Margaret Culpeper1,2

Female, #8431, (say 1439 - 1488)
Father*Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull
Mother*Agnes Roper
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
AFN* Her Ancestral File Number is AFN: M56V-L9. 
Birth*say 1439 Margaret was born say 1439. 
Married Namesay 1455  As of say 1455, her married name was Clifford. 
Marriage*say 1455 She married Alexander Clifford of Bobbing at Bobbing, co. Kent, England, say 1455. 
Death of Mother2 Dec 1457 Her mother Agnes Roper died on 2 Dec 1457 at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England.3 
Death of Father24 Nov 1462 Her father Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull died on 24 Nov 1462 at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. 
Death*1488 She died in 1488. 
Burial*19 Jan 1488 Her body was interred on 19 Jan 1488 at Bobbing, co. Kent, England. 
Biography* For Clifford descendants, see Visitations of Kent, 1574. 

Family

Alexander Clifford of Bobbing
Marriage*say 1455 She married Alexander Clifford of Bobbing at Bobbing, co. Kent, England, say 1455. 
Last Edited23 May 2011

Citations

  1. LDS Church, compiler, Ancestral File, Intellectual Reserve, Inc..
    http://www.familysearch.org
    AFN: M56V-L9.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pages 54-60.

Alexander Clifford of Bobbing1

Male, #8432, (30 Nov 1429 - 1494)
Father*Lewis Clifford
Mother*Ann Molynes
AFN* His Ancestral File Number is AFN: M55C-VH. 
Birth*30 Nov 1429 Alexander was born at Bobbing Court, Bobbing, co. Kent, England, on 30 Nov 1429. 
Marriage*say 1455 He married Margaret Culpeper at Bobbing, co. Kent, England, say 1455. 
Death of Spouse1488 His wife Margaret Culpeper died in 1488. 
Death*1494 He died at Bobbing, co. Kent, England, in 1494. 

Family

Margaret Culpeper
Last Edited29 Sep 2001

Citations

  1. LDS Church, compiler, Ancestral File, Intellectual Reserve, Inc..
    http://www.familysearch.org
    AFN: M55C-VH.

Elizabeth Culpeper

Female, #8433, (say 1441 - )
Father*Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull
Mother*Agnes Roper
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1441 Elizabeth was born say 1441. 
Married Namesay 1459  As of say 1459, her married name was Hardes. 
Marriage*say 1459 She married John Hardes of Hardes say 1459. 
Will22 Sep 1516 She is mentioned in the will of Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst on 22 Sep 1516.1 

Family

John Hardes of Hardes
Last Edited9 Nov 2010

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pp 65-66.

John Hardes of Hardes

Male, #8434, (say 1434 - )
Birth*say 1434 John was born say 1434. 
Marriage*say 1459 He married Elizabeth Culpeper say 1459. 

Family

Elizabeth Culpeper
Last Edited2 Apr 2000

Anne Culpeper

Female, #8435, (say 1502 - after 1532)
Father*Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell
Mother*Anne Aucher
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1502 Anne was born say 1502. 
Married Namesay 1520  As of say 1520, her married name was Tooke. 
Marriage*say 1520 She married (?) Tooke say 1520. 
Will4 Sep 1532 She is mentioned in the will of Anne Aucher at co. Kent, England, on 4 Sep 1532.1,2 
Death*after 1532 She died after 1532. 
Biography* As she was not named in Walter Culpeper's will 1514), the only testimony for her is the legacy in her mother's will 1532) to 'my daughter Anne Tooke.'
.
There is no clue to her husband in any of the Kentish Visitation pedigrees: certainly he was not of the family of 'Toke of Bere' in West Cliffe. But the Sir Brian Tuke (spelled also Tooke and Tuck) who was clerk of the Council of Calais in 1510 and later Secretary to Wolsey and Henry VIII (D. N. B. re-issue, xix, 1252). while a Kentish man, acquired lands, on which his descendants lived, in Essex (Morant, i, 407) ; and it will be recalled that this Anne Culpeper's father also held lands in Essex under the will of Sir John Culpeper[11] Moreover Sir Brian Tuke's father was a Richard Tuck, and the Wylford pedigree shows that a daughter of 'Anne Tooke's' sister married a Richard Tuck of a later generation. Considering these evidences and the propensity of Kentish families (like Virginia families) to marry cousins, it is possible that this was such a marriage; and that 'Anne Tooke's husband was of the family of Sir Brian Tuke.
.
Source: Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck." 

Family

(?) Tooke
Marriage*say 1520 She married (?) Tooke say 1520. 
Last Edited25 Nov 2002

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    C. Liber 15, No. 169.
  2. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    Chapter 2a.

(?) Tooke

Male, #8436, (say 1499 - )
Birth*say 1499 (?) was born say 1499. 
Marriage*say 1520 He married Anne Culpeper say 1520. 

Family

Anne Culpeper
Last Edited31 Dec 2002

Elizabeth Culpeper1

Female, #8437, (say 1499 - between 1520 and 1532)
Father*Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell
Mother*Anne Aucher
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1499 Elizabeth was born at Ford Hall, Wrotham, co. Kent, England, say 1499. 
Married Namebefore 1514  As of before 1514, her married name was Wilford. 
Marriage*before 1514 She married Thomas Wilford of Hartridge in Cranbrooke, Kent before 1514. 
Will14 Sep 1514 She is mentioned in the will of Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell on 14 Sep 1514.2,3 
Birth of Sonafter 1514 Her son Sir James Wilford was born after 1514. 
Death*between 1520 and 1532 She died between 1520 and 1532. 
Biography* She is named in her father's will (1514) 'my daughter Elizabeth Welford,' and referred to in her mother's will (1532) as then dead, by provision for 'the children of Elizabeth, my daughter… the children of Thomas Wylford.' The m. was noted at the Visitation of Kent, 1619, not only in the Culpeper pedigree but in that of the Wylfords (Harl. Pub., x1ii, 53, 61, 104). From the latter it appears that the James Wylford, who witnessed his maternal grandmother's will in 1532, was that outstanding soldier, Sir James Wylford (1516-1550), who distinguished himself at the battle of Pinkie (1547) and subsequently withstood a notable siege at Haddington (D. N. B. re-issue, xxi, 236; Froude, Edward VI, chap. ii).
.
As a family, the Wylfords had several ties with Virginia. One sister of Sir James in. Archbishop Sandys (see her MI. in Morant Essex, ii, 34) and another in. Leonard Digges of Wooton, co. Kent, from whom descended the Edward Digges of Belfield, York County, Virginia, Governor of the colony, 1655-58, whose name was long a synonym for the best Virginia mild tobacco, the 'E Dees' (Va. Mag., xvii, 292). It would be interesting to prove a connection with these Wylfords of that Dr. Robert Wellford of Fredericksburg, of the generation after the American Revolution whose descendants have inter-married with Virginia families. See W. & M. Quar., xi, I; x, 139.
.
Source: Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck." 
Will4 Sep 1532 She is mentioned in the will of Anne Aucher at co. Kent, England, on 4 Sep 1532.4,5 

Family

Thomas Wilford of Hartridge in Cranbrooke, Kent
Marriage*before 1514 She married Thomas Wilford of Hartridge in Cranbrooke, Kent before 1514. 
Children
Last Edited4 Jun 2011

Citations

  1. E-mail written 1999 to Lew Griffin from Trudy Standridge, e-mail address.
  2. Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005.
    Page 249.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Colepepers of Wigsell, in Salehurst (pages 60-74).
  4. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    C. Liber 15, No. 169.
  5. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    Chapter 2a.

Thomas Wilford of Hartridge in Cranbrooke, Kent1

Male, #8438, (say 1491 - )
Father*James Wilford Sheriff of London 1499
Mother*Elizabeth Betenham
Birth*say 1491 Thomas was born at Ford Hall, Wrotham, co. Kent, England, say 1491. 
Marriage*before 1514 He married Elizabeth Culpeper before 1514. 
Birth of Sonafter 1514 His son Sir James Wilford was born after 1514. 
Will4 Sep 1532 He is mentioned in the will of Anne Aucher at co. Kent, England, on 4 Sep 1532.2,3 
Marriage*circa 1534 He married Rose Whetenhall circa 1534. 
Birth of Sonafter 1534 His son Sir Thomas Wilford was born after 1534. 
Biography* For descendants, see Wilford Pedigree in Visitations of Kent, 1574. 

Family 1

Elizabeth Culpeper
Marriage*before 1514 He married Elizabeth Culpeper before 1514. 
Children

Family 2

Rose Whetenhall
Marriage*circa 1534 He married Rose Whetenhall circa 1534. 
Children
Last Edited17 Apr 2007

Citations

  1. E-mail written 1999 to Lew Griffin from Trudy Standridge, e-mail address.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    C. Liber 15, No. 169.
  3. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    Chapter 2a.

Anthony Culpeper1

Male, #8439, (say 1506 - before 1532)
Father*Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell
Mother*Anne Aucher
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1506 Anthony was born say 1506. 
Will14 Sep 1514 He is mentioned in the will of Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell on 14 Sep 1514.2,3 
Death*before 1532 He died before 1532. 
Biography* Brothers, Thomas and Anthony, are both named in their father's will (1514) ; but not in that of their mother (1532), which treats the youngest son, William, as the heir. - Fairfax Harrison. 
ChartsThe 12th century Culpepers of England: Descendant Chart (16 generations, Males only)
Last Edited4 Jun 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005.
    Page 249.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Colepepers of Wigsell, in Salehurst (pages 60-74).

Cicely Culpeper

Female, #8440, (circa 1567 - )
Father*John Culpeper of Wigsell
Mother*Elizabeth Sedley
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*circa 1567 Cicely was born at Wigsell, Salehurst, co. Sussex, England, circa 1567. 
Married Namesay 1585  As of say 1585, her married name was Stede. 
Marriage*say 1585 She married Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England, say 1585. 
Birth of Son1591 Her son Sir John Stede of Harrietsham, Knight was born in 1591. 
Birth of Son1593 Her son William Stede LL.D. was born in 1593. 
Will8 Mar 1594 She is mentioned in the will of Joan Pordage on 8 Mar 1594.1 
Biography* The allegation for the mar. lic. at Canterbury, June 11, 1586 (Harl. Pub., xxv, p. 150) runs 'William Steed, gent., and Secilia Colepyr, spr., of city of London, dau. of John Colepyr of Wiggessell co. Sussex, gent.' The bridegroom was the eldest son, by her first marriage, of the second wife of the bride's uncle, Francis.2 

Family

Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight
Marriage*say 1585 She married Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England, say 1585. 
Children
Last Edited13 Feb 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    C. Liber 38, No. 168.
  2. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.

Sir William Stede of Harrietsham, Knight1

Male, #8441, (say 1566 - )
Father*William Stede of Harrietsham, co. Kent, Esq.
Mother*Joan Pordage
AFN* His Ancestral File Number is AFN: G5PZ-KW. 
Birth*say 1566 William was born say 1566. 
Marriage*say 1585 He married Cicely Culpeper at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England, say 1585. 
Will20 May 1590 He is mentioned in the will of Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, co. Kent at co. Kent, England, on 20 May 1590.2 
Birth of Son1591 His son Sir John Stede of Harrietsham, Knight was born in 1591. 
Birth of Son1593 His son William Stede LL.D. was born in 1593. 
Will8 Mar 1594 He is mentioned in the will of Joan Pordage on 8 Mar 1594.3 
Burial*16 Mar 1620 His body was interred on 16 Mar 1620 at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England. 
Biography* Knight 1603; H.S. Kent 1604. 

Family

Cicely Culpeper
Marriage*say 1585 He married Cicely Culpeper at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England, say 1585. 
Children
Last Edited8 Feb 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    P.C.C. 85 Sainberbe, Will dated May 20, 1590, Proved November 22, 1591.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    C. Liber 38, No. 168.

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight1

Male, #8442, (1570 - Aug 1645)
Father*John Culpeper of Wigsell
Mother*Elizabeth Sedley
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*1570 Alexander was born at Wigsell, Salehurst, co. Sussex, England, in 1570. 
Marriage*1603 He married Mary Scott in 1603. 
Death of Father20 Oct 1612 His father John Culpeper of Wigsell died on 20 Oct 1612 at Salehurst, co. Sussex, England. 
Will16 Sep 1613 He is mentioned in the will of Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell on 16 Sep 1613.2 
Death of Mother16 May 1618 His mother Elizabeth Sedley died on 16 May 1618 at Salehurst, co. Sussex, England. 
Will14 Dec 1635 He is mentioned in the will of John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. on 14 Dec 1635.3 
Death of Spouse1636 His wife Mary Scott died in 1636 at England. 
Will13 Jan 1644 He made a will at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, on 13 Jan 1644.

