Edmund Dudley

Edmund Dudley

Edmund Dudley (c. 1462[1] or 1471/1472[2] – 17 August 1510) was an English administrator and a financial agent of King Henry VII. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons and President of the King's Council. After the accession of Henry VIII, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed the next year on a treason charge. While waiting for his execution he wrote The Tree of Commonwealth. Edmund Dudley was also the grandfather of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, a favorite of Henry VII's granddaughter, Elizabeth I.

Edmund Dudley was the son of Sir John Dudley of Atherington, and a grandson of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley. After studying at Oxford, and at Gray's Inn, Dudley came under the notice of Henry VII, and is said to have been made a privy councillor at the early age of 23. In 1492, he helped to negotiate the Peace of Etaples with France and soon assisted the king in checking the lawlessness of the barons. He and his colleague Sir Richard Empson were prominent councillors of the Council Learned in the Law, a special tribunal of Henry VII's reign, which collected debts owed to the king, requested bonds as surety, and employed further financial instruments against high-born and wealthy subjects. Henry VII took a strong interest in these procedures and closely supervised the accounts of the two men.[1]

Dudley was elected MP for Lewes, in 1491, and knight of the shire for Sussex, in 1495. In 1504, he was chosen as Speaker of the House of Commons. While collecting the king's money, Dudley amassed a great amount of wealth for himself, which resulted in estates in Sussex, Dorset, and Lincolnshire. When Henry VII died in April 1509, Dudley was imprisoned, and charged with the crime of constructive treason. Dudley's nominal crime was that during the last illness of Henry VII he had ordered his friends to assemble in arms in case the king died, but the real reason for his charge was his unpopularity stemming from his financial transactions. He was attainted and made preparations to escape from the Tower of London. He gave up his plan, though, when parliament did not confirm his attainder,[3] which led him to believe that he would be pardoned. Dudley and his colleague Empson were executed on 17 August 1510 on Tower Hill.

During his imprisonment, Dudley sought to gain the favour of King Henry VIII by writing a treatise in support of absolute monarchy, called The Tree of Commonwealth.[1] It may, however, never have reached the king. Several manuscript editions survive: the earliest was possibly commissioned by Dudley's son, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland; while the second oldest was made by John Stow in 1563 for Dudley's grandson, Robert Dudley.[1]

Edmund Dudley married twice:

Firstly in about 1494 to Anne Windsor, sister of Andrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor, by whom he had a daughter:

• Elizabeth Dudley (born c.1500), who married William Stourton, 7th Baron Stourton.[4]

Secondly, between 1500 and 1503,[4] to Elizabeth Grey (c. 1480–1525), a daughter of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle (d.1492). Three sons were born to this marriage:

• John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504[4]–22 August 1553)
• Andrew Dudley (c. 1507–1559[5])
• Jerome Dudley (d. after 1555), destined for the Church by his father, yet was mentally or physically incapacitated.[1]

