Richard Williams (alias Cromwell)
Richard Williams | |
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![]() Portrait of a Man in Black, perhaps Sir Richard Williams (alias Cromwell), circa 1600, follower of Hans Holbein[1] | |
Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire | |
In office 1539–1540 | |
In office 1542–1544 | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1510 Glamorganshire, Wales |
Died | 20 October 1544 | (aged 33–34)
Spouse | Frances Murfyn |
Children | |
Parents |
|
Sir Richard Williams (c. 1510 – 20 October 1544), also known as Sir Richard Cromwell, was a
Early life
Richard Williams was born about 1510[2] in the parish of Llanishen, Glamorganshire.[3][4] He was eldest son and heir to Morgan (ap William) Williams, an aspiring Welsh lawyer[5][6] (and a paternal descendant of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, prince of Powys[7]) who moved from Glamorgan to Putney where he initially pursued his business of innkeeper and brewer.[8] Morgan Williams' good fortune was to marry Katherine Cromwell, the sister of Thomas Cromwell, long before the commencement of the latter's illustrious career as Henry VIII's great minister.[9] In later life, Williams and his son would benefit financially from this relationship, receiving substantial landholdings confiscated from the church.[10]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Sir_Richard_Cromwell_alias_Williams%2C_Coat_of_Arms.jpg/220px-Sir_Richard_Cromwell_alias_Williams%2C_Coat_of_Arms.jpg)
Protégé of Thomas Cromwell
Richard was brought into the court of King
Dissolution of the Monasteries
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Hinchingschool.jpg/220px-Hinchingschool.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Abbey_Gate_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1330157.jpg/220px-Abbey_Gate_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1330157.jpg)
During the
It is certain that on 8 March 1537/8, he had the grant of the nunnery of
Member of Parliament and High Sheriff
By 1539 he was a gentleman of the
He was knighted on 2 May 1540 during a tournament at Westminster where he distinguished himself by his military skill and gallantry:[14][28]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Portrait_of_a_Man_Called_Cromwell%2C_After_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg/220px-Portrait_of_a_Man_Called_Cromwell%2C_After_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Westminster_16C.jpg/220px-Westminster_16C.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Genealogy_of_the_Williams_alias_Cromwells%2C_from_about_1066_to_1602.jpg/220px-Genealogy_of_the_Williams_alias_Cromwells%2C_from_about_1066_to_1602.jpg)
On May day was a great triumph of jousting at Westminster, which jousts had been proclaimed in France, Flanders, Scotland, and Spain, for all comers that would, against the challengers of England, which were Sir
Durham-place, where they kept open household, and feasted the king and queen, with their ladies, and all the court. The 2nd of May, Anthony Kingstone, and Richard Cromwell, were made knights of the same place. The 3rd of May, the said challengers did Tourney on horseback, with swords; against them came 29 defendants: Sir John Dudley and the earl of Surrey running first, which the first course lost their gauntlets, and that day Sir Richard Cromwell overthrew M. Palmer in the field off his horse, to the great honour of the challengers. The 5th of May, the said challengers fought on foot, at the barriers, and against them came 30 defendants which fought valiantly, but Sir Richard Cromwell overthrew that day, at the barriers, M. Culpepper in the field; and the 6th of May the said challengers brake up their household. In the which time of their house-keeping, they had not only feasted the king, queen, ladies, and the whole court, as was aforesaid, but on the Tuesday in the rogation week, they feasted all the knights and burgesses of the common house in the parliament; and on the morrow after they had the mayor of London, the aldermen, and all their wives to dinner: and on the Friday they brake it up as is aforesaid.[29][30]
Sir Richard and the five other challengers, had each of them, as a reward for their valour, 100 marks annually, with a house to live in, to them and their heirs for ever, granted out of the monastery of the Friary of St Francis, in Stamford, which was dissolved, 8 October 1538,[31] which the king was better able to do, as Sir William Weston, the last prior, who had an annuity out of the monastery, died two days after the jousts.