Culpepper Connections Note: It appears that this will was replaced by another written just weeks later. This first will does not appear to have been probated, but the second one was. For purposes of readability, we have made indentions that were not in the original will. Relevant names have also been pkaced in bold and links created for them to their page in this family tree.
     In the name of God Amen. Whereas I Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court in the County of Kent Knight have made and Published my Last Will and Testament in writing bearing the date the day before the date hereof. Whereby I have amongst other things therein mentioned willed and bequeathed all my Lands Tenements …….and Hereditaments. I have or have right have to me and my heirs in fee simple and all my….. chattels ..all and personals and all moneyed rents debts and other dues which are ongoing and ….to me. by any person or persons whatsoever except therein excepted to my said Executors in my said Will named, To have and to hold the said fee simple, Lands Tenements …… and Hereditamants to my said Executors their heirs and assigns for ever to the use of them their heirs and to have and to hold my said Lands and Chattels and personal and all other my Estate whatsoever except before excepted to my said Executors and their Executors Administrators and Assigns upon this special trust and confidence nevertheless and to the sole intent and purpose that my said Executors and heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns shall and will stand seized interested and possessed of all and singular the permission that is to say as well the said Fee Simple Lands as the houses and my other Estate upon such Intents and Confidences in my said Will or Wills shall at anytime issued aforementioned Expressed or declared in writing in Codicil addition or declaration ….. and concerning my Last Will and Testament and
     whereas I do write by my said will that Katherine (Katherine St. Leger) the Grandchild of my wife whom I therefore call daughter had upon her marriage with my nephew Thomas Culpeper (Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple) a signature settled upon her and after upon….these lands with which her fortune was charged, there was Fourteen Hundred Pounds sent out upon surety and the bonds or other surety taken in the name of Sir Cheney Culpeper (Sir Cheney Culpeper of Leeds Castle) and some other friend or friends and a deed thereupon made between the said Sir Cheney Culpeper and others to which as I contrive my said Nephew and his wife were parted wherein there is a trust declared containing the said followeth Four Hundred Pounds for the benefit of my said Nephew and his wife, in such …as therein expressed , and afterwards Six Hundred Pounds parcel of the said Fourteen Hundred was paid unto my said Nephew And I promise to ….. Four Hundred Pounds parcel of the said Twelve Hundred Pounds unto my daughter according to the deed of trust.
     And whosoever by my said will I declare that if therefore my said daughter shall happen to be a wedded before all my 'Legaries' are paid then my will is that Four Hundred Pounds parcel of the said Twelve Hundred Pounds to be paid unto her as my part thereof according to my promise before my 'Legaries' be paid to any other, but my will is that the said Four Hundred Pounds be not paid unto her until all my other debts be paid and discharged. Nethertheless I will that interest be paid unto her after the rate of Six pounds per Quarter from the first day she shall become a widow until such time as the said Four Hundred Pounds be paid unto her, but if my Nephew Thomas Culpeper shall be living who all my debts and 'Legaries' shall be paid. Then my will is that my Executors shall stand no longer charged with the payment of the said Four Hundred Pounds unto my daughter Culpeper in maner as aforesaid, but the whole Twelve Hundred Pounds be forward unto her or raised out of such part of my Estates as afterwards in my said Will allotted to that purpose to be paid to her according to the said deed of Trust in that behalf made And whereas also by the said will, after all my debts and 'Legaries' paid and discharged.
     I will and bequeath and declare That my said Executors shall convey by goods assurances the Lordships and the Rites of the Manor of Greenways Court and Capital Messuage Barns Stables and Outhouses …. or appurtances thereunto or accounted disputed or taken as part of the said Manor which said Rite Capital Messuage Barns Stables and Outhouses I declare shallbe appointed the Capital Messuage of Greenway Court and the barns Stables and outhouses thereof the whole Rite barns stables or outhouses to Countess Eleason Arnes (unidentified) and no more and the one half of all those …. of my said Fee Simple to Lands to Alexander Culpeper (Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court) my Godson and eldest son of John Lord Culpeper Baron of Thoresway To have and to hold to him and his heirs of his body with other remainders …. And for the other half of my said Fee Simple Lands Except the said Lordship and Rite of Manor of Greenway Court and all the buildings thereupon which shall be accounted Eleason Arnes and no more. I do will that my said Executors and their heirs shall stand siexed thereof upon this Trust and Confidence that the same shall be and conveyed unto my said daughter Culpeper as surety .unto her the said Twelve Hundred Pounds Parcel of the said Fourteen Hundred Pounds concerning which Sir Cheney Culpeper and others are….. aforesaid for her life wherein my Meaning is that my said daughter Culpeper shall have as much benefit of the ….which I thereby intend unto her as if my lands where with my said Executors are thereby Trusted Actually conveyed by advent of control upon sight of the said Deeds of Trust containing the same ( that is to say) either to raise the said Twelve Hundred Pounds to be paid unto her according to the deeds of Trust or else to pay unto her some Annuity or yearly Rent throughout her life in lieu of the said Twelve Hundred Pound according to the said deed of Trust at the …..of my said daughter.
     Alsoeth I do at the request of my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper and I do therefore declare thereby that what advantage soever shall come to my daughter thereby accounted to all intents and purposes towards the performance and satisfaction of the said deed of Trust as fully as if the same had been done by my said Nephew and that my daughter shall not be first paid of the said Twelve Hundred Pounds or any annuity instead thereof or by the deed and against by my said will, but that part soever of the said Twelve Hundred Pounds or any annuity inferred thereof shall be paid to my daughter by reason or reasons of my said Will shall be accounted as if she has received it by reason or fortune concerning the same and after the said Twelve Hundred pounds paid or secured to my daughter as aforesaid.
     I do further thereby will that my said Executors and their Heirs shall stand seized of the said half of my paid Fee simple Lands which are to form the said Twelve Hundred Pounds aforesaid upon Trust and Confidence to the ….and behest of my Godson Alexander Culpeper (Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA) Son and heir apparent of my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper and of his heirs Males of the body of the said Alexander Culpeper son of the said Thomas Culpeper lawfully to begotten and for default of such issue to the body of my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper Esquire and of the heirs Males made of his body with other remainders above and whereas in my said (will I do) …..
     I do further will and declare that after such debts duties and 'Legaries' afore mentioned shall be fully paid satisfied that thou my Executors shall make Estate of all my Lands as Counsel shall advise to the children of my Lord Culpeper and to my Nephew Thomas Culpeper and Katherine his wife and their sons Alexander Culpeper their Executors Administrators and assigns equally between them in manor and form therein expressed (that is to say) The one of my said Leases to be conveyed to Alexander Culpeper (Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court) Eldest son of the said Lord Culpeper his Executors Administrators and Assigns and if he do die before his age of one and twenty years or before he shall otherwise dispose of the same, thou to Thomas Culpeper (Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway) second son of the said Lord Culpeper his Executors Administrators and Assigns, and if he do die before his age of one and twenty years or before he shall other wise dispose of the same then to John Culpeper (John Lord Culpeper 3rd Baron of Thoresway) third son of the said Lord Culpeper his Executors Administrators and Assigns and if he do die before his age of one and twenty years or before he shall otherwise dispose of the same then to Cheney Culpeper forwith the same of the Lord Culpeper his Executors Administrators and Assigns and if he die before his age of one and twenty years or before he shall otherwise dispose of the same to the said Lord John Culpeper Baron of Thorsway his Executors Administrators and Assigns and the other half of the said Leases to be Conveyed by my Executors by advise of Council in such sorts as that the same may be afarther surety for to my daughter Culpeper for the said Twelve Hundred Pounds in such sort as I have before in my Will submitted the said parts of my Fee Simple Lands to secure the said Twelve Hundred Pounds or same Annuity instead thereof as aforesaid and after the said Twelve Hundred Pounds paid or secured as aforesaid. Then I do thereby will that my Executors shall convey by advise of Council the said one half of my said Leases to Alexander Culpeper son and Heir apparent of my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper his Executors Administrators and Assigns. And if he die before his age of one and twenty years or before he shall otherwise dispose of the same then to my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper his Administrators and Assigns as in my and by my said Last Will and Testament where unto for the more certainty all the maters before verified. I refer my self appeareth And whereas the said Alexander Culpeper son of my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper is yet young and under age so as is not certainly known how he will prove and therefore I am willing to settle any part of my Estate absolutely in him the said Alexander Culpeper for long as his Father liveth without some settlement upon him and in regards also my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper may make some other provision as well as for my said daughter Katherine his wife as for his said son or for some other …eate or weighty reason may? Think fit. Otherwise dispose of all or some parts of the Lands and Leases in my said Will Devise Limited or Bequeathed to or to the sole benefit of him, his wife or son, or to the heirs of their or either of their bodies or to or either of their Executors or Administrators.
     I therefore by this my Codicil addition or declaration for on upon my said will Declare my Will and meaning to be That as it may and shall be lawful to and for my said nephew Thomas Culpeper and Katherine his wife during the life of the said Katherine and to and for the said Thomas Culpeper it he outlive the said Katherine by my deed or writing under his or their hand seal or hands and seals, as the sale shall require by and with the consent of my Nephew John Lord Culpeper baron of Thorseway (John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway), Sir Thomas Culpeper Knight (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne, the Elder, Knight), Sir Edward Partridge Knight, William Steed Doctor of Law (William Stede LL.D.) and William Saye Esquire or any one of them testified by joining with my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper and Katherine his wife or with my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper alone as the sale shall require in the said deed or writing and subscribing the point on by my other deed or writing to be sealed and subscribed by them or any one of them testifying their or any of them assent revoke alter things terminate and …ilate or make void all or any of the devise or devises or Bequest or Bequests trust or trusts Confidence or confidences declaration or declarations or estate or estate by my said Will devised bequeathed or declared to or to the sole benefit behest of the said Thomas Culpeper and Katherine his wife and Alexander their son or to either or any of the m or to the heirs or and of their bodies or by them, their or either of their Executors Administrators or Assigns or in any other manor, or for any other Estates whatsoever, and by the same deeds or writings, or by and other deeds or writings under his or their hands and seals or hands and seals as the sale.shall require by and with such consent as aforesaid to limit, declare appoint or to create or ordain any new Estate or Estates, Trust or Trusts Confidence or Confidences, Limited or Limitations, Declaration or Declarations as all or any part of the estate or estates in my said Will limited, bequeathed, verified or declared to my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper, Katherine his wife and Alexander their son or either of them or any of them or their heirs of them or either of any of their bodies, or in any other manor or form any other Estates whatsoever or fully, freely and implied, as if the same had been limited by my said Will to my Nephew Thomas Culpeper and his heirs or to his Executors, Administrators, Assigns, and further that immediately from after such ….. estate or Estates Trust or Trusts, Confidence or Confidences, Limitation or Limitations to be made by my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper and Katherine his wife, or by my Nephew alone and the sale shall require in manor as aforesaid my said Executors in my said Will named and their heirs Executors Administrators respectfully shall stand seized interested indepossessed of such part of my lands and Seals for which such n…. Estate or Estates, Trust or Trusts, Confidence or Confidences, Limitation or Limitations ,Declaration or Decelerations shall be made as aforesaid upon Trust and Confidence to the sole benefit as and behest of such person or persons as for such Estate and Estates or shall be Limited Declared Appointed `Created Ordained or made by my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper and Katherine his wife or by my said Nephew Thomas Culpeper alone as the sale shall require in manor as aforesaid anything in my said Will to the contrary hereof in any wise not with standing And now I the said Sir Alexander Culpeper having heard this is my Codicil addition, Declaration or explanation or upon my said Will read unto me I so allow ratify and publish the same as a Codicil addition to Declaration or explanation of or upon my said Will in writing whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the One and Thirteenth day of January Anno Domi 1644.
     The mark of Sir Alexander Culpeper (sealed subscribed and published in the presence of …..anlfe Freke, Thomas Culpeper. Thomas Spotte.4,5 
Will*30 Jan 1644 He made a will on 30 Jan 1644.

Culpepper Connections Note: It appears that this will replaced an extraordinarily convoluted one written just weeks before. The first will does not appear to have been probated, but the second one was. For purposes of readability, we have made indentions that were not in the original will. Relevant names have also been pkaced in bold and links created for them to their page in this family tree.

Will dated January 30, 1644/5,
With two codicils, one dated May 4, 1645, and one undated.
Proved October 15, 1649.
     Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greeneway Court, ca. Kent, knight, youngest son of John C. of Wigsell, co. Sussex, esq. dec. To be bur. in the vault which Sir Thomas Culpeper (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst) hath builded in Hollingbourne if it conveniently may be.
     Catherine (Katherine St. Leger) the grandchild of my wife, whom I therefore call daughter, had on her marriage-with my nephew Thomas Culpeper (Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple) a jointure settled upon her and after, upon the sale of those lands with which her jointure was charged, there was £1,400 lent out on security and bonds taken out in the name of Sir Cheney Culpeper (Sir Cheney Culpeper of Leeds Castle) or some other friends, and a deed thereupon made betw. sd. Sir C. C. & others to which my sd. nephew & his wife were, as I conceive, parties; wherein there is a trust declared concerning the sd. £1,400 for sd- nephew & his heirs-, and afterwards £1,000 part of sd. £1,400 was paid to my sd. nephew and I promised to secure £400 part of sd. £1,400 to my daur. according to deed of trust. rf therefore my sd. daur. be a widow before all my legacies are paid, £400 part of sd. £1,400 to be paid her as my part thereof.
     To my niece Cicely Culpepper (Cicely Culpeper) £400; if she die before him she to dispose of £300 to some child or children of her brother John C. (John Culpeper the Merchant) If sd. John C. die before my niece Ciceley she to have £10, a year for maintenance unti I sd. £400 be pd. her. Also £20 to my neice Medlicoate (Frances Culpeper), wife of James M. esq.
     To poor of Hollingbourne £10, to poor of Ulcombe, £10; to poor of Salehurst, where I was born, £5; to poor of Hawkhurst, £5; to poor of Leeds 50s; to poor of Broomefield, 40s; to poor of parish where I shall die, £20; to Robert Hope, besides what I owe him, £20; to Elizabeth Milcocke, besides what I owe her, £5; to Francis Hinckly, wife of Robert H., to use of Mary Hinckly my goddaur., £5; to my cousin William Culpeper minister of Wickling (Rev. William Culpeper of England and Barbados) or (if dead) to his wife or children £5; to my cousin Cecily Freke [(R:9]) what I owe her.
     My exers to pay my nephew John Culpeper (John the Merchant) one years rent of all my lands, deducting rents payable to the Colleges.
     Then exers. to convey Lordship of manor of Greeneway Court capital messe etc. (11 acres & no more) and half of residue of my lands, to Alexander Culpeper my godson (Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court), eldest son of John, Lord Culpeper, Baron of Thorseway, in tail male; in default to Thomas C. (Thomas Lord Culpeper 2nd Baron of Thoresway), second son of sd. Lord C., in tail male; in default to John C. (John Lord Culpeper 3rd Baron of Thoresway), third son of sd. Lord C., in tail male; in default to Cheney C., fourth son of sd. Lord C., in tail male; in default to sd. John, Lord C. (John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway), in tail male; in default to sd. nephew Thomas Culpeper & Catherine his wife for life; remainder to heirs male of body of sd. Catherine; in default to my nephew Thomas Culpeper, esq., in tail male; in default to my nephew John Culpeper, esq., in tail male; in default to Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne afsd. knight, in tail male; in default to my right heirs.
     The other half of my lands to remain to my sd. daur. Culpeper as a security for the £400 part of sd. £1,400, then my exers. to stand seised to use of my godson Alexander Culpeper (Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA) son & heir app. of my sd. nephew Thomas C., in tail male; in default to my nephew Thomas C. esq., in tail male; in default to my Lord Culpeper, in tail male; in default to sd. John Culpeper my nephew, brother of my sd. nephew Thomas C. esq., in tail male; in default to Sir Thomas C. (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne, the Elder, Knight), in tail male; in default to my heirs.
     If any lands of mine are held in Capite whereby my will shall be void of a third part of sd. fee simple lands, then my exers. shall stand seised of such lands as are hereby devised in tail to children of Lord C. on trust to use of sd. Thomas C. his wife & son respectively, as may make the parts of children of sd. Lord C. & of the sd. Thomas C. his wife & son equall. but manor of Greenway Court etc. shall be conveyed to the children of my Lord C. my nephew. Leasehold property to be similarly divided & assured. Alexander, son of Lord C. under 21, Alexander, son of nephew Thomas C. under 21. Exers. not to sell leases without consent of sd. Sir Thomas Culpeper, Doctor Steede (William Stede LL.D.) & William Cage esq. (William Cage of Milgate in Bersted), Francis Kenward now, or late, servant to sd. Lord C., Robert Hope, son of James H. of Ulcombe, & James Wilcoke, nephew to Elizabeth Wilcocke, now -my servant.
     To be my exers. Sd. Sir Thomas Culpeper, Sir Edward Partherick knight (Edward Partriche), Doctor Steede & William Cage to be overseers & they also to be exers.
     I remit £300 sd. nephew Thomas C. owes me.
     Testator being 'sick of a dead palsy' made his mark
     Witns. Ralph Freke ( an unknown person ), Thomas Culpeper (Thomas of Feckenham), Thomas Holt, Richard Knight.