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Dudley

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Dudley, Edmund by Sidney Lee
DUDLEY, EDMUND (1462?–1510), statesman and lawyer, born about 1462, was the son of John Dudley, esq., of Atherington, Sussex, by Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Thomas or John Bramshot of Sussex. John Dudley was sheriff of Sussex in 1485. By his will, dated 1 Oct. 1500, he directs that he should be buried at Arundel in his ‘marbill tombe,’ and desires prayers for the souls of many relatives, among them ‘William, late bishop of Dunelme,’ i.e. Durham, and ‘my brother Oliver Dudley.’ Sir Reginald Bray is also mentioned as an intimate friend. Both William and Oliver Dudley were sons of John Sutton, baron Dudley [q. v.], while Sir Reginald Bray was one of the baron's executors. Hence there can be little doubt that John Dudley was another of the baron's sons. Edmund's descendants claimed direct descent from the baronial family, but the claim has been much disputed. His numerous enemies asserted that Edmund Dudley's father was a carpenter of Dudley, Worcestershire, who migrated to Lewes. Sampson Erdeswicke, the sixteenth-century historian of Staffordshire, accepted this story, and William Wyrley, another Elizabethan genealogist, suggested that Edmund's grandfather was a carpenter. But the discovery of his father's will disproves these stories, and practically establishes his pretensions to descent from the great baronial family of Sutton, alias Dudley.
Dudley was sent in 1478 to Oxford and afterwards studied law at Gray's Inn, where the arms of the barons of Dudley were emblazoned on one of the windows of the hall. According to Polydore Vergil, his legal knowledge attracted the attention of Henry VII on his accession (1485), and he was made a privy councillor at the early age of three-and-twenty. This promotion seems barely credible, but it cannot have been long delayed. Seven years later Dudley helped to negotiate the peace of Boulogne (signed 6 Nov. 1492 and renewed in 1499). His first wife, Anne, sister of Andrews, lord Windsor, and widow of Roger Corbet of Morton, Shropshire, died before 1494, when he obtained the wardship and marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Grey, viscount Lisle, and sister and coheiress of her brother John.
Stow asserts that Dudley became under-sheriff of London in 1497. It has been doubted whether a distinguished barrister and a privy councillor would be likely to accept so small an office. But it seems clear that at this period Dudley was fully in the king's confidence and had formulated a financial policy to check the lawlessness of the barons, whom the protracted wars of the Roses had thoroughly demoralised. In carrying out the policy Dudley associated Sir Richard Empson [q. v.] with himself. The great landowners were to enter into recognisances to keep the peace, and all taxes and feudal dues were to be collected with the utmost rigour. Although, like astute lawyers, Dudley and Empson had recourse to much petty chicanery in giving effect to their scheme, their policy was adapted to the times and was dictated by something more than the king's love of money. The small post of under-sheriff would prove useful in this connection, and the fact that both Dudley and Empson resided in St. Swithin's Lane confirms Dudley's alleged association with the city.
The official position of Dudley and Empson is difficult to define: they probably acted as a sub-committee of the privy council. Polydore Vergil calls them ‘fiscales judices,’ but they certainly were not judges of the exchequer nor of any other recognised court. Bacon asserts that they habitually indicted guiltless persons of crimes, and, when true bills were found, extorted great fines and ransoms as a condition of staying further proceedings. They are said to have occasionally summoned persons to their private houses and exacted fines without any pretence of legal procedure. Pardons for outlawry were invariably purchased from them, and juries were terrorised into paying fines when giving verdicts for defendants in crown prosecutions. These are the chief charges brought against them by contemporary historians. Bacon credits Dudley with much plausible eloquence.
In 1504 Dudley was chosen speaker in the House of Commons, and in the same year was released by a royal writ from the necessity of becoming a serjeant-at-law. In the parliament over which Dudley presided many small but useful reforms were made in legal procedure. In 1506 Dudley became steward of the rape of Hastings, Sussex. Grafton states that in the last year of Henry VII's reign Dudley and Empson were nominated, under some new patent, special commissioners for enforcing the penal laws. Whether this be so or no, their unpopularity greatly increased towards the end of the reign. On 21 April 1509 their master, Henry VII, died. Sir Robert Cotton (Discourse of Foreign War) quotes a book of receipts and payments kept between Henry VII and Dudley, whence it appears that the king amassed about four and a half million pounds in coin and bullion while Dudley directed his finances. The revenue Dudley secured by the sale of offices and extra-legal compositions was estimated at 120,000l. a year.
Henry VIII had no sooner ascended the throne than he yielded to the outcry against Dudley and Empson and committed both to the Tower. The recognisances which had been entered into with them were cancelled on the ground that they had been ‘made without any cause reasonable or lawful’ by ‘ certain of the learned council of our late father, contrary to law, reason, and good conscience.’ On 16 July 1509 Dudley was arraigned before a special commission on a charge of constructive treason. The indictment made no mention of his financial exactions, but stated that while in the preceding March Henry VII lay sick Dudley summoned his friends to attend him under arms in London in the event of the king's death. This very natural precaution, taken by a man who was loathed by the baronial leaders and their numerous retainers, and was in danger of losing his powerful protector, was construed into a plan for attempting the new king's life. Conviction followed. Empson was sent to Northampton to be tried separately on a like charge in October. In the parliament which met 21 Jan. 1509–10 both were attainted. Henry VIII deferred giving orders for their execution, but popular feeling was not satisfied. Dudley made an abortive attempt to escape from the Tower with the aid of his brother Peter, his kinsman, James Beaumont, and others. On 18 Aug. 1510 both he and Empson were beheaded on Tower Hill. Dudley was buried in the church of Blackfriars the same night. With a view to obtaining the king's pardon Dudley employed himself while in the Tower in writing a long political treatise entitled ‘The Tree of Commonwealth,’ an argument in favour of absolute monarchy. This work never reached the hands of Henry VIII. Stow gave a copy to Dudley's grandson, Ambrose Dudley [q. v.], earl of Warwick, after whose death it came into the possession of Sir Simonds D'Ewes. Several copies are now known; one is in the Chetham Library, Manchester, another in the British Museum (Harleian MS. 2204), and a third belongs to Lord Calthorpe (Hist. MSS. Comm. 2nd Rep. 40). It was privately printed at Manchester for the first time in 1859 by the brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. A copy of Dudley's will, dated on the day of his death, is extant in the Record Office. He left his great landed estates in Sussex, Dorsetshire, and Lincolnshire to his wife with remainder to his children. His brother Peter is mentioned, and the son Jerome was placed under four guardians, Bishop FitzJames, Dean Colet, Sir Andrews Windsor, and Dr. Yonge, till he reached the age of twenty-two. Certain lands were to be applied to the maintenance of poor scholars at Oxford. Dudley also expresses a wish to be buried in Westminster Abbey.
By his first wife Dudley had a daughter Elizabeth, married to William, sixth lord Stourton. By his second wife he had three sons: John [q. v.], afterwards duke of Northumberland, Andrew, and Jerome. Sir Andrew Dudley was appointed admiral of the northern seas 27 Feb. 1546–7. He was knighted by Somerset 18 Sept. 1547, when ordered to occupy Broughty Craig at the mouth of the river Tay together with Lord Clinton. This operation was accomplished 21 Sept. In 1549 Sir Andrew became one of the four knights in attendance on the young king, and keeper of his wardrobe. A year later he was appointed keeper of the palace of Westminster, and soon afterwards captain of Guisnes. A small pension was granted him 17 May 1551. Early in 1552 he quarrelled with Lord Willoughby, deputy of Calais, as to his jurisdiction at Guisnes. On 6 Oct. 1552 the dispute led to the recall of both officers. On 20 May 1552 Sir Andrew was directed to survey Portsmouth, and on 17 March 1552–3 was created K.G. A marriage between him and Margaret Clifford, daughter of the Earl of Cumberland, was arranged to take place soon afterwards, but the death of Edward VI led to his ruin (Nichols, Lit. Remains of Edward VI, in Roxburghe Club; Calendar of Hatfield MSS. i. 127–132). Sir Andrew was implicated with his brother John in the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but after imprisonment, trial, and conviction was set at liberty on 18 Jan. 1554–5. His will, dated 1556, is printed in the ‘Sydney Papers’ (p. 30). He died without issue in 1559. Edmund Dudley's widow married, about 1515, Sir Arthur Plantagenet [q. v.], Edward IV's natural son, by Lady Elizabeth Lucy. Sir Arthur was created Viscount Lisle, in right of his wife, in 1523, and was for many years governor of Calais. By him Dudley's widow had three daughters, Bridget, Frances, and Elizabeth.
[Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, i. 12–14; Sydney Papers, ed. Collins, i. 16–18; Holinshed's Chronicle; Bacon's Henry VII; State Trials, i. 28–38; Herbert's Henry VIII; Brewer's Henry VIII, i. 69–70; Henry VIII State Papers, i. 179; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 214; Biog. Brit. (Kippis); Polydore Vergil's Henry VIII. For the genealogy see the authorities under Dudley, John Sutton de. For the indictment see Second Report of Deputy-Keeper of Records, app. 3.]
S. L. L.
From: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_18...
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• Edmund Dudley, Esq., Councillor to Henry VII, Speaker of the House of Commons, Burgess of Lewes1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
• M, #39575, d. 18 August 1510
• Father John Dudley, Esq., Sheriff of Surrey, Sussex, & Hampshire, Justice of the Peace for Hampshire & Sussex1,11,12 d. 6 Feb 1501
• Mother Elizabeth Bramshot1,11,12 d. 12 Oct 1498
• Edmund Dudley, Esq., Councillor to Henry VII, Speaker of the House of Commons, Burgess of Lewes married Anne Windsor, daughter of Thomas Windsor, Esq., Constable of Windsor Castle and Elizabeth Andrews, before 1490; They had 1 daughter (Elizabeth, wife of William, 7th Lord Stourton).13,3,5,7,9 Edmund Dudley, Esq., Councillor to Henry VII, Speaker of the House of Commons, Burgess of Lewes married Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Sir Edward Grey, 3rd Viscount Lisle, Constable of Kenilworth Castle and Elizabeth Talbot, after 1 October 1500; They had 3 sons (Sir John, 1st Duke of Northumberland; Jerome; & Sir Andrew).14,1,2,4,6,7,8,10 Edmund Dudley, Esq., Councillor to Henry VII, Speaker of the House of Commons, Burgess of Lewes died on 18 August 1510 at Tower Hill, London, Middlesex, England; Beheaded. Buried in the church of the Blackfriars.1,2,3,6,7,10
• Family 1 Anne Windsor d. a 1 Oct 1500
• Child
  • Elizabeth Dudley+15 d. bt 13 Nov 1558 - 19 Aug 1560
• Family 2 Elizabeth Grey b. bt 1482 - 1485, d. bt 10 Aug 1530 - 20 Feb 1531
• Child
  • Sir John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Sheriff of Staffordshire, Vice-Admiral, Lord High Admiral, Governor of Boulogne, Lord Great Chamberlain, Earl Marshal of England+16,3,7 b. bt 1504 - 1506, d. 22 Aug 1553
• Citations
• [S11575] The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, by Gerald Paget, Vol. I, p. 98.
• [S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 802.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 555-556.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, p. 302-303.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 72.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 420.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. II, p. 341.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, p. 159.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, p. 663.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. V, p. 468.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 555.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. II, p. 340.
• [S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XII/1, p. 306, notes.
• [S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. VIII, p. 63-67.
• [S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XII/1, p. 306.
• [S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. IX, p. 722.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1317.htm#...