We may form an idea of the esteem that the king had for him on account of his gallantry from the following anecdote; when Henry saw Sir Richard's prowess he exclaimed, "Formerly thou wast my Dick, but hereafter thou shalt be my diamond";[32] and dropped a diamond ring from his finger, which Sir Richard taking up, he presented it to him, bidding him afterwards bear such a one in the fore gamb of the demy lion in his crest.[33]
The fall and execution of Sir Richard's uncle Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, in July 1540,
Besides the grants already mentioned, Sir Richard had given to him the office of steward of the lordship of
War in France
When
Marriage and issue
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Holbein%2C_Hans_%28II%29_-_Portrait_of_a_lady%2C_probably_of_the_Cromwell_Family_formerly_known_as_Catherine_Howard_-_WGA11565.jpg/220px-Holbein%2C_Hans_%28II%29_-_Portrait_of_a_lady%2C_probably_of_the_Cromwell_Family_formerly_known_as_Catherine_Howard_-_WGA11565.jpg)
By 8 March 1534[14] Richard had married Frances (c. 1520–c. 1543),[1] daughter to Thomas Murfyn (d.1523), an alderman and a former Lord Mayor of London, and his second wife, Elizabeth Donne, daughter to Sir Angel Donne and Anne Hawardine.[1][49] Frances's stepfather, Sir Thomas Denys, whom her mother married in 1524, was a "great man of Devon" and friend of Thomas Cromwell.[1][50] The couple had two sons:[14]
- Henry Williams, alias Cromwell (1537[1]–1604),[51] Richard's eldest son and heir, grandfather of Oliver Cromwell.
- Knights of the Shire for the county of Huntingdon in 1572,[53] and later Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire; according to Fuller, he resided at Hinchingbrooke;[54] but his usual place of residence was at Hinchinford, in Huntingdonshire. He married Marg. the daughter of Henry Mannock, of that place,[55] and died 4 August 1598: by the inquisitio post mortem taken at St Ives, 16 November following, it appears that he left a son, Henry Williams, alias Cromwell, then 33 years of age, his heir, possessed of the site of St Neots Priory, called the Fermerne; manor of St Neots, valued at £14. per ann. with 80 acres of pasture, called Little and Great-Dirty Wintringham; the manor of Grafham, valued at £9. per annum and the manor of Hardwick, valued at £14. per annum held of the king by knights' service.[56]
Death
His wife was still living in June 1542,[1] but had died before her husband made his will, which was dated 20 June 1544.[1] He died on 20 October 1544.[14] In his will he styles himself Sir Richard Williams, otherwise called Sir Richard Cromwell, knt. and of his majesty's privy chamber; he directed that his body should be buried in the place where he should die; and devises his estates in the counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln, and Bedford, to his eldest son Henry, with the sum of £500 to purchase him necessary furniture, when he should come of age: his estates in Glamorganshire he devises to his son Francis and bequeathed £300 to each of his nieces, Joan, and Ann, daughters of his brother, Walter Cromwell; and directed that if Thomas Wingfield, then Sir Richard's ward, should choose to marry either of them, he should have his wardship remitted to him, otherwise the same should be sold. He also left three of his best great horses to the king, and one other great horse to his cousin, Gregory Cromwell, after the king had chosen: legacies were also left to his kinsmen, Sir John Williams, and Sir Edward North, chancellor of the court of augmentation; and to several other persons, who seem to have been servants. Gabriel Donne, Andrew Judde, William Coke, Philip Lentall, and Richard Servington, were appointed executors.[57] His will was proved on 24 November 1546.[58][59]
Noble observes that Sir Richard must have left a prodigious fortune to his family, by what he possessed by descent, grants and purchases of church-lands, and from the sums he must have acquired by filling very lucrative employments, with the liberal donations of Henry VIII. This is evident from his possessions in Huntingdonshire, the annual amount of which, at an easy rent, were worth at least £3,000 per annum. These estates only, in Fuller's time were,[60] he says, valued by some at £20,000 and by others as £30,000 annually, and upwards; and from what these estates now let for, in and near Ramsey[c] and Huntingdon (which are only a part of them) Noble presumes that Sir Richard's estates, in that county only, would in 1787 bring in as large a revenue as any peer at that time enjoyed; and yet it is evident that Sir Richard had considerable property in several other counties as well.
