Medieval Bastards

I believe I have isolated a case of infidelity and illegitimacy in the Newburgh family.  John Newburgh Esq. has been our anchor ancestor for this time period and it appears that he was in a relationship with Alice Carent while married to Edith Attemore Newburgh.

The facts are that John Newburgh Esq. (b. 7 July 1402)  was first married in April 1422 to Edith Attemore. She died c. 1448. They had three sons who are detailed in the 1449 Feet of Fines – as John Jr., Robert, and Thomas. (Feet of Fines Vol. 10, 370-71) When Edith died the Esquire quickly remarried Alice Carent Westbury (a widow) in 1448/9. This was also mentioned in the Feet of Fines pages. The Esquire supposedly sired a son William with Alice. However, he was TOO OLD to have been born after their 1448/9 marriage. Alice’s first husband John Westbury also died in 1448. 

An interesting sidebar to Alice’s Westbury marriage may or may not be relevant:  Alice and JOHN WESTBURY purportedly had a young son also named William who died under illegal wardship with his uncle, Nicholas Carent, Dean of Wells Cathedral, on the eve of St. James the Apostle, 24 July 1453. This young William died AFTER Alice’s marriage to John Newburgh.

The older William (the Esquire’s son) was killed in May of 1471 (Tewkesbury). At the time, William had four sons. Just four months after William's death the Esquire transferred his East Lulworth legacy by charter to William’s heirs, bypassing his first wife’s sons - John Jr., Robert, and Thomas.
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The eldest of William’s sons was John Newburgh Senior who was 27 years of age at his grandfather’s death in 1483. Which would make his birth abt. 1456. Consequently, his father WILLIAM must have been born c. 1431 or later, which was the period in which the Esquire was still married to his first wife Edith.

I have verified this theory via the work of author Helen Matthews, titled The Legitimacy of Bastards.  Matthews' study lays out the formulaic property laws that governed the transfer of wealth in the late 14th and 15th centuries via feoffees (enfeoffment to uses). It was not uncommon for illegitimate sons to take precedence over legitimate heirs. Matthews' work is a a must read to understanding the evolving property law in the Middle Ages. I recommend this highly readable book for anyone trying to understand English property law. 

Another interesting point was how many of the Beaumont people are mentioned in this book. Something that I didn't know was  King William II married Isabel, widow of Robert de Beaumont/Newburgh Count of Meulan and Earl of Leicester!  Many other family names collateral to the Newburghs are mentioned in this book.

When I think about the Esquire's withdrawal of his 'right heirs'  primogeniture during the 15th century, I wonder how the line would have turned out, and if Lulworth would have been preserved under their continued chamberlainship.

​Until next time . . .