MMDF Chapter Seven

ANCESTRY OF ALICE VERNEY AND JOAN BRULEY

John Danvers, of Calthorpe and Prestcote, was twice married—first to Alice Verney, and secondly to Joan Bruley—and the children of both marriages are represented by the present family of Danvers, since John Danvers, of Culworth, fourth in descent from the marriage of John Danvers and Alice Verney, married his third cousin, Dorothy Raynsford, fourth is descent from John Danvers and his second wife, Joan Bruley.

ALICE VERNEY

Alice Verney was the daughter and heiress of William Verney, of Byfield, Northampton, a village about eight miles north-east from Banbury, and four miles distant from Culworth.  From a deed, a copy of which has been preserved amongst the Rawlinson MSS.7.1 in the Bodleian Library, we learn that in the year 1399 (23 Richard II) Alice Verney was at the time married to John, son of Richard Danvers, of Banbury, and that they held in Byfield a virgate of land as the gift of her father, William Verney, of Byfield.  The deed also mentions William Verney’s wife Juliana, his father William, his mother Elena, and his uncle John.  The deed runs as follows:

‘Sciant &c. quod ego Willelmus Verney de. Byfild dedi &c. Johanni Scot de Bannebury, Willelmo Grey de Bourton parua, Johanni Cook de Byfield et Roberto Gillun de eadem villa omnes terras &c. in Byfild predicta excepta vna virgata terre in predicta Byfeld quam Johannes filius Ricardi Danuers de Banbery et Alicia vxor eius tenent de dono meo et Juliane vxoris mee sibi et heredibus &c. preterea concessi omnia terras &c. que Elena mater mea tenet &c. ex dimissione Johannis Auunculi mei vel Willelmi patris mei et que post-mortem eiusdem Elene ad me et heredes meos reuertere debent integ’ remanere antedictis Johanni Willelmo, Johanni et Roberto.  Habenda et tenenda omnia &c. Johanni, Willelmo, Johanni et Roberto.  Data apud Byfield die Martis prox. ante festum Sancti Michaelis Anno Regni Regis Ricardi 2 post conquestum vicesimo tertio.  Testibus Thom. de Croppry, Johan. Stutesbury, Will Hochekynes et aliis.’

VERNEY FAMILY OF BYFIELD

As will be noted presently, the elder William Verney died about the year 1360, leaving as his heir his son Simon Verney, who died in the year 1368, and was succeeded by his brother and heir, William Verney, the father of Alice Danvers.  William Verney, as we learn from his brother Simon’s post-mortem inquisition, was born in the year 1344, and was, therefore, about fifty-four years of age at the time of his daughter’s marriage with John Danvers.

Simon Verney of Charwelton

The earliest notice that we have of the presence of the Verney family in Byfield is in a charter,7.2 circa 1230, which refers to the neighbouring village of Charwelton.7.3  Dom. Simon de Verni is one of the witnesses, and in a subsequent charter of the series7.4 he is called of Byfield and Charwelton.  The charters in which he or his successors bearing the same name are mentioned are numerous, and the series extends from circa 1230 until the year 1316.7.5 In the year 12787.6 Simon Verney holds land in Charwelton, and in the year 1303 Alan Lord Zouche enfeoffed Simon Verney of half a fief in Byfield.7.7  In the year 1314 the heiress of Alan has seisin of his lands,7.8 amongst them of half a fief, worth 100 shillings, held by Simon de Verney in Byfield.  The Parliamentary writs of the year 13167.9 show that Simon de Verney was at the time one of the lords of Byfield, while in 1360 the heir of William Verney held half a fief in Byfield of the representative of Lord Zouche (Baker).  Vincent7.10 tells us that in the same year, 1360, William Verney held half a fief in Byfield.  He is no doubt the William Verney whose heir Baker mentions, and if this is so, he (William) died in the year 1360.  Then in the year 1368 we have the inquisition7.11 of Simon Verney, who died in June of that year, and whose heir was his brother William, aged at the time twenty-two and more.  As William was aged twenty-two in the year 1368, we may reasonably assume that his elder brother Simon was also not of age in the year 1360, and this is why Simon is then spoken of, not by name, but as ‘heir of William’.  The younger William we identify with the William of Byfield of 1399, who was father of Alice; son, therefore, of the William who died in or about the year 1360, whom we take to have been the son of Simon Verney of Byfield of 1303 and 1316, and grandson or great-grandson of Simon de Verni of Byfield and Charwelton of the year 1230.

Arms

But we have an additional and very curious piece of evidence that the Simon Verney whose inquisition was taken in 1368 was brother to the William Verney, the father of Alice Verney, and it is one which depends upon the evidence of the armorial bearings of the family.  Vincent tells us that the arms of Alice’s father were ‘gules two bars, in chief two bucks’ heads cabossed or’.  This coat has been accepted by the College of Arms as that of Verney, and has been registered there as one of the coats which the Danvers family are entitled to bear.  The same coat was quartered on the shield of Margaret Danvers, wife of Sir Thomas Englefield and grand-daughter of Alice Verney, on her monument in Englefield Church.7.12  The shield of John Danvers, as given by Vincent, is that of Brancestre impaling these arms.  But these were never the arms of the Verneys of either the Buckinghamshire or Warwickshire branches of the Verney family, while in support of Vincent’s assertion that they were the arms borne by William, father of Alice, we have the fact that they were quartered by the descendants of John Danvers and his wife Alice Verney, but not by those of John Danvers and his second wife, Joan Bruley.  Whence did William Verney derive these arms?  We believe we can show that he had them from the family of de Langelee, hereditary keepers of Whychwood Forest, whose heir and representative was Simon Verney—the Simon Verney who died in the year 1368, and whose heir was his brother William, the father of Alice.  But to show that the arms of William Verney of Byfield were those of de Langelee needs a somewhat long digression.

De Langelees of Whychwood

Whychwood was formerly one of the royal forests, and extended westwards of Eynsham and Woodstock over a considerable portion of North Oxfordshire.  The bailiff of the forest held in right of his office the manor of Langelee, or Langley.  At Langley, which is and was in the parish of Shipton, the King had a house, and the walls of ‘King John’s house’ are still shown.  Langley was occasionally the residence of the Kings till the reign of Charles I, and Langley remained attached to the Crown until the recent enclosure of Whychwood Forest.7.13

From the Rotuli Hundredorum we learn that in 1278 a certain Thomas de Langelee was bailiff or forester of Wychwode,7.14 and he was succeeded in the manor and office by John de Langelee, who was doubtless his son and heir, whose wife’s name, as we learn from an Oxon fine7.15 was Joan.  About the year 1305 it came to the King’s ears—they were always open to catch the report of any irregularities as regards the tenantry of the Crown lands—that John de Langley had no charter or anything else to show his right to the manor of Langelee, and therefore a writ was issued for an inquisition ad quod damnum;7.16 that is, an inquiry was to be made whether it was to the King’s damage that John de Langelee should have possession of the manor, and what his rights to it were.  A jury, whose names are given in the record, was therefore assembled, and before them the case was heard, and, after hearing evidence, they decided that John and his ancestors had from time immemorial held this office and manor in capite on the payment of a certain rent, and with the obligation to carry the King’s horn whenever he should come into those parts to hunt; and so John became quietly seated in his ancestral office, and in the year 1316 we learn from the Parliamentary writs that he and four of his tenants were the only people living on the manor.  In the year 1325 John died, and doubtless was buried in his parish church, that of Shipton.  At the time of his death his son Thomas was of full age,7.17 and he succeeded his father in the manor, and became bailiff of Wychwode Forest.7.18  Thomas de Langelee represented Oxfordshire 1335-37, and in six or seven subsequent Parliaments.7.19  He died October 22, 35 Edward III (1361).  His son and heir, John, predeceased him.  His wife’s name was Margaret Tracey, and this explains why a shield bearing the Tracey arms was placed beside the De Langelee shield in Shipton Church, a conjunction which confirms ‘the evidence from the shields’ that the shield which the Verneys used was that of De Langelee.  Before Thomas died an inquisition ad quod damnum7.20 had been instituted to inquire whether it would be to the King’s disadvantage that Thomas de Langelee should make over the manor and appurtenances to trustees, Galfrid, Parson of Shipton, and .  .  ., Parson of Eynford, to hold for his son and heir John,7.21 with remainder first to John’s brother Peter, and next to their brother Simon, and this was so settled.  But all three sons died within a few years of their father, for in the year 1368 we have the inquisition post-mortem of Simon Verney,7.22 who was relative (consanguineus) and heir to Thomas de Langelee, from whom he inherited the manor of Langelee, with the bailiffship of the forest of Whychwood.