Notes
- Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, whose present greatness entirely obliterated his former meanness (Various lives of Oliver, lord protector, etc. as also miss Cromwell's pedigree); and it is observable, that Sir Richard's brothers also changed their name to Cromwell (Will of Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, prerogative-office, London, Alen 20. Pedigree of the Williams's, alias Cromwells, Harl. M.S.S. vol. 1174, and Harl. M.S.S. vol. 4135). Thus did the Williams's take, or super-add the surname of Cromwell to that of Williams; and, in almost all their deeds and wills, they constantly wrote themselves Williams, alias Cromwell, down to the seventeenth century. Though the cause of this change is well known, the time is not: many writers pretend the name of Cromwell was not taken up until the time that Sir Richard, was knighted during a tournament; but this is certainly erroneous, as there are grants of ecclesiastical lands patted to him by his names of Williams, alias Cromwell, as early as 1538: these authors are equally mistaken in supposing that the king never knew Sir Richard until the tournament, which cannot be; because those very grants patted some time before these martial games. With the name of Cromwell, Sir Richard assumed the arms of that family; but Sir Henry, his son, and his descendants, retook the proper arms of the Williams's, and never used any other (if the augmentation of the crest is excepted).
- John St John, and Sir John Gascoigne, captain of foot.[42]
- ^ Noble 1787, pp. 18, 19 notes:
The abbey of Ramsey, i.e. the Ram's isle, was one of the richest foundations in the kingdom: the abbot was mitred, and sat in the house of lords as baron of Broughton; the abbey had 387 hides of land, 200 of which were in Huntingdonshire: the monks were not famed for their liberality, if we believe the following ancient lines:
- Crowland as courteous, as courteous as may bee,
- Thorney the bane of many a good Tree,
- Ramsey the rich, and Peterborough the proud,
- Sawtry by the way that poor abbay, Gave more almes than
- all they.
Dugdale, and others, mistake when they say that Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, had all the ecclesiastical lands belonging to the dissolved foundations in that country.
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fitzgerald 2020.
- ^ a b Robertson 1975, p. 474.
- ^ Leland 1906, p. 17.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 5 cites: Leland's Itinerary, vide letter B in the proofs and illustrations.
- ^ Leithead 2009.
- ^ Gerhold 2017, pp. 3–4, 18, 26.
- ^ Burke 1884, p. 246.
- ^ Gerhold 2017, pp. 18, 27.
- ^ Gerhold 2017, p. 26.
- ^ Morrill 2008.
- ^ Metcalfe 1885, p. 69.
- ^ Siddons 1993, pp. 602–603.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hofmann 1982.
- ^ MacCulloch 2018, pp. 37–38, 46–47, 178.
- ^ DeWindt & DeWindt 2006, pp. 125–127.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 6 cites Vide letter E in the proofs, etc.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 7 cites William Dugdale's History of Warwickshire.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 7 cites: Grant in the possession of the Earl of Sandwich. Turkington, Bawynhoo, Elington, Staplewe, and Bewlow, are unknown, except Esington is put for Ellington, which is an adjoining parish to Alconbury.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 7 cites: Thomas Tanner, Notitia monastica, The church of All Saints, at Fulbourn, in Cambridgeshire, passed by this grant as an appendant to Saltry. Mr Baker's M. S. S.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 cites: Grant in the possession of the earl of Sandwich, whose ancestors purchased the manor of Eynsbury; Eton is supposed to be Eaton Socon, or Eton, in Bedfordshire, and is the adjoining parish to Eynesbury and Little Paxton, and where Lord Sandwich has a small parcel of land; probably the same that is mentioned above.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 cites: Papers communicated by the Rev. Dr Lort.
- ^ Almond 1911 states: "The revenue, according to Dugdale, was £1716. 12s. 4d., but according to Speed, £983. 15s. 31⁄4 d." and cites Chronicon Abbatiæ Rameseiensis in Rolls Series (1886); Cartularium Monasterii de Ramsesia in Rolls Series (3 vols.); Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, II (London, 1846); Reyner, Apostolatus Benedictinorum, 149; Wise, Ramsey Abbey, its rise and fall, (1881).
