| Notes |
- THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/119/253 1
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Modern spelling transcript copyright ©2014 Nina Green All Rights Reserved
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/
SUMMARY: The document below is the Prerogative Court of Canterbury copy of the
will, dated 28 February 1612 and proved 4 March 1612, of Joan (nee Hayward) Thynne
(bap. 28 August 1558 – d. 3 March 1612), the daughter of Sir Rowland Hayward (d. 5
December 1593), Lord Mayor of London, whose mansion, King’s Place in Hackney, was
purchased by Oxford’s second wife, Elizabeth Trentham. For Elizabeth Trentham’s
purchase of King’s Place from the executors of Sir Rowland Hayward, see TNA C
66/1476, m. 19 on this website.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
The testatrix was the daughter of Sir Rowland Hayward and his first wife, Joan
Tillesworth or Tilsworth (d.1580), one of the daughters and coheirs of the London
goldsmith, William Tillesworth (d.1557), and his wife, Joan Potkyn. For the will of
William Tillesworth, see TNA PROB 11/39/230.
After the death of the testatrix’ mother, the testatrix’ father married secondly Katherine
Smythe, the daughter of Thomas Smythe (1522 – 7 June 1591), Customer of London.
Testatrix’ siblings
According to the inscription on his monument, Sir Rowland Hayward and his first wife,
Joan Tillesworth (d.1580), had three sons and two daughters who died as infants, and
three surviving daughters: Elizabeth, Susan, and the testatrix.
For the testatrix’ siblings of the half blood by her father’s second marriage to Katherine
Smythe, including her half-brother, Sir George Hayward (d.1615), named as one of the
testatrix’ overseers in the will below, see the will of Sir Rowland Hayward, TNA PROB
11/83/228.
As noted above, the testatrix had two surviving sisters of the whole blood:
-Elizabeth Hayward (d. 5 September 1622), who married firstly Richard Warren (d. 25
March 1597), esquire, son of Sir Ralph Warren (d. 11 July 1553), Lord Mayor of London,
by Joan Lake (d. 8 October 1573) and secondly, on 21 July 1597, Oxford’s foe Thomas
Knyvet (1545 – 27 July 1622), 1st Baron Knyvet of Escrick. Elizabeth (nee Hayward)
was governess to James I’s two youngest daughters, Mary and Sophia. For Oxford and
Knyvet, see BL MS Cotton Appendix 47, f. 7v; Lambeth Palace MS 647, f. 123; and
TNA SP 12/154/13, ff. 23-4 on this website. See also the will of Sir Thomas Knyvet,
TNA PROB 11/40/169, the ODNB entry, and the History of Parliament entry at:
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/knyvett-sirthomas-
1545-1622
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/119/253 2
________________________________________________________________________
Modern spelling transcript copyright ©2014 Nina Green All Rights Reserved
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/
See also the will of Richard Warren, TNA PROB 11/89/249, in which the testatrix is left
a bequest, and the History of Parliament entry at:
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/warren-richard-
1545-98
Elizabeth Hayward and Richard Warren are left a bequest in the will of Francis Bowyer,
TNA PROB 11/63/382.
-Susan Hayward (buried 31 May 1592), who married Sir Henry Townshend (d. 8
December 1621). See his will, TNA PROB 11/138/558, and the History of Parliament
entry at:
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/townshend-sirhenry-
1537-1621
Warren Townshend, to whom the testatrix leaves a bequest in the will below, was the son
of the testatrix’ sister, Susan (nee Hayward), and Sir Henry Townshend.
Susan Hayward and her husband are left a bequest in the will of Francis Bowyer, TNA
PROB 11/63/382.
