1400s Direct
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1500s Direct
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The 1400s
Discovery
Many a journey are there, but
only one which relates to you will I show.
Keep your wits about you for only then will you begin to know.
History is not only revealed in these pages, but Time as well.
Open the portals of your mind as you turn these leaves and Time
will tell….jas
It seems funny to actually be talking about the Fifteenth century.
I mean how many times in your life did you actually stop and discuss this
time period with anyone, intelligently. You might have sat on the
stump talking to the nearby fence post about the religious and political
influences of the day in view of the peasant serfdoms and various medical
and scientific breakthroughs of the time. You might have told old
Copper as he howled at the “coon” in nearby tree of the ways the Medieval
Knights used to hunt their prey in their Stylish armour, fast swords, and
valiant steeds then go home to their mighty castles and wenches imposing
taxes on the farmers
along the way for using his land to feed themselves. I mean
exactly why would you want to discuss the late middle ages? Could
it be perhaps that you may find it intriguing and mentally stimulating?
Could it be that you are a history buff or at the very least a researcher
of genealogy? Let’s pretend for an instant that you find it interesting.
What interesting things should we look at first? - The culture, the religion,
the Nobles/Royalty, the battles, or those who fought the battles?
What about education, the scientific exploration and invention, or the
world exploration and conquest? Now let’s pretend you are a history
buff and a sideline genealogist. As either, one would need to discuss
every item listed earlier anyway to have a better understanding of how we
came to where we are today and why our ancestors did what they did to end
in the result of you and I. They must have done something right, for
us to be here. I heard someone once say that you need to know where
you’ve been before you can know where you’re going. Some how that
actually makes sense to me. I mean we must learn from our past, the
mistakes and the accomplishments, and apply them in our everyday lives in
order to progress forward and not repeat the same old cycles again and again.
Ok, more simply put: If you see someone step in a pile of cow manure
and you stop to go around, you just learned from the past and someone else’s
mistakes to better yourself. Make sense now?
What was life like at the beginning of the 1400s? Let’s start
at the bottom. I am a peasant. I am uneducated; meaning I
seen a book once but thought it was a bundle of toilet paper. Not
stupid, just practical. I have little to no money. If
I had some, I used it to pay taxes on the land I lived on to grow crops.
Of these crops, 80% went to the owner of the land and 20% to my family
just to keep us alive to work the other 80%. Now this is just if
I were not a Serf. Now a serf is a labourer, one step above
a slave, who worked the land for an owner. A serf was bought and
sold along with the land gaining no profit from it save the food given
to stay alive and some sense of security or protection. The only
difference between a slave and serf was that many serfs only served a certain
amount of time (much like
an indentured servant). The serf in these hard times was,
hard to believe, better off than on their own. The only other path
to sustain one’s self was to join an army of which had no guarantee of safety
or the monastery with corrupt Roman Catholics. All the land belonged
to the Crown. The Crown saw fit to distribute the land to their loyal
nobles [and the church] to profit from as long as they paid annual dues
to the Crown. The church sent their dues to the Pope which we will
see becomes a source of tension later. This resulted in no path
for the little man to profit or better them selves. Pestilence and
disease had just desecrated the land in the fourteenth century in the
form of plagues that killed either the people or the animals estimating
the dead to be around 1/3 to half of the population of people in all of
Europe. It took over 200 years to just match the population before
the epidemics. This loss of life also meant for the Land owners a loss
of labor and revenue. These land owners began enticing labourers by
letting (renting) out their land to the “go getters” of farming.
They were called farmers through a means of a contract. Sounds funny,
but hear me out. The nobles wrote out a contract that when signed
was solid or the “firm” word over the firm or hard land. Therefore,
these contracts were known as “Firma” agreements. Are you with me
so far? Now the Firma Agreements worked so well that it became very
popular in all the land. So popular, that the workers were almost
exploiting the owners, but mostly the soil. Now in Latin, the term
“to exploit” is expressed as ferme and from these two terms over the years
developed in to one term, the farm, thus we have farmers. Did I loose
you? (Just a bit of trivia). Many of these contracts were for the life
span of the farmer and in some cases the life span over many generations.