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• Edmund Dudley
• M, #105902, b. circa 1462, d. 18 August 1510
• Last Edited=15 Feb 2015
• Edmund Dudley was born circa 1462. He was the son of John Dudley and Elizabeth Bramshot. He married Elizabeth Grey, 6th Baroness Lisle, daughter of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle and Elizabeth Talbot, Baroness Lisle, circa 1495.1 He died on 18 August 1510 at Tower Hill, The City, London, England, beheaded. He was buried at Church of Blackfriars, England.
• In 1504 he was returned as member of Parliament for Staffordshire and was chosen as speaker of the House of Commons.
• Children of Edmund Dudley and Elizabeth Grey, 6th Baroness Lisle
  • Sir Andrew Dudley d. c 1559
  • Jerome Dudley
  • John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland+ b. 1502, d. 22 Aug 1553
  • Elizabeth Dudley+2 b. b 1505
• Citations
• [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VIII, page 63. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• [S37] BP2003 volume 2, page 2815. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10591.htm#i105902

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• Edmund DUDLEY (Chancellor of Exchequer)
• Born: ABT 1462
• Died: 28 Aug 1510, Executed
• Notes: descended from a baronial family, he was trained in the law and rose rapidly in the favour of Henry VII. He was a royal councillor from early in the reign and in 1506 was appointed President of the Council, an unusual post giving him, it seems, a dignity at council meetings equal to that usually held by the Lord Chancellor. That he was high in the esteem of Henry VII is shown by bis appointment in 1504 as Speaker of the House of Commons, a post at that time within the gift of the Crown.
• Father: John SUTTON of Atherington (Esq.)
• Mother: Elizabeth BRAMSHOT
• Married 1: Anne WINDSOR
• Children:
  • 1. Elizabeth DUDLEY (B. Stourton of Stourton)
• Married 2: Elizabeth GREY (6° B. Lisle) AFT 1500
• Children:
  • 2. John DUDLEY (1° D. Northumberland)
  • 3. Andrew DUDLEY (Sir Knight)
  • 4. Jerome DUDLEY
  • 5. Simon DUDLEY
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/DUDLEY.htm#Edmund DUDLEY (Chancellor of Exchequer)

