John Danvers

Family and Education s. and h. of Richard Danvers of Epwell by Agnes, da. and h. of John Brancaster of Banbury. m. (1) bef. Mch. 1399, Alice, da. and h. of William Verney of Byfield, Northants., 3s. inc. Robert† and Richard†, 1da.; (2) c.1420, Joan, da. and h. of John Bruley (d.v.p. s. of William Bruley*) of Waterstock, Oxon., by Maud, da. of Thomas Quatermayn of Rycote, 5s. inc. Thomas† and William†, 4da.1

Offices Held Tax collector, Oxon. Dec. 1407, Northants. June 1410.
Escheator, Oxon. and Berks. 6 Nov. 1424-24 Jan. 1426.
Commr. to assess a tax, Oxon. Apr. 1431; of inquiry June 1435 (escapes of felons); to distribute tax rebate Jan. 1436; of array Jan. 1436.

Biography
John Danvers’s inheritance from his father, who died in or after 1409, was of small worth, comprising as it did not much more than the manor of Little Bourton in Cropredy and a few acres of land nearby. The manor of Epwell, which had been in the family since the 12th century, had fallen quite recently into the hands of William Wilcotes*, a leading Oxfordshire lawyer. However, through his mother he inherited the Brancaster property in Calthorpe and Wickham, and these holdings formed the basis for a notable expansion of territory, which proved to be Danvers’s principal achievement.2 Indeed, he devoted much of his energy to extending his landed interests in the area around his home at Banbury, in some cases by buying back property that his family had owned previously. How he acquired the means to do so is uncertain, but there can be little doubt of his success. Beginning in 1403 with purchases of land in Banbury, he went on to buy up a number of properties from John Raleigh of Wardington, including the manors of Tusmore and (in 1417) Prescote. Chief among his later dealings was his procurement in 1435 from the bishop of Lincoln of a 20-year lease of the manor of Easington in Banbury, complete with a fishery in the river Cherwell and a warren; and the purchase from his neighbour, (Sir) Thomas Wykeham*, of the reversion of two manors in Adderbury. Indeed, he succeeded in building up a large estate in north Oxfordshire. In apparently only one matter were his ambitions thwarted: his attempt to oust the Wilcotes family from Epwell (by then, in the 1430s, held by Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Wilcotes, and her second husband (Sir) Thomas Blount II*) ended with defeat in the lawcourts.3 Both of Danvers’s marriages proved advantageous: his first wife brought him land in Northamptonshire, and his second the manor of Waterstock, of which he had possession by 1423 under a settlement made by his wife’s grandfather William Bruley, the former shire knight.4

A few months after he represented Oxfordshire for the first time in 1420, Danvers attended the county elections to the Parliament of 1421 (May), then attesting the return of Thomas Chaucer of Ewelme, whom the Commons elected Speaker. Although there is no evidence of a particularly close association between him and Chaucer, in July 1426 he and his eldest son, Robert, both shared with him in a grant at the Exchequer of the wardship and marriage of (Sir) William Birmingham’s* heir, only for their colleague to withdraw from the arrangement six months later. Danvers was again present at the parliamentary elections of 1427 and 1431, on both of which occasions Chaucer was returned along with his former ward, Thomas Stonor*. During the 1430s, Danvers acted as a trustee of the estates of (Sir) Thomas Wykeham; and together with him he became involved in private transactions with (Sir) Thomas Strange*, after whose death in 1436 he, his son Robert and Wykeham all took on the executorship of his will. Danvers and two of his sons were among those gentry of Oxfordshire required in 1434 to take the generally administered oath not to maintain malefactors.5

Danvers used some of his wealth to help found a chantry of two chaplains in St. Mary’s church, Banbury, for which a royal licence had been procured as early as 1413; and, towards the end of his life, he joined in 1448 in establishing a guild in the same church for the performance of religious services and the maintenance of eight poor men, securing official permission for the guild to hold land worth as much as 100 marks a year. In the meantime, together with his second wife, he had obtained papal indults of plenary indulgence (in 1429) and for a portable altar (1441). He was apparently a benefactor of the building of All Souls college, Oxford, founded by Archbishop Henry Chichele, no doubt being stimulated in this interest by his son Robert, who as a trustee of Chichele’s estates and executor of his will, besides being the new college’s official attorney, was closely involved in the project.6

