1441-1443 Plaintiffs William Harwedon and Margaret his wife, Thomas Peyntour, vicar of Harrowden (Harwedon), and John Knyght, chaplain, executors of Dame Margery Harwedon, sued defendant John Stotesbury concerning rent of the manor of Sulgrave called Elyngton Manor. Northamptonshire. [1] [2]
To the Worshipfull and right reuerent fader in god Bisshop of Bathe Chaunceller of Inglond
Bisechen mekely youre contynuell Orators William Harwedon and Margarete his wyfe Thomas Peyntour Vicary of the churche of Harwedon and John Knyght chapleyne executours of the testament of Dame Margery Harwedon that it please youre gracious Lordship to consider howe yat one John Stotesbury was and is seised in his demesne as in fee of the Maner of Sulgraue in the counte of Norht called Elyngton Maner and held it of the said Dame Margery as of her Maner of Motton Pynkenye by knyghtes Seruice and by the rente of xx s yerely to be paied to the said Dame Margery of the Whiche rente the said Dame Margery was seised by the handes of the said John Stotesbury as by the he__des of her very tenet till xviiij (?) yere afore her deth that he lachesyde to paie her and withhheld the said rent ayenst gode feyth and conscience and refusid to paie her so that at the tyme of her deth the said John Stotesbury owed to the said dame Margery xix li for the forsaid rente the said Dame margery at the tyme of her deth willed in her last will that her forsaid executours shuld ____ the forsaid xix li to perfourme her last will and testament and ofte tyme sythen the deth of the of the said Dame Margery her forsaid executours have requyred the said John Stotesbury to paie hem the forsaid xix li and he refusith to paie it to gret retardacion of the execucion of the testament of the said Dame Margery of the whiche no maner remedy is to the executours as by the comyn lawe please it youre gracious lordship to consider the premisses and to graunte a writte to the said John Stotesbury commaunding hym to appere afore oure souereyn lord the kyng in his Chauncerie at a certeyn day by you to be lymyted vpon a certeyne peyne for to answere to thise premisses for the love of god and in the wey of charitey.
1447 William Harrowden died on April 8. His IPM states, [3]
William Haroudon
590 [Writ not required.]
Northamptonshire. Inquisition virtute officii [indented]. Rothwell. 5 June 1447. [Gage].
Jurors: John Bolymer; Richard Rawlyns; John Stapill; Thomas Wryght; Thomas Basyngham; Thomas Pyggebrigge; John Pryk; John Quendeby; John Bradley; Richard Withmale; William Eston; Thomas Symond; and John Symond.
He held the following in demesne as of fee. Moreton Pinkney, the manor, annual value £6 13s. 4d., held of the king in chief by knight service. He held the following in service. Sulgrave, a manor therein, of no value to William, held by William of the king in chief by knight service and by 20s. yearly to the ward of Windsor castle. John Stotesbury held the manor in demesne of William. He held the following jointly with Margaret his wife, who survives. Plumpton, the manor, annual value £10 [tenure and service not specified]. He held a manor in Great Harrowden (Haroudon) called 'Haroudonsplace', with various lands and tenements in Little Harrowden, Orlingbury, and Finedon, annual value 66s. 8d. [tenure and service not specified]. Shortly before his death, when he was troubled by mortal illness, he held the manor of Middleton Cheney, a moiety of the manors of Stoke Bruerne and Alderton, with the advowsons of the churches of Stoke Bruerne and Alderton – except for a wood called 'Salwode' and a moiety of a third part of that wood, and a wood called 'le Outewode' in the parish of Stoke Bruerne – and various lands and tenements in the vills and fields of Old, Faxton, Shutlanger, Foscote, and Great Cransley (Craunesley), with the advowson of the church of Old. A few days before his death, gravely troubled by his illness, he feoffed therein William Forthe and John Dyve, esquires, John Aylward, clerk, rector of the church of Stoke Bruerne, Thomas Alynson, vicar of the church of Great Harrowden (Haroudon), Henry Toppyng and others, in fee. This was to expel the king and other lords by collusion from the wardship of the premises during the minority of Richard, William's son and heir. The manors, lands, tenements, and advowsons are worth £20 yearly [tenure and service not specified].
He died on 8 April last. Richard, his son and heir, was aged 13 and more on 7 June last. [Footnote: "Marginal note: nothing to account because in the transcript of another inquisition taken virtute brevis, etc., therefore, etc."]
E 149/183/10 m. 1
c 1479 Richard Haroweden, son of William and Margaret died.[4]
1485 Thomas Haroweden, son of William and Margaret, died on August 24. His IPM states, [5]
298. Thomas Harowedon, esq.
Writ de Amotus 12 Nov., inq. 22 Nov., 2 Hen. VII.
He died 24 Aug., 1 Hen. VII, seised of the under-mentioned manor and reversion in fee. Margery Gamon, widow, aged 60 and more, is his sister and heir. His wife Ellen survived him and took the issues and profits of the manor of Morton from the time of his death to the 28th March last.