1st Cod. Interest on my debts to be paid if possible at 8% instead of 6% [he evidently was not convinced by his cousin's thesis against usury]. Exers. to have discretion as to payment of £10 to my neice Cecily C. if she survive her brother John C. To Elizabeth Wilcocks my servant £10. To her & my servant Robert Hope £4 each for mourning apparel. To Francis Kenward, £7. To Rowland St. Leger, grandchild to my deceased wife £11. To sd. servant Robert Hope all his charges of prison during the term of his imprisonment, & 12d. a week over & above his charges. To rest of exers. gold rings. A gold ring with a phoenix to my cousin Elizabeth Munns, wife of John M. To Sir Cheney Culpeper, knight, a gold ring. Testator made his mark. Witns. George Robinson, Margaret Hewes X, Elizabeth Drew X.

2nd Cod. 20 marks a year to sd. Elizabeth Wilcockes for good service, for life. Witns. George Hunte, Margaret Hughes X, Mary Maier X.

Prob. by Robert Hope one of the exers. Power reserved for Francis Kenwood & James Wilcocke & also Sir Thos. Culpeper knight, Sir Edward Partherick knt. & the venerable man William Steede LL. D. the other exers.6,7 
Will31 Jan 1645 He made a will on 31 Jan 1645.

Codicil dated January 31, 1644/5.
Proved separately, October 15, 1649.

Having made my will dated the day before the date hereof, recites sd. will very fully referring among others to the sd. Alexander C. (Alexander, Surveyor of Virginia), son & heir apparent of sd. nephew Thomas C. esq. & of Catherine his wife, granddaur. of my late wife. Whereas sd. Alexander C., son of my sd. nephew Thomas C. is yet young & under age so as it is not certainly known how he will prove & so I am therefore unwilling to settle any part of my estate absolutely on him so long as his father liveth without some restraint on him; & in regard also my sd. nephew Thomas C. may make some other provision as well for my sd. daur. Catherine his wife as for his sd. son; or for some other great or weighty reason may think it fit otherwise to dispose of his part of the land: therefore it shall be lawful for sd. nephew Thomas C. & Catherine his wife, or sd. T. if he survive, with consent of John Lord C. my nephew, Sir Thomas Culpeper knight, Sir Edward Partherick knight, William Steed LL. D. & William Cage esq., to revoke my devise to A. T. C., & A. their son. Testator made his mark. Witns. Raulfe Freke, Thomas Culpeper (Thomas of Feckenham), Thomas Holte.

Prob. juramento Executorum in testamento dicti defuncti nominatorum.8,9 
Death*Aug 1645 He died at Bridgewater, Somersetshire, England, in Aug 1645. 
Biography* He testified in his will that he was born in Salehurst, but the loss of the parish register prior to 1585 leaves the date to a deduction from his age at death. He was educated at the inns of chancery and was admitted to Grays Inn, November 25, 1594, as 'Alexander Culpeper of Wigsell, co. Sussex, gent., late of Staple Inn.' This would be when he was twenty-four. His next appearance on the surviving record is 1603, when at his marriage he was described as 'of Harrietsham, arm,’ (indicating that he had established himself in the neighbourhood of the family of his uncle, Francis Culpeper of Greenway Court, of which hereafter); but is identified by the will of Thomas of Wigsell (1609) as 'my brother Alexander Culpeper' On his marriage he went to live in his wife's St. Leger dower house and thereafter is described as 'of Ulcombe' whenever he appears in documents (e.g., in the allegation for the mar. lic., 1636, of the youngest dau. of Thornas of Wigsell, noted post); but after his wife's death in 1636 he removed to Greenway Court, and so in his will described himself as 'of Greenway Court.' He was knighted by James I, November 19, 1621 (Nichols, iii, 732), as 'of Kent.'

The fullest record of him is in the dark days of the Troubles, which overtook him in the decrepitude of age. He then gave a loyal support to the Crown, with the result that his estate was sequestered. At a hearing held after his death, at which his executors claimed the privilege of compounding for his estate (Cal. Committee for Compounding, 1643-60, pt. ii, P. 1058), it was stated that he was 'never any house keeper,' that he had been 'drawn down to Oxford and Bristol' in March, 1643, but 'never bore arms,' being 'sick of a dead palsy,' and that he died at Bridgewater with the King's army, in August, 1645, aged 75. A fine of 550 pounds sterling was assessed and paid. He left an elaborate will, which, in its provisions for all his nephews and nieces and their children, as well as others of the connection, is the key to the tangled genealogy of the next generation of the Culpepers. That will, evidently drawn at Oxford, and probably by his nephew Thomas of the Middle Temple.3 
Biography He is referenced in a biographical note for Alexander Culpeper Surveyor General of VA.10 
Biography He is referenced in a biographical note for Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple.11 

Family

Mary Scott
Marriage*1603 He married Mary Scott in 1603. 
ChartsThe 12th century Culpepers of England: Descendant Chart (16 generations, Males only)
Last Edited11 Jan 2012

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Extract from the Will of Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell, Esq.
  3. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
  4. E-mail written 2007 to Warren Culpepper from Charles Andrew Grigsby, England, e-mail address.
    Transcription of Will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court Hollingbourne Kent 1649
    Ref: 422.
  5. Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
    Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1649.pdf .
  6. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    P. C. C. Rivers, 157.
    Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
  7. Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
    Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
  8. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    P. C. C. Fairfax, 153 (Codacil)
    Image:http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-1.pdf.
  9. Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
    Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Greenway_Court_1645-2.pdf.
  10. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    Chapter 4b.
  11. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    Chapter 4: XIII Thomas Culpepper.

Anne Slaney1

Female, #8443, (circa 1575 - 20 Feb 1600/1)
Father*Sir Stephen Slaney Lord Mayor of London
Birth*circa 1575 Anne was born circa 1575. 
Marriage*circa 1597 She married Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell circa 1597. 
Married Namecirca 1597  As of circa 1597, her married name was Culpeper. 
Birth of Son31 Oct 1598 Her son Slaney Culpeper was born on 31 Oct 1598.2 
Birth of Son7 Aug 1599 Her son John Lord Culpeper 1st Baron of Thoresway was born on 7 Aug 1599 at Wigsell, Salehurst, co. Sussex, England. 
Death*20 Feb 1600/1 She died on 20 Feb 1600/1.3 
Burial*26 Feb 1600/1 Her body was interred on 26 Feb 1600/1 at Salehurst, co. Sussex, England.4 
Biography* The wills (of Anne's parents, sources for which are referenced in their records) are the clews to the identification of the father of the first Lord Culpeper. That of Sir Stephen (1598) rehearses two daughters, including 'Anne, wife of Thomas. Colepepper, esq.' and that of his widow (1619) recites: 'Whereas my son-in-law, Mr. Thomas Colepepper is lately deceased much indebted, and hath left his son and heire, Slanye Colepepper my-grandchild, a ward: and hath not left neither said Slanye Colepepper, nor John Colepepper his brother, nor Elizabeth Colepepper, his sister, being also my grandchildren, so sufficiently advanced as I did expect that he should have done.' Anne Slaney was buried in Salehurst, February 26, 1600/i, as 'Ann Colepepper, uxor Thomae, armigeri.' - Fairfax Harrison ---------------------------- She was a woman of some celebrity in her day; see her funeral sermon, by N. Parkhurst, and Wilford's Memorials of Eminent Persons. - Col. Attree. 
Probate7 May 1614 She is mentioned in the probate of the estate of an unknown person at East Grinstead, co. Sussex, England, on 7 May 1614.3 

Family

Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell
Marriage*circa 1597 She married Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell circa 1597. 
Children
ChartsDiana, Princess of Wales: Culpeper Ancestral Chart
Last Edited3 Jun 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    He was 14 years, 10 months and 18 days old at his father's death on 18 Sep 1613.
  3. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    P.C.C. 79 Capell Chancery Inq. P.M. 1614 No. 53.
  4. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm.
  5. Fairfax Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck - Chapters of Culpepper Genealogy, Richmond, VA: The Old Dominion Press (Privately printed), 1926, Repository: LDS Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Call No. US/CAN Film #929429. Transcription available online at: http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/nneck/default.htm
    Chanc. Inq. P. M. Ser. 11, 374: 104.

Mary Scott1

Female, #8444, (say 1560 - 1636)
Father*Sir Thomas Scott of Scotshall in Smeeth, co. Kent
Mother*Elizabeth Baker
Birth*say 1560 Mary was born say 1560. 
Married Namesay 1578  As of say 1578, her married name was St. Leger. 
Marriagesay 1578 She married Anthony St. Leger of Ulcombe, co. Kent, Esq. say 1578. 
Birth of Son1579 Her son Sir Warham St. Leger was born in 1579 at Ulcombe, co. Kent, England. 
Death of Father1594 Her father Sir Thomas Scott of Scotshall in Smeeth, co. Kent died in 1594. 
Marriage*1603 She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight in 1603. 
Married Name1603  As of 1603, her married name was Culpeper. 
Name-AltSpell1603 This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Name-AltSpell1603 This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Death of Son11 Oct 1631 Her son Sir Warham St. Leger died on 11 Oct 1631 at Ulcombe, co. Kent, England. 
Death*1636 She died at England in 1636. 
Biography* The allegation for the mar. lic. at Canterbury describes the parties as 'Alexander Culpeper of Harrietsham, esq., and Mary Sentleger of Ulcombe, widow: at Harrietsham; John Culpeper (i.e., his brother, later of Feckenham.), of London, gent. bonds.' The mar. is recorded: in Harrietsham. parish register, December 7, 1603, by the same description translated into latin; in the pedigree of Scott of Scotshall, certified at the Visitation of Kent, 1619; and in Mr. E. Y. St. Leger's documented Stem.mata St. Leodigaria (1867) in Wykeham-Martin, Leeds Castle; finally she was buried at Ulcombe April 23, 1636, as 'Domina Maria Culpeper, uxor Alexander Culpeper, militis'. These interesting families, of Scott of Scotshall and St. Leger, implicit at once of the history of Kent and of Virginia (Cf. Brown, Genesis, ii, 990, 996), are fully discussed biographically in D. N. B. Mary Scott had four sons and a dau. by her first husband, but no children by Sir Alexander Culpeper. Her eldest son was that Sir Warham St. Leger. - Fairfax Harrison. 

Family 1

Anthony St. Leger of Ulcombe, co. Kent, Esq.
Marriagesay 1578 She married Anthony St. Leger of Ulcombe, co. Kent, Esq. say 1578. 
Child

Family 2

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight
Marriage*1603 She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Greenway Court, Knight in 1603. 
Last Edited5 Apr 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.

Mary Beeston1

Female, #8445, (say 1575 - circa 1661)
Father*Roger Beeston of London
Birth*say 1575 Mary was born say 1575. 
Marriagesay 1598 She married Francis Gibbon of Benenden, Kent, Esq. say 1598. 
Married Namesay 1598  As of say 1598, her married name was Gibbon. 
Marriage*say 1605 She married Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell say 1605. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Married Namesay 1605  As of say 1605, her married name was Culpeper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Birth of Soncirca Dec 1607 Her son Thomas Culpeper was born circa Dec 1607. 
Death of Soncirca 29 Dec 1607 Her son Thomas Culpeper died circa 29 Dec 1607. 
Will16 Sep 1613 She is mentioned in the will of Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell on 16 Sep 1613.2 
Biography* Thomas married, secondly, Mary, daughter of Roger Beeston, citizen of London, and widow of Francis Gibbon, of Benenden, in Kent, Esq., by whom he had one son: Thomas, bapt. 13th December, 1607, at Hawkhurst, and buried at Salehurst 30th December, 1607; and three daughters: Mary, bapt. at Salehurst 10th August, 1606, Cicely, bapt. at Salehurst 8th July, 1610, Ann, bapt. at Hawkhurst 10th November, 1611, and mar. at Frittenden, Kent, 3rd November, 1636, to Thomas Scott, of Smeeth, Esq. Thomas Culpeper, of Wigsell, was buried at Salehurst 19th September, 1613, but his widow Mary survived him many years. From her will it would appear that her daughters Mary and Cicely died without issue.3 
Will*15 Aug 1660 She made a will on 15 Aug 1660.