Danvers is last recorded in February 1449, as completing financial arrangements for the marriage of one of his daughters, but he died shortly afterwards, for the abbot of Eynsham later gave a receipt to his executors, regarding his farm of the abbey’s demesnes in Calthorpe, for the period beginning that Lady Day. His widow married Sir Walter Mauntell.7 Over the years Danvers had done much to promote the interests of his many children. Agnes, his daughter by his first wife, had been married to John Fray*, the chief baron of the Exchequer, and at least four of his sons — (Sir) Robert (d. 1467) Richard (d.1489) and their half-brothers (Sir) Thomas (d.1502) and (Sir) William (d.1504) — had been encouraged to enter the legal profession. Indeed, Robert, who had been recorder of London since 1442, was to be made a j.c.p. in 1450 (the year after his father’s death), and William was to be promoted j.KB under Henry VII. The estates John Danvers had accumulated were divided between his sons.8

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421 Author: L. S. Woodger Notes 1. F.N. Macnamara, Mems. Danvers Fam. peds. opp. pp. 28, 102, 154. 2. Ibid. 94; CAD, i. B213; VCH Oxon. x. 49, 177, 231. 3.CAD, i. B215, C1184; CCR, 1413-19, pp. 378, 380, 446, 499, 502; 1422-9, p. 55; 1429-35, p. 308; 1435-41, p. 430; VCH Oxon. ix. 17, 47; x. 43-44, 208; CPR, 1436-41, p. 347; 1441-6, pp. 344-5; CP40/719 m. 475. In Berks. Bucks. and Oxon. Arch. Jnl. (ser. 2), iii. 100-1, Elizabeth Blount is identified with Elizabeth, one of Danvers’s daughters by his second wife. This is unlikely on chronological grounds. 4. Macnamara, 194, 202, 223-5; VCH Oxon. vii. 223. 5. C219/12/5, 13/5, 14/2; CFR, xv. 132, 162; CCR, 1429-35, p. 119; 1435-41, pp. 450, 456; CPR, 1429-36, p. 393; 1436-41, p. 472. 6.CPR, 1413-16, p. 145; 1446-52, pp. 152-3; CPL, viii. 187; ix. 233; Reg. Chichele, i. p. lviii; Macnamara, 101. 7.CPR, 1446-52, p. 214; 1452-61, p. 374; Eynsham Cart. (Oxf. Hist. Soc. li), ii. 49-50. 8. Macnamara, 102, 155, 175.

John Danvers Story with Bruley citation John Danvers, who succeeded his father at Ipswell and Colthorpe, married first Alice Verney, and secondly Joan Bruley. Of their ancestry we shall give an account in another chapter. In the 'Heralds' Visitations,'t in which these marriages are recorded, John Danvers is called of Ipswell and Banbury. By his first wife he had three sons, Robert, Richard and John, and one daughter, Agnes or Annys.

John Danvers cannot have been born later than the year 1382, as in the year 1403 he is of age to join his father in giving a charter. In the year 1413, the first year of the reign of Henry V.,J we find him, with others, engaged in founding the chantry of the Blessed Mary in Banbury Church, where for ever two priests were daily to say Masses for the souls of the King, and of Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, of Philip de Repingdon, Bishop of Lincoln, and of John Danvers, and others who are named. Then, thirty-five years after, we find John Danvers and others founding a fraternity or guild of Saint Mary of Banbury to support certain religious services and chaplains, and eight poor persons dwelling in the almshouse, and their successors in the same place for ever.

The old almshouse was pulled down in 1711, when the

• He was alive in 1409, for in the Lay Subsidy Roll ft^)' Northampton, 11 Henry IV., are the names of Richard Danvers of Staverton and John Danvers of Byfleld.

f Cf. vol. v., Harleian Society's publications; also Beesley's 'History of Banbury,' p. 614; and Baker's ' History of Northampton,' vol. i., p. 604; also Harleian Roll, p. 10, and Vincent's pedigree of the family at the Heralds' College. Also Aske's pedigree of Danvers in Collect. Topog. et Genealog.

X Cf. Beesley's ' History of Banbury,' pp. 156 and 175.
...present house was built by Francis, Lord North and Guildford, and the inmates still receive in the form of an endowment, formerly called the 'weekly,' and now the ' widows',' groats, the benefits of the guild founded by John Danvers and his fellow townsmen in 1448.

In the year 1431 the Bishop of Lincoln* sold to John Danvers his manor of Esendon (Easington), by Banbury, with houses and lands, etc., belonging thereto, together with the warren of Warden, and the work due from tenants of Nethrop and Colthorp, with amercements, etc., in the court of the Bishop and his successors, and also his fishery in the Cherwell.