The nobles had no choice to do this or their economic losses would be too
great and would have to sell more of the land to pay the Crown. The
more land you owned, the more Noble you were and no one wanted to loose.
This is what was meant by exploiting the Nobles. By the mid 1400s,
smaller farmers who had rented the land slowly became a new class of people
called the “Yeomen”, profiting greatly. Before the Yeomen, the ranking
system went as thus (highest to lowest): (1)King/Queen, (2) Prince/Princess,
(3) Duke/Duchess, (4) Earl/Count/Countess, (5) Baron/Baroness, (6) Knights,
(7) Squires/Gentlemen, (8) Peasants/Serfs. The only way to work your
way up the ladder was to already be a Noble. Now, with the Yeomen
Class, the peasant had a path to climb out of his hole and make something
of them selves. These Yeomen became not only farmers, but merchants
of all types of goods, such as food, wool, clothing, wine, any thing that
would fetch a price at market. They became the heart of the then modern
day economy. Things were looking good for the small man.
The Nobles and/or Lords were the upper and middle class. These
were the people who owned the land and were the rulers. It was their
duty to insure that the peasants and churchmen were defended so that
they could live in peace and act as judges to handle domestic disputes.
The name comes from the belief that they were to act in a noble manner.
Thus, they were worker bees as well, but they did it in much more comfort
and the glory [or defamation] was greater. Under the Crown were the
nobles who ruled in the Crown’s name over smaller portions of the Kingdom.
Like a King, nobles held their position and title from their father. Titles
could also be won through marriage or occasionally by a grant from the
King. Dukes and counts were the most powerful nobles. Within their
domain there could be smaller land lords called Baronies, or sometimes a
Baron could hold their grant directly from the King. Knights held
a smaller grant of land called a “demesne”, a
collection of Farms, meadow and timberland that they held from
the next highest noble, or directly from the King. The serfs, peasants,
and Yeomen kept the economy going with hard work. The Nobles would
take the proceeds of the work and market it in a much broader sense to
maintain their
status, armies, and lands. “Edward I [who reigned between 1272 and
1307] decreed at one time that all those who earned £20 annually
were to be classified as Knights.”1 The implication here was that many of
the new Yeomen farmers even in 1485 would rise in their affluence in the
community. With their newfound status also came the new addresses.
Yeomen began to place the word “Esquire” after there names. Since
then nearly all nobles were knights, it was now every noble’s duty to protect
the land from enemies. Nobles became powerful military leaders who could
command the respect and allegiance of the many knights who lived on their
lands, leading them into battle for the king, or in some cases, for their
own purposes. This military defence included the manning of castles,
mounting patrols and accompanying the King to war. The nobles, however
unlikely, were also placed under a different pressure, not only in the physical,
but in presentation as well.
The art of Chivalry was an underlying code that all had to
follow or be looked down upon. These knights were to fight to keep
their good name, serve God and King, and defend any lady in need.
It sounds simple enough, but very broad. The chief noble was the
King/Queen. Everyone knows what they are about. The difference
only came with each who wore the crown. Some were smart and popular,
some were weak, and others were so hated that they were eventually removed
from the throne in one way or another. In the fifteenth century, a
King or a King’s son was killed or murdered in 1461, 1471, 1483, and 1485
by warring Nobles in the quest for the Crown. This was a result of
the Nobles gaining too much power. They controlled the armies as the
King sometimes had no standing army. The fights were fierce when the
Crown was left with no heir and the Nobles each laid claim; such was the
fight of the famous War of the Roses (1483-1485). The end result was
that nobles ruined them selves to where they eventually disappeared.
This meant that you had the Royalty (Kings down to the Lords or Counts) and
then the Enterprising Yeomen (the commoners who were the life blood of
the country) left to run the land. Th
ose who were knighted were merely a ceremonial tribute to the Crown’s
loyal subjects or as today those who greatly contributed to the British
way of life. These knights defended the Crown now mainly in business
affairs rather than war. Many Yeomen specialized into their commodity
markets, such as beef, wine, vegetables, and cloth making. Wool was
England’s main export and those who maintained good service did quite well.
