Mr. Hunter and many others supposed that at the time of the poet there was only one other of the name in London—John of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

In the churchwardens' accounts there were found notices of a John Shakespeare about 1605. Mr. French thinks that he might be the John, son of Thomas, of Snitterfield.[323] I have worked through these books and the registers, and have gleaned a good many scraps about him. He appears there too early. John of Snitterfield was born in 1581-82. John of St. Martin's, on January 22, 1589, was married[324] to Dorothea Dodde, daughter of the Vestry Clerk (her sister Jane had, the year before, married a Christopher Wren) of that parish; and on December 23, 1593, it is to be supposed he had a daughter, "Maria Shakespeare," christened, mentioned there, as is customary in that register, without the name of her father.

In 1594 Mrs. Shakespeare's sister was staying with her, as among the burials is entered, "Elizabeth Dod, from Shakespeares."

John[325] Shakespeare, "on the land side of the parish," in 1603, contributed to the new casting of the bells five shillings, and in 1605 was one of the sidesmen. "Paid to John Shakespeare, one of the sidesmen, that he laid out at the registers office for putting in the Recusants Bills 3s. 4d." In 1609 "Dorithie Shakespeare" was buried, and her expenses brought in to the churchwardens 32s. 2d., relatively a large sum, as Sir Thomas Windebanck's funeral cost only 16s. In that same year John contributed also ten shillings to the repair of the church. On June 20, 1613, the churchwardens "received from John Shakespeare, by the hands of Edward Thickness, the sum of L10, given as a legacy by Mrs. Dimbleby, deceased" (which suggests that he was her executor), and in 1617 they "gave to John Shakespeare's daughter 7s. 6d."—a curious entry, which I cannot explain. She may have done some work for the churchwardens, as they often employed women; it may have been a debt due her father, a present on her marriage, or an aid in sudden poverty. The death of a "John Shakespeare, a man," is noted in 1646, in apparent poverty, as the funeral cost only 1s.—a different cost from that of Mrs. Dorothy Shakespeare in 1608. I had thought it possible that this sum represented only a fee for a burial in another parish, but I find that theory is untenable. Whether the John of 1646 was the same as the sidesman of 1605 or not, he was certainly buried in the parish. From the vestry books I found many notices of John Shakespeare as contributing to the expenses of the poor, first on the "waterside" of the parish, and then on the "landside"; and I believed, reasoning from a State Paper Bill, that he was referred to in the entry, "received for a pewe, from the Princes' Bitmaker 30s., 1639-40." His name disappeared from the books long before 1646; and I fancied he had gone farther east to the parish of St. Clement's Danes, which joined that of St. Martin's at several points. "Paid to William Wright for a stone engraved with letters on it, which is sett in the wall of the Earl of Salisbury at his house at Ivie Bridge to devide the two parishes of St. Martin's in the Fields and St. Clement's Danes in that place." I gave up theorizing until I could see the registers of St. Clement's Danes, and from various causes three years passed before I had an opportunity of clearing up the puzzle. These registers prove that in London, as in Stratford-on-Avon, I had been confused by double entries, and that there was another John Shakespeare. The St. Martin's John lost his wife Dorothy in 1608; the St. Clement's John married his wife Mary in 1605. "3rd Feb. 1604-5, Johne Shakspear and Mary Godtheridg." He was the wealthy bitmaker to the King, of whom I had discovered notices in the State Papers and wills that turned my attention to St. Clement's Danes, a hitherto unsuspected locality for Shakespeare finds. I thought at first that he might have been John the shoemaker who vanished from Stratford. But it was hardly likely that he should have changed his trade from shoemaking to bitmaking, or that he would have been successful in it. The St. Clement's John might have been a son of the St. Martin's John, but there is no christening of a John in that parish, or in any other London parish that I know. So here I thought I might justly theorize, and state my opinion that he really was the John, son of Thomas, of Snitterfield, born 1581-82, of whom is no record of further life or burial in his own neighbourhood. He would be of a suitable age, and there was in his case a reason for Court success.

William Shakespeare the poet had by this time made his mark, not only in literature and the drama, but in Court influence and financial possibilities. His patron, the Earl of Southampton, was in favour with the King. Supposing this John was Shakespeare's first cousin, as I believe he was, what more likely than that the poet, who had lost his only son, would help, as far as he could, his nearest male relative? I trust to find further proof of this some day, but I may state what I do know about this St. Clement's John. He had a large family. The registers record in the baptizings: "John Shaxbee sonne of John 28th Aug. 1605." "Susan Shasper daughter of John 19th Feb. 1607." "Jane Shakespeer the daughter of John 16th July 1608." "Anthony Shaksbye son of John 23rd June 1610." "Thomas Shackspeer son of John 30th June 1611." "Ellyn Shakspear the daughter of John 5th May 1614." "Katharine Shakspeare daughter of John 25th Aug. 1616." Now, to set against these we have the burials of: "Anthony Shakesby the son of John 26th June 1610." "Thomas Shakspeer the son of John 1st July 1612." "Susan Shakspere daughter of John 3rd Aug. 1612." "Katharine Shakespeare d. of John 26th Aug. 1616." Of two of the remaining children, John and Ellen, we have further information; concerning the other, I believe we have an interesting error, bearing on the credibility of parish clerks.

Among the burials appears that of "Jane Shackspeer, daughter of Willm, 8. Aug. 1609." Now, this might have been a daughter of the Bishopsgate William, or of some country William up in London for a holiday. It might even have been a hitherto unknown daughter of the poet himself. But I believe that the clerk's mind was wandering when he wrote, and that he was thinking of "William" when he should have written "John," because John's family seem to have been delicate and have chiefly died young, and his daughter "Jane" would have been just about a year old at the time. No other notice of "William" or of "Jane" appears in the register.

The phonetic varieties of the spelling of the name may have been noticed, but it is as well I copied all such. Among the Bishop of London's marriage[326] licenses I find on "May 28, 1631, John Shackspeare of St. Clement's Danes, Bittmaker, Bachelor, 26, had a license to marry Margaret Edwards of St. Bride's Spinster, 28, at same Parish Church."[327] The age of John Shackspear coincides with the age of John Shaxbee, which is the only resembling entry near the date, and the trade and the parish are the same. He was duly married in St. Bride's,[328] and soon afterwards christenings began in St. Clement's Danes. "12th April 1632, John Shackspeare son of John Shackspeare Junior, and Margaret, ux." "4th May 1633, Mary Shackespeare, daughter of John Shackespeare, and Margaret, ux." "17th Aug. 1634, Mary Shackspeare, daughter of John Shackespeare and Margaret, ux." "3rd March 1635-6 John Shakespear son of John and Margaret his wife." The reason for the repeated names lies in the burials: "John Shackspeare son of John 17th May, 1632." "Mary Shakespeare daughter of John 16th Julie 1633." "Mary Shakespeare, infant, 1st May 1635." The more important entry of the burial of their grandfather is fortunately clear—"John Shackespeare, the King's Bitmaker, 27th Jan. 1633."[329] The name of trade or profession was but rarely mentioned in this parish, and in this case it fixes the State Paper entries. A large sum (L1,612 11s.) due to her husband by the Crown was paid to a widow Mary after the death of her husband, John Shackespeare,[330] His Majesty's bit-maker, 1638, for wares delivered to the royal stables, and she had already been paid L80. "Warrant to pay to the Earl of Denbigh Master of the Wardrobe L1612, 11 0, to be paid to Mary Shackspeare widow & executrix of John Shackespeare, his Majesty's Bitmaker deceased, in regard of her present necessities, in full of a debt of L1692, 11 for sundry parcels of wares by him delivered for his majesty's service in the Stables, as by a certificate appeareth, whereof there has been already paid unto her L80. Subscribed by order of the Lord Treasurer procured Dec. 18th, 1637, and paid Jan. 21, 1637-8."

For some reason her daughter Ellen was made her heiress. Among the State Papers at Dublin Castle relating to settlements and explanations after the Restoration there is a reference to this lady, and there was some dispute about what she was entitled to receive. "It appears by an order of the Revenue side of the Exchequer[331] that Ellen, daughter and heiress of Mary Shakespeare, of ye Strand, widow, was married to John Milburne." In Mary Shakespeare's will, December 24, 1553, she left to her daughter, Ellen Milburne, L60; money to her grandchildren Milburne; L50 to her grandson, John Shakespeare, son of her son John; 10s. to her sister, Anne Brewer; 5s. to her daughter-in-law, Margaret Shakespeare; 2s. 6d. to Sarah Richardson, her brother's daughter; and the same to Mary Shakespeare, wife of Thomas Allon (proved March 2, 1654).[332]

The Mary Shakespeare of St. Martin's parish does not seem to have died there. She may have been the Mary Shakespeare, wife of Thomas Allon, of the above will, or the Mary Shakespeare who was buried in the Church of St. Thomas Apostle,[333] November 14, 1644. There was a John Shakespeare, who might have been one of those three now mentioned, or who might have been a fourth of the name, not very far off, mentioned as one of the defaulters by the Collectors of the Loan in the Hundred of Edmonton, and part of the Hundred of Ossulton, County Middlesex, in 1627.[334]

There were Shakespeares further west and further east than the Strand. Adrian Shakespeare, of St. James's, within the liberty of Westminster, left L550 on trust with his brothers-in-law, William Gregory and William Farron, for his daughter Elizabeth and an unborn child; his father, Thomas Shakespeare, and all his brothers and sisters to have a guinea apiece, residue to his wife Christian, November 26, 1714.[335] Perhaps he descended from the William of 1539.