Abstract of Will of Mary Beeston Culpeper:
     To my sonne Thomas Scott (Thomas Scott of Smeeth) £3. To my daughter (Anna Culpeper) his wife xls. to buy each of them a ringe. All my old gould to be equally divided between my sonne Edmund Gibbon and my grandchild Robert Scott. The latter to have £20 per annum during his and his father's joynt lives and I do tye my farme in the east end of Benenden for the payment thereof. To my loving son Edmund Gibbon of the Middle Temple, Esq., all my lands and messuages, with remainder to my grandchild Robert Scott. Residue to Edmund Gibbon, who is executor.4 
Death*circa 1661 She died circa 1661. 
Probate*11 Apr 1661 Probate action was taken on Mary's estate on 11 Apr 1661 at co. Kent, England,

A. 71 Avery, No. 70. 

Family

Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell
Marriage*say 1605 She married Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell say 1605. 
Children
Last Edited22 May 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Extract from the Will of Thomas Culpeper of Wigsell, Esq.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pp 66-67.
  4. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pp 66-67. The will of Mary Beeston Culpeper is at Canterbury, dated 15th August, 1660, and proved 11th April 1661, by Edmund Gibbon, Esq., her son.

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight1

Male, #8451, (say 1470 - 1541)
Father*John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury
Mother*Agnes Gainsford
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1470 Alexander was born say 1470. 
Death of Father22 Dec 1480 His father John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury died on 22 Dec 1480 at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. 
Marriage*say 1490 He married Agnes Davy say 1490. 
Death of Spousesay 1493 His wife Agnes Davy died say 1493. 
Marriage*say 1495 He married Constantia Chamberlayn say 1495. 
Birth of Sonsay 1495 His son John Culpeper of St. Stephens was born say 1495. 
Birth of Sonsay 1501 His son Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst was born say 1501. 
Will14 Sep 1514 He is mentioned in the will of Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell on 14 Sep 1514.2,3 
Will22 Sep 1516 He is mentioned in the will of Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst on 22 Sep 1516.4 
Will*20 May 1540 He made a will at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, on 20 May 1540.

The 20 day of Maye 1540, 32 Henry VIII, I ALEXAUNDER COLPEPER of Begeburye wt in the parishe of Goutherst [Goudhurst] in Kent, Knighte.
     To be buried in the Chappell being on the sowthe syde of the churche of Goutherste wherin I have preparide my Tombe for my body therein to be buryde or in some other place afore the blesside Sacrament. My body to be broughte in earthe and to be don for at the day of my buryall and at the day of my mounethe mynde according as shalbe meate for a man of my degre and because that greate multitude of prese of people will resorte and come at the day of my buriall by the wch resorte prese and mulhlude dyners and many parsons mighte therby perishe and also dyners other inconvenyents mighte therby ensure and for avoyding the occasyon therof.
     I bequeth certeyne somes of money particulary to be dispoaside tin dyners and sundry parishes that is to say I will my Knyll to be ronge in Goutherst with the greate bell the day of my buryall and dyrige to be song there the same daye and three masses one of the Trynitie and other of oure Ladye and the thirde of Requiem to be song the next daye after my buryall for the whiche I give and bequethe three poundes to be dealyde at Goutherst in fourme following: To the vycar for his payne and labor yf he be there present 20d., and to the parishe priste for the tyme being 16d., and to euery priste 12d., to the parisshe clarke 8d. to euery singyng man 4d. and to euery childe that singithe in the Queare 2d. and to the Sexlyn for the bell knylle and the grave suche some of money as shalbe thoughte meate by the discretion of myne executrix and the Resydue in almys to pore people of the same parishe in twoo penny dole to pray for my soule my frendes soules and all xpen soules.
     I will my knyll to be Ronge in Cranbroke the day of my buryall and dyrige to be songe there the same daye and 3 mases [as before] and I geve or bequethe fourtye shillinges [same as beofre only "to the Sexten for the bell and knyll suche some as shalbe thoughte mete by my executrix]. [Same at Haulkherste and 20s. but only two masses one of the Trynite and the masse of Requiem]. [Same at Lamberhurst and two masses one of or Ladye and one of Requiem and 13s. 6d.]. [Same at Horsemonden, Merden and Stapleherst with two masses one of Trynitie and the other of Requiem].
     I will myne executrix geve to 12 pore men to euery of them a black goune wt a hood and 4d. and they to stande about the hearse holdinge euery of them a Torche praying all the servyce tyme for my soule my frendes soules and all xpen soules at the day of my buryall and on the morowe all the tyme of the masses and other obsequies to be doon there in lyke manner at the day of my mounethes mynde.
     Also I will that Dame Constance my saide executrixe (Constantia Chamberlayn) shall geve to as many parson or parsonnes blacke gownes and cotes as she shall thinke convenyent.
     All my detts to be fully contentid and paide and restitution to be made of all wornges and miuryes by me done if anny suche cane be duely provide before myne executrix and ouerseers.
     Dame Constance my executrix shall exhibite and fynde one honest seculer priste to sing and pray for my soule within the forsaide Chappell by the space of fyve yeres and my saide executrix geving to the saide priste yerelye for his Sallary and wage £6. 13. 4., the same priste findinge hym selfe waxe, wyne and breade to syng and say masse with.
     To the churche of Goutherst £20 wt in 6 yeres towards the Reparacons of the same churche and vestry there.
     To twoo of my doughters Margaret (Margaret Culpeper) & Katherin (Catherine Culpeper) £200 towards theire maryages being not maryed in my life, to either £100.
     To Alyce Colpepper one other of my doughters (Alice Culpeper) one yerely pencon of £3. 6. 8. for 20 yeres but if she be advanced in maryage then the saide pencon to cease and to be utterly voyde.
     I bequethe £10 for to by fyve Vestmentes for pristes to syng masse yn wherof the furst thereof to be for the priste that shall singe masse for me in the saide Chappell where I have prepared my Tombe and the secounde to the churche of Awsteley in the county of Warwyk and the thirde to the churche of Manchester in the saide County of Warwyk and the fourthe to the churche of Fynchingfelde in the county of Essex and the fyfte to the churche of Sainte Marye Bewers in the County of Suffolke.
     An obyte at Goutherste the space of 20 yeres 6s. 8d. Tenne marks to the porist people and inhabitants of Goutherste in almys that is to say yerelye 33s. 4d.
     To Thomas Willenhall 20s., Alexander Dodde 20s., John Browne 20s., Robert Thorpe 20s., Jane Porter 20s., John Dod 13s. 4d., William Haddon 13s. 4d., John Wateman 13s. 4d., Hughe Pecoke 10s., Thomas Arglas 10s., Rycharde Kempe 6s. 8d., George Cots 6s. 8d., John Style 6s. 8d, Rycharde Mose 6s. 8d., John Emery 6s. 8d., Leonarde Larshar 6s. 8d., William Clowte 6s. 8d., John Emery, cooke, 6s. 8d., to all other of my saruauntes as shall happen to be in my servyce at the tyme of my death to euery one of them 3s. 4d.
     Resydue of all my goodes, juells &e to Dame Constance my wife to her owen proper vse, the whiche Dame Constance I doo ordeyne and make my sole executrix and supervysours and Ouersears my brouther Sr. Edwarde Chamberlayne, Knighte (Alexander's brother-in-law, the son of Sir Robert Chamberlayn of Sussex), and John Baker, Esquier, generall attorney to the Kynges highness and to either of them a blacke gowne and 40s.
     In wittness whereof I the saide Sr. Alexander to this my pnt testament and laste will have putt my seale and written this lyne wt myne owen hande by me Ser Alexander Culpeper Knight. By me Thomas Harlakenden ( an unknown person ), by me William Sydenham, William Hyne priste, Henry Rogers, Thomas Willinhall, Symonde Willenhall, Thomas Darell, Henry Sampson, John Wellys curate of Goutherst.

--------------------

This Codyceel made by me Sr. Alexaunder Culpepper Knighte the 5 May 33 Henry VIII. Furste where as Thomas Culpepper myne eldist sonne (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst) with other doo rest and standen bounden vnto the saide Ser Alyxander Culpepper and to other by ther writing oblygatory in the some of £1000 and endorsyd apon certeyne condycons as by the same it doth apeare, whiche condycons be not parfourmde, wherfore the some of £1000 is due to be paide as a verry dett. Yett neuerthelesse I doo declare my will and mynde as followinge:
     If the saide Thomas Culpepper myne eldist sonne doo well and truly paye £300 to myne executrixe, £100 within one monethe after my deceasse in the parishe churche of Goutherst and within one yere £50, of that remaynethe, the same £50 to be delyuerede to the Reparacon of the churche of Goutherst and of the vestrye there, and other £50 parcell of the Resydue to be paide in the saide parishe churche of Goutherst to John my sonne (John Culpeper of St. Stephens) to his exhibicon and findinge, and also fourescore poundes parcell of £100 the last of the saide £300, the same fourescore pounds I will and geve as folowithe: To Anne (Anne Culpeper), John [Johanna] (Johanna Culpeper), Margaret and Katherine my doughters evenly to be shisted and paide, and £20 the hole resydue of the £300 I give to Robert Gaen, Thomas Willenhale, and Symonde Willenhale egally, and if the saide Thomas my sonne well and truly kepe paye and parfourm all the payments, then the writing oblygatory of £1000 shalbe clerly acquited.
     And if not my executrixe to procede in sute of the saide oblygacon and with the £700 resydue my foresaide executrix shall lye and purchase the parsonage of Goutherst with the Advouson therto belongyng, and the same to remayne to one of my sonnes and his heyres whome I t shall happen to have the Maner and Denne of Goutherste.
     And if the £700 will not purchase the saide parsonage then £200 to be bestowed in repayring and amending of the highe waye between the parsonage gate of Goutherst and Begebury Crosse and £100 in the high way from Goutherst Church vnto Iden Crosse and £100 in the highe way from the playne of Goutherst a long and through the Stony lane there and so forthe to Techinghole Mylle and so vpp along to Winshott hill and £100 in the highe way ledyng from Winshot hill vnto the Crosse in Merden Streten. Also £100 in the highe way from Harteley Crosse vnto Cranebroke and £100 Resydue of the £700 vnto 12 parsonnes that shall have the Rule and ouersight of the Repayring and amending of all the highe wayes above written to euery of them £8. 6. 8.
     In wittness wherof to this pnt codycell in paper I the foresaide Ser Alexaunder Culpepper have subscribed my name with myne owen hande. By me Alexaunder Culpeper knighte.
     Proved, with codicil 21 June 1541 by relict and executrice. (P.C.C. 30 Alenger.)5,6 
Death*1541 He died at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, in 1541. 
Burial*1541 His body was interred in 1541 at St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. There is a splendid memorial to Sir Alexander and his wife Dame Constance on a tomb in St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst. This is two lifesize recumbant figures carved in wood and painted in contemporry colors. Sir Alexander is in asuit of armour and Dame Constance in a tunic and gown, with a pedimental head-dress. Both of their feet rest upon dogs -- his a hound, hers a pet dog. These animals represent some quality of the deceased person, such as bravery, gentleness or affection. See photographs at:
http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/places/goudhurst2.htm. 
Probate21 Jun 1541 Probate action was taken on Alexander's estate on 21 Jun 1541 at co. Kent, England,

P.C.C. 30 Alenger. 
Biography* Sheriff 1499-1500, 1506-7, 1514-15, 6 Hen VIII. 

Family 1

Agnes Davy
Marriage*say 1490 He married Agnes Davy say 1490. 
Child

Family 2

Constantia Chamberlayn
Marriage*say 1495 He married Constantia Chamberlayn say 1495. 
Children
ChartsThe 12th century Culpepers of England: Descendant Chart (16 generations, Males only)
Last Edited2 Mar 2014

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005.
    Page 249.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Colepepers of Wigsell, in Salehurst (pages 60-74).
  4. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pp 65-66.
  5. Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury Will, 20 May 1540
    Tudor P.C.C. Will Transcription by L. L. Duncan - Book 54 page 28.
  6. Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
    Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Goudhurst_1541.pdf.

Isabel Culpeper1

Female, #8452, (say 1473 - )
Father*John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury
Mother*Agnes Gainsford
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1473 Isabel was born say 1473. 
Married Namesay 1491  As of say 1491, her married name was Roberts. 
Marriage*say 1491 She married Walter Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent say 1491. 
Research note*10 May 2020 For marriage record, See:
NEHGR vol 166 : 57, first full paragraph
“Exhurst Ancestry of the Stoughton Siblings” at: www.americanancestors.org. This requires a subscription to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS).2 

Family

Walter Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent
Last Edited10 May 2020

Citations

  1. 1574 Visitation, Kent, England.
  2. Lewis W. Griffin Jr. (#47), Phoenix, AZ.

Joyce Culpeper

Female, #8453, (say 1477 - )
Father*John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury
Mother*Agnes Gainsford
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1477 Joyce was born say 1477. 
Married Namesay 1495  As of say 1495, her married name was Haume. 
Marriage*say 1495 She married Gerald Haume say 1495. 
Married Namesay 1500  As of say 1500, her married name was Pekham. 
Marriagesay 1500 She married Sir Reginald Pekham say 1500. 