A Yeoman who was a Merchant Clothier and could maintain the business became
wealthy and well respected. Some even set up factories, yet all but
one [the Antwerp Merchant Adventurers] failed due to its control over cloth
exports; it was recognized by a royal charter for doing so. At the
beginning of the century, the wool exports were of raw materials,
but as the trend began to sell better when they exported a finished product,
the market changed quickly. Towns were relocated to rivers and ports
grew larger to keep up with the demand as well as being useful to cleaning
and treating the wool. These Merchants were very smart. In
lieu of maintaining a factory of such, they hired some workers to work
in their homes. Spinning the wool; for example, could be done at
home and was quite popular with the young women as they could still maintain
their duties to the family. This eventuated into the term “Spinster”
labelling all these young and [mostly] unmarried women. I believe
the term is still around used for unmarried women today.
Now I believe, in a very quick manner (volumes of information have
been left out), we have discussed what type of classes of people there
were in the 1400s. We have shown a few of the influences of the day
as to why those back then may have acted insofar as a political structure.
But before we can get to our ancestors, we have a few more significant
topics that helped shape our Smith’s lives. These other main influences
of the day were Religion, Science, and Greed. Religion being probably
the most important we will chat about it later. In the late fourteenth
century, literacy among the land was becoming better and better.
This was partly due to the church as it promoted learning as a way to better
serve God by serving his flock but mostly within its own ranks. Although
the Church really didn’t want to teach the public at large because this
would have been the beginning of their downfall; the more the public learned
to read, the less they relied on the church for answers, thus, they had
less control over the public. But it wasn’t entirely due to the church
that people began to be more educated. It was because there were
more books around to be read and learn from. How was this?
A German by the name of Johannes Gutenberg (b. abt. 1397 / d. in 1468)
invented the Printing Press in 1436. By the 1450s, he perfected it
and guess what his first and most printed book was? - The Bible, though,
it was still in Latin. How ever small his invention, it became one
of the most influential effects in the world. There were many other
inventions in the 1400s, such as the Piano (1400), Whiskey (1494),
Oil paintings (1420), Copyrights (1486), rifles (1475) and then there
was this one guy who went by the name of Leonardo Da Vinci; he dabbled
in it all, by theorizing on “flying machines”, inventing parachutes, or
creating paintings. He was an astronomer, sculptor, geologist, mathematician,
botanist, animal behaviourist, inventor, engineer, architect and even a
musician. Pretty amazing so far? Well another man took these
new books being printed and began to change the very way we think today.
Nicolas Copernicus (b. 1473 / d. 1543) defied the traditional thought and
proved that the earth was not the center of the universe, but the sun was.
These thoughts were not well liked in the day as it contradicted the church
and their teachings.
As we will discover later, the kingdom now had standing armies and
navies, the navy began to explore the seas. Can you think of anyone
who was important in this? Some guy named John Cabot discovered
the Netherlands in 1497. There was someone called Vasco Da Gama who
found India about 1498. And then there was one in particular named
Christopher Columbus who discovered the Bahamas in 1492 which led to the
Americas (which was named after Amerigo Vespucci, another explorer, by
a strange twist of fate). Amerigo explored what we now call South
America in 1499. When reported his findings back home, there was
an effort to
create the world’s first atlas. The man creating the atlas
knew only of Amerigo’s explorations and not those of Columbus and by
mistake called the lands America honouring Amerigo. The name stuck.
Columbus, however, help prove the fact that the world was round and not
flat as current thought prevailed. Well, if they could be wrong about
the world being flat, they could be wrong about the earth being the center
of the universe. It is obvious that the latter years of the Fifteenth
century were becoming a renaissance of knowledge and change. The powers
that be were quite distressed with the way things were going. I mean
you could hurt a man’s pride telling him he wrong and proving it to him!
The Church, mostly Roman Catholic, had been used to being in control, wallowing
in its own ignorance. They could even influence monarchs of any country
as they were counsellors to the Crowns. They became greedy as were
the Monarchs. First, Henry I, who reigned between 1100 and 1135, created
what is now called the Circuit Judge. As the Nobles used to be the
judge to settle matters of crime or in justice within their territory,
not every Noble used the same logic in governing and thus what could be
a crime in one land was legal in another. Henry wanted to have the
“King’ peace” and anyone found breaking this peace, he wanted them dealt
with in the same manner all over the land. In order to do this, he
created travelling [circuit] judges that answered only to him. Through
this, Henry managed to do two things: establish a uniform code of
law and justice over his land and began slowly taking away the power of
the nobles and the church – Greed or Wisdom? Henry II, who reigned
from 1154 to 1189, instituted what we know today as the trial by jury.