At St. George's, Hanover Square, William Fellows, widower, and Margaret Shakespear, spinster, were married May 28, 1730;[336] at St. George's, Hanover Square, William Guy and Rebekah Shakespeare, of St. Mary-le-Bone, March 29, 1758;[337] at St. George's Chapel, Hyde Park Corner, William Shakespeare and Mary Waight, of St. Giles, Cripplegate, July 29, 1751;[338] James Barnet, of St. James's, Westminster, and Elizabeth Shakespear, February 9, 1760.[339] A George Shakespeare, of Westminster, Arm., matriculated at Wadham College, June 10, 1785, aged twenty-seven.[340]

Manasses Shakespeare, of St. Andrew's, Holborn, widower, and Mary Goodwin, spinster, of same, married at St. James's, Duke's Place, April 27, 1710.[341]

Benjamin Shakespear, of the parish of St. Christopher, painter, made his will 1707, and bequeathed to his father, Benjamin Shakespear, of Tamworth, in Warwickshire, his wearing apparel, and left a legacy to his mother Joyce, his wife Judith being sole executrix[342] (proved December 4, 1714).

In the records of the Leather Sellers' Company is preserved the apprenticeship of George, son of Thomas Shakespeare, of Arley, county Warwick,[343] October 12, 1693. George, son of William Shakespeare, also of Arley, was apprenticed 1732. Thomas Shakespeare, son of George, citizen and leather-seller of London, was apprenticed to William Jephson, vintner.[344]

An important branch of the family settled in the east. John Shackspeer, of Rope Walk, Upper Shadwell, appears in 1654. His father has still to be found, but his posterity believe he descended from the poet's grandfather. I had hoped to satisfy them through the St. Clement's Danes registers. But his age at his marriage precludes this, for it gives the year of his birth as 1619. The only John that I know to be born in that year was John, son of Thomas Shakespeare, gent., baptized July 18, 1619, in St. Gregory by St. Paul's. I had taken him to be the son of Thomas, the Staple Inn student and lawyer of Leicester, but I cannot prove it. On June 14, 1654, John married Martha Seeley,[345] and had four sons and four daughters, of whom survived Martha, Samuel, Benjamin, Mary, John and Jonathan. A trade token of his still exists.[346] Ropemaker Shakespeare was summoned, with others, to appear before the Admiralty regarding a breach of contract for ropes, January 26, 1656-57.[347] John Shakespear, son of John of Shadwell, ropemaker, was apprenticed to John Grange, of Upper Shadwell, chafer, 1663-64.[348] Jonathan, the youngest son, born February 6, 1670, succeeded his father, who died 1689. He married,[349] April 26, 1698, Elizabeth Shallet, of Clapham, aged nineteen, and had thirteen children. Samuel Wilton was apprenticed to Jonathan Shakespeare, citizen and broiderer of London, April 7, 1725. He died 1735. The business of ropemaking was carried on by the eldest son, Arthur, born 1699, who died 1749, leaving the property and business to his youngest brother John, on condition he brought up his heir to ropemaking. This John, twelfth child of Jonathan, born 1718, married, 1745, Elizabeth, daughter of Colin Currie, and Anne, daughter of the Honourable John Campbell; and had eleven children. He became Ropemaker to the Board of Ordnance in succession to his brother Arthur, May 12, 1749; Trustee of Middlesex Turnpike Roads 1751; Ranger of Waltham Forest 1761; Deputy-Lieutenant for Middlesex 1763; alderman of the ward of Aldgate 1767; sheriff 1768. He was originally of the Broiderers' Company, as was his father, but was translated from that guild to the Ironmongers', of which he became master 1769.[350] He died 1775. "The alderman used the same coat of arms as the poet, there being but the one known." It is engraved in Noorthouck's "History of London," ed. 1773.

The Shakespear tomb in Stepney Churchyard records his death, and that of Bennet Shakespear, son of Jonathan, 1756, and Jonathan, son of Jonathan, 1768, brothers of the alderman; also Mrs. Elizabeth Shakespeare, his widow, February 15, 1807, aged eighty, at Bramdean, co. Hants; Arthur Shakespear, eldest son of the alderman, M.P. for Richmond, in Yorkshire, 1818, aged seventy; his wife Jane, 1805, aged fifty-five; Matthew John Shakespeare, son of Arthur, April 2, 1844; and several children who died young. The sons of the Alderman John Shakespeare and Elizabeth his wife were I. Arthur; II. John; III. David; IV. Samuel; V. Colin.

I. Arthur, the M.P. for Richmond, married Jane, daughter of Sir Matthew Ridley, and had two sons, Matthew John, and Arthur William. His wife died in Pall Mall in February, 1805,[351] and he died June 12, 1818, in Albemarle Street,[352] aged seventy. His son, Matthew John Shakespeare, willed away the Shadwell property to his cousins, the children of Mary Oliver, 1844. The rope-factory was destroyed by fire in the autumn of 1860, but a street in the neighbourhood is still called Shakespeare's Walk.

II. John. The second son of Alderman John was born May 6, 1749. He married, in 1782, Mary, daughter and heir of the Rev. William Davenport, of Bredon, co. Worcester, and of Lacock Abbey, co. Wilts, by his wife, Martha Talbot, of the old family famed by Shakespeare the poet.

The sons of John Shakespear and Mary Davenport, his first wife, were: (1) John Talbot; (2) William Oliver; (3) Henry Davenport; (4) Arthur.

1. John Talbot Shakespear entered the East India Company's service, and had four sons by Emily, eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray: (1a) John Dowdeswell Shakespear, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Bengal Artillery, who married Margaret, only daughter of Joseph Hodgson, F.R.S. He died without issue, April 6, 1867, aged sixty.[353] (2a) William Makepeace Shakespear, (3a) George Trant Shakespear, who both died unmarried. (4a) Sir Richmond Campbell Shakespear, 1812-61, "youngest son of John Talbot Shakespear, of the Bengal Civil Service. He came to England with his cousin, William Makepeace Thackeray, for his education. He served with distinction in India, was knighted in 1841, the only occasion on which he returned to England. His cousin, Thackeray, in the 'Roundabout Papers' (Letts's Diary), paid a tribute to his chivalry and liberality. He married Marian Sophia Thompson in 1844, and died at Indore, October 28, 1861, leaving a family of three sons and six daughters."[354] A memorial-stone is raised in memory of him in the cloister walls of Charterhouse Chapel.[355] Thackeray drew the portrait of Colonel Newcome from his elder brother, Colonel John Dowdeswell Shakespeare. His eldest son, Richmond Shakespear, Captain H.M. 36th Regiment N.I., died in India, August 12, 1865. His daughter, Selina, married, in 1868, Lieutenant Ninian Lowis, Bengal Staff Corps.

Mr. John Talbot Shakespear had also four daughters—Emily, Augusta, Charlotte, Marianne.

2. The second son of John Shakespear and Mary Davenport, William Oliver Shakespear, was Judge of the Provincial Court of Appeal in the Madras Presidency. He married Charlotte Maxton, and had five sons and two daughters, (1b) William, who died young; (2b) Henry, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, who was shipwrecked in a frigate in the Indian Seas, 1833; (3b) Charles Maxton Shakespear, Lieutenant-Colonel in the Madras Army; (4b) Arthur Robert, who died in 1844; (5b) George Frederick Shakespear, Lieutenant-Colonel Madras Staff Corps, who was married, and had a son born in 1865.[356]

3. The third son, Henry Davenport Shakespear, was member of the Supreme Court of India. He married Louisa Muerson, and had three sons and seven daughters. (1c) Henry John Childe Shakespear, Commandant of the Nagpore Irregular Horse; (2c) Alexander Shakespear, a Judge in India; (3c) William Ross Shakespear, Madras Cavalry, who married Fanny Isabella, daughter of Sir Robert North Collie Hamilton, of Alveston, co. Warwick, 1854, and had two sons, William and Robert; he died in 1862. The daughters of Henry Davenport Shakespear were Louisa, Harriet, Augusta, Jane, Agnes, Mary, Henrietta. He died in 1838.

4. The fourth son of John Shakespear and Mary Davenport, Arthur Shakespear, was Captain in the 10th Hussars, served as aide-de-camp to Lord Combermore during the Peninsular War, and was Brigade-Major of the Hussars at Waterloo. He married, April 19, 1818, Harriet Sophia, daughter of Thomas Skip Dyott Bucknall, of Hampton Court. He died in 1845, leaving six sons and two daughters, (1d) George Bucknall Shakespear, Colonel Royal Artillery, who married Henrietta Panet. His eldest son was Arthur Bucknall Shakespear. (2d) William Powlett Shakespear[357] was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Bombay Fusiliers, and lost his life at Samanghur in trying to save a wounded sepoy. (3d) Colonel John Talbot Shakespear, who married Emma Waterfield, and had a son, Leslie, born 1865. (4d) Lieutenant-Colonel John Davenport Shakespear, served in the Crimean War. He married, in 1855, Louisa Caroline, daughter of Robert Sayer, of Sibton Park, co. Suffolk, and had a son, Arthur Franklin Charles Shakespear, 1864, and a daughter, Ida Nea. He claimed descent from the poet's family in 1864.[358] (5d) Rev. Wyndham Arthur Shakespear, fifth son of Arthur Shakespear, of Boxwell, co. Gloucester, Arm. Exeter College, matriculated May 29, 1855, aged nineteen, B.A. from Litton Hall, 1860, and M.A. He has held various curacies.[359] (6d) Robert Henry Shakespear, who married, in 1858, Octavia, daughter of Charles Fenwick, Consul-General for Denmark. He has a son, Lionel Fairfax Shakespear. His elder daughter, Harriet Blanche, married, 1868, Lieutenant-Colonel James Edward Mayne, Deputy-Judge, Madras; the younger, Rosaline, married William Sim Murray, M.D., surgeon, 66th Foot, 1867.

II. John Shakespeare's first wife, Mary Davenport, died in 1793; and he married, secondly, Charlotte, the daughter of —— Fletcher, Esq., by whom he had a son—

5. Owen, who died unmarried, and two daughters, Georgiana and Henrietta Matilda. His second wife, Charlotte, died in 1815, and he died January 16, 1825, and was buried at Lacock Abbey.

III. The alderman's third son, David, settled in Jamaica, and left a family, whose descendants still exist there. In 1867 the Hon. John Shakespear, grandson of David, was a member of the Legislature and proprietor of Hodges-Penn, St. Elizabeth's parish.

