Nicholas Fitzherbert Archives - The History JarThe History Jar

Hurrah – that’s the indexing done – although bizarrely I actually rather like doing the final stages of the process. Think I need to have a better starting process though… Anyway, we took a trip because as those of you know me understand, I do like a list. And I have a lovely book entitled Memorials of the Wars of the Roses by W.E. Hampton. It’s also an opportunity to replace some of the images that disappeared when my external hard drive stopped working.

So today, it was a trip to Norbury and the wonderfully named church of St Mary and St Barlok near Ashbourne. I’ve posted about the location before (https://thehistoryjar.com/2015/07/17/nicholas-and-ralph-fitzherbert-a-glimpse-of-the-wars-of-the-roses/ – click on the link to open a new tab) as I have a fascination with the livery collar that Ralph is wearing.

The FitzHerbert name is a well known one in Derbyshire. Ralph Fitzherbert was lord of the manor at Norbury from 1473 onwards when he inherited the estate from his father, Nicholas Fitzherbert (whose effigy sports a livery collar with a lion pendent) Originally, during the 12th century, the holding was granted by the Abbot of Tutbury but by the 15th century the family owned the manor, having exchanged some land with the abbey, rather than renting their principle seat at Norbury. Inevitably he was caught up in the events of the Wars of the Roses, hence my interest. The gentry in Derbyshire principally supported the House of Lancaster who were their patrons from the medieval period onwards. Nicholas FitzHerbert made the transition from Lancaster to York and served in an administrative capacity with the county. He was associated with Walter Blount who got himself into difficulty with the rest of Derbyshire’s gentry because of his support for the House of York.

Ralph FitzHerbert owed his own loyalty to William, Lord Hastings who, you may recall, was one of Edward IV’s friends. It was he who was with the king when he was forced to flee his realm in 1470. The least said about his womanising the better. In return for supporting Hastings, Fitzherbert expected political advancement – this was the era of so-called ‘bastard feudalism’.

In 1475 FitzHerbert was part of the force which accompanied Hastings to France on military campaign. His place in Hastings’ retinue may have seen him at Picquigny where a peace deal was agreed. Fitzherbert’s association with Hastings so him rise to become a teller of the king’s money before becoming his remembrancer. A remembrancer essentially kept a list, or a roll, so that barons of the exchequer knew what business was pending.

We know that FitzHerbert married Elizabeth Marshall from Upton in Leicestershire. It was a good match as she was an heiress – and should not be surprising. After all, it was the way in which gentry families extended their land holdings and kinship networks to increase their power base within a particular region. Elizabeth who outlived her husband asked to be buried beside him.

Ralph made his will on 21 January 1484 and after his death, in March, was buried in the church with an effigy which recorded his loyalty to the house of York – in particular to Richard III. His livery collar is an unusual one as it depicts Richard’s white boar (I still think it’s the only extant one on an effigy.) Ralph, a pious medieval Christian, wished to ensure a smooth transition from purgatory to Heaven. His will details money to be given to the priests officiating at his funeral and well as to various abbeys so that prayers could be said for his soul.

His heir, John, was to receive the hall’s hangings, an iron grate, the best bed, armour, a flock of sheep with a ram as well as a wagon, 6 oxen and 6 cows. Another son, Thomas, was also in receipt of a bed as were two of Ralph’s daughters. They were also gifted a silver cup each.

John FitzHerbert had his own difficulties to contend with – aside from the effigy of his father sporting a noticeable link to Richard III at the start of the Tudor period. He was married to Benedicta Bradbourne (yet more kinship networks and alliances within the region – her mother was part of the Vernon family) but it didn’t work out quite as his family might have hoped. John’s will, written in 1517, records that the couple were no longer cohabiting because Benedicta had been unfaithful. He described her as ‘lewd and vile’ ( LRO, B/A/1/14, fol. 109v.) – so not a harmonious parting of the ways. His will goes on to ensure that she did not receive any dower rights. Under English law she would usually have been entitled to a third of her husband’s estates for her use during her life time. Sometimes it is quite frustrating to be provided with a fragment of a tale but not to be able to locate more information! And this is one of those occasions.

So in Derbyshire the other 7 ‘Wars of the Roses’ effigies are -At Ashover the effigies of Thomas Babington and his wife Edith FitzHerbert. John Babington, Thomas’s father, fought for Richard III at Bosworth and its possible that Thomas did as well but he made the transition to the Tudor regime.

Ashbourne – John Cokayne and his wife Anne Vernon. He was associated with the Duke of Buckingham and on one occasion Nicholas Fitzherbert was called upon to arrest him for being at feud with the Blount family. Like FitzHerbert he served Lord Hastings in France in 1475.