Family

Gerald Haume
Marriage*say 1495 She married Gerald Haume say 1495. 
Last Edited23 May 2011

Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst1

Male, #8454, (say 1435 - circa Oct 1516)
Father*Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull
Mother*Agnes Roper
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth*say 1435 Richard was born say 1435. 
Death of Mother2 Dec 1457 His mother Agnes Roper died on 2 Dec 1457 at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England.2 
Death of Father24 Nov 1462 His father Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull died on 24 Nov 1462 at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. 
Marriage*say 1464 He married Margaret Wakehurst say 1464. Richard and Margaret had no children. 
Biography* Nicholas, with his brother, Richard, under somewhat romantic circumstances, married the Wakehurst sisters, (granddaughters and co-heiresses of Richard Wakehurst, sen., of Wakehurst, in Ardingly). These two girls were confided by Elizabeth, their grandmother, to the care of John Colepeper and Agnes, his wife, the former of whom "promysed on the faithe and trouthe of his bodye and as he was a gentylman," that they should not be wronged. In spite of this promise, however, Richard and Nicholas, "with force and armes riotously agense the Kynges peas arayed in the manr of warre at Goutherst toke and caried" them away to Bobbing, Alexander Clifford's place in Kent, and afterwards transported them to London to a place of John Gibson, "the seide Margarete and Elizabeth at the tyme of their takyng away makyng grete and pittious lamentacion and wepyng."

This high-handed proceeding on the part of the two fortune hunting brothers was productive of much litigation, as Elizabeth Wakehurst, grandmother of the two heiresses, refused to resign the title deeds of their estates, and it was some time before a peaceable settlement was obtained. Richard died without issue, but Nicholas became the ancestor of the Colepepers of Wakehurst, and as the brass to him and his wife Elizabeth in Ardingly Church shows ten sons and eight daughters, we may conclude that they lived long and happily together.3

Also see on this website "Abduction: An Alternative Form of Courtship?" This is a paper written by Julia Pope, M.A. and presented at the International Medieval Congress, Kalamazoo. MI, May 2003. Based upon the 15th century abduction of the Wakehurst sisters by the Culpeper brothers, it can be viewed at: http://gen.culpepper.com/ss/p8456.htm. 
Death of Spouse1504 His wife Margaret Wakehurst died in 1504 at Wakehurst, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England. 
Will*22 Sep 1516 He made a will on 22 Sep 1516.

An abstract (partly translated from Latin) of the Will of Richard Culpeper, Esq., follows:
     22 Sep 1516, 8 Henry VIII. I Richard Culpeper of the parish of Ardingly, co. Sussex, Esq. and son of Walter Culpeper late of Goudhurst co. Kent Esq. (Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Bayhall & Hardreshull) and brother of Sir John Culpeper late of Goudhurst (John Culpeper of Bayhall, Hardreshull & Bedgebury) aforesaid make my testament. To be buried in the chancel of the church of Ardingly next the sepulture of Margaret Culpeper late my wife (Margaret Wakehurst). Bequests to the brothers of the house of Moatenden in Kent, Lewes in Sussex, Newgate in London and Lossenham in Kent. To Anne Pympe my cousin 10 marks at marriage or at 26. To the mending of the roads within the manor of Wakehurst and Seldwyke Cross 13s 4d. To Richard Culpeper (Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst) son and heir of Nicholas Culpeper (Nicholas Culpeper of Wakehurst) a bond or obligation of the said Nicholas for £5 6s 8d. To Master Edward Culpeper (Rev. Edward Culpeper D.C.L.) brother of the aforesaid Richard 40s. Residuary legatee Elizabeth Culpeper (Elizabeth Wakehurst) widow of my late brother Nicholas, and I appoint her together with Thomas Culpeper (Thomas Culpeper of Crawley, Esq.), George Culpeper (George Culpeper of Naylands in Balcombe, co. Sussex) and Richard Culpeper (Richard Culpeper of Lewes), younger sons of the aforesaid Nicholas Culpeper executrix Culpeper, Esq. and Master Edward Culpeper brother of the aforesaid Richard my overseers. Witnesses John Yonge, Vicar of West Hoathly, Henry Wellys, Thomas Doggett, Christopher Payne, and William Hordys with others.
     Will as to lands of Richard Culpeper, Esq. "one of the sons of Walter Culpeper of Goudhurst, Esquire, and brother to Sir John Culpeper, sometime of Goudhurst, Knight" 22 Sep 1516. To Elizabeth Culpeper (Elizabeth Culpeper) my sister a croft (a small piece of land, usually attached to a house, used for farming or pasture) in Horsemonden in Kent, with remainder to Alexander Culpeper (Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight), and no more for "thanks be to God he has no need." The male heirs of Walter Culpeper my nephew (Walter Culpeper of Calais and Wigsell) to have the manor of Heronden, and the tenement of the Bavre. Loggelond in Ardingly to the churchwardens to keep an obit, with beer bread and cheese, by 10 priests at 8d each to pray for self, Margaret my wife, Walter Culpeper and Agnes (Agnes Roper) his wife, my father and mother, Richard Wakehurst the elder and Richard Wakehurst the younger (Richard Wakehurst of Ardingly) and Agnes his wife (Agnes (?)), my wife’s father and mother. Parishes of Ardingly, Balcombe, West Hoathly, Lindfield and Whyhyme. Elizabeth Culpeper, late the wife of Nicholas Culpeper my brother to take up the rents and issues of all other lands in Horsemonden or Goudhurst in Kent, and in Monfield, Salehurst, Ifeld, Crawley, Slaugham, Worth and West Hoathly in Sussex and in Leigh in Surrey or elsewhere in England for life, and after her death the lands in Leigh, which I bought, to Richard Culpeper son and heir of Nicholas and Elizabeth. To Thomas Culpeper one of the sons of the said Nicholas and Anne (Anne (?)) wife of the said Thomas, lands in Ifeld, Crawley, Slaugham and Worth which I bought of John Wodye &c. To George Culpeper (after Elizabeth's decease) the messuage and lands of Stroudgate for life, with remainder to Richard Culpeper son and heir of the aforesaid Nicholas. Also to the said George Busses in West Hoathly and a mill called Hope Mill in Southerst (Goudhurst?) and the halfendele of a fulling mill in Horsemonden to him and his heirs. And as for Pipstye I cannot put it from George for it is copyhold. To Richard Culpeper, youngest son of the foresaid Nicholas and Elizabeth, a messuage or tenement called the Feryn in Ninfield and Salehurst co Sussex, and land and messuages at Turnerhill also two tenements in Southerst sometime John Bechefeld, Richard Mylis, Thomas Burges. Remainder after death of Elizabeth to foresaid Richard his heirs and assigns. If Thomas Culpeper, George Culpeper, or Richard Culpeper the youngest son die during the lifetime of the said Elizabeth, without wife or children, his part to remain to the other living of the aforesaid three. Proved at Lambeth 8 Nov 1516 by Richard Culpeper, George Culpeper, and Thomas Culpeper in person and by Elizabeth Culpeper in the person of William Crowland.4 
Death*circa Oct 1516 He died at Wakehurst, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England, circa Oct 1516. 
Burial*circa Oct 1516 His body was interred circa Oct 1516 at St. Peter's Church, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England. 5. 
Probate8 Nov 1516 Probate action was taken on Richard's estate on 8 Nov 1516 at Lambeth, co. Surrey, England,

P.C.C. 24 Holder.4 

Family

Margaret Wakehurst
Marriage*say 1464 He married Margaret Wakehurst say 1464. Richard and Margaret had no children. 
ChartsThe 12th century Culpepers of England: Descendant Chart (16 generations, Males only)
Last Edited23 May 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pages 54-60.
  3. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  4. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pp 65-66.
  5. now in West Sussex, England

Ursula Woodcock1,2

Female, #8455, (before 27 Jan 1566 - before 2 Jun 1612)
Father*Ralph Woodcock Alderman of London
Mother*Good Bower of co. Wilts
AFN* Her Ancestral File Number is AFN: G5Q0-GH. 
Birth*before 27 Jan 1566 Ursula was born at London, England, before 27 Jan 1566. 
Christening27 Jan 1566 She was christened at St. Lawrence Jewry, City of London, London, England, on 27 Jan 1566. 
Marriage1581 She married Solomon Pordage of Rodmersham, co. Kent in 1581. 
Married Name1581  As of 1581, her married name was Pordage. 
Marriage*1600 She married John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, in 1600. 
Married Name1600  As of 1600, her married name was Culpeper. 
Birth of Sonsay 1602 Her son Thomas Culpeper of the Middle Temple was born say 1602 at Harrietsham, co. Kent, England. 
Birth of Soncirca 1606 Her son John Culpeper the Merchant was born circa 1606. 
Burial*2 Jun 1612 Her body was interred on 2 Jun 1612 at Feckenham, Worcestershire, England. 
Death*before 2 Jun 1612 She died at Feckenham, Worcestershire, England, before 2 Jun 1612. 
Biography* She was bur. in Feckenham, June 2, 1612, as 'Ursula, the weiffe of John Culpep' Esquier.' Her recital on the MI. in Hollingbourne as dau. of Thomas Woodcock is a confusion of her father with her brother. She was bapt. in St. Lawrence Jewry, London, January 27, 1565/6, as 'Ursula, dau. of Ralph Woodcock;' and the will of that Ralph, dated September 1, 1580 (P.C.C. Windsor, 47), reciting himself to be 'citizen and Alderman of London,' describes her as 'my daughter Ursula, now wife of Solomon Pordage.' The identification is completed by an inquisition held at East Greenwich, October 23, 1599 (Chancery inq. p.m., Series 11, 256; 38), which found that Solomon Pordage of Rodmersharn had died September 12, 1599, having made a settlement on the occasion of his m. in 1581 with Ursula, dau. of Ralph Woodcock. Solomon Pordage's will (P.C.C. Kidd, 74) commended his wife to his kinsman, William Stede of Harrietsham, and it was through the Stedes that the widow Pordage met her second husband. (Source: Fairfax Harrison, "The Proprietors of the Northern Neck.") 

Family

John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs.
Marriage*1600 She married John Culpeper of Astwood in Feckenham, co. Worcs. at Greenway Court, Hollingbourne, co. Kent, England, in 1600. 
Children
Last Edited1 Apr 2000

Citations

  1. LDS Church, compiler, Ancestral File, Intellectual Reserve, Inc..
    http://www.familysearch.org
    AFN: G5Q0-GH.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVII,47-81, (1904)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.

Margaret Wakehurst1

Female, #8456, (say 1448 - 1504)
Father*Richard Wakehurst of Ardingly
Mother*Agnes (?)
Birth*say 1448 Margaret was born at Ardingly, co. Sussex, England, say 1448. 
Marriage*say 1464 She married Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst say 1464. Richard and Margaret had no children. 
Married Namesay 1464  As of say 1464, her married name was Culpeper. 
Burial*1504 Her body was interred in 1504 at St. Peter's Church, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England. 
Death*1504 She died at Wakehurst, Ardingly, co. Sussex, England, in 1504. 
Will22 Sep 1516 She is mentioned in the will of Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst on 22 Sep 1516.2 
Biography* Abduction: An Alternative Form of Courtship?
by Julia Pope, M.A.
Presented at the International Medieval Congress, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2003

Some time between 1457 and 1460, two young sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret Wakehurst, were allegedly abducted.1 The legal battle that followed would hound them and their families for decades. By incorporating the ample resources of legal records, we can reach a greater understanding of problems traditionally viewed solely through the lens of social history. Pieced together as much as possible from the surviving documents, the story of the Wakehurst heiresses, though exceptional, can shed light not only on the ambiguous nature of the crime of abduction, but also on more general questions of courtship, marriage, and the value of female consent.

Medieval English lawmakers considered abduction a serious problem. No fewer than eight statutes on the subject can be found on the books between 1275 and 1487. I will only mention the two with most bearing on the Wakehurst case. The Statute of Westminster II of 1285 made abduction a felony. If the female victim did not consent, or consented after the fact, the punishment remained the same. If, however, she had consented in advance, under this law no crime had been committed. Second is the statute of 6 Richard II (1382), which gave a woman’s next of kin the right to prosecute her abductor even if she consented to the abduction. It also debarred an abductor from inheriting property by marrying his victim.

These statutes comprise the legal frame of reference for the Wakehurst case. They did not bear on it directly, however, because it was largely fought in the court of Chancery. In the late medieval period, Chancery functioned (among other things) as a court of equity - a last resort for people who could not get justice through normal channels.2 Chancellors were meant to supplement the common law, but were not strictly bound by it; instead, their rulings were supposed to be based on ‘conscience’.3 In petitioning the Chancellor, a plaintiff was seeking remedy for an offense that either was not adequately covered by existing statute law, or for which they would be unable to obtain justice in the regular court system for some reason. The work of Cameron, Ives, and Post has demonstrated that the common law courts were not a popular option for resolving abduction disputes, leaving Chancery as a prime alternative venue.

Scholarship on medieval abduction has tended to focus on two distinct but related aspects of the crime. First, much ink has been devoted to the confusion surrounding the Latin term raptus, meaning “carrying off, abduction, rape, or plunder.” The preferred English translation is “ravish,” since it incorporates a similar ambiguity regarding of sexual contact. This terminological conflation of what we consider two separate crimes, kidnapping and rape, has proven problematic for historians attempting to tease out the medieval concept of abduction. In my research, however, this debate is of secondary importance. The documents I have examined were written in the vernacular, and therefore rely on less ambiguous terminology, such as “carried away”.

Second, scholars have debated the amount of female agency involved in abduction. Some, drawing on the work of Susan Brownmiller, have argued that abduction was fundamentally considered a property crime against men, and that female agency was unimportant. However, this claim is based largely on an examination of statute law, not case evidence. Arguing against the ‘property crime’ theory is Garthine Walker, who has contended that it was not the victims themselves who were seen as property, but rather the lands and wealth that would be transferred through them, a crucial distinction to bear in mind. Others, drawing more on literary than historical records, have seen abduction as a romantic crime, and suggest that many (perhaps even most) so-called abductions were actually concealed elopements, which assumes the consent of both parties. More recently, Emma Hawkes has taken a different position, arguing that though some abductions were consensual, many were not, and that a woman’s consent or lack thereof was of fundamental importance in determining the outcome of a legal case.

