William Weston (prior)
Sir William Weston (c. 1470 – 7 May 1540) was the last Prior of the
Origins
William Weston was born in about 1470, the second son of Edmund Weston of
His family had already been intimately connected with the Order of the Knights of St John. His uncle Sir John Weston had served as Lord Prior of England from 1476 to 1489 and two more of his uncles had held the post of "
Career
In 1498, Weston was granted
Also in 1523 Weston, with the universal consent of the English knights, was granted the right of succession to the priories of England and Ireland. In 1524 he was sent on an embassy to the court of King
The Lord Prior had his headquarters at Clerkenwell Priory, on the edge of the City of London, and ranked as premier baron in the roll of peers. There was some difficulty over the appointment and a rumour was current that the King Henry intended, after having conferred the office on a favourite, to separate the English knights from the rest of the order, and to station them at Calais, his personal possession. The matter was settled by a personal visit to him of Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, the heroic defender of Rhodes, following which Henry assented to the appointment of Sir William Weston and withdrew his first claim for a yearly tribute of £4,000 from the new Prior.[8] In 1535 Weston was present at a ball given by Morette, the French ambassador.
Death and burial
Weston died on 7 May 1540, the day on which the Order in England was
See also
- List of the priors of St John of Jerusalem in England
Notes
- ^ see DNB articles Shelley, Sir Richard, and Tresham, Sir Thomas, d. 1559; and titular English priors, in most cases Italians by birth, continued to be appointed till the dissolution of the order in 1798 Clarke 1899, p. 377
References
- ^ Catalogue entry from 'Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration', London 2002, quoted by the Royal Collection website[1]
- ^ although an abortive attempt was made to revive the "English Langue" of the Order by Queen Mary (1553-1558)
- ^ Clarke 1899, p. 377 cites Friedmann, Anne Boleyn, 1884, ii. 54.
- ^ Clarke 1899, p. 377 cites Harl. MS. 1561; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xi. 201.
- ^ Whittemore 2014, p. 274
- ^ Clarke 1899, p. 377 cites Chron. of Calais, p. 6.
- ^ Harrison 1899, p. 88.
- ^ Clarke 1899, p. 377 cites Taafe, iii. 280.
- ^ Whittemore 2014, pp. 275–6
- ^ i.e. artfully, skilled
- ^ Weever, John, Ancient Funerall Monuments, 1767 edition (first published 1631), London, p.213[2]
- ^ Whittemore 2014, pp. 276–9
- ^ Whittemore 2014, pp. 278–81
- ISBN 9780300137279.
- ^ "Tomb Effigy of William Weston, Clerkenwell". Gettyimages. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
Sources
- Harrison, Frederic (1899). "III". Annals of an Old Manor House. London: Macmillan. pp. 82–88.
- Whittemore, Philip (2014). "Sir William Weston, last prior of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, d 1540 and his monument" (PDF). Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. 65: 271–82.
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Clarke, Ernest (1899). "Weston, William (d.1540)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 60. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 377–278.
- Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ed. Brewer and Gairdner, passim;
- Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xi. 201, and authorities there cited;
- Hutchins's Dorset, ii. 553, iii. 676;
- Porter's Hist. of the Knights of Malta, 1858, ii. 285, 290, 322, 323;
- Taafe's Hist. of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 1852, iii. 148, 243, 276–81, iv, App. xxx;
- Manning and Bray's Hist. of Surrey, i. 133;
- Harrison's Annals of an old Manor House, 1893, pp. 66–71.