Maurice Russell, knight
Encyclopedia
Sir Maurice Russell of Kingston Russell
, Dorset and Dyrham
, Glos. was a prominent member of the Gloucestershire gentry, the 3rd son, but eventual heir of Ralph Russell(1319–1375) and his wife Alice(d.1388). He was knighted between June and December 1385 and served twice as Knight of the Shire for Gloucestershire
in 1402 and 1404. He held the posts of Sheriff of Gloucestershire
, 4 times, Coroner and Justice of the Peace, Tax Collector and Commissioner of Enquiry. His land holdings were extensive in Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Berkshire & Buckinghamshire. He was descended from an ancient line which can be traced back to 1210, which ended on the death of his son Thomas, from his 2nd marriage, as a young man without male issue. Most of his lands, having been earlier entailed, had passed at his death into the families of his 2 daughters from his 1st marriage.
William Le Neve in 1626 for the family of Russell of Kingston Russell from a certain Norman knight, Hugo de Rosel, now proved fictitious, the earliest verifiable ancestor dates from 1210. The family was established at Kingston Russell
in Long Bredy parish, near Swyre, Dorset, at the start of the 13th. c. In about 1210 John “Russel”(1174–1224) held Kingston from King John(1199–1216) as half a hide by the serjeanty
of being a marshal of the King's buttery on Christmas Day and at Whitsuntide, a service which had originated in the time of William the Conqueror. The tenure later was said to be that of telling out the King's chessmen and putting them away when the King had finished his game. John Russell was Governor of Corfe Castle
, Purbeck, Dorset in 1220/1 and sometime Constable of Sherborne Castle
, Dorset. He married Rose Bardolph, daughter of Thomas Bardolph and Adela (or Sybil) Corbet.
in Dorset, last of that family, John Russell had purchased the wardship of his two daughters and co-heiresses, Isabel and Hawise, which transaction received the approval of King Henry III(1216–1272) in 1224. Isabel the eldest he married off to his son Ralph Russell in 1219, whilst he sold the marriage of Hawise to John de Bottrell. On the death of Bottrell, Hawise married 2ndly Nicholas de Moels
, to whom her moiety of the property descended. Thus were the lands of the extensive Newmarch barony, originally the Domesday Book fiefdom of Turstin FitzRolf
, standard bearer to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, then the fief of Wynebald de Ballon
, a soldier friend of King William II, split in two between the 2 husbands. To Moels went North Cadbury
and Upton “Moels” (Berks., now Oxon.), whilst to Ralph Russell went Dyrham
and a moiety of Aust
, (Glos.), Horsington
(Som.), Upton “Russell” (Berks., now Oxon.), Hardwick
& Kimble (Bucks.) & other estates in Wiltshire. The Testa de Nevill entry for Dyrham was : “Jame de Novo Mercato tenet in Dorham cum pertinenciis duos milites et dimidium” (James de Newmarch held in Dyrham with appurtenances 2 ½ knights' fees).
)
Ralph Russell's and Isabel's son Sir William Russell died as a young man in 1310/11, but not without having inherited in 1298 the lands of his two elder brothers, James (who had a son Ralph, d.1295, s.p.) and Robert(died s.p. 1298). The Russell lands at Dyrham were in 1311 one of the largest arable demesne
s in Gloucestershire, that is lands farmed in-hand, not let out to tenants, comprising 420 acres arable and 60 acres of meadow. William produced a male heir, Theobald(1303–1349), by his wife Jane Peverell (or poss. Katherine de Aula from which family the Russells inherited Yaverland, Isle of Wight). Thus the infant Theobald having lost father and grandfather was granted by King Edward II(1307–1327) in wardship to Ralph de Gorges, 1st Baron Gorges
of Wraxall & Bradpole (Som.), Knighton (IoW), Tothill (Lincolnshire). In 1316 Theobald Russell, as a minor, was recorded as holding 8 manors; 2 in Glos., 1 in Wilts., 1 in Som. & 4 elsewhere. Gorges had a son, Ralph, 2nd Baron Gorges, and 3 daughters, Elizabeth, Eleanor and Joan. He appears to have married off his 2nd. daughter Eleanor to the young Theobald Russell. Before the death of the 2nd. Baron without issue shortly after his father, clearly keen to see his family name and armourials continue, he formed the plan of bequeathing the Gorges estates to the younger son of his sister Eleanor Russell, on condition apparently that he should adopt the name and arms of Gorges. This is precisely what occurred when Theobald Russell II, 3rd son of Theobald and Eleanor, his 2nd elder brother William having died, adopted the name Gorges, and founded a revived Gorges line, which flourished, based at Wraxall, Somerset. (see Gorges family
and Ferdinando Gorges
). However, when Theobald “Gorges” tried to adopt the Gorges arms, taken from their de Morville heiress who brought them Wraxall, he was challenged by the Warburton (or Warbleton) knight of Cheshire who happened to be serving with him at the Siege of Calais in 1346, who noticed they both bore the same arms on their shields, "Lozengy or and azure". The case was brought before the Earl Marshal, who adjudged on 19 July 1347 in favour of Warburton, and forced Theobald Russell "Gorges" to add a "Chevron Gules" to the de Morville arms as a difference. Thus the new Gorges arms became "Lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules", and one of the more celebrated and historic cases heard in the Earl Marshal's court was recorded. The ancient Gorges canting arms of "Argent, a gurges azure", gurges signifying in Latin a Whirlpool, had been retained some generations before by the senior Gorges line seated at Tamerton Foliot
, Devon, the cadet line having married the de Morville heiress. The eldest son of Theobald I, described as of Carisbrooke Castle
, Isle of Wight, and Eleanor was Ralph Russell(d.13 Feb.1375), described as “of the Isle of Wight”, the father of Sir Maurice Russell, the subject of the present article.