In the Close Rolls and Oxfordshire fines of this period, we find the record of many purchases of houses and lands by John Danvers: in 1417, in Bourton Magna and Parva, and the same year in Wardington Bourton, Banbury, and Tusmere, and again, in 1420, property in Wardington, and Bourton (Oxon fines, 15 of 4 Henry V., and 38 of 7 Henry V.; Close Rolls, 4 and 6 Henry V.). In 1439, in conjunction with his eldest son Robert Danvers, John Danvers bought from John Vernon land and houses in Wycombe, Taplow, Hutcham and Hedsore (Close Roll 18 Henry VI.), and at the same time he, with his second son, Richard, bought an angular tenement in a new street in Deddington.

Then we find him in 1419 making one of the most notable of his purchases, that of Prestcote Manor and its appurtenances, with lands in Prestcote, Cropredy, Wardington, Williamscote, Mollington, Bourton Magna and Parva, Banbury and Shottswell, all of which he bought of Sir Thomas Cottesfordt and his wife Alice (Oxon fines, 17, 6 Henry V., No. 22 of 5 Henry V.; Close Roll 7 Henry V., M. 19). Of Prestcote Manor more will be said hereafter; at present let it suffice to note that John Danvers was buying back the lands in Bourton and the neighbourhood which belonged to his ancestors, whom we have frequently found associated with the

• Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, Record Office, vol. i., C. 1184.

t Becord Office, Miscellaneous Charters, vol. iv., No. 229 of 35 Edward III. Charter of Roger de Cottesford of Prestcote to Prior of Chacumbe.

lords of Prestcote, Cropredy, Williamscote and Wardington, in charters to the Priory of Chaucumbe and other neighbouring religious foundations. Prestcote remained with John's descendants till the year 1721.

In Oxon fine, 85 of 18 Henry VI. (1439), we find John Danvers and others buying from Sir Thomas Wykeham the manor of Saint Amand, in Adderbury, with its appurtenances in that parish, and in the hamlet of Milton. Other names are mentioned in the fine, but Sir Thomas Wykeham was the seller, and John Danvers was the purchaser of the manor, and to his son, Sir Thomas Danvers, the manor passed at his death. At Adderbury a branch of the Danvers family remained till the reign of Charles II.

In addition to the above and other lands which John Danvers bought, he received as dowry with his first wife, Alice Verney, land in Byfield, and with his second wife, Joan Bruley, who was a considerable heiress, the manor of Waterstock, and the advowson of the church, the manor of Henton, in Oxfordshire, the manor of Corston, in Wilts, and the advowson of the chapel there. John Danvers was evidently a wealthy man, and it seems very probable that he gained a portion of his wealth by trading. He was Knight of the Shire of Oxford in three Parliaments, those of November, 1420, November, 1421, and September, 1423. In the first two of these he had as one of his colleagues his distant cousin, Sir William Danvers, who at the time represented the county of Berkshire, and was then, or shortly after, knighted. John Danvers does not appear to have been a knight, and, indeed, if we look through the rolls of the members of the period, we find that a large proportion of the knights of the shires were simple esquires, but it was ordered that the persons chosen should be notable knights of the shire which elected them, or else notable squires, gentlemen of birth, capable of becoming knights, and no man of the degree of yeoman or below it was eligible.*

Most commonly the Parliaments were at this time held at Westminster, yet not unfrequently at Winchester, and

• Stubbs' ' Constitutional History,' vol. ii., p. 435.

...occasionally at Oxford, Northampton, Coventry, and other cities and towns.

At Westminster the Parliament assembled in the Painted Chamber, so called from the pictorial decorations of its roofs and walls, a chamber which originally formed a part of Edward the Confessor's palace, but had been enlarged and adorned during the reign of Henry III.* Until the accession of Henry VII. this chamber was used for meetings of the full Parliament, for the opening speech of the Chancellor, and as the place of conference between the two houses. Extending nearly at a right angle from the east end of the Painted Chamber was the old House of Lords, rebuilt probably by Henry II., on foundations of the time of Edward the Confessor's reign. Beneath were the vaults, the ancient kitchens of the old palace, in which, in after times, the Gunpowder Plot conspirators stored their explosives. All these buildings have been long since swept away, but the adjacent Chapter House of the Abbey, in which, until the reign of Edward VI., the Commons usually sat, still remains. 'The visitor of to-day, as he pauses at the entrance of the Chapter House of Westminster, may be reminded that it was within the walls of that ancient council-chamber of monks—where he can still see the spot where successive abbots and priors sat in their stalls of office—that for nearly three centuries the members of the English House of Commons—from the time when in the troubled reign of the royal builder of that fair edifice, it first assumed a separate and independent form, down to the reign of the boy-king, Edward VI.—found from the first their most usual, and in a few years their regular and accustomed Metropolitan Parliament-House.' It was thither that the 'knights, citizens, and burgesses' were summoned from shire and city and borough town by royal writ, to meet 'in the House of the Chapter in the great cloister of the Abbey of Westminster, to consider the calls for pecuniary aid in expenditure at home, or in the prosecution of foreign wars.'t

