Unravelling the FitzAlan Arundel’s

The FitzAlan Arundel’s feature in various locations in Daniel Dering Mathew’s tree and it can get confusing.

Alan Fitz Flaad is considered “the progenitor of the FitzAlan family, the Earls of Arundel (1267–1580), and the House of Stuart – Wikipedia article

FitzAlan Oswestry  Earls of Arundel Line

Alan Fitz Flaad Avelina de Hesdin, daughter of Ernulf de Hesdin

Catherine Carey (1524 – 1569), (some claim her father was Henry VIII) – 1, – married Francis Knollys (1511- 1596) – 1,

  • Richard Knollys (1548 – 1596) – Joan Heighham – Winchcombe (1549 – 1631)
    • Francis Knollys – Alice Beecher (she later married Henry Hunkes)
      • Dorothy Knollys (1633 Stanford in the Vale Berkshire – after 1670). William’s diaries – 1, ; (see Lack Family website), 1, – William Byam (1621 Luccombe/Luckham Somerset – 1670 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies)
        • Willoughby Byam
        • Edward Byam (1661 Surinam – 1741 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies) – Lydia Thomas (1670 – 1744 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies)
          • George Byam (1704 St John’s Antigua – Barbuda – 1734 St Georges Parish Antigua – Barbuda) Henrietta Maria Frye (1703 Antigua West Indies – 1796 Kelvedon Essex)
            • George Byam married Louisa Bathurst
              • George Byam
              • Selina Byam married Reverend William Hony
              • Elizabeth Byam married Mark Batt
              • Louisa Byam
              • Henrietta Maria Byam
            • John Byam
            • Mary Byam (1730 Antigua West Indies – 1814 Felix Hall Kelvedon West Essex) – Daniel Mathew (1715 – 1777) of Felix Hall Kelvedon West Essex – 12,
              • Daniel Byam Mathew (1756 London – 1838 St Kitts West Indies ) – Elizabeth Dering (1765 – 1812) – 12,
                • Daniel Dering Mathew (1787 Essex – 1856 St Leonards Sydney Australia) “bed partner?” to his servant Bridget Ann Oliver (1800 – 1885) – 1,

Scottish – FitzAlan Arundel Oswestry de Bohun Connections – Alpin Dunkeld generations

Alpin mac Echdach – d. 834 – a legendary or maybe historic figure ? – Wikipedia – was a supposed king of Dál Riata, an ancient kingdom that included parts of Ireland and Scotland

Malcolm III Scotland married St Margaret of Scotland (descendant of Alfred the Great)


Scottish FitzAlan Steward House of Stewart Line

Alan Fitz Flaad  –  Avelina de Hesdin, daughter of Ernulf de Hesdin

James IV Scotland (1473 – 1513) and Margaret Tudor sister of Henry VIII and daughter of Henry VII England – son of Margaret Beaufort who was a great granddaughter of John of Gaunt)


Note – In Daniel Dering Mathew’s tree there is also Robert Monckton Arundell Viscount Galway (1758 – 1810) who married Elizabeth Eliza Mathew (1759  – 1801). Robert was the  son of  William Monckton-Arundell, 2nd Viscount Galway who inherited estates from his maternal aunt, Lady Frances Arundell of Allerton Mauleverer. He adopted the additional surname of Arundell in accordance with the terms of his aunt’s will. She was formerly Lady Frances Manners, the daughter of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland and she had married the Honourable Richard Arundell (c. 1696 – 20 January 1758). They had died childless, so  William Monckton-Arundell, 2nd Viscount Galway was not a blood relative of  the Honourable Richard Arundell (c. 1696 – 20 January 1758). There does not appear to be a connection between the family of Richard Arundell (c. 1696 – 20 January 1758) and the FitzAlan Arundel descendants of Alan Fitz Flaad.


 

Unravelling the de Bohun’s

As noted in a previous post, David Christian has long been interested in the Knights Templar, so a visit to the Temple Church in London was definitely on our itinerary when we visited London in May 2019.