William Verney Sells Whychwood and Shipton

Simon de Verney did not long enjoy the manor and office, nor did his heir, his brother William, long retain it, for in the year 13697.23 we find William selling the estate, including the manor of Langley, the office attaching thereto, and land in Shipton and elsewhere, which were eventually to pass to Sir John Golafre, provision being made for an Alice, who was apparently the widow of Thomas de Langelee.

And here comes in the evidence of the shields.  Shipton Church was the church of the manor of the de Langelee family, and in it we should expect to find its members buried.  Now, in his gleanings of Oxfordshire, made in the year 1574, Richard Lee tells us that ‘in a window of Shipton Church, with an old tomb under it, was a shield, bearing as follows: “Gules, two bars or, on a chief az., two bucks’ heads cabossed or.” ’ 7.24  On the tomb the same arms were repeated.  Here we have the same shield, the bars and bucks’ heads, which were borne by William Verney—and this in the parish church of the de Langelees, whose office Simon de Verney and his brother William inherited—a shield, too, very appropriate to the hereditary foresters of Whychwood.  The identity of the shields explains whence William Verney, of Byfield, obtained his shield, and is strong corroborative evidence of our assumption that William Verney, the father of Alice Danvers, was William, the brother of Simon Verney, who died in 1368, and was the heir of the de Langelees.

The shield in question, and others which Richard Lee mentions, were removed circa 1780 - 1800 by a curate of Shipton, who wished to make use of them to ornament his house! 7.25

A few words regarding the subsequent history of the Byfield Verneys.  Members of the family are frequently mentioned in the miscellaneous and ancient charters of the Augmentation Office, which are now at the Record Office, generally in connection with gifts to Canons Ashby Priory, which was in the parish.  Baker, in his History of Northamptonshire, states that in the year 1421-22, Simon and William Verney held half a fief in Byfield, and it is quite possible that the William was the father of Alice, then an old man.  Again in the year 1455, a Simon Verney held a half-fief in the village, and he is the last member of the family of whom we find record there.

Verney of Bayeaux

The Verneys, or Vierneys, came originally from Vernai, near Bayeux, in Normandy, and the earliest authentic record of them in England is that of a Simon de Vernai, who, so Dugdale in his History of Warwickshire,7.26 tells us, married Alice Bagot, in the reign of Richard; but he adds that he cannot, for want of record, trace the descent of the Warwickshire branch of the family from him.  Later authorities—Collins, in his Peerage of England,7.27 and Edmondson, in the Baronagium Genealogicum,7.28—complete the descent, making use for the purpose of the Verneys of Byfield; but their evidences are very incomplete, and are insufficient to prove the descent.  Collins does, however, so far agree with us that he makes the elder William Verney marry the sister and heiress of Thomas de Langelee.

Verney of Compton Murdack

Yet there is some evidence that the Verneys of Byfield came of the same stock as the Compton Murdack family.  The armorial bearings do not help us, for, as regards the Byfield family, we are in ignorance of what they were until the time of William Verney, father of Alice Danvers, and he bore the de Langelee arms, which his father, we believe, assumed on his marriage with the heiress of that family.  If, as we think is most likely, the Verneys of Compton Murdack descended from John, the brother of the elder William Verney, they would bear the coat of arms proper to the Verney family—gules three crosses recercellee or, a chief vairé ermine and ermines—which Richard Verney emblazoned in the canton window at Compton when, about the year 1441, he built the house there.7.29  This Richard Verney was a contemporary of John Danvers, of Calthorpe, for their grand-children married.  John Verney,7.30 Richard’s father, was therefore the contemporary of Richard Danvers, of Epwell and Calthorpe, and of William Verney, father of Alice Danvers.  This William Verney had an ‘Uncle John,’ and he would correspond in date with the John Verney whom Dugdale mentions as a predecessor of John, father of Richard Verney.  He is no doubt the John Verney who signs as witness to a Culworth charter,7.31 dated 1297, and after Simon Verney in a Byfield charter, temp. Edward I.7.32  Quite probably this elder John Verney may have been the John Verney, son of Simon, who in the year 1324, as we learn from the Parliamentary Writs,7.33 was summoned to Northampton as a man-at-arms.  Further, amongst the shields which Richard Verney placed in the canton window of his new house at Compton, was that of Lord Zouch, and we have already seen that of him the Byfield Verneys held their fief.  On the whole, we are of the same opinion as Collins and Edmondson—viz., that the Verneys of Byfield and Compton came of the same stock, but not in the way which those writers too readily assume.

JOAN BRULEY

About the year 1420, John Danvers married his second wife, Joan, daughter and heiress of John Bruley, of Waterstoke, and his wife, Maud Quatermayn.  Her place in the Danvers pedigree is interesting, not only because the present family are lineally descended from her, but also because, at the time of her marriage, her ancestors had been, during three centuries, friends and neighbours of those of her husband.  Through her father, Joan Bruley was descended from the Foliots, who, prior to the Bruleys, were lords of Waterstoke, and, through her mother, from the Quatermayns, the Chetwodes, the Bretons, the Greys of Rotherfield, the Fitz Elys and de Braies of Waterperry, and from the Russells of Bradenstoke, in Wilts.

It would be outside the limits of our history to attempt an account of all these families, but we are able, from authentic records, to show Joan Bruley’s descent from them.  Let us premise that Waterperry, Waterpurie, Perie, or Purie—the name in ancient records is spelt in many ways—is a village five miles due east from Oxford, and a mile and a half west of Waterstoke.  The village is fortunate in possessing an unrestored church, which shows all styles of architecture from Norman to Perpendicular, and retains in its churchyard a fine cross of the Decorated period.  At Waterperry lived many generations of the family of Fitz-Ellis, or Fitz-Elye, and Mr William Ellis,7.34 the biographer of the family, asserts that the cross-legged figure of a knight reclining on a canopied tomb in the south aisle of the church is that of one of the family.

FITZ-ELLIS FAMILY OF WATERPERRY

Corston Manor

With the manor of Waterperry the family held that of Corton, or Corston, in the parish of Hilmarten, Wilts, between Calne and Bradenstoke, and it is their former possession of this manor which enables us to verify the descent of Joan Bruley.  In the year 1483 her descendant, Thomas Danvers, sold the manor to Bishop Waynflete, and its ancient titledeeds are detailed in a fine manuscript7.35 of that date, which is now in the possession of Magdalen College, Oxford, to which foundation the manor was devised by the Bishop.  The manuscript includes an account of the descent of the family of Danvers from William Fitz-Elys, lord of Corston and Waterperry, who died in the year 1226; the descent of the manor drawn out at length from various deeds; abstracts of these deeds, and an abstract of the deeds relating to land at Chevauncy (Clevancy, Wilts).

Fitz-Ellis Marries Russell

Subjoined is a brief abstract of the earlier portion of the manuscript.  William Fitz-Elys was seized of the manors of Waterperry, Okely and Butyngden in Oxon, and of Corston in Wilts, and died in the time of Henry III, leaving two sons, William and Elias.  The latter became rector of Maydebell.  His elder brother, William,7.36 married Margaret and had two sons, Thomas and Roger, and of these Thomas, on his father’s death in 1262, became lord of Waterperry.7.37  To Roger, his father, by a charter, gave the manor of Corston, and of it Roger was seized at his death in the year 1302.  He left the manor to his son William, who died in 1318, leaving Elizabeth, his daughter and heiress, seized of it.  Elizabeth married John Russell, Knt., of Bradenstoke,7.38 Wilts, and had two sons, John and William.  John married twice, first Alice, daughter of John Elkested, by whom he had a son, Nicholas—and we may mention in corroboration of this history that we find amongst the Oxon fines one7.39 of the date 1331, in which John de Bradenstoke and his wife Elizabeth give lands to their son John and his wife Alice, and, failing children to them, with remainder to the right heirs of John and Elizabeth.  Further, in the institutions of the Bishop of Salisbury we find in the years 1344, 1350, 1360, John de Bradenstoke presenting to Corston Chapel.

John Russell and Agnes Godfrey

John the younger, on his first wife’s death, married Agnes, (probably Agnes Godfrey, daughter of John and Matilda Godfrey) by whom he had a daughter, Joan, and then died, predeceasing his father and mother, who died in the year 1363.  Nicholas de Bradenstoke was left under the guardianship of William Hyde and John Russell.  Agnes, the younger John’s second wife, married Walter Botyller, and by him had a son, John Botyller, in confirmation of which we find in the Salisbury institutions in the years 1390 and 1395 Agnes, widow of Walter Botyller, presenting to Corston Chapel.  In the meantime Nicholas de Bradenstoke had married Constance, and died leaving a son, William.  By a family arrangement, which is detailed in the manuscript, William, son of Nicholas de Bradenstoke, was to inherit Corston manor, with remainder to John, son of Walter Botyller and his wife Agnes.

