This case has a dramatic allegation. It starts with an ordinary path to marriage: Ann Munden made a contract of marriage with Thomas Lak in early January 1482 and then banns were read in church on three successive Sundays prior to the planned solemnization of the marriage. But then a man named Richard Bulle cameContinue reading “Thomas Lak c. Ann Munden”
Tag Archives: Banns
John Brocher c. Joan Cardif alias Peryn
In July 1487, John Brocher sued a young Essex widow, Joan Cardif alias Peryn, to enforce a marriage contract he claimed they had made the previous April. The witnesses – who included Cardif’s own mother and stepfather, both of whom testified against her – said that they had heard the couple exchange vows of marriage.Continue reading “John Brocher c. Joan Cardif alias Peryn”
Alice Billingham c John (or Thomas) Wellis
In 1488, Alice Billingam sued John Wellis, claiming that they had contracted marriage on Valentine’s Day 1486. The witnesses for the case had interesting things to say about how an employer might try to find a husband or wife for a servant; what a young man or woman on the market for a spouse wouldContinue reading “Alice Billingham c John (or Thomas) Wellis”
Robert Philipson c Joan Corney
This is a rural Essex case of lovers pledging their love over a fruit tart eaten in a field – until a father’s hostility split them up. In 1489, Robert Philipson sued Joan Corney to enforce a marriage contract he claimed they had made. Corney, when examined, said that she had agreed to marry himContinue reading “Robert Philipson c Joan Corney”
Thomas Hall and Thomas Salmon alias Miller c. Denise Pogger
In 1489, two men competed for the hand of widow Denise Pogger of Leyton, Essex, a woman who had her own house and perhaps more property. Both men presented a set of witnesses, each with a familiar-sounding story, the first of love thwarted by the materialist motives of the woman’s relatives and friends, the secondContinue reading “Thomas Hall and Thomas Salmon alias Miller c. Denise Pogger“
Richard Chevircourt and Margery Phillips c. Robert Dow
The making of a marriage in the fifteenth-century diocese of London was a process rather a single event. One common path was the making of the contract of marriage, an unbreakable bond, in a domestic setting with a few close friends and relations as witnesses, followed by several weeks or longer of preparations before aContinue reading “Richard Chevircourt and Margery Phillips c. Robert Dow”
Robert Warde c. Joan Qualley or Whalley
Within about five or six weeks of her husband William’s death in September 1491, London widow Joan Qualley or Whalley was receiving offers for her hand. She evidently considered Robert Warde, an ostler working for a local brewer, John Knap (likely the trade her late husband had also followed), but instead chose William Dichand. WhenContinue reading “Robert Warde c. Joan Qualley or Whalley“
Emma Rose c. Thomas Dicons and Margery Dicons
This case has a somewhat unusual form: a woman named Emma Rose sued a couple, Thomas and Margery Dicons, in order to have her own marriage to Thomas Dicons annulled. As all the witnesses including Thomas himself agreed, his marriage to Emma Rose had occurred after he was already married to Margery, making the secondContinue reading “Emma Rose c. Thomas Dicons and Margery Dicons”
William Yewle and Thomas Grey c. Katherine Garington
In 1493 William Yewle and Thomas Grey both sued Katherine Garington, each claiming she had contracted marriage with him. As her father Robert Elys had a different surname, on first glance it seems likely she was a widow, suggesting one reason (property from her dead husband) why both men sought to marry her, though ofContinue reading “William Yewle and Thomas Grey c. Katherine Garington”
Herbert Rowland c. Elizabeth Croft; Margaret Hordley c. Herbert Rowland
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”
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