The Knights Templar were a “Catholic military order founded in 1119, headquartered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem….   The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso. ” Wikipedia article

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The Temple Church

While inside the Temple Church, I noticed a display that featured a King’s Pardon of November 5 1297 to  Sir Humphrey de Bohun. I remarked to David that I was sure there were de Bohun‘s in his family tree.

Subsequently I found that there are a lot of Humphrey Bohun‘s and it does get confusing. However I was able to work out that the display in the Temple Church referred to Humphrey de Bohun 3rd Earl Hereford (1249 – 1298) in regard to what is known as the 1297 Remonstrances.

A Wikipedia article was very helpful:  Humphrey de Bohun 3rd Earl Hereford and others had objected “to supporting Edward I’s planned campaign to protect his possessions in Gascony and his trading interests with Flanders  in 1297…. Edward I went on with the planned campaign, and demanded a grant of taxation from his subjects …. and further they objected to the king’s failure to uphold the Magna Carta…. As the king left for the Continent, the nation seemed to be on the brink of civil war. What brought the issue to a conclusion was the English defeat to the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. This united the country against a common enemy….. Edward promised to address the grievances, while Bigod and Bohun agreed to serve on a campaign in Scotland. As a sign of good will, the King signed the Confirmatio cartarum – a confirmation of Magna Carta.”

And so the Magna Carta displays within the Temple Church were not only relevant to John 1 Plantagenet in 1215, but also to his grandson Edward 1 in 1297.  Subsequently we visited a Magna Carta exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy at the Old Parliament House in Canberra later in August 2019 – see more on the Magna Carta in Canberra in 2019.  We hadn’t seen the Magna Carta exhibition in the High Court of Australia in 2015 the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. I hadn’t realsed that there was an Australian Magna Carta Institute – see also Magna Carta Legacy. In 2020, the legacy of the Magna Carta and the Rule of Law in the Covid-19 era.

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The de Bohun name features in the Mary Boleyn  ancestral lines of Daniel Dering Mathew. This is through both of Mary’s parents who both descend from Elizabeth de Bohun (1350 -1385) – daughter of William de Bohun (1312 – 1360) and grandaughter of Humphrey de Bohun and Elizabeth Plantagenet, who was a daughter of Edward 1 Plantagenet. Mary Boleyn actually was descended from eight Humphrey de Bohun’s, as shown below. Mary Boleyn was also descended from David I of Scotland via his granddaughter Margaret of Huntingdon who married Humphrey de Bohun ( 1144 – 1181).


de Bohun – Early generations down to creation of the Earldom of Hereford

Humphrey de Bohun with the Beard (died c. 1113) – had participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and associated with Bohon/Bohun in Manche, Normandy (in the 12th century split into two separate parishes of Saint-Georges-de-Bohon and Saint-André-de-Bohon[7]), 26 km north-east of Coutances and 18 km north-west of Saint-Lô.


de Bohun – Generations from creation of the Earldom of Hereford

Henry de Bohun 1st Earl Hereford  (1176  – 1220) – son of Margaret of Huntingdon –  Maud de Mandeville (alias Maud FitzGeoffrey), daughter and heiress of Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex, of Pleshy Castle in Essex, daughter of Strongbow – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.

  • Catherine Carey (1524 – 1569), (some claim her father was Henry VIII) – 1, – married Francis Knollys (1511- 1596) – 1,
    • Richard Knollys (1548 – 1596) – Joan Heighham – Winchcombe (1549 – 1631)
      • Francis Knollys – Alice Beecher (she later married Henry Hunkes)
        • Dorothy Knollys (1633 Stanford in the Vale Berkshire – after 1670). William’s diaries – 1, ; (see Lack Family website), 1, – William Byam (1621 Luccombe/Luckham Somerset – 1670 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies)
          • Willoughby Byam
          • Edward Byam (1661 Surinam – 1741 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies) – Lydia Thomas (1670 – 1744 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies)
            • George Byam (1704 St John’s Antigua – Barbuda – 1734 St Georges Parish Antigua – Barbuda) Henrietta Maria Frye (1703 Antigua West Indies – 1796 Kelvedon Essex)
              • George Byam married Louisa Bathurst
                • George Byam
                • Selina Byam married Reverend William Hony
                • Elizabeth Byam married Mark Batt
                • Louisa Byam
                • Henrietta Maria Byam
              • John Byam
              • Mary Byam (1730 Antigua West Indies – 1814 Felix Hall Kelvedon West Essex) – Daniel Mathew (1715 – 1777) of Felix Hall Kelvedon West Essex – 12,
                • Daniel Byam Mathew (1756 London – 1838 St Kitts West Indies ) – Elizabeth Dering (1765 – 1812) – 12,
                  • Daniel Dering Mathew (1787 Essex – 1856 St Leonards Sydney Australia) “bed partner?” to his servant Bridget Ann Oliver (1800 – 1885) – 1,