Joan Russell and Thomas Quatermain

But as the manuscript tells us, both William and John died of a pestilence, and now Joan Russell, daughter of the younger John de Bradenstoke and his second wife, Agnes, became heir to the manor.  This all happened before the year 1390, when, as we learn from the Bishop’s institutions, Agnes had again become a widow; and previous to that date Walter Botyller by a charter gave the manor to Thomas Quatermayn, who had married Joan Russell, daughter of the younger John de Bradenstoke.  In the years 1428, 1432, we find Joan Quatermayn presenting to Corston Chapel.

Maude Quatermain and John Bruley

Thomas and Joan had a son,7.40 Richard Quatermayn, and daughters, Matilda, or Maude, and Elizabeth; and then Thomas died, and his widow subsequently married John Credy, whom she survived.  The manor went into the hands of trustees, amongst whom were Edmund and Walter Hungerford.  Richard Quatermayn’s son, Guy, predeceased him, but his sister Maude married John Bruley of Waterstoke, and their heiress, Joan, married John Danvers of Calthorpe.  Their eldest son, Thomas, thus became heir to the manor of Corston, and he sold it in 1483 to Bishop Waynflete, who devised it to Magdalen College, Oxford, which he had then recently founded.

Deeds

The numerous deeds referred to in the preceding history are preserved in the muniment room of Magdalen College, and have been fully calendared.  We shall note five only of them.  One, 61 Corston, dated A.D. 1377, is a marriage settlement made between Walter Botyller and Thomas Katermayns of North Weston.  Thomas is to marry Johanna Russell, daughter of John de Bradenstoke and Agnes, and within the year is to pay to Walter the sum of £210, and to have with Joan as dowry the reversion of the manor of Corston, and at once her father’s estates in Tedyngton, Oxon, on condition that Thomas pays annually 100 marks to Constance, widow of Nicholas de Bradenstoke, for which payment his property at North Weston is made a security.

Corston 9 is a power of attorney from Joan, daughter of John de Bradenstoke and Agnes his widow, and widow of John Credie.  Corston 10 is a release from William Hampden and other trustees to Thomas Danvers and Sibilla his wife of the manors of Corston, Tedyngton, and of lands in Bradenstoke, Chevauncy, and Tedyngton, which formerly belonged to Richard Quatermayn, and, failing issue of Thomas and Sibilla, to the right heirs of Matilda, sister of Richard.  Corston 19, dated 1482, Thomas Danvers sells the manor of Corston to Bishop Waynflete.  Corston 11 and 18, both dated A.D. 1482, William and Henry Danvers, brothers of Thomas Danvers, and their sister Bona, wife of Sir Geoffrey Pole, release their rights in the manor to the Bishop.

The Ancestors of William Fitz-Ellis

The Magdalen College manuscript commences the table of descent of the Danvers family with the name of William Fitz-Ellis, but we are able to carry the descent back a step further, and, so doing, we discover whence the family obtained the manor of Waterperry.  In the year 1236 a fine passed between William Fitz-Ellis and the Abbot of Oseney, in which William mentions his mother, Rose de Rokele, and his grandmother Emma.  And in an earlier record, of the time of Richard I, we find a William Fitz-Ellis (fil. Elye) appearing for Emma ‘de Perie,’ and claiming her lands in Corston and Oakley in right of her father, Fulk de Braie, and his father, Luvel de Braie.  This William died in the year 1198; his wife was Emma (de Perie), daughter of Fulk de Braie, with whom he received the manors of Waterperry, Ockley, and Wormenhall.  William Fitz-Ellis the elder, by desire of his wife Emma, gave the church of Waterperry to the Abbot of Oseney, and the grant was confirmed by his son William.7.41

Mr Ellis in his history follows the descent of Thomas, the eldest son of the younger William; while the Magdalen College MS. follows that of the younger brother Roger.  The descendants of Thomas Fitz-Ellis long continued at Waterperry, and one of them, another William Fitz-Ellis, married Isabel, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John de la Beche, while her sister Alice married Robert Danvers of the Berkshire family.

QUATERMAYN FAMILY

History

The Quatermayn family, of whom one, Thomas, married Joan Russell de Bradenstoke, are said to have come to England about the time of the Conquest.  Godfrey de Quatremayns was one of the witnesses to a charter of Daventry Priory in the year that Anselm died, 1109.7.42  The name is variously spelt— Katerman, Quaterman, Quatermayns, are amongst the spellings.  Katermayn is the form used in the marriage settlement of Thomas and Jane Russell.  Of late the name has been spelt Quaterman.7.43  The coat of arms of the family is, gules, a fess azure between four dexter hands coupéd at the wrist, and the name (quatuor manus) is probably a nickname, derived from the deed of some ancient member of the family.  The family must be distinguished from that of Katermars (quatuor mare), a family which came to England from Katermars, near Rouen, and were for a time amongst the great families of Lincoln and Leicester.  Lucas de Quatermars finds a place (as does also Hubert Quatermain) in the Scutage Roll of the year 1165, holding a fief of Godfrey de Ridel in Northampton.  The families are distinguished not only by the derivation of their names, but also by the circumstance that the Katermars early failed in the male line.  Towards the end of the reign of Henry III, Geoffrey Maureward acquired Maureward in Leicester by marriage with Ada, only child of Sir Adam Quatremars of Overton-Quatremars, the last male of his house.7.44

Rycote

The Quatremayn family had formerly large possessions in Oxfordshire at North Weston, Estcote, Rycote, Chalgrave, and elsewhere, and their descendants still remain in the county.  At Tetsworth the only relic, excepting the Napp, which we found of ancient times was the name of ‘Quatermayn’ over a saddler’s shop; doubtless the saddler was a descendant of Herbert Quatermayn, who, about the year 1200, witnessed one of the charters of the Danvers family, of Tetsworth, to Thame Abbey.

Leland, in his Itinerary (circa 1533), writes ‘Ricot longèd to one Fulcote Ricot, after it came to one Quatremain, whose house has been famous and of right fair possession in Oxon.  About Henry VI days divers brethren of them died one after the other, and all the lands descended to Richard, the youngest, a merchant of London.  He had a servant, Thomas (Richard) Fowler, his clerk, a toward fellow that after was Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster, to whom Richard bore great favour, and was godfather to his son, to whom he left most part of his lands because he had no children.’  Leland might have added, as an additional reason, or the reason, for this bequest, that Richard Fowler was nearly related to Richard Quatremayn, being as he was son of a daughter of Quatremayn’s sister, and heir-at-law of Cicely Englefield, who was Quatremayn’s wife’s sister.

This Richard Quatremayn7.45 was the son of Thomas Quatremayn, of North Weston, by his wife, Joan Russell, of Bradenstoke, grandson to an elder Thomas Quatremayn, who married Katherine Breton, and died in the year 1342.  In Dr Lee’s History of St Mary’s, Thame,7.46 a work to which we are indebted for much information regarding the Quatremayn family, will be found a pedigree of the family, and appended to it are notices which are adduced in confirmation of the pedigree.  Amongst the muniments of Magdalen College, Oxford, are numerous references to members of the family, extending from the end of the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth century; and we have found mention of them in many Oxfordshire fines and in other ancient records.  It would appear that from about the year 1230 two branches of the family were for many generations near neighbours in Oxfordshire; and this circumstance gives rise to great difficulty if we endeavour to place members of the two lines in a table, or tables, of descent.  We believe, however, we may safely assume that the Thomas Quatremayn of North Weston, who married Katherine Breton, and died in the year 1342, was the son of the William Quatremayn of North Weston who was a minor in the year 1278.  This William was, according to the ancient records, son of William and Agnes Quatremayn, whom we find concerned in an Oxon fine in the year 1254; and this William was the son, or grandson, of Herbert Quatremayn, of Estcote and Weston, of the year 1201.  Herbert was the son of the Herbert Quatremayn of the Liber Niger (1165), beyond whom we are unable to carry the descent.

