The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West Part 24

=Sub isto saxo tumulat' corpus Steph'i Payne, armiger', fil' et hered' Nichi' Payne, arm', quond' seneschali hujus monasterii, gui obiit xiiij die mens' Decembris: Anno D'ni m.ccccc.viij: cujus a'ie p'piciet' altissimus De'. Amen.=

The indents of four s.h.i.+elds, two at the top and two at the bottom of the stone, are visible.

Stephen Payne held the office of Seneschal to the Abbess, which probably meant her Steward or Bailiff for the Abbey property. Of him, says Hutchins,--

"Here (Shaftesbury) was another freehold held 2 Henry VIII., 1511, by Stephen Payne at his death; namely--seven messuages, three gardens in Shaston, of the Abbess; forty acres of land in Bellchalwel of the Earl of Northumberland; and seventy-eight acres of land in the hundred of Alcester, of the Abbot of Evesham, by rent of five s.h.i.+llings."

In the chancel window are two escutcheons;--1. _Azure, a dolphin embowed_ or (FITZJAMES OF LEWSTON), impaling, _Bendy of eight or and azure, within a bordure of the first_ (NEWBURGH OF WINFRITH), the s.h.i.+eld encircled by a riband, but the inscription destroyed.

"The ancient family of Fitzjames," continues Hutchins,

"was formerly seated at Redlynch. Sir John Fitzjames, knt., son of James Fitzjames, married Alice, daughter of John Newburgh of East Lullworth, Esq., and was father to Sir John; Richard, bishop successively of Rochester, Chichester and London; and Aldred, ancestor of the Lewston line. The elder branch has been long extinct, but produced many eminent men. Sir John Fitzjames was lord chief justice of the king's bench thirteen years; died 30 Henry VIII., 1539."

On the other are,--quarterly, 1 and 4, _Argent, a barrulet gules, between four bars gemelles wavy azure_; 2 and 3, _Argent, a chevron gules, between three castles sable_.

Two further escutcheons display, one the emblem of the Trinity with customary legends, and the other--what is seldom seen in painted gla.s.s, being usually found sculptured on the frieze, or on the capitals of the pillars, at or over the entrance to chantry or chancel,--the imagery of

THE FIVE WOUNDS.

Look at yon carven s.h.i.+eld, Above the chantry door, No blazoned pride bedecks its field, But emblems five sprent o'er.

There are His pierced feet,-- There are His mangled hands,-- And wounded heart,--whose latest beat Ceased at love's sweet commands.

="Fyve wellys"=--there symbolled trace, Hus.h.i.+ng this mortal strife,-- "=Of pitty, merci, comfort, gracy, And everlastingh lyffe.="

The shepherd monk of old, Well his vocation knew, Set it o'er gateway of the fold, That all his flock may view.

Ere ranged in order close, They gathered round his board, Signs of His sorrows, sufferings, woes, With thankfulness adored.

Seen with unseen allied,-- Trusting their happy fate, Should some day see them glorified, Keystone of heaven's gate.

Wayfarer of to-day, The same tale runs for thee, As in the ages far away, And for all time to be.

As Sir Thomas Arundell did not get the royal grant until two years after the dissolution of the Abbey, it is probable the work of destruction on the fine building was considerably advanced, as but little time as a rule was allowed to elapse before the demolition commenced, anything that could be turned into money, such as the bells, lead, &c., sold, and the walls pulled down and carried away for building purposes.

Respecting this we further learn from Hutchins,--

"Tradition says, that one Arundell, steward to the Earl of Pembroke, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, built a large house in the town for himself, out of the Abbey materials.

This seems to have been the same which Mr. c.o.ker speaks of, when he says, 'The greatest ornament of the town is a fair turretted house of the Lord Arundell of Wardour.' But it is most probable it was built by Sir Thomas Arundell, or his son Sir Matthew, out of the ruins of the Abbey. It stands in Bymport Street, and has been a public house, it is now almost pulled down. In 1747, on the chimney piece were these arms,--1. ARUNDELL, _with crescent for difference_.--2. Quarterly, 1 and 4, _Gules, four lozenges ermine_ (DINHAM), 2 and 3, _Gules, three arches conjoined, argent_ (DE ARCHES).--3. CHIDIOCK.--4. _Sable (azure), a bend, with label of three points or, for difference_ (CARMINOW)."