Sir William Marshal – England’s Marshal – Son in Law of Strongbow

David Christian has long been interested in the Knights Templar and greatly admired Sir William Marshal, Knight Templar – 1st Earl of Pembroke, so it was a surprise to find him in possibly four of David’s ancestral lines, via Daniel Dering Mathew. The Knights Templar were a “Catholic military order founded in 1119, headquartered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem….   The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso. ” Wikipedia article

And if William Marshal is in the Dering Mathew family tree, then so also is his father in law – StrongbowRichard de Clare.

Sir William Marshal and Strongbow were ancestors of Margaret Brent, also a Plantagenet descendant, and wife of Sir John Dering. Margaret and John were the parents of  Sir Richard Dering,  who married  (daughter of  William Twisden and Elizabeth Roydon). The descendants of Sir William Marshal and Strongbow can be found in the family tree by scrolling further down this page.

Strongbow was said to be part of the Anglo – Norman Invasion of Ireland.  Yet some might say that technically he was in Ireland at the invitation of  Diarmait Mac Murchada, albeit as a mercenary? Murchada had been deprived of the Kingdom of Leinster by the High King of Ireland. Along the way, Henry II of England provided Strongbow with a licence to aid Mac Murchada in the recovery of his kingdom of Leinster. Strongbow married Murchada’s daughter and later claimed the Kingship of Leinster in his wife’s name, and consequently with his growing influence also disturbing Henry II of England. And as described in just about any book on the history of Ireland, with the Anglo Normans in Ireland, the country’s future was changed for ever.

Returning to Strongbow’s son in law  Sir William Marshal – I found The Spectator article interesting : “William Marshal – Kingmaker or just King of the Joust“. As the fourth son of England’s Marshal, performing well in medieval tournaments didn’t necessarily make for good military leadership or political leadership. Yet William Marshal  was all of these and Regent to young Henry III, the son of John I of England, after having supported John I against the rebellious barons that led to the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. So much has been written about Sir William Marshal, that it seems superfluous to repeat these – hence below is a selection of references on his life.

Biographies of William Marshal include:

  • William Marshal, Knight-Errant, Baron and Regent of England, by Sidney Painter, 1933.
  • William Marshal, Flower of Chivalry, George Duby, 1985.
  • William Marshal: Knighthood, War and Chivalry, by David Crouch, 2002.
  • William Marshal Earl of Pembroke, by Catherine Armstrong, 2007

Historical fiction featuring William Marshal:

  •  Christian Balling’sChampion
  •  Elizabeth Chadwick’sThe Greatest KnightThe Scarlet Lion, and Templar Silks

A Military Icon of the Medieval Era – Medieval Warfare article

William Marshal TimelineEvents in Life and Historical Context – a Chronology

William Marshall and the Holy Land – Part OnePart Two 

Defending Crusader Kingdoms

Ancient History Encyclopedia article on Sir William Marshal

Officeholders of the role of Marshal – see also Tudor Place article – generations of the family of William Marshal

Snapshots of Sir can be found in a 10 Facts article, 7 Reasons Why William Marshal was England’s Greatest Knight – Get History – Key Points summary article

The Historic UK article is an easy read – as is the Castle Wales article on William Marshal.

The Wikipedia article on Sir William Marshal – is very extensive… “an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings – Henry II, his sons the “Young King” HenryRichard IJohn, and John’s son Henry III.”

