| |
Mingay History Part 6
The History of the Talbots from
Normandy
The Mingay family name, by intermarriage became related to
the Talbots, who became Earls of Shrewsbury.
To be assured that my research I had been given on the
Mingays, which goes back to about 840 AD and Rollo who landed in France about
910 AD. I researched further.
In 1998 I found that the Talbots, were mentioned in the
reign of Edward 2nd,born 25th April 1284 at Carnarvon
Wales He died September 1327 at Berkeley Gloucestershire. He was King of England
(1307-1327) he was the 4th son of Edward 1st. He married
Isabella the daughter of Philip 4th of France. He was the King of
France (1285-1314). Isabella had a son on the 13th November 1312,
Edward 3rd born at Windsor Castle she was only aged 16 years and had
married the King 4 years before.
Edward 2nds fatal handicap was his one apparent virtue, his
capacity for friendship. If he was nothing else he was fanatically faithful to
those he loved, we cannot now say for certain whether he was homosexual. It is
clear that in Court and Baronial circles, it was generally thought he was a
sodomite (unnatural sexuality) and worse, the passive partner. That a King of
England should be the Pathic! Of a penniless foreigner like Gaverston, (and
later of the younger Hugh Despencer) was regarded as intolerable by the baronial
establishment. This Hugh I traced in the records at Bury St. Edmunds 2nd
March 1998,from the Domesday Book compiled in 1086.They nearly all came from
Normandy.
In his weakness, Edward turned increasingly to his private
circle of friends and in particular to Hugh Despencer, the son of one of his
fathers justiciars, and Despensers son Hugh. Both were experienced royal
officials, the younger had been a member of Edwards household as Prince of
Wales, and was reputed to be his lover.
Edward had married him to his niece, one of the Heiresses to
the Gloucester Earldom, and he became a Great Lord in the Welsh Marches. The
chief executive task of the March was to ensure the defense of the realm, and it
was here that Edward 2nd so conspicuously failed. In 1314 the Battle
of Bannockburn was lost, and Northern England exposed to the Scottish assault.
The immediate result was a Parliament dominated by critics of the King, and the
emergence of the Earl of Lancaster, Edwards cousin and the largest landowner
in the country.
In early 1325, in an attempt to solve the problem of his
spouse, the King was reluctantly persuaded to allow her to leave for France,
nominally as a personal envoy to her brother the Wrench King, in reality as an
exile. This was Edwards first mistake, and he compounded it when he allowed
his heir Edward 2nd, a few months later to join his mother in France. Edward 3rd
of Windsor became the pawn of Isabella and her lover Mortimer. A letter from
Isabella confirmed to her husband, that she and her son, would not return so
long as the Despencers were in Court.
In 1322, at Bouroughbridge, Edward the 2nd won
his one victory, defeating Lancaster's forces, and beheading him without a
trial. 20 of his supporters were hanged, and Roger Mortimer, chief of the
ancient Marcher Nobility, sent to the Tower. A docile Parliament repealed the
Ordinances, and the estates of the rebels were divided among Edwards
supporters, the Despensers taking the Lions share.
The personal rule of the Despensers made inevitable a direct
challenge to the Kings authority, because they were identified with a personal
system of Monarchy, regarded as unconstitutional, funds flowed freely into their
pockets. The younger Hugh, by 1324, had deposits of over £6,000 in the
Florentine Banking houses of Bards and Peruzzi alone. And in the two years he
deposited a further £5,735,with the Peruzzi alone.
Roger Mortimer, who was put in the Tower by Edward, escaped
to France in 1323,and it was Edwards Isabella who became the mistress of
Roger, an exiled baronial opponent of Edward. In September 1326 the couple
invaded England, executed the Despencers, and deposed Edward the 2nd,in
favour of his son Edward the 3rd,who was crowned January 1527. Edward
2nd was imprisoned, and in September 1327 died probably by violence.
