Medieval Times

In the West Country it was said that all the gentry were cousin
Marriages between the few families at the top of society makes for a very convoluted and intertwined family trees

In medieval times the basic administrative unit was the manor. Ideally a manor was enough land to support a cavalry knight - a knight's fee.

The knight & his family and entourage needed not only food and clothing but also armour, weapons and horses for his personal retainers & his private militia . He owed service to the king for the privilege of holding his lands. Knights service and his knights fee varied according to the quality of his land.

Each landed knight or gentleman in that time held his land from the King or one of the (royal) family. In Cornwall it was , as it is today, the Duchy of Cornwall & the Roman Catholic Church had vast land holdings -
In England about there were about 5,000-6,000 souls in the feudal system, the means by which the Crown provided the monarch with fighting men . These were the landed gentlemen and knights of England and the sons of these land holders followed in their father's footsteps.

Whilst some titles were inherited a knighthood was not and as a code of chivalry developed in the Middle Ages, so the prestige of being a knight rose, and with it the expense of maintaining armour, animals and an entourage with all the trappings.

A baronetcy is the only British hereditary honour which is not a peerage and the baronetage, as a class, are considered members of the gentry and rank above the knights . A baronetcy does not confer nobility and is not a knighthood and a baron is a commoners, not a noblemen.

Thus barons, such as the Pomeroys, might bear the honorary title 'Sir', many of them were not knighted although just a few were.

1481 C 140/79/1 Pomerey, Anne Devon 21 Edw IV. Chancery pleadings addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Lord Chancellor.
Detailed description at item #34: William Carswell and Christyn, his wife, and John Wolston. V. Henry Pomerey, esquire, late the husband of AMY (Anna), previously the wife of Thomas, son of Thomas Gyll. Manor of Hacche, etc… (1483-85) There was an IPM for Anna in 1481

The Manor of Hacche, etc. was part of marriage settlement between Thomas Gyll and Amy Cammel Barrett when she married Henry Pomeroy: At the death of Gylle she brought them to her marriage to Baron Henry of Berry Pomeroy , who held them until her death in 1481, at which time Hacche was returned to the Gylls heirs.)

the 8th Baron Henry Pomeroy & his wife Joane Moels had 5 sons and created a successive entail that they might inherit in turn.

It was the grandson of the 5th son Sir Thomas , Kings Knight , who inherited the Baron in 1426
Edward Pomeroy was son and heir of William Pomeroy, Sheriff of Devon
William Pomeroy son of Thomas 5th son of Henry Pomeroy & his wife Johane Moels

Edward & his wife Margaret Beville were gifted Tregony by his fathr at the time of their marriage in 1403 . They lived at Tregony Castle until 1426 at which time Edward finally inherited the barony
Margaret Beville was married very young - pre Mar. settlement 1403, AJP thinks her 1st child Edward was born by the time she was 16 .
Their children were

1 Edward who died childless in the same year as & before his father

2 HENRY was the 2nd heir
3 John of Tregony wife unknown, putative father of Robert who heads the Ingsdon 2nd cadet Line, Tregony being the 1st.

4th son was Nicholas whose 1st unnamed wife gave him Andrew
who inherited Collaton Manor in Newton Ferrers'
his 2nd wife Agnes was childless & outlived him.

The Barony was inherited by 2nd son Henry & his 1st wife Alice Raleigh
He died in 1487

CHILDREN of Sir Henry Pomeroy by his 1st wife Alice Ralegh were

The heir was Sir St Clere Pomeroy ( he was knighted ) He married Catherine Countenay in September 1462.They had no children He died after the Battle of Tewkesbury 1471, during the Wars of the Roses, fighting on the Lancastrian side, which lost this battle. Catherine afterwards married Thomas Rogers and then Sir William Huddersfield by whom she had children.

The 2nd son Richard became heir apparent inheriting when his father died in 1487 . He was made a Knight of the Bath by Henry VII at the coronation of the queen Princess Elizabeth of York in 25 November 1487 Richard born in the decade of 1440 was married 1st in the 1460's to Dame Anne (family unknown)
After Anne died in about 1470 & Richard married again .In about 1473 he married the exceedingly wealthy Elizabeth Densil daughter of a Barnstaple merchant & shipowner and widow of Martin Fortesque of Filliegh.

They continued the Pomeroy family line with2 daughters & 2 sons, Thomas, who died unmarried in 1508 and the heir, Edward, who married Joan Sapcott. The 2 daughters were Blanche who married and had a son both unnamed ; & Elizabeth who married William Barnhowse of Kingston in Staverton.

John Pomeroy

Youngest son of Henry & Alice

Sir Thomas Pomeroy, also knighted, with his brother Richard, made a Knight of the Bath 1487.

He married Agnes Kelloway who was step-grandaughter of his father Sir Henry Pomeroy, (born to Henry Pomeroys second wife, Anna Camell, by her first husband, William Barrett ) They also had children 2 sons and 3 daughters before Thomas died and Agnes remarried. Her 2nd husband was the wealthy Thomas Bowring of Bowringsleigh near Kingsbridge in the South Hams of Devon.

The 2 daughters of Henry & Alice

Agnes Pomeroy also referred to as Ann married at least 3 times .

1st to Robert Budockshide,by who she had 4 children

2nd Nicholas Stukely by whom she had 5 more children

Lastly Anne married George Maleverer, son of Halneth Maleverer who died after 1511, outliving George & dying herself in about 1518.