, Berkshire. Frethornes was a manor anciently held from the Newmarch family, and its tenant prior to Edmund was the “de Frethorne” family, which held other Newmarch lands in Glos. & Somerset. Certainly Frethornes was part of the Newmarch moiety which had gone to the husband of Hawise, since the Bottreaux family, eventual heirs of Nicholas de Moels
, were the overlords to Edmund. Sir Edmund was from a relatively new family, long resident within the parish of Childrey, which rose rapidly in his own person, from his profession as a lawyer. His armourials in 1368, even at the height of his career, were stated in contemporary documents to be “unknown”, pointing to his family's lowly origins. These armourials can be seen on the funerary brass in Dyrham
church, above Isabel's figure (see illustration). He began his public career in 1343. In 1348 he was a Commissioner of the Peace for Berks. And in 1362 was appointed a King's Serjeant-at-Law, rising to Justice of King's Bench in 1371, upon which appointment he was knighted. In 1355 he had begun to acquire property in Berkshire, at Watlingtons Manor in West Hagbourne
, Frethornes Manor in Childrey
Parish, South Fawley
, Letcomb Bassett (Berks.) and Balsdon. On the marriage of Maurice Russell and Isabel, his father Ralph Russell settled upon them the manor of Dyrham. His lands in the Isle of Wight, comprising 3 manors, apparently were settled on the 2 elder brothers of Maurice who died without male issue, but do not appear to have descended to Maurice. Edmund Childrey's connection with Gloucestershire and thus with Maurice Russell's father may have developed as a result of his having been granted in 1362 the wardship of the lands of William FitzWarin at Whityngton
, Glos. In 1388 Sir Maurice Russell sold his ex-Newmarch Berkshire manor of Upton “Russell” to John Latton, who sold it in 1401 to Thomas Childrey(c.1350-1407), MP for Berkshire in 1390 and 1406, brother-in-law to Maurice Russell and steward of the estates of Bishop William of Wykeham
of Winchester .
Treasurer of the Exchequer
. Having reached his majority, in December 1377 Maurice took possession of his inheritance, following the early deaths of his two elder brothers Theobald and John(both fl. 1341), excepting the customary 1/3 dower share retained by his mother Alice, whose family name is unknown, apparently resident at Kingston Russell, who died on 16 March 1388. In 1382 Maurice leased the reversion of Kingston Russell, from his mother's death, to Walter Clopton for 20 marks p.a. Maurice also had a sister, Alice, who married into the Haket family, producing a son John Haket(d.1498).
and the hundred courts of Redhone and Beaminster Forum
in Dorset. Assheton's manor of Litton and Combe in Dorset were split, after some argument, between Russell and Sir Ralph Cheyne(d.1400) of Brooke in Westbury, Wilts., whose father Sir William Cheyne of Poyntington, Som., had married, as his 2nd. wife, Joan Gorges, the youngest daughter of the 1st Baron Gorges.
In the same year of 1385 he sold the former Newmarch manor of Hardwick
, Bucks. to William of Wykeham
, Bishop of Winchester, for the purpose of the founding of New College, Oxford
, and also granted the Bishop an annual rent of £10 from the manor of Aust
, Glos., during his wife's lifetime. Later in 1400 his brother-in-law Thomas Childrey would become steward to the estates of Wykeham. He also sold the ancient Russell manor of Allington
to John Roger I(d.1441) of Bridport
and Bryanston
, Dorset Russell remained a very wealthy man as the assessments made in 1412 for the purposes of taxation make clear. His estates in Hampshire, Somerset and Glos. were then said to be severally worth £40 p.a., whilst those in Dorset apparently gave him an annual income of £122 5s, making a total, no doubt under-declared, of over £242. In 1394 he was removed from the post of Coroner of Glos. for the reason that “He dwells not in the county”, although most of his official positions related to that county. He made a loan of £40 to King Richard II in August 1397. He was clearly a supporter of King Richard, as he had married off his younger daughter to Richard le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire one of the King's staunchest supporters, who was beheaded at Bristol, only 7 miles from Dyrham, by Henry Bolingbroke
in 1399. Russell continued however to serve in official positions in Gloucestershire after the usurpation of the throne in 1399 by Henry IV, indeed then serving as Knight of the Shire in 1402 and 1404. In 1403 he was among the prominent figures of Gloucestershire commissioned by the King to select the best fighting men of the region to join the royal army in fighting the Welsh rebels under Owen Glendower
, and in the same year of 1403 he was appointed feoffee by Sir John Luttrell of the Somerset manor of East Quantoxhead
. In 1408 he was involved in a dispute, of unknown cause, with the influential Sir Walter Hungerford
, as a result of which both men were required to enter into recognizance
s for 1,000 marks each as surety that they would abide by the award of the Chancellor Thomas Arundel
, Archbishop of Canterbury.
, Wilts., by Elizabeth da. and co-heiress of John Beverley of London, sister and eventual heiress of Sir Walter Dauntsey. Isabel Childrey had produced only 2 daughters for Russell, but now Joan produced a son and heir, Thomas (1412–1431). Thomas was aged only 4 at most when his father died in 1416, and was granted by King Henry V (1413–1422) in wardship to Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
(1387–1421), the King's eldest brother. Thomas married young, no doubt at the direction of Clarence, and had a daughter Margery Russell, but father and daughter both died, in mysterious circumstances, in 1431, Thomas aged about 18, certainly still a minor. The elderly Sir John Stradling (d.1435) of Glamorgan
, Wales, obtained the marriage of Joan the young widow, yet omitted to obtain royal licence to marry a widow of a King's Tenant-in-chief
, which Russell was regarding Dyrham and other manors, and was fined heavily in 1418 for his error. The marriage occurred possibly as a result of Stradling's connection to Sir Gilbert Denys
, Russell's son-in-law originally from Glamorgan. On Denys's death in 1422, the wardship of his son and heir Maurice Denys, Russell's grandson, was granted to Sir Edward Stradling(d.1453) of St Donat's Castle
, Glamorgan, nephew of Sir John Stradling. Joan married thirdly, after 1435, John Dewall, next to whom she was buried in Dauntsey
church in 1457.
Isabel and Drayton sold their share in the Russell lands to Margaret and her husband Sir Gilbert Denys, whose family retained Kingston Russell until 1543, Dyrham until 1571 and Aust until after 1600.
