Johanna de Dene (1312/14-1384+)

Johanna’s father William de Dene (V), lord of the Manor of Dene, had a pedigree stretching all the way back to Ulric de Dene in the early part of the 12th Century.

Before 1066 the three manors of Dene – Dene Magna, Dene Parva and Ruardene – were held by three English thanes: Godric, Elric and Ernui.

By the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 it appears that they had been united in one estate, held by William Fitz Norman, tax-free for the keeping the Forest of Dene.

After William Fitz Norman’s death, they passed to his son Hugh who, in 1131, was being referred to as Censor of the Forest. This Hugh Fitz William Fitz Norman died childless around that time and by 1133 his estate, including the manor of Bicknor, was back in the hands of the Crown and formed part of a grant to Milo Earl of Hereford by Empress Matilda of all the lands between the Severn and the Wye; in the charter it stated that Bicknor had previously been in the hands of Ulric de Dene.

After Milo’s death, the same lands were re-granted in 1154 to his son Roger Earl of Hereford by King Henry II.  Prior to his death in 1155, Roger granted his Ministry of the Forest of Dene to William de Dene (I), at a rent of 20s per annum for all services; this first William de Dene was the son of Geoffrey de Dene (I) and probably a grandson of Ulric de Dene. (Roger is reputed to have founded Flaxley Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Dene, to mark the place where his father Milo had been killed while out hunting in 1143; William was also a benefactor of the abbey).

There is evidence from 1167 and 1176 that William’s son William de Dene (II) was in possession of the manor and that his son Geoffrey de Dene (II) held it in 1194; his wife Petronilla paid 100 marks to have his lands in 1208.

An inquisition held after the death of William de Dene (III) in 1258 recorded that he held the Manor of Magna Dene and paid to King Henry III an annual rent of 10s for it; he also ‘had his bailiwick in the Forest of Dene, held upon the custom of finding one hoseman ad two footmen for the keeping of the said bailiwick and that he should go upon the charge of the king wheresoever the king should go with his army’.

His son and heir Henry de Dene took possession of the manor on 28th September 1259. Around this time he married Agatha, daughter and sole heir of William de Lasseberge. Henry was knighted before he presented to the church of Dene Magna as Sir Henry de Dene in 1280; he died in 1292.

Sir Henry’s eldest son and heir,  William de Dene (IV), took formal possession of the manor in 1304; he died in 1310.

Johanna’s father William de Dene (V) was of full age when his father died so he took possession of the manor on 14th October 1310. At his death in 1319, William was found to have been in possession of ‘a messuage and a carucate of land in Great Dene, held of the king in chief by service of paying 10s yearly at Newnham to the constable of the castle of St. Briavels‘ plus ‘a messuage and two virgates of land at Little Dene held of the king in chief by service of rendering 6d yearly at the king’s exchequer’.

The manor was divided between his co-heirs Johanna, who later married Ralph ap Eynon, and her younger sister Isabella, who later married Sir Ralph de Abenhall (1317-1347, son of Reginald de Abenhall); the two parts would not touch again until 1470 when my eleven times great-grandfather Thomas Baynham (heir of Johanna’s part by direct descent from Ralph ap Eynon) married Alice Walwyn (heiress of Isabella’s part, which she inherited indirectly via her connection to the Greyndour family – Isabella’s daughter and heir Margaret de Abenhall married Laurence Greyndour and produced a son John who, aged 19, inherited Isabella’s part from his mother when she died).