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De Bryan
In 1388 Johanna Chudleigh, daughter of Sir James Chudleigh & his wife Joanna Pomeroy, made 3 mariages .
Johanna was first married to Sir John St Aubyn by whom she had a son;
her 2nd marriage was to Phillip de Bryan in 1386, youngest son of Sir Guy de Bryan, KG who died in Spain or France in 1386
Phillip died , possibly in Spain or France, on 16th Jan 1387 .
Joanna then made a hasty & unlicenced marriage to Thomas Pomeroy Esq. year later in 1388.
This marriage was after 16th January- she would have forfited her considerable dower properties
if she married within a year of her widowhood
Johanna died in 1423 without living issue.
Guy de Bryan, Knight of the Garter of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Walwyn's Castle, Pembrokeshire, of Northam, Slapton, and Torbrian, Seneschal of Pembrok. He was a military and naval commander, courtier, diplomat, and administrator, who served in the wars with Scotland, Flanders, and France; was made Gov. of St. Briavel's Castle and Warden of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire 1341 until his death in 1390
His 2nd wife was Elizabeth Montagu, daughter of William MONTAGUE, 1st EARL OF SALISBURY ( her 3rd husband and his 2nd wife.)
the Crest of Sir Guy de Bryan
"Or, three piles meeting in base azure."
Elizabeth de Bryan was daughter of William Montague was a member of the royal household & served abroad with Edward II in 1320 and 1325, He received a knighthood in & in 1327 was summoned to provide military service on the first Scottish campaign of Edward III's reign. He was elevated to the rank of knight-banneret of the household by June 1328 and was granted the manor of Wark on the River Tweed in January 1329, in part payment for his agreement to serve the king in peace and war for life with a personal retinue of 20 men-at-arms. In October 1329 Montague was made keeper of the king's stannary and the water of Dartmouth
. On 26 August 1346 he was named a Knight Bachelor.
Gascon Rolls 6 May 1366 . Westminster . For the selection of miners in the Forest of Dean . Assignment of Guy de Brian, constable of the castle of St Briavels , and steward of the Forest of Dean , Robert Cole, lieutenant of Guy de Brian , and John Joce , jointly and individually, to select 20 miners from the best of them in the Forest of Dean , and cause them to be suitably arrayed at the cost of Edward [of Woodstock], prince of Aquitaine and Wales , who has informed the king that he stands in need of many of miners in Aquitaine where he resides. Once they are selected and arrayed, they are to be ready and prepared before Whit-Sunday next to go with them or whomsoever else the prince's council should ordain, to the prince in the king's service, to reside in the prince's company. They are ordered to attend to this diligently, and all the foresters and ministers, and whatsoever other faithful subjects of the king there are ordered to obey them and be intendant on them when requested in all things relating to the assignment.
Source: GSR C61 79
In 1349, he was temporarily Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and in 1350 he was granted an annuity of 200 marks for bearing the King's Standard against the French at Calais. From 25 November 1350 onwards, he was regularly summoned to Parliament, by which he may be held to have been created Baron Bryan. Also in 1350, he was given free warren over his lands at Torbryan and Slapton in Devon .
On 1 March 1356 he was appointed Admiral of the West, a post he held untll 18 July 1360 & in 1359 he acquired the manor of Northam which is north of Bideford in Devon, the civil parish includes the villages of Westward Ho!, Appledore, West Appledore, Diddywell, Buckleigh and Silford,.
In 1359 Sir Guy was also appointed Lord Steward of the Royal Household. In 1361, he was England's ambassador to Pope Innocent VI. From 1366 onwards he was regularly a justice of the peace for Devon and extended his landholdings into Dorset, acquiring the manor of Woodsford in 1367 and later that of Hazelbury Bryan.
Following the death of Sir John Chandos on 31 December 1369, he was made a Knight of the Garter. On 3 May 1370 he was once more appointed Admiral of the West, until 6 October 1372. A further appointment in 1377 saw the failure of a proposed expedition against the French, which was cancelled when King Edward III died. Sir Guy had been called to contribute 120 men, 60 men-at-arms and 60 archers .