I have examined some fifty cases of abduction presented to Chancery between 1389 and 1515. My research has shown that many abduction cases in Chancery records were heavily connected with wardship, money, and marriage. Although Ives argued that “abduction for gain is almost unknown”4 in the fifteenth century, it would be more accurate to say that abduction for ransom was not common (out of fifty cases I examined, only four followed such a pattern). If we consider the potential wealth that a valuable wardship or the marriage of an heiress could bring, many abductions could be called ‘abductions for gain’ (at least eighteen out of fifty, in my sample group). The Wakehurst case is one such. Because of the unusual amount of detail we have regarding this particular abduction incident, we can use it to examine some of the surrounding issues, particularly the role courtship may have played in abduction.

I will turn now to the facts of the case itself. Richard Wakehurst the Elder, who had been a member of Parliament and Justice of the Peace, died in 1455. In his will he named Thomas Hoo and William Gaynesford as the supervisors who would ensure that the executors fulfilled their duties properly.5 His only son, Richard the Younger, had predeceased him. Thus, Richard the Elder’s only heirs were his two granddaughters Margaret and Elizabeth, the children of his son Richard and daughter-in-law Agnes Gaynesford (a sister of William and John). Although their ages are not certain, they were still unmarried at the time of their grandfather’s death. They were probably quite young, most likely in their early teens. Their wardship apparently fell to their grandmother Elizabeth’s relatives.

Not long afterwards, a petition was sent to the chancellor by the girls’ grandmother Elizabeth, who was writing along with Thomas Etchingham, Thomas Hoo, and John and William Gaynesford, esqs.6 This petition stated that her granddaughters had been placed under the care of Sir John Culpepper. Incidentally, in a detail apparently not mentioned in Elizabeth’s original petition, Sir John had, some time previously, married Agnes Gaynesford, the girls’ widowed mother.7 Their joint tomb remains in the Lady Chapel at Goudherst, Kent, and it indicates that together they had six children.8 Culpepper had, the petitioners claimed, “promysed on the faithe and trouthe of his bodye and as he was a gentylman” that no harm would come to the girls. The plaintiffs made serious accusations against John, along with his brothers Richard and Nicholas Culpepper and their brother-in-law Alexander Clifford, claiming that they “with force and armes, riotously agense the Kinges peas, arayed in the manner of warre…toke and caried away” the girls to Clifford’s home in Bobbing, Kent. At the time of their abduction, we learn, Margaret and Elizabeth made “grete and pittious lamentacion and weping.” Elizabeth and her co-petitioners ended by claiming that the two young women were still being detained against their wills in London at the home of one John Gibson.

The various families involved here, all members of the local gentry, were heavily connected through several marriages.9 There is strong evidence that Etchingham and Hoo (whose father was married to a woman named Elizabeth Etchingham) were relatives of the girls’ grandmother Elizabeth (whose maiden name was also Etchingham), although the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear.10 The Gaynesford family was doubly married into the Wakehurst family, and thus could also be expected to have a strong interest in the matters at issue.

No further evidence is forthcoming from this basic text, which follows many of the standard conventions of the genre, but other documents can fill in some of the surrounding story. The two young co-heiresses, Margaret and Elizabeth, married their alleged abductors not long after the incident, though the exact date of their weddings is not certain. Margaret was married to Richard, and Elizabeth to Nicholas. In marrying this way, the couples violated a number of the traditions and standards surrounding marriage at this time, to say the least. First, they were within the prohibited degrees of affinity by medieval standards, the Culpeppers being the girls’ step-uncles by reason of Sir John and Agnes’s marriage. That this relationship was uncomfortably close to home would have been abundantly clear to everyone involved. Secondly, the process by which the marriages were conducted was well outside the norm. Abduction, even if Margaret and Elizabeth were willing victims, was not a socially acceptable substitute for courtship, wherein gaining the consent of family and friends was an important step. Finally, the couples apparently married in London, when they should have married within their home parish, with the banns read in advance. Presumably the flight to London was necessary because of the two factors mentioned earlier – the overly close bond between the couples, and the opposition of at least some of their family members to the match.

In situations such as this, where the legal and moral grounds for marriage were somewhat dubious, the most likely course of action would have been for the couples to marry quickly, and before a priest, though preferably one who would not ask too many questions. London, even then the anonymous metropolis, would have been the easiest place for them to locate such a priest. The authority provided by a solemnized ceremony would have considerably outweighed the secrecy of a clandestine marriage, if the couples expected the marriages to be challenged in the ecclesiastical court system. Perhaps the journey to Bobbing, Kent, to Alexander Clifford’s home (which would have taken them considerably out of their way) was undertaken in order to obtain Clifford’s help and/or advice in these matters. Unfortunately, the identity of the John Gibson they are said to have stayed with in London is unknown, but he could also have aided them in the process of getting married.

The main opponents to the young couples was the girls’ grandmother Elizabeth Wakehurst, and to a lesser extent her relatives, the Etchingham and Hoo families. Elizabeth’s precise reasons for objecting to the marriages are not immediately evident from the documents available, but several possibilities spring to mind. First and foremost, she probably thought that the Culpeppers were too closely related to her granddaughters. She may have considered the men to be poor matches for her wealthy heiress granddaughters because Nicholas and Richard were younger sons and thus were not likely to inherit a great deal of wealth or property in their own rights – in short, she probably thought Margaret and Elizabeth could do better, given their considerable inheritance. Finally, and most tentatively, she may have objected to the Culpepper brothers themselves on some more personal grounds. The Culpepper family may have been social climbers with a penchant for marrying heiresses (their grandfather and great-grandfather had both definitely married women much wealthier than themselves), and it is not too far-fetched to imagine Elizabeth Wakehurst considered them presumptuous upstarts.

Her decision to resort to Chancery for remedy is not unusual, judging by the number of cases I have examined from that venue. Although verdicts have not survived, the tactic of petitioning the Chancellor in an attempt to forestall an undesirable union and protect family property was evidently unsuccessful in this case. We are forced to wonder how much truth there is in the original petition, given that it was designed to sway the Chancellor’s opinion into line with Elizabeth Wakehurst’s own. But if Elizabeth Wakehurst’s petition had not presented her granddaughters’ departure as a case of abduction, complete with heart-wrenching descriptions of their “grete and pittious lamentacion and weping,” her case would more than likely have been hastily dismissed, as voluntary elopement was not criminal. The petition seems not to have raised the question of the violation of wardship. Evidently Elizabeth (or more likely, her lawyers) did not consider this strategy to be the most effective means of achieving her goal – not primarily the return of the girls (which the Chancellor would have had few means of effecting), but safe-guarding the family property from their new husbands. This petition was thus a legal manoeuvre of some skill, and, although the chancellor’s ruling is not known, the care and thought that went into the preparation of the argument were evidently considerable.

Subsequently, Elizabeth and her family set about blocking as much of the girls’ inheritance as they could. Even twenty years later, the two couples were still engaged in legal disputes with their grandmother’s relatives over various manors and pieces of property that were originally part of the Wakehurst women’s inheritance from their father and grandfather.11 Although her attempt to disinherit completely the two couples eventually failed, Elizabeth Wakehurst probably managed to make things very unpleasant for them while she lived with her numerous petitions to Chancery and, no doubt, by other means as well.

One question arises here: given that the marriages were well within the forbidden degrees of affinity, why did Elizabeth not attempt to have them dissolved? Surprisingly, as far as can be determined, she made no mention whatsoever in her various petitions to Chancery of the girls’ mother being remarried to Sir John Culpepper. There is no evidence that she brought the case before the ecclesiastical courts of London or elsewhere in the province of Canterbury, though the survival of such records from this period is chancy at best. Searching further afield, there is no sign that the couples were granted a dispensation to marry by papal authorities, nor that any (possibly lost) local ecclesiastical verdict was appealed to Rome, although there are many other surviving appeals for dispensations on grounds of affinity. We are left to wonder, then, how much the question of affinity bears on this case. While Helmholz would have us believe that people in medieval England rarely violated the bonds of consanguinity if they were aware of them, perhaps we can tentatively say that in this case, ties of affinity (ties of marriage, not of blood) were not seen as a major obstacle to marriage, at least by the couples themselves.

While Elizabeth Wakehurst and her relatives were the main antagonists to the young couples, Richard, Margaret, Nicholas, and Elizabeth also seem to have had a considerable support network. The girls’ mother Agnes and her second husband Sir John must have permitted the marriages to go ahead, or at least done nothing to hinder them. Certainly grandmother Elizabeth considered Sir John equally as culpable as his younger brothers, though it seems unlikely he actually accompanied them on their abduction journey. Brother-in-law Alexander Clifford probably also provided support, along with a place to lay low for a time. The mysterious John Gibson in London presumably also assisted them in some capacity, whether in finding a priest who was amenable to solemnizing a more-than-slightly-questionable marriage, or simply providing lodgings in the city. Traditional courtship involved gaining the consent of family and friends, and it seems the couples had managed this, to a certain extent.

The consent of the Wakehurst girls themselves must also have been secured – the question being, was it before or after they were carried away? Certainly the men who were said to have abducted them were no strangers to Margaret and Elizabeth, though they were likely a good deal older than their step-nieces. It would not have been unusual for unmarried younger brothers of a well-off family to spend at least some of their time at their family estate. If there was an abduction, I suspect it was a carefully orchestrated act, planned in advance due to some previously-expressed opposition from the girls’ grandmother and guardians towards a proposed match. Or, more likely, there was never a violent abduction as described in the petition. Perhaps there was merely a calm journey to the house of another relative, and the description provided in the petition is pure legal rhetoric intended to sway the Chancellor with a sense of the horrors of the alleged crime. It is worth noting that the girls were taken from the home of John Culpepper, and that it is unlikely Elizabeth Wakehurst or any of her associates actually witnessed it.

After the death of grandmother Elizabeth in 1464, the couples returned to Wakehurst Place and seem to have lived in comparative peace, aside from occasional legal wrangling with the Etchinghams and Hoos over the ownership of several manors. Richard Culpepper died in 1516, and his wife Margaret had predeceased him; they left no children.12 Sir Nicholas Culpepper, who had been knighted in 1465, died in 1509, and his wife Elizabeth outlived both him and his brother Richard. Burke’s states that Nicholas and Elizabeth had five surviving sons, Richard, Edward, Thomas, George, and another Richard,13 but their funeral brass in Ardingly Church, Sussex, shows a remarkable ten sons and eight daughters. It has been colourfully described as “so crowded as to look like a poster warning against rush hour travel.” 14 In all likelihood many of these children died young or at least predeceased their parents.

Of the four main players in this little drama, only Richard’s will survives. He had evidently done quite well for himself, for it details property in Kent, seven separate named locations in Sussex, and land in Surrey. He named his sister-in-law Elizabeth as a co-executrix of his will, along with some of her sons, which suggests the two couples remained unusually close. Richard also requested that the churchwardens at Ardingly keep an obit, praying for him, Margaret his wife, his parents Walter and Agnes Culpepper, Richard Wakehurst the elder (his wife’s grandfather), and Richard Wakehurst the younger and his wife Agnes (his wife’s parents). Although we should not read too much into such a request, it seems irresistibly telling that he did not request prayers for Richard the elder’s wife Elizabeth, who had caused him so much trouble.

Although this case is complicated, and almost certainly some of the details, such as the exact role of the girls’ mother Agnes, are likely to remain obscure, it nevertheless presents a much fuller story than many of the other petitions I have examined. We can see that what was originally presented to Chancery as a violent abduction incident could eventually form the basis of an enduring marriage, or two enduring marriages in this case. It is not necessary to make recourse to Stockholm syndrome to explain this outcome – it is much more likely that these were in face consensual marriages that were only presented as abductions.

A brief summary of my findings demonstrates that the Wakehurst case was exceptional in some ways, but quite conventional in others. Perhaps because of the nature of the legal forum to which they were being directed, most Chancery petitions do not depict abduction primarily as a violent, or even a sexual, crime. Instead the focus is on rightful guardianship of wards, distribution of inheritance, and control of property and marriage. Like the vast majority of the petitions I have examined, this case shows young women being abducted by adult men who were interested in their property.

The first exceptional aspect of the case is that we know the outcome. In only two other cases I examined was I able to determine the eventual result of the alleged abduction (one resulted in marriage, the other did not). And secondly, there is considerable (if circumstantial) evidence that the alleged abduction was actually no such thing. The apparent complicity of the girls’ step-father (and possibly of their mother as well, given her absence from the legal wrangling), as well as various other relatives, and the likelihood that the consent of the girls themselves would have been needed, suggest that the description of the girls being carried off kicking and screaming by armed men is pure legal fiction. While in most petitions we are left to wonder at the veracity of the claims made by the aggrieved parties, in this case I believe that much of the incident described by Elizabeth Wakehurst did not take place as claimed, but was instead an attempt to “spin” the story to suit her own purposes.

I would suggest that instead, what we see here are the traces of a partially successful courtship. I say “partially successful” because it seems clear that the Culpepper men did manage to gain the consent of both the Wakehurst girls and at least some of their relatives, probably through entirely ordinary ways. Where they failed was in gaining the consent of Elizabeth Wakehurst and her family, who were most likely among the girls’ guardians, and this is where the case took a dramatic turn away from the norm. Instead of a conventional wedding, the couples resorted to what amounted to an elopement, and what was subsequently depicted by angry relatives as an abduction. We cannot know now just how they arrived at this decision, but considering the amount of legal and financial trouble it caused them, it cannot have been lightly taken. To marry without the full support of family and community was a difficult choice, but one which was ultimately successful for the Culpeppers and their brides; despite the clear opposition they faced, there is no evidence of any legal challenge to the validity of their marriages – despite the fact that any such challenge would have had several grounds on which to stand (affinity, force, or marriage outside their home parish). Ultimately, however, there was little an irate family could do to end a marriage that was consensual on the part of both partners - as long as the Wakehurst girls consented before their abduction and not afterwards, no crime had been committed, and the main ramifications would have been financial and social in nature.