This was not all the property Sir Thomas appears to have had a.s.signed him at the dissolution of religious houses. In 1547, Henry VIII.

granted him the house and site of the Priory (or College) of Slapton in South Devon, "except all the lead upon the said College other than the gutters, and the lead in the windows; except all the bells and ornaments"--the rectory, also that of Loddiswell, and three other manors in Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall. Although his wife's sister Queen Katharine had been executed four years previously, he is described as 'Chancellor' to her.

a.s.sociated with Sir Thomas Arundell at the Court of Henry VIII., and also in his country possessions in the west, was his relative Henry Daubeney, Earl of Bridgwater, a most unfortunate man. He was the son of Giles, Lord Daubeney, K.G., a trusted servant and soldier to Henry VII.; the old seat and possessions of the family being at South-Petherton, and later at Barrington Court near that town. Lord Daubeney married Elizabeth, sister of Sir Thomas Arundell, K.B., of Lanherne,--the father of Sir John Arundell, who was the father of the Sir Thomas of our narrative,--Henry Daubeney, Earl of Bridgwater, his only son, would therefore be Sir John's cousin.

But not only by kins.h.i.+p on his father's side, but also by a similar relations.h.i.+p on his wife's, was the Earl closely connected with Sir Thomas. Lord Bridgwater married secondly, Katharine Howard, daughter of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife Agnes Tilney.

She was therefore aunt to Sir Thomas' wife, being her mother's half-sister.

The Countess of Bridgwater was greatly persecuted during the trial of her niece Queen Katharine Howard, and almost every means was resorted to to implicate her with that unfortunate woman. The Earl, her husband, plunged into the vortex of expensive frivolities that surrounded the Court of Henry VIII., and it is related irretrievably crippled, if not finally ruined himself by extravagant display at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He died without issue, in seclusion and comparative penury at the little rural parish of South-Perrott, near Crewkerne, and was there buried 12 April, 1548,--his wife survived him, and was interred in the Norfolk Chantry in Lambeth church, 11 May, 1554.[42]

[42] For further account of this Earl, and his father Lord Daubeney, see "_Memorials of the West_," pages 173-220.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REGAL HERALDRY, TEMP. HENRY VIII., COWIC, EXETER.]

It was this double tie of relations.h.i.+p that doubtless led to the important transactions with regard to the sale or transfer of a large portion of the Earl's landed possessions to Sir Thomas Arundell, when from time to time he had necessity; or it may be by family arrangement to protect himself and wife from forfeiture, in those days of peril and consequent attainder and confiscation.

In 1536-8-9 Henry, Lord Daubeney, conveyed to his _nephew_, Sir Thomas Arundell, his manors of Tollard-Royal, Farnham, Long-Crich.e.l.l, Kershall, Goorsley, and Hampreston, with advowsons, &c., and Shaston, Wimborne-Minster, Gussage-All-Saints, Tarrant-Gunville, and Stubhampton, in the counties of Wilts and Dorset, with a clause "that if Henry, Lord Daubeney, should die without heirs to his body, the same should remain to the use of the said Sir Thomas Arundell and his heirs for ever." In 1542 the Earl conveyed the manor of South-Petherton to him. This included the manor and park of Barrington, and the forest of Roche (Neroche?) the advowson, Chantry, and free Chapel of South-Petherton, and of the Hundred, and lands at Yarcombe, &c.

And this leads us to his last and most important purchase, that of the Castle and Park of Wardour, on 4 July, 1 Edward VI., 1547.

Wardour Castle and its olden inhabiters have a special interest interwoven in our little narratives, three or four of the subjects of them, having successively, either occupied or possessed it.

About the year 1495 the Earl of Ormond granted a lease of it to the giant Sir John, afterward Lord Cheney, K.G.,--the "unhorsed at Bosworth,"--and it is not at all improbable that he may have died there, as he was buried at the not very far-distant cathedral of Salisbury.

Then on the 4 July, 14 Henry VII., 1499, three years after Lord Cheney's death, Thomas, Earl of Ormond, sold the Castle of Wardour to Robert, the first Lord Willoughby de Broke, "our Steward of Household," and according to one account, he is said to have died there, although his monument is found and he is probably buried at Callington, in far-distant Cornwall.

Lord Willoughby de Broke and his descendants appear to have retained possession of it until 1547, when his ultimate heiress Lady Elizabeth Greville and her husband Sir Fulke disposed of it to Sir Thomas Arundell.

Thus much, as a short notice of the princ.i.p.al landed possessions acquired by Sir Thomas Arundell. Some by gift of his father, others by arrangement with his uncle Lord Bridgwater, or by purchase from different possessors, and a further large portion partly by purchase,--if it may be so-called,--and partly probably by free grant from the King, Henry VIII., the whole of which in the aggregate would const.i.tute Sir Thomas a wealthy man, and a west-country magnate of leading position.