And there, in November. 1420, from Colthorpe, or Ipswell,

• Stubbs' ' Constitutional History,' vol. iii., p. 415. f Letter from the Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster in the Times of June 5, 1891.

or Prestcote, or Waterstock, came John Danvers, at a time when many thoughtful men were trembling for the outcome of Henry V.'s victories in France, and were longing for his return to England. The King was represented at Westminster by his brother, Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, and the Parliament of November, 1420, was opened by the new Chancellor, Thomas Longley, Bishop of Durham, who took for his text the words: 'Comfortamini et viriliter agite et gloriosi eritis.' Gloucester did not ask the Parliament for money, for money was very scarce; moreover, the peace was becoming troubled in the North, and the Chancellor had little on which to congratulate the Parliament, excepting the decrease of the Lollards. Influenced by him, the Lords passed an order that Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, should be burnt, under the sentence passed upon him as a heretic—while the Commons passed an Act by which all foreign merchants bringing wool to England were obliged to pay into the Mint an ounce of gold, and for three pieces of tin the same—an Act which was no doubt intended to protect the English merchants in two of the main products of the country—wool and tin. Lords and Commons alike sent a pressing invitation to the King and his bride, Katherine of France, to visit England.

And so the King came home, and magnificent was the reception which with his wife he received, and shortly he summoned a Parliament, which met in May of 1421, and was opened by a speech from the King himself, in which he represented the state of affairs,* the conquests he had made in France, and the supplies which were needful to continue the war; assuring the Parliament that the Dauphin and his party, who maintained some cities and provinces, once subdued, France might be entirely united to the English Crown. But the reverses which, during his absence, his armies suffered, obliged the King to return to France, and on June 10, 1421, he left England never to return.

In December following, the need for further supplies obliged the Regent, the Duke of Bedford, to call a Parliament, at which John Danvers was again present as one of the knights * 'Parliamentary History,' 1421.

from – Memorials of the Danvers family (of Dauntsey and Culworth): their Ancestors... by Francis Nottidge MacNamara

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John+ Danvers [Parents] was born in 1382 in Cothorp,Oxford,England. He died in 1448 in Bonbury Church,Oxfordshire,England. He married Alice+ Verney.

Other marriage: Bruley, Joane+

Alice+ Verney was born in 1375 in Ipswell,Oxfordshire,England. She died in 1429 in Shipton under Wy,Oxfordshire,England. She married John+ Danvers.

They had the following children:
F i Agnes+ Danvers
M ii Richard Danvers

-----------------------------

A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies... By John Burke @Google Books

John Danvers had at least 5 children with Alice Verney and at least 9 children with Joan Burley.
Alice's children: 1. Robert, 2. John, 3. Richard, 4. Agnes, 5. Alicia.
Joan's children: 1. Thomas, 2. William, 3. Simon, 4. Edward, 5. Henry, 6. Agnes, 7. Amicia or Margaret, 8. Elizabeth, 9. Jane.

Pg.150
JOHN D'ANVERS, of Cothorp, who wedded, first Alice, daughter and heir of William Verney, of Byfield, and had issue,

I. Robert (Sir), ....m.Agnes, daughter of Richard Quatremains...dying in 1407, left three daughters...
II. John, LL.D. in holy orders.
III. Richard, of whom presently.

I. Agnes, m. Thomas Boldington.
II. Alicia, m. to Henry Tracey.

He m. secondly, Joan, daughter of William Bruly, esq. of Waterstoke, in Oxfordshire, and had by her, who wedded, secondly, sir Walter Mauntell, of Heyford, five sons and four daughters, viz.

I. Thomas (Sir), of Banbury, in Oxfordshire, d.s.p.
II. William (Sir),...m.Anne, daughter and heir of John Pury, esq.....
III. Simon, d.s.p.
IV. Edward, d.s.p.
V. Henry,....m. Beatrice, daughter of Sir Ralph Verney, and had issue.

I. Agnes, m. first, to Sir John Fray, lord chief baron; secondly, to John, Lord Wenlock; and thirdly, to Sir John Say, knt.
II. Amicia or Margaret, m. to John Langston, esq. of Caversfield, in Oxfordshire.
III. Elizabeth, m. to Thomas Poure, esq. of Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire.
IV. Jane, m. to Richard Fowler, esq. of Buckingham,

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Memorials of the Danvers family (of Dauntsey and Culworth): their ancestors ... By Francis Nottidge MacNamara Pg.241

dau. Bona Danvers was 2nd wife to Geoffrey Pole who's 1st wife was Edith St. John dau. of Sir Oliver St. John and son Richard Pole married Alice Stradling and Margaret Plantagenet.

