b.c.1265
m. DIONISIA de PLESSIS, d. of Hugh de Plessis of Codlington, Lancashire and Isabel Biset

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b.c.1290
m. FELICIA HARVILLE

John was usher of the Exchequer.

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b.c.1322 Dymock, Gloucestershire
m. MARGARET LUDLOW (d. 26 Mar. 1415), d. of Thomas Ludlow and Catherine Stokes
d. 16 Apr. 1381 Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire

Sir John was knighted in 1373 and was the MP for Lincolnshire for 1372, 1373 and in 1377.

In right of his wife, Sir John served as the king's Champion.

The service of' King's Champion haD its origin in the ancient feudal law of Trial by Combat. His duty was to present himself during the second course of the Coronation Banquet in Westminster Hall, fully armed and mounted on " the second best charger from the King's stables " with two squires carrying his lance and shield.

During the fourteenth century the office of King's Champion was regarded with increasing respect and significance. By that time the Champion did not wait to make his first dramatic appearance in Westminster Hall, but rode in the Coronation Procession to the Abbey and proclaimed his challenge during the journey as well as at the Coronation Banquet.

The King�s Champion originally made his Challenge before the actual Coronation ceremony took place, which would make sense as there is little point in arguing about an act that's already taken place. The appearance of the Champion is delayed until the Banquet to emphasize that the Challenge is an act of pageantry.

During the Coronation Banquet there was a loud knocking on the great doors of Westminster Hall, and a fanfare of trumpets announced the arrival of the Champion. Immediately the Earl Marshal followed by the Lord High Constable, answered the summons. The doors were flung open, and in came the picturesque cavalcade. The Heralds came first, followed by the two squires carrying the Champion's arms, and then riding between the Earl Marshal and the Lord High Constable was the King's Champion. Both horse and rider were fully clad in the finest armour. An Officer of the Household usually inquired in a loud voice the meaning of the intrusion into the king's presence, and, at a sign from the Champion, one of the Heralds proceeded to read out the Challenge at the conclusion of which the Champion flung down his gauntlet to invite a challenger. Eyewitnesses described this part of the great ceremony as the most striking of all the proceedings on Coronation Day.

At the Coronation of King Richard II the coronation was carried out in a most lavish and costly scale, and must be considered one of the most magnificent of English coronations. For the first time the service of King's Champion was publicly proclaimed and applauded and definite fees were assigned to his office. These fees included the horse, saddle, armour, and furniture used by him during the ceremony, and, later, there was added a gold cup and cover weighing thirty-six ounces together with twenty yards of crimson satin for his mantle. But it was also decided that the King�s Champion could not claim all of these prerequisites if no actual combat took place. If unchallenged, the King's Champion full fees were a gift that depended entirely on the royal pleasure. Since no such combat has ever taken place in recorded history, the Champion's fee came to be recognized as a gold cup and cover, and a glance at the fine array of gold cups still kept at Scrivelsby will reveal that many of them lack covers. In the excitement of drinking the Sovereign's health, the Champion usually forgot his gold cover and rode away clasping his cup. While the Champion was rarely awarded his full fees as originally propounded by John of Gaunt, there has seldom been any meanness over the matter of accoutrements. Most Sovereigns have insisted, no matter what state the Treasury happened to be in at the time, on their Champion being well provided for.

Sir John served as the king's Champion at the Coronation of Richard II on 16 July 1377:

In the meane time Sir John Dimmocke had been to the King's armorie and stable, where he had chosen according to his tenure, the best armour, save one; and the best steed, save one; so that the said John Dimmocke having armed himself, and being mounted on horsebacke, came to the Abbeie gates, with two riding before him, the one carrying his speare, and the other his shield, staieing there till Mass should be ended. But the Lord Henrie Percie, Lord Marshall, appointed to make waie before the King, with divers others, being all mounted on great horses, came to the Knight and told him, that he ought not to come at that time, but when the King was at dinner, and therefore it should be good for him to unarme himself for awhile, and take his ease and rest, till the appointed time were come; so the Knight did, as the Lord Marshall willed him.