IV. I have been unable to find particulars of Samuel, the fourth son.

V. Colin, the fifth son of the alderman, was in the East India Company's Civil Service, as collector at Saharapore. He married Harriet Dawson, and his daughter Harriet married William Woodcock, Esq.

The alderman's eldest daughter Sarah married Joseph Sage; his second daughter, Anne, John Blagrove, of Cardiff Hall, Jamaica; his third, Martha, the Rev. John William Lloyd, of Aston Hall, co. Salop; his fourth, Mary, Laver Oliver, Esq., to whose children the rope-factory descended.

Whatever may have been the fortunes of the other branches, it is very clear that the chief modern Shakespeares have descended from the Shadwell stock. John Shakespear, the second son of the Alderman, left a memorandum declaring his belief that the family was derived from the poet's grandfather. There has as yet, however, been found no proof of any such connection, though it is perfectly possible that it existed. If Richard, of Snitterfield, was the father of John, Henry, and Thomas, there were two possible lines of descent. Henry may have had children christened at other places than Snitterfield, whose descent no one has traced. Thomas had a son John, born in 1581-82, clearly too old to have been the first John of Shadwell. He may have had a son of the proper age; but, as I have stated above, I have found no John of the right age, except John, son of Thomas.

A Hannah[360] Shakespeare, born 1777, is mentioned in the pedigree of Esterby and Sootheran.

Henry Shakespear, of London, was a broker Loriner, 1775, connected with Hertford (see p. 137).

On June 29, 1794, was baptized Joshua,[361] son of Thomas and Ann Shakespeare.

A warm eulogy of the charity and virtues of William Shakespeare, Esq., of Hart Street, Bloomsbury, who died in January, 1799, aged seventy-three, is given in the Gentleman's Magazine[362] of that date; and in May of the same year the death is noticed, in Paddington, of George Shakespeare, Esq., son of the late George Shakespeare, Esq., of Walton-upon-Thames, and Pimlico, Middlesex.[363]

M. L. Jeny, in L'Intermediaire, March 25, 1889, states that "he had read in L'Abeille du Cher of Friday, November 18, 1836, that a poor old man of seventy-seven, named George Shakspeare, was found dying with cold and hunger in the middle of the frightful night of Wednesday preceding, in Clarence Street, London, and was taken to the Hospital, and died there. He was one of the poet's descendants."[364]

So late as November, 1880, there was a Mrs. Anne Shakespeare who died at Brighton, aged 102.[365]

There are several American branches of Shakespeares, some of them literary, and two of the name are settled in Vancouver's Island.[366]

Among the list of authors[367] we find the names of Alexander Shakespear, on the "North-West Provinces of India," 1848; Edward Shakespear, "A Book of Divinity," 1740; and Sophia Shakespear, 1753, a biography; Henry Shakespear, "Province of Bengal," 1824, and "Wild Sports of India," 1860; H. W. Shakespear's "Refutation of Mr. Tryon," 1847; John Shakespear's Hindustani books; Emily Shakespeare's "Tennyson Birthday Book," 1877; and Mrs. O. Shakespear, a novel, in 1895. Edward O. Shakespeare, of Washington, U.S.A., has a medical work on "Inflammation."

Mr. Russell French, from whose pages I have gleaned the bulk of the facts concerning these modern Shakespeares, expatiates on the glories of the later Shakespeare marriages. By the Currie alliance he traces back descent to the royal Scottish families of the Bruces and the Stewarts; by the Talbot alliance he traces back their pedigree to Edward I.; by the Davenport alliance he again connects them with the Ardens, through Sir Thomas Leighton and the eighth Lord Zouch, who married Joan, daughter of Sir John Denham, by his wife Joan, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Archer, who married Joan, the second daughter and coheir of Giles de Arden, grandson of Sir Robert de Arden, the descendant of Turchil; but these rather tend to glorify the modern branches than the poet's name.

It were to be desired that there were more concerted study of registers and other records concerning the name. Much more might thus be found, and much of the energy now dissipated in futile searches might be utilized in connecting the scattered links, because the study of genealogy is the ancient form of the very modern inquiries into heredity which interest so many followers of Mr. Francis Galton. It is after all worth knowing who were the ancestors of William Shakespeare, what heroic, chivalric, poetic, philosophic strains went to form the nature of the perfect poet; and it is of mildly sentimental interest to us that we should know whether any of his line is left on the earth. Of sentimental interest, I say, for rarely, if ever, does genius repeat itself, nor do different environing circumstances weld and mould genius in the same way. Its nature is very easy to kill, or dwarf, or distort, but it is our excuse for being concerned with those who bear the honoured name.

In the unsatisfactory inquiries relating to Shakespeare's ancestors I have exhausted all that I can find concerning his father's family; but so much remains to be said concerning his mother's family, that in consideration of the old proverb, "like mother, like son," it has seemed to me worth incorporating into this volume some account of the Ardens.

FOOTNOTES:

[312] Churchwardens' Accounts of Thurston Amere and William Combes, from June 8, 1538, to May 8, 1540, 48th week, 1st year.

[313] Notes and Queries, Seventh Series, vii. 483, June 22, 1889. Compare Third Series, iii. 318; Third Series, viii. 418; Savage's "Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers in New England," ii. 528; John Timbs' "Curiosities of London," ed. 1855, p. 238, and ed. 1867, p. 297; "Annals of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate," 221, 322.

[314] Subsidy Rolls, London, Ward of Billingsgate and others, 39 Eliz., 146/369, P.R.O.

[315] Marriage Licenses, Faculty Office, Harl. Publ.

[316] Bishop of London's Marriage Licenses, Harl. Publ.

[317] Register, St. James's, Clerkenwell.

[318] Registers of Christ Church, Newgate Street, Harl. Soc. Publ.

[319] He died 1598, and was at one time connected with the Theatre as shareholder. Notes and Queries, Seventh Series, vii. 188.

[320] Registers of St. James's, Clerkenwell, Harl. Publ.

[321] Account of the Treasurer of the Chamber, 1572, et seq.

[322] "Archaeologia," vol. xiii., appendix, p. 403.

[323] Notes and Queries, Seventh Series, ii. 247.

[324] Registers of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

[325] Churchwarden's Accounts, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

[326] Bishop of London's Licenses, Harl. Soc. Publ.

[327] Registers of the Church of St. Bride's.

[328] Registers of the Church of St. Bride's.

[329] Among the expenses of the Royal Household are entered: 1621—"To John Shakespeare for one gilt bit for the sadle aforesayd L3 13s. 6d. To John Shakespeare for fourteen bittes, guilt silvered and chased, at L5 10s. a peice. For one payre of bosses, richly enamelled, 52s. 6d_, L73 12s. 6d. For 7 bittes for the sadles aforesayd at 52s. 6d. each, L18 7s. 6d."—"Early Illustrations of Shakespeare," published by the Shakespeare Society.

[330] State Papers, Dom. Ser., Car. I., ccclxxiv. 20, Docquet.

[331] State Papers, Irish, Dublin Castle, Vol. M., p. 338. Notes and Queries, First Series, vi. 289, 495.

[332] Somerset House, 268, Aylett.

[333] The Registers of St. Thomas Apostle, London.

[334] State Papers, Dom. Ser., Car. I., lxxvi. 41.

[335] Somerset House, 249, Aston.

[336] Lic. Fac. Office, Harl. Publ.

[337] Reg. of St. George's, Hanover Square.

[338] Marriage Licenses, Bishop of London, Harl. Publ.

[339] Bishop of London's Licenses, Harl. Publ.

[340] Foster's "Alumni Oxonienses."

[341] Bishop of London's Mar. Lic., Harl. Publ.

[342] Somerset House, 248, Aston.

[343] Notes and Queries, Third Series, vii. 175.

[344] "Book of Apprentices," 1666-1736, f. 756

[345] His son stated that he was seventy-seven at the time of his death, in 1689, but his marriage certificate makes him younger. "Publications and Marriages, 1654: John Shakespear, of Ratcliffe Highway, ropemaker, aged thirty-five, and Martha Seeley, of Wapping Wall, mayde, nineteen years. Married before John Waterton, Esquire, on ye 14th June. Richard Mathews, Robert Connolly, witnesses" (French, 547). He might have been a son of John, son of Thomas of Snitterfield, b. 1582.

[346] Notes and Queries Second Series, x. 188, 402; Third Series, vii. 498.

[347] State Papers, Dom. Ser., 1656-57, Commonwealth, cliii., Nos. 55, 56.

[348] "Misc. Gen. et Herald.," Second Series, v., 371, and Merchant Tailors' "Book of Apprentices."

[349] Bishop of London's Marriage Licenses, Harl. Publ.

[350] Herbert's "Twelve Livery Companies."

[351] Gentleman's Magazine, 1805.

[352] Ibid., 1818.

[353] French, 551, and Times, April, 1867.

[354] "Dict. Nat. Biog."

[355] Register of Charterhouse Chapel.

[356] French, p. 556.

[357] A writer in Notes and Queries, Sixth Series, i. 494, speaks of a "large silver salver bearing a lion passant and a leopard's head crowned. In the centre are the arms and crest of Shakespeare, and on an escutcheon of pretence three stags' heads caboshed. It bears the inscription, 'William Powlett Powlett, Esq., D.D. William Powlett Shakspear, 1821.' There is a legend this was made from plate owned by the poet. What is the date of the salver?"

[358] Times, June 13, 1864, and Notes and Queries, Third Series, vii. 498.

[359] Foster's "Alumni Oxonienses."

[360] "Misc. Gen. et Herald.," New Series, i., p. 143.

[361] Register of St. Bartholomew the Less.

[362] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxix., p. 83.

[363] Manning and Bray's "Surrey," vol. ii., under Walton-upon-Thames, mentions the tomb of Matthew Shakespear and of George, aged fifteen, August 8, 1775; John Shakespear, of Weybridge, January 3, 1775, aged sixty-seven; William, January 23, 1783, aged seventy-seven; also of George Shakespear of Oxford Street, London, late of this parish, architect, who died March 29, 1797, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

[364] Notes and Queries, Seventh Series, viii. 89.