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 8 cites: The lakes belonging to the Abbey of Ramsey mentioned in the grant were, Huggemere (now Uggmeer) Browswage, Dawntiy (now Dantry) Longbeche, Pollingmere, Wickesmere, Rawingsmere, Baxtermere, Rowmere, and Worlinglowe. Noble gave them as they are written in his time; some of them are large waters, but they are inconsiderable places, many of them not having an house near them.
- Lord Carysfort, communicated to me. Mr. Fuller in his church hist, has fallen into some mistakes relative to Ramsey; he says the money paid was £4,963 4s. 2d. and that there was a rent of £29. 16s. reserved, but this does not appear by the grant, any more than that Sir Richard had all the manors held of the abbey in Huntingdonshire; not one is mentioned: however, he must have another grant for that purpose; it is certain that all Ramsey, and very many manors in Huntingdonshire became his, which once belonged to this abbey.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 9 The value of the ecclesiastical lands is entirely taken from Speed's maps, as he acknowledges, that he had the history of Huntingdonshire from a very learned and judicious friend of his, who was no other than Sir Robert Cotton, a gentleman every way qualified for such an undertaking. Hinchinbrooke is valued by Sir William Dugdale, at £17. 1s. od. and by Speed, in his Historie of Great Britaine, at £19. 9s. 2d. Sawtry, by them at £141 3s. 8d. and £199. 11s. 8d. and Ramsey, at £1,716 12s. 4d. and £1,983 15s. od. 3qr.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 9 cites: Grants, and Thomas Tanner, Notitia monastica.
- ^ Holinshed 1808, pp. 815–816.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 9–11.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 9 Notes: John Stow's chronicle of the jousting, etc. is copied verbatim into Holinshed's chronicle and Hall gives the same relation in his, only much more concise.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 11 cites: Fuller's hist, of the church, and M.S. in the possession of Dr Lort.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 11.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 11 cites: Fuller's church hist.—The more ancient way of bearing the crest was a javelin in the demy lion's gamb, the protector Oliver used it before his exaltation, but the stone ring after his assumption of sovereign power; Mr Peck not knowing the armorial bearing of the family, supposed it to represent, that he was married to the state: in one visitation of Huntingdonshire there is an ancient mace substituted for the gem ring; in another, a crescent.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 14 Vide no; i. vol. ii. of the persons and families allied to, or descended from the prot. house of Cromwell; in which is some account of Thomas Earl of Essex, and his descendants.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 14 cites: Nomina vice comitum, Harl. coll. no. 259.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Willis's Not. Parl.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Thomas Tanner, Notitia monastica.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Speed's maps. Dugdale values St Mary's at £187 13s. 8d. and Speed, in his history of Great Britain, at £232 7s. Dugdale and Sir Simon Degge, value St Neots at £241. 11s. 4d.—These grants passed to him, says Tanner, by the styles of Sir Richard Cromwell, alias Williams, and Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell.
- ^ a b Noble 1787, p. 17 cites Harl. M.S.S. vol. 433.
- ^ a b Noble 1787, p. 17 cites: M.S.S. lent to him by Dr Lort.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Holinshed's chronicle with those of Hall, Grafton, Cooper, Stow, and Martin.
- ^ Brenan & Statham 1907, p. 382.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Holinshed's chronicle.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 15 cites Cooper's chron.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 17 cites Dugdale's baronage—in 1544 the great seal was delivered to Thomas Lord Wriothesley, the deed being executed for that purpose, præsentibus tunc ibidem spectabilibus viris, amongst others, Ricardo Cromwell, milite. Rymer's fœdera.
- ^ "The Toledo Portrait". katherinethequeen.com. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Teri. "Katherine Howard and the Cromwells". onthetudortrail.com. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ Charles 1849, p. 80.
- ^ MacCulloch 2018, p. 114.
- ^ Fuidge 1981.
- ^ W.J.J. 1981.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites: Willis's not. parl.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites: Fuller's worthies, and nom. vicecomitum Harl. coll. no. 259, fay the 30th.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites: Visitation of Huntingdonshire, in 1613. Harl. M.S.S. vol. 1073.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 20 cites T. Cole's coll. ex. Recor. Cur. Wardor. Harl. M.S.S. Noble also notes that there can be little doubt but the above estates were the property of Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, knt. and it should be observed that the value of the lands mentioned in the inquisitions are usually about a 10th part of the annual value, and often not so much.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 17.