By 2nd wife Joan Dauntsey(c.1395-1457):
created post 1416 of Sir Maurice Russell and his 1st wife Isabel Childrey is in the south chapel of St Peter's Church, Dyrham. It is over life-size, measuring 7 ft. 6in. by 3 ft. 11in., set into a surviving section of floor covered with mediaeval tiles.
below the feet of the subjects:
The coupling of stratus and vocitatus were common at the period, and feature for example on the tombstone of English design of Robert Hallam
(d.1416), Bishop of Salisbury, at Constance Cathedral, Germany. At least 2 renderings into English have been made of these verses, firstly by C.T. Davis, Monumental Brasses of Gloucestershire, 1899:
A second rendering was made by Raymond Gorges, History of the Family of Gorges, 1944:
A literal translation is as follows:
Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell is a large mansion house and manor near Long Bredy in Dorset, England, west of Dorchester. The present house dates from the late 17th century but in 1730 was clad in a white Georgian stone facade. The house was restored in 1913, and at the same time the gardens were laid out...
, Dorset and Dyrham
Dyrham
Dyrham is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England.-Location and communications:Dyrham is at lat. 51° 29' north, long. 2° 22' west . It lies at an altitude of 100 metres above sea level. It is near the A46 trunk road, about north of Bath and a little south of the M4 motorway...
, Glos. was a prominent member of the Gloucestershire gentry, the 3rd son, but eventual heir of Ralph Russell(1319–1375) and his wife Alice(d.1388). He was knighted between June and December 1385 and served twice as Knight of the Shire for Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)
The constituency of Gloucestershire was a UK Parliamentary constituency. After it was abolished under the 1832 Electoral Reform Act, two new constituencies, West Gloucestershire and East Gloucestershire, were created....
in 1402 and 1404. He held the posts of Sheriff of Gloucestershire
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred...
, 4 times, Coroner and Justice of the Peace, Tax Collector and Commissioner of Enquiry. His land holdings were extensive in Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Berkshire & Buckinghamshire. He was descended from an ancient line which can be traced back to 1210, which ended on the death of his son Thomas, from his 2nd marriage, as a young man without male issue. Most of his lands, having been earlier entailed, had passed at his death into the families of his 2 daughters from his 1st marriage.
Family Background
Although descent was claimed by the York HeraldYork Herald
York Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms. The first York Herald is believed to have been an officer to Edmund of Langley, Duke of York around the year 1385, but the first completely reliable reference to such a herald is in February of 1484, when John Water...
William Le Neve in 1626 for the family of Russell of Kingston Russell from a certain Norman knight, Hugo de Rosel, now proved fictitious, the earliest verifiable ancestor dates from 1210. The family was established at Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell is a large mansion house and manor near Long Bredy in Dorset, England, west of Dorchester. The present house dates from the late 17th century but in 1730 was clad in a white Georgian stone facade. The house was restored in 1913, and at the same time the gardens were laid out...
in Long Bredy parish, near Swyre, Dorset, at the start of the 13th. c. In about 1210 John “Russel”(1174–1224) held Kingston from King John(1199–1216) as half a hide by the serjeanty
Serjeanty
Under the feudal system in late and high medieval England, tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in return for some specified service, ranking between tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage...
of being a marshal of the King's buttery on Christmas Day and at Whitsuntide, a service which had originated in the time of William the Conqueror. The tenure later was said to be that of telling out the King's chessmen and putting them away when the King had finished his game. John Russell was Governor of Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle, and is some eight...
, Purbeck, Dorset in 1220/1 and sometime Constable of Sherborne Castle
Sherborne Castle
Sherborne Castle is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne in Dorset, England. The park formed only a small part of the Digby estate.-Old castle:Sherborne Old Castle is the ruin of a 12th-century castle in the grounds of the mansion...
, Dorset. He married Rose Bardolph, daughter of Thomas Bardolph and Adela (or Sybil) Corbet.
Newmarch Inheritance
On the death in 1216 of his near neighbour in Dorset, James de Newmarch, of North CadburyNorth Cadbury
North Cadbury is a village west of Wincanton in the River Cam in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It shares its parish with nearby Yarlington and includes the village of Galhampton, which got its name from the settlement of the rent-paying peasants, and the hamlet of...
in Dorset, last of that family, John Russell had purchased the wardship of his two daughters and co-heiresses, Isabel and Hawise, which transaction received the approval of King Henry III(1216–1272) in 1224. Isabel the eldest he married off to his son Ralph Russell in 1219, whilst he sold the marriage of Hawise to John de Bottrell. On the death of Bottrell, Hawise married 2ndly Nicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels was a medieval Norman administrator in Somerset.He was born about 1195. He married, as her 2nd. husband, Hawise de Newmarch, younger daughter & co-heiress of James de Newmarch feudal baron of North Cadbury, Somerset, in about 1224...
, to whom her moiety of the property descended. Thus were the lands of the extensive Newmarch barony, originally the Domesday Book fiefdom of Turstin FitzRolf
Turstin FitzRolf
Turstin FitzRolf was a Norman magnate, one of the few "Proven Companions of William the Conqueror" who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As his name indicates, he was the son of a certain Rolf, synonymous with Rou and Rollo . His first name appears as Tosteins, Thurstan and other variants...
, standard bearer to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, then the fief of Wynebald de Ballon
Wynebald de Ballon
Wynebald de Ballon ,, was an early Norman magnate. He was a son of Drogo de Ballon and appeared in England accompanied by his brothers, Hamelin de Ballon, later created 1st Baron of Abergavenny, and Wynoc de Ballon, about whom little is recorded...
, a soldier friend of King William II, split in two between the 2 husbands. To Moels went North Cadbury
North Cadbury
North Cadbury is a village west of Wincanton in the River Cam in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It shares its parish with nearby Yarlington and includes the village of Galhampton, which got its name from the settlement of the rent-paying peasants, and the hamlet of...
and Upton “Moels” (Berks., now Oxon.), whilst to Ralph Russell went Dyrham
Dyrham
Dyrham is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England.-Location and communications:Dyrham is at lat. 51° 29' north, long. 2° 22' west . It lies at an altitude of 100 metres above sea level. It is near the A46 trunk road, about north of Bath and a little south of the M4 motorway...
and a moiety of Aust
Aust
Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, the historical site of the eastern terminal of the Aust Ferry crossing route over the River Severn between England and Wales, believed to have been used in Roman times as a continuation of Icknield Street which led from Eastern England...