It was used in earlier times, but he changed the rules where an accused
man could assemble twelve honest men in the community [neighbors] that
could help prove his innocence. Through history, we have changed
the twelve from a testimony of neighbors to a jury of peers to judge.
Now obviously these twelve, then and now, were not skilled in all aspects
of the law. This necessitated the appointment of advisors to help
point out the finer points of law to the twelve. This resulted in
the creation of the first law schools in the 1200s (Oxford and Cambridge)
– not so bad?
In 1337, Edward III of England declared war on France claiming the
French throne as his own. As Edward was a popular King, the people
supported the war. This claim stood for over 100 years as the descendants
or heirs to the English crown maintained the right. Through out the
ordeal, the English and the French would win and loose land over and over.
The war would start and stop for one reason or another. Henry V of
England resumed the war, partly as a distraction from social tensions in
England and partly because of the Church and its disdain. In 1415 the
French blocked him as he led his force towards Calais, resulting in the Battle
of Agincourt. French knights charged against the British but lost their
own lives. Most of the French Knights were killed that day.
For France the use of knights in warfare was at an end. The French
king, Charles VII, created in 1422 France's first standing, and professional
army. No longer needed in battle, the knights would take asylum
in the tournaments that were merely staged pomp and ceremony.
After Agincourt, French morale was low, with some believing that only a
miracle could save them from the English. Among the French appeared the
illiterate daughter of a local farming family who were devout Catholics.
Her name was Joan d’Arc [Joan of Arc]. Joan heard voices in her head
and in 1428, at the age of sixteen, one voice told her that the English had
to be expelled from France. As the people did not live close together and
she was not known, her ideas fit nicely with the feeling of patriotism in
France at the time. Her story was accepted by several leaders of the French
army, and the following year, 1429, Joan persuaded Charles VII to support
her effort at relieving the city of Orléans, then being besieged by
the English. She knew little of warfare, but she believed that if
the French soldiers with her would not commit certain sins they would win.
The French won a few battles, but in 1430 Joan was captured, tried as a
witch [as they could not explain her actions in any other way], and burned
at the stake. Both countries were exhausted by the war, and the want
of total victory had dissipated. Both countries welcomed peace. The
vanity of the English kings had gained them nothing. Except for the
Calais, the English withdrew from the continent, the end of the Hundred
Years' War marking the end of England's attempts to hold territory on the
continent. And with the end of the Hundred Years' War came a revival of
trade and an end to economic depression. It also marked a beginning
of a standing army and navy, which will become important to us later.
Now that the Monarchs were gaining back some control lost to the
religious leaders, as the church was loosing theirs. The church
had become cruel and greedy toward the people. This greed was just
one obvious reason for its unpopularity. A more interesting reason
though, in England, was that the people supported the war with France.
England disliked paying taxes [tithes] to the pope. The English were
becoming patriotic and the pope was a foreigner, Pope Gregory XII, who
was run out of Rome and took refuge with the French. The English felt
he took the French side meaning the taxes to the church were now going to
their enemy. Simple logic resulted in the King ensuring all the monies
given to the church in England remained in England. This was the first
attempt of a breaking away from the
Roman Catholic Church and creating an all English Church.