Thomas Quatermayne and his wife, Katherine Breton, had a son, Thomas, who married Joan Russell of Bradenstoke.  Dr Lee, in his History of St Mary’s, Thame, gives them other two sons, John and Roger, of whom we know nothing further.  Also, some of the later genealogists give Thomas and Katherine a son, Richard, who is said to have left a daughter, Matilda, or Maude, who married Thomas Littelton, of Frankley, Worcester.  But the Visitation of Stafford7.47 of A.D. 1583 records only that Thomas Littelton ‘married .  .  .  daughter and heir7.48 of .  .  .  Quatremains,’ and of his name and parentage we have not sufficient record.  That he was a member, or kinsman, of the North Weston family is evidenced by the presence, amongst the coats-of-arms anciently in Rycote Church, of Quatermayne impaling Littelton.7.49  Richard may have been the son of the elder Thomas Quatermayne, or he may have been Richard, the son of John Quatermayne, of Chalgrove, who, with his wife Isabel, is mentioned in a Magdalen College deed,7.50 dated 1322.  This Richard, as appears from the same, the Chalgrove deeds, flourished up to, if not after, the year 1362.  However, Elizabeth, the daughter of .  .  .  Quatermayne and her husband Thomas Littelton, married Thomas Westcote, and their son, who took his mother’s name Littelton, was the famous Judge Littelton, ancestor of the present family of that name.

Breton Family

The shields formerly on the Quatermayn tombs in Thame Church, together with those still existing upon the walls of Rycote Chapel, evidence to the descent of the Katherine Breton (le Breton, de Breton) whom Thomas Quatermayn the elder married, from the Bretons and from the Greys, of Rotherfield.  The name of the Bretons indicates their origin, and in Domesday no less than eleven of them are present, settled in different parts of England.

Dugdale, in his History of Warwickshire,7.51 tells us that in the time of Henry I, Wolston in Warwick, belonged to Roger de Freville, whose daughter Sybil married Robert de Chetwode, and had two sons, William and Ralph.  Avicia, daughter of William, married William le Breton, of Long Itchington, Warwick, and they had a son, Guy le Breton, who married Joan, daughter of Thomas Grey, of Rotherfield, and founded a chantry in Coombe Abbey for one monk to sing Mass daily for the souls of his father William and his mother Avicia.  The Breton manor of Marston long continued with their descendants, and was eventually sold by Richard Quatermayn in the year 1418.7.52

The manor-house of the Chetwodes53 was at Warkworth, about a mile east of Banbury—‘a very stately house,’ Anthony Wood tells us, with a gallery wherein were the arms, crests, and mottoes of many of the nobility of England.  In 1629 the Chetwodes sold the house, which in 1806 was taken down.  John Danvers, of Prestcote, bought thence the very fine oak panelling, with which, early in the eighteenth century, he decorated the room which he then added to his house at Prestcote.  Warkworth Church stands solitary in its churchyard on a hill near the village, and contains many interesting monuments of the Chetwodes and of their kinsmen, the Lyons.

Grey Family

Thomas Grey,7.54 of Rotherfield, the father of Joan Grey, was descended from Anchitel Grey, of a noble Norman family, who is found in Domesday Book holding Rodrefield of William FitzOsborne.  Anchitel’s descendants in the male line continued there till about the year 1387, when the manor and estate passed, by the marriage of Joan de Grey, descend from John, the elder brother of Thomas, to Sir John D’Eyncourt.

Thame Church

The fine monuments of the Quatremayn family, which corroborate the descent of Maude Bruley from the le Bretons and the Greys, still remain in the south transept of Thame Church.  Formerly they stood centrally in the transept, but have now been placed altar-wise against the east wall.  The monuments are two in number, and each is surmounted by a slab, on which, cut in brass, are effigies, inscriptions, and shields, of which, however, portions have disappeared.  In the year 1574 the monuments were nearly perfect, and were described, and the inscriptions copied, by Richard Lee.7.55  Sketches of the shields which were made by Sir Richard St George are also preserved in Landsdowne MS. No. 863.  The smaller tomb, of dark gray marble, is that of Thomas Quatremayn, who died in the year 1342, his wife Katherine, and their son Thomas, died 1398, and his wife Joan, and the effigies of all four, with their respective coats-of-arms above their heads, were formerly engraved upon the tomb.  With these was the inscription:

‘Thomas Quatermayn of North Weston & Katherine his wyffe, daughter of Gye le Breton & Jone his wyffe daughter & heire of Thomas Graye sonne of Robert de Graye of Rotherfield knight.  Ob vj of June 1342, and Thomas sone of the said Quatermayn & Jone his wyffe.  Ob vj Maye 1398.’

The arms on the shields were: I, quarterly 1 and 4 Grey of Rotherfield, 2 and 3 Breton; II, Quatermayn impaling Breton quartering per fess Grey; III, quarterly 1 Quatermayn, 2 quarterly 1 and 4 Grey, 2 and 3 Breton, 3 Breton, 4 Grey of Rotherfield.  The arms over the head of the wife of the second man were Quatermayn impaling argent on a bend between six fleurs-de-lys gules, a quatrefoil (Fitz-Ellis).  And we may remark that it was this shield which gave rise to a mistake, repeated by many genealogists, that the younger Thomas Quatermayn married a Fitz-Ellis.  We, however, know that he married a Russell of Bradenstoke, and the shield shows that the Russells assumed the arms of Fitz-Ellis, no doubt on the marriage with the heiress of that family.  The lower half of the figure of the younger Quatremayn, the inscription, and all the shields, are now wanting.

The other and larger tomb, richly sculptured, is that of Richard Quatermayne, his wife, Sybil Englefield, and their son, Guy.  Their effigies and shields are, or were formerly, engraved in brass on the tomb.  The shields were: I, barry of six argent and azure, over all, a bend gules (Grey of Rotherfield), impaling quarterly 1 and 4 a fess azure between 4 dexter arms coupéd at the wrist argent (Quatermayn) 2 and 3 argent 2 hounds passant palewise (Breton); II, Quatermayn impaling vairée argent and gules (Gresley).7.56  From this monument three of the shields and the head of the woman are now missing.  Round the verge of the stone is an inscription as follows:

‘O certyn death that now hast o’erthrown

Richard Quatremayn squyer & Sibil his wife that lie here full lowe.

That with rial Princes of counsel was true & wise famed,

To Richard Duke of York & after with Edward his son IVth named.

That founded in the church at Thame

A Chantrey & pore men a fraternyte

In the worship of Saint Christopher to be releved in perpetuyte.

They that of their almys for their soulis a Pater Noster & Ave devoutly will say,

Of holy fadurs is granted them pardon of dayes forty alway.

Which Richard and Sibil oute of this world passed in the yere of oure Lord MCCCCLX.’

The coats of arms in Rycote Church have also been preserved by the care of Richard Lee.  They were very numerous, and some remain; but we shall mention only those which at present interest us—viz., Fowler, Quatermayn impaling Littleton, Quatermayn impaling Bruley, Grey of Rotherfield impaling Breton, and these impaling Quatermayn, Grey impaling Hastings, Quatermayn impaling Englefield, Lovell impaling Grey of Rotherfield, Quatermayn impaling Breton, Quatermayn impaling argent a bend between three (six?) fleurs-de-lys gules (Fitz-Ellis).

The record of the Quatermayn tombs is further corroborated by the post-mortem inquisitions of the family, of which, however, we can given an epitome only.  They may be seen in original at the Public Record Office, and they are printed in Dr Lee’s History of St Mary’s, Thame.

Post-Mortem Inquisition of Thomas Quatermayn

The first of them is that of Thomas Quatremayns (No. 39, 22 Richard II, 1398).  Held land in Rotherfield Greys of Joan, daughter of Robert de Grey7.57 of Rotherfield.  Also land in Henley of Richard le Molyns; land in North Weston of the Bishop of Lincoln by knight’s service, and a burgage in Thame, also of the Bishop.  Also land in Stanlake of Richard Talbot.  He died May 6 last past (1398), and John, his son and heir, was aged 15 years and more.

Post-Mortem Inquisition of John Quatermayn

The next is that of John Quatermayn (20, 10 Henry IV, 1408).  John, son and heir of Thomas Quatremayn, died in his minority in the fifth year of the King.  Guy, his brother, is his heir, and is aged 21 and more.

Post-Mortem Inquisition of Guy Quatermayn

The next is that of Guy (taken at Wallington June 16, 1414).  He holds the same property in Rotherfield Grey as did his father, and of Lord Dayncourt, son and heir of Joan, daughter of Robert Grey.7.57  Also as did his father in Henley, and in North Weston, Thame, and Stanlake.  Mentions Joan, wife of John Credy, widow of Thomas Quatermayn, father of Guy.  Guy’s heir is his brother Richard, aged 22 and more.

Post-Mortem Inquisition of Richard Quatermayn

Next is the inquisition of Richard Quatremayns (44, 17 Edward IV, 1477).  Inquisitions taken at (1) Aylesbury, October 28, 1477, (2) London, (3) Uphaven, Wilts, (4) Thame.  His heir is Thomas Danvers, son and heir of Joan, daughter of Matilda, sister of Richard Quatermayn, aged 40 years and more.

