage and fealty to the lord for the lands and tenements at Wille.
18/10/1392: Order to distrain Edward Pomeroy to do homage and fealty to the lord for the lands and tenements at la Wille.
The above repeated regularly from 30/09/1395 to21/09/1402, with the exception of the entry below:
02/10/1399: Orders to seize the land of Wylle into the lord’s hands. Distrain Edward Pomeroy for the lands at Wylle.
There appear to be some transcripts missing here and the order of the ones in the file are jumbled.
05/10/1439: The bailiff in mercy 3d for not distraining Edward Pomeroy Esq. to do homage and fealty to the lord for lands and tenements which he holds in la Will and to do distraint ordered.
27/01/1440: Order to distrain Edward Pomeroy Esq, tenant of Dynyngton to do suit and answer for may defaults.
23/03/1441: Order to distrain Edward de la Pomray to do suit for the lands and tenements in le Wille and to answer for may defaults.
25/01/1437: The homage presents that Edward de la Pomray shall do suit at court twice a year for the land and tenements Le Wille. Distrait ordered.
25/04/1437: The bailiff in mercy 3d for not distraining Edward de la Pomeray Esq to do suit for the lands and tenements which he holds by the purchase of Thomas de la Pomray from Roger atte Pole in , able to satisfy the lord for homage, relief and fealty and answer for many defaults, distrain.
October 1437: The homage presents the default of Edward de la Pomeroy esq, tenant at le Wille who owes suite and has not paid for it. He is to be distrained to answer for his many defaults and for homage and relief.
13/02/1437: The bailiff fined again.
14/06/1438: The homage presents the default of Edward de la Pomeroy esq, tenant at le Wille who owes suite and has not paid for it. He is to be distrained to answer for his many defaults and for homage and relief.
03/10/1439: The bailiff fined again.
There appear to be transcripts missing.
29/10/1519 to 29/01/1521: regular entries - Edward Pomeroy knight, free tenant for lands and tenements in La Wyll 3d
21/06/1521 to 13/05/1538: regular entries referring to Edward Pomeroy knight owing suit of 3d and having defaulted, therefore in mercy.
13/11/1545 to 17/05/1560: regular entries referring to Thomas Pomeray esquire owing 3d having defaulted and being in mercy.
08/05/1561 to 03/05/1582: regular entries referring to Thomas Pomeray knight having defaulted
04/05/1568: Thomas Pomeray knight who held the manor of Sandridge, Will and Egleford by knights service has died.
14/04/1569 to 1622: regular entries referring to the heir of Thomas Pomeroy knight 3d free tenant owes suite and has defaulted, therefore in mercy.
There is no further mention of Wyll after 1622
FRIDAY 17 JAN 2023 Mainly memory joggers and a few links that might offer additional clues.
OPC Dorset has
Beaminster 1891 Census Enumeration District 1
Langdon and Cottages & Langdon Farm House
HERITAGE ENGLAND
Langdon Manor Farm is 18th C
However Langdon Mill is recorded in the Mills Database as Unindexed mill
Langdon Mills, Beaminster - Watermills in the Beaminster Museum .. had/has .a beam engine
HERITAGE GATEWAY GIVES US
Langdon Manor Farm, BeaminsterBeaminster; Dorset
FARM LABOURERS COTTAGE (Late eighteenth century;, Post Medieval - 1767 AD to 1799 AD)
FARMHOUSE (Late eighteenth century;, Post Medieval - 1767 AD to 1799 AD)
Lime kiln at Higher Langdon, Beaminster
LANGDON MANOR FARM also gives us
MILL - producing seed oil by machine laterly
https://heritagedata.org/live/schemes/eh_tmt2/concepts/69132.html
1415: John Pomeroy, Archer, in France under Edward, Duke of York, led by King Henry V 1415
1415
Sir THOMAS ARTUR M.P. for Somerset in 1397 son and heir of Richard Artur of Clapton in Gordano and his wife Isabel, daughter of Roger Turtle a merchant of Bristol. He died intestate - probated by 31 Oct. 1404 and was succeeded in his estates by his eldest son, John.