The last reason, deriving from Greed, came from a man named Martin Luther
(b. 1483 / d. 1546). The printing press allowed him to write many
books and distribute them against the church tyranny, against the church
practices. See how this printing press was beginning to be the most
influential of all things? He even translated the first Bible into
German so the common man could read for themselves. Martin started
a Reformation of the Church, a reform of religion’s tyranny. It eventually
just gave the tyranny back to the monarchs. One such tyrannical was
the small ruler of Walachia, in Eastern Europe [known as Romania/Transylvania],
who’s emblem or symbol was a dragon [which by the way was Henry VII’s symbol
derived from the Welsh], displayed on his shield and coins. The word for dragon
in Romanian was dracul, and the ruler used it as his official name. His son
attached to the end of this name the letter a, signifying the son of Dracul
– Dracula, or Vladislav II. He inherited rule from in 1435 and ruled
to 1446, taking part in the English church’s crusade and wars against the
Ottomans. Dracula hated evil, and he is said to have resorted
to severe measures against people who had overstepped what he thought were
the boundaries of “moral behaviour”. According to Romanian legend,
as punishment for adultery a woman was skinned and left to die tied to a stake
in the public square. Legend also describes Dracula as having invited
beggars and the homeless to a banquet, locking the doors and setting the
hall afire, killing them all and ending the local homeless problem. His reputation
for being tough on crime gave rise to the story of his seemingly thirst for
blood. Dracula was even known for executing people by impalement, thus,
he became known as the Impaler. This is what power does to some people
and he was supported by the Catholic Church. Yet the English were not
as bad (Henry VIII comes close) and were a bit more civilized.
I bet many of you have talked about these dealings and not really
paid attention of when these events happened. For those of us who
never really bothered to discuss the Fifteenth Century, there certainly
was much going on at least in Europe. For instance, we didn’t even
discuss those in the American, African, or Asian continents such as the
Turks defeating the Christians in 1453 by overtaking Constantinople which
had stood for hundreds of years. This affected trade in Europe as
other things did, but they were not relevant to the purpose of our story.
All these events happening in the 1400s in one form or another affect us
today. Many lessons were learned, but believe me the learning was
only at its beginning. We needed to know what was going on in and
around England to understand what our family was doing, how they did it,
and most importantly Why. So most of the research in the Smith family,
at least our Smith family, ends (or should I say begins) in the middle
to late 1400s. By this I mean that we can prove, through records
kept and using the knowledge we have just learned above, our ancestry dating
back to the Fifteenth Century.
Let’s begin with the furthest back we know and work forward to the
present time. It will be a long read, but I hope you find it interesting
and informative and stay with it. The first ancestor we come across
in the Smith Saga is Richard Smyth. The first thing I noticed was
that the surname was spelled different. After researching, I found
there was no real significance; it was just the style of the day. For
more details on the origin of the Smith name, see section I of this book.
Now it would take a real smart person to overlook the logic that
Richard was living in England during the 1400s after reading up to this
point. But wishful thinking will not make Richard anyone famous.
It did make him fairly smart and opportunistic, though. Richard is
estimated to have been born around the year 1460 and is recorded to have
lived till the 27th of March 18 Henry VIII in London. I know, you’re
thinking what in the world does the last part of that date mean?
Obviously the 27th of March is self explanatory, but the “18 Henry VIII”
is a bit harder, yet simple to explain. It means that Richard Smyth
died in the 18th year of Henry VIII’s reign as King. So if Henry
VIII became King of England in the year 1509 and 1509 plus 18 equals 1527,
then we know that he died in the year 1527. This means that he lived
to be roughly 67 years old - Not bad in these days. It says something
about his life style. He had to be of some prosperity to live a decently
long life. Well how can we some of these assumptions? Another
researcher has found a court document dated 1529 which was an inquisition
after the death of Richard as to the state of his affairs per his will.
Let’s stop here for a minute. We have not found a copy of the will itself,
but this will give most of the details therein. Also notice the date
of inquisition, 1529; over two years after his death. Earlier we discussed
briefly the origins of the circuit judges. As they acted for the King,
there were not too many around for him to keep up with, meaning each one
had a huge area to cover. It apparently took this length of time before
a judge could get to the issue. Talk about back logged. From
this document we find a wealth of information and apply this to what we know
about what was going on in those days we can extrapolate fairly accurately
as to why, what and who the Smith family were. Read the following
and we will discuss it.
Before 1524 Property: Fryday Street
& Watlyng Street, London, parish of St John the Evangelist.