Remainders to Richard Boteler, son of Isabel, daughter of Elizabeth, second sister of Richard Quatermayns, aged 30 years; then to Alice, wife of Thomas Walrond, second daughter of Elizabeth, aged 57 years; then to Richard Rous, son of John, by third daughter of sister of Richard Quatremayn, aged 30 years; then to Margaret, wife of Peter Fetyplace, fourth daughter of Elizabeth, aged 53 years; then to Sibilla, wife of Humphrey Forster, fifth daughter of the same Elizabeth.

Post-Mortem Inquisition of Sybil Quatermayn (Englefield)

The next is that of Sibilla Quatremayns (33, 1 Richard III, 1483), wife of Richard Quatremayns.  Holds the manor of North Weston of the Bishop of Lincoln, also the manor of Ricott.  Sibilla died May 22, 1 Edward V.  Richard Fowler, son of Richard Fowler, is her heir, and 17 years of age.  The manor of North Weston to pass, on Sibilla’s death, to Joan, wife of Richard Fowler, daughter of Joan, wife of John Danvers, daughter of Matilda, sister of Richard Quatremayn, with remainder to (1) Richard Boteler, (2) Thomas Boteler, (3) Richard Rous, (4) John, son of Margaret Fetiplace.  Joan, wife of Richard Fowler, is alive, and succeeds to the manor.  Manor of Ricote. —Remainder to Richard Fowler, son and heir of Cecilia, sister of Sibilla; then to Thomas Boteler, son of Baldwin Boteler, and Isabel,7.58 daughter of Nicholas Englefield, and Elizabeth, sister of Richard Quatremayn; then to Richard Boteler, brother of Thomas; then to Sibilla Boteler, sister of Thomas; then to Elizabeth, another sister, wife of Eustace Grenville; and, failing these, to right heirs of John de Ricote.

Rycote Chapel

Richard Quatremayn, husband of Sybil Englefield, was born in the year 1393.  He was member for the county of Oxford in 1432 and 1433; Sheriff, 1436 and 1454; Councillor to Richard Duke of York and to Edward IV. In the year 1449 he and his wife founded the church, or chapel, of St Michael and All Angels, Rycote.  As we learn from their post-mortem inquisitions, Richard died in the year 1477, and his wife, Sibyl, in the year 1483.

The church which the Quatremayns founded is a very interesting one, and perhaps the more so owing to its present forlorn condition.  Parker, in his Architectural Topography of England, calls it ‘a good Perpendicular building, with a tower at the west end, and two greyhounds in place of pinnacles at the east angles.  The whole is in a very genuine state, with the panelled ceiling.  Most of the seats are original, open, but two large square family pews with canopies have been introduced.  The font is octagon, panelled, with the original wooden cover.’ We have the following notes of a recent visit to Rycote.  From Thame, a pleasant walk of about three miles, through undulating, well-wooded lanes, brings one to Rycote.  The church stands on a slight eminence in a small enclosure, in what was once Rycote Park.  The enclosure is full of great trees, the boughs of which approach, and in many places overhang, the church.  The ground is covered with brambles and tall weeds, through which here and there appears the top of a tombstone.  At the south-west angle of the church is a grand old yew-tree, which must be coeval with, or older than, the church.  The church has been disused about sixty years, and is apparently left to fall into ruin; but the stone of which the walls are built is so good that they retain their freshness, and the carving of the Quatremayn and Englefield shields on the west front of the tower is as sharp as when the masons left their work nearly five centuries ago.

Within is ruin and desolation.  On entering the door in the north side of the chancel one faces a huge monument to James, Earl of Abingdon, who died 1696, and who was lineally descended from John Danvers of Calthorpe.  The old panelled roof remains, decorated with golden stars on a blue ground, but it has broken away in places, leaving holes through which the birds find access to their nests above; the floor of the church is covered with the dirt and rubbish which they have dropped.  In 1680 the church was ‘beautified,’ and a hideous piece of panelling of the design and workmanship of the period was erected by way of reredos; this, happily, is rotting away.  The stairs, formerly belonging to the rood-loft, now lead to a chapel or pew surmounted by a pagoda-like canopy.  This, with another pew, blocks the entrance to the chancel, leaving only a narrow passage to the nave.  The pulpit is of the same age, and in the same ruinous condition as the reredos.  One may hope that all this seventeenth century woodwork may decay and disappear as quickly as its condition promises.  On the floor of the nave is a tombstone to Margaret Tilly, wife of William Tilly, D.D., Rector of Albury and Codington, and fourth daughter of John Danvers, Esq., by Dorothy Stafford his wife, of Monks in Corsham.  She died, aged 36, July 1, 1717 (refer Chapter Seventeen, Danvers of Tockenham).

To the north of the church are some small remains of the once magnificent Elizabethan mansion of the Abingdon family.  West of the church is the present farmhouse, in which is incorporated a part of the old manor-house of the Quatermayns.  In the north gable are old windows, now blocked, of Perpendicular work of the same age as the church.  The gardens and other grounds of the old mansion are desolate; in them is a grant old cedar, of which, however, only the trunk and one huge branch was weathered the storms of hundreds of years.  At a little distance from the house is a fine sheet of water, the banks choked with weeds and neglected under-wood.  The park is now cut up into fields, but many very fine oaks and other trees remain.  For a long time two tame deer were kept near the farmhouse, that the park might as a deer-park remain unrated; but the deer escaped, and the park lost its immunities.

Rycote was once the seat of the noble family of Mandeville, one of whom has a fine monument of the Norman period in the neighbouring church of Haseley.  At the time when the Chevauchesuls and William Danvers flourished in the vicinity, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, Justiciar of England, who married Beatrice de Say, descended from the Mandevilles, was Lord of Ricot, and from his wife’s mother the Danvers family may claim a descent.

Manor-House of North Weston

At North Weston two manor-houses have stood from time immemorial in the hamlet; one on the hill to the north, the other in the valley below, and it is the latter one which has always been connected with the Quatermayns’ manor.  The ancient house was taken down about 1835, only the east wing being left, and this is now occupied as a farmhouse.  The ancient kitchen and offices with some low oak-panelled rooms remain, and the brewery and some of the outbuildings are perhaps of an even older period.  But whether these ancient portions belong to the house which Sir John Clerke completed in 1539, or whether they may be ascribed to the manor-house of the Quatermayns, could be determined only by a very thorough investigation of the building.  The site is, however, beyond doubt that of the Quatermayns’ house.  Not far from it stood the ancient chapel or church which, according to Dr Lee, was the earliest burial-place of the family.  In the windows were emblazoned the coats-of-arms of the Quatermayns, Englefields, Fitz-Ellises, Danvers, Bruleys, and Fowlers.7.59  Of the church nothing remains excepting the foundations, which can still be traced in dry weather.

FOLIOT FAMILY

We now come to the family of Bruley, to which Joan Bruley belonged, and to their predecessors in Waterstock, the family of Foliot.  Members of both these families are included in the Oxon Scutage Roll of the year 1201, which has been already noticed.  In it we find the names of Richard Talemasch, Robert de Auvers, Richard Foliot, Herbert Quatremains, John de Builli (Bruilli), Robert Chevauchesul, Robert de Stokes (Wickham), Henry de Oilli, Simon de Croperi, all of them members of families which at the time were, or subsequently became, allied to the Danvers family.

The Foliots appear to have been a very numerous and widespread family, so that we find mention of the names of one or more of its members in almost every ancient roll which includes references to the counties of Oxford, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Northampton, Lincoln, York, Worcester, Hereford, and Devon.  In the roll of the Liber Niger of 12 Henry II (1165), we have Robert Foliot with a barony of fifteen knights’ fees, which his ancestors had held from the Conquest, in the county of Northampton; and Walter Foliot in the same list holds two knights’ fees of the honor of Wallingford.  Another Walter Foliot was Sheriff of Oxon and Berks in the years 1224 and 1225, and Sampson Foliot was Sheriff of those counties in the year 1267, and was also Governor of Oxford Castle,7.60 and one of Edward’s Justiciars.  In 23 and 25 Edward, Jordan Foliot was called to Parliament as a baron of the realm, and was son and heir to Henry Foliot and his wife Lecia de Muntenei, who, temp. Richard I, founded the monastery of Clerkenwell.  An early and very famous member of the family was Gilbert Foliot,7.61 Bishop of Hereford, and then of London, who was high in favour with Henry II, and amongst the English bishops of the time was the most remarkable for learning, eloquence, and austerities.  He it was who was the chief opponent of Thomas Becket, and was the sole dissentient to the election of Becket as archbishop.  ‘The King has indeed worked a miracle to-day,’ exclaimed Foliot; ‘he has turned a layman into an archbishop and a soldier into a saint.’  Gilbert died in the year 1187, and the following year died his kinsman Robert Foliot,7.62 who succeeded him as Bishop of Hereford, but was a fast friend to Becket, and was more than once employed as mediator between Becket and Gilbert Foliot.  Robert Foliot we have already had occasion to mention, for he was Archdeacon of Oxon between the years 1151 and 1174, and as such signed as witness to some of the early charters of the Thame Abbey register.

