207

THE GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF RODNEY OF RODNEY STOKE,

As COMPILED IN 'l'IIE SEVEN'fEENTII CENTURY BY Sm EDWARD RODNEY, KN'l'.

[From. a MS. fm·m.erl_q in the poB11ession of the late llonble William Powell Rodney.)

To MY DEARE f DAVGHTERs I ELIZABETH I PENELOPE I ANNA lANE I AND KATHE I RINE RODE- I NEYS : MDCLV.

This little Tract of our family I penned in your Brother GEORGE his lifetime ,tl meant to haue directed it to him that hee might haue seene from example of his owne family what to follow & what to fly. But since it hath pleased Gou (the great Arbiter of our lines and deaths) to take him from vs to Himselfe (as I verily hope ,t, beliue) and in his death to put the period to my name & family. Whatsoever was from mee intended to him, doth necessarily fall vpon you And although some of you are already [translated or1) transplanted into other familyes, and the rest by Goos providence shall be in due time; yet your Children I suppose may take both pleasure & profit to be made acquainted with their maternall ancestors ; and especially learne from them to be thankefull to Goo, for being borne from noble & religious parents, from whence they are as likely to doriue good qualities with their bloud, as all other irrabionull & inanimate Creatures do from their stockes and seeds, as my Motto tells from y• Poet, NoN G~:N~!HANT AQVIL.£ CoLVMBAS. Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis Horat : Eat in iuvencis est in equis patrum Ode: Virtue : nee im belleis feroces Progenerant aquil:n columbas Of good & valiant the like are bred 1 u beusts their Sires great courage doth appearo Ellglcs hcget not doves, and all are Irr! To g<>orl or ill, ns natures law doth steere. Besides it cannot be but a great contentment to them to huue the greatest part of their bloud from a family which Goo hath blessed with so many discents as this tract doth mention ; & all of them matcht into so many noble familyss ; which though now it be come to the period, after the space of 500 yeares the common period of kingdomes & all great familyes is yet matter of thanks• giving to GoD that it lasted so long, and that through so long a tract of time it hath not contracted any blemishes or spots of infamy, It is ordinary to perpetuate the memories of men by Monuments, which yet we see Time the great devovrer doth deface, and therefore I thought it best to keepe my selfe aliue amongst

1 Ere.aed. 208 RODNEY OF RODNEY STOKE. RODNEY OJ<' RODNEY STOKE. 209 you by this [Parchment(1)] monument of writing, by which being purpurs nostril indutus Londinli et maximam regni partem in dead I may yet speake to you ; as it is sayd of Abel in the Epistle prsedam accepit et possundedit, Quos turbines et tempestates con• to the Hebrews. I haue lived through the mercy of GoD to see citavit civile illud bellum inter Johannem & Subditos, inter you brought vp in the knowledge of his truth, and in the loue of Stephanum & Matheldam, dum filij patres nati cognates amioi his lawes, from which I hope neither prosperitie nor adversitie shall arnicissimos, hostili anirno infestant et debellant 7 Vere quadrat in ever make you depart. Many things haue made mee weary of the hoe IIJVUm illud Poetm Virg: MONS'l'HUM HOHENDUM INFORME INGENS world & to prepare my selfe to meete the King of terrors without cur LUMJ,:N ADJsMP'l'UM, Lumen supientire, chcritatis et iustitite, dum feare and amazement [with Jub(1)]. All my worldly care is to ignes et fusees suos attollit superbiu, uvaritia, foritas. Inter tot leaue you all in a comfortable condition for lively-hood & sub:;iHtance, Huctus & procellas, quis lares agros, parentes suos agnoseit 1 quis and to follow after mce, in a vertuous and religious course, that potuit curare origines suas ad posteros transruittere 1 Certe ilia so wee may at last meete againe in the company of Saints and retas magna facinora et vtriusg, fortunre multa exempla suis Angells, singing Rosanna's and Haleluiah's eternally in Heaven. tenebris obruta tenet, dum vnusquisq, pro aris et focis militat The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seeke deposita Commentariorum et Monumentorum cura et auxietate. GoD, the Lonn Goo of his Fathers, though hee be not cleansed Hane ego tandem aliquando in me suscepi, et rubiginem qua patrum after the purification of the Sanctuary, 2 Cron: 18: 19: meorum incuria, vel ternporis iniuria, familire nostrre adheesit, delendam curavi, vt veritati sum, constat honos et olaritas, et posteris PaA-:F A'L'IO. non deessent exempla domestica, ad vitam suam forrnandam et H.oDNEYOUUM FAMILIA vndo orta, c1uosve ub initio habuerit maiores dirigendam ; prmcipue ad laudadum Dnvx optimum maximum qui exteras an indigenus, non compertum habeo : ignorantiic causa est dum faeientes iniquitatom tanquam frcnu velociter arescent, et quod radices agit in ea tornporu, qure