Sir Christopher Baynham (1478-1540)
Born: c.1478 at Clearwell, Gloucestershire
Parents: Thomas Baynham of Clearwell and Alice Walwyn
Married: 1502 to Jane Morgan
Died: 1540 at Clearwell
Christopher, my ten times great-grandfather, was born c.1478 at Clearwell Court, near Newland in Gloucestershire.
Christopher married Jane Morgan, daughter of Thomas Morgan and Jane Herbert, at Pen Coed, Llanfarthin, Monmouthshire in 1502, when he was around 24 and she was also 24. They had six children: George, my nine times great-grandfather Thomas, Alice, Joan (Jane?), Dorothy and Mary. Jane Morgan died in 1544.
Christopher died on 22nd June 1540 at Clearwell, aged 62.
The first mention of him is in 1493 when Christopher Beynam, armiger appears (then aged just 15) alongside his elder half-brother Sir Alexander Beynam (34), as Recoverer, his other half-brother William (30) and others in an action in the Court of Common Pleas.
Unlike for his two elder half-brothers Alexander and William, there is no unequivocal evidence of Christopher having been a member of an Inn of Court or Chancery when he was aged around 21. It is possible that he was the ‘Christopher Bayne’ who was a member of Clements Inn, but probably not.
On 7th April 1494 the three brothers Alexander, Christopher and William (along with their father Thomas and others) were recorded as feoffees of the manor of Puplyngton and other lands in the IPM of Robert Russell Senior. Robert had previously agreed with Thomas that his son and heir Robert Russell the Younger would marry Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth and in consideration of a sum of money paid to Robert Senior by Thomas he enfeoffed the Baynhams and others to the use of Robert the Younger and Elizabeth, who by then was his wife.
On 28th October 1496, the three brother Alexander, Christopher and William (along with William Grevyle, Roger Porter and Thomas Ferrers) were again recorded as feoffees – this time of the manor of Great Teynton in Gloucestershire in the IPM of Richard Ferrers.
Christopher appears to have sat on fewer royal commissions than his father Thomas or elder half-brothers Alexander and William, but he was a Commissioner of the Peace for Gloucestershire for almost four decades, from 1501 to 1540.
Aged 23, he was joined on his first commission in 1501 by his elder half-brother Sir Alexander who by that time already had experience of several commissions.
In 1502, aged around 24, he married Jane Morgan, daughter of Thomas Morgan and Jane Herbert, at Pen Coed, Llanfarthin, Monmouthshire in 1502. Jane’s family — [ link to her pedigree, back to Rhodri the Great ]. Together they had six children – their eldest child, George, son and heir to the Clearwell Estate, produced thirteen children, including a future Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Mary I and several knights and Sheriffs. Next came my nine times great-grandfather Thomas, who became known as ‘Thomas Baynham of Noxon Park’. And then four daughters – Alice who married John Walshe (d.1541), son of John Walsh of Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire and had six children; Joan / Jane (living in 1518) who married James, son of Thomas Hyett of Lydney and had five children; Dorothy who married Walter Probert, the son of Walter ap Robert and Joyce Herbert; Mary who married Thomas Mylle / Mill of Harescombe, Gloucestershire but had no children.
[ also Margaret, who maried John de Ken of Kenn ? ]
In 1509 he attended the funeral of King Henry VII on 11th May, as a Squire for the Body (his elder half-brother Sir Alexander was also there, as a Knight in Attendance).
In 1511, aged about 33, Christopher was appointed Sheriff of Gloucestershire for the first time – on 8th November, recorded as ‘Christopher Beynham esq’.
From his term of office there is an inquisition made before him at Dursley in Gloucestershire in the Chancery case against Edmund Wicks of Dursley, esquire, and Nicholas Wicks his son and heir;
and there is an endorsement to the inquisition : Christopher’s response that Edmund and Nicholas Wicks were not found in his bailiwick.
Around this time Christopher also appears as a defendant in several cases –
a case in the Court of Requests brought by a Philip Cachemay regarding the office of riding forester in the Forest of Dean and office of ale taster at Newland, Gloucestershire;
a case in the Court of Chancery, Six Clerks Office brought against Christopher and Sir Alexander Baynham by John, son of Walter Loksmyth regarding the retention of deeds relating to messuages and land in Mitcheldean and Abinghall, Gloucestershire;
and two cases in the Court of Star Chamber –
one brought by a John ap Gwellym, Sewer of the King’s Chamber regarding an assault in the house of John Wynter at Lydney, Gloucestershire;
and another (related?) case brought by John Wynter himself regarding forcible entry at Lydney.
