Cecily Cornwall

c1390 - 1444

Cecily was probably born around 1390, the daughter of Richard & Cecilia ⁽¹⁾.

When she was probably in her early-mid teens, she had an illegitimate son, John (who later went by the nickname of Jenkyn), with John Statham, the heir apparent to the manor of Morley in Derbyshire, whom she then went on to marry ⁽²⁾. After their marriage, they had three more sons, Thomas ⁽²⁾⁽⁶⁾, Henry ⁽²⁾⁽⁶⁾ and Nicholas ⁽²⁾⁽⁶⁾, and at least one daughter Goditha ⁽⁷⁾.

Nothing else is known about Cecily's life, but her husband John served as the keeper of Horston Castle at one stage, acted as a tax collector, and was appointed sheriff of the county a number of times ⁽⁸⁾.

She died on 25th April 1444 ⁽⁹⁾. John survived her by about 9 years ⁽⁹⁾.

• John has his own page.
• Thomas was probably born somewhere around 1410 in Morley. He was John's eldest legitimate son. He married twice, firstly to Thomasine Curzon, and secondly to Elizabeth Langley. He was a knight, and he fought in France in 1435. His only known child was a daughter Cecily. He died in 1470.
• Henry was probably born somewhere after 1410 in Morley. He was the second eldest legitimate son of John. He married three times, firstly to Anne Barton, secondly to Elizabeth St Lowe, and finally to Margaret Stanhope. Its not known which of his wives he had his children by, but he had one son and four daughters. His eldest surviving daughter Joan became heir to the Stathum estate after his death in 1480.
• Nicholas was probably born sometime after 1410 in Morley, the youngest son of John and Cecily. He lived in London, where he was a lawyer. He was also MP for Old Sarum. He married Anne Shelley, and they had a daughter Anne. He died in 1472.
• Goditha was probably born somewhere around 1410 in Morley, the only known daughter of John and Cecily. She married Roger Foljambe and had three daughters. She died sometime between 1469 and 1472.

