In this pair of related 1494 cases, first Herbert Rowland sued Elizabeth Croft to claim her as his wife and then Margaret Hordley sued Herbert Rowland to claim that he had previously married her. A conspiracy-minded person (i.e. me) might suspect that the second suit was a set-up, an attempt to rescue Elizabeth Croft, aContinue reading “Herbert Rowland c. Elizabeth Croft; Margaret Hordley c. Herbert Rowland”
Category Archives: Marriage
John Grey c. Josia Milner
Another short and sweet case (or maybe not so sweet for the defendant). John Grey evidently sued Josia Milner to force her to recognize a marriage solemnized between them three years before. Her defence was that she was already married at that time to a man named John Nelson, thus nullifying her marriage with Grey.Continue reading “John Grey c. Josia Milner”
Thomas Laurence c. Agnes Jaco alias Sawier
This is one of those Consistory suits that is not really adversarial: both plaintiff Thomas Laurence and defendant Agnes Jaco alias Sawier appear to have wanted to be married to one another. There may in fact have been another plaintiff only obliquely indicated in these depositions, John Weston, and it was certainly his objections toContinue reading “Thomas Laurence c. Agnes Jaco alias Sawier”
William Gilbert c. Ellen Harrison
This set of depositions all appear to point to the same set of facts, with some minor differences of memory as to what day the transactions took place: William Gilbert and Ellen Harrison exchanged vows of consent to marry before several men and (according to hearsay, at least) also on other occasions. The later stepsContinue reading “William Gilbert c. Ellen Harrison”
Agnes Eston c. John Crosby
In 1494, a young servant woman, Agnes Eston, sued John Crosby. The two had been spending time alone in her chamber, with her employers encouraging the relationship and turning a blind eye to the impropriety. Eston alleged that the two had exchanged binding vows of marriage, but Crosby denied it – occasioning this lawsuit. WitnessesContinue reading “Agnes Eston c. John Crosby”
Elizabeth Kirkhouse c. Richard Haymond and Emma Cowper
In this lawsuit, the deponents, including defendant Richard Haymond himself, all tell different parts of the same story, that Richard was already married to Elizabeth Kirkhouse when a year later he bigamously married Emma Cowper. The point of the lawsuit was clearly to annul Haymond’s marriage to Cowper so that he could resume his spousalContinue reading “Elizabeth Kirkhouse c. Richard Haymond and Emma Cowper”
Agnes Moyne and Margaret Broke c Christopher Kechyn
Christopher Kechyn, a carpenter of mature years, was busy in 1496, contracting marriage with at least three young women. This brought him in early 1497 before both the Consistory – where two of those women, Agnes Moyne and Margaret Broke, sued him to enforce the contracts they claim to have made with him – andContinue reading “Agnes Moyne and Margaret Broke c Christopher Kechyn”
Christopher Bradley c Margaret Bradley
In May 2024, I found in the London Consistory records this highly unusual case of an apparent intersex person. She[1] was Margaret Bradley of Edmonton and Hackney, Middlesex, whose husband Christopher sued her in 1522 to annul their marriage. Six women, three midwives and three apparent neighbours of Christopher in Hackney, testified in significant anatomicalContinue reading “Christopher Bradley c Margaret Bradley”
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