Thomas Arthur Esquire Man-at-arms was in an Expedition to France under Lord William Botreaux, commanded by Henry V in 1415 …
124 years later His descendant in 1539 Sir Thomas Arture of Clapton in Gordano married Anne daughter of William Wykes, & very wealthy merchant family
Sir Thomas died & in 1544 RICHARD POMEROY, widower of Eleanor Coker, married his widow ANNE Wykes Artur who came to the marriage with a considerable dowry -£100 and a manor in Crewkerne called Hanley,/Henley
1415. Sir Thomas Pomeroy the Troublesome Man. His Parliamentary record https://sites.google.com/site/pomeroytwigs2/sir-thomas-a-troublesome-man
In October 1415, Thomas de la Pomerai was of the commission of the peace of Devonshire. Whether he considered himself 'accursed' not to fight at Agincourt may be doubted; for it was probably quite plain, by summer of 1415, that a contest for the lands and inheritance of the childless Baron Sir John and his wife Joan Martin or Merton widow of Bamfield, could not be long delayed.
John Pomeray Knight was Man-at-arms under William de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury with Edward III leading the army in 1372. Between 169 and 1415 Pomeroy knights went off to war under some of the most famous knights ever known. Edward III, his son the Black Prince; Hugh Courtenay, Duke of Devonshire; William, Lord Botreaux; Edward, Duke of York; Edward Lord Despenser; William de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury; Edward de Courtenay, Earl of Devon; John de Vere, Earl of Oxford Commanding;
Richard Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel; King Henry V with a John Pomeroy an archer Agincourt 25 October 1415
Seems unlikely that this was the Baron John but that cannot be ruled out - equally he might be John 4th son of Henry & Moels
Because There were thousands of archers, can I suppose this John was coordinator of the archers among the 400 troops the Duke of York provided For the Agincourt campaign?
1417: William Pomerey Man-at-arms in Naval Expedition under Robert Carew,led by Sir Thomas Carew 1417 ..
Probably brother of 5th son Thomas & 4th son John seen above & 3rd son Nicholas the Merchant
1419: Edward POMEROY in Parliament. Edward has to be grandson son of Thomas married 1404 son Henry born 1416
Powley:
Pomeroy’s election to Parliament in 1419 may perhaps be explained in terms of the Courtenay influence. Earlier in the year he had served in the retinue of Hugh Courtenay, the heir to the earldom of Devon, which body formed the nucleus of the large naval force under Hugh’s command as ‘captain of the navy’.
PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY ONLINE 1387 TO 1421
Edward wife Joanna de Merton ( or Martin according to Wikitree pedigree)
son of Thomas Pomeroy† (d.1378), of Sandridge. ( PFA CORRECTION SON of William grandson son of Thomas)
Married . c.1404, Margaret Beville (d. 10 Sept. 1461), da. of John Beville† of Woolston, Cornw., 2s.
Son Henry born 1416 2nd son John of Tregony
Offices Held
Offices Held
Sheriff, Devon 26 Nov. 1431-5 Nov. 1432.
Commr. of inquiry, Dorset, Devon, Cornw. June 1432 (piracy); to take musters May 1440; of oyer and terminer, Devon Sept. 1442.
Biography
Biography
One of the few Norman families actually to have come over at the Conquest, that of Pomeroy established itself in the south-west, the centre of its estates being Berry Pomeroy and Hurberton in Devon and Tregony in Cornwall. These stood at the head of honours which amounted to 56 knights’ fees. This property descended in the direct male line from the late 13th to the early 15th centuries, being governed for some of that time by an entail made in 1329, which stipulated that Sir Henry Pomeroy’s lands were to descend to his sons and their male heirs in succession. Two of these sons had male issue: Sir Henry (d.1373), his eldest, and Thomas (knight of the shire for Devon in 1377), his fifth, the father of Edward. But in 1387 Sir John Pomeroy*, son and heir of the younger Sir Henry, set the entail aside by holding Berry Pomeroy of feoffees jointly with his wife and providing for the descent of the estates to the heirs of their bodies with remainder to his right heirs: in effect, Edward, his cousin, had been dispossessed. This was, however, to some extent remedied before March 1404, when Edward consented that Berry and neighbouring properties should be held by Joan, Sir John’s wife, for term of her life, a transaction which suggests that his reversionary rights had at least been recognized. Certainly, after September 1413 Sir John and his wife held Berry with remainder to Edward and his male heirs. Meanwhile, in 1404, our MP had acquired from this same kinsman the family lands at Tregony, albeit only by agreeing to pay him £46 a year until he died; and in the same year he took possession of premises at Sandridge and other places in Devon, which, presumably, had once belonged to his father. But the death of Sir John without issue in 1416 and the machinations of Sir Thomas Pomeroy*, the husband of Sir John’s niece, disturbed all the lawful succession. Sir Thomas seized Berry, having persuaded Sir John’s widow to give up her rights to the property and, moreover, in 1417-18, he challenged Edward’s possession of Tregony. Indeed, with a band of some 200 men he forced an entry into the manor, locked up Edward’s wife without food and drink for two days, and so threatened the couple that they did not dare stay. Sir Thomas and Edward were subsequently required to undertake, on pain of £100 fines, not to molest one another, and in February 1418, by advice of the King’s Council and ‘to avoid riots and other evils and inconveniences which may easily arise’, Tregony was placed in the custody of (Sir) John Arundell I* of Lanherne.2 Thus, it was not until the death of Sir Thomas in 1426 that the Pomeroy estates were brought together in their entirety into Edward’s hands. The re-united properties were quite extensive, though no complete financial assessment has survived.