1. No documentation explicitly giving Cecily's parentage has been found. However a pedigree enterred as evidence in a case at the Court of Requests in 1544 ⁽²⁾, names her as daughter of the Baron of Burford, as does the pedigree of the Sachaverell family (her descendants) claimed in the Visitation of Warwickshire in 1619 ⁽³⁾. Given the approximate date of birth of her husband, and eldest son, she was likely born sometime around 1390, or just before. The 3rd Baron of Burford, Sir Geoffrey died in 1365 ⁽⁴⁾, so he couldn't have been her father. His eldest son, the 4th baron, Sir Bryan, died in 1400, but didn't have any (surviving) children ⁽⁴⁾⁽⁵⁾. His younger brother, Richard, the 5th baron, was born in 1360 and died 1443 ⁽⁴⁾, so was the perfect age to have had a daughter at that time. Also, the fact that he didn't become baron until his brother's death in 1400, may possibly help explain the wording in the Warwickshire visitation, which describes her as "the daughter of Cornwall, son and heir to the Baron of Burford" - as he was not the baron at the time she was born.
2. A Statham pedigree drawn up in 1544, and presented in evidence to the Court of Requests (Ref REQ 2/26/48 no 5 @ The National Archives), has been transcribed, and commented on, on the National Archives website, as part of a guide to using the archives. See www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/guide/popup/req_2_26.htm
   The transcript given by TNA reads:
   Herafter followeth the pedigre of John Statham son of Willm Statham late of London Mcer deceased made the 24th day of October Anno dno 1544 and in the 36th yere of the reign of our soveraign Lorde Kyng Henry the eight made by the instructions of Henry Sachaverell of Morley in the Countie of Darby knyght That is to wytt there was one John Statham greate grandfather unto the said Henry Sacheverell by his mother syde the whiche John the greate grandfather begatt a sonne in Basse and was borne in Basse of one Sessly the Barne of Burffordes doughter and named the said Childe John after his owne name whiche John was after comenly called Jenkyn and in shorte tyme after the said childe was borne the said John the greate graundfather toke to wyffe the same Sessly and had Issue by her in wedlock 3 sonnes Thomas Henry and Nycholas As hereunder dothe appere and afterwardes the said John the greate graundfather gave unto the said John als Jenkyn his basse sonne certeyn landes and tentes to hym and to his heires Males for evermore by a dede of intaile whiche John the Basse sonne maryed and had issue in wed lock as herafter dothe appere.
   A representation of the pedigree given is here
   The explanatory summary reads:
   A Tudor pedigree, of the Statham family, drawn up by Thomas Merydale, of London, in 1544. He was the servant of Richard Jervys, the stepfather of the plaintiff, John Statham. His sworn deposition recalled his master personally going up to Derbyshire to collect rents on John's lands in Snelston, Alsop and Roston whilst he was abroad. The defendant (and one of the tenants), Sir Henry Sacheverell, had visited Jervys in London whilst John Statham was still overseas, and claimed he would be the next heir should John die without male issue. The pedigree was drafted on Sacheverell's instructions to demonstrate his assertion. The title deeds for the lands had come into the defendant's possession, and without these Statham could not seek a remedy at common law. The case started off in the Court of Requests, but by 1561 it had been transferred to the Court of Chancery, where a final decree was issued in Statham's favour. Sacheverell's successor as defendant had failed to turn up at the court as ordered or to furnish any documentary proof of entitlement to the land. Apparently the lands were to descend in tail male (for example, through the male line in their entirety) under a deed of 1453. The grantor, John Statham (at the top of the family tree), was to have them for life, after which his son Nicholas and his male heirs were to hold them; if his male line died out, another of John's sons, Thomas, and his male heirs were to enjoy them, failing which they were to pass to another son Henry and his male heirs. John made provision for his illegitimate son John alias Jenkyn Statham and his male heirs to inherit should the male line become extinct for all three sons. Henry Sacheverell was descended from the original grantor in the female line whereas the plaintiff (at the bottom right-hand corner of the pedigree) was the great grandson of Jenkyn Statham.
3. Pedigree of the Sachaverell family in "The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the year 1619" (published by The Harleian Society 1877), page 392, shows John Stathum marrying "... filia Cornwall fil et haeres Baronis de Burford"
4. "Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition Vol II", 2003, page 1670, sub Grey, provides the following pedigree :
   Lineage (of Corn[e]wall):
         KING JOHN: married 2nd 24 Aug 1200 Isabella, only daughter and sole heiress of Dolomar Taillefer, Count of Angoulême, by Alice, daughter of Pierre de Courtenay (youngest son of LOIUS VI OF FRANCE; see also DEVON, E), and by her had a 2nd son:
         RICHARD, COUNT OF POITOU by Aug 1225 (renounced circa Dec 1243), 1st EARL OF CORNWALL, so styled from 21 Aug 1227 and KING OF THE ROMANS (i.e. heir presumptive to the Holy Roman Empire), so elected at Frankfurt 13 Jan 1256/7 and crowned at Aachen 17 May 1257 but soon ejected and returned to England, three of the Electors apparently having thrown him over because his monetary inducements to them were too small, Privy Coucil [1253]; born 5 Jan 1209; Constable Wallingford Castle 1216; knighted Feb 1224/5 and granted by his brother HENRY III 13 Feb 1224/5 the County of Cornwall during the King's pleasure, following which he was presumably invested as Earl of that county; Lt of Guienne 1226-27; Ambassador in HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR FREDERICK II 1237 and POPEs INNOCENT IV and ALEXANDER IV 1250 and 1259 respectively; went on Crusade 1240-41; Co- or sole Regent during his brother HENRY III's campaigns in Gascony 1253/54, fought with his brother HENRY III against Simon de Montfort's barons Battle of Lewes 1264, where captued; married 1st 30 March 1230/1 Isabel, 3rd daughter of William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and widow of Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford and (2nd Earl of) Gloucester, and had three sons (all died young or sp); married 2nd 22 Nov 1243, Sancha, sister of his brother HENRY III's wife ELEANOR and 3rd daughter and coheir of Raymond Berengar V, Count of Provence, and by her had two or three further sons (also died young or sp, including the 2nd and last EARL OF CORNWALL); married 3rd 16 June 1269 Beatrice, 2nd daughter of Waldram de Fauquemont (or Valkenberg, Nr Maastricht), Seigneur de Montjoie and brother of Engelbert Archbishop of Cologne, and died 2 April 1272, leaving by Jeanne de Valletort an illegitimate son:
         RICHARD de CORNWALL: granted 1283 by his half brother 2nd EARL OF CORNWALL the Manor of Thunnock, Lincs; killed Siege of Berwick 1296, leaving, with an elder son (Sir Edmund):
         Sir GEOFFREY CORNWALL: 1st feudal Baron of Burford, Salop; married by 1309 as her 1st husband, Margaret (born 14 Sept 1295; married 2nd William de Evereys and died circa Dec 1345), younger daughter and coheir of Hugh de Mortimer, 1st and last Lord (Baron) Mortimer of the Feb 1298/9 creation (see ZOUCH, B), and died by June 1335 leaving, with other issue, including an eldest son (Geoffrey):
         Sir RICHARD CORNWALL: 2nd feudal Baron of Burford; born 1313; married Joan - and died 1343 leaving:
             1a GEOFFREY (Sir)
             2a A son
             3a John (Sir): married -, niece of the Duke of Brittany ...
   The eldest son,
         Sir GEOFFREY CORNWALL: born 1335; 3rd feudal Baron of Burford; married Cecilia Seymour and died 1365, leaving, with other issue, including an elder son (Bryan(Sir), born 1355, 4th Feudal Baron of Burford, Sheriff Salop 1378-80 and Staffs 1378, married Matilda - and dsp 1400):
         RICHARD CORNWALL>: born 1360; 5th feudal Baron of Burford; married Cecilia, daughter of Sir John Merbury, and died 1443, having had an elder son:
         EDMUND CORNWALL: married 1st -; married 2nd Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de la Barre, and dvp Cologne 1435, leaving an eldest son:
         THOMAS CORNWALL: married Elizabeth Lenthall and had issue.
5. Pedigree of the Cornwall family of Burford in "The Visitation of Shropshire taken in the year 1623" (published by The Harleian Society 1889), page 146, shows Sir Geoffrey Cornwall's eldest son Sir Bryan, Baron of Burford, dying without children 7 January 1 Henry IV [1400], and being succeeded as Baron of Burford by his next younger brother Sir Richard.
6. "Calendar of the Fine Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office" Vol XVII", 1937, page 282, notes an entry dated 19 Nov 1443, which states :
   "Commitment to John Stathum, esquire, and to John, Thomas, Henry and Nicholas, his sons, by mainprise of Bartholomew Whitfeld of Heydour, co Lincoln, gentilman, and John de Carleton of Lyndryk, co Nottingham, yoman, of the keeping of the castle and lordship of Horeston (or whatever be the name by which they are known), co Derby, which were granted to Richard Hastynges knight, for the term of his life by Henry V, with reversion to the king and his heirs, and which are in the king's hand by the death of the said Richard; to hold the same from9 Setember 1448 for 40 years, at a yearly farm of 11^li; for which answer has been made to the king, and an increment of 20s"
7. "Collectanea Topographica Et Genealogica", Volume 1, 1834, includes "Notices of the family of Foljambe ... chiefly from the private charters of the family; by Nathaniel Johnston, MD, 1701", which is said to be "from a transcript among Mr Gough's MSS in the Bodlean library". Included, as No 74, on page 111 is :
   ... Roger and his brother Thomas died this year [28 Hen VI - 1449/50] without male issue, for I find the same year that John Sacheverill Esq, Robert Tickhill Esq, John Francis and William Norton, give to Godith Statham, daughter of John Statham, a mess. in Tideswell and other lands, which they held of the feoffment of Roger Foljambe, son and heir of Sir Edward Foljambe, which was intailed to the said Roger and his heirs male, and for want of such issue to Thomas Foljambe of Walton. And if the said Thomas Foljambe of Walton die without issue, then to the heirs of the aforesaid Roger Foljambe."
   On page 345 it states :
   The 26^th Hen VI [1447/78]. Thomas Foljambe of Walton Esq, and Thomas his son. Whereas Godith Statham, daughter of John Statham Esq, holds for term of life three messuages and lands in Tideswell and Lytton, the remainder, after the death of Roger Foljambe , to the said Thomas and his heirs, he confirms the possession of Godith for life."
8. See her husband John's page for details.
9. "Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire", by J Charles Cox, 1875, Volume 4, page 328, within the chapter on Morley church, contains the transcriptions of two commemorative brasses Firstly :
   "Orate pro anima Johanis Stathum Armigeri, quondam istius ville qui bene et notabilitier hanc ecclesiam egit qui obiit vii^o die Novembris Anno Domini Millesimo ccccliij^o. Et pro anima Cecilie uxoris euis que obiit xxv^o die Aprilis Anno Domini Millesimo ccccxliiij^o quorum animabus propicietur deus"
   Secondly :
   Here lieth John Stathum Squyer somtyme lorde of this towne and Cecily his Wyfe. Which gat to yis Churche iii belles & ordyned iii^s iiii^d yerely for brede to be done in almes amonge pore folk of y^s parisch in y^e day of y^e obit of dame Godith sometyme lady of y^s towne. The said John died the vi day of November y^e yere of our lord M cccc liiij and the said Cecily died the xxv day of April the yere of our lord M cccc xliiij of whos Sowles God have Mercy Amen.
   These two memorials differ as to the year of John's death - either 1453 or 1454. I am tempted to trust the brass which seems more likely to be contemporaneous, and gives the date as 1453, just a few days after John had agreed to pay Breadsall Priory for prayers for his soul. The wording of the other brass, seems likely to be a little later in date, and so less likely to have the correct date.