A curious circ.u.mstance becomes noticeable here. The sale and grants of property acquired under Henry VIII. were the despoiled possessions of the Church, the property of the suppressed and dismantled Abbey of Shaftesbury, and dissolved Priory or College of Slapton. Yet the Arundells (as also the Howards to whom they were so nearly allied) were at the time, and still continue to be, specially distinguished by their fealty to the Roman communion, the antient faith of their fathers. This fact, however, does not seem to have hindered his acceptance of what at the time, by common consent had been "set aside for the Lord." To which it may be answered, if he had not acquired it, many others were doubtless eagerly waiting for the chance; and it was never likely to return to fulfil the original purpose of the donors.

Notwithstanding the dangers that surrounded the Court of Henry VIII., and the perilous proximity of relations.h.i.+p in which, by marriage, he stood toward that monarch, specially amid the complications that arose during the impeachments, trials, and sad deaths of the two Queens, his wife's relatives; yet neither Sir Thomas, nor Lady Arundell, seems to have been involved or suspected in any way, indeed, to the contrary, as he appears subsequently to have experienced Henry's favour, it being three years after Queen Katharine Howard's death, when he received the grant of the Priory of Slapton from that king.

All this points to his being a prudent man, keeping aloof from the dangerous intrigues continually arising, and he has been described as a wise administrator. He was grandson of Cicely Bonville, the great west-country heiress, and his mother Elizabeth names him as one of the executors to her will, and therein describes him as "her trusty and well-beloved son."

Before the reign of Henry VIII. closed, its last victim was led to the scaffold, the accomplished Earl of Surrey, and nephew of Sir Thomas.

The Duke of Norfolk, his father, with cruel obduracy had presided over the trial of his niece the unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn, and now the same fate had overtaken his son. The executioner was waiting for himself also, but the unexpected death of Henry occurred just in time to save him. The "Fair Geraldine" of the poet Earl was a cousin of Sir Thomas on his mother's side, being the daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, who married the Lady Eleanor, probably a younger sister of the Lady Elizabeth Grey, mother of Sir Thomas.

With the conclusion of the reign of Henry VIII., the larger and presumably, on the whole, happier portion of the life of Sir Thomas Arundell may be said to have ended. The child-king, Edward VI., in January, 1547, commenced his reign, and four short years only were destined to pa.s.s before Sir Thomas was laid in a traitor's grave.

In 1549 a distinguished office was conferred on him, one that his father had held before him, and of peculiar honour in his native county, that of Receiver General of the Duchy of Cornwall.

This year, however, the first cloud appeared over his. .h.i.therto fortunate career. Himself, with his brother Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, were both suspected of being implicated in the rebellion of their uncle Humphrey Arundell, Governor of St. Michael's Mount, "a man well-esteemed for military services." This was the religious insurrection, demanding the old ritual, and antagonistic to the reformed service of the Church, which began in Cornwall, and gathering strength as it advanced, laid ineffectual siege to Exeter, where, however, the citizens, during their captivity, were reduced to great straits. The insurgents then marched to meet Lord Russell, who was stationed with some force at Honiton, but he defeated them with considerable loss at Feniton (or Fenny) Bridges. They then retreated to Clyst-Heath, near Exeter, where--

"they had brought with them a crucifix upon a cart, covered with a canopy, and beset with crosses, tapers, banners, holy bread and water, as a representation of those things for which they fought."

At Clyst-Heath, Lord Gray with his troops, reinforced with those under Lord Russell, dispersed the ignorant priest-led rustics with great slaughter;--

"The dispersion of the insurgents was followed by the same conduct on the part of the royal army, as if they had put to route a foreign enemy in his own country, 'for the whole country was then put to the spoil, and every soldier sought for his best profit.'"

Sir Anthony Kingston, as Provost-Marshal of the king's army, was commissioned to try and punish the delinquents, and his cruel and brutal conduct was quite on an equality with that of the wretched Jeffreys on a similar errand a century afterward;--

"Gibbets were set up in various places, on which great numbers of the leaders of the rebellion were hanged. Others, and especially Arundell, the chief captain, were carried to London, and there executed. It was reckoned that about four thousand in all perished by the sword or by the hands of the executioner, of those engaged in this Devons.h.i.+re (and Cornwall) insurrection."

Humphrey Arundell, their uncle, was conveyed to London and hanged at Tyburn in January, 1549-50. And then it is recorded in the Council book,--

"x.x.x. Jan., 1549-50. Sir Thomas Arundel, Knight, committed to the Tower by order of the board."