1392 Thomas Ellis of Sandwich, Kent, the father of Constance Ellis, died.
1396 Constance Ellis's first husband John Septvance died between August 24-September 5. "Will of John de Septvans, Esquire. Sunday next after the feast of St. Bartholomew (24 August) 1396. Buried in the west corner (in angulo occidentali) of the churchyard of Ash. John Bromhill, parish chaplain, 20s.; Joan, Prioress of Holy Sepulchre at Canterbury, 18s. 4 d.; Carmelite Friars in Sandwich 13s 4d. and five quarters of barley. William Christmasse 20 sheep and James de Twitham 5 bushels of barley. Residue to wife Constance, who with Thomas Roling and Gilbert Alflet (sic) ex'ors. Probate 5 Sept. 1396 by the Prior and Chapter of Canterbury, Sede Vacante after the death of Abp. Courtenay. Register G., fol 272, Cathedral Library.) [1]
abt 1397 Constance married William Nutbeam.
William Nutbeam (Notbene, Notebeem, Notebem) of Ash-next-Sandwich, Kent held the following positions:
1400 January, Victualler, Dover castle
1404 March, Tax collector, Kent
1407 Feb 14-1416, Justice of the Peace, Kent
1407 Feb 20-1408 July 28, Collector of customs and subsidies, Sandwich
1407 June, 1410 March, 1415 Ma6, 1419 March, Commissioner of array, Kent
1407 June, Commissioner of sewers
1410 Jan 19-November 29, Escheator, Kent and Middlesex
1411 represented Kent in the House of Commons.
1411 Dec 10-1412 November, Sheriff, Kent
1420 January, Commissioner to raise royal loans
"Nutbeam was probably a member of the Kentish family possessed of land at Thanington and Ackholt on the outskirts of Canterbury. He may well have been the son of a namesake, William Nutbeam of Thanington who, from 1358, held for life the manor of West Dean in Sussex, which belonged to the de Vere earls of Oxford. Still living in 1392, the older William died before 1413. It was most likely the younger man, who as 'of the diocese of Canterbury', in October 1398 received, together with his unnamed wife, a papal indult to have his own portable altar. There can be little doubt that this wife was Constance Septvance, widowed two years earlier, for by March 1402 Nutbeam's brother, John, was so well acquainted with the Septvance family as to name Sir William Septvance in his will as residuary legatee and co-executor with William himself. In 1404 William and Constance started proceedings at the Kent assizes to establish her right to five marks annual rent coming from property in Warehorne, which she and her nephew John Chicche, claimed as part of their inheritance from Constance's father, Thomas Ellis, the wealthy merchant of Sandwich chiefly remembered for his foundation of St. Thomas's hospital. Whether they were successful or not in this suit, Constance's paternal inheritance and widow's portion, compised mianly of landed holdings between Canterbury and Sandwich, were of sufficient value to provide her husband with an annual income estimated at £50 13s 4d. by the assessors of the subsidy of 1412. Such was their social standing that the Nutbeams were admitted to the fraternity of Christ Church cathedral priory, Canterbury, in the following year. Nutbeam's career had seemingly begun in the closing years of Richard II's reign, for in July 1397 he received a third share in a royal grant of certain confiscated goods worth as much as £100. However, it was not until after Henry IV's accession that he found empolyment in local administation, being commissioned in January 1400 to purchase wheat, malt and other victuals for the garrison at Dover castle. His performance of the task did not meet with entire satisfaction; three years afterwards, in June 1403 he was pardoned wit regard to ten tuns of red wine delivered to him for consumption at the castle, which had turned sour through over-keeping. In 1405 he was again in trouble. The refusal of an inhabitant of Wingham to pay a tax led to the impound9ing of one of his horse by the local subcollector, Stephen Tropham, whereupon Nutbeam and several confederates, allegedly using armed force, retaliated by making off with four of Tropham's own beasts. The incident was follwed by his appearance in court at the suit of a county tax collector, but he was able to secure a stay of process by mainprise of his neighbour, Richard Clitheroe I, at that time deputy treasure of Calais. Service as a j.p., collector of customs at Sandwich and escheator of Kent, all fitted into the years between 1407 and 1410, was followed by Nutbeam's appointment to the shrievalty of the county, an office awarded him nine days before the dissolution of the pariament of 1411 -- the only one to which he is know to have been elected. Nutbeam acted as an arbitrator in an attempt to resolve a dispute at Sandwich in 1413; and he attended the parliamentary elections held at Rochester in 1419. His name appears among the dozen on the list sent to the King's Council in the following January by the local j.p.s as considered best qualified in Kent to do military service in defence of the realm. Even so, he had served on his last commission of array in the previous year, and never, so far as is known, fought in France. Nutbeam is last recorded in may 1421 when Reynold Pympe (his parliamentary colleague of ten years earlier) was pardoned for his outlawry for failing to appear in court when sued by him for a debt of £10, as well as for his fine for having repudiated his creditor's deed of obligation. Pympe had srrendered to the Fleet prison and contented Nutbeam of the debt and damages.
Nutbeam died before 1431, in which year his widow, Constance, was recorded as sole seized of lands in the parish of All Saints on the Isle of Thanet.
William's heir was his son, John, who later held land in Stratfield Saye, Hants, and at Selmeston, Suss. [C/1/11/496; Suss. Feet of Fines, no. 3010]" [2]
A Will[iam] Notebeame appears in a list of sherrifs of Kent during the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413) [3]
1418 The following land grant documents mention transfer of land in Ickham to William Notebeme of Ash.
From: Geoffrey atte Hoo son of John atte Hoo of Ickham To: Robert Clyfford of Well [in Ickham]; William Notebem of Ash ('Essche'); John atte Berton' of Ickham; Robert Haghe of Ickham; John Denys of Ickham.
All the lands and tenements which were of John atte Hoo his father. The endorsement describes the land as the corner tenement ('tenementum angular'') called 'helleplace' near 'le Wayr'' towards 'Taylourystoune', with 1 acre of meadow lying at Seaton ('Seten') with the river Stour to west, the meadow Ca... to south and north. Given at Ickham [Kent]. Witnesses: Geoffrey atte Wode; Thomas Rokesle; Roger Cherlefeld; John Arnald; John Lewys; Richard Fyne; Godfrey Fyne Endorsed with description and 'Baa' in 15th cent hands. 20 Feb 1418 [4]From: John Dounholme of Ickham To: Robert Spere of Ickham
Robert is to deliver seisin of 3½ acres and ½ a virgate of land lying in Ickham parish in a field called 'Penyesfeld'' to John Denys, Robert Clyfford, William Notebem, John atte Berton' and Robert Hawe. John Dounholme has granted this land to them. Given at Ickham [Kent]. Endorsed with description in 15th cent hands.
28 Apr 1418 [5]
[1] Arthur Hussey, "Ash Wills Part 4," Archaeologia Cantiana 37 (1925), 33-52, at 44, [KentArchaeologicalSociety].
[2] J.S. Roskell, Linda Clark, and Carole Rawcliffe, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421, 4 vols. (Stroud: Alan Sutton for the History of Parliament Trust, 1992), 3:857-58, [History of Parliament Online].
[3] Thomas Fuller, P Austin Nuttall, The History of the Worthies Of England Vol. II (London: 1840), 169, [InternetArchive].
[4] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, CCA-DCc-ChAnt/I/192, [UKNationalArchives].
[5] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Grant CCA-DCc-ChAnt/I/193, [UKNationalArchives].