Sir Guy died in 1390. There is a tomb in Tewkesbury Abbey beside that of his 2nd wife but he was buried at Slapton in South Devon .wherehe and his wife Elizabeth Montague had a founded a smallreligious settlement ; described variously as a Collegiate Chantry, a collegiate College and or as a Priory. It could have been all of those.
Slapton Church has several memorial windows - One to Sir John St Aubyn suggestsing that Joanna Chudleigh, then wife of Sir John St Aubyn who died in 1385 , might have been in residence to marry Sir Phillip de Bryn in 1386 and still there in Slapton or nearby after Phillip died in 1387 . A year later before Oct 1388 she married Thomas Pomeroy Esq 15 miles or so away at Berry Pomeroy to which she was co-heir. In the parish there is Pole or Poole Priory & Pool Barton farm was long the seat of the Bryans, Ameridith and others.
The children of Sir Guy de Bryan & Elizabeth Montegue were Jane Cary, Elizabeth FitzPayn Margaret Courtenay, Philippa de Chaundos, Guy de Bryan, Philip de Bryan & William de Bryan,
1361, the ownership of Sutton Poyntz returned to the Poyntz family, to the grandson of Sir Nicholas, another Nicholas. He, however, took immediate steps to sell it. There is a sequence of Deeds, dated 1361 and 1366 which deal with the sale of Sutton Poyntz to Sir Guy de Bryan.
Sir Guy was an extremely influential man who held a number of important posts including Admiral of the Western Fleet. He was clearly a personal friend of the King & from a family that originated in Devon (Tor Bryan), he also held other land, such as Hazelbury Bryan, in Dorset and he was constable of the castle of St Briavels in the Forest of Dean Sir Guy Bryan KG & his wife Elizabeth Monague had 3 sons . The heir was Sir Guy , 2nd son was Sir Phillip & 3rd son was William. Both Guy & Phillip predeceased their father 1390 but the youngest son , William, survived them & died in 1395.
In 1375 Alyce de Bures a wealthy heiress & sole heir to her sucessful father , She was about 15,when she was married to the younger Sir Guy. They had 2 daughters in their 11 year marriage before he died in 1386 in Spain. His body was brought back to be buried at Slapton in Devon and she was executor of his will. She then had to combat attempts to diminish her young daughters' inheritance by her late husband's younger brother, SirWilliam Bryan, and by her father's stepfather,.
Her father-in-law, who like her father was a notable soldier, courtier and politician, not only paid her stepfather a considerable sum but also endowed Alice with estates in Dorset and Gloucestershire. lyce did not marry again after Guy's death. She was about 26 and she chose to manage her considerable estates herself with the help of bailiffs, & tewards and other retainers. She lived for almost 30 more years and never remarried, dying in 1435.
Her houshold accounts were used to provide the source for a very interesting book the life of a MEDEIVAL GENTLEWOMAN , by ffiona Swabley
Towards the end of the his life Sir Guy Bryan the older, laid two charges against his & only remaining son, William de Bryan.
The charges were that William had caused the terms of leases of some of Guy's property to be changed, against Guy's wishes, so that, in the absence of any male-line grandchildren of Guy's, the properties would be inherited by William's heirs, rather than by Guy's heirs;
The 2nd charge was that William had stolen various documents relating to properties owned by his father SirGuy. The effect of the changes to the leases was subtle, but could have led to the property passing to William's daughters, if he had any, rather than the two daughters of Guy's oldest son.
Sir William made a public declaration of the reasons for his action, stating that there had been no undue pressure on his father when the settlement of 1386 was made. In 1388 Sir Guy found that documents were missing from his strong boxes and had gone to his son William’s inn in London where he broke open a chest and found the missing velums. Shortly afterwards, Sir William went to Carmarthenshire, scaled the walls of the castle of Laugharne and took £25 from his father's coffers (P.R., 1390, 303; 1392, 169). Since William does not appear to have had any children it would not have mattered; but the charges led to William being arrested, and seems to have led to him being cut out of Guy's inheritance. On his death in 1390 Sir Guy's extensive properties therefore passed to his only grandchildren, Philippa and Elizabeth.