------------------------------------

John Danvers
Born: abt 1390
Cothorp, [parish], Oxfordshire, England
Died: 1448
Bonbury Church, [parish], Oxfordshire, England

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http://thepeerage.com/p26002.htm#i260011

John Danvers lived at Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.1

Child of John Danvers
1. Agnes Danvers+1 b. 1423

Citation: James Alexander Manning, The Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons (London, U.K.: E. Churton, 1850), page 10-12. Hereinafter cited as Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons.

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http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hwbradley/aqwg811.htm Sir John DANVERS Knight [Parents] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 was born 1375 in Epwell, Oxfordshire, England. He died 1448 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England. John married Alice VERNEY on 1399 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England.

Other marriage: BRULEY, Joan

Alice VERNEY [Parents] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 was born 1380 in Byfield, Northamptonshire, England. She died 1419 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England. Alice married Sir John DANVERS Knight on 1399 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England.

They had the following children:

M i Sir Robert DANVERS Knight was born 1400 and died 17 Apr 1467.
M ii John DANVERS was born 1402 and died 1424.
M iii Richard DANVERS was born 1407 and died Feb 1489.
F iv Agnes DANVERS was born 1410 and died Jul 1478.

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-John Danvers Story with Bruley citation John Danvers, who succeeded his father at Ipswell and Colthorpe, married first Alice Verney, and secondly Joan Bruley. Of their ancestry we shall give an account in another chapter. In the 'Heralds' Visitations,'t in which these marriages are recorded, John Danvers is called of Ipswell and Banbury. By his first wife he had three sons, Robert, Richard and John, and one daughter, Agnes or Annys.

John Danvers cannot have been born later than the year 1382, as in the year 1403 he is of age to join his father in giving a charter. In the year 1413, the first year of the reign of Henry V.,J we find him, with others, engaged in founding the chantry of the Blessed Mary in Banbury Church, where for ever two priests were daily to say Masses for the souls of the King, and of Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, of Philip de Repingdon, Bishop of Lincoln, and of John Danvers, and others who are named. Then, thirty-five years after, we find John Danvers and others founding a fraternity or guild of Saint Mary of Banbury to support certain religious services and chaplains, and eight poor persons dwelling in the almshouse, and their successors in the same place for ever.

The old almshouse was pulled down in 1711, when the

He was alive in 1409, for in the Lay Subsidy Roll ft^)' Northampton, 11 Henry IV., are the names of Richard Danvers of Staverton and John Danvers of Byfleld. f Cf. vol. v., Harleian Society's publications; also Beesley's 'History of Banbury,' p. 614; and Baker's ' History of Northampton,' vol. i., p. 604; also Harleian Roll, p. 10, and Vincent's pedigree of the family at the Heralds' College. Also Aske's pedigree of Danvers in Collect. Topog. et Genealog.

X Cf. Beesley's ' History of Banbury,' pp. 156 and 175.

present house was built by Francis, Lord North and Guildford, and the inmates still receive in the form of an endowment, formerly called the 'weekly,' and now the ' widows',' groats, the benefits of the guild founded by John Danvers and his fellow townsmen in 1448.

In the year 1431 the Bishop of Lincoln* sold to John Danvers his manor of Esendon (Easington), by Banbury, with houses and lands, etc., belonging thereto, together with the warren of Warden, and the work due from tenants of Nethrop and Colthorp, with amercements, etc., in the court of the Bishop and his successors, and also his fishery in the Cherwell.

In the Close Rolls and Oxfordshire fines of this period, we find the record of many purchases of houses and lands by John Danvers: in 1417, in Bourton Magna and Parva, and the same year in Wardington Bourton, Banbury, and Tusmere, and again, in 1420, property in Wardington, and Bourton (Oxon fines, 15 of 4 Henry V., and 38 of 7 Henry V.; Close Rolls, 4 and 6 Henry V.). In 1439, in conjunction with his eldest son Robert Danvers, John Danvers bought from John Vernon land and houses in Wycombe, Taplow, Hutcham and Hedsore (Close Roll 18 Henry VI.), and at the same time he, with his second son, Richard, bought an angular tenement in a new street in Deddington.