On 22 Mar 1524 London (Inquisition Post Mortem). Died on 27 Mar 1527 London
(Ibid.). IPM on 17 Jul 1529 Guildhall 21 Henry VIII. "Inquisition taken
at the Guildhall, 17 July, 21 Henry VIII (1529), before John Reston,
mayor, John Hales and John Scott, Baron to the Exchequer, and John Baker,
recorder of the city of London, by the oath of William Cummings, Thomas
Knight, Richard spar, George Hughes, Paul Alexander, William Oxley, Henry
Stickle, Robert Harrison, John Baxter, Robert here, Stephen Township, we
in December, Thomas Osmond, Roger Hennings, Antony Elderton, John Grande,
and Richard rate, who say that: "Richard Smith, late of London, merchant
tailor, William Fytzwyllyam, Knight, John Bylsdon, Richard Conhille, Wm
Skrynen, John Hall, and John Fulwode, were seised of eight messuages, 2
tofts, and one garden lying in Fryday Street and Watlyng Street, in the
parish of John the Evangelist, in the ward of Bredstrete, to the use of
the said Richard Smyth and his heirs. "So seised, they enfeoffed William
Wylford, senior, John Goone, Tho Cole, Tho Lee, Robt Patchett, Paul Wythixoll,
John Wylford, Jas Mychell, and Robt Fell, of the premises: to hold to them
and their heirs to the use of the said Richard Smyth and his heirs, and for
the fulfilment of his will. "So seised the said Richard Smith at divers times
after declared to the said Wm Wylford and his co-feoffees that it was his
will that the Master and Wardens of the company of the Merchant Tailors
of London and their successors should after his death have the said premises
to the intent that they should find for ever one priest to celebrate in
the said parish church of St John the Evangelist for the souls of the said
Richard, and of all the faithful deceased, they paying yearly to the said
priest for his stipend £7. The said Master and Wardens shall also distribute
every year among the poor of the said parish and ward coals to the value
of 40 shillings. They shall also keep yearly one anniversary in the said
church for the soul of the said Richard, expending upon the same 52 shillings
5 pence. Also 13 shillings 4 pence yearly forever to find 2 wax candles
to be burned on Sundays and festivals, and one light called a Trenell before
the crucifix in the said Church for ever. Also 4 shillings yearly to be
expended forever for the Paschal light in the said church, and 3 shillings
4 pence to be paid to the Chamberlain of the said city if present at the
said anniversary. "On the 22nd March 1524, the said Richard Smyth made his
will, whereby he declared that John Smyth, his son and heir, should have
all the said premises, and revoked all other wills by him made.”After the
death of the said Richard Smyth, the said Wm Wylford and his co-feoffees
were seised of the said premises to the use of the said John Smyth. "So
seised the said Thomas Lee and Robert Fell died, and William Wylford,
John Gone, Thomas Cole, Robert Pachett, Paul Wythixoll, and John Wylford,
survived them.”The said John Smyth being so seised enfeoffed thereof Thomas
Cromwell, John Bylsdon, Richard Ryche, Guy Crafforde, William Gynkes, Richard
Holte, John Bodnam, and John Stuk'ey: to hold to them and their heirs to
the use of the said John Smyth and Joan his wife, and heirs of the said
John Smyth for ever. "One of the said eight messages, in which Thomas Nixon
now lives, is held of the Master of the Rolls of the Court of Chancery by
fealty, and the yearly rent of 53 shillings 4 pence. The residue of the
said premises are held of the Abbott of the Monastery of St Peter's, Westminster,
in right of the said monastery, by fealty, and the yearly rent of 12 shillings
6 pence. "All the said premises are worth per annum, clear £29. Richard
Smyth died at London, 27 March, 18 Henry VIII (1527); John Smyth is his
son and heir, and was then aged 31 years and more." Inquisition p.m. 21
Henry VIII, No. 21 (London I)2
If you can read between the whys and what for’s, there was some
great information in there. The first section told us of the property
in question. This is where Richard lived before he died. He
lived on the corner of Fryday St. and Watlyng St. in the parish [county]
of St. John the Evangelist in London, England. London was the hub
of the English community. The King lived here. All the decisions
for the country came from here, via parliament or the Crown. To live
in London was to say you were keeping up with the times. But to live
in the city on a corner block, one could assume that the owner would have
been a man of means and semi-importance within his community. Next,
there was a date of 22 Mar 1524. I must assume this was the date the
aforesaid will was written and this is confirmed later in the document.