MARRIAGE AND ISSUE
The testatrix married Sir John Thynne (c.1551 – 21 November 1604), eldest son and heir
of the builder of Longleat, Sir John Thynne (d. 21 May 1580). The latter’s cousin,
Francis Thynne (1545?-1608), who continued Holinshed’s Chronicles after Holinshed’s
death in 1580, spent some of his early years at Longleat. See the will of Sir John Thynne
(d. 21 May 1580), TNA PROB 11/62/476; the ODNB entry for Francis Thynne; the
ODNB entry for Joan (nee Hayward) Thynne; and Botfield, Beriah (1858), Stemmata
Botevilliana; Memorials of the Families of De Boteville, Thynne, and Botfield,
(Westminster: J.B. Nichols and Sons, 1858), pp. clxxvi, clxxviii-clxxx at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=mBZYAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR180
For the testatrix, see also O’Day, Rosemary, The Routledge Companion to the Tudor Age,
(New York: Routledge, 2010), at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=PgKSouk9fHUC&pg=PA1590-IA65
For Sir John Thynne (c.1551 – 21 November 1604), see also the History of Parliament
entry at:
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/thynne-john-1550-
1604
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/119/253 3
________________________________________________________________________
Modern spelling transcript copyright ©2014 Nina Green All Rights Reserved
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/
For the foregoing see also Botfield, supra, 115–16:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=L1pNAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q&f=false
For the testatrix’ children and their marriages, see also Collins, Arthur, The Peerage of
England, (London: W. Strahan, 1779), Vol. VI, pp. 52-56 at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=zfk-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA53
For the testatrix’ children, see also the pedigree in Botfield, supra, p. 59 at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=mBZYAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA59
For Caus Castle, see:
http://www.castlesontheweb.com/quest/Forum7/HTML/000374.html
OTHER PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE WILL
The testatrix appoints as one of the overseers of her will her brother-in-law, Thomas
Knyvet (1545 – 27 July 1622), 1st Baron Knyvet of Escrick (see above).
The testatrix appoints as another overseer Sir William Bowyer (1588 – 3 August 1616) of
Denham, Buckinghamshire, son of the testatrix’ aunt, Elizabeth Tillesworth, and her first
husband, Francis Bowyer (d. 14 June 1581), Sheriff, Alderman and Auditor of the City of
London and Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. See Ingram, William, A
London Life in the Brazen Age: Francis Langley 1548-1602, (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1978), p. 14; the will of Francis Bowyer, TNA PROB
11/63/382; the will of Sir William Bowyer, TNA PROB 11/128/188; and the History of
Parliament entry at:
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/bowyer-williamiii-
1558-1616
See also the pedigree of Bowyer in Howard, Joseph Jackson and Joseph Lemuel Chester,
eds., The Visitation of London Anno Domini 1633, 1634, and 1635, (London: Harleian
Society, 1880), Vol. XV, p. 94 at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=h6wKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA94
The testatrix’ overseer, Sir William Bowyer, was a brother-in-law of Lord Burghley’s
servant, Henry Maynard (d. 11 May 1610), for whom see the History of Parliament entry
at:
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/119/253 4
________________________________________________________________________
Modern spelling transcript copyright ©2014 Nina Green All Rights Reserved
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/maynard-henry-
1547-1610
For the testatrix’ family, see also the Thynne papers at Longleat:
http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=2238-th&cid=1-3-
1&kw=hercy#1-3-1
MENTION OF THE TESTATRIX IN THE WILLS OF OTHERS
The testatrix and her husband are left a bequest in the will of Francis Bowyer, TNA
PROB 11/63/382.