In the year 1225, as we learn from the list, already often quoted, of the Bishop of Lincoln’s tenants, Bartholomew Foliot had a fief in Waterstoke, and we find him in a fine of 3 Henry III 7.63 concerning lands in that place.  In the year 1235 he presents John de Hadenham to the rectory of Waterstoke; and in the year 1241 re-presents the same John, and this is the last notice that we have of him.  His successor at Waterstoke, and probably his son, was Sir William Foliot, who presented to Waterstoke Church in the year 1267.  And this Sir William7.64 had a wife, Agnes, sons, John and Philip, and a daughter, Katherine.  Katherine carried the manor of Waterstoke and the advowson of the church to the Bruley family by her marriage with Sir Henry Bruley.  After that we find Foliots still continuing in Waterstoke and in neighbouring villages, Albury, Rolesham, Chalgrove, but we have not been able to find any authentic pedigree of the Foliots of Oxfordshire, and though the notices of the members of the family are very numerous, we have been unable to place them in order in a table of descent,7.65 a task rendered almost impossible by the evident existence of branches of the same family living side by side in the same county.

BRULEY FAMILY

So much for the maternal ancestry of Joan Bruley and the predecessors of her family in the manor of Waterstoke.  The name of her family is very variously spelt in ancient rolls—Broleuey appears in the Battle Abbey Roll, Broily in Domesday Book, Osbert de Broily holding of Hugh de Beauchamp in Bedfordshire, and this probably is the oldest form, for the family came from Broily, where they held a fief near to Valognes in the Cotentin, and were neighbours of the family of Auvers.  The name is also in ancient records written ‘Bruilli,’ ‘Bruylli,’ and sometimes the r is omitted and the name is spelt ‘Bouilli.’  We shall use the simplest form, Bruley.

The family acquired the manor of Waterstoke in Oxfordshire by marriage from the Foliots,7.66 and for five generations it remained with them, and then passed to the Danvers family by the marriage of Joan Bruley with John Danvers of Calthorpe.  A table of descent of the family is given in the Harleian Society’s vol. v, which is taken from Richard Lee’s visitation of the county, made in 1574.7.67  The coat-of-arms of the family is ermine, on a bend gules three chevronetes or.  The first name in the table is that of John Bruley, no doubt the John de Bruley whom in the year 1194 we find in the Rotuli Curiae Regis (6 Richard I, 1194), and it is no doubt the same John who appears in the Oxon Scutage Roll of the third year of King John.  We find him again in the Testa de Nevill, in a record which is of about the year 1220, holding one fief and a half of the Bishop of Lincoln in Prestcote.  The second name in the table is that of Richard, son of John, and of him we have record in the year 1225.  It is in the Close Roll of the year, and is an order to the Bailiff of Portsmouth to allow Richard de Bruilly and Alan and Henry Sampier (de Sancto Petro), squires of Richard Marescall, to cross the sea with twenty horses in a small ship of eight oars, and this notwithstanding his orders not to allow ships from his port to cross to the dominion of the King of France.

Marescall Family

Richard Marescall was the second son of William Marescall, the great Earl of Pembroke, with whom, till his death in the year 1219, the government of the kingdom rested during the minority of Henry III.  William left five sons, all of whom in turn succeeded their father, for all died childless.  William, the eldest, died in the year 1231, and was followed in the earldom by Richard, who at the time of his brother’s death was in Brittany, warring against the French.  Turbulent as he was powerful, he died in England, in arms against the King, in the year 1234, but not till after many feats of arms which had gained for him the title of the ‘Flower of Chivalry.’ And it is interesting to find that the Marescalls, or Marshalls, were neighbours in Oxfordshire of the Bruley family, for in the Queen’s College Roll of the tenants in 1225 of the Bishop of Lincoln, we find Robert Marshall (Marescallus) holding in Westone (North Weston) a hide of land, the gift of St Hugh, at an annual rent of one pound of pepper.  Robert, came into court and returned this land to St Hugh’s successor in the see, William de Bleis (sic), who conceded it to Robert for his life.  Then, amongst the burgesses of Thame in the same Roll, we find the names of Robert and William Marescal.7.68

The next name in the table of descent is that of Henry Bruley, son of John, and he is probably the individual of whom we find mention in the year 1250 (35 Henry III) in a matter concerning land in Bucks.  He is succeeded by his son, Henry, and this is the Henry who, marrying Katherine Foliot, brought Waterstoke into the family.  The table tells us that the first Sir Henry had two sons, Henry and Roger, and that Henry married Katherine, daughter and heiress of William Foliot of Waterstoke, and that they had four sons—William, the eldest, John, the second, to whom his mother gave the manor of Waterstoke and the advowson of the church, and then Thomas and Henry.  All this we shall find confirmed by authentic records.  But we may first notice that Henry, the father, had a brother John, whom we find mentioned with him in the Patent Roll of the year 1270 (55 Henry III), and of whom we also find mention in the De Banco Roll of 2 Edward I (1273),7.69 and who married Petronilla de Ludington.7.70

SIR HENRY BRULEY AND KATHERINE FOLIOT

The first notice that we have of Sir Henry and his wife, Katherine, is in the De Banco Roll of 4 Edward I,7.71 (1275), and is the record of a suit between Agnes Foliot, late wife of William Foliot, who calls as her witnesses John and Philip Foliot, sons of William, and Henry de Bruylli (sic) and his wife, Katherine, regarding a house and half a virgate of land in Waterstoke, which Agnes claimed as part of her dower; and in the same roll we find Henry Bruylli in a suit against the same John and Philip, also regarding land in Waterstoke.

Curious it is to reflect, when one recalls the circumstances of these long past family quarrels, handed down to us as they are in coeval records in characters strong and clear as were the heartburnings of six centuries ago, that the people themselves are clean forgotten unless as the subjects of an antiquarian tale and that even their bones have long since mouldered into dust in Waterstoke Churchyard.  But the record is of use, for it serves to explain how it was that Catherine was the heir of William Foliot, who had sons John and Philip.  Doubtless Katherine was a daughter by a first wife, upon whom and her children the manor and advowson had been settled, while Agnes was a second wife, and the mother of John and Philip.  That Katherine had in her own right the manor and advowson we learn not only from the witness of the table of descent, but also from an Oxon fine7.72 of 9 Edward II (1315), in which Katherine settles them upon her second son, John, with the remainder to his younger brothers, Thomas and Henry.

Sir Henry Bruley

Now, to return to Sir Henry, husband of Katherine, we find several notices of him in records of the time;73 for he appears to have been a notable man in the county, and was a member of Parliament for it in the years 1297 and 1298.  The former was that famous Parliament held in London in October of 1297, when the King was abroad.  The nobles came with 500 horsemen and a large body on foot, and set guards at the gates while they entered the city.  They would listen to nothing, and the Parliament would grant the King no subsidy, until he gave his consent to the confirmation of the great charter and the charter of the forests.  Shortly after the King made peace with France, and returned home to war against Scotland, and it was while waiting for his levies that he called a Parliament that of 1298, at York.  Shortly there followed the defeat of the Scots at Falkirk and their submission to Edward.

We learn from the second Queen’s College list that in the year 1300 Henry de Bruyli held a fief in Waterstoke, and the last notice we have of him is in the year 1305.7.74  Clearly he was dead in the year 1315, when his wife, Katherine, gave Waterstoke manor and church to her second son, John.  Of William, eldest son, we know little, excepting that his son and heir was named Henry, and that he inherited the manor of Henton, which Peter de Montfort gave to his father, Henry, in the year 1266.  What other lands these Bruleys had we have been unable to ascertain.