The narrative of facts or incidents, that I have mentioned,
ended when Edward 3rd the heir apparent was secure at his mothers
side, with Roger Mortimer an influential Baron. Edward 3rd needed
money so he was betrothed to Philippa, daughter of William Count of Hainault in
France, and Holland. Edward was aged 15 when crowned King of England, which was
governed during the next 4 years, by Isabella and Mortimer, in his name, though
nominally his guardian was Henry Earl of Lancaster. He married Philippa at York
24th January 1328. Soon afterwards Edward made a successful effort
to throw off his degrading dependence on his mother and Mortimer. While a
Council was being held at Nottingham, he entered the Castle by night, through a
subterranean passage, took Mortimer prisoner, and had him executed in November
1330. Edward had discreetly ignored his mothers liaison with Mortimer and
treated her with every respect, but her political influence was at an end.
It was from my perseverance into the History of the Kings
and Barons, from the early years, that I was in 1998 able to trace the line of
the Talbots, who they were, and how they became involved with the Kings of
England. You might remember the name Hugh the Despenser, in Edward 2nds
reign, which I found in the Bury St. Edmunds Record Office 1998. It gave Hugh
De Taleboth or Talbot, whose father was Hugh De Gourney (in rebellion against
Henry 1st) who married Beatrice, daughter of William De Mandeville, they had 3
sons, Richard, William, and Hugh. Richard, was the Bishop of London (Henry 3rd
born 1207-1272. Hugh De Taleboth otherwise Talbot, was made Governor of the
Castle of Plessis, Normandy by his uncle, Hugh De Gourney 1118.
Richard De Talbot had from Henry 2nd,grants of
land and Lordship of Eccleswall, and Linton, in the County of Hereford.
John Talbot son of Richard, Lord Talbot, and 1st
Earl of Shrewsbury, (Lord of Logemorey in Normandy), born 1390,Castle and
Lordship of Montgomery, April 25th 1407.Lieutenant of Ireland Feb
1420.
Richard De Talbot is mentioned in the Domesday Book, as
holding 9 hides of land from Walter Gifford, Earl of Buckingham. This Richard,
married the daughter of Gerard De Gourney Baron of Yarmouth.
John Talbot, the 1st Earl born 1300,and 3rd
Baron, married 1st the daughter of Thomas Nevel Lord Purnival
married 2nd Margaret daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick
from the Bishops Stortford Library, I took copies of the Talbots, who were
Dukes, Barons, Earls, Lords of Shrewsbury. From 1277 to 1883.
The list starts with, Gilbert Talbot, the 1st
Baron Talbot, who took part in Edward 1st expedition into Scotland
in1293,took up arms against the Despensers, and was captured at Borough-bridge
1322,Justice of South Wales. (BI277-D1346).
Richard De Talbot, 2nd Baron Talbot
(B1300-D1356) Eldest son of Gilbert De Baron 1st, like his father,
sided with the Lancastrian Nobles, against Edward 2nd, and was
captured with him at Borough-bridge in 1322. He Joined Edward 3rd
and Isabella, on their landing in England in 1326, supported Baliol in Scotland
in 1352, but was taken prisoner. He was present at the siege of Tournay in
1340,and at that of Morlaix in 1342, and served apparently in the Crecy campaign
and at Calais 1346.
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
(B1388-D1453) son of Richard 4th Baron Talbot, summoned to
Parliament in right of his wife as Lord Furnivall, or Lord Talbot of Hallamshire
1409-1421. Deputy constable of Montgomery Castle, assisted in capture of Harloch
Castle in 1409.
He was imprisoned by Henry 5th on suspicion of
lollard tendencies in 1413,but soon released and made Lieutenant of Ireland in
1414,and much more. He took Bordeaux and the whole Bordelais, but was defeated,
and slain at Castillon.