Sir Baldwin de Freville, Lord of Tamworth Castle, son of Jane Marmion, and Margaret de Ludlow�s Uncle, laid claim to the the office of Champion in right of his mother claiming that the role of Champion went with Tamworth Castle. The Lord Steward temporarily ruled in Dymoke�s favor while allowing time for Freville to produce documents to prove his claim with King Edward III and his son Edward, the Black Prince, supporting this decision. The Court of Claims set up prior to the Coronation of King Richard II upheld Sir John Dymoke's petition against Sir Baldwin de Frevile. De Frevile�s claim as a descendant of the eldest Jane Marmion was not allowed because Castle Tamworth is held by Knight Service, whereas Scrivelsby is held in Grand Sergeanty. De Freville didn�t press the claim further due to ill health and died on 30 Dec 1387. The De Frevilles again disputed the Dymoke�s claim to the title when Sir Baldwin's son brought up the issue. However, he failed to produce sufficient evidence and died on 4 Oct 1400 before the matter was finally discussed. The Dymoke�s claim to the office of King's Champion was never again disputed.

There is an old ballad entitled The Champions of England which tells Sir John's story:

The Dymokes of England and Some Descendants of Elder Thomas Dimick of Barnstable, Plymouth County- Robert S. Newton, 1989
A History of the Coronation- W.J. Passingham, Low & Marston, London, 1940

b.c.1355
m. ELIZABETH HEBDEN (d. Feb. 1452), d. of Sir Richard de Hebden of Marblethorpe, Lincolnshire
d. 1422

Sir Thomas served as the king's Champion on behalf of his mother at the coronation of Henry IV on 13 Oct. 1399 and of Henry V on 9 Apr. 1413. He was made a Knight Banneret on 17 Mar. 1400.

At the coronation of Henry IV, Richard II was still alive and a prisoner so everyone at his coronation waited to see who would challenge the king's champion. Froissart gives us an account of this event:

And after dinner the Duke departed from the Tower to Westminster, and rode all the way bareheaded, and about his neck the livery of France. He was accompanied with the prince, his son, and six dukes, six earls and eighteen barons in all. There were knights and squires and nine hundred horse. The King had on a short coat of cloth of gold after the manner of Germany, and he was mounted on a white courser and the Garter on his left leg.

Thus the King rode through London with a number of lords, every lord's servant in their master's livery, all the burgesses and Lombard merchants in London, and every craft with their livery and device.

Thus he was conveyed to Westminster. He was in number six thousand horse, and the streets were hanged as he passed by; and the same day and the next there were in London running seven conduits with wine, white and red.

That night the King was bathed, and the next morning he was confessed and heard the Masse as he was accustomed to do; and then all the prelates and clergy came from Westminster Church to the Palace, to fetch the King in procession.

And so he went to the church a procession, and all the lords with him in their robes of scarlet furred with miniver, barred on their shoulders according to their degrees: and over the King was borne a cloth of state of blue with four bells of gold, and it was borne by the burgesses of the Cinque Ports, as Dover and others; and on every side of him he had a sword bearer , the one with the Sword of the Church and the other with the Sword of Justice: the sword of the Church his son the prince did bear, and the Sword of justice the Earl of Northumberland did bear, for he was the High Constable of England, for the Earl of Rutland was deposed from that office: and the Earl of Westmoreland, who was Marshal of England, had the Sceptre.

Thus they entered into the church about nine of the clock: and in the midst of the church there was a high scaffold all covered with red, and in the midst thereof was a chair all covered with cloth of gold. Then the King sat down in that chair, and so sat in state royal saving he had on no crown but sat bareheaded.

Then at four corners of the scaffold the Archbishop of Canterbury showed unto the people how God had sent them a man to be their king, and demanded if they were content that he should be consecrated and crowned as their king. And they all with one voice said 'Yea,' and held up their hands promising him fealty and obeisance.

Then the King rose and went down the scaffold to the High Altar to be consecrated; at which consecration there were two archbishops and ten bishops; and before the altar there he was despoiled of all his vestures of state, and there he was anointed in six place on the head, on the breast, on two shoulders behind, and on the hands. Then a bonnet was set on his head; and while he was anointing the clergy sang the Litany and such service as they sing at the hallowing of the font.