Footnotes:

     1. PRO C1/26/304, 1457-60.
     2. Although Haskett debates whether the use of the term ‘equity’ in a strict legal sense (meaning the provision of a remedy that was outside the law, but fulfilled the intention of the law) is truly applicable to the late medieval court, I will use it here for the sake of clarity, with the understanding that some believe it may not be the proper technical term. Haskett, 266-68.
     3. Haskett, 253.
     4. Ives, “Inception and Operation,” 26.
     5. PRO, PCC Prob. 11/4, 24rv.
     6. All of these men were relatives of the family and had been feofees of Richard Wakehurst; in all probability one or more of these writers may also have held the girls’ wardship.
     7. This detail seems not to be present in the petition, although the damage makes it uncertain. It is, however, included in Richard Wakehurst’s entry in The History of Parliament, 732.
     8. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/goudhurst.htm
     9. I have compiled a family tree of the known members of the families involved in this case, which is included as Figure 1. Members of each family whose exact relationship is unknown have not been included on this chart.
     10. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/wakehurst2.htm
     11. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/wakehurst2.htm
     12. John Burke, Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, 2nd ed. (London: John Russell Smith, 1844), 145.
     13. Burke, Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 145.
     14. http://gen.culpepper.com/places/intl-eng/wakehurst2.htm. 

Family

Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst
Marriage*say 1464 She married Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst say 1464. Richard and Margaret had no children. 
Last Edited23 May 2011

Citations

  1. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
  2. Col. F.W.T. Attree R.E./F.S.A. & Rev. J.H.L. Booker M.A., "The Sussex Colepepers, Part II", Sussex Archaeological Collections, XLVIII,65-98, (1905)http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/default.htm.
    Pp 65-66.

Gerald Haume

Male, #8457, (say 1470 - say 1498)
Birth*say 1470 Gerald was born say 1470. 
Marriage*say 1495 He married Joyce Culpeper say 1495. 
Death*say 1498 He died say 1498. 

Family

Joyce Culpeper
Last Edited2 Apr 2000

Walter Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent1

Male, #8458, (say 1442 - say 1522)
Birth*say 1442 Walter was born say 1442. 
Marriage*23 Oct 1463 He married Margaret Penn on 23 Oct 1463. 
Marriage*say 1491 He married Isabel Culpeper say 1491. 
Marriage*say 1495 He married Alicia Naylor say 1495. 
Birth of Sonsay 1496 His son Thomas Roberts of Glassenbury in Cranbrook, Kent was born say 1496. 
Death*say 1522 He died say 1522. 
Biography* Sheriff of co. Kent in 5 Henry VII. Built the moated house in the valley of Glassenbury. For his ancestors and descendants, see the Robertes Pedigree in the Visitation of Kent, 1574 and 1619. 

Family 1

Margaret Penn
Marriage*23 Oct 1463 He married Margaret Penn on 23 Oct 1463. 

Family 2

Isabel Culpeper
Marriage*say 1491 He married Isabel Culpeper say 1491. 

Family 3
Child

Family 4

Alicia Naylor
Marriage*say 1495 He married Alicia Naylor say 1495. 
Child
Last Edited22 Jul 2000

Citations

  1. 1574 Visitation, Kent, England.

Constantia Chamberlayn

Female, #8459, (say 1470 - 1542)
Father*Sir Robert Chamberlayn of Sussex
Name Variation She was also known as Constance. 
Birth*say 1470 Constantia was born say 1470. 
Marriagesay 1488 She married Richard Harper say 1488. 
Married Namesay 1488  As of say 1488, her married name was Harper. 
Birth of Sonsay 1490 Her son Sir George Harper was born say 1490. 
Marriage*say 1495 She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight say 1495. 
Birth of Sonsay 1495 Her son John Culpeper of St. Stephens was born say 1495. 
Married Namesay 1495  As of say 1495, her married name was Culpeper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Birth of Sonsay 1501 Her son Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst was born say 1501. 
Will20 May 1540 She is mentioned in the will of Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, on 20 May 1540.1,2 
Death of Spouse1541 Her husband Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight died in 1541 at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. 
Will*4 Oct 1541 She made a will at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, on 4 Oct 1541.