John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shewsbury
(B1413?-D1460) son of John 1st Earl of Shewsbury, served in France
in 1434 and 1442. He was Chancellor of Ireland in 1446. He was Treasurer of
England in 1456. He was killed fighting on Henry 6th side at
Northampton.
Richard Talbot, (died 1449) was Archbishop of Dublin, and
Lord Chancellor of Ireland, younger son of John 1st Earl of
Shrewsbury. Summoned to England charged with abetting rebellion in 1429, he
opposed the Government, of the Earl of Ormonde, and both ordered to appear in
England to answer for their conduct 1442 and 1443.
George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and Earl
of Waterford (B1468-D1538) son of John 3rd Earl K.G. I488, appointed
in several offices of state by Henry 8th. He was ambassador to Pope
Julins 2nd in 1511, and to Ferdinand of Arragon in 1512. He received
grants of Monastery Lands. There are 21 sons and I daughter, in this line.
When I decided to trace the families of the Mingays, I
became confused when they were found to have become related to many titled
families of England. Among whom were Kings of England, who were related to the
French Kings. The Earls of Shewsbury, who were called Talbots. From France. Hugh
De Despencer in the reign of Edward 2nd,and his son Hugh were both
Hugh DeTaleboth in 1300, but not entered in the Directory of Surnames. I was
lucky to find this in the Bury St. Edmunds Record Office, in March 1998; it
was information taken from The Domesday Book.
The information on all of the Titled families, who were
direct descendents by evidence filed in the Office of Clarienceur, Principal
King of Arms of East, West and South parts of England, which can be seen.
The Mingay Coat of Arms, is in Burks Armoury, available in
any large Libraries. Regarding the grant of lands, as shown in the Books of the
copyhold, Hianor of Brooke Hall, in the County of Norfolk, where transfers of
land are made to them as Mingaye, up to the time of Queen Mary.
The best "Directory or Dictionary of British
Surnames" is written by P.H.Reaney, and published by Routledge, and Kegan
Paul. This is what I found in a book, that the large Breton element, which
fought at Hastings, was rewarded with lands in England. At their head was Earl
Allen of Richmond, a cadet of the Ducal House, with a fee of the first
importance in Lincolnshire, East Anglia, and the neighbouring Counties. Reaney
goes on to quote F.M.Stentons "English Feudalism". The Breton
Colony founded by Earl Allen of Richmond, can still be traced, late in the
twelfth century, by personal names which give a highly individual character to
the country round Boston, itself a town of Breton creation, and Louth.
In the 12th century in Lincolnshire, Allan was
as common a name as Simon, and more popular than Henry, and Adam. Other common
Breton names were Brian, Constantine, Jernegan, Juston and Mengi. In my research
in Cambridge, Norfolk, and Suffolk, the Surname of todays Mingay, was up to
about early 1800. Mingey, Mingie, Mingy, Mingee, Mengay, Minge, Mingge, Myngaye
late 1400,and many more, some in the same family. On page 223 of the dictionary
of names, the entry for "Mingay and Mingey" reads, Johannes Filius
Menghi c 11541155; Robertus Filius Mingghi 11781181 of (Clerkenwell Essex) in
the Public Record Office; Richard Mingay (Feet of Fines-Essex) unpublished. It
gives Mengny as a Breton name, "Stone Dog" "men"
meaning Stone. Another of the original name Myngaye, is supposed to have arisen
from two Norman words, the "Mein" and "Gaie" Mein a
countenance, and Gai "Laughing Countenance".
The following information is from Cambridge, Norwich, and
Suffolk Archives, by W.J. Mingay. Because the history of the Myngayes has
come from Archives, and families, we must take the information, as close to
genuineness as one can get. The first part is from the Families of Norfolk by
J.A.Mingay in 1893, from various sources. Robert Mingaye of Arminghall by Joan
Inglos had, Robert Mingaye, who by Matilda White of Shotesham, had, William
Mingaye, who by Maud of Shotesham, had Robert Mingaye, who married Katherine,
who had Robert Mingaye, born about 1470, who married Joane Turner, and had 2
sons. Robert born 1518,and William born 1520,at Shotesham.