Exequy blog post

The Spectator article : William Marshal – Kingmaker or just King of the Joust

There is The Full Text of William Marshal First Earl of Pembroke and Regent of England 1216 – 1219.

A synopsis of Sir William Marshal First Earl of Pembroke – The Greatest Knight of Thomas Asbridge


From TV History Hit : “With Dan Jones – The Temple Church and William the Marshal

Just east of where the Strand turns into Fleet Street in London, there is a small stone archway. Walking through it, one stumbles across a hidden world – one that is leafy, serene and historic. Most of the people who wind their way here don’t realise that the whole area was actually the stronghold of the Knights Templar – and that it is here we find the extraordinary Temple Church. As a round church modelled after the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Temple Church was the closest people in the Middle Ages could get to Jerusalem without actually undertaking a pilgrimage. It was also within this light-filled building that the English order of the Knights Templar – valiant, daring Crusaders – would meet, worship and even be initiated into the order. Inside the church, we also find the stone effigy of one of the most violent and celebrated men of the Middle Ages: William Marshall. A famous knight, a key political player and the eventual Regent of England, Marshall rose from relative obscurity to become one of the most important men in the country. A man as famous for his roguish antics as his formidable strength, Marshall became one of the defining figures to be associated with the Knights Templar. In this captivating documentary, Dan Jones leads us through the immensely atmospheric Temple, and relays some of the tales of William Marshall’s extraordinary life.


We visited the Temple Church in London in May 2019, where Sir William Marshal is buried alongside his son William Marshall the Second Earl of Pembroke.

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The Temple Church

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The Round Temple Church

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Inside the Round Temple Church

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The Temple Church, Knights Templar and Sir William Marshal are all pivotal aspects of King John 1’s signing of the Magna Carta, which are prominently presented at London’s Temple Church.

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Temple Church


Alleged Ancestry of Sir William Marshal


Some claim that William Marshal was descended from William the Conqueror, via his grandfather Gilbert, Royal Serjeant and Marshal to Henry I, – Margaret ? 

William (The Conqueror) (KING OF ENGLAND) NORMANDY, born 14 October 1024 – Falaise, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France, deceased 11 November 1087 – Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France aged 63 years old , buried in 1087 – Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France
Married in 1050, France, to Matilda (Duchess Of) (Queen of ENGLAND) FLANDERS, born 24 November 1031 – Belgium, deceased 3 November 1083 – Caen, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France aged 51 years old , buried in 1083 – Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France

  • Robert (Curthose) De (Duke of NORMANDY) NORMANDY, born in 1054 – France, deceased 10 February 1134 – Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales aged 80 years old
    Married in May 1100, Sicilia, Italy, to Sybilla (Brindisi Of) CONVERSANO, born 18 March 1079 – Conversano, Bari, Puglia, Italy, deceased 18 March 1103 – Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France aged 24 years old , buried in 1103 – Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

    • Gilbert, Royal Serjeant and Marshal to Henry I, – Margaret.

Others believe that Gilbert  was descended from Rollo the Viking along another line, and others propose different possibilities. Others believe that the parents and ancestors of Gilbert are unknown.  Personally I am aligned to the latter view – that his ancestry is unknown.


Family Tree of William Marshal – see The Children of Sir William Marshal

Including other related Neville’s & Percy’s involved in the Wars of the Roses

My husband descends from William Marshal’s daughters : Maud de Warenne, Isobel de Clare and Eva de Braose (by 2 lines).

Gilbert, Royal Serjeant and Marshal to Henry I, – Margaret.