[365] Ibid., Sixth Series, ii. 53.

[366] Ibid., Third Series, ix. 346, 398.

[367] British Museum Catalogues.



PART II



CHAPTER I

THE PARK HALL ARDENS

"No Saint George was born in England: He was but an Eastern saint; And the Dragon never vexed him, As the later legends paint.

"But our Saint was born in Berkshire, And to Warwick linked his name; 'Twas Saint Guy who killed the Dragon— Quenched the Giant Colbrand's fame."—C. C. S.

Few families in the country have a descent so nationally interesting as that of the Ardens. Great Norman families who "came in with the Conqueror" are numerous enough, but there are few that claim to be "merely English," and have such a record to show. The fables that have grown around the memory of the hero do not invalidate the pedigree. Rohand was Earl of Warwick in the days of King Alfred and King Edward the Elder, when the title was an official one, not necessarily hereditary, save of the King's will. Rohand was a great warrior, and was enriched with great possessions. He dwelt in the Royal Castle of Warwick,[368] said by Rous to have been founded by the British King Cymbeline, enlarged by his son Guiderius, and repaired by Ethelfleda, daughter of King Alfred, the Lady of Mercia. Rohand had one fair daughter and heir, Phillis, or Felicia, who demanded great proofs of valour in her suitors. She at last consented to marry the famous hero Guy, slayer of the Northern Dragon,[369] son of Siward, Baron of Wallingford, whom the Welsh claim as British by descent. Dugdale[370] says that in her right Guy became Earl of Warwick, though of course this was only possible through the King's favour. Some difficulties are brought forward by Mr. Pegge.[371] Some time after his marriage, says the legend, Guy went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and on his return, in the third year of King Athelstan, 926, he found the kingdom in great peril from an invasion of the Danes. They were, however, secure in their faith in their champion, Colbrand the Giant, willing to leave the issue to the result of a single contest between him and any of the King's knights. King Athelstan's chief warriors were either dead or abroad, and he mourned in his spirit. A vision revealed to him that he must welcome at the gate of Winchester an unknown pilgrim as the defender of the country. The King obeyed the vision in faith, unwittingly welcomed Guy, and laid on him the responsibility of becoming the national champion.



Footsore, half-starved, and far from young, the pilgrim required rest before he dared prudently attack the Danish opponent. At the end of three weeks, however, he triumphantly encountered the giant, and the Danes kept their promise and retired. The pilgrim, who refused to reveal his name or receive any reward, also departed. He found that his son and heir, Raynborn, had been stolen away, and that his faithful servant Heraud was abroad in search of him. Affected by the strange religious notions of the day, he returned to Warwick, not to gladden the heart of his sorrowing spouse, but to receive charity at her hands among other poor men for three days, and then to retire to a hermitage at a cliff near Warwick, since called Guy's Cliff. There he remained till his death in 929, in the seventieth year of his age.[372] He sent a herdsman with his wedding-ring to tell his wife of his death, bidding her come to him and bury him properly, and she should shortly afterwards follow him. She fulfilled his wishes, set her house in order, left her paternal inheritance to her son Raynborn, and within a fortnight was laid beside her ascetic hero.

Heraud succeeded in finding young Raynborn in Russia, to whom, on his return, the grateful King Athelstan gave his beautiful daughter Leonetta in marriage. He, too, seems to have been of a wandering disposition. He died abroad, and lies buried in an island near the city of Venice. He left a brave son, Wegeat, or Wigatus, at home to succeed him, who was noted for his liberality to the Church, in which virtue, however, his son and successor, Huve,[373] or Uva,[374] seems to have exceeded him.

Huve died about the beginning of the reign of King Edward the Martyr, and Wolgeat, his son, succeeded him. In early life[375] he enjoyed the special favour of King Ethelred, but was deprived, at least for a time, of his honours and possessions about 1006. It was probably during the disorganized state of the earldom, in consequence of his "evil courses," that the Danes ravaged it so frequently. Wigod, or Wigotus, his son, a potent man and a great warrior, succeeded to the earldom, and enjoyed it during the latter part of the reign of King Ethelred, and through the reigns of King Edmund and the Danish Kings. He married Ermenhild, the sister of the famous Leofric, Earl of Coventry and Leicester in the time of Edward the Confessor. His son, Ailwin, Earl of Warwick, was contemporary with King Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror. Turchil, son and heir[376] of Ailwin (Harleian MS., 853, says "grandson"), was Earl at the Conquest. His first wife was the Countess of Perche; his second, Leverunia, grand-daughter of Leofric. In the Conqueror's Survey he is called Vice-Comes rather than Comes, but this seems to have arisen from the royal interest in the castle, and the direct service he owed the King, though some authorities state that he was under Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He fought with William against Harold, and was ostensibly left in full possession of all his lands, rights and privileges. He is called Turchil of Warwick by the Normans, but Turchil of Eardene, or of the Woodland, by himself, being one of the first to adopt the Norman habit of local names. In Domesday Book, begun in the fourteenth year of the Conqueror, he is entered as in possession of forty-nine manors in Warwickshire, among which were Curdworth, Coughton, Rotley, Rodbourn, Compton (Winyate), Nuneaton. Warwick town and castle were recorded as belonging to the King. He had but a life-interest, however, his son, Siward, receiving none of them as his heir, but by favour of the King.

The title of Earl of Warwick was given by William the Conqueror to Henry de Novoborgo, or Newburgh, younger son of Roger de Bellomont, Earl of Mellent, and William Rufus added to the gift the whole of Turchil's lands, including even those given away by himself and his ancestors to the Church. It was a hard lesson to friendly Saxon noblemen. A gloss of justice, or at least of consideration, was shown in the marriage of Henry de Novoborgo to Margaret, one of the daughters of Turchil, and sister of Siward de Arderne.[377]

Turchil's sons were Siward de Ardena, Ralph of Hampton,[378] William, and Peter the Monk of Thorney, by his first wife, and Osbert by his second wife. Some of their lands were left to the Ardens by grace of the Novoborgos, who became their overlords. These lands were gradually diminished by devotion to the Church, by the increase of the family, and division of the properties, though this was somewhat balanced by wealthy marriages.

Siward by his wife Cecilia had a large family: Hugh de Rotley[379] (dapifer or sewer to his kinsman William de Newburgh), Henry de Arden, Joseph, Richard, Osbert, Galfridus, a monk of Coventry, Cecilia, Felicia. Osbert, his stepbrother, was the father of Osbert, Philip,[380] Peter de Arden, and Amicia, who became the wife of Peter de Bracebridge, and the ancestress of the Bracebridges of Kingsbury, seat of the Mercian Kings. Her brother Osbert had daughters only, Amabilia and Adeliza, who left no children.

The main line was carried on by Henry de Arden, son of Siward, who married Oliva, and whose eldest son and heir was Thomas de Arden, of Curdworth (9 John). He had also William de Arden of Rodburn, Herbert, and Letitia. Thomas de Arden married Eustachia, widow of Savaricius de Malaleone, and had a son of his own name, Sir Thomas de Arden of Rotley and Spratton, who took part with Simon de Montfort and the rebellious Barons, 48 Henry III. This cost him dear. In 9 Edward I. he handed over, either in sale, lease, or trust, his lands in Curdworth to Hugh de Vienna; to the Knights Templars the interest he had in Riton; in 15 Edward I., to Nicholas de Eton the manor of Rotley, and to Thomas Arden de Hanwell and Rose his wife, Pedimore, Curdworth, Norhull, Winworth, Echenours, and Overton, and made a covenant with William de Beauchamp and Maud, his wife, of all his fees throughout England.

It is not probable that Turchil, the last Saxon Earl of Warwick, bore anything that might be strictly called armorial bearings. When the heiress of the Novoborgos married into their family, the Beauchamps added to their own the Newburgh arms. But they used them in a peculiar way, as if they considered they were associated, not so much with the family as with the earldom. Only the eldest sons bore the Chevron chequy, the rest of the family bore the Beauchamp crosses crosslet. In some such way the Ardens also seem to have made a similar distinction, though in later times the meaning was occasionally forgotten, and the usage became confused.

Drummond suggests that the Ardens might also have borne these arms to suggest that they, too, had a claim to the earldom of Warwick. The arms Thomas bore were Chequy or and azure, a chevron gules, which his ancestors assumed to show they held their lands from the Earls of Warwick, whose Chevron was Ermine on the like field.[381]

The descendants of William of Rodburne,[382] the second son of Henry de Ardern, were more fortunate than their cousins. Thomas de Draiton was the elder, and William de Rodburne the younger. Thomas married Lucia (6 John), and had Thomas de Arden of Hanwell, Sir Robert de Arderne de Draiton, and Ralph.[383] Thomas,[384] who bore as arms Ermine a fesse chequy, or and azure, as now borne, married Rose, daughter of Ralph de Vernon, with whom he obtained the lordship of Hanwell. He was living in 1287, and had a son, Thomas, who presented to the church of Holdenby, 1334. This Thomas married Johanna de —— (?), and had an only daughter, Joan, who married Sir John Swynford. Ralph married Alicia de Bellocampo.

Sir Robert de Arderne de Draiton married Nichola,[385] widow of William de Boutvilein. His son, Sir Giles, had a son, also Sir Giles. This latter had an only daughter, Margaret, who married Ludovic Greville, and carried Draiton into the possession of that Warwickshire family.

Ralph, son of Ralph, the second son of Thomas of Hanwell, married Isabella, daughter of Anselm de Bromwich, and lived at Pedmore, Warwickshire, 16 Edward II. In 17 Edward II. he was certified to be one of the principal esquires in the county. His son, Sir John, was knighted 33 Edward III., and bore for his arms the same as his ancestor, Thomas of Hanwell: Ermine, a fesse chequy or and az. He had only one daughter and heir, Rose, who married Thomas Pakeson, afterwards an outlaw. To John succeeded in Curdworth his brother Henry, whose wife was Elena, the first to establish himself in Park Hall, which was confirmed to him by Sir John de Botecourt, 47 Edward III., releasing him of all service, save only of an annual red rose. He was devoted to Thomas de Beauchamp, then Earl of Warwick, who granted him several other manors, also on payment of a red rose. In 4 Richard II. his niece, Rose, released to him her interest in Pedmore, Curdworth, Winworth, Sutton, and Norhull, of her father's inheritance. Sir Henry bore the fesse chequy or and az., with three crescents for difference,[386] before his brother's death (see Roll, Edward III., and arms in Lapworth Church). He left his son, Sir Ralph, heir, who served under the Earl of Warwick at the siege of Calais.