By 1512 King Henry VIII was preparing for war against France and began a recruitment campaign, drawing on two categories of men: noblemen and gentleman who served in person with their men and those who remained at home and provided troops. Christopher was in the former category and was included in a list headed “these persons whose names follow have the King’s letters sent to them to make and send the numbers following, and to certify by a day to serve the King’s grace by land” – he received a summons to attend with twenty men, as did his eldest half-brother Sir Alexander.
In 1513 Christopher (then aged around 35) went to France with King Henry VIII’s army to fight against Louis XII of France.
Prior to departure, he was granted ‘Protection; going to the war’ by the King on 10th May.
As a Squire for the Body to the King he would have been a member of the middle-ward which travelled with the King and did not arrive in Calais until 30th June, by which time the siege of Therouanne (in which his elder half-brother Sir Alexander Baynham was actively involved, as captain of the pioneers of the rear-ward) was well under way.
The middle-ward only joined the siege on 1st August, but now the army was finally able to completely surround the town and prevent the French cavalry from revictualling the garrison – its final attempt resulted in defeat by the English cavalry in the Battle of the Spurs, so named for the speed with which the French fled. It is possible that Christopher took part in this battle, as he was one of the 49 men later knighted by Henry for distinguished service in the 1513 campaign.
After the fall of Therouanne, Henry also took Tournai.
On 2nd October 1513 Christopher was knighted there by the king; Henry conferred the honour after he had attended mass at the cathedral.
In 1514 Christopher was granted a pardon and release as Sheriff of Gloucestershire. In the same document, his half-brother Sir Alexander Baynham of Westbury was released of his recognizance of 40l., which he had given on 10th November 1511, shortly after Christopher had taken up the office of sheriff for the first time. Others were also released of their recognizances – Stephen Cotton of Tewkesbury, William Huntley of London and Mary, widow and executrix of Christopher Throkmerton of Trilley.
In 1516 (aged about 38) Christopher was given a promotion in the royal household – he appears as a Knight for the Body in ‘A book of the names of all the king’s officers and servants sworn to attend in his grace’s most honourable chamber’.
In 1517 Christopher was again appointed Sheriff of Gloucestershire – on 5th November, recorded as ‘Christopher Baynham knt’.
Other members of his close family had also held the office of Sheriff – his father Thomas in 1471 and 1477; his older half-brother Alexander in 1482, 1498, 1502-4 and 1516. His son George would follow in 1544, as would two of his grandsons, Richard in 1570 and Thomas in 1582 and 1602.
He inherited the manors of Clearwell, Noxon and Hatherways Court from his mother Alice when she died in 1518.
In 1520, in a memorial of things necessary for the transporting of the King for the interview between him, the French king, their queens, queen Mary dowager of France, and the mother of the French king, there are lists of noblemen and others requested to attend. Sir Christopher was chosen to represent Gloucestershire, along with The Duke of Buckingham, Sir Maurice Barkeley, William Denys, Sir William Kyngston, Sir John Hungerford, Sir Edward Wadham and Sir John Brydges (Christopher’s nephew), at what would become known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
On 8th May 1521, an indictment in London at the Guildhall before the Lord Mayor and a Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer found that Edward Duke of Buckingham, late of Thornbury, Gloucestershire had committed treason.
A similar indictment found at Bristol Castle where the jury was comprised of twenty Gloucestershire men, including Sir Alexander Baynham and Sir Christopher Baynham.
In 1522 the King ordered a military survey of England, by county (the survey of Gloucestershire is one of the few to have survived). It was intended to record personal wealth in land and goods, items of military equipment such as suits of armour and weapons) and whether a man was fit for combat.
Sir Christopher appears with a land value several times and as steward once : for Newland and Coleford “The king is lord of the vill[age] of Newland and is worth £10, Sir William Kyngston steward, Sir Christopher Baynham lord of Coleford and is worth £20”, the rectory and vicarage of Newland and the vicar and clerk of the chantry plus a further 79 men of varying worth who possess their own combinations of harness and almain rivets (types of armour), hauberks (shirts of chain mail), bows & arrows, swords & shields, daggers, lances, bills and other weapons, plus a few horses; for Ruardean, there are Sir Christopher (£14) and his half-brother Sir Alexander (£6), a chaplain and 62 others; for Lower Ley, “the prior of Llanthony (£5 13s 9d), George Earl of Shrewsbury (£21), Simon Milborne (£15), Sir Christopher Baynam (£3 12s 5d)” plus 26 others; also for Kempley (£23 4d) plus ——-, Longhope (steward) plus ——- and Nass (£10) plus ——-.