And now the Harleian table of descent manifestly goes wrong, for while Sir Henry Bruyli was alive in the year 1305, and John Danvers was alive and married about the year 1398, the table places between them no less than five generations, namely, John, John, Thomas, Henry, William.  We may say at once that the table has combined in a successive series two descents which ought to have been in parallel columns.  Thomas and Henry ought not to have been placed in it.  Rightly, the table gives William a wife named Agnes, and it was their son John who married Maude, daughter of Thomas Quatermayn.  This also is rightly given in the table, as is also the marriage of their daughter, Joan, to John Danvers of Calthorpe.  The descent is very clearly seen in the complete table which we have of the rectors and patrons of Waterstoke, in which we find John Bruley presenting in the year 1326; then we have presentations during the minority of his son, John, who never himself presented; and then we come, in 1411, to a presentation by William Bruley; and next we find, in 1422, that John Danvers is patron ex dono et concessione William Bruley.  And this descent is confirmed by a parallel one which we have of the descendants of William Bruley, the eldest son of Sir Henry and Katherine, and it is found in a document of about the year 1483, a deed of sale, with abstract of title, of the manor of Henton by Thomas Danvers, eldest son of John Danvers and Joan Bruley.  The document is Henton (4d), amongst those belonging to Magdalen College, Oxford.  It gives the descent as follows: Thomas Danvers, son of Joan, daughter of John, son of Agnes, daughter of Henry, son of William, son of Henry, to whom, A.D. 1266, Peter de Montfort gave the estate.

Agnes Bruley and William Bruley

This explains why it was that Agnes is included in the descent of the manor of Henton, and it also explains a noticeable provision which we find in an Oxon fine, No. 16 of 3 Richard II (1379).  In the fine William Bruley and his wife, Agnes, convey the manor of Waterstoke to Robert de Waldegrave to hold in trust for them, to pass first to their children; but should they have none, the manor was to go to any children whom Agnes might subsequently have, and should she die without children, then to the right heirs of William.  Thus provision is made for the heirs of Agnes by a second husband, and this because she was herself a Bruley and heir to the manor of Waterstoke, should her husband leave no children.  She was, moreover, in her own right heir to the manor of Henton.  Thus Joan Bruley became heir to both branches of the Bruley family, and handed on the descents to her children by John Danvers.

John Bruley

And now to return to John Bruley, second son of Henry and Katherine, to whom, as we have seen, his mother gave the manor of Waterstoke in the year 1315.  In the year 1316 we find him mentioned as lord of Waterstoke in the Nomina Villarum, and in the year 1326 he presents Thomas Bruley, no doubt his brother, to the rectory.  In the year 1360 we have Thomas de Atte Fort Heye presented, on the death of Thomas de Bruley, by Thomas de Bruley; but we strongly suspect that, owing to the mistake of a copyist Thomas instead of John is made the patron of the living.  The next presentation is by Robert Wouberne, who was in custody of John, a minor, son and heir of John Bruley.  In the year 1380 a John Salweyn presents, but his position is not explained and we know from the Oxon fine of the previous previous year, already mentioned, that William Bruley then possessed the manor and advowson, and that his wife’s name was Agnes.

William Bruley

In the year 1394 William Bruley was member for the county in the Parliament which assembled at Westminster on January 27, 1394-95.  William lived to a great age, for we find him mentioned in an Oxon fine of the year 1436.  And he outlived his son, John, for it was by his gift and concession that John Danvers, who married his granddaughter, Joan, received the manor and advowson of Waterstoke.7.75  The inquisitors, March 16, 1422-23, say that John Danvers has on this occasion the presentation to the rectory of Waterstoke by reason of his enfeoffment of the manor and advowson by the gift and concession of William Bruley, who last presented.

In the year 1417 William Bruley released to Robert James of Borstall his rights in the manor of Oakle, called Fitz-Elys manor (Kennett).7.76  Besides his son John, William had two daughters, of whom one, Amicia, was married to Sir John Cotesmore, of Hasely and Baldwin Brightwell,7.77 an eminent judge of the period, and Chief Justice in the year 1439, who had by her a family of five sons and thirteen daughters.  Another daughter of William Bruley’s, Isabel, married Sir John Arder, so the Visitation calls him; but it is probable he was the Sir John Arden, or Ardern, who in the year 1444 was created a Baron of the Exchequer.

Thus we have brought down the history of the Bruley family to the time of the marriage of Joan Bruley, about the year 1420, with John Danvers.  They had a large family, of whom the eldest, Thomas, inherited Waterstoke.

RECTORS OF WATERSTOKE AND PATRONS OF THE LIVING, FROM THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN AND OXFORD

Date Rector Patron

1235 John de Hadenham (sub-deacon) Bart. Foliot.

1241 John de Hadenham (sub-deacon) Bart. Foliot.

1267 Alexander de Waterstoke Sir William Foliot.

1326 (3?) Thomas Bruley John Bruley.

1360 Thomas Atte Fort Heye, on death of Thomas Bruley Thomas Bruley (probably for John Bruley, a minor).

1371 Ralph Mayer (or Mager), on death of the above Robert Wouberne, for John, son of John Bruley, a minor.

1380 John Houmfray, on death of above John Salweyn.

1411 Thomas Taylor, on death of above William Bruley.

1411 Thomas Derecors, on resignation of above William Bruley.

1422 John Kent, on death of above John Danvers.

1467 John Parye (or Pavys), on death of above Sir Walter Mauntell, and Joan his wife.

1469 John Browne, on resignation of above Sir Walter Mauntell, and Joan his wife.

1498-9 John Chapman, on death of above Thomas Danvers.

1501 Robert Wright, on death of above Thomas Danvers.

1516 Ralph Byet William Broughton, for John, son of John Danvers, a minor.

1528 William Wylnoll Reginald Digby, Thomas Cave, Nicholas Hubbard and their wives.

1544 Eustace Grene Thomas Cave.

1551 Richard Brewarn Kenelm Digby, Francis Farnham, Walter Wright, Archdeacon of Oxford, John Smyth.

1557 Thom. Brewerne Sir Thomas Cave and his wife Elizabeth.

1561 Lewis Evans Lady Elizabeth Cave (widow).

1576 John Tatam

1577 Andrew Pagenton

1577-8 Robert Hogthrop Edward Cave.

1581 William Staminough

1616 Charles Croke, MA George Croke, Esq.

1616 Moses Bodel

1618 Henry Croke, MA

1642 William Harris Sir George Croke.

1658 Robert Turner

1663 John Cave

1671 John Quarme

1677 Charles Hinde, MA Sir George Croke.

1726 Edward Lewis, BA Sir Henry Ashhurst.

1785 John Gulch, MA Diana Ashhurst (widow).

1790 Robert Bertie Broughton Robinson, MA Sir W. H. Ashhurst, MP.

1827 Gibbes Walker Jordan, BA Sir W. H. Ashhurst, MP.

1856 James Henry Ashhurst, MA John Henry Ashhurst, Esq.

NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVEN

7.1 Rawlinson MSS. B., 283.

7.2 Harleian 85, A. 37.

7.3 Charwelton charters in register of Bittlesden Abbey (Harleian MS., 4714).  Simon de Vernai, sometimes Vernie, or Verney, often appears as a witness.  See also Miscellaneous Charters, Augmentation, Record Office, vol. xi, in which Simon and John de Verney appear in Byfield Charter, No. 107, which is not dated, but calligraphy witnesses evidence of late Edward I.

7.4 Harleian 84, D. 56.

7.5 Harleian 84, E. 44.

7.6 Rotuli Hundredorum.

7.7 Baker’s History of Northamptonshire, vol. i, p. 485.

7.8 Close Roll, 8 Edward III (1334), M. 32.

7.9 Parliamentary writs 1316, vol. ii, Division 3.

7.10 College of Arms MS., Vincent 38.

7.11 42 Edward III (1368), No. 57.

7.12 Ashmole MS., 850, p. 7.

7.13 Shirley’s Deer Parks of England, p. 135.

7.14 Patent Roll, A.D. 1282.  License to Richard de Wyliamscote to have, during minority of the heir, custody of Wiccheword forest, and of lands and heir of Thomas de Langelee.

7.15 Oxon fine 31 Edward I (1302), No. 146.

7.16 Inquis., 35 Edward I (1306), No. 74b.

7.17 PM Inquis., 18 Edward II (1324), No. 29.

7.18 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1330, Thomas de Langelee, keeper of forest of Wychewode, to have custody of Abbey of Bruerne, which for want of good rule has fallen into decay and debt.

7.19 See monograph by T. M. Davenport, Esq., M.A.., Lord Lieutenants, High Sheriffs, and Members of Parliament for Oxfordshire, 2nd edition, Oxford, 1888.  PM Inquis. of Thomas de Langelee is Exchequer Series i, file 111, No. 28.