The children of Sir Guy de Bryan, the younger . & his wife Lady Alyce de Bures were their daughters ,Philippa and Elizabeth Both were still children in 1386 when their father died so the properties they inherited were controlled by their mother, lady Alyce . She was an heiress in her own right before her marriage & as a widow, inheriting her husband's properties in the west country , she became an extremely wealthy woman . That wealth was further increased when her father in law Guy senior died in 1390 without a male heir, his son William having been disinherited.
A total of 6,000 acres; the Sutton Poytz estate alone had 1000 acres, with manor houses , 29 messuages, 11 cottages, 6 closes , 8 tofts ,a water mill, a grain mill & a fulling mill . She had stewards to manage her manor houses and 80 bailiffs who managed the farms, & receivers responsible for the finances of each property whilst keeping the overall control in her own hands.
The accounts from her tenure survive and give a vivid insight into life in the time when chivalry and the ideals of heroic knights & gracious maidens was drawing to a close. and gentility was emerging. She was Lord of the Manor and her status as a gentlewoman lay in that concep
(ffiona Swabey, The Medieval Gemtlewoman)
Lady Alyce de Bryan undertook to manage her vast estates herself. She remained in the west country in properties owned by her husband until about 1400 when she moved to Acton in Sudbury, settling into the properties of her Suffolk patrimony where she remained until her death in 1415.
At her death in 1435 Lady Alyce was shown to be the owner of Sutton Poyntz in 1385. Lord Guy senior having vested the manor in himself and Alice, with remainder to the descendants of Alice and Guy the younger. Thus on Lord Bryan's death in 1390, Sutton Poyntz became Alice's personal property rather than going to her children as soon as they were of age.
Alice's older daughter, Philippa, married twice & died in 1406 without children. All the estates then went to her sister Elizabeth. An order in the Fine Rolls for 1435 [29] concerns the transfer of Sutton Poyntz from Alice, who had just died, to her daughter Elizabeth. For a time, this is the last definite record we have found of Sutton Poyntz, so the next few steps are currently conjectures.
After of the death of her older sister Philippa and that of her mother Alice, Elizabeth owned all of the estates that had belonged to her grandfather, Sir Guy de Bryan, and also the estates belonging to her mother, mainly in Suffolk and Essex.
Elizabeth had married Sir Robert Lovell of Rampisham & they had one daughter, Maud.
Two years after Alyce had died Elizabeth also died in 1437 . Unfortunately records do not include an IPMt on any lands belonging to Elizabeth in Dorset, so although we know she inherited Sutton Poyntz in 1435, there is no similar record in 1437.
In a deed of 8 June 1386 there is a resettlement by Sir Guy of the castle of Tallagharn (Langharne) and the lordship of Dartmouth on Sir William de Byan, knight, and Philip de Byan, the younger son, thus confirming that William was older than Philip.
Sir Philip, died within a few days of this deed. & in 1388 his widow Johanna married Thomas Pomeroy Esq.
William, the only one of his sons to outlive Sir Guy had four manors in Somerset, Frome Braunche, Woodland, Batheaston and Shockerwick, which were inherited by his nieces Philippa and Elizabeth de Bryan ;
in the parliament of 1385 Sir Guy sat for that county, being the only Bryan of the Torbryan family named in the House of Commons lists
(EARLY OWNERS OF TORBRYAN MANOR. J. J. ALEXANDER, M.A Read at Torquay, 25th June, 1936 )
Sir Guy de Bryan, K.G. had created an entail male for his sons Guy de Bryan, his 3rd son, Sir Phillip, and failing male heirs ,on the right heirs of William his 2nd son . Both the older sons, Guy & Phillip, died before their father but William survived him was disinherited after he attempted to change the line of inheitance in his own favour. Lands in Dorset and Devon were settled on them with the manors of Kingsdon, Somerton Erleigh and Somerton Randolph
Sir Philip was 34 when he married in 1386 . His wife was Joanna Chudleigh widow of Sir John St Aubyn of St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, but he died the following year - possibly fighting in France or Spain in service to the Crown. Her 3rd husband was Thomas Pomeroy Esq of Sandridge a penniless member of a cadet line of the baronial family. The marriage was made without the King's consent.