I will start with William Myngaye, who married 1st
Dorothy Greene, daughter of Alderman
Robert Greene, and Mayor of Norwich in 1529. They had 6 sons
and 3 daughters. Dorothy died in 1 558. William married his 2nd wife
Elizabeth daughter of Edmund Wood, and widow of Alexander Mather. William died
in1564, he was a very rich man when he died.
The family were armigerous and was connected with St.
Stephens Church Norwich, and the Parish, he probably lived at what is now
known as No 14 Rampant Horse Street, the site of the later Mingay House.
William was described as a Mercer and Notary, when admitted
to the Freedom of Norwich, and at the Dissolution, he with Thomas Necton,
purchased from the Crown, the advowson of St. Andrews. They in turn sold it to
Thomas Sotherton, and others as trustees, for the Parish, as it so remains at
this day.
William was Sheriff and Alderman, of Norwich in 1554, Mayor
in 1561, and Principal Registrar to the Bishop of Norwich. When he became Mayor
of Norwich, he invited the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Northumberland (this
must have been Sir Henry Percy, born 1532,died 1585,(8th Earl of
Northumberland), and other Lords, with their retinues, to the Civic feasts, at
the new Hall, now St. Andrews Hall. They expressed a great deal of satisfaction
with their generous reception. He was according to a copy of the original Bill
for the feast, as being elected for the second time Mayor of Norwich, in the
fourth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, who he was very
close to at the time.
The copy I have of the feast cost £215s11d. Who upon
that occasion entertained those I mentioned above, and some Gentry of the
Country, also the speech of Mr. Johnny Martin, a wealthy citizen at the dinner,
after grace was said.
"This is the speech by Johnny Martin. Maister Mayor,
and may it please your worship, you have feasted us this day like a King, God
bless the Queens grace, we have fed plentifully, and now William I can speak
plain English. I heartily thank you, Maister Mayor and so we do all, answer
boys, answer bravo, Bravo, your beer is pleasant, and potent, and will soon
catch us by the caput, and stop our manners. And so, Huzza (a shout of Joy) for
Mayor and our good Dame Mayoress. Huzza for his Noble grace of Norfolk, there he
sits, God save him. Huzza for all of this jolly company, and all our friends
round the County, who have a penny in their purse, and an English heart in their
bellies."
We now go to Arminghall or Ameringhhall, which is about
three miles from Norwich South, The Old Hall was a building both picturesque and
quaint, and possessed features of especial interest, notably in its elaborate
porch and doorway.
The Hall was probably owned in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth,
by one of the Mingay family. It has to be William Myngaye Citizan and Elderman
of Norwich, who had a lease in the 3rd year of Elizabeths reign,
of the site of the Manor, from the Dean and Chapter of Norwich. Again in the 4th
year of Elizabeth as a Farmer of their Manor of Arminghall, he held his
first Court.
The Priory of the White Friars or Carmelites at Norwich,
after the dissolution, was demised (24th Elizabeth) for 1000 years,
and the same by mesne assignments, came into the possession of Anthony Myngay,
born 1589. He was Williams Nephew of Norwich, and it is supposed that he
brought from it the beautiful South Porch, and inner door, also other
architectural remains of the 14th century, and the 15th,
which he incorporated into the Old Hall at Arminghall. A merchants mark
attributed by Mackarell to J. Mingay a grocer, is carved in stone on a shield on
the porch. When the Hall was demolished in 1900, the Arch was taken to
Gressenhall. By now it was owned by a London dealer. An American buyer had been
found, but the County Museums service had been offered a 50 per cent grant
towards the cost of the Arch, by the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1998 it is
still in the New Court Complex at Norwich, when I took a photo of it in 1994,it
looked as good as new. I also have a large sketch of the Manor, from the Norwich
Archives.