Pomeroy’s election to Parliament in 1419 may perhaps be explained in terms of Courtenay influence. Earlier in the year he had served in the retinue of Hugh Courtenay, the heir to the earldom of Devon, which body formed the nucleus of the large naval force under Hugh’s command as ‘captain of the navy’. He attended the shire elections held at Exeter in April 1421 and October 1423, but was never again returned to Parliament himself. In 1434 he was among the leading Devon landowners required to take the oath not to maintain anybody who broke the peace. Although on one occasion he was described as ‘knight’, he was generally referred to as ‘esquire’; clearly, his public services were not such as to have warranted knighthood.3
Edward Pomeroy died on 3 May 1446, and was then succeeded by his son, Henry. His widow lived on until 1461.4
Ref Volumes: 1386-1421
Ref Volumes: 1386-1421
Notes
Notes
1.E.B. Powley, House of de la Pomerai, p. xxv; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 302-3; CIPM, xv. 136.
2.Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1914), 687; ibid. (1950), 853; CPR, 1385-9, p. 296; 1413-16, p. 95; 1416-22, pp. 135, 318; Powley, 61-62; CCR, 1413-19, p. 451; C1/6/91; HMC 15th Rep. VII, 140-1; C138/47/53.
3.Powley, 75-76; Feudal Aids, i. 224-5, 453, 480, 486, 491, 493; vi. 418; CPR, 1429-36, p. 399; DKR, xliv. 610; J.H. Wylie, Hen. V, iii. 182; Reg. Lacy ed. Hingeston-Randolph, i. 12; HMC 15th Rep. VII, 142-3; C219/12/5, 13/2
4.CCR, 1429-35, p. 342; 1441-7, pp. 328-9; CFR, xviii. 2, 21; CPR, 1429-36, p. 322; C139/122/37; C140/1/11.
Sir John Pomeroy 1347 to 1461 Kntd. bef. Dec. 1374
b.c.1347, son of Sir Henry Pomeroy (d.1373) of Berry Pomeroy by his wife Emmott .
Married . by 1377, Joan de Merton (d.1420), da. and coh. of Sir Richard Merton of Merton, Devon, wid. of John Bampfield of Poltimore (Joanna de Merton or Martin )
M.P for TOTNES 1407; J.P Cornw. 4 Mar. 1377-8, Devon Dec. 1381-3; Sheriff, Devon 30 Sept.-3 Nov. 1399.
Offices Held Commr. of array, Devon May 1375, Apr., July, Aug. 1377, Feb. 1379, Mar. 1380, Apr. 1385, Mar. 1392; arrest Aug. 1378, Sept. 1381; to issue proclamations prohibiting unlawful assemblies June 1381; of oyer and terminer Oct. 1412.