It seems possible that Joanna, a wealthy twice widowed co-heir to the Pomeroy baron, might not have been an entirely willing bride. Although the marriage took place with the Church at Berry Pomeroy, it seems it was performed in the aisle & not at the atlar, suggesting to me that she might not have been a willing participant.
The king forgave Thomas, fined the vicar but in 1400 knighted Pomeroy.
A map of the properties of Lady Alyce de Bryan, Johanna Pomeroy's sister in law , after the death of her husband Sir Guy de Bryan the younger in 1386 & her father in law Sir Guy KG 4 years later in 1390
including Hazlebury Bryan in Dorset|
Given that Thomas Pomeroy is supposed to have married the twice widowded Johanna in Berry Pomeroy, it seems reasonable to suppose that she and Phillip de Bryan could have been living either at Pool, Barton , Slapton near Stokenham or at the de Bryan property at TorBryan which lies between Newton & Bery Pomeroy .
SLAPTON, on the coast of Start Bay, 6 miles from Dartmouth, has 3260 acres of tithe free land, and many scattered houses, commanding fine views of the bay and coast. The manor formerly held of the See of Exeter, by the service of being steward at the bishop's installation feast, was dismembered .
Pole or Poole Priory, was long the seat of the Bryans, then Ameridiths and Hawkis, The ruins of the old mansion were removed about 1800, except the lofty tower, which stands in the garden.
The Tor Bryan manor, first recorded as Torre Briane, was in 1238. In 1242 it was held by Sir Wydo [Guy] de Brianne . It is 4 miles from Newton-Bushel (Newton Abbot) & comprised 1,972 acres, of which 200 are common or waste land; it abounds with limestone of excellent quality
Above some of the glorious medieval panels stolen then found & reinstalled at Torbryan church
The de Bryans are connected for 5 generations to Pembrokeshire and Devonshire
"This family is especially associated with that of Tor Bryan, a place named for the Brienne (Brien) family. Torrebriene,
According to Abstracts of English Records (1929), "Torbryan" was a "parish, rural deanery of Moreton, archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter."
more on Sir Guy here
THE TENURE OF KINGSDON BY Sir Guy DE BRYAN AND HIS REPRESENTATIVE
& a family history here
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Sir Geoffrey de Camville, 1st Lord Camville was born before 1239 at of Clifton-Campville, Haselor, & Stotfold, Staffordshire, England; Of age in 1260 He married was Maud de Bryan, daughter of Sir Guy de Bryan Sir Geoffrey & Maud de Bryan had 1 son Sir William, Lord Camville). Their daughter . Amica, 1st married Nicholas Martyn son of Sir William Martyn of Dartington , near Totnes in Devon.
After he died she married again in 1328 & became the wife of the 7th Baron Henry de Pomeroy.
A widow who married before a year had passed forfeited her dower properties . Joanna married Thomas before October 1388 having been widowed for the 2nd time in January 1387. That October Thomas was pardoned by the king for marrying without the Kings permission and then knighted in 1400 .
Medieval Gentlewoman Life in a Widows Household in the late Middle Ages 1999
FFIONA SWABEY is an independent scholar, reviewer, and broadcaster. A former teacher, she holds degrees in Modern History and Political Science, and Women's History, Gender and Society, and she is the author of Alice de Bryene: Life in a Widow's Household in the Later Middle Ages (1999). She has a diploma from the C. G. Jung Institut in Zurich and is a Jungian Analyst and Psychotherapist..
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