Ellen Mortemer of Bermondsey sued William Chowe in 1492; all we have of the case is Chowe’s response to her submission, which we can infer involved a claim that the two of them had contracted marriage three or four years before. Chowe admitted that she and he had made conditional vows of marriage: as longContinue reading “Ellen Mortemer c. William Chowe”
Tag Archives: Marriage gifts
Agnes Crowcher c. John Trewington or Trewerton
Agnes Crowcher sued John Trewington in 1492 to enforce a contract of marriage she claimed they had made. In responding to her suit, Trewington denied they had made any such contract. We can infer from his answers that she had made a claim that either he gave her, or she gave him, a coin asContinue reading “Agnes Crowcher c. John Trewington or Trewerton”
Marion Filders c. John Arnold
This may be an example of a stalled marriage process: according to the three witnesses, more than two years before, Marion Filders and John Arnold had contracted marriage in the house of John and Elizabeth Hayward in Stratford Langthorne, Essex. The only hint as to what had gone wrong afterwards is in the third witness’sContinue reading “Marion Filders c. John Arnold“
Joan Munden c. John Fynke
In this case from the town of Walthamstow in Essex, Joan Munden sued John Fynke to enforce a contract of marriage she claimed he made with her but which he refused to honour. As the testimony indicates, the meaning of gifts and sex in a relationship between an unmarried man and woman were ambiguous. Legally,Continue reading “Joan Munden c. John Fynke”
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”
Alice [Unknown] c. John Remyngton
Though only the response of the defendant survives for this case and even the full name of the plaintiff is unknown, we can infer some of her claims from John Remyngton’s denials: she evidently argued that they had exchanged tokens of marriage and had slept together as man and wife. Remyngton denied that either meantContinue reading “Alice [Unknown] c. John Remyngton”
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”
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”
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