, (Glos.), Horsington
Horsington, Somerset
Horsington is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated south of Wincanton and north of Templecombe in the South Somerset district. The village lies on the edge of Horsington Marsh, part of the Blackmore Vale...
(Som.), Upton “Russell” (Berks., now Oxon.), Hardwick
Hardwick, Buckinghamshire
Hardwick is both a village and a civil parish within the Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Aylesbury Vale, about four miles north of Aylesbury....
& Kimble (Bucks.) & other estates in Wiltshire. The Testa de Nevill entry for Dyrham was : “Jame de Novo Mercato tenet in Dorham cum pertinenciis duos milites et dimidium” (James de Newmarch held in Dyrham with appurtenances 2 ½ knights' fees).
Gorges Inheritance
(See main article: Gorges familyGorges family
The House of Gorges is an ancient English family with Norman origins. Radulph, Lord of the Château de Gorges came over to England from Gorges in the canton of Périers in Normandy in the army of William the Conqueror in the year 1066 and acquired a knighthood. He had thus started the history of...
)
Ralph Russell's and Isabel's son Sir William Russell died as a young man in 1310/11, but not without having inherited in 1298 the lands of his two elder brothers, James (who had a son Ralph, d.1295, s.p.) and Robert(died s.p. 1298). The Russell lands at Dyrham were in 1311 one of the largest arable demesne
Demesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
s in Gloucestershire, that is lands farmed in-hand, not let out to tenants, comprising 420 acres arable and 60 acres of meadow. William produced a male heir, Theobald(1303–1349), by his wife Jane Peverell (or poss. Katherine de Aula from which family the Russells inherited Yaverland, Isle of Wight). Thus the infant Theobald having lost father and grandfather was granted by King Edward II(1307–1327) in wardship to Ralph de Gorges, 1st Baron Gorges
Gorges family
The House of Gorges is an ancient English family with Norman origins. Radulph, Lord of the Château de Gorges came over to England from Gorges in the canton of Périers in Normandy in the army of William the Conqueror in the year 1066 and acquired a knighthood. He had thus started the history of...
of Wraxall & Bradpole (Som.), Knighton (IoW), Tothill (Lincolnshire). In 1316 Theobald Russell, as a minor, was recorded as holding 8 manors; 2 in Glos., 1 in Wilts., 1 in Som. & 4 elsewhere. Gorges had a son, Ralph, 2nd Baron Gorges, and 3 daughters, Elizabeth, Eleanor and Joan. He appears to have married off his 2nd. daughter Eleanor to the young Theobald Russell. Before the death of the 2nd. Baron without issue shortly after his father, clearly keen to see his family name and armourials continue, he formed the plan of bequeathing the Gorges estates to the younger son of his sister Eleanor Russell, on condition apparently that he should adopt the name and arms of Gorges. This is precisely what occurred when Theobald Russell II, 3rd son of Theobald and Eleanor, his 2nd elder brother William having died, adopted the name Gorges, and founded a revived Gorges line, which flourished, based at Wraxall, Somerset. (see Gorges family
Gorges family
The House of Gorges is an ancient English family with Norman origins. Radulph, Lord of the Château de Gorges came over to England from Gorges in the canton of Périers in Normandy in the army of William the Conqueror in the year 1066 and acquired a knighthood. He had thus started the history of...
and Ferdinando Gorges
Ferdinando Gorges
Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...
). However, when Theobald “Gorges” tried to adopt the Gorges arms, taken from their de Morville heiress who brought them Wraxall, he was challenged by the Warburton (or Warbleton) knight of Cheshire who happened to be serving with him at the Siege of Calais in 1346, who noticed they both bore the same arms on their shields, "Lozengy or and azure". The case was brought before the Earl Marshal, who adjudged on 19 July 1347 in favour of Warburton, and forced Theobald Russell "Gorges" to add a "Chevron Gules" to the de Morville arms as a difference. Thus the new Gorges arms became "Lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules", and one of the more celebrated and historic cases heard in the Earl Marshal's court was recorded. The ancient Gorges canting arms of "Argent, a gurges azure", gurges signifying in Latin a Whirlpool, had been retained some generations before by the senior Gorges line seated at Tamerton Foliot
Tamerton Foliot
Tamerton Foliot was a village and is now a dense suburb in the north of Plymouth, England that also lends its name to the parish of the same name....
, Devon, the cadet line having married the de Morville heiress. The eldest son of Theobald I, described as of Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke, near Newport, Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.-Early history:...
, Isle of Wight, and Eleanor was Ralph Russell(d.13 Feb.1375), described as “of the Isle of Wight”, the father of Sir Maurice Russell, the subject of the present article.
First Marriage to Isabel Childrey
Maurice Russell, aged just 13, was married firstly in June 1369, to Isabel Childrey, da. Of Sir Edmund Childrey(d.1372) (or Chelrey) of Frethornes Manor in the parish of ChildreyChildrey
Childrey is a village and civil parish about west of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. The parish was part of the Wantage Rural District in Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the whole of the Vale of White Horse from Berkshire to Oxfordshire.Childrey was originally an island...
, Berkshire. Frethornes was a manor anciently held from the Newmarch family, and its tenant prior to Edmund was the “de Frethorne” family, which held other Newmarch lands in Glos. & Somerset. Certainly Frethornes was part of the Newmarch moiety which had gone to the husband of Hawise, since the Bottreaux family, eventual heirs of Nicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels was a medieval Norman administrator in Somerset.He was born about 1195. He married, as her 2nd. husband, Hawise de Newmarch, younger daughter & co-heiress of James de Newmarch feudal baron of North Cadbury, Somerset, in about 1224...
, were the overlords to Edmund. Sir Edmund was from a relatively new family, long resident within the parish of Childrey, which rose rapidly in his own person, from his profession as a lawyer. His armourials in 1368, even at the height of his career, were stated in contemporary documents to be “unknown”, pointing to his family's lowly origins. These armourials can be seen on the funerary brass in Dyrham
Dyrham
Dyrham is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England.-Location and communications:Dyrham is at lat. 51° 29' north, long. 2° 22' west . It lies at an altitude of 100 metres above sea level. It is near the A46 trunk road, about north of Bath and a little south of the M4 motorway...
church, above Isabel's figure (see illustration). He began his public career in 1343. In 1348 he was a Commissioner of the Peace for Berks. And in 1362 was appointed a King's Serjeant-at-Law, rising to Justice of King's Bench in 1371, upon which appointment he was knighted. In 1355 he had begun to acquire property in Berkshire, at Watlingtons Manor in West Hagbourne
West Hagbourne
West Hagbourne is a village and civil parish in the Berkshire Downs south of Didcot. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire and from the former Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire....