For Clearwell, as well as a land value (£30), he also has a goods value (£333 6s 8d) as this is where he lives; a further 57 men and their equipment are listed, but unlike his half-brother Sir Alexander, Sir Christopher is not recorded as being in possession of any armour or weapons himself.
In a letter dated 7th July 1522, Richard Sampson informed Cardinal Wolsey that the King
“gave charge to Sir Wm. Kingston to levy 300 pioneers in the forest of Dean, and letters will be made with all diligence that they may be at Dover on the 31st inst.
Sir Christopher Beynham will command 200, and Kingston the rest. Sir Henry Marney is also ordered to provide 200 miners”.
In a letter dated 25th April 1528, Sir William Sandys informed Cardinal Wolsey that he had noted that “100 horse and 200 foot would be sufficient to accompany him to Guisnes” and, having received letters from the King, has now “sent forth 41 to the best places for procuring the 200 footmen, as he will see by the enclosed list”.
Among the recipients of the letters (most of which appear to be in the South West) are Sir Christopher Baynham, Sir William Denys, William Tracy and the town of Gloucester.
In a letter from 1532 sent by Sir William Paulet to Thomas Cromwell he writes ” … And I pray you send me the book of the forest of Deane, that you and I may speak with Sir Christopher Bayneham thereupon before he leaves London”.
At the time of the Northern rebellion or Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, Sir Christopher and his son George are mentioned in the king’s plans to put down the uprising; they were included in lists of gentlemen in the southern and midland counties to whom it was proposed to write letters – overnight watches were to be kept in every shire, beacons were to be prepared in every port and watches kept there too and posts were to be set up by special commandment. George was also required to provide 150 men for the Goucesterhsire contingent.
On 4th July 1538 Christopher was appointed to a Commission of Oyer and Terminer for several counties in the Midlands and the South West, including Gloucestershire.
He was appointed again in the following year.
In the Spring of 1539 musters of able men were taken by county.
For Gloucestershire, the Certifcate was given by Sir Christopher Baynham, his son George and three others “of the muster of armour, weapons and able men, by virtue of the King’s commission to them and othes, taken for the hundreds of Botlowe, Weysbury, Briavelles, Bledislow, and the duchy of Lancaster, in co. Glouce., according to the division among all the commissioners made 31st March 1539.”
For each place (starting with Dymmock), the roll lists men with horse and harness, their various weapons and in the margin a letter ‘a’ denoting those who were ‘able’.
Sir Christopher’s final appointment was on 4th February 1540 – as a Commissioner of the Peace on the Oxford Circuit.
He died on 22nd June 1540 and was buried in All Saints Church, ‘The Cathedral of The Forest’, in Newland.
Judging by the lettering “Sir Christopher Baynham Kt” incised into the top of the tomb of Robert Greyndour (d.1443) and his wife Joan (Johanna Rugge d.1485), it appears that Christopher’s body was placed into their tomb.
Robert had been the first person to use the suffix ‘of Clearwell’ and probably built the earliest manor house there; that property was among the estates inherited by Christopher from his mother Alice Walwyn.
Christopher was survived by his wife Jane who died three years later.
There is no evidence of Christopher having left a will or of an Inquisition Post Mortem being held after his death.
His eldest son and heir George received livery of the lands and possessions to which he was entitled in May 1541.
Notes:
Possible membership of Clements Inn – ‘The Men of Court 1440 to 1550: A prosopography of the Inns of Court and Chancery and the Courts of Law’ by Sir John Baker (p.285), seen at the British Library
Arms of Sir Christopher Baynham – ‘The names and Armes of such as haue ben aduaunced to the honorable Ordre of knighthoode, Henry IV – James I, mostly in the hand of Rober Glover’ (Henry VIII Cotton MSS, Claudius C.iii. Fol 68-144), seen at the British Library
Illustrations –
- Battle of the Spurs – Wikimedia (public domain image from the Royal Collections Trust)
- Arms of Sir Christopher Baynham – as above
- The Field of Cloth of Gold – Wikimedia (public domain image from the Royal Collections Trust)
Photographs –
- Tomb of Robert and Joan Greyndour – family