Ralph settled on his mother, Elena, for life, the manors of Wapenham and Sulgrave, in Northamptonshire, with remainder to his brothers Geoffrey and William. He married Sibilla (2 Henry V.), and left by her two sons, Robert and Peter.[387] Robert was from the age of eight years a ward of Joan Beauchamp, Lady of Bergavenny. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard de Clodeshall; was in the King's service, was Sheriff of the County, and Knight of the Shire. He sided with the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses, was taken, attainted of high treason by James, Earl of Wiltshire, and other judges appointed to try such cases, and was condemned. He was executed on Saturday after the Feast of St. Laurence the Martyr, 30 Henry VI. The custody of his lands was granted to Thomas Littleton, Serjeant-at-Law, Thomas Greswold and John Gamell, Esquires.

Two years after his death his son Walter obtained the King's precept to his escheator to hand over the lands of his mother's inheritance to him, and shortly afterwards he secured his father's also. He married Eleanor, daughter of John Hampden of Hampden, in Buckinghamshire, and appears in the register of the Guild of Knowle, 1457, with his "wife Alianore." He had a large family, each of them in some special point interesting to the genealogist, and therefore worthy of some attention and of careful detail. It must not be forgotten that his father's attainder and the Wars of the Roses had temporarily crippled the resources of the family.

Walter Arden's will, July 31, 1502, is preserved at Somerset House,[388] an interesting will in many ways. His eldest son and heir was John, Esquire of the Body to Henry VII., who was to pay 20 marks for his funeral. "Item. I will that my sonne Thomas have during his lief x marc, which I have given him; and that my sonne Martyn have the manor of Nafford during his lief, accordyng as I thereof made him astate yf it canne be recorded, and yf not, thenne I will that the same Martyn and every of my other sonnes, Robert, Henry and William have eche of them 5 marc by yere during eche of their lives, and that my feoffees of my landes make eche of them a sufficient astate of londes & tenements to the yerely value of 5 marc during every of their lives." He left his wife, Eleanor, executrix, Edward Belknap and John Bracebridge, Squiers, and John Boteler of Solihull, overseers, "Richard Slystre, Vicar of Aston, John Charnell[389] & Thomas Ardern,[390] Squiers, witnesses."

Dugdale seems to have read the will, and is interested in the mortuary bequest, but, curiously enough, supposes Martin to be older than Thomas. Perhaps this error arose from the testator's desire to settle Natford upon Martin. This does not seem to have been so settled. Martin had his five marks, married an heiress, Margery East, settled at Euston, in Oxfordshire, and appears in the Visitations there, associated with the Easts and the Gibbons. Robert was the Arden made Yeoman of the King's Chamber, a presumption made definite by Leland's[391] remark that "Arden of the Court was younger brother to Sir John Arden, of Park Hall." On February 22,[392] 17 Henry VII., he received a Royal Patent as Keeper of the Park at Altcar, Lancashire; another, as Bailiff of Codmore,[393] Derby, and Keeper of the Royal Park there; a third gave him Yoxall for life,[394] apparently, however, for a payment of L42.

A Robert Arden, who had been Escheator to the Crown for Nottingham and Derby under Henry VII., received a new patent 2 Henry VIII.[395] On June 28, 7 Henry VIII., order to cancel five recognizances amounting to L200; one made by Robert Arderne, of Holme, co. Notts, may concern the same gentleman.[396]

Henry seems to have died young. William settled at Hawnes,[397] in Bedfordshire, bore as arms three cross-crosslets fitchee or, on a chief of the second, a martlet for difference. He seems to have died before his eldest brother. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Francklin of Thurley in County Bedford, and widow of George Thrale. His son Thomas married Anne, daughter of Richard Bowles of Wallington and widow of Thomas Gonnel. His daughter Joan married John Moore; his daughter Elizabeth married John Lee of Harlington.

Thomas certainly survived Sir John, Henry, and possibly also William. Sir John married Alice d. of Richard Bracebridge of Kingsbury, and died in 1526. His will was drawn up on June 4 of that year.[398] After various bequests to churches, he left some special heirlooms to his son and heir, Thomas, to his son John an annuity from Natford of five marks a year for life, with other land, and gifts to him, his wife, and their heirs. "Item. I will that my brothers Thomas, Martin & Robert have their fees during their lives." That is, it may be remembered, ten marks for Thomas, and five marks each for the other two. "Item. I will that Rauf Vale and Hugh Colyns[399] have their fees as they have had during their lives." Bequests of furniture were left to "my daughter Geys Braylys," "my daughter Katerine Muklowe,"[400] "my daughter Brown," "my daughter Margaret Kambur," "my sister Margaret Abell," "my sister Alice Buklond," "my son Thomas Bralis." To Joane Hewes, Agnes Abell, John Charnell, various remembrances, his son Thomas to be sole executor, Sir John Willoughby overseer; witnesses, Martin Ardern, Robert Ardern, Symon Broke, clerk; John Charnell, John Croke, Rauf Vale. The will was proved June 27, 1526.

Where was Thomas, son of Walter, meanwhile? I have only been able to find two of the name contemporary with the cadet of Park Hall. A Thomas Arden of Saint Martin's Outwich, London, citizen and clothworker, on November 29, 1549, drew up a short will,[401] leaving his wife, Agnes, his sole heir and executrix, proved January, 1549. I endeavoured to learn if by chance he had come from Warwickshire, but the apprentice-books of the company do not begin early enough. There was a commercial family of Ardens in London, of whom he more probably was a member. The possibility of his being a Warwickshire man I thought worthy of careful consideration, but have been able to bring no further facts forward.

There was also a Thomas Arden of Long Itchington mentioned in the Subsidy Lists, whose will is preserved at Lichfield.

The other Thomas Arden was settled at Wilmecote, in the parish of Aston Cantlow, on lands formerly owned by the Beauchamps. There is no record how he acquired them. Aston Cantlow[402] had been settled, with the castle and Honour of Bergavenny, upon Sir William de Beauchamp, second son to Thomas, Earl of Warwick. He died 12 Henry IV., and Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, his son and heir, inherited all his lands. Richard's daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married Sir Edward Neville, a younger son to Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, who was forthwith summoned to Parliament as Lord Bergavenny. Dugdale gives us the arms depicted on the roof of the chancel of Aston Cantlow Church, three varieties: "Gules, a fesse betwixt six cross-crosslets or" (Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick); "Argent 6 cross-crosslets fichee Sable, upon a chief Azure two mullets or" (Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon); "Argent, 3 cross-crosslets fichee Sable upon a chief Azure a mullet and a Rose Or." But Dugdale does not know the family this represents. Could it be a variety of the Ardens?

The Thomas Arden who resided here paid subsidy of 26s. 8d. on L10 land, being one of the largest landholders in the parish. He bought certain lands at Snitterfield on May 16, 16 Henry VII., associated with certain gentlemen whose names are suggestive, as I have shown on page 28. John Mayowe transferred his property to Robert Throgmorton, Armiger,[403] afterwards knight, Thomas Trussell[404] of Billesley, Roger Reynolds of Henley in Arden, William Wood of Woodhouse, Thomas Arden of Wilmecote, and Robert Arden, the son of this Thomas Arden. We know that Robert Throgmorton was an intimate friend of the Ardens of Park Hall, and his association with Thomas of Wilmecote strengthens the supposition that the latter was the son of Walter. We know that this Thomas was the father of Robert Arden, who was the father of Mary, Shakespeare's mother, and her six sisters. It does not seem unlikely he bore arms, and was the Esquire witness of Walter Arden's will, who has never been located elsewhere. If he bore arms, it is more than likely that, as a younger son, they were derived from the Beauchamps, and might even have been those found by Dugdale in the Aston Cantlow Church, where he was buried. It is probable that Robert bore the cross-crosslets with a difference, as did his contemporary, William Arden of Hawnes. We have at least Glover's[405] testimony that among the arms of Warwickshire and Bedfordshire are "Arden or Arderne gu, three cross-crosslets fitchee or; on a chief of the second a martlet of the first. Crest, a plume of feathers charged with a martlet or." When, therefore, John Shakespeare made application to impale the arms of his wife in his new coat, it might seem natural that the fesse chequy, arms of the head of the house, should be struck out, and those substituted more customary for a younger son, and probably borne by Thomas, his wife's grandfather, or by Robert Arden, his wife's father.

Thomas Arden, the son of Sir John, succeeded to Park Hall and the other family estates in 1526. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Andrew of Charnelton, by whom he had a large family: William, the eldest; Simon, the second; George, the third, slain at Boulogne; Thomas, a student of law; and Edward. His daughter Jocosa, or Joyce, married Richard Cade, of London (see visitation of Hertfordshire, 1634); Elizabeth married—Beaupre, Cicely married Henry Shirley, Mary married Francis Waferer.

William, the eldest son, died before his father. Simon, the second son of Thomas of Park Hall, was a wonderful man, of whom there will be more to say elsewhere. He was elected Sheriff of the County in 1569, and bore, while in Warwickshire at least, the arms three cross-crosslets[406] and a chief or, without a difference. Shortly after that time he purchased the property of Longcroft, in the Manor of Yoxall, Staffordshire, and his descendants bear the fesse chequy, and are noted in another county history.