, Frethornes Manor in Childrey
Childrey
Childrey is a village and civil parish about west of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. The parish was part of the Wantage Rural District in Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the whole of the Vale of White Horse from Berkshire to Oxfordshire.Childrey was originally an island...
Parish, South Fawley
South Fawley
South Fawley is a small village in the civil parish of Fawley in the English county of Berkshire.It is situated off the A338 between Great Shefford and Wantage, just south of its counterpart Fawley, or North Fawley, in the West Berkshire district. It has a fine early 17th century manor house built...
, Letcomb Bassett (Berks.) and Balsdon. On the marriage of Maurice Russell and Isabel, his father Ralph Russell settled upon them the manor of Dyrham. His lands in the Isle of Wight, comprising 3 manors, apparently were settled on the 2 elder brothers of Maurice who died without male issue, but do not appear to have descended to Maurice. Edmund Childrey's connection with Gloucestershire and thus with Maurice Russell's father may have developed as a result of his having been granted in 1362 the wardship of the lands of William FitzWarin at Whityngton
Whittington, Gloucestershire
Whittington, Gloucestershire is a village in the county of Gloucestershire in England, United Kingdom.- Location :Whittington, Gloucestershire is situated some 4 miles south east of Cheltenham, just off the busy A40 road.- History & Amenities :...
, Glos. In 1388 Sir Maurice Russell sold his ex-Newmarch Berkshire manor of Upton “Russell” to John Latton, who sold it in 1401 to Thomas Childrey(c.1350-1407), MP for Berkshire in 1390 and 1406, brother-in-law to Maurice Russell and steward of the estates of Bishop William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of England, founder of Winchester College, New College, Oxford, New College School, Oxford, and builder of a large part of Windsor Castle.-Life:...
of Winchester .
Becomes Ward on Father's Death
Maurice's father Ralph Russell died on 13 Feb. 1375, while Maurice was still a minor aged 19, two years from his majority. He was granted in wardship to Sir Robert Assheton(d.1384), his father's cousin, soon to be appointedTreasurer of the Exchequer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
. Having reached his majority, in December 1377 Maurice took possession of his inheritance, following the early deaths of his two elder brothers Theobald and John(both fl. 1341), excepting the customary 1/3 dower share retained by his mother Alice, whose family name is unknown, apparently resident at Kingston Russell, who died on 16 March 1388. In 1382 Maurice leased the reversion of Kingston Russell, from his mother's death, to Walter Clopton for 20 marks p.a. Maurice also had a sister, Alice, who married into the Haket family, producing a son John Haket(d.1498).
Inherits Assheton Lands
Sir Robert Assheton (snr.) of Pitney, Som., had married Elizabeth Gorges, eldest daughter of the first Baron Gorges. On the death of their son Sir Robert Assheton (jnr.) without issue in 1384 Maurice Russell inherited the former Gorges manors of BradpoleBradpole
Bradpole is a village in south west Dorset, England, in the Brit valley, one mile outside Bridport. The village has a population of 2,270 , 38.8% are retired.- External links :***...
and the hundred courts of Redhone and Beaminster Forum
Beaminster Forum and Redhone (hundred)
Beaminster Forum & Redhone Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes:*Beaminster*Bradpole*Chedington*Chardstock *Corscombe*Mapperton*Mosterton*Netherbury*North Poorton...
in Dorset. Assheton's manor of Litton and Combe in Dorset were split, after some argument, between Russell and Sir Ralph Cheyne(d.1400) of Brooke in Westbury, Wilts., whose father Sir William Cheyne of Poyntington, Som., had married, as his 2nd. wife, Joan Gorges, the youngest daughter of the 1st Baron Gorges.
Career
Maurice Russell's career began in December 1385 in connection with the administration of Gloucestershire, when he was appointed, aged 29, tax collector for Glos., and again in March 1388.In the same year of 1385 he sold the former Newmarch manor of Hardwick
Hardwick, Buckinghamshire
Hardwick is both a village and a civil parish within the Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Aylesbury Vale, about four miles north of Aylesbury....
, Bucks. to William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of England, founder of Winchester College, New College, Oxford, New College School, Oxford, and builder of a large part of Windsor Castle.-Life:...
, Bishop of Winchester, for the purpose of the founding of New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, and also granted the Bishop an annual rent of £10 from the manor of Aust
Aust
Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, the historical site of the eastern terminal of the Aust Ferry crossing route over the River Severn between England and Wales, believed to have been used in Roman times as a continuation of Icknield Street which led from Eastern England...
, Glos., during his wife's lifetime. Later in 1400 his brother-in-law Thomas Childrey would become steward to the estates of Wykeham. He also sold the ancient Russell manor of Allington
Allington, Dorset
Allington is a large village and civil parish in Dorset, England. The village has a population of 614 according to the 2001 Census.Allington Hill is an Iron Age hill fort risingto 90m above the village, now managed by the Woodland Trust...
to John Roger I(d.1441) of Bridport
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England. Located near the coast at the western end of Chesil Beach at the confluence of the River Brit and its Asker and Simene tributaries, it originally thrived as a fishing port and rope-making centre...
and Bryanston
Bryanston
Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour one mile west of Blandford Forum. The parish has a population of 968 . The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an independent school.The village was named after Brian de Lisle, a...