Margaret BrentSir John Dering

William Marshal (1146 – 1219) – Isabel de Clare 4th Countess of Pembroke (1172 – 1220) – daughter  of  Richard de Clare, often known as Strongbow


William Marshal (1146 – 1219) – Isabel de Clare 4th Countess of Pembroke (1172 – 1220) – daughter  of  Richard de Clare, often known as Strongbow


  • Catherine Carey (1524 – 1569), (some claim her father was Henry VIII) – 1, – married Francis Knollys (1511- 1596) – 1,
    • Richard Knollys (1548 – 1596) – Joan Heighham – Winchcombe (1549 – 1631)
      • Francis Knollys – Alice Beecher (she later married Henry Hunkes)
        • Dorothy Knollys (1633 Stanford in the Vale Berkshire – after 1670). William’s diaries – 1, ; (see Lack Family website), 1, – William Byam (1621 Luccombe/Luckham Somerset – 1670 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies)
          • Willoughby Byam
          • Edward Byam (1661 Surinam – 1741 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies) – Lydia Thomas (1670 – 1744 Antigua Leeward Islands West Indies)
            • George Byam (1704 St John’s Antigua – Barbuda – 1734 St Georges Parish Antigua – Barbuda) Henrietta Maria Frye (1703 Antigua West Indies – 1796 Kelvedon Essex)
              • George Byam married Louisa Bathurst
                • George Byam
                • Selina Byam married Reverend William Hony
                • Elizabeth Byam married Mark Batt
                • Louisa Byam
                • Henrietta Maria Byam
              • John Byam
              • Mary Byam (1730 Antigua West Indies – 1814 Felix Hall Kelvedon West Essex) – Daniel Mathew (1715 – 1777) of Felix Hall Kelvedon West Essex – 12,
                • Daniel Byam Mathew (1756 London – 1838 St Kitts West Indies ) – Elizabeth Dering (1765 – 1812) – 12,
                  • Daniel Dering Mathew (1787 Essex – 1856 St Leonards Sydney Australia) “bed partner?” to his servant Bridget Ann Oliver (1800 – 1885) – 1,
  • Note – I had done several Future Learn on-line courses, including England in the Time of Richard III, as well as Lancaster Castle and Northern English History. Subsequently I had read Conn Igulden’s series of books on the Wars of the Roses, as well as Philippa Gregory’s “The Kingmaker’s Daughter”. Thus I was interested to learn of how Margaret Dering nee Brent’s family connected into the Wars of the Roses.

 

Margaret Roper – Her Father’s Daughter

We visited the Old Chelsea Church in May 2019 because of its connection with my 4 x great grandmother Mary Small nee Parker. And while there we discovered its connection with the English Martyr Sir Thomas More and his family including eldest daughter Margaret Roper nee More.  The good folk at the church allowed us in, thinking we were there for maintenance, and then kindly let us look around. They told us of how the Church was badly damaged during the WWII Blitz and of the challenge of reconstructing the Church internally.

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Old Chelsea Church near Sir Thomas More’s Chelsea home

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Sir Thomas More outside the Old Chelsea Church

A year later in July 2020, we discovered that Sir Thomas More, Jane More nee Colt and Margaret Roper were in fact ancestors of Daniel Dering Mathew, David Christian’s 4 x great grandfather. Margaret Roper nee More‘s descendant Elizabeth Henshaw married Sir Edward Dering (1706 – 1752), Fifth Baronet of Surrendon – and thus many of the Dering’s from that point were descended from Margaret Roper and her father Sir Thomas More and mother Jane Colt. Elizabeth Henshaw was descended from Margaret and William Roper’s son Thomas Roper (1534 – 1597).

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Sir Thomas More Memorial inside the Old Chelsea Church

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Sir Thomas More Memorial inside the Old Chelsea Church

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Dame Alice More nee Harpur – second wife of Sir Thomas More

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Site of Sir Thomas More’s Orchard in Chelsea

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Thames River near Old Chelsea Church and Sir Thomas More’s Chelsea home

A Wikipedia article describes Margaret Roper (1505–1544)  : an English writer and translator. Roper, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, is considered to have been one of the most learned women in sixteenth-century England.She is celebrated for her filial piety and scholarly accomplishments. Roper’s most known publication is a Latin-to-English translation of Erasmus‘ Precatio Dominica as A Devout Treatise upon the Paternoster. In addition, she wrote many Latin epistles and English letters, as well as an original treatise entitled The Four Last Things. She also translated the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius from the Greek into the Latin language.

