Issue 15: 2012
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Patron: Robert Hardy Esq.CBE FSA Issue 15: 2012 OUR OBJECTS To promote the permanent preservation of the battlefield and other sites associated with the Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471, as sites of historic interest, to the benefit of the public generally. To promote the educational possibilities of the battlefield and associated sites, particularly in relation to medieval history. To promote, for public benefit, research into matters associated with the sites, and to publish the useful results of such research. OUR AIMS Working with the owners of the many sites associated with the battle of Tewkesbury, the Society will raise public awareness of the events of the battle and promote the sites as an integrated educational resource. We will encourage tourism and leisure activities by advertising, interpretation and presentation in connection with the sites. We will collate research into the battle and encourage further research, making the results publicly available through a variety of media. In pursuing our objects we will work alongside a variety of organisations in Tewkesbury and throughout the world. We will initiate projects and assist with fundraising and managing them as required. We aim to be the Authority on the battle and battle sites. i. 2 CONTENTS The Arrivall 2 Sir Robert Baynton 3 Blanche Heriot and the Curfew Bell 10 John Leland 11 Trip to the North 13 Holm Castle 14 In Honour and Blood 25 The Arrivall: A Poem 27 Finds 29 i. 1 THE ARRIVALL 2012 has been a year of intense activity on the commemorative statue front. Lots of hard work which is quickly coming to fruition. It was in the week after the 2011 Medieval Festival that we were finally free to fund-raise, having been given what we hope is the final approval to proceed with the project. From that moment, the project became very real. No longer were we sitting around making plans; now we had to execute them. The timing has been a bit of a problem. Not only were we facing the economic downturn with all the problems that has brought but we also had to compete with the Olympics. We expected that we’d be able to raise a substantial proportion of the funds through applying for grants. That was a foolish hope. We’ve applied to many funds, some taking hours of work to fill in forms and assemble the requested information. In the event, only the Summerfield Trust and the Gloucestershire Market Towns Forum provided funds. Tewkesbury and Walton Cardiff Parish Councils also contributed. Our 1471 fraternity has been the single most important source of funds, with many individuals, societies and local businesses contributing what they can afford. The list is very long, and we’re very grateful for all this help. We’ve always thought of the project as being a communal one, and when the pieces are in place, in the not too distant future, we hope that lots of people will see it as their own, rather than something planned for and delivered by a remote and unknown body. We set up a fund raising group which is working very hard on all sorts of projects. Quiz evenings, ‘poems and pints’, bric-a-brac sales and fetes have been a mainstay. The money comes in in fits and starts, but it adds up to several thousands of pounds. The ‘in kind’ contributions have also been important and very gratifying as well. Three local companies; Edgewicks Transport, Kenard Engineering and Bredon Scaffolding have contributed a very great deal ‘in kind’, and individually Kenard is our biggest contributor. We wanted to involve local companies, but hadn’t anticipated the level of generosity. Last, but by no means least, is our video team. Colin Bell is extremely busy recording the project, in all its facets, for posterity, and is meanwhile providing us with a monthly update by way of a ‘You Tube’ video. To see the progress, look for ‘Arrivall1471’ on You Tube. This provides a very real indication that things are progressing, and that they’re very large structures. i. 2 SIR ROBERT BAYNTON A trip to Malmsbury revealed a link with a combatant at Tewkesbury, and a well-documented family. This review of four generations illustrates the changes of fortune as the crown changes hands. The Baynton family, who became Bayntun in the seventeenth century seem to have arrived with the Conqueror, and despite having villages in the North of England and Strathclyde named after them, they had settled in Wiltshire by the fourteenth century. John Baynton Sir John Baynton was born in about 1424 at Fallerstone (now Faulston) in Wiltshire. He came into his inheritance at the death of his father in 1447. He married twice, first to Joan Echingham, the eldest daughter of Sir William Echingham and Joan FitzAlan De-Arundel of Etchingham, Sussex. Some years later, Sir John remarried Katherine Payne, the daughter of Thomas Payne of Payneshay, Devonshire and the widow of John Stourton of Preston Plunkett, Somerset. There is confusion and uncertainty about this first marriage to Joan Echingham. Joan's mother died on the 1st September 1404. Even assuming that she