The will of William Arden does not seem to have been noted by the family genealogists, probably because it was drawn up in London. The Calendar at Somerset House enters it as "William Arden,[407] of St. Brigyde, London, and Saltley,[408] Warwickshire," 7 July, 36 Henry VIII. Its details shed much light on the fortunes of the family, especially in relation to the other family wills. He had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward Conway, of Arrow, and left two sons and eight daughters. He desired to be buried in the "Parish Church of Saint Brigyde in Fleet Street, within the suburbs of London," and left "to my youngest sonne, Francis Arden, all my purchased land, which I purchased of my grandfather's youngest son, John Arden, and another part lying within the Lordship of Saltley.[409] Item, I bequeath to him the lease I have taken of my Lord Ferris for 31 years, which also lyeth within the Lordship of Budbrooke, so that he come to his full age, and during his nonage, the profits thereof to be taken up by mine overseers to the use of my daughters. If it happen the said Francis to dye without lawful issue, then I will my eldest sonne and heire, Edward Arden, when he cometh to his full age, to enjoy the said purchased land and lease to his heires. Item, I bequeath to the said Francis L6 13s. 4d., to be payd yearely during the term of his naturall life, by the hands of my eldest sonne, Edward Arden, when he cometh to his lands. Item, I give unto my eight daughters, Anne,[410] Ursuley, Brigid, Barbara, Joyce, Jane, Urseley, and Fraunces Arden the whole rent that my ferme beareth me," etc. "I bequeath to my brother, Edward Arden, my black Satin cote." "I bequeathe my long gowne eggyd with velvet to my father, Thomas Arden, in recompense of the money which he lent me, whom I make the Overseer of this my will, with my father-in-law, Edward Conway." Edward Arden, his son and heir, was to be sole executor. The witnesses were: Christopher Drey, Francis Waferer (his brother-in-law), and John Tayloure, Vicar of St. Brigyde, and it was proved April 14, 1546, by John, afterwards Sir John Conway, uncle of the heir.

William's father, Thomas, died in 5 Elizabeth, 1563. I have not traced his will. Edward, son of William, succeeded him. This Edward had been ward to Sir George Throckmorton, of Coughton (though his grandfather was alive), and he married Mary, third daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton. Brodesley,[411] Dudston, and Hybarnes were delivered to him 7 Elizabeth, and in 15 Elizabeth he was called upon to prove his title to Curdworth and to Berewood[412] Hall, which had been given by Hugh Arden to the Canons of Leicester (Henry II.), and after the Dissolution purchased by his grandfather, Thomas, and uncle, Simon, for L272 10s., with a yearly rent of 30s. 4d., and settled on William, 37 Henry VIII. Various purchases of land are recorded in Coke's "Entries."[413] He impaled the park of Minworth on the other side of the Tame, to add to that of his own Park Hall.[414]

Edward seems to have been highly respected in his time, and was Sheriff of the County in 1575.[415] But he had offended Leicester[416] by refusing to wear his livery (as many of the gentlemen of the county were proud to do) and by disapproving openly of his relations with the Countess of Essex before her husband's death. Leicester waited his time. Edward Arden's sons were Robert (who married Elizabeth, daughter of Reginald Corbet, Justice of the Royal Pleas, about 1577), Thomas, Francis. Of his daughters, Catherine married Sir Edward Devereux, of Castle Bromwich; Margaret, John Somerville, of Edreston; Muriel, William Charnells, of Snareston, Leicestershire; and Elizabeth, Simon Shugborough, of Napton, co. Warwick.

Edward Arden bore the family arms: Ermine, a fesse chequy or and azure. Crest: On a chapeau azure, turned up erm., a boar passant or. Motto: Quo me cunque vocat patriam.

He appointed Edmund Lingard to Curdworth Church, 1573.

Edward Arden was a temperate follower of the old faith; but his son-in-law, John Somerville, an excitable youth, seemed to chafe under the increasing oppression of the Catholic Church and its adherents.[417] The evil reports concerning the Queen and Leicester increased the friction. Shut out from travel or active exercise, as all Catholics then were by law, he studied and pondered, and his mind seemed to have given way in his sleepless attempts to reconcile faith and practice. He started off suddenly one morning before anyone was awake, attended only by one boy, who soon left him, terrified; and when he reached a little inn on the lonely road by Aynho on the Hill, he spoke frantically to all who chose to hear that he was going to London to kill the Queen.[418] Then followed arrest, examination before Justice D'Oyley, a march to London with twelve guards,[419] examination in the Gatehouse, imprisonment in the Tower. Thereafter went forth the mandate to arrest Edward Arden, his wife, Francis Arden, of Pedmore, his brother, Somerville's wife and sister, and the priest, Hugh Hall. Sir John Conway, his wife's grand-uncle, was also commanded up to London, and seems to have been confined for a time. Examinations, probably under torture, followed fast on each other. John Somerville, Edward Arden, his wife and brother, and the priest, Hugh Hall, were tried, found guilty, and condemned to the traitor's death. Hugh Hall is said to have turned Queen's evidence, but I have found no proof of it. Somerville and Arden were carried forth from the Tower on December 19, 1583, to Newgate, in preparation for their execution on the morrow; Somerville was found two hours afterwards strangled in his cell; Edward Arden suffered the full penalty of the law December 20, 1583.[420] Robert of Leicester had his revenge. Mrs. Arden and Francis[421] seem to have suffered a term of imprisonment, and then to have been released.

This first noble victim of the tyrannical Royal Commission was praised by all the writers of his time, and pitied by all Europe. Burleigh lived to be ashamed of his part in his death; and in his "Life" one can still read in the index "On the Case of Arden" an explanation which has been excised from the text.

It is more than probable that the active part that Sir Thomas Lucy took in his arrest told more on the fortunes and feelings of young Shakespeare than the fabulous deer-stealing story. The touching tragedy, to which Froude has given but little attention or study, is given in full detail in the State Papers. The traitor's lands, of course, fell to the Queen, and were granted to Edward Darcy.[422] But Robert Arden,[423] "who was a prudent person" (doubtless fortified by his brother-in-law's interest, and his own knowledge of the law), by virtue of an entail executed on his marriage got back by degrees most of his father's lands. He found, however, every tree in his parks had been cut down by Darcy, who seems to have been a difficult person to deal with, as may be gathered from Simon Arden's petition (p. 185); this Robert lived to a great age, dying on February 27, 1635. His son and heir, Sir Henry, who had been born April, 1580, had predeceased him in 1616.[424] He had married Dorothy, daughter of Basil Fielding, of Newnham, and had one son, Robert, and four daughters. Robert seems to have been a brilliant youth, but he died single at Oxford. In the Bodleian[425] are some verses deploring his loss. His four sisters were his coheirs: Elizabeth, wife of Sir William Pooley, of Boxsted, in Suffolk; Goditha,[426] wife of Herbert Price; Dorothy, wife of Hervey Bagot; Anne, wife of Sir Charles Adderley, of Lea.

In Worcestershire, near Stourbridge, there is a parish of Pedmore, and a hall of the name that seems at one time to have belonged to the Ardens, as well as the Pedmore Manor, near West Bromwich, Warwickshire. By the kindness of Mr. W. Wickham King, now resident there, I am told that "Mistress Joyce Arden" was buried there in 1557; Jane Ardern and Hugh Hall were married in 1560; Alice Ardeney and Thomas Carter married 1578; while John Arden, son of Mr. Robert and Mistress Elizabeth, was christened there in 1578. Frances Arden and Edward Wale married 1658; Arthur buried 1668, and Judith Arden, widow, 1682. The arms in the church are those of the Park Hall Ardens, and "Mr. Robert" was the heir of Edward (p. 41 and notes).

The Pakingtons of Worcester quarter Ermine on a fesse compone or, and az. an annulet for Arden.

FOOTNOTES:

[368] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," 372; Drummond's "Noble British Families"; "Guy of Warwick," ed. Zupitza, Early English Text Society, etc.; Harl. MS., 1167, f. 57; "Dictionary of National Biography."

[369]

"Guy of Warwick, I understand, Slew a dragon in Northumberland."

Romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton.

"In Warwick the truth ye shall see In arras wrought full craftily."

Romance of Sir Guy.

"Gy de Warwic ad a noun Qui occis le Dragoun."

Legend round the Mazer Bowl, at Harbledon Hospital, Canterbury.

[370] "Warwickshire," p. 374; Drummond's "Noble British Families"; Leland's "Itin.," iv. 63; Heylin's "History of St. George," p. 63.

[371] Nichols's "Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica," iv. 29.

[372] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," 372-374; Drummond's "Noble British Families"; Cox and Jones' "Popular Romances of the Middle Ages," pp. 63, 64, 297-319; Ward's "Catalogue of Romances in British Museum," i. 470.

[373] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," p. 373.

[374] Drummond's "Noble British Families," ii.

[375] Harleian MS., 853, ff. 113, 114.

[376] "Guthmund, Ailwin's second son, held Pakington under Turchil; his son was Sir Harald de Arden, Lord of Upton" (French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," p. 432).

[377] According to Dugdale and Drummond; Harleian MS., 853, differs.

[378] Ralph and William are witnesses to a charter from Henry de Clinton to Kenilworth Priory, Henry I. ("Monasticon," vi. 3).

[379] Hugh de Arden and Adela; William de Arden and Agnes were witness to Henry's gifts ("Monasticon," v. 210-212).

[380] Philip, Osbert's second son, who took the name of Compton (Drummond; Dugdale's, 'Warwickshire,' 549).

[381] Novoborgo: or and az., er. Thomas Arden de Rotley: or and az., gu. A fesse betwixt 6 cross-crosslets or—Beauchamp. The Warwickshire Visitation gives the coat of Sir Herald de Arden as three cross-crosslets fitchee and a chief or. See Drummond, p. 5.

[382] Whalley's "Northampton," p. 464; Baker's "Northampton"; "Parliamentary Roll of Arms," 862. "Sire ... Ilm de Arderne ... de ermyne a une fesse chekere dor e de aszure" (Genealogist, New Series, xiii.). I do not know which William this refers to.

[383] He married Isabella, daughter of Sir Roger Mortimer of Chirk. She afterwards married John Fitzalan (Berry's "Essex Genealogies").

[384] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," p. 927.

