Where did January go? In my case, it was spent typing manically to hit my deadline -I did it – just. So, where next? Opus Anglicanum – or the English embroidered tradition is where Zoom classes will be heading. Hopefully by the end of next week I shall have sorted some dates out. And do not fear, this will not be a class focusing on stitching techniques. It will be about luxury, commerce, power and politics. There will be wool merchants, the Silk Road, popes, kings and a mermaid.
For now though, I’d like you to meet Sir Hugh Jonys or Jones. This chap needs a book! I found out about him because Johnys tutored Henry Tudor, in the art of warfare while he was under the guardianship of the Herberts. Unfortunately I couldn’t include everything I found out about him in the ext – so here he is now. Sir Hugh’s career began as a soldier of fortune before he eventually served in the army against the French. He rose to the rank of deputy marshal in the service of John Mowbray, Duke of York. He was also well versed in the rules of chivalry. In 1453, he even took part in a trial held by the Court of Chivalry, in a case of treason. The court, a military tribunal, was not part of England’s system of common law. Its judges were the constable of England and the earl Marshal and its remit was to judge cases relating to deeds of war including disputes about ransoms and the use of coats of arms. Robert Norris was accused of treason. It’s unclear exactly what Robert Norris said or did to be accused of treason on 11 May by John Lyalton. However, it was decided that Norris would answer the charge on 25 June at Smithfield in a trial by combat. Johnys was one of the seven-man panel assigned to advise the defendant. He was described as ‘an established martial reputation’[1] and was undoubtedly an excellent choice to be William Herbert’s weapon’s master. His kinship to Herbert through the Vaughan family[2] may have been another reason he was selected for the task of training Herbert’s sons and wards.
The splendid memorial brass of Johnys and his second wife, Maud, at St Mary’s Church, Swansea depicts him in a cuirass and mail skirt reaching to his knees. It records that Sir Hugh went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he became a member of the confraternity, or lay guild, of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and that he fought against the Turks for five years following the date that he entered the knighthood on 14 August 1441. Arrangements for admission into the knighthood lay in the hands of the Holy Sepulchre’s Franciscan friars who were entrusted with Christian custody of the Holy Land and the tomb of Christ following the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291 to the Mameluk Sultanate. On his arrival in Jerusalem, Johnys was deemed worthy of the honour of knighthood by the friars, or at least made them a generous donation.
Prior to travelling to the Holy Land, Johnys served John VIII, Emperor of Constantinople, joining his forces, possibly as a mercenary, in 1436. An additional incentive for men who wished to defend Christian Constantinople was the issuing of papal indulgences, which pardoned earlier sins, which in turn would mean that men like Johnys believed that they would spend less time in purgatory, before gaining entry to heaven, after they died. Johnys service is known to have taken him to Troy, Greece and Turkey where he fought at sea as well as on land, although it is impossible to pinpoint exactly which battles he took part in.
When he returned to Europe, Johns served under, Lady Margaret Beaufort’s father, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset in France as the duke’s knight marshal. From 1446, he transferred his service to Richard of York. On his return to England, he served as a deputy to the Duke of Norfolk who was the Marshal of England. It served Norfolk’s purposes to have someone he could trust in the Gower region of South Wales with oversight of his lands there. Johnys proved to be as capable an administrator as he was a soldier. In 1452, he was appointed steward to the manors of Redwick and Magor in Monmouthshire by Henry VI. The king made the grant because of Johns’ military service in France and his career as a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. The Byzantine emperor wrote personally to Henry commending Sir Hugh to him. By the time that the duke died in 1461, Johnys was part of the regional gentry fulfilling essential administrative roles on behalf of his patron.
Johns first wife, Mary, died at some time during the early 1450s. He sought a second wife with the aid of his patrons Richard Duke of York and Richard Neville, 3rd Earl of Warwick. During his first protectorate, the duke wrote in support of his knight’s desire to marry, commenting on Johny’s ‘gentillesse’.[3] Despite the recommendation, the woman Johnys wanted to marry declined his proposal. The letters held by the British Museum are undated but gave rise, due to a small transcription error, to the belief that Johnys sought Elizabeth Woodville’s hand in marriage whereas, in reality, he wished to wed a twice-widowed, and consequentially, wealthy woman named Elizabeth Woodhill. In about 1455, the knight married Maud Cradock, the daughter of another landowning family in the Gower.
On 15 1468, Sir Hugh became one of poor knights of Windsor, who were part of the college of St George’s Chapel. It is likely that Maud, who was co-incidentally a cousin of Matthew Cradock who served in the household of Prince Arthur at Ludlow, was dead by that time. The poor knights were a group of men in receipt of alms, totalling 40s each year and care during their old age. In return, Windsor’s ordinances stipulated that they were expected to attend chapel three times a day for which they received a daily payment of 12d. Knights who did not attend services forfeited their 12d which was shared among the knights who were present. By the time Hugh became a poor knight the college had arrived at a situation that rather than the twenty-six military men envisioned by Edward III there were never more than three knights in residence at any one time. This arose from the necessity of ensuring that there were sufficient funds to go around. There was also a rule that stipulated that no poor knight should have an income of more than £20 per annum. Johnys was anything but poor since he was still in receipt of the incomes granted to him by the Duke of Norfolk and King Henry VI. He certainly had sufficient funds to purchase a tenement on Fisher Street in Swansea on 19 March 1460. Hugh’s affluence was ignored. He took the place of Thomas Grey who died in Spetember 1468[4] and is listed as being residence from 1 January 1469 to September 1480.[5]
Records show that Johnys did not attend all of the required services. It may reasonably be assumed that his absences reflect trips to the Gower supervising his lands during the summer months, at harvest and when rents fell due at Michaelmas, as well as fulfilling his other commitments[6] in Wales. He spent the winter months at Windsor fulfilling his obligations to the chapel. In 1483 parliament absolved the dean and chapter of the need to support the knights. It gave occasion to Henry VII remembering his old weapons master at Raglan. On 15 October 14 155 Johnys was compensated with a grant of £10 for the loss of his position as a poor knight ‘in consideration of the good service that Sir Hugh John, knyght, did unto us in our tender age’ [7] Johns did not have long left to enjoy life. His name does not appear after the end of 1485.
Of Johnys seven children, two daughters are known to have married into the Gower’s gentry while a son, Robert Jones, became constable of Llantrisant Castle, keeper of Clun Park and of Barry Island from December 1485 until his death in 1532. He served in the household of King Henry VII as a groom of the king’s chamber and was one of the ushers at Henry’s funeral in 1509. He went on to serve King Henry VIII and present at the marriage of Mary Tudor to King Louis XII.[8]
[1] Compton-Reeves p.75
[2] Robinson, p.15
[3] Bliss, p.5
[4] Roger, p.199
[5] Ibid p.175
[6] Ibid, p.201
[7] Robinson, ‘Sir Hugh Johnys: A Fifteenth-Century Welsh Knight’, p. 31.
Ibid., pp.25-6; Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII, I, p. 581.
[8] . (p32-33 ft89 Robinson)