Elizabeth Pomeroy married Humphrey Courtenay , brother of Catherine Courtenay, and had 2 children

Anne Herbert may have lived at Coldbrook Farm in Monmouthshire one of the many Herbert family holdings.

seen here >>>
It has been wonderfully & sensitivly restored to its former glory.
the process of the Restoration of Coldbrook

& results here

Marriages particularly for Landed Gentry & Aristocrats, were arranged and had nothing to do with love. Girls were property when she reached puberty, to be parcelled up with a dowry to make the dea attractive. Her dowry or jointure was presented to the groom at the time of the marriage. The Marriage Settlement laid out what she brought to the marriage and what the groom gave, in return , her dower of properties , which would support her in her widowhood .
Our modern sensibilitiesfind child marriages repugnant but they happened frequently in times past. Dynastic betrothals were often arranged when children were still babies or very young children. A marriage ceremony occurred when the girl was at puberty. However in some instances the groom decided not to consummate & delayed until the wife reached the age of 16 ; after that she could expect childbirth every 18 months.
Lady Margaret Beaufort, was betrothed as a baby, but that arrangenmet was annuled & when she was only 11 she was married to Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Her husband did not wait and she became pregnant giving birth age 12! She was a widow by then her husband having died of the plague ; his son was Henry Tudor, later Henry VII

The death rate for women from childbirth was appalling but if they survived it they frequently outlived their husbands by decades.

1517- 1581 Andrew Pomeroy of Collaton Manor in Newton Ferrers was son of Nicholas 5th son of Margaret Beville & Baron SIr Edward Pomeroy

4th son NICHOLAS Bb about 1420 died about 1479; His un-named 1st wife gave him Andrew who inherited Collaton Manor

2nd wife Agnes had no children by Nicholas. She survived him and married John Appleton

AML found a Newton Ferrers Settlement dated 7th May 1479.

AJP found a later record in Feb 2023 Records in this collection
Repository: Plymouth Archives, The Box Ref 308/177/2. DATE 1514
Title: Court Pleading, Recovery of Messuage and land, Newton Ferrers, John Pomeray's inheritance
Court action between
Plaintiff : John Pomeray &
Defendants: Edward Willoughby & Anthony Buttokkesyde; The recovery of a messuage and lands in Newton Ferrers, Devon which were the inheritance of the plaintiff as heir to his elder late-brother, James Pomeray, the premises having descended from their grandfather Nicholas Pomeray to their father Andrew Pomeray and thence to James Pomeray.

Date: 1514 Manuscript around the time of the death of James in France.

Devon Record Office 3799M-0/F/1 1495

Contents: Grant to Richard POMEROY by Margaret, Countess of Richmond and mother of King Henry of the wardship and marriage of James POMEROY son of Andrew POMEROY deceased

He had 2 sons Jacob /James the eldest born in about 1490, who died in France age 23 in 1514. James's Will shows land holdings in North Devon close to Exmoor.

The younger son John born in 1492 inherited Collaton Manor on the death of his brother.
He was married Johane, a daughter of the Strode family and had a single son of record who named for his grandfather. Andrew defore he too died very young in 1518.

Son Andrew married Ann Matthews who came from an impossibly large family of 28 siblings, the children of her father, Sir George Matthew of Rhyde in Wales by his 6 wives. His was an illustrious Welsh family
Medieval Database Primarily of Welsh Nobility and Gentry.

Ann Matthews wadaughter of Catrin Herbert of the Herbert family at Raglan Castle , one of the most famous family of medieval Knights & legendary warriors & close supporters of the Crown. They were owners of the Welsh marcher castle at Raglan

In the C14th most exports were wool, and grain & a merchant might have a factor or representative in each town his exported goods passed through. This could be a younger family man who, when he had gained experience, might start his own business.
One such was Nicholas of Twekesbury the 4th son of Baron Henry Pomeroy & his wife Johanna Moe who did a roaring trade for king carrying supplies round the coast and up the east coast to Berwick on Tweed on the Scottish borders

It was a hazard business sailing round Lands end ,shipping grain ( Wheat Barley & Rye) amongst other things, from the fertile lands around Worcester, the Cotswolds & Severn valley down- river from Tewkesbury, then by the river Severn to Bristol & thence to 'foreign parts' . In Nicholas's case having rounded the hazzard of Lands End he would have sailed along the south coast probably making hops from Falmouth to Plymouth and the Tamar estuary at Kings Tamerton then along the south coast to Dartmouth on to Topsham on the Exe then on Portsmouth or Southampton east along the south coast & round into the Thames Estuary at Faversham or possibly Sandwich. Finally sailing into the North Sea , up the east coast to Dunwich, north of the Thames estuary, then to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk with furthest point on the east coast at Berwick on Tweed on English border with Scotland . A trip of around 900 miles.

Sir Henry Pomeroy died 7th July 1487 his 1st wife was Alice Ralegh of Fardel, who died sometime before 1478

He was not knighted but he was a hereditary Baron which is senior to an ordinary knight. . He married again in Sept 1478 & his 2nd wife was Anna Camell widow of Henry Barrett of Whiteparish, mother of Joanna Barrett whose daughter was Agnes Kelloway who married Henry Pomeroy's youngest son Thomas .
Anna was wealthy, independent of any of her husbands . She was also widow of Dartmouth Mayor & Merchant Thomas Gylle the younger of Hacche Arundell near Kingsbridge in the South Hams of Devon. Her dowery brought the Bowden estate at Totnes to the Pomeroy family.