7.20 Inquis. ad quod damnum, 29 Edward III (1355), second numbers, No. 41.

7.21 Miscellaneous Charters, Augmentation, Rec. Office, vol. xi, No. 22, Galfrid, Vicar of Shipton, makes over lands to John, son of Thomas de Langelye.

7.22 Inquis., No. 57, 42 Edward III (1368).

7.23 Oxon Fines, 43 Edward III (1369), Nos. 67 and 66; and Inquis. ad quod damnum, 42 Edward III (1368), second numbers, 9.

7.24 See also Wood MS., E. 1, Shipton (Bodleian).

7.25 Monthly Magazine, July, 1819.

7.26 Dugdale’s History of Warwickshire, vol. i, p.565.

7.27 Collins’ Peerage of England, Brydges’ edition, vol. vi.

7.28 Edmondson in the Baronagium Genealogicum, vol. iv.

7.29 Dugdale’s History of Warwickshire, p. 564.

7.30 Northampton fine of 5 Henry VI (1426), John Verney and his wife Joan, land in Creek.

7.31 Culworth Additional Charter 38798.

7.32 Byfield charter, temp. Edward I, Record Office, Miscellaneous Augmentation, vol. xi, No. 107.

7.33 Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii, division 3.

7.34 Notices of the Ellises, by W. S. Ellis, Esq., 1857-60.  See also J. H. Parker’s Architectural Antiquities of Oxfordshire.

7.35 94 Corston.

7.36 Register of Bradenstoke (B. M. Stowe, MS., 642), charters of Corston.  William Fils Elie, Dominus de Corston, son of William Fils Elie, gives lands in Bradenstoke to the Priory.  His wife’s name is Margaret, that of his son and heir is Thomas.

7.37 Rotuli Hundredorum (1278).  Roger, son of Fitz Elie, holds land in Tetenden (Teddington), Oxon.

7.38 Register of Bradenstoke, Chartulary of Segre, 4 April, 12 Edward II (1318), Corston 94.  John Russell, of Segre, gives charter to the Priory.

7.39 Oxon fine No. 67, of 5 Edward III (1331).

7.40 Schetone, in Wilts, held in 1340 by Robert Russell, in 1365 by Oliver Russell (Wilts Archaeolog. Soc. Journal, vol. ii, p. 284).  Oliver Russell, by charter, released to John, son of John of Bradenstoke (Russell), the lands in Corston which John had as a gift of his father John.  Magdalen College Records, Corston 94.  In the register of Bradenstoke Priory, charters of Tockenham, is a charter, s. d., of Robert S. and H., of Robert Russell, of W. Tockenham.  Robert Russell was constable of Marlborough Castle.  He and Oliver Russell are amongst witnesses to a deed of 21 Edward III (1347).  Ancient Records, vol. i, c. 551.

The chapel of Corston was, A.D. 1344, in the gift of the family of Russell, of Bradenstoke, by whose heiress, Joan, wife of Thomas Quatermain, it was sold in 1434 to Walter, Lord Hungerford.  Lord Hungerford annexed it to the chantry of Heytesbury Church.  The chapel has disappeared (Canon Jackson in vol. x of Wilts Archaeological Society’s Journal).

These Russells, of Bradenstoke, were doubtless descended from the house of Russell, of which a member, Sir Ralph Russell, acquired with his wife, Isabel Newmarch, estates in Wiltshire.  Sir Ralph was sheriff of the county A.D. 1263.  The Sir Maurice Russell who married Joan Dauntesey was a descendant of this Sir Ralph (Wiffen’s Memorials of House of Russell).

7.41 See authorities in Mr Ellis’s history already referred to; also Abbrevat. Placitorum (R. O. publication) temp. Richard I; also charter, Bodleian, No. 448; Fine, Wilts, 15 Henry III (1230); Fine, Oxon, 53 of 11 Henry III (1226), Rotuli Cancellarii Oxon, 3 John (1201), and Kennett’s Parochial Antiquities (index); also Rot. cur. Regis Richard I, No. 1, M. 3, dors.

7.42 Dugdale’s Monasticon, edition of 1682, vol. i, p. 674.

7.43 For notices of late members of the family, cf. Dr Lee’s History of St Mary’s Thame, p. 92.  Amongst the Oxfordshire wills now at Somerset House are many sixteenth and seventeenth century wills of the Quatermayne or Catermans family.

7.44 Duchess of Cleveland’s Battle Abbey Roll, vol. ii, p.324.

7.45 Seal at British Museum.  Richard Quatremayn’s seal, from a ring, on a helmet and short mantling a dexter hand erect, coupéd at the wrist.  In the field Sr Rd quat. cabled border, A.D. 1459.  See pedigree in Chapter Six.

7.46 History and Antiquities of the Church of St Mary of Thame, by the Rev. F. G. Lee, D.D.  London.  1883.

7.47 Salt Society’s Journal, vol. iii, p. 108.  Burke’s Extinct Baronetage, and the pedigree of the Lyttelton family, given at p. xv of Jeave’s Charters at Hagley, speak of Maude’s father as Richard Quatermain.

7.48 Was she daughter, not heiress, of Thomas Quatermayne, sen.?

7.49 Lee’s Gatherings, A.D. 1574, Harleian Society’s vol. v.

7.50 Magdalen College deed, Chalgrove, 17A.

7.51 Dugdale’s History of Warwickshire, vol. i, p.33.

7.52 Rot. Claus., 6 Henry V, M. 6. d.

7.53 Baker’s History of Northamptonshire, vol. i, p. 739.

7.54 Harleian MS. No. 874, p. 39b, and Dugdale’s Baronage; also Lansdowne MS. No. 863.

7.55 In Harleian Society’s vol. v, p. 21.

7.56 Gresley—the name as it occurs in the Harleian Society’s publication—is in brackets, and is, therefore, attributable to Lee’s editor, and not to Lee himself.  We have not been able to discover a Quatermayn-Gresley match.  The arms of Gresley were vairy ermine and gules, but different branches of the family varied the tinctures.  The arms quite possibly came from another source, possibly from the Gernons.

The moiety of the manor of Lavington Gernon came to Richard Quatermayne by his marriage with Sybil Englefield, and was dealt with by him.  See fine of 1 Henry V (1413), per Angliam.

7.57 Granddaughter of Robert Grey. Joan Grey who married Sir John D’Eyncourt, was the daughter of John Grey, elder brother to Thomas Grey and this Thomas was the father of Joan Grey who married Guy Breton. Thomas (and hence John) was the son of Robert Grey, making both of the Joans granddaughters of Robert. (Refer to page 7–7, tomb inscription etc.)

7.58 Descent of manor of Rycote, Harleian MS. 4031, 105b.

7.59 Lansdowne MS. No. 874.

7.60 Dunkin’s Oxfordshire, vol. ii, p.88.

7.61 Dictionary of National Biography, Gilbert and Robert Foliot.

7.62 Dictionary of National Biography, Gilbert and Robert Foliot.

7.63 Fine of 3 Henry III, No. 35.

7.64 De Banco Roll, 4 Edward I, 1275 (No. 15), MS. 15 and 50, dors; and De Banco Roll, 2 Edward I (No. 7), M. 70, dors.

7.65 Pedigree of Foliots, but wanting in evidences, in Nash’s Worcestershire, vol. ii, p. 258.

7.66 Duchess of Cleveland, Battle Abbey Roll, vol. i, p. 140, and Skelton’s Antiquities of Oxfordshire

7.67 Harleian MSS. 808 and 1412.

7.68 Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. i, p. 599.

7.69 De Banco Roll of 2 Edward I (1273), No. 7, M.70, dors.

7.70 Calend. Genealog., Roberts, vol. i, p. 79.  PM Inquis. of Petronilla de Ludington.

7.71 De Banco Roll of 4 Edward I (1275), No. 7, membranes 15 and 50, dors.

7.72 The fine is placed amongst those of Edward II of uncertain year but ‘nono’ can be read, and the names of the justices are those of the 8th and 9th Edward II (1314-15).

7.73 Rotuli Hundredorum, a fief in Waterstoke; 1284 in an Oxon fine No. 12, he and his wife buy land in Waterstoke.

7.74 Lay Subsidy Roll (161/10) of 34 Edward I (1305), in Waterstoke.

7.75 See original in institutions of Bishop of Lincoln, and copy in Bishop Kennett’s Parochial Antiquities, vol. ii, p. 438.

7.76 January 5, 20 Henry VI (1441), William Bruley and Joan Att-Hyde granted to William Lisle the manor of Waterperry—Additional Charter 6011.

7.77 Harleian Society’s vol. v, p. 195.

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Digital edition first published: 1 Mar 2020             Updated: 12 Jul 2023                garydanvers@gmail.com