diris motibus et bellis, rerum quern admodum olera herbarum cito decident; nos tamen miseros notitiam obscura reddunt : Radices appello maiores huius families homunciones hrereditare terrum patitur, et tanta rerum omnium omnes qui prrecesserunt Hichardum de Rodeney sub Henrico tertio, vicessitudine avitas retinere sedes. Psal : 37 : 2: 9 : Si in qui• Edvardo primo et secundo, nam illi quasi in imo terrre agentes et busdam hallucinari evidoar, ne mihi vitio vertant filii lectores, qui absconditi suorum notitiam posteris reliquerunt dubiarn, et in qua primus post quadringentos plus minus annos, huic operi manum vix aequiescere potest diligens veritatis indagator. N omina tamen admovi ; sed veritatem potiua suis laboribus illustriorem reddant. eorum recitavimus, et ea quui de illis constuna in hac domo farna et Mihi deest otium, et quod scriptoribus maxime desiderandum, animus tabulre genealogicm loqiintur Illud Poette, Vrxsn» FOR'l'JsS ANTE curarii expers, tranquillus et quietus. Det Dsvs omnipotens vt AnAMEMNONA MuL'L'l &c. Horat : Ode: In omni eevo in omni gente comrnemorutio beneficiorum eius et serninatio <\U:\J a DOMINO fucta fidem obtinuit, pnoserbim in privutis fumilijs scriptoribus parum est ex nomins nostro me scriptorem, filios et ncpotes lectores, otficii curse, et qure raro fomam aucupanb, sed regibus et horoibus curandum nostri sedulo comrnonefuciat et misericordire suee in Christo dignos relinquunt, quorum facta et res gesta trahuntur in exempla. Ad reddat. Amen. Richardum illum testimoniis nitimur publicis et privabis luce clari• THE PREFACE IN ENGLISH. oribus vlterius progredere, obscura omnia et densee nebulre ; nee habemus vnde subsidia afferamus huic argumento, Silent Archives When the family of the RoN:NEYES first began, and whither publicre in domesticis scrinijs prreter tabulas genealogicas nihill hodie their Ancestors were forrainers or natives of England, I cannot invenitur ; quicquid habemus de Britania et eius inoclis ante Henricum finde : the reason of this ignorance is because their roote runnes vp terbium p:nnes £idem est paucorum Monaehorum ex quibus inter aliu, into those times, which by reason of horrible commotions & civill hoe annotandum, transfretcsee in hftnc insulam ex diverais Europre warres become darke & obscure, I call all those Ancestors the parbibus alienarum gentium plena. agmina honoribus et divitijs roote which lived before Srn R1cHAtm ltou1rn1,n.' who lived vnLamyatt 30 pounds was crowned King by the revolting Nobility. What troubles & Lovington 09 pounds vexations did hee make what alterations whilest wearing our Dinder 13 pounds Diadem hee made a prey of London and the greatest part of the Over- Badgeworth 24- pounds kingdome. Congresbury-Rodeney 16 pounds The warre betweene King JOHN and his subiects, raysed no In Bristoll about 50 pounds small tempests amongst vs, and that betweene King S'l'EPH~;N & MAUD the Empresse no lesse, where the Sonne was against the The totall 330 pounds Father, the neerest kinred & the best friends made a prey of each These Mannors are vpon the improved value twenty times the other. That of the Poet may as fitly be applyed to this age, as to rent which comes to uboue Six thousand pounds by the yeare. PoLYPirn~rns. AN noannn,n &. n1s~'omrnn MoNST1m 'J'IIA'l' WANTED Besides these Mannors ; they had the Demesnes at Rodeney• AN 1sn. Where nothing but pride avarice & cruelty were to be Stoke worth at this day Three hundred pounds pel' annum; and scene while wisedome charity and iustice disappeared and hid their a Demesnes at Backwell worth Two hundreds pounds per annum. heads. Now umonst such stormes of tempests who almost could Besides a Parke at Backwell conteyning about One hundred and finde out their Parents, or Patrimony, or who would take care for forty acres of land stored with Fallow-Deere and full of Great• descents of familyes. Timber. Certainely that age produced many worthy examples of both N OSCE TEIPSVM fortunes, which lye buried vnder the darkenesse of those times, & whilst every man fought for his life, they tooke no care to leaue Cap: I. TIIAT the orignall & beginning of all the great nations Commentaries & Monuments bohindc them. But now at last I of the earth (the Hebrewes only excepted) are so wrapped vp haue taken this care vpon rnec, & to file of yt rust which by the in all obscurity, that they are not to be discerned by the greatest negligence of my Ancestors, or by the iniury of time huth growen wit and industry of man, is a truth so cleare and manifest, as about out· Iamyly, that truth may be restored to it.'