, Dorset Russell remained a very wealthy man as the assessments made in 1412 for the purposes of taxation make clear. His estates in Hampshire, Somerset and Glos. were then said to be severally worth £40 p.a., whilst those in Dorset apparently gave him an annual income of £122 5s, making a total, no doubt under-declared, of over £242. In 1394 he was removed from the post of Coroner of Glos. for the reason that “He dwells not in the county”, although most of his official positions related to that county. He made a loan of £40 to King Richard II in August 1397. He was clearly a supporter of King Richard, as he had married off his younger daughter to Richard le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire one of the King's staunchest supporters, who was beheaded at Bristol, only 7 miles from Dyrham, by Henry Bolingbroke
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
in 1399. Russell continued however to serve in official positions in Gloucestershire after the usurpation of the throne in 1399 by Henry IV, indeed then serving as Knight of the Shire in 1402 and 1404. In 1403 he was among the prominent figures of Gloucestershire commissioned by the King to select the best fighting men of the region to join the royal army in fighting the Welsh rebels under Owen Glendower
Glendower
Glendower can refer to:*Owain Glyndŵr , a medieval Welsh nobleman*Glendower State Memorial, a historic house in Lebanon, Ohio*Shandon, Ohio, which was originally called Glendower*Glendower Circuit, a region in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada...
, and in the same year of 1403 he was appointed feoffee by Sir John Luttrell of the Somerset manor of East Quantoxhead
East Quantoxhead
East Quantoxhead is a village in West Somerset, from West Quantoxhead, east of Williton, and west of Bridgwater, within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Somerset, England.-History:...
. In 1408 he was involved in a dispute, of unknown cause, with the influential Sir Walter Hungerford
Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford
Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford KG was an English knight, landowner, from 1400 to 1414 Member of the House of Commons, of which he became Speaker, then was an Admiral and peer....
, as a result of which both men were required to enter into recognizance
Recognizance
In some common law nations, a recognizance is a conditional obligation undertaken by a person before a court. It is an obligation of record, entered into before a court or magistrate duly authorized, whereby the party bound acknowledges that he owes a personal debt to the state...
s for 1,000 marks each as surety that they would abide by the award of the Chancellor Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards.-Family background:...
, Archbishop of Canterbury.
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire
- 7 Nov 1390 - 21 Oct. 1391
- 9 Nov. 1395 – 1 Dec. 1396
- 10 July 1400 – 8 Nov. 1401
- 5 Nov. 1406 – 23 Nov. 1407 (Duties included holding in Gloucester the Gloucestershire elections to Parliament of 1407)
Knight of the Shire, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)
The constituency of Gloucestershire was a UK Parliamentary constituency. After it was abolished under the 1832 Electoral Reform Act, two new constituencies, West Gloucestershire and East Gloucestershire, were created....
- 1402
- Jan. 1404
Commissioner of Enquiry
- May 1389, Concealments; Bristol, Devon, Glos., Som.
- May 1393, Disseisin, Glos.
- Nov. 1398, Intimidation of a Jury
- June 1399, Eviction
- May, Nov. 1400, Trespass
- July 1401, Disseisin
- July 1403, Wastes
- Feb. 1406, Disseisin
- March 1406, Obstruction of a road
- July 1392, Arrest
- Mar 1394, Oyer and TerminerOyer and terminerIn English law, Oyer and terminer was the Law French name, meaning "to hear and determine", for one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat...
, Bristol - Mar 1401, Oyer & Terminer, Glos., Worcs.
- May 1395 & Jan 1396, to take Assizes of Novel DisseisinAssize of novel disseisinIn English law, the Assize of novel disseisin was an action to recover lands of which the plaintiff had been disseised, or dispossessed. The action became extremely popular due to its expediency...
, Glos., Som. - Oct 1398, Survey estates of Lords AppellantLords AppellantThe Lords Appellant were a group of nobles in the reign of King Richard II who sought to impeach some five of the King's favourites in order to restrain what was seen as tyrannical and capricious rule. The word appellant simply means '[one who is] appealing [in a legal sense]'...
of 1387-8, Berks., Glos., Oxon. - Dec 1399 & Sept., Nov. 1403, Array, Glos.
- Dec. 1401, Collection of Aid
- May 1402, to make proclamation of Henry IV's Intention to Govern Well
- Sept. 1405, to raise royal loans
Second Marriage to Joan Dauntsey
Before 1412, aged 56, Russell married 17 year old Joan Dauntsey (c.1395-1457), da. of Sir John Dauntsey of DauntseyDauntsey
Dauntsey is a small village in the county of Wiltshire in England. It gives its name to the Dauntsey Vale in which it lies and takes its name from Saxon for Dantes- eig, or Dante's island...
, Wilts., by Elizabeth da. and co-heiress of John Beverley of London, sister and eventual heiress of Sir Walter Dauntsey. Isabel Childrey had produced only 2 daughters for Russell, but now Joan produced a son and heir, Thomas (1412–1431). Thomas was aged only 4 at most when his father died in 1416, and was granted by King Henry V (1413–1422) in wardship to Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, KG , also known as Thomas Plantagenet, was the second son of King Henry IV of England and his first wife, Mary de Bohun. He was born before 25 November 1387 as on that date his father's accounts note a payment made to a woman described as his nurse...
(1387–1421), the King's eldest brother. Thomas married young, no doubt at the direction of Clarence, and had a daughter Margery Russell, but father and daughter both died, in mysterious circumstances, in 1431, Thomas aged about 18, certainly still a minor. The elderly Sir John Stradling (d.1435) of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, Wales, obtained the marriage of Joan the young widow, yet omitted to obtain royal licence to marry a widow of a King's Tenant-in-chief
Tenant-in-chief
In medieval and early modern European society the term tenant-in-chief, sometimes vassal-in-chief, denoted the nobles who held their lands as tenants directly from king or territorial prince to whom they did homage, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy....
, which Russell was regarding Dyrham and other manors, and was fined heavily in 1418 for his error. The marriage occurred possibly as a result of Stradling's connection to Sir Gilbert Denys
Gilbert Denys, knight
Sir Gilbert Denys of Siston, Gloucestershire, was a soldier, and later an administrator. He was knighted by Jan 1385, and was twice knight of the shire for Gloucestershire constituency, in 1390 and 1395 and served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1393-4...
, Russell's son-in-law originally from Glamorgan. On Denys's death in 1422, the wardship of his son and heir Maurice Denys, Russell's grandson, was granted to Sir Edward Stradling(d.1453) of St Donat's Castle
St Donat's Castle
St Donat's Castle is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, overlooking the Bristol Channel in the village of St Donat's near Llantwit Major, and about 25km west of Cardiff...