The document further explains the place the court was held and a list of
Gentlemen that attended the hearing. None of the names have meant
anything to me yet. But each attested to the knowledge of Richard
as well as his occupation and place of residence. “Its official,
he existed and they said so. Oh, and the document.” They stated
that he was a Merchant Tailor in London. Remember anything we mentioned
above about the merchants in late fourteenth century and Merchants in clothing
business? As early as 1485, the new Yeomen Merchant class were aspiring
to great heights. With Richard being born about 1460, he would have
been 25 at the beginning to this new opportunity to progress; the perfect
age. Now Richard may have not been wealthy at first, but he had to
have had a start in the business to even be considered as a merchant.
I mean Richard’s father had to have been in the same business but in a
lesser status by owning some land some where. I will get to him in
a minute. Richard was part of this clothing guild and had done quite
well for himself. How do we know this? We kept going through
the document. The property in question was described as “messuages,
2 tofts, and one garden”. My question was what are messuages and
tofts? The first one is a dwelling with its outbuildings and the
surrounding land being used by the dwelling’s occupants. That’s
a mouthful, but for those of us who only understand laymen’s terms, it’s
a big house. The second term, Toft, is a house with its adjoining
buildings and land. This meant that not only did Richard own the
corner block, he almost owned the entire block. Wow! What
do you say to that? He was, as we kept on reading, giving out all
kinds of money in the will; over £29. To be able to give out
this sum, he easily was a wealthy man, but according to the law by King
Edward I back around 1485, he was now a knight as well. Sir Richard
was an influential man in his day. Now the final pieces of information
we gathered are the best. But you will have to wait just a bit.
Let’s backtrack just for a second to something I mention about
Richard’s father. We have a hint that his name was William, but
no proof whatsoever, and based on Richard’s date of birth; this William
is estimated to have been born about 1430. Remember earlier we considered
the avenue of Nobles renting out their land under Firma contracts that
lasted for generations. In order for Richard to have been of some
stature to further a business (farming and exporting), he had to have had
the means to reach this high. I speculate that “William” was one of
the earlier peasants (if not already established from his father) who took
advantage of the changing times and put his hard work into the lands with
the promise of bettering himself and his family. William was one of
the new Yeomen. He was smart enough (therefore assuming some education)
to foresee the future and probably had a good relationship with some of the
nobles. This line of thinking also presumes something else. For
“William” to be able to move up to a Yeoman, he must have been a peasant before
hand as well as his father. I say this just to remind us to be humble.
God places us where he deems it best. Our group of Smith’s, as you
will see, were not the movers or shakers of the world, but the Lord kept
us close to them and gave us the wisdom to manage it in order to preserve
our heritage. I am sure our ancestors did not see it exactly as I just
said, but the Lord had a plan for us or I wouldn’t be here today. Keep
this thought in mind as you read on, you will see that it is a theme that
proves true time and time again.
Ok, back to the best information yet. The document provided
us with a continuation of our line; A link to keep the tree alive.
It tells us who he gives his possessions to. He gave everything
to his son and heir, John Smyth. If John had any brothers or sisters,
the document didn’t say. It did give us John’s wife’s names, Joan.
Then by a stroke of luck, the judge placed in the document the age of
John at the time of the hearing. John was 31. If it was 1527
when Richard died and John was 31, then we estimate John’s birth to have
been around 1495/96. As we find that John was born about 1495, it
would also be reasonable to assume that Richard, his father, would have been
between the age of 25 to 35 at the time of his birth. Therefore, using the
birth of John as a reference, Richard would have been born between 1460 and
1470. And there you have the transition from Richard to his son, John.
John Smyth, we know was born about 1495. We know he was married to
a lady named Joan. And we know that at the age of 31, John was the
owner of many estates, a clothing company, and very wealthy. John fit
the picture perfectly of the new Yeoman Clothier Merchant. The story
of John is for the next chapter.
By: Jerry A. Smith,
Smith Family Researcher
___________________________________________________________________________________
Resources:
1. McDowell, David: An Illustrated History of Britain, 1989;
p. 57.
2. Kerns, Gloria: Genealogist, Smith Family Researcher ([email protected])
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