- ^ Fitzgerald 2020, fn 26.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 17 notes: Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell's will, is very long, covering four folio pages of parchment closely written (Prerogative Court of Canterbury: PCC 20 Alen). It is remarkable, that of the many wills of this family registered in the prerogative-office, there is not one that specifies any particular place for the interment of the testator.
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 18 cites Fuller's worthies
Attribution
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Noble, Mark (1787). Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period, and Continued Down to the Present Time,... Vol. 1 (3 ed.). London: C. G. J. and J. Robinson. pp. 5–20.
References
- Almond, Joseph Cuthbert (1911). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- Brenan, Gerald; Statham, Edward Phillips (1907). The House of Howard. Vol. 2. London: Hutchinson & Co.
- Burke, Bernard (1884). The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales: Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time. London: Harrison.
- Charles, Nicholas (1849). Ellis, Henry (ed.). The Visitation of the County of Huntingdon, under the authority of William Camden, Clarenceux king of arms, by his deputy, Nicholas Charles, Lancaster herald, A. D. MDCXIII. [London]: Printed for the Camden Society. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- DeWindt, Anne Reiber; DeWindt, Edwin Brezette (2006). Ramsey: the Lives of an English Fenland Town, 1200–1600 (illustrated ed.). CUA Press. pp. 125–128. ISBN 0-8132-1424-6.
- Fitzgerald, Teri (5 March 2020). "Sir Richard Cromwell: A King's Diamond". queenanneboleyn.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- Fuidge, N.M. (1981). "Cromwell, alias Williams, Henry (c.1537-1604), of Hinchingbrooke and Ramsey Abbey, Hunts". In Hasler, P.W. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603. Boydell and Brewer.
- Gerhold, Dorian (2017). Thomas Cromwell and his Family in Putney and Wandsworth. Wandsworth Papers. Vol. 31. London: Wandsworth Historical Society. ISBN 9780905121406.
- Hofmann, T.M. (1982). "Cromwell, alias Williams, Richard (by 1512-44), of London; Stepney, Mdx. and Hinchingbroke, Hunts.". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Boydell and Brewer.
- Holinshed, Raphael (1808). Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. Vol. 3: England. London: J. Johnson [et al]. pp. 815–816.
- Leithead, Howard (May 2009) [2004]. "Cromwell, Thomas, earl of Essex (b. in or before 1485, d. 1540)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6769. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Leland, John (1906). Smith, Lucy Toulmin (ed.). The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the Years 1535-1543. Vol. III: The Itinerary in Wales of John Leland in or about the Years 1536–1539. London: George Bell and Sons.
- ISBN 9780141967660.
- Metcalfe, Walter C. (1885). A Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath, and Knights Bachelor. London: Mitchell and Hughes.
- Morrill, John (May 2008) [2004]. "Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6765. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Robertson, Mary Louise (1975). Thomas Cromwell's Servants: the Ministerial Household in Early Tudor Government and Society (PhD thesis). University of California, Los Angeles.
- Siddons, Michael Powell (1993). The Development of Welsh Heraldry. Vol. 2. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales.
- W.J.J. (1981). "Cromwell, alias Williams, Francis (c.1541-98), of Hemingford Grey and St. Neot's, Hunts.". In Hasler, P.W. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603. Boydell and Brewer.
Further reading
- Firth, Charles Harding (2009). Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England. BiblioBazaar, LLC. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-110-30472-1.
- Fitzgerald, Teri (18 August 2019). "All that Glitters: Hans Holbein's Lady of the Cromwell Family". queenanneboleyn.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- Gough, Richard (1785). "A Short Genealogical View of the Family of Oliver Cromwell. To which is prefixed, a copious pedigree". Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. Vol. XXXI. London: J. Nichols.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Cromwell, alias Williams, Richard (by 1512-44), of London; Stepney, Mdx. and Hinchingbroke, Hunts. in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982.
- Teri Fitzgerald, Sir Richard Cromwell: A King’s Diamond
- The Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon
- Pedigree of Oliver Cromwell