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• Lady Elizabeth Grey Dudley-Plantagenet
• Birth: 1470 West Sussex, England
• Death: 1525 Hampshire, England
• Lady Elizabeth Grey, 6th baroness Lisle, is the daughter of Sir Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle who was the younger son of Sir Edward Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, and his wife 6th baroness Ferrers, of Groby. His eldest brother was Sir John Grey, of Groby a Lancastrian Knight and the first husband of Elizabeth Woodville, who later married King Edward IV, of England, and Great Grandfather to Lady Jane Grey, who married King Henry VIII.
• by Darla S. Hudson
• She married first to Sir Edmund Dudley, The Treasurer to King Henry VII, and was tried and executed by King Henry VIII.
• Lady Elizabeth Grey, 6th baroness Lisle & Sir Edmund Dudley had the follow 3 Sons:
  • 1.John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1502-1553)
  • 2.Andrew Dudley
  • 3.Jerome Dudley
• She remarried to Sir Arthur Plantagenet, the illegitimate, son of King Edward IV, of England.
• Lady Elizabeth Grey-Dudley, 6th baroness of Lisle, and Widow of Sir Edmund Dudley, married Sir Arthur Plantagenet, and they had the 3 following daughters:
  • 1.FRANCES PLANTAGENET, who married SIR JOHN BASSETT V, of HEATON, are the parents of SIR ARTHUR BASSETT who married LADY ELEANOR CHICHESTER, the parents of LADY MARGARET BASSETT, who married SIR RICHARD DUKE III, of OTTERTON. LADY MARGARET BASSETT, AND SIR RICHARD DUKE III'S son, married MARY BARHAM, and they immigrated to America, whose sons were in the AMERICAN REVOLUTION, and their descendants have been in every single war that America has been in; in order, to have a free Society that is Free from Tyranny, and the Freedom of Religion, without persecution.
  • 2.ELIZABETH PLANTAGENET who married SIR FRANCIS JOBSON Esq. a, Member of Parliament for Colchester.
  • 3.BRIDGET PLANTAGENET married WILLIAM CAMDEN English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms, best known as author of Britannia.
• Family links:
• Spouse:
• Arthur Plantagenet (1460 - 1542)
• Children:
  • Frances Plantagenet (1519 - 1568)*
• Burial: St Peter Churchyard, Titchfield, Fareham Borough, Hampshire, England
• Find A Grave Memorial# 146528805
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=146528805

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• DUDLEY, Sir John (1504/6-53), of Halden, Kent; Dudley Castle, Staffs.; Durham Place, London; Chelsea and Syon, Mdx.
• b. 1504/6, 1st S. of Edmund Dudley of Atherington, Suss. and London by Elizabeth, suo jureBaroness Lisle, da. of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle; bro. of Sir Andrew. m. by 1526, Jane, da. of Sir Edward Guildford of Halden and Hemsted, Kent, 8s. inc. Sir Robert 2da. suc. fa. 18 Aug. 1510. Kntd. 4 Nov. 1523; KG nom. 23 Apr. inst. 5 May 1543, cr. Viscount Lisle 12 Mar. 1542, Earl of Warwick 16 Feb. 1547, Duke of Northumberland 11 Oct. 1551.3
• .... etc.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/du...

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• DUDLEY, Sir Andrew (c.1507-59), of Westminster, Mdx.
• b. c.1507, 2nd s. of Edmund Dudley of Atherington, Suss. and London by Elizabeth, suo jure Baroness Lisle, da. of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle; bro. of Sir John. unm. Kntd. 18 Sept. 1547; KG nom. 23 Apr., inst. 16 Dec. 1552 (degraded Nov. 1553).1
• .... etc.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/du...

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• Sir John Pakenham and his wife Margaret both died in 1485, and they seem to have left two children, Edmund who inherited their estates in Bramshott, (fn. 92) and Constance who inherited their lands in the Isle of Wight, and who married Sir Geoffrey Poole of Lordington in Sussex. (fn. 93) The manor of Little Gatcombe is not mentioned in any of the inquisitions on Sir John Pakenham or Sir John Dudley, but it seems probable that it was included in the share of Sir John Dudley and his wife Elizabeth Bramshott. Elizabeth died in 1498 and her husband in 1501; they left a son and heir Edmund who was thirty-six at the time of his mother's death, (fn. 94) and who married Elizabeth daughter of Edward Viscount Lisle. (fn. 95) This Edmund was attainted for high treason and beheaded on Tower Hill in 1510; the attainder was reversed, however, in the following year and his lands restored to his son John (fn. 96) ; but it seems probable that Little Gatcombe was not restored, but was granted to William Erneley, who died seised of it in 1445, though no record of such a grant can be found. (fn. 97)
• From: 'Parishes: Wymering', A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3 (1908), pp. 165-170. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41950 Date accessed: 07 June 2010.

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• Links
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Plantagenet,_Arthur_(DNB00)

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