died during childbirth, Joan would be at the very least 20 years older than John. Whilst not unknown, it is a cause of comment. Robert Baynton was born in 1439 (when his father was 15 and mother 35). He was the eldest of six children. John Bayntun was appointed Knight of the Shire and M.P. for Wiltshire in 1449 and was also the owner of a property, very likely an Inn, called Le Abbay in Culver Street, Salisbury about this time. A document dated the 20th September 1450, lists John Bayntun, knight; Robert Hungerford, knight, Lord of Hungerford; Robert Hungerford, knight, Lord of Molyns; William Beauchamp, knight, Lord Saint Amand; and others, as Commissioners – appointing them to call together all the King's lieges of whatsoever estate, rank and condition to go with them against the traitors and rebels in Wiltshire and counties adjacent and to arrest and judge the same. He was on many commissions for Wiltshire until his death. He was frequently Commissioner for the peace, and in 1457 and 1458 Commissioner of Array. On the 8th February 1449, he was on a Commission to enquire touching all wards, marriages, etc. in Wiltshire, concealed from the King. Also on the 1st August, he was a Distributor of an Allowance on a Tax in Wiltshire. On the 5th December 1455, Sir John Baynton was appointed a Commissioner to assist the Duke of York put down the Devon Riots. The roll of parliament, of the year 1455, speaks of several riots and murders committed in the west by the Earl i. 3 of Devon and Lord Bonville, who were near neighbours, the former being a Lancastrian, and the latter a Yorkist. Some writers mention a duel which took place that year between these noblemen on Clist Heath: it was rather a combat, for they fought attended by numerous retainers, who engaged in the conflict; and several persons were killed on either side. Sir John Bayntun died on the 20th June 1465 and his wife Katherine married for the third time, in 1468, to William Caren MP 1of Taunton, Steward of Shaftesbury Abbey and Agent for the Duke of Somerset. Three years later, after the Battle of Tewkesbury, William Caren and Sir Robert Baynton, John's son, were charged with high treason, their possessions confiscated by Edward IV. Both attainees were witnessed by local men named John Watts and Robert Browne. This has not been verified, and William Caren MP does not appear in any easily accessed sources. This is potentially someone hitherto unrecognised who fought at Tewkesbury. Research is needed. Robert Baynton John Baynton was succeeded by his son Robert , who was born in about 1439, at Fallerstone. At the inquest of this father in 1465 his age was recorded as 26. He married Elizabeth Haute some time around 1459. Elizabeth was the daughter of William Haute, of Waddenhall, Kent, Knight of the Shire for Kent, and his wife Joan Wydeville, who was the daughter of Richard Wydeville of Grafton, Northamptonshire. Elizabeth was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth Wydeville, the wife of King Edward IV of England, but before that a Lancastrian widow. The Wydeville change of allegiance had no effect on her cousin’s family, though. They remained staunchly Lancastrian. Robert was captured at Tewkesbury, but spared. The Plea Roll outlines Robert Baynton’s capture and conviction ( Michaelmas 19 Edward IV (1479)): Robert Baynton late of Faulston in the County of Wiltshire, knight, Thomas Tresham, late of Sywell in the county of Northampton, knight and John Delves, late of Uttokeshater, in the county of Stafford, with a great number of rebels and traitors, had assembled on the 4th day of May, the eleventh year of the reign of Our Sovereign Lord Edward IV (1471), at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and had there feloniously and traitorously levied war against King Edward IV, their natural liege lord, and royal person, he being there in person with his banner displayed, intending traitorously then and there the final destruction of the said most royal person, it had been declared, ordained, and adjudged by the said kings highness, with the advise of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons in this present parliament assembled and by the 1 William Caren is not among the known combatants at Tewkesbury, nor is it a name easily found. This is an area for some research. i. 4 authority of the same, that the said Robert Baynton, Thomas Tresham and John Delves for their great and heinous treasons and offences as specified by them, committed and done, were convicted and attained of high treason, and by the same authority that the said Robert Baynton, Thomas Tresham and John Delves should forfeit to the said liege lord, the king and his heirs, all castles, manors, demesnes, vills, honours, lands, tenements, rents, services, fee farms, knights’ fees, advowsons, reversions and hereditaments, which the said Robert Baynton, Thomas Tresham and John Delves, or any of them had of estate of inheritance, or any other to their use, on the said 4th May or at any other time afterwards up to the date of the said Act in England, Ireland, Wales, or Calais, or the Marches.