N'hamp. Manor of Moreton Pynkeney, worth 100s., held of the King in chief, by service of two knight's fees, and 40s. rent payable at Easter and Michaelmas equally, for castleguard of Wyndesore.
The reversion of the manor of Wold, worth 40s., held of John, Earl of Oxford, service unknown.
C. Series II. Vol. 3. (51.) E. Scrks II. File 669. (3.)
1486 Margaret Harowedon died on October 20. Her IPM states, [6]
295. Margaret Harowedon, widow.
Writ 12 Nov., inq. 22 Nov., 2 Hen. VII.She died 20 Oct., 2 Hen. VII, seised of the under-mentioned manors of Plompton and Harowdon in fee tail, and of the manor of Wolde in her demesne as of frank tenement, with reversion to Margery Garnon and her heirs. The said Margery Garnon, aged 60 and more, is her daughter and heir.
N'hamp. Manor of Plompton, worth 10l., held of Thomas Wodell, service unknown.
Manor of Great Harowdon, called 'Harowedons maner,' worth 10 marks, held of Nicholas Vaus, esq., service unknown.
Manor of Wolde, worth 40s., held of John, Earl of Oxford, service unknown.
C. Series II. Vol. 3. (48.) E. Series II. File 669. (1.)
1486 Margaret Longvyle, widow of William and Margaret's son Richard Harowden, died on November 29. Her IPM states, [7]
299. Margaret Longvyle.
Writ 2 Dec, inq. 21 Dec, 2 Hen. VII.
John Brigge, clk., and John Skynner, gave a moiety of the under-mentioned manors to Richard Harowdon, and the said Margaret, then his wife, with remainder to his heirs. The reversion of the premises, after the death of the said Richard descended to Margery Garnon, as his sister and heir.
She died the last day but one of November last. George Catesby, aged 7 and more, is her cousin and heir.
N'hamp. A moiety of the manors of Stoke Brewern, Shitelanger, and Aldryngton, worth 10 marks, held of Edmund, Earl of Kent, by fealty, and service of rendering one gilt spur, at Michaelmas yearly, only, for all service.
C. Series II. Vol. 2. (52.) E. Series II. File 669. (2.)
Research Notes:
The Oxford DNB, in the biography of Nicholas Vaux, first Baron Vaux, states that "The Vaux estate of Harrowden had been acquired through the marriage of Margaret Vaux, Nicholas's great-aunt, to William Harrowden early in the fifteenth century." [8] This statement suggests that Margaret was a sister of Nicholas' grandfather, William Vaux, son of William Vaux and Eleanor Drakelow.
In the section about Stoke Bruerne, Victoria County History states, [9]
The younger William Harrowden died in 1447, seised of what was described as a moiety (more properly a third) of the manors and advowsons of Stoke Bruerne and Alderton, [P.R.O., C 139/132/27; N.R.O., FH 123, p. 257.] which passed (with the family's main estate at Plumpton) first to his son Richard, who presented to the living at Stoke Bruerne in 1457 [Bridges, Northants., i. 325.] and died in 1479. [P.R.O., C 140/72/69.] When his widow Margaret died seven years later it was found that although she and Richard had enfeoffed their share of the manors of Stoke and Alderton to their own use and that of his heirs, the reversion of the premises, after Richard's death, descended to his sister Margery (the other son of that generation, Thomas, having died in 1485 leaving no surviving issue), and not to Margaret's heir George Catesby. [Cal. Inq. p. m. Hen. VII, i. 129-31.] Margery married twice, first to Henry Skenard (or Skinnerton) of Alderton, second to William Garnon (or Gernon), who died in 1479. [P.R.O., C 140/71/50; V.C.H. Bucks., iv. 182.] As Margery Garnon, she presented to Stoke Bruerne in 1490. [Bridges, Northants., i. 325.]
[1] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, Court of Chancery, C 1/10/191, date listed as "1432-1443, possibly 1467-1470" but William was dead before 1467, and Margery died on 1 August 1441, [UKNationalArchives].
[2] Court of Chancery, C1, The National Archives, UK, Anglo-American Legal Tradition, University of Houston, C 1/10/191, [AALTImage].
[3] Mapping the Medieval Countryside (Digital edition of the medieval English inquisitions post mortem (IPMs) from c. 1236 to 1509), [Link].
[4] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, Chancery: Inquisitions Post Mortem, Series I, Edward IV. Harowedon, Richard, esq Northants, 19 Edw IV, 4 March 1479-3 March 1480, C 140/72/69, [UKNationalArchives].
[5] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry VII, Vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1898), 130, [GoogleBooks].
[6] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry VII, Vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1898), 129, [GoogleBooks].
[7] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry VII, Vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1898), 131, [GoogleBooks].
[8] L. L. Ford, "Vaux, Nicholas, first Baron Vaux (c.1460–1523)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, Jan. 2008), [Oxford_Dictionary_National_Biography], [OxfordDNB(UM)].
[9] Philip Riden, Charles Insley, eds., A History of the County of Northampton, Vol. 5 (Victoria County History, 2002), 374-413, [BritishHistoryOnline].