Barlow – Robert Eyre and his wife Margaret Delves.(Yorkist livery collar)

Hathersage Robert Eyre of Padley and his wife Elizabeth FitzWilliam. He also served Lord Hastings in 1475 and his ability to shift with the tide is reflected by his service as a justice of the peace under Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII.

Kedleston John Curzon and his wife Elizabeth Eyre (SS collar)

Morley John Sacheverell and wife Joan Statham. Another Derbyshire member of the gentry indentured to serve Lord Hastings in 1474- so in France 1475.

Youlgrave Thomas Cokayne (York collar) – Served Lord Hastings in France in 1475.

I’ve posted about the Ashover and Ashbourne images before but will be revisiting them. Inevitably I will be looking at Nottinghamshire for research into The Little History of Nottinghamshire (a further eight). In Yorkshire – for those of you who are wondering,-there are a whopping 49 effigies with a link to the Wars of the Roses including the tomb chest at Beverley – which definitely doesn’t have an effigy- of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland.

FitzHerbert, R. H C. (1897). Will of Ralph Fitzherbert, Esq. of Norbury, A.D. 1483.. The Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 19. Vol 19, pp. 94-100. https://doi.org/10.5284/1065424.

Norbury in Derbyshire is mentioned in the Domesday Book. By 1125 it was in the hands of the Fitzherbert family who initially rented the estate from Tutbury Priory. The remains of the Fitzherbert’s medieval hall stands next door to the church. It was in this building, according to George Elliot’s imagination that milk maid Hetty Sorrel could be found. Historically speaking the building is a mishmash of reconstruction including a beam dated to 1483. One side of the beam is beautifully worked the other, not meant for public view, is still covered by bark.

The Fitzherberts built a fine hall and an even finer church. The glass dated originally from the beginning of the fourteenth century – not much of it remains but the chancel is a beautiful ‘lantern’ flooded by light on three sides. Three alabaster tombs dominate the church. The stone came from just nine miles away and with the right camera traces of the original paints can still be glimpsed.

Nicholas Fitzherbert, shown left, died in 1473. He was the eleventh lord. He’s wearing a collar decorated with suns and roses. The suns are representative of the sun in splendor reflecting Edward’s victory at Mortimer’s Cross in 1461 when a parhelion, which could have struck mortal dread into his army, was used by Edward as a sign of forthcoming victory – each one of the suns represented one the Earl of March’s surviving sons – Edward, George and Richard. The roses are, of course, the white roses of York. At the bottom of Nicholas’s collar, a pendant can be glimpsed beneath marble hands raised in prayer. It is a pendant of a lion. The white lion is representative of the House of March – and Edward’s Mortimer descent: a reminder that the House of York came from a line senior to that of the House of Lancaster. Anne Mortimer, Edward IV’s grandmother, was the great-granddaughter of Lionel of Antwerp. He was the second son of Edward III.

So Nicholas, even in death, is declaring his allegiance to the House of York. He is also fully dressed in plate armour and his head rests on his helm but as Mercer states in The Medieval Gentry: Power, Leadership and Choice During the Wars of the Roses history does not know what Nichols’s role was during the Wars of the Roses or how he demonstrated his loyalty to Edward IV.

One thing is sure, livery badges as these collars are often known were important indicators of political affiliation during the Wars of the Roses. It is known that King Richard III gave away huge numbers of his livery badges made from cloth at the time of his coronation in 1483. Richard’s personal badge – the white boar- a play on the Latin ebor meaning York and a reminder of Richard’s northern powerbase has been found on pendants and hat badges across the country including Richard’s home at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire.

In Norbury, on the opposite side of the chancel from Nicholas there is a second alabaster tomb. It depicts Nicholas’s son Ralph, shown left and in the first picture in this post, and his wife. Like his father Nicholas is wearing a collar depicting suns and roses but the pendant is different. Nestled under Ralph’s hands is a tiny boar. Ralph died in 1483 shortly after making his will requesting that he should be buried in Norbury Church so he could not know that a mere two years later the white boar would be evidence of untrustworthiness so far as the new Tudor kings of England were concerned.

The Fitzherberts did not thrive under the Tudors; not because of their Yorkist fealties but because of their Catholicism. Like many of the old established families the Fitzherberts were conservative in their religious beliefs. By the reign of Elizabeth I the Fitzherberts faced severe financial penalities for their continued beliefs and Sir Thomas Fitzherbert would spend thirty years in prison because of his faith.

Mercer, Malcolm. (2012). The Medieval Gentry: Power, Leadership and Choice During the Wars of the Roses. London: Continuum Books.