Biography
It seems unlikely that a knight and landowner of the standing of Sir John Pomeroy would sit in Parliament for a mere borough as distinct from a shire, and the omission of his designation as knight from the return might be thought to strengthen the doubt that it was in fact he and not some lesser man of the same name who represented Totnes at Gloucester in 1407. Yet no other John Pomeroy has been found to fit the bill, and the evidence of Sir John’s undisputed influence in the borough as owner of the suburb of Bridgetown, coupled with the attendance of his steward, Robert French*, at the elections to the Parliament in question, leads to the conclusion that he was, indeed, elected to the Commons as a burgess.1
Sir John was a descendant of Ralph de Pomaria, who came over with the Conqueror, and was himself the son of a knight who fought at Crécy. Although he is not known to have taken part in any foreign campaigns, his appointments to several royal commissions of array may suggest some military experience. The substantial Pomeroy estates in Devon and Cornwall included the manors of Raphael and Stockleigh Pomeroy, a third of Brixham and a moiety of Harberton, as well as the castles of Berry Pomeroy and Tregony. To these, which he inherited from his father in December 1373, John added by marriage lands in Nymet St. George and Kilmington, and he also shared the patronage of the church at Merton. Then, in 1376, he acquired estates in Cornwall from William Huish, brother-in-law of Sir Robert Tresilian†, c.j.KB, which involved him in a legal tangle after Tresilian’s forfeiture for treason and execution in 1388. Huish property in Devon (at Huish, Stowford, Washbourne and Allaleigh) also passed into or through Pomeroy’s hands, but was lost before 1391. No reliable contemporary valuation of the Pomeroy estates has survived. In 1412 Sir John was said to be holding lands in Devon worth £60 p.a., but this was probably a low estimate, for at the time of his death Berry Pomeroy alone was reported to be worth £40.2
That Sir John’s career in royal service was undistinguished may have had something to do with his political sympathies. As well as his contacts with Tresilian he had also materially assisted the judge’s clerk, John Blake (who was likewise condemned to death by the Merciless Parliament), by giving him the wardship of one of his tenants in Lesnewth. Pomeroy’s dismissal from the shrievalty of Devon barely a month after his appointment on the first day of Henry IV’s reign was almost certainly for political reasons, but, unfortunately, no information as to the circumstances has been found. His friendship with Sir John Dynham (d.1428), of Hartland, may also have given him cause for regret: in 1398 he had acted as one of four mainpernors who, in a bond for £200, undertook that Dynham would keep the peace; but although in 1401 Dynham received a pardon and his bailsmen were released from their obligations six years later, they were held responsible for two more offences of his, and Dynham had eventually to forfeit 700 marks to obtain further pardons for himself and his friends.3
In 1387 Pomeroy, considering himself in no way bound by an entail of the family estates in favour of the male line which had been made in 1329, had settled them in the event of his dying childless on his heirs-general. A change of mind, seen in provisions made in 1404 and 1414 on behalf of his cousin and male heir, Edward Pomeroy*, was ignored after his death in 1416, for the Crown preferred the claims of his nephew, John Cole IV* of Nethway, and his niece Joan, who had married another member of the family, Sir Thomas Pomeroy*. Sir John’s will, for which probate was granted in October 1416, has not survived. His widow was required to take an oath not to remarry without the King’s licence, and presumably never did so. She died four years later.4
Ref Volumes: 1386-1421
Author: L. S. Woodger
Notes
Date of Birth/Death: E.B. Powley, The House of de la Pomerai, 59-63.
1. C219/10/4; Powley, 73-74, 82.
2. HMC 15th Rep. VII, 139-40; CPR, 1385-9, p. 296; 1388-92, pp. 55, 269; Reg. Stafford ed. Hingeston-Randolph, 279; Reg. Brantingham, 210; CP25(1)44/65/97; H.R. Watkin, Totnes Priory and Town, 875, 1077-9; Feudal Aids, vi. 416.
3. CCR, 1377-81, p. 104; 1396-9, p. 4; 1399-1402, p. 486; CPR, 1399-1401, p. 484; 1405-8, p. 322; 1408-13, p. 29; CIMisc. iv. 405.
4. Powley, 3-4; CPR, 1413-16, p. 95; CFR, xiv. 143, 332; Reg. Stafford, 87; C138/21/44; CCR, 1413-19, p. 388.
POMEROY, Sir Thomas (d.1426), of Combe Raleigh, Devon. Kntd. 1400. married Joanna Chudley,widow of St Aubyn & de Bryan . Died without issue.
MP for Devon 1404 1406 1410 May 1413. Sheriff, Devon 24 Nov. 1400-8 Nov. 1401, 29 Nov. 1410-10 Dec. 1411, 6 Nov. 1413-19 May 1414, Som. and Dorset 22 Nov. 1404-5.
Commr. of inquiry, Devon Aug. 1404 (prisoners taken at Black Pool), Devon, Cornw. June 1406 (concealments); array, Devon July 1405, Apr. 1418; to raise royal loans, Devon, Cornw. June 1406; of oyer and terminer, Devon Mar. 1417.
J.P. Devon 1 Oct. 1415-Nov. 1418.
Family and Education
Family and Education
Son of Robert Pomeroy of Sandridge, Devon. (& Brother of William of Membury)
Married. (1) 1388, Joan (d. 14 Dec. 1422), da. of Sir James Chudleigh of Ashton and Shirwell, Devon, & his wife Joan, sister. and coheir of Sir John Pomeroy' . Joanna was widow of Sir John St. Aubyn ( I son John his daughters were Joannas heirs who were married off as girls of 17 & 13 )
2nd husband daughter Sir Philip Bryan. Her daughter by Thomas Pomeroy was Isabella who died after her mother & before her father Thomas. Joanna may have died in child birth.