     The 4 October 1541, 33 Henry VIII, I DAME CONSTANCE COLEPEPIR, wydow, of Goutherst [Goudhurst] in the countie of Kent. To be buryed in the paryshe churche of Goutherst in the chapell where my husband lyethe. To high aulter 6s. 8d.
I will my body be brought in erthe and to be doon for at the daye of my buryall and at the daye of my mounethes mynde connenyent and according as shalbe mete for a woman of my degree. (Then as in her husabnds will to avoid multitude of people). That is my knyll to be rownge at Goutherst wt the grete bell the daye of my buryall and dirige to be songe there the same daye, three masses, one of Trinytie and other of our Lady and the thyrde of Requiem to be songe the next day after my buryall and £3 there for &e &e (as in her husbands will) and at Cranebroke, Benenden, Lambersherst and Stapleheerst.
     Also my executours do fynde two tapers of waxe to berne upon my herse and as many tapers to bernne about the Chapell as I nowe fynde about the ayd Chapell to contynue one hole yere.
     To 12 poore men a gowne wt a hod and 4d. and thaye to stonde aboute my herce holding euery of theym a Torche praying all the service tyme for my soule, my husbond soule and all xpen soules. Fyve por women to cum ons a weke vnto the churche on the same daye yet shall happen me to dye and there to here mass wt in my foresayd Chapell during the space of one hole yere to praye for my soule &e and my executors to content and paye vnto euery of the seyd por women quarterly 3s. 4d.
     One honest preest to singe and saye masse and to pray for my soule my husbands soule and all xpen soules wt in the foresayd Chapell by the space of one hole yere and the same prest shall saye dirige euery day in the weke wt in the foresayd chapell from the daye of my decease vntill the morowe after my monethes mynde &e and to have £7 he fynding wax, wyne and brede.
     Also I will that my vestment of blake veluet wt the cresse of clothe of gold lyncell vpon yt now remaynyng in my chapell at Begebury shall remayne and be occupyed in my chapell at Goutherst during one hole yere and remayn to the behoof of the churche of Goutherst for euer.
     To the paryche churche of Goutherst £20 towards the Reparacons or byinge of new ornaments.
     Unto my sone Thomas Colepepyr (Sir Thomas Culpeper of Bedgebury in Goudhurst) my basone and ewer of syluer wt his fathers armes and myne graven in them, two grete salts of syluer all gilte with a cover, two syluer quarte potts parcell gilt wt his fathers armes and myn graven on the lyddes of theym, three syluer bolls wt a couer parcell gylte, two of my best dyaper table clothes, two of my best dyaper towells, 12 of my new dyaper napkyns, a garnyshe of my bet pewter vessell, my hanging of areys that hangith in the chambr called the blewe chamber wt the Tester, seelez, curteyns, fetherbed, bolster, pyllowes fustyans and counterpoynte as yt now lyeth and my best cusshyon of clothe of golde wt two carpetts in the foresayd Chambr one ouer the cupborde and the other in the wyndowe a long carpett for a table which ys my best carpett. Also sixe moo fetherbedds for seruaunts to lye on. Also my best aulterclothe, my best vestments of white damaske embrothered, wt all things therto belonging, wt a corporas clothe and a corporas case of blewe clothe of golde, my chaleys, my masse boke and my Ringe that I was maryed wt to his father wt A and C graven in the ynnesyde of the same rynge. And also 12 workinge oxen wt plowes, harrowes, wagnes, corts and all things to them belonging.
     Also vnto my sone John Colepepyr (John Culpeper of St. Stephens) in redy mony £26. 13. 4., 6 syluer spones wt rounde playne knoppis gylte, two lytel gilte salts with a couer, a longe cusshyn of clothe of golde Tyncell and blake veluet wt Trayfoyles of gold vpon ytt embrithered, 6 cusshyns of verder, a garnyshe of new pewter vessell, a tester of ceeler of tawny veluet and tawney damaske paned wt three curteyns of blacke silke, my fetherbed that lyeth in the greate Bedsted in the new parlor, a bolster two pillowes two payre of shets, a payr of blanketts and my best counterpoynte of blewe sylk and golde.
     Also vnto my foresayd two sonnes Thomas and John all my harneys or Armure that is to saye Almayne Ryvetts, splents, brykenders, saletts, aporns of mayle, gorgetts, bowes, shevys of arowes and bylls egally betwene theym to be devyded and shisted.
     To my sone George Harpur (Sir George Harper) my Ringe of golde with a dyamond three square sett therein, a grete boll of syluer wt a couer all gilte, a spone of syluer with a steale gilte wt a forke a thende, my chayre coueryd wt blake veluett, my fetherbed that lyeth in the lytell bed in the newe parloour wt the bolster, pillowes and blanketts to the same wt a couerlett of tawny silke of bawdekyn wt a tester and ceeler of the same silke of Bawdekyn and 5 cusshyns of redd saye embrothered wt silke vpon theym.
     Unto my doughter Margaret Chone (Margaret Culpeper) halfe of my flagon chayne of golde, one of my brasletts of golde, halfe the chayne of golde that I hadd of my brother Sr. Edwarde Chamberlyn, knight, a grete boll of syluer all gilte wt a foote, a chayne of gold that I was wonte to weare two folde aboute my neke, a ryng of gold wt a grete Safewre sett therein which the King dyd gyve my husbond, a cruse of stone that I do vse to drynke in with a couer of syluer and gilte, six playne syluer spones, a browche of gold wt a maydennys hed enamyled, my worser vestment of white damaske wt all things therto belonging wt an aulter clothe halowed, a corporas cloth and a corporas case of crymsyn veluet wt Ihus of gold enbrothered vpon ytt and the auter cloth of grene saten and crymsyn damaske, my cupbord whiche stondith in my chambr which sumtyme seruith for an aulter, my trussing bedsted in the letell parlor wt the Irous therto belonging, a table and a payre of trestells of sypres, a frenche carpet, my best bonet of veluet, my partelet of blake saten poothered, my night gowne of blake saten, my kyrtell of crymsyn saten, the fetherbed that she lyeth on wt the bolster, two pillowes wt a couerlett of sarsenett, a tester, a ceeler, three curteyns all paned russett and yelowe sarsenett, a longe cusshon of white cloth of bawdekyn and blake veluett wt trayfoyles of golde enbrothered vpon yt a square cusshyon of silke wrought with needell worke, 2 grete grene carpet cusshyons, 2 new pewter basons, a litell chaffer of brasse. Also a bay colte, the dam of yt I bought of Luce Harpur and my best sadell with the gilte pomell wt the brydell and harneys therto perteynyng and also my pylion of fustyan of Naples wt brydell, harnes and foote scale therto belonging.
     Unto my doughter Kateryn (Catherine Culpeper) my chayne of gold I dyd weare for a girdell sowen vpon a blake lace, thother half of my flagon chayne of gold, thother half of the chayne of golde that I hadd of my forsayd brother Sir. Edward Chamberleyn Knight, thother of my brasletts of golde and a Rose of golde enamyled white with viij Rubyes and a poynted dyamond sett therein, a grete boll of syluer all gilte wt a foote, six palyne spones of syluer, a stone cruse wt a couer of syluer, a browche of golde wt a crucifix and seynt Jerom graven in ytt. Also my new parlor and the cupbord that standith in the dynyng parlor, a chayre of Sypres, two cusshions wherof one of them ys alonge cusshyon of white cloth of bawdekyn and blake veluet wt trayfoyles of gold enbrothered and thother ys a square cusshyon of silk wrought wt nedellworke and two grete grene carpett cusshyns and my grete grene carpett that I occupye euery daye in the parlour, my worser bonett of veluet, my fruntelett of blak veluet, my best poothered bonett, my parrys and larbes. Also my nyght gowne of tawny damask, my kyrtell of crymsyn veluet, my olde kyrtell of blake veluet, my two aulter clothes of white and grene sarcenet paned, embrothered wt Imagery and flowers. Also my fetherbedd whiche I now lye on with the bolster, two pillowes, the tester, celler and couerlett as yt now ys with three custens of grene silk wt all other things to the same bed belonging, two pewter basons, a little chaffer of brasse and my sorell Colte that I bought of Bruer the Colyer and my sadell couered wt tawny veluet wt brydell and harnys therto belonging and my pilyon of tawny veluet wt brydell and harnes therto apperteyning. Also my thirde vestment of silk wt all things therto belonging wt the aulter cloth halowed and a corporas cloth with the corporas case of crymsyn cloth of gold and grene tyncellyed wt gold.
     Also unto my foresayd two doughters Margarett and Kateryn my gowne of blak veluet to be departyd betwene theym and also all my sleves of silk and lynen in like maner betwene the same Margarett and Kateryn to be deuyded and shisted.
     Also I bequeth vnto my doughters Anne Molyns (Anne Culpeper) and Johane Fitzyames (Johanna Culpeper) my hole folde of chaynes of gold egally and indifferently betwene them to be deuyded and shysted. Also unto the same Anne a stone pott wt a couer of syluer and gilte wt a rose graven on the lydde therof and also a pece of syluer withoute a foote and sixe spones of syluer wt Lyons gilte on the knoppes. Also my gowne of blake taffata and my best kyrtell of blak veluet. Also vnto the foresayd Johane Fitzyames six spones of syluer wt lyons on the knoppes gilte and a litell pece of syluer all gilte withoute a foote, a stone pott wt a couer syluer and gilte wt a Rose graven vpon ytt, also my gowne of blak damask and my kyrtell of blake damask chekeryd.      Also unto my foresayd foure doughters Anne, Johane, Margaret and Katheryn all my dyaper sheets, bordeclothes, cupbordclothes, towells, napkyns and pyllowbeers not before nor hereafter by me wylled.
     Unto my nephew Rafe Chamberleyn my litell gilt pott wt a couer which my brother dyd gyve me, and to my neece his wyf my gilte spone which my brother also dyd gyve me. Unto my nephew George Chamberleyn two syluer spones with flatt knoppes gylte and to my neece his wyfe my Ringe of golde wt a litell turkes in ytt. Unto my nephew Leondard Chamberleyn two syluer spones wt flatt knoppes gilte. My nephew Francis Chamberleyn one spone of syluer wt a flatt knoppe gilte. Unto my neece Marye Ryther my Ring of golde wt a table dyamonde and a browche of golde wt a mans hedd sett therein and sett with redd amell with a wreathe of perle aboute yt.
     Unto my Lady Gray of the Mote in Kent a payre of beades of golde with a tassell of golde athende and 19 grete beade stones, besyds the smale beade stones in the same. Unto my Lady Baker my grete Ringe of golde with a grete Turkes sett in yt and a grete button of golde for a pertelett wt a grete Baleys sett therein.
     Unto my cosyn John Colepepyr (John Culpeper of Ingham, co. Norfolk) the yonger sonne of my cosyn Rycharde Colepepyr of Wakenherst (Richard Culpeper of Wakehurst) in redy money foure pounds. Also my cosyn Jasper Colepepyr (Jasper Culpeper of Penshurst, Kent & Arlington, Sussex) his brother my lytell lantern of syluer.
     Unto my sonne Nicholas Clyfford my flagon bottel of syluer to cast swete water wt.
     Also I give unto Alice Colpeper my husband doughter (Alice Culpeper) my gown of blake clothe wt stayte (sic) sleves of my kyrtell of blak Russell worsted, a fetherbed, a bolster, two payre of sheets, 2 blanketts and a couerlett, a tester and ceeler wt three curteyns of white cloth and two kyne.
     Unto Jane Porter my gowne of frenche blake cloth and my kyrtell of blake saten and tenne pounds in redy money and my worste partelett of blacke veluet and also a fetherbed, a bolster, two pillowes, a payr of blanketts, two payre of sheets of bokeram and the tester, ceeler, three curteyns and a counterpoint of Redd and yewlow saye paned.
     Unto the foreseyd Alice Colepepyr and Jane porter all my Rayles, Kerchers and Smocks.
     Unto my neece Mary Watno my best wrytten prymer with two clapses of syluer and gilte couered with blake veluet and three pounds in money.
     Also unto my nephew Edward Colepepyr doctor (Unidentified by Culpepper Connections), in redy money foure pounds.
     Unto Elizabeth Ryther a syluer spone wt a flatt knopp gilte. Vnto my cosyn Henry Sampsons wyffe my partelet of tawny veluet poothered.
     Unto my two sonnes in lawe, Aldred Fitzyames (Alfred Fitzjames of Somerset) and Wylliam Nolyns (William Molyns) in redy mony fyve pounds apece.
     Unto Thomas Darells wyf thelder of Scotney a gilte spone with a perle at thende, my lytell penner and ynkehorne of gold enameled with blake and my best partelett of blake veluet.
     Unto Henry Rogers of Westwell my best tablett of golde. Nicholas Fynche my baye horse and 40s. and to Agas hys wyfe 20s. to by her a gowne. Wylliam Syddenham gent 20s. My goddoughter Constance Fynche a cowe. Margarett Curle my matens booke couered with blake veluet harnessed and clapsed wt syluer, wt the letter of A and C, chayned, and my signet of golde with the bies of A and C, chayned, and 40s. and my long blake beades wt fyve peecys of golde on them ,my worser tablett and my dooble gelding. To George Kendall her sone my Iron gray Colte of two yeres ole.
     Unto Robert Gawen 40s. Alexaunder Dence a cowe. Wylliam Asten thelder 6s. 8d. Richard Meryham 6s. 8d. My goddaughter Constance BesByche a cowe. Feythe Coocheman a cowe. My godsone Rycard Brykendennys sone of Cranebrooke, clothyer, a cowe. Thomas Wyllenhale ten poundes and the yonge gelding which I bought of Hugh Pecok and the fetherbed &e whiche he nowe lyeth on and a payre of bokeram sheets.
     Unto Symond Wyllenhale other tenne pounds and the young Roane gelding of my owne brede and the fetherbed &e whiche he nowe lieth on and a payre of bokeram sheets. And for William Pyerson, my chapelyn 20s. To Cristofer Petter 40s. and the gelding that was bought of Hovenden. Alexaunder Dod thre pounds 6s. 8d. and 2 kyne and a fetherbed, bolster payer of shets a payr of blankets and a couerlet.
     nto John Dod 20s. and a cowe. Robert Thorpe 40s. and a cowe. John Browne 40s. and a cowe. John Whatman 20s. and a cowe. Wylliam Hadden 20s. and the gelding called Essex. John Sharpe 20s. and a gelding called Collshawe. Hugh Pecok 20s. and a cowe. Anthony Lyle 13s. 4d. Thomas Arglas 20s. and a cowe. Henry Cooke 13s. 4d. Wylliam Clowte 20s. and a cowe. Richard Kemp 10s. and a cowe. Anne Basset 10s. and a cowe. Lore Raper 10s. and a cowe. George Cots 10s. and a cowe. And to all other of my seruants as shall happen to be in my service at the tyme of my dethe 6s. 8d. a pece.
     And where Sir Alexaunder Colepepir Knight my late husbande, whose soule God pardon, by his last wyll willed that yf I dye my doughters Margarett and Katheryn being unmaryed that they shall have towards theire gynding yerely £6. 13. 4. a peece out of the manors of Hardyshall and Austeley to me the foresayd Dame Constance by my forsaid husbande wylled and bequethed for the space of 20 yeres and also one hundreth pounds a pece towards their maryage, my wyll mynde and entent ys that my sayd two doughters Margarett and Katheryn shall have the yerely rents and profytts for the space of 9 yeres and a half next aftir my decease which be of the yerely value of £66 sterling deducting oute therof yerely for theyr forsayd annuyties £6. 13. 4. a pece and also an anuyte yerely of £3. 6. 8. vnto Alice Colepeper according to her fathers wyll and 26s. 8d. of my gyfte to her yerely during the same nine yeres.
     Also for my lord Marques fee 20s., for Alexaunder Parker and Mighell Parkers fees 20s., for Wylliam Hylles fee 20s. for his fee that shall gather the rent yerely 33s. 4d. for costs of the Corte 6s. 8d. All whiche deduccioun yerely allowed Remayneth yerely vnto the foresayd Margarett and Katheryn £43 egally betwene theym to be devyded and shysted. The whole yerely value of £43 in nine years and di amounteyth vnto the some of £408. 10s. wherof £200 ys of their fathers bequest towards theire maryages and £208.10 Resydue ys of my gyfte vnto the sayd Margarett and Katheryn.
     If it happen the forsayd Margarett to dye or deceas, whiche God forbyd, unmaryed, at any tyme before the 9 yeres di be fully expyred endyed, lyvyng her syster Kateryn or yf the sayd Kateryn dye then the sum to revert vnto her syster [and then to her other systers Anne and Johane egally and to their children and to her two brothers Thomas Colepepyr and John Colepepyr equally].
     Also I wyll my cosyn John Colepepyr the yonger, one of the sonnes of my foresayd cosyn Richard Colepepyr of Wakeherst shall have out of the rents of the foresayd maners after my sone John Colepepyr be payd his parte and porcion £10. Also my sone George Harpur £40. My goddaughter Constance Colepepyr £20 out of the rents &e of the foresayd maners ymmedyately after my forsayed sone George Harpur be contentyd and payd of hys parte. To my goddaughter Dorothey Fitzyames £20 [after Constance is paid]. Also I wylle that Constance Molyns have £10 [similarly]. To my goddaughter Constance Clyfford £10. To Ursula Clyfford £5 in like maner when her syster Constance ys payd [the will then arranges in case any of these die].
     My executours shall sell so much tymber growing vpon lands of the manor of Hardyshall and Austeley as shall amount vnto £30 wherof I bequeth vnto Sir John Baker, Knight, £20, and £10 of the resydue to Thomas Darell thelder of Skotney esquyer to see my testament and last will truly executyd.
     The obit in last will of my husband Sir Alexaunder Colepepyr to be kept. Also where the same my husbande by his last wyll wylled an honest seculer prest to sing and saye masse for his soule and all xpen soules in the Chapell of Seynt George and Seynt Sebastian wt in the parysshe churche of Goutherst aforesayd during the terme of fyve yeres and the same preest to have £6. 13. 4. and to poore people in almes 33s. 4d. and also yerely towards the reparacions of the same churche £3. 6. 8. during six yeres, whereof my sayd husband dyd wyll and bequeth vnto me all the Rents, revenues &e of his purchased lands and tenements called the Market Place of Goutherst wt the shoppis, fayre and the Tenement and lands called Besshefelds, for the space of fyve yeres which be of the clere yerely value of £5. 7.7. and also his purchased lands and tenement called Paynetts and Tryggs of the yerely value of £9. 12. by yere which be of the yerely vallue of £14. 19. 7. by yere. Whereof deducte and alowe oute for the prests wages £6. 13. 4. and for almes 33s. 4d. for reparacons of the churche of Goutherst £3. 6. 8. and for hym that shall gather the rents and fermes for fyve yeres 20s. – sm. of all the deducions and allowaunces yerely £13. 6. 8. and so remayneth yerely clere vnto me 33s. 9d., the which I geve vnto my sone John Colepepyr.
     Sir John Baker and Thomas Daroll to ordeyn for my soule and all xpen as also to kepe hospitality and howsold ymmedyately after my deceas wt in the maner of Regebury and to fynde all my doughters and other my household and I make them my executours. To the whiche Sir John Baker I do give my Ringe of golde whiche ys edged on euery syde lyke a smale Jenumour and six fatt steeres and to Thomas Darell my ringe of gold wreathed wt a Rubye sett in yet and foure fatt steers.
Supervisors my nevewe John Ryther Esquire and my cosyn Harry Sampson Esquyre.
     Witnes: Wylliam Asten thelder, clothier and Richard Meryham.
     By me Constance Colepepyr.
******
The Codicell of Dame Constance Colepepyr deceased made after the making of her testament and last wyll.
     In primes to Sr. John Baker, Knight, a bason and an ewer of syluer and percell gylte wt three moryons hedds enamyled vpon them. Wynes therunto Nicholas Fynche, Thomas Wyllenhale, John Browne and other.
     Item to Verny 40s. Wytnes Mr. Sampson, Nicholas Fynche, Robert Grene and John Browne. To John Rade 40s. Wytnes Nicholas Fynche and Thomas Wellenhale.
     Item she wylled that Sir Wylliam Pyerson clerke should sing for her soule in the chapell of Seynt George and Seynt Sebastyan in Goutherst one yere ouer and above the yere expressyd in her sayd wyll and to have for his labour £7. Wytnes: Nicholas Fynche and Thomas Wyllenhale.
     To Peter 40s. and a gelding called Hovenden. Wytnes Mastres Margart Masteres, Kateryn Colepepyr, Nicholas Fynche and other.
     To her doughter Margarett the gray gelding that was bought of Maye, a lytell goblet of syluer wt a cover.
     To her doughter Kateryn a goblet of syluer wt out a couer and a few saddell of fustyan of Naples with a gylt pomell and a fork of syluer and gylte with a dogge at thende.
     To her doughters Margarett and Kateryn fowre grote pecs of golde in a purse of blake veluet.
     To Mayes wyfe, to Chemannys wyfe, Woodes wyfe and Benchekyns wyfe foure elles of lynyn clothe egally devyded and shysted.
     To her doughters Margarett and Kateryn the some of fourtye pounds due to her for woode sale viz £10 due by Burges and £30 due by Dorley and moreover she gave to Margarett and Kateryn £10 due to her by Raaf Chamberleyn esquyer.
*****
Proved at London 13 November 1542 by Robert Alen notary public for executors. (P.C.C. 12 Spert.)3,4 
Death*1542 She died at Goudhurst, co. Kent, England, in 1542. 
Burial*1542 Her body was interred in 1542 at St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst, co. Kent, England. 

Family 1

Richard Harper
Marriagesay 1488 She married Richard Harper say 1488. 
Child

Family 2

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight
Marriage*say 1495 She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight say 1495. 
Children
Last Edited23 May 2011

Citations

  1. Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury Will, 20 May 1540
    Tudor P.C.C. Will Transcription by L. L. Duncan - Book 54 page 28.
  2. Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
    Image of will at: /archives/uk/wills/images/Alexander_of_Goudhurst_1541.pdf.
  3. Constance Culpeper of Goudhurst Will, 4 Oct 1541
    Tudor P.C.C. Will Transcription by L. L. Duncan - Book 54 page 37.
  4. Public Records Office, National Archives, London.
    Image of will at: http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Constance_of_Goudhurst_1542-1.pdf
    and http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/uk/wills/images/Constance_of_Goudhurst_1542-2.pdf.

Agnes Davy

Female, #8460, (say 1472 - say 1493)
Father*Roger Davy of Northfleet, Kent, Esq.
Birth*say 1472 Agnes was born say 1472. 
Marriage*say 1490 She married Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight say 1490. 
Married Namesay 1490  As of say 1490, her married name was Culpeper. 
Name-AltSpellsay 1490 This surname is sometimes spelled Culpepper. 
Name-AltSpell This surname is sometimes spelled Colepeper. 
Death*say 1493 She died say 1493. 

Family

Sir Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury & Hardreshull, Knight
Child
Last Edited23 May 2011