, Glamorgan, nephew of Sir John Stradling. Joan married thirdly, after 1435, John Dewall, next to whom she was buried in Dauntsey
Dauntsey
Dauntsey is a small village in the county of Wiltshire in England. It gives its name to the Dauntsey Vale in which it lies and takes its name from Saxon for Dantes- eig, or Dante's island...
church in 1457.
Succession
By 1st wife Isabel Childrey, on marriage to whom, in 1369, Dyrham and other estates were entailed to the progeny of the marriage:- (1)Margaret(c. 1375-1460) married twice:
- (1) c. 1404 as his 2nd wife, Sir Gilbert DenysGilbert Denys, knightSir Gilbert Denys of Siston, Gloucestershire, was a soldier, and later an administrator. He was knighted by Jan 1385, and was twice knight of the shire for Gloucestershire constituency, in 1390 and 1395 and served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1393-4...
(d.1422) of SistonSistonSiston is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England east of Bristol Castle, ancient centre of Bristol, recorded historically as Syston, Sistone, Syton, Sytone and Systun etc. The village lies at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon...
, Glos.3 sons, 2 daughters, heir Maurice Denys(1409–1466). - (2) John Kemys.
- (1) c. 1404 as his 2nd wife, Sir Gilbert Denys
- (2)Isabel(d.1437) married 4 times:
- (1) William le Scrope, 1st Earl of WiltshireWilliam le Scrope, 1st Earl of WiltshireSir William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, King of Mann KG was a close supporter of King Richard II of England. He was a second son of Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton.-Life:...
, beheaded 1399 at Bristol by Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of LancasterHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
. He was a staunch adherent to Richard II, and a zealous treasurer of the Exchequer. - (2) Sir Thomas de la River(d.1406) of TormartonTormartonTormarton is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. Its name comes from Thor Maer Tun meaning The settlement with the thorn on the boundary. It is one mile North-East of junction 18 of the M4 motorway, with the A46 road and close to the border between Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire. As...
& Acton TurvilleActon TurvilleActon Turville is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is known as Achetone in the Domesday Book.-External links:...
, Glos., whom she bore a son, Maurice de la River, who inherited the Gorges manor of Bradpole, Dorset, which he sold in 1457 to the Earl of Ormonde. - (3) Sir John Drayton(d.1417) of Nuneham CourtenayNuneham CourtenayNuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford.-Manor:The toponym evolved from Newenham. In the 14th century the village belonged to the Courtenay family and in 1764 "Newenham" was changed to "Nuneham"....
. She bore Drayton 2 daughters, Joan, who was married to Drew Barantyne, her mariage having been purchased by Thomas ChaucerThomas ChaucerThomas Chaucer was the Speaker of the English House of Commons and son of Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Roet.-Life:...
, 5 times Speaker of the House of Commons & son of the great poet Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
. Hatfield & Isabel had sold the reversion of Drayton's manor of Nuneham CourtenayNuneham CourtenayNuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford.-Manor:The toponym evolved from Newenham. In the 14th century the village belonged to the Courtenay family and in 1764 "Newenham" was changed to "Nuneham"....
to Thomas Chaucer; Elizabeth who m. 1stly Christopher Preston of Slapton, Northants., 2ndly by 1437 John Wenlock, 1st Baron WenlockJohn Wenlock, 1st Baron WenlockSir John Wenlock KG was an English soldier, courtier and politician. He fought on the side of both the Yorkists and the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses...
, future Speaker of the House of Commons. - (4) Stephen Hatfield(d.1461), esquire.
- (1) William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire
Isabel and Drayton sold their share in the Russell lands to Margaret and her husband Sir Gilbert Denys, whose family retained Kingston Russell until 1543, Dyrham until 1571 and Aust until after 1600.
By 2nd wife Joan Dauntsey(c.1395-1457):
- Thomas(c.1412-1431), ward of Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of ClarenceThomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of ClarenceThomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, KG , also known as Thomas Plantagenet, was the second son of King Henry IV of England and his first wife, Mary de Bohun. He was born before 25 November 1387 as on that date his father's accounts note a payment made to a woman described as his nurse...
, married, wife's name unknown, at unknown date, had 1 daughter, Margery(d.1431/2). Before his death in 1416 Sir Maurice Russell had placed the bulk of his lands into the hands of feoffees to act as trustees for his son Thomas during his minority. These feoffees included Sir William HankefordWilliam HankefordSir William Hankeford KS was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1413 until 1423. His parentage is not known, but he came from a gentry family from Hankford, near Bulkworthy in Devon. He was educated at the Middle Temple, appointed serjeant-at-law in 1388 and king's...
, Chief Justice; Robert Hill, Justice of the Common Pleas; Sir William Cheyne(d.1420) of Brooke, Wilts, son of Sir Ralph(d.1400) a cousin of Ralph Russell, Maurice's father; Robert Poyntz of Iron ActonIron ActonIron Acton is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The village is about west of Yate and about northeast of the centre of Bristol. The B4058 road used to pass through the village but now by-passes it just to the north....
& Robert Stanshawe, Glos. Gentry. On Thomas's death in 1431, much of the Russell lands descended to his half-sisters Margaret and Isabel and their families, mainly passing into the Denys family, which long continued to quarter the Russell arms, for example on the 1506 Denys brass at OlvestonOlvestonOlveston is a small village and larger parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The parish comprises the villages of Olveston and Tockington, and the hamlets of Old Down, Ingst and Awkley. Alveston became a separate parish in 1846...
Church, Glos. and on the facade of Siston CourtSistonSiston is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England east of Bristol Castle, ancient centre of Bristol, recorded historically as Syston, Sistone, Syton, Sytone and Systun etc. The village lies at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon...
, Glos., c. 1550. Some of Thomas's lands, especially those in the Isle of Wight, were inherited by John Haket(d.1498), his first cousin, son of Alice Russell, his aunt. The Haket family seem to have been connected with Wolverton Manor within Brading parish, Isle of Wight. On the death of John Haket, his heir was his daughter Joan's husband, John Gilbert.
Dyrham Brass
The monumental brassMonumental brass
Monumental brass is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood...
created post 1416 of Sir Maurice Russell and his 1st wife Isabel Childrey is in the south chapel of St Peter's Church, Dyrham. It is over life-size, measuring 7 ft. 6in. by 3 ft. 11in., set into a surviving section of floor covered with mediaeval tiles.