Then we find him in 1419 making one of the most notable of his purchases, that of Prestcote Manor and its appurtenances, with lands in Prestcote, Cropredy, Wardington, Williamscote, Mollington, Bourton Magna and Parva, Banbury and Shottswell, all of which he bought of Sir Thomas Cottesfordt and his wife Alice (Oxon fines, 17, 6 Henry V., No. 22 of 5 Henry V.; Close Roll 7 Henry V., M. 19). Of Prestcote Manor more will be said hereafter; at present let it suffice to note that John Danvers was buying back the lands in Bourton and the neighbourhood which belonged to his ancestors, whom we have frequently found associated with the

Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, Record Office, vol. i., C. 1184. t Becord Office, Miscellaneous Charters, vol. iv., No. 229 of 35 Edward III. Charter of Roger de Cottesford of Prestcote to Prior of Chacumbe.

lords of Prestcote, Cropredy, Williamscote and Wardington, in charters to the Priory of Chaucumbe and other neighbouring religious foundations. Prestcote remained with John's descendants till the year 1721.

In Oxon fine, 85 of 18 Henry VI. (1439), we find John Danvers and others buying from Sir Thomas Wykeham the manor of Saint Amand, in Adderbury, with its appurtenances in that parish, and in the hamlet of Milton. Other names are mentioned in the fine, but Sir Thomas Wykeham was the seller, and John Danvers was the purchaser of the manor, and to his son, Sir Thomas Danvers, the manor passed at his death. At Adderbury a branch of the Danvers family remained till the reign of Charles II.

In addition to the above and other lands which John Danvers bought, he received as dowry with his first wife, Alice Verney, land in Byfield, and with his second wife, Joan Bruley, who was a considerable heiress, the manor of Waterstock, and the advowson of the church, the manor of Henton, in Oxfordshire, the manor of Corston, in Wilts, and the advowson of the chapel there. John Danvers was evidently a wealthy man, and it seems very probable that he gained a portion of his wealth by trading. He was Knight of the Shire of Oxford in three Parliaments, those of November, 1420, November, 1421, and September, 1423. In the first two of these he had as one of his colleagues his distant cousin, Sir William Danvers, who at the time represented the county of Berkshire, and was then, or shortly after, knighted. John Danvers does not appear to have been a knight, and, indeed, if we look through the rolls of the members of the period, we find that a large proportion of the knights of the shires were simple esquires, but it was ordered that the persons chosen should be notable knights of the shire which elected them, or else notable squires, gentlemen of birth, capable of becoming knights, and no man of the degree of yeoman or below it was eligible.*

Most commonly the Parliaments were at this time held at Westminster, yet not unfrequently at Winchester, and

Stubbs' ' Constitutional History,' vol. ii., p. 435. occasionally at Oxford, Northampton, Coventry, and other cities and towns.

At Westminster the Parliament assembled in the Painted Chamber, so called from the pictorial decorations of its roofs and walls, a chamber which originally formed a part of Edward the Confessor's palace, but had been enlarged and adorned during the reign of Henry III.* Until the accession of Henry VII. this chamber was used for meetings of the full Parliament, for the opening speech of the Chancellor, and as the place of conference between the two houses. Extending nearly at a right angle from the east end of the Painted Chamber was the old House of Lords, rebuilt probably by Henry II., on foundations of the time of Edward the Confessor's reign. Beneath were the vaults, the ancient kitchens of the old palace, in which, in after times, the Gunpowder Plot conspirators stored their explosives. All these buildings have been long since swept away, but the adjacent Chapter House of the Abbey, in which, until the reign of Edward VI., the Commons usually sat, still remains. 'The visitor of to-day, as he pauses at the entrance of the Chapter House of Westminster, may be reminded that it was within the walls of that ancient council-chamber of monks—where he can still see the spot where successive abbots and priors sat in their stalls of office—that for nearly three centuries the members of the English House of Commons—from the time when in the troubled reign of the royal builder of that fair edifice, it first assumed a separate and independent form, down to the reign of the boy-king, Edward VI.—found from the first their most usual, and in a few years their regular and accustomed Metropolitan Parliament-House.' It was thither that the 'knights, citizens, and burgesses' were summoned from shire and city and borough town by royal writ, to meet 'in the House of the Chapter in the great cloister of the Abbey of Westminster, to consider the calls for pecuniary aid in expenditure at home, or in the prosecution of foreign wars.'t

And there, in November. 1420, from Colthorpe, or Ipswell,

Stubbs' ' Constitutional History,' vol. iii., p. 415. f Letter from the Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster in the Times of June 5, 1891. or Prestcote, or Waterstock, came John Danvers, at a time when many thoughtful men were trembling for the outcome of Henry V.'s victories in France, and were longing for his return to England. The King was represented at Westminster by his brother, Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, and the Parliament of November, 1420, was opened by the new Chancellor, Thomas Longley, Bishop of Durham, who took for his text the words: 'Comfortamini et viriliter agite et gloriosi eritis.' Gloucester did not ask the Parliament for money, for money was very scarce; moreover, the peace was becoming troubled in the North, and the Chancellor had little on which to congratulate the Parliament, excepting the decrease of the Lollards. Influenced by him, the Lords passed an order that Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, should be burnt, under the sentence passed upon him as a heretic—while the Commons passed an Act by which all foreign merchants bringing wool to England were obliged to pay into the Mint an ounce of gold, and for three pieces of tin the same—an Act which was no doubt intended to protect the English merchants in two of the main products of the country—wool and tin. Lords and Commons alike sent a pressing invitation to the King and his bride, Katherine of France, to visit England.