> honour, and if it were written with a beame from the Sunne ; lessc marvayle posterity want no domcstickc examples to guide & direct their is it if private familyes loose their springs, whose fame all others liues : especially to praysc Goo for his mercyes to vs, whilst other neglect, and themselues eyther through sloth and other diversions ovill-doers shall be cut downe like s' gra.sse & ~vither like the are not carefull to preaerue ; both the publike & private comming greene herbe, yet hath hee continued vs to inhcrite y0 earth, & vnder the fate of great rivers whose streames & windings and to kecpe the seats of our Ancestors in y" midst of so great changes. issues are visible & apparant, but their fountaines and first heads If I mistake in what I write, let not my Children whom I intend hardly to be knowne besides it foreth with the intellectuall eye only to be my readers blame mee, who first after 500 yeares have looking vpon times a farre off, as with the rnateriall eye vpon vndertaken this worke, but rather cleare the passages by their remote obiects ; both are apt to giue false iudgements ; and to industery, For my part I want leasure, & which Writers most relieue themselues only by conieotures neither are eoniectures desire a calme & quiet minde, free from cares & unxietyes. The wthout due honour amongst wise men; for being the conclusions LORD grant that my numbring vp his mercyes to my family, & of reason drawne fro probable grounds, they suffice, if not to the continuing of our name through so many ages, may stirre both convince the vnderstanding, yet to giue convenient satisfaction, RODNEY OF RODNEY STOKE. 212 RODNEY OF RODNEY STOKE. 213 aboue 400 yeares, they stood like Mare mortuum, and neither ebbed Historians haue alway vsed them, and the great Antiquary (Camden nor flowed in their fortunes; they were so provident not to lessen. in Epist : ad Lectorem) saith if wee should exclude coniectures, But neither by marriages which is the ordinary step of augmentation, wee should banish a great part of the best human learning out of the world ; As a farther supply to these losses, common fame is nor by any other meanes did they make any addition, insomuch, that at this day I giue the Coate single, which my first Ancestor received as an Authour of some authority; and in Storyes which gaue, without quartering any other; Only MAVRICE RonENEY sold run their roote high into ages past ; no thing occurres more ordinarily, land in Briston about ffifty pound old rent. And Sm Ionx then these & the like phrases. So it was reported ; the speach RoDENBY my great Grandfather made some alterations by setling was; the fame went. Tenet foma, sic fertur; dicunt. LIVIVS the two Mitnnours of Congresbery and Over-Badgeworth being Forty Dec. 1. Let no man therefore accuse me of vanity, or ambition if I pound old rent vpon his two younger Sonues, which last had proved no alteration at all at this time ; if other accidents had not make vse of fame & coniectures, when I cannot produce better befallen vs, which hath given the Period to our worldly fortunes ; witnesses, bill I come to 400 yeares, I will proue my matter by the but these things will better appeare in the particular passages evidence of publike recordes, private deeds, seales and reasons drawne which follow and will become part of the Readers observation. from matter necessary ; if afterwards I grope in the darke, Let it not displease my Reader more then it doth mee; for I blesse Gon for his mercyes to my family; and comfort my self not a little WAI.• -- SIii ···1 SIR wn.r.r- with this hope, that the foundation of it was layde in the favour T!Cll - IIIINJt\' RICHAHD nom: AM - - of the ALMIGH'L'Y, because hee hath vouchsaffed to continue it thus l!OJlK· uonx• ILOD~ long a member of his Holy-Church, Whereas Hee hath not dealt Nl!Y Nl!Y NBV so with many other familyes ; but suffered them like Meteors to waste in a short time, after their first appearance ; I speake not '----=---- this to iustifie our selues aboue other men ; For I know that all of ,--·-- vs more or Jesse haue been overcome by human frailty, and that RICH IANE the Convulsions of our worldly fortunes in this present age, haue Altll - RODI!· RODE· been the iust punishm= of our sinnes, that liue in it, or our NKY forefathers or both. But in this I reioycc that neither in the memory NKY of ma or in Recordes beyond that even to our first roote doth sm I there remaine any staine or impression of those fuule deeds, which Cap: 2 I\WHAUD RODE• sticke fost to Home other houses ; As of murder treason rebellion N~:y & the like, Their faulte whatsoever are not written in great letters, or become the subiect of publike fame, or the Courts of Iustice; THO· but as they lived without scandall, so they dyed without shame, MAS - ROPI!:· goeing out of the world by the ordinary gate of sicknease, and Nli:Y never by the hand of violence, some few excepted of ancient times, s' died in the Warres. And the late vnfortunate Gentleman Srn G~:01tGE Roin;NEY who fell by his owne sword, And although the TttE entrance which I will make into this worke shall be by civell dissentions in the Barrous