Then the King was apparelled in churchman's dress like a deacon, and in manner of a prelate, and a pair of spurs with a point without a rowel: then the Sword of justice was dawn out of the sheath and hallowed and then it was taken to the King, who did put it again into the sheath: then the Archbishop of Canterbury did gird the sword about him. Then St. Edward's Crown was brought forth, which is arched above in form of a cross and it was blessed, and then the Archbishop did set it on the King's head.

After Mass the King departed out of the church in the same state and went to his palace; and there was a fountain that ran by divers branches white wine and red.

Then the King entered into the Hall, and so into a privy chamber, and after came out to dinner. At the first table sat the King, at the second the five orders of Peers of the Realm, at the third the valiant men of London, at the fourth the new made Knights, at the fifth the Knights and Squires of Honour; and by the King stood the Prince holding the Sword of the Church and on the other side the Constable with the Sword of justice, and, a little above, the Marshal with the Sceptre, and at the King's board sat two Archbishops and seventeen Bishops.

And in the midst of the dinner there came a knight who was called Dymoke, all armed, upon a good horse richly apparelled, and he had a knight before him bearing his spear, and his sword by his side, and his dagger. The knight took the King a Bill, the which was read. Therein was contained that if there were either knight, squire, or any other gentleman, that would say that King Henry was not rightful king, he was there ready to fight with him in that quarrel, before the King or where it should please him to appoint. That Bill was cried by a Herald in six pieces of the Hall and in the Town. There was none that would challenge him.

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Ref:

A History of the Coronation- W.J. Passingham, Low & Marston, London, 1940

6I. PHILIP (PHILIP 1, HENRY 2, JOHN 3, JOHN 4, THOMAS 5)

m. JOAN CONYERS, d. of Robert Conyers of Sockburn, Durham
d. 23 Sept. 1454 Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire

St. Benedict, Scrivelsby

Sir Philip was the king's champion at the coronation of King Henry VI on 6 Nov. 1429.

On 25 Sept. 1449 he had a commission to raise a war loan in Lincolnshire.(1) On 14 Mar. 1454 he had a commission to investigate an attack on a Scottish ship off Devon.(2)

On 1 Oct. 1454 there was a writ of diem clausit extremum to the Eschequer of Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Middlesex. (3)

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7I. THOMAS (PHILIP 1, HENRY 2, JOHN 3, JOHN 4, THOMAS 5, PHILIP 6)

b.c.1428 (age 27 at his father's death)
m. 13 June 1457 Grimsby, Lincolnshire, MARGARET De WELLES (d. before 1504)
beheaded 12 Mar. 1470/1

Scrivelsby Court

On 12 Nov. 1455 the Escheator of Lincolnshire was ordered to take his fealty and give him full seisin of all his father's lands.(1)

Sir Thomas was of the Lancastrian party, and the king's champion for Edward IV at his coronation 28 June 1461.

On 22 Dec. 1461 Thomas and John, Lord Dynham and Walter Raleigh were granted a third of the manors and lands of William Tailboys during the life of his wife, Elizabeth.(2) On 27 Feb. 1462 Thomas, John Dynham, and Thomas Burgh were granted Willam Tailboys' manors in Lincolnshire.(3)

Thomas was on a commission of the peace for Lindsey on 20 Feb. 1463 and 4 Feb. 1467.(4)

In 1469 Sir Thomas joined with his brother-in-law, Richard Welles, Lord Willoughby, in supporting Warwick's plot to restore Henry to the throne. He, Richard, Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas de la Launde attacked the manor of Sir Thomas Burgh in Lincolnshire. He and Richard were subsequently commanded to appear before the Privy Council, but because of Edward's rapid move north they were sent after the army. Upon hearing that Edward wanted them to explain Sir Robert's conduct, they took sanctuary in Westminster. After being pardoned they promised to disband the army which they failed to do. He and Richard were told by King Edward at Huntingdon to call off their rebellion or face execution. They were subsequently arrested and beheaded before the Battle of Stamford when Warwick withdrew support from Edward IV sending the king into exile for a year. Sir Robert was beheaded on the battlefield.

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