And so the King came home, and magnificent was the reception which with his wife he received, and shortly he summoned a Parliament, which met in May of 1421, and was opened by a speech from the King himself, in which he represented the state of affairs,* the conquests he had made in France, and the supplies which were needful to continue the war; assuring the Parliament that the Dauphin and his party, who maintained some cities and provinces, once subdued, France might be entirely united to the English Crown. But the reverses which, during his absence, his armies suffered, obliged the King to return to France, and on June 10, 1421, he left England never to return.

In December following, the need for further supplies obliged the Regent, the Duke of Bedford, to call a Parliament, at which John Danvers was again present as one of the knights * 'Parliamentary History,' 1421.

from Memorials of the Danvers family (of Dauntsey and Culworth): their ancestors ..., by Francis Nottidge MacNamara
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John+ Danvers [Parents] was born in 1382 in Cothorp,Oxford,England. He died in 1448 in Bonbury Church,Oxfordshire,England. He married Alice+ Verney.

Other marriages: Bruley, Joane+ Alice+ Verney was born in 1375 in Ipswell,Oxfordshire,England. She died in 1429 in Shipton under Wy,Oxfordshire,England. She married John+ Danvers.

They had the following children:

F i Agnes+ Danvers M ii Richard Danvers
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A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies ... By John Burke Pg.150

John Danvers had at least 5 children with Alice Verney and at least 9 children with Joan Burley.

Alice's children: 1. Robert, 2. John, 3. Richard, 4. Agnes, 5. Alicia.

Joan's children: 1. Thomas, 2. William, 3. Simon, 4. Edward, 5. Henry, 6. Agnes, 7. Amicia or Margaret, 8. Elizabeth, 9. Jane.

A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies ... By John Burke

http://books.google.com/books?id=4KRAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA150&lpg=PA150&dq...

Pg.150

JOHN D'ANVERS, of Cothorp, who wedded, first Alice, daughter and heir of William Verney, of Byfield, and had issue,

I. Robert (Sir), ....m.Agnes, daughter of Richard Quatremains...dying in 1407, left three daughters...
II. John, LL.D. in holy orders.
III. Richard, of whom presently.

I. Agnes, m. Thomas Boldington.
II. Alicia, m. to Henry Tracey.

He m. secondly, Joan, daughter of William Bruly, esq. of Waterstoke, in Oxfordshire, and had by her, who wedded, secondly, sir Walter Mauntell, of Heyford, five sons and four daughters, viz.

I. Thomas (Sir), of Banbury, in Oxfordshire, d.s.p.
II. William (Sir),...m.Anne, daughter and heir of John Pury, esq.....
III. Simon, d.s.p.
IV. Edward, d.s.p.
V. Henry,....m. Beatrice, daughter of Sir Ralph Verney, and had issue.

I. Agnes, m. first, to Sir John Fray, lord chief baron; secondly, to John, Lord Wenlock; and thirdly, to Sir John Say, knt.
II. Amicia or Margaret, m. to John Langston, esq. of Caversfield, in Oxfordshire.
III. Elizabeth, m. to Thomas Poure, esq. of Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire.
IV. Jane, m. to Richard Fowler, esq. of Buckingham,

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Memorials of the Danvers family (of Dauntsey and Culworth): their ancestors ... By Francis Nottidge MacNamara Pg.241

dau. Bona Danvers was 2nd wife to Geoffrey Pole who's 1st wife was Edith St. John dau. of Sir Oliver St. John and son Richard Pole married Alice Stradling and Margaret Plantagenet.

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John Danvers
Born: abt 1390
Cothorp, [parish], Oxfordshire, England
Died: 1448
Bonbury Church, [parish], Oxfordshire, England

http://thepeerage.com/p26002.htm#i260011

John Danvers lived at Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.1 Child of John Danvers
1. Agnes Danvers+1 b. 1423

Citation: James Alexander Manning, The Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons (London, U.K.: E. Churton, 1850), page 10-12. Hereinafter cited as Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons.