LM: T{estamentum} D{omi}nae Ioannae Thinne
[f. 179v] In the name of God, Amen. The eight and twentieth day of February one
thousand six hundred and eleven and in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord James
by the grace of God King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith etc. the
ninth and of Scotland the five and fortieth, I, Dame Joan Thynne of Caus Castle in the
county of Salop [=Shropshire], widow, being sick in body but of perfect remembrance
(thanks be given to Almighty God), do make and ordain this my last will and testament in
manner and form following:
First I commend my soul into the merciful hands of Almighty God, my Maker and
Redeemer, and my body to be buried at the discretion of mine executrices and overseers
hereafter named;
And concerning those worldly goods which it hath pleased God to bless me with, I do
order and dispose of them in manner and form following:
First I give unto the poor of the parish of Saint Margaret in Westminster the sum of five
pounds;
Item, I give unto the poor of the parish of Deverell in the county of Wiltshire the sum of
fifteen pounds sterling;
Item, I give and bequeath unto my loving son, Sir Thomas Thynne, knight, the sum of ten
pounds of lawful money of England;
Item, I give and bequeath unto my loving son, John Thynne, the sum of two hundred
pounds of lawful money of England;
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/119/253 5
________________________________________________________________________
Modern spelling transcript copyright ©2014 Nina Green All Rights Reserved
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/
Item, I give unto my loving daughters, Dorothy Thynne and Christian Thynne, the sum of
one thousand pounds of lawful money of England, that is to say, to either of them five
hundred pounds;
Item, I give unto every one of my household servants one whole year’s wages besides the
wages which shall be due to them at the time of my decease;
Also I give and bequeath unto my waiting gentlewoman, Anne Criche, the sum of one
hundred pounds;
Item, I give to my nephew, Warren Townsend, the sum of ten pounds;
The residue of my goods, chattels, plate, ready money and whatsoever else shall be mine
at the time of my decease, my [f. 180r] debts being paid and my funeral expenses
discharged, I give and bequeath wholly unto my said two daughters, Dorothy and
Christian, whom I make the sole executrixes of this my will;
And I do desire the right honourable Thomas, Lord Knyvet, my loving brother [=brotherin-
law], and my good cousin, Sir William Bowyer, knight, and my loving brother, Sir
George Hayward, knight, to be the overseers of this my will, and I give to every of my
said overseers a ring of gold of the value of five pounds apiece;
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal. Joan Thynne.
Memorandum: That the said Dame Joan Thynne did seal and deliver and publish this as
her last will and testament the last day of February one thousand six hundred and eleven
in presence of Elizabeth Knyvet, Mary Bowyer, Elizabeth Hampden, William Bowyer,
Edward Doubleday.
Memorandum: That after my Lady Thynne had sealed and delivered this her will, she
signified before us all that her will was to give to Edward Doubleday, esquire, the sum of
forty shillings for a remembrance to be made in a ring of gold for him.
Probatum fuit testamentu{m} suprascriptu{m} vnacum Codicillo Apud London coram
Mag{ist}ro Edmundo Pope Legum Doctore Surrogato venerabilis viri Domini Iohannis
Benet militis Legum etiam Doctoris Curie Prerogatiue Cant{uariensis} Mag{ist}ri
Custodis siue Com{m}issarij l{egi}time constituti Quarto die mens{is} Martij Anno
Domini iuxta cursum et computac{i}o{n}em eccl{es}ie Anglicane Millesimo
sexcentesimo vndecimo Iuramento Dorothee et Christiane Thynne filiar{um} d{i}c{t}e
defuncte et Executricum in h{uius}mo{d}i testamento nominatarum Quibus com{m}issa
fuit administrac{i}o omniu{m} et singulor{um} bonoru{m} Iurium et creditoru{m} dicte
defuncte de bene et fidel{ite}r administrand{o} eadem ad sancta Dei Evangelia iurat{is}
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/119/253 6
________________________________________________________________________
Modern spelling transcript copyright ©2014 Nina Green All Rights Reserved
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/
[=The above-written testament was proved, together with the codicil, at London before
Master Edmund Pope, Doctor of the Laws, Surrogate of the worshipful Sir John Bennet,
knight, also Doctor of the Laws, lawfully constituted Master, Keeper or Commissary of
the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, on the fourth day of the month of March in the year
of the Lord the thousand six hundred eleventh by the oath of Dorothy and Christian
Thynne, daughters of the said deceased and executrixes named in the same testament, to
whom administration was granted of all and singular the goods, rights and credits of the
said deceased, sworn on the Holy Gospels to well and faithfully administer the same.]
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1558 - 1612 (~ 53 years)