As the daughter of Sir Thomas More, Margaret Roper was very well educated for a female of her times. Her father had personally educated her in Humanist Principles. There are numerous references to her works

Although well educated, Margaret More was still expected to conform to Tudor era expectations of females, and there is the mention of the Learned Wife in Humanism. Margaret married lawyer William Roper, who had been converted to Lutheranism, and then returned to the Catholic Church. William was the uncle of Sir John Roper 1st Baron Teynham – Wikipedia

Sir Thomas More was a loyal member of the Catholic Church, and did not support Henry VIII‘s moves to break with the Catholic Church to establish the Church of England. The Famous Trials website describes how Sir Thomas More was locked in the Tower of London, where he continued to write, and was then tried for Treason relating to four charges :

  • charge of opposing the Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn
  • charge of not swearing to recognize the King as the supreme head of the Church
  • charge against More was that, while in the Tower, he wrote letters to Bishop Fisher inciting him to violate the Treason Act
  • a charge concerning his Bell Tower conversation with Richard Rich – it was alleged that More, responding to a hypothetical question posed by Rich, told his visitor that the Parliament had no more power to enact the Act of Supremacy that it did to pass a law declaring God not to be God.

Inevitably the once Lord Chancellor of England  Sir Thomas Moore was found guilty and executed. Others executed under Henry VIII included Lord Great Chamberlain Thomas Cromwell – see also Wikipedia article. Concidentally Oliver Cromwell a 2 x great grandson of Thomas Cromwell’s sister Katherine Cromwell. An earlier Lord Chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was charged with Treason after falling out of favour with Henry VIII, but died of natural causes on the way to answer the charges, thus avoiding conviction and possible execution.

Margaret Roper was briefly imprisoned for recovering the head of her father after his execution under Henry VIII – it is now held at St Dunstan’s CanterburyFindagrave – some say his body was buried at the Old Church Chelsea – however the Church’s website indicates that he was buried in an unmarked grave at the Tower of London. See also Canterbury by Canon Danks.

It is ironic that Daniel Dering Mathew and David Christian also descend from William Carey and Mary Carey nee Boleyn, sister of Queen Ann Boleyn – and indeed there is controversy as to whether Mary‘s daughter Catherine Knollys nee Carey was instead a daughter of Henry VIII. This debate has continued for centuries and is the subject of books and films.

Pope Leo XIII beatified Sir Thomas More, John Fisher, and 52 other English Martyrs on 29 December 1886.  And on May 19, 1935, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Pius XI presided at a canonization ceremony for Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher.

From a Wikipedia article – “In 1980, More was added to the Church of England’s calendar of Saints and Heroes of the Christian Church, despite being a fierce opponent of the English Reformation that created the Church of England. He was added jointly with John Fisher, to be commemorated every 6 July (the date of More’s execution) as “Thomas More, scholar, and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Reformation Martyrs, 1535“. Pope John Paul II honoured him by making him patron saint of statesmen and politicians in October 2000, stating: “It can be said that he demonstrated in a singular way the value of a moral conscience … even if, in his actions against heretics, he reflected the limits of the culture of his time“.

The actions of the Church of England is interesting as I have read that claims that Sir Thomas More was involved in sending a number of Protestant “heretics” to be burned on the stake, a fate he narrowly avoided himself.

See also the Catholic Encyclopedia on Sir Thomas More.

Letters between Sir Thomas More and daughter Margaret Roper

The More family was in the heart of the struggles of the Reformation – the More’s were deeply Catholic. In later generations her great grandson Anthony Roper and wife Margaret Compton would be categorised as Recusants – people penalised for not attending the official Church of England.  They might have also been people forcibly converted to Protestantism who remained loyal to the Roman Catholic beliefs and continued to be a practicing Catholic, even refusing to attend the Protestant services of the Church of England.).