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http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hwbradley/aqwg811.htm Sir John DANVERS Knight [Parents] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 was born 1375 in Epwell, Oxfordshire, England. He died 1448 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England. John married Alice VERNEY on 1399 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England.

Other marriages: BRULEY, Joan Alice VERNEY [Parents] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 was born 1380 in Byfield, Northamptonshire, England. She died 1419 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England. Alice married Sir John DANVERS Knight on 1399 in Calthorpe, Oxfordshire, England.

They had the following children:

M i Sir Robert DANVERS Knight was born 1400 and died 17 Apr 1467. M ii John DANVERS was born 1402 and died 1424. M iii Richard DANVERS was born 1407 and died Feb 1489. F iv Agnes DANVERS was born 1410 and died Jul 1478.

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Biography

William Bruley, knight of the shire for Oxfordshire in 1395, outlived his wife and their son John, who had married Maud Quatremain, sister and coheiress of Richard Quatremain of Rycote. Before 1423, however, he had enfeoffed his granddaughter Joan and her husband John Danvers, of Epwell in Swalcliffe and later of Colthorpe in Banbury, with Waterstock manor. Danvers, who represented the county in three parliaments, and built up a large landed estate, was returned as lord in 1428 and appears to have died shortly after 1448. His widow Joan married as her second husband Sir Walter Mauntell of Nether Heyford (Northants.) and they presented to Waterstock church in 1467 and 1469. Much of John Danvers's property went to his sons by his first wife, but Thomas, his eldest son by Joan Bruley, succeeded to his mother's lands. He married twice, first a daughter of James Fiennes, Lord Saye and Sele, and secondly Sybil Fowler, member of a family with whom the Danvers family was already connected by marriage.[1]

From his Parliamentary biography[2]

Family and Education
s. and h. of Richard Danvers of Epwell by Agnes, da. and h. of John Brancaster of Banbury. m. (1) bef. Mich. 1399, Alice, da. and h. of William Verney of Byfield, Northants., 3s. inc. Robert† and Richard†, 1da.; (2) c.1420, Joan, da. and h. of John Bruley (d.v.p. s. of William Bruley*) of Waterstock, Oxon., by Maud, da. of Thomas Quatermayn of Rycote, 5s. inc. Thomas† and William†, 4da.1

Offices Held
Tax collector, Oxon. Dec. 1407, Northants. June 1410.
Escheator, Oxon. and Berks. 6 Nov. 1424-24 Jan. 1426.
Commr. to assess a tax, Oxon. Apr. 1431; of inquiry June 1435 (escapes of felons); to distribute tax rebate Jan. 1436; of array Jan. 1436.

Biography
John Danvers’s inheritance from his father, who died in or after 1409, was of small worth, comprising as it did not much more than the manor of Little Bourton in Cropredy and a few acres of land nearby. The manor of Epwell, which had been in the family since the 12th century, had fallen quite recently into the hands of William Wilcotes*, a leading Oxfordshire lawyer. However, through his mother he inherited the Brancaster property in Calthorpe and Wickham, and these holdings formed the basis for a notable expansion of territory, which proved to be Danvers’s principal achievement.2

   [...] 

Both of Danvers’s marriages proved advantageous: his first wife brought him land in Northamptonshire, and his second the manor of Waterstock, of which he had possession by 1423 under a settlement made by his wife’s grandfather William Bruley, the former shire knight.4

   [...] 

Danvers is last recorded in February 1449, as completing financial arrangements for the marriage of one of his daughters, but he died shortly afterwards, for the abbot of Eynsham later gave a receipt to his executors, regarding his farm of the abbey’s demesnes in Calthorpe, for the period beginning that Lady Day. His widow married Sir Walter Mauntell.7 Over the years Danvers had done much to promote the interests of his many children. Agnes, his daughter by his first wife, had been married to John Fray*, the chief baron of the Exchequer, and at least four of his sons — (Sir) Robert (d. 1467) Richard (d.1489) and their half-brothers (Sir) Thomas (d.1502) and (Sir) William (d.1504) — had been encouraged to enter the legal profession. Indeed, Robert, who had been recorder of London since 1442, was to be made a j.c.p. in 1450 (the year after his father’s death), and William was to be promoted j.KB under Henry VII. The estates John Danvers had accumulated were divided between his sons.8

Burial: 1448 Banbury Church, Oxfordshire, England
Age: 57-58

Sources

1. Parishes: Waterstock', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 7: Dorchester and Thame hundreds (1962), pp. 220-230.
2. DANVERS, John (d.1449), of Calthorpe in Banbury and Prescote in Cropredy, Oxon.. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
3. Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry (2013) Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013), Vol IV, page 394, Bone Danvers.