Verse
It contains the following leonine verseLeonine verse
Leonine verse is a type of versification based on internal rhyme, and commonly used in Latin verse of the European Middle Ages. The invention of such conscious rhymes, foreign to Classical Latin poetry, is traditionally attributed to a probably apocryphal monk Leonius, who is supposed to be the...
below the feet of the subjects:
Miles privatus, vita jacet hic tumulatus
Sub petra stratus, Morys Russell vocitatus
Isobel spousa, fuit huius militis ista
Que jacet absconsa, sub marmorea modo cista
Celi solamen, Trinitas his conferat amen
Qui fuit et erit, concito morte perit
The coupling of stratus and vocitatus were common at the period, and feature for example on the tombstone of English design of Robert Hallam
Robert Hallam
Robert Hallam was an English churchman, Bishop of Salisbury and English representative at the Council of Constance. He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1403 to 1405.Hallam had been educated at Oxford...
(d.1416), Bishop of Salisbury, at Constance Cathedral, Germany. At least 2 renderings into English have been made of these verses, firstly by C.T. Davis, Monumental Brasses of Gloucestershire, 1899:
Entomb-ed here bereft of life,
Behold a noble knight,
Beneath this stone he lieth prone,
Once Maurice Russell knight.
And Isabel his loving spouse,
In marble rare enclosed,
Hidden from sight of earthly wight,
Hath here her limbs reposed.
The joy of Heaven bestow on these,
Blest Trinity of grace,
Past present future death shall seize,
Who are of mortal race.
A second rendering was made by Raymond Gorges, History of the Family of Gorges, 1944:
Bereft of life a knight lies here,
Stark stark beneath this stone lies he,
Sir Maurice Russell chevalier.
And by his side rests Isabel,
His wife in marble cold and drear.
Their span is o'er Blest Trinity
Celestial joys on them bestow,
Death called them as he calleth all
And when Death summons each must go.
A literal translation is as follows:
A knight deprived of life lies here buried,
Under a stone prostrate Maurice Russell called.
That Isobel was wife of this knight,
Who lies concealed in a marble casket.
May the Trinity confer on these the comfort of Heaven Amen,
Who was is and will be perishes with death having been spurred on.
Description
The following description is contained in Davis, C.T., op.cit.:- Sir Maurice wears armour similar to that shown in the brass of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron BerkeleyThomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron BerkeleyThomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley the Magnificent was an English peer born in the Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England to Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley and Elizabeth le Despencer....
(d.1417) at Wotton-under-EdgeWotton-under-EdgeWotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern end of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058 Wotton is about from the M5 motorway. The nearest railway station is...
. He wears a bascinet helmetBascinetThe bascinet was a Medieval European open-faced military helmet, typically fitted with an aventail and hinged visor. The term is also written as bassinet or basinet.-Early versions:...
, camail and a habergeon of chain-mail, with back and breast plates and a jupon with a straight edge with plate armour over the arms and legs. The hands are protected by gauntlets which are plain at the wrists, where the lining is visible, and they are armed with only one row of gadlings. He wears no collar (i.e. Lancastrian et. alia). Gussets of mail are shown at the armpits, elbow joints, knees and feet. The jupon is confined to the hips by a horizontal baldricBaldricA baldric is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon or other implement such as a bugle or drum...
of square plates of metal richly chased and linked together, to which are attached the sword and misericorde. The misericorde, also called "dagger of mercy" or basilard, was used to give the coup de grace. It was a short dagger without a crossguard, worn on the right side, attached to the baldrick by a short cord or chain. The upper part of the sheath of the sword is ornamented with a rich tracery. The rowels of the spurSpurA spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids and to back up the natural aids . The spur is used in every equestrian discipline...
s are clearly shown, his feet resting on a lion.
- Lady Russell wears the nebule head-dress, consisting of a caul of netting arranged in 3 rows on top of her head. Under the caul is a close-fitting embroidered cap, keeping the hair off the forehead. The head-dress conceals the ears and falls in a wavy line upon the shoulders, where the netting appears again. She is clothed in a mantle fastened by a cord. Above the hands are shown 5 buttons of the gown, cut higher than that of Lady Berkeley at Wotton. At her feet lies a little lap-dog with a collar of bells.
Sources
- Roskell, J.S. (ed.) et alia, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421, 4 vols., Stroud, 1992. Vol. 4, pp. 251–253, Russell, Sir Maurice, biography by L.S.Woodger.
- Scott-Thomson, Gladys. Two Centuries of Family History, London, 1930. Appendix D, pp. 324–328, Pedigree of Russell of Kingston Russell.
- Gorges, Raymond & Brown, Frederick, Rev., FSA. The Story of a Family through Eleven Centuries, Illustrated by Portraits and Pedigrees: Being a History of the Family of Gorges. Boston, USA, (Merrymount Press privately published), 1944.
- Wiffen, Jeremiah Holmes. Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell, (2 Vols.), vol. 1, London, 1833, Russell of Dyrham, pp.142-155 (contains much inaccuracy)
- Round, J. Horace. Studies in Peerage and Family History, Vol. 2, London, 1901, pp.250-279, The Origin of the Russells (a severe critique of Wiffen's work)
- Davis Cecil T., The Monumental Brasses of Gloucestershire, London, 1899, reprinted Bath, 1969, pp.25-28.
- Jefferies, P.J. Social Mobility in the Fourteenth Century: The Example of the Chelreys of Berkshire. Oxoniensia, Vol. 41, 1976, pp. 324–336.
- Victoria County History, Berkshire, 1923, Vol.3: Parishes of Blewbury with Upton and Aston Upthorpe: Upton, pp. 280–291.
- Victoria County History, Somerset (On-line texts in progress, Univ. of London, April 2007), North Cadbury.
- Victoria County History, Somerset, 1999, vol.7: Bruton, Horethorne & Norton Ferris Hundreds: Horsington, pp. 119–131
- Sanders, English Baronies, p. 68. (Newmarch)
- Saul, Nigel. Knights and Esquires: The Gloucestershire Gentry in the Fourteenth Century, Oxford, 1981