And yet in another generation Anthony’s son Edward Roper is said to have married Katherine Butler at Saint James, Clerkenwell, London, England, part of the Church of England  in 1666/1668? (Note some have believed that Katherine was descended from the aristocratic Butler’s of Kilkenny etc – however her brother’s and nephew’s parliamentary entries indicate that they were descended from a London Cloth Merchant – Clothworker). Then Anthony’s grandaughter Elizabeth Roper married in 1706/1707 to Edward Charles Henshaw in St Lawrence Jewry & St Mary Magdalene Milk St, London, part of the Church of England? Another generation later Anthony’s great granddaughter Elizabeth Henshaw married Sir Edward Dering 5th Baronet of Surrendon, of a Protestant family. 


Family Tree of Margaret Roper nee More ancestor of Daniel Dering Mathew

Sir Thomas More (1478 – 1535) – Jane Colt (1484 – 1511) – after Jane’s death he remarried to a widow, Alice Middleton nee Harpur, – there were no children from this second marriage

 

 

 

Edward Dering 1540 – 1576 – Outspoken Puritan Priest

Edward Dering, academic, gifted Greek scholar, fiery preacher, controversialist and priest, was the third son of Sir John Dering and Margaret Brent.  He was a younger brother of Daniel Dering Mathew’s direct ancestor Sir Richard Dering (1537 – 1611), who married Margaret Twisden. Edward was educated at Christ’s College Cambridge. Cambridge has been described as the “cradle of the British Reformation” – and key personalities met at the White Horse Tavern from 1521, on the site of what has now become part of Kings College Cambridge.

There must have been a degree of turbulence during those years, as there was a return to Catholicism during the era of Mary Tudor. Following this was the return to Protestantism in the reign of Elizabeth 1 – the latter time during which Edward Dering was at Cambridge. Perhaps it was no surprise that he did not view his Protestant convictions lightly. – see Contested Reformations in the University of Cambridge 1535 – 1584, and Reformation Turmoil.Edward-Dering

Edward Dering (1540 – 1576). Image Source National Portrait Gallery – under Creative Commons

the close affiliation between state and church resulted in the appointment of people as members of the clergy who were often unqualified, both religiously and morally, and sometimes downright incompetent. It is not surprising, therefore, that church life tended to be shallow, and that meaningful religious commitment on the part of church members was frequently lacking. Among both clergy and laity there was little awareness that in the biblical understanding of the Christian life, religious profession and an appropriate mode of daily living must go together. “- Christianity Today

Elizabeth I was so affronted by his preaching that she banned from further preaching, however that did not stop his writings.

Edward was strongly Protestant and his work continues to be well regarded even into the 20th and 21st Centuries.

In any account of moderate puritanism, in particular of moderate puritanism in the University of Cambridge, the obvious place to start is Christ’s College and the obvious person to start with is Edward Dering. For it was with Dering, a fellow of Christ’s College throughout the 1560s, that the foundations of the moderate puritan tradition were laid. Writing of Dering Professor Patrick Collinson has identified, as ‘the obsessive theme’ which ‘necessarily dominates any account of the man’, ‘the intense evangelical experience by a first generation protestant of justification and union with Christ through the renunciation of “will works” and of the world and the exercise of a lively faith’.” – Moderate Puritans and the Elizabethan Church.

There are numerous references to Edward’s work:

  • The Conventicle on Blogspot “In 1569 he preached a sermon before the queen (Elizabeth I) and actually chided her for a lack of supervision over the ministers in the official church, who Dering insisted were incompetent and derelict: “And yet you in the meane while that all these whordoms are committed, you at whose hands God will require it, you sit still and are carelesse, let men doe as they list. It toucheth not belike your common wealth, and therfore you are so well contented to let all alone.”
  • Wikipedia article “an English priest and academic, known as a classical scholar, controversialist, supporter of Thomas Cartwright, (Presbyterian Huguenot sympathiser), and fiery preacher against his fellow clergy. Constantly in trouble from 1570, he was not found to be nonconformist in doctrine, but was an opponent of the episcopate … But on 25 February 1570 he preached vehemently at court before the queen, his text being Ps. lxxviii. 70, a fierce indictment against the clergy, and directly addressed Elizabeth herself whom he made responsible. This was a major turning-point, and the offence thus given meant he was suspended from preaching. He then took a leading part in the resistance to the new statutes of 1570, which were imposed on the University of Cambridge after the expulsion of Cartwright [see Cartwright, Thomas (1535–1603)]. In November 1570 he addressed a letter to William Cecil, the chancellor of the university, in which he freely criticised the new statutes and their authors with remarkable freedom; and 24 March 1572 he wrote again on behalf of Cartwright, urging that he should be permitted to return to Cambridge and to lecture there. In 1572 he was appointed divinity reader at St. Paul’s Cathedral”
  • Edward Dering and his stunning Lenten Sermon to Elizabeth I – “Preaching in front of the queen was another step up the ladder of a successful career. But Dering (about thirty at that time) was no longer interested in a career. He had seen enough corruption in a clergy that seemed only interested in money and fame. “While they are clothed in scarlet, their flocks perish for cold, and while they fare deliciously, their people are faint with a most miserable hunger. This fault is intolerable, and such as God abhorreth,”[1] he wrote in a letter to Chancellor William Cecil (1520-1598).”
  • A Puritan’s Mind blog – “On the other hand, his reputation among his contemporaries stood singularly high. By Rutherfurd (‘Free Epistle,’ prefixed to the first part of the Survey) he is named along with Calvin, Cartwright, and Beza, as one to whose judgment he would readily bow.” See also Digital Puritan post.
  • Trove of Australia’s National Library lists his worksmore – and likewise Folger’s Shakespearean Library – World Cat – 1, Peoplepill Bibliography,
  • Rectors of Pluckley Kent for Upwards of Six Hundred Years – Archeologia Cantiana – “THE benefice of Pluckley, being one of the most valuable pieces of preferment in the patronage of the Archbishops of Canterbury, has been held by many noteworthy men who have distinguished themselves at the Universities, and subsequently displayed considerable literary talents”
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    St Nicholas Church Pluckley – May 2019

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    St Nicholas Church Pluckley – May 2019

  • The universities of the Renaissance and Reformation – list includes Edward Dering – “This is a list of 102 Protestant religious leaders who were professors in universities or Protestant academies during part or all of their careers. A handful of religious figures whose university experience was limited are included because they made significant contributions toward making a university Protestant.”

Art Lindsey of the CS Lewis Institute perhaps has best captured the essence of Edward Dering’s views and teachings in his 2009 article : “Edward Dering (1540-1576) was one of the early models who set the pattern for future Puritan ministers. Although he is less well known than other theologians or pastors of later Puritanism, he was well known to them. People such as William Perkins and William Ames, who were leading Puritan theologians, looked to him as a model for the kind of pastor they wanted to produce. He was trained in Christ’s College at Cambridge, the “seed-bed of Puritan religion…. Dering’s central concern was the preaching of sin and its remedy. His emphasis (and that of later Puritans) was that since this was the central task of the minister, the worst thing to happen to England was the presence of ignorant, non-preaching clergy. In fact, few people, even in Puritanism, have held a higher view of ministry. Dering was the only early Protestant writer to maintain that the mere fact of preaching—apart from the truth of the doctrine preached—was an essential mark of the Church…. He objected to the Anglican ceremonies and church order—in a moderate fashion. He believed in the sole authority of Scripture. Preaching was viewed as an essential for the Church. Practical divinity—with a focus on comfort for the wounded conscience—was important to Dering’s idea of ministry.

About 1572 Edward Dering married the English writer Ann Locke nee Vaughan and the marriage must have been a “meeting of minds”. She has been described as a poet, translator ( John Calvin‘s sermons on Hezekiah from French into English) and a Calvinist figure – Wikipedia article. There were no children of the marriage of Edward and Ann, and she cared for him during his final illness of Tuberculosis, before his death in 1576.

Ann also corresponded with John Knox, who encouraged her to go into exile during the reign of Mary I Tudor, and so, along with many Marian exiles, Ann lived and worked in Geneva, until the monarchy of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I.  Another Marian exile who went to Germany was Sir Francis Knollys, champion of Puritans, and husband of Catherine Carey, both being ancestors of Daniel Dering Mathew and his 4 x great grandson David Christian.