warres, did engage most me in handling these seven in one chapter my evidence concerning them, one Hide or other, yet they for anything I can finde lived in a calme being almost of one nature, & of lesse strength, then those which amidst those tempests, & were not entangled in the Quurrella of the follow; & for which I must be beholding to common fame & time, the reason of it may be that having a firme extate of their probabilities to know them, which I will recite only and leaue as I owne & able to subsist of themselues they kept independent, living received, without straining for arguments to gaine the Antiquitie within their owne Orbe, and mastering those affections of envy & of a hundred yeares or more. It hath been a constant traditio in ambition, which commonly doe but rayse men for a grea.te1· fall. our family, that wee came into this land with MAVD the Emprisse, They had been alwayes from the time wee first discover them, from forraigne parts & that for service done by RoDENEY in her of the middle ranke of Subiects which is the most safe place. Cives Warres against King STEPHEN the Vsurper; Shee gaue them Lands medii salvi sunt maxime, Arist: lib 4° : cap : 11 ° Few or none of & Estates within this Kingdome. I confesse I haue no evidence better estates vnder the degree of Lords, vntill the great floud of by mee to prove this tradition besides the Pedigree ; yet my want Church-lands (whereof they possessed not one foote) improved many thereof will not make it false in it selfe, though it gaine the lesse mens fortunes to a great height. Nay which is strange, from Srn credit w1-h others. There was an Evidence which would haue much RICHARD RODENEY, who was borne vnder HENRY the third, to SIR strengthned this tradition ; but it miscarried at the time of Srn GEORGE RoDENEY who dyed in tho 42 of ELIZAHETH the space of 214 RODNEY OF RODNEY STOKE. GEORGE RoDENEY\ death, whereof I received information from my Mother, who had seene it often, & knew that my Father was exceedingly displeased for the losse of it, which was a Peice of Brasse of the length &: bredth of two foote, or thereabouts wherein was insculped in ancient characters the names of those Mannours and Lands given by the Emprisse, Of Sm H1>Nlff RormNEY, the HCccmd man in the Pedigree, there is mention made in the White Book1: belonging to y" Deane & Chapter of Welles, as Doctor BA1u,ow the late Deane of Wells my Sonne GEolWE his Godfather did informe rnee ; There being suites of Law between the Deane tl: Chapter, and some others about Lands, all parties referred themselues to the arbitrement of Sm HENRY RODENEY this was in the reigno of K : HENRY the Second, which agreeth well in point of time with the note set on him in the Peciigrec, that hec was Steward to the young King HENRY who was crowned in his Fathers lifetime. · · I will here insert what Doctor Prence told mee goeing to visit him the 4~1; day of May 16:\8 to wit, 'I'hat hec had read my name in an Ancient Hooke blllonging to the Cathedrall Church of Wells, and founcl the Mid name as ancient as the foundation of that Church, which was almost three hundred year03 before the Conquest. Whether our family descended of that man or no, or whether his Posteritie went into the parts beyond the Seas and at last came over with MAVD the Emprisse according to the tradition aforesaid as a thing vncertaine I shall mention no further; yet it is possible it might be so. ~fr RICl'l DAVIES who married a Daughter of Mr MAVRICE RormNEY told mce of a River in Wales called 1E1mA RoDENl~Y, and that it was RO called of the RoDENEYS who were slaine there; Now the note in the Pedigree speakea of Sm ltICnAuD Rom~NEY who waa slaine at Hereford by LEOLIN Prince of Wales in the yeare of grace 1234 and of his eldest Sonne whose name was RICHARD, also slaine with his Father. There is mention in the Pedigree of Sm RICHARD RoDENEY slaine at Acres, in the fourth yeare of RICHARD. I. and of WILLIAM RoDEJijEY who dyed in ye way to Rome as hee went to the Pope, Embassador from King Ions and was buried at Viterbon. That Sm RICHARD RoDENEY who was slaine by LEO UN Prince of Wales was married to JANE the Daughter of Sm Ionx EAsTLEY Knight, and that hee had two sonnes, RICHARD slaine as aforesaid with his Father & THOMAS, That RICIIARD the elder Brother married MARGARET r Daughter of BVRNELL, and left one Daughter only named IANE [ who was that same lANE1] who was married to Sm THOMAS PATIBHALL Knight, That THOMAS Brother to RICHARD and Heyre male to his · Father married MARGARET, Daughter to Sm ARNOLD MovNTNEY by whom hee had issue, Sm RrcnARD RooENEY Knight, of whom wee are to speake next. Onely wee will part from these Seven, with this one observation, That RICHARD the sixth man in the Pedigree left only a Daughter behinde him ; But what Land shee carryed out of the family is vnknowen. 1 Erased, ( To be oontinued.)