In late June 1487, John Tailour sued the widow Agnes Fry to enforce a marriage contract he alleged they had made the previous April. Fry herself testified that when Tailour had first asked her to marry him, she had told him he would have to wait until her husband had been dead a year beforeContinue reading “John Tailour c. Agnes Fry”
Tag Archives: Widows and remarriage
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”
Margaret Niter and Agnes Skern c. Piers Curtes
This is a juicy case that brought in some of the highest in the land to pressure a reluctant man to go through with a marriage. In January 1488, widows Agnes Skern and Margaret Niter both sued Piers Curtes, each claiming that he had made a contract of marriage with them. Curtes was an importantContinue reading “Margaret Niter and Agnes Skern c. Piers Curtes”
Ann Styward c. Richard Styward
When Ann, the widow of tallowchandler Richard Alpe and mother of four underage children, married another tallowchandler, Richard Styward, in early 1488, something resembling a nightmare resulted. By Styward’s own admission, after their marriage was solemnized, he “violently and seriously beat” her and spent much of Richard Alpe’s (considerable) estate. As he noted, his assumptionContinue reading “Ann Styward c. Richard Styward“
William Calverley and William Case c. Joan Brown
The recently widowed Joan Brown lived in Stratford Langthorne, in a house large enough to have both a hall and a parlour. Widows with property were attractive marriage prospects, and in the summer of 1490 two men, William Calverley and William Case, sued her in the Consistory court, each presenting witnesses claiming to have beenContinue reading “William Calverley and William Case c. Joan Brown”
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“
John Maliber c. Agnes Dalston alias Boste
John Maliber sued Agnes Dalston alias Boste in 1493, claiming that she had unjustly withheld from him a bequest or legacy from her late husband, Thomas Dalston. Maliber had been Thomas Dalston’s apprentice, only newly beginning the usual seven-year term when Dalston died in 1484. Dalston’s surviving will indicates that he was a citizen glover.[1]Continue reading “John Maliber c. Agnes Dalston alias Boste”
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”
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”
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