[385] "This lady seems to have married for a third time. Robert de Wyckham sued Thomas Wake and Nicholaa, his wife, and Giles de Arderne for the next presentation to the church of Swalclyve. Robert, father of plaintiff, had given the advowson to John de Arderne, and John had enfeoffed Robert de Wyckham and Elizabeth his wife. Nicholaa had been married to Robert de Arderne" (Genealogist, New Series, ix.).

[386] See Visitation, 1619.

[387] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," p. 928; Harleian MS., 1992, f. 121, "The Ancient Family of Arderne." Ralph died 8 Henry V.

[388] 17 Blamyr.

[389] Walter Arden's son-in-law.

[390] The decision of the residence of this Thomas would solve a knotty question.

[391] Leland's "Itinerary," vi. 20. See also admin. of goods, granted to his sister Alice Buklond and his nephew John, son of Sir John.

[392] Patent 17 Henry VII., February 22, second part, mem. 30.

[393] Same series, September 9, mem. 35.

[394] Patents 23 Henry VIII., September 24, first part, mem. 12.

[395] Pat. Henry VIII., p. 1, m. 16.

[396] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., Gairdner.

[397] Bedfordshire Visitation, 1566. (See Glover.) There was in Edward VI.'s reign a William Arderne, Clerk of the Market of Struton Oskellyswade, Bedford (Est. of Office, Edward VI. to Elizabeth). And in the accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber there are mentioned among the "Extraordinary Yeomen of the Guard, 1570," "William Arden and his son Robert Arden."

[398] Somerset House, 8 Porch.

[399] The name Collins appears in connection with the Ardens in Wiltshire also.

[400] See Visitation of Worcester, 1569: "Richard Muklowe of Hodon, Worcestershire, married Katherine, daughter of John Arden." The Gloucester Visitation records that Richard Cotton of Sedenton, married Agnes, daughter of Sir John Arden of Park Hall, sister of Thomas.

[401] Commissary Wills, Somerset House, 31^a Clyffe.

[402] Dugdale's "Warwickshire."

[403] "Stratford-on-Avon Miscell. Papers," see p. 410, Genealogical Magazine, 1897. He was also trustee in a settlement made by Sir John Arden of Park Hall, in association with Sir Richard Empson and others. See Petition of Simon Arden, p. 184.

[404] It is curious that in a will of Sir William Trussel of Cublesdon, 1379, there is a bequest mentioned as having been made to him by his "cousin Sir Thomas d'Ardene" (Sir N. H. Nicolas, "Testamenta Vetusta," i. 107).

[405] Glover's "Heraldry," vol. ii., ed. 1780.

[406] Fuller's "Worthies."

[407] 7 Alen. Inquis. P.M. at Warwick, June 27, 37 Henry VIII., Edward, son and heir, aged twelve.

[408] See Close Roll, 32 Henry VI., m. 11. Saltley came into the family with Elizabeth Clodshalle (who married Robert Arden in the time of Henry VI.), and remained in it till the death of Robert Arden, 1643, when it fell to the share of his sister Anne.

[409] By some family arrangement, the old family seat of Pedmore seems to have been settled on him, as he was always styled Francis Arden of Pedmore.

[410] Anne married John Barnesley of Barnesley (see Visitation of Worcester, 1569); Bridget, Hugh Massey; Barbara, Richard Neville, son of the last Lord Latimer, and claimant of that title and the earldom of Westmorland; Joyce, John Ladbrooke. Was this Jane Arden the lady of this name who married into the Brownlow family about 1553? See Pedigree of Brownlow.

[411] "Originalia et Memoranda." Lord Treasurer's side of the Exchequer, Hilarii Recorda, 7 Elizabeth, Rot. 82.

[412] Ibid., Hilarii Recorda, 15 Elizabeth, Rot. 55.

[413] Coke's "Entries," f. 39b.

[414] In an account of the Grevilles, when the eldest son still resided at Drayton, it is noted: "Though a great part of the Lands of Sir Giles Arden came to Lewis Greville through his wife, yet there is one Arden at this time in Warwickshire that is a man of three hundred marks land by the yeare." Addit. MS., 5937, f. 88, British Museum.

[415] See "Liber Pacis," Eg. MS., 2345.

[416] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," 884, 927.

[417] See Athenaeum, Feb., 1896, p. 190, and my little volume on "Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries" (Stratford-on-Avon Press), p. 48.

[418] State Papers, Dom. Series, Elizabeth, clxiii., 21 et seq.

[419] Accounts of Treasurer of the Chamber, 1583-84.

[420] Burke makes an extraordinary error in stating that Shakespeare's mother was a daughter of Sir Edward Arden, of Park Hall ("Hist. Landed Gentry," edition 1882, vol. i., p. 34). Now, Edward was never knighted, and must have been born about the same year as Mary, daughter of Robert Arden, who married John Shakespeare.

[421] The Accounts of the Wardens of the Tower mention Francis Arden's board, up to June 24, 1585, and he sued shortly after for Pedmore, on the death of Sir George Digby, to whom it had been granted (State Papers, Dom. Series, Elizabeth, ccii., 40).

[422] State Papers, Dom. Series, Elizabeth, clxxi. 35; also Patents, Elizabeth, 28, c. 10.

[423] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," 927. I find also several pensions allowed by the Crown to a Robert Arden, early in James I. These may refer to Robert of Park Hall (Book of Patents, xi. 212).

[424] Inventory of his property is at Lichfield, where also is that of his wife, Lady Dorothy Arden, 1635-36, and will of his son, Robert Arden.

[425] Ashmolean MSS., 36, f. 125: "Robert Arden, Colonel and Sheriff of Warwickshire." An elegy upon his death in Oxford of small-pox, August 22, 1643: "Seeing these tapers and this solemn night," etc. Signed, "Peter Halstead."

[426] She was a Lady of the Privy Chamber to the Queen-mother, and survived her husband. See the burial of her daughter, Mrs. Henrietta Maria Stanhope, October 23, 1674.



CHAPTER II

THE ARDENS OF LONGCROFT

This main line of Ardens having thus become extinct, we have to go back some generations to find the younger branch that carried on the name. Simon, the second son of the Thomas Arden who died in 1563, brother of the William Arden who died 1546, and uncle of Edward Arden, who was executed 1583, seems to have been an important man in his own day. He was much trusted by his father and nephew, and was elected Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1569, when he bore as arms three cross crosslets fitchee, and a chief or.[427] His first wife was Margaret; his second Christian,[428] widow of Thomas Bond, of Ward End. In a catalogue of all the noblemen and gentlemen resident in Warwickshire, 1577-78, by Henry Ferrers, of Baddesley, is mentioned Edward Arden, of Park Hall, and Simon Arden, of Saltley, his uncle;[429] and in the Subsidy for Warwickshire, 1581, he is mentioned as one of "those collecting, and not assessed themselves."[430] During the first half of Elizabeth's reign he purchased Longcroft, in the parish of Yoxall, Staffordshire, a property that had previously been in the family. In 18 Elizabeth (1576) he found one light horse for the royal service there, and paid to the Subsidy of 1590, 26s. 8d. for his lands at Yoxall, valued at L10.[431] He seems, however, to have got into trouble in his old age. The draft of a petition of his (circa 1595-98) is preserved among the Longcroft papers,[432] which is well worthy of being transcribed:

"To the most honourable the Lord High Treasurer of England.

"The most humble petition of Simon Arden, of the age of 100 years or thereabouts, praying your good Lordship's aid in his owld age against the great wrongs and oppressions offered by Edward Darcie, Esquire, one of the grooms of her Majestie's Privy Chamber.

"As by the enclosed may plainlie apeare:

{The Pedigree. John Arden had issue Thomas.

{Thomas had issue William, Simon, George, Edward, Thomas.

{William had issue Edward & Francis.

{Edward had issue vivens Robert.

"The said John Arden did infeff John Kingsmel, Sergeant-at-Lawe, Sir Richard Empson, Sir Richard Knightley, Sir Robert Throgmorton,[433] Knights, and others, of the manor of Crudworth, and other lands in the county of Warwick, to divers uses; the said Thomas, being seized in fee, granted to me, and his said other sons, dyvers several annuities, being all the patrimony he provided for the same his younger sons. The said Thomas did afterwards make other assurances to the said William. The said annuities were paid unto all the said younger sons during their lives, and unto me till the attainder of Edward Arden. By which means the premises came into the hands of her Majestie, in what time that the same remained in her hands, by your Honor's order I was paid mine annuitie, being 20 marks by the year. And after that the same was granted to the said Edward Darcie, your Lordship did likewise very honorably apporcion how much thereof should be yearely paid unto me by the said Edward Darcie, and how much otherwise, according to which aporcionment the said Edward Darcy paid his part thereof unto me foure or five yeares, and about six yeares sithence denyd so to do, urging me with seutes in the Court of Requests, and in the Honourable Court of Exchequer Chamber, and at the Common Law. Also for the space of vi yeares now together seeking by this countenance to oppress me. The said Robert Arden payeth unto me the porcion of the said annuity apointed by your Lordship's order, or rather more thereof than he was charged with by your order, and I have desired but ye residew of Mr. Darcie. I have had judgment against him in the Common Place, he hath removed the record into the King's Bench by writ of Error; so yt by injunction out of the Court of the Exchequer Chamber to entertain time and delay me til death hath wholy interred my ancient bodie already more than half in grave, knowing, Mors solvit omnia, by my death my cause wil be remeadiless.

"Be therefore so much, my good Lord, as to take my cause into your own hands, and for God's sake to end it. I protest mine adversary hath caused me to spend more then such an annuity is worth to purchase. Age wold have ease, which is expedicion in causes of suit and molestacion, and expedicion in justice is the most Honour that may be; which is no small part of your Honor's comendacion. Almighty God long preserve you in all felicity, that this Realm of England may more and more long take profit of your most wise and grave counsels."