This is information I received from the Walters Art Gallery
Baltimore Maryland America in November 1997. Again it involves William Myngaye
as above. It was about another property, which came into the possession of a
Mingay. It was the Rectory Manor at Dickleburgh in Norfolk. It passed to Thomas
Cromwell at the dissolution, then in 1567 to William a nephew of William Myngaye
Mayor of Norwich 1561, who died in 1564, or his son William born 1549 and died
1607, who was of Grays Inn, and Trinity College Cambridge. Whilst at Wellbourn
in 1619.
John Myngay born 1555 and died 1625,Citizen and Alderman of
Norwich held his first Court as Trustees to the Steward, and subsequently sold
it to Robert Cash, Citizen and Alderman of Norwich.
After reading this I got in touch with the people in Norwich
who have records of old property, and they said yes, that it was true, but it
had to be pulled down because it was not safe to live in. I then went to the
local Library, and found that they had a Cromwell Museum, at Huntingham
Cambridgeshire, but when I phoned them they had no records of Thomas Cromwell.
This is the History of Robert Myngaye born about 1470, at
Shotesham, the father of William Mayor of Norwich 1561. Robert and his wife
Joane, were the first of the family to leave the village of Shotesham for
Norwich. Robert was a Cordwainer, or shoe maker by trade, he inherited some
lands and tenements from his Yeoman father, but he was able to add little to
these, and at his death in 1545 he bequeathed no more than £26 in cash and two
tenements in the City of Norwich.
From this meager fortune, his son William born 1520,received
the houses and the sum of £10, but he was a shrewd businessman. He had already
climbed beyond his fathers status by being apprenticed as a Mercer, or trader in
silk, one of the most prestigious occupations in the sixteenth century England.
He now increased his patrimony by shrewdly buying and selling Monastic Lands.
The dissolution of the Monasteries had taken place in the 1530s and within a
comparative short time their Lands appeared on sale, on the open market. William
Myngaye and others like him took full advantage of the opportunities presented.
As his wealth increased he was able to devote time to Civic
service, and after a period as a common councilor of Norwich, he was elected
Alderman. In due course he served the City of Norwich as Mayor in 1561. At his
death in 1564, he had enhanced the family fortunes to such a degree that he
owned Manors, in both Norfolk and Suffolk, Lands, tenements, and a Rectory at
Shotesham, also Lands at Saxlingham.
He was able also to bequeath more than £600 in cash.
Significantly with the exception of his Suffolk Property, all of his land
purchases were in the vicinity of his ancestral home at Shotesham; none of his
three surviving sons went into the silk trade. Two became Lawyers, they were
Miles born 1546 died 1574, and William, born 1549 died 1607. The third was
Thomas born 1557 living to 1632,he became the Squire of Arminghall.
In one statement that Miles made in the Viste of Surrey
1623, he gives his father, as William which one would normally accept. However
the evidence from family wills clearly and specifically gives his father as
Miles, (this was from a will left by Miles son Francis Miles Myngaye born 1546),
admitted to Corpus Christi College Cambridge 1561. He married Winifred daughter
of Robert Coke Esq., and sister of Chief Justice Coke, of Holkham Hall Norfolk.
Another part of William Myngayes Mayor 1561, life turned up at Shotesham,
this time it came from the "History of Norfolk, by Blomefield"
published in 1805,under Shotesham. (Letter of
confirmation inset, click on letter to see larger copy)
He gives Scotessa, Scotessam, or Shotesham, that signifies
the village of Scots, or portions, and was very properly so called, for it was
in above twelve parts, at the Confessors and Conquerors surveys, it had four
Capital Manors, four Parish Churches, two Hamlets, and the Manors extended into
Framingham, Bedingham, Brook, and Stoke-holy-Cross. In this book the following
is what I have been trying hard to find, as proof on this Manor & William.
Back to Top
| |
|