2nd marriage was to Joan (d.1435/6), da. of Sir John Raleigh† of Nettlecombe, Som., widow of John Whalesborough* of Whalesborough, Cornw.
Biography
Biography
Although he belonged to a cadet branch of the Pomeroy family, Thomas emerged as the most prominent member of the family of his generation, a prominence due, it must be admitted, more to a convenient marriage and dubious financial dealings, coupled with strong Lancastrian sympathies, than to any high standing as a landowner or ability as a public servant. One of his earliest recorded appearances sets the tone of his career. In September 1388, at Chudleigh, the vicar of Berry Pomeroy was summoned before the bishop of Exeter’s court accused of celebrating a clandestine marriage between Pomeroy and the twice-widowed Joan Chudleigh, who had recently, by common fame, been secretly married to William Amadas. A penance was imposed upon the vicar, but Pomeroy had to obtain the King’s pardon, for which, in October 1389, he paid £10 into the hanaper of the Chancery. Certainly, this marriage ‘bore the appearance of enterprise’, for it was contracted very soon after an entail had been devised by Sir John Pomeroy by which the manor of Berry Pomeroy would, in default of children of his own, revert to his sisters and their heirs, of whom Thomas’s bride was one. Thomas was well aware of this arrangement, having assisted in the legal formalities as one of Sir John’s feoffees. Much of his energy was to be spent on converting possibility into reality.2
Pomeroy’s career, however, still had to be made. In February 1395 he was granted royal letters of protection as about to go to Aquitaine in the retinue of John of Gaunt; however, five months later he still tarried at home, being busy with his own affairs. Henry IV’s accession provided the turning point of his public career. Indeed, it was as ‘King’s esquire’ that, as early as March 1400, he was given an annuity of £20 from the royal revenues of Devon, and in December following, ‘for the better maintenance of his knightly estate, to which the King caused him to be exalted at his last voyage in Scotland’, he received a grant for life of lands at Hemyock worth £8 p.a. Meanwhile, in February 1400, he had become farmer of Oakford, Devon, by Exchequer lease, and four years later he was granted a share in the custody of lands at Membury, which, however, he surrendered in 1406. Pomeroy’s annuity was to be confirmed by Henry V and by Henry VI’s council. Such liberality depended upon loyal service, and his standing may also be gauged by the willingness of the Lancastrian kings to exonerate him from the debts he owed as sheriff of Devon. On two occasions he failed to account fully for the issues of the county: owing £56 13s.4d. in 1402, he was at first committed to the Fleet, only to be pardoned ‘for his good service to the King in Scotland and Wales without wages or fees’; and in February 1415, even though he had been told that the exemption of 1402 might not be used as a precedent, he was pardoned payment of £30, in consideration of his great costs and losses in the office. It is notable, however, that he had been removed from the shrievalty in the previous year after occupying it on this occasion for only six months.
Through his first marriage Pomeroy had acquired a number of properties in the West Country. These included his wife’s dower lands in Somerset, namely one third of the manor and hundred of Frome Branche and the manors of Batheaston and Shockerwick (all demised for an annual rent of £24) which, along with Allerton, fell to her by marriage to Sir Philip Bryan (a younger son of Guy, Lord Bryan), together with the manor of Combe Ralegh in Devon, which had belonged to her first husband, Sir John St. Aubyn. Yet the income from these estates was not sufficient to support Pomeroy’s extravagance. Shortly after his marriage he entered into a recognizance before the mayor of the Staple of Westminster in September 1388 for the sum of £83 10s.8d., and when payment became overdue and Chancery issued a writ to value his property in Somerset, Oxfordshire, Dorset and Devon, it was found that income from the St. Aubyn manor of Alston Sutton, which was worth 12 marks a year, and a rent of ten marks from Frome would help pay off the debt. At regular intervals after this, Pomeroy received royal pardons of outlawry for failure to appear in court to answer his creditors, usually London merchants. Indeed, between 1390 and 1406 he secured six such pardons relating to debts amounting to more than £120 and owed to city vintners, saddlers, drapers, tailors, armourers, a mercer and a fishmonger, as well as to the receiver of the duchy of Cornwall.