Perhaps on his coming to Longcroft he found the old Arden arms there. Before the grant to his grand-uncle Robert there had been Ardens in Yoxall.[434] Certain it is that after that date they appear in Longcroft Hall and in the parish church. The headship of the family fell to his heirs in 1643. Simon's son[435] Ambrose[436] married Mary Wedgewood 1588, and died 1624. His son Humphrey[437] married Jane Rowbotham at Marchington, December 1, 1630. Of his family, Henry married Catherine Harper, but died without children, November 26, 1676; John, of Wisbeach, married Anne, and died without heirs, April 2, 1709, aged 84;[438] Humphrey, of Longcroft, who married the daughter of —— Lassel, and died January 31, 1705, aged 74. His daughters Elizabeth and Katharine died unmarried. His son Henry married Anne Alcock, and died 1728, aged 63. Humphrey's son and heir, John, was born 1693, and died 1734, aged 40. He married, first, Anna Catherine Newton, and second, Anne, daughter of the Rev. John Spateman, Rector of Yoxall, 1730. He was High Sheriff of the County in 3 George II. His son, Henry Arden, of Longcroft, married Alethea, daughter of Robert Cotton, Esq., of Worcester, and died June 22, 1782. The full pedigree is given, and the monuments at Yoxall are described in Shaw's "Staffordshire," and in French's "Shakespeareana Genealogica." Descendants still survive in this country and the Colonies.

FOOTNOTES:

[427] Fuller's "Worthies."

[428] Administration of goods of Christian Arden, wife of Simon, 1563 (Lichfield Wills).

[429] Nich., "Col. Top. et Gen.," vol. viii., p. 298.

[430] Lansdowne MS., xxx. 27, 30.

[431] Subsidy Rolls, Yoxall, 1590; Shaw's "Staffordshire," i., pp. 100-102 and 499; and Talbot Papers, Heralds' College, Dugdale p. 932.

[432] See also manuscript notes on the copy of Shaw's "Staffordshire," by Samuel Pipe Wolferstan, Esq., of Statfold, preserved in the British Museum, p. 102.

[433] Note that this is the same man appointed trustee by Mary Shakespeare's grandfather.

[434] "Nichola, d. of Geff de. Shenton, sued Joan, formerly wife of Ralph de Anderne, of Yoxhale, for a messuage in Yoxhale" (De Banco, Trin., 23 Ed. III.).

[435] His will proved 1625 at Lichfield. Simon's daughter Elizabeth became second wife of Clement Fisher of Wincote, addressed by Sir Aston Cokaine in verses alluding to Shakespeare (Dugdale's "Warwickshire," 1140).

[436] Shaw's "Staffordshire," p. 102; MS. notes of the author, Brit. Mus.

[437] Ambrose had another son Ambrose, whose family appears in the registers of Barton:

Frances, daughter of Ambrose Arden, bapt. February 19, 1631, buried June 7, 1634.

Humphrey, son of Ambrose Arden, bapt. November 2, 1634.

Henry " " " " October 7, 1637.

Benjamin " " " " July 19, 1642.

John " " " " September 3, 1643.

William " " " " January 8, 1647 (buried Sept. 18, 1666).

Robert Masson and Elizabeth Arden were married December 22, 1644.

Ambrose Arden, gent., buried July 15, 1656.

[438] His father had been married twice; but this second Humphrey is the son of Jane Rowbotham. See Registers of Marchington.



CHAPTER III

OTHER WARWICKSHIRE ARDENS

It would be interesting to know more of some of the other Warwickshire Ardens, particularly those mentioned in the Register of the Guild of Knowle, as some have suggested that Shakespeare's mother may have descended from them:

"1460. John Arden and Agnes, his wife, of Longehychyngton.

"1504. Richard Arden and Margaret, his wife, and for the souls of John and Johanna, their parentes, of Longeychyngton.

"1506. For the souls of John Arderne and his wife, of the same.

"... Richard Salway, and Estell his wife, and for the soul of John Arderne.

"1512. Alicia Arderne, and for the soul of William."

On turning to the Subsidy Rolls to find any further notice of the Ardens of Long Itchington, I found only the following: "14 and 15 Hen. VIII. Co. Warr., Knighton Hundred, Bilton [the next parish to Long Itchington].[439] Thomas Arderne, land, 4 marks, 2/6. Solks. Henry Arderne in goods 40/- 4d." The latter is twice repeated.

In the same Guild Register appears as member:

"1496. Robert Arderne, Master of Arts, Rector of Lapworth."

He does not appear in the preserved pedigree, as Robert, the son of Walter, who died 1502, was in the King's service. The Warden and scholars of Merton College appointed Robert Ardern, Master of Arts, to the Rectory of Lapworth, January 10, 1488. On the rood loft of the church are the arms of Sir Henry Arden:[440] Ermine, a fesse chequy, or and az., with a crescent for difference, arms, by some thought to be the parson's.

Henry de Arden,[441] in the time of Henry II., had two sons: Thomas of Curdworth[3] and William de Rodbourn.[442] The descent of Thomas we have already noticed, as well as the descent of Thomas Arden, of Drayton, elder son of William Arden de Rodbourn. The second son of William was another William of Rodbourn, killed in 17 Henry III. He married Avisia, daughter of Robert de Kyngeston, and had also a son, William of Rodbourn, whose heir was William, who sold the manor in 1369.

Dugdale says that Little Grafton was called Arden's Grafton because it was bought by William de Arden in 10 John. In 52 Henry III. William de Arden was certified to hold it of the Earl of Warwick; but he transferred it to Edward I. in exchange for Offord, near Aston Cantlowe, in the parish of Wootten Wawen.

A seal used by William D'Arderne, clerk, of Offord, Warwickshire, is preserved in the British Museum,[443] appended to a deed in which he and John D'Arderne were concerned, 1366. It has a shield of arms, three cross-crosslets fitchee, on a chief a lion passant, on the border: "S. Nicholai de Ardena." I have not traced a Nicholas. But Nichola de Arden presented John de Arden to Cotesbrook Church, Northampton, May, 1361 (see p. 195).

Among other charters in the same collection occur the seals of—

Thomas de Arderne, of Newton, co. Warwick, 1280-90, on a shield, a fesse chequy Ardern, "Sigillum Secreti."[444]

Thomas de Arderne, Lord of Peddymore, co. Warwick, 1281, on a shield chequy, a chevron, "Sig. Thome de Arderne."[445]

Thomas de Arderne, 1286, a shield chequy, a chevron, "S. Thome de Arderne."[446]

William de Ardena de Hamtune (i.e., Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire) used a seal with a pointed oval shield thereon, a lion rampant contourne, circa1188-98.[447]

Dugdale says concerning Hampton in Ardern,[448] that it is not quite certain that Ralph de Arderne was a son of Turchil.[449] He is mentioned in 5 Stephen and in 33 Henry II. as a Justice Itinerant. Hampton in Arden was not altogether his own, but his son Robert purchased it for 500 marks. Robert was a clergyman, Archdeacon of Lisiaux, in Normandy, and gave his estate here to his brothers Peter and Roger. Peter became a clerk also, and gave his share to Roger, whose sons were William de Ardena, 5 Henry III.; Walter, a Clerk; Roger, a Clerk. William's children were: Hugo de Ardena, a Justice of Assize, 35 Henry III.; Oliva, who married Robert le Megre; and Hawisia, who married Richard Peche. Hugh's sons were William and Richard. William sided with the Montforts, was pardoned, but was soon after slain by Richard de l'Isle. He left no family; his brother Richard was an idiot; and his estates went to the heirs of his aunts, John Peche and William le Megre[450] (Plea Rolls, Ed. I.).

There is so much confusion regarding the most distinguished of these early Ardens, that I would like to examine his story more closely. Dugdale, as I have already noted, is not absolutely certain that Ralph de Ardern, of Hampton, was a son of Turchil, but believes it sufficiently to put him in the pedigree. Yet he goes on to state that this Ralph was a justice itinerant in various reigns. Now, it is not only dates that make this impossible: Turchil had married, first, the Countess of Perche, and, second, Leverunia; and Ralph de Arderne, of Hampton, is given as of the first family. But the mother of Ralph the justice was a De Bohun. I propose, therefore, tentatively, to consider that the first Ralph de Hampton married a De Bohun, and hope to find the records true of an eldest son Ralph, brother of Robert, the Archdeacon of Lisiaux, of Peter the clerk, and of Roger of Hampton. This view is supported by many facts, and it gives time. Ralph was at the height of his power in 1188, the very date at which William de Ardene, of Hampton, the son of Roger, draws up a deed and affixes his seal.[451] According to Dugdale, this should be his grandson. The name of Ralph's son and heir is Thomas, not Roger. It was very unusual for a noble family to bring up the eldest son to the Church, and yet the Archdeacon of Lisiaux is considered by Dugdale as the eldest son of Ralph, who gives up his inheritance to his brothers. But if we find a Ralph to be the eldest son, we can easily account for his giving up the Hampton in Arden home. He had made his fortunes elsewhere. Ralph was in high favour with the King,[452] Henry II., and had married Amabilia, daughter and coheir of Ranulph de Glanville,[453] the great lawyer, author, statesman, soldier, and crusader, who, while Sheriff of York, had made prisoner William the Lion of Scotland, and laid the King of England under an obligation. Ralph's mother was a daughter of Savaric FitzCana, and sister of Ralph, Gelduin, and Savaric FitzSavaric. Ralph FitzSavaric having died without heirs, on the death of his uncle Savaric, Franco, the son of Gelduin, laid claim to his vast possessions in England and the fief of Bohun in Normandy. It is believed that Gelduin had married within the forbidden degrees, without dispensation, and that this was the reason that Ralph de Arderne put forward his mother's claims. Henry II. decided in his favour at a court at Caen in 1187. But on the accession of Richard I., Ralph fell into disgrace, ostensibly through some delay in rendering his accounts at Westminster while Sheriff of Hereford, and Henry's decision was reversed 1189.[454] But it was evidently a doubtful question. Franco died in 1194, and when his son and heir Engelger came of age, 1198, Ralph de Arderne revived his claim, which was settled by a compromise. After the disturbances in Normandy, 1208, a new dispute arose between Engelger, the son of Franco FitzSavaric, and Thomas, the son of Ralph Arden, which ended in a new compromise.