It was perhaps Pomeroy’s shaky finances and extravagant tastes which encouraged him to increase his income from land. His great opportunity came in 1416, when Sir John Pomeroy died without issue. Under the entail of 1387 Sir Thomas stood to come into a share, in right of his wife, of the moieties of Stockleigh, Hurberton and Brixham, and presumably also, on the death of Sir John’s widow, of Berry Pomeroy itself. A settlement of 1414 declaring Edward Pomeroy* to be heir to Berry was set aside by the Crown, and Sir Thomas Pomeroy and John Cole IV* of Nethway were confirmed in possession of the reversion. Then, perhaps by dint of strong persuasion, Sir John’s widow relinquished her life interest in the estate to these same two claimants a few months before her death in 1420. It is uncertain, however, whether Sir Thomas’s tactics succeeded at Tregony in Cornwall: there, he attempted to wrest the manor from Edward and his wife by making an assault on the manor-house and imprisoning and then ousting them. The King’s Council intervened to prevent further damage and riot, and Edward apparently regained possession for a while; even so, after the death of Sir Thomas’s wife in 1422, it was said that she had held Tregony.
Of Pomeroy’s associates in Devon, little is known, but he was clearly not on good terms with the powerful Courtenays. Sir Philip Courtenay’s* son, Sir John, had married his wife’s stepmother, Joan Chudleigh, and in 1402 they were engaged in a dispute over the latter’s dower lands (six manors in Devon and Cornwall), during which some of the Chudleigh property in Exeter was burnt down. Relations had not improved by 1410 when Sir John was summoned before Parliament to answer charges made in the Commons by Pomeroy himself, sitting for the third time as a shire knight. It is noticeable that Edward Pomeroy, by contrast, was on good terms with the Courtenays, and he may well have sought their support in his struggle to gain possession of the family estates. Sir Thomas Pomeroy later stood surety for another prominent Devon landowner, (Sir) Thomas Brooke*, when the latter obtained the estates of his stepfather-in-law, the heretic and lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle*.
After Sir Thomas’s first wife’s death in 1422, he was permitted to retain the Pomeroy estates ‘by the courtesy’, they having had issue, a daughter named Isabel. She, however, died before her father’s death, which occurred on the feast of St. Laurence (either 3 Feb. or 10 Aug.) 1426. Pomeroy’s scheme to bring the family inheritance to his cadet branch failed, for Edward Pomeroy was quick to take possession. In fact, no more was heard of any claim by Joan and Margaret St. Aubyn, the grand daughters and next heirs of Sir Thomas’s first wife. Shortly before his death he had married the widow of a Cornish landowner. She died some time between 20 Nov. 1435 (the date of her will) and 18 Jan. 1436 (when it was proved).7
Ref Volumes: 1386-1421
Ref Volumes: 1386-1421
Notes
Notes
1.E.B. Powley, House of de la Pomerai, p. xxv; C139/9/16, 40/51; CPR, 1399-1401, p. 390; Som. and Dorset N. and Q. xxviii. 120-1; PCC 19 Luffenham.
2.Reg. Brantingham ed. Hingeston-Randolph, 673-4; CPR, 1385-9, p. 296; 1388-92, p. 126; CFR, x. 262; HMC 15th Rep. VII, 140; Powley, 63.
3.Rot. Gasc. et Franc. ed Carte, i. 179; CPR, 1391-6, p. 600; 1399-1401, pp. 241, 390; 1401-5, pp. 44, 48; 1405-8, p. 142; 1413-16, pp. 39, 278; 1422-9, p. 93; CCR, 1399-1402, pp. 451-2, 460; CFR, xii. 44, 240.
4.CIMisc. v. 287; CCR, 1409-13, p. 368; Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 951; Feudal Aids, vi. 426, 511; C131/36/6; CPR, 1388-92, p. 280; 1391-6, p. 396; 1396-9, pp. 299, 304; 1401-5, pp. 143, 339; 1405-8, pp. 129, 131.
5.CFR, xiv. 198, 201, 319; xv. 266-7; CCR, 1413-19, pp. 388, 451; 1419-22, pp. 157-8; 1422-9, pp. 4-5, 83; CPR, 1388-92, p. 269; 1416-22, pp. 135, 318; Powley, 68-69; C138/47/53; C139/9/16, 40/51; Feudal Aids, vi. 417; C1/6/91.
6.RP, iii. 488; CCR, 1402-5, p. 133; 1409-13, p. 7; CFR, xiv. 75; SC8/22/1078; E28/11, 23, 